Authorities in Kashmir have launched a hunt for a 'large mysterious' lizard, which created panic in a village in the outskirts of the capital Lawaypora

People in Lawaypora locality are frightened for the past couple of days after an 'unusual lizard-like' creature appeared in the village. Nobody in the village knows exactly what the creature is.

Rumours were rife across the city that "a great African lizard" has appeared. Others talked about the giant carnivorous Komodo dragon walking through roads in the locality.

"Scared villagers informed us about a very big reptile, something which is unheard of in the valley," said Ghulam Mohiuddin, station house officer of the concerned police station. He said wildlife officials were informed on Friday and they had now set up a trap to nab the reptile.

"We have laid a snare at the mouth of a septic trench as the residents said the creature went inside it and had not appeared since then," said wildlife warden at the nearby Hokersar wetland, Abdul Rouf.

From the University of Utah and the "science is not settled" department comes this interesting bit of research.

Salt Lake City, Utah - Sept. 23, 2012 - A University of Utah study suggests something amazing: Periodic changes in winds 15 to 30 miles high in the stratosphere influence the seas by striking a vulnerable "Achilles heel" in the North Atlantic and changing mile-deep ocean circulation patterns, which in turn affect Earth's climate.

"We found evidence that what happens in the stratosphere matters for the ocean circulation and therefore for climate," says Thomas Reichler, senior author of the study published online Sunday, Sept. 23 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Scientists already knew that events in the stratosphere, 6 miles to 30 miles above Earth, affect what happens below in the troposphere, the part of the atmosphere from Earth's surface up to 6 miles or about 32,800 feet. Weather occurs in the troposphere.

Researchers also knew that global circulation patterns in the oceans - patterns caused mostly by variations in water temperature and saltiness - affect global climate.

"It is not new that the stratosphere impacts the troposphere," says Reichler, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. "It also is not new that the troposphere impacts the ocean. But now we actually demonstrated an entire link between the stratosphere, the troposphere and the ocean."

Funded by the University of Utah, Reichler conducted the study with University of Utah atmospheric sciences doctoral student Junsu Kim, and with atmospheric scientist Elisa Manzini and oceanographer Jürgen Kröger, both with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.

Missouri, US - People in a St. Louis neighborhood are trying to figure out what's happening to small animals in the area. About three weeks ago they noticed a string of small animal deaths.

"I found three underneath the clubhouse and two in the grass up near the siding," said neighbor Joe Dobbs.

Dobbs found eight dead rabbits in his yard alone. Now, neighbors are concerned about what's happening.

"It seems like it happened over night," said neighbor Chuck Hart.

The Department of National Resource says they can't figure out how the rabbits are dying. Neighbors are concerned that West Nile is killing off the rabbits. The Department of Natural Resources says that's an unlikely scenario.

As a glacier-fed lake in the Rockies, Moraine Lake is known for its distinct blue colour.

But a section of the pristine lake near the village of Lake Louise took on an shade of lime green Friday when an unknown contaminant was found in it.

Visitors and parks officials alike were wondering what was floating on the lake's surface.

"It was mysterious," said Shelley Humphries, an aquatics specialist with Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks. "We're still not sure what it is."

The substance, which was quickly contained by booms, was collected and taken to a federal lab for testing.

"If it's what we suspect it is, it's not toxic," said Humphries, noting it looks like fluorescent tracer dye that's often used for industrial or ecological purposes. "I don't know if this was an accident or if someone was curious about what would happen, but we're taking it very seriously."

The incident diverted half a dozen Parks Canada staff to the lake to deal with the issue.

Brace yourself for some painful "agflation". That is the shorthand for agricultural commodity inflation, otherwise known as rising food prices.

They are being driven upwards by the climb in grain and oilseed prices as US crops weather the country's worst drought since 1936, while the farming belts of Russia and South America suffer through similar water shortages.

What we are seeing represents the third major rally in global grain and oilseed prices in just half a decade.

Worse is to come, new research warns. World food prices look set to hit an all-time high in the first quarter of next year - and then keep rising, according to the analysis from Rabobank, a specialist in agricultural commodities.

By June 2013, the basket of food prices tracked by the United Nations could climb 15pc from current levels, according to the bank's analysts.

"The coming year will see the world economy re-enter a period of agflation as grain and oilseed stocks decline to critically low levels, pushing the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organisation] Food Price Index above record nominal highs set in February 2011," they say.

