Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Lost Tropical Kingbird turns up far north of normal range in Nova Scotia, Canada

Carla Allen
Yarmouth County Vanguard
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 14:39 UTC
The Tropical Kingbird at Chebogue Point, photographed by Ervin Olsen on Oct. 24, represents the first fully confirmed record of the species for Nova Scotia.
© Ervin OlsenThe Tropical Kingbird at Chebogue Point, photographed by Ervin Olsen on Oct. 24, represents the first fully confirmed record of the species for Nova Scotia.
"Man of the Day, Bird of the Year" and "Mega Rarity" were some of the comments posted after Ervin Olsen shared his photo of a rare Tropical Kingbird with the Nova Scotia Bird Society via social media recently.

Olsen spotted the bird on the morning of Oct. 24 on the Cleveland Road in Yarmouth County then followed it to the Chebogue Point Road. By afternoon, other birders had joined him, hoping to add this rarity to their lifer list.

The Tropical Kingbird at Chebogue Point represents the first fully confirmed record of the species for Nova Scotia.

Alix d'Entremont, who (along with Murray Newell) represents Shelburne and Yarmouth counties for the Nova Scotia Bird Society, provided information on the typical habitat of the Tropical Kingbird.

Comment: Interestingly, there was another recent extralimital record of this same species in Tillamook, Oregon

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Attention

Body of humpback whale discovered on beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


euronews
Thu, 26 Oct 2017 11:01 UTC
Body of humpback whale
Body of humpback whale
The body of a seven tonne humpback whale has been found on a Rio de Janeiro beach.

Brazilian environmental authorities confirmed it was the same whale that had been rescued just days earlier over the weekend.

On Sunday (October 22), the four metre long (13 feet) whale beached itself on the Playa Grande beach.

Dozens of beachgoers and experts gathered to save it. They successfully managed to tow the mammal out to open water.

However, the body of the same whale was found on a rocky outcropping in the same area just two days later in a state of advanced decomposition.


Comment: See also: 103 whales have died on Brazilian beaches in 2017

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Info

Tropical Storm Selma develops in a rare location in Eastern Pacific

Linda Lam
The Weather Channel
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 22:45 UTC
Tropical Storm Selma
© Weather ChannelCurrent Storm Status

The highest cloud tops, corresponding to the most vigorous convection, are shown in the brightest red colors. Clustering, deep convection around the center is a sign of a healthy tropical cyclone.
Tropical Storm Selma has developed in a rare location, south of El Salvador, and is expected to make landfall on Saturday.

Here's the latest from the National Hurricane Center:
  • Tropical Storm Selma is located about 100 miles south of San Salvador, El Salvador and has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.
  • Selma is currently moving to the north at about 7 mph.
  • Heavy rainfall in El Salvador and southern Guatemala is the main concern from this system.
Most notable about Tropical Storm Selma is that it developed in an unusual location in the Eastern Pacific. The National Hurricane Center noted in its discussion Friday morning that Selma is only the second tropical storm to form east of longitude 90W on record, that did not come from an Atlantic basin tropical cyclone.

The other tropical system that formed as far east, not including tropical cyclones that originated in the Atlantic and reformed in the eastern Pacific, is Tropical Storm Alma in 2008. Alma made landfall southwest of Leon, Nicaragua and produced 14.82 inches in Quepas, Costa Rica and 11.72 inches at Punto Sandino, Nicaragua, which resulted in substantial damage.

Comment: A couple of weeks ago Ophelia formed the farthest east that a major hurricane has ever been in the Atlantic.

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Attention

Dozens of seal pups killed during Storm Brian on the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales

Amy Coles
WalesOnline
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:30 UTC
A dead immature grey seal.
© The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.A dead immature grey seal.
Some of Wales' seal population is facing devastation after an estimated 50 baby pups were killed in recent storms.

Two-thirds of the total number of Atlantic grey seal pups on Skomer Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire , perished in the wake of storms Ophelia and Brian.

Those that managed to survive sustained injuries to their heads or bodies.

Others were separated from their mums by the weather and were spotted washing up on beaches along the Pembrokeshire coast.

Unless they are found by their mums they will likely starve to death.
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Ice Cube

Intense hailstorm in Cordoba, Argentina leaves hail accumulations of 1.5 m (4.9 feet) within 15 minutes


Sott.net
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 17:52 UTC
Hail accumulation in Cordoba, Argentina
© TwitterHail accumulation on route E-21 in La Cruz, Cordoba, Argentina
An intense hailstorm hit the Cordoba region of Argentina on Thursday, October 26, 2017 leaving hail accumulations of 1.5 m (4.9 feet) within 15 minutes around La Cruz reported La Nacion.

