Earth ChangesS


Ice Cube

Climate-change expedition scrapped due to 'very severe ice conditions'

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:35 UTC
Ice breaker ship
© Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans
A team of scientists - aboard an icebreaker, mind you! - had to abandon their expedition because of hazardous ice conditions. Ice chunks measured 16 to 26 feet (5 to 8 m) thick. The "very icy conditions" were caused by climate change, says the group's leader.

About 40 scientists were using the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen for a 133-day expedition across the Arctic, part of a $17-million, four-year project to look at the effects of climate change. They began their trip on May 25 in Quebec City, but due to bad ice conditions off the coast of Newfoundland, the icebreaker was diverted to help ferries and fishing boats stuck in the ice. Some had even took on water.

'Very severe ice conditions'

According to the Canadian Coast Guard, the conditions were unlike anything ever seen before in the area. "It was just extreme ice conditions that required everything that we've got in order to make sure we were able to provide the services," said Julie Gascon, the coast guard's assistant commissioner for the central and Arctic region.
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Ice Cube

Record cold across Nevada - Heavy snowfall in the mountains

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 21:31 UTC
sierra nevada snow June 2017
Several daily low temperatures and rainfall records were set yesterday across central and northern Nevada. On the same day, the state's mountainous regions received an estimated 6 - 12 inches (15 - 30 cm) of snow.

The rare winter-like storm hit parts of California and Nevada on June 11 and 12, 2017, dumping measurable snow on Lake Tahoe on the California/and Nevada border.
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Snowflake

Winter storm in June brings up to 9 inches of snow to Idaho


Idaho State Journal
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 20:37 UTC
Snow near Arco.
© National Weather ServiceSnow near Arco.
The storm that brought snow in June to East Idaho is expected to exit the region Wednesday morning but the hazardous conditions it has created on the region's waterways could continue for the remainder of the week.

The National Weather Service urges people to keep small children and pets away from East Idaho's rivers, streams and reservoirs because of the rising water levels and powerful currents caused by the storm that began hitting the region on Sunday night.

The weather service wants everyone to use extreme caution around the region's waterways until calmer waters prevail by the end of the week.

The weather service said the storm dumped several inches of snow Monday and Tuesday on many of the region's higher elevation areas — which is "highly unusual" for this time of year.

The mountains near the Pomerelle ski area received the most snow from the storm — 9 inches. The mountains near Island Park got nearly 7 inches of snow, while the higher elevations in Teton County received nearly 6 inches of snow.
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Snowflake

Big Sky Resort in Montana sees 6 inches of snow a week before official start of summer

Judith Retana
nbcmontana.com
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:09 UTC
Big Sky Resort
Big Sky Resort
A week ahead of the official start of summer, several inches of snow fell over Big Sky Resort on Tuesday. It was a sprinkling compared to the several feet that fell on this day 16 years ago.

"When I got here there was about six inches of snow on the ground and it was a bit colder," Lyndsey Owens, marketing director at Big Sky Resort, said.

It is not the first time Owens has seen June snow.

"We got 32 inches on June 13, 2001. The resort opened. They opened a gondola and two runs off of that. I was actually here and I went skiing that day," Owens said.
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Windsock

Evacuations, flooding and roads washed away as France lashed by storms


RT
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 19:25 UTC
France storms
© Philippe Desmazes / AFP
Some 160 people have been evacuated as violent storms batter the southeast of France, causing widespread damage to roads and bridges. One person is missing and authorities have issued a series of alerts over the severe weather.

A 27-year-old man is missing after being swept away by floodwaters near the village of Brignon, in the Haute-Loire area. The area was severely hit by the powerful storms that landed on Tuesday night.

The farmer was reportedly leading rescue workers to a remote house to help a trapped woman when his vehicle was engulfed by the rushing waters.
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Bizarro Earth

Signs and Portents: Two-headed porpoise found off Netherlands coast for the first time ever

Georgina Hines
New Scientist
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 19:13 UTC
two-headed porpoise
© Henk Tanis
Fishers off the coast of the Netherlands got quite a shock when they caught what has now been confirmed as the first case of conjoined twin harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena).

With a single body and two fully grown heads, this is a case of partial twinning, or parapagus dicephalus. The sighting is extremely rare: these male porpoises are only the 10th known case of conjoined twins in cetaceans, a group of animals that also includes whales and dolphins.

"The anatomy of cetaceans is strikingly different from terrestrial mammals with adaptations for living in the sea as a mammal. Much is unknown," says Erwin Kompanje at the Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, and one of the authors of the paper describing the find. "Adding any extra case to the known nine specimens brings more knowledge on this aspect."
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Snowflake

Unseasonably strong Spring storm brings snow to Wyoming

Robert W. Felix
Ice Age Now
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:48 UTC
June snow in Wyoming
Webcam shot of US 26, Wind River Lake, WY – 13 June 2017 (0.7 miles west of Teton/Fremont County Line)
An unseasonably strong late Spring storm will produce significant snowfall across the Western Wyoming Mountains late tonight and into Tuesday.

Late Season Accumulating Snow Expected for Western Wyoming Late tonight and Tuesday

The low pressure center will be tracking northeast across Yellowstone Park tonight. This low will be producing numerous showers and thunderstorms this evening. Sharply colder moisture laden air will be circulating around the back side of this low as the low tracks northeast into Montana. This much colder air will lower snow levels all the way down to the valley floor at times by Tuesday morning.

Snow amounts will likely range anywhere from from 4 to 12 inches above 7500 feet along with some isolated amounts of up to 14 inches in the Tetons by Tuesday evening. 1 to 3 inches of snow is expected to accumulate in the Western Wyoming Valleys by Tuesday before melting off Tuesday afternoon.
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Arrow Down

More sinkholes open in The Villages, Florida


WFTV9
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:03 UTC
Sinkhole under a home in FL
© Cox Media
A woman wasn't able to return to her home in The Villages Tuesday, one day after a sinkhole opened beneath a portion of her house.

The sinkhole opened Monday near the front door of her home on Abercrombie Way.

The woman's neighbors told Channel 9 that the homeowner discovered the hole when she walked outside to retrieve a newspaper.

The woman was forced out of her home, which was surrounded with yellow tape and signs warning people not to get close to the home.

She was the only person in the area who had to evacuate.

Comment: See also: 2 sinkholes open up at golf course in The Villages, Florida

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Binoculars

Bird from the tropics, the brown booby, seen for first time in New Hampshire

Breanna Edelstein
Eagle Tribune
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:40 UTC
A Brown Booby, a rare sea bird never spotted in New Hampshire before Saturday, sits on a deck overlooking Cobbetts Pond in Windham.
© AMANDA SABGA A Brown Booby, a rare sea bird never spotted in New Hampshire before Saturday, sits on a deck overlooking Cobbetts Pond in Windham.
Bird aficionados and wildlife photographers from across the region are flocking to Cobbett's Pond, hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare species spotted in the Granite State for the first time Saturday.

A summer renter staying near the Town Beach noticed the large seabird — known as a Brown Booby — perched on his waterfront deck over the weekend.

"I knew it didn't belong here just by looking at it," said John Kleschinsky. "It never left Saturday. And on Sunday, it would fly away and then come back every 15 minutes."

Word spread quickly after an interested Kleschinsky posted a photo on Facebook, asking if anyone had information to share.

The responses came flooding in, and so did interested bird watchers.

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Attention

Hundreds of dead seagulls litter road in Detroit, Michigan

Charlie Langton
fox2detroit.com
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 14:23 UTC
dead gulls
Hundreds of dead seagulls are filling Jefferson Ave, creating a major mess.

Residents near Jefferson Ave, just north of the Rouge Bridge, don't know what to make of the surge in birds.

Linda Dackery, who lives in the area, says it's hard to believe what she's seeing.

"I thought they were dive-bombing the cars, I don't know what's going on."

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) tells FOX 2 young birds live nearby over and then walk across Jefferson and they get squashed.

The DNR has done testing on the carcasses of these goals. The preliminary findings show some of them died because of dehydration, others died because of the cars.

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