Earth ChangesS


Alarm Clock

Australia's Sunshine Coast shaken by record 5.3 magnitude earthquake


Sputnik International
Thu, 30 Jul 2015 07:51 UTC
Queensland earthquake
© Geoscience Australia)The magnitude-5.3 earthquake shook parts of south-east Queensland from Bundaberg down to the Gold Coast.

A magnitude-5.3 earthquake has hit off the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

A magnitude-5.3 earthquake has hit off the Sunshine Coast in Australia in what became the strongest quake registered in the region since the start of last century.

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at 23:41 GMT on Wednesday, its epicentre was located about 160 miles (260 kilometres) northeast of Brisbane.

Comment: Gothenburg was also rocked by an earthquake today, described by a Swedish seismologist as a "fairly big quake for Swedish conditions".

See also: Russian scientist: Slowdown in Earth's rotation means we're on the verge of major climatic upheaval

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Attention

Thousands of dead crabs wash up at Port Monmouth, New Jersey


newjersey.news12.com
Mon, 27 Jul 2015 19:41 UTC
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Thousands of dead crabs have washed ashore at the Bayshore Waterfront Park in Port Monmouth.
Thousands of dead crabs have washed up at the Bayshore Waterfront Park in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown.

Visitors to the park say the crabs were found all along the coastline, as well as in the water, and that the smell from the crabs baking in the hot sun was unbearable.

"When we were trying to go swimming, they'd come up and hit your legs," says visitor Brooke Zimmerman. "It's gross."

Fishermen tell News 12 New Jersey that the crabs are spider crabs, which are commonly found in the Raritan Bay.

Some of what was found along the coast are the shells shed by crabs during the last full moon, which is a normal process, according to a Monmouth County park ranger.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says dead crabs washed up in the area two weeks ago as well. The department is looking into the cause of the deaths.
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Sheeple

Extreme cold weather conditions culminate in abnormal livestock losses in New South Wales, Australia

Skye Manson
mobile.abc.net.au
Thu, 23 Jul 2015 17:49 UTC
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© ABCLambs abound on Bindi Murray's property at Woodanilling
Extreme cold weather conditions in southern New South Wales last week created a perfect storm of unfortunate events for some sheep producers, culminating in some significant livestock losses.

The Department of Primary Industries, at the Cowra Research Station, is conducting autopsies on an abnormally high number of lambs from its commercial lambing flock.

The national average for lambing mortality is 10 per cent in ewes with single lambs and 20 per cent for twins.

But researcher, Dr Gordon Refshauge, said the mortality rate in this instance is almost 40 per cent.

He said he had never seen a situation like it.
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Snowflake

Summer snow forecast for Scotland; gritter spotted on road

Joe Stenson
deadlinenews.co.uk
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:14 UTC
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The gritter was spotted this morning
Snow has been forecast for parts of Scotland tomorrow - as commuters spotted a gritter on the roads in East Scotland.

The Mountain Weather Information Service has forecast showers and hail for parts of the Southeastern Highlands, with the possibility of snow on the highest peaks.

The weather service also predicts that temperatures will drop as low as 3C, with a "slight frost" expected in areas around Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch and the southern Cairngorms.

Meanwhile drivers on the east coast A90 have spotted a gritter on the roads - as councils prepare for the onset of winter after summer appears to have passed Scotland by.

The forecasts come as figures show that some areas in Scotland have had more than double the average expected rainfall for July.
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Attention

Monkey enters house and bites boy, 11th simian attack within a week in Panchkula, India

Hina Rohtaki
The Tribune (India)
Sat, 11 Jul 2015 16:51 UTC
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© Nitin MittalVictims Anita Dhiman and Tejas Rathi show monkey bite marks in Sector 25, Panchkula.
Expectant woman among 11 attacked in Sector 25 in a week

Seven-year-old Tejas, a resident of Sector 25, was sitting inside his room and having his meal when a monkey entered from the rear door and attacked him. Tejas was bitten on his left leg.

Residents of Sector 25 are living in constant fear of monkeys, who have attacked them even inside their houses. Eleven persons, including an expectant woman, have fallen prey to the simian menace in the past one week.

