Earth ChangesS


Tornado2

Tornado hits downtown New Orleans damaging buildings


WWLTV.com
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 20:46 UTC
new orleans tornado damage
© Sophia Germer
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down in the New Orleans area Thursday afternoon.

According to the NWS the tornado had winds of 80 miles per hour. Damage was half a mile in length, and officials said the tornado began at Marias and Annette streets and ended at N. Claiborne and St. Philip Street.

About 3:30 p.m., viewers began sending in pictures of a funnel cloud over the French Quarter area. Shortly after, at the corner of St. Philip and N. Claiborne Avenue, a vacant home collapsed. Officials said two people were brought to the hospital with minor injuries.

Authorities said three buildings collapsed during the severe weather event, all in the Seventh Ward and Treme areas.


Comment: A few weeks ago a huge waterspout formed over Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana.

Read More...
Tornado2

Waterspout forms over Lake Manawa, Iowa


WOWT
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 17:24 UTC
Lake Manawar waterspout
© Thomas Baber
A rope tornado was spotted near Lake Manawa Thursday. Videos sent to WOWT 6 News shows the funnel as it formed over the lake before touching down on the water.

It's unclear if the tornado ever left the water, which would make the formation a waterspout. The National Weather Service is expected to give their final assessment Friday.

The rope tornado could be seen from Omaha. WOWT 6 News cameras caught the tornado as it dissipated. Tornado warnings were issued for Mills and Pottawattamie counties; they have since expired.


Comment: Some other waterspouts observed from around the world within the past few weeks include:

Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Floods in Sudan kill 76, destroy thousands of houses; the Nile is at its highest levels in more than a century


Reuters (UK)
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 10:37 UTC
Sudan flooding
© YouTube/Al Jazeera English (screen capture)
Floods and heavy rain in Sudan have killed 76 people and destroyed thousands of homes in recent days, the interior minister said on Thursday.

Ismat Abdelrahman said 13 of Sudan's 18 provinces had been affected by flooding.

The Nile is at its highest levels in more than a century, swollen by heavy rain in many parts of the East African country, according to the water and irrigation ministry.

Interior ministry statistics showed downpours and flooding had completely destroyed 3,206 houses, and damaged 3,048 others in the eastern province of Kassala, one of the worst hit areas.

Sudan suffers from an underdeveloped infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, which makes it harder to cope with heavy rain and natural disasters.

Read More...
Cloud Grey

'Chernobyl Sky': Nuclear blast-style cloud appears over Russian city

Jon Dean
The Mirror
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 17:54 UTC
nuclear cloud
© CENThe weather phenomenon terrified residents.
This gigantic nuclear explosion-style mushroom cloud looming over a Russian city certainly gave residents a fright.

The bizarre phenomenon was dubbed 'Chernobyl Sky' by shocked residents, in reference to the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine.

The frightening but harmless cloud over Tyumen, in south central Russia, was later blown off by the wind.

One social media user wrote: "Chernobyl-style sky... Crazy. Like a nuclear explosion happened there or something. Sky was unreal."
Read More...
Attention

Man attacked by black bear in Warren County, New Jersey

Emily Babay
The Inquirer Daily News
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 16:23 UTC
Black bear
Black bear
A New Jersey man is recovering after being attacked by a black bear near his home Wednesday morning.

The man told authorities that he found the bear eating leftover cat food on his porch in Pohatcong Township, Warren County, near the Pennsylvania border.

The man apparently startled the 450-to 500-pound animal, which swiped at him, then ran away into a nearby cornfield.

The man was hospitalized for treatment of lacerations to his arm, Pohatcong Township police said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection's Fish and Wildlife division is working to trap the bear, authorities said.

