Earth ChangesS


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Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica explodes 31 times in 10 hours


Strange Sounds
Tue, 03 May 2016 06:47 UTC
Turrialba volcano eruption
© OVSICORI-UNA
The Turrialba volcano situated in Costa Rica exploded 31 times in 10 hours on May 1, 2016. Now that's insane! Communities within 5 kilometers of the volcanic peak have been evacuated. Ash is covering everything!

According to reports from OVSICORI, this strong volcanic event occurred from 6:43 am to 4 pm on Sunday, May 1, 2016.

This eruption swarm sent a column of ash 2 kilometers above the crater.

This eruptive phase is the most important in recent months.

Early 2015 the area around Mount Turrialba was closed for more than three months due to another powerful eruptive period (expulsions of ash from the main crater and break of one of the walls).

The wind has spilled ash to the south of the area where the volcano is located.

Comment: Seismic activity in the country has also increased recently:

73 earthquakes in 12 hours hit between two volcanoes in Costa Rica

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Fire

Out-of-control wildfire rages in Alberta, forcing the largest evacuation in the history of the Canadian province


RT
Wed, 04 May 2016 00:35 UTC
Alberta wildfire
© CBC News / ReutersWildfire is worsening along highway 63 Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada May 3, 2016.
The entire population of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Canada has been ordered to abandon their homes after a wildfire ravaging a nearby forest moved into the area. The fire has already destroyed homes in several neighborhoods.

Fort McMurray is an urban service area with a population of about 80,000 people.

A mandatory evacuation notice was issued for the whole city on Tuesday after the wildfire began spreading uncontrollably.

Local authorities have advised residents to evacuate to the Noralta Lodge north of the city because outgoing Highway 36 has been partially blocked due to the fire.

The fire first was detected on Sunday to the southwest of the residential area. It is believed to have covered more than 2,656 hectares (6,540 acres) as of late Monday. Although, more than 90 firefighters have been deployed to battle the fire, the situation on Tuesday has worsened due to strong winds. On Tuesday afternoon the fire breached Highway 63, the main road out of the city.

Several homes in Beacon Hill and the Centennial Trailer Park have been destroyed in the fire, CBC reported.


Comment: This is the largest evacuation in the history of the Canadian province of Alberta.

Last year the wildfire season was a record breaker in the United States and Canada. The Amazon jungle was going up in smoke with tens of thousands of wildfires, while in Indonesia wildfires caused a toxic haze which threatened millions in southeast Asia. There have been devastating wildfires in Australia already this year and officials have warned of 'potentially significant wildfires' in some US states.

A study showed that wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth.

Could a significant factor in the escalation of these events be that they are fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes and other 'cosmic' ignition sources?

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Arrow Down

50 people flee homes after huge sinkhole opens up in front of homes in Plumstead, UK

Stephen Jones
Daily Mirror
Tue, 03 May 2016 19:50 UTC
60 ft' sinkhole in Plumstead
© London Fire Brigade60 ft' sinkhole in Plumstead
Fifty people had to flee their brand new homes after an enormous sinkhole opened up outside their front doors.

Residents of the housing development were shocked to open their front doors to discover the deep hole which measures about 25sq metres.

London Fire Brigade cordoned off the area as a 'hazard zone' - while officers evacuated people - allowing authorities to look into the cause, which is currently unknown.

A total of 40 properties were evacuated, with overnight accommodation provided for those affected.

Today though some residents are facing a second night unable to return home as the cause remains a mystery.
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Binoculars

Wrong time, wrong place: Rare American rose-breasted grosbeak turns up on Scottish island in spring

Hans J Marter
Shetland News
Tue, 03 May 2016 18:51 UTC
The rose-breasted grosbeak feeding in Lynn Goodlad's garden
© Hugh Harrop/Shetland WildlifeThe rose-breasted grosbeak feeding in Lynn Goodlad's garden
A woman in Shetland is buzzing with excitement after learning that the colourful bird feeding on a coconut in her garden was the first ever record of a rose-breasted grosbeak in the islands, and only the fifth ever in Scotland.

When Lynn Goodlad noticed the bird on Tuesday morning she initially thought it was a toy and someone was playing a trick on her.

But when finch-sized bird started moving she quickly realised that she was dealing with something very special.

After failing to find the bird in her guidebooks she went online and posted a photo on the Shetland Birds & Wildlife Facebook page.

Within minutes the phone started ringing and online comments began to flow in. The Rare Bird Alert twitter feed posted a photo to the global twitcher community.

"It just snowballed from there. It has been amazing and a little surreal," Lynn described her morning.
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Question

Signs and portents: Baby born with 15 fingers and 16 toes


The Daily Sheeple
Mon, 02 May 2016 15:15 UTC
chinese baby's toes
A baby named Hong Hong was born in China last month who suffers from extreme polydactylism.

The migrant workers who had him claim that three prenatal scans showed no birth defects. His mom also suffers from the condition, with one extra digit on each hand and foot, but they had no idea their son would be born with so many fingers and toes.
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Cloud Precipitation

Over 4,000 displaced by floods in Haiti and Dominican Republic after 10 inches of rainfall in 24 hours

Alessandro Masoero
Floodlist
Tue, 03 May 2016 14:42 UTC
Floods in the Dominican Republic
© Defensa Civil R.D.Floods in the Dominican Republic
Severe weather has been affecting the island of Hispaniola over the last days, causing floods and major damage both in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Over 4,000 people have been displaced and several communities left isolated.

