Earth ChangesS


Attention

4.7 magnitude earthquake among 7 recorded in 1 day in Oklahoma, becoming one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world

Oklahoma earthquake damage
© Brian Corn The Wichita EagleFallen bricks were discovered Monday on a sidewalk in the 100 block of South Washington. The bricks fell from above a vehicle entrance to the building. Some are wondering whether the damage is the result of a magnitude-4.7 earthquake that happened early Monday. (Nov. 30, 2015)
At least seven earthquakes rattled north-central Oklahoma on Monday, including one felt as far away as Iowa, prompting concern from residents and policymakers that the state isn't doing enough to curb the quakes that scientists have linked to oil and gas activity.

Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 720 so far this year. Many of the earthquakes occur in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater - a byproduct of oil and gas production - deep into the Earth.

"It lasted for several seconds, but it's hard to tell when you just wake up," resident Frankie Robbins said of the 4.7 temblor that hit before 4 a.m. on Monday about 16 miles from his home in Medford, which is about 80 miles south-southwest of Wichita.

The shaking was felt in Wichita as well.

Dozens of bricks fell from above the doorway to a 75-year-old building on Washington just south of Douglas early Monday, and the owners of the building say the earthquake may have caused or contributed to the damage.

Comment: US Geological Survey statistics show that 40% of all major earthquakes located in the lower 48 states have occurred in Oklahoma this year. Cushing in Oklahoma is home to the largest commercial crude oil storage center in North America, and is dotted with hundreds of airplane hangar-sized tanks that hold an estimated 54 million barrels of oil. These tanks were built to national standards that account for some shaking, but they weren't constructed with serious earthquakes in mind, which is causing concern to Homeland Security according to Daniel McNamara, a USGS research geophysicist.

See also: A disaster waiting to happen in Oklahoma? The link between fracking and earthquakes is causing alarm in a town where oil storage is 'booming'

Seismic activity in the Oklahoma area over the past couple of months include: There is growing evidence that fracking and earthquakes are linked:


Cloud Lightning

Severe thunderstorms to hit southeast Queensland - again

queesnland storm
© Penny Dahl, @pennycopterA tree fell onto a house in Collingwood Park.
Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for parts of southeast Queensland this afternoon, as the region continues to clean up following yesterday's wild weather.

The Bureau of Meteorology says severe thunderstorms have been detected on radar between Cooyar and Crows Nest, with damaging winds and large hailstones likely. Read the full warning here.

Residents in the path of the storm are advised to secure loose outdoor items, move their car under cover or away from trees, and seek shelter.

During yesterday's storms fallen trees blocked roads and caused damage, with one collapsing onto a home in Collingwood Park, about 30km from the Brisbane CBD, almost splitting it in two.


Cloud Precipitation

Severe snow storm warning for Iceland

iceland snowsotrm
© Mbl.is/ Halldór SveinbjörnssonTomorrow morning is looking extremely bad, weather wise.
Please be warned: tomorrow morning is looking extremely bad, weather wise. Mbl.is/ Halldór Sveinbjörnsson

Despite having already released a forecast for extreme winter weather tomorrrow, Tuesday, the Iceland Met Office has now issued a storm warning.

The storm is expected to hit Reykjavik early tomorrow morning, as well as most of South Iceland, which means that with the strong winds, snow will blow across roads. Many roads may become impassable. More snowfall accompanied by the storm is expected in the late morning and early afternoon.

People are strongly advised from travelling anywhere around Iceland tomorrow and possibly even travel within Reykjavik could become very difficult.

Boat

Massive flooding, landslides hit West and North Sumatra

Torrential rain has caused landslides in parts of West and North Sumatra, cutting off access and disrupting economic activity.
Image
© NASA/JAXA GPM72-hr rainfall accumulation as observed by GPM Core Observatory.
A 150-meter stretch of the highway connecting West Sumatra and Riau in Jorong Sopang, Pangkalan Koto Baru, Limapuluh Kota regency, was engulfed by up to a meter of floodwater on Sunday at 5 a.m. local time. Limapuluh Kota Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Nasriyanto said the flooding was triggered by the overflowing Batang Manggilang River.

"Only large trucks were able to pass, resulting in other vehicles from Pekanbaru and Payakumbuh backing up 2 kilometers for eight hours," Nasriyanto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. He said the heavy rain that had drenched the region in the past three days had triggered floods and landslides in a number of locations in the regency. At least 500 homes were engulfed by over 50 centimeters of floodwater and eight homes were reportedly damaged by a landslide on Sunday morning.

"We, together with residents, are currently moving residents and livestock to safer areas. Reports are coming in, but no casualties have been reported so far," said Nasriyanto. Floods have taken place in Taram and Sarilamak villages in Harau district, Payakumbuh, Guguk, Lareh Sago Halaban and Kapur Sembilan districts.

Two homes were destroyed in Kapur Sembilan district and six in Taneh Bukit, but no casualties were reported. Ten homes were isolated by floods in Sago Halaban. "We have further heightened vigilance because the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG] predicts high rainfall on Sunday and Monday. We urge residents living in dangerous areas to increase awareness, and if need be evacuate," said Nasriyanto.

A landslide also took place in Agam regency on Sunday morning. The road in Matur district was buried by landslides in two places. The landslides also carried rocks. The provincial public works agency deployed heavy machinery to clear the affected areas.

Comment: See the video below for floods reported in the past month here on SOTT and check out our most recent SOTT Earth Changes Summary for October 2015 for more extreme weather across the globe.




