Earth Changes

Grizzly bear mauls hunter west of Choteau, Montana

Karl Puckett
Great Falls Tribune
Sun, 20 Nov 2016 15:57 UTC

A grizzly bear mauled a Montana hunter Sunday morning in a surprise encounter 15 miles west of Choteau, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The man was in an elk hunting party on a creek bottom on private property near the Ear Mountain Wildlife Management Area on the Rocky Mountain Front, said Capt. Dave Holland, FWP's head game warden in Great Falls-based Region 4.

He was mauled at about 9 a.m. by a female grizzly with two cubs, he said.

"It appears the sow was protecting her cubs at this point," Holland said late Sunday afternoon.

Signs and Portents: A 1-headed, 2-bodied seal fetus discovered in Quebec, Canada

Priscilla Hwang
cbc.ca
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 15:28 UTC

© Aibillie Elijassiapik
Aibillie Elijassiapik found this one-headed, two-bodied ringed seal fetus near Inukjuak, Que., on Monday.

Aibillie Elijassiapik was out hunting seals near Inukjuak, Que., when he noticed his catch had an abnormally protruding belly.

He assumed the seal was pregnant, and pregnant it was — but what he found in its womb was what he called, in Inuktitut, a total surprise.

He began to skin the ringed seal — a normal hunting procedure. That quickly took an unexpected turn.

"I noticed in the uterus two sets of flippers, so I was expecting to pull out two seal pups," said Elijassiapik, who said it's rare for a seal to give birth to two seal pups.

"In fact, it was only one conjoined seal pup at the head."

Elijassiapik, who has been hunting since his father taught him at a young age, said he has never seen anything like it.

Officials declare 'yellow alert' for severe cold weather in China

Shanghai Daily
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 14:59 UTC

Snowplows clear a main road in Mudanjiang City in northeastern Heilongjiang Province yesterday. Heavy snow fall since Friday has closed several expressways in the province.

© Xinhua
Snowplows clear a main road in Mudanjiang City in northeastern Heilongjiang Province yesterday. Heavy snow fall since Friday has closed several expressways in the province.

China's national observatory yesterday issued a yellow alert for a cold front that is forecast to sweep central and eastern China.

From today until Thursday, temperatures in most of the central and eastern part of the country are expected to drop by 6 to 10 degrees Celsius, said the National Meteorological Center.

In some parts of Henan, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan provinces, the temperature will drop by up to 16 degrees, said the NMC.

Yellow is the second-most severe level on China's four-level color weather alert scheme.

The cold front will be accompanied by gales, rain and snow.

Meanwhile, under the influence of a strong cold spell, parts of Beijing have been hit by snowfall since early yesterday.

Much of the capital city has been hit with snow after 8pm yesterday.

Global warming fraud: NOAA shows record warming where NO temperature stations exist

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Sun, 20 Nov 2016 06:57 UTC

NOAA shows record warm temperatures where there are no temperature monitoring stations or ocean buoys, that is straight up fraud. From Africa, Middle East and Antarctica, all made up data. All the while second most snow for Northern Hemisphere and RSS land stations show strong cooling and the sunspots are gone from our Sun three years early on the regular 11 year solar cycle.

Comment: See also:

Flood warnings after UK battered by Storm Angus

Daily Mail (UK)
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 00:06 UTC

Waves crash over the harbour wall in Dover, Kent, as Storm Angus hit the UK with gusts anticipated to reach up to 80mph.

Heavy rain will see parts of Britain already battered by Storm Angus at risk of further flooding in the next 24 hours.

Wet weather is expected to sweep across the south west and move north, causing damage and disruption as it falls on already saturated ground.

The Environment Agency said it is preparing to put up temporary defences "where necessary" and said rivers have been cleared to make sure water can flow freely.

Motorists are being warned not to drive through flood water and residents in at-risk areas have been advised to contact their local councils for sandbags to protect their homes.

An amber "be prepared" warning has been issued for Devon, where the worst of the rain is expected to hit in the early hours of Monday.

Exeter had already faced more than two inches (54mm) of rainfall overnight into Sunday - more than half of what is usually expected in the area for the entire month of November.

The West Midlands, Wales and north of England are all covered by a yellow "be aware" warning, with more than two inches (60mm) of rain forecast to fall in some places.

Alison Baptiste, national flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said: " Large parts of southern England have already experienced the impacts of Storm Angus this weekend.

Comment: Last week tornado-like winds whipped through western Britain.

Strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Argentina

BNO News
Sun, 20 Nov 2016 20:57 UTC

A strong earthquake (sismo) with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 has struck near San Juan in western Argentina, with tremors being felt as far away as Chile's capital Santiago, seismologists and residents say.

