Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

American robin makes rare appearance in Harbin, China

North American migratory bird Turdus mig
© CFPNorth American migratory bird Turdus migratorius appears on a tree in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on October 31, 2024.
Bird experts have confirmed that a North American migratory bird has made a rare appearance in northeast China.

The Turdus migratorius, commonly known as the American Robin, was spotted foraging on a tree recently in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. Images of the migratory bird were taken by photography enthusiasts in the area.

Professor Xu Qing from the School of Wildlife and Nature Reserves at Northeast Forestry University and other bird experts confirmed through image comparison that this bird is the American Robin. Experts say that it is a common bird species in North America, but it is very rare in China, and there are few observation records of it in the country.

They often appear in grasslands and coniferous forest areas. They mainly feed on various wild fruits and berries, plant seeds, as well as insects and invertebrates.

Cloud Precipitation

Chinese province of Hainan pounded by 11.6 inches of rainfall in 24 hours - at least 7 dead (UPDATE)

On October 29, due to continuous heavy rainfall, water accumulated in farmland on both sides of the G9811 Haikou-Sanya Expressway at K59 backflowed into the main line of the expressway, resulting in double-lane traffic blockage on the section.
© Hainan Provincial Highway AdministrationOn October 29, due to continuous heavy rainfall, water accumulated in farmland on both sides of the G9811 Haikou-Sanya Expressway at K59 backflowed into the main line of the expressway, resulting in double-lane traffic blockage on the section.
For a third day, extreme rainfall pounded the southern Chinese province of Hainan, known as China's "Hawaii", amid the transit of yet another tropical cyclone, leaving the island half-submerged in a year of record-breaking wet weather.

Cities in Hainan including Sanya, famed for its palm trees, seafront hotels and sandy beaches, remained waterlogged on Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Trami to the south. On Monday, Sanya logged 294.9mm (11.6 inches) of rainfall over a 24-hour window, the most for any day in October since 2000.

Trami made landfall in central Vietnam on Sunday after a slow trek across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where it left at least 125 people dead and 28 missing. While Hainan did not take a direct hit from Trami, Chinese authorities took no chances, recalling all fishing vessels and evacuating over 50,000 people.

China's entire eastern coastline has been tested by extreme weather events this year - from the violent passage of Super Typhoon Yagi across Hainan in September to the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Shanghai since 1949.


Comment: Update October 31

China Daily reports:
Hainan responds to extensive flooding

Extensive flooding and landslides have wreaked havoc in Hainan province, claiming seven lives as of Wednesday, as the tail of Typhoon Trami collided with a cold air mass and triggered unusually heavy rainfall for 48 hours starting on Monday.

The deaths include a student who fell into a manhole in Sanya and drowned, a mother and son who were swept away by floodwaters in Qionghai, and three others who were buried in a mountain landslide in the Qiongzhong Li and Miao autonomous county.

The trail of destruction left behind by Trami — the 20th typhoon of the year — prompted the Hainan Commission for Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief to announce a Level I emergency response for flooding and strong winds in Qionghai on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Water Resources issued a Level IV emergency response to flooding in the whole province to buffer the lingering impact of the tropical storm.

China has a four-tier emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe.

In Sanya, heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday caused extensive flooding, with the backflow of seawater further worsening the situation.

In Qionghai, the swollen Wanquan River caused severe flooding in seven towns along its banks, inundating 123 villages, according to local authorities. The Wanquan River Road was more than half a meter underwater on Wednesday morning, bringing vehicular movement to a complete halt.



Tsunami

Best of the Web: Philippine flooding triggered by tropical storm Trami (Kristine) kills 150, with 6.7 million affected - 2 months' rain (15.4 inches) in 2 days (UPDATED)

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Flooding triggered by tropical storm Trami killed at least three people and displaced about 382,300 people in central Philippines, prompting the government and aid groups to rush with aid for the victims.