Croatia - An unusual event happened in Saturday in sunny Istria. Out of the blue at 6.20 PM a large chunk of ice fell and scattered on the meadow. Witnesses said the ice was about half a meter in height, long and wide about a meter and 300 - 500 kg heavy. It fell about 10 meters from the nearest house and a couple of meters from the main road.

Witnesses heard a noise they described as a flock of birds flying, baloon filled with hellium, or a missile crashing, and when the ice slammed the ground, crowd of local residents saw parts of the ice on the lawn.

Edi Ritoša was the first to come out to see the ice and five minutes later contacted Korade Korlević over whom we found out about it. As we arrived to the village, ice was melting and the kids was happy.

Event Time

2012-09-23 19:44:46 UTC
2012-09-23 15:44:46 UTC-04:00 at epicenter
2012-09-23 12:44:46 UTC-07:00 system time

Nearby Cities

119km (74mi) N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands
132km (82mi) NNE of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
170km (106mi) NE of Fajardo, Puerto Rico
179km (111mi) NE of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
189km (117mi) NE of Carolina, Puerto Rico

Swarm Data

With its turbulent swirls and brooding peaks, this is the magnificent 'undulatus asperatus,' a new species of cloud discovered by amateur sky watchers.

Now the UK-based Cloud Appreciation Society (CAS) is lobbying for it to be formally recognised by the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva and be included in the International Cloud Atlas. The latter has not been produced since 1975.

If the CAS is successful it will be the first time a new cloud type has been officially recognised since 1951.

Meaning 'agitated wave,' the undulatus asperatus was first photographed above Cedar Rapids in Iowa, U.S. in 2006.

Since then the rather complex formation has been spotted in France, Norway, Salcome in Devon, Middlesbrough and Perthshire in Scotland.

In a bid to get it formally recognised, the CAS has been gathering many pictures of the formation and helping with academic research, mostly conducted at Reading University.

Light rain turned over to light snow for a time late Friday night at the Duluth airport, resulting in the city's first official measurable snowfall of the season, and its earliest measurable snowfall in 17 years.

The National Weather Service recorded a tenth of an inch of snow for the day. Weather spotters in Alborn and near Canyon reported three-tenths of an inch of snow overnight. Any snow that fell didn't last long, as ground temperatures remained warm and air temperatures climbed back above 40 in the early morning hours.

Duluth's tenth of an inch was short of the record for the date - two-tenths of an inch, which fell in 1974. One-tenth of inch of snow also fell on Sept. 21, 1995, the Weather Service reported.

The Weather Service had previously reported a trace of snow on Wednesday, which tied a record for the date. A trace is not considered measurable snow.

The earliest measurable snow in Duluth was in 1991, when 2.4 inches fell on Sept. 18. The average date for the first measurable snow in Duluth is Oct. 24.

A voracious new pest is gnawing its way through East County. The gold-spotted oak borer has already killed over 21,500 trees in San Diego's inland regions. Infestations have been found on federal, state, private and Native American lands across 1,893 square miles.

"Has anyone driven through Japatul into Julian lately? We did last weekend and it was a very SAD sight! Almost all of the Oaks are BARE SKELETONS or half brown and going fast," Jerry Williams of Deerhorn Valley wrote in an e-mail to ECM.

In California, San Diego is the only region impacted so far. The hardest hit area centers around Rancho Cuyamaca State Park and the Descanso Ranger District in Cleveland National Forest. County Parks are also infested, including Dos Picos in Ramona, William Heise at Julian and Louis Stelzer in Lakeside. Ramona Patch reports that officials also fear the beetle has reached Volcan Mountain Open Space Preserve near Julian.

The infestion reaches from Pine Valley north to Lake Henshaw. At least two city parks, Marian Bear and Kate Sessions, also have trees under attack.

Native to Guatemala, southern Mexico and southeast Arizona, the beetle was first discovered in San Diego County in 2004. Experts believe it most likely hitched a ride into the area on firewood, since the gold-spotted oak borer can survive for years in dead woods. It can attack and kill coast live oaks, California black oaks and canyon oaks. Engelmann oaks and other tree species are believed safe from the pest.

The University of California, Riverside has set up a webpage with lots of information on the gold-spotted oak borer.