Patna: More than five hundred pigeons have dropped dead at a village in Bihar's Bhagalpur district over the last four days, causing residents, some of them pigeon-keepers, to fear that something was amiss.
District officials are still to visit the site and conduct an inquiry. "We were shocked, and we cannot understand why it happened," Subodh Kumar Singh, a keeper of pigeons who lost 250 birds in two days, said. Another pigeon keeper, Mohan Singh, said, "We need some manner of inquiry into this. Why did such a large number of pigeons drop dead in a matter of days?" Other pigeon keepers like Subhit Singh, Radhe Singh and Bhumeshwar Singh said that the government ought to investigate the deaths.
While some veterinarians suspected a bird flu or poisoning, others speculated that the deaths could have been caused because of radiation from mobile phone towers. They added that that only an investigation could get to the root of the mystery. Pigeons are valued as pets here, and there is a thriving market for them.
Earth Changes
© Weather.com
But first things first.
Wintry Side: Snow, Wind, Blizzard?
With strong low pressure developing over the northern Rockies and a strong high pressure zone to the north over western Canada, the stage is set for a wind-driven snow.
That snow will develop over Montana and central Idaho on Thursday. There will also be snow farther west over the Oregon Cascades and the northern Sierra Nevada in California.
© USGS
2012-11-08 02:01:51 UTC
2012-11-07 17:01:51 UTC-09:00 at epicenter
Location
49.185°N 128.528°W depth=16.6km (10.3mi)
Nearby Cities
186km (116mi) SSW of Port Hardy, Canada
254km (158mi) WSW of Campbell River, Canada
262km (163mi) W of Courtenay, Canada
271km (168mi) W of Port Alberni, Canada
387km (240mi) WNW of Victoria, Canada
Technical Details
© NZPA / John Cowpland
Central Otago Winegrowers Association president James Dicey said some vineyards suffered significant losses, with reports of temperatures plummeting to as low as -5.5 degrees Celsius in some areas, rendering frost-fighting techniques next to useless.
"The damage . . . appears to be worst on the road between Wanaka and Cromwell," Dicey said. "I'm on a vineyard at the moment and the damage is extensive, it looks like 50% is gone."
The full extent of the damage would not be known until next month, he said, as there was a chance some vines could recover.
"It's not fantastic news but it's too early to get too depressed about it yet," he said.
© Mel Evans / AP
A sign warning against looting is posted in the Nejecho Beach neighborhood of Brick, N.J. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, after the area suffered serious damage from last week's storm surge from Superstorm Sandy. Brick is ordering mandatory evacuations in advance of an approaching nor'easter. Residents in the low-lying waterfront sections of Brick Township have been told to leave their homes by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Those areas are prone to flooding and storm surges.
A sign warning against looting is posted in the Nejecho Beach neighborhood of Brick, N.J. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, after the area suffered serious damage from last week's storm surge from Superstorm Sandy. Brick is ordering mandatory evacuations in advance of an approaching nor'easter. Residents in the low-lying waterfront sections of Brick Township have been told to leave their homes by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Those areas are prone to flooding and storm surges.
Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn't be a big deal, but large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with many of Sandy's victims still mucking out their homes and cars and shivering in the deepening cold.
Thousands of people in low-lying neighborhoods staggered by the superstorm just over a week ago were warned to clear out, with authorities saying rain, wet snow and 60 mph gusts in the evening could bring more flooding, topple trees wrenched loose by Sandy, and erase some of the hard-won progress made in restoring electricity to millions of customers.
"I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said. "We may take a setback in the next 24 hours."
In New Jersey, public works crews worked to build up dunes along the shore to protect the stripped and battered coast, and new evacuations were ordered in a number of communities already emptied by Sandy. New shelters opened.
In New York, police went to low-lying neighborhoods with loudspeakers, encouraging residents to leave. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't order new evacuations, and many people stayed behind, some because they feared looting, others because they figured whatever happens couldn't be any worse than what they have gone through already.
© (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers clear a snow-covered street after a heavy snow-fall in the outskirts of Beijing on Nov. 4, 2012.
Workers clear a snow-covered street after a heavy snow-fall in the outskirts of Beijing on Nov. 4, 2012.
A blizzard swept through northeastern China on Nov. 4, shutting down transportation in Beijing just before the opening of the 18th Party Congress. The unexpectedly early snow storm was commented on heavily, with Internet users drawing a connection between the inclement weather and the Chinese Communist Party's upcoming political meeting.
Breaks Records
In the early morning on Nov. 4, Beijing's Weather Bureau issued their most severe weather warning, a red alert, for the western and northern parts of the city and a second most severe warning, an orange alert, for the entire city, reported the state-run China Daily.
© USGS
2012-11-07 10:35:51 UTC-06:00 at epicenter
Location
14.000°N 92.200°W depth=33.0km (20.5mi)
Nearby Cities
45km (28mi) SW of Champerico, Guatemala
60km (37mi) S of Suchiate, Mexico
73km (45mi) S of Ciudad Tecun Uman, Guatemala
81km (50mi) SW of Retalhuleu, Guatemala
195km (121mi) WSW of Guatemala City, Guatemala
The planet's last major cold spell 13,000 years ago was caused by a catastrophic deluge of frigid fresh water from north-west Canada into the Arctic ocean, a new study suggests. Detailed computer simulations show meltwater from the enormous Laurentide Ice Sheet halted the sinking of very dense, saltier, colder water in the North Atlantic.
That stopped the large scale ocean circulation - the so-called thermohaline circulation - that transports heat to Europe and North America, causing the continents to dramatically freeze. The findings offer a new explanation for the cause of this last big chill, which scientists had thought was caused by freshwater flowing into the Atlantic through Canada's Gulf of St Lawrence.
It led to a cold spell lasting more than 1,000 years known as the Younger Dryas or 'Big Freeze', during which temperatures in parts of the northern hemisphere fell to about 10 degrees C colder than they are today.
© Alan Condron
Detailed: A new model of flood waters from the melting Laurentide Ice Sheet shows how water first flowed north-west into the Arctic, weakening deep ocean circulation and leading to the Earth's last major cold period
Detailed: A new model of flood waters from the melting Laurentide Ice Sheet shows how water first flowed north-west into the Arctic, weakening deep ocean circulation and leading to the Earth's last major cold period
It led to a cold spell lasting more than 1,000 years known as the Younger Dryas or 'Big Freeze', during which temperatures in parts of the northern hemisphere fell to about 10 degrees C colder than they are today.
© USGS
2012-11-07 09:56:33 UTC+03:30 at epicenter
Location
38.472°N 46.613°E depth=10.0km (6.2mi)
Nearby Cities
39km (24mi) W of Ahar, Iran
51km (32mi) NNE of Tabriz, Iran
73km (45mi) E of Marand, Iran
83km (52mi) SSE of Kapan, Armenia
262km (163mi) SE of Yerevan, Armenia
NO: We will not nuke hurricanes. And a US weather agency has responded to public pressure by explaining why.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has led its Hurricane Research Division's frequently asked questions page with an extraordinary - even for America - statement: "During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms."
Simply?
Put nuclear winter aside for a moment.
And even the political - and radioactive - fallout.
NOAA's carefully worded response gives a more practical analysis.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has led its Hurricane Research Division's frequently asked questions page with an extraordinary - even for America - statement: "During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms."
Simply?
Put nuclear winter aside for a moment.
And even the political - and radioactive - fallout.
NOAA's carefully worded response gives a more practical analysis.