Trami, the 11th typhoon to hit the Catholic-majority nation this year, disrupted classes, work and public transport in Bicol, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Eastern Visayas region, government officials said.

The storm started making landfall on Oct. 21 and vast areas remain submerged in muddy water as of Oct. 23.

During a meeting with disaster management officials in the capital Manila on Oct. 23, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said rescuers have mobilized rubber boats from various provinces from as far as Mindanao island in southern Philippines to bring the affected communities to safety.

In Camarines Sur, the largest among six provinces in Bicol, at least half of its land area is still underwater due to massive flooding, the president disclosed.


Comment: Agence France-Presse reports:
Philippine rescuers waded through chest-deep flood waters Wednesday to reach residents trapped by Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami), which has killed seven people and forced thousands to evacuate as it barrels toward the east coast.

Torrential rain driven by the storm has turned streets into rivers, submerged entire villages and buried some vehicles in volcanic sediment set loose by the downpour.

At least 32,000 people have fled their homes in the northern Philippines, police said, as the storm edges closer to the Southeast Asian country's main island of Luzon.

In the Bicol region, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) southeast of the capital Manila, "unexpectedly high" flooding was complicating rescue efforts, said police.
Update October 24

AP reports:
At least 24 people killed in north-eastern Philippines as Tropical Storm Trami causes flooding and landslides

Widespread flooding and landslides have left at least 24 people dead after Tropical Storm Trami hit the north-eastern Philippines on Thursday.

The government shut down schools and offices for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after the storm hit the country's north-eastern province of Isabela after midnight.

The storm was blowing over Aguinaldo town in the mountain province of Ifugao after dawn, with sustained winds up to 95 kilometres per hour and gusts up to 160kph.

It was blowing westward and on track to enter the South China Sea later on Thursday, according to state forecasters.

Most of the deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, south-east of Manila, where at least 20 people died, including seven residents in Naga city, which was inundated by flash floods during Trami's approach on Tuesday.

The toll is expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by the storm manage to send out reports, police and provincial officials said.

More than two months' worth of rainfall fell in just 24 hours at high tide, regional Police Chief Andre Dizon and other officials said.
Update October 25

Associated Press reports:
Storm blows away from northern Philippines leaving 82 dead but forecasters warn it may do a U-turn

Tropical Storm Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 82 people dead in landslides and extensive flooding that forced authorities to scramble for more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people, who were trapped, some on their roofs.

But the onslaught may not be over: State forecasters raised the rare possibility that the storm — the 11th and one of the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea.

A Philippine provincial police chief said Friday that 49 people were killed mostly in landslides set off by Trami in Batangas province south of Manila. That brought the overall death toll from the storm to at least 82.

Eleven other villagers remain missing in Batangas, Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr. told The Associated Press by telephone from the lakeside town of Talisay, where he stood beside a villager whose wife and child were buried in the deep mound of mud, boulders and trees.

With the use of a backhoe and shovels, police scrambled to search into 10 feet (3 meters) of mud, rocks and debris and found a part of a head and foot that apparently were those of the missing woman and child.

"He's simply devastated," Malinao said of the villager, a fisherman, whose wife and child were buried in the landslide that happened Thursday afternoon amid torrential rains while he was away tending to fish cages in a lake.

[...]

More than 2.6 million people were affected by the deluge, with nearly 320,000 people fleeing into evacuation centers or relatives' homes, disaster-mitigation officials said.
AFP reports:
'Two months' worth of rain

Government offices and schools across the main island of Luzon remained shuttered Friday, and storm surge warnings were still in place along the west coast, with potential waves as high as two meters.

State weather agency specialist Jofren Habaluyas told AFP that Batangas province had seen "two months' worth of rain", or 391.3 mm, fall over Oct. 24 and 25.
Update October 28

Xinhua reports:
Death toll from tropical storm Trami in Philippines climbs to 116, 39 missing

The death toll from catastrophic flooding and landslides triggered by tropical storm Trami that slammed into the Philippines last week has risen to 116, with at least 39 people remaining unaccounted for, the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Monday.

