Earth ChangesS


Windsock

Sandstorm sweeps across Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt

Jenny Stanton
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 11 Feb 2015 20:30 UTC
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Hazy: This is how Cairo in Egypt looked from above on Wednesday February 11 after it was engulfed by a sandstorm for a second consecutive day
A raging sandstorm has swept into Israel, Palestine and Lebanon causing the worst Israeli air pollution in years and whipping up huge waves in the Mediterranean Sea.

The storm, make up of accumulated dust carried from the far reaches of the Sahara Desert in North Africa, also engulfed Cairo for a second day.

Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry said air pollution levels were the country's worst in five years and the storm would last into tonight.

Israeli airports spokeswoman Liza Dvir said flights to and from the Red Sea resort city of Eilat were temporarily grounded due to the weather, though planes still flew through the country's main international hub, Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv.

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Attention

6.9 magnitude earthquake hits Chile-Argentina border

Sandra Maler
The Daily Mail
Wed, 11 Feb 2015 06:57 UTC
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A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northeastern Chile on Wednesday, very close to the border with Argentina, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake, initially reported as a major 7.0, was fairly deep at 157 miles (252 km) below the earth, which should lessen its impact.

Its epicenter was located 111 miles (178 km) northwest of the Argentine town of Jujuy.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flooding in Jakarta forces 6,000 evacuations

Richard Davies
floodlist.com
Tue, 10 Feb 2015 19:35 UTC
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© Tony HartawanFloodwaters in Jakarta.
The 2015 Jakarta floods continue as more heavy rain falls on the Indonesian capital. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) of Indonesia confirmed earlier today that 5,986 people have been forced to evacuate their homes after floods continued to inundate wide areas of the city.

Update: Australian news agency AAP are reporting that Jakarta police say that one person has died after being swept away by flood water in central Jakarta.

The heavy rain began on Sunday 08 February 2015. By Monday, west, north, central areas, including the President's palace, were all under water. Traffic, trains and buses were all brought to a standstill, with many streets under water between 30 and 80 cm deep.

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Cloud Precipitation

Landslides and flooding in Peru following heavy rain

Richard Davies
floodlist.com
Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:23 UTC
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© Government of San Martin, PeruOverflowing river Huallaga, San Martin, Peru, January 2015.
Heavy rain in Peru over the last 3 days has caused landslides and flooding in 3 regions of the country according to Peru's National Civil Defense Institute, INDECI.

Arequipa

A storm and heavy rainfall on 09 February affected at least 20 homes and inundated roads in the districts of Sachaca and Cerro Colorado in the province of Arequipa.

San Martin

Areas of San Martin were affected by flooding earlier this year, displacing at least 3,000 people .

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Snowflake Cold

Kitamaat Village evacuated following 3 days without power due to near record snowfall in British Columbia


cbc.ca
Tue, 10 Feb 2015 21:55 UTC
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© Amanda Debeurs.Kitimat, British Columbia.
B.C.'s Haisla First Nation ordered the evacuation of Kitamaat Village and its 800 residents on Saturday night, three days after the community lost power following a major snowstorm.

Many residents are staying at the Kitimat Riverlodge Leisure Centre, about 15 kilometres north in the town of Kitimat.

Others are staying with family and friends.

The small towns of Kitimat and Terrace were hit with heavy snow earlier this week - nearly two metres of snow from a Pineapple Express weather system was dumped on the region.

The record for a 24-hour snowfall, set on Feb. 5, 1961, was 112 cm. Weather officials say Kitimat came close with 109 cm of snow in a 24-hour period.

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Eye 2

Cobra strikes out at trucks on highway near São Paulo, Brazil

Kara O'Neill
Daily Mirror, UK
Tue, 10 Feb 2015 15:46 UTC
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Unhappy: Snake is not pleased as trucks drive by on its patch of road
This is the scary moment a huge cobra left drivers in Brazil in no doubt about who rules this certain section of road on the Sao Paulo highway.

The angry reptile can be seen striking out at vehicles as they pass by - and it seems he holds particular contempt for large lorries.

Oblivious to the small issue of their size, the snake repeatedly strikes at the tyres of the trucks as they tentatively roll past.

