Earth Changes

Swarm of twenty-three earthquakes reported near Costa Rica's Irazu volcano

L. Arias
Tico Times
Tue, 26 May 2015 22:17 UTC

In a span of eight hours on Monday night and into early Tuesday, experts from the University of Costa Rica and the National University registered at least 23 temblors with epicenters located north of the province of Cartago, some 22 kilometers northeast of the Costa Rican capital.

Ronny Quintero, a seismologist at UNA's Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) reported that the temblors originated on local faults west of Irazú Volcano's main crater. Experts said they are not directly related to the volcano's activity. The first occurred at 8:19 p.m. with a magnitude of 3.1 and and an epicenter 10 kilometers northwest of Pacayas. Several minor earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.4 to 3.7 followed, mainly in areas north and east of Cartago in the cantons of Jiménez and Oreamuno. Most of the minor quakes went unnoticed by local residents.

The strongest, at magnitude-4.2, was registered at 8:50 p.m. with an epicenter 9 kilometers northeast of San Rafael de Oreamuno. The most recent was reported at 7:09 a.m. on Tuesday with a magnitude of 2.4. OVSICORI received reports from residents throughout the Central Valley who felt at least three of the temblors, but there has been no significant damage or injuries.

Rain without end: Texas hammered by more storms as death toll climbs to 17

Jon Herskovitz
Reuters
Wed, 27 May 2015 20:36 UTC

Storms dumped rain on parts of Texas on Wednesday, bringing more runoff to swollen waterways that spilled their banks this week in places such as Houston, where floods have killed six people and caused chaos in the fourth most-populous U.S. city.

At least 13 people have been killed in Texas from storms that started over the Memorial Day weekend and led to record floods, destroying hundreds of homes, sweeping away bridges and stranding more than 2,000 motorists on roads.

The death toll in Texas was set to rise with numerous people still missing and thunderstorms pelting the already flood-hit cities of Houston and Austin.

"This rain has the potential to cause additional street flooding so residents are advised to be careful as they commute to work," the city of Houston said in a statement, adding about 1,400 structures were damaged by high water and two people were unaccounted for in the city.

Flood death toll in China reaches 54 with 15,000 homes destroyed and 8 million affected

Emily Chan
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 27 May 2015 19:13 UTC

Torrential rain swept across Guizhou province in southern China on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning

The death toll from devastating floods across southern China has risen to at least 54 people, as torrential rain continues to fall.

Two people were killed on Tuesday night after a van plunged into a river as a rainstorm battered Guizhou.

At least 15,000 homes have been destroyed and more than 250,000 moved to temporary accommodation after two weeks of heavy downpours across a number of provinces.

At least two people were killed as a bridge collapsed and major roads were blocked by six feet of water

Nearly 8 million people across southern China have been affected by the floods so far.

Official figures released by the government at the end of last week said that 35 people were confirmed dead and another 13 missing, although the death toll is believed to have risen over the weekend.

Two schoolchildren were among those who died after an overloaded bus plunged into a pond.

Hundreds evacuated from northeastern Alberta as wildfires rage through crude-producing region

Scott Haggett and Nia Williams
Reuters
Tue, 26 May 2015 23:44 UTC

© REUTERS/Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development
Smoke rises from a wildfire east of Slave Lake, Alberta May 25, 2015

Statoil ASA, MEG Energy Corp and Cenovus Energy Inc evacuated hundreds of workers from three oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta on Tuesday as wildfires raged through the key crude-producing region.

The latest evacuations are in addition to project shutdowns by Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd over the weekend, as companies rushed to remove staff from potential danger.

At least 233,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, 9 percent of Alberta's total oil sands output, have been suspended because of the fire risk, though none of the projects have been damaged.

The Alberta government said there are 70 forest fires now burning in the province, with 20 considered out of control. Lightning storms are forecast for Tuesday evening, increasing the risk of more fires, a government spokesman said.

Cenovus evacuated all 90 staff from its Narrows Lake oil sands project on Tuesday, which is not yet producing crude after construction was deferred last year.

The company also shut down its Birch Mountain natural gas plant northwest of Fort McMurray.

Hundreds of dead red crabs wash up on Tijuana beach, Mexico

John Carroll
sandiego6.com
Tue, 26 May 2015 14:10 UTC

Red crabs.

A big stretch of Tijuana beach turned bright red today as hundreds of crustaceans washed up on the sand. The creatures are a kind of crab, better known as Langostino.

The scene Tuesday afternoon on Playas de Tijuana was surreal as hundreds of the small creatures dotted the sand, most of them dead. "I thought first of all it was like all that polluted water we have around here, especially in Tijuana, but then another theory they say is that they (were brought here) by the currents," said one woman on the beach.

"We have seen them in our samples in local waters," said Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine scientist Linsey Sala. Sala said seeing this many red crabs on the beach isn't all that unusual. "Been seeing them. We got reports as early as July 2014. This year my first report of people seeing them was on January first," she said.

