Earth ChangesS


Arrow Down

Sinkhole opens up on road in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


channelnewsasia.com
Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:17 UTC
Image
© @wanluv36A yet-completed tunnel sunk on Wednesday, causing part of a road in Kuala Lumpur city area to sink.
Part of a road at the intersection of Jalan Pudu and Jalan Hang Tuah sunk on Wednesday, after an underground tunnel being constructed, collapsed.

Traffic in Malaysia's capital city was disrupted on Wednesday (July 2) after a road sunk due to the collapse of an underground tunnel being constructed.

According to a report by Malaysia's The Star, part of the road at the intersection of Jalan Pudu and Jalan Hang Tuah sunk after the tunnel, which forms part of the Pudu underpass project by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), collapsed at 10.38am. There was another cave-in at 12.20pm.

Two excavators were in the tunnel when the incident happened, but no casualties were reported, said Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department Assistant Director (Operations) Azizan Ismail said. He predicted the road would collapse further along the tunnel lines, the report stated.
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Apple Red

Early signs of autumn in UK 'already appearing in natural world'


The Guardian
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 11:13 UTC
Image
Natural beauty: Purple Emperor butterflies, pictured, have started arriving early after Britain experienced warmer than average temperatures for seven months in a row. Autumn could soon be upon us
Sycamore seeds are well developed and hawthorn berries are already red, says National Trust

After an early spring and summer, the year is now racing towards autumn ahead of schedule, conservationists have said.

As the year reached the half-way mark, the National Trust said wildlife seemed to have come through the wettest and stormiest winter on record and nature had hurtled "helter-skelter" through the seasons since.

Now signs of autumn are already in the hedgerows and woods, National Trust naturalist Matthew Oates said.

"Looking at this year, where does it want to be? It raged its way through winter, then we went into an incredibly early spring, and then it rushed helter-skelter through spring without stopping for breath," he said.
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Cloud Precipitation

Met Office: El Nino has potential to induce "major climatic impacts" this year

Tom Bawden
The Independent
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 10:49 UTC
el nino
Droughts, fires, floods, extreme winters: El Nino to blame?
The world is almost certain to be struck by the "El Nino" phenomenon this year, with the potential to induce "major climactic impacts" around the world, the Met Office has warned.

India and Australia are likely to be hit the hardest but the fallout could also be felt in Britain, where the last El Nino event in 2009/10 contributed to the heavy snowfall in the UK that winter.

The term El Nino relates to feedback between the atmosphere and ocean that occurs every two to seven years and can wreak havoc on the weather system, inflicting droughts and excessive rainfall across the world.

"El Nino is associated with colder than average winters, but is only one of the players that determine the weather," a Met Office spokesman said.

This means that while the phenomenon increases the chance of a cold winter, and was found to have contributed to the freezing conditions across Northern Europe last time it struck, it was by no means certain that the UK would become blanketed in snow.

In a report that concludes the event is "probable", the Met Office predicts that the worst effects of the El Nino will be felt in India, during the forthcoming three-month Monsoon season.

Comment: Humanity has a lot more to prepare for than El Nino: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.

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Cloud Lightning

More torrential rain worsens Midwest flooding

Jim Salter and Jim Suhr
ABC News
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:22 UTC
Iowa flooding
Highway flooding near Marshalltown, Iowa on Tuesday, July 1, 2014.
More torrential rain worsened flooding in the Midwest, spawning high water that swept away an Iowa teenager, caused a traffic nightmare near one of the nation's busiest airports and threatened to swamp a Missouri town for the fifth time in less than a decade.

More than 3 inches of rain fell over much of eastern Iowa and northern Illinois Monday night and Tuesday morning, and some areas got up to 5 inches of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Fuchs said, capping a week of downpours in the region.

Six Midwest states - North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri - were dealing with significant flooding and there were pockets in some other states. By the weekend, the Mississippi River will be at major flood stage along many Iowa, Illinois and Missouri communities, forecasters said. River flooding could close highways, potentially top levees and threaten some homes and businesses.
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Phoenix

San Francisco Bay Area wildfire spreads to 3,200 acres

Brian Shields
KRON 4
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 10:05 UTC
Napa wildfire
© KRON 4
The Butts Fire burning in the North Bay has spread from Napa County into Lake County early Wednesday morning. Smoke from the 3,200 acre wild fire can be seen across much of the northern and central parts of the Bay Area.

By Wednesday morning, the fire remained just 30% contained.

About 200 homes are part of the mandatory evacuations that remain in effect from the west side of the 7800 block of Butts Canyon Rd to north of Snell Valley Rd including the Berryessa Estates.

"Right now they're not bad," one Calfire worker tells KRON 4′s Jackie Sissel Wednesday morning. "Yesterday they looked pretty bad with the wind. It looks like it is a fuels driven fire with the drought that we're experiencing now."

The fire broke out early Tuesday afternoon off Butts Canyon Rd in Pope Valley. That's about ten miles southeast of Middletown. Aetna Springs Road is now closed in the area. Butts Canyon Road is also closed between Snell Valley and Aetna Springs roads.

