Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Three children killed by lightning bolt in Bihar, India


India Today
Tue, 30 May 2017 13:27 UTC
lightning
Three minor boys were killed and another sustained burn injuries after lightning struck them today at a village in Jamui district, a police officer said.

The incident took place at Harihar village when the boys were standing under a mango tree to avoid getting drenched in rain, Khaira police station in-charge Srikant Kumar said.

While three boys, identified as Dilkhush Kumar (13), Suraj Kumar (12) and Vipin Kumar (13) died on the spot, another 13 year-old boy Rajiv Kumar sustained burn injuries, he said.

The injured was admitted to a government hospital, the police officer added.

Source: Press Trust of India

Comment: Elsewhere across Asia recently 2 teenagers out on a motorcycle were killed by a lightning strike in Myanmar while a farmer in Bangladesh also succumbed after being hit.

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Eye 2

Snake regurgitating another live snake filmed in Newton, Texas

Ben Hooper
UPI
Tue, 30 May 2017 09:11 UTC
Snake regurgitates live snake in video captured in Texas
Snake regurgitates live snake in video captured in Texas
A Texas couple taking video of a snake with a strange object in its mouth were shocked when the serpent regurgitated a second snake, which was still alive.

Christopher Reynolds said he and his wife were leaving his mother's Newton home Sunday when he spotted a snake near the road and stopped to look at the reptile.

Reynolds said he and his wife initially thought the snake, which had a strange object in its mouth, was dead, but it soon surprised them by starting to move.

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Attention

Pelicans found sick, dying along the coast at Ventura and Santa Barbara, California

Cheri Carlson
Ventura County Star
Sat, 27 May 2017 20:53 UTC
dead birds
A local rescue group has found dozens of sick and dying pelicans along the Ventura and Santa Barbara coasts in recent weeks.

One cause likely is domoic acid poisoning, which has taken a toll on birds and marine mammals throughout California in recent months.

Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin in the algae.

Fish eat the algae but generally not enough to harm them. Sea lions and birds, however, eat so many of the fish that they are getting a level that is toxic to them.

For a while, the hardest hit type of bird seemed to be loons, said Julia Parker, animal care director for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

"Now, it's affecting the pelicans," she said.

Comment: See also: Algae toxin killing marine mammals along Southern California coast

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Newspaper

Thunder? Mystery boom jolts awake residents of Tauranga, New Zealand


stuff.co.nz
Tue, 30 May 2017 20:27 UTC
Lightning in a thunderstorm
© stuff.co.nzMetService says the loud bang was probably thunder, but not all locals are convinced.
A mystery bang is the talk of Tauranga after it woke many locals in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Police and MetService say it was likely just thunder, but residents aren't so sure.

One local believed it could have been a meteor, another thought it was an earthquake, while a third believed a "sonic boom" was the cause.

Helen Lynam wasn't convinced that it was thunder. "It was loud and like a boom/bang sound. I didn't think it was thunder, it didn't have that sort of sound to it."

A member of the Tauranga Weather Facebook group said her pets had been "going weird" in the moments before the noise was heard.
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Road Cone

Updates: Worst ever natural disaster: Death toll from Moscow storm rises to 16 (VIDEOS)


Stuff.co.nz
Tue, 30 May 2017 02:49 UTC
Moscow storm
© REUTERS/ALEXANDER PANCHENKOA car uplifted by the roots of a fallen tree in Moscow.
As many 12 people were killed and scores injured by falling trees and debris from buildings as a violent storm swept through Moscow.

Pictures posted on social media showed uprooted trees, shattered bus shelters and a construction crane that blew over in the storm.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin offered his condolences to the victims and said that several hundred trees were uprooted. "We are taking the necessary measures to deal with the consequences," he said on Twitter.

"The hurricane was unprecedented for Moscow," TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

He said hundreds of trees were toppled, as meteorologists reported winds of up to 80kmh.


Comment: Monday's storm is one of the deadliest on record in the Russian capital. Nine people died and 165 were injured in the city in a similar disaster in 1998, while at least nine people were killed in a storm in 1904.

