Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Rare snow storm for El Paso, Texas; more than 7 inches of snow reported

Aaron Martinez
El Paso Times
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:25 UTC
Snow in El Paso
© MARK LAMBIE / EL PASO TIMESBriana Betancis, 14, and Deziree Dominguez, 12, fly down a hill at Memorial Park on Dec. 27 as they enjoy the outdoors and fresh snow in El Paso
Despite the freezing cold, dangerous road conditions, power outages and several business and church closings, El Pasoans made the best of the rare winter storm that brought more than five inches of snow to the area.

"It's been great and it's been years since we have seen it snow like this in El Paso," said Sebastian Lopez, who was building a 12-foot snowman with family and friends at Eastwood Park Sunday. "While it is great, driving home last night to the East Side from work on the West Side was a bit harsh. The visibility was zero and people here just aren't used to driving in those conditions, but I made it home and it doesn't seem like the snow caused too many problems for people, so all in all it's been great."

According to the National Weather Service, the El Paso International Airport reported about 5.3 inches of snow, while areas in El Paso and Horizon City recorded more than 7 inches. Las Cruces received between five to 12 inches of snow, while Organ, N.M., outside of Las Cruces, reported getting 13 inches.


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Attention

4.8 magnitude earthquake strikes offshore of Northern California, near Eureka

Dianne de Guzman
San Francisco Chronicle
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 20:27 UTC
Eureka earthquake map
A magnitude-4.8 quake struck off the coast of California, near Eureka on Monday

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 struck off California, 64 miles northwest of Eureka, on Monday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS initially measured the quake at magnitude-4.5.

The earthquake struck at 7:35 p.m. local time.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the West Coast, following the temblor.

For more info on this quake and others, visit the SFGATE earthquake page here.
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House

'Almighty bang' as gas explosion reduces house to rubble in Wolverhampton, UK


ITV News
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 11:08 UTC
Wolverhampton house explosion
© West Midlands Police / SWNSRubble: An elderly woman was pulled from the wreckage of the destroyed property
An elderly woman has managed to escape without major injuries after a gas explosion reduced her detached house to rubble.

Emergency services rushed to the scene on Penn Road in Wolverhampton at 8.15am following the blast.

Firefighters found the 76-year-old pensioner had been trapped in the rubble of the gated £200,000 property.

The elderly woman was rescued from the wreckage almost two hours after the blast. She was taken to New Cross Hospital and was found to have suffered cuts and bruises and a broken ankle. Ambulance services say she was 'extraordinarily lucky' not to have been more seriously injured.

Dramatic pictures show the house reduced to rubble in between two unaffected two-storey houses.

The explosion was so severe that two drivers who were passing the scene when it happened suffered minor injuries.

Comment: Last month in the UK, another huge explosion completely destroyed a house in Buckinghamshire, with local Fire officer Adam Burch stating "An explosion of this kind is very rare, and especially to see a whole building collapse the way it has done".

There seems to have been an increase in the number of massive house explosions around the world in recent months, with investigators still attempting to determine the cause in many cases. Could a 'cosmic' source of ignition be responsible for some of these incidents?

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Snowflake

Monster winter storm 'Goliath' brings twisters, floods, snow and deaths


RT
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 02:49 UTC
Winter storm Goliath
© NASA / NOAA GOES Project / YouTubeWinter storm Goliath heads east
Animated satellite imagery shows a massive storm system dubbed "Goliath," tracked over the course of two days, that brought severe weather from Georgia to Michigan. Missouri and New Mexico declared a state of emergency and at least 11 people died in Texas.

The animated satellite recording released by NASA on Monday combines visible and infrared imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The GOES-East satellite caught the images and shows the eastward movement of the storm from December 26 to December 28.

The front has already brought snow, heavy rainfall, flooding and tornadoes to the Southwest, leaving dozens dead and prompting hundreds of flight cancellations.
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Snowflake

Unprecedented record snowfall in El Calafate, Argentina

Robert
Ice Age Now
Sun, 27 Dec 2015 00:41 UTC
El Calafate snow
© ahoracalafate.com.ar
Unprecedented - There is no history of snowfall recorded in El Calafate during this time of year.

It started snowing on Christmas eve in El Calafate and continued throughout the night and Saturday morning.

In one day they accumulated 38 mm of precipitation, three times the average for the entire month of December, which is a little more than 12 millimeters

As Saturday dawned, the tourist village was completely snowed in.

"Looks like we're at the North Pole" joked a tourist early in the morning while taking pictures of young poplars arched under the weight of snow.

