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North Korea says it is suffering the worst drought in 100 years

Kim Tong-Hyung, David Mchugh
wtnh.com
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 18:41 UTC
Image
North Korea says it has been hit by its worst drought in a century, resulting in extensive damage to agriculture during its main planting season.

The official Korean Central News Agency said the drought has caused about 30 percent of its rice paddies to dry up. Young rice plants normally need to be partially submerged in water during the early summer.

"Recently in our country, there has been a severe drought with sudden extremely high temperatures and nearly no rain," Ri Yong Nam, a senior North Korean weather official, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Now the drought is causing a water shortage and great damage to agriculture, and we foresee this drought will continue for a while."

He said temperatures in May were 5-7 degrees Celsius (9-12 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than normal.

Both North and South Korea have had unusually dry weather this year.
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Bizarro Earth

Overfishing, warm ocean force nesting seabirds to abandon Gulf of California


Phys.org
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 00:00 UTC
tern nesting colony

A partial view of healthy Elegant Tern nesting colony in Isla Rasa, in the Midriff Island Region of the Gulf of California in 2011. Credit: E. Velarde.
Isla Rasa, in the Gulf of California, is renowned for its massive aggregations of nesting seabirds. Over 95 percent of the world populations of Elegant Terns and Heerman's Gulls concentrate unfailingly every year on this tiny island to nest. Ever since the phenomenon was described by L. W. Walker in 1953 the island has been a magnet for tourists, naturalists, filmmakers, and seabird researchers.

During some years in the last two decades, however, the seabirds have arrived to the island in April, as they usually do, but leave soon after without nesting. The first event was the 1998 "El Niño", when oceanic productivity collapsed all along the eastern Pacific coast from Chile to California. But then colony desertion happened again in 2003, and since then it has recurred with increasing frequency in 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015. Researchers and conservationists were asking themselves where are the birds going when they leave their ancestral nesting ground, and what is causing the abandonment of their historic nesting site.

Comment: What the researchers don't mention is that the oceans may be warming due to undersea volcanoes:

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Umbrella

"Dust Devil" turned "Water Spout" filmed over Kansas lake

Gordon Bassham
ksn.com
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:40 UTC
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Pretty much everyone knows Kansas weather can turn on a dime.

One example of how things can change quickly was sent to us by Laura Lemmons. While Laura had her camera out, she shot a photo of a dust devil that headed for water.

Laura kept shooting even though the dirt devil kept moving.

No one was hurt, and this amazing video shows once again that the only constant about Kansas weather is change.

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Cloud Precipitation

Flash flooding kills 9, leaves 6 others missing in northern Vietnam


tuoitrenews.vn
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:26 UTC
Image
© VNA/VNS Photo Dieu Chinh To
The flash floods inundated many houses, including the Hoang Van Phuoc's, in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau.
Flash floods that occurred in the wake of Typhoon Kujira, which hit northeastern Vietnam on Wednesday, had killed nine people and injured six others as of Thursday, local authorities said.

Eight of the nine deaths occurred in Son La Province, the provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention & Control and Search & Salvage said yesterday.

The victims were swept away in floodwaters created by downpours that came after the typhoon hit the area between Quang Ninh Province and Hai Phong City on Wednesday afternoon and then weakened into a tropical depression.

Three people are also missing in Thuan Chau and Moc Chau Districts in Son La, and six others were injured in other locales, the committee said.

Rescuers are searching for the three missing people.

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Bizarro Earth

Citizens of Sao Paulo, Brazil struggling with one of nastiest water crises in decades

Leila Carvalh
The Conversation
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 10:07 UTC
reservoir sao paulo
© Nacho Doce / Reuters
Really low: reservoir levels for dams and reservoirs that provide water in Sao Paulo state are at historic lows.
Exceptional drought, extreme temperatures, unprecedented drops in reservoir levels and threatening water shortages for millions of people have dominated headlines in California in recent years. Unfortunately, Californians are not the only people being stressed with the "water crisis."

Citizens of one of the most densely populated areas in South America - the Sao Paulo metropolitan area (SPMA) in southeastern Brazil - are struggling with one of the nastiest water crises in decades.

With over 20 million people and the main financial and economic center of Brazil, this region is under the influence of the South American monsoon system and receives the largest fraction of its precipitation during the Austral summer, from October to March. Yet in the last four years, rain gauge stations near the most important reservoirs supplying water to the city have been reporting growing deficits in precipitation. Last year saw the worst since at least 1961, which has been followed by another dry year.

