Earth ChangesS

Bizarro Earth

Snakes, sinkholes, mega-mosquitoes: Florida's troubles continue to mount

Mega-mosquitoes known as gallinippers could invade Central Florida this summer, as flood waters from tropical storms force the larvae to hatch this hurricane season. Entomologists at the University of Florida say the mosquitoes are 20 times the size of a typical mosquito, about the size of a quarter. They also pack a painful bite, according to UF entomologist Phil Kaufman. He calls the species "notoriously aggressive." The best way to protect against these super-sized mosquitoes is to wear bug spray with DEET and cover up as best as possible. Gallinippers were spotted last year in Florida after Tropical Storm Debbie doused the state, but scientists predict they'll make an appearance again this summer. According to Kaufman and his team one good thing about these mosquitoes is that they aren't known to carry any viruses that could be harmful to humans. - Click Orlando
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Super-sized: Scientist says mega-mosquitoes also known as gallinippers, left, could be common in central Florida this summer. They can be 20 times bigger than typical Asian tiger mosquitoes

Windsock

Tornado hits Glascock, Georgia

Baptist Church Glascock
© Parish Howard/ Morris News ServiceThe steeple of Magnolia Baptist Church in Glascock County points toward the damaged church this morning.
A Tuesday night tornado with wind speeds near 100 mph took the roof and steeple off a rural church, flattening nearby tombstones and downing trees.

No one was injured in the storm that struck about 7:30 p.m., but three residences were damaged and about 10 people displaced, authorities said.

Kent Frantz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Atlanta, was at the site Wednesday and said the destruction path was about 150 yards wide and about three-quarters of a mile long.

Snowflake

Washington DC shuts down ahead of winter snow storm

midwest snow
© Getty ImagesAs much as 10in (25cm) of snow fell on Chicago on Tuesday
US government offices are closed as the East Coast braces for a blizzard that dumped heavy snow on Midwestern states in recent days.

Schools are shut and more than 1,500 flights cancelled at Washington DC and Baltimore airports, with up to a foot (30cm) of snowfall predicted.

Officials have warned of power cuts in the mid-Atlantic region between New England and the south-eastern states.

On Tuesday, Chicago saw heavy snowfall with about 10in reported in some areas.

Bizarro Earth

Italy's Mount Etna volcano erupts again in dramatic fashion, lighting up the night sky

Mount Etna, Europe's highest active volcano sent plumes of ash and lava into the night sky on the island of Sicily. Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology has recently registered increased explosive activity by the volcano, Italy's Civil Protection agency said. There are several inhabited villages on the slopes of Mount Etna. Eruptions are not infrequent, and Italian airliners sometimes have to alter their routes to avoid flying through ash clouds. Tuesday's eruption did not cause any interruption to air traffic at the airport serving the nearby town of Catania, according to reports. -Telegraph


Bug

Locust swarm of biblical proportions strikes Egypt, Israel before Passover

Three weeks before Passover, a plague of locusts is swarming from Egypt to Israel, sparking fears among farmers in the region.

The timing of the insect invasion is eerie, because the Bible's Book of Exodus tells of 10 plagues that hit Egypt before Moses and the Jews were allowed to leave for the Promised Land. A plague of locusts was the eighth on the list - but Pharaoh didn't relent until the 10th plague, which killed off all of Egypt's firstborn sons. Every year at Passover, Jews commemorate how they were spared.

This time, even the Israelis are worried that the locusts are out to get them. "They may not have ruined Pharaoh, but they could ruin us," one farmer, Tzachi Rimon, told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

Comment: And to learn more about the Bible and true history of human kind, read Comets and the Horns of Moses by Laura Knight-Jadczyk


Windsock

Powerful winds ground at least six ships near Panama Canal

Panama storm ship
© Unknown
Powerful winds and waves caused by a cold front from North America on Monday grounded at least six ships on the Caribbean coast of Panama, officials said.

The ships include several massive cargo vessels stranded off the city of Colon, near the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal.

No injuries or environmental damage were immediately reported, although residents reported a smell of petroleum in the vicinity of a ship that appeared to have a ruptured hull.

