Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 3 children from one family in Malawi

Synd Kalimbuka
Malawi 24
Sat, 26 Dec 2020 13:03 UTC
lightning
Three children from one family have died after being struck by lightning at their house in the area of Sub-Traditional Authority Nkapita in Zomba district.

According to Member of Parliament for Zomba Lisanjala Dr William Susuwele Banda, the incident happened yesterday around 3 O'clock in the afternoon.

Banda who was at Chisenjere Parish where he organised Christmas Choir competition luncheon as one way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, was requested to assist in transportation of the children struck by the lightning to Mmambo health centre for medical assistance.
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Snowflake

World Snow Wrap, December 25 - Epic powder days in the US, Canada and Japan


Mountain Watch
Thu, 24 Dec 2020 12:32 UTC
Dylan Siggers having a fun time in Fernie, BC on Dec 20
© Steve ReedDylan Siggers having a fun time in Fernie, BC on Dec 20.
Merry Christmas and if you are lucky enough to be somewhere snowy in the Northern Hemisphere, we hope you're getting in a few Chrissy day turns. Not long to go before we say goodbye (or good riddance) to 2020 and it looks like there will be plenty of powder to wrap up the year with snow on the way in Japan, Europe, Canada and the US.

Canada

It has been a pretty good week in Canada with solid snow storms earlier in the week delivering some pre-Christmas powder to Whistler, Interior BC and the Banff resorts. There are some very impressive 7-day totals through to Tuesday with Revelstoke and Kicking Horse getting 105cms, Fernie 83cms, Whistler 83cms on the upper mountain while Big White received 60cms. After a couple of days of settled weather, another storm is due Christmas Day with Whistler Blackcomb likely to receive 15-20cms over the weekend while resorts in Interior BC are expected to get around 10cms.

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Snowflake

Summer snow in parts of South Island, New Zealand


Otago Daily Times
Sat, 26 Dec 2020 12:01 UTC
SNOW
It may be summer, but snow has been falling in some parts of the South today.

Reports are coming in of snow settling in Oturehua in Central Otago this afternoon, following rain and some heavy hailstorms.

Forecaster Niwa earlier said there was snow on the hills near Lauder.

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Seismograph

Earthquake swarm under La Cumbre volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands


Volcano Discovery
Fri, 25 Dec 2020 11:48 UTC
Locations and depth vs time plot of yesterday's quakes under La Palma
Locations and depth vs time plot of yesterday's quakes under La Palma
A relatively strong earthquake swarm occurred under the La Cumbre volcano on La Palma Island yesterday (24 Dec 2020).

A total of 79 small quakes of magnitudes between 1-2.2 were detected during yesterday, most of them at depths around 25-30 km under the southwestern part of the island, 15 km southeast of Los Llanos de Aridane.

Many are located under the mostly submerged volcanic ridge of Cumbre Vieja, which last erupted in 1971. It seems that the swarm has already ended (unless more data will be released by the Spanish Geophysical Insitute later on).
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Seismograph

4 earthquakes recorded in 24 hours on Mayon Volcano, Philippines

Consuelo Marquez
Inquirer.net
Sat, 26 Dec 2020 11:35 UTC
Mayon Volcano
Four earthquakes were recorded in the vicinity of Mayon Volcano in the last 24 hours as it remained under Alert Level 1 status, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said on Saturday.

"Mayon Volcano's monitoring network recorded four (4) volcanic earthquakes during the 24-hour observation period," state volcanologists said in a statement.

Phivolcs, likewise, noted that there is "moderate emission of white steam-laden plumes that crept downslope" on the volcano.

Phivolcs also reminded residents living near the volcano to be vigilant because it is still at abnormal condition.
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Snowflake

Cracked mountain in Alps may collapse any time, researchers warn

Lilia Dergacheva
Sputnik
Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:06 UTC
alps skiing
© Sputnik / Alexander Vilf
Hochvogel, a nearly 2,600-metre summit in the Allgäu Alps, where the national border between Germany and Austria runs, has long been known to be divided by a huge fracture that continues to grow from year to year.

A team of researchers has worked out certain regularities in the tectonic movements in the area around the mountain Hochvogel in the Alps.

In particular, they arrived at an effective method of monitoring a giant fracture that cuts through the 2,592-metre-high summit. It is called a seismic approach, and with the help of it, "we can now for the first time sense, record and process this cyclical phenomenon continuously and almost at real time", says Michael Dietze, the lead author and post-doctoral researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre Potsdam.
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Snowflake Cold

Siberia braces for close to record-breaking cold over New Year, with temperatures predicted to hit a freezing -50 degrees

Jonny Tickle
RT
Fri, 25 Dec 2020 23:35 UTC
record cold siberia December 2020
© REUTERS/Ilya NaymushinA man takes pictures in a forest on the bank of the Yenisei River outside Krasnoyarsk
Russia's Hydrometeorological Center has forecast that Western and Central Siberia will see temperatures as low as -50 celsius before the end of the year - around 20 degrees lower than the typical December cold.

Earlier this year, in the height of summer, the highest-ever temperature seen above the Arctic Circle was recorded, with the small town of Verkhoyansk seeing the mercury reach as high as +38.
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Cloud Lightning

Three killed after being struck by lightning in South Africa - 8 such deaths in 2 weeks

Erica Abrahams
The Citizen (South Africa)
Fri, 25 Dec 2020 11:58 UTC
lightning
MEC Hlomuka has also expressed his concern at the increasing number of incidents where lightning strikes kill people in the province.

Parents of a six-month-old baby lost their lives in eManyiseni under uMhlabuyalingana Municipality in Northern KZN, when lightning struck their home on 23 December.

In a separate incident in Jozini ward 15 in the Ndabeni area, a 70-year-old man was fatally injured after being struck by lightning.

Inclement weather conditions continue to wreak havoc across rural KZN communities.
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Seismograph

M6.3 earthquake strikes Mindoro, Philippines


Zee Business
Fri, 25 Dec 2020 02:51 UTC
earthquake graph
© Flickr/ Matt Katzenberger
An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck the Mindoro region of the Philippines, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Friday. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 144 km (89 miles), EMSC said.

The earthquake, which was also felt in the capital region of Manila, also registered at magnitude 6.3 at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

The earthquake centre was traced at Calatagan in Batangas province, according to an initial report from Phivolcs, which said it did not expect damage but warned of aftershocks.

It issued no tsunami warning after the earthquake.
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Igloo

Rare blizzard warning for Twin Cities

Guy Brown
Kare11.com
Thu, 24 Dec 2020 22:49 UTC
Golden Valley, Minn. — Blizzard warnings issued by the National Weather Service yesterday in the Twin Cities metro were a rare occurrence. A blizzard is when visibility is less than 1/4 of a mile for 3 hours or more, due to falling or blowing snow. White-out conditions covered the state, along with the metro.
Blizzard Warning
© KARE 11.com
The last blizzard warning that included the Twin Cities was only two years ago, April 14th, 2018. However, the one before that was the famous Halloween blizzard back in 1991. Let's look back even a little further, to another blizzard event back on April 14th 1983.

Why are blizzard warnings rare for Minneapolis and St Paul? This is due to the urban influence. Warmer temperatures are typical in cities due to the presence of lots of metal, and urban areas usually have less moisture and less vegetation.
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