A windstorm last Sunday brought literally tons of tumbleweed through the town of Clovis, New Mexico. As the storm subsided and the tumbleweed came to rest, the city was covered with the roaming foliage, with many of the piles well over 8 feet high.

Pathways have been dug out for cars and the huge piles keeping some residents stuck in their houses have been removed. But crews are still putting in 10-hour days clearing the rest and expect to continue for weeks.

Endangered and threatened sea turtles are reeling after winter storms ravaged the Florida Panhandle, causing more than a dozen deaths, The Miami Herald reports.

Over 130 sea turtles were rescued Thursday and Friday, as freezing rain and low tides posed serious threats to local wildlife, FWC wildlife biologist Alley Foley said. Marine mammals including dolphins and manatees can not warm themselves during these adverse conditions, with sea turtles suffering from hypothermia-like conditions.

"When it comes to wildlife, it seems the turtles had the most trouble," Foley said.

Many turtles found were green sea turtles. They will be taken to the Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach and are expected to be released sometime this week after treatment.

The weather, which covered much of the Florida Panhandle with ice and snow and dropped water temperatures to as low as 37 degrees, was also an issue for rescue workers attempting to get to the struggling animals.

Scientists present links between unusual Alaska seal deaths and Fukushima fallout - Skin lesions, hair loss, lethargy - 'Pulsed release' when built-up radionuclides were set free as ice melted - "Wildlife health implications" due to radiation exposure discussed

Alaska Marine Science Symposium (pdf), Jan. 20-24, 2014 (emphasis added): 2011 Fukushima Fall Out: Aerial Deposition On To Sea Ice Scenario And Wildlife Health Implications To Ice-Associated Seals (Dr. Doug Dasher, John Kelley, Gay Sheffield, Raphaela Stimmelmayr) -

On March 11, 2011 off Japan's west coast, an earthquake-generated tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant resulting in a major nuclear accident that included a large release of airborne radionuclides into the environment. Within five days of the accident atmospheric air masses carrying Fukushima radiation were transiting into the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. During summer 2011 it became evident to coastal communities and wildlife management agencies that there was a novel disease outbreak occurring in several species of Arctic ice-associated seals. Gross symptoms associated with the disease included lethargy, no new hair growth, and skin lesions, with the majority of the outbreak reports occurring between the Nome and Barrow region. NOAA and USFWS declared an Alaska Northern Pinnipeds Usual Mortality Event (UME) in late winter of 2011. The ongoing Alaska 2011 Northern Pinnipeds UME investigation continues to explore a mix of potential etiologies (infectious, endocrine, toxins, nutritious etc.), including radioactivity. Currently, the underlying etiology remains undetermined. We present results on gamma analysis (cesium 134 and 137) of muscle tissue from control and diseased seals, and discuss wildlife health implications from different possible routes of exposure to Fukushima fallout to ice seals. Since the Fukushima fallout period occurred during the annual sea ice cover period from Nome to Barrow, a sea ice based fallout scenario in addition to a marine food web based one is of particular relevance for the Fukushima accident. Under a proposed sea ice fallout deposition scenario, radionuclides would have been settled onto sea ice. Sea ice and snow would have acted as a temporary refuge for deposited radionuclides; thus radionuclides would have only become available for migration during the melting season and would not have entered the regional food web in any appreciable manner until breakup (pulsed release). The cumulative on-ice exposure for ice seals would have occurred through external, inhalation, and non-equilibrium dietary pathways during the ice-based seasonal spring haulout period for molting/pupping/breeding activities. Additionally, ice seals would have been under dietary/metabolic constraints and experiencing hormonal changes associated with reproduction and molting.

"We are not capable of addressing climate change." Such was the lead sentence of climate-change guest columnist Gregory Willits, in the Dec. 24 edition of the Orlando Sentinel ("Let's accept climate change and deal with it in a big way"). It was an accurate statement to be sure, but for all the wrong reasons.

Willits, an avowed "green" enthusiast, went on to strongly support the building of sea walls to keep out the predicted rising sea levels that the world's greatest climate scaremonger, Al Gore, has said will swamp most of Florida with 21 feet of sea water by the year 2100. Yes, we are not capable of addressing climate change - the truth about climate change, that is.

