Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Heavy snowfall in the Balkans

Balkans Snowfall
© WorldBulletin
Heavy snowfall Monday night as a result of a low pressure front from Italy covers the Balkans.

After the Balkans, the low pressure front will move in the direction of the south-east Balkan peninsula, said meteorologist Ibrahim Hadzismajlovic.

"Snow will fall Tuesday and Wednesday. We can also expect it on Friday. Average temperature will range from -6 to 0 Celsius degrees, daily temperatures from -3 to 2 C. In the south we can expect temperatures reaching 8 Celsius degrees. On Thursday and Friday we expect lower temperatures. On weekend, daily temperatures will be above 0, while morning will remain low," said Hadzismajlovic.

The snow caused difficult and slow traffic flow. There is about 5 centimeters of snow on mountain roads in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some mountain passes required the use of chains for cars.

Bizarro Earth

Fisherman hooks monster skate off Miami Beach

Giant Skate
© ABC News
A Florida fisherman who hooked an 800-pound deep sea beast in the waters off Miami Beach says the mysterious fish was like "a dinosaur."

Captain Mark Quartiano, a charter boat operator who also goes by "Mark the Shark," is seen grinning next to his fearsome catch in an Instagram photo he posted over the weekend.

"I've caught one like it before, but never that size, not in the last 30 years I've been doing this," Quartiano told ABC News. "It's a very rare fish. It's like a big gigantic whipping stingray. It's a dinosaur."

The monster is better known as a Dactylobatus clarkii, a deep sea species also referred to as "hookskate" or "fingerskate." It inhabits muddy sea depths of up to 1,000 feet.

Blackbox

Giant spinning ice circle discovered in North Dakota's Sheyenne River

Just about everyone has heard of crop circles, but ice circles? A retired engineer this week discovered an enormous circle of ice spinning slowly down North Dakota's Sheyenne River.


George Loegering described the rare phenomenon as "an amazing wonder" and can be heard in the video saying that the perfectly round, alien-like disc measured about 50 feet in diameter.

Snowflake

Record November snow in China leaves 9 dead after blizzard collapses factory roof

Harbin -- Nine people buried following the collapse of a factory building's roof in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province have been confirmed dead, local authorities said.

Officials with the emergency response office of Mudanjiang City said the accident, which happened at 1:10 p.m. in the city's Aiming District, was probably caused by blizzards.

The rescue work wrapped up early Tuesday with the bodies of all nine people found. Local authorities are now gearing up post-accident management as well as a safety check across the city amid heavy snowfall.

A new round of snow pelted the northeastern Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin from Sunday, closing highways and canceling flights in many places.

Snowflake

London, Ontario, hammered by snowstorm

London, Ont. - London is digging out after a snowstorm dumped more than 30 cm of snow on the city.

The heavy snowfall continued Sunday, with another 10 cm expected and winds reaching 50 km/h, as Environment Canada extended a snow squall warning for London and parts of southwestern Ontario.

Officials were asking drivers to stay at home while the roads are cleared.

Fall storms often pack more punch than their winter counterparts, Environment Canada meteorologist Mark Seifert said.

"These early season snow squalls are usually the worst because the lakes are still fairly warm," he said. "And the warmer the water is, combined with the colder air, the worse the snow squalls are."

Many London roads were impassable Sunday as city crews worked frantically through the night to clear the main streets.

"We've had crews running through the night. They running now, they'll be running through tonight," Dave O'Brien, the city's manager of emergency management, said Sunday.

The city brought in contractors, called in additional staff and rented extra equipment to help clear the streets, O'Brien said.

Two people were killed in separate crashes, OPP said, and some flights were delayed at the city's international airport.

Source: The Free London Press

Bizarro Earth

Massive sinkhole in Bosnia swallows small lake, nearby trees and damages homes

Sanica - Just outside the rustic village, children fished in a tranquil pond bobbing with green algae and lined with willow trees, as cattle grazed nearby. Now, Rezak Motanic gazes in disbelief down a gigantic moonlike crater where the pond used to be. It's like something from a science fiction movie: a sinkhole swallowed the water, the fish and even nearby trees.
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© Amel EmricA huge sinkhole appears in the village of Sanica, Bosnia.
"I sat here only a day before it happened, sipping plum brandy," Cemal Hasan said. "And then, there was panic. Fish were jumping out, and a big plum tree was pulled down like someone yanked it with a hook." The villagers of this remote northwestern Bosnian village have been in shock since the pond vanished two weeks ago.

