Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

It's May, and roads in Alpine France are buried under 15 meters (50 feet) of snow


francetvinfo.fr
Thu, 03 May 2018 18:57 UTC
Cormet de Roselend,neige
© Jordan Guéant/France 3 AlpesAt the Cormet de Roselend, the road is lined with with 15 metres of snow.
Following late snowfalls, some mountain passes may open 15 days late in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. At Cormet de Roselend, in the Beaufortain, snow removal operations have begun. In some places, the road is covered with 15 metres (50 feet) of snow.

The Savoyard passes are buried under the snow. Early May usually marks the beginning of the reopening of mountain passes to bicycles and cars. This year, after exceptional falls, they are still covered with several meters of snow. They will therefore only be able to open with a fortnight's delay.

At the small Saint-Bernard, we measure up to 6 meters (20 feet) of snow. As for the Iseran and Croix de Fer passes, snow removal will not begin until May 7. At the Galibier Pass, snow removal operations have even been stopped because of the risk of avalanches.

Snow removal in progress 🚜 with 5 to 6 m ❄❄❄ before recovering the Mont-Cenis pass road 🛣
The opening to bikes 🚴♂ and cars 🚗 could be 15 days late #SuperNeige

15 metres (50 feet) of snow at the Cormet de Roselend

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Snowflake

More heavy snowfall hits French Pyrenees - 6 inches on the way


lindependant.fr
Thu, 03 May 2018 18:17 UTC
snow pyrenees
Winter never ends. After an exceptional season in terms of snowfall over the upper canton, further snowfall is forecast by Météo-France until Friday noon.

There it goes again. Since this Thursday, the snow is back from 1,500 meters on the Catalan Pyrenees. In Andorra, the rainfall recorded in recent hours is significant for a month of May. At Pas de la Case, it has already fallen between 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimetres).


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Sun

'Rare' sun halo seen over Bhubaneswar, India


The New Indian Express
Fri, 04 May 2018 03:18 UTC
Sun halo over India
© The New Indian Express
People in the Capital were treated to a rare phenomenon in the sky on Thursday. In an unusual sight, the sun was surrounded by a halo.The ring of light around the sun was witnessed between 10 am and 11 am. The spectacular sky view remained for over half-an-hour leaving the spectators awestruck.

"I spotted a ring like formation around the sun when I was on my way to office at about 10.15 am. It was really a spectacular sight. I had never seen such a scene before. Initially I thought something scary is going to happen but later I came to know that it was a halo," said Jitendra Nayak, a resident of Satya Nagar.

However, scientists reasoned it as an effect of both refraction and reflection of light from ice crystals moving in the space. Astronomers said such phenomenon occurs as reflection of light is produced at 22 degrees from the sun. The halo occurs when sunlight refracts through a high band of cirrus clouds around 7 km above the ground. The cirrus clouds contain millions of individual ice crystals formed out of super cooled water droplets in the air.
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Umbrella

Heavy rainfall for May causes flooding in Sardinia, Italy - 4 times monthly average in 2 days

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 03 May 2018 18:33 UTC
Floods in Nuoro Province, Sardinia, 02 May 2018
© Vigili del FuocoFloods in Nuoro Province, Sardinia, 02 May 2018
Two days of heavy rain has caused flooding and landslides in Sardinia, Italy. Around 100 people have been evacuated from their homes. In the last 48 hours some areas have recorded over 150 mm of rain - more than four times the average monthly total for May.

Schools have been closed in several areas of the island due to the bad weather. Flooding and landslides have closed roads in the Municipality of Villacidro and near Cagliari.

Two families were evacuated as a precaution in Villacidro, South Sardinia Province. Around 100 people (20 families) have been evacuated in Torpé in Nuoro Province as a precaution due to rising levels of the Posada river.

Firefighters were called to over 60 interventions in Cagliari and surrounding areas. Emergency services also rescued farm workers who were stranded by flooding in Nuoro Province.
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Wolf

Attack by pack of stray dogs on student filmed at Chinese university

Kinling Lo
South China Morning Post
Fri, 04 May 2018 18:17 UTC
Stray dog attack caught on camera
Stray dog attack caught on camera
A Chinese university says it has hired professional handlers to round up stray dogs on its campus and give them to animal welfare groups after two students were attacked in separate incidents this week.

Xiangtan University, in central Hunan province, will also step up security patrols on campus to tackle the problem but stressed it would not cull the dogs, The Beijing News reported on Thursday.

The university had to abandon a controversial plan to cull stray dogs last year after animal rights activists campaigned against it, according to the report.

The latest action was prompted by two attacks, one of them caught on security footage and posted on Weibo, China's Twitter, where it has been watched more than two million times.

