Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Ex Cyclone Fehi causes major flooding in New Zealand

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 19:56 UTC
Families are evacuated in Ruby Bay.
© BRADEN FASTIERFamilies are evacuated in Ruby Bay.
After causing severe flooding in New Caledonia, the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fehi brought severe weather including thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the South Island of New Zealand from 31 January 2018.

Thousands of homes have been left without power. Local states of emergency have been declared in Buller and Dunedin.

Buller, West Coast region

Buller District Council said that there have been evacuations in many low lying areas such as Snodgrass, Carters Beach and Derby Street and many houses have experienced flooding.

The Emergency Operation Centre has been on standby since yesterday and is now in full swing as a coordination point for welfare, planning, communications and the general emergency operations

The main issue has been the high tide which was at 12.20 hrs. The water is now starting to recede in some areas however continues to rise in areas north of Westport. Evacuated residents should not return home until notified it is safe to return.

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Attention

Hundreds of dead and starving seabirds wash up on beaches at Tasman Bay, New Zealand

Nina Hindmarsh
Stuff
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 19:19 UTC
Hundreds of dead and sick fairy pirons are washing up around Tasman shores.
© Diane SowmanHundreds of dead and sick fairy pirons are washing up around Tasman shores.
Hundreds of dead and starving seabirds are washing up around Tasman's shoreline.

The rise in seawater temperatures could be to blame for hundreds of dead fairy prions washing up along the beaches in Tasman and Golden Bay.

There have been reports of people finding hundreds of dead, dehydrated and starving seabirds across the entire Tasman Bay, and all the way to Wharariki in Golden Bay.

Some are dropping the blue-grey birds to Natureland Wildlife Trust, in Nelson.

Director Meg Rutledge said they were currently caring for 13 dehydrated and starving birds, with more expected to arrive.

"It's not the first time historically that there have been such mass dying off of birds," she said.

Comment: The above story came from South Island, see also this recent report from North Island: Mass of dead and dying seabirds on Bay of Plenty shores in New Zealand

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Igloo

Snowing in Southern Morocco - first time in 50 years!

Sana Elouazi
Morocco World News
Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:39 UTC
Snow in Morocco
© Morocco World NewsZagoura, Ouarzazate and Taroudant Under Snow for First Time.
After several decades of extremely dry weather, residents in southern regions of Morocco finally woke up this morning to an unusual snowfall that currently impacted Ouarzazate, Taroudant and even Zagora, which has not experienced snowfall for fifty years.

Several photos and videos have been posted on social media depicting the cities covered with a huge layer of snow. Despite the freezing cold temperatures, many residents went outside to enjoy the unexpected snowfall.
Snow in Morocco
© Morocco World News
El Houcine Yoabd, in charge of communication at the National Meteorology, told the media outlet le 360, that it has snowed in these regions due to a mass of air coming from Northern Europe.

"We are under the influence of a very low pressure of altitude, with very cold temperatures that can reach 0 or even 1 degree," Yoabd said.
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Cloud Grey

Stunning iridescent cloud captured over Ribeirao Claro, Brazil (VIDEO)

MAX GOLEMBO
ABC News
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 15:39 UTC
Rainbow cloud over Brazil
© Andre NassifThe meteorological phenomenon, known as cloud iridescence, was seen above Ribeirao Claro, Brazil.
Stunning video captured a rainbow in the clouds over Ribeirao Claro, Brazil, in a meteorological phenomenon known as cloud iridescence.

Iridescence like this happens when the clouds are very thin and are made of similar-sized water droplets.

What you're seeing, essentially, is part of a corona -- when a rainbow-like halo engulfs the sun or the moon -- and the bands and colors change as the cloud evolves.

Iridescence is most often seen close to the sun.

It's usually spotted when part of a cloud is forming because that's when all of the water droplets have a similar history and similar size.


Comment: A few days ago spectacular polar stratospheric clouds were captured over Peru. It is likely that atmospheric dust loading from increased comet and volcanic activity is contributing to the 'strange skies' we are witnessing, the cooling effect of which causes ice crystals to form. See also: Electric universe theory provides rational, intelligible explanations for such atmospheric phenomena as ball lightning, plasma discharges, noctilucent clouds, lightning, hurricanes and tornadoes. For more information on this and much more read, Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

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Snowman

Moscow buried in heaviest late January snowfall in 50 years (PHOTOS)


Moscow Times
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:01 UTC
Moscow buried in heaviest late January snowfall in 50 years (PHOTOS)
© AP Photo/Pavel GolovkinPeople walk in snow in Moscow's Red Square, with the Spasskaya Tower, center, and St. Basil's Cathedral, center left, in the background, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018.
Muscovites took to social media on Wednesday to share pictures of how their city turned white with snow overnight.

Forecasters say Moscow's snowfall hit a half-century record of 38 centimeters on the last day of January, causing massive flight delays and disruptions of the public transportation system.
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Arrow Down

Man, motorcycle fall into sinkhole in Augusta, Georgia

Susan McCord
The Augusta Chronicle
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:24 UTC
Motorcyclist falls into sinkhole
Motorcyclist falls into sinkhole
Augusta firefighters helped pull a man from a large sinkhole that opened in the parking lot at Augusta Exchange shopping center Wednesday, information officer Michael Meyers said.

