Earth Changes

Strange sound recorded at the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan: wind?

Jane Janeczko
Huffington Post
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:07 UTC

When it gets windy in Lower Manhattan, residents report hearing a strange, high-pitched, ghostly sound from the top of One World Trade Center.

Kenny Cummings, who lives a few blocks away from One WTC, told Tribeca Citizen in an email that he first noticed the eerie whistling during Hurricane Sandy, and most recently heard the noise early on November 27:

Have you ever heard from neighbors about the wailing World Trade Center? I live a couple of blocks from the tower, and first heard this very eerie sound during Hurricane Sandy last year. I've heard it only once afterwards, sometime last winter. I assumed once the building's framework and windows went in, the airflow would be redirected.

At 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, I awoke to the sound. It was slightly different in timbre, with two tones this time. I couldn't be sure what it was at first, but after a moment I realized it was the Trade Center. Outside it was raining but the trees were calm. I can only imagine at that height the weather is different. I'm sure all of downtown hears this - it's unmistakable and very chilling. I had to get up and record it. [You can hear it especially well around :20.] It seemed to calm down about 5 a.m.

The Ice Age Cometh: Scientists increasingly moving to global cooling consensus

Jack Minor
US Finance Post
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC

Critics of those who claim that man-made global warming is a serious threat to the planet and settled science frequently point to the fickleness of scientists on the issue, noting that in the 60s and 70s scientists were warning of just the opposite. It now appears the critic's claims may have merit as a new consensus is beginning to once again return to the global cooling model.

Adherents of man-made global warming have supported the issue in a way akin to that of religious zealots, even to the point of attempting to cover up evidence that runs contrary to their beliefs or portrays it in a negative light.

Comment: New Ice Age 'to begin in 2014'
The coming of a new Ice Age
What's Happening to the Sun? Could its unusual behavior herald a new ice age?

Our changing atmosphere: V-shaped halo appears over setting sun in Florida

Spaceweather.com
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 11:02 UTC

At the end of Thanksgiving Day when the sun was setting over Sumterville, Florida, Paula Phillips took a break from her meal, stepped outside and saw something odd--a pair of luminous 'Vs' in the deepening twilight:

"I've never seen anything like this before," says Phillips. "I photographed the phenomenon with a simple small Samsung camera."

They're sun halos, caused by sunlight shining through ice crystals. Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains:

"These two 'V' shaped halos, one rare and one common, change shape dramatically as the sun climbs," he says. "Near sunrise or sunset is the only time to catch them like this. The lower 'V' is an upper tangent arc from horizontal hexagonal prisms of ice.

The upper one is a rare sunvex Parry arc from similar crystals that - strangely - are fixed so that two prism faces are always horizontal. In the full-sized image, we also see just a trace of a 22^o halo and stretching upwards from the sun a sun pillar."

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

indianadunesbirding.wordpress.com
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 10:17 UTC

A few years ago, Indiana birders enjoyed a decent flight of Snowy Owls. The winter of 2011/2012 saw 46 individuals reported. It beat the previous record Snowy Owl flight when 40 were counted during the winter of 1996/1997. It was a memorable flight that made news across the nation. Snowy Owl's invaded much of the county, but the Great Lakes were especially noteworthy. Owls were seen as far south as Texas, and Hawaii recorded it's first state record of this amazing white ghost.

Snowy Owl reports from eBird.com, 2010-2013.

Birders often wait years or even a decade to see another flight like this. Now, only two winters later, it appears the Indiana Dunes and much of the US is undergoing another invasion. It began light, but by November's end, sightings were literally snowballing in. Already, this invasion is getting more press than the 2007/2008 incursion. Likely due to the fact that the concentrations on the east coast are higher this time around. More people seeing them= more press.

So what have been the early highlights? Early returns? Well, December has just began and we have the following interesting reports:

Rare weather event fills Grand Canyon with fog

Douglas Main
LiveScience
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:39 UTC

© National Park Service photo by Erin Whittaker
The Grand Canyon, filled with fog, in a rare weather event called a temperature inversion.

Usually the Grand Canyon offers stunning views stretching for miles, deep into valleys etched by the Colorado River. But that vista has changed over the past few days, as a rare weather event has filled the canyon with fog, offering an even more stunning view than is typical.

The weather event is known as a temperature inversion, and it only happens every few years, according to the National Park Service, who wrote about the event and posted photos of it on its Facebook page.

Temperature inversions typically happen in the winter when there are long nights, and as the name implies, an inversion takes place when a layer of cool air gets trapped underneath warmer air, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). This is the reverse of the usual pattern, with temperature generally decreasing with increasing altitude.

Record snow fall at north Finnish village

IceNews
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:28 UTC

A village in Finland's northwest has broken a 50-year-old record for its November snowfall. The country's meteorologists say that on Tuesday the village of Kilpisjärvi had in excess of 80 cm of snow covering it.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute says this breaks the previous record for November set at Sodankylä more than 50 years ago. Statistical records show that Sodankyla was covered by a relatively shallow 72 cm of snow in November 1961.

