Earth ChangesS


Windsock

206-mph winds hit Kirkwood Mountain Resort on January 7, approaching California record

Martin Kuprianowicz
SnowBrains
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 20:50 UTC
Wind readings from Kirkwood show the extreme speeds gusts reached on the night of January 7.
© Kirkwood Mountain ResortWind readings from Kirkwood show the extreme speeds gusts reached on the night of January 7.
Kirkwood Mountain Resort, near Lake Tahoe, experienced an extraordinary weather event on Tuesday night when winds at the summit reached a staggering 206 miles per hour. The gusts were measured at the resort's summit weather station, situated at an elevation of approximately 9,186 feet.

This extreme wind speed is among the highest ever recorded in California. In February 2020, a similar event saw winds peak at 209 mph at the same resort, which would be a California record, but the National Weather Service questioned the validity of the reading, according to a social media post shared by Kirkwood. Either way, last night's measurement stands as one of the most significant wind events in the state's history.
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Ice Cube

Watch: Avalanche of snow, ice crashes off roof in Louisville, Kentucky


The Weather Channel
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:15 UTC
mmmmm
People across Louisville, Kentucky are still digging out from the snow dumped by Winter Storm Blair. Watch the moment all the snow and ice became just too heavy on the roof of an office building.

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Seismograph

Best of the Web: At least 126 people killed in China as 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits near Tibet holy city of Shigatse (UPDATE)


Sky News
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:13 UTC
Rescue teams tend to casualties in the aftermath of an earthquake near Shigatse city in Tibet Photograph: Tibet Fire and Rescue
© Tibet Fire and RescueRescue teams tend to casualties in the aftermath of an earthquake near Shigatse city in Tibet
At least 95 people have died and many are feared trapped after a strong earthquake in China, according to state media.

It struck in the autonomous Tibet region, in the west of the country, shortly after 9.05am (1.05am GMT), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said it was 7.1 magnitude.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) put the epicentre in Tingri county, about 240 miles from Tibet's capital Lhasa and about 14 miles from its second-largest city of Shigatse - also known as Xigaze.

At least 130 people have also reportedly been injured.


Comment: Update January 10

Reuters reports:
At least 126 people were killed in Tibet by this week's earthquake of magnitude 6.8, the fifth-deadliest since 2008, data from China's National Earthquake Data Center shows.

Quakes are common in China's areas of Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan, especially on the edges of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau above the plate boundaries where the earth's crust is more prone to movement.

A quake of magnitude 8.0 that killed 69,227 people in May 2008 was one of China's deadliest natural disasters in decades.


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Arrow Down

Videos show large sinkhole opening up on a Philadelphia street on December 23rd, 2024

Dan Stamm
nbcphiladelphia.com
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:16 UTC
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A large sinkhole got covered in snow Monday as it continued to block a Philadelphia street a week after the street collapsed shortly after a SEPTA bus passed.

The Philadelphia Water Department had earlier repaired a water main break along North 6th Street between Hunting Park and Erie avenues in the Hunting Park neighborhood, PWD spokesman Brian Rademaekers said on Jan. 6, 2025.

PWD crews need to inspect the sewer before next steps can be taken to work with other utilities to restore the roadway, Rademaekers said.

Surveillance video obtained by NBC10 shows the sinkhole opening on Dec. 29, 2024 around 1 p.m.

Less than 10 minutes before the road collapsed, another camera captured a SEPTA bus traveling down the stretch of road and take a hard bounce where the sinkhole would later open.

Videos show people inspecting the roadway and backing away moments before it collapses.

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Fire

In maps: Thousands of acres on fire in Los Angeles

Visual Journalism Team
BBC News
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 12:36 UTC
Firefighter

Wildfires are raging in several areas of Los Angeles, with high winds and extremely dry conditions fuelling their progress across thousands of acres of land.

Firefighters are so far unable to contain them, with one fire official telling the BBC on Thursday that they are still rapidly expanding.

The largest fire, in the Pacific Palisades area where many celebrities live, is the most destructive fire in the history of Los Angeles. More than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed.

It's a rapidly changing situation - these maps and pictures chart how the fires have spread, where they are located and what they look like from space.
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Lightning

7 sheep killed by lightning strike in New Zealand

Susan Sandys
Star News
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 12:41 UTC
James McCormick sent a photo of the dead sheep under the cracked tree to the NZ Farming Facebook page.
James McCormick sent a photo of the dead sheep under the cracked tree to the NZ Farming Facebook page.
Seven sheep lying dead under a tree that had cracked down the middle.

