Earth ChangesS


Snowman

UK: Food Shelves Empty and Petrol Running Out as Icy Roads Make Deliveries Impossible

Sara Nelson
The Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:44 UTC
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© The Daily Mail

  • Two pensioners die after collapsing in their gardens
  • Milder temperatures expected tomorrow but falling again on Sunday
  • Short-haul flights from Gatwick cancelled until 5pm
  • Petrol forecourts run dry as deliveries are held up
  • Rail networks cancel services for the third day running
    •
Petrol forecourts were today running dry and food stores were struggling to replenish their shelves as icy conditions halted deliveries.

'Critical' shortages of petrol have been reported by the RMI Petrol Retailers Association, with remote areas being particularly badly affected.

Some fuel stations have also been accused of 'cashing in' on the crisis by increasing their prices - with one garage in Surrey putting up the cost of diesel per litre from £1.24 to £1.28 within the past four days.

The news came as snowfalls eased but temperatures plummeted even further, dropping -20.1C in Scotland and -7C in London and Birmingham overnight.
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Phoenix

Tungurahua volcano prompts evacuation in Ecuador


BBC
Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:20 UTC
Tungurahua
© Agence France-PresseView from Cotalo, Ecuador, of the Tungurahua volcano in eruption on 4 December, 2010 Scientists say pyroclastic flow from the volcano could threaten some of the villages on the slopes
The authorities in Ecuador have begun evacuating people from the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano after it started spewing ash.

Scientists say fast-moving currents of extremely hot gas and rock could be seen flowing from the volcano's crater.

Tungurahua, some 135km (85 miles) southeast of the capital, Quito, has been in an active state since 1999.

But experts say there has been a rapid increase in its seismic activity since Saturday morning.

Scientists with the Ecuadorean Institute for Geophysics say the number of explosions has increased. They say the ash cloud has reached 2km (1.2 miles) in height.

People living on the slopes reported the ground and buildings shaking, and a rumbling sound coming from the volcano.
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Sun

Cancun Sun Speeds Decay of Global Warming

Rex Murphy
National Post, Canada
Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:46 UTC
Cancun
© unknownNot a bad place for a climate conference, eh?
This global-warming/climate-change stuff is a great racket.

Over in England right now, they're locked in the jaws of a very early freeze-up. The roads are iced, the plows overworked, and people are angry. But there's a precious subset of the English population that are not enduring the frigid and premature torments of a northern winter. They're the climate-change activists, bureaucrats, politicians, puppeteers and NGOs - the class of professional alarmists who've been banging on about global warming for close on two decades now. This bunch has exempted itself from the rigors of English November, traded their sackcloth and ashes for sun-wear and tropical breezes.

They're toasting their pasty, righteous, caterwauling epidermi on the golden hot sands of Cancun, Mexico, flopped out amid the bikinis and barbeques while they attempt to spell out a future of rationing and want for all the rest of us. Flown there on taxpayer or foundation money, meeting up with all their buddies from the bust that was Cophenhagen, the grim, grey priesthood of "sustainable" living are convening in one of the great sybaritic strips of the entire Western world. The monks are in the cathouse.

But hey, if you're going to do Armageddon - do it in Cancun. The Apocalypse at the All You Can Eat Buffet. Parasailing to Armageddon.
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Bizarro Earth

Australia: Hundreds evacuated in widespread NSW floods


Herald Sun
Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:01 UTC
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© Getty Images
Hundreds of flood-hit residents are being evacuated with parts of NSW's natural disaster zones braced for more rain. The Bureau of Meteorology issued flood warnings for swathes of the state's central west as people in Eugowra and Dubbo were forced to flee their homes amid the havoc.

Residents living near all western flowing NSW rivers from the Namoi south to the Murrumbidgee were warned their homes were at risk. With more rain forecast for the remainder of Saturday, additional flooding is expected in the Namoi, Castlereagh, Macquarie and Bogan river catchments.

Parts of NSW were declared disaster zones on Friday, with millions of dollars damage being caused. Residents of the Poplar Caravan Park were being evacuated on Saturday after intense localised rainfall in the Dubbo area.

Evacuation orders were also issued by the State Emergency Service for Eugowra. Residents of 11 properties and six businesses have been forced to pack up and leave.
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Igloo

Seven trapped in Yorkshire pub for last Eight days under 16 feet drifts


Daily Mail
Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:24 UTC
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The Lion Inn pub in Blakey Ridge, North Yorkshire, where seven people have been trapped for eight days
While thousands braved the cold to begin their Christmas shopping, seven people in North Yorkshire are praying for better weather after being snowed into a pub for eight days and counting.

Heavy snow showers and strong winds have left the group stuck in the Lion Inn pub in Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside since last Friday, with little chance of an escape.

Drifts of up to 16ft blocked the inn's doors and windows, with the surrounding roads impassable, and to make matters worse, the stranded seven's cars are buried under nine foot of snow.

