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Hurricane Vance moves toward Mexico's Pacific coast


The Weather Channel
Mon, 03 Nov 2014 05:27 UTC
Image
© The Weather Channel
Hurricane Vance continues to strengthen over the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 500 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. It became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Sunday evening with winds of 105 mph.

Vance earlier became a Category 1 hurricane Sunday morning, making it the 14th hurricane of 2014 within the Eastern Pacific basin. (Genevieve, which started in the Eastern Pacific, became a hurricane in the Central Pacific basin -- if one counts Genevieve, there have been 15 hurricanes with Eastern Pacific origins this year.)

Hurricane Vance is tracking to the northwest, remaining well off the Mexican Pacific coast.

However, Vance is expected to take a northeast turn toward the southwest Mexican coast during the week, as a mid-level ridge near the southern Baja California peninsula shifts eastward and a trough approaches.
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Binoculars

First Afghan fanged deer seen in more than 60 years

Richard Farrell
Discovery News
Fri, 31 Oct 2014 21:20 UTC
Image
© Julie Larsen Maher / WCS
The unusual fangs of a musk deer are used by males during the breeding season. A recent World Conservation Society study found a population of Kashmir musk deer living in Afghanistan. This photo shows a Siberian musk deer -- one of seven similar species found in Asia.
A fanged creature not seen in Afghanistan for more than 60 years has been spotted by a research team in the northeast part of the country.

The Kashmir musk deer was last seen in Afghanistan in 1948. But a team headed up by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reports in the October 22 issue of the journal Oryx that it made five sightings in a range of land that included alpine meadows and steep, rocky outcrops.

The sightings featured a solitary male that was spotted three different times in the same area, as well as one female with a juvenile deer and one solitary female. The area where they were seen was scattered with dense bushes of juniper and rhododendron.

Unfortunately, the extremely skittish deer, already difficult to spot, did not remain in place long enough to be photographed, the team said.
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Arrow Down

Study reveals startling decline in European bird populations


Phys.org
Mon, 03 Nov 2014 03:00 UTC
Image
© Tomas Belka, birdphoto.eu
Around 90 percent of these losses were from the 36 most common and widespread species, including house sparrows, skylarks, grey partridges and starlings.
Bird populations across Europe have experienced sharp declines over the past 30 years, with the majority of losses from the most common species, say the University of Exeter, the RSPB and the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) in a new study. However, numbers of some less common birds have risen.

The study, published today in the journal Ecology Letters, reveals a decrease of 421 million individual birds over 30 years. Around 90 percent of these losses were from the 36 most common and widespread species, including house sparrows, skylarks, grey partridges and starlings, highlighting the need for greater efforts to halt the continent-wide declines of our most familiar countryside birds.

Richard Inger from the University of Exeter said: "It is very worrying that the most common species of bird are declining rapidly because it is this group of birds that people benefit from the most."

"It is becoming increasingly clear that interaction with the natural world and wildlife is central to human wellbeing and significant loss of common birds could be quite detrimental to human society."
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Windsock

IPCC focus on stopping global warming and extreme weather is 'unscientific and immoral'

Anthony Watts
Watt's Up With That?
Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:35 UTC
Image
"IPCC Chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri was right to advocate "a global agreement to finally reverse course on climate change" when he spoke to delegates tasked with approving the IPCC Synthesis Report, released on Sunday," said Tom Harris, executive director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC). "The new direction governments should follow must be one in which the known needs of people suffering today are given priority over problems that might someday be faced by those yet to be born."

"Yet, exactly the opposite is happening," continued Harris. "Of the roughly one billion U.S. dollars spent every day across the world on climate finance, only 6% of it is devoted to helping people adapt to climate change in the present. The rest is wasted trying to stop improbable future climatic events. That is immoral."

ICSC chief science advisor, Professor Bob Carter, former Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at James Cook University in Australia and author of Taxing Air explained, "Science has yet to provide unambiguous evidence that problematic, or even measurable, human-caused global warming is occurring. The hypothesis of dangerous man-made climate change is based solely on computerized models that have repeatedly failed in practice in the real world."
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Igloo

Canada: New Brunswick snowstorm leaves 7,600 without power


The Canadian Press
Sun, 02 Nov 2014 16:11 UTC
NB Snowstorm
© Viktor Pivovarov / Canadian Press
A snow plow operator clears a street in Moncton, New Brunswick
New Brunswick was blasted with the region's first snowstorm of the year on Sunday, causing power outages and prompting officials to urge people to stay off roads.

Environment Canada said a low pressure system was intensifying as it tracked across the Maritimes Sunday. The national weather forecaster had issued snowfall warning for central and northwestern parts of New Brunswick.

Meteorologist Barrie MacKinnon said the snowfall was intensifying throughout the day and would persist until Sunday evening, with as much as 30 centimetres expected in some areas.

"It's certainly the first (snowstorm) and a big one for them," said MacKinnon from Halifax on Sunday. "But tonight we're expecting things to taper off and by tomorrow we'll just be seeing some flurries."

New Brunswick Power said roughly 7,600 customers were without power at one point in Fredericton, Woodstock, St. Stephen, Bouctouche, Miramichi and Sussex.
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Snowflake Cold

Already an early U.S. winter? A foot of snow in Maine, record unprecedented early-season snow in South Carolina

Jon Erdman
Weather Channel
Sun, 02 Nov 2014 22:21 UTC
Image
Up to a foot of snow has fallen in Maine from a storm system that earlier brought an unprecedented early-season snow to parts of South Carolina on the first day of November.

Bangor, Maine, reported 12 inches of snow as of 2:50 p.m. EST Sunday. Scroll down for more on the snow forecast for New England.

Snow was observed Saturday as far south and east as Charleston, South Carolina, the earliest flakes on record in the city. This occurred less than three days after a string of four straight days in the mid-upper 80s. Places like Folly Beach and downtown Charleston picked up a trace of snowfall.

Even more stunning were the snowfall amounts in the South Carolina Midlands. Up to 4.5 inches of snow fell in Red Bank, just west of Columbia. Red Bank is only about 350 feet above sea level.

A couple of inches of snow coated grassy areas and some roads near Greenville and Pelion, South Carolina. Power lines were downed in Greenville, Greenwood, and Lexington Counties due to the combination of strong winds and wet snow accumulations.

Comment: Record snowfall prompts road closures and evacuations from Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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Wolf

'Out of control' dog reports increase in Midlothian, Scotland


Midlothian Advertiser
Sun, 02 Nov 2014 19:23 UTC
Image

A dangerous dog
Reports of dogs that are out of control in public in Midlothian have more than doubled in the last three years, the Advertiser can reveal.

Statistics show a rise from 23 in 2011/12 to 56 in 2013/14. There were 35 in 2012/13, while from April to September this year there were 43.

Of the 157 incidents reported within the last three years, a total of 13 dog control notices have been issued by the Midlothian Council-employed dog warden.
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Control Panel

Power grid collapses in Bangladesh causing nationwide blackout


RT
Sun, 02 Nov 2014 07:13 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman
A general view shows Dhaka during a power blackout on November 1, 2014
Imagine what happens when electricity is cut off nationwide in a country of 160 million people. In Bangladesh, everyday life was brought to a standstill on Saturday as factories, hospitals, and homes plunged into darkness or had to rely on generators.

Even the prime minister's official residence was left with no electricity, as the small but extremely densely populated South Asian country experienced one of the worst blackouts in world's recent history.

A general view shows Dhaka during a power blackout on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)

"The national grid collapsed so the whole country lost power," Reuters quoted Mohammad Saiful Islam, a director of the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board, as saying. "Our repeated efforts to restore electricity across Bangladesh failed repeatedly."

Local media reported that the blackout was caused by the failure of a transmission line transporting electricity from India. India's Power Grid Corp, however, said there were no problems on their side of the border.

Comment: The sun recently erupted with X-class solar flares directed at earth. The delivery of huge quantities of energetic particles from the sun (mainly protons) can boost the radiation environment around Earth and interact with our planet's magnetosphere. These geomagnetic storms are responsible for beautiful auroral displays at high latitudes and can cause power outages on the ground and satellite damage in orbit.

Largest sunspot on sun in more than two decades unleashes massive solar flare

Monster Earth-facing Sunspot - solar flare alert with possible solar storm brewing

X-Class solar flares hit Earth, cause radio blackouts

      Read More...
Arrow Down

Five-year old boy in serious condition after pit bull attack in Utah

Phyllis M Daugherty
Opposing Views
Fri, 31 Oct 2014 00:00 UTC
pit bull
Instead of preparing for the fun of Halloween festivities, a 5-year-old Clearfield, Utah, boy is hospitalized in serious condition on Thursday, after surgery to repair internal damage and close the serious wounds he suffered when he was attacked on Wednesday by the family's newly adopted Pit Bull, reports KSL.

The attack occurred about 1:00 p.m. at the family's home in the 1100 block of South State in Clearfield, the report says. No one actually saw what happened, according to Davis County Animal Care and Control Director Clint Thacker.

The 2-1/2-year-old neutered, male Pit Bull and the child were reportedly alone together in the yard playing. When the mother went outside she found the dog on top of the mauled body of her child.

Police officials believe the Pit Bull attacked the child and dragged him through the yard, Thacker said. The boy's family had just adopted the dog from the local animal shelter two weeks before, according to KSL.

Comment: Unfortunate? The number of pit bull attacks has become so common, that owning one puts owners and anyone within range in danger. Here are just a few recent incidences:

Pit bull attacks 1-year-old baby at Oak Park sitter's home, Illinois

Still man's best friend? Owner of pit bull in serious condition following attack in Cocoa, Florida

Pit bull attacks its owner in Newfane, NY

Another dog attack on owner: Pit bull mangles woman's arms in Portland

North Carolina teenager saves toddler from pit bull

Paterson man savagely attacked by his own pit bull terrier

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Snowflake Cold

Record snowfall prompts road closures and evacuations from Great Smoky Mountains National Park


WBIR.com
Sun, 02 Nov 2014 18:28 UTC
Image
© Highonleconte.com
LeConte Lodge crew member Jeanie Lawley in one of the snow trenches outside their dining room
Rangers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed all roads due to slick conditions from snow and ice and concerns about downed trees from high winds.

The list of road closures includes U.S. Highway 441/Newfound Gap Road, Little River Road, Laurel Creek Road and Cades Cove Loop Road.

The Sugarlands and Oconaluftee visitors centers are open.

Rangers also began working to evacuate campers at the Elkmont and Cades Cove campgrounds due to fallen trees and concerns about safety. All campers must leave Elkmont. Campers in tents must leave Cades Cove. RV campers will be allowed to stay at this time.
      Read More...
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