Earth ChangesS


Windsock

Egypt shuts five Red Sea ports due to major sandstorm

SANDSTORM
The Egyptian Meteorological Authority had warned of a "peak of unstable weather" during the first day of Ramadan, which falls on Friday.

Khaled Zahran, head of the Red Sea Ports Authority, ordered the closure of Port Tawfik, El-Zeiteya, and Ataka due to wind speeds of 40 knots and wave heights of 4 metres, in order to protect life and property.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone's Sokhna and Adabiya ports were also closed to commercial vessel traffic.

The Friday sandstorm turned skies yellow across Cairo and in other areas, greatly reducing visibility.


Cloud Precipitation

Severe hailstorm leaves 4,200 people homeless in Tripura, India

Farms destroyed due to hailstorm.
© Twitter/@BjpBiplabFarms destroyed due to hailstorm.
A total of 4,200 people of three districts of Tripura were rendered homeless while over 5,500 houses were damaged or destroyed by hailstorm that lashed the state on Tuesday, an official report said here.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb along with officials visited the worst-hit Sepahajala district on Thursday. The other two affected districts are West Tripura and Khowai.

"At least 5,000 houses have been affected and over 4,200 people taken shelter in relief camps following a hailstorm that hit three districts -- Sepahijala, West Tripura and Khowai districts," the report released from the Chief Ministers Office said.


Apple Red

23,500 fruit growers hit by hailstorms, heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, India

Bad apples
Over 23,500 small and marginal farmers in the fruit belt of Shimla, Mandi, and Kullu have lost around 13,908 metric tonnes (MT) of crop, mainly apple worth Rs 27.23 crore grown in 11,218 hectares, due to recent hailstorms, reveals a loss assessment report of the state Horticulture Department.

Farmers, however, say that damage caused by hailstones and heavy rainfall to "standing and blooming apple orchards" is much higher and the department is yet to assess this loss.

According to the report, a copy of which is with The Tribune, hailstones, rain and gusty winds have severely destroyed over 13,908 metric tonnes of "full fruit crops" of over 23,500 small, marginal and other farmers (10,718 in Shimla, 7,262 in Mandi, 5,520 in Kullu; three main fruit producing districts).

Hailstones, rain and windstorms destroyed the fruit crop in 6,817 hectares in Shimla, 2,549 hectares in Mandi and 1,852 hectares in Kullu district early this week, the report states.


Cloud Precipitation

Hail pelts Al-Qassim region of Saudi Arabia

hail
A hailstorm and rain swept across Al-Qassim region of central Saudi Arabia and surrounding areas on April 21, according to Saudi reports.

This footage was shared from near Shaqiqa in Al-Qassim. It shows hail blanketing the area.


Credit: @B_KH_H via Storyful

Comment: More footage:






Snowflake Cold

April's weather broke at least 6 records across Canada and not in a good way

snow
© David Mark, Daniel Bowman
Cold and snow and no rain, oh my! It's been one heck of a wild ride so far this month for a number of reasons including the weather. April weather records in Canada have been broken across the country and it's not in a good way.

According to The Weather Network, April is a month for cruel, tumultuous weather that often flip flops between extremes.

In keeping with that tradition, conditions throughout this month have been less than favourable in some parts of the country.

On April 22, northern Ontario experienced late extreme cold and Geraldtown shattered its daily record low by more than seven degrees when the temperature reached -20.4 C.

That's colder than the average low in December in that region.

Attention

Three eruptions at Sakurajima Volcano in Japan

sakurajima eruption
Sakurajima eruption
At 16:13 JST, 16:55 & 17:03 JST three explosions were registered. The third plume on camera one is not shown because it was obscured by plume number two. Link to camera.

Give them a follow! Thank you for watching! As I'm typing Sakurajima has erupted two more times this day. It's getting late in the day in Japan and night will fall soon. I'm busy! What will the night bring?


Fire

Wildfire ravages Poland's largest national park

wildfire
Some 6,000 hectares of Biebrza National Park in northeastern Poland were ablaze on Wednesday, as more than 120 firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames. Biebrza is home to 59,000 hectares of wetlands, wildlife such as moose, beavers, and unique species of birds, and hiking trails.

"It is impossible to calculate the loss. This is a tragedy, it cannot be described. We may have to fight this fire for months," park employee Janina Agnieszka Zach, told Polish broadcaster TVN.

Environment Minister Michal Wos said that the fire, which began burning on Sunday, was likely caused by illegal grass burning - a method sometimes employed to clear swaths of dead grass.


Attention

Boy is eaten alive by stray PIGS after wandering out of his house to play in India

Four-year-old V. Harshavardhan was killed by a herd of wild pigs as he played near his home in Hyderbad, India (stock image)
Four-year-old V. Harshavardhan was killed by a herd of wild pigs as he played near his home in Hyderbad, India (stock image)
A four-year-old boy in India died after he was attacked by a herd of pigs which then ate part of his body.

V. Harshavardhan left his home in Saibabad, Hyderbad, at 4pm on Tuesday and went to play at an isolated area near his home.

The herd of wild pigs dragged the boy to a rubbish dump where they killed and then ate him.

Blue Planet

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: The phase out of humanity

Earth Day 2020
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
With Earth Day the signal to a move away from renewables is set in motion, humans are the problem and need to be phased out after being relegated to menial tasks and medieval surfs on Universal Basic Income as the wildlife renews itself returning where human apes once roamed. There will be no return to normal, you are being phased out.


Comment: See also:


Snowflake Cold

Bone-chilling cold sweeps Northeast Russia, records from the 1950s and 1960s fall

Extreme cold in Yakutia, Russia


As originally logged by hmn.ru (and now deleted?), cold records have been falling across NE Russia this week as Arctic air continues to invade the transcontinental nation.


The Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, has broken a myriad of low temperature records as winter continues to encroach into Spring 2020.

In the village of Talon, the mercury dropped to a nipple-hardening -30.7C (-23.3F), shattering the previous April record: the -27.3C (-17.1F) set in 1966 (solar minimum of cycle 19).