Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Abrupt turnaround: After months of dry weather, snow recorded in the Cascades, Washington


My Northwest
Mon, 18 Sep 2017 18:15 UTC
snowfall
There wasn't much of a transitional period between Western Washington's dry summer weather and the inevitable wet fall and winter many of us dread.

After enjoying temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s Saturday, things cooled off Sunday and the rain returned.

Within three hours on Sunday, it rained five times as much in Seattle as it had between July through the first half of September.

By early Monday morning, it was snowing in the mountains.

"FIRST SNOW AT STEVENS PASS! September 18th, 2017!" a message on the Stevens Pass Mountain Resort Facebook page read.

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Tornado1

Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands brace for another 'potentially catastrophic' Category 5 hurricane: Maria


RT
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 02:04 UTC
Puerto rico hurricane Irma
© Jonathan Drake / ReutersA completely destroyed house is seen 12 days after Hurricane Irma ripped through the island, in the Cruz Bay area of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands September 16, 2017.
Hurricane Maria has been upgraded to an "potentially catastrophic" Category 5 hurricane by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) as it tracks towards the already storm-battered Caribbean islands.

The eye of the hurricane is expected to pass near Dominica and the adjacent Leeward Islands during the next few hours and approach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday night, according to the latest public advisory issued at 12:00am GMT.


A Hurricane Warning has been issued for Puerto Rico, Culebra, Vieques, the British Virgin Islands, the US Virgin Islands, Dominica and other islands in the area. Maria is likely to affect Puerto Rico as "an extremely dangerous major hurricane," according to the NHC.
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Info

Turning point in history: Hurricane Irma leaves Island of Barbuda uninhabited for the first time in 4,000 years


Ancient Origins
Sat, 16 Sep 2017 14:01 UTC
Hurricane Irma
2017 is a turning point in the history of Barbuda. Due to the devastation of Hurricane Irma, this small Caribbean island currently has no human inhabitants.

As Ambassador Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the U.S. since 2015, said "For the first time in 300 years, there's not a single living person on the island of Barbuda - a civilization that has existed on that island for over 300 years has now been extinguished." All of Barbuda's citizens were evacuated to the neighboring island of Antigua.

Comment: See also: Paradise islands devastated by Hurricane Irma (VIDEOS, PHOTOS)

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Snowflake

Up to a foot of snow dumps on fire burning in the Crazy Mountains, Montana


The Livingston Enterprise
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 14:41 UTC
Reconnaissance flight on Sept. 17 for the Blacktail Fire in the Crazy Mountains
© Jade MartinReconnaissance flight on Sept. 17 for the Blacktail Fire in the Crazy Mountains
No surprise — recent rain, snow and cooler weather has put a big dent into the Blacktail fire in the Crazy Mountains and will likely lead to lifting of Stage 1 fire restrictions in the area this week.

Eight to 12 inches of snow fell on parts of the Blacktail fire, U.S. Forest Service Public Affairs Officer Kathy Bushnell said Monday morning.

"It was definitely quite the change of weather conditions," Bushnell said. "... There hasn't been a lot of fire activity over the last few days just because the fuel is getting wet from all the moisture."
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Snowflake

Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon sees inches of snow before summer ends


katu.com
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 14:21 UTC
Timberline Lodge had several inches of snow on the ground on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.
© SBGTimberline Lodge had several inches of snow on the ground on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.
Timberline Lodge is getting a dose of winter weather - in September.

Several inches of snow have fallen at Timberline Lodge since Monday morning. Meteorologists say this type of weather is unusual this time of year.

Usually the lodge sees sticking snows in October, not before the first day of fall.

The snow begins about halfway up Timberline Road and it quickly turns to thick, slippery conditions a couple miles from the lodge.
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Snowflake

Parts of Spain receive earlier than normal snowfall

Sean Campbell
Euro Weekly
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 14:10 UTC
snow Spain
© Meteo Aragon
Spanish snow has arrived in September.

A red hot summer has given way to a milder yet still-warm autumn but as holidaymakers continue to flood the Costas in search of sun and sand, those in the north have seen rain and snow.

The Pyrenees and Cantabrian mountains have proved a peculiar sight as they were dyed white in September, much earlier than normal.

Ski resorts in the highest peaks of the Pyrenees have been covered in blankets of snow.

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Attention

Shark attacks fisherman at lagoon in Samoa

Ilia L. Likou
Samoa Observer
Sat, 16 Sep 2017 12:58 UTC
Shark attacks
A young man from the village of Nofoali'i has survived a shark attack which has left villagers deeply disturbed.

The young man was fishing in the lagoon on Friday afternoon when he was attacked, villagers told the Sunday Samoan yesterday.

It was not possible to get a comment from the family of the man attacked.

But one of the villagers who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the incident has left villagers concerned, especially since many of them depend on fishing for their daily upkeep.
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Attention

Humpback whale dies after stranding near Henties, Namibia

Adam Hartman
The Namibian
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 09:29 UTC
The female humpback whale stranded north of Henties Bay yesterday.
The female humpback whale stranded north of Henties Bay yesterday.
A female humpback whale was stranded about a kilometre north of Henties Bay on Sunday night.

Estimates of locals who approached the animal during low-tide are that it was about ten metres long and still alive when spotted early yesterday morning.

According to representatives of the Namibian Dolphin Project, the pressure of the whale's heavy soft body on its organs as it lay on the sand where it had beached, may have caused organ failure and by midday yesterday it was dead.

According to the project, which studies whales, dolphins and turtles along Namibia's coast, humpback whales migrate along the Namibian coastline between their feeding grounds in the Antarctic and breeding grounds off west Africa.
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Attention

Severe flash flooding as dam under construction unexpectedly bursts in Laos (VIDEO)

David Strege
GrindTV
Mon, 18 Sep 2017 19:36 UTC
flash floods after Laos dam burst
© YouTube/Xov Xwm_Lom Zem (screen capture)
A destructive flash flood occurred when a dam under construction unexpectedly burst open sent people in its wake running for their lives in the Laos province of Xieng Khouang.

Video of the Sept. 11 disaster shows the raging waters growing more widespread as workers run for higher ground while some unsuccessfully attempt to drive vehicles out of harm's way.

An unidentified woman screams in a panic, presumably instructing them to leave the vehicles and get to safety:

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Windsock

Hurricane Maria hits Dominica as category five storm


BBC News
Tue, 19 Sep 2017 02:53 UTC
Hurricane Maria as it nears Dominica
© APThe eye of Hurricane Maria as it nears Dominica.
Hurricane Maria, strengthened to a "potentially catastrophic" category five storm, has torn into the Caribbean island of Dominica with sustained winds of 260km/h (160mph).

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit posted on Facebook that his roof had been torn off and he was "at the complete mercy of the hurricane".

He said his house had flooded, later adding that he had been rescued.

Dominica's airport and ports have been closed.

Maria is moving roughly along the same track as Irma, the hurricane that devastated the region this month.

The nearby island of Martinique has declared a maximum-level alert while another French island, Guadeloupe, ordered evacuations.

Hurricane warnings are also in place for:
  • Puerto Rico: The US territory expects Maria to make landfall as a category three on Tuesday. It escaped the worst of Irma and has been an important hub for getting relief to islands more badly affected. Governor Ricardo Rossello urged islanders to seek refuge
  • US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands: Both island chains suffered severe damage from Irma and President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the US territories on Monday. British authorities fear debris left behind by Irma could be whipped up by the new storm and pose an extra threat.
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