Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

"Outrageous" snowstorm breaks all-time records across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

man shovel snow
© Geoff Forester/Concord MonitorA homeowner digs out the family driveway in New Hampshire so his son could get to work on Thursday morning, December 17, 2020.
Times are changing. The mid-latitudes are cooling. The snowpack is building. Thanks, in no small part, to a slumbering Sun.

Record-busting snow buried the Northeast United States Wednesday and Thursday this week as a mass of brutal Arctic air rode south on the back of a weak and wavy "meridional" jet stream flow.

Centre County, Pennsylvania was overwhelmed Wednesday by more than a foot of unprecedented pow-pow.

State College was hit by 15 inches of global warming goodness, which broke the 24-hour December snowfall record by 2.5 inches in weather books dating back to 1893 (the previous record being the 12.5 inches set Dec. 11, 1992). In fact, more snow fell Wednesday than during the entire 2019-20 winter season.

Comment: The signs are coming faster and faster now.


Cloud Precipitation

Damaging floods and landslides strike Samoa after heavy rain

Floods in Apia, Samoa, December 2020.
© Disaster Management OfficeFloods in Apia, Samoa, December 2020.
Heavy rain has triggered floods and landslides in Samoa, in particular in areas around the capital of Apia.

Apria recorded around 85 mm of rain in 24 hours to 17 December. Media reported the Vaisigano river broke its banks. Flooding swamped roads, causing severe disruption to traffic in the city. The Disaster Management Office called for extreme caution as the heavy rain continued and urged residents of some low-lying areas to evacuate their homes.

Samoa's Public Service Commission advised all employees except for essential services employees to stay home.


Eye 2

Komodo dragon savages worker at 'Jurassic Park' resort in Indonesia tearing open 'several parts of his body' in vicious attack

Rinca Island is home to roughly a 1,000 of the beasts

Rinca Island is home to roughly a 1,000 of the beasts
A Komodo dragon has brutally savaged a worker at a 'Jurassic Park' inspired resort under construction in Indonesia, it was reported.

Elias Agas, 46, was working at the £4.8 million site on Rinca Island when the 90kg beast "tore several parts of his body".

He was then frantically whizzed off the island by speedboat to a nearby hospital as the bite from a Komodo can be deadly if not treated quickly.

Staff at the park claim that they responded immediately to the incident when they heard what had happened.

The park's head of security Julius Buki told local media: "Upon receiving this information, fellow rangers ... were at the location immediately [and] managed to evacuate the victim."

Tornado1

Tornado hits near Tampa, Florida

tornado
Officials say 25 buildings were damaged, but no injuries had been reported in parts of northern Pinellas County after a possible tornado moved over the north part of the city Wednesday.


Boat

Heavy rain leaves 11 dead in the Itajaí Valley, in Santa Catarina, Brazil

FLOODS
The Civil Defense of Santa Catarina reported that at least 11 people died, 10 in Presidente Getúlio and one in Ibirama, Santa Catarina, due to a heavy rain that hit the state as of Wednesday night (16 ).

The storm caused floods and landslides in cities in the Itajaí Valley. Until around 10 am, 20 people were missing.

There are also damage caused by rain in Greater Florianópolis and in the West of the State.

Access to Presidente Getúlio, a city with 14 thousand inhabitants and is about 80 kilometers from Blumenau, is blocked due to landslides.


(Google translation)

Attention

The elephants in the living room: Tuskers tear down village houses in Meghalaya, India - 3rd time in 3 months

ELEPHANT
A herd of wild elephants on Sunday evening wreaked havoc on Kalapahar village under Ranikor Civil Sub-Division, leaving two houses destroyed.

General secretary of All Khasi Hills Achik Federation (AKHAF), John D Sangma, informed that the incident took place on Sunday around 7:30 pm when a herd of seven wild elephants attacked the village and levelled the houses.

However, no one sustained injuries during the course of the incident as some vigilant villagers were quick to shoo the elephants away.

Sangma said that due to the presence of seven wild elephants at a place just a kilometre away from Kalapahar village, the locals are apprehensive of another possible elephant attack.

Biohazard

US: Deadly 'brain-eating amoeba' has expanded its range northward

Naegleria fowleri
© Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesNaegleria fowleri
The organisms' expanded range may be due to increased temperatures from climate change.

Deadly "brain-eating amoeba" infections have historically occurred in the Southern United States. But cases have been appearing farther north in recent years, likely because of climate change, a new study finds.

The study researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examined cases of this brain-eating amoeba, known as Naegleria fowleri, over a four-decade period in the U.S. They found that, although the number of cases that occur each year has remained about the same, the geographic range of these cases has been shifting northward, with more cases popping up in Midwestern states than before.

Comment: SOTT has been tracking the rise in unusual infections and diseases for many years now, and it's possible that our changing climate is but one contributing factor:


Snowflake

Record snowfall - More snow in parts of northeast US than all last season - over 3 feet in many areas

A man clears snow as snow falls near Bryant park in Manhattan, New York City Wednesday.
© Jeenah Moon/ReutersA man clears snow as snow falls near Bryant park in Manhattan, New York City Wednesday.
More than three feet (more than a meter) of snow in many areas.
"Isn't it ironic that the US Northeast, home to so many AGW academic radicals, is being chastened by reality?"
- Bill Sellers
Tens of millions of Americans in Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states were blanketed with more snow in one dump than during the entire 2019-2020 season.

Large parts of the eastern United States woke this morning to more than 3 feet of snow as a major winter storm hit parts of New York and Pennsylvania, led to hundreds of accidents and travel disruptions, airport delays, power outages, and left at least four people dead.


Snowflake

Army deployed as record snowfall of 7 FEET blankets parts of Japan

Yuzawa Town is hit by heavy snowfall in Niigata Prefecture
Yuzawa Town is hit by heavy snowfall in Niigata Prefecture
Japan deployed the military on Thursday (Dec 17) to help residents trapped by record snowfall that has blanketed parts of the country, with 10,000 homes losing power in the north and west.

Prime minister Yoshihide Suga called an emergency cabinet meeting and urged the public to be cautious, as local media reported more than 1,000 cars were stranded on an expressway connecting Tokyo to Niigata in the north.

Over 72 hours, a record 2.17 metres of snow fell in Minakami, Gunma prefecture, reports said, while Yuzawa in Niigata prefecture — famous for skiing — got a record 1.8 metres of snow on Thursday morning.


Comment: Other videos: Record-breaking heavy snow up to 5 feet deep blanketing Japan


Snowflake

Pittsburgh shatters snowfall record first set in 1890

Pittsburgh snow
© Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh has broken its record of snowfall for Dec. 16, according to the National Weather Service.

NWS meteorologist Jenna Lake said at about 8 p.m. Wednesday that the city has seen about 5 inches of snow so far, shattering the 1.9 inch record set on this day in 1890.

The area surrounding Pittsburgh has seen a few inches more, about 7 to 7.5 inches, because the city tends to be warmer, Ms. Lake said.

Ms. Lake also said that an additional 1-2 inches is expected from 8 p.m. until about midnight.