Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Heavy snows will delay opening of North Cascades Highway, Washington

Don Nelson
Methow Valley News
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 12:30 UTC
Looking west from Cutthroat Ridge along SR 20 on March 16, 2017.
© WSDOTLooking west from Cutthroat Ridge along SR 20 on March 16, 2017.
The snowpack giveth, and the snowpack taketh away.

An unusually massive accumulation of snow on the North Cascades Scenic Highway corridor will delay the opening of that vital tourism route to motor traffic until possibly as late as June, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) said in a press release last week.

That would make it one of the latest openings in the 45-year history of the North Cascades portion of State Route 20.

The deep snow is good news for local rivers and water supplies this summer, but has made conditions so treacherous for road-clearing crews that the usual starting date for WSDOT work on the highway has been moved from mid-March to April 10.
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Road Cone

80-foot long sinkhole ruptures roadway in Castro Valley, California

Harry Harris
East Bay Times
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 12:10 UTC
Redwood road sinkhole
© Alameda County Public WorksAn 80-foot-long sinkhole closed Redwood Road near Lake Chabot on Wednesday, March 29.
A massive road rupture estimated to be more than 80 feet long and more than five feet deep in some spots has closed Redwood Road in both directions near the Lake Chabot campgrounds, officials said Wednesday.

The roadway damage started along the road shoulder on Feb. 22 but continued to deteriorate. It was decided after consultations with engineers to close the road in both directions Wednesday, said John Medlock Jr., deputy director of the county public works Maintenance and Operations Department.

The damage is in the southbound lane and shoulder near mile marker 7.38. Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians are advised to avoid the area and use alternative routes.

Medlock said there is no estimated time when the road will be repaired and reopened. "We want to get it reopened as soon as possible," he said.

Medlock said the Redwood Road damage is the most to any county road since 1996.
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Cloud Precipitation

Update: Colombia landslide leaves at least 254 dead and hundreds missing

Sibylla Brodzinsky with agencies
The Guardian (UK)
Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:51 UTC
Colombia mudslide

Rescue teams scramble to find survivors after heavy rains in Putumayo province cause mud, rocks and gushing waters to engulf city of Mocoa

Colombian rescuers have been searching frantically for hundreds of missing people after the southern city of Mocoa was engulfed on Saturday by a huge landslide of mud, rocks and gushing waters that swept away homes and cars and killed more than 20 people.

The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, arrived in Mocoa on Sunday to survey the crisis. Officials from the national disaster agency had counted 210 dead by Sunday morning, with 62 children among the victims. The government later revised the death toll up to 254.. A further 203 people were injured, many in a critical condition.

A spokesman for the local power utility said it could take two weeks to restore energy in the area. Without power, gas or telephone service and with little clean water, about 600 survivors spent Sunday in makeshift shelters, on high alert for any further rainfall that could trigger another mudslide.

Lists of children who could not find their parents circulated on social media to try to reunite families, while about 1,100 soldiers and police arrived to help the relief effort.

The disaster struck in the early hours of Saturday when the rushing waters of the Mocoa river and its tributaries converged on the capital of Putumayo province, catching many people by surprise as they slept.

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Map

Two volcanoes spew ash in Russia's Kamchatka rattled by quakes


RT
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 07:58 UTC
Kamchatka's volcano
© Ruptly
Two of Kamchatka's volcanoes - Kambalny and Kluchevskoy - have spewed ash thousands of meters into the air, as eruptions and seismic activity intensified in Russia's far eastern region last week. The ash cloud spread some 100 km into the Pacific.

"According to the satellite data of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) on Monday morning, ash release was recorded on the Kambalny volcano. The height of the ash release was up to 7 thousand meters above sea level," the local Emergency Ministry branch said in a statement, adding that no civilians are at risk.


Comment: Kambalny volcano wakes from 250-year slumber spewing massive ash cloud

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Cloud Precipitation

Cyclone Debbie batters Australia's east coast


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 16:15 UTC
flood damage australia
© Gary Ramage / ReutersAustralian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull looks at damaged and flooded areas.
Australia's east coast is currently being battered by Cyclone Debbie. And with record floods expected, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated as authorities brace for damages of hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming days.

