Earth ChangesS


Bug

Hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs gather off the coast near Melbourne, Australia

Ben Hooper
UPI
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 11:33 UTC
Hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs gather on the floor of Port Phillip Bay, and now in your nightmares.
© Storyful Hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs gather on the floor of Port Phillip Bay, and now in your nightmares.
A scuba diver off the coast of Melbourne, Australia, captured video of a stunning sight: hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs.

Sheree Marris, an Australian aquatic scientist, captured video of the crabs, which feature nearly 30-inch legs attached to their 6-inch-wide bodies, gathering on the floor of Port Phillip Bay.

Marris said the spectacle was the largest gathering of crabs she had ever seen.

"I've been diving for 15 to 20 years and I've seen a lot of cool things, but this is the largest aggregation I've ever seen -- a never-ending mass of crabs," she told 9News. "I was going in a straight line swimming and for five minutes I kept seeing thousands and thousands of them."

The crabs were making an annual migration that has previously been documented on video, but this year's migration appears unusually large, possibly the largest ever documented.

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Tornado2

Destructive tornado blows through Xanthi, Greece

Mary Harris
Greek Reporter
Tue, 14 Jun 2016 07:02 UTC
tornado in Xanthi, Greece
A tornado whizzed through Xanthi, a city in Thrace, northeast Greece, spreading panic and destruction in its path early on Tuesday.

The extreme weather phenomenon came in the wake of three earlier tornadoes that had swept through the plains of Xanthi. Destruction was noted at the municipalities of Avdiron and Topirou, whereas problems were also noted at Komotini, where crops were destroyed.

The bad bout of weather also caused problems to traffic with various points of the network cut off, chiefly in settlements of the Municipality of Arrianon, such as Dokos and Vragia.

Cars were swept away by the rush of flood water. Residents are now counting the damage to breeding units and crops. The Fire brigade and police are also on alert.
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Attention

Mine worker killed in 'sudden and powerful' gas 'blow-out' in East Cleveland, UK


BBC News
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 06:41 UTC
Boulby potash mine
© BBC/Google
A man has died in an underground accident at a potash mine in East Cleveland - one of Europe's deepest.

Worker John Anderson, 56, was killed by a "sudden and powerful release of gas" at the Boulby mine early on Friday, owners ICL UK said.

No-one else was hurt and there was no explosion at the 1,400m deep mine.

In April seven workers were injured when after a fire broke out at the mine, which has tunnels deep under the North Sea.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop has called for an investigation.

The mine makes potash for fertilisers and employs about 1,100 people about 100 of whom were underground at the time of the incident.
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Cloud Lightning

Violent storms hits Poland; four dead, several injured, serious property damage


The Indian Express
Sat, 18 Jun 2016 10:03 UTC
storm damage in Poland June 2016
Violent storms killed four people and injured several others across Poland, also leaving serious property damage in their wake, local media reported.

A 61-year-old man died, crushed by a tree yesterday while driving his car in the central town of Zgierz. His two passengers were hospitalized in serious condition.

Two other men also died, crushed by walls blown over by violent winds in the towns of Niechlonin in the north-west, and Zaluski in central Poland.

A woman drowned in the northern city of Elbag when a pedestrian bridge collapsed into a river swollen by heavy rain.

High winds ripped off roofs and toppled trees causing property damage in various locations across the country, while heavy rains triggered local flash flooding.


Source: AFP
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Bizarro Earth

Mussels shells getting thinner researchers say

Ria Misra
Gizmodo
Sat, 18 Jun 2016 16:36 UTC
Mussels
© Gizmodo
Do you enjoy eating mussels? Cool, same. Something, however, is happening to mussels as we know them. And it's changing them in a pretty horrifying way.

A team of researchers from the University of Chicago has been comparing the shells of live mussels pulled from the Pacific coast today with historical shells, some of them thousands of years old. They've come to an alarming realization: Mussel shells are getting thinner and thinner.

Shells collected that are over 1,000 years old are on average 27 percent thicker than today's shells, the researchers note in new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Thick shells were the norm until about the 1970s, when shells were 32 percent thicker than they are today. Then, things suddenly started to get thin fast.

The unsettling cause for the thinning shells is the rapidly acidifying waters of the Pacific Ocean. Essentially, the mussels are in the process of a slow dissolve in the acid bath they now spend their lives stewing in.

If the thought of being slowly consumed from all around as you swim isn't quite horrifying enough, the researchers project that this is only the beginning of the bad news for yummy shellfish. With an ocean that's only growing more and more acidic, we could easily see mussels—with their new brittle bodies—die out.

