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9 Killer whales beach near Tuatapere, New Zealand

Hannah Mcleod
stuff.co.nz
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 09:35 UTC
Image
© Southland
Scientists examine orcas who stranded on New Zealand beach
Nine whales are understood to have died when they were beached near Tuatapere today.

Tuatapere woman Tracy Thomas said she went to take photos of the beached whales, which she believed were Orca whales, after a neighbour called her to say he had spotted them.

The whales beached at Trackburn, west from Bluecliffs Beach near Tuatapere, Mrs Thomas said.

"There were nine of them and they were all dead, which is quite sad," she said.

She believed they were Orcas because of their black and white colour.

Mrs Thomas took her camera with her to photograph the whales at about 7.30pm.

"I was very lucky because while I was there a helicopter was taking one away," she said.

"It seemed to be the smallest one."

It was uncommon to see Orcas in the waters near Tuatapere, she said.

"I photographed them a couple of years ago."

"The last time a whale beached here was when my husband was a child," she said.

A Department of Conservation spokeswoman said they were aware of the incident, but no further information would be available until tomorrow.

Source: The Southland Times
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Cloud Lightning

Storm kills 3 in Pacific Northwest U.S.


Al Jazeera
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 01:31 UTC
Image
© Rich Pedroncelli/AP Images
Drought-stricken California is getting some relief as a storm system the likes of which the region has not seen in more than a year, according to forecasters.
A sizeable storm contributed to three deaths and several school closures in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, but weather officials say it will take weeks of similar weather to stave off drought in California - on the brink of a Stage 3 water emergency,

The National Weather Service says the first significant storm to hit Northern California in 14 months has produced impressive amounts of rain and snow, but forecasters cautioned Sunday that it would take weeks of similar drenching to end the state's immediate drought worries.

Parts of the northern San Francisco Bay Area saw sizable amounts of rain, along with flooding, downed trees and power outages. By late Sunday, the Sonoma County town of Guerneville had received more than 15 inches of rain since the storm moved in Thursday, while downtown San Francisco got more than 3 inches, said Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster in Monterey.

The storm, powered by a warm, moisture-packed system from the Pacific Ocean known as a Pineapple Express, was expected to bring more rain Sunday before moving east.

In the Pacific Northwest, in central Oregon, the Deschutes County sheriff's office was investigating three storm-related deaths, including that of a 61-year-old Bend man who collapsed while shoveling snow outside his home. An elderly couple was also found Saturday buried in snow, and authorities believe they were walking through heavy snow on an unplowed driveway to their home.

Comment: San Francisco: Pineapple Express storm brings rain, flight delays

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Life Preserver

Valentine's Day Massacre: Major weather event will smash UK on Friday

Nathan Rao and Max Evans
Express, UK
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© NTI
Heavy rain has caused devastating flooding in Ironbridge near Telford, Shropshire.

Britain is in the firing line for yet another violent storm to unleash chaos next weekend.

Forecasters have warned the entire country to be on alert for 80mph gales and torrential downpours.

A deep low pressure system is currently swirling over the Atlantic and heading straight for our shores.

Forecasters warned Britons to expect a "Valentine's Day massacre" as the frenzied storm rips into the UK on Friday night.

Weather models show a system even worse than this weekend's 'Storm Charlie', which tore across parts of the country, is forming in the Atlantic and on a direct course for Britain.

It comes as shocking new video footage emerged of reckless members of the public standing just INCHES from a cliff edge near Sennan, Cornwall as hurricane force 11 gales lashed the coast on Saturday.

The intense storm system is on course to crash into Britain next weekend pummeling regions already in flood crisis including Somerset and Berkshire, where today the Thames was threatening to burst its banks.

Waves of more than 50 feet will threaten southern coasts as the low pressure drags a colossal 'sea swell' towards land.Forecasters warned next week's 'major event' will be the third fresh Atlantic depression to hit this week after a big storm hits western Britain overnight tonight with another violent spell of weather due on Wednesday.
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Arrow Up

Volcano in Ecuador causing crop shortage, rising prices


Extinction Protocol
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
After a week of eruptions, the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador has damaged thousands of hectares of crops, leaving a feed shortage for 110,000 head of livestock. The volcano erupted on Feb. 2, sending an ash plume about 13 km high, followed by two other moderate-sized explosions that sent ash about five kilometers into the sky. Since then, the volcano has continued to erupt.

The thick ash is coating crops and monsoon winds are causing the ash to spread around the countryside widely. In order to minimize the losses incurred by the volcano's eruption, farmers have begun to harvest tomatoes, potatoes and corns before they reach maturity. According to local media reports, the spreading volcanic ash has led to vegetable shortages in some large and medium-sized cities in the country. In Guayaquil, the biggest city in Ecuador, prices for onions, corn and potato have risen for about 10 per cent, the report said.
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Snowflake Cold

NYC to shiver before pre-Valentine's Day storm threat

Kristina Pydynowski
Accuweather.com
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 04:59 UTC
Image
Following the snow ending the weekend, a pre-Valentine's Day storm is being monitored.

A storm that moved through the Northeast early Sunday night left a fresh 1 to 2 inches of snow across the New York City area.

Frigid air is following the snow and will hold temperatures to the lower 30s on Monday. Highs between 26 and 30 F are in store for Tuesday and Wednesday with lows in the teens during the early morning hours.
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Snowflake Cold

Chicago nearing record for days below zero


CBS2 Chicago
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 07:31 UTC
Image
© Scott Olson/Getty Images
With temperatures hovering around -10 degrees steam rises from Lake Michigan January 27, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.
With temperatures plunging below zero again overnight, Chicagoans were starting another work week in frigid conditions, and the city was approaching the record for number of days of subzero cold.

