Earth ChangesS


Wolf

Stray dog attacks 5 students in Houston, Texas

Miya Shay
abc13.com
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 13:21 UTC
Dog attack
Several YES Prep students were bitten during recess by a stray dog at the southeast campus.

Roosevelt Padilla was one of those students. Tuesday afternoon, he showed Eyewitness News his still bandaged foot as he recounted what happened.

"I was walking and stopped to look at the dog and he bit my foot and I dropped to the floor. I blacked out for a few seconds," Padilla said.

School officials said a total of five 7th grade students were attacked when the dog got onto the playground Tuesday afternoon in the 300 block of Crenshaw Road.

"The kids started playing with him, and then the dog just started biting shoes and everything," said Ashley Davila, a student who witnessed the attack.

Teachers managed to put a sweater around the dog and put him in a car until City of Houston Animal Control officers arrived. The dog will now be in quarantine for 10 days.

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Arrow Up

Fresh eruption at Indonesia's Sinabung volcano


Rakyat Post
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 13:25 UTC
Sinabung eruption
© Bernama
The Sinabung volcano in western Indonesia has begun to erupt today, creating a 3,000-metre pillar of dust and smoke.

The volcano, nearly 2,500m tall, has erupted in recent days, according to the local disaster prevention agency.

Local authorities have banned people from travelling to area of 7km from the crater's radius.

Sinabung is one of 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which has continuously erupted since 2013.

At least 23 people were killed by the volcano's eruption in 2014 and 2015. The following eruptions forced thousands of people to evacuate, causing huge losses to the local economy.
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Snowflake

Snow arrives 2 months early to ski resorts in Victoria, Australia


news.com.au
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:58 UTC
Mount Hotham woke to this.
© Mount HothamMount Hotham woke to this.
It's puking snow in the NSW High Country, with the big ski resorts waking to a winter wonderland this morning. And it's only Autumn.

Up to 20cm of snow in the Snowy Mountains overnight heralded Sydney's first wintry blast for 2017: temperatures in the city dropped to 12C overnight, with the chill coming straight off the snow down south.

It's two months until the official start of the ski season, but ski resorts in Victoria woke up to 20cm of snow, and this morning the dusting that had begun to cover the NSW Snowy Mountains had turned to full-on snowstorm.
#Snow is currently falling at Thredbo, expected to turn into rain later today. Get out while you can! #NSWWeather #Winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/e2Wbezm3Om

— BOM New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) April 9, 2017
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Fish

Thousands of dead fish found along rivers in Costa Rica

L. Arias
The Tico Times
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 11:04 UTC
Coast Guard officers and staff from the National System of Conservation Areas collected samples from the river and submitted them for lab analyses.
© FECONCoast Guard officers and staff from the National System of Conservation Areas collected samples from the river and submitted them for lab analyses.

Residents of Costa Rica's northern Caribbean reported a massive number of fish deaths on the Pacuare and other nearby rivers between Sunday and Monday.

Mauricio Álvarez, president of the Costa Rican Conservation Federation (FECON), told The Tico Times that his organization received reports that the dead creatures included various species of fish, including rainbow bass, sea bass, jurels and sardines, as well as crustaceans. Many of the dead fish appeared floating on the Goshen river.

Most of these fish are part of the diet of various species of birds. Therefore, environmentalists and local residents say they fear that the damage will expand to other animals.

Álvarez said he believes that incident could be linked to the use of agrochemicals at farms in the area. Matina and other northern Caribbean regions are home to extensive plantations of bananas, pineapples and rice, among others.

Coast Guard officers and staff of the National System of Conservation Areas collected water and fish samples from the river and sent them for laboratory analysis.
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Attention

Very shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquake rocks Philippines, the fourth in less than a week


South China Morning Post
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 00:18 UTC
Philippines earthquake map
© Phivolcs
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck the centre of Mindanao island in the Philippines on Wednesday, the fourth tremor to hit the archipelago in less than a week, US Geological Survey said.

The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.0, struck at 5:21 am HKT on Wednesday (2121 GMT on Tuesday). It was very shallow, at a depth of 4 miles (6 km), which would have amplified its effect. Its epicentre was 47 miles (75.5 km) northeast of Cotabato on the large southern island of Mindanao.

