Earth ChangesS


Rainbow

'Rare' fire rainbow seen all across New Jersey

Fire rainbow
© NJ.com/UnaffiliatedVtrPeople all across New Jersey spotted a rare, colorful cloud formation known as a 'fire rainbow' on Tuesday, June 14. This was a view from Neptune City in Monmouth County.
If you happened to look up in the sky at the right time and in the right location Tuesday afternoon, you might have been lucky enough to see a rare, colorful cloud phenomenon known as a "fire rainbow."

Trisha Garlatti, of Edison, was one of those lucky ones. As she was driving through South River at about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, she caught a glimpse of it and felt compelled to whip out her camera phone. "It was like a rainbow inside a cloud," she said.

NJ fire rainbow
© Toni HoffmanThe view from Spring Lake in Monmouth County.
Although it's commonly referred to as a fire rainbow, in the scientific world it's known as a circumhorizontal arc. And weather experts call it "cloud iridescence," said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional office in Mount Holly.

Johnson said the conditions have to be right for this phenomenon to form, and on Tuesday those conditions were in play over parts of New Jersey: Thin clouds very high in the atmosphere, tiny ice crystals in the clouds, and sunlight hitting the ice crystals at a certain angle.

"It's basically the same principle behind what we normally see in rainbows," Johnson said. "But instead of dealing with rain droplets with regular rainbows, we're dealing with ice crystals, because these clouds are so high" and the temperatures are very cold up there.

If the clouds are shaped like an arc and the sunlight hits the ice crystals that are in those clouds, "they will refract the sunlight, creating the full spectrum of colored light instead of just white light," the meteorologist said.

Fire rainbows tend to form when thin, wispy cirrus clouds are high in the sky, as they were on Tuesday, about 15,000 feet above the ground, Johnson said. But they also could develop with even thinner clouds, such as cirrostratus clouds.

Attention

Signs and Portents: Two-headed piglet with 3 eyes born in China

This piglet was born with two heads
© CENThis piglet was born with two heads
The adorable little creature, just a few days old, has two heads and two mouths, but bizarrely only three eyes.

Farmer Zhong Xulong said he noticed the "special" piglet as soon as it was born along with 13 of its siblings.

One of the piglets in the litter is said to have died soon after being born, but surprisingly the two-headed animal survived.

Xulong's dad, Zhong Guoyuan, said the family has been raising the sow for more than three years, and that it was the first time she had given birth to such a piglet.

He also claimed not to have noticed anything strange prior to the sow giving birth to her latest litter in the village of Fengtian, in China.

The piglet has four legs and seems to be able to eat and breathe with either head, Xulong said, adding that he is not able to explain the bizarre "third eye" in the middle of its two faces.

Tornado2

3 waterspouts filmed over the Bahamas

Waterspout
A severe afternoon thunderstorm spawned three waterspouts over Lake Killarney and dropped several inches of rain in the capital, according to Senior Meteorological Officer Kaylinda Forbes.

A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect Wednesday afternoon for Andros, New Providence and their adjacent waters.

According to a release from the Met Office at 4.50pm, radar and satellite imagery showed clusters of severe thunderstorms affecting New Providence and Andros and additionally waterspouts were observed over Lake Killarney.

Some of the thunderstorms will be severe at times causing strong gusty winds, dangerous lightening, heavy downpours, hail, waterspouts or tornadic activity.



Ice Cube

Extreme cold freezes waterfall in Brazil

Frozen waterfall in Brazil
© Marilia Oliveira/Prefeitura de Upurema
Temperatures are already below zero in 42 Brazilians cities - and it will get colder in the next few days

Winter is coming. For real.

Brazil has already seen snow in 2016. In the state of Santa Catarina thermal sensation dropped to -22°C (-7.6°F). It was enough to freeze a cascade in the city of Morro das Torres. As you might imagine, this kind of event is not so frequent in Brazil - and it became an instant touristic attraction.

Weather forecasts say that temperatures will continue next to zero in the next few days. In 42 cities in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina (in the extreme South of the country), temperatures will remain below zero.


