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Sun, 28 May 2023
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Snowman

6 Inches of Ice Close Pa. Highways

HAMBURG, Pa. - A thick layer of ice kept major highways closed Friday morning, a day after hundreds of drivers became stranded on a hilly stretch of eastern Pennsylvania that had been hit by a monster storm.

National Guard troops used Humvees to ferry in food, fuel and baby supplies on Thursday to the lines of motorists caught in a 50-mile traffic jam on Interstate 78. Friday morning, the troops were busy towing away the remaining vehicles while road crews struggled to melt ice that had built up four to six inches in places.

Cloud Lightning

New Report Shows: Antarctic temperatures disagree with Global Warming predictions

COLUMBUS , Ohio - A new report on climate over the world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models.

This comes soon after the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that strongly supports the conclusion that the Earth's climate as a whole is warming, largely due to human activity.

Cloud Lightning

Confusion Reigns! January Weather Hottest by Far - But only in a few selected places

WASHINGTON - It may be cold comfort during a frigid February, but last month was by far the hottest January ever.

The broken record was fueled by a waning El Nino and a gradually warming world, according to U.S. scientists who reported the data Thursday. Records on the planet's temperature have been kept since 1880.

Better Earth

ICESat Lasers detect large lakes under Antarctic Ice

Lasers beamed from space have detected what researchers have long suspected: big sloshing lakes of water underneath Antarctic ice.

Cloud Lightning

Deadly storm moves east after walloping Ontario

A fierce winter storm is being blamed for the death of at least one person in Ontario Wednesday, as the massive storm system moved into parts of Quebec and the Maritimes.

Attention

FAO: World facing severe water shortage

In less than 20 years, close to two billion people will be without water and two thirds of the world will not have enough water, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned here on Wednesday.

According to the head of FAO's Water, Development and Management Unit, Pasquale Steduto, water use has expanded at twice the rate of population growth over the past 100 years creating conditions of water scarcity.

Snowman

Winter storm cools U.S. Valentine's ardor

Winter iced romance for millions of Americans on Wednesday as a Valentine's Day storm disrupted the annual hearts and flowers festival from Midwestern states to the Atlantic shore and southern Canada.

"I'm afraid I'll go out of business. I have $38,000 worth of flowers but I've only sold $7,000 worth," said Karen Pell of Flowerama, a florist shop in snowy Indianapolis.

"It's a lot slower than we had hoped," added a disappointed Margaret Maxham, trying to sell bouquets at Emslie The Florist in Vermont's capital, Montpelier.

For some, dining by candlelight was a cold necessity, not a romantic option. Power companies said 300,000 customers were without electricity from Virginia to New York, and outages were reported in Ohio. Just as utilities in the Mid-Atlantic states restored power, new outages struck in the Northeast.

Better Earth

White Island may be ready to erupt

Geologists say the crater lake on White Island has jumped to a record temperature of 74degC and the water level has plunged 6m - possibly signalling an eruption on the island.

Bizarro Earth

Is the Deadly Crash of Our Civilization Inevitable?

An interview with author Thomas Homer-Dixon about the social, political, economic and technological crises we face and how long we can sustain the lifestyle that brought them about.

Comment: The guy paints a pretty bleak picture and he isn't even talking about comets and meteors!


Better Earth

Study: Air Conditioners Heat Up Cities

The use of air conditioners to cool big city buildings is making it hotter outdoors, say Japanese researchers.

A study comparing the summer temperatures in downtown Tokyo on weekends versus weekdays shows air conditioners dump enough heat into the streets to raise the temperature at least 2 to 4 degrees F (1 to 2 degrees C).

In turn, the heat blasting from the rear-ends of air conditioners is contributing to the "heat island" effect that makes cities hotter and their weather sometimes more severe.

Comment: Well, now we know the real reason for Global Warming :-)