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Phoenix

Californian town of Swall Meadows ravaged by 'wall of red' wildfire


New York Daily News
Sun, 08 Feb 2015 14:58 UTC
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© Jim Stimson/APThe wind-whipped fire gutted about 40 homes near Swall Meadows, California, along the Sierra Mountains, this weekend.
Police went door to door to get 250 residents out of Swall Meadows this weekend before a massive wind-driven wildfire swept through the town and destroyed 40 homes and other buildings along the Sierra mountains.

Ira Hanson milled around an evacuation center near tiny Swall Meadows on Sunday afternoon, not quite sure what to do after learning that the dream home he and his late wife had built 30 years earlier was damaged in a wildfire that consumed 40 homes and buildings.

Sheriff's deputies had banged on the door and urged him to get out less than 48 hours earlier, and he'd fled the house with little more than his medications and a pillow. Officials later told him that fire crews had to knock down one of the home's walls in an effort to save another house next door, but he had yet to see the damage.

"It's unbelievable," said Hanson, 79. "It's like having a nightmare and you're going to wake up any minute and it won't be true."

Fire crews increased containment of the wind-driven wildfire that ravaged communities along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, but they said Sunday that they still didn't know when the roughly 250 residents evacuated from Swall Meadows and nearby Paradise would be able to return home.


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Attention

Troop of monkeys sends man to his death in India


The Times of India
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 22:54 UTC
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Troop of monkeys.
The rising monkey population in Braj region has become a cause of concern for residents. In yet another tragic incident involving the rowdy primates, an elderly sant (holy man), identified as mahant Lal Baba, 75, of Madhav Kunj, fell from the terrace and died at spot on Wednesday evening.

Baba had gone up to the terrace to fetch items needed for a puja when a tribe of monkeys pounced upon him. The frightened man who tried to flee, lost his balance and fell off the terrace. He suffered severe head injuries. Police have sent the body for a postmortem examination.

Ashram inmates told police that Lal Baba had gone to the terrace to collect "bel-patra" for puja. "Just then a troop of rowdy monkeys attacked him. He fell down from the roof and died instantly."

Comment: See also: British tourist victim of 'worst-ever' attack by Gibraltar monkey

Monkey attack terror: Tears testicle off baby, eats it

Malaysia: Monkey Steals Baby from Living Room

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Attention

Elephant kills 3 villagers in Orissa, India


The Times of India
Mon, 09 Feb 2015 21:09 UTC
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© Satish Hanumantha RaoElephant Charging
A tusker killed three persons, including a couple, in Keonjhar district on Saturday night.

The deceased were identified as Laxmidhara Mohanta, 28, a resident of Chakulia village and Purna Chandra Mohanta, 65, and his wife Abanti Mohanta, 55, of Sitarampur village. Purna Chandra was a retired teacher.

Forest department sources said the tusker got separated from a herd at Similipal under Mayurbhanj forest division and entered Keonjhar from Patna range. It then wandered into Champua through Sadar forest range.

Around 10pm, the jumbo attacked Laxmidhara, a labourer, while he was working in a brick kiln near the village. Then it headed towards Sitarampur. Purna Chandra saw the tusker in his garden around 11pm and panicked. His wife rushed out hearing him scream. The elephant attacked and killed them, the sources added.
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Snowflake Cold

Global warming propagandists make "breathtaking" adjustments to arctic temperature record

James Delingpole
Breitbart
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 19:32 UTC
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© Reuters
Here's a video that you absolutely must see.

Not, I hasten to warn you, because it's exciting, well-produced or informative; rather, because of the fascinating light it sheds on the debate about global warming in general and also, in particular, on the ongoing controversy about whether organisations like NASA and NOAA are playing fast and loose with the world's temperature data sets.

According to the video's creator and star, Dr Kevin Cowtan, the latter suggestion is a nonsense. Using charts of South American and global temperatures, he painstakingly refutes suggestions by Christopher Booker and also (though tragically I don't get a mention) by me that there is anything suspect, let alone corrupt or fraudulent, in the adjustments that NASA and NOAA have been making to the raw temperature data from weather stations around the world.

If you stumbled on it by accident on YouTube I think you'd be quite persuaded. Cowtan's tone is soft and reasonable; the science, as he presents it, seems to stack up: a) there are perfectly valid reasons for these adjustments, to do with homogenising the raw data when it looks out of kilter with neighbouring but possibly more accurate weather stations, and with the changing nature of measuring equipment and b) the adjustments are, in any case, minor - altering the raw data by no more than 3 per cent.

Comment: For more info on the likely global cooling occurring, see:

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