Their pond was some 20 metres in diameter and about eight meters deep. Now, the "abyss," as the villagers have dubbed the crater, is some 50 metres wide and 30 metres deep - and growing. Scientists say it is not uncommon that ponds and small lakes suddenly disappear. They say it could be caused by drying underground water currents, or changes in soil drainage due to irrigation.

The Sanica villagers, however, are having none of the scientific explanations. "It could have been a giant cave that opened its doors," offered Milanko Skrbic. "Or a volcano."

Additional images

Comment: Check out the local resident's comments in this video:

Weird things are happening. Our elders used to say that miracles happen before the doomsday. We just come here to see this miracle.



Wolf

Three wolves shot dead in Essex after gang of five escaped from Colchester Zoo, UK

Police and zoo keepers launched a frantic search to find the two escapees after they got out of their enclosure through a hole in the fence

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Three wolves have been shot dead after a pack of five escaped from Colchester Zoo.

Zoo keepers discovered the group had got out of their enclosure at around 8am this morning through a hole in the fence.

One of the timber wolves returned and another was captured.

But police and zoo staff had to launch a frantic search to find the three remaining animals who were on the loose in Essex.

Two were found and shot dead within a few hours.

Colchester Zoo said they were unable to use anaesthetic darts as they take around 15 minutes to have an effect - in which time the wolves remained a danger to the public.

The fifth and final wolf remained on the run for several hours longer.

A police helicopter was scrambled and officers are searching fields around the zoo in a bid to find the beast.

Cloud Lightning

Watch moment driver survives lightning bolt striking car in Australia

The shock of electricity from the heavens was so powerful it lifted Wayne Lennan's vehicle OFF the ground before destroying it


This is the moment Australian Wayne Lennan was relaxing in a beach bar car park in Newcastle, New South Wales, before a bolt of electricity from the heavens completely wrecked his car.

The force of the impact was so powerful it lifted his car OFF the ground - but somehow he managed to walk away unharmed.

The incredible event was caught on video on by surfer Luke Flanders on his camera phone, and the footage has gone viral.

Luke Flanders was trying to get some cool pictures of a lightning bolt for his Instagram account when he switched his phone to video mode.

"I was filming for like 30 seconds and then BANG!" he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"It hit the aerial of a car about 30 or 40 metres in front of me and just kind of exploded and orange sparks shot out everywhere."

Mr Lennan is still in shock at just how he managed to survive such a violent strike and admits the whole incident came and went in a blur.

"It was all a bit of a shock, the storm was coming in and it all happened very quickly,'' he said. "[When the lightning bolt hit] it lifted the car off the ground."

A local towing service came to the rescue to take the car to a garage but the vehicle has now been confirmed as a write off.

Ice Cube

Shock 'snow avalanche' crushes car driving down street in China's 'Ice City', as country experiences 'worst blizzard in 50 years'

The giant sheet of ice crashed down on top of the 4x4 completely caving in the roof and showering onlookers with snow


This terrifying clip shows a Range Rover driving down a street when it is smashed by an AVALANCHE that appears to come out of nowhere.

Winter driving conditions are never easy to negotiate, but this shocking video shows what this Chinese driver in Harbin in the northeast of the country, had to go through.

Harbin is known as Ice City and true to form the huge sheet of ice apparently slid off a nearby roof and crashed on to the 4x4 causing a giant snow cloud which showered onlookers.

The force of the impact was so severe that the snow actually caved in the roof of the famously sturdy vehicle setting off the airbag.

From the after pictures it appears that no one was seriously hurt in the incident but the sheer scale of the damage is there for all to see.

Harbin is nicknamed the 'Ice City' for its extreme low temperatures, but it is currently in the midst of the worst blizzard in 50 years, a storm which has claimed four lives.

Bizarro Earth

Mount Sinabung is just one of 35 currently erupting volcanoes

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The volcano at Mount Sinabung at Jakarta, Indonesia, erupted six times early Monday, shooting volcanic ash 2,000 meters into the sky. Thousands have been evacuated from the region since the Sinabung volcano began erupting sporadically in September. 5,000 people were evacuated from the area the day before the eruption on Monday, bringing the total number of evacuees to 11,000. There have been no casualties so far.

The Sinabung is just one of 35 active, erupting volcanoes in the world, according to a categorized list on Volcano Discovery. Of the 35 currently erupting volcanoes in the world, seven are in Indonesia. Most of Indonesia is situated along the "Ring of Fire" -- a horseshoe shaped ring around the Pacific where most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions take place.

Here's a map of the Ring of Fire and the 35 volcanoes that are experiencing sporadic eruptions and other active volcanic activity. Click here to see what sort of volcanic activity that volcano is experiencing.