That was the grim scene facing a Mayfield farmer as he rounded up stock for weighing. A bolt of lightning is the suspected cause.

James McCormick at Manaton Farms said he thought: "What the hell?" when he saw the dead lambs on December 23.

When he saw the crack in the old man pine tree, which was on both sides, he realised what it must have been.

The sheep must have been sheltering under the tree from a thunderstorm two days prior.
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Attention

Man killed in bear attack in Tamil Nadu, India


dtnext.in
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 20:45 UTC
Sloth bear
Sloth bear
An elderly man was allegedly killed in a bear attack at Chidambaram Vilakku near Andipatti in Theni district. The deceased has been identified as G Senrayaperumal of Annanagar, Duraisamypuram village, Andipatti taluk.

On Saturday night when the ex-serviceman was travelling on his bike to his farm he was allegedly attacked. A bear jumped on Senrayaperumal at Attuparai. In the impact, he suffered head injuries and was found lying with a bleeding face.

On Sunday morning, his wife Saraswathi rang him, but there was no response. But much to her shock, Saraswathi found the mauled body on the farm.

Based on a complaint lodged by Saraswathi, Myladumparai police filed a case under Sections 194 BNSS (Animal attack) and 174 of Cr.P.C., sources said.
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Attention

Woman mauled, killed by neighbor's pigs in 'horrible situation' on Christmas Day in Pataskala, Ohio

Maria Devito
Columbus Dispatch
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:30 UTC
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© Nathan Stirk/Getty Images
A Pataskala woman was mauled, killed and partially eaten by her neighbor's pigs on Christmas Day, according to the city's police chief.

Rebecca Westergaard, 75, of Pataskala, died after being attacked by two pigs that were roaming near her Mink Street home, Pataskala Police Chief Bruce Brooks told The Dispatch on Monday.

Westergaard's niece called Pataskala police at 2:47 p.m. for a welfare check after no one could reach Westergaard. She was supposed to leave her home in the 4000 block of Mink Street, where she lived alone, at 10:30 a.m. to go to her niece's home in Norton, Ohio, just outside of Akron, according to the police's incident report.

Westergaard was found on her property near the house, Brooks said.
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Doberman

Record dog attack death count of 71 in 2024 in USA

Merritt Clifton
Animals24-7.org
Sun, 05 Jan 2025 15:10 UTC
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2024 dog attack toll started slowly, closed fast

The year 2024 closed with ten fatal dog attacks in 26 days, ending with a record 71 reported fatalities in the U.S., 51 by pit bull, plus another in Canada, for a new combined U.S.-and-Canada death toll on 72.

But that is not how 2024 started out.

Twenty-nine days into the year, January 2024 appeared likely to become the first month since November 2020 without a pit bull-inflicted human fatality occurring somewhere around the U.S.

Then, within the last 48 hours of the month, as well as killing Harold Phillips, pit bulls killed 19-year-old Carlon Galloway, of Fort Hall, Idaho; Willie Mundine, 85, of Indianapolis, Indiana, killed in the act of protecting his wife; and Sommer Kanoeonalani Crivello, of Ocean View, Hawaii.

Comment: The year prior held the previous record of fatal encounters, showing the increasing trend in recent years: Record 68 dog attack deaths in 2023 in the U.S. and Canada included also record 55 by pit bull

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Tsunami

Saudi Arabia's holiest city of Mecca flooded after being hit by extreme rain

Gergana Krasteva
Metro (UK)
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:56 UTC
Commuters make their way through a flooded road after heavy rains in Mecca on January 6, 2025 (Picture: AFP)
© AFPCommuters make their way through a flooded road after heavy rains in Mecca on January 6, 2025
Saudi Arabia's Mecca, the holiest city according to Islam, has been hit by extreme weather.

Footage circulating on social media shows entire neighbourhoods partially submerged amid the heavy rainfall.

Men were seen forming human chains to rescue children who had become trapped in the flooding in the Al-Awali neighbourhood, southeast of Mecca.

In another video, a man was seen rushing to the aid of a delivery driver who was toppled off his bike by floodwaters and was struggling to get up.

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