Earth ChangesS


Airplane

Snow grounds hundreds of flights across Europe

Guy Jackson
Agence France-Presse
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:09 UTC
De-Icing an Airplane
© AFP/Christof StacheEmployees de-ice an airplane in Munich, southern Germany, on January 21, 2013.
London - Hundreds of flights were cancelled and hazardous roads and railways disrupted traffic and caused countless accidents across Europe on Monday as heavy snow and freezing weather gripped the continent.

Frankfurt airport, Germany's main air hub, cancelled around 500 departing and arriving flights, representing 40 percent of its daily schedule.

The busiest airport in Europe, London Heathrow, scrapped more than 200 flights.

Heathrow said a decision was taken 24 hours in advance to cancel 130 flights due to predicted poor visibility, but problems elsewhere in Europe were having an impact too.

"The additional cancellations are because a number of airports elsewhere in Europe are experiencing problems so that has a knock-on effect for us," an airport spokesman said.

Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas.

Freezing rain and snow also led to treacherous conditions on railways and roads, triggering numerous accidents.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Freak 'thundersnow' storm wreaks havoc on Toronto

Alexandra Bosanac and Russell Piffer
The Star
Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:01 UTC
Wellers Bay ice
© Mark StonesWind blew ice off Wellers Bay and packed it onto the shoreline, wrecking a dock in the process.
A freak weather system slammed into the GTA overnight.

The rare "thundersnow" system brought heavy wind, rain, snow and the occasional flash of lightning.

Gusts of 90 km/h toppled trees and traffic lights and a wind warning issued by Environment Canada remained in effect for much of southern Ontario Sunday morning.

Fallen trees and hydro wires shut down Rosedale Valley Rd between Bayview Ave. and Park Rd. overnight.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Freak tennis ball sized hail storm hits Malta

Patrick Cooke
Times of Malta
Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:49 UTC
Malta hail
© Niki Caruana
Insurance companies were faced with a flood of claims yesterday following Tuesday's freak hail storm that hit the north and east of Malta.

Certain crops can be replanted but some will have lost everything

Middlesea Insurance said they received a flurry of claims for damage at property located in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, St Andrew's, Għargħur, Mosta, Naxxar and San Pawl Tat-Tarġa.

These came in the wake of reports of tennis ball-sized hailstones lashing certain localities around midday on Tuesday.
Read More...
Binoculars

Oregon: A second rare bird arrives from Central America

Matt Kauffman
Willamette Week
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:22 UTC
Image
© Photo Credit: John M. Hannam
John McAfee isn't the only one hiding out in Portland after a long trip from Central America. Another guest from the tropics - this time of the avian variety - has taken up temporary residence in the Pacific Northwest. The Audubon Society of Portland confirmed the sighting of an ovenbird, a species rarely seen outside Central America and the Caribbean during winter months.

Longtime-birder Suzanne Hannam, 84, spotted the warbler treading around the backyard of her Laurelhurst home. The sighting was so unusual the Audubon Society initially didn't believe Hannam. It was later verified after an official identified the spotted, orange-crowned bird.
Read More...
Question

Canada: Rare bird draws tourists to Queen's Park

Theresa McManus
canada.com
Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:19 UTC
Image
© PHOTO: HANDOUT/WILDLIFESNAPS
Birders from near and far are able to cross an item off their bucket list after viewing a wee bird that lost its way.

A red-flanked bluetail that would normally be in Southeast Asia at this time of year has been causing quite a stir in Queen's Park. Birders armed with binoculars and photographers equipped with fancy cameras descended on the park in recent days to view the visitor.

"There were a lot of bird watchers - 35 or 40," New Westminster resident Rob Butler said about the crowd on Wednesday afternoon. "If it hangs around, there would be people coming from across North America - it's so rare."

The arrival of the red-flanked bluetail in New Westminster is the first time the bird has been reported in Canada.

"It was pretty neat," Butler said about seeing the bird. "I have been over to Asia birding. I didn't see it in Asia."
Read More...
Snowflake

England: 'Snowman cars' add to travel headaches as cold snap spreads north and east

Martin Wainwright
Guardian
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:36 UTC
Image
© Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesParked cars in snowy Bath.
More flights cancelled, trains delayed and roads closed, and AA warns over drivers failing to clear snow from car roof.

Heavy snow brought its usual mixture of beauty, fun and serious disruption to most of the country on Monday as the cold front that turned southern England white on Sunday moved east and north.

