Earth ChangesS


Sun

Sundogs create the illusion of 3 suns over Minnesota

Ben Hooper
UPI
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:09 UTC
SUNDOG
A Minnesota commuter captured video of a sundog illusion making it appear as though there were three suns in the sky.

The video, posted to YouTube by Ryatus Recordings, shows triplet suns on the horizon Tuesday afternoon over the town of Detroit Lakes.

"I was lucky enough to grab a quick shot of this awesome sun dog on the way home from work," the uploader wrote.

Sundogs, also known as phantom suns, occur when the light from the sun reflects from ice crystals gathered in the atmosphere.

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Cloud Precipitation

At least 8 killed and hundreds evacuated due to floods in Bolivia


Euro News
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 13:28 UTC
Hundreds evacuated in deadly floods in Bolivia
Hundreds evacuated in deadly floods in Bolivia
At least eight people have died in massive floods caused by days of torrential rain in Bolivia. Worst affected have been remote communities in the west of the country.

The fast flowing waters have stranded drivers and pedestrians alike with even an ambulance needing to be rescued at one point.

Hundreds of people have had to be evacuated.


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Attention

Dolphin found dead on Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Sandra Ecklund
abcnews4.com
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 13:00 UTC
Dead dolphin
© Mary PringleDead dolphin on Isle of Palms
A young dolphin was found dead on the sands of IOP Tuesday near 21st Avenue.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, a male bottle nose dolphin was found with mono-filament line wrapped around his lower jaw and had embedded into the bone.

Local author Mary Alice Monroe posted a photo of the find on her Facebook page, dedicated to conservation of marine wildlife.

After a necropsy, officials said the near six foot long dolphin died of septicemia from the wound.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 2 girls, burn 2 more in Zimbabwe

Whinsley Masara
The Chronicle (Zimbabwe)
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 12:48 UTC
Lightning
Two girls were killed while two others were burnt after separate lightning strikes in Lupane and Tsholotsho.

Matabeleland North acting provincial spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Eglon Nkala confirmed the deaths. The Tsholotsho girl was 12 years old while the one from Lupane was seven.

"I can confirm two girls died after they were struck by a lightning bolt, one in Tsholotsho and the other in Lupane. In Tsholotsho a lightning bolt struck at around 2 PM, while in Lupane the incident occurred at around 4 PM.

"Post mortem was done on both bodies and no foul play is suspected," said Asst Insp Nkala.

Chief Mabhikwa of Lupane said the girl who was killed by lightning in his area was in the company of two others aged 11 and 13 years who are in hospital after they suffered burns.

He said the three girls were herding donkeys in the playgrounds of Somhlanga Primary School when it started raining.
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Bizarro Earth

2016 saw highest natural disaster losses in four years at $175 billion

Merrit Kennedy
NPR
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:33 UTC
Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti
© Rebecca Blackwell/AP These houses in southwestern Haiti were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in October. Matthew was the most serious natural catastrophe in North America in 2016.
Hurricane Matthew. The earthquake in Japan. Flooding in the Deep South, China and Europe. Wildfires in Canada.

Last year sometimes felt like one natural catastrophe after another. Now, new figures from reinsurer Munich Re suggest that it was indeed a particularly bad year.

Natural catastrophes caused the highest losses worldwide in the last four years, at $175 billion, Munich Re said. It recorded some 750 events globally, including "earthquakes, storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves." The reinsurer added that about 30 percent of those losses were insured.

North America "experienced 160 loss events in 2016, the most since 1980," the reinsurer added.

Globally, the costliest single event was the devastating earthquake on the Japanese island of Kyushu, at $31 billion. Here's the breakdown of the five most costly disasters worldwide:
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Cloud Precipitation

U.S. had more floods in 2016 than any year since records began in 1980

Doyle Rice
AZCentral
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 20:16 UTC
Flood graph
2016 really was the year of the flood in the U.S.: In total, 19 separate floods swamped the nation last year, the most in one single year since records began in 1980.

This is according to an analysis by Munich Re, a global reinsurance firm.

