Earth ChangesS


Fire

Monster wildfire displaces thousands in Georgia


Sputnik
Mon, 08 May 2017 20:42 UTC
Georgia wildfire
© AP Photo/ Ben Palm/Okefenokee National Wildlife Refugee
A blaze has ripped through the US state of Georgia, forcing residents from their land.

At least 130,000 acres on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge have been decimated by the fire — and there's little hope the blaze will be contained any time soon. The wildfire started April 6.

"Anything that can burn will burn if a hot ember falls," park officials and firefighters said.

Comment: Florida on fire: 125 active blazes, 'Worst wildfire season'

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Attention

Wild elephant kills two in Karnataka, India


The Economic Times
Mon, 08 May 2017 20:11 UTC
Charging elephant
© GettyCharging elephant
A wild elephant trampled two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), to death at the CRPF training camp in Kaggalipura forest range, off Kanakapura Road on Sunday morning.

The deceased have been identified as ASI H Dakshina Murthy (55), hailing from Vellore, Tamil Nadu and constable Puttappa Lamani (35) from Haveri district. Kaggalipura Police said the incident took place around 5.30 am when the duo was walking near the CRPF training centre which also houses a dog training camp.The camp is near the Bannerghatta forest area.

Police said there are seven posts around the camp, with four jawans deployed in each of them.

Comment: Elsewhere on the subcontinent in the last few days: Wild elephant kills two people in Bhagalpur

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Ice Cube

Britain: Upcoming little ice age predicates River Thames freezes over by 2019, could kill millions

Joshua Nevett
Daily Star
Sun, 07 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Frozen Thames
© Getty ImagesThe freezing over of the River Thames, London, 1895
A global cool down will "march in with vengeance" to usher in a 100-year mini-ice age that could freeze over the River Thames, climate scientists told Daily Star Online.

Experts told Daily Star Online planet Earth is on course for a "Little Age Ice" within the next three years thanks to a cocktail of climate change and low solar activity. Research shows a natural cooling cycle that occurs every 230 years began in 2014 and will send temperatures plummeting even further by 2019.

Scientists are also expecting a "huge reduction" in solar activity for 33 years between 2020 and 2053 that will cause thermometers to crash. Both cycles suggest Earth is entering a global cooling cycle that could have devastating consequences for global economy, human life and society as we know it.

If predictions of the world-wide big freeze come true, the plot to 2004 film "The Day After Tomorrow" would not be far from reality during winter. Millions of lives would be at risk of prolonged blackouts, food and electricity shortages and cold-related health problems.

Comment: The lead argument has evidential and historical validity and its predictions are prudent. Notably the final conclusion, of both the Met Office and Potsdam Institute on Climate Change Research, substantiates, qualifies and quantifies the results according to an unshakable belief in a proven-to-be bogus premise. However, when you factor in the increases in cosmic dust, volcanic dust, earthquake activity, weather pattern changes combined with a long-lasting solar minimum...it is complete idiocy to think all of these are not related, nor will have significant impact on the temperature and climate of Earth.

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Cow

Third time cattle futures halted as prices rise to daily limit, supermarket prices up and up

Adapt 2030
You Tube
Mon, 08 May 2017 19:34 UTC
Livestock lost in storm in Baca County, Colo.
© Julie Chritiansen TateLivestock lost in storm in Baca County, Colo.
The third day that cattle futures rose so fast they halted trading, this has never happened before, it is indeed a first. There is a small pullback after the frenzy for now, but what it means is skyrocketing beef prices for the average consumer purchasing from the supermarket. Also what was not discussed in the news were the massive snow dumps that literally drowned cows, suffocating them as the snows came don so fast. Kenya experienced a once in a 1000 year flood which 18,000 cattle and goats were washed away.


Sources
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Bizarro Earth

Strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes near Tanaga Volcano, Alaska


SF Gate
Mon, 08 May 2017 18:48 UTC
Tanaga Earthquake
© USGS
The United States Geological Survey reports a preliminary magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Tanaga Volcano, Alaska on Monday.

The quake hit at 7:00 AM local time at a depth of 10 kilometers.

There was no initial word on damage or injury resulting from the quake. More information on this earthquake is available on the USGS event page.

See the latest USGS quake alerts, report feeling earthquake activity and tour interactive fault maps in the earthquake section.
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Bizarro Earth

Irish beach washed away by storms over 30 years ago suddenly returns after freak tide

Henry McDonald
The Guardian
Mon, 08 May 2017 10:13 UTC
Dooagh beach Achill Island
Dooagh beach, Achill Island, now
An Irish beach that disappeared more than 30 years ago has returned to an island off the County Mayo coast.

