Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Record cold of minus 24.4 C grips Hokkaido, Japan

People walk in Sapporo on Friday as the
© KYODOPeople walk in Sapporo on Friday as the temperature dropped to minus 12 degrees.
A cold wave brought by an air mass of record-low temperatures gripped Hokkaido on Friday, causing traffic disruptions on the northernmost Japanese mainland.

As temperatures plunged below minus 20 C in some parts of the region, the Japan Meteorological Agency also predicted snowfall on Saturday in eastern Japan, with central Tokyo expected to see 5 to 10 centimeters.

The agency said a cold air mass of minus 24.4 C, the lowest since it began compiling data in 1957, was hovering about 1,500 meters above Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, where the mercury dropped to minus 12.5 C in the morning.


Doberman

Child killed in attack by family pit bull mix in Guthrie, Kentucky

PIT BULL ATTACK
Police in Kentucky say a 1-year-old boy has died after being mauled by the family pit bull mix dog.

WBKO-TV in Bowling Green reports Guthrie police responded to a home Thursday to find the boy unresponsive but breathing. Police said the child had deep abrasions on his head, chest and neck, and his grandmother also had injuries from trying to pull the dog off the boy.

The child had been on the floor playing with a ball. Police believe a thunderstorm may have triggered the dog.

The woman and boy were taken to a hospital, but the boy died of his injuries. The woman was treated and released.

Source: AP

Attention

Erupting Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia spews ash, lava

volcano
Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, has spewed a plume of grey ash into the sky as fiery red molten lava streamed down from its crater.

Authorities did not raise the rumbling volcano's alert status after the eruption on Thursday evening.

But any activity at Merapi raises concern and local residents have previously been ordered to stay outside a five-kilometre (three-mile) no-go zone around the crater near Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta.


Attention

Volcano spews lava in fresh eruption on Indonesia's Siau island

VOLCANO
A volcano on the Indonesian island of Siau sent lava and searing gas out of its crater on Thursday, prompting evacuation preparations.

Authorities expanded the danger zone around Mount Karangetang to 4km from its crater in response to the eruption.

Just hours later, Mount Merapi on the island of Java shot out hot clouds and lava.

No casualties or damage were reported and the volcanoes' alert levels were not raised, officials said.


Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rains and hailstorms lead to massive crop damage in Punjab and Haryana, India

crop damage
Massive crop damage was reported across northwestern plains, particularly Punjab and Haryana, as heavy rains and thundershowers wreaked havoc. These showers were also accompanied with strong winds and hailstorm.

Wheat, maize, peas, mustard are the major Rabi crops have reported major losses. Accurate figures are yet to be ascertained. Rains had started during the early morning hours and continued throughout the day.

According to Skymet Weather, an active Western Disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir had induced a cyclonic circulation over Northwest Rajasthan. Both the systems were strong in nature and thus, resulted in widespread rain and thundershowers. However, it was intense hailstorm that has caused the major damage to the standing crop.


Question

'Weird' sounds heard in southeastern Netherlands

Strange sounds in The Netherlands
© YouTube/Danny's Cafe
On February 6, 2019, YouTube user 'Danny's Cafe' uploaded footage of strange sounds he heard (again) in the skies of Nieuw-Bergen, Netherlands:


Comment: Please excuse the foul language.



Arrow Down

Avalanches, landslides kill 11 people in Himalayan Kashmir

Rescuers battled Friday to reach the site of an avalanche that buried 10 people in Indian-occupied Kashmir following two days of heavy snowfall
Rescuers battled Friday to reach the site of an avalanche that buried 10 people in Indian-occupied Kashmir following two days of heavy snowfall.
Heavy snow caused avalanches and landslides that killed 11 people and trapped another in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, officials said Friday.

Rescuers cut through mounds of snow to reach 11 people — seven policemen, two firefighters and two prisoners — who were trapped in a fire station in the southern Banihal area overnight, said top police officer S.P. Pani.

They found the bodies of three of the policemen, the two firefighters and the two prisoners, and three policemen were rescued alive, Pani said. He said the rescued men were hospitalized while efforts to find the missing policeman continued.

Pani said the policemen had taken shelter in the fire station because it had not been damaged by past avalanches in the mountainous area, where landslides are common.


Snowflake Cold

World Snow Wrap - Massive snow totals in the US and Europe

Clearing Carson Spur on Route 88
© Stephen Ziehlke/CaltransClearing Carson Spur on Route 88, the road to Kirkwood, yesterday.
USA

After a week of fine, spring-like weather, the snow returned to Californian with a big bang last week, two storms in five days dropping metres of snow across the Sierras. The resorts around Lake Tahoe reported some huge snow totals with Homewood topping the count with 2.5metres, Kirkwood had 2.4metres and Squaw Valley 2.2metres. Mammoth Mountain also scored big time with 3.35 metres (11 feet) at the Summit.

Not surprisingly, the conditions were some of the best of the winter, with Tuesday and Wednesday the stand-out days. That was the story across many US resorts as the storms tracked inland with resorts in Utah reporting two metres in 72 hours. Jackson Hole also turned on with a metre of dry snow in three days and there was also 60-100cms in Colorado. It has been a good week, cold temps ensured quality snow and there were many reports of cold, blower pow across the western states. After a couple of days of sunshine, the snow returns to the Pacific Northwest and California tomorrow with two storms tracking through the Cascades and Sierras. Another 1.5 metres snow is forecast for both regions by Monday. That system will move eastward, dropping snow across Utah on Saturday, Idaho and the Tetons on Sunday while Colorado should see decent snowfalls on Monday.

Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: USA cold warning - DMI Greenland ice feed cut - Pakistan record snow

record snow in Pakistan
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
Superfreeze 2.0 grips the USA, record snow in Pakistan with runoff expected to fill long dry riverbeds, 3000 years dry and Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) removes Greenland Ice Mass Budget because of too much ice growth. Arctic ice continues to rebound to 2004-2013 levels.


Comment: Pakistan receives record snowfall in winter - heaviest in 48 years


Frog

Four year old island spawned by hidden underwater volcano in South Pacific is now teeming with life

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, Hunga Tonga
Hunga Tonga is only the third known volcanic pop-up like this to have arisen in the last 150 years.
Four years ago, this island arose out of almost nothing: a sprawling formation of jutting rock popping up in the South Pacific, where once there were only waves.

This unbelievable place - emerging in between two existing islands of the Kingdom of Tonga - has no official name, but the locals call it Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (Hunga Tonga), after its neighbours and the hidden underwater volcano that spawned it.

Scientists have been studying Hunga Tonga for years, to learn more about how exceedingly rare volcanic islands like this take shape.

Incredibly, Hunga Tonga is only the third known volcanic pop-up like this to have arisen in the last 150 years, so it's an incredible scientific opportunity to investigate its esoteric environment - and especially to see how that landscape might resemble other strange and rocky terrain (including, hypothetically, that of Mars).

Comment: NASA's Goddard Center published the following video on the birth of the island:
In late December 2014 into early 2015, a submarine volcano in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga erupted, sending a violent stream of steam, ash and rock into the air. When the ash finally settled in January 2015, a newborn island with a 400-foot summit nestled between two older islands - visible to satellites in space. The newly formed Tongan island, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai after its neighbors, was initially projected to last a few months. Now it has a 6- to 30-year lease on life, according to a new NASA study.