Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

117-year-old May snow record smashed in Duluth, Minnesota - 10 inches in a day

Brady Slater
Duluth News Tribune
Thu, 09 May 2019 14:40 UTC
Heavy, wet snow weighs down tree branches in Cloquet Thursday morning.
Heavy, wet snow weighs down tree branches in Cloquet Thursday morning.
Winter struck back with record May snowfalls over the past two days — coating the Northland in snow, and causing weather alerts lasting until 11 a.m. today.

All told, 10.6 inches of snow accumulated at Duluth International Airport, a record for May that also included a single day record of 8.3 on Wednesday alone. It was the snowiest May day on record since 5.5 inches fell in 1902.

Lake freighters and ships were moving all over the east end of Lake Superior but were hesitant on the western tip, where few moved out on the open water as the National Weather Service warning for gale force winds remained in effect.

Gusts up to 40 mph were reported on the lake with waves reaching 9-11 feet.

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Snowflake Cold

Hungary experiences cold and snowy May - lowest temperatures since 1886

Júlia Tar
Hungary Today
Wed, 08 May 2019 13:49 UTC
snow
© Péter Komka/MTI
On Monday, Hungary experienced unexpectedly cold weather. Even though spring appeared to be well on its way, it suddenly took a step backwards, surprising people with snow. Hungarians haven't experienced May temperatures this low since 1886, the Hungarian Meteorological Service reports.

As seen in the photo above, people traveling near Kékestető suddenly found themselves in the midst of winter again on May 6th.

On the 2nd of March, snowdrops were spotted in the arboretum of Alcsútdoboz, signaling the start of Spring. Considering the sudden change of weather, however, they might've been too early.
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Attention

Signs and Portents double special: Extremely rare TWO-HEADED albino turtle born on farm in Bangkok, Thailand

Debbie White
The Sun (UK)
Wed, 08 May 2019 09:58 UTC
The albino red-eared slider turtle was born with the rare mutation on a farm in Bangkok, Thailand
The albino red-eared slider turtle was born with the rare mutation on a farm in Bangkok, Thailand
An extremely rare two-headed albino turtle is struggling to find a new home over fears he will die soon.

The albino red-eared slider turtle was born with the rare mutation on a farm in Bangkok, Thailand, and has been valued at £24,000 ($31,500).

Newsflare reports that the turtle's owner, Noon Ausanee, had the creature valued and breeders gave him a price of at least one million Thai baht (US $31,500).

However, she's struggling to find a buyer because collectors are concerned about the unique turtle's life span.

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Binoculars

Non-migratory red-legged thrush from the Caribbean turns up in Lantana, Florida


Naples Florida Weekly
Thu, 09 May 2019 09:40 UTC
The red-legged thrush is a non-migratory blue-gray bird, found mostly in the Greater Antilles and Bahamas.
© Paul WallerThe red-legged thrush is a non-migratory blue-gray bird, found mostly in the Greater Antilles and Bahamas.
The Tropical Audubon Society's online Bird Board said it all:

"Red-legged Thrush. Lantana Nature Preserve; many birders on it."

That was enough to send birdwatchers flocking to Lantana Nature Preserve recently when the bird, seen only one previous time in North America, was spotted.

The red-legged thrush was seen April 25 by a man from Arizona who photographed it at 7 a.m. At first, he thought it was an exotic species, but confirmation from two other birders revealed what he had found, a news release said.

Word of the sighting was spread through online messaging and the birding website eBird, and birders and photographers lined up to see the bird until the preserve's closing that evening.

Birders arrived the next day, but the bird had moved on and has not been seen since. "You have to try and come as quickly as you can when the alerts go out," said Paul Waller, who was one of the first to respond to the alert.
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Cloud Precipitation

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Brutal winter exit & cold start to spring 2019


Adapt 2030
Wed, 08 May 2019 20:58 UTC
Nebraska grain bins flooded
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
Extreme cold and floods events leading into spring 2019 have left parts of our globe unable to plant this years crops, how did we go from all time record cold to all time record floods, here is what the corporate media overlooked along the way into spring of 2019.