Meteorologists issued alerts before the storm hit but they 'never' imagined such an impressive phenomenon said Fire Chief Martin Bustos. Firefighters worked for several hours with two diggers to free cars trapped on route E-21 and to make the road passable.

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Bizarro Earth

Cold kills, not life-sustaining global warming

Viv Forbes
Watts Up With That
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 11:15 UTC
It was ice, not global warming, that killed and entombed millions of mammoths and woolly rhinos in Siberia and Alaska.

It was unrelenting cold and then ice, not global warming, that forced the Vikings out of Greenland.

It was bitter winters, not heat waves, that finally defeated the armies of Napoleon and Hitler in Russia.
“Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow”
© Painting by Adolph Northen/Wiki CommonsRussian Winter: “Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow”.
George Washington's army also suffered from an unusually bitter winter at Valley Forge in 1778, in the depths of the Little Ice Age.
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Rainbow

Spectacular 'fire rainbow' spotted over nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, UK

Tara Cox
Cambridge News
Thu, 26 Oct 2017 15:58 UTC
Fire rainbow over Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire
© Glynis Pierson/National TrustThe rare phenomenon captured at Wicken Fen is also known as a ‘sun dog’ or ‘fire rainbow’ .
These amazing photos show a vivid upside-down rainbow above skies at Cambridgeshire's Wicken Fen nature reserve.

The phenomenon, called a circumzenithal arc, is caused by ice crystals refracting the sun's rays.

The rare turn in weather is also known as a 'sun dog' or 'fire rainbow' - and was captured at Wicken Fen by National Trust volunteer Glynis Pierson.

Unlike normal rainbows, which form when light shines through rain, circumzenithal arcs are likely to appear on clear, still days.
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Arrow Down

Mudslide kills 5 siblings in Larráinzar, Mexico

Manuel De La Cruz
Fire Engineering
Wed, 25 Oct 2017 15:21 UTC
CANDLES
A mudslide buried a home in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas early Wednesday, killing five children from the same family, authorities said.

Two girls and three boys between the ages of 3 and 11 died in the community of Tzajalho, which is in the Larrainzar municipality about 16 miles (26 kilometers) north of San Cristobal de la Casas, said Victor Amezcua, spokesman for the state Civil Defense.

He said the five children were sleeping in one room of the wooden home. Their parents, who were rescued, were sleeping in another. Authorities said the children died from asphyxiation.

"We were about to get up when the mountain came down," said the children's father, Gregorio Santiz Gomez. "The children were in the other room and that's where they stayed."
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Seismograph

Four large earthquakes recorded in Iceland's most powerful volcano


Iceland Monitor
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 14:53 UTC
The Bárðarbunga caldera is located under Vatnajökull glacier, Europe's largest glacier.
© Oddur SigurðssonThe Bárðarbunga caldera is located under Vatnajökull glacier, Europe's largest glacier.
Four large earthquakes occurred in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system last night, the largest earthquakes since the 2014-2015 volcanic eruption.

The first earthquake of magnitude 3.9 on the richter scale occured at 23:02 last night, followed by a 3.2 earthquake at 23:03. The third quake hit the volcano at 23:26 and measured 4.7. The fourth earthquake of magnitude 4.7 occured 16 minutes past midnight.

An earthquake measuring 4.1 took place in the volano earlier this week and several earthquakes hit the volcano in September.

Bárðarbunga is the largest and most powerful volcano in Iceland. It is located under the northern part of the Vatnajökull glacier in South Iceland, Europe's largest glacier. The Bárðarbunga volcanic system is approximately 200 km (120 miles) long.
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Attention

Six baby whales found dead on Yasawa, Fiji

Semi Turaga and Lena Reece
Fijivillage.com
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:05 UTC
People take photos of the beached whales
People take photos of the beached whales
Six baby whales were hauled up on a beach near Bukama village in Yasawa yesterday.

One of our reporters Gary Volau says all the baby whales were dead by the time any of the villagers saw them.

He says there are only five dead whales left on the beach after one was taken by sharks.

When contacted by Fijivillage, the Ministry of Fisheries has confirmed that they are not aware of the incident as no report of the incident has been lodged.
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