Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Latest winter predictions are starting to align onto a specific Winter scenario for U.S., Canada and Europe

Andrej Flis
Severe Weather Europe
Mon, 23 Sep 2024 21:10 UTC
polar vortex prediction 2024
A projected position of the polar vortex for Winter 2024-25
A look at the very latest Winter 2024/2025 forecast data shows the growing influence of a weak La Niña phase. Seasonal prediction systems are slowly aligning and starting to point to a specific weather scenario for the upcoming Winter season, but past forecasts issued in September were often too warm over the United States.

The global weather system has many large-scale and small-scale driving factors. The main factor this year will be a weak La Niña event in the Pacific, but we also expect the Polar Vortex to play a larger role in mid-Winter.

Cold La Nina growing

La Niña is a cold phase of the large and powerful oceanic ENSO oscillation. It is a region of the tropical Pacific Ocean that shifts between cold and warm phases. The cold ENSO phase is called La Niña, and the warm phase is called El Niño.

These ocean temperature anomalies (warmer or colder) occur in specific regions of the Pacific Ocean, as shown in the image below. The main region is 3.4 and is also the main area where we determine what phase is active and how strong it is.
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Hardhat

Large hailstones rain down on the town of Chajarí, Argentina

WanderingWeatherWatch
YouTube
Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:37 UTC
Large hailstones fell in the towns of Chajarí and Villa del Rosario
Large hailstones fell in the towns of Chajarí and Villa del Rosario
A huge hailstorm in Argentina!

This morning, the town of Chajarí in the Entre Ríos province of Argentina was shaken by an impressive storm in which incredibly large hailstones rained down.

Houses, vehicles and agricultural land in the city received serious damage.

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Arrow Down

15 die in Indonesia mine collapse after heavy rain causes landslide, 25 missing


South China Morning Post
Fri, 27 Sep 2024 11:52 UTC
A mining location in Solok, West Sumatra, reportedly experienced a landslide that buried dozens of people.
A mining location in Solok, West Sumatra, reportedly experienced a landslide that buried dozens of people.
A landslide at a gold mine in western Indonesia has killed at least 15 people and left 25 missing, the local disaster agency said on Friday.

The landslide hit a remote site in West Sumatra province on Sumatra island on Thursday evening after heavy rain in the area, said provincial disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Ilham Wahab.

"The information we can provide was that a landslide occurred at a gold mine last night, causing several people to be buried. Efforts to search for the victims are ongoing," he said.

Ilham added that three people were injured and 25 were still missing.

Irwan Efendi, the head of the provincial disaster agency, said rescuers must trek eight hours to get to the site, which is inaccessible by road. He added: "The victims are the residents who manually mine for gold."

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Doberman

Man killed after being attacked by dog in Dunklin County, Missouri

Josh Seabaugh
kfvs12.com
Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:57 UTC
MMMMMMMM
A man is dead after being attacked by a dog in Dunklin County, Missouri.

According to the Dunklin County Sheriff's Office, on Wednesday, September 25 at around 3:41 p.m., deputies were dispatched to 203 W. Mulberry Street in Cardwell in response to an animal-related call.

Deputies received information that a 72-year-old male had fallen to the ground and could not get up. A dog had attacked him and he appeared to be unresponsive.

While deputies were en route, Dunklin County Communications updated the deputies with information that first responders were on the scene but were unable to get access to the victim due to the presence of multiple aggressive dogs.
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Seismograph

Shallow 6.3-magnitude quake strikes near Mauritius

Christian Baha
breakingthenews.net
Fri, 27 Sep 2024 09:52 UTC
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck in the Indian Ocean near the island-state of Mauritius, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Thursday.

The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to preliminary data.

Indonesia's Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics warned that the earthquake "may be capable of generating a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean region."
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Windsock

Hurricane Helene becomes 'nightmare' storm with 'unsurvivable' storm surge ahead of Florida landfall

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:35 UTC
Hurricane Helene
© NOAA via APHurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 25 2024
The National Hurricane Center has upgraded fast-moving Hurricane Helene to a Category 2 storm, with forecasts expecting further intensification to Category 3 or higher before it makes landfall on Florida's northwestern coast this evening.

Early Thursday, Helene was churning about 350 miles southwest of Tampa, moving north-northeast at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds in excess of 90 mph.