Intense Rain

Heavy rainfall hit the region during the last few days of April 2016. According to Dominican Republic National Meteorological Office (Oficina Nacional de Meteorológia, ONAMET) a significant amount of rain was observed from the 27 April 2016 onwards. The station of Sabana de Mar, in the north-west Province of Hato Mayor, recorded 257.7 mm in 24 hours on the 28 April 2016. Prolonged and intense rain was recorded in Hispaniola during the following days.


Haiti

The heavy storm affecting the country of Haiti caused several rivers in the Ouest and Centre Departments to overflow in Haiti. Roads of Pétionville, a Port-au-Prince suburb, suffered some damage. One man was reportedly swept away by the flood water, while a woman is reported to be missing as she was trying to cross a flooding river.

A boat carrying people from Bombardopolis to Gonaives is reported to have sunk during the night of 30 April 2016, due to the bad weather conditions, resulting in the deaths of 8 people.

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Attention

Suspected rare dwarf sperm whale discovered dead on Gippsland beach, Australia

Kellie Lazzaro, Isabella Pittaway, Jonathon Kendall
abc.net.au
Tue, 03 May 2016 14:04 UTC
Museum Victoria is investigating whether the dead whale found on the beach is a rare dwarf sperm whale.
© DELWP GippslandMuseum Victoria is investigating whether the dead whale found on the beach is a rare dwarf sperm whale.
Authorities believe a whale that died at Lake Tyers Beach in eastern Victoria may be a rarely seen dwarf sperm whale.

The 2.4-metre long adult female whale died while stranded at Red Bluff on Saturday.

The dwarf sperm whale is a small robust whale with a distinctive underslung jaw, not unlike a shark.

The species is so unique it has never been officially recorded in Victoria.

Stranded whales have previously been found in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

A live sighting of a dwarf sperm whale was confirmed in South Australia in 2006.

Victorian environment department fire crews working on fuel reduction burns in the area were called in to help carry the dead whale from the beach.

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning biodiversity officer Tony Mitchell said measurements so far suggested the whale was a dwarf sperm whale.
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Cloud Precipitation

Nearly 200 people have been killed by flooding in the U.S. over the last 16 months

Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Mon, 02 May 2016 13:21 UTC
Vehicles are left stranded on Texas State Highway 288 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015.
© Aaron M. Sprecher/AFP/Getty ImagesVehicles are left stranded on Texas State Highway 288 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015.
Flooding has proved to be extremely deadly in the United States in the last 16 months. Nearly 200 people, including 14 in Texas last month alone, have lost their lives since January 2015.

NOAA says that in 2015 176 people were killed by flooding in 26 states. So far in 2016 there have been 19 flood-related deaths in four states. That's a total of 195 fatalities from January 2015-April 2016.

For comparison, the 30-year average (1986-2015) number of flood deaths for a 16-month period is 108. There are typically about 81 flood deaths a year, making it, on average, the the second most deadly weather-related event behind extreme heat.

In the past 10 years, the number of flood deaths have ranged from a low of 29 in 2012 to as many as 176 last year, illustrating that there can be a great variability year to year.

Studies have shown that climate change may increase the risk of heavy rain around the world. According to a recent study, the number of days with extremely heavy precipitation has increased 1 to 2 percent every decade in both typically wet and dry locations.

Only heat has caused more deaths than flooding on an annual basis during the last 30 years (1986-2015).
© NOAAOnly heat has caused more deaths than flooding on an annual basis during the last 30 years (1986-2015).
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Igloo

North Atlantic Ocean showing signs of shifting to colder temperatures

P Gosselin
No Tricks Zone
Sun, 01 May 2016 20:13 UTC
Atlantic Ocean Temperatures
© NOAASea surface temperature anomalies: August 2014 (top), Today (bottom) where above-normal is represented by yellows, oranges and reds, below-normal is represented by blues and purples.
Paul Dorian of the excellent weather science site Vencore Weather here brings us up to date on the latest on one of the most powerful natural cycles driving our North Atlantic climate: North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) cycles.

Here I'll sum up the main points. Of course do read the entire post at Vencore for all the details.

In a nutshell the sites writes that the North Atlantic "is now showing signs of a possible long-term shift back to colder-than-normal sea surface temperatures (SST) and this could have serious implications on US climate and sea ice areal extent in the Northern Hemisphere".
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Snowflake Cold

Coldest end to April in more than 30 years for the UK

Lucy Verasamy
ITV News
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 14:51 UTC
Snow in April
© Press Association
April is no stranger to snow. It falls most years in Scotland and northern hills of England and Wales - more so at the start of the month. Winter road gritting services continue until May.

On Tuesday we saw sleet, snow - as well as hail and graupel (soft hail) in many locations across the country.

On Wednesday night the temperature dipped to -8C in Cairngorm, Scotland - not out of the ordinary this time of year up there - but the air across the whole of Britain and Northern Ireland was also below freezing by the early hours. The ground/grass temperatures fell to -9C, even in southern counties. Dead plants anyone?

Wintry sleet, hail and snow this widespread, at this stage in April was last reported in 1989 and 1997. It last snowed in London in late April in 1985.
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