Earth Changes

Storm driven? Mourning Dove from North America turns up on North Ronaldsay, Scotland

BirdGuides
Thu, 02 May 2019 13:32 UTC

Clearly exhausted, the Mourning Dove barely moved from the same small patch of grass by the lighthouse all afternoon (Simon Davies/NRBO

© Simon Davies/NRBO
Clearly exhausted, the Mourning Dove barely moved from the same small patch of grass by the lighthouse all afternoon

At 6 pm on 29 April, a message came through on the North Ronaldsay island WhatsApp from Alex Wright. It consisted of a very blurry photo of an unidentified dove sat on the railings by the lighthouse. It had been taken earlier in the day by Helen Galland and she wanted to know what it was.

Dinner was being prepared, drinks were being served and the photo was inconclusive at best, so it was ultimately dismissed as a dodgy picture of a Collared Dove. Thankfully, though, it was at that moment that Pete Donnelly telephoned the Observatory to discuss a 'funny dove' at the lighthouse.

For the first few minutes of the call, I simply assumed that he was discussing the same photo that we'd all been looking at - but then the penny dropped. He was actually at the lighthouse, watching the bird at that moment! Having been working at the lighthouse, Pete had independently come across the dove and not yet seen the photograph on the island WhatsApp group.Things became a bit more urgent as he described it as "definitely not a Collared Dove" and that it was "too small [for Collared], with wonderful spots on the wings." However, he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Child dies after being attacked by dog in Louisville, Kentucky

Kaitlin Rust
wave3.com
Thu, 02 May 2019 12:50 UTC

A young boy died after being bitten by a dog in a home in the Chickasaw neighborhood of Louisville on Thursday, according to Louisville Metro police.

The attack was reported at the intersection of 38th Street and Grand Avenue around 12 p.m., according to LMPD spokesman Lamont Washington.

The child, who police said appeared to be 3-years-old, was transported to Norton Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"The only thing I saw was the black shadow of a dog leaving the room," neighbor Shelby Lee Caldwell told WAVE 3 News.

203 dead porpoises washed up on the shores of Germany's Baltic coast in 2018

Deutsche Welle
Fri, 03 May 2019 12:27 UTC

Some 203 dead porpoises washed up on the shores of Germany's Baltic coast in 2018, the Environment Ministry said on Thursday.

It was the second-highest number since recordkeeping started in 2000. In 2016, 221 dead porpoises were found.

"Porpoises in the German Baltic continue to be threatened by extinction," said Steffi Lemke, the Greens Party member who requested the figures from the ministry. "The alarming rise in dead porpoise finds make it clear that we need effective conservation areas."

She called for stricter rules on fishing and industrial use in conservation areas.

The breakdown of figures showed a record-high 69 dead porpoises were found in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and 134 in Schleswig-Holstein.

Spring snow hits parts of Scotland - braced for coldest May Day Bank Holiday Monday for almost 40 years at -6C

Jonathan Whitelaw
The Scottish Sun
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:30 UTC

Tomintoul in Moray where there was a dusting of fresh snow today

Snow has hit parts of Scotland - as the country prepares to be hit by an arctic blast over the bank holiday weekend.

And the dip in the mercury comes in stark contrast to the April heatwave.

A polar plunge is set to bring the coldest May Day Bank Holiday Monday for almost 40 YEARS.

But some parts of Scotland have already seen some of the white stuff this morning.

Punters took to social media in Aberdeen and parts of the Highlands to show the snow falling.

Snow falls on May 3 in Latvia

Toms Bricis
lsm.lv
Fri, 03 May 2019 10:39 UTC

On the morning of May 3, snowfall was recorded in the Vidzeme cultural region, northeastern Latvia.

In Rūjiena, close to the border between Latvia and Estonia, there was even a small snow cover, but snow was also reported in the towns of Cēsis and Sigulda as well as the villages of Naukšēni, Grundzāle and Lizums.

But the worst cold is yet to come, with temperatures set to fall 0..-4C across Latvia except for the coastal and southern regions of the country. Sunday morning is to be a bit warmer but freezing temperatures are also expected in parts of the country.

Chill in air as fresh snowfall, rains hit Kashmir

Brighter Kashmir
Fri, 03 May 2019 10:20 UTC

Fresh snowfall in parts of the Valley including the tourist resorts in north and central Kashmir brought down the temperature by several notches.

The meteorological (MeT department in Srinagar said there will be fairly widespread rain in Kashmir parts for the next two days, "The weather system suggests that the skies will clear up on the eve of Ramzan," a senior MeT official said.

According to reports, the border town of Gurez in north Kashmir and some other upper reaches, including tourist resort of Sonmarg, received fresh snowfall while rain lashed other parts of Kashmir valley, resulting in considerable dip in maximum temperature.

Shallow magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes north of the Solomon Islands

The Mainichi
Fri, 03 May 2019 09:56 UTC

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck north of the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean on Friday, the United States Geological Survey reported.

The quake hit at 6:45 p.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, roughly 145 km north-northeast of Buala, a small town on the southeast coast of Santa Isabel Island, the longest island in the Solomon Islands.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii reported there is no tsunami threat.

Cyclone Fani makes landfall in India threatening huge destruction

The Telegraph
Fri, 03 May 2019 05:10 UTC

Cyclone Fani, one of the biggest storms to come off the Indian Ocean in recent years, slammed into India on Friday, tearing down trees, blowing away food stands and cutting off power and water.

The monster weather system, which threatened to bring a dangerous storm surge that could flood low-lying areas, was packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour as it ripped into the country's east coast.

Forecasters say the areas could see gusts of up to 200 kilometres per hour, equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

In recent days authorities in Odisha, where 10,000 people died in a 1999 cyclone, have evacuated more than a million people as they fret about a possible 1.5-metre (five-foot) storm surge.

Hundreds of thousands more people in West Bengal state have also been given orders to flee. Special teams were moving through holiday villages urging tourists to get to safety.

Snow in May surprises drivers in Smolyan, Bulgaria

novinite.com
Thu, 02 May 2019 20:53 UTC

Snow in May surprised the drivers in Smolyan area this morning, after falling into the Pamporovo area and the Preval Pass last night.

In minutes, the road plans are blooming, according to the District Road Administration, the snow cover is about 2-3 cm in the different regions.

The temperatures in the area during the day ranged from 4 to 12 degrees, which also contributed to the rapid melting of snow on the road.

"The roads in the area are wet but there are no signs of trouble. There is snow on both passes, but it is on the sides of the roadways, "they added from the District Road Administration.

Five ski areas open in Colorado for start of May as snow keeps falling - a foot in 72 hours

Patrick Thorne
Inthesnow.com
Thu, 02 May 2019 20:33 UTC

Winter Park, Colorado

Five ski areas are to open this weekend in Colorado, believed to be the most to open into May for some years.

It has also been snowing hard on higher slopes in the state with Breckenridge and Winter Park (pictured) resorts both reporting 30cm (a foot) of fresh snow in the past 72 hours and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area 40cm (10cm of that in the past 24 hours) and finally Loveland Ski Area over 50cm.