Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Dump of summer snow on Mount Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand

Mt Taranaki received a summer dump of snow overnight on Saturday.
© GLENN JEFFREY/STUFFMt Taranaki received a summer dump of snow overnight on Saturday.
Whoever asked Santa for a white Christmas got their wish, with Mt Taranaki receiving a good dump of snow overnight on Saturday.

The maunga was donned in a fresh coat of white, down to about 1400m, as the sun rose on Sunday after temperatures dropped to an unseasonably chilly level.

Rob Needs, of Taranaki Mountain Shuttles, said he dropped a group off at North Egmont about 7.45am.

"I didn't even get out of the car because I thought it was going to be cold," Needs said.

The snow had reached as low as Tahurangi Lodge at 1500 metres and was the result of the southerly weather system moving up the country, he said.

Comment: Summer snow in parts of South Island, New Zealand


Attention

Woman killed by bear, 4 injured in Chhattisgarh, India - 2 weeks after killed 4 in the area

sloth bear
A 70-year-old woman was killed and four people injured in a wild bear attack in Chhattisgarh''s Korba district, a forest department official said.

Laxmaniya Bai and another woman were collecting sticks to make brooms near Nawagaon Kala under Katghora forest division on Sunday when the bear attacked, he said.

"Laxmaniya was dragged into the forest and her body was found on Monday morning. The other woman suffered injuries but managed to escape. Later the deceased''s grandson and two others who went looking for her were also injured by the bear," he said.

Comment: 2 weeks earlier in the same area: 4 killed, 3 injured in bear attack in Chhattisgarh, India


Ice Cube

Surprise! Surprise! Any Greenland melting is....volcanic

A map view of P wave velocity tomography at
© Tohoku UniversityA map view of P wave velocity tomography at 5 km depth beneath Greenland and surrounding regions (left). Blue and red colors denote high and low velocity perturbations, respectively, whose scale (in %) is shown beside the map. The white dotted lines are the thermal tracks of Iceland and Jan Mayen plumes that are affected by the Greenland plume. The area surrounded by the black dotted lines is where the flow, caused by melting at the bottom of the ice sheets, exists (Northeast Greenland Ice Stream); its water source is located at the intersection of the two heat tracks. A vertical cross-section of whole-mantle tomography passing through central Greenland and Jan Mayen (right). We can see that the Greenland plume is the heat source for the Jan Mayen volcano.
No, it is not a surprise. This is what I've been saying for years. The Greenland ice is melting from below.

"Newly Discovered Greenland Hot Rock Mantle Plume Drives Thermal Activities in the Arctic," reads the title.

"A team of researchers discovered a flow of hot rocks, known as a mantle plume, rising from the core-mantle boundary beneath central Greenland that melts the ice from below (emphasis added).

"The results of their two-part study were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Comment: Also relevant: Earth's hot core, not global warming, responsible for Greenland's melting ice sheet


Windsock

Storm Bella: Gusts of more than 100mph recorded in UK

Storm Bella
© Matthew HorwoodWaves bashing the shore in Portcawl
Gusts of more than 100mph have been recorded as Storm Bella continues to bring heavy rain and high winds to large parts of the UK.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for wind - meaning disruption is likely - for much of the south coast of England and parts of Wales.

A gust of 106mph (170kmh) was recorded at The Needles, on the Isle of Wight.

Yellow warnings for rain are in place across much of the UK, as well as two "threat to life" flood alerts.

South Western Railway said heavy rain had "flooded the railway" between Bournemouth and Southampton, meaning cancellations and delays are possible until 10:00 GMT.

South Western, Southeastern Railway and the London Overground all reported fallen trees and other debris blocking lines and causing disruption in various locations. National Rail advised anyone travelling by train to check their journey before setting off.


Snowflake

Hamburg in Western New York hit with 18 inches of snow in roughly 24 hours, several places over 10 inches

snow
Since 7 o'clock Christmas morning, Western New York has been getting smacked with snow.

In roughly a 24-hour period Hamburg saw the highest snowfall amount of 18 inches, according to the National Weather Service.


Cloud Precipitation

Nearly 500,000 wake up with no power after Christmas Eve storm batters US east coast

Nearly 500,000 wake up with no power after Christmas Eve storm batters East Coast
Nearly 500,000 wake up with no power after Christmas Eve storm batters East Coast
Thousands of people woke up without power on Christmas Day after winter storm Harold dumped snow and torrential rain across the US.

Around 420,000 households were impacted as the bad weather barreled its way across the east coast.

A quarter of those homes alone were in New York, with New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania also battered by strong winds and heavy rain.

Much of the north-east was under a wind advisory on Friday with Boston expected to experience hurricane-strength gusts of up to 75mph.


Snowflake Cold

At least 7 die in mountains near Tehran, Iran during heavy snowfall, blizzard

rescue
The number of climbers who died in incidents in mountains north of the Iranian capital on Friday has reached seven, while twelve others remain missing, the managing director of the Tehran Red Crescent Society said.

Shahin Fat'hi told Tasnim on Saturday that 13 climbers had been reported missing after an incident occurred on the summit of Kolakchal.

Of those, three have returned home while seven are confirmed dead and the other three have not been found yet, he said.


Fat'hi added that there has been no trace of twelve more hikers who went missing in Darabad and Ahar mountain areas as well as another area north of Tehran.

The search and rescue operation will continue on Sunday morning using helicopters, the official went on to say.


Cloud Precipitation

Massive hailstorm hits Port Motueka, New Zealand

hail
Crazy weather! Massive hail storm hits New Zealand, Port Motueka.


Black Cat

Tiger attacks on people skyrocket in the Sundarbans, India - 70 in 3 months with 40 deaths

tiger
Kalpana Raptan describes how often she just sits in despair. A few months ago her partner, Babu Raptan, was killed by a tiger who attacked him out of nowhere.

He had gone fishing in a boat with several other men. "He died saving another man, he never thought about his own life or of his family," she says, sobbing.


"What will I do now? He was the sole earner in the family."

Kalpana Raptan is now a bagh bidhoba or tiger widow. Many women are tiger widows here, especially in the islands. They report that men frequently molest them, and that traffickers find it easier to prey on young widows.

Babu Raptan had moved to Bombay some years ago to work as a construction worker. In March when the Union government suddenly imposed a lockdown citing the pandemic, millions of people like him were forced back to their hometowns.

Comment: Back in October the death tally up to that point was half the total noted above: Tiger kills fisherman in the Sundarbans, India - 19th such death in the area this year.


Snowflake

30 cm of snow with strong winds closes roads in Croatia

SNOW
© HAK
Snow and sleet has been falling this morning in Gorski Kotar and Lika, as well as in Banovina, Moslavina, and western Slavonia in Croatia.

According to the latest information, snow cover is the highest in Gorski Kotar where 30 centimetres fell in the village of Begovo Razdolje in Mrkopalj.