Earth ChangesS


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Japan Sinking?


Comment: This video shows slippage (watch the paving stones) and sinking during earthquakes in Japan.



Cloud Lightning

US: New Storm System Bringing Dangerous Thunderstorms AND Snow!

Another round of dangerous thunderstorms will sweep eastward across a large portion of the United States in the coming days, and this storm system will be accompanied by something that we may not have expected to hear about again until next winter -- a swath of accumulating snow.

The thunderstorms will pound areas that have been hit hard by severe weather during what's been a very stormy month, spreading from the Plains on Thursday to the Southeast on Saturday. The snow will fall from the northern Rockies to the upper Midwest, with the chance for some late-season snow in parts of the interior Northeast over the weekend.

The most likely location to receive a disruptive amount of snow -- locally over 6 inches -- will be in western and central South Dakota from later Thursday through Friday, where the National Weather Service has issued winter storm watches. The snow will accumulate more on unpaved surfaces than on roadways; however, travel will be disrupted, especially at night. The snow will be accompanied by winds that will reduce visibilities to under a half-mile.

The snow will begin today and tonight in an area where late-season snow is not uncommon -- the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. Depending on the path of the storm, a second area of wet snow might develop in the higher elevations of upstate New York and New England later in the weekend.

Bizarro Earth

Indonesia Merapi Sees New Lava Dome

Image
© BPPTK, Yogyakarta
Indonesia's most active volcano Merapi has seen a new lava dome formation at a diameter of 400 meters recently.

"The dome is resulted from the latest eruption which has expanded to 400 meters in diameter," said Subandriyo, Chief of Volcanology Technology Research and Development Agency (BPPTK) of Yogyakarta, on Tuesday.

According to Subandriyo, the new lava dome is not visible, "because it does not overflow."

Bizarro Earth

US: Scores of earthquakes reported on California-Nevada border

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© USGS
A swarm of earthquakes continued along the California-Nevada border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It began Sunday and continued into Thursday, with scores of small temblors reported.

On Wednesday, the region around Hawthorne, Nev., recorded a 4.4 and 4.1 quake as well as many smaller temblors. There have also been smaller quakes on the California side of the border, along the Eastern Sierras in Inyo and Mono counties.

Bizarro Earth

Large Fires in Northern Mexico

Mexico Fires_1
© NASA Earth ObservatoryNASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using Landsat 5 data provided by the United States Geological Survey.
Mexico Fires_2
© NASA Earth ObservatoryAcquired April 9, 2011
These images, taken by the Landsat-5 satellite on April 9, 2011, illustrate the challenges facing firefighters combating two large wildfires in northern Mexico's Coahuila state. The fires are burning on steep mountain slopes that are difficult to impossible for ground crews to reach. The top image shows dense plumes of smoke blowing northeast on strong winds. The lower image, which includes both infrared and visible light, provides a view through the smoke to the freshly burned terrain.

The fires, called El Bonito and La Sabina, were caused by lightning strikes in mid-March and had burned 99,000 hectares (245,000 acres or 380 square miles) as of April 11. The fires are among the largest in Mexico's history, according to news reports. The burned land is brick red in the lower image. Hot areas glow orange in infrared light, revealing the active fire front on the south and west sides of the burned area. (The orange horizontal stripes are satellite sensor artifacts.)

Info

US, Kansas: Cold front on the way

After a toasty Tuesday, complete with gusty winds and abundant sunshine, another cold front will be pushing into western Kansas Wednesday afternoon. The front will bring a cooler temperatures and a wind shift back to the north. Northwest Kansas will see highs in the low to mid 60s with lower 70s in the southwest. Most of central and eastern Kansas will stay in the mid to upper 70s.

Unfortunately there will not be a lot of rain associated with the slow moving cold front as the supply of Gulf of Mexico moisture will be somewhat limited. The front, and an approaching area of low pressure, will bring lots of clouds, scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms Thursday. Rain could be widespread for a time over northwest Kansas Thursday afternoon and the southeast will likely see severe storms with large hail and damaging winds. The prime target for severe weather will like be along and southeast of the Kansas Turnpike Thursday afternoon.

Bizarro Earth

US: 10 tornadoes hit Wisconsin on Sunday

The storm system that hit northern and central Wisconsin on Sunday now has a place in the record book, with the 10 tornadoes tying the April record set in 1984, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday.

Eight of the 10 tornadoes were the weakest category, EF1. However, an EF2 tornado with a maximum wind speed of 125 mph hit Adams County and an EF3 tornado with a max wind speed of 140 mph hit Lincoln County, according to the weather service.

There also were many reports by trained weather spotters of large hail and thunderstorms across most parts of the state, including a report of hail stones nearly 3 inches in diameter and straight-line wind gusts up to 80 mph.

Attention

Dust storm halts Kuwait oil traffic

A severe dust storm paralyzed Kuwait Wednesday, suspending air traffic and oil exports, authorities said.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corp. also advised incoming ships to hold off on docking, the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

A top oil official, Sheik Talal al-Khaled, said some maintenance work at refineries was halted as a precaution. But he said supplies to domestic and foreign customers will not be noticeably affected.

Attention

India: One dies in bee attack

A man died and four others suffered wounds after they were stung by a swarm of wild bees at Aska, about 40 km from here today, police said. Kala Krushan Swain (35) was attacked by the bees while he was going to a local temple. He died on his way to hospital. Four passers-by were also stung and they were hospitalised.This was the third incident in two months in Ganjam and Kandhamal districts where three persons died in wild bee attack.

Bizarro Earth

Hairy caterpillars swarm over parts of Indonesia

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© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesCaterpillars crawl over a leaf in Denpasar on the Indonesian island of Bali on Wednesday.
Parts of Indonesia are under siege by swarms of hairy caterpillars, which are getting into homes and causing skin rashes, according to local news reports.

"The caterpillars are very disturbing. They crawl into the house and make our skin itch for days. They have long hairs," a Jakarta resident identified as Nurhayati told the Jakarta Globe.

A caterpillar swarm was first reported in East Java two weeks ago, according to the Globe, and new swarms have been observed in Bekasi, West Java, and Buleleng, Bali.

The caterpillars are targeting the leaves of mango trees in Bali, according to a Bali Times report.

Bali agricultural chief Made Putra Suryawan said Wednesday that authorities there are spraying insecticide and burning garbage to stop the spread of the insects, according to an Agence France Presse report on kompas.com.