The group's predicament in the fourth highest pub in England continues as forecasters warned Britons to expect icy conditions for at least another week, with temperatures falling as low as -10C in the South East of England overnight.

Katie Underwood, 18, who has been a waitress at the Lion Inn for four years, said: 'It was really novel at first, and quite exciting.

'The snow is immense. Most of the windows in here are blocked up, but we've got a door open at the back to get some air when we need to.'
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Igloo

European Winter Blast Blamed For 40 Deaths While Flooding Devastates Balkan Countries


CBC News
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:46 UTC
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© Phil Noble/ReutersA motorist drives through heavy snow in Manchester, northern England, December 1, 2010. The snow and freezing temperatures continued to cause major problems for road, rail and air services on Wednesday
Unseasonably cold weather and heavy snow in parts of northern Europe have killed at least 40 people in several countries this week and caused major travel disruptions.

The frigid weather is expected to linger through the first half of next week, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said.

"A 'blocking pattern' high-pressure system has set up over Greenland and Iceland, basically leading to an atmospheric traffic jam," Wagstaffe said. "This high is steering Atlantic warmth away from Europe and instead directing Arctic cold down from the North."

In Poland, officials said at least 12 people - many of them homeless - died overnight, bringing the death toll in Poland alone to 30 over the past three days. People have also died from the cold in Russia, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, local media reported.
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Fish

Before the sand: Ancient Mega-Lake Found in Egyptian Desert

Larry O'Hanlon
Discovery News
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:50 UTC
Image
© iStockphoto
One of the driest places in the world was once home to a lush lake nearly the size of Lake Michigan.

* A mega-lake in today's hyper-arid western Egypt might have been fed by the earliest Nile floods.

* The discovery helps explain fish fossils in the desert.

* An alternative hypothesis is that the mega-lake fed the Nile, not the other way around.

An ancient lush mega-lake would explain the longstanding puzzle of the fossilized fish found in the desert.

The hyper-arid deserts of western Egypt were once home to a lush mega-lake fed by the Nile River's earliest annual floods.
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Igloo

Snowstorm churns across U.S. Plains, Midwest

Andrew Stern
Reuters
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:56 UTC
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A snowstorm forecast to bring up to half a foot of snow to the northern Plains and Midwest churned across North Dakota on Friday, while the eastern shore of Lake Erie was hit by more lake effect snow.

The heavy lake effect snow that shut down sections of the New York state Thruway on Thursday, stranding scores of motorists, had abated and the highway was open, a Thruway spokeswoman said. However, another three to five inches of lake effect snow will blanket sections of the snow belt around Buffalo, New York, the National Weather Service said.

Lake effect snow occurs when cold winds whip up storm clouds off warmer lake waters, and can dump heavy amounts of snow along the coastline.

Snow was falling across North Dakota and the Weather Service declared a winter storm warning in effect through Friday in southern Minnesota, southwest Wisconsin and northwest Iowa.
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Bizarro Earth

New Zealand - Mystery Illness Hits Oyster Stocks


ONE News
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:31 UTC
Sick Oysters
© ONE NewsJuvenile oysters or 'spat'.
Scientists are trying to determine the cause of a mystery illness hitting oyster stocks on North Island farms.

The disease, which kills juvenile oysters, or spat, has been found on farms in Northland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

A 20-strong MAF team is working around the clock, testing the DNA of dead spat for traces of lethal pathogens.

Over 500 tissue samples have been taken and MAF hopes to have an answer next week.

New Zealand exports millions of Pacific oysters to Asia and Australia, bringing in around $30 million each year.
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Bizarro Earth

County Weather Expert Predicts a Mini-Ice Age by the Year 2020


This Is Lincolnshire, UK
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:00 UTC
Mini Ice Age
© This Is LincolnshireMini ice age.
Snow and ice gripping the county is nothing compared to the mini-ice age heading our way, according to a county astronomer.

Philip Norton, a member of Lincoln Astronomical Society, forecast the current harsh winter conditions way back in the 1980s.

He also correctly forecast the weather this time around and last winter.

But he says this is comparatively mild - with far harsher winters to come in the 2020s.

Mr Norton, a development engineer of Thirsk Drive, North Hykeham, bases his predictions on sunspot activity.

Sunspots are visible as dark spots on the surface of the sun, where the magnetic fields from within have risen and broken through its surface.

When there are lots of sunspots, there are fewer clouds on Earth.

If there is a lack of sunspot activity, the Earth gets cloudy, lowering temperatures.

Mr Norton said: "This winter is mild compared to those of the 2020s."

"The sunspot activity is roughly following a 400-year trend.

"I predicted the last sunspot cycle would be the most active for a long time and it was.

"This would be followed by a long, deep solar minimum. We are just getting out of this.
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