Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

50-foot snow drifts blocking route to Tioga Pass, California


The Record Courier
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:46 UTC
With reports of 50-foot drifts, there's still a lot of snow to remove before Tioga Pass can open.
© Florene Trainor With reports of 50-foot drifts, there's still a lot of snow to remove before Tioga Pass can open.
Crews clearing snow and debris from the Sierra passes between Gardnerville and Yosemite have a long way to go before they open.

As of Friday, crews reached the Blue Slide section of Highway 120 on the way to Tioga Pass. There is an estimated 8-15 feet of snow on the highway leading to the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park, officials said. There are 50-foot snow drifts in some locations.

Snow removal on Sonora Pass is in progress, and crews have reached the 8,500 elevation mark. At this point there is still 8 feet of snow on the highway.

Crews have cleared Highway 89 from Highway 395 to the Alpine County line, and are now working on repairing road damage due to winter conditions. Snow removal operations are progressing in Alpine County to Monitor Pass.
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Cloud Precipitation

Rare 'pneumonia front' appears over Detroit River

Ken Haddad
Click On Detroit
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:35 UTC
Pneumonia front on Detroit River
© clickondetroit.com
Video taken Wednesday afternoon appears to show a waterspout forming over the Detroit River.

The video was shot from the Windsor, Canada side of the river.

It shows what looked to something like a waterspout forming and then dissolving. After review, it turns out this is not actually a waterspout. (Scroll down for the full explanation)

The video was captured by Salaheddin Rahal.

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Ice Cube

Stir the hornets nest by illustrating climate lies in global temperatures & Greenland ice gain

Adapt 2030
You Tube
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 09:22 UTC
Graph
New NOAA March 2017 global temperature data set, but the number NOAA gives are 1C across the board higher than UAH global satellite data set which shows the planet is cooling. The pause is now confirmed and brought upon by natural variability and the Sun's effects, plus another example of temperature fraud, separate from NOAA.


Sources
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Tornado1

Arlene forms as only the second tropical storm on record in April

Doyle Rice
USA TODAY
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:10 UTC
tropical storm Arlene
© National Hurricane CenterThe year's first tropical storm, Arlene, was located in the north-central Atlantic on Thursday and wasn't expected to threaten land. In fact it could dissipate by Friday.
The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season formed Thursday afternoon some 1,700 miles east of the U.S. East Coast.

Tropical Storm Arlene is just the second on record to form in April, the Weather Channel said. The only other tropical storm to form during the month was Ana in 2003. Hurricane season officially starts June 1.

Arlene's maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph, with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said. It was located about 815 miles west of the Azores. The system poses no threat to land and is forecast to dissipate Friday.

"I have to add one more surprise to my long hurricane forecasting career," hurricane center meteorologist Lixion Avila wrote in an online forecast discussion.

"Tropical storms in April are rare and Arlene is only the second one observed in this month," since the satellite era began in the early 1960s, he added. Before that time, such storms were practically impossible to detect.

Arlene is also the farthest north a tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic so early in the season.

Comment: The low pressure inside Arlene of 993mb was the lowest pressure ever recorded for a tropical or subtropical cyclone in April in the Atlantic.

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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: 2 bird species far from their normal home ranges turn up in Maine

Deirdre Fleming
Portland Press Herald
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 18:46 UTC
This fieldfare, a species typically seen in Europe and Asia, was spotted this week in Newcastle.
© Jeff CherryThis fieldfare, a species typically seen in Europe and Asia, was spotted this week in Newcastle.
Sightings of really rare birds are typically reported only once or twice a year in Maine. But this week there were two in the span of three days in the midcoast region - sending birdwatchers into a mad dash to see two species that were far from their normal haunts and never before documented in Maine.

On Monday, a male vermilion flycatcher - a brilliant red-feathered bird typically found in the southwestern U.S., Mexico and South America, was spotted at the Maine Audubon retreat at Hog Island in Bremen. The bird was reported by a woman in Germany who spotted it via an osprey-watching website with a camera on Hog Island.

Six birders, including Maine Audubon's naturalist Doug Hitchcox, rushed to Bremen in time to see it. Hitchcox said they had about 10 minutes to view the flycatcher with spotting scopes from a quarter-mile away before it flew off from its perch on a boathouse roof.

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Wolf

Two pit bulls attack man on Catalina Island, California


CBS News
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:32 UTC
Pit bull attack
A man was airlifted to a Los Angeles hospital after two pit bulls attacked him and his Jack Russell terrier on Santa Catalina Island.

CBS Los Angeles reports the attack, which occurred Wednesday on the Avalon Pier, was caught on cellphone video by a tourist.

