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Thu, 04 Nov 2021
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Morning sun halo appears in Iowa skies

Sun halo over Iowa
© KCRG
A weather system to our south is far enough away that we are avoiding its rain, but it's close enough that it's throwing a thin veil of clouds over us. Those clouds gave some of us in eastern Iowa an interesting sight: a halo around the sun. The halo appears as a circle that goes all the way around the sun.

The air is cold where the clouds are, so they're made of ice crystals. In this case, they were six-sided ice crystals, and the sunlight bent just right as it passed through them. Haloes can appear any time of year, but they're more common in the winter on a very cold and sunny morning or evening. Ice crystals tend to be floating in the air on those frigid days.

Dig

Arkansas city 'rocks' massive sinkhole

Harrison, AR sinkhole
© James L. White/Harrison Daily
Harrison city workers on Wednesday began dumping large rocks into the huge sinkhole that began to encroach on a home in Harrison over the weekend.

The hole opened up after heavy rain Friday, April 21, in an area off Chelsea Circle.

The hole is in Will and Sherry Presley's back yard. After even heavier rain last weekend, the hole grew exponentially and began to near the Presleys' home.

They said drainage has been an issue in the area ever since they moved into the house 10 years ago.

Sherry said they have been asking for help from the city from about the time following the first rain after they moved in.

But she said they have been told that flooding that occurs during heavy rain is not the city's responsibility and that because a portion of that property is outside the city limits, none of it qualifies as city property.

Cow

Beef prices soar from Mini Ice Age wheat losses in America

Cow iN STALL
Beef prices gain most on record in a single session, this follows on record gain on wheat two days ago as a late season mini ice age blizzard destroyed a large portion of wheat across the USA. The assessment of damage of wheat called the "Kansas Wheat Tour" is now including Oklahoma as wiped out crop areas as well. The observers and agronomists plus government officials are bogged down by drifting snow and still area unable to even get to 100 sq miles of fields yet.


Sources

Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rain and gales damage crops in Andhra Pradesh, India

Damaged maize

Damaged maize
Heavy rain and gales lashed the upland areas of West Godavari district on Monday, causing extensive damage to horticulture crops. Chintalapudi, Lingapalem, T Narasapuram and Kamavarapukota mandals experienced rainfall. Eluru, the district headquarters, also witnessed rainfall, which brought respite to people from heat wave conditions.

Maize crop which came to harvest was badly damaged. The untimely rain also caused extensive damage to mango and banana crops.

Harvested paddy crop left in the fields was also damaged.
Banana farmers of Mudicharla, Vemulapalli and Badarala villages were affected as the strong gales ravaged the plantations.

In Rangapuram, papaya crop was damaged. The untimely rain also affected mango orchards in Bogolu, Mulagalampadu, Tochilakarayudu Palem, Singagudem, Lingapalem and Malleswaram.

Windsock

Sandstorm leaves Beijing with yellow skies and 'beyond index' pollution

The Forbidden City is seen during a dust storm in Beijing
© Reuters
The Forbidden City is seen during a dust storm in Beijing, China May 4, 2017.
A sandstorm blowing into China has shrouded Beijing in smog and pushed its pollution to even more dangerous levels than usual. Children and elderly people have been advised to stay indoors, and dozens of flights have been canceled.

Sand and dust began blowing into Beijing from Mongolia and Inner Mongolia on Wednesday afternoon. It has since affected an area of up to 1.63 million sq km, according to China's National Meteorological Center.

By Thursday afternoon, the city's air quality index (AQI) jumped from under 100 to 621 - from "moderate" to "beyond index." It went down slightly in the evening, but remained at "beyond index" levels.

Bizarro Earth

Tourist attacked by Komodo Dragon in Indonesia while taking photographs

tourist bitten by komodo dragon indonesia

“This is the first incident of a human being bitten by a Komodo dragon in the past five years"
A tourist is being treated for serious leg injuries after being attacked by a Komodo dragon in Indonesia.

Local media reported that Lon Lee Alle, 50, who is from Singapore, was savaged in West Manggarai on Wednesday morning after ignoring warnings that he should not get too close to the vast reptiles.

According to the head of the nearby Komodo National Park, known only as Mr Sudiyono, Mr Alle had been watching several Komodo dragons devouring pigs and goats which belonged to villagers in the area when he decided to venture closer to them in order to take some pictures.

Mr Sudiyono told The Jakarta Post: "He must have been too close. A Komodo doesn't like to be disturbed when eating."

Komodo dragons can grow up to a maximum of 10ft in length and can weigh as much as 150lb. They have a keen sense of smell and are immensely strong.

Bizarro Earth

Study finds wild dolphins immune systems 'chronically activated' due to industrial pollution in sea water

Dolphins

Dolphins
Wild dolphins have weaker immune systems than captive dolphins because of polluted sea water, a study has found.

Researcher's compared the immune health of four groups of bottlenose dolphins living in aquariums and off the coast of America.

Pollutants in the oceans around Florida and South Carolina were found to be putting a strain on the wild dolphins' immune systems, making it more difficult for the animals to fight off bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.

Wild dolphins' immune systems appeared to be "chronically activated" as a result of the unhealthy environments they were living in, said the study's lead author Patricia Fair, a research professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Cloud Precipitation

Record hailstorm strikes Nakhon Phanom, Thailand

hail Thailand
Record hailstorm in 30 years hit Renoo Nakhon district of Nakhon Phanom province yesterday pummeling ping-pong ball size hailstones on a hundred of houses and vehicles for hours, causing damages in the areas.

Residents staying outdoor were forced to take under cover as the ping-pong sized hailstones falling as the storms lavashing several vilages in the district late afternoon.

They said that they have never experienced such big size hailstones before in the past 30 years, and it was the worst hailstorm.

Cloud Precipitation

Unprecedented hailstorm strikes Sanandaj, Iran

hailstorm
An unprecedented spring hailstorm has hit the northwestern Iranian city of Sanandaj, taking the residents by surprise.

While hailstorms are common in Sanandaj in spring time, the ferocious hailstorm, which started on Wednesday morning, left the capital city of Sanandaj in Kordestan Province like snow-covered cities, with tractors sent out to clear ice from streets.

The hailstorm also inflicted damage on vehicles, disrupted traffic for several hours and caused flash floods.

Several other cities and villages across the province were also hit by hailstorms and flash flooding.


Snowflake Cold

Thousands of cattle killed by spring snow storm in Colorado

  A storm that hit southeastern Colorado killed many cattle.
© Gary Melcher
A storm that hit southeastern Colorado killed many cattle.
KUSA - The storm system that brought snow to the metro area over the weekend devastated parts of southeastern Colorado.

Farmers and ranchers in Baca and Prowers counties have lost cattle and countless crops due to the spring snow. The Colorado Farm bureau estimates the cattle deaths are into the thousands.

"Everybody is still out just trying to take care of what is alive," said farmer Gary Melcher. "They haven't had a chance to really analyze what the true loss is yet."

Even though the storm has passed ranchers are still trying to find animals that are still alive. Many of them were lost after fences collapsed under the weight of snow. Some of them are stuck, barely able to move through all that snow.