Hundreds of schools were closed, disrupting some GCSE and AS-level exams, and there were cancellations and delays on roads, rail and in the air as bitterly cold winds added drifting to already deep falls and widespread ice.

Heathrow airport suffered worse disruption than expected with 175 flights cancelled by midday, well over the figure of 130 predicted earlier. Sunshine brought a rapid thaw but the total later crept close to the 260 cancellations of Sunday. The airport blamed poor visibility.

Gatwick and Birmingham airports were also badly disrupted and East Midlands and Robin Hood airports were closed to flights.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Whale strands in shocking repeat in Southland, New Zealand

Neil Ratley
The Southland Times
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:48 UTC
Stranded Whale
© Neil Ratley/Fairfax NZBeached: A beaked whale has become on stranded on a Southland beach.
A second rare whale has been euthanised by the Department of Conservation after beaching itself at Sandy Pt yesterday.

It was the second time in 24 hours DOC had to put down an Arnoux's beaked whale, which is relatively rare.

Acting area manager for Murihiku/Southern Islands, Alan Christie, said the whale stranded at Sandy Pt less than a day after an unsuccessful DOC and community effort to save a whale at Omaui Beach.

DOC staff were notified of the second whale's beaching yesterday morning, he said.

The 8-metre-long whale was in a highly distressed state and DOC made a difficult decision, in consultation with local iwi, to euthanise the whale and end its suffering.

While an attempt to refloat the whale would have been ideal, several factors, including the tides and the whale's condition, made this impractical, Mr Christie said.

Among several parallels between the two strandings, he said, were that both whales were females of the same species and yesterday's stranding occurred at the Sandy Pt entrance of Invercargill Estuary, almost immediately opposite the first stranding.
Read More...
Snowflake

More flight disruptions across Europe, as heavy snow causes chaos


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:44 UTC
Hundreds of flights were cancelled and road and rail traffic was severely disrupted across much of Europe on Monday, as heavy snow and freezing weather gripped the continent. Frankfurt airport, Germany's main air hub, cancelled around 500 departing and arriving flights, representing 40 percent of its daily schedule. The busiest airport in Europe, London Heathrow, scrapped nearly 200 flights. Heathrow said a decision was taken 24 hours in advance to cancel 130 flights because visibility was expected to deteriorate as the day wore on, but problems elsewhere in Europe were having an impact too. "The additional cancellations are because a number of airports elsewhere in Europe are experiencing problems so that has a knock-on effect for us," an airport spokesman said.


Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas. Europe's number three airport, Paris's Charles de Gaulle, was also hit. France's civil aviation authority DGAC said it expected to scrap 40 percent of flights to and from Charles de Gaulle and Paris's other main airport, Orly, in a precautionary measure following heavy snowfall on Sunday. Even Munich, a city usually accustomed to taking snow in its stride, cancelled 161 flights at its airport as it grappled with the exceptional conditions.
Read More...
Snowflake Cold

Spot gas prices in Europe skyrocket with temperatures fall


RT.com
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:11 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev
Cold weather in Europe has caused this season's record-high spot prices for gas, crossing the $400 mark. But even this does not make stable but higher long-term contract prices more attractive to European customers.

Over the weekend extreme weather has swept across Europe from the UK to Spain, claiming lives and causing flight cancelations and power outages. The freezing temperatures have forced Europe to consume more gas prompting the spot price to reach $406 per 1000 cubic meter. Gas at Britain's National Balancing Point traded at $398.7 last week which was 8.5% higher than in first week of January.

However, Russia's Gazprom, which in 2011 provided 32% of total gas supplies to Europe, will not benefit much from the rise. Only 20% of Gazprom's gas exports to the EU were spot deals, Sergey Vakhrameev, analyst at Metropol told Vedomosti daily. Long-term contracts make up the majority of Gazprom deliveries, while spot supplies are only 7% of total exports, Vakhrameev added.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Huge landslide demolishes US-441 in North Carolina


WBIR.com
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:44 UTC

Park officials now believe they know what caused the massive landslide, which took out a football field-sized portion of Newfound Gap Road (US 441) on the North Carolina side.

Officials said they found a subsurface spring underneath the landslide site and they aren't quite sure how long its been there. They said the spring, along with last week's massive amounts of rainfall, contributed to the landslide Wednesday morning, near mile marker 22 between Collins Creek and Webb Overlook.

"We were unaware of this subsurface spring which causes embankment failure," said Acting Deputy Superintendent Alan Sumeriski.
Read More...