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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Rainbow

Circumhorizontal arc appears over Mount St. Helens in Washington

Rainbow cloud Mt. St. Helens
© Luke Hamill/The Oregonian
A circumhorizontal arc over Mount St. Helens on Sunday, June 19, 2016.
On Sunday, which happened to be the day of the Pride Parade in Portland, what seemed like a magical rainbow cloud appeared over Mount St. Helens.

According to the Andy Bryant, hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Portland, it was in fact science, not magic, that painted the sky rainbow colors yesterday.

Also, it wasn't a "rainbow cloud." Instead, it was something called a "circumhorizontal arc."

Circumhorizontal arcs are caused by a combination of crystals in clouds and the angle of the sun.

Bryant says circumhorizontal arcs are actually not that uncommon in the summer in Oregon. "Sometimes you can get multiple arcs in different positions in the sky," he says, "depending on how much of a cloud layer there is and on the type of ice crystals."

"It's kind of cool stuff," he adds.

Arrow Down

Sinkhole swallows pond at Kentucky golf course

Golf course sinkhole
© WKYT
Golfers and employees who were at the Old Bridge Golf Course Saturday were in for a surprise.

"It's about three and a half feet wide and about 20 feet deep," Course Superintendent Cody Pollard said.

Pollard says on Saturday, a sinkhole opened under a pond that surrounds the first hole on the course, swallowing most of the pond water.

"My brother called me and said, 'you should look at this'. The pond has literally sunk and there is no water left in it," Pollard explained.

"I came out here and looked at it and there was a geyser throwing water about 15 feet up," Pollard said.

The sinkhole is not affecting the actual course, so golfers can continue to play.

"Everyone thinks it's the highlight of the golf course and now it's gone within a matter of minutes," Pollard said.

Cloud Lightning

Duck down! Lightning bolt likely kills 6 flying mallards in Regina, Canada

After a flash of lightning, three ducks fell from the sky and landed on this roof in south Regina on Saturday night. Three more dead ducks were found in nearby yards.
© Rick Spaeth/CBC
After a flash of lightning, three ducks fell from the sky and landed on this roof in south Regina on Saturday night. Three more dead ducks were found in nearby yards.
No visible sign of injury to 6 mallards in Regina neighbourhood

A huge crack of lightning was followed by multiple "thumps" on a Regina roof Saturday night — and when the sun came up, there were dead ducks all around.

It happened around 9:30 p.m. CST on the 3400 block of Portnall Ave. in the south end of the city.

A storm was underway and for several minutes there was intense thunder and lightning.

After one particularly brilliant flash of lightning, the ducks dropped from the sky, neighbours said.

Three landed on a roof and three more ended up in yards in the area.


Neighbours said there was no obvious sign of injury to the mallards, so it's still not clear what killed them.

Tornado2

Fully-formed waterspout filmed in Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau Bahamas waterspout
© Via YouTube/USA Today
Check out this fully-formed waterspout during a severe thunderstorm that produced strong winds and lightning strikes in the Bahamas.


Comment: 3 waterspouts filmed over the Bahamas


Cloud Lightning

120 sheep killed by lightning bolt in Kyrgyzstan

120 sheep killed by a lightning strike

120 sheep killed by a lightning strike
120 sheep have been killed by a sudden lightning strike on June 16, 2016.

The animals were killed at once, while the shepherd and his helpers managed to survive.

The terrifying event occurred between 9 and 10 pm on a pasture in the village of Suuk Tobo in the Aksy district, Kyrgyzstan.

The shepherd named Umar with two helpers were taking care of a herd of about 600 sheep and goats.

As the pasture in Suuk Tobo is difficult to reach at night and under rain, the shepherds decided to wait the morning to reach it.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 7 and injure over 15 within 24 hours in Madhya Pradesh, India

Lightning
With the arrival of monsoons, lightning struck various parts of Madhya Pradesh in last 24 hours, killing seven people and injuring over 15.

Two people died in Harda district in two separate incidents after lightning struck them on Monday. Fifty-five -year-old Arvind Vishnoi, a former journalist, died at Neem village when lightning struck him, while 19-year old Kamlesh Pawar died in Chidgoan, where two other people were also injured.

In Bhind district's Jamuha village, 40- year-old Prema Devi died in an agriculture field when lightning struck her on Monday. In Gwalior's Bara Gaon , lightning claimed the life of 16-year-old Mukesh Nath while he was working in a field.

In Rajgarh district, 58-year-old Champa Bai died while lightning struck her when she was going from Untpura to Rajpura.

Cloud Precipitation

Deadly floods and landslides after 7 inches of rain in 2 hours hit southern Japan

People walk on the streets of Nagasaki Monday night as torrential rain flooded wide parts of the prefecture and elsewhere in Kyushu.
© Kyodo
People walk on the streets of Nagasaki Monday night as torrential rain flooded wide parts of the prefecture and elsewhere in Kyushu.
Landslide

Landslide
Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have left at least 2 people dead and several missing in Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan.

One man died in a landslides in Kamiamakusa on Monday 20 June. The second victim drowned in flood water in Kosa. Some local news reports say that the number of fatalities has since increased to at least five. As of early 21 June, two people were missing after a landslides buried their home in Kumamoto. A third missing person is thought to have been buried in a landslides in Uto.

Evacuation orders have been issued by disaster management authorities for several areas in Kumamoto.

The area was recently battered by major earthquakes that struck in April this year, killing at least 49 people and injuring about 3,000.




Bizarro Earth

Earthquake hotspot: 'Large scale motion' detected along San Andreas fault

Los Angeles
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Large scale motion has been detected along the San Andreas Fault line, thanks to new analysis of existing data that could help predict 'The Big One' in the future.

Previously uninterpreted data showing vertical movement of the fault's crust detected several millimeters of uplift and subsidence in surface areas as large as 125 miles.

While these hotspots were predicted in models before, this is the first time scientists were able to block out white noise and other diluting factors such as precipitation and local surface geology.

Fire

Record-breaking heat wave takes four lives as it scorches Southwest U.S.

wildfire yarnell AZ evacuations
© Gene Blevins / Reuters
At least four people have died in a record-setting heat wave that has engulfed the southwestern United States. The deaths occurred in Arizona, where the temperature hit 120 degrees in some places. More than 30 million people are currently under heat warnings or advisories.

The Red Cross defines a heat wave as "a prolonged period of excessive heat, generally 10 degrees or more above average, often combined with excessive humidity." In Phoenix the thermometer climbed to 118 degrees, nearly hitting the city's all-time record of 122 degrees—so hot a Mesa Airlines flight to the city on Sunday was routed back to Texas.

"There'll be a bunch of records broken again today," said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. "It's not even cooling down at night—that's another part of the problem." The record temperatures are making it the hottest-ever start to summer in Arizona, New Mexico and California, said CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.


Comment: Further reading: Deadly 'heat dome' scorching the Southwestern United States


Cloud Lightning

Electric universe: Lightning strength and frequency increasing

Greece lightning 2015
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)

Strange electrical phenomena across the globe over the last month can be attributed to decreased solar winds that are now allowing the magnetosphere to expand along with Earth's atmosphere. The wider gap is allowing more plasma arching and cosmic rays in, which also increases low cloud formation. A new feedback loop has begun.


Comment: For more on the rise in extreme weather phenomena, check out Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection.