Earth ChangesS


Attention

Almost 40 million birds dead as avian flu ravages Midwest

Lorraine Chow
ecowatch.com
Thu, 21 May 2015 17:47 UTC
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© Nonpareil Photos Avian flu remains.
The devastating avian influenza sweeping the Midwest has forced the mass slaughter of nearly 40 million diseased chicken, turkey and wild birds in order to contain the outbreaks, according to the latest grisly numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
BREAKING: State officials confirm #Malvern landfill among those receiving avian flu remains. http://t.co/bwJsCNtikQ pic.twitter.com/qUGMvDsvtp

— Nonpareil Photos (@NonpareilPhotos) May 20, 2015
According to the USDA, since it was first detected in December 2014, there have been several ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza cases along the Pacific, Central and Mississippi Flyways (or migratory bird paths). The strains in particular, H5N2 and H5N8, have been found in wild birds, as well as backyard and commercial poultry flocks.

This is the worst epidemic of bird flu in the nation's history. Egg-producers in Iowa, the top egg-producing state, have been hit the hardest, with a shocking 40 percent Iowa's egg-laying hens dead or to be euthanized.

In a report from Harvest Public Media (via NPR), while some local incinerators are burning dead birds 24 hours a day, other landfills have been turning away the carcasses for fear of contamination and neighbors' complaints.
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Arrow Down

New giant sinkhole opens up in Russia's Perm region


The Moscow Times
Wed, 20 May 2015 14:49 UTC
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© AIFThe diameter of the hole is 25 metres.
Another giant sinkhole has appeared in Russia's Perm region, which has seen its soil imploding into a series of large craters in recent years, possibly as a result of the vast network of mines in the area.

The latest sinkhole appeared in the village of Lunyevka, in the Aleksandrovsk district of the Perm region. The town had been a coal mining center, but the last mine was closed there more than 50 years ago the head of the district administration, Lyubov Babich, was quoted as saying by the local Valekse news portal on Monday.

Accounts of the sinkhole size varied. The head of the Aleksandrovsk district civil defense department, Alexander Golchikov, put it at 20 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep, the regional outlet of the national Argumenty i Fakty newspaper reported. Meanwhile, Babich estimated the size at 25 meters in diameter and 4 meters deep, Valekse reported.
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Snowflake

Snow covers Arxan City in north China


newscontent.cctv.com
Mon, 18 May 2015 14:25 UTC
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Snowfall in Arxan, China
A heavy snowfall falling with northern cold front on Monday brought winter back to the Arxan City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region while much of China bracing bright summer days.

The snow started to fall early Monday morning and stopped at around 11:00 am. Streets in downtown Arxan were covered by 10 centimeter thick snow and residents going outdoors were seen dressing in layers to keep themselves warm after a sharp drop in temperatures.

Number of cars hit on road apparently decreased due to the snowy weather. Those who hit on road slowed down their speed and drove cautiously.

Local border police division dispatched soldiers to help pull the cars stranded in snow to safety.

Municipal authorities have organized personnel to clear the tough heavy snow from streets since morning. Flights at the local airport were not affected as the snowfall continued only a short time.

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Cloud Precipitation

Izmir hit by flash flood after 30 minute downpour, Turkey


Today's Zaman
Thu, 21 May 2015 13:53 UTC
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© DHAThe rain, accompanied by northeaster winds and hail, led to floods, especially at high points in İzmir.
Turkey's western province of İzmir was hit by a flash flood caused by heavy rain that lasted around half an hour at around noon on Wednesday.

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Flooding in İzmir
The rain, accompanied by northeaster winds and hail, led to floods, especially at high points in İzmir. Meanwhile, social media users circulated striking photographs on the Internet showing the gravity of the situation. The photograph of a man drifting away in a flood in the Gültepe neighborhood particularly drew attention on the Internet. Adem Altıparmak, the man seen in the picture, managed to survive after he was dragged around 400 meters in the flood.

In the meantime, cars sustained severe damage due to the flood. The local administrator of the Trakya neighborhood told the Cihan news agency the area is often damaged by flash floods and that he petitioned the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality twice for gutters to be built to evacuate the rainfall. He added that a local lost his life in a flash flood last year.

