Earth Changes

Large tornado hits Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Matt Daniel
EarthSky Org
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:52 UTC

A strong cold front triggering blizzard conditions across northern Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota is also triggering severe weather across the deep south today (Sunday, February 10, 2013). The Storm Prediction Center issued a slight risk for severe weather across Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and southern Alabama for a threat to see a few strong tornadoes, large hail, and strong winds.

During the evening hours, supercells developed across southern Mississippi and produced very distinct signatures on radar that would indicate strong rotation and possible tornadoes. One confirmed tornado struck the city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi around 5 p.m CST (22:00 UTC). There have been numerous reports of severe damage to buildings, structures, and what appears to be a direct hit through the University of Southern Mississippi.

In this post, we have included some images and videos that were posted via social media. It is still too early to know if any injuries or deaths occurred with this particular storm. Once we get more details, we will let you know.

Peru, Chile and Bolivia hit by floods after heavy rain

BBC
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:49 UTC

Torrential rain has been causing havoc along the Pacific coast side of South America, with flooding causing the deaths of at least six people in Peru.

In the southern city of Arequipa, thousands of people were left without electricity and drinking water.

In Chile, some four million people were hit by cuts to water supply blamed on landslides in San Jose de Maipo, 30 miles (48 km) south east of Santiago.

The landslides contaminated two rivers supplying the capital's water plants.

Jane Goodall on climate change: 'We've just been stealing, stealing, stealing from our children, and it's shocking'

Raw Story
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:27 UTC

Jane Goodall greets the audience by imitating a chimpanzee, then launches into an hour-long talk on her relationship with apes and how, from being a primatologist, she became an activist to protect them.

At 78, Goodall, who has 53 years of studying chimps behind her, is still criss-crossing the planet to raise the awareness of populations and their leaders on the fate of the apes and the need to protect the environment.

"I haven't been more than two or three weeks in one place at one time," for the past 25 years, she says.

It all started with a conference on chimpanzees that she attended in the US in the 1980s.

There were sessions on the ethics of chimps being used in medical research, habitat destruction and chimps caught in snares and the beginning of the bush meat trade.

"I went in as a scientist happily learning about chimpanzee behaviour... but I left that conference as an activist," she recounts.

Time lapse video of the 2013 Snowpocalypse in the Northeast

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:23 UTC

This is fun to watch. It is a time lapse video of the Snowpocalypse in Hartford, CT. Clearly, you can see the posited global warming influences having an effect. /sarcasm

U.S. Northeast digs out from blizzard; new storm brews in Plains

Reuters
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00 UTC

© REUTERS/Eric Thayer
Workers clear snow at Times Square in New York, February 9, 2013. A blizzard pummeled the Northeastern United States, killing at least one person, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and disrupting thousands of flights, media and officials said.

The U.S. Northeast started digging itself out on Sunday after a blizzard dumped up to 40 inches (1 meter) of snow with hurricane force winds, killing at least nine people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

New York City trucks plowed through residential streets, leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of motorists to dig their buried vehicles out from mountains of snow.

"I give up," Giovanni Marchenna, 52, of Manhattan said with a laugh.

"Looks like I'll be taking the subway to work until the snow melts," he added, noting he spent more than an hour shoveling snow.

Utility companies reported that some 350,000 customers were still without electricity across nine states after the wet, heavy snow brought down tree branches and power lines. About 700,000 homes and businesses were without power at one point on Saturday.

Air traffic began to return to normal on Sunday after some 5,800 flights were canceled on Friday and Saturday, according to Flightaware, a flight tracking service.

Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and New York state's Long Island MacArthur Airport reopened on Sunday morning. Both had been closed on Saturday.

8 injured, houses damaged in southwest Colombia earthquake

Adriaan Alsema
Colombia Reports
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:00 UTC

Contrary to a statement by President Juan Manuel Santos, eight people have been injured and more than a 100 houses have been damaged in an M7.0 earthquake that hit Colombia Saturday morning.

According to the country's disaster management unit, six people were injured in the El Charco municipality in Nariño, the department where the earthquake took place.

Additionally, the unit's director, Carlos Marquez, said that 143 houses were damaged.

The damages were reported as far as cities as Bogota, more than 500 miles from the earthquake's epicenter, where some buildings were left without windows or cracks appeared in walls.

Shortly before the official report on injuries and damages, Santos claimed there had been no injuries and the material damage was "marginal."

