Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Santa Fe, New Mexico residents without water because of sinkhole

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© Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New MexicanA water main break Tuesday on the corner of Camino Sierra Vista and Oñate Place. The sink hole is about 20 feet in diameter.
What started as a small leak that nobody could see, grew and grew until it became a big problem that nobody could ignore.

And it left dozens of Santa Fe residents without water, power or a way to get around their neighborhood.

"Oh, look at all the water," said Tanya Frank.

A six-foot deep sinkhole at the intersection of Camino Sierra Vista and Onate left around 50 homes and a hair salon without water.

"I just got that far and I could see the water just gushing. It was just amazing. It was like a nightmare. It was like a sci-fi movie," describes Dolores Martinez.

A 12-inch water main burst, pushing water up to the surface, creating cracks in the pavement, until it gave out.

Windsock

Typhoon fears: Kerry cancels visit to Philippines

Kerry,key
© Vincent Thian/AP From left, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong join hands as they pose for a group photo at the East Asia Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on Oct. 10, 2013.
President Obama canceled a visit to the Philippines because of the political storm at home; now Secretary of State John F. Kerry is scotching the trip he was supposed to make in Obama's stead because of a real storm at sea.

Tropical Storm Santi will make it impossible to make the planned stop in Manila on Friday, Kerry announced Thursday, as he held a hastily scheduled meeting with Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario on the sidelines of Southeast Asian political and security talks.

Santi is expected to hit the island nation as a typhoon on Friday.

"Because of the judgment of our pilots, and the airlines, that with the approaching typhoon, we are going to postpone the trip that I was going to make to the Philippines," Kerry said.

Attention

Tragic Error: The cities that climate change will hit first?

climate change
© Leonard Bernstein and Gene Thorp/The Washington Post
Climate scientists sometimes talk about something called "climate departure" as a way of measuring when climate change has really changed things. It's the moment when average temperatures, either in a specific location or worldwide, become so impacted by climate change that the old climate is left behind. It's a sort of tipping point. And a lot of cities are scheduled to hit one very soon.

A city hits "climate departure" when the average temperature of its coolest year from then on is projected to be warmer than the average temperature of its hottest year between 1960 and 2005. For example, let's say the climate departure point for D.C. is 2047 (which it is). After 2047, even D.C.'s coldest year will still be hotter than any year from before 2005. Put another way, every single year after 2047 will be hotter than D.C.'s hottest year on record from 1860 to 2005. It's the moment when the old "normal" is really gone.

Comment: Not a word about the cities that will be buried under ice when the impending Ice Age rebounds on Earth.


Bizarro Earth

Eurasia's highest volcano Klyuchevskoi spews ash up to 3.7 miles

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Eurasia's highest volcano, Klyuchevskoi, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, churned out ash to a height of six kilometers (3.7 miles) on Thursday morning, local Emergencies Ministry's department reported. "The cloud of ash moved in the eastern direction from the volcano," the department said in a statement adding that the cloud of ash posed no danger to residential areas.

The statement warned all tourism companies operating in the region against holding tours in the areas located near the volcano, which can also pose threat to aircraft. Klyuchevskoi's most powerful eruption was registered between January and May of 2005. Following that eruption, the volcano "sank" by 50 meters (about 165 feet), from 4,800 meters (about 16,000 feet) to the current 4,750 meters (15,845 feet). Kamchatka lies within the Pacific's volatile 'Ring of Fire.' - Voice of Russia

Arrow Down

Madagascar bubonic plague warning


Madagascar faces a bubonic plague epidemic unless it slows the spread of the disease, experts have warned.

The Red Cross and Pasteur Institute say inmates in the island's rat-infested jails are particularly at risk.

The number of cases rises each October as hot humid weather attracts fleas, which transmit the disease from rats and other animals to humans.

Madagascar had 256 plague cases and 60 deaths last year, the world's highest recorded number.

Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.

Ice Cube

South Dakota blizzard kills 20,000 head of cattle; shutdown leaves ranchers in the cold

Like in a scene from an apocalyptic parable, dark carcasses of cows and steers lie motionless in silent clusters across swaths of South Dakota. An early blizzard caught ranchers off guard this week in the state, killing as many as 20,000 head of cattle, a state official says. But ranchers say they are the real victims.


Snowflake Cold

Shutdown worsens historic blizzard that killed tens of thousands of South Dakota cattle

Snowfall Rapid city
© KNBN-TVRapid City and many other parts of South Dakota recorded record snowfall totals for the entire month of October in just three days over the weekend.
An unusually early and enormous snowstorm over the weekend caught South Dakota ranchers and farmers unprepared, killing tens of thousands of cattle and ravaging the state's $7 billion industry - an industry left without assistance because of the federal government shutdown.

As many as 75,000 cattle have perished since the storm slammed the western part of the state Thursday through Saturday with snowfall that set records for the entire month of October in just three days, state and industry officials said.

Across the state, snow totals averaged 30 inches, with some isolated areas recording almost 5 feet, The Weather Channel reported.

The South Dakota Stock Growers Association estimated that 15 percent to 20 percent of all cattle were killed in some parts of the state. Some ranchers reported that they lost half or more of their herds.

Megaphone

129 climate science scandals

1. NEW! 1010-gate (aka Splatter-gate) NoTricksZone and media silence (NoTricksZone) and Pachauri sensitize children (NoTricksZone and media bias (WUWT). Hate, intolerance, and violence are embedded in the psyche of the environmental movement, as the following promo video illustrates.


Ice Cube

Current sunspot cycle weakest in 190 years

Currently solar activity is especially low. Solar sunspot number (SSN) in September was at 36.9, and thus was just 36% of the usual mean value 58 months into the cycle. The sun continues to remain in an unusually weak cycle 24, which was characterized by a 1-2 year delayed start in November 2008. The following graphic shows the mean value (blue) and the current cycle (red) and the very similar sunspot cycle SC5 (light gray) which occurred during the Dalton Minimum of the early 19th century:
The average solar cycle
© Frank Bosse and Fritz Vahrenholt Dark blue shows average sunspot cycle; red shows current cycle 24 and light gray shows SC5. Horizontal axis is the number of months after the start of cycle. -

Eagle

Bald eagle attacks pets in Michigan neighborhood

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© Walter Siegmund, Wikimedia Commons.Bald Eagle, first year juvenile

A Michigan woman said a young bald eagle took up residence in her neighborhood and has been terrorizing her dogs.

Tami Bieri of Sebewaing said the bird, which her young daughter dubbed Derrick, has become a "nuisance bird" that poses a threat to her small dogs, WNEM-TV, Saginaw, reported Wednesday.

"I left my two dogs outside and my smaller dog was attacked by an eagle. And then as the eagle was taking off with the dog, my Jack Russell attacked the eagle and both dogs got away," Bieri said.

Bieri said local and state officials told her there is nothing they can do about the bird because bald eagles are federally protected.

"I've called the [Department of Natural Resources], the Sebewaing police, and they pretty much say there's nothing they can do because the eagle's not injured," Bieri said.

Karen Cleveland, a bird expert with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said residents can use non-violent methods to let the eagle know he is not welcome in the neighborhood.

"Clap your hands and yell at the bird when you see the bird around, bang on a pot when you see the bird around, go out there with an umbrella, flap the umbrella opened and closed to try and spook the bird off just so it doesn't feel settled around people," Cleveland said.