The truth of what is really happening to the climate versus the United Nations and current U.S. government version is, however, a bit hard to accept after two decades of global-warming propaganda. I know. It was for me in April 2007, after finishing some research into solar activity.

Indonesian officials searched through thick ash for bodies Sunday after Mount Sinabung volcano erupted, killing at least 15 people, with the only sign of life an ownerless mobile phone ringing inside an abandoned bag.

Dark, searing clouds engulfed victims during the eruption on Saturday, leaving rescuers with little hope of finding survivors as they searched through ash up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) thick.

Officials said about 170 people armed with chainsaws and oxygen apparatus spread out through the destruction in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles) from Sinabung's crater, Sunday before the search was called off.

"There's no sign of human life. All the crops were gone. Many houses were damaged and those still standing were covered in thick white ash. It was hard to walk in ash which nearly reached my calves," Gito, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

Ever had that sinking feeling when you open the front door in the morning and wonder where you left the car?

Did you leave it on the road, park it in the garage... or has somebody stolen it?

The last thing you'd probably think of is that it might have been swallowed up by the ground

But that's exactly what happened to 19-year-old Zoe Smith, whose Volkswagen Lupo fell down a 30ft-deep sinkhole in the night.

Now the car, which she relies on to get to work, is a write-off, lying at the bottom of the pit, which stretches 15ft across the family's driveway - to within inches of the house itself.

Miss Smith's stepfather Phil Conran, said: 'We hadn't heard anything at all. There was no indication whatsoever.

Britain may have to choose whether it wants to save "town or country" from future flooding because it is too costly to defend both, the chairman of the Environment Agency said.

Lord Smith said "difficult choices" would have to be made over what to protect because "there is no bottomless purse" to pay for defences.

Meanwhile householders have been told to brace themselves as further wind and rain threatens to bring more chaos to waterlogged communities across Britain.

Around 180 homes were flooded during during a busy weekend for the emergency services and EA workers up and down the country.

But as flood-hit communities enjoyed a break in the bad weather yesterday, forecasters warned there may be worse to come.

Event Time
2014-02-03 03:08:46 UTC
2014-02-03 05:08:46 UTC+02:00 at epicenter

Location
38.292°N 20.337°E depth=13.7km (8.5mi)

Nearby Cities
12km (7mi) NW of Lixourion, Greece
74km (46mi) NW of Zakynthos, Greece
81km (50mi) SSW of Preveza, Greece
95km (59mi) W of Mesolongi, Greece
298km (185mi) W of Athens, Greece

Technical Details

If winter ended today, I would say that this was an awesome winter! Many of you have gotten the snow that you wanted, and January ended up being very cold for many across the United States. Now, let me be clear that winter is far from over, and as I have stated on the Facebook page many times, February is going to be active. We are going to be dealing with a bit of a different pattern than what we had in January, but I do expect another month of brutally cold temperatures. Many areas across the United States could end up getting a lot of wintry weather this month with some regions getting multiple storms in the upcoming weeks.

Last month, temperatures ended up being well-below normal for much of the eastern U.S., while the western U.S. stayed mild and dry. The Deep South was also finally able to get that big winter storm that I had been predicting for the end of January. All in all, the winter has been good for all of you lovers of cold, and many of you got to see snow for the first time in several years. At this point, most of you want to know if this cold is going to continue and whether or not you're going to get more snow. Many of you are, and the one's who do could get a lot of it.

The punishing drought that has swept California is now threatening the state's drinking water supply.

With no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days. State officials said that the number was likely to rise in the months ahead after the State Water Project, the main municipal water distribution system, announced on Friday that it did not have enough water to supplement the dwindling supplies of local agencies that provide water to an additional 25 million people. It is first time the project has turned off its spigot in its 54-year history.

State officials said they were moving to put emergency plans in place. In the worst case, they said drinking water would have to be brought by truck into parched communities and additional wells would have to be drilled to draw on groundwater. The deteriorating situation would likely mean imposing mandatory water conservation measures on homeowners and businesses, who have already been asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent.

"Every day this drought goes on we are going to have to tighten the screws on what people are doing" said Gov. Jerry Brown, who was governor during the last major drought here, in 1976-77.

This latest development has underscored the urgency of a drought that has already produced parched fields, starving livestock, and pockets of smog.