Earth ChangesS


Fire

Hundreds evacuated from northeastern Alberta as wildfires rage through crude-producing region

Scott Haggett and Nia Williams
Reuters
Tue, 26 May 2015 23:44 UTC
slave lake, alberta wildfire
© REUTERS/Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Smoke rises from a wildfire east of Slave Lake, Alberta May 25, 2015
Statoil ASA, MEG Energy Corp and Cenovus Energy Inc evacuated hundreds of workers from three oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta on Tuesday as wildfires raged through the key crude-producing region.

The latest evacuations are in addition to project shutdowns by Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd over the weekend, as companies rushed to remove staff from potential danger.

At least 233,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, 9 percent of Alberta's total oil sands output, have been suspended because of the fire risk, though none of the projects have been damaged.

The Alberta government said there are 70 forest fires now burning in the province, with 20 considered out of control. Lightning storms are forecast for Tuesday evening, increasing the risk of more fires, a government spokesman said.

Cenovus evacuated all 90 staff from its Narrows Lake oil sands project on Tuesday, which is not yet producing crude after construction was deferred last year.

The company also shut down its Birch Mountain natural gas plant northwest of Fort McMurray.
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Attention

Hundreds of dead red crabs wash up on Tijuana beach, Mexico

John Carroll
sandiego6.com
Tue, 26 May 2015 14:10 UTC
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Red crabs.
A big stretch of Tijuana beach turned bright red today as hundreds of crustaceans washed up on the sand. The creatures are a kind of crab, better known as Langostino.

The scene Tuesday afternoon on Playas de Tijuana was surreal as hundreds of the small creatures dotted the sand, most of them dead. "I thought first of all it was like all that polluted water we have around here, especially in Tijuana, but then another theory they say is that they (were brought here) by the currents," said one woman on the beach.

"We have seen them in our samples in local waters," said Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine scientist Linsey Sala. Sala said seeing this many red crabs on the beach isn't all that unusual. "Been seeing them. We got reports as early as July 2014. This year my first report of people seeing them was on January first," she said.

But these little crustaceans aren't the only ones to have washed up on the beaches of Baja over the last several weeks. First there was a whale, then a seal and then dozens of blue jellyfish. Sala said she's not sure if all the incidents are related. "The seals and sea lions are local to these waters as are the blue and gray whales. The red crabs actually serve as a food source," she said.
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Sun

Nearly 1,200 people dead in heatwave across India


Hindustan Times
Wed, 27 May 2015 13:55 UTC
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Children jump into the Ganga river to beat the heat on a hot day.
A relentless heatwave sweeping large parts of India has killed nearly 1,200 people, with most deaths reported from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, even as forecasts warned that the intense weather conditions are expected to continued till the weekend.

The death toll in Andhra Pradesh rose to 852, with the scorching weather claiming 202 lives in Prakasam district alone, officials said. Another 266 deaths were reported in Telangana where Ramagundam city recorded a maximum temperature of 44.5°C.

A total of 67 deaths were reported in Odisha, according to ANI. Titlagarh recorded a temperature of 47.6°C, the season's highest for the state.

Officials reported seven deaths in Gujarat's capital Ahmedabad this month, with the civic body issuing an "orange alert", indicating a prolonged heatwave with temperatures expected to rise to 43°C to 45°C over the next week.

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© Shankar Mourya/HT PhotoPeople resort to a glass of sugarcane juice or sherbet to beat the heat.
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Cloud Precipitation

Large hailstones fall in Oman

Rejomin K
Times of Oman
Wed, 27 May 2015 13:41 UTC
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© Ali Al Baddaei/www.rthmc.net Rain and hailstorm fell in Fanja, a village about 64 km away from Muscat, at around 2pm.
Rain and hailstorm fell in Fanja, a village about 64 km away from Muscat, at around 2pm.

"It is heavily raining and wadis are overflowing. There was hailstorm too," said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather trends in Oman.

"Skies over Muscat are cloudy. Rain is expected," Bader added.

The Oman meteorological department had also predicted rain in eastern parts of Muscat and in Batinah.
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Fish

Mass fish death in Siberian lake


The Siberian Times
Fri, 15 May 2015 13:17 UTC
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Thousands of carp washed up, but who or what killed them?
Shocked locals have posted pictures of the dead fish amid suspicions they were killed by explosions as officials melted winter ice to prevent flooding.

The disturbing scene was at Lake Khatyng, in the Sakha Republic, the coldest region in Russia. The fish - believed to be carp and grouper - were seen dead en mass on 14 May.

Locals in Tulagino village blamed the dynamiting of local rivers to prevent ice causing dams on rivers, so leading to flooding of villages. But representatives of the Ministry of Emergencies in the republic, also known as Yakutia, denied being responsible for the dead fish.

