Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

Wrong time, wrong place: Black-billed cuckoo from North America turns up on Scottish island

Nicola Bartlett
Daily Mirror
Fri, 27 May 2016 18:55 UTC
The bird was last seen in the UK in 1985
The bird was last seen in the UK in 1985
Bird lovers have flocked to a remote island to see a cuckoo not seen in the UK since 1985.

Some twitchers have travelled more than 400 miles to North Uist in the Outer Hebridies to try to get a glimpse.

The bird - called the black billed cuckoo - is native to North America and has only been spotted 15 times in the UK.

Some spotters are so keen to see the bird they have charted a private plane.

The rare bird arrived on North Uist in the Outer Hebridies last weekend and since then groups of birdwatchers have been making the trip out to see it some travelling from the south east of England to get a glimpse.

This is believed to be the only time a Black Billed Cuckoo has arrived on these shores in the Spring with other sightings taking part in the Autumn when the birds get caught up in storms and buffeted over to the UK.

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Arrow Down

Garbage truck falls into sinkhole in Cleveland, Ohio


newsnet5.com
Wed, 25 May 2016 18:16 UTC
Sinkhole
Pictures of a City of Cleveland garbage truck that fell into a large hole have surfaced on Twitter.

Cleveland Dispatch told newsnet5.com a vehicle fell into a sinkhole at Elk Avenue and East 101st Street.

The pictures were tweeted by @parkerlewisftw just before 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday.
#CLE neighborhood didn't get trash picked up cuz street swallowed truck. Can't make this up #thisisCLE #organizeCLE pic.twitter.com/qBDMRekivW

— Tamir Rice (@parkerlewisftw) May 25, 2016
Our crew went to the scene and learned the sinkhole was 5-6 feet deep and 10 feet wide.
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Cloud Lightning

3 family members killed by lightning bolt in Uttar Pradesh, India


The Tribune (India)
Sat, 28 May 2016 17:16 UTC
Lightning strike
Rains or thundershowers kept mercury near normal levels in many parts of the country even as three members of a family died in lightning strikes in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Nagpur, Brahmapuri, and Chandrapur in Maharashtra recorded the highest temperature for the country at 45°C.

In the national capital, it was a hot day with a maximum at 41.5°C, a notch above the season's average.

The minimum rose to settle at 31.6°C, five notches above normal.

The MeT has predicted rains accompanied by dust storm and thunderstorm towards tomorrow evening and night.

In Uttar Pradesh, a man and his two minor sons died in the incident of lightning in Bhawarkol area in Ghazipur yesterday.

Source: PTI
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits South Atlantic near Antarctica


Sputnik
Sat, 28 May 2016 12:45 UTC
Antartica earthquake
© USGS
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the southern Atlantic Ocean near the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said Saturday.

Tremors were felt 31 miles northeast of the uninhabited Visokoi Island at the depth of 58 miles at 09:47 GMT, the USGS reported.

Aftershocks were felt in southeastern Argentina and the Falkland Islands, and no tsunami warnings have been issued so far.
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Tornado2

Large tornado that raked northern Kansas lasted '10 times longer than the typical twister'

Kelly P. Kissel
Portland Press Herald
Thu, 26 May 2016 07:58 UTC
tornado near Niles, Kansas
© The Associated PressA tornado drops two mile northeast of Niles, Kan., on Wednesday. The large tornado that the National Weather Service said was on the ground for about 90 minutes damaged or destroyed about 20 homes in northern Kansas.

The tornado that raked northern Kansas stayed on the ground about 10 times longer than the typical twister.

A tornado that raked northern Kansas for 90 minutes was impressive both for its classic "wedge" shape and its sheer endurance - staying on the ground about 10 times longer than the typical twister.

The Storm Prediction Center said most tornadoes last less than 10 minutes and stay on the ground for about 3 1/2 miles. Wednesday's storm covered 26 miles from near Niles and southeast of Chapman, but was moving so slowly it lasted an hour and a half and was so isolated that other storms never interrupted its air flow.

The SPC said the legendary, long-lived tornadoes talked about from a century ago were most likely a series of storms along one general path.

The twister that hit Kansas tracked eastward at an average speed of 17.3 mph. The slow forward motion gave forecasters plenty of time to warn people living in the area to either get out of the storm's way or take shelter.

The National Weather Service at Topeka warned Chapman's 1,400 residents at 8:06 p.m. Wednesday that the storm was 4 miles west. At the storm's pace, that gave people 15 minutes to prepare. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths.


Comment: There were over 25 reports of tornadoes across five states of the U.S. Great Plains on Tuesday, including a rare 'triple touchdown'.

Weather Network Storm Hunter Jaclyn Whittal stated, "What a day! A day that we may not see for a very long time. We saw multiple tornadoes on this cell that started in Minneola, Kansas and produced every type of tornado type (shape wise) that you could ever imagine."

