NASA has released its latest sea ice report. These are tough times for climate alarmists. The truth is: There's a lot more sea ice out there this year than they ever imagined.


NASA makes some interesting comments.

First they tell us that Arctic sea ice is over 1.5 million sq. km above last year, and is thus at one of the highest late summer extents in the last 10 years. Surprise.

Secondly Walt Meier of NASA tells us the real reason for last year's record minimum: storms.

Reno, Nevada -- A sink hole discovered in the median of Interstate 80 west of Reno forced the temporary closure of two travel lanes in both directions.

The California Department of Transportation says the sink hole is located about a half mile west of Donner Pass Road in Truckee. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports all lanes were open Friday afternoon after crews finished filling it.

The cause of the sink hole is still unknown, but Caltrans spokeswoman Rochelle Jenkins says it was probably created by water moving underground near the highway.

The sink hole had encroached upon the fast lanes of both westbound and eastbound traffic, but so far there's no sign of stress or cracking of the highway that is the main route between Northern California and Nevada. Traffic in both directions had been restricted to one lane through the area earlier Friday.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

Littleton, Colorado got a taste of winter as a blast of wintry rain and hail hit the city on Thursday. The hail storm pounded parts of the city, dropping 6 inches of hail on one street and flooding the area with up to 4 feet of water.

According to KPLCTV, kids were excited to get some snow in the middle of the summer. "I'm excited. It's fun in snow," one child reportedly said. Adults, on the other hand, weren't as pleased with the storm.

Bryndon Jackson, who was driving when the storm struck, said he got stuck in a flash flood and was buried in hail. "All of a sudden my car just started getting washed away. Water flying up over the hood coming up to my windshield," he said. "It's freaky, it's weird."

A giant wildfire raging out of control spread into Yosemite National Park on Friday as authorities urged more evacuations in nearby communities where thousands have already been forced out by flames marching through the timbered slopes of the western Sierra Nevada.

The fire has hit the park - whose streams and lakes, grandeur and granite peaks attract millions of people from all over the world - at the height of summer season, just a week before the Labor Day holiday.

The blaze has closed backcountry hiking in the park, but was not threatening the Yosemite Valley region, one of California's most popular tourist destinations.

The fire grew to more than 165 square miles and was only 2 percent contained. It continued to spread in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Smoke blowing across the Sierra into the state of Nevada forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems.

• The endangered loggerhead turtle was spotted by a sailor off Portland Bill, Dorset

• It is believed the creature mistook the unusually warm British waters for the Canary Islands
• Last known sighting of a loggerhead turtle in Dorset was in 1938

A rare, endangered sea turtle was spotted off the Dorset coast after it got lost on its way to the Mediterranean.

The 4ft loggerhead turtle was seen as it made its 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic from the east coast of America.

It is thought the unusually warm UK waters fooled the creature into thinking it had arrived in the Canary Islands.

• Bystanders on the banks of Qiantang River in Zhejiang province were swept off their feet by tidal bore

• Unusual phenomenon was worsened by the arrival of Typhoon Trami which has devastated the Philippines

Hundreds of spectators were swept off their feet when the world's largest tidal bore surged up a river creating an exceptionally powerful wave.

The victims were standing on the banks of the Qiantang River in China's Zhejiang province yesterday when the surge took them by surprise.

The power of the river was exacerbated by Typhoon Trami, a devastating tropical storm which has swept across the region this week.

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Mount Hobalt, an underwater volcano off the coast of Lembata island, East Nusa Tenggara, briefly erupted on Tuesday but did not cause any damage, officials and residents said. "Based on information received from the head of the Center for Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation [PVMBG], the mountain erupted Tuesday morning," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said. Sutopo called on villagers living around the volcano to remain alert, but added that there was no need for residents to be evacuated from the area. "The PVMBG is closely monitoring the volcano," Sutopo said. Petrus Bote, who heads the district's disaster mitigation office, said that district authorities were preparing for the possibility of a larger eruption by bolstering stocks of emergency relief supplies and increasing manpower around the area.

"Many people, including fishermen, saw the peak of [Mount Hobalt] surface for a few minutes," Peter said on Tuesday. He said that a similar phenomenon took place when the volcano last erupted in May 1999. Tini Thadeus, the head of the NTT Disaster Mitigation Agency, said that the volcano briefly belched a column of smoke and ash that reached between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level at around 7:13 a.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Victor Mado Watun, the island's deputy district chief, said that another volcano, Mount Ile Wereng, which straddles the inland subdistricts of Atadei and Wulandoni, also experienced a brief eruption. Victor said that a three-kilometer radius danger zone around the two mountains has been declared. "The district's disaster mitigation office has sent two teams to the Atadei and Wulandoni. They are monitoring the activity of two volcanoes there and are registering the number of villagers living near them," Victor said. Hobalt is one of the five active submarine volcanoes in Indonesia, a country that sits on three geological fault lines dotted with volcanoes. - Jakarta Times

Activity has remained elevated. A series of ash emissions caused by moderately strong vulcanian-type explosions occurred over the past days. This morning, an ash plume rose to 8,000 ft (2.4 km) altitude and drifted east. Meanwhile, Shiveluch: The volcano continues to extrude a new lobe of viscous lava (visible as the dark patch in the webcam image) at the lava dome, as well as produce occasional (usually small) ash explosions - Volcano Discovery

A major eruption occurred yesterday evening. Starting at 17:45 (local time), the top part of the Caliente lava dome collapsed and produced a series of relatively large pyroclastic flows and explosions. Ash plumes rose more than 2 km to elevations of 4 km altitude. The cause of the eruption was likely the accumulation of pressurized magma and gas under the dome composed of viscous (solid) lava. The pyroclastic flows affected mainly the south, southeast and NNE sides. Bombs from explosive activity were ejected to distances of 500 m. - Volcano Discovery

Climate change and rising sea levels could mean the world's leading coastal cities - with Marseille being the financial and business centre most at risk in France - facing increased flooding with costs running into the billions to provide basic protection.

A study for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that the 136 leading coastal cities could face losses of a trillion dollars a year - €750billion a year - as they had been designed to cope with past sea levels.

They were built to cope with expected 100-year storm surges but were not built to face the expected 0.4metre rise caused by climate change over the next 40 years and the more devastating floods that will be produced.

World Bank economist Stephane Hallegatte led the study, called "Future Flood Losses in Major Coastal Cities" and published in Nature Climate Change, and said: "Inaction is not an option. Coastal cities will have to improve their flood management, including better defences, at a cost estimated around €37.5 billion per year for the 136 cities."