Local authorities said Trami dumped two months of rain, impacting over 6.7 million people across 17 of the country's regions.

The search continues for 39 missing people who were either buried in landslides or washed away by the floods.
Update October 31

Business World reports:
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Thursday said his government remained in "full control" as deaths caused by Tropical Storm Trami and Super typhoon Kong-rey, which caused heavy rains in the northernmost province of Batanes, climbed to more than 100.

In a statement, he noted that while state resources and personnel "may be stretched due to the impact of typhoons on multiple fronts," the government was "ably handling all disaster management efforts." "We remain in full control."

In an 8 a.m. report, the Philippines' disaster agency said the reported death toll from Trami, locally named Kristine, and Super Typhoon Kong-rey (Leon) had hit 150. Fourteen deaths have been validated, while 29 people were still missing, it added.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said there were 115 reported injuries. More than 150,000 were damaged, more than 10,000 of which were totally destroyed. Trami and Kong-rey have caused P6.5 billion in damage to infrastructure.



Binoculars

Barau's Petrel seabird from the Indian Ocean appears off coast of France on Oct.10th - 1st record for the Western Palearctic

Barau's Petrel reeds only on Réunion in the Indian Ocean
© Guillaume ReyBarau's Petrel reeds only on Réunion in the Indian Ocean
On 10 October 2024, following ex-Hurricane Kirk, I decided undertake a seawatch at Lège-Cap Ferret, Gironde, in the hope of observing some storm-driven seabirds. I took up position at dawn on top of a sand dune that overlooked the beach and permitted good views out to sea. I had a strong sense of anticipation, but I did not think that shortly I would observe a new species for the Western Palearctic ...

At 8.20 am I picked up a very interesting-looking, long-winged seabird among a group of Sandwich Terns, heading north at about 300 m offshore. I could see that it was a Pterodroma petrel but was uncertain about its identification. The most likely species is Desertas Petrel, but it has a largely dark underwing and the bird in front of me had extensive white in the underwings. The other likely candidate was Zino's Petrel and some of them have quite a lot of white in the underwings, though nothing like this bird.

Despite the distance, I decided to take some record photographs and, as it turned out, this proved to be critical to clinching identification of a wholly unexpected species. The petrel continued northwards and was lost to view.
Barau's Petrel, Lège-Cap-Ferret, Gironde, 10 October 2024
© Guillaume ReyBarau's Petrel, Lège-Cap-Ferret, Gironde, 10 October 2024

Snowflake

Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada digs out after another heavy dump of October snow

A statue in downtown Whitehorse after a heavy snowfall, Oct. 30, 2024.
A statue in downtown Whitehorse after a heavy snowfall, Oct. 30, 2024.
Jan Polivka was already relishing the early start to the cross-country ski season a couple of days ago.

"I have never seen that much snow at the end of October," the operations manager of the Whitehorse Nordic Centre said on Monday.

"We had a couple seasons when we had some actually decent snow conditions — but nothing like this."

Then on Wednesday, Polivka and the rest of the Whitehorse woke to find another thick blanket of white stuff had covered the city overnight. Out came the shovels, again, and any lingering back or muscle aches from the last driveway-clearing would have to wait a bit longer for rest and recovery.

October snow is definitely not unheard of in the Yukon, and Halloween costumes, whatever they may be, often involve snow boots. Still, the amount that's fallen so far this month has been unusual.


Cloud Lightning

At least 3 killed in Taiwan as Super Typhoon Kong-rey makes landfall (UPDATE)

A wave crashing over a sea wall as Super Typhoon Kong-rey neared the coast in Taitung on Oct. 31.
© CNAA wave crashing over a sea wall as Super Typhoon Kong-rey neared the coast in Taitung on Oct. 31.
One person has been killed and 73 injured in Taiwan where Super Typhoon Kong-rey, one of the most powerful storms to threaten the island in decades, made landfall.