The earthquake, which struck at 5:57 p.m. local time on Sunday, was centered about 75 kilometers west of San Juan, or 253 kilometers northeast of Santiago. It struck at a depth of about 115 kilometers, making it a deep earthquake.

Chile's seismological agency put the preliminary magnitude of the earthquake at 6.3, while the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude at 6.4. Shaking was felt across parts of Argentina and Chile, including cities such as San Juan, Mendoza, San Rafael, San Felipe, and Santiago.

There was no immediate word about damage or casualties, but authorities say there is no threat of a tsunami because the earthquake was centered on land. We're working to gather additional information.

Flash flood in Licata, Italy; 6 inches of rainfall in 3 hours

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Sun, 20 Nov 2016 17:54 UTC

Floods in Licata, Sicily, November 2016.

Over 160 mm of rain fell in just 3 hours yesterday, 19 November, 2016, causing major flooding in the city of Licata, Italy. The city is in the province of Agrigento, and is located on the south coast of Sicily at the mouth of the Salso River.

The Mayor of Licata, Angelo Cambiano, requested that people stay at home until the severe weather had passed.

In a statement via Social Media he said that areas of his city were flooded after 162 mm of rain fell in 3 hours. Despite serious damage to roads and buildings, there has been no reports of injuries of fatalities.

Mayor Cambiano said "I want to thank all those who have worked so hard: civil defence, the fire department, the municipal police, the municipal employees, volunteers and citizens. Thanks to them the worst was avoided, and their commitment testifies that when everyone works together, the community benefits."

Oil from the BP spill has officially entered the food chain

Dan Zukowski
EcoWatch
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:53 UTC

Seaside sparrows show signs of BP Deepwater Horizon oil.

Researchers in Louisiana have found carbon from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the feathers and digestive tracts of seaside sparrows, proving for the first time that oil from the disastrous 2010 spill has entered the food chain.

The study, published today in Environmental Research Letters, was conducted by scientists from Louisiana State University and Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. They found oil carbon signatures consistent with the Deepwater Horizon event in each of 10 birds tested.

These marsh-dwelling sparrows inhabit an area known to have been contaminated by the spill. Sediments from the site also tested positive for oil with the same fingerprints as that found in the tested birds.

California earthquake responders prep for damage exceeding that of Hurricane Katrina

CBS This Morning
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 08:33 UTC

Scientists are warning of a new earthquake danger in Northern California. They've discovered that two fault lines link together north of San Francisco, creating a new risk for the nearly seven million people living in the Bay Area.

Some 1,200 emergency responders took part in an earthquake drill Thursday, and hundreds of scientists, engineers and politicians gather Friday in Los Angeles to discuss the next big quake, reports CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal.

Here's what happens in the drill: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits California and the clock is ticking. National guardsman are working to pull a trapped man from an elevator shaft, while a specially trained dog searches for stranded survivors. This is meant to help emergency responders prepare for the real thing. "We want to be the best prepared, the best trained and the most efficient as possible," said Major Richard Chappell.

But these extreme scenarios could easily become reality. USGS scientists recently discovered that two of the country's most dangerous faults -- once thought to be at least two miles apart -- are actually connected, creating one massive 118-mile long fault. Using an acoustic device, they confirmed that the Hayward fault meets the Rogers Creek fault in the shallow waters of the San Pablo Bay near San Francisco.

"The longer a fault, the larger an earthquake it can produce, and if the Hayward and Rogers Creek faults went together along their entire length, it would up to a magnitude 7.4," said USGS geophysicist Janet Watt.

Comment: On a good day, traffic throughout this area is a nightmare. Hopefully there are options for the public, given the population density and available exodus.

New Zealand earthquake left cows stranded on island of grass

CBS News
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 10:19 UTC

© Live Science
three cows stranded on an island of grass in a paddock that had been ripped apart following an earthquake near Kaikoura, New Zealand Monday, Nov. 14, 2016.

Three New Zealand cows whose predicament captured the interest of many people around the world after they became stranded on a small island of grass following a powerful earthquake have been rescued.

The Newshub news service reported Tuesday that the two cows and a calf were rescued after a farmer and some helpers dug a track to them and brought them out.

Newshub first filmed the cows stuck on the patch of grass near the township of Kaikoura after the magnitude 7.8 quake triggered landslides around them.

The farmer, who was not named by Newshub, said the cows were desperate for water after they were rescued. He said the quake fault line ran right beneath his farm, which had been relatively flat before the earthquake.

New Zealand's 10 million cattle easily outnumber its 4.7 million people.