Earth ChangesS


Ice Cube

Thousands of ice balls wash up in the Gulf of Finland on the Russian coast

Tariq Tahir
Daily Mail (UK)
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:11 UTC
The balls were up to seven in diameter
The balls were up to seven in diameter and no definitive explanation for their existence has been accepted
Strange ice balls that washed up on the coast may have been caused by oil pollution, an ecological expert has said.

A video shows the strangely uniformly sized ice balls washing up in the Gulf of Finland in north-western Russia.

Ecologist Ilya Leukhin told local media that oil spills in the water could have created the ice balls but she was not the only one with a possible explanation for the phenomenon.

Yuryi Shahov, who videoed and shared the sight online, said: 'Seems that someone has thrown snowballs into the Gulf.'

Some believe that snow was rolled together by the waves, or that what look like ice balls could in fact be stones covered with ice.

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Attention

Fin whale dies after being stranded at Newport News, Virginia

Becca Mitchell
wtkr.com
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 13:45 UTC
dead whale
A large whale has been spotted in the Newport News Channel just off King-Lincoln Park Beach near the Monitor Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel.

On Tuesday morning, the whale was moving and appeared to be stuck in the shallow water. The whale was declared dead by Tuesday afternoon. It is being moved to deeper water.

The Newport News Police Department Marine Unit is on scene. The Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Response Team has been notified and are working on a plan.

While whales are not uncommon in local waters during colder months, some can become stranded, lost or injured by boaters.

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Camera

Bizarre sight as hundreds of birds found dead on a road in northern Sweden

Anton Svensson
SVT Nyheter
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 12:01 UTC
Translated by Sott.net
dead birds sweden
© Mikael Lind
A bizarre sight hit Mikael Lind from Örnsköldsvik.

Hundreds of gray birds suddenly died in the middle of the road.

"It was surreal," he told SVT News.

He was headed towards Gottne in November when he saw the birds just lying there in the middle of the road, over an estimated 25 meter stretch.

"At first I thought it was rocks or gravel, so I slowed down to around 50 kph, but the closer I came, it turned out to be birds. But they did not move so some of the birds were picked up by the car and got stuck in the grill," he says.

He then stopped to examine the absurd view more closely.

Comment: There is likely an environmental factor behind this, perhaps some sort of electric discharge that zapped them mid-flight. Or there could be stranger explanations:

And They March! The Strange Tale of the Beebe Blackbirds
Procession of the Damned: Mass Bird and Fish Deaths Turning Up Everywhere
Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction

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Tornado2

Destructive tornado rips through South Africa: 50 people injured, 550 homes damaged (VIDEOS)


Sott.net
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 06:11 UTC
Tornado damage in Midvaal, South Africa
© Itumeleng English/ANAA tornado ripped through the Vaal in Midvaal, leaving more than 1 100 shack dwellers homeless and destroying many homes.
A destructive tornado ripped through the Vaal Marina area in Midvaal, South Africa on Monday December 11, 2017. Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi said 50 people were injured, more than 550 homes damaged and more than 1100 people displaced following the storm.

Recalling the two to three minute tornado encounter, local resident Nkutha said:
"I have never seen anything like this. Strong winds just started blowing, followed by a hail storm.

"There was no way I could save my shack, so I took my little niece, Owethu, and put her in the food cupboard. I then lifted my skirt and told the other children in the house to hide."
According to local media reports, it blew off roof tops, uprooting trees and destroying fences and walls in its wake. This video shows the extensive damage caused.

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Seismograph

Shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits southeastern Iran, second M6.0+ quake in 12 hours


Sott.net
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 05:30 UTC
Earthquake in Kerman, Iran
© USGS (screen capture)
The USGS reports a M6.0 earthquake struck southeastern Iran (64km NNE of Kerman) at a depth of 10 km on Tues, 12 Dec, at 21:41:31 UTC.

It was the second M6.0+ earthquake to hit Iran's southeastern province of Kerman within 12 hours. Multiple strong quakes have injured at least 18 people and damaging some 20 houses, state media reported.

Just over one month ago a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Iran-Iraq border region. It killed over 400 people becoming the deadliest quake of 2017.
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Snowflake

Over a meter of snow in 72 hours for the Alps - Big falls in the Dolomites and Pyrenees too


Inthesnow.com
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 21:03 UTC
Les Gets.
Les Gets.
Snowfall totals for the past 72 hours have now passed the metre/40 inches mark in the Alps.

Hopes that the start of the 2017-18 ski season would be 'good' after three poor snowfall starts over the last three seasons have now been adjusted so that the start of winter 17-18 looks like the best for many years.

The latest snow comes after a mostly snowy November and October, so bases had already been in good shape before the current massive snowfalls.

The snow is still falling heavily so the totals continue to change but at time of writing two areas were claiming 1.3m (4.3 feet) of fresh snow in the past 72 hours - Madesimo in Italy and Orcieres Merlette (below) in France.
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Snowflake

Rare heavy snow hits London, while 120 MPH snowstorms spawn 'snow devils'


Adapt 2030
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 20:09 UTC
Winchfawr
© Hayley DownWinchfawr, Wales
Unusual climate patterns as increasingly unstable jet streams due to the intensifying Grand Solar Minimum pull warm desert air to the Alps with 50 F /16 C temps, while plunging the UK to a snow bound winter wonder land, snow blocking highways into London. In Poland, winds so strong snow devils appear in the mountains, Italy with 3-4 feet of snow and 120 MPH winds pound the Med.


Sources
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Binoculars

Eurasian mistle thrush turns up in New Brunswick, Canada; first record for North America

Elizabeth Fraser
CBC News
Mon, 11 Dec 2017 19:25 UTC
A mistle thrush landed on a Miramichi lawn over the weekend and has been feeding on nearby berries.
© Peter GaddA mistle thrush landed on a Miramichi lawn over the weekend and has been feeding on nearby berries.
A "mega-rarity" bird blew into Miramichi over the weekend, and it's attracting bird lovers from across Eastern Canada and the U.S. who've never seen one in North America before.

Peter Gadd said a European mistle thrush landed near a mountain ash tree on his lawn and has been drawing crowds ever since.

"I saw a bird and thought, 'OK, that's a little different,'" said Gadd, who spotted the bird on Saturday.

Gadd and his wife, Deana, have been active birders for more than four years.

After spotting the bird and carefully studying its features, Gadd tried to find something similar in one of his several North American bird books.

Nothing seemed to match.

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Wolf

Elderly woman killed by her own pit bull terrier in Alsip, Illinois


wgntv.com
Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:33 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
Police in suburban Alsip had to kill a pit bull that attacked and killed a 77-year-old woman.

Officers were called to Komensky Ave and 116th St Monday afternoon to investigate reports of a woman being mauled by a dog in the back yard.

When they arrived officers say the dog was still aggressive and had to shoot it.

They tried to give the woman first aid but it was too late. Police said the woman lived at that address.

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Snowflake Cold

Extreme weather creates chaos across Europe


France 24
Mon, 11 Dec 2017 19:24 UTC
Cancelled flights at Brussels Airport
© Eric Lalmand, AFPCancelled flights at Brussels Airport December 11 2017
High winds and heavy snow in Europe on Monday stranded thousands of travelers, kept schoolchildren at home and even played havoc with international diplomacy.

It was the second day running of nasty weather across the continent, with Britain still digging out from its deepest snowfall in four years.

The snowed-over runways in Brussels on Monday provoked about 90 flight cancellations and some 100 delays, including for the plane carrying Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back home.

He tweeted a video from his plane that opened with a shot of the white tarmac at the close of his European visit marked by the US recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.


Comment: See also:

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