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Arrow Up

Global cooling? Great Lakes water levels rising - Scientists 'startled'

Robert Felix
Iceagenow.info
Wed, 02 Jul 2014 02:44 UTC
Lake Michigan
© Mark Kauzlarich/The New York Times Dylan Drephal and Bryan Townsend fishing for smallmouth bass in mid-June along the Lake Michigan shore north of Ephraim, Wis., where the water is at least a foot higher than it was a year ago.
Another global warming prediction bites the dust

The National Wildlife Federation recently warned that "Lake Erie water levels, already below average, could drop 4-5 feet by the end of this century." The announcement also warned, in a section entitled "Threats from Global Warming," that "within another 30 years Lake Superior may be mostly ice-free in a typical winter."

On Thursday, Huffington Post Canada observed that "the (Great Lakes) basin has experienced the longest extended period of lower water levels since the U.S. and Canada began tracking levels in 1918." The article blamed the lower water levels on "climate change," of course.

On, Friday, Julie Bosman at the New York Times reported a new 5-year study that concluded that "water levels in the lakes were likely to drop even farther, in part because of the lack of precipitation in recent years brought on by climate change."

Uh huh. Except that Great Lakes water levels are rising. A lot.
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Bizarro Earth

Twister on CCTV: Wisconsin gas station's direct hit from tornado


RT
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 19:01 UTC
ornado
© YouTubeScreenshot from YouTube user NewsBeatsNow
The chilling moment a tornado hit a gas station in Colfax, Wisconsin, has been posted online as the state recovers from a weekend storm. A CCTV camera caught a car avoiding flying debris as a tornado struck in a matter of a few seconds.

Luckily, the vehicle avoided damage and people in it were not hurt - escaping the tragedy by mere seconds.

As the truck makes a U-turn and leaves the gas station, wind gusts bring debris and tree branches as the tornado strikes. It just 30 seconds as a powerful rotation suddenly comes into view, hitting parked cars.

The surveillance camera footage was caught last Friday as the tornado was getting closer to Colfax. The twister went through Colfax around 3:15pm. The National Weather Service said the tornado was a weak EF1 category with wind speeds of 85 to 90 miles per hour (137-145 kmh). The tornado reached 100 yards wide at its widest and lasted about five minutes.

Despite being described as weak, the brief twister downed trees in the area and caused damage to a local elementary and middle school along with the gas station.

Neighbors got together on Saturday to clean up the debris left behind, local media outlet WEAU reported.

Colfax saw a deadly tornado back in 1958, when a storm killed about 12 people there and 30 people in western Wisconsin.
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Cloud Precipitation

Snowmageddon comes to Australian ski resorts, more on the way

Patrick Thorne
In the Snow
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:38 UTC
Bus in the Snow Australia
© Unknown
Australian ski areas - which started their season badly on June 7th with almost no snow following a record warm May, are celebrating snowfalls of up to almost five feet (1.4m in fact) during the last four days.

The snow has now stopped leaving resorts well-covered ahead of the weekend and the country's school holiday period.

"We expect to have over 40 lifts operating for the weekend across the four resorts areas of Perisher, Smiggin Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega," said Samantha Hales, Communications and Media Manager at Australia's biggest resort which now has a 102.1 cm base,

"There is a lot of work to do to get the resort open after a big storm as we need to get out there and groom out the wind drift, build lift tracks and ensure the resorts is safe for guests."

Meanwhile at Mt Hotham called the snowfall 'Snowmageddon 1.0' and are expecting 'Snowmageddon 2.0' to follow bon later this weekend.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe lightning storms tear through Chicago area


5 NBC Chicago
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:14 UTC
Chicago lightning storm
© Bahadir Koseli
Damaging wind, large hail, lightning and heavy rain wreak havoc in Chicago area.

Residents are assessing the damage after tonight's severe weather passed through Park Forest, River Forest and Oak Park. NBC 5's Natalie Martinez reports.

A pair of thunderstorms lashed the Chicago area during the evening and nighttime hours Monday with a powerful punch of high winds, near-constant lightning and torrential rainfall.

National Weather Service data released Tuesday morning put Winnetka as the rainfall total winner, with 4.12 inches.
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Attention

Dead Bryde's whale found washed ashore in Samut Prakarn province,Thailand


englishnews.thaipbs.or.th
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 14:02 UTC
Image
A dead Bryde's whale weighs about 11 tons was washed ashore in Phra Samut Chedi district of Samut Prakarn province.

The whale is 11 metres long. It was found by residents near the Phra Chulachomklao fortress shore.

It was not known the cause of death of this sea mammal but locals said they spotted the dead whale in the sea a few days earlier but could do nothing because of its size.

It was until yesterday that the dead whale was washed ashore.

Officials from the Marine Resources Research and Development Centre in the Gulf of Thailand have inspected the body of the whale but could not find a cause yet.
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