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Cloud Precipitation

Huge hail storm in Pecos, Texas


youtube.com
Mon, 18 May 2015 13:46 UTC
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Large hailstones
Large hail fell from a tornado warned storm near the town of Pecos, Texas covering the roads and damaging vehicles in the area.

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Snowflake

Snowfall in Italy in late May

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Wed, 20 May 2015 13:26 UTC
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Snow in Italy
While the center and south of the peninsula is very sunny and warm, in the north it snows. Even for our latitude snow in late May is not common.

Spring snow in Alto Adige. On the A22 motorway on the Austrian border movement of vehicles partially restricted. Huge traffic jams and many accidents.

Snows from early in the morning at the Brenner Pass: as shown in the photo taken by the webcam Site A22 snow is creating heavy traffic disruption in both carriageways between Sterzing and the state border. Especially heavy vehicles proceeding slowly slowing down the entire flow of vehicles.

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Snow in Italy

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Snow settles in Italy
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Snowflake

Winter returns in late May with 18 inches of snow in German Alps

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Thu, 21 May 2015 13:12 UTC
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© Jörg Heisig Winter return to the Alps
Heavy Snow on May 21!!

Up to half a meter (18 inches) of snow hit higher elevations yesterday Snow covers the landscape around the Herzogstand in the Bavarian Alps at around 1730 meters altitude.

Not far away is the Walchensee, a popular destination for the residents of Munich.

Thanks to Loher for this link
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Winter returns
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Winter returns
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Attention

Wild elephant kills one in Assam, India


The Assam Tribune
Thu, 21 May 2015 13:03 UTC
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Upset elephant
One person was trampled to death by an elephant which got isolated from its herd. The jumbo also destroyed houses and standing crops at Kakripara village under Mankachar PS in Dhubri district on Monday, sources said.

The deceased, Monir Jamal, was guarding his paddy field when the elephant attacked him. After destroying some thatched houses and rice fields at Kakripara village, the jumbo retreated to the forest, the sources added.
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Fire

Photographs of rare red 'lightning' sprites taken in New Mexico and Europe

Angela Fritz
Washington Post
Thu, 21 May 2015 18:52 UTC
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© Martin Popek Lightning sprites captured in the Czech Republic on May 13, 2015.

Rarely seen brilliant red sprites were captured by photographers during thunderstorms last week in the Czech Republic and New Mexico.

Sprites are associated with lightning strikes but aren't actually lightning. Instead, sprites occur in the very high levels of the atmosphere above very strong thunderstorms, in the region called the mesosphere between 30 and 60 miles high. Sprites are triggered by positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the storm — which is why they are most common during thunderstorm season — and typically only last a few seconds. They are usually shaped like jelly fish, columns or carrots.

"Sprites are a true space weather phenomenon," lightning scientist Oscar van der Velde of the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, told spaceweather.com. "They develop in mid-air around 80 km [50 miles] altitude, growing in both directions, first down, then up. This happens when a fierce lightning bolt draws lots of charge from a cloud near Earth's surface. Electric fields [shoot] to the top of Earth's atmosphere - and the result is a sprite. The entire process takes about 20 milliseconds."
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Bizarro Earth

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake 'causes homes to shake' in Kent, UK


BBC
Fri, 22 May 2015 08:29 UTC
Kent earthquake
© British Geological surveyThe British Geological survey's monitoring stations showed seismic activity on Friday morning
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake has been recorded in Kent, the British Geological Survey (BGS) has said.

The tremor originated near Sandwich at a depth of 15km (9.5 miles) underground at 02:52 BST, it reported.

Residents in areas including Margate, Canterbury and Southend-on-Sea in Essex felt the tremor, with some saying they thought it was a plane crash or a bomb.

Kent Police said a number of calls had been received but no injuries or structural damage had been reported.

But Herbert Smith tweeted that he and his wife Doreen were taking refuge in their caravan after being evacuated from their damaged home in Flete.
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