Packing maximum wind speeds of 184km/h (114mph), Kong-rey slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday afternoon, the Central Weather Administration said.

The death was reported in the central county of Nantou when a falling tree crushed a vehicle, the National Fire Agency said.

The streets of the capital, Taipei, were largely deserted as heavy rains and fierce winds lashed the city.

Island-wide, nearly 35,000 soldiers were on standby to help with relief efforts.


Comment: Update November 1

CGTN reports:
Typhoon Kong-rey, the 21st typhoon of the year, made landfall in southeastern Taitung County of China's Taiwan region at around 2 p.m. on Thursday, resulting in three deaths and leaving dozens injured.

The eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung experienced strong winds and torrential rain throughout the day. Due to severe weather conditions, work and school were suspended across the island. The typhoon has also caused massive disruptions to travel, with most trains, flights and ferries canceled.



Seismograph

Shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off Oregon coast; no tsunami expected, officials say

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A preliminary magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Wednesday afternoon off the southern coast of Oregon, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 1:15 p.m., according to the USGS. Its epicenter was located about 170 miles west of Bandon and 250 miles west-southwest of Salem, at a depth of 6 miles.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was not expected.

A person who answered the phone at the front desk of the Best Western Inn at Face Rock, in Bandon, said the quake was not felt there.

The USGS initially measured the quake's magnitude as 6.1 before it was downgraded to 6.0.

Comment: 8 hours earlier: 6.0-magnitude earthquake hits Papua New Guinea


Seismograph

6.0-magnitude earthquake hits Papua New Guinea

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An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 shook the New Britain island of Papua New Guinea at 12:18 UTC, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Wednesday.

The quake's epicenter was registered 123 kilometers north-northwest of Kimbe town in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 18,800 inhabitants, and 646 km away from the capital city Port Moresby with a population of 283,000. The earthquake hit at a depth of 521 kilometers.

There have been no initial reports of damage or casualties as a result of the earthquake and the event has not prompted any tsunami advisories.

Comment: 8 hours later: Shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off Oregon coast; no tsunami expected, officials say


Lightning

Lightning strike kills 2 shepherds, another bolt kills 17 sheep in Telangana, India

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Lightning killed two cattle herders at Dhanura village in Tekmal mandal on Wednesday.

According to villagers, Bethaiah (40) and Bharath (17) were grazing their sheep on the outskirts of the village when the area witnessed heavy rains coupled with lightning. The duo died on the spot.

In another incident, lightning killed 17 sheep at Dakur village in Andole mandal. Luckily, the cattle herders escaped unhurt as they were few metres away from the spot. The erstwhile Medak district witnessed heavy rains coupled with strong winds.

Snowflake

Heavy rainfall and snow disrupt traffic in several Moroccan regions

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Rain and snowfall have once again caused widespread disruptions in road traffic across parts of Morocco, with key routes, particularly in Boulemane and Midelt provinces, completely closed and leaving some areas almost isolated as of Wednesday morning.

According to a bulletin from the Ministry of Equipment and Transport, several roads have been closed to vehicles. These include routes connecting Missour to Guercif, Serghina to Skoura in Boulemane, as well as the Tinghir route leading to the Todgha Gorges, and the routes of Bouretrat and Amersid in Midelt, where alternative routes are currently unavailable.

The bulletin also noted that rainfall had led to closures on four national roads, two regional roads, and six provincial roads. Authorities managed to reopen four provincial roads, three national roads, and one regional road in Boulemane last night, partially restoring movement in the region.

In Midelt, heavy snowfall blanketed large areas and blocked two critical regional roads connecting the town of Rich with the rural Imilchil area, as well as the road linking the rural center of Tounfite with Imilchil, affecting numerous villages along these routes.