Snowflake

Furious snow storm descends on Chicago - 1000 flights canceled

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Mother Nature is apparently saving the best, or at least the biggest, for last. Chicago residents expected to find themselves in the midst of a storm that could wind up dumping as much as 10 inches of snow in the area before the end of Tuesday - the most since the 2011 blizzard and its more than 20 inches of snow. "This will be the biggest widespread storm of the winter," National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley said. The forecast is for 8 to 10 inches throughout northeastern Illinois and northwest Indiana, a far cry from last March, which saw less than a half-inch of snow and was the warmest one on record in Illinois. Hardware stores in and around the city did brisk business Monday, selling salt and snow shovels at a time many usually turn their thoughts toward gardening and baseball.

"Everybody's got a little comment with every bag they're buying," said Mike McIntosh, who works at Dressel's Hardware in Oak Park just outside Chicago. Workers had started to stock the shelves with tools and supplies associated with spring and summer, only to find the shovels and salt they thought they'd hold for another year were still in demand. "Everybody's a bit surprised, but it's good for us, we've got a lot of this stuff to move," he said. On Monday, the system moved across the Dakotas and Minnesota, dropping up to a foot of snow in some areas and freezing rain in others. Some schools closed and officials warned motorists to stay off the roads.

Ice Cube

New study says volcanic eruptions can dramatically cool the planet

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Sulfur dioxide emissions from moderate volcanoes around the world can mask some of the effects of global warming by 25 percent, a new study has found. A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder looking for clues about why Earth did not warm as much as scientists expected between 2000 and 2010 now thinks the culprits are hiding in plain sight. The study results essentially exonerate India and China, two countries that are estimated to have increased their industrial sulfur dioxide emissions by about 60 percent from 2000 to 2010 through coal burning, said lead study author Ryan Neely. Small amounts of sulfur dioxide emissions from Earth's surface eventually rise 12 to 20 miles into the stratospheric aerosol layer of the atmosphere, where chemical reactions create sulfuric acid and water particles that reflect sunlight back to space, cooling the planet, researchers said.

Neely said previous observations suggest that increases in stratospheric aerosols since 2000 have counter balanced as much as 25 per cent of the warming scientists blame on human greenhouse gas emissions. "This new study indicates it is emissions from small to moderate volcanoes that have been slowing the warming of the planet," said Neely in the study published in journal Geophysical Research Letters. The new project was undertaken in part to resolve conflicting results of two recent studies on the origins of the sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere, including a 2009 study led by the late David Hoffman of NOAA indicating aerosol increases in the stratosphere may have come from rising emissions of sulfur dioxide from India and China.

Comet 2

Flashback Giant ice meteors fall from clear skies

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Remains of an ice meteor on a factory roof in Spain.
20-pound chunks of ice falling on a sunny day? It's no urban myth.

Climate experts have long warned that global warming could bring an increase in extreme weather, such as hurricanes and drought. They never mentioned 20-pound chunks of ice falling from the clear blue sky, tearing through roofs, shattering windshields, and gouging impact craters. Yet reports of such "clear-sky ice fall events" have been on the rise worldwide in recent years, and in February Spanish researchers offered further evidence that the increase could be due to climate change.

Comet

Caravan roof smashed by shard of "frozen human waste dropped by passenger jet"

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Caroline Guy pictured below the 18-inch hole left in her caravan when a block of ice allegedly fell from a passing plane
A caravan was left with huge holes in its roof and floor when a shard of frozen human waste plunged through the vehicle after falling from a passing plane.

The huge icicle crashed through restaurant owner Caroline Guy's static caravan leaving an 18-inch hole.

Miss Guy, 52, was woken up by what she thought was an 'explosion' on Saturday morning, initially thinking she was being burgled.

The mother-of-two investigated her home but could not find anything suspicious until later that day when she went to clean the static caravan which is positioned on her land.

It was then that she discovered the hole in the caravan's roof, aw sell as another similar hole in its floor.

Comment: The standard line on these ice falls is that they are always from "leaky planes", but there is a more troubling explanation.

Giant Ice Meteors Fall From Clear Skies