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Fire

Wildfires destroy more than one-million hectares of Bolivian rain forest

Dan Collyns
CGTN America
Sat, 31 Aug 2019 21:27 UTC
Bolivia wildfires
© AFP
Bolivia is seeking help from China, Russia and France in fighting fires in its section of the Amazon. CGTN's Dan Collyns reports that more than one-million hectares of Bolivian rain forest have been destroyed.

Just when it seems like there's nothing left to burn, some of the fires in Bolivia have reignited in places already blackened. The firefighters, mostly made up of trained volunteers, are battling on multiple fronts.

In some areas of the forest, there are still hundreds of fires, some of which have reactivated. That's why the firefighters work at night, when it's much easier to see the embers and make sure they're fully extinguished. It's hot, the air is full of ash and smoke, and the ground is so hot you can feel it coming through your shoes.

Wielding machetes and shovels and water hoses, they douse the smoking remains.

"We're trying to reduce the fires to a minimum but they are still what we call a category 3, which is relatively strong in this area," said one fireman.


Comment: World on fire: Five times more wildfires are burning in southern Africa than in Brazil

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Wine n Glass

Extreme weather to cut French wine output by 12% this year


Reuters
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 11:40 UTC
Vines badly burnt by the sun and heat in a vineyard in Sussargues, southern France
© Sylvain Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
Vines badly burnt by the sun and heat in a vineyard in Sussargues, southern France, at the end of June.
French wine production will fall 12% this year after vines were damaged by spring frosts, drought and hail, but quality will remain generally good, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.

In its second estimate for 2019, the ministry forecast production of 43.4 million hectolitres, down from 49.4 million in 2018 when output had benefited from good weather condition.

Last month the farm ministry put French output in 2019 in a range of 42.8 million to 46.4 million hectolitres.

A hectolitre (100 litres) is the equivalent of about 133 standard wine bottles.

In many vineyards, flowering occurred in rainy and cold weather, while heat and hail have also contributed to a decline in production potential, the ministry said in a note.

However, the situation will vary by region.

Record-breaking heatwaves in June and July affected some regions in the south, such as the Gard, Herault or Var, causing burns on the grapes and production losses, it said.

Comment: See also:

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Cloud Precipitation

Deadly floods and landslides in eastern region of Uganda


Floodlist
Sat, 31 Aug 2019 18:21 UTC
Flash floods and landslides in Bulambuli District, Eastern Uganda, August 2019.

Flash floods and landslides in Bulambuli District, Eastern Uganda, August 2019.
Heavy rain caused a river to overflow triggering a deadly landslide in Bulambuli District is a district in Eastern Uganda.

Uganda Red Cross said landslides and flooding had affected several areas of Bulambuli District, including Nabiwutulu, Gimadu Bugatiisa and Buluganya from 27 August, adding, "Our response team is on ground to conduct assessment, establish magnitude of the disaster and the needs of the people affected."

Local media reported that 5 people were missing, feared dead, after landslides buried houses and flooding from the River Kajere. Uganda Red Cross confirmed that 1 person had died in Bukhatisi village, Bulago sub county in Bulambuli District.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 200 sheep in Himachal Pradesh, India


Sun Post
Sat, 31 Aug 2019 12:23 UTC
lightning
Lightning killed at least 200 sheep in Himachal Pradesh's Rohru area on Friday.

The incident took place in the Chohara region in the Kayath Thatch meadows in Sandashi panchayat.

The shepherds were camping in the open when lightning struck them. They have asked the government to be compensated in some way for the loss.

The state has been experiencing dry weather in most parts while some areas have had thundershowers.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 250 sheep in Jumla, Western Nepal


Nepal24hours.com
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 12:15 UTC
lightning
Lightning killed 250 sheep in Sudi village of Tila Rural Municipality-6 in Jumla district on Thursday night.

Farmers in Sudi were in great sorrow following the incident. Lightning struck the sheep at Bhujawada pasture land following incessant rainfall.

Rearing sheep has been a major income source for the farmers of Karnali. Mahabir Rawat, a local of the village said that sheep belonging to Nunilal Rawat, Lal Bahadur Rawat, Jayalal Rawat, Banche Rawat and Dev Bahadur Rawat, were killed in lightning.
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Fire

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: 60 million year old half truths and burning forests


Adapt 2030
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 23:25 UTC
amazon fires
© AP Photo/Eraldo Peres

Guardian claiming a plant in the UK hasn't reproduced in 60 million years but has begun to grow both male and female cones because of climate change, but the last inter-glacial 130,000 years prior was 2-3C warmer than today. Brazilian rain-forest losses far greater in 1995, 2004-2005 than today by a factor of 4X.