Wolf

Wolves seen near the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland for the first time in 50 years

Image
© Alamy Wolves have returned to Poland after disappearing in the 1960s.
Wolves have returned to a large national park on the outskirts of Warsaw, decades after they were wiped out there under a hunt launched by the communist authorities.

"We're really happy," said Magdalena Kamińska, spokeswoman for the 150sq mile (385sq km) Kampinos national park, Poland's second largest. "The fact that wolves have returned to our park, from which they completely disappeared in the 1960s, means that nature is in good health and is renewing itself."

Park employees spotted a first wolf in 2013, but the animal was just passing through. Now there are several and they appear to have settled in for the long haul, Kamińska said.

A young male wolf was caught on a hidden camera just a few days ago, and in September another was spotted drinking at a watering hole.

Attention

Dead whale found on Shandong beach, China

Image
3.9-ton whale found dead on Shandong beach, workers load it up, drive to freezing plant for further examination
Over the weekend, a mammoth 8.5-meter long, 3.9-ton whale was found dead, washed ashore near Rizhao city in Shandong province.

The locals informed the city bureau of ocean and fishery, who arrived quickly to see one truly massive whale carcass that would have to be moved.

According to NetEase, the staff's initial evaluation was that the whale had been killed by getting tangled up in a fishing net and strangling to death. They needed to get it back to the freezing plant for further examination, so with quite a bit of effort they used a crane to lift the carcass up on a truck and away they went.

We assume that nobody followed too close.

Better Earth

Putin claims Russia over-fulfilled Kyoto Protocol, 'slowing down global warming for a year'

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© Stephane Mahe / Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech for the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, November 30, 2015.
Russia is planning on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by substantial proportion in the coming years, President Vladimir Putin noted at the international conference on climate change in France. As many as 150 world leaders have arrived at 21st session of World Climate Change Conference which opened on Monday in Paris.

US President Barack Obama, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's President Vladimir Putin were among those who have delivered their speeches today. The Russian leader revealed his country's efforts in fighting with global warming that slowed down the process for at least a year.

"We have gone beyond the target fixed by the Kyoto Protocol for the period from 1991 to 2012. Russia not only prevented the growth of greenhouse gas emission, by also significantly reduced it," Putin said. "Nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent weren't released into the atmosphere. As a comparison, the total emissions of all countries in 2012 reached 46 billion tons."

Russia is planning to keep progressing by bringing breakthrough technologies into practice, "including nanotechnology," Putin continued saying the country is also open to exchange and share the findings. Apart from that, Putin has also promised Russia will reduce its polluting emissions by 70 percent by 2030 as compared to base level in 1990. A new agreement must lay emphasis on the role of forests as major greenhouse gases absorber, Putin said. This would be especially important to Russia with its large forest lands. Preserving the lungs of our planet is a top priority, he added. Russia is also going to provide financial and other support to developing countries willing to deal with climate change.


Comment: Does Putin actually believe any of this? Not likely. The time period he refers to includes the 1990s, during which the Russian economy contracted so violently that, of course, its industrial output, and thus 'carbon footprint', was drastically reduced. What happened to Russia and the other former Soviet Republics then is what the Western elite want for all 'lesser' countries everywhere: massive cutbacks so that there is more for them and less for everyone else, all under the guise of 'saving the planet', of course.

In any event, natural global cooling is the real climate event they're covering up. German scientists predict, based on declining sunspot activity and natural climate oscillation, that the world will cool over the next century. Temperatures will eventually drop to levels corresponding with the 'little ice age' of the 17th-18th centuries.

See also:


Cloud Precipitation

At least 12 killed as 2 mini-buses are swept away by floods in Kenya

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The minibus that overturned at Agolo Muok in Suba, Homa Bay county, on Friday.
Ten people were Sunday morning killed when a matatu they were travelling was swept away by raging water in Nyakibai, Gatundu North, Kiambu County.

The ten, who are believed to be from the same family, drowned while seven survivors were taken to the local health centre, treated and discharged.

This gave an indication the van had 17 passengers at the time of the accident.

Traffic commandant Jecinta Kinyua said the victims were from a dowry ceremony in Nyahururu and were headed for Kandara in Murang'a County when the accident happened.


Snowflake Cold

Flooding and ice storms kill 14 over Thanksgiving in US Midwest

snow plough
© James Glover / Reuters
Storms in the US Midwest have claimed at least 14 lives as temperatures plunged below freezing point over the holiday weekend. Tens of thousands of homes have been left without electricity, while driving conditions are treacherous due to icy roads.

A wintry storm system that has been moving through parts of the Great Plains and the Midwest since Thursday has brought extremely cold weather to the region. Eight people have lost their lives in Texas, with a further six dying in the state of Kansas.

The icy conditions are also causing havoc for local residents. Some 78,000 people in parts of Oklahoma have been left without power after trees collapsed onto power lines, according to Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.

Tornado2

Australian outback music festival goes wild for mini-tornado

Mini-tornado at dance festival
© Youtube/Synaptic TVRather than seeking shelter from the storm, a large group of people instead charged towards the wind gust and began dancing around it
Revellers did not run away when a whirlwind swept through a music festival in Australia on Saturday.

They instead sprinted directly towards the towering column of dust and debris so that they could dance in it.

Canadian Olivier Bonenfant filmed the incident at the Earthcore festival, which was held about 100km north of Melbourne.

He dubbed it a "doofnado" - "doof" is an Australian slang term for a dance party held in the bush.