The Insurance Council of Australia has already declared both the Queensland and northern New South Wales regions as disaster zones, with estimated damages of up to Aus$1 billion ($762 million).
Almost 100,000 homes have been left without power and evacuees are unsure of what to expect once the storm finally passes late next week. Many are predicting that Debbie will be the worst tropical storm to hit the area in a century.
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Snowflake

April Fools' Day snowstorm drops up to 18 inches in New England

Wilson Ring
USA Today
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 15:10 UTC
Snowfall accumulation map from Mar. 31- Apr. 1, 1997.
© NOAASnowfall accumulation map from Mar. 31- Apr. 1, 1997.
It's April Fools' Day but it's no joke: People across northern New England woke up to a foot of heavy, wet snow on parts of the region Saturday and conducted weekend business as more fell throughout the day.

The storm caused power outages and numerous highway accidents. By mid-afternoon the number of electric customers without power across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine had dropped to about 8,100 from overnight totals almost three times that number. A winter storm warning in Vermont had expired, but remained in effect for parts of New Hampshire and Maine.

"This is Mother Nature's idea of an April Fools' joke," said meteorologist Eric Schwibs of the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
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Attention

Two scarce Hector's dolphins found dead in New Zealand


RNZ
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 14:32 UTC
A Hector's dolphin in New Zealand waters
© 123RFA Hector's dolphin in New Zealand waters
The discovery of two Hector's dolphins washed up at beaches in the South Island is raising fresh questions over whether enough is being done to protect the endangered species.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said it was investigating the deaths and there were indications both dolphins could have been "subject to human interference".

A member of the public found one dolphin on a Greymouth beach last month, while the second dolphin was found near Banks Peninsula on Sunday.

MPI compliance investigations manager Gary Orr said the deaths were very concerning.

"MPI and [the Department of Conservation] are investigating the circumstances surrounding both mortalities.
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Eye 2

Alligator attacks fisherman in Fort Myers, Florida

Ben Hooper
UPI
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 09:05 UTC
A Florida fisherman works to pry an alligator's jaws off his boot.
A Florida fisherman works to pry an alligator's jaws off his boot.
A Florida man bass fishing at night ended up having to pry an alligator off his boot while his friends filmed the struggle.

"Oh snap, you've got a gator on your foot," Nino Alvarez recalled a friend telling him while they were out bass fishing last week in a Fort Myers canal.

"I tried to go bass fishing here, and this [expletive] gator is over here, trying to eat me," Alvarez told WINK-TV. "I don't even think there's any more bass here. This guy already ate it all."

Alvarez posted a video to Facebook showing him attempting to pry the alligator's jaws off his boot while his friends laugh and film.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill three, injure four in Nepal


The Himalayan Times
Sun, 02 Apr 2017 08:37 UTC
LIGHTNING
Three persons died after they were struck by lightning last night in separate places.

According to the Makawanpur District Police Office, a 23-year-old Jit Bahadur Syantang Lama of Gadhi Rural Municipality died on the spot after he was struck by a bolt of lightning at around 11 pm last night. He was sleeping when the incident occurred.

Three other family members of Lama were injured in the incident and are currently being treated at the Hetaunda Hospital, police added.

Likewise, a 14-year-old Bahadur Gurung of Kaski died on the spot when he was struck by lightning at Chhundrung of Annapurna Rural Municipality in the district yesterday.

Gurung was returning home after collecting fodder when the incident occurred, informed Khadga Bahadur Khatri, spokesperson of the Kaski District Police Office.
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Attention

40 dead dolphins wash up outside Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Louzel Lombard Steyn
Traveller24
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 19:33 UTC
Repredntative image
Shocking aerial footage showing between 30 and 40 dead dolphins washed up on vast stretch of beach in the Sunday's River area off Bird Island has gone viral on social media, after East London-based helicopter pilot Noel Greyling filmed the disturbing discovery on Friday morning, 31 March.

The video footage was shared to local radio broadcaster AlgoaFM, who reports that Greyling was flying by helicopter to Port Elizabeth when he spotted the grim sight.

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