But these little crustaceans aren't the only ones to have washed up on the beaches of Baja over the last several weeks. First there was a whale, then a seal and then dozens of blue jellyfish. Sala said she's not sure if all the incidents are related. "The seals and sea lions are local to these waters as are the blue and gray whales. The red crabs actually serve as a food source," she said.

Nearly 1,200 people dead in heatwave across India

Hindustan Times
Wed, 27 May 2015 13:55 UTC

Children jump into the Ganga river to beat the heat on a hot day.

A relentless heatwave sweeping large parts of India has killed nearly 1,200 people, with most deaths reported from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, even as forecasts warned that the intense weather conditions are expected to continued till the weekend.

The death toll in Andhra Pradesh rose to 852, with the scorching weather claiming 202 lives in Prakasam district alone, officials said. Another 266 deaths were reported in Telangana where Ramagundam city recorded a maximum temperature of 44.5°C.

A total of 67 deaths were reported in Odisha, according to ANI. Titlagarh recorded a temperature of 47.6°C, the season's highest for the state.

Officials reported seven deaths in Gujarat's capital Ahmedabad this month, with the civic body issuing an "orange alert", indicating a prolonged heatwave with temperatures expected to rise to 43°C to 45°C over the next week.

Large hailstones fall in Oman

Rejomin K
Times of Oman
Wed, 27 May 2015 13:41 UTC

Rain and hailstorm fell in Fanja, a village about 64 km away from Muscat, at around 2pm.

"It is heavily raining and wadis are overflowing. There was hailstorm too," said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather trends in Oman.

"Skies over Muscat are cloudy. Rain is expected," Bader added.

The Oman meteorological department had also predicted rain in eastern parts of Muscat and in Batinah.

Mass fish death in Siberian lake

The Siberian Times
Fri, 15 May 2015 13:17 UTC

Thousands of carp washed up, but who or what killed them?

Shocked locals have posted pictures of the dead fish amid suspicions they were killed by explosions as officials melted winter ice to prevent flooding.

The disturbing scene was at Lake Khatyng, in the Sakha Republic, the coldest region in Russia. The fish - believed to be carp and grouper - were seen dead en mass on 14 May.

Locals in Tulagino village blamed the dynamiting of local rivers to prevent ice causing dams on rivers, so leading to flooding of villages. But representatives of the Ministry of Emergencies in the republic, also known as Yakutia, denied being responsible for the dead fish.

A spokesperson said: 'On 13 May we did blow up the ice, but the work was near the village of Namtsy, almost 100 km from Tulagino. Even if we assume that fish died because of the explosion, it is unlikely that they were carried such a distance.'

Southern Ontario vineyards damaged by late brutal cold weather

am980.ca
Wed, 27 May 2015 12:55 UTC

Grapes

The 2015 vintages from some southern Ontario wineries may be somewhat rarer than usual.

Vineyard owners in Prince Edward County and the Niagara region are assessing the damage from a record-breaking plunge into cold weather late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Farmers were sent scrambling to prevent frost from killing their fruit. They rented helicopters, turned on wind machines and set bales of hay on fire in an attempt to save what they could.

Some smaller wineries say their crop was practically gutted in the deep-freeze.

Clark Tyler, manager at Harwood Estate Vineyards in Prince Edward County, estimates that a mere five per cent of grapes at his four-hectare vineyard survived the frost.

Weather chaos: Kashmir receives snowfall when other parts of India reel under severe heat

aninews.in
Tue, 26 May 2015 19:22 UTC

Snowfall in Kashmir

While the rest of India continued to simmer under intense heat wave, higher reaches of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir received fresh snowfall. It has been snowing in Rajouri intermittently since Sunday (May 24) causing the mercury to drop considerably.

People have once again pulled out their woolens. Though snowfall in Rajouri is unusual for this time of the year, no one seems to be complaining. Instead people from nearby areas of Shopian and Poonch are thronging the place to enjoy the weather.

The sudden change in weather has reportedly been caused by a prevailing western disturbance over the region. As a result of which, the lower reaches of Rajouri received snowfall. Heat wave in the rest of India has so far claimed many lives.

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Earth Changes

Swarm of twenty-three earthquakes reported near Costa Rica's Irazu volcano

Rain without end: Texas hammered by more storms as death toll climbs to 17

Flood death toll in China reaches 54 with 15,000 homes destroyed and 8 million affected

Hundreds evacuated from northeastern Alberta as wildfires rage through crude-producing region

Hundreds of dead red crabs wash up on Tijuana beach, Mexico

Nearly 1,200 people dead in heatwave across India

Large hailstones fall in Oman

Mass fish death in Siberian lake

Southern Ontario vineyards damaged by late brutal cold weather

Weather chaos: Kashmir receives snowfall when other parts of India reel under severe heat

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