Kilpisjärvi is in the country's province of Lapland. The meteorology bureau says the new snowfall record in the village proves that winter is settling in and residents of the region should prepare themselves for it. Kilpisjärvi is gaining a certain infamy as Finland's snowiest location. Before establishing the new November snowfall record, the village had previously smashed all snowfall depths since records began for the month of December.

The Alaska Dispatch reported that meteorologists measured snow almost 127 cm deep here in December of 1975. Kilpisjärvi also holds the title for the most snow in a month. In April 1997, the total snowfall in the village was measured at a staggering 190 cm.

Kilpisjärvi is in the far north of the country and is on a strip of land sandwiched between the Finnish borders with Sweden and Norway. The stretch of the E8 Europe highway that passes the village is known as Four Winds Road. The moniker gives some idea of the extreme weather conditions Kilpisjärvi endures.

Massachusetts seeks 10 year ban on gas fracking after series of Texas earthquakes

RT
Sat, 30 Nov 2013 15:30 UTC

$fracking$

An environmental committee at Massachusetts Statehouse has approved a bill, imposing a 10-year ban on fracking for natural gas. The move comes as a wave of earthquakes in Texas has raised new concerns over the controversial drilling technique.

The Massachusetts fracking moratorium bill is designed to protect the state's drinking water from possible contamination and thus "ensure that the health and prosperity of our communities is maintained," according to one of the legislation's sponsors, Northampton Democratic state Rep. Peter Kocot, cited by AP.

To become law, the temporary ban on fracking has yet to be approved by the lawmakers and signed by the Democratic Governor, Deval Patrick.

The Massachusetts legislative move was taken on Friday, the day after Texas was stuck by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake, one in a row of similar episodes during the last three weeks. The finger of blame is being pointed at fracking. The series of small earthquakes caused no casualties, but left local Texas residents fearing worse could be in store.

New IPCC report discovers the importance of Solar Surface Radiation Intensity as natural climate driver - but then ignores it!

D. E. Koelle
No Tricks Zone
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:13 UTC

According to its own statutes, the IPCC is mainly responsible for anthropogenic climate change - and much less so for natural climate change, which has been around since the Earth first appeared. That could very well be the reason why the sun gets mentioned only with respect to its solar irradiance intensity at the edge of the atmosphere. There the irradiance is 1361 W/sqm and is relatively constant, and so the role of the sun on mid-term climate change is not taken into account.

However, for the first time in the history of the IPCC reports, the 2013 AR5 report discusses the Surface Solar Radiation (SSR) as a decisively important factor (chapter 2.3.3.). Decisive for the climate and temperature changes is not the solar irradiance at the edge of the atmosphere, rather it is the amount of solar energy that makes it to the Earth's surface.

Between the Earth's surface and the outer edge of the atmosphere we have the atmosphere with its clouds and aerosols, which determine how much solar radiation eventually reaches the surface of the Earth. Since 1983 the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) has been measuring global cloud coverage. One spectacular result was the decrease in global cloud cover between 1987 - 2000, from 69% to 64%, i.e. precisely during the period of warming that triggered the CO2 hypothesis.

© ISCCP
Figure 1: Mid-term variation of mean global cloud coverage according to data from the ISCCP for the period 1983 to 2010.

Tornado appears in Australia, filmed in New South Wales, 23 November 2013

Jason Paterson
YouTube
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 10:27 UTC

Michael Bath and I witnessed a tornado near the town of Ben Lomond, NSW, Australia. The footage above was filmed from a location just north of the village of Glencoe. Our initial intention was to film some powerful CGs from this supercell, but our attention was soon drawn to the formation of funnel clouds which eventually transitioned to a full blown tornado.

The wall cloud exhibited rapid rotation, easily the most rapid I've seen in this country, prior to putting down the tornado. This is a day that will go down in history as one of our most memorable chases in this country. Australian tornadoes are rarely documented so we are thrilled to be able to share our vision with you.

Father and daughter capture moment monster Washington, Illinois tornado demolishes their neighborhood

buzzrightnow5
YouTube
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 10:14 UTC

The scarred landscape after a devastating EF4 tornado tore through Washington, Illinois on November 23, 2013.

Marc Wells and his daughter lived through a nightmare, and recorded the terrifying ordeal.

Washington, Illinois was slammed by killer tornadoes on November 17, 2013, and one of them directly hit Marc and his daughter Josie's home.

Thankfully, they were not injured as they hid in a central room, but their home was badly hit.

New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good...

parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

Welcome to the new normal. The more sensory exposure we have about such things, the less it is an issue.

sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Earth Changes

Strange sound recorded at the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan: wind?

The Ice Age Cometh: Scientists increasingly moving to global cooling consensus

Our changing atmosphere: V-shaped halo appears over setting sun in Florida

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Rare weather event fills Grand Canyon with fog

Record snow fall at north Finnish village

Massachusetts seeks 10 year ban on gas fracking after series of Texas earthquakes

New IPCC report discovers the importance of Solar Surface Radiation Intensity as natural climate driver - but then ignores it!

Tornado appears in Australia, filmed in New South Wales, 23 November 2013

Father and daughter capture moment monster Washington, Illinois tornado demolishes their neighborhood

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us