Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorms batters fruit, veggie crops in Himachal Pradesh, India

Navneet Rathore
Hindustan Times
Mon, 13 May 2019 09:17 UTC
Vehicles moving after hail storm at Navbihar-Sanjauli road, Shimla on Sunday, May 12 2019
© Deepak Sansta / HTVehicles moving after hail storm at Navbihar-Sanjauli road, Shimla on Sunday, May 12 2019
Frequent hailstorm has left the farmers in Himachal Pradesh worried as their crops are getting destroyed and they are unable to get fair price for their produce in the market.

The recent spell of hailstorm in Himachal Pradesh and its nearby areas has battered various vegetables and fruit crops, hampering the income prospects of scores of farmers.

Villages in the vicinity of Shimla town for the second consecutive day experienced hailstones accompanied by rain, which partially damaged apple and cherry crop in Matiana and Narkanda.

Areas between Dhalli and Kufri received heavy hailstorm for about 20 to 25 minutes on Sunday, resulting in similar damage. Crops such as apple and other stone fruits along with vegetables like peas, cauliflower, tomatoes, and cabbage have been damaged.
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Seismograph

Strong M6.1 earthquake hits Panama but no initial reports of casualties


The Japan Times
Sun, 12 May 2019 23:05 UTC
Panama earthquake
© USGSThe 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 3.24pm ET Sunday about 4 miles southeast of Plaza de Caisan, Panama, at a depth of 23 miles
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Panama on Sunday near the border with Costa Rica, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The quake struck at a depth of 37 km (23 miles) in the far west of the country and the closest town was Santa Cruz, about 5 km away, it said.

There was no tsunami alert issued from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

In November 2017 a 6.5-magnitude quake on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica left buildings swaying in the capital San Jose and contributed to the deaths of two people who had heart attacks.

Farther north, two months earlier in September 2017 a 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed more than 300 people in Mexico.
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Sun

'Ring around the sun' seen in Santa Ana, Costa Rica

Rico
QCosta Rica
Sat, 11 May 2019 22:24 UTC
I have never seen this before. Googling it, I learned a halo or ring around the sun is a fairly common phenomenon, typically caused when there are very high, very thin clouds, clouds, being so high in the sky, made from ice crystals, refracting and reflecting the light.
Sun halo over Costa Rica
© QCostaRica/RicoThis is the view in the sky over Santa Ana (and suspect most of Costa Rica) this morning.
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Rainbow

Circumhorizontal arc spotted in western New York

Kaley Lynch
WIVB
Sat, 11 May 2019 17:19 UTC
Circumhorizontal arc over Lake View, NY
© WIVB/RayCircumhorizontal arc over Lake View, NY.
The WIVB newsroom email was filled Saturday with pictures of what looked like a horizontal rainbow.

News 4 meteorologist Stevie Daniels explained that the phenomenon is called a circumhorizontal arc.

"They form when the sun is at least 58 degrees above the horizon. The light from the sun refracts when it hits the ice crystals in the cirrus clouds!" she wrote.

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Arrow Down

100-foot wide sinkhole swallows patch of land in Dorset, England

Joe Pinkstone
Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 10 May 2019 12:33 UTC
Sinkhole in Dorset, England
A huge sink hole almost 100ft wide has swallowed a patch of land in Dorset next to a local walking path.

It first emerged in February when a dinner plate-sized hole appeared - the land suddenly collapsed this week and created the enormous pit.

The chasm was caused by the surface of the land collapsing into an ancient hollow created during the last ice age.

Over the past three months it has been monitored by geologists as it gradually increased in size.
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Camera

Rare blue auroras seen over Calgary, Alberta


Space Weather
Sun, 12 May 2019 20:47 UTC
Northern Lights are usually green, sometimes red. Those are the colors we see when oxygen is hit by electrons raining down from space during a geomagnetic storm. On Friday night, however, Harlan Thomas of Calgary, Alberta, witnessed a different color: deep-blue.
Rare blue auroras over Calgary, AB
© Harlan Thomas
"To see these incredible blue pillars was out of this world," says Thomas.