The worst flood was in August in Louisiana. At least 13 people were killed and roughly 60,000 buildings were destroyed. The disaster cost $10 billion, Munich Re reported, which noted it was the worst natural catastrophe in the U.S. since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

"We had a lot of severe flash floods in heavily developed areas," said meteorologist Mark Bove of Munich Re.

Other major flood disasters in 2016 included those in West Virginia in June, Houston in April and Maryland in July. "We did get very unlucky" last year, Bove said.

2016 really was the year of the flood in the U.S.: In total, 19 separate floods swamped the nation last year, the most in one single year since records began in 1980.
© USA Today2016 really was the year of the flood in the U.S.: In total, 19 separate floods swamped the nation last year, the most in one single year since records began in 1980.
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Tornado1

6 killed as storms, tornadoes & floods sweep southeast US leaving trail of destruction (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)


RT
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:41 UTC
Storm
© Phil Sears / ReutersDominick Curran cuts up a huge tree in front of Rehobeth Middle School after a deadly storm hit Rehobeth, Alabama, U.S., January 3, 2017.
At least six people have been killed after powerful storms, spawning several tornadoes, battered parts of the southeast United States, leaving a trail of destruction.

Four people were killed in Rehobeth, Alabama on Monday evening after a tree fell through their mobile home.
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Attention

Fishing guide photographs dead sperm whale in Louisiana lake

Todd Masson
The Times-Picayune
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 18:17 UTC
Capt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass he ran across last week in southern Terrebonne Parish
© Capt. Travis LovellCapt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass he ran across last week in southern Terrebonne Parish
If Capt. Ahab really wanted to find the great white whale, maybe he should have spent some time along the Louisiana coast. For the second time in two months, a deceased sperm whale has washed up onto shore in the Bayou State.

In the latest encounter, Capt. Travis Lovell took pictures of a rotting whale carcass Dec. 28 in Terrebonne Parish's Sister Lake. Lovell said the whale had already been discovered by others, but when he got home, he posted the pictures to social media and they went viral.

"I had one client with me that day -- a guy from Minnesota -- and we were pretty much done," Lovell recounted. "Another guide that I network with passed by, and said, 'Man, the craziest thing happened earlier: I could swear I saw a whale this morning.' I said, 'No way. On a scale from 1-10, how sure are you it was a whale?' He said, '9.5.'"

The client and Lovell both wanted to verify the sighting, so they went where the other captain told them, and sure enough, there was a 23 1/2-foot sperm whale tied up to a bulkhead. The stench was borderline unbearable, so Lovell got upwind to snap a few photos with his phone.
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Snowflake Cold

Heavy snow, winds, leave 16,000 households in Poland without power


Radio Poland
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:53 UTC
Snowfall in Katowice, southern Poland.
© PAP/Andrzej Grygiel Snowfall in Katowice, southern Poland.
Almost 16,000 households across Poland were left without electricity on Wednesday after heavy snowfall and fierce winds downed power lines.

Forecasters have said that regions close to the mountains may see up to half a metre of snow over 24 hours from Wednesday but added that heavy snowfall is not expected in most other areas of the country.

Meanwhile, temperatures are set to plunge at night as arctic air arrives in Poland from the north. The mercury in northeastern Poland is expected to drop to minus 17 degrees C.

The authorities have warned that homeless people may be in danger unless they find shelter.

Source: IAR/PAP
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Snowflake Cold

Severe winter weather warnings stop trains throughout Austria


The Local At
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 17:42 UTC
Snow Austria
© Ximeg/Wikimedia
A violent winter storm pattern will thrash through all of Austria this Wednesday. Recent forecasts have put the entire country under red alert and are predicting very difficult winter conditions that have gone so far as to impact the national train service.

According to Heute, the region of Upper Austria is currently under heavy snowfall and the outskirts of Vienna have already been hit by incredible wind speeds, peaking at 131km/hr. Within the city itself, gusts of up to 100km/hr were measured, which has lead to the closure of many major public parks, including the Augarten, Burggarten, Volksgarten, the grounds of the Belvedere Palace and Glorietteberg.

Even the city's central ice rink located in front of town hall known as the 'Wiener Eistraum' was forced to shut down due to potential dangerous conditions. City police have also reported trees toppling over onto the street, one even crushing a parked car in the district of Ottakring.
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