Earth Changes

Historic avalanche cycle wreaks havoc in Colorado mountains

Sawyer D'Argonne
Summit Daily
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:51 UTC

When Frisco residents went to sleep on Wednesday night the view of Mount Victoria was familiar, with densely crowded lodgepole pine trees resting branch-to-branch above the snow-packed slope.

But when they woke up Thursday morning, the view had changed considerably after a massive avalanche near the J Chute - just off of Rainbow Lake - tore through the landscape, stripping trees and leaving a gigantic white scar on the side of the peak.

"The trees that are gone were full-sized lodgepoles," said Kathryn Grohusky, a Frisco resident who saw the damage from the avalanche from her home Thursday morning. "The avalanche debris is really deep, it came down the hill and took the trees out. The path is a ski run wide."

When asked if she'd ever seen anything similar in her 20-plus years of living in Frisco, the answer was clear: "Nope."

Storm breaks 135-year-old rainfall record for downtown Los Angeles

Patch.com
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 08:21 UTC

Latest Winter Downpour Brings Record Rainfall to Downtown L.A.

Downtown rainfall in the latest storm broke a record set in the 1800s. More rain is on the way

This week's storm, which drew added moisture from an atmospheric river out of Hawaii, doused L.A. County valley areas early Thursday and broke rainfall records, forecasters said.

"After the spectacular lightning show early Wednesday morning and the periods of heavy rain that lingered into Wednesday afternoon, the weather across Southwestern California has quieted down quite a bit in most areas," noted an NWS statement.

Comment: Anomalous lightning storm hits Southern California - More than 1,200 bursts in five minutes

Record rainfall totals from this week's storm generally averaged 0.75 to 1.75 inches of rain in coastal areas, 2 to 3.5 inches in the foothills and mountains, and 0.50 inches to 1 inch in the Antelope Valley, according to the statement. Through 7.30 p.m. Wednesday, the highest total was at Opids Camp in the San Gabriel Mountains with 4.12 inches, followed by 3.69 inches at San Antonio Dam in San Bernardino County.

The National Weather Service reports that Wednesday's 1.25 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles shattered a 135-year-old record. The old record was .88 inches, set in 1884. The NWS also notes that March 6 -- until Wednesday -- was the only day in March with a daily rainfall record that was below 1 inch dating back to 1978.

Comment: Last month Los Angeles experienced the coldest February in 60 years.

Rain brings 2nd California super bloom in 2 years

Julie Watson
Associated Press
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 14:03 UTC

© REUTERS
Southern California's Anza-Borrego desert is covered in swathes of colourful wildflowers after weeks of heavy rains

It started with the desert lilies in December. Since then a wave of wildflower blooms has been crescendoing across Southern California's Anza-Borrego desert in a burst of color so vivid it can be seen from mountain tops thousands of feet above.

Two years after steady rains followed by warm temperatures caused seeds dormant for decades under the desert floor to burst open and produce a spectacular display dubbed the "super bloom," another winter soaking this year is expected to create possibly an even better show by Mother Nature.

Having two super blooms in two years is highly usual. In California, super blooms happen about once in a decade in a given area, and they have been occurring less frequently with the drought.

Comment: A similar situation is evident in Arizona.

spring wildflowers bloom at Picacho Peak State

Beached gray whale spotted off San Pedro coastline, California

Donna Littlejohn
Daily Breeze
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 13:17 UTC

Beached gray whale found on San Pedro coast

Television news crew this week captured a view of a beached gray whale near the San Pedro coastline. The KABC video surfaced on March 5 and it was unclear how long the whale had been there.

The rocky shoreline just off of Point Fermin Park may have made it difficult to completely wash ashore. This is the time of year when gray whales are migrating north from Baja California to Alaska.

Recently, false killer whales were spotted along the coast - a rare sighting for the tropical species. Sightings can be followed on the Facebook page for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Cetacean Society which conducts a migration census every year.

Massive sinkhole opens at Louisville Zoo, Kentucky

wthr.com
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 13:01 UTC

Sinkhole closes Louisville Zoo

A Kentucky zoo has closed while engineers study a newly discovered sinkhole nearly as large as a football field.

Louisville Zoo spokeswoman Kyle Shepherd told news outlets the sinkhole was found Wednesday in an undeveloped area away from any zoo animals. She said no people or animals were reported injured and no buildings damaged.

Louisville Metro Emergency Services Director Jody Meiman says officials estimate the sinkhole is about 50 yards by 85 yards (45 meters by 75 meters) and about 50 feet (15 meters) deep in spots.

Flooding and landslides leave 3 dead, thousands affected in Indonesia

Floodlist
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 12:06 UTC

Floods in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, March 2019.

At least 3 people have died and six more are missing after torrential rain and severe flooding in parts of Indonesia since 06 March, 2019.

