Earth ChangesS


House

Several houses evacuated after 30-foot-wide (and growing) sinkhole opens in Tampa Bay, Florida


WFTV
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 19:40 UTC
Holiday, Florida sinkhole
© Cox Media Group
Officials say they've evacuated several Tampa Bay area homes after a sinkhole opened up beneath one house.

Pasco Fire Rescue responded to the Holiday neighborhood Monday afternoon.

Chief Shawn Whited says they initially estimated the hole to be about 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep, but it was still growing. Firefighters evacuated the affected home, as well as four other surrounding houses. Whited says the structures will have to remain empty until an engineer can inspect the hole either later Monday or Tuesday.

Whited says the sinkholes can usually be stabilized and filled in.

No injuries were reported.

Comment: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth

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Tornado2

Waterspout comes ashore in Galveston, Texas

Jessica Hamilton
The Houston Chronicle
Sun, 17 Jul 2016 10:24 UTC
Waterspout in Galveston
© National Weather Service
The National Weather Service issued a waterspout warning in Galveston early Sunday when a weather cell hovered northeast of the causeway.

The warning, which expired at 9 a.m, was issued as the waterspout came shore. The National Weather Service warned beachgoers between 61st and 91st streets to seek shelter.

A tornado warning was also issued through 9 a.m. Sunday.

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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstones the size of baseballs, tennis balls hammer Saskatchewan, Canada


cbc.ca
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 16:49 UTC
Ryan Wunsch posted this photo of tennis-ball-sized hail about 13 kilometres south of Tompkins, Sask., just after 5 p.m. CST on Tuesday.
© Ryan Wunsch Ryan Wunsch posted this photo of tennis-ball-sized hail about 13 kilometres south of Tompkins, Sask., just after 5 p.m. CST on Tuesday.
It's been a summer of big hailstones in Saskatchewan, but last night people were reporting the biggest ones yet.

Photos of hail the size of baseballs were circulating on social media from places like Strongfield and Stewart Valley, but there were plenty of tennis-ball-sized hailstones, too.


Here's Environment Canada's roundup of hail in Saskatchewan from July 19, 2016:

​​Herschel: golf ball size

Carmichael: golf ball size

Tompkins area: tennis ball size

Bounty: golf ball size

Outlook: tennis ball size to softball size

Stewart Valley: baseball size

Broderick: Loonie size

Strongfield: baseball size
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Sun

Temperatures around the globe set monthly record in June for 14th consecutive month


RT
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 16:20 UTC
people swimming
© Faisal Mahmood / Reuters
Last month was declared the hottest June ever recorded in modern history, with global temperatures in the past 14 months breaking all records since 1880, scientists reported.

On Tuesday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that June was the 14th consecutive month with record high temperatures. April 2015 was the last month when the Earth did not encounter any record high temperatures.

"The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for June 2016 was the highest for the month of June in the NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880," the agency said in a statement.

"This marks the 14th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in the 137-year record."
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Attention

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits off Vanuatu


Earthquake Track
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 16:03 UTC
Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
6.0 magnitude earthquake 76 km from Isangel, Tafea, Vanuatu

2016-07-20 15:13:16 UTC

UTC time: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 15:13 PM

Your time: 2016-07-20T15:13:16Z

Magnitude Type: mwb

USGS page: M 6.0 - 76km NNW of Isangel, Vanuatu

USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Reports from the public: 1 person
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Question

Two Chinese fishermen are shocked after catching 'mysterious carnivorous creature' in Yangtze River

Tracy You
Daily Mail
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:57 UTC
strange fish Kaluga
© People's Daily OnlineWhat is it? Zhang Chuanzhou and Zhang Xiaogang caught the fish in Wuhan, China's Hubei Province
Two fishermen from central China are shocked after they reportedly netted a bizarre-looking fish that is described as vicious and carnivorous.

The mysterious creature was caught on July 16 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and measured seven feet in length and 220 pounds in weight, reported People's Daily Online.

Pictures of the river fish have been widely shared online in China while media are claiming that the species might date back to the age of dinosaurs.
strange fish Kaluga
© People's Daily OnlineMysterious species: Chinese media are claiming that the species might date back to the age of dinosaurs
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills horse in Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

Derek Lacey
Blue Ridge Now.com
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:37 UTC
Lightning
A truck and horse trailer were struck by lightning on Turkey Pen Road Tuesday afternoon, killing one of eight horses.

Chief Rick Livingston of Mills River Fire and Rescue said a pickup truck and trailer, with eight horses tied to the trailer, were parked at the parking lot at the Turkey Pen trailhead in Pisgah National Forest just outside Mills River when a sudden, localized thunderstorm formed.

Lightning struck a large tree about 50 feet away from the horse trailer. The bolt traveled across the ground to the horses, killing one and injuring several others, though the injured horses are expected to be fine.

Livingston said it was just a "freak accident."
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Attention

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

RT America
You Tube
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:11 UTC
Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
In the last seven days, central California has been hit by 70 small earthquakes.

The seismic swarm has been concentrated on the fault lines between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

RT correspondent Brigida Santos has the report and says that the US Geological Survey does not believe this is evidence of a big earthquake occurring in the near future.


Comment: See also: Earthquake swarm hits central California

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Bizarro Earth

'Smoking gun': Navy testing likely caused 3.7 magnitude 'earthquake' off Florida coast


RT
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 01:16 UTC
Earthquake
© U.S. Navy / Facebook
A 3.7 magnitude earthquake recorded off the coast of Florida was likely triggered by a man-made explosion, in order to test the seaworthiness of a new US Navy vessel.

Asked about the reported earthquake on Monday, a public information officer for the Navy's Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC said the agency was working on a statement it expects to release this week.

Comment: See also: July 16th earthquake off Florida's coast is a rare event

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Bizarro Earth

Bolivia's second-largest lake has completely dried up

Sean Breslin
The Weather Channel
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 01:11 UTC
Lake Poopó
A livelihood in Bolivia's high plains has suddenly disappeared, and a population that relied on the dried-up lake for centuries suddenly became refugees of climate change with nowhere to go.

The civilization that once thrived around Lake Poopó was forced to leave when the waterway dwindled, dying a slow death that was blamed on a lethal combination of drought, changing climate and failures by the government to keep it alive. Sitting more than 12,000 feet above sea level, Poopó shrunk for years before vanishing entirely just months ago.

According to the New York Times, climate change ultimately proved too devastating for the lake to survive. Since 1985, the lake warmed nearly half a degree Fahrenheit each decade, and the evaporation got worse and worse. Periodically, the lake would be nearly empty and the fish would die, and now the fishers are on their way out, officially becoming the latest refugees of climate change.

"The lake was our mother and our father," Adrián Quispe, a fisherman who lives in Llapallapani, told the Times. "Without this lake, where do we go?"

Comment: See also:

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