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Comment: World on fire: Five times more wildfires are burning in southern Africa than in Brazil

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Cloud Lightning

Stunning satellite imagery shows Hurricane Dorian sparkling as it approaches US - UPDATE: Upgraded to Category 5


RT
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:28 UTC
Hurricane Dorian lightning show
© National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Twitter
As Hurricane Dorian makes its way to the US, a meteorologist has shared stunning satellite snaps of the "extremely dangerous" storm's brightly colored lightning eruptions amid swirling clouds that look like a fireworks display.

Meteorologist Dakota Smith shared the footage on Twitter and explained that the flashes seen in the storm's inner core are "associated with deep convection that kicked off after sunset."


Smith also shared footage of the hurricane taken at sunrise, after it had intensified, explaining it would "soon become a powerful major hurricane." He then showed the eye of the storm as it formed. "A sure sign it's getting stronger," he said.

Comment: Hurricane Dorian: Florida declares state of emergency as it awaits storm's arrival

UPDATE: Dorian is expected to pass over the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama today, heading for Florida's east cost.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Dorian to Category 5 on Sunday, placing it in the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Sustained winds of 160mph (257 kph) are expected, with the power to cause irreparable damage to all but the most reinforced concrete and steel structures.


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Galaxy

Gigantic jet photographed piercing the sky in China


Space Weather
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 22:44 UTC
gigantic jet
You never know what you might see in the wake of a big storm. On Aug. 25th, Chinese astrophotographer Chao Shen of Shaoxing City went outside to photograph the Milky Way. A typhoon named "White Deer" had passed through the day before, and the storm clouds were parting. "I saw the stars--but that's not all," says Shen. "A Gigantic Jet leaped up right before my eyes!"

Think of them as sprites on steroids: Gigantic Jets are lightning-like discharges that spring from the tops of thunderstorms, reaching all the way to the edge of space. They're enormous and powerful.

"Shen definitely caught a Gigantic Jet," confirms Oscar van der Velde of the Lightning Research Group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. "It looks like it may have reached as high as 90 km above the ground."

"Gigantic Jets are much more rare than sprites," says van der Velde. "While sprites were discovered in 1989 and have since been photographed by the thousands, it was not until 2001-2002 that Gigantic Jets were first recorded from Puerto Rico and Taiwan." Only dozens of Gigantic Jets have ever been photographed.

Comment: Wiki details the difference between a blue jet and a gigantic jet:
Gigantic jets

Where blue jets are believed to initiate between the upper positive charge region and a negative screening layer directly above this region, Gigantic jets appear to initiate between the upper positive and lower negative charge regions in the thundercloud. In a similar process to how blue jets form, the higher charge region is discharged by the leader network before the same occurs in the lower charge region, and one end of the leader network propagates upward from the cloud toward the ionosphere. Gigantic jets reach higher altitudes than blue jets, and the upper portion of the jet changes color from blue to red.
See also:

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Apple Green

Latest storms in Spain severely damage summer fruits, grapes and peppers


Fresh Plaza
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 19:20 UTC
hail apples
As reported by Agroseguro, the crops most affected by the recent rain and hail storms have been summer fruits, grapes and peppers, although it is still too early to know the actual extent of the damage. The most affected autonomous regions are Castile-La Mancha and Madrid.

Agroseguro has highlighted the incidents in municipalities such as Arganda del Rey, in Madrid, Seseña and Borox, in Toledo, Villanueva de los Infantes, in Ciudad Real, or Las Pedroñeras, in Cuenca, where the rains caused the overflow of streams and floods.

Comment: Some videos of the recent flash flooding across Spain:











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Red Flag

Angry rhino flips his lid and a car at German safari park


Deutsche Welle
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 19:02 UTC
Kusini the rhinoceros overturns a small vehicle carrying a parkkeeper, who emerged unscathed.

Kusini the rhinoceros overturns a small vehicle carrying a parkkeeper, who emerged unscathed.
The zookeeper emerged from the attack on her small hatchback with only bruises. It's unclear what enraged the 30-year-old rhinoceros.

A rhinoceros at the German safari Serengeti Park attacked an animal keeper in her car, overturning the vehicle three times, the park confirmed Tuesday.

A visitor to the park in Hodenhagen, a municipality in the German state of Lower Saxony, filmed the encounter, in which the 30-year-old rhino bull, named Kusini, slammed his horns and body into the animal keeper's car before rolling it over, as seen in a video published by German daily Bild.

The zookeeper, who was driving a small hatchback painted with stripes, emerged mostly unscathed from the attack, only sustaining a few bruises, Fabrizio Sepe, the manager of the Serengeti Park, told the dpa news agency.

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