Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Arctic air pervades U.S. from coast to coast during 1st week of 2017

Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 10:05 UTC
Arctic air map
A wave of arctic air will spread from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of the United States during the first week of 2017.

The cold air will continue to invade the northwestern U.S. early this week. The cold air was accompanied by accumulating snow to near sea level in Washington on New Year's Day.

Over the Southwest, including Southern California and southern Arizona, the chilliest days will be the first part of the week as temperatures will moderate late in the week. Cold air will hang on much of the week in the Northwest.

"The main thrust of the cold air will extend from the northern Rockies to the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey. In this swath, a snowstorm will precede the arrival of the arctic air.

By the middle of the week, actual temperatures will bottom as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit below-zero and will rival the coldest air of the season so far over the northern tier of the Central states. AccuWeather RealFeel Temperatures over part of the northern Plains and Rockies can dip as low as minus 40 for a time.
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Attention

Earthquakes continue at California-Mexico border, 250 small quakes since New Year's Eve

Rong-Gong Lin, II
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 03:00 UTC
Brawley earthquakes map
© USGSThis map, generated about 5 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2017, shows the Brawley earthquake swarm that began on New Year's Eve.
A swarm of more than 250 small earthquakes have struck since New Year's Eve near the California-Mexico border, causing unease among residents and attention from scientists.

The strongest earthquake in the sequence was magnitude 3.9, striking directly underneath the town of Brawley, about 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

The earthquakes struck in the southern end of the Brawley Seismic Zone, a seismically active region where tectonic plates are moving away from each other and the Earth's crust is getting stretched out "and basically adding land," said Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson.

The Brawley Seismic Zone is particularly important to watch because it is the region that connects the San Andreas and Imperial faults, both of which can produce damaging earthquakes. The seismic zone extends for about 30 miles from the city of Brawley, across the Salton Sea's southern half, and ends near Bombay Beach.

Comment: Swarm of 100 small earthquakes strikes near California-Mexico border

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Cloud Precipitation

Worst flood in 30 years say residents of Terengganu, Malaysia


New Straits Times
Sun, 01 Jan 2017 15:11 UTC
The floods in Malaysia's east coast, which some describe as the worst in 30 years, forcing the evacuation of thousands in Terengganu and Kelantan.
© THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORKThe floods in Malaysia's east coast, which some describe as the worst in 30 years, forcing the evacuation of thousands in Terengganu and Kelantan.
Floods sweeping the state constituency of Telemong have been described by residents as the worst in 30 years.

For Isa Kassim, 65, of Kampung Kuala Ping, the deluge reminded him of another major flood in 1986.

"At that time, my children were still young, ranging from one to four years. I waded through flood waters carrying my three children, while my wife had to struggle with flood waters up to her neck.

"At that time, my family and I evacuated at 9pm, as we did not expect the water to rise so fast. Only Allah knows how we fought the swift waters to save our children," he said when met by Bernama here yesterday.

Isa, who is a retired civil servant, said at that time, facilities were still lacking and many villagers had to seek shelter at the nearest neighbour's or relative's house.

"I moved to my uncle's house. We stayed and ate at his house, as there were no evacuation facilities then.


The floods in Terengganu worsens as more than 4,000 people are still seeking shelter at relief centres.
© Mohd Syafiq Ridzuan AmbakThe floods in Terengganu worsens as more than 4,000 people are still seeking shelter at relief centres.
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Seismograph

6.0 Magnitude Earthquake South of Fiji Islands


Earthquake Track
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 14:58 UTC
Graph
UTC time: Monday, January 02, 2017 13:14 PM

USGS page: M 6.0 - South of the Fiji Islands

2017-01-02 13:14:02 UTC 6.0 magnitude, 549 km depth
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Fire

Forest fires in the Himalayas becoming 'unusually common'

Arpita Chakrabarty
Times of India
Sun, 31 Dec 2017 08:00 UTC
A major fire in the forests at Ahirikot in Srinagar, Uttarakhand state, India, Monday, May 2, 2016. Massive wildfires that have killed at least seven people in recent weeks were burning through pine forests in the mountains of northern India on Monday, in
© Press Trust of India
In the months of November and December when high-altitude areas of Dharchula and Munsiyari reel under sub-zero temperatures, forest fires have become unusually common, leading to suspicion that poachers are setting them off to trap endangered animals like musk deer.

Since the first week of November, 2016, residents of Munsiyari and Dharchula have reported witnessing smoke of forest fires more than six times in different parts of the two blocks. Fires were reported from the foothills of Panchachuli and Rajrambha peaks, van panchayat of the seasonal village of Burphu, Chipla Kedar forest of Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary and van panchayat of Pato village in Munsiyari in the last two months.

On December 16, van panchayat forests of the seasonal village of Gunji in Dharchula block also caught fire. "BRO and ITBP personnel were deployed to put it out," district magistrate of Pithoragarh, Ranjit Sinha, had said then. He also promised to put in place an inquiry into the incident.

Most recently, on December 28, locals of Munsiyari again spotted smoke at the foothills of Panchachuli peak.

Shekhar Kumar Neeraj, who heads TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of World Wide Fund for Nature, told TOI, "Although I am not aware of these winter forest fire incidents in Uttarakhand, this is a definite approach used by poachers to trap and kill musk deer at such high altitudes."

Comment: India has seen a "really alarming" 55% increase in forest fires this year. Could outgassing be a factor?