Sudha, a housewife and local resident, was bitten thrice on her leg by monkeys in one go while she was in her house with her mother-in-law. The monkeys entered from the rear door, which the victims had left open. In another incident, a college girl was attacked at her place. "My younger daughter, Hita, was bitten by a monkey at home. She suffered bites on her leg," said the victim's father, Sudhir Dhiman.
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Cloud Precipitation

Deluge planet: 20 killed by floods in Myanmar


udaipurkiran.com
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 14:47 UTC
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At least 20 people were killed in flash floods in several parts of Myanmar over the past week that also affected thousands of others, an official here said on Tuesday.

Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Chun Hayel said severe floods, triggered by heavy rainfall lashing Sagaing and Mandalay regions as well as Kachin and Shan states over the past week, destroyed over 17,000 houses till Monday, affecting nearly 100,000 people, Xinhua reported.

Regional authorities were carrying out rescue and relief work in the flood-hit areas, Chun Hayel said.

Meanwhile, the weather bureau forecast that central Myanmar areas will experience a continuation or increase of rain in the next two days.

The weather bureau has asked fishing boats at sea to be alert to the severe weather conditions.
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Cloud Precipitation

Deluge planet: Flash floods kill at least 26 in northern Gujarat, India


The Express Tribune
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 14:09 UTC
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© Daily Star
At least 26 people have been killed in the flash floods by torrential monsoon rain in Gujarat in the past 48 hours, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

"Over 2,000 villages of north Gujarat have been affected due to the floods," a duty officer in the state's emergency control room told AFP. "We have lost contact with most of these villages and there is no information coming in from those areas."

The rain and high winds have also cut power and communications, raising concerns that villagers may be stranded. Rescue teams have been deployed to several hard-hit areas, including the district of Banaskantha where eight people have been killed in rain-related incidents including drownings. The district collector Dilip Rana said, "Efforts are on to first rescue those stranded in floodwaters."

Four people died in Kutch district after several houses collapsed, while more than 1,000 people there have been relocated to higher grounds, reported local official MS Patel. Six fatalities have also been recorded in the main city of Ahmedabad and eight in other districts, said the control room officer.

The weather bureau forecast that heavy rain will continue to inundate Gujarat for another 48 hours, where more than 50 people were killed last month.

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Bizarro Earth

6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Alaska near active volcano


RT
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 03:06 UTC
earthquake in Alaska map
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck in Alaska, some 42 miles southwest of the active Redoubt Volcano, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

Notably, the earthquake also struck near Mt. Katmai, the site of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

The epicenter was 9 miles south of Mt. Iliamna, another volcano in the area, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

According to the USGS, the quake hit about 141 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The agency is forecasting "very light damage."
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Cloud Precipitation

6 inches of hail falls on Custer, South Dakota

Scot Mundt
keloland.com
Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:25 UTC
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A lot of hail fell in Custer Monday evening, this photo was sent to us showing the 1 inch in diameter hail. Except the 1 inch hail ended up being 6 inches deep.

This sort of thing has happened before. Just earlier this month, another hail storm caused the plows to come out.

The Black Hills are notorious for hail. This is because the freezing level is closer to the ground than in the plains of central and eastern Keloland. While most of the hail remains small at an inch or under, enough can fall in a short amount of time to give the appearance of snow. But we know we can get our fair share of large hail too.

Yesterday's storm reports had hail of just under two inches for parts of the northern Hills. While three and a half inch hail fell in Hill City. We should get a break from the hail as dry skies are forecasted for the rest of the week.


Comment: Seen in addition -

4 inches of hailstones prompts summer use of snowplows in Rapid City, South Dakota

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Umbrella

Over forty percent of month's rainfall hits Moscow in one day; storm unleashes freak lightning on city


RT
Tue, 28 Jul 2015 20:22 UTC
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© Vladmir Sergeev/RIA Novosti
Heavy rains with thunder and lightning have descended upon the Russian capital. Though experts warned of the dangers of using cell phones during the storm, many people braved the weather to capture frightening images and share them on social media.

Over 40 percent of a typical month's rainfall hit Moscow in a single day on Monday, the city weather bureau reported.

Though dozens of streets were flooded and around twenty flights cancelled at Moscow airports, it was the lightning that caused most of the stir among Muscovites on Monday.
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