Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorm damages wheat crop in Punjab, India

Wheat damged
Rainfall accompanied by hailstorm damaged wheat crop in some villages of Patiala district in the past 24 hours. Farmers claimed to suffer huge losses as the revenue department has been asked to assess the damage to the crop. The crop was almost ready for harvesting in a couple of days.

Reports of wheat being affected to due inclement weather have come from Danipur, Lalgarh, Fatehpur, Khanpur, Kutbanpur, Fateh Majri, Gajewas and Asarpur where farmers claimed 80% of their crop is damaged.

Samana tehsildar Ram Kishan and local MLA Rajinder Singh on Wednesday visited the affected villages. Former Union minister Preneet Kaur, wife of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, ordered the deputy commissioner to assess the complete damage to crops in Patiala district and send a report soon.

Comment: Other crops hit recently by severe hailstorms across India, include apples, apricots, mangoes and walnuts in Shimla, Kishtwar, Uri and Nalgonda. Tea plants in Barak Valley have also suffered intense damage.


Seismograph

Largest Ever Earthquake in Botswana, Purple Skies over India & Mini Ice Age Signs Uptick

Purple skies over India
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
As our Sun and Earth descend into a grand solar minimum, mega quakes have always occurred during these lows in solar activity. One indicator that we are repeating this same cycle is to see earthquakes in strange areas of the globe, the North Pole and now the strongest earth quake ever recorded in Botswana and southern Africa. Electrical and atmospheric changes are very apparent now with purple skies, phenomenal electrical discharges and fierce hail in strange locations globally in the wrong season.


Tornado2

Tornadoes, hail, high winds lash U.S. Southeast: 75M at risk of severe storms

Atlanta storm damage
© John Spink, Atlanta Journal-Constitution via APAn Atlanta Public Works crew got caught as Peachtree Creek overflows onto Woodward Way as they were delivering Road Block equipment and were rescued by the Atlanta Fire Rescue's Swift Water Dive Team in Atlanta.
A storm system with tornadoes, hail and high winds is expected to continue pounding the Southeast through Thursday, as a severe weather outbreak swept through several states.

Several tornadoes were reported Wednesday across Georgia. One destroyed structures near Weston, Ga., while another one hit in Newton, Ga., east of Atlanta, the Associated Press reported. Another was reported in South Carolina.

No injuries or deaths were reported as of late Wednesday, although authorities cautioned that it was too early to assess damage and casualties.

The storm canceled the Masters golf tournament opening day for the first time ever, NBC reported.

"We share in the disappointment of our patrons, but the safety of everyone on our grounds is always our primary concern," Billy Payne, chairman of the Masters golf tournament, said after players were ordered off the course in Augusta, Georgia.

Five Atlanta city workers had to be rescued Wednesday after getting caught in floodwaters, WSBTV reports. An Atlanta Watershed SUV became stuck around 2 p.m., followed by a public works truck that came to set up barricades to keep motorists from driving through high waters.

Widespread severe storms continued through Wednesday evening, primarily in Alabama, Georgia and parts of South Carolina, the Weather Channel said. Overall, about 75 million people are at risk of severe storms.


Bizarro Earth

Ring of red light snapped over Czech Republic

On April 2nd, high above a thunderstorm in the Czech republic, an enormous ring of light appeared near the edge of space. Amateur astronomer Martin Popek photographed the donut-shaped apparition using a low-light video camera:
ELVE
© Martin PopekTaken by Martin Popek on April 2, 2017 @ Nýdek, Czech republic.
"It appeared for just a millisecond alongside the constellation Orion" says Popek.

Attention

Signs and Portents: Turtle with two heads and six legs found in Chinese pet store

A baby turtle was found to have two heads and six legs among a box of imported turtles
A baby turtle was found to have two heads and six legs among a box of imported turtles
A bizarre video shows a baby turtle with two heads and six legs found in north China's Shanxi Province.

Footage shows the baby red-eared slider with two heads and six legs as it moves around normally.

Researchers from Shanxi Medicine and Life Science Academy told Chinese media that it was 'caused by genetic mutation, just like a human.'

Mr Wang, a reptile shop owner told Shanxi Metropolis Post that he bought a box of red-eared sliders from a wholesale market on March 29.