Posters saying "Welcome to El Calafate" framed by a white cityscape, are preferred by the visitors, who do not stop sharing their pictures with their families. The same goes for the residents of this town, where the snowfall is all they're talking about.
El Calafate snow
© ahoracalafate.com.ar
Old people polled do not remember having seeing snow at this time of year in the town.
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Snowflake

Unusual spinning ice circle surprises residents of Brainerd, Minnesota

Renee Richardson
Brainerd Dispatch
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 09:45 UTC
Brainderd ice circle
© Brainerd Dispatch/Steve KohlsA rotating ice disc at the outlet of the Nokasippi River as it flows into Upper South Long Lake south of Brainerd Monday. Lake residents noticed the rotating floating ice disc this weekend and have been alerting each other through the lake association website.
Dark, cold water flowing from the Nokasippi River into Upper South Long Lake created an unexpected form this weekend—a rotating circle of ice. The ice disc forms as flowing water creates an eddy where ice is forming. The water is more still in the middle of the eddy.

"So you get ice forming and it gets bigger as it gets colder and then the water that is moving faster is not freezing up, so what you get in the end is this big pancake of ice that is moving slowly around in a circle," said Peter Boulay, DNR climatologist. "You see pancake ice on water that's moving. When the lakes are trying to freeze up this past weekend, I saw a lot of that kind of ice forming in circles. "It's a sign of turbulent water and some stillness in the water in the middle."
Brainerd ice circle
© Brainerd Dispatch/ Steve Kohls
Nearby residents were stopping to see the rotating ice circle after word about it was passed via Facebook, from the lake association and between neighbors. "It's amazing," said Upper South Long Lake resident Karen Reil.

Sue Rolfs, who has been an Upper South Long Lake resident since 1957, said she's never seen the phenomenon before. Residents who have lived on the lake for 25 years or more echoed that sentiment. Monday they were drawn to the water to watch the perfect circle swirl in the black water at the inlet.


Comment: Huge ice circle forms in Swedish river

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Ice Cube

Biggest snow storm in half a century hits north Mexico; 12 inches of snow, minus-18 Celsius


Yahoo! News
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 06:13 UTC
Snow storm Mexico
© AFPA picture released by Mexico's National Security Commission shows an aerial view of the road in the mountains of Chihuahua State in northwestern Mexico on December 28, 2015.
Some roads remained closed in northern Mexico on Monday after the biggest snow storm in more than half a century blanketed parts of the region, authorities said.

The weekend snowfall covered 32 towns in the state of Chihuahua, which borders the US states of Texas and New Mexico, with some places hit by accumulations of 30 centimeters (12 inches) and temperatures of minus-18 Celsius (zero Fahrenheit).

"It's the most intense snowfall in the last 55 years," Efren Matamoros, the civil protection director in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, told AFP.

Seventeen roads were closed over the weekend, but 11 of them reopened on Monday.

The Ciudad Juarez airport resumed operations on Monday after it was shut down over the weekend.
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Cloud Precipitation

Dozens of birds killed by large hailstones in Jonesboro, Arkansas

Ellen Thalls
5News KFSM
Thu, 24 Dec 2015 19:12 UTC
Hunters
Hail Storm causes dozens of birds to fall from sky
Extreme weather battered the Jonesboro area Wednesday (Dec. 23), and that weather is likely to blame for the untimely deaths of dozens of waterfowl.

Comment: See also these similar reports for this year:

Hundreds of birds killed by hailstorm in Ballari, India

Hailstorm kills and injures over 200 birds across Ahmedabad, India

Hailstorm kills 300 birds in Ivaiporã, Brazil

and a similar occurrence from Arkansas almost exactly 5 years ago:

Radar Dopppler images confirm overhead 'turbulence' cause of 2011 mass bird death case in Beebe, Arkansas

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Santa

Apocalyptic Christmas weather claims the lives of over 40 people in the US over the weekend


RT
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 20:16 UTC
flood
© Marvin Gentry / Reuters
A Christmas holiday weather-armageddon claimed the lives of over 40 people across the US over the weekend, with winter storms unleashing deadly floods and tornadoes that created havoc for travelers.

Storms in the South, Southwest, and Midwest killed at least 43 people, with severe weather conditions prompting Missouri and New Mexico to declare states of emergency.


At least 13 people perished in flash flooding in Missouri and Illinois, where up to six inches of rain fell over the weekend, while in Texas at least 11 people were killed in the Dallas area by tornadoes.

Advisories from the National Weather Service are still in effect for the central United States, and blizzard warnings remain for parts of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Flash flood warnings have been announced in a number of counties stretching from Texas to Indiana.

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Cloud Precipitation

Hundreds evacuated from floods in Northern Territory, Australia


New Zealand Herald
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:52 UTC
Floods Daly River Australia
500 people from the community of Daly River have been evacuated to Darwin.
Floods in Australia's Northern Territory have forced hundreds to evacuate, closed roads and there are reports of crocodiles moving in to the towns.

One woman is so far reported as dead and one man still missing in floodwaters, and 500 people from the community of Daly River have been evacuated to Darwin, with 390 currently being housed at the showgrounds.

Residents of the remote Nauiyu community reported saltwater crocodiles had made their way into town in the floodwaters. The crocodiles were seen on the local football field and the NT News reported one had been seen taking two dogs.

The Daly River is still above major flood levels at 14.68m, and is expected to remain so for several more days.


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