To aggravate these conditions, daily records of high temperatures during these summers have increased evapotranspiration, accelerating drought conditions, similar to what has been observed in California.
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Fish

Hammerhead shark washes up on beach in Ocean City, Maryland

Kara O'Neill
Daily Mirror, UK
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:36 UTC
Image

Hammerhead shark beaches itself.
A hammerhead shark caused panic earlier this week after it washed up on a beach full of tourists.

The eight-foot long animal was spotted by terrified swimmers, who were attempting to enjoy a sunny afternoon out on Ocean City's Atlantic Coast in Maryland.

In the clip, the shark is seen thrashing around in the shallow waters, as lifeguards frantically blow their whistles in an attempt to clear curious tourists away from the area.

The shark was surrounded by boats of people snapping pictures and recording videos when Maryland Natural Police arrived, according to local news site Delmarva Now.

Candy Thomson, a spokesperson for Maryland Natural Resources Police, told local media: "All the jetskis, and all the boats were causing it distress and disorienting it."

"People weren't maliciously trying to harm the shark. The shark is a beautiful animal, so seldom do people see a shark that close, but you've got to give those animals space."

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Arrow Down

Water level in reservoir formed by Hoover Dam drops to record low

David Schwartz
news.yahoo.com
Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:14 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Jim Urquhart
Low water levels of Lake Mead is seen near the Hoover Dam on the Nevada and Arizona border in this April 11, 2015, file photo.
The largest capacity reservoir in the United States has hit its lowest water level in history following years of severe drought that have dramatically reduced flows from the Colorado River, water managers said on Wednesday.

Officials said Nevada's Lake Mead, the 79-year-old reservoir created by the massive Hoover Dam, registered 1,074.98 feet (327.7 meters) above sea level late on Tuesday, but was able to rise above a critical mark by early on Wednesday morning.

A water level of below 1,075 feet projected for January would translate to water cutbacks in 2016 for two U.S. western states, Arizona and Nevada. An announcement would be made this August.

But a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman said cutbacks are not expected to be implemented and that projections are for the water level to be 6 feet (1.8 meters) above the trigger point.

"We don't expect that to happen right now," spokeswoman Rose Davis said, referring to possible cutbacks. "Right now the probability of a shortage for 2016 is negligible."
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Arrow Down

Huge sinkhole opens up in Williamson County, Illinois

Craig Choate
wsiltv.com
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 13:01 UTC
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Sinkhole in Williamson County
A Spillertown couple woke up to a terrifying sight just outside their house when a sinkhole opened up just feet from their door.

The hole seems to have stopped growing but officials say it's 40 feet in diameter and they're unsure how deep it goes.

James Swann says Saturday you couldn't see the water through all the trees lining this pond. By Tuesday, those trees had vanished into a 40-foot wide sink hole.

"There was several trees but they'd just disappear. It was interesting," Swann described the scene. "Just straight down and gone."

Bob Gibson with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources doesn't know much about the sinkhole, except, it sits over an old coal mine.

"Other than it's a pit subsidence, that's really all I know," Gibson said. "It's roughly 40 feet in diameter and we're gonna gauge how deep below ground water it is right now. If you look at it, it's something like 20 feet from the ground surface to water level and then below water level I don't know yet, we're gonna probe that a little bit later."

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Cloud Precipitation

Russia's Olympic city of Sochi hit by flooding


RT
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 20:49 UTC
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Floods in Sochi
Local authorities in Sochi, Russia, are struggling to cope with a flash flood that came after two days of torrential rain in the host city of last year's Winter Olympic Games.

The rain has intensified in the last few hours, with some local rivers rising as high as 1.2 meters above the norm, Interfax reported.

Videos from the region showed streets full of cars submerged by torrents of water.



Sochi International Airport reported that dispatching and accepting flights have been problematic due to the weather conditions and the flood.

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Floodwater in Sochi
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Wolf

Infant attacked by family dog in San Francisco


kron4.com
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 18:04 UTC
Image
An 8-month-old baby is being treated for injuries after a dog attack this morning in San Francisco's North of the Panhandle neighborhood.

The attack happened around 8 a.m. in the 800 block of Masonic Avenue, according to a fire spokeswoman. The dog belonged to the family, according to police spokesperson Albie Esparza.

The baby was bitten on the head of face, but the injures aren't considered life-threatening.

The dog, a mastiff mix, is being quarantined for 10 days, as is standard procedure after a dog bite, Esparza said.

He said the department's vicious and dangerous dog unit was notified of the incident, as were Child Protective Services and San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

It is unclear what provoked the attack.
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