Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Early heavy snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere

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Early and unusually heavy snowfalls effected several regions across the Northern Hemisphere in October 2014.


Source: Adapt 2030

Snowflake

2 metres of heavy snowfall in Turkey - 36 village roads closed

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50 cm (20 inches) of snow in Artvin. On a plateau near Rize a car was stuck in 2 meters of snow.

According to Special Provincial Administration teams, the snow was 50 cm (20 inches) deep in higher elevations.

A written statement from the General Directorate of Meteorology asked citizens to be cautious due to the expected heavy snowfall in some provinces. It warned: 'Heavy Snow Coming!'

Artvin, Ardahan and northern districts of Rize and Erzurum expected heavy snowfall in the higher parts.

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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall closes Brenner motorway in Austria

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© APA/BARBARA GINDLSnow in Tyrol.
Heavy snowfall brought traffic on the Brenner motorway (A13) to a complete standstill for several hours on Thursday morning in Tyrol.

Trucks formed long convoys in both directions and even snowploughs had trouble getting through.

Due to dangerous driving conditions and the need to clear snow the motorway was closed between the Brenner pass and Schönberg for a distance of around 20 km to all traffic for several hours, a spokeswoman for the Austrian motoring association (ÖAMTC) told the Austrian Press Agency.

Trucks travelling in the direction of Italy were stopped at Vomp and had to park on the hard shoulder of the Inn Valley motorway.

Snowflake

Over 2,000 people evacuated in Iran due to heavy snowfall

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Over 2,000 people were evacuated in 11 provinces of Iran due to heavy snowfalls and blizzards, the Iranian Red Crescent Society's representative, Hussein Derahshan said Nov. 5, the Fars news agency reported.

He said some 220 of people evacuated were provided with temporary shelter.

Derahshan added that classes were suspended at schools in the cities of Sereyn, Ardabil and Nir of Ardebil province, and the city of Firozkoh of Tehran province due to heavy snows.

It has been three days that the snowfalls are continuing in Iran's northern regions, including in the provinces of Qazvin, West Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Ardabil, Gulistan, East Azerbaijan and others.

In some places the snow depth is over 10 centimeters.

Cloud Lightning

Slovenia on red alert as storms and flooding hit the entire country

Slovenia flood red alert
© 2014 EARS
It began with a period of several days of highly unstable and particularly rainy weather. Now forecasters expect the rainfall to increase, causing already-swollen rivers to flood many areas.

During the day of 5 November 2014, the strongest rain fell in the western part of the country, especially in the Soča Valley.

According to the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster, firefighters were working to pump rainwater out of flooded basements and inundated primary schools.

Due to increased tides, the sea flooded the low-lying coastline in Piran. In Nova Gorica, firefighters delivered sand bags and offered assistance in setting up flood barriers on the ground floor of residential buildings.

Comment: See also: Tuscany residents saved as flooding hits Italy

And for a global view of flooding in the past 2 months alone.




Question

A second tropical pufferfish washes up dead in Europe within a week

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Deadly: The Oceananic pufferfish
The poisonous Oceanic pufferfish - Lagocephalus lagocephalus is a delicacy in Japan but they rarely enter British waters

A Beach walker was stunned when he found a deadly pufferfish - washed up in Dorset.

At first glance the bizarre-looking fish appeared to be a large bloated mackerel.

But it soon became apparent it was a deadly pufferfish, normally only found in sub-tropical waters.

It appears to have died while in full defensive mode, with its stomach fully inflated.

The species is well-known for ballooning in size by filling their bodies with water or air to deter predators from attacking them.

Comment: See also: Poisonous tropical puffer fish found dead on Dutch island beach


Attention

36 stranded pilot whales die in New Zealand

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About 36 pilot whales that had become stranded in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in New Zealand have died.

Two whale pods beached themselves in the Ohiwa harbour on the north-east coast on Monday.

Wildlife conservationists launched a rescue operation and helped one pod to be refloated on Tuesday, while 21 more whales were successfully herded out to sea on Wednesday.

The reasons for mass pilot whale strandings are not well understood.


Eye 2

Python emerges from toilet, bites Thai woman and tries to drag her back to its nest

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A Thai woman was nearly killed by a python that crawled out of her toilet Monday.
A Thai woman claims that she was nearly killed by a python that crawled out of her toilet Monday.

Rampeung Onlamai, 57, of Samkok, Thailand, was taking a shower at her apartment north of Bangkok when the huge snake sank its fangs into her right hand and attempted to drag her down the drain, Metro reports.

Rampeung grabbed a nearby broom to fend the animal off and called out for her daughter, who jumped in to save her and pull the python's head off her hand, Metro reports. The python then returned to its toilet nest.

Comment: See also: Snakes alive! Countless reports of snakes turning up in weird places


Bizarro Earth

Another 4.9 magnitude earthquake hits Oregon/Nevada border after continuous earthquake swarms since July

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© USGS
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake rippled beneath the desert floor about 40 miles east/southeast of Lakeview late Tuesday night on the Oregon/Nevada border, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was followed by a series of smaller quakes in the same general area. Four people reported feeling it; the nearest person was in Cedarville, California, about 45 miles west.

USGS geophysicist Randy Baldwin says the Black Rock Desert area has had several minor quakes in the last few months. Seismologists with the Nevada Seismological Laboratory have been tracking swarms of earthquakes in the area since July.

Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the nation behind California and Alaska.

USGS list of earthquakes in most recent swarm

Snowflake Cold

Maine snowstorm: 80,000+ still without power two days after a wicked Fall snowstorm knocked out electricity in Maine

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Utility crews continued to restore power across Maine Tuesday, two days after a wicked fall snowstorm knocked out electricity to a bulk of customers along the state's mid-coast.

While the number of customers without power dropped below 50,000 by evening, the outages forced election officials to make alternative plans for several polling places for Tuesday's midterm election.

There was also one death attributed to the snowstorm. Troopers say a Lubec woman died when her pickup truck went off the road and overturned in the Washington County town of Trescott. They said 28-year-old Danielle Moores lost control of her pickup truck about 6:30 p.m. Sunday during the heavy snow from the weekend storm. The truck came to rest on its roof in a bog. Moores died at the scene.