Flores Island

Heavy rain in East Nusa Tenggara Province on Flores Island caused flooding and landslides in the Komodo and Mbliling Districts of West Manggarai Regency early on 07 March, 2019.

According to a report by national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, at least 2 people have died, 6 are still missing and 3 reported injured.

Three homes and a bridge have also been severely damaged and important transport routes blocked by landslides.

As of 08 March disaster authorities were still carrying out evacuations and damage assessments.

Dozens buried by landslide at unlicensed Indonesia gold mine - death toll reaches 27 (UPDATE)

Aol
Wed, 27 Feb 2019 11:38 UTC

The collapse of an unlicensed gold mine in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province has buried dozens of people, a disaster official said.

Emergency personnel used their bare hands and farm tools in a desperate attempt to reach victims calling for help from beneath the rubble.

Local disaster official Abdul Muin Paputungan said one person was confirmed dead and 14 people with injuries ranging from light to serious had been rescued.

As many as 60 people were buried, he said.

Comment: Update: The New York Times on the 5th of March reports:

A weeklong, round-the-clock search for victims of a landslide that may have buried dozens of miners in Indonesia is still underway, a rescue official said Tuesday, as the confirmed death toll rose to 17.

The landslide, which struck on Feb. 26 on the island of Sulawesi, left an unknown number of miners trapped underground in makeshift holes. As of Tuesday, rescue personnel combing the steep jungle terrain with earth movers had found 18 survivors, and the death toll had risen from nine a day earlier.

"We have no exact number of the people down there, or even how many small holes there are," Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for Indonesia's search and rescue agency, said by telephone.

He added that in addition to 17 dead, the authorities had found body parts that they were working to identify.

They were also searching for the owners of about 50 motorcycles that have been parked near the mining site for days, he said.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia's disaster management agency, told reporters in a WhatsApp message on Monday that local estimates of the number of miners working at the site ranged from about 30 to 100.

Mr. Sutopo said pinpointing the number of miners buried by the landslide had been difficult partly because some might have been trapped in smaller offshoots of the site's primary mining pit.

© Antara Foto/Reuters
Rescue workers carrying a body bag containing a victim of the landslide at an illegal gold mine in Indonesia last week.

Update: ANTARA News on the 6th of March reports:

Death toll from a landslide in a smallholder mining site in Bakan Village, Bolaang Mongondow District, North Sulawesi Province, rose to 27 as of Wednesday morning.

The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team found another body on Wednesday at 8:18 a.m. local time and sent it to Kotamobagu Hospital for identification.

Tens of gold miners were buried as a mining site collapsed in Bakan Village on February 27, 2019. Eighteen miners survived the disaster.

"Tens of gold miners are buried by a landslide in an illegal gold mining site on February 27, 2019, at 9 p.m. local time," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), noted on his Twitter account, last Wednesday.

Deputy for Operation, Search, and Help of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Nugroho Budi Wiryanto had earlier remarked that the SAR team will continue to evacuate those still trapped in the mining site.

"We will continue to evacuate them using heavy duty equipment," he noted.

Wiryanto said he was unaware of the exact number of people still trapped in the mining site.

© ANTARA PHOTO/Adwit B Pramono
Death toll from landslide rose to 27

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupts with massive ash plume

wionews.com
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 19:58 UTC

Popocatepetl volcano

Mexico's mighty Popocatepetl volcano erupted on Wednesday (March 06), sending a plume of gas and ash 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) into the sky, according to Mexico's disaster prevention agency.

Images showed the ash plume being discharged into the sky high above the snow covered slopes of the mountain. The eruption occurred at 8:26 a.m. on Wednesday according to Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center.

Servando de la Cruz, a researcher at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said the volcano's current activity, while spectacular, was within the limits of recent historical eruptions and the volcano was being monitored by authorities for any heightened activity.

Popocatepetl is 5,426 meters (17,802 feet) tall and is the second highest mountain in Mexico and the fifth highest in North America.

March records broken because of cold air across US West, Midwest and Plains

Melanie Steinberg
9and10news.com
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 19:22 UTC

It's only the 6th day of March but records have already been broken because of the cold temperatures across the West, Midwest and Plains!

This cold snap was caused by a blocked jet-stream pattern in the Arctic. That just means an area of high pressure stretching from the Gulf of Alaska to the Canadian Arctic forced the bitter cold air south and into the United States.

Here in Northern Michigan, Houghton Lake set a record low on March 4, 2019 of -11 degrees. This broke the old record of -7 degrees set back in 2016.

Record lows were broken for four different cities in Montana on March 4, 2019. Elk Park saw the coldest temperature with a record breaking low of -46 degrees! Miles City saw -31 degrees, Eureka saw -23 degrees and Livingston saw -27 degrees.