Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills tourist in Slovakia

Lightning
A Czech tourist, 36, did not survive the strike by a lightning in the Western Tatra Mountains in Slovakia on Tuesday, the mountain rescue service has said, adding that the called-in emergency medical staff were unable to help him.

The accident occurred at around noon when a strong storm hit the mountains.

The lightning struck the tourist right on the ridge between the mountains Predny Salatin and Brestova.

The Czech tourist lost consciousness and suffered a serious head injury. His relatives and other hikers tried to get him out of the ridge as soon as possible.

A helicopter with a doctor flew to the place, but even his effort to resuscitate the man lasting 45 minutes could not save him.

Storms appeared in several regions in Slovakia in the past days. Due to this, the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute issued the second degree of storm warning for most Slovakia on Tuesday.

Source: Czech News Agency (ČTK)

Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 20 cows in Uganda

Lightning
Pennington Okeny, a resident of Guda Palwo village says the thunderbolt struck the animals as they retreated from grazing.

The disaster struck as livestock farming is taking shape in Lamwo district after two decades of LRA war in the region.

It is a big blow to to government effort to restock the region.

Info

New species of rare beaked whale found in the Bering Sea

 In 2004 Reid Brewer of the University of Alaska Southeast measured an unusual beaked whale that turned up dead in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. A tissue sample from the carcass later showed that the whale was one of the newly identified species.
© Don GravesIn 2004 Reid Brewer of the University of Alaska Southeast measured an unusual beaked whale that turned up dead in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. A tissue sample from the carcass later showed that the whale was one of the newly identified species.
A new species of incredibly rare beaked whale was identified after one of the animals washed ashore on an island in the Bering Sea and, after an extensive search through tissue samples at museums, it was discovered the cetacean was a completely new species, researchers said Tuesday.

In 2014, the animal turned up dead on the shores of St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands in the rugged Bering Sea. It appeared to be similar to a Baird's beaked whale, but it was smaller and had darker skin than the more common cetacean.

"We knew it was not any whale we knew from our area," Michelle Ridgway, a marine ecologist with Oceanus Alaska who documented the whale in the Pribilofs, said in a statement.

Phillip Morin, a research molecular biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center inspected the DNA of nearly 180 beaked whales discovered around the Pacific Rim. The whale in question, he discovered, along with seven other animals, were members of the new unnamed species, which the Japanese call "karasu," the Japanese word for raven.

Arrow Up

Japan's Sakurajima volcano erupts: Ash plume spewed 5,000 meters high with multiple static lightning discharges

Mount Sakurajima eruption
© YouTube/kaze shiroi (screen capture)
Mount Sakurajima erupted early on July 26, belching out a massive column of smoke rising 5,000 meters in the air.

The eruption occurred at 12:02 a.m. at the mountain's Showa crater.

This is the first time that the active volcano in southern Kyushu has spewed out a smokestack that high since an eruption on Aug. 18, 2013, according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office.

It marked the 47th eruption this year, and the observatory is warning residents and travelers in the area that traffic accidents may occur because of the falling ash.

The Japan Meteorological Agency continues to keep Sakurajima on an alert level of "3," which closes off the entire mountain except for residential areas along the coast. It has been at that level since February.


Tornado2

Another tornado hits Gauteng province, South Africa - second within last 24 hours

Gauteng tornado damage
© ER24 Three people have been injured after a roof collapsed at the Phumulani Mall in Tembisa, Gauteng.
A tornado wreaked havoc in the east of Johannesburg near OR Tambo International airport on Tuesday afternoon - the second to hit Gauteng within the last 24-hours.

At least 20 people were injured when the tornado passed through Thembisa at 4pm, damaging Phumulani Mall in Winnie Mandela section, Tembisa Hospital and a Total garage, both in Hospital View.

People in Johannesburg took to social media to share pictures and videos of the tornado touching down in the area and the damage it caused.

@LAssenheim posted this as he was driving near Boksburg:


Comment: Extreme weather in South Africa: Snow, flooding and tornadoes cause havoc


Fire

State of emergency declared for Southern California wildfires

California wildfire
© Nick Ut / APA hillside erupts in flame as a raging wildfire fire burns in Placerita Canyon in Santa Clarita, Calif., Monday, July 25, 2016.
The state of California declared a state of emergency Tuesday night, as firefighters feverishly tried to control a fast-moving wildfire that has scorched 37,473 acres near Los Angeles since Friday, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Fires in Monterey County, albeit more than half the size of the L.A.-area wildfire, also prompted the declaration.

"Acting Governor Tom Torlakson today issued emergency proclamations for Los Angeles and Monterey counties due to the effects of the Sand and Soberanes fires, which have burned tens of thousands of acres of land, threatened thousands of homes and other structures and caused the evacuation of residents," read a statement from the office of California governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.

More than 3,000 firefighters have been deployed to halt the blaze in the Santa Clarita Valley, according to the department. About 25 percent of the fire has been contained.


Comment: Could 2016 be California's worst wildfire season?


Fire

Wildfire near Valencia, Spain spreading to nature reserve after laying waste to 1,400 hectares of land

wildfire castellon spain
A plane fights a wildfire burning in Artana, near Castellon, eastern Spain on July 26, 2016
Spanish troops intervened Tuesday as a wildfire near the eastern city of Valencia spread to a nature reserve after laying waste to some 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) of land, regional authorities said.

The fire, whose cause was unclear, broke out on Monday at Artana, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Valencia, an emergency services spokeswoman said, adding it had not spread to residential areas.

Overnight, the fire reached Sierra d'Espadan, an ecoregion known for its cork oak forests and home to foxes as well as endangered species of bats.

Cloud Grey

Photos capture largest polar stratospheric clouds seen in Antarctic this year

Polar stratospheric cloud
© MarceloPolar Stratospheric Cloud photographed on July 25, 2016 at San Martín Base in Antarctica.
This was the biggest stratospheric clouds so far this year. A colorful spectacle to begin the day.

Polar stratospheric cloud
© Marcelo

Cloud Lightning

Man dies following lightning strike in Bedford County, Virginia; 14th death within 6 weeks in U.S. due to lightning

Robert Miller
Robert Miller
A man hit by lightning along a Bedford County road earlier this month has died.

Robert Miller died Friday at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.

He was taken to the hospital's burn unit after a state trooper found him lying along Route 122 near Bedford July 14.

Doctors determined he had burns consistent with a lightning strike.

A family member said Miller was taken off of life support late last week. He was 23.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt obliterates telephone pole in Chicago (VIDEO)

Telephone pole lightning strike
Telephone pole lightning strike
This is quite possibly the scariest thing about thunderstorms. They don't have to spawn tornadoes, drop softball-size hail or even be particularly strong to be deadly serious.

Case in point, this video.


Anja Englert was driving down Irving Park Road in Chicago on Sunday evening during a torrential downpour. A line of thunderstorms was rolling across northern Illinois. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning comes crashing from the sky and shatters a wooden telephone pole in an explosion of flames and splinters right in front of the camera.

A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect at the time, but the truth is if you're outside during any thunderstorm, you won't get a warning before lightning strikes.

Nineteen people have died from lightning so far this year, and every one of them was preventable. We don't tell people to take shelter in a storm just because of tornadoes or strong winds; you risk being struck by lightning whenever you hear thunder.