The earthquake was felt in neighboring countries like Ecuador and Peru.

The strong earthquake is the second in the region in half a year; in September last year, a M7.3 earthquake shook the city of Popayan.

Blizzard hammers U.S. Northeast, five dead, 700,000 lose power

Tim McLaughlin and Edith Honan
Reuters
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:00 UTC

© Reuters/Carlo Allegri
People arrive with their children and toboggans to a snowy Central Park in New York February 9, 2013. A blizzard packing hurricane-force winds pummeled the northeastern United States on Saturday, killing at least one person, leaving about 600,000 customers without power and disrupting thousands of flights.

A record-breaking blizzard packing hurricane-force winds hammered the northeastern United States on Saturday, cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses, shutting down travel and leaving at least five people dead.

The mammoth storm that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic dumped more than 3 feet of snow across the Northeast, the National Weather Service said.

Coastal blizzard and flood warnings were in effect, but Massachusetts and Connecticut lifted vehicle travel bans as the storm slowly moved eastward on Saturday afternoon.

Stratford, Connecticut, Mayor John Harkins said he had never seen such a heavy snowfall, with rates reaching 6 inches an hour.

"Even the plows are getting stuck," Harkins told local WTNH television.

The storm centered its fury on Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with the highest snowfall total, 38 inches, in Milford, Connecticut.

Food prices at risk of spiking in 2013, U.S. drought may play a part

Christopher Doering
Des Moines Register
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:46 UTC

Global food prices ended their three month slide after they stabilized in January, but the United Nations warned prices could spike in 2013 if poor weather curtails production of wheat, corn, rice and other cereals.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said the food price index, which measures monthly price changes in cereals, dairy, meat, sugar and oilseeds, was 210 in January, unchanged from the prior month. Food prices have leveled off and even declined in recent months after climbing during much of 2012 following concern that drought plaguing the United States and other parts of the world could spark a food crisis.

"Given the tight supply situation, weather remains an important determinant of prices," said FAO Senior Grains Economist Abdolreza Abbassian. "For several cereals, production needs to increase significantly this year in order to avoid unexpected price surges."

What's killing Minnesota's moose?

Maddie Oatman
Mother Jones
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:31 UTC

Minnesota's iconic moose are in such bad shape that the state called off the 2013 hunting season on Wednesday. The heartiest herd, located in the northeastern region of the state, is down to around 2,700 animals, a 35 percent drop from last year and a startling 65 percent drop since 2008. Though the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources canceled hunting season, it stressed that hunters are not to blame for this worrisome news. "The state's moose population has been in decline for years but never at the precipitous rate documented this winter," said MDNR commissioner Tom Landwehr. "It reaffirms the conservation community's need to better understand why this iconic species of the north is disappearing."

Though the sharp decline has state officials somewhat baffled, many members of the conservation community feel climate change is at fault. Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, put it this way: "With the high temperatures in the summer, moose seek out shelter rather than feeding. Nutritional status declines, and they become more vulnerable to disease and parasites. It's like a person who smokes is much more vulnerable to other diseases, and that can be associated with mortality."

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.9 - NNE of Yacuanquer, Colombia

US Geological Survey
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:04 UTC

Event Time
2013-02-09 14:16:09 UTC
2013-02-09 09:16:09 UTC-05:00 at epicenter

Location
1.167°N 77.384°W depth=153.8km (95.6mi)

Nearby Cities
5km (3mi) NNE of Yacuanquer, Colombia
12km (7mi) WSW of Pasto, Colombia
17km (11mi) SE of Sandona, Colombia
27km (17mi) ENE of Tuquerres, Colombia
199km (124mi) NE of Quito, Ecuador

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Earth Changes

Large tornado hits Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Peru, Chile and Bolivia hit by floods after heavy rain

Jane Goodall on climate change: 'We've just been stealing, stealing, stealing from our children, and it's shocking'

Time lapse video of the 2013 Snowpocalypse in the Northeast

U.S. Northeast digs out from blizzard; new storm brews in Plains

8 injured, houses damaged in southwest Colombia earthquake

Blizzard hammers U.S. Northeast, five dead, 700,000 lose power

Food prices at risk of spiking in 2013, U.S. drought may play a part

What's killing Minnesota's moose?

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.9 - NNE of Yacuanquer, Colombia

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