Earth ChangesS


Bell

Powerful 7.9 quake hits Indonesia


AP
Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:07 UTC
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake hit Indonesia on Wednesday, causing buildings to sway strongly in the capital, and authorities issued a tsunami warning for much of the Indian Ocean region.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and hit at about 6:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m. EDT). It was centered 9.7 miles underground in the southern Sumatra area, the USGS said.

©USGS
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Magic Wand

Spiders Spin Giant Web in Texas

Lake Tawakoni national park
Associated Press
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:44 UTC
WILLS POINT, Texas - A variety of spider species built on one another's work to create a sprawling web that blanketed hundreds of yards of trees and shrubs at a North Texas park, according to entomologists who studied the unusual formation.
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Bulb

This year could be warmest on record in eastern Arctic


RIA Novosti
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:31 UTC
This year could be the warmest on record since climate monitoring in the Arctic Ocean began, a meteorological official said Tuesday.

"This year, the water is unusually warm in the Arctic Ocean and the summer ice has significantly declined, and is further to the north than usual with only one-year ice present. The ice, due to the influence of warm air and water, has been greatly reduced," Sergei Balyasnikov, the press secretary of the Russian hydrometeorological service's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, said.
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Magic Wand

Gifted research parrot Alex found dead


AP
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:24 UTC
A gifted parrot that could count to six, identify colors and even express frustration with repetitive scientific trials has died after 30 years of helping researchers better understand the avian brain.

©Alex Foundation
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Cloud Lightning

Farmers in Virginia and Maryland Growing Desperate For Rain

Maria Glod and Philip Rucker
Washington Post
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:39 UTC
St. Mary's County farmer Tommy Bowles has been pumping water to his pumpkin patch and corn maze to prepare for pre-Halloween crowds. But he can't afford to irrigate all his crops, and the corn, soybeans and wheat are suffering in the heat and bone-dry soil.

"This is about the worst drought I've seen since I've been in farming -- and I've been farming for 33 years," Bowles, 52, said. "We just haven't really had any rain at all."
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Cloud Lightning

15 dead in Nepal floods, landslides


AFP
Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:57 UTC
Landslides and floods triggered by torrential rains in Nepal have killed at least 15 people in the last three days, officials said Sunday.

"Five bodies were recovered Sunday morning after they were swept away by a flooding river in Rautahat late Saturday," local official Durga Prasad Bhandari told AFP from Rautahat district, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Kathmandu.
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Cloud Lightning

Record-breaking rainfall pounds Oklahoma City


AP
Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:55 UTC
Heavy rainfall pounded south Oklahoma City early Monday, causing flash flooding and shattering an 82-year-old daily rainfall record in less than one hour.

By 8:30 a.m. Monday, 6.28 inches of rain had fallen at Will Rogers World Airport since midnight, including 2.73 inches between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. The previous record for rainfall in a 24-hour period at the site was 2.4 inches in 1925.
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Cloud Lightning

Freak snow in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic


HotNews.ro
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:40 UTC
After an unusually warm summer, Europe saw autumn coming directly with a massive snow fall. In Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, people were taken by surprise on Thursday morning, waking to see mountains covered in snow.
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Cloud Lightning

Flash floods strike Northern Thailand


The Nation
Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:59 UTC
The worst floods of the year caught the people of Loei and Phetchabun off guard while they slept yesterday.

Pre-dawn forest run-off from Huai Dong Thip and Huai Nam Pung in the mountains of Loei's Dan Sai district roared into Nam Pung village at 3am yesterday, destroying three houses.

©The Nation
Villagers look at the spot where three houses used to stand near Dong Thip River in Loei's Dan Sai district.

One house with a family of three was swept away. Local officials retrieved the body of Somyupin Seechamuk seven kilometres from a broken bridge and later found her 10-year-old son's body, but her husband was still missing.
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Cloud Lightning

The amazing pictures that show autumn has come early in the UK

Duncan Robertson
Daily Mail
Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:17 UTC
After a dreary summer of endless showers and muddy fields, autumn has arrived early with a welcome flourish of red and yellow.

Although the season does not traditionally start until the equinox in another fortnight, some trees have already taken on a warm, coppery hue.

And with experts forecasting a relatively dry autumn with below average wind, the leaves are likely stay on long enough for people to enjoy them.

©SWNS
Four-year-old Ameilia Mykinley kicks her way through the leaves on her way to school with mum Louise.
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