Last week a rare winter wildfire ignited in Alaska, despite a foot of snow on the ground and forest fires broke out in Switzerland (in the dead of winter!)

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Bizarro Earth

Year of rumbles - New Zealand had the most earthquakes in 2016


NZCity
Sun, 01 Jan 2017 17:43 UTC
Earthquake Damage
© Getty ImagesDamage at the Waiau Lodge Hotel in Kaikoura after an earthquake on November 14.
They're not called the shaky isles for nothing.

New Zealand experienced a record breaking 32,828 earthquakes in 2016.

There were also 80,000 landslides, two tsunamis and a volcanic eruption to cap off a year described by GeoNet as "the groundbreaker".

The previous biggest year was 2011 - the year of the deadly Christchurch earthquake - when 29,000 were recorded, compared to the usual average of 20,000 a year.

"You'd be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't impacted, in some way, by earthquakes in New Zealand this year," GeoNet's Sara McBride wrote in a blog post.

Usually quake-immune Auckland felt the ground rumble during the first of two magnitude seven quakes.

Normally the country only gets one quake a year above a magnitude seven, so when a 7.1 hit the northeast coast in September causing minimal damage on land, many thought that box had been ticked.

But earthquake-weary Christchurch and the often-shaky capital Wellington were rocked again by the devastating Kaikoura magnitude 7.8 earthquake just two months later.
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Bizarro Earth

Residents in Oswego County, NY report possible explosion, earthquake in Southern Tier

Emily Burkhard
My Twin Tiers
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 19:06 UTC
broome couty NY
People from Owego to Broome County reported feeling an "explosion" noise around 5 p.m. Saturday. WICZ reports that residents from Broome County all the way down to Northern Pennsylvania have reported odd shaking and felt their houses and windows shake.

According to WICZ the Tioga County Sheriff's Department did not say if they received any calls. They told WICZ they "have no comment or information at the moment."

The Broome County Sheriff's office told WICZ about reports coming from social media about "a yellow cloud of smoke."

Though they did not receive any calls about any clouds. They continued investigating those claims Saturday afternoon, but said they "don't even know where to begin because reports were coming from too many different locations."

The Firewire in Tioga County, posted that the boom was "heard over 100 miles into PA."

The National Weather Service in Binghamton confirmed that "nothing naturally occurred that was out of the ordinary." Officials added that the accounts sound like they describing a small earthquake, but there was no evidence to confirm that one had actually happened.
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Snowflake Cold

Grapevine connecting Southern, Northern California closed several hours due to snow


CBS News SF Bay Area
Sun, 01 Jan 2017 17:47 UTC
Interstate 5 california snow
© David McNew/Getty ImagesInterstate 5, the main route between Los Angeles, to the south, and Sacramento and San Francisco, stands empty as it remains closed due to snow in January 2008. At least 800 big rig trucks and many car travelers were stranded in the storm overnight that shutdown of the Golden State Freeway over Tejon Pass, commonly referred to as The Grapevine.
New Year's Eve was a traffic nightmare for drivers hoping to get to or from Southern California on California's main artery.

All lanes were closed for several hours in both directions of Interstate 5 in the Grapevine area north of Los Angeles because of snow.

At about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Caltrans District 6 tweeted, "The Grapevine has re-opened with CHP escorting traffic. Drive with care and patience. Happy New Year!"

Overnight, the California Highway Patrol escorted motorists through the snow on both northbound and southbound lanes.
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Rainbow

Brilliantly-colored polar stratospheric clouds appear over Arctic Circle


Space Weather
Sun, 01 Jan 2017 14:15 UTC
Earth's stratosphere is normally free of clouds. Not this weekend, though. Observers around the Arctic Circle are reporting an outbreak of brilliantly-colored icy clouds in the typically dry and transparent layer of our planet's atmosphere. Eric Fokke photographed the display on New Years Eve from the Lofoten Islands of Norway:
Polar stratospheric clouds over Norway
© Eric Fokke
These icy clouds are a sign of very cold temperatures. For ice crystals to form in the arid stratosphere, temperatures must drop to around -85º C. High-altitude sunlight shining through tiny ice particles ~10µm across produce the characteristic bright iridescent colors.

Once thought to be mere curiosities, some polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are now known to be associated with the destruction of ozone. Indeed, an ozone hole formed over the UK in Feb. 2016 following an outbreak of ozone-destroying Type 1 PSCs.

These clouds really are as amazing as they look in Fokke's photo. They have much more vivid colors than ordinary iridescent clouds, which form closer to Earth in the troposphere. Once seen, a stratospheric cloud is never forgotten.
Polar stratospheric clouds over Norway
© Eric Fokke
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Attention

Dead dolphin found discovered off Sandy Hook, New Jersey

Mary Ann Spoto
nj.com
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 13:26 UTC
Dolphin
A bottlenose dolphin believed to be one stuck in the Shrewsbury River over the summer was found dead off Sandy Hook, marine wildlife rescuers said.

The dolphin, believed to be a pregnant female, was first spotted Friday at noon floating in Sandy Hook Bay about a mile from the entrance to Sandy Hook, said Bob Schoelkopf, executive director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

There was no outward sign of what may have caused the dolphin's death, but a necropsy is scheduled for Tuesday after the state laboratory handling those procedures reopens from the holiday break, Schoelkopf said.

A dead bottlenose dolphin was found off Sandy Hook on Friday.
© Marine Mammal Stranding CenterA dead bottlenose dolphin was found off Sandy Hook on Friday.
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