Reference - Royal Society B
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Attention

Young humpback whale washes up on Bethany Beach, Delaware


delmarvanow.com
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 17:59 UTC
The whale was first seen by a neighbor Friday morning
© Suzanne ThurmanThe whale was first seen by a neighbor Friday morning
Early Friday, beachgoers noticed a 30-foot surprise on the coastline of Bethany Beach.

A dead humpback whale washed ashore near Pelican Pouch with the morning tide, according to officials.

Scientists that responded to the scene noticed a large gash in the male's neck that could have been caused by a propeller. However, it is too early into the investigation to say for sure, said Susan Thurman, executive director of the MERR Institute.

The whale was about 30 feet long, indicating that it was between 1 and 2 years old. Since the whale was on its back, scientists with the MERR Institute could not be sure.
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Fire

Western wildfires triple in size; evacuations ordered in at least three states

Ada Carr
The Weather Channel
Sat, 18 Jun 2016 17:09 UTC
wildfire chilili
© Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via APResidents of the town of Chilili along state road 337 begin to evacuate due to the Dog Head wildfire near the Manzano mountains, Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in Chilili, N.M.
Major wildfires burning across the West have consumed tens of thousands of acres and forced evacuations in at least three states. In New Mexico, one particular wildfire exploded in size on Thursday.

Dry conditions are hampering firefighting efforts in a region that's expected to see dangerous and potentially deadly heat over the weekend and into early next week.

"Humidity values less than 15 percent and dew points as low as the single digits will be present and persistent across a large portion of the Southwest through at least Sunday," said weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles.
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Cloud Precipitation

'Hailstorm from hell': Baseball-size hail slams Middleburg, Virginia

Angela Fritz and Jeff Halverson
Washington Post
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 15:20 UTC
Damage to a friends car caught in the hail near Middleburg
© Randy BennDamage to a car caught in the hail near Middleburg
Baseball-size hail, damaging winds and at least one possible tornado raked through Virginia, Maryland and the District on Thursday in the region's most intense severe thunderstorm day so far this year.

Five tornado warnings were issued in the D.C. region Thursday afternoon and night, beginning with storms west of Interstate 81 in Morgan and Berkeley counties in West Virginia. As the storms tracked southwest, tornado warnings were issued for parts of Clarke, Loudoun and Fauquier counties. The National Weather Service said it will be inspecting damage in Morgan County and that it is considering surveying reports of possible tornado damage in Berkeley and Clarke counties.

As of 11 a.m., none of the possible tornadoes had been confirmed. Photos taken during the storms do not actually indicate that any of the funnels were on the ground.

Baseball-size hail in Middleburg, Va.
© Teresa Dubovsky Baseball-size hail in Middleburg, Va.
Hailstones the size of baseballs fell in Middleburg, Va., on the border of Loudoun and Fauquier counties. Numerous cars were damaged, their windshields blown out and bodies dented.


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Cloud Precipitation

State of emergency declared for 9 Oklahoma counties following floods and storms

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:51 UTC
Floods in Gavin County, Oklahoma, June 2016.
© Gavin County Sheriff’s OfficeFloods in Gavin County, Oklahoma, June 2016.
A state of emergency for nine counties in Oklahoma was declared on 14 June 2016 after severe floods and storms in the state that began Saturday 11 June, 2016.

The counties covered in the declaration are: Caddo, Carter, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin, Grady, McClain, Murray and Stephens, although further counties may be added in the future.

In the declaration, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb said:
"Since Saturday, these Oklahoma counties have experienced flooding, severe storms, tornadoes and straight-line winds. Initial reports show damage in numerous communities including Apache, Cyril, Lawton, Maysville and Walters. Further damage assessments are ongoing."
The executive order allows state agencies to make emergency purchases related to disaster relief and preparedness. It is also the first step toward seeking federal aid should it be necessary.

The National Weather Service said that as much as 9 inches (228 mm) of rain fell in the morning of 12 June in Maysville, Garvin County.



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Black Cat

Mother pulls mountain lion off her 5-year-old son near Aspen, Colorado

Darren Whitehead
9news.com
Sat, 18 Jun 2016 11:53 UTC
Mountain lion
Mountain lion
A five-year-old boy was attacked by a mountain lion at around 8 p.m. Friday.

The attack happened in the family's yard at their home near Lower River Rd. about 10 miles northwest of Aspen.

The boy suffered injuries to his head, neck, and face, according to the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office.

A news release said the boy and his older brother were outside their home playing in the yard. The boys' mother was inside the home and heard her son start screaming.

The mother ran outside and saw the mountain lion on top of her child. She then fought off the lion and pulled her son out of its grip.

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