A magnitude 5.6 quake is considered moderate and is capable of causing considerable damage.

Last Saturday, hundreds of residents of coastal areas in a province south of the Philippine capital of Manila fled to higher ground fearing a tsunami on Saturday after a series of earthquakes on the main island of Luzon.

Three quakes ranging in magnitude from 5.0 to 5.9 struck Batangas province, about 90 kms (55 miles) south of Manila, the USGS said.

"Residents in the coastal villages in two towns have evacuated to safer ground after the earthquakes," Lito Castro, head of the provincial disaster council, told local radio. "The people were afraid the earthquakes would generate a tsunami."
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Moon

'Stunning' moon halo photographed by awe-struck viewers in Bristol, UK

Helena Horton
The Telegraph, UK
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 10:53 UTC
Moon halo over Bristol
© Via Twitter/William Belcher
A stunning moon halo was seen on Monday night and photographed by awe-struck viewers.

The phenomenon is called a 22-degree halo, and is more commonly seen around the sun.

Leighton James, a photographer in Bristol, told the BBC: "It's something I have never seen before and thought it looked quite amazing."

A 22-degree halo forms when there are high cirrus clouds passing slowly across the sky. The light from the sun or moon hit the ice crystals, and the refraction caused by that shows a halo. These halos in general are relatively common, but it's less common to see them form around the moon.

This is because the moon has to be in the new moon phase and the visibility has to be good in order for the halo to be seen.
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Question

Mystery boom befuddles authorities in Kennebec County, Maine

Beth Brogan
Bangor Daily News
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:07 UTC
boom!
State police and other public safety officials say they have no explanation for a loud "boom" reported by residents of Kennebec and surrounding counties at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

The sound, described by various people as similar to an earthquake, a plane breaking the sound barrier and an explosion, prompted dozens of calls to Kennebec County dispatchers and Maine State Police, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

McCausland said state police dispatchers checked with the Federal Aviation Administration about whether there were any planes down, and with the National Weather Service on an earthquake. They also monitored various fire frequencies, but as of Monday morning, he said, "There's no explanation as to what residents were calling about."
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Fire

Over 100 wildfires scorch Florida

Craig Pittman
Tampa Bay Times
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 16:49 UTC
fire
More than 100 active wildfires are burning across the state right now, according to the Florida Forest Service. Twenty-seven of them are scorching more than 100 acres each.

"We're usually not this active this early in the season," the service's assistant fire chief, Ralph Crawford, said Monday.

So it has gone in Tampa Bay, where firefighters spent Monday battling brush fires that flared up in Hernando and Pasco counties. A fast-moving grass fire Friday in St. Petersburg shut down the Interstate 275 interchange at Gandy Boulevard just as rush hour started, tying up traffic for hours.

Since February, wildfires have swept across 68,000 acres of the state, already more than the average acreage burned over the past five years, Crawford said.

"And we're just barely into April," he added. "Usually May is our busiest month."


Comment:

Update: On April 11, 2017, Governor Scott called a state of emergency due to the fires:



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Cloud Precipitation

Huge hailstones pound San Antonio, Texas


wkyc.com
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:54 UTC
hail damage
A severe thunderstorm blasted the north side of San Antonio and northern Bexar County on Tuesday night, bringing with it high winds and large hail.

Numerous homes and cars were damaged by the hail, which was reported as being between the size of golf balls and baseballs.

The hail affected large portions of northern San Antonio starting around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday as a large thunderstorm cell moved across the area.

Homeowners in northwest San Antonio reported getting hit by hail for more than 10 minutes.
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Wolf

Woman attacked by family dogs in Quebec, Canada


CBC News
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:41 UTC
Dog attack
A 64-year-old woman in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal, suffered serious bites to her arms, face and head Monday when she was attacked by two dogs that lived with her.

One of the dogs, which police described as a pit bull-type dog, was shot and killed when officers responded to the scene and found it acting aggressively.

The second dog, described as a Boston terrier, was handed over to a local rescue.

The woman was found bleeding from bites to her arms, face and ears in an alley behind the apartment building where she lived.

"There will be serious, permanent damage," said Luc Tougas, a local police force spokesman.
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