The victim, John Brady of Huntington Beach, told CBS Los Angeles Thursday from his hospital bed that he had taken a boat trip out to Catalina with his dog, Josh. He said the two were strolling on the pier when two 11-year-old pit bulls went after his dog. When he attempted to protect Josh, the pit bulls came after him, ripping out a piece of his calf and biting both his arms, he said.

Avalon Harbor Patrol officers eventually pulled the dogs off of him. Brady was airlifted to UCLA Harbor Medical Center.

"They attacked my little dog, Josh," Brady said. "Almost killed him, almost killed me."

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Attention

Lifeguards try to stop humpback whale carcass from reaching shore at Newport Beach, California

Hannah Fry
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:20 UTC
A Newport Beach lifeguard ties a rope around a dead humpback whale, nicknamed Scarlet, in an effort to tow the carcass out to sea Thursday.
© Mark GirardeauA Newport Beach lifeguard ties a rope around a dead humpback whale, nicknamed Scarlet, in an effort to tow the carcass out to sea Thursday.
Newport Beach lifeguards had their eyes trained on the horizon early Friday trying to make sure a 55-foot dead humpback whale — nicknamed Scarlet by local boaters — that was seen Thursday afternoon didn't make its way to the beach.

A dead whale onshore can create a very smelly problem, lifeguards said.

"If it hits the beach, it's going to stay here until it can be chopped up and towed off," said Marine Safety Capt. Skeeter Leeper. "It's a mess and it stinks."

Lifeguards saw the massive figure heading toward shore near the Newport Pier at about 3 p.m. Thursday. At first it looked like a large boat, but on closer inspection, they realized it was a humpback whale, Leeper said.

They tied a rope around the whale's tail and used a lifeguard boat to tow the carcass about 6½ miles out to sea. The whale's massive size — about twice the size of the lifeguard boat — meant the journey took about an hour.
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Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rains pound Dundas and Hamilton, Ontario; flash flooding on roadways

Amara McLaughlin
cp24.com
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 16:41 UTC
Dundas, Ont. has been hit by flash flooding along the Niagara escarpment due to heavy rains.
© Rebuild HamiltonDundas, Ont. has been hit by flash flooding along the Niagara escarpment due to heavy rains.
Torrential-like rain in Hamilton area has created flash flooding conditions and is forcing road closures throughout the region.

Hamilton Conservation Authority has put the city on a flood watch.

""Residents should continue to exercise caution near all water bodies and structures such as bridges, culverts and dams at this time," the statement said. "Elevated water levels, faster moving water, rapidly changing levels and flows, and slippery banks may pose a significant hazard."

City crews are working around the clock to deal with the wet weather, general manager of Hamilton Public Works Dan McKinnon said.

This comes after Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for Hamilton.

Between 40 and 70 mm of rain is expected to fall by tonight, the federal weather agency said.

Dundas, Ont. was particularly hard hit by the weather.

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Attention

Volcano on Nishinoshima island erupts, lava heads to sea


The Asahi Shimbun
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 12:20 UTC
A photograph taken on April 21 from an Asahi Shimbun aircraft shows smoke mixed with ashes being blown out from a vent on Nishinoshima island, part of the Ogasawara island chain.
© Kotaro EbaraA photograph taken on April 21 from an Asahi Shimbun aircraft shows smoke mixed with ashes being blown out from a vent on Nishinoshima island, part of the Ogasawara island chain.
A volcanic bomb shot up about 100 meters into the sky and molten rock rolled down toward the sea on April 21 as Nishinoshima island, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, erupted for the first time in 17 months.

"Intensive volcanic activity will continue for a while. Lava will eventually reach to the sea," said Setsuya Nakada, a volcanology professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute.

An estimated 100,000 cubic meters of lava has flowed to the surface since the eruption, according to Nakada, who observed the erupting volcano from an Asahi Shimbun aircraft.

"The volcanic activity level of Nishinoshima island is nearly the same level of that in 2014 when it was active," he added.
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Wolf

Horrific moment pit bull attacks toddler playing in the street in Spring Valley, New York

Regina F. Graham
Daily Mail
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 11:42 UTC
A disturbing video shows the shocking moment a pit bull attacked an unassuming toddler in New York on Thursday.
A disturbing video shows the shocking moment a pit bull attacked an unassuming toddler in New York on Thursday.
A disturbing video shows the shocking moment a pit bull attacked an unassuming toddler in New York on Thursday.

The three-year-old boy is recovering and has been released from the hospital, WABC reported.

The footage shows the toddler playing on a sidewalk with other children outside of a Spring Valley home when the dog runs across the street and charges at him.

The boy, who is wearing bright yellow pants, is immediately attacked by the pit bull and dragged across the ground for a few seconds as the other children run away out of fear.


Comment: Other notable dog attacks in recent days: Elderly woman attacked by own dog in South Africa

Pit bull attacks toddler in Puyallup, Washington

Fort Hall toddler nearly killed by dog pack is bitten again

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