"Winds gusted as high as 70 mph during the storm, which is rare for Moscow," said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. A top emergency official said that 60,000 people in Russia's Stavropol region are being evacuated due to the threat of flooding.

Update 30 May 2017, 21.30 CET

The latest figures place the death toll at 16, with at least another hundred people injured, and the number of fallen trees at 27,000. And it was all over in just ten minutes...

This was therefore the worst storm to hit Moscow in living memory, and probably the worst since the 19th century.

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Sun

Magnificent ring around the sun seen in Lake Tahoe, California

Amy Graff
SF Gate
Mon, 29 May 2017 14:29 UTC
Solar halo in Tahoe, California
© Amie Quirarte
A 22 degree halo was seen around the sun on Monday, May 29, 2017, in the Tahoe area

SFGate reader Amie Quirarte of Tahoe Vista noticed what's known as a 22 degree halo at around 1 p.m. while sitting in her backyard with her husband, and shared the image above.

"I have not seen this before," Quirarte, who works as a real estate agent in Tahoe, wrote in a message to SFGate. "I looked up in gratitude and noticed a rainbow around the sun. I instantly told my husband to check it out. When he reassured me I wasn't crazy, I took a couple photos and posted them on social media. Within a few minutes, I had comments from friends saying they could see the same phenomenon in the sky.
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Coffee

Residents across Kent, UK mystified by loud bang


Kent Online
Fri, 26 May 2017 11:54 UTC
Loud boon in Kent
© Kent Online
Police say they are as mystified as everyone else as to the cause of a loud bang heard across large parts of Kent last night.

People living in Medway, the Isle of Sheppey, Deal and as far north as Bromley and Beckenham reported hearing the noise.

One Rochester resident took to social media to say the bang was so loud that birds flew out of a tree.

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Cloud Lightning

Woman killed by lightning bolt while cycling in Aachen, Germany


The Local de
Tue, 30 May 2017 18:51 UTC
Two bolts of lightning strike in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia in 2016.
© DPATwo bolts of lightning strike in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia in 2016.
A 73-year-old woman was struck by lightning and killed in the western city of Aachen.

The woman was riding her bike in the outskirts of the city, and was evidently caught off guard by the thunderstorm, according to a police spokesperson.

Her body was then discovered by a passerby under a tree on Monday evening.

The fire department reported that the surge of electricity had caused the bike chain to melt. When emergency responders arrived, they could not do anything but declare her dead.

The incident comes after warm weather triggered thunderstorms in several parts of Germany on Monday night, going into Tuesday.
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Cloud Lightning

More than 120,000 lightning strikes recorded within 12 hours over southeast England and northern France


The Times
Tue, 30 May 2017 18:09 UTC
The superstorm, the size of Wales, battered southeast England
© Geoffrey SwaineThe superstorm, the size of Wales, battered southeast England
More than 120,000 flashes of lightning were recorded in 12 hours over southeast England and northern France early yesterday as a superstorm "the size of Wales" swept across the Channel.

Between 6pm on Sunday and 6am on Monday morning there were up to 500 flashes a minute.

Experts described the conditions as an "intense, dangerous supercellular storm". A supercell storm is the least common — and most perilous — of the four classifications of thunderstorms.

The storm battered Kent from about 1am after a sudden change of course, setting the roof of one house, in Staplehurst, on fire when it was hit by lightning. A second house, in Folkestone, was also struck. Residents described losing TV and phone signals.

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Attention

Volcanism in the Mini Ice Age, which next eruption will drop Earth's temperate?

Adapt 2030
You Tube
Tue, 30 May 2017 13:48 UTC
Katla volcano
Katla volcano, Iceland
All of Iceland's major volcanoes showing unusually high levels of activity which is to be expected as in each mini ice age / grand solar minimum there is one major eruption that cools Earth's climate. We are entering another GSM as we speak so I ask you which of these nine explosive volcanoes will erupt during the 2017-2035 Mini Ice Age?


Sources

Comment: See also this more recent report: Another earthquake registered around Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland

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