Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Sky-rocketing food prices in India: Who's to blame?

Niranjan Kaggere
Bangalore Mirror
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 09:28 UTC
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The rocketing prices of agricultural produce have not only burned a hole in budgets, but have kept many foods off dining tables in households. Politicians blame it on traders hoarding stocks. Traders in turn blame farmers for lack of supply, while farmers blame the changing weather. While all these factors do play a part, the primary cause, scientists, is poor yield.

Scientists say the reason for poor yields is that farmers still stick to age-old methods of farming. Most are unaware of new developments in agricultural practices, farming equipment and high yielding varieties of seeds and the few that are aware are unwilling to change.

In a recent survey, scientists and researchers from the extension department of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) found that nearly 70 per cent of the varsity's R & D does not percolate down to farmers. This in turn is pushing prices of produce up.

Comment: It's always safe to blame the system, but hasn't the system always been to blame? Something new must have come in to play here, like changing weather patterns. We suspect the farmers know best...

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Ice Cube

U.S. East Coast braces for Monday morning commute from hell: Winter storm threatens to bring freezing rain and has already caused 50 car pile-up in Pennsylvania


Daily Mail UK
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 08:46 UTC
A powerful storm that crept across the country dropped snow, freezing rain and sleet on the Mid-Atlantic region and headed northeast Sunday, turning NFL playing fields in Pennsylvania into winter wonderlands, dumping a foot of snow in Delaware and threatening a messy Monday commute in the northeast corridor.

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Freezing raining days and Mondays: The above map shows how the weather will impact East Coast roads Monday morning
The storm forced the cancellation of thousands of flights across the U.S. and slowed traffic on roads, leading to a number of accidents, including a fatal crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Morgantown that led to a series of fender-benders involving 50 cars that stranded some motorists for up to seven hours. More than two dozen vehicles were involved in another series of crashes on nearby Interstate 78.

What was forecast in the Philadelphia area to be a tame storm system with about an inch of snow gradually changing over to rain mushroomed into a full-blown snowstorm that snarled mid-afternoon traffic along Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania from the Delaware to New Jersey state lines.

Additional images
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Snowflake

Yet another winter storm moves eastward in U.S.

Eyder Peralta
National Public
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 21:57 UTC
ice storm tree damage
© Stewart F. House/Getty ImagesSix-year-old Enari Hernandez (left) and her cousin Maritza Jimenez, 6, play in front of a damaged tree in their neighbors yard on Saturday in Plano, Texas.
After a significant winter storm dumped a mixture of snow and ice across the country's midsection, another gruesome storm is moving east and meteorologist say the Eastern Seaboard should prepare for the kind of conditions that paralyzed cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.

The Associated Press reports that in California, four people were killed because of the cold and the NBC affiliate in Dallas reports that .

NPR member station KERA says "North Texas is practically a skating rink."

The weather caused cancellations of flights and the Dallas Marathon. Temperatures, reports KERA, are expected to dip into the teens.

The Associated Press adds:
"Meanwhile, around 7 inches of snow fell in northeast Arkansas and the Missouri boot heel, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis. Ice accumulated on trees and power lines in Memphis and the rest of West Tennessee after layers of sleet fell throughout the region Friday.

"The storm dumped a foot of snow and more in some areas of Illinois, with police scrambling to respond to dozens of accidents and forced scores of schools to remain closed."
As for what's to come, the National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings and watches for parts of Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
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Arrow Down

Sinkhole swallows car in Bakersfield, California


KomoNews
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 12:56 UTC

David Williams said he got a phone call about 5:30 a.m. Friday. His car was partially underground.

Stuart Patteson, Bakersfield Public Works operations manager, said Williams' parked car was swallowed by a sinkhole at 1st and L streets, created by a deteriorated 36-inch sewer trunk line.


Comment: More sinkhole activity in California:
California couple wakes to find sinkhole in yard (March 2013)
US, California: Giant Sinkhole Opens up Near UCSD (Oct 2011)


Patteson said they pulled the car out of the sinkhole and started examining the extent of damage to the sewer line. Repairs will come next.
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Snowflake Cold

More of U.S. expected to see snow, sleet, ice - National Weather Service

Adrian Sainz
Yahoo News
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 21:24 UTC
snow storm Texas
© Associated Press/Tony GutierrezVehicle traffic in IH-35 North and South bound is shown at a dead stop due to ice road conditions, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, in Sanger, Texas. Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation said "several miles" of the interstate had been backed up for 24 hours.
After cold rain and winds lashed the Southwest and other parts of the country Friday, millions of residents hunkered down for icy conditions expected to last through the weekend as the cold snap was forecast to continue causing problems and trekking northeast.

Face-stinging sleet, thick snow and blustery winds led to slick road conditions, school closures, power outages and event cancellations as the wintry blast dropped temperatures to freezing and below from Texas to Ohio to Tennessee on Friday.

In California, four people died of hypothermia in the San Francisco Bay Area while the region was gripped by freezing temperatures.

The weather created a strangely blank landscape out of normally sun-drenched North Texas: Mostly empty highways were covered in a sometimes impassable frost.

