Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills young couple in India


The Gulf Today
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 13:07 UTC
lIGHTNING
A young couple was killed and seven others were injured here in two separate incidents when lightning struck them, police said on Wednesday.

Both the mishaps took place last night. In the first incident in Bhakaur village, the deceased Shaligram (24) and his wife Sukhwanti (22) were doing some domestic chores in their open courtyard, when it began raining and lightning struck them, Devsar Police Station In-chagre, Dinesh Jatav said.

In the second incident in Dhummadol village, the family of Gopichand Gupta was returning home after attending a religious programme when rains lashed the area and seven members were injured due to lightning.

They were admitted to Devsar Community Health Centre for treatment, police said.

Source: Press Trust of India
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Bizarro Earth

5.1 magnitude earthquake strikes southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu


RT
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 12:43 UTC
Map of Kumamoto perefecture earthquake
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake has struck the Kumamoto perefecture of the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake measured 4.9 magnitude according to the Japanese meteorological agency.

Its depth was 10km (6.2 miles), according to the USGS.

The epicenter of the quake was located 17.9km (11.1 miles) southwest of the city of Kumamoto, inhabited by over 680,000 people.
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Snowflake Cold

'Winter is coming!' Huge hail hits Moscow amid last days of summer torrents


RT
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 12:35 UTC
Moscow hail storm
© alexandrasold / anyta_miheeva / Instagram
"Weather, you are drunk, what are you doing?" "Winter is coming!" Russian social media is completely abuzz and stunned by heavy showers and enormous hail the size of small eggs and apples that have recently struck the Moscow Region.

Residents of Moscow and its suburbs have been releasing photos of Tuesday's storm on social media.

Wind speeds reached almost 20 meters per second, Moscow meteorological services said.
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Bizarro Earth

Typhoon Lionrock hits Northern Japan

Alexander Martin
The Wall Street Journal
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 23:45 UTC
Floodwaters Hokkaido
© Associated PressFloodwaters on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido washed away a building. Japanese media reported that hundreds of residents in Hokkaido and Iwate were stranded.
Tokyo—At least 11 people were found dead in northern Japan on Wednesday after Typhoon Lionrock battered the region with torrential rain, triggering widespread flooding.

National broadcaster NHK said police found the bodies of nine people at a home for the elderly that suffered flooding. The home is in the northern prefecture of Iwate, which took a direct hit from Lionrock. Separately, the bodies of an elderly man and an elderly woman were also discovered in Iwate, NHK said.

Rivers in parts of Iwate and the northern island of Hokkaido flooded, inundating residential areas and blocking roads. Television footage showed cars and homes submerged in muddy waters.

Japanese media reported that hundreds of residents in Iwate and Hokkaido were stranded, while several bridges were destroyed or swept away by floods.

Lionrock crossed northern Japan during Tuesday night, becoming the fourth typhoon this season to make landfall in Japan and the first to hit the northeast from the Pacific Ocean since records began in 1951, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Unusual weather patterns led Lionrock to take a slow and wandering path through the Pacific. It started off Japan's eastern coast and initially headed south before making a U-turn to the north and then veering northwest and making landfall.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake magnitude 6.7 strikes off Papua New Guinea

Michael Perry and Paul Tait
Reuters
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 03:30 UTC
PNG Earthquake
© USGS
Sydney - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 struck off the town of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicentre of the quake was located 89 km (55 miles) northeast of Rabaul on New Britain island and at a depth of 499 kms (310 miles).
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Galaxy

Spectacular drone footage captures early Northern Lights over Iceland


RT
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 18:05 UTC
Northern lights over Iceland
© OZZO ICELAND / YouTube
It's the Northern Lights as you've never seen them before: Filmed from a drone traveling across Iceland's stark scenery and clear night skies, Aurora Borealis has the perfect environment in which to shine.

It seems that the Northern Lights season - which typically runs from September to mid-April - has reached Iceland a little early this year, treating islanders to a spectacular celestial display.

One minute and 46 seconds of pure serenity, the drone captures every magnificent streak of color as the phenomenon stretches across the night sky.
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Wolf

Family dogs kill woman and injure her son in Conifer, Colorado

Kieran Nicholson
Denver Post
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 17:39 UTC
Dog attack
A woman was killed Monday night in a dog attack in Conifer and her son suffered injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

The incident happened at about 7 p.m. when the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call about the attack, said Dionne Waugh, a sheriff's office spokeswoman.

Deputies responded to the 31000 block of Black Widow Drive. A woman died at the scene and her son, who is in his late teens or early 20s, was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Waugh said.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 4 fisherman in Assam, India


News X
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:03 UTC
The lightning struck a group of fishermen killing four of them on the spot
The lightning struck a group of fishermen killing four of them on the spot
At least four people were killed and three critically injured after a lightning struck Assam's Morigaon district on Tuesday.

The lightning struck a group of fishermen killing four of them on the spot.

The injured were immediately taken to Morigaon civil hospital.
4 killed & 3 injured after being hit by a lightning bolt in Morigaon district of Assam.

— ANI (@ANI_news) August 30, 2016
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Bizarro Earth

Over half of groundwater in Indus and Ganges river basins too contaminated with arsenic to drink or use for irrigation


RT
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:08 UTC
ganges river arsenic
© Kamal Kishore / Reuters Sixty percent of groundwater in the Indus and Ganges river basin is too contaminated to drink or use for irrigation
Sixty percent of groundwater in the Indus and Ganges river basin - essential for the lives of over 750 million people in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh - is too contaminated to drink or use for irrigation, a new study says.

The groundwater of the vast Indo-Gangetic basin, named after the Indus and Ganges rivers, is contaminated and inappropriate for use, a team of scientists wrote in Nature Geoscience.

"Within 60 percent of the aquifer [permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater], access to potable groundwater is restricted by excessive salinity or arsenic," says the study, which is entitled 'Groundwater quality and depletion in the Indo-Gangetic Basin mapped from in situ observations'.

Some 23 percent of the groundwater stored in the basin contains too much salt at a depth of up to 200 meters (650ft), while about 37 percent of it "is affected by arsenic at toxic concentrations," the scientists explained.

Comment: Top 10 ways to destroy all the water on earth

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Tornado1

Hawaii bracing for back-to-back hurricanes: Meteorologists predict impacts worse than Tropical Storm Iselle

Jobeth Devera
Hawaii News Now
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 14:55 UTC
Hawaiian Hurricanes
© Infrared Satellite Image: Lester and Madeline
The National Weather Service says Hurricane Madeline could come dangerously close to the Big Island by Wednesday and may have impacts worse than Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014.

"This looks like potentially the strongest tropical cyclone, which includes hurricanes and tropical storms, to approach very close to the coast in the past several years," said meteorologist Chris Brenchley with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Tropical Storm Iselle toppled hundreds of Albizia trees on the Big Island and caused an estimated $79 million in damage.

"The time is now to prepare," said Brenchley.
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