Surprisingly he found a baby turtle with two heads and six legs among the other turtles. However, the little red-eared slider can move and eat like just like the others.

'All the legs are moving and all the eyes are blinking. It eats normally and I believe this baby turtle is about two to three months old,' Wang told reporters.


Fish

Size of Mediterranean fish stocks deteriorate alarmingly

fish
© Wikimedia / Alessandro Duci A school of sardines in Italy.
Fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea are deteriorating at an alarming rate. A recent analysis by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows that 93% of the assessed fish stocks are overexploited, and a number of them are on the verge of depletion. In addition, the Mediterranean Sea has lost 41% of its marine mammals and 34% of the total fish population over the past 50 years.

An estimated 10 000 to 12 000 marine species inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, but this extraordinary biodiversity is in grave danger, as it is threatened by pollution, climate change and overfishing. Further delays in concerted action could result in irreversible damage and a collapse of key stocks that are essential to the fisheries sector.

Marine mammals and fish on the decline

In a study published in Nature's Scientific Reports, JRC scientists warn about pressures on the Mediterranean Sea that might push the ecosystem beyond the point of no return. The analysis looks at the historical changes in the Mediterranean Sea food web driven by environmental drivers and fishing efforts. It concludes that, over the past 50 years, the Mediterranean has lost 41% of the number of marine mammals and 34% of the total amount of fish. The largest reductions were found in the Western Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic Sea (- 50%), while the reduction was much less in the Ionian Sea (- 8%).

Attention

Lucky escape for kayaker following shark attack in Moreton Bay, Australia

The man's damaged kayak after the shark attack.
© Queensland PoliceThe man's damaged kayak after the shark attack.
A Sunshine Coast man has escaped without injury after a shark bit off the back of his kayak in Moreton Bay today.

The 39-year-old Maroochydore man was paddling with eight others towards Mud Island when the shark attacked his kayak around eight kilometres east of Woody Point, police said.

The man was able to call Triple Zero as his kayak began to sink.

He was pulled from the water shaken but unharmed by water police around 4pm.

Photos released by police of his 6.5m kayak showed a large portion of the craft missing.

Igloo

Newfoundland blizzard brings record snow

Snow piled up in Gander
© The Canadian Press/HO-Trudy CarterSnow is piled up in front of house in Gander, N.L. on Monday, April 3, 2017 in a handout photo.
The first day of spring was two weeks ago, but winter is far from over in Newfoundland.

A powerful storm swept across the province this week, and another 75 centimetres of snow is expected by Tuesday evening. Over 97 centimetres was dumped on Gander over the weekend. To put that number in context, Toronto saw 81 centimetres of snow over the entire winter, according to The Weather Network.

Gander broke the snowfall record for March with a total of 200 centimetres, and is on track to break April's previous record of 97 centimetres, VOCM reported.

People trying to get to work have faced some unique challenges.


Comment: Spring storm sweeps across Newfoundland, closing schools and hampering travel




Wolf

Child fights for life following dog attack in Kent, UK

Dog attack
A child is fighting for life after being attacked by a dog as two people remain in police custody.

Police shot the animal dead after it bit the youngster, said to be a toddler, during the incident in the Jenkins Dale area of Chatham, Kent, on Tuesday evening.

"Officers, including firearms officers, attended and to ensure public safety the dog was shot dead," Kent Police said in a statement."

"The South East Coast Ambulance Service and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Service also attended and the injured child has been taken to a London hospital in a critical condition."


Attention

Dead humpback whale washes up on beach in Queens, New York

 The carcass of a whale spotted on a Queens beach earlier Tuesday.
© Dennis A. Clark The carcass of a whale spotted on a Queens beach earlier Tuesday.
Crews are working to remove a dead humpback whale that washed ashore in Queens.

The giant mammal was found around 7 a.m. Tuesday on Rockaway Beach near Beach 117th St.

Park officials cordoned off the area to keep onlookers from getting too close.

The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society said the whale is roughly 30-feet long and about two years old. It may weigh as much as 20 tons.

Scientists say the next step is trying to figure out how he died.

The conservation group said the U.S. Coast Guard reported the whale floating nine miles offshore Monday night.