As Monday morning's temperature dipped to 3 below zero at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago now has had 20 days of below zero temperatures this winter. Temperatures were even colder in the outlying suburbs, where it was up to 14 below in Aurora and McHenry, and 13 below in Kankakee.

Only six winters on record have had more days of below zero weather in Chicago: 1884-85, 1935-36, 1962-63, 1981-82, 1874-75, and 1978-79.

The record for most days of below zero temperatures was set in the winter of 1884-85, when there were 25 such days. With more than a month left until the first day of Spring, and at least one more day of subzero temperatures this week, it's quite likely Chicago will break that record.
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Cloud Precipitation

San Francisco: Pineapple Express storm brings rain, flight delays

Victoria Colliver
San Francisco Chronicle
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:09 UTC
Image
© Paul Chinn, The Chronicle
Pedestrians cross California Street the rain in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. The Bay Area is getting doused this weekend in one of the biggest storms in over a year.
Wet conditions from a Pineapple Express storm system moving through the region created slick streets, triggered a flood advisory in the North Bay and caused delays of up to two hours at San Francisco International Airport Saturday.

The rain was expected to continue through the weekend, with another burst of showers Saturday night through Sunday, but then drying out by Monday.

While rainfall totals will not be complete until the storm ends, National Weather Service forecasters said San Francisco received just under an inch of rain in the 24 hours ending 4 p.m. Saturday for a total of 1.92 inches since the storm began on Thursday.

The three-day total topped 11 inches at MountTamalpais with rain expected through Monday morning, said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the weather service. Rains could be heavy at times in the North Bay, he said, but should be light to moderate in the East Bay and on the Peninsula.
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Cloud Lightning

100 dead birds washed up on Chesil Beach, UK


Dorset Echo
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:34 UTC
Image
© Izzy Imset
SCENE: Dead birds laid out on Chesil Beach.
A huge amount of dead birds have washed up on Chesil Beach.

Some of the 100 or so seabirds have been found alive but the majority are dead or in distress.

Storms have washed them onto the beach.

Birds such as razorbills, guillemots and two kittiwakes have been found.

Five dead puffins, which are species of European conservation concern, have also been washed up.

Some of these birds were covered in oil, and those found alive are exhausted and need time to recover, says Dorset Wildlife Trust.

Concerned conservation officers have been able to rescue some of the stranded birds. A trapped razorbill, stuck inside an empty metal cage filled with shingle to stabilise the shoreline was freed by Angela Thomas, Assistant Warden at the Chesil Bank and Fleet Nature Reserve.

She said: "The force of the waves had emptied the shingle from the metal cage, but somehow a razorbill had become trapped inside - it was hard to get it out, and we had no idea how it got in there. It would not have escaped without our help, so we're glad we managed to spot it."
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Snowflake

Cold winter brings rare seagull invasion on Allegheny River, Pittsburgh

David Highfield
pittsburgh.cbslocal.com
Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:03 UTC
Image
© KDKA
The extremely cold winter we're having is affecting wildlife and causing a rare sight in Pittsburgh.

People are now gathering nightly to watch thousands of seagulls that have converged on the Allegheny River, not far from Heinz Field.


While seagulls are normally around here, Bob Mulvihill from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh says what's going on right now is very rare.

There's an estimated flock of as many as 8,000 gulls that congregate each evening on the Allegheny River and what's most abnormal is how far some of them have traveled.

"It's very uncommon to have the conditions that lead to this kind of concentration," said Mulvihill. "These birds will stay on the Great Lakes until they freeze over, and then, they hesitatingly go south looking for some open water."

But he and the other birdwatchers that have started gathering in the evenings to examine the rare sight, say a few of the gulls are from very far away - some from the arctic. The same areas as polar bears.

Comment: For the last couple of months, across the northern hemisphere, extremely cold weather conditions have been driving many wintering Arctic and boreal bird species much further south than is usual. These include Snowy Owls recorded in Hawaii and Bermuda!! Additionally, many are turning up in unprecedented numbers. This all points to a probable return of the Ice Age. See also this selection: Rare Arctic bird turns up in Darwin, Australia

UK storms bring in rare Arctic gulls to Pembrokeshire

Storm blows Canadian bird 3,000 miles on to Tyrone lough, Northern Ireland

Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich's Guillemot spotted

Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK

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Cloud Lightning

Recent storms have killed at least 5,000 sea birds on French coast


thisfrenchlife.com
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:14 UTC
Image
© Xavier Leoty/AFP
Photo taken on February 10, 2014 shows the bodies of puffins washed up on a beach in Sainte-Marie-de-Re, western France, after heavy storms
Storms decimate puffin colonies on French coast

The Atlantic storms that have buffeted Europe in recent days have killed at least 5,000 sea birds on the French coast, half of them puffins.

Most of the birds whose bodies have been washed up on beaches between the Pyrenees and Brittany died of exhaustion or starvation as a result of days of gale-force winds which made it impossible for them to fish, officials with the national Bird Protection League (LPO) told AFP.

"It started a fortnight ago but there has been a big increase in the numbers over this weekend," said the LPO's Olivier le Gall.

Photo taken on February 10, 2014 shows the bodies of puffins washed up on a beach in Sainte-Marie-de-Re, western France, after heavy storms

After puffins, guillemots have been the species most affected, followed by razorbills and kittiwakes.

Although most of the bird deaths were caused by the weather conditions, the LPO said there had also been some caused by pollution as a result of cargo ships taking advantage of the inclement conditions to dump noxious gases at sea.
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