Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Trump signs 'monumental' weather bill into law

Hurricane Matthew
© NOAA via APThis image provided by NOAA. taken Oct. 7, 2016, shows Hurricane Matthew over the Southeastern part of the U.S.
President Trump signed a bill into law on Tuesday, April 18, that will improve weather forecasting and researching capabilities across the American weather enterprise.

The bill, which received strong bipartisan support, is titled the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, H.R. 353. It was passed in the House of Representatives in January and was approved by the Senate on March 29.

The legislation authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to prioritize research to improve weather data, modeling, computing, forecasting and warnings to better protect lives and property.

The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act is a major step toward more accurate and timely weather predictions, said U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, a Oklahoma Republican, the bill's sponsor.

Cloud Lightning

3 killed, 2 injured after being struck by lightning bolt in Punjab, India

The deceased being taken outside the hospital
© Hindustan TimesThe deceased being taken outside the hospital
Three persons were killed and two got injured after they were struck by lightning at Toot village in Patti sub-division on Sunday night.

The deceased have been identified as Raju (30) of Gahelewal village in Mansa district, Kulwinder Singh (22) of Nandgarh village in Sangrur district and Sandeep Singh (30) of Todarpur village in Mansa district. The injured are Sukha Singh of Bigarwal village, and Tarsem Singh of Jawaharwala village in Sangrur district. All of them run combine harvesters.

After harvesting wheat crop in the fields of a farmer Gurlal Singh, they went to a tubewell to take bath. Suddenly, thunderstorm rolled and they were struck by the lightning caused by it.

They were rushed to civil hospital in Patti, where three were declared dead.

The injured are said to be stable.

Comment: In Cambodia: Storm in K Thom Lightning injures two, kills one

In Bangladesh: Lightning strike kills farmer in Laxmipur


Attention

Eruptions continues at Poas volcano in Costa Rica, 48 hours of continuous activity

April eruption at Poas
Poás Volcano, Costa Rica, photo from April 21.
48 hours of continuous eruptive activity at Poás Volcano were marked this Saturday at 10:12 p.m. with a strong explosion that was captured by the cameras of the National Seismology Network, this explosion only lasted one minute and threw rocks at high temperatures in the areas close to the crater:


Tornado2

'Ipo-ipo' waterspout filmed in Batangas, Philippines

waterspout
A spectacular waterspout—known locally as "ipo-ipo"—was filmed off the coast of Mabini, Batangas, on Sunday, April 24.

A witness at a beach resort, who managed to capture the spectacle on video, said that the waterspout's sudden appearance on the horizon prompted bathers to rush out of the water.

Fortunately, according to authorities, nobody was hurt.

Waterspouts are uncommon but well-known phenomena, especially among fishermen and coastal residents.


Snowflake

Two meters of new snow in Austrian Alps, most ever in second half of April

Austrian snow
© Foto Kuss
Record snowfall. The most snow EVER in the second half of April.

Severe winter weather led to chaos on Austrian roads, power failures, and panic among wine growers on Wednesday evening and Thursday. In the east of Austria came record snow. In the mountains there was as much snow as never before in the second half of April.

According to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), Lunz am See recorded 86 cm (almost 3 ft) of snow on Thursday. The west was partly covered in deep snow, but far from a record.

Up to 2 meters (6′-6″) of fresh snow (!) fell in the Lower Austrian Alps, mostly in the Ybbstaler and Türnitzer Alps. The avalanche danger is extremely high, warned the avalanche warning service of the country.

Also in Upper Austria there have been up to 150 cm (5 ft) of fresh snow - mostly in the Totengebirge, the Ennstal Alps and the Upper Austrian pre-Alps.

In the Styria region between the mountains of Gesäuse and Hochschwab, fresh snow fell to almost 2 meters. In the east, avalanche warning level 4 of the five-part scale applies.

Attention

Global power grids go down due to weak magnetosphere & plasma electrification

Power Outages Coincide in LA, New York, and San Francisco
Power outages coincide in LA, New York, and San Francisco
With the world news focusing on power grids and satellite disruptions all pointing to hackers or planned government exercises, the global media hasn't looked to the collapsing magnetosphere and weakened magnetic field from the Sun as a cause. Additionally during the same geomagnetic storm, a new never seen before type of auroral display was photographed, it was a plasma filament. When I say plasma filament, it is straight from ancient legends of dragons in the sky and gods in the heavens. Cross two of these streams and indeed a dragon would appear. Incredibly charged skies with blue auroras again. This is the real reason for power outages, and from this point forward it will intensify and we will see more power outages and we get closer to 2019.


Sources

Comment: See also: Coincidence? Power outages strike LA, New York and San Francisco and New atmospheric phenomenon discovered by SWARM satellites.

Another outage was recently reported in Ireland.


Attention

Minke whale euthanized after washing up in the Bronx, New York

Whale
The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society is investigating what caused a 15-foot whale to wash up in the Bronx Sunday afternoon.

The minke whale was stranded in Orchard Beach around noon Sunday.

Several agencies including the NYPD, Riverhead Foundation and veterinarians from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo attempted to help the whale swim on its own back out to see.

Officials say though the whale was free floating, it kept sinking and washing up on the shore. They decided the most humane thing to do was to euthanize it, as it would not be able to survive in the wild.

Snowflake Cold

Photos of April snow in Turkish cities

snow
Residents in the Turkish cities of Eskişehir, Ankara and Bolu were surprised to see their surroundings covered in white fluffy snow April 23.
snow
snow
snow

Snowflake Cold

Evidence of Global Cooling: Eastern Europe still buried in snow during Spring

winter, snow, ice age
© Maksim Bogodvid / SputnikA man walks in the street in Kazan, 20 April 2017.
Roads, houses, and even flowers covered in thick snow - though it's mid-April, winter won't loosen its grip on Russia and Eastern Europe, as abundant photos on social media clearly illustrate.

"April 22, It's St Petersburg, baby," was a widely-spread comment on Instagram from residents of Russia's northern capital on Saturday.Local emergency services warned of snowfall, slippery roads, and fog on Saturday.

"81st day of February in St. Petersburg," one person wrote.

"This eternal winter is driving me crazy. What kind of April is this?!"

Comment: Regular SOTT readers aren't surprised, what we're seeing is the onset of another ice age. The question is, how long and how severe will it be?


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills three horses in Giles County, Tennessee

lightning
As severe thunderstorms rolled through the Tennessee Valley Saturday afternoon, several homes suffered damage.

In western Ardmore, Roger Riddle's home was hit with golf ball sized hail that ripped through part of his wall, leaving several holes.

Up in Pulaski, Larry Hargrove lost three horses to the storms.

"You hate to lose any animal, but when you've had them for 20 years plus and you've raised them from a baby, they're family members," Hargrove said.

While he was away from his home, his three mares were struck by lightning around three o'clock.