The sand at Dooagh, Achill Island, was washed away by storms in 1984, leaving only rocks and rock pools.

But after a freak tide around Easter this year, hundreds of tonnes of sand were deposited around the area where the beach once stood, recreating the old 300-metre stretch of golden sand.
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Red Flag

Researchers find first known evidence of deer scavenging on bones of human corpse


Sputnik
Mon, 08 May 2017 17:58 UTC
deer
© CC0 / Pixabay
The first known evidence of deer scavenging the bones of a human corpse has been uncovered.

The chilling discovery was made when researchers at the 26-acre Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF) in San Marcos, Texas, were conducting an equally grisly experiment. Seemingly monstrous things often must be done in the name of forensic science — in order to optimize crime-solving and corpse identification techniques, dead bodies are often subjected to violent attacks, left in controlled conditions to rot, and other morbid applications.

​The FARF center is specifically devoted to the study of decayed human remains. In July 2014, staff left a body in a wooded part of FARF, in order to see how different scavenging animals left their mark on human remains.

A motion-sensitive camera was set up nearby to see what stopped by to chow down on the body. Animals such as foxes, turkey vultures, raccoons, coyotes, and other local residents are known to be partial to dead human flesh, but the experiment demonstrated an entirely new critter has a penchant for mankind meat.
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Fire

Florida on fire: 125 active blazes, 'Worst wildfire season'

Sherri Lonon
Tampa Patch
Mon, 08 May 2017 17:16 UTC
wildfire
With more than 125 active wildfires burning across Florida, including one that spanned more than 2,200 acres in Pasco County, state officials issued a plea to residents and visitors on Monday, urging caution.

"Florida is in the middle of its worst wildfire season in years - with no end in sight," Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Adam Putnam said in a May 8 statement. "With such an active wildfire season and much of Florida experiencing significant drought conditions, residents and visitors should take every precaution to help prevent wildfires."

May is traditionally one of Florida's driest months, Putnam said, and forecasters anticipate conditions will only get drier and warmer heading into late spring and early summer. Considering the dangers, Gov. Rick Scott issued a wildfire-related state of emergency declaration on April 11. That declaration remains in place. The last time the state had to issue an emergency executive order related to wildfires was June 2011, Putnam said.

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Cloud Precipitation

Unseasonably strong spring storm hits San Diego, bringing record cold and rainfall

Gary Robbins
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Sun, 07 May 2017 20:30 UTC
San diego Spring storm
© Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-TribuneSan Diegans made their way to Mount Laguna after a snow fall on Sunday.
An unseasonably strong spring storm hit San Diego on Sunday, postponing a Padres game for only the third time in the history of Petco Park, setting a number of rainfall records and dusting local mountain peaks with snow.

The system moved ashore late Saturday. By 7 p.m. Sunday, more than 2 inches of rain had fallen in Fallbrook while Valley Center got 1.56 inches and Kearny Mesa got 1.18 inches.

The National Weather Service said that 10 inches of snow had fallen on Palomar Mountain, and about an inch in Julian. The Palomar reading broke the snow record for May 7 by 7 1/2 inches. The previous record was set in 1964.

San Diego had recorded 0.65 inches of an inch of rain by 7 p.m., breaking the May 7 record of 0.32 set in 1971.

"This is basically a winter storm that happens to be occurring in May," said James Brotherton, a weather service forecaster.

"There's snow in the mountains, rain everywhere else, and cold air."

The daytime high temperature only reached 59 degrees Sunday in San Diego — almost 10 degrees below its seasonal average. It was the coldest May day in 64 years, according to the National Weather Service. The high hasn't been below 60 in May since May 15, 1953, when it was 58.

Last week, the region was in the middle of a warm spell.
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Eye 2

Alligator attacks girl in Orange County, Florida

Christal Hayes
Orlando Sentinel
Mon, 08 May 2017 14:22 UTC
Alligator
Alligator
The 10-year-old attacked by an alligator at an Orange County park Saturday was able to get free after prying open the reptile's jaws, records show.

The girl was sitting down in 2-foot-deep water in a designated swimming area at Moss Park about 2:30 p.m. when the 8-foot, 9-inch gator attacked her, according to a report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The girl was in Lake Mary Jane with four family members, who were also in the water about 10 feet away, an accident report shows.

The gator bit the girl's calf and knee, but she was able to pry open its jaws to get her leg free, the report states.

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