It forced the cancellation of Sunday's Dallas Marathon, which was expected to draw 25,000 runners, some of whom had trained for months. A quarter of a million customers in North Texas were left without power, and many businesses told employees to stay home to avoid the hazardous roads.

Meanwhile, around 7 inches of snow fell in northeast Arkansas and the Missouri boot heel, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis. Ice accumulated on trees and power lines in Memphis and the rest of West Tennessee after layers of sleet fell throughout the region Friday.

The storm dumped a foot of snow and more in some areas of Illinois, with police scrambling to respond to dozens of accidents and forced scores of schools to remain closed.
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Snowflake Cold

Bitterly cold air lingers in mid-western U.S. after power-cutting ice storm

Meghan Evans
Accuweather.com
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 02:19 UTC
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© AP Photo/LM OteroTraffic slowly moves along an ice covered highway Friday, Dec. 6, 2013, in Dallas.
Cold air will stay put after an ice storm cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers from Texas to Tennessee. The lingering frigid air will not only lay the path for more icing this weekend but will also delay recovery in communities dealing with widespread power outages and thus no heat.

More than half an inch of ice has weighed down trees and power lines over a widespread swath from northern Texas to Arkansas and northwestern Tennessee Thursday into Friday. Some communities near Dallas, Texas, have received as much as 3 inches of sleet.

"One cubic foot of ice weighs about 62 pounds," Senior Vice President of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Mike Smith said. "When you add 10- to 15-mph winds (swaying the lines) to all of that weight, the lines snap or break. Also, tree limbs sag onto the lines or fall onto the lines causing massive power failures."
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Bell

The Effects Of Environmentalist and Climate Alarmist Crying Wolf Begin To Appear

Dr. Tim Ball
Wattsupwiththat.com
Sat, 07 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Macleans Magazine November 2013
© Macleans Magazine
The cover story of the November 25, 2013 Canadian weekly magazine Macleans pictures self-appointed Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki.

The caption reads, "Environmentalism Has Failed" "David Suzuki loses faith in the cause of his lifetime."

Suzuki doesn't realize he's the cause of the failure as a major player in the group who exploited environmentalism and climate for a political agenda. Initially most listened and tried to accommodate, but gradually the lies, deceptions and propaganda were exposed. The age of eco-bullying is ending. Typically Suzuki blamed others for the damage to the environment and climate but now he blames them for not listening to him. He forgets that when you point a finger at someone three are pointing back at you.

Environmentalism was what academics call a paradigm shift, which Thomas Kuhn defines as "a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions." It was a necessary new paradigm. Everybody accepts the general notion it is foolish to soil your own nest and most were prepared to participate. Most were not sure what it entailed or how far it should go. Extremists grab all new paradigms for their agenda but then define the limits for the majority by pushing beyond the limits of the idea. Environmentalism and the subset climate are at that stage pushed there by extremists like Suzuki. Instead of admitting the science is wrong they double down and make increasingly extreme statements, just like the IPCC. It underscores the political rather than the scientific agenda. For example, Suzuki, apparently frustrated that politicians were not listening to his demands for action on climate change said they should be jailed.
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Arrow Down

Sinkhole nearly swallows pickup truck in Philadelphia

Kelly Bayliss
NBC10
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 20:43 UTC
Big hole
© NBC 10/LuAnn CahnA gaping hole in the middle of a city street. Who's responsible?
A huge sinkhole on a city street nearly swallowed a pickup truck this morning, now what?

Now, the Water Department says that a resident of the 900-block of Randolph Street in Northern Liberties has to pay for the repair of the gaping hole that almost swallowed a gray Dodge pickup.

"$2600," says Larisa Dersko.

Comment: What's going on in Philly?

July 2013: Massive sinkhole swallows entire intersection in Philadelphia!

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Bizarro Earth

Flashback Yangtze River turns red in Chongqing, Southwest China


Mail Online
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:39 UTC
It is the last thing the residents of Chongqing would have expected to see.

But the Yangtze river, which runs through the city in south-western China, turned a bright shade of orange-red yesterday.

The waterway where the Yangtze met the Jialin river provided a fascinating contrast as the red started to filter into the other river.
Yangtze River
© China Foto Press/Getty ImagesA ship sails across the junction of the polluted Yangtze River (left) and the Chongqing, China yesterday.
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Display

Higher storm frequency only in models...Observations show "no increase in storms in last 150 years"! -

P. Gosselin
No Tricks Zone
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 16:22 UTC
North sea Flood 1953
© Public domain photoNo frequency increase in North Sea storms in 150 years. Photo by a U.S. Army helicopter, Netherlands flood 1953.
Science journalist Axel Bojanowski of Spiegel comments on winter storm "Xaver" that pounded the north German coast yesterday, and on North Sea storms in general.

So are North Sea storms getting worse? Bojanowski (my emphasis):
Measurements of air pressure and wind since the middle of the 19th century show no increase in storms in the North Sea. The region over the last years has even been low with respect to wind. Although the year-to-year fluctuations are high, a trend in storm frequency is not detectable by scientists."
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