Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Nigeria: Dry season dust storms 'worst in living memory'

Imam Imam
allAfrica.com
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:16 UTC


©Unknown

For residents of Zamfara State and in fact the North West geo-political zone of the country, the past few weeks have brought about some of the most difficult weather conditions seen in recent years. The dry season, known in this part of the world as Harmattan, has been in its worst form in living memory, bringing socio-economic activities to a halt.
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Bizarro Earth

Havoc as gales and blizzards hit Britain


UK Guardian
Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:19 UTC
Mountainous seas are threatening to sink four stranded ships after a series of dramatic rescues saw more than 40 crew and passengers winched to safety or taken off in lifeboats as gales swept over Britain.
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Snowman

China's snow storms cause $7.5 billion damage


RIA Novosti
Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:39 UTC
China's heaviest snow storms in 50 years have wreaked havoc on the country's economy causing damage of $7.5 billion, a senior official said.

"The snow has taken a toll on the Chinese economy," the Xinhua news agency cited Zhu Hongren, deputy director of the Bureau of Economic Operations with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Crops and farmland have been particularly badly hit with around 17.5 acres of agricultural land affected. The Ministry of Agriculture was cited as saying that 14.4 million poultry had died from the cold, as well as over 870,000 pigs, 450,000 sheep and 85,000 cattle.
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Life Preserver

UK Blizzards: Dozens Of Trapped Motorists Rescued


Sky News
Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:54 UTC
Dozens of motorists who were trapped in blizzards in County Durham have been rescued.

Many are likely to spend the night in temporary accommodation.

At one point 150 cars carrying around 200 motorists were stranded in drifting snow along the A66 near the village of Bowes.

©Unknown
A trapped car in County Durham

Heavy snow hit the north of the country on Friday afternoon, catching many motorists out.

Bob Baldwin of the Highways Agency, told Sky News up to half a metre of drifting snow had accumulated on parts of the road in a very short amount of time.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Storm Makes Drivers Slip, Fliers Wait

Carla K. Johnson
Associated Press
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:43 UTC
Chicago, Illinois - A heavy, wet winter snowstorm made travel treacherous on Friday in the Midwest and Northeast and was blamed for at least 10 traffic deaths.
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Attention

Western Water Supplies Already Altered by Global Warming

Andrea Thompson
livescience.com
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:47 UTC
When it rains, it sometimes still pours out West. But it's not enough.

Changes in the western U.S. water supply, such as a declining snowpack and rivers running dry in the summer, can mostly be attributed to human-caused climate change, a new study finds. These changes will require a new approach to water management in the West in the future, scientists say.

©David W. Pierce, SIO; land image courtesy of NASA's Earth Observatory
Observations throughout the western U.S. show snowpack is decreasing, rivers are flowing earlier in the year, and spring temperatures are increasing. A formal detection and attribution study of these changes shows the majority of these trends are due to human effects on the climate.
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Bizarro Earth

Shanghai Issues Rare Blizzard Warning

Christopher Bodeen
Associated Press
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:51 UTC
Snow storms that have battered many parts of China over the last three weeks have killed at least 60 people and caused billions in damage, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday.

The storms have already crippled transportation during China's biggest holiday travel season, leaving people stranded in cars on frozen highways, without heat and lights in homes and fighting each other for rare train seats.

The freakish weather is China's worst in five decades and paralyzed the country's densely populated central and eastern regions just as tens of millions of travelers were seeking to board trains and buses to return home for this month's Lunar New Year holiday.
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Bizarro Earth

The Dark Side of Ethanol and Biodiesel Subsidies


Organic Consumers Association
Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:55 UTC
Americans now understand that climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases are a major threat to our survival. Unfortunately, large corporations have convinced Congress to ignore real solutions to the crisis (like significant advances in fuel-efficiency), while providing billions of dollars per year in subsidies to big-agribusiness for agrofuels.
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Hourglass

Bat Deaths in New York, Vermont Baffle Experts

Michael Hill
livescience.com
Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:05 UTC
Bats are dying off by the thousands as they hibernate in caves and mines around New York and Vermont, sending researchers scrambling to find the cause of mysterious condition dubbed "white nose syndrome.''

The ailment - named for the white circle of fungus found around the noses of affected bats - was first noticed last January in four caves west of Albany. It has now spread to eight hibernation sites in the state and another in Vermont.
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Hourglass

People Blamed for Water Woes in West

Erica Werner
Associated Press
Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:45 UTC
Washington - Human activity such as driving and powering air conditioners is responsible for up to 60 percent of changes contributing to dwindling water supplies in the arid and growing West, a new study finds.
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