Earth ChangesS


Tornado1

'Never seen anything like it': Intense thunderstorms soak Sydney, dumping as much rain in an hour as fell in all of January


Sydney Morning Herald
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:08 UTC
sydney australia rain
© Peter RaeThe Tuesday morning storm cells formed with little warning, dumping almost as much rain on the city in an hour as collected in all of January.
A house collapsed, major roads slowed to a crawl, lightning strikes closed the airport and even the Salvation Army needed emergency help as a series of intense thunderstorms drenched many parts of Sydney.

The Tuesday morning storm cells formed with little warning, dumping almost as much rain on the city in an hour as collected in all of January, overwhelming drains and roadways.

Another bout of rain and possible storms may hit Sydney on Wednesday, although the worst of the weather may be over by morning peak hour, Weatherzone said.

Tuesday's tempests had structural engineers racing to a unit complex in Ewart Street, Marrickville, after part of a 50-metre long pond at the back of the property collapsed, threatening to take the block with it.

Additional images

Comment: Heavy rain and flash flooding hammers Sydney, Australia

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Cloud Precipitation

Winter weather alerts issued for 23 states as U.S. braces for severe storms

Morgan Winsor
ABC News
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:47 UTC
Winter
At least 23 U.S. states are under winter weather alerts, and a tornado watch has been issued for parts of the Southeast as most of the country braces for severe weather this week.

"We are in a very active weather pattern all across the country, from California to New York," ABC News senior meteorologist Max Golembo said.

An atmospheric river, which draws massive amounts of water vapor from the Pacific Ocean, has taken aim at California, where the National Weather Service has issued flash flood and flood watches through Friday.

The Atmospheric River was aimed straight at California as of 7 a.m. ET on Feb. 7, 2017.
© ABC NewsThe Atmospheric River was aimed straight at California as of 7 a.m. ET on Feb. 7, 2017.

Comment: See also: Apocalyptic scenes in Louisiana and New Orleans after four huge tornadoes flip cars and trash homes

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Bizarro Earth

Four of Iceland's volcanoes are priming to erupt - Katla, Hekla, Bárðarbunga, and Grímsvötn


IFLScience
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:43 UTC
Páll Einarsson
© mbl.is/Ómar ÓskarssonHekla, Grímsvötn, Bárðarbunga and Katla are all preparing for eruption.
As we all know, Iceland is a profoundly volcanic place with a variety of eruption styles - from spewing out a little or a lot of lava, to exploding so violently that Europe gets blanketed in ash.

Well, as reported by the Iceland Monitor, the nation's soothsaying geophysicist Páll Einarsson claims that four of the country's angry mountains are exhibiting pre-eruptive conditions. Apart from that, however, little information has been given.

The volcanoes in question are Katla, Hekla, Bárðarbunga, and Grímsvötn. With no data or references given in the post, we decided to do a little digging ourselves.

So what of Katla? Well, it's a rather sizable volcano that has indeed been showing signs of restlessness recently, with tremors hitting around the 4.6M mark. These quakes are possibly indications of magma ascending upwards through the crust and causing it to violently fracture, but as of yet, there's no definitive proof of this.
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Cloud Lightning

Man struck by lightning bolt and killed while fighting grassfire near Mudgee, Australia


abc.net.au
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:24 UTC
LIGHTNING
A man has been struck by lightning and killed while fighting a grassfire in the New South Wales central west.

It is understood the 22-year-old was struck about 4:00pm on Tuesday at a sheep property at Moolarben near Mudgee.

A severe storm swept the area earlier in the day, with lightning strikes igniting several fast-moving grassfires at the sheep property on Ulan Road.

Firefighters from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service battled tough conditions but managed to extinguish the fires.
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Snowflake

Over 60 cm of snow hits British Columbia's southern interior; daily snowfall record for several communities

Jaimie Kehler
CBC News
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 19:48 UTC
Much of the Kootenay region, including this property near Nelson, is digging out after days of record-breaking snowfall.
© Bob KeatingMuch of the Kootenay region, including this property near Nelson, is digging out after days of record-breaking snowfall.
Sparwood, Castlegar, Cranbrook break official Environment Canada daily snowfall record

Communities in the B.C. southern Interior are coping with a record-breaking February snowfall resulting in highway mayhem, school closures and extreme avalanche warnings.

The small town of Sparwood in the Elk Valley has already received 60 centimetres of fresh snow Monday, demolishing the previous record of 18.3. Cranbrook and Castlegar also both broke snowfall records two days in a row.