The video shows a female student walking alone along a path on Tuesday around 9pm when a pack of six dogs suddenly appear from nearby bushes and run towards her.

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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorm, rain destroy apple, maize, potato and wheat crops in Jumla, Nepal

LP Devkota
Kathmandu Post
Fri, 04 May 2018 16:16 UTC
Hailstorm blankets a farm in Jumla.
© Kathmandu PostHailstorm blankets a farm in Jumla.
A hailstorm and continuous rain that lashed parts of Jumla last week damaged apple crops in many places, wiping out a large number of farmers' income.

Apple growers in Patarasi Rural Municipality said hardly any fruits were left on the trees. The agriculture office said that around 95 percent of the apples had been ruined by the hailstorm in most parts of the district.

Municipality officials said that details of the damage were yet to be ascertained. However, farmers who have insured their crops will not be affected much. In 2016, apple crops in Jumla were insured for the first time allowing farmers to receive compensation if their harvests fail due to bad weather.

Apart from loss due to lack of rainfall, the insurance policy covers damage to crops by hailstorms. This year, apple farmers in Jomsom, Mustang got their crops insured for the first time.
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Sun

Record temperatures in Pakistan reach a sweltering 122.4F

Debbie White
Daily Mail
Fri, 04 May 2018 16:16 UTC
Etienne Kapikian,
Etienne Kapikian, a French meteorologist at Meteo France, said that it was the hottest April temperature recorded across the entire Asian continent, as well as Pakistan
Pakistan has experienced the world's hottest April day on record, with temperatures peaking at 122.4F (50.2C), according to experts.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department confirmed the extreme temperature was recorded in the city of Nawabshah on Monday, April 30, potentially making it the hottest April temperature ever witnessed on Earth.

In April, average temperatures in Pakistan range from 64.4F (18C) to 84.2F (29C).

Etienne Kapikian, a French meteorologist at Meteo France, said on Twitter that it was the hottest April temperature recorded across the entire Asian continent, as well as Pakistan.

His tweet prompted one person to reply: '50 Celsius? In APRIL?! RIP Pakistan.'

Another said: 'It's not like we don't get 50C but it's just that we never had it so early in the season.'
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Snowflake

Experts confirm winter broke records for snowfall in Switzerland


The Local (Switzerland)
Fri, 04 May 2018 12:26 UTC
snow in the Alps
Snow in the Alps
Following three years with little snow, the Swiss winter of 2017-18 brought exceptional quantities of the white stuff - but only in the mountains.

Record snowfall, avalanches and horror storms were all part of the picture from December right up to the end of April, when 10 people died in three separate bad weather incidents.

The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF/WSL said on Thursday that overall it had been one of the longest and whitest winters for 30 years at elevations above 1,500 metres.
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Arrow Down

Public works truck gets stuck in sinkhole in Burlington, Vermont


wcax.com
Wed, 02 May 2018 12:06 UTC
Stuck truck
© Corey RondeauStuck truck
You know the roads are bad in Burlington when this happens. A resident snapped this shot of a Department of Public Works truck stuck in a big hole!

It happened Tuesday at Kilburn and St. Paul streets.

The resident posted it to the online forum Reddit and the department responded, blaming aging infrastructure for the incident.

They said no one was hurt.

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Tornado2

Nine tornadoes hit Midwest as severe weather threatens 40 million across US


CBS News
Thu, 03 May 2018 07:15 UTC
Large tornado touches down in Tescott, Kansas
© Connor McCrorey/LMSLarge tornado touches down in Tescott, Kansas
At least 40 million people are under threat of severe weather Thursday morning. Nine tornadoes were reported from Texas to Iowa Wednesday with some straight-line wind gusts exceeding 100 mph. More tornadoes, damaging wind and heavy rain could affect people across the central U.S. and into the Northeast Thursday.

CBS News' Tony Dokoupil reports from Raytown, Missouri, where winds were powerful enough to take down a 200-year-old red oak tree and snap another tree into shards, sending the pieces barreling into Sean Hagg's home.

"The house shook, and the windows blew open....I didn't have the time to even know if the whole house was coming down. I heard the tornado sirens go off so I wasn't sure if it was the tree or something bigger," Hagg said.

The same scene played out near Elkhart, Indiana. In Oklahoma, sirens warned residents to take shelter as ominous clouds brought a piercing rain and damaging tornadoes. At least nine were reported in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, just one day after more than 18 tornadoes ripped through the Midwest, including a twister in Tescott, Kansas.

Across the central U.S., heavy rain, lightning and strong winds tore through homes and knocked down power lines.

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