"Helene will make landfall along the Florida Big Bend coast this evening as a Major Hurricane. While exact impacts will be heavily dependent on the track, expect catastrophic wind damage across the Big Bend and into southern Georgia," NHC wrote in an overnight forecast.
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Tsunami

At least 4 people dead after heavy rains flood Mumbai, India - 5 inches of rainfall in 5 hours


The Express Tribune
Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:58 UTC
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Mumbai, India's financial capital, experienced severe flooding after receiving over 250mm of rainfall in just five hours, prompting authorities to issue a red alert and declare a holiday for schools and colleges across the city and nearby districts.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast further heavy rain in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, with the red alert remaining in effect until Thursday morning.

The torrential rain, among the heaviest recorded in September since 2020, caused widespread flooding in areas like Andheri, Chembur, and Vikhroli. Transportation was severely impacted, with major traffic disruptions and the halting of central railway services, leaving many commuters stranded. At least 14 flights were diverted, and 36 were canceled at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

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Butterfly

Lowest number of UK butterflies ever recorded during summer of 2024 due to wet weather


BBC
Thu, 26 Sep 2024 12:37 UTC
The common blue butterfly has had one of the worst summers on record for the count
© BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION/IAN A KIRKThe common blue butterfly has had one of the worst summers on record for the count
A butterfly conservation charity has declared a national butterfly emergency after fewer winged insects than ever were spotted in its annual count this summer.

The Big Butterfly Count is a nature survey organised by the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation that takes place in the UK each year.

It involves volunteers spending 15 minutes outdoors to count how many butterflies they see, and what they look like, to help give the charity a better picture of how butterflies are doing on the UK.

The results of this year's Big Butterfly Count saw the lowest number spotted in the survey's 14-year history, with more than 9,000 reports not seeing a single butterfly.

Butterfly Conservation has called on the government to declare an emergency after publishing their findings.

Comment: This from The Guardian at the end of July:
Butterfly numbers are the lowest on record in the UK after a wet spring and summer dampened their chances of mating.

Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, sounded the alarm after this year's count revealed the worst numbers since it began 14 years ago.

Many people have noticed the lack of fluttering insects in their gardens. Experts say this is due to the unusually wet conditions so far in 2024. Climate breakdown means the UK is more likely to face extremes in weather, and the natural rhythms of the seasons that insects such as butterflies are used to can no longer be relied on.

The UK had its wettest spring since 1986 and the sixth wettest on record, as an average 301.7mm (11.87in) of rain fell across March, April and May, nearly a third (32%) more than usual for the season.


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Eye 2

Huge python grabs woman as she's doing dishes, squeezes her for 2 hours in Thailand

Emily Crane
New York Post
Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:54 UTC
Arom Arunroj, 64,
© APArom Arunroj, 64, was cleaning up in her kitchen just outside Bangkok on Tuesday night the massive python wrapped itself around her torso.
A Thai woman somehow survived a terrifying encounter with a huge python after the 16-foot snake wrapped itself around her waist as she was doing dishes — and then squeezed her tightly for two hours.

Arom Arunroj, 64, was cleaning up in her kitchen just outside Bangkok on Tuesday night when she felt a sharp pain in her thigh and looked down to see a massive python taking hold of her, Thailand's Thairath newspaper reported.

"I was about to scoop some water and when I sat down it bit me immediately," Arunroj told the outlet. "When I looked I saw the snake wrapping around me."

"I grabbed it by the head, but it wouldn't release me," she continued. "It only tightened."

The snake continued to coil around Arunroj's waist until she could no longer stand, forcing her to prop herself up against the kitchen door as she screamed for help.

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Attention

Bear breaks into home and mauls father and son to death after killing 35 dogs in Russia

Will Stewart, Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas
Mirror
Wed, 25 Sep 2024 11:33 UTC
The bear was shot after police declared a curfew (
The bear was shot after police declared a curfew.
A raging brown bear mauled a father and son to death after breaking into their home just hours after it killed 35 dogs in a shelter.

The man-eating beast broke into the house in the Primorsky region of Russia before killing and devouring the father and son, aged 87 and 56. Hunting inspectors were immediately ordered to track down and kill the bear after it was feared it could strike again - and hours later, they found and shot the predator. Police had cordoned off the village and stood guard to protect terrified locals. A night curfew was also imposed.

Harrowing pictures showed the mauled corpses of the men and the dogs. Bear expert Sergey Aramilev said the animal's behaviour was not typical for the species, and it is likely the beast had been wounded by hunters, or was deranged and aggressive from rabies. He said: "If the bear kills people, then it was either injured by a person or sick with rabies. A healthy bear would definitely not do this, it would not even come close to a populated area."
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