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Migrating birds arrive early at nature reserve in Lincolnshire, UK - so are we in for an extra cold winter?

Caroline Wilson
Lincolnshire Echo
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 19:27 UTC
Image

The Redwing bird has been spotted early at RSPB Frampton Marsh nature reserve.
Species of migratory birds have arrived at a Lincolnshire nature reserve earlier than expected this year.

But is this a sign that we are in for an extra cold and long winter?

Chris Andrews, the visitor services officer at RSPB Frampton Marsh, said that the site had seen several species of migratory birds arriving earlier than expected.

He said: "We are seeing some migratory birds arriving earlier than usual - such as the Wigeon duck which comes from Scandanavia and the Baltics.

"They would be just starting to dribble in by now but we've got a couple of thousand here already.

"We've got birds like the Redwing and the Fieldfare that have turned up early as well and we've also seen the Whooper swan too."
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Snowflake

Autumn snow extent steadily increasing for 50 years; well above normal this year

Steven Goddard
Real Science
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 19:04 UTC
Autumn snow extent has been steadily increasing for 50 years, due to intrusions of Arctic air going further south. last year had the largest autumn snow extent on record.
Image
© Rutgers University Climate Lab
Rutgers University Climate Lab :: Global Snow Lab
Snow cover is well above normal again this year.
Image
© Rutgers University Climate Lab
Rutgers University Climate Lab :: Global Snow Lab
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Arrow Down

Massive sinkhole gobbles up car in Sicily


thelocal.it
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 18:48 UTC
Image
© Vigili del Fuoco
The sinkhole opened up on a road near Catania.
A parked car was swallowed up by a sinkhole that suddenly opened up on a road in Sicily after heavy rain on Wednesday evening.

The car plunged five metres through the eight-metre wide hole on a road in Valverde, in the province of Catania.

The female driver made a miraculous escape having just parked the vehicle before the hole opened up, Corriere reported.

It was then hauled out by firefighters with a crane. The scene was captured on the video below.

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Binoculars

30 Arctic Snowy owls arrive in Wisconsin; earliest date ever reported and record numbers

Paul A. Smith
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 17:41 UTC
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A snowy owl rests on a car in the Kohler Corporation parking lot Tuesday morning.
Snowy owls, the big, white birds that nest in the Arctic and sometimes fly south in the fall and winter, have begun showing up in Wisconsin over the last week, captivating wildlife watchers and raising questions among scientists.

About 30 snowy sightings were reported through Wednesday in Wisconsin, according to Ryan Brady, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources who oversees the Wisconsin eBird website.

The reports are earlier in the season and higher in number than any year on record.

"It's unprecedented," said Tom Erdman, curator of the Richter Museum of Natural History at UW-Green Bay who began conducting snowy owl research in Wisconsin in the late 1950s. "It's causing us to ask 'Why?"

The first snowy of the season was sighted Oct. 15 near Ashland in Bayfield County on Lake Superior. The next day one was seen in Crawford County in southwestern Wisconsin. On Tuesday lone snowies were reported in Kohler and Milwaukee.

And on Cat Island in Green Bay earlier this week, six snowies were seen at once, Erdman said.

Comment: There was in addition this exceptionally early arrival date reported from North Dakota on September 28th.

See also: SOTT Exclusive: Snowy owls flee northern latitudes for unprecedented fourth consecutive year - Sign of impending Ice Age?

Britain faces longest winter in 50 years after earliest ever arrival of Siberian swan

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Cloud Precipitation

Large hail stones reported as thunderstorm hits Malta


Independent (Malta)
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 17:12 UTC
Image
© Stephanie Camilleri
A thunderstorm has hit various parts of Malta, with hail being reported in various localities.

Reader Stephanie Camilleri sent in pictures of huge hailstones in Qormi.

The bad weather is expected to abate over the weekend, with another thunder storm predicted for next Tuesday.