The man had seen the bear frequently but it had never approached him before, James Kern III, the township's mayor, told NJ.com.
Read More...
Alarm Clock

Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits south west of La Quiaca, Argentina


USGS
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 14:15 UTC
Argentina earthquake
© USGS
Preliminary Earthquake Report

Magnitude: 6.1

Date-Time:
  • 4 Aug 2016 14:15:11 UTC
  • 4 Aug 2016 11:15:11 near epicenter
  • 4 Aug 2016 09:15:11 standard time in your timezone
Location: 22.385S 65.994W

Depth: 258 km

Distances:
  • 48 km (29 mi) NW of Abra Pampa, Argentina
  • 51 km (31 mi) SW of La Quiaca, Argentina
  • 52 km (32 mi) SW of Villazon, Bolivia
  • 107 km (66 mi) SSW of Tupiza, Bolivia
  • 689 km (427 mi) SSE of La Paz, Bolivia
Read More...
Attention

47 dead caribou discovered on Prince Charles Island, Canada

John Van Dusen
cbc.ca
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 14:54 UTC
One of 47 carcasses found on Prince Charles Island.
© Paul SmithOne of 47 carcasses found on Prince Charles Island.
Nunavut's Department of Environment is trying to find out what happened to dozens of dead Baffin caribou found on an uninhabited island in the Arctic.

The carcasses of 47 caribou were spotted in July on Prince Charles Island by a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The find comes a year and a half after the Nunavut government imposed an emergency caribou hunting ban on Baffin Island — and including Prince Charles Island — after finding their numbers had plummeted. In 2015, the first-ever Baffin Island caribou quota of 250 animals per year was imposed.

Paul Smith studies Arctic birds and was flying around the island in a Twin Otter airplane scouting locations to build a research station.

From the airplane, Smith saw unusual white shapes on the tundra.
Read More...
Attention

Series of earthquakes rattle Northern California

Matt Hamilton
Los Angeles Times
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 04:40 UTC
Janesville, California
© Los Angeles Times
A cluster of moderate earthquakes rocked Northern California on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

About 9:55 p.m. Wednesday, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported about 20 miles east of Janesville, near the Nevada border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Within minutes, two more magnitude 4.4 quakes were reported around the same area in Lassen County, according to the USGS. The epicenters were about 45 miles north of Reno and 10 miles south of Honey Lake, the USGS said.

Early Thursday morning, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake was reported 19 miles from Janesville, according to the USGS. The temblor occurred at 3:13 a.m. at a depth of 3.1 miles.

The shake map compiled by the USGS showed that the quakes were felt in Susanville and Reno.

It's unclear whether the quakes caused any damage.

Comment: Series of 70 small earthquakes in California: Big one coming?

Read More...
Water

The plasticisation of the oceans

John Paul Cauchi
Malta Today
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 14:33 UTC
Turtles often confuse clear plastic bags with jellyfish and ingest them, choking to death in the process
Turtles often confuse clear plastic bags with jellyfish and ingest them, choking to death in the process
With 7.3 billion people on the planet, fast rising to nine billion, we treat the ocean as a garbage dump at our peril

It so happens that during these hot, sweltering days we go down for a quick dip into our clear, blue seas, inviting under the shimmering sunlight in the relative quiet of the afternoon. We slowly immerse ourselves into the refreshing waters, entering the marine world while skimming the surface, enjoying the freshness of it all, oozing relaxation...

... until we feel something clingy and papery sticking to our legs. Plastic! Ugh!

All too often, we are greeted by waste on our shores, left by irresponsible sea-goers clearly not giving a hoot about others. Our seas are fast becoming full of plastics and others forms of waste. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one refuse truck's-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse. These figures are astounding, and recently it has been estimated that there will be more plastic in the sea by weight than fish by 2050. In recent years, reports have been published on a so-called "great garbage patch" in the Pacific, where all currents eventually lead to, leading to a vast expanse of plastic waste the size of France floating far from human eyes.

Comment: See also: We are rapidly approaching an environmental catastrophe: Plastic waste in the ocean will outnumber fish by 2050

and

Not a fish tale: Thanks to ocean pollution humans are ingesting plastic

Read More...
Attention

Whale washes up beach in Aceh, Indonesia


Tempo.co
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 14:26 UTC
Dead whale
A dead whale has been found washed up in Alue Naga Beach, Syiah Kuala Sub-district, Banda Aceh City.

A number of locals and fishermen at the beach Thursday, August 4, 2016, said that the whale was roughly seven-meter-long.

"Several fishermen saw the already dead whale in the waters two miles off the beach. The whale was washed ashore by the waves," local resident Muhammad said.

According to locals, they had yet to see any relevant government institution coming to the scene and examining the whale to determine the cause of death.
Read More...