Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Record 350 people died after being struck by lightning in 2016 across Bangladesh

Mohammad Al-Masum Molla and Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee
The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:34 UTC
lightning
Even a few years ago, metal objects in the shapes of tridents, crescents, stars and roosters could be seen on the roofs of buildings. They are hardly seen anymore.

The tridents or stars on top of buildings were part of the grounding system installed for protection against lightning strikes.

Even though many modern buildings have specially designed objects, how many of those really have proper grounding remains a point to ponder.

Last year, Bangladesh witnessed a record rise in the number of deaths from lightning strikes. Lightning strikes occur the most between March and May.

According to data of the disaster management and relief ministry, 217 people were killed in lightning strikes last year, beating all previous records in the country. The number was 160 in 2015, 170 in 2014, 185 in 2013, 201 in 2012 and 179 in 2011. At least 22 people have been killed so far in lightning strikes this year.
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Attention

Rare vaquita porpoise discovered dead off Mexico


Phys.org
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:57 UTC
A vaquita porpoise - a critically endangered species
A vaquita porpoise - a critically endangered species of porpoise
An endangered vaquita porpoise was found dead in the Gulf of Mexico, the country's environmental protection authority said Wednesday, bringing to four the number of dead vaquitas found in 2017.
There are only 30 remaining vaquitas (Phocoena sinus), scientists warned in February.

The rare mammals, the world's smallest porpoise, live exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists warn that they face extinction by 2022.

The remains of the vaquita were found Tuesday, 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of the town of San Felipe, in the state of Baja California on the Barra del Primer Estero beach, the statement read.

The remains of the young vaquita, which measured 115 centimeters (45 inches) long, was in such an advanced state of decomposition that experts were unable to determine its sex.

Comment: See also: 2 rare vaquitas porpoises found dead in the Gulf of California

Note: Vaquitas porpoises are endemic to the Gulf of California rather than live exclusively Gulf of Mexico as stated in the article. From wikipedia:
The vaquita (Spanish: [baˈkita]; Phocoena sinus) is a rare species of porpoise endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California.

Range map for the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a critically endangered porpoise species endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California.
Range map for the vaquita (Phocoena sinus)
.

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Cloud Lightning

2 people and 2 cattle killed by lightning bolt in Jessore, Bangladesh


The Financial Express
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 09:35 UTC
lightning
Two people were killed in a lightning strike at Mahinikati village in Jhikargacha upazila of Jessore district on Thursday.

Locals said Saiful Islam, 28, son of Shawkat Ali, and Shahid Hossain, 48, died on the spot when a streak of thunderbolt struck them while they were returning home from a field with cattle in the evening.

Two cattle were also killed in the incident; according to UNB.
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Bizarro Earth

Bad weather in Italy causes damage to crops in the south


Fresh Plaza
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 20:09 UTC
puglia italy region
A producer from Puglia reports that "the cold front that, all of a sudden hit the Canosa and Cerignola areas, damaged apricots and peaches, which were also affected by the hailstorms, as well as vegetables such as tomatoes."

"The consequences are not immediately recognisable, as a few days must pass. The growth of grafted peach trees has stopped due to the low temperatures and vines show signs of burning."

Stone fruit production has halved all over Italy and the producer reports good market price prospects. "We need to be careful, though, as it all depends on how things will evolve over the next few days. There is a lot of damage and, if the weather goes as forecast, we only have to hope that there will be no hailstorms."

Additional images
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Snowflake

Snow in Canada leaves 2 million crop acres stuck on prairie fields


AG Web
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:45 UTC
Unharvested acres must come off field before spring planting.
© Dusty CraigUnharvested acres must come off field before spring planting.
April snowfall in parts of Canada's prairies has halted efforts to harvest more than 2 million acres (809,370 hectares) of grain leftover from 2016, delaying spring planting in some areas by at least two weeks.

In Alberta alone, there's as many as 1.5 million acres that remain unharvested, and gathering has been hampered by light snow falling daily in central and northern areas, according to James Wright, a risk analyst with the province's Agriculture Financial Services Corporation. Snow and cool weather have also slowed progress in Saskatchewan, where more than 1 million metric tons of grain is still sitting on fields from last year's harvest after excess moisture made fields too wet to combine, according to the province's agriculture ministry.