"We did assist in a rescue when someone fell in," Meyers said. "He suffered from minor injuries."

The man, as well as his motorcycle, fell in the hole, located near the former H.H. Gregg store. His condition was not available late Wednesday.

Augusta Utilities Director Tom Wiedmeier said the hole was near a storm drain on the private parking lot.

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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Tropical brown booby bird turns up at Ogden Point, Canada


CTV News
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 14:00 UTC
A brown booby, a tropical bird rarely seen in the cool climate of the Pacific Northwest, is recovering after it was found injured at Ogden Point. Jan. 31, 2018.
© Wild ARCA brown booby, a tropical bird rarely seen in the cool climate of the Pacific Northwest, is recovering after it was found injured at Ogden Point. Jan. 31, 2018.
A tropical bird rarely seen in the cool climate of the Pacific Northwest is recovering after it was found injured on Vancouver Island.

A female brown booby about two years old was found with a puncture wound in its chest at Ogden Point on Monday.

The tropical birds are typically found in California, Mexico and Hawaii and it's rare for them to be spotted here, according to BC SPCA's Wild Animal Rehabilitation centre in Metchosin, which is now caring for the injured animal.

Comment: The last 12 months has seen a notable number of these extralimital records of tropical seabirds in North America, presumably for the most part storm driven, here's a list of such reports: Bird from the tropics, the brown booby, seen for first time in New Hampshire

Wrong place, wrong time: Tropical seabird turns up at Point Pelee, Ontario

Rare sighting of frigatebird in Wausau, Wisconsin, a likely hurricane refugee

Rare red-billed tropicbird turns up in Gulf Breeze, Florida

Wrong place, wrong time: Nazca Booby from the Galapagos Islands turns up at Dana Point, Califorina

Although displacement caused by extremely inclement weather seems the most plausible explanation in most cases, the following extract from a 2015 report of a brown booby turning up near Cape Race in Canada, indicates that at least some of these seabirds had been getting lost due to other factors:
Most historic records of brown boobies north of the Florida Keys are hurricane waifs. However, about three years ago brown boobies started doing odd things. They started appearing in the northeast United States without an obvious explanation. These were not storm driven birds, but individuals flying north of their own free will. One even reached the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. And the first for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador landed on a tour boat just off St. Anthony.


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Question

More than 200 hundred starlings fall from the sky in Draper, Utah

Elle Thomas
fox13now.com
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 13:28 UTC
Hundreds of birds fall from sky in Utah
Hundreds of birds fall from sky in Utah
More than 200 birds fell from the sky onto a Draper street Monday, leading residents to wonder what caused this mass avian accident.

"It's one of the rarest things I've ever heard of," said Sergeant Chad Carpenter with the Draper City Police Department.

"As I was driving, these birds were just falling out of the sky," said Draper resident, Lacey Brown as she was driving down the street on 300 East in Draper.

"They were all on the ground right around here and on the roadway," Brown said, "They were just falling out of the sky like leaves," she added.

But they weren't leaves, they were hundreds of small birds called starlings.


Comment: See also this similar report from the beginning of the month: At least 20 starlings found dead along road in Lyons Brook, Canada

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Attention

River turns red in Tyumen, Russia


Sptunik
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 23:13 UTC
river red tyumen russia
River Molchanka just outside a Northern Russian city of Tyumen has apparently suffered from nearby greeneries. Much to the surprise of the locals, the water has acquired a distinct orangy-red color.

Comment: Over the years, and all over the world, many bodies of water have been recorded as suddenly turning red; is it the result of chemical waste or is something else happening? Other equally perplexing phenomena has also been on the increase:

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Snowflake Cold

Cold weather kills 53 in Taiwan

Keoni Everington
Taiwan News
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 18:39 UTC
cold house
Frigid temperatures kill 53 in Taiwan, more possible deaths feared as mercury set to plunge further this weekend

As the latest cold wave blasts Taiwan causing temperatures to plummet to 10 to 12 degrees Celsius in all parts north of Tainan, 53 people have lost their lives to the bitter cold weather yesterday (Jan. 30), but more lives are at risk as an intense cold surge is set to arrive on Saturday, reported Apple Daily.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) predicts that as the current cold air wave is combined with another cold air mass that arrives from the north in the evening, central Taiwan and all areas north could dip down to 10 degrees tonight.

Weather experts say that the cold weather of the past couple days is just an "appetizer" for the much colder weather yet to come. A major cold surge is set to strike Taiwan from Saturday through Tuesday, causing the mercury in all points north of central Taiwan to drop down to 6 to 7 degrees. During this period, Hehuanshan, Taipingshan, Lalashan, Qixingshan, and Datunshan are all likely to see snowfall.

Under the affects of the current cold air mass, Taoyuan's Xinwu District registered a record low of the winter thus far of 10.7 degrees Celsius yesterday morning. Meanwhile, Yushan saw two centimeters of fresh snowfall and Yushan's Paiyun Lodge saw five centimeters of snow.

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