"A lot of areas are getting hit pretty hard," said Jennifer Hay, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

"It's going to go on for the next few days. We'll definitely have a few breaks in there, but we won't see a change in the pattern until probably Friday."



Comment: See also: Areas of British Columbia receive yearly snowfall average in just 72 hours

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Bizarro Earth

Apocalyptic scenes in Louisiana and New Orleans after four huge tornadoes flip cars and trash homes


Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 20:07 UTC
New Orleans tornado
© APA man walks down the street past destroyed homes after a tornado tore through the eastern part of New Orleans
Parts of eastern New Orleans are looking like a disaster area following a line of severe weather that blew through the city on Tuesday morning.
An enormous storm ended up flipping over cars, tore the roofs off homes, ripped through a gas station canopy, broke tall power poles off their foundations, flipped a food truck upside-down and left a couch resting improbably on a pile of debris in the middle of a road.

Hail as big as ping-pong balls was observed near Kenner, Louisiana. More than 10,000 homes and businesses lost power in southeastern Louisiana because of the storms.

Severe thunderstorms swept across the Gulf Coast region, where at least four damaging tornadoes and large hail were observed in parts of southeastern Louisiana, including New Orleans.


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Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rain and flash flooding hammers Sydney, Australia

Sarah Kimmorley
Business Insider
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 19:00 UTC
Drivers near the SCG drive through flood waters.
© News Corp AustraliaDrivers near the SCG drive through flood waters.
After severe thunderstorms hit Sydney this morning, the region is battling flooding and continued poor weather conditions.

While the Bureau of Meterology says the immediate threat of the storms has passed, the situation will continue to be monitored.

Here's a look at the storm over Greater Sydney.

SYDNEY
© BOM
The torrential rain has caused flash flooding, turning Sydney streets into rivers causing chaos for commuters.
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Attention

Second dead whale found in under a week off Hampton Roads, Virginia


13newsnow.com
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:18 UTC
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
© L. Todd Spencer Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
For the second time in less than a week, someone spotted a dead whale off the shores of Hampton Roads.

Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center (VAMSC) spokesman Matt Klepeisz told 13News Now that the body of the whale was near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Someone with the Virginia Marine Resources Commision reported seeing the whale Sunday.

Members of the VAMSC's Stranding Response Team were working to determine the exact location as well as how to reach the whale and bring its body to shore.

On February 2, stranding response team members brought the body of a whale that was floating near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to shore.

Comment: See also: Humpback whale found dead near Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, Virginia

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Snowflake Cold

Lowest temperature in history recorded for Qatar


The Watchers
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:11 UTC
QATAR
© NASA/NOAA/DoDQatar
On Sunday, February 5, 2017, weather station located in Qatar's southwest measured 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) which is the coldest recorded temperature in the weather monitoring history of the State of Qatar.

Qatar Meteorology Department (QMD) said the temperature was registered in the coastal city of Abu Samrah, in the country's southwest. The new record low temperature is the lowest since the 3.8 °C (38.8 °F) recorded in January 1964 in the city of Mesaieed.

Interestingly, neighboring UAE received rare snowfall in its mountainous region this weekend and registered -5 °C (23 °F) and 10 cm (3.9 inches) of accumulated snow.

The cold wave started affecting Qatar, and the Arabian Peninsula in general, on Wednesday evening, February 1.
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Wolf

34 years of tracking dog attacks on people

Merritt Clifton
Cape Cod Today
Sun, 05 Feb 2017 12:13 UTC
Dog attack
90% of fatal and disfiguring dog attacks come from one group of breeds

Nearly 35 years ago, as a young libertarian-leaning farm-and-business reporter and avid runner, I was within a few weeks attacked while running on main-traveled roads in two separate incidents by dogs who were hell-bent on killing me.

The first attack came from a German shepherd who gave me many warnings, but I had nowhere to quickly go to be anywhere except in front of his home.

The second attack came from a pit bull, who struck silently, from behind, half a block and many doors from his home. I had no knowledge of his existence before I was fighting for my life.

Between those two attacks, I also witnessed - - from too far away to help - - another attack by the same German shepherd in almost the same place, which resulted in another man's death from heart failure. Unable to help the man, I caught the German shepherd and took him home. The owner had the German shepherd euthanized.

Both the German shepherd (both times) and the pit bull had just escaped from supposedly secure premises. Strict enforcement of confinement and leash laws, the conventional response to dog attacks, could not have prevented either the injuries to me or the man's death.
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