Study: Extreme tornado outbreaks are increasing

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Bizarro Earth

Rare form of 'space lightning' sighted over Oklahoma


SpaceWeather
Fri, 27 May 2016 20:56 UTC
On May 23rd, an enormous swarm of sprites flickered and danced across the top of a thunderstorm in Oklahoma. Almost 400 miles away in New Mexico, amateur astronomer Thomas Ashcraft trained his cameras on the display. He captured the sprites--and something more:
Rare LIghtning and Sprites
© Thomas Ashcraft
"Note the dendritic upward spray in the midst of the sprite cluster," points out Ashcraft. "That is a possible 'pop-through gigantic jet'--a rare event."

Ashcraft has posted a video of the event (watch video below) with VLF-ELF radio emissions he recorded as a soundtrack. Turn up the volume: "The deep bass sound of the lightning stroke sounds like a distant shotgun blast in the night," he says.

What is a pop-through gigantic jet? Lightning scientist Oscar van der Velde of the Technical University of Catalonia explains: "A cluster of sprites can actually warp Earth's ionosphere, bringing it down from its usual altitude of 90 km to only 40 km." This sets the stage for the jet.
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Ambulance

Arizona: Man killed by swarm of bees while hiking

Danielle Quijada
USA Today
Fri, 27 May 2016 17:42 UTC
bees
© Mark Henle/The RepublicThe highly aggressive Africanized bee population has risen by at least 1,000 percent in Arizona this year, according to Reed Booth.
A 23-year-old Louisiana man died after being attacked by bees Thursday morning as he and a friend were hiking within Usery Mountain Park in Mesa, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.

A medical exam determined the man had been stung more than 1,000 times, officials said.

Just after 9 a.m., Alex Bestler and his friend were hiking the Merkle Trail when a large swarm of bees appeared without warning.

The friend was able to safely make it to a nearby restroom, but Bestler was overtaken by the swarm before he could find shelter, the Sheriff's Office said.

Comment: See also:

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Snowflake

Heavy snow delays some summer road openings in Colorado


thedenverchannel.com
Fri, 27 May 2016 17:35 UTC
Snow on road
Several of Colorado's summer roads typically open for the Memorial Day weekend, but heavy snow is causing some delays this year.

Trail Ridge Road

Officials at Rocky Mountain National Park said crews have been working to clear Trail Ridge Road since late April.

Check out this photo of a snow plow driver working to clear Trail Ridge Road on May 4!

Trail Ridge Road
© Fritz PrehnTrail Ridge Road blocked by snow
The goal was to open the road Friday, but it will not open Friday due to snow, sleet and low temperatures Thursday night.

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Attention

Another dead whale turns up off central Vietnam; 10 in 5 months


Thanh Nien News
Fri, 27 May 2016 17:10 UTC
A whale estimated to weigh 15 tons is stranded at a beach in Nghe An Province's Dien Thinh Commune on May 25, 2016.
© Pham Duc/Thanh NienA whale estimated to weigh 15 tons is stranded at a beach in Nghe An Province's Dien Thinh Commune on May 25, 2016.
A whale weighing around seven tons was found dead this morning in Nghe An Province where another large whale drifted ashore and was rescued two days ago.

Cao Hieu, chairman of Dien Thinh Commune in Dien Chau District, told Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper that he was informed by some locals of the dead whale after they saw its carcass floating around one kilometer from the shore.

The fishers estimated that the whale was 10 meters long, he said.

The whale will be brought ashore for burial, according to Hieu.

Early on Wednesday, another whale estimated to weigh 15 tons washed ashore here. Residents found the mammal alive, struggling to return to the sea.

Comment: See also: Whale found dead on shore in Vietnam

Whale found dead off central Vietnam

Third dead whale found within a month off central Vietnam

Dead whale washes ashore in central Vietnam; 5th in 6 weeks

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes increase tenfold over Azerbaijan

Rashid Shirinov
Azernews
Fri, 27 May 2016 14:35 UTC
Lightning strike
Clouds may look very innocent, like fluffy bed in the sky, but they actually sometimes can create the wondrous effect of lightning. Although lightning is accepted as one of the most spectacular sights in nature, it remains one of the most terrible and unpredictable natural phenomena.

At any given time, there are about 2,000 thunderstorms raging across the globe and 100 lightning strikes to earth per second, affecting about six times a year its each square meter.

Lightning has long been studied by scientists around the world, who try to recreate this phenomenon in the laboratory, measure the voltage and temperature. Nevertheless, today science know not much more about the nature of lightning, than let's say 300 years ago.

Nobody can name the real cause of lightning flashes, whilst it's known that lightning is an electric current, and feels like, for example, sparks when you take off your sweater, but on a much bigger scale. It is known that lightning is a powerful electric discharges in the atmosphere, carrying a negative charge on the land value of a few tens of pendant.
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