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Beijing's Heaviest Snow in 54 Years Strands Thousands

Wang Qian
China Daily
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:36 EST

Beijing's unusually heavy snow, which brought a traffic paralysis to the capital yesterday, again highlighted the controversial use of weather modification.

The snow fell amid lightning and thunder in the capital late Monday to early yesterday, making it the second snowfall in eight days.

"The occurrence was rather unusual for early November," said Sun Jisong, chief forecaster of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

An official from the capital weather modification office who refused to be identified told China Daily yesterday that the second snow in Beijing was also artificially induced but refused to reveal further information.

On Oct 31, the first snow in the capital city this winter was partly induced by 186 doses of silver iodide, a compound used in cloud seeding. More than 16 million tons of snow fell on the city, Zhang Qiang, director of the municipal weather modification office, said earlier.

Without advance notice, the weather manipulation led to another big mess yesterday in Beijing, with traffic and flight delays.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:01 EST

© MODIS Rapid Response Team
NASA's MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite captured this stunning visual image of Tropical Cyclone Phyan making landfall north of Mumbai on Nov. 11 at 0845 UTC (3:45 ET).

Cyclone Phyan broke a 43 year record when it made landfall north of the city of Mumbai, India during the evening hours on November 11. NASA's Aqua satellite captured Phyan's landfall with one instrument, and a day later, another of Aqua's instruments show the storm's remnants raining Tibet as Phyan continues to dissipate.

Phyan is the first tropical cyclone to make an appearance in November in the Konkan region of India since 1996. The India Meteorological Department confirmed that the last November appearance of a storm in that region was 43 years ago. As Phyan was making landfall, NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead, and the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer captured a stunning visual image of the storm on November 11 at 0845 UTC (3:45 ET).

Christine Demsteader
The Local
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:33 EST

More than 400 reindeer have drowned in a river in Jokkmokk in northern Sweden after thin surface ice cracked while the herd were moving to their winter pastures.

Reindeer herders in the region were taking around 3,000 animals across the river, a route that has been safely crossed on previous occasions.

"The ice suddenly gave way and hundreds of reindeer fell into the water," said Bertil Kielatis, chairman of the Sirges Sami village in Jokkmokk.

"Now we are working to recover the animals that have drowned," he added.

San Francisco Examiner
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:20 EST

Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday.

Nineteen of the deaths resulted from traffic accidents related to the storms that began Nov. 9, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

The snowfall is the heaviest in the northern and central provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since record keeping began after the establishment of the Communist state in 1949, the ministry said without giving detailed figures. It estimated economic losses from the storm at 4.5 billion yuan (US$659 million).

David Barrett
The Daily Telegraph
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:03 EST

Gale-force winds of up to 100mph have led to spectacular scenes as the worst storm of the year gripped parts of Britain.

Intense weather conditions in Wales and southern England brought an abrupt end to an unusually mild autumn, with isolated flooding in south-western England and severe winds in coastal regions.

Drama was not confined to the south-west, however, with a fast rescue craft from an unnamed North Sea oil rig running aground at Britain's most easterly point.

Three men were rescued unhurt from the vessel by Lowestoft lifeboat on Friday night after the craft became stuck on a disused jetty at Ness Point in Suffolk, an RNLI spokeswoman said.

Mercury News
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:11 EST

The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 2.5 struck this morning in Santa Clara County.

According to the USGS, the earthquake struck at about 5:25 a.m. and had a depth of about 4.9 miles.

Press Trust of India
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:27 EST

An earthquake of moderate intensity measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale rattled many parts of Western Maharashtra this evening, officials said.

The tremor, with its epicentre in neighbouring Satara district, occurred at 6.34 pm and lasted for 15 seconds, according to U V Siddhamal, Chief Executive Engineer of the Koyna dam which has an installed seismograph.

While there were no reports of damage to life and property, some houses in Patan in the district developed cracks due to the shock, they said.

Epicentre of the quake was believed to be near Varanavati, about 20 km from the Koyna dam which has a hydel power station supplying electricity to Maharashtra.

Tulsa World
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:17 EST

An earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter Scale was recorded east of Oklahoma City on Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Services.

The quake was recorded 4 miles northeast of Choctaw and 18 miles east of Oklahoma City at 5:13 a.m.

Ralph Vartabedian
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:38 EST

© U.S. Department of Energy / May 11, 2009
Years of underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site have left hundreds of craters filled with radioactive rubble. Above, Yucca Flat.

The state faces a water crisis and population boom, but radioactive waste from the Nevada Test Site has polluted aquifers.

Reporting from Yucca Flat, Nevada - A sea of ancient water tainted by the Cold War is creeping deep under the volcanic peaks, dry lake beds and pinyon pine forests covering a vast tract of Nevada.

Over 41 years, the federal government detonated 921 nuclear warheads underground at the Nevada Test Site, 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Each explosion deposited a toxic load of radioactivity into the ground and, in some cases, directly into aquifers.

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:15 EST

Last year we told you about a turtle named after Steve Irwin. Now yet another species, described in the following Queensland Museum release, has been named after the popular television host, wildlife expert and conservationist, who died in 2006.

Queensland Museum scientist Dr John Stanisic has named a rare species of tree snail discovered in north Queensland in honor of wildlife advocate and conservationist Steve Irwin.

The snail, Crikey steveirwini, was found in the mountainous regions of north Queensland's Wet Tropics near Cairns.

Honorary Research Fellow Dr Stanisic said that like its namesake, the Crikey steveirwini is a unique creature with some interesting qualities that set it apart from other land snails.

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