Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Nightmare floods turn Irish roads into... a wakeboarding paradise


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:15 UTC
Irish wakeboarder
© lindsay_whelan / Instagram

An Irish water sport enthusiast took advantage of recent bad weather and turned a flooded road into her very own wakeboarding playground.

Oisin Harding posted this video online of Lindsay Whelan wakeboarding down a street in Tipperary on December 28 with the title "Been real Irish about things." The video has since gone viral, with over 1 million views.

Whelan is a member of the Irish wakeboarding team and showed off her impressive skills while being dragged by a car. The road has been deluged for several days due to flooding in the area, and many praised Whelan for finally putting it to good use.

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Cloud Precipitation

Storm Frank hits UK: Wales and Scotland coastlines flooded (VIDEO)


The Guardian
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:36 UTC
Waves caused by Storm Frank hit Porthcawl in South Wales
Waves caused by Storm Frank hit Porthcawl in South Wales
About a dozen people watch as Storm Frank hits the south Wales coastal town of Porthcawl on Wednesday morning, causing forceful waves to crash into the sea wall.

In Scotland, the storm closed the motorway near Abington, South Lanarkshire.

Footage shows smaller vehicles stranded in deep water almost up to their roofs

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Tornado1

Powerful North Atlantic storm Frank brings yet more flooding to UK, unprecedented warmth to Arctic

Andrew Griffin
The Independent, UK
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:42 UTC
storm frank
© NASA Satellite image shows Storm Frank approaching Britain. Arctic 'flip' on the way?
The powerful weather system that is set to bring "storm Frank" to the UK could lead temperatures in the north pole to be pushed over 50F hotter than normal.

The storm is set to bring yet more destruction to the UK after a week that has seen much of the north battered by terrible flooding. But that will come with a weather system that will cause huge disruption across the Arctic.

With those strange northern weather events will come an Icelandic storm that might be among the most vigorous ever, according to the Washington Post.


Comment: Notice that last part? That's the end result of all this. Some day soon, one of these flooding events is going to dump 10 stories of snow instead of 1 meter of rain...

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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall in the summer for Peru

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:03 UTC
Snow in Peru
Snow in Peru

Heavy snowfall of about 10 centimeters thick covered Chonta population centers today and Astobamba Pucapampa district of Santa Ana, in the province of Castrovirreyna, Huancavelica region, surprising its inhabitants.

The COER and Regional Government urge the Huancavelica population to take precautions, keep warm and avoid sudden changes in temperature, especially in populations in situations of high vulnerability either by their social status (poverty and extreme poverty), children under 5 years and older adults.

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

"Heavy snowfall in Peru, south of the equator, where it is summer now. Could this mean that cold air from the North Pole has crossed the equator?" asks Argiris.
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Bizarro Earth

Missouri in state of emergency as three major rivers are above flood capacity


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:03 UTC
missouri flooding
© Kate Munsch / Reuters Submerged roads and houses are seen after several days of heavy rain led to flooding, in an aerial view over Union, Missouri December 29, 2015.
Missouri is in a state of emergency as flooding continues with record water levels expected over the coming days.

Seventeen million people in the US are currently living in areas with flood warnings, with 400 river gauges nationwide over their flood capacity. Missouri is one of the worst affected areas with three major rivers, the Missouri, the Meramec and the Mississippi all above the flood stage.
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Attention

Magnitude 4.4 earthquake shakes Los Angeles, California


Sky News
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:21 UTC
Earthquake
Los Angeles has been shaken by a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, followed by a series of aftershocks.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor struck the east of the city at a depth of just 3.5 miles below the Earth's surface.

But there have been no reports of injuries or damage to property.

"It was a good shaker," diner waitress Toni Cousino told the San Bernardino County Sun.

The region is no stranger to tremors, lying where the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault lines cross.
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Attention

Magnitude 4.3 earthquake under the Strait of Georgia, Canada

Kenneth Chan
Vancitybuzz
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 17:04 UTC
Map BC
© USGS
A modest magnitude 4.3 earthquake was felt in Metro Vancouver late this evening at 11:40 p.m.

According to the federal government's Natural Resources Canada department, the earthquake had a deep depth of 58.7 kilometres and an epicentre 19 kilometres northeast of Victoria and eight kilometres east-southeast of Sidney - right under the Strait of Georgia. It was also felt strongly on Vancouver Island and elsewhere on the B.C. South Coast.

The seismic event was originally classified as a magnitude 4.9 event by the U.S. Geological Survey, but it was downgraded shortly after.

There are no reports of any significant damage at this time. As well, no tsunami alert has been issued - a tsunami is not expected given the magnitude and location.

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Ice Cube

Megacryometeor? Beach ball-sized ice ball smashes through Florida roof


WZVN-TV
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 22:49 UTC
Naples ice block
A piece of ice the size of a basketball fell through the roof of a Naples home -- missing one man by just a few feet.

A Sunday morning sound from something you'd never expect.

"It happened so fast you really couldn't see anything," said homeowner Gary Wilson. "The room was filled with dust, and there was debris all over the floor. There were roof shingles in my lap."

But Wilson and his friend could see the damage. The two men believe the ice ball must have weighed at least 25 pounds before it flew through their roof and shattered into pieces, only missing Wilson by just a few feet.

"I just sat here wondering what was going on," said Wilson.

They called 9-1-1. Wilson said he was worried about the safety of the planes overhead, which ABC7 confirmed were flying in the area at the time.

"My first concern was that maybe there was an airplane that wasn't properly functioning."

The ice could have fallen from a plane, but the homeowners have another theory.


Comment: A similar incident occurred in Chicago earlier this year. For more information about megacrymeteors, see also:

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Snowflake

Unusual snow blizzard Goliath engulfs Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico


Strange Sounds
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:40 UTC
Snow covered cars
The unusual blizzard snow storm Goliath engulfed parts of the Southwest and southern Plains Sunday.

Extreme weather across the country killed at least 23 and brought blizzard conditions to areas. New Mexico's governor declared a state of emergency. About 33 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning tied directly to the storm.

Winter storm Goliath in New Mexico

At least 3 feet of snow was recorded near Bonito Lake, while at least 2 feet fell near Edgewood, Sedillo and San Antonito.

Snow drift
Numerous road closures in the state: Interstate 40 was closed for 390 miles in New Mexico from Albaquerque to the Texas/Okalahoma border, U.S. Highway 82 closed from mile marker 17 to mile marker 191 in the state.


Snow covers truck
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Fish

New species: Glow-in-the-dark stealthy ninja lanternshark

Laura Fraser
CBC
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 05:47 UTC
ninja lanternshark
The recently discovered ninja lanternshark can cloak itself by giving off a bluish light that effectively renders it invisible. (D. Ross Robertson/Douglas J. Long)
Forget Jaws — it's the ninja lanternshark that's making waves on social media and in the scientific community.

The inky-black fish already has the camouflage of darkness in the deepsea levels. But it's also covered in photophores — tiny dots that can emit light, cloaking the fish in a bluish glow and making it invisible to prey or predators below, the California scientist who identified the shark says.

"As they're swimming they can be backlit by the light and stand out, even though they're all black," Vicky Vásquez said. "So ... lanternsharks glow just enough to hide that shadow or that silhouette that they're creating."

The 30-50 centimetre shark — named by Vásquez's four young cousins "because it's good at being stealthy" — got introduced to the world last week thanks to a paper written by the Pacific Shark Research Centre graduate student and two other scientists.
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