In auroras, blue is a sign of nitrogen. Energetic particles striking ionized molecular nitrogen (N2+) at very high altitudes can produce a blue glow rarely seen during auroral displays. In this case, it was the afterglow of a CME impact.
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Attention

Surfer killed by shark off Réunion Island - 24th attack in 8 years,11 of which fatal


BBC
Thu, 09 May 2019 17:19 UTC
Shark attacks
A surfer has been killed in a shark attack off the coast of the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

The man, reported to be in his late 20s, was surfing off the small fishing town of Saint-Leu when the attack took place on Thursday.

The local government confirmed that a surfer had been killed as it called for vigilance in the sea.

Surfing and other water activities are heavily restricted on Réunion due to the high risk of shark attacks.

The attack took place at about 16:30 local time (12:30 GMT) off the coast of Saint-Leu, on the west of the island.

Comment: Shark attacks are on the rise in the US and Australia

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Cloud Precipitation

Train derails in Mississippi during flash floods


Weather Nation
Sat, 11 May 2019 21:57 UTC
Train derails in Mississippi

Heavy rain in Mississippi leads to multiple water rescues, washed out roadways and a train derailment on Saturday.

The flooding has been most severe in the Hillsdale community, in southwest Mississippi, where the train derailment occurred. A flash flood warning was also issued for the area Saturday afternoon after several inches of rain fell in a short period of time.

Flooding is believed to be the cause of the train derailment, according to the Pearl River County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's department confirmed to WeatherNation that there is not believed to be a hazmat situation at the scene. In addition, there have been no reports of injuries, according to the local sheriff's office.

WeatherNation has a crew on scene who documented the aftermath of the derailment. Watch the video below:

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Tornado2

Large waterspout spotted off Singapore's coast


The Straits Times
Sat, 11 May 2019 21:46 UTC
Singapore waterspout
© REUTERS
A large waterspout was spotted off Singapore's shores yesterday morning, near the Tanjong Pagar Terminal. The weather phenomenon was captured by eyewitnesses in the area, who posted photos and videos of it on social media.

Mr Justin Lim, 31, an economist, said he spotted the waterspout from his condominium at about 9am.

"It was about to rain and the skies were quite dark, and then I saw a line in the horizon, which started coming closer. The waterspout was weak at the start, but it became bigger as it came closer," Mr Lim told The Sunday Times.

According to the National Environment Agency, waterspouts are seen occasionally over Singapore's coastal waters, although they usually dissipate rapidly on reaching the coast.

They typically form beneath cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds over warm coastal waters just before showers begin. The "funnel" is formed by water droplets in a rotating vortex of air. The lifespan of a waterspout can vary from a few minutes to half an hour.

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Fire

Wildfires scorch over 44,000 hectares across Russia


TASS
Sat, 11 May 2019 11:01 UTC
Russia wildfires
© YouTube/RT (screen capture)
Wildfires have scorched over 44,000 hectares in 18 Russian regions, the Federal Aerial Forest Protection Service (Avialesokhrana) said in a statement on Saturday, adding that 155 forest fires had been extinguished in the previous 24 hours.

"As of May 11, 2019, a total of 54 forest fires are active in Russia, which engulf 44,245 hectares, active efforts are underway to extinguish the fires," the statement reads.

As many as 17 forest fires have been registered in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, while the number of wildfires active in the Kurgan, Irkutsk and Trans-Baikal region ranges from four to six. Firefighting activities involve 3,600 personnel and 835 pieces of equipment.

The fire season has begun in 77 Russian regions. A state of emergency has been declared in six regions, namely the Kurgan, Trans-Baikal, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Tuva regions, as well as in certain districts of the Chelyabinsk region, the Federal Aerial Forest Protection Service pointed out.


Comment: Raging wildfires in Russia's Trans-Baikal region have killed thousands of animals; national parks and conservation sites threatened

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