Attention

32 whales strand on East Java coast, 15 likely dead

The pilot whales that were not helped back to sea were brought ashore for burial in alignment with local tradition
The pilot whales that were not helped back to sea were brought ashore for burial in alignment with local tradition
Dozens of pilot whales have beached on the coast of East Java, discovered on Wednesday by residents in Probolinggo, East Java. The giant marine mammals are thought to have become stranded due to changes in the sea temperature.

The short-finned pilot whales were seen around the shore on Wednesday afternoon. Most managed to return to the sea but returned to shore as one had become stuck, leaving them all trapped by the sudden low tide.

Wahid, the Maritime Resources Management Office head, said at least 32 pilot whales had been found stranded. Seven of them were less than two meters in length and the local fishermen had tied them to prevent them getting washed further ashore.

"Approximately 25 whales came ashore around the estuary, 15 of these whales are not moving and are likely dead [...] the colony may have been searching for cooler waters but got stranded," he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Wednesday night.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills child and injures another in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Lightning
Lightning has killed a 12-year-old boy and injured his friend, 12, who was hospitalized after a thunderstorm in Kharkiv Region, Kharkiv police spokeswoman Oksana Kalmykova told Ukrinform's local correspondent.

"The tragedy occurred yesterday in the village of Varvarivka in Volchansky district. Two boys, aged 12, were riding on a swing attached to a tree branch. The thunderstorm began suddenly, and the tree was struck by a bolt of lightning. As a result, one boy died, and the other was hospitalized," said Kalmykova.

She noted the deceased child was visiting his grandparents in the village whilst on vacation.

"As to the other child victim, he lives in this village. He is now being looked after in the clinic. As a result of the neurological shock he suffered, he can't walk on his own. His general state of health is stable," the spokeswoman added.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills two and maims another in Odisha, India

lightning
In yet another incident, two persons died while one was maimed for life in Sundergarh district on Thursday.

The tragic incident occurred at Mangaspur village under Tangarpalli block in the district as the persons were working in the farmland. Lightning struck them as they were ploughing the field.

While two of them yet to be identified, died on the spot the other one with critical injuries was rushed to the hospital.

Lightning incidents have become frequent in State especially during thunder storms which is claiming more lives in Odisha more than any natural disasters.

Snowflake

June snowfall for Mauna Kea in Hawaii

 Mauna Kea
An unusual combination of conditions brought snow to the peaks of Mauna Kea on Hawaii's big island, forecasters said.

Hawaii's tropical weather doesn't extend to the state's highest peak, but late Monday, a cold pool of air made temperatures drop below freezing. About the same time, thunderstorms moved over the island, high enough to bring Mauna Kea a dusting of snow.

The unusual event -- it does occasionally happen in winter -- provided some unique pictures of the mountain's observatory for June.

Forecasters said the wetter than usual trade winds will continue through Wednesday with rain expected.


Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rain causes flash floods and landslides in south China; at least 10 dead and 13 missing

mudslide in south China
© YouTube/CCTV+ (screen capture)
At least 10 people have died and 13 remain missing after heavy rain caused flash floods, mudslides and landslides in south China's Hunan, Guizhou, Guangdong provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

In Hunan, continuous rain resulted in swollen rivers, landslides and mud-rock flows. Three people died in Hengshan county, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters on Wednesday.

Three residents of Xiangtan County have been reported missing after their home was buried by a landslide around 7 a.m. Wednesday, while in Longhui county one person was reported missing. About 530 houses collapsed, and 11,900 people were evacuated, said the headquarters.

In Guangxi, one person was killed by collapsing house in torrential rain, said the regional civil affairs department on Wednesday. Two people ware missing--one swept away by floods while another was buried in a landslide.

The rains and ensuing disasters also destroyed 754 houses, seriously damaged another 408, ruined 20,200 hectares of crops, forced the evacuation of 5,900 people and inflicted a direct economic loss estimated at 150 million yuan (about 22.8 million U.S. dollars).

In Jinping County in Guizhou, five people have died and four are still missing, according to the county's publicity office.


Cloud Precipitation

Large egg-shaped hailstones pound Shanxi, China; over 18,000 cars damaged

Hail Damage
A heavy hailstorm struck Changzhi in northwest China's Shanxi Province on Monday.

The storm lasted for over half an hour and the largest hailstones are more than 45mm in diameter, which caused huge damages to cars that parked outdoors.

Large hail