Earth ChangesS


Attention

Unusual orange algae bloom and mass fish die off at Kent coast, UK

Sean Doherty
Kent Online
Sat, 04 May 2019 09:18 UTC
Orange algae kent
Orange algae bloom, Kent
The Environment Agency has confirmed what caused an orange substance to appear in the sea around Thanet and Whitstable.

The substance, which has started to stain the groynes at Eastcliff, was reported to Port Control, after being discovered earlier this week.

On Thursday (May 2), dozens of fish washed up on the shore, though this was not stated to be linked to the substance, and the council has recommended keeping dogs on leads and away from going near the water.

Comment: A mass fish die off followed by a 'naturally occurring algae'. Although one would expect that if this was normal for the region it wouldn't be such a surprise to the newspapers nor the port authority. It's worth noting that just 2 days later there was an unusual M2.5 earthquake that occurred further inland in Surrey, in an area of fracking exploration.

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Snowflake

Record May snowfall in some parts of Switzerland


Swissinfo.ch
Sun, 05 May 2019 19:10 UTC
snow
Areas of Switzerland saw record snowfall for the month of May overnight from Saturday into Sunday. Most snow fell in the central and eastern alpine regions, but the most dramatic records were observed in lower-lying Bern and St Gallen.

The Swiss capital of Bern woke up to four centimetres of fresh snow on Sunday morning. The previous record for the month was one centimetre in 1945.

The eastern city of St Gallen saw 19 centimetres of snow, up from the 12 centimetres recorded on May 7, 1957, according to the Swiss meteorological service MeteoSwiss.

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Snowflake

Winter returns to France, with snow and ice on the Côte d'Azur

Nicholas Wells
Euronews
Sun, 05 May 2019 18:36 UTC
snow
Parts of the French Riviera resembled a ski resort at the weekend as a cold front brought ice and snow to the Côte D'Azur.

After basking in sun over Easter, toboggans and road gritters were seen on the streets of Antibes.

The story was the same across much of France, with snow and wind gusts up to 130 km/h in the Rhône Valley.

The French weather service issued a warning for dangerous driving conditions.

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Cloud Precipitation

Historic Mississippi River flooding could extend into June, experts warn

Elizabeth Weise
USA Today
Sat, 04 May 2019 12:34 UTC
flood
Flooding along the Mississippi river could persist through the end of the month and even into June as relentless rains continue to saturate the Midwest, forecasters say.

"We have points in Iowa and Illinois that have been in flood stage for over 30 days, which hasn't occurred since we started keeping records — and some of them go back 150 years," said Patrick Burke a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

At least four people have died in the flooding, which has closed hundreds of roads, stopped vessel traffic along parts of the Mississippi River and inundated multiple towns, including major flooding in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois.


Comment: Trouble could be brewing for farmers in the US Corn Belt because of continuing wet weather

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Bug

Huge swarm of locusts sweeps through Saudi Arabia

Liz Perkins
Daily Mail
Wed, 01 May 2019 20:09 UTC
Saudi Arabia locust swarms
Skies start to darken: Swarms of the biblical bugs have arrived due to unusual heavy rain
Saudi Arabia is being plagued by a huge outbreak of locusts which is sweeping the country.

Darkened skies and layers upon layers of the insects were discovered on trees as masses of the bugs arrived along the Red Sea and invaded the country from Sudan and Eritrea.

Egypt has also been struck by large numbers of locusts, with 80 million in a swarm there could be devastating consequences for food supplies.

Experts have warned crops will be put at risk from the legions of bugs flooding Najran at the weekend.

Unusually heavy rainfall in the region led to the deluge of biblical bugs arriving in the country in mid-January with even more coming in a week later.


Comment: Last month Iran faced the worst locust attack in 40 years.

Meanwhile successive waves of extreme weather have hit the Middle East & North Africa regions recently. See also: Flash-flooding, dust-storms, hailstorms, and even snow: Entire Mid-East & North Africa regions pummeled all month long with extreme weather

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Seismograph

"Unprecedented": M2.5 quake hits Surrey, UK - 20 in less than a year since fracking began

Colin Drury
Independent
Sat, 04 May 2019 01:19 UTC
surrey quake may 2019
© British Geological Survey/PA Wire
Buildings shook after the latest in a series of earthquakes struck Surrey in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Residents described fearing there had been an "explosion" after the 2.5 magnitude shaker hit at 1.19am.

