Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Damage from Southern California rains could top $60 million

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© Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Damage from the storms that battered Southern California is expected to top $60 million.

Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado declared a state of emergency Thursday for Los Angeles, Kings and Santa Barbara counties in response to the destructive rain, which caused some severe mudslides and flooding. States of emergency had already been declared in Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties.

One of the hardest-hit areas was the foothill community of Highland in San Bernardino County. There, evacuations remained in place for 140 homes below an unstable 100-foot bluff. City officials said damage there was approaching $17 million alone.

At least 26 homes, most of them in another Highland neighborhood where a creek overflowed, sustained extensive damage. Floodwaters left behind 4 feet of mud and half-buried cars tipped up at odd angles. Dozens of homes and businesses were also damaged in Laguna Beach. Silverado Canyon and the surrounding area in Orange County were also hard hit.

Arrow Down

France: Paris Evacuates Charles de Gaulle Airport Due to Snow on the Roof

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© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesAir France planes are parked on the tarmac at Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport, outside Paris, where flights were cancelled due to the heavy snowfall.
Around 2,000 people were evacuated from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport because of snow on the roof of a terminal.

People remained calm during the evacuation of the terminal - described as a precautionary measure taken because of around two feet of accumulated snow on the roof.

Emergency workers were deployed to clear the roof, a task expected to last until around 14.00 GMT, the source said.

A few weeks after the terminal was opened in 2004, a section of the roof of the architecturally-ambitious building designed by Frenchman Paul Andreu collapsed, killing four foreign travellers and injuring six others.

French aviation authorities had announced earlier on Friday morning the cancellation of half of all flights into and out of Charles-de-Gaulle airport until 1:00 pm (midday UK) because of freezing winter conditions.

The flight cancellation meant that some 2,000 passengers were forced to stay overnight at the airport on Thursday, Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said.

Bizarro Earth

US: Travelers Brace for Snow, Ice in Midwest

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© AP Photo/Jeff ChiuA woman pulls her travel bag in the International terminal at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010.
Holiday travelers in the Midwest braced for snow and ice from a storm Friday that was expected to deliver a rare white Christmas to Nashville and possibly Atlanta before rolling into the Northeast.

A day after the most densely populated parts of the county got a break from the weather, several inches of snow were expected across parts of the heartland. Up to 8 inches could fall in Iowa and 6 inches in Illinois and Minnesota, with forecasters warning drivers about snow-covered roads and limited visibility.

The storm was expected to crawl south into Tennessee on Saturday, then possibly move north on Sunday. Winter weather advisories were in effect from North Dakota into Kentucky.

"People that are going to Grandma's house," warned Bobby Boyd, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Nashville, "need to get going."

In Georgia, the National Weather Service said 1 to 3 inches of snow could fall across metro Atlanta on Saturday. But it said there was still uncertainty about the storm's path, and that any deviation could affect the total amounts. If the forecast holds, it would be the first time since 1993 that snow fell on Christmas in Atlanta, the weather service said. The last time there was measurable snowfall on Christmas Day was in 1882, when one-third of an inch of snow blanketed the city.

Snowman

Mini Ice Age on the Way!

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© Unknown

London - Renowned climate scientist predicts a new ice age is on the way!

Scientists, climatologists and the mayor of London are all in agreement - the cold snap in Europe is going to get worse, much worse. A new ice age is underway.

According to Piers Corbyn, a British scientist who gets the climate right about 85 per cent of the time, were absolutely entering a new ice age. Serious business people - notably in farming - are starting to invest in his forecasts.

Corbyn, an astrophysicist, gets it right again and again.

In November, Corbyn said it would be the coldest for 100 years. He was correct. He predicted a snowy December for Europe, and he put his own money on a white Christmas for most of the U.S. - something that no one, not even AccuWeather had predicted.

How does he do it?

He looks at the flow of particles from the Sun, and how they interact with the upper atmosphere, especially air currents such as the jet stream, and he looks at how the Moon and other factors influence those streaming particles.

Bizarro Earth

Rhine-Main region shaken by earthquake

rhine city
Residents of the Rhine-Main region west of Frankfurt were shaken by an earthquake early Thursday morning that scientists say registered 3.5 on the Richter scale.

While such a magnitude is rated as "minor" on the Richter scale, the quake seized the attention of experts because it reached a strength that is very rare for the area.

Residents of the Wiesbaden and Mainz were startled by the deep rumbling that one observer likened to "a train or a truck were driving past the house."

Another observer compared the noise of the quake to "a railway train ... approaching," followed by a dull boom.

The quake occurred at 2:36 am and lasted a few seconds.

Bizarro Earth

Aleutian Islands - Earthquake Magnitude 6.2

Alaska Quake_231210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 14:00:33 UTC

Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 04:00:33 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
53.175°N, 171.218°E

Depth:
22.2 km (13.8 miles)

Region:
NEAR ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Distances:
137 km (85 miles) WNW (286°) from Attu Station, AK

407 km (253 miles) ESE (121°) from Nikol'skoye, Komandorskiye Ostrova, Rus.

838 km (521 miles) E (84°) from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia

3125 km (1942 miles) NE (42°) from TOKYO, Japan

Bizarro Earth

Avalanche Danger Could Be Worst In Colorado History

loveland pass
© CBS

Loveland pass, Colorado - A storm system that's been socking parts of Colorado's mountains with snow isn't over yet.

There was a lull in the system Wednesday, but snow was expected to intensify again later in the day into Thursday.

The National Weather Service says the heaviest snow is expected from the top of the Grand Mesa to the Elk and West Elk Mountains, including the area near Crested Butte.

An avalanche warning for those areas as well as for the mountains around Steamboat Springs remains in effect. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) said 1 to 2 feet fell in the warning area between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Snowman

Atlanta first snowy Christmas Day since 1882?

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© photoblog.msnbc.msn.com
A strong storm system churning its way through the desert Southwest early Thursday will bring metro Atlanta a good chance for a white Christmas, with accumulating snow possible as far south as the Columbus and Macon areas, forecasters said.

While the ground probably won't be white when you wake up on Christmas, a rain-snow mix expected to begin during the morning will likely change over to all snow later in the day, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz said.

Nitz said he expects the rain-snow mix to continue through early afternoon, then change to all snow by Saturday evening.

The snow will likely continue across metro Atlanta through Saturday night before ending Sunday morning.

Cloud Lightning

Dangerous East Coast Christmas Weekend Winter Storm

Here we are again. It was just last week when meteorologists were pulling out their hair trying to determine the ultimate track of a winter storm off the East Coast.

That particular storm stayed far off the coast to miss the majority of the major cities of the Northeast along the I-95 corridor (although it dumped several inches of snow over Cape Cod, Massachusetts).

With the Christmas weekend approaching, another major winter storm could potentially create a holiday travel nightmare for millions.

We are confident that a major storm will develop off the East Coast of the United States on Sunday, December 26.

There is high uncertainty however when it comes down to location; i.e. the winter storm's proximity to the East Coast as it marches north from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.

There are two different scenarios that can play out this weekend and early next week. Let's take a look at each one.

Snowman

Snowstorm Threat Shifts South, Hold Everything!

Hold everything! The latest indications are the cross-country storm will shift farther south, raising concerns for substantial snow in places that rarely get it.

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© Accuweather.com
Based on the behavior of the storm Tuesday and Wednesday around California, AccuWeather.com meteorologists now believe the cross-country storm will track farther south into the eastern third of the nation, and do so at a slower pace.

Interestingly, a more southern track and push of cold air raises the "possibility" of some snow for Southern cities such as Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte.