Earth ChangesS


Attention

Thousands of bees shut down street in New York's midtown


RT
Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:41 UTC
swarm of bees
© Global Look Press
Thousands of bees invaded a bright yellow van parked in New York's midtown, terrifying the van's driver and his companion. Police closed the street for a couple of hours before a beekeeper arrived to vacuum up the bees.

"We were here doing a job and next thing we notice are bees flying to the van," Henrique Paiva told WPIX on Friday. "And we couldn't get out."

The van, just blocks away from Rockefeller Center, contained humidifiers and other equipment.
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Attention

Carcass of 10-meter whale found on beach in Phuket, Thailand

Winai Sarot
Phuket Gazette
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 12:37 UTC
Officials believe the whale died at least seven days before the body washed up.
© Winai SarotOfficials believe the whale died at least seven days before the body washed up.
The carcass of a 10-meter-long whale in a state of advanced decay washed ashore at Surin Beach yesterday morning.

Officers are trying to identify the cause of death and find a place to bury it.

"We received reports that the body of an unidentified marine animal had washed up at about 11am. We have identified it to be a whale, but have yet to learn the exact species," said Patsorn Visudthiwatcharakul, director of Public Health and Environment at the Cherng Talay OrBorTor.
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Snowflake Cold

Finland endures coldest May in nearly 50 years


Yle
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 09:11 UTC
Snow Finland
Although Thursday is the first day of the summer month of June, there's no indication of balmy summer weather in sight. Daytime highs for the month are already unusually low, said Yle meteorologist Seija Paasonen.

"Between April and May we generally have the kinds of temperatures we are seeing now," Paasonen noted.

The weather forecast puts daytime highs Thursday and Friday at a chilly 10 to 11 degrees Celsius, while highs in central regions will runs from six to 7 degrees and from two to seven degrees Celsius up north.

According to Paasonen, at this time of year, average daytime highs in Helsinki should be around 17 degrees, and even up north, highs should be above 10 degrees.

Meanwhile new data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute indicate that across northern Finland - from Kainuu in the east to northern Ostrobothnia in the west - temperatures in May were nearly three degrees Celsius below the long term average.

The last time Finnish residents experienced a May as cold as this was in 1969 - nearly 50 years ago.

Comment: See also: 26 cm (10 inches) of snow recorded in eastern Finland on Mother's Day

Cold weather is keeping birds from nesting and delaying blossoming of wild berry bushes in Finland's north

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Tornado2

Tornado touches down near Three Hills, Alberta, Canada


CBC.ca
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 17:16 UTC
Three Hills tornado
© @rtt05/TwitterA tornado spotted near Three Hills, Alta., was moving east at 50 km/h. Emergency officials have cancelled the warning for Kneehill County and Starland County.

Social media lights up with stunning images and video of twister

A tornado was spotted northeast of Calgary on Friday, startling onlookers and touching off a brief emergency alert.

The tornado was seen at 5 p.m. near Three Hills, moving east at 50 km/h. Other communities in the tornado's path included Morrin and Rowley.

The alert was cancelled at 5:27 p.m.

"The thunderstorm is no longer capable of producing a tornado," Alberta Emergency officials said.

Stunning images and video of the tornado were captured by Albertans living in the area.

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Snowflake

Northern Sweden just had snow - in June!


The Local Sweden
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:54 UTC
Snow in Kiruna, Sweden
© Ulrica Strålind/Instagram @ulricastralindSnow in Kiruna on June 1st.

June 1st means summer, right? Oh wait - this is Sweden after all. Bring on the snow and hail! Last month in Sweden was a month of extreme weather.

The far northern parts of Norrland saw record-low temperatures, the lowest since 1968 according to preliminary figures from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).

So surely, summer should be here by now? Well, think again - this is Sweden, after all. On June 1st, snow was falling over the small village of Kåbdalis in the northern county of Norrbotten.

"June 1st! From clear blue sky (and freezing cold) to snow storm in one minute. Yes, I do like snow. And I like winter. But maybe not in June," Kåbdalis resident Marie Nygårds wrote on Instagram.

In the arctic mining town of Kiruna, also in the Norrbotten county, residents got to experience a mix of weathers: "Hail, snow, thunder, +2 in Kiruna," Ulrica Strålind wrote on Instagram.
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Windsock

NWS confirms rare 'microburst' caused storm damage in Sealy, Texas


KHOU
Wed, 24 May 2017 17:17 UTC
Sealy microburst damage
© KHOUDrone 11 footage shows the major damage in Sealy, Texas after severe weather moved through the area on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
The National Weather Service says a rare microburst is to blame for the damage in Sealy during Tuesday night's storms.

Many thought that the damage was caused by a tornado but NWS says that microbursts can produce similarly strong winds, reaching up to 100 miles per hour.

Mike Fisher says he and his son are lucky to be alive - they were at home when the storm hit. Fisher said the sky turned black and that hail started to fall.

"They say an old wives' tail about a tornado sounding like a train, we didn't hear no train, all we heard was some loud hail hitting, of course all the windows blew out in got pretty rough after that," said Fisher.

No fatalities were reported. However, about a dozen people had to be treated for minor injuries.

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Bizarro Earth

Shallow magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes near Alaska's Aleutian Islands


BNO News
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 18:39 UTC
Alaska Quake
© USGS
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has struck the Bering Sea between American and Russian islands, seismologists say. No tsunami warnings have been issued. (more)

The earthquake, which struck at 1:25 p.m. local time on Friday, was centered about 112 miles (180 kilometers) northwest of Attu Island in Alaska, or 168 miles (270 kilometers) southeast of Bering Island in Russia. It struck at a depth of about 19 miles (31 kilometers), making it a shallow earthquake.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center put the preliminary magnitude of the earthquake at 6.8. "Based on earthquake information and historic tsunami records, the earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami," the center said.

Friday's earthquake is expected to have been felt across parts of the Aleutian Islands, but damage or casualties are unlikely. The closest islands - Attu Island and Bering Island - have only a small population. Attu Island is also home to Attu Station, which was closed in 2010.

The sparsely populated region of Alaska, which sits on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', is occasionally struck by powerful earthquakes. Most notably, an enormous 9.2-magnitude earthquake struck north of Prince William Sound in Alaska on March 27, 1964, unleashing a tsunami which killed at least 143 people.
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Arrow Down

30-ft wide, 30-ft deep sinkhole collapses road in Newberry, Florida

Deborah Strange
The Gainesville Sun
Wed, 31 May 2017 21:09 UTC
Newberry, FL sinkhole
© ASCO
A sinkhole opened in Newberry along Newberry Road just west of Northwest 266th Street, worsened by a burst water line.

Alachua County sheriff's deputies responded and were guiding morning commuters slowly through the area.

Newberry City Manager Mike New said the 3 inches of rain the city got Tuesday could have washed out soil supporting a waterline that subsequently sagged and ruptured, washing out even more soil and deepening the hole.

When deputies were called about 6:20 a.m. Wednesday, the sinkhole was about 30 feet wide and 30 feet deep near the roadway. Eventually, a portion of the road collapsed after the soil supporting it caved in.
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Ice Cube

Dilbert 1, Scientists 0.

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 19:16 UTC
dilbert on global warmimg
A communications group at Yale University has put out a video that seems to be a rebuttal to a Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams poking fun at climate scientists and their misplaced confidence in models. The video is full of impressive-looking scientists talking about charts and data and whatnot. It probably cost a lot to make and certainly involved a lot of time and effort. The most amazing thing, however, is that it actually proves the points being made in the Dilbert cartoon. Rather than debunking the cartoon, the scientists acted it out in slow motion.

The Dilbert cartoon begins with a climate scientist saying "human activity is warming the earth and will lead to a global catastrophe." When challenged to explain how he knows that, he says they start with basic physical principles plus observations about the climate, which they then feed into models, pick and choose some of the outputs, then feed those into economic models, and voila. When asked, what if I don't trust the economic models, the scientist retreats to an accusation of denialism.
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Attention

No hazardous substances found in 6 tissue samples of 243 dead Caspian seals in Kazakhstan


Kazinform
Mon, 29 May 2017 19:24 UTC
dead seals

No hazardous substances were found out in the samples taken after the mass die-off of the Caspian seals, Kazinform correspondent reports citing Kuangali Ashakhov, Chief of the Mangistau region's Forestry and Wildlife Territorial Inspection.

As reported earlier, 243 corpses of the dead seals were discovered and gathered in Tupkaragan district of Mangistau region in April. The dead animals were washed up on the shore.

The specialists of Almaty-based Research Institute of Hydrobiology and Virology took tissue samples of 6 species.

"The results of the tests are ready. No hazardous substances were found. We did not see any signs of poisoning. Water and soil samples are also normal," K.Ashakhov said
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