A spokesperson said: 'On 13 May we did blow up the ice, but the work was near the village of Namtsy, almost 100 km from Tulagino. Even if we assume that fish died because of the explosion, it is unlikely that they were carried such a distance.'
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Snowflake Cold

Southern Ontario vineyards damaged by late brutal cold weather


am980.ca
Wed, 27 May 2015 12:55 UTC
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Grapes
The 2015 vintages from some southern Ontario wineries may be somewhat rarer than usual.

Vineyard owners in Prince Edward County and the Niagara region are assessing the damage from a record-breaking plunge into cold weather late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Farmers were sent scrambling to prevent frost from killing their fruit. They rented helicopters, turned on wind machines and set bales of hay on fire in an attempt to save what they could.

Some smaller wineries say their crop was practically gutted in the deep-freeze.

Clark Tyler, manager at Harwood Estate Vineyards in Prince Edward County, estimates that a mere five per cent of grapes at his four-hectare vineyard survived the frost.
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Snowflake

Weather chaos: Kashmir receives snowfall when other parts of India reel under severe heat


aninews.in
Tue, 26 May 2015 19:22 UTC
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Snowfall in Kashmir
While the rest of India continued to simmer under intense heat wave, higher reaches of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir received fresh snowfall. It has been snowing in Rajouri intermittently since Sunday (May 24) causing the mercury to drop considerably.

People have once again pulled out their woolens. Though snowfall in Rajouri is unusual for this time of the year, no one seems to be complaining. Instead people from nearby areas of Shopian and Poonch are thronging the place to enjoy the weather.

The sudden change in weather has reportedly been caused by a prevailing western disturbance over the region. As a result of which, the lower reaches of Rajouri received snowfall. Heat wave in the rest of India has so far claimed many lives.

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Wolf

Young boy mauled to death by pit bull terrier in Chicago


chicago.cbslocal.com
Tue, 26 May 2015 17:15 UTC
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Pit bull terrier
A 5-year-old boy was mauled to death by a dog Monday night in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

The boy was attacked around 9:30 p.m. in the 8900 block of South Carpenter Street. Neighbors called 911 after hearing his mother screaming for help.

"I heard the lady come out the house ... and the dog had her son's neck in his mouth, and she said, 'Oh, my God, can someone please help me?'" neighbor Bianca White said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the boy as James Nevils III.

Witnesses said the attack started inside a home, and the boy's mother was able to drag the dog and her son outside, and began asking neighbors to help her get the dog off her son.

"I saw that it was a dog had mauled a baby at the neck, and like by his shoulder, and was just attacking him, and the mom was trying to get the dog off the baby, and I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, please, somebody help,'" White said.

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Cloud Precipitation

State of disaster declared in Texas due to severe weather conditions


RT
Mon, 25 May 2015 19:12 UTC
Texas storm damage
© AFP/BLANCO POLICE DEPARTMENTThis May 24, 2015 Handout photo provided by the Blanco Police Department in Blanco, Texas shows the bridge on Rte 165 spanning the Blanco River that was washed away by flash flooding caused by torrential downpours.
The governor of Texas declared a state of emergency in 2 dozen counties, as more severe weather conditions are in store for the region, where storms have already killed at least 3 people. Across the border in Mexico, 13 people were killed by a tornado.

Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in 24 counties, citing deadly weather conditions that have been tormenting the state since early May.

The first emergency proclamation, issued on May 11, had to be amended to include more counties.

Houston, the nation's fourth most-populous city, has seen parts of the city covered in water.

Floods in Texas
© Reuters / Rick WilkingHouston, Texas
An unidentified man was found drowned in Texas, while at least two more victims reportedly died in Oklahoma. One woman died after her car hydroplaned and a firefighter was killed when he was swept into a storm drain, CNN reported.

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Arrow Down

Sinkhole closes runway at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport

Bill Hethcock
Dallas Business Journal
Tue, 26 May 2015 16:41 UTC
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© Unknown
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport closed a runway this morning after a sinkhole opened near it.

The airport closed Runway 18L temporarily as a precaution while airfield operations crews assess a sinkhole that has been reported in a grassy area about 250 feet between a taxiway and runway 18L, the airport said in a prepared statement.

The sinkhole is not on the runway or taxiway itself, but in an area called the safety area, airport spokesman David Magaña said.

Comment: This sinkhole has been reported to be 25 feet x 25 feet, with an unknown depth. To learn more about what's causing all of these sinkholes, check out the SOTT Radio Show - SOTT Talk Radio show # 70: Earth Changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man made?

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