"If you have to harvest, plus you have to seed, it's going to be a real time crunch," Errol Anderson, the president of ProMarket Wire in Calgary, said by phone. "These delays are a minimum two weeks, but it's almost throwing the province back the better part of a month."
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Igloo

Climate Weirding

H. B Schmidt
Ice Age Now
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:02 UTC
boy who cried wolf
Expect the dialogue to once again morph into something seemingly more nefarious and/or insidious, switching from global warming - > climate change - > climate "weirding":

In a recent segment, weather.com began the switch-over. The quotes and alliteration are as follows ...
"It has been punctuated this week by a weird, long plume of moisture spanning almost the entire Pacific Ocean Basin, piped into the West Coast, including Seattle, from near the Philippines.

"If that [heavy precipitation as far south as northern California] isn't depressing enough ...

"But this nearly seven-month stretch has challenged the patience of even long-time residents ..."
Inspiring, isn't it? Woe. Angst. Hang-wringing. "Weird". Unusual. Depressing. In the literary realm, word choices designed to elicit a specific response or emotion is known as connotation. Among the AGW crowd, it almost always takes the form of hyperbole—extravagant exaggeration meant to sway the casual reader to the perils of climate change.

The Weather Channel has become one of the most perversely egregious media outlets to employ the tactic. As if ordinary day-to-day follies of weather weren't dramatic enough, they have progressed to narrating their dialogue as though every event is now highly unusual, and often try tying specific weather events to human-induced climate change.
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Ice Cube

Oops, Warmists just lost the Antarctic peninsula - it is now cooling

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 18:23 UTC
graph for arctic peninsula
A warming trend of 0.32 °C/decade during 1979 - 1997 to a cooling trend of − 0.47 °C/decade during 1999 - 2014.

Remember the much ballyhooed paper that made the cover of Nature, Steig et al, "Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year", Nature, Jan 22, 2009 that included some conspicuously errant Mannian math from the master of making trends out of noisy data himself? Well, that just went south, literally.

And it just isn't because the Steig et al. paper was wrong, as proven by three climate skeptics that submitted their own rebuttal, no, it's because mother nature herself reversed the trend in actual temperature data in the Antarctic peninsula, and that one place where it was warming, was smeared over the entire continent by Mannian math to make it appear the whole of the Antarctic was warming.
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Wolf

Series of 5 pit bull dog attacks reported within 4 days in Dayton, Ohio


Dayton Daily News
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:08 UTC
Dog attack
Multiple pit bull attacks in the city this week have left five people injured, including one man who died.

The family dog

Dayton reports show the first dog attack was reported on April 23.

Officers were dispatched to the 2800 block of North Main Street for an animal complaint. The homeowner told officers her daughter was bitten by a pit bull mix dog.

The victim was transported to Grandview Medical Center for treatment.

"(The homeowner) stated she wanted the animal taken away due to this not being the first time to have happened," wrote Dayton Police Officer Justin Ellis.

Police contacted animal resources and requested the agency pick up the dog which was locked in a room.

Comment: See also: Man mauled by dog dies in Dayton, Ohio

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Snowflake

Areas of South Dakota blanketed with late spring snow

T.J. Springer
ktiv.com
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:19 UTC
Snow covering up our famous presidents atop Mt. Rushmore.
Snow covering up our famous presidents atop Mt. Rushmore.
After enjoying temperatures in the 70s over the weekend, South Dakota is digging out from under a fresh blanket of snow.

The late spring snow storm even hit some famous presidents.

Mount Rushmore national memorial saw snow accumulations of around half a foot Monday evening.

Icicles could even been seen dripping off the giant presidents noses and eyebrows.

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Snowflake

Snow on mountain roads surrounding Reykjavik, Iceland


Iceland Monitor
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:10 UTC
It will snow heavily on mountain roads surrounding Reykjavik this afternoon.
© Iceland Monitor/RaxIt will snow heavily on mountain roads surrounding Reykjavik this afternoon.
Iceland Monitor declared yesterday that spring was just around the corner. Next week in fact, according to Iceland Met Office.

Winter will not let go without a fight and it will be snowing on all the mountain roads surrounding Reykjavik this afternoon. Most mountain roads in South West and West Iceland will be affected.

This means Hellisheiði, Holtavörðuheiði and and Lyngdalsheiði will be affected, along with other roads. What's important about these three is that they are on the nr.1 ring road south of Reykjavik, nr.1 ring road north of Reykjavik and on the Golden Circle. If you are traveling to or from Reykjavik, snow is bound to get in your way so be sure your car has proper tyres for the drive. The roads will likely be passable, if the car is properly equipped.

The snow will keep on for today and tomorrow, it will get warmer over the weekend and spring will hopefully come to Iceland next week.
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