In a statement, the police advised motorists to avoid low-lying areas, especially Triq Marina and Triq ix-Xatt in Msida, and Triq il-Wied in Birkirkara, following reports of high rainwater levels.

Video was taken by Charles Bartolo in Luqa

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 3 soldiers and injures 11 in Turkey


en.trend.az
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 17:01 UTC
Image
Three soldiers were killed and 11 more injured as a result of a lightning strike in the Yuksekova district of Turkey's Hakkari province, the Haber 7 news channel reported Oct. 22.

Reportedly, the soldiers were carrying out an operation in the village of Daglica against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The wounded soldiers were taken to a state hospital in Hakkari.
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Cloud Lightning

Stormchasers catch impressive time-lapse video of huge Colorado tornado


RT
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 15:44 UTC
colorado tornado 2015
© NZP Chasers / YouTube
Tornado forming in Colorado
A group of storm chasers have captured an amazing tornado using time-lapse technology. They filmed the twister in Colorado, showing a number of stages of the storm's development.

The tornado in the video is spawned from a supercell thunderstorm, which has the ability to last for hours and normally cause much greater damage than regular storms. They can travel at speeds of over 160 km/h and produce hail the size of golf balls.

The group behind the video calls themselves 'NZP Chasers.' NZP or 'Near Zero Probability' explains the level of dedication the team will go to as even if there is no chance of a tornado appearing. They are eager to get their cameras ready on the off chance that something might develop, no matter how small the probability.

"This dedication enables us to capture amazing pictures and never regret for having decided not to chase that day," the group stated on their website.

Find out more about the Near Zero Probability storm chaser group here.

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Attention

Mexico's Popocatepetl pumps ash and smoke 2,500 meters into the sky


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 21:33 UTC
Image
© The Telegraph, UK
Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano put on a spectacular display as it spewed out huge clouds of ash in to the sky.

The volcano, which is 50 miles south east of Mexico City spat ash and smoke 2500 metres above the volcano's crater.

Mexico's volcano experts says the volcano had around 40 exhalations with a series a of rumblings in the past three months.

There are around 3000 volcanoes in Mexico, but only 14 are active. Popocatepetl is one of the biggest and spans across three Mexican states and is the country's second highest peak.

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Blue Planet

The strongest El Nino in decades is going to mess with weather and economies

Brian K Sullivan
Bloomberg
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:25 UTC
Image
© Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
The Marina Bay district shrouded in smog in Singapore, on Sept. 24, 2015.
It has choked Singapore with smoke, triggered Pacific typhoons and left Vietnamese coffee growers staring nervously at dwindling reservoirs. In Africa, cocoa farmers are blaming it for bad harvests, and in the Americas, it has Argentines bracing for lower milk production and Californians believing that rain is finally, mercifully on the way.

El Nino is back and in a big way.

Its effects are just beginning in much of the world -- for the most part, it hasn't really reached North America -- and yet it's already shaping up potentially as one of the three strongest El Nino patterns since record-keeping began in 1950. It will dominate weather's many twists and turns through the end of this year and well into next. And it's causing gyrations in everything from the price of Colombian coffee to the fate of cold-water fish.

Comment: This El Nino is still brewing and could turn out to be the biggest one yet.

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Cloud Precipitation

Storm Koppu death toll rises to 54 in the Philippines; over a million people affected (Updated)

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 13:48 UTC
Image
© Noel Celis / IFRC
Residents stay on the roof of their houses at Barangay Camunatan, Isabela, north of Manila on October 19, 2015.
As of 22 October 2015, The Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that over 1 million people have been affected and over 18 000 homes have been fully or partially damaged as a result of Tropical Cyclone Koppu, known locally as Lando. NDRRMC say that 41 people have died. Many of the victims died in flooding, landslides or as a result of storm damage such as fallen trees. Media say the death toll is 54. At least 78 people have been injured, 5 are missing.


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