Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Indiana: What's So Special About This Quake?

Although earthquakes are fairly common in the southwestern part of Indiana and occasionally happen along the edge of Lake Michigan, earth scientists say there has never been an earthquake confirmed in north central Indiana.

"Unprecedented," said Walter Gray, an official with the Indiana Geological Survey, a research group at Indiana University. "There is no historical evidence of quakes in that area. We have no events that have been recorded."

Seismologist Michael Hamburger, an IU professor of geological sciences, called north central Indiana "a really quiet corner of the seismic world."

"This is an interesting little peculiar earthquake that happened in a strange place," Hamburger said of Thursday's quake. "It is a reminder that earthquakes can happen almost anywhere in the central U.S."

The southern half of Indiana, which includes the Wabash Valley Fault System, is more prone to quakes. There was a 3.8 magnitude quake as close as Shelbyville in 2004. The last major quake centered in Indiana was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake near Evansville in June 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Igloo

Experts: Food and Fuel Shortages Imminent as New Ice Age Dawns

ice age earth illus
© unknown
With an Ice Age comes abrupt change, and with change comes death - sometimes death on a massive scale.

More of the world's top scientists in the disciplines of geology, ecology, meteorology, astrophysics, and heliology [pdf list] are predicting that the two major cooling cycles are converging - the short term and long term Ice Ages - and Earth has just entered the beginnings of the dangerous cooling.

Both cooling periods are due and both seem to have started just as the sun's about to reach its solar maximum. When the sun goes quiet after 2012, it's expected to stay quiet for at least the next 30 to 50 years. During that time, the sun will generate significantly less heat and the planets - including Earth - will cool rapidly.

Mass migrations and famines

Now other scientists - including John L. Casey, the Director of the Space and Science Research Center - are warning that people in the coming decades are facing food and fuel shortages.

Some northern countries will be abandoned as the ice marches down from the Arctic; energy production will be interrupted; and shortened growing periods in the Northern Hemisphere will precipitate mass migrations, famines, food riots, regional conflicts and a loss of human life that could be measured on an apocalyptic scale.

Cloud Lightning

Tornadoes leave trail of wreckage in US, kill 6


Image
A series of tornadoes in the south and mid-western US have killed six people and injured several others.

Three residents of Cincinnati in Arkansas were killed by a twister early on Friday morning.

Tornadoes were later spotted near St Louis, Missouri and were blamed for the death of three people in the southern part of the state, authorities said.

One resident of Robertson, Missouri said his neighbour's house was destroyed.

Igloo

Light shines in High Arctic darkness

Arctic Inuit hunter
© Kevin Frayer/Canadian PressAn Inuit hunter looks out on the Arctic horizon at sunrise in Frobisher Bay near Tonglait, Nunavut, in February 2003. Inuit and other High Arctic residents say their winters are getting lighter as the climate warms.
People in the High Arctic say their 24-hour darkness isn't as dark as it used to be, and a weather researcher says it's because of the warming climate.

"We still have a daylight and there's still blue, green, red down there - there's sun sign still," said Zipporah Ootooq Aronsen, who lives in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. "It's not usually like that."

Life Preserver

Heaviest December snow in New York City in 60 years - 5th largest ever - hundreds of other snow records set across US

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© Bloomberg
According to the Bloomberg article:
More than a foot of snow fell across the northeast yesterday, with some areas in New Jersey getting more than 30 inches (76 centimeters), according to AccuWeather. Central Park had 20 inches of snow by 8 a.m. yesterday, the most for the month since 1948, the National Weather Service said.
and
The snowfall was the fifth-largest on record for the city, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said on Dec. 26.

Life Preserver

December 2010 was coldest month in Ireland since 1881

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© AltLough Corrib in the west of Ireland frozen over, Christmas 2010
BBC news has reported that 40,000 homes are still without water in Northern Ireland after the recent spell of freezing temperatures. Many have been without water for more than 10 days, and reservoirs are being drained due to an unprecedented number of leaks since the thaw. Calls to a few friends confirmed that, yes, it is bad - friends in Lisburn have been without water since Christmas Eve due to a frozen mains supply (i.e. not in their house); others in Belfast report low water pressure. Water is being rationed in places.

Was it really that cold? A search of the BBC site revealed "'Baltic' Northern Ireland" tucked away on the BBC NI news page. Castlederg in the West of the province recorded a low of -18°C on 20th December - a new record. The thing about Ireland is that it sits on the very western fringes of Europe, bathed by the warm Gulf Stream (which is why Doug Keenan considered the 7000 years of Irish tree ring data so important that he pursued Queen's University through FOI requests). Ireland, despite its latitude, just doesn't do 'very cold' (or 'very hot' for that matter).

When I first got interested in climate I ended up corresponding with Tonyb about the temperature records of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. These stretch back to 1796. Incidentally there are a couple of WUWT posts featuring Armagh in the last year (here, here and here). How does this current cold month compare with the historical record at Armagh? Was the recent cold unprecedented?

Ice Cube

Freezing Rain: Russian Ministry Says 21,205 People Remain Without Electricity

Residents in the Moscow region continued to face power outages after disruptions caused by freezing rain on Dec. 26, leaving 21,205 people in 140 towns without electricity as of 6 p.m. yesterday, the Russian Emergency Ministry said on its website.

OAO MRSK Holding, which manages Russia's interregional power distributors, aims to restore power by 6 p.m. tomorrow, Chief Executive Officer Nikolai Shvets told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a government meeting yesterday.

Cloud Lightning

Winds Cause Damage, Snow Falls in El Paso, Texas

El Paso Texas snow
© ABC-7
Days of above normal temperature gave way to winds gusting above 60 miles and and snow flurries on Thursday.

Heavy snow fell in the upper valley and west El Paso Thursday afternoon as a cold front moved through the borderland area. Trans Mountain is closed until further notice, according to TxDOT officials.

Before the snow came, winds blew through the area, wreaking havoc.

Bizarro Earth

Rare hurricane-strength winds batter L.A. area; more snow and ice on way

A rare blast of hurricane-strength winds was topped by a 94 mph gust measured by the National Weather Service at 3:57 a.m. Thursday at Whitaker Peak.

Forecasters said the winds in valley and mountain areas will continue at least until noon Thursday. A wind warning for the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys is in place until then.

The weather service said in a statement that a northerly flow is producing the wind and icy conditions and "will continue to bring dangerous winter weather conditions" on Thursday, producing 1 to 2 inches of snow in some mountain passes and generating "upslope snow showers across the northern mountain slopes."

Igloo

Blizzard Causes 100 Car Pileup in North Dakota I-94 Blocked

Interstate 94, Highway 10 to close at 7 p.m.

Detroit Lakes, Minnesota - (6:30 p.m.) The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota State Patrol will close Interstate 94 from Moorhead to Alexandria and Highway 10 from Moorhead to Detroit Lakes at 7 p.m. due to hazardous road conditions. The highways will remain closed until further notice.


Snow plows will be pulled from all area state highways and interstates in Mahnomen, Clay, Becker, Wilkin, Otter Tail, Traverse, Grant, Douglas, Big Stone, Stevens, Pope and Swift counties. Motorists are advised not to travel until conditions improve and Mn/DOT and the Minnesota State Patrol open the roads.

Motorists should plan accordingly. When a road is closed it is illegal to travel in that area. Motorists can be fined up to $1,000 and/or sentenced to 90 days in jail. In addition, if travelers need to be rescued from a closed road, other expenses and penalties will apply.