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Bizarro Earth

Enviro-pocalypse looms: UN report claims one million species at risk of extinction

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 08 May 2019 17:01 UTC
species at risk of extinction
Across the world, ecosystems and the living organisms within - are declining at rates unprecedented in the modern world, warns a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
"The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture," said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson. "The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide."

"The report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global," he said. "Through 'transformative change,' nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably - this is also key to meeting most other global goals. By transformative change, we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values."

"The member States of IPBES Plenary have now acknowledged that, by its very nature, transformative change can expect opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but also that such opposition can be overcome for the broader public good," Watson said.
Almost 150 researchers from 50 countries with inputs from another 310 contributing authors, worked for three years to assess climate change over the last five decades, constructed a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between industrialization and their impacts on nature.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flash floods prompt emergency rescues and evacuations in Texas and Kansas


Floodlist
Wed, 08 May 2019 18:13 UTC
rain
Storms and heavy rain have again caused flash flooding in parts of the USA. This is the second spate of flash flooding in the last few days.

Emergency workers carried out dozens of high water rescues in areas around Houston, Texas, after flooding from 07 May, 2019. Storms have also brought heavy rain and flash flooding to parts of Kansas, where some homes have been evacuated.

Texas

Some areas of Houston recorded almost 10 inches (254 mm) of rain in 24 hours to early 08 May, 2019. National Weather Service (NWS) Houston said rainfall rates in areas over Fort Bend, Brazoria and Galveston counties were around 2 to 3 inches per hour.

Firefighters and police worked to evacuate some homes and rescue people from vehicles on impassable roads, in particular in areas around Kingwood in northeast Houston, and Sugar Land, situated to the southwest of the city in Fort Bend County.

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Cloud Lightning

Rare 'positive lightning' strike captured in Florida

Jacob Geanous
Metro
Tue, 07 May 2019 13:47 UTC
Positive lighting in Florida
© Youtube‘Positive lighting,’ or continuous lighting, is ten times more powerful than a regular bolt and is characterized by its positive charge
This is the spectacular moment a woman captured a lighting strike right outside her window. The shocking video was taken by Erica Hite as she filmed a thunderstorm on Sunday in her home in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Hite had her camera ready at just the right time to capture the bolt of lightning - which experts said was actually a rare glimpse at an unusual weather phenomena.

The National Weather Service in Miami identified the bolt as 'positive lighting,' or a continuous current, which is up to ten times more powerful than a typical flash.

Positive lightning makes up less that 5% of all strikes and originates in the upper levels of a cloud, meaning that it must burn through more air on its way to the ground, increasing its charge.

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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall for north-east Scotland in May

Callum Main
Evening Express (Scotland)
Tue, 07 May 2019 14:36 UTC
snow
It's May and heavy snow has transformed a north-east village into a winter wonderland.

In a video shared on Twitter by @BraemarMedia, deer are seen enjoying the snow near the north-east village.

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Arrow Down

Nearly 300 destructive avalanches during 'dramatic' Swiss winter


The Local (Switzerland)
Tue, 07 May 2019 14:20 UTC
A 300-metre wide avalanche hit the restaurant of the Hotel Säntis in Schwägalp, eastern Switzerland on January 10th.
© Kantonspolizei Appenzell AusserrhodenA 300-metre wide avalanche hit the restaurant of the Hotel Säntis in Schwägalp, eastern Switzerland on January 10th.
A total of 299 avalanches causing property damage or injury were reported in Switzerland up to the end of April while 19 people lost their lives.

That is the balance provided by Switzerland's WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in a report published on Tuesday.

All but one of the 19 people killed in avalanches during the winter were participating in outdoor sports in unsecured terrain, the SLF said. The only exception was a ski patroller who died on an open ski run in the canton of Valais.

In late April, in what was the deadliest single avalanche accident of the season, four Germans were killed - also in Valais.
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