It follows at least 20 similar quakes in the county in little more than a year - with many residents saying they fear the new seismic activity may be linked to oil and gas exploration being conducted at Horse Hill near Gatwick airport.

A spokeswoman for the British Geological Survey said: "Around 100 reports from members of the public in the epicentral area have been received so far and many others have taken to social media to report their experience. Typical reports described 'windows and doors shook', 'felt like some sort of explosion' and 'a loud bang woke me up'."

Comment: While the UK government couldn't care less about the destruction wrought by fracking, thankfully business has made the decision for them and fracking appears to be on the out. Although, that's not to say that the quake risk is over: Geologists discover London sitting on two serious fault lines, capital at risk of dangerous earthquake

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Cloud Precipitation

Trouble could be brewing for farmers in the US Corn Belt because of continuing wet weather

John Roach
AccuWeather
Fri, 03 May 2019 18:45 UTC
wet corn
Corn planting is behind schedule in the United States because of the weather in four of the top six states for corn production -- and that situation is not expected to improve when the latest Crop Progress report is issued Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to an AccuWeather analysis.

Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and South Dakota are the four states significantly behind schedule and expected to remain that way, according to AccuWeather meteorologists who have been analyzing the data. Those four states combined produce nearly 40% of the corn in the U.S. If the weather continues a wet pattern through late May, consumer prices could go up this summer.

Iowa and Nebraska, the other two states among the top six corn producers, are only slightly behind, according to data from the USDA.

"The question will be how much farther it will fall behind the pace," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Jason Nicholls. "It's about a week behind schedule right now. If it were to go to a week and a half or two weeks, that's big news."
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Snowflake

Winter returns as snow falls in parts of Germany


Stars and Stripes
Sat, 04 May 2019 13:16 UTC
spring snow in Harperscheid, Germany
© Marco Hermann / Met HiradoSpring snow in Harperscheid, Germany
Parts of Germany have experienced a sprinkling of snow just weeks before the meteorological start of summer.

A thin layer of snow greeted residents of central Germany's Harz mountains above altitudes of 700 meters early Saturday.

The German meteorological service DWD said the cold front would move southward and persist through Monday, with snowfall in the Alps reaching up to 8 inches and temperatures falling below freezing at night.

A drop in temperatures and even ground frost around mid-May isn't uncommon in Germany. Folklore attributes the phenomenon to the 'ice saints' — Christian martyrs whose saints' days fall between May 11 and 15.


Comment: Spring snow hits Finland

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Tornado2

Mississippi counts 75 tornadoes for year, 43 for April 18


Sun Herald
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 13:07 UTC
file photo of a waterspout near Biloxi,
© JOHN FITZHUGHFile photo of a waterspout near Biloxi
With three more tornadoes confirmed Friday from an April 18 outbreak, the National Weather Service now says 43 tornadoes hit Mississippi that day, and 75 for the year.

The one-day amount alone equals Mississippi's annual average of 43 tornadoes during the years 1991 through 2010. The most tornadoes ever recorded in a single year in the state were 109 in 2008.

Forecasters also confirmed on Friday that a tornado with top winds of 90 mph (145 kph) hit the Kiln area on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has declared a federal disaster for storms in February that included a tornado that hit Columbus, limited to government aid for seven counties. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Friday it's still assessing damage from the April 13-14 and April 18 tornado outbreaks, and intends to seek separate federal disaster declarations for each of those days.

Comment: Storms tear through 5 states and spawn at least 2 dozen tornadoes - 2 killed in Oklahoma

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Snowflake

Spring snow hits Finland


Yle
Fri, 03 May 2019 09:37 UTC
SNOW
Winter showed it's not done with Finland yet as a low pressure zone brings strong winds and snow showers to some areas.

Chilly and wet conditions enveloped Finland on Friday.

A plunge of cold air is moving north-east, bringing snow and sleet showers to central parts as well as Kainuu in the east.

On Friday, dry conditions will mostly prevail in the south and south-west as well as in Lapland, though the wind chill factor is adding to the bite of the cold weather.


Comment: Elsewhere across Europe in the first few days of May, snow has fallen in Germany, Latvia, Bulgaria, Italy and Scotland. There are also reports on social media of significant snowfall in Romania, France, Norway Belgium and the Czech Republic.








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