Earth ChangesS


Windsock

Wildfire, powerful winds, triggers mass evacuation near Los Angeles


RT
Thu, 01 May 2014 16:47 UTC
Image
© Reuters/David McNewSmoke rises from a charred landscape as a wildfire driven by fierce Santa Ana winds spreads in Rancho Cucamonga, California, April 30, 2014.
A rapidly spreading wildfire in Southern California forced the evacuation of more than 1,600 homes Wednesday, as powerful winds drove it closer and closer to a city just east of Los Angeles.

The fire initially began around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning in the Etiwanda Preserve of the San Bernardino National Forest. Although it started off covering only about 20 acres of forest, strong and unpredictable gusts of wind from the neighboring mountains quickly spread the fire through 200 acres in a span of two hours.

By the middle of the day, the fire had scorched through more than 1,000 acres of land, buoyed by winds up to 80 miles per hour. According to the Los Angeles Times, the fire had only been 10 percent contained by Thursday morning.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.6 - South of the Fiji Islands


US Geological Survey
Sun, 04 May 2014 12:50 UTC
Fiji Quake_050414
© USGS
Event Time
2014-05-04 09:15:53 UTC
2014-05-04 21:15:53 UTC+12:00 at epicenter

Location
24.642°S 179.084°E depth=527.6km (327.8mi)

Nearby Cities
497km (309mi) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji
703km (437mi) SW of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
722km (449mi) S of Suva, Fiji
777km (483mi) SSE of Nadi, Fiji
911km (566mi) S of Lambasa, Fiji

Technical Details
Read More...
Newspaper

Sinkhole appears in Panama City beach, FL neighborhood


wjhg.com
Sat, 03 May 2014 00:00 UTC
panama city beach sinkhole
© Unknown
Video Link

A sinkhole is inconveniencing some residents in a Panama City Beach neighborhood Saturday.

Bay County Sheriff's deputies received a call shortly before 2 P.M. from a neighbor about a sinkhole. Officials say the sinkhole off Boca Lagoon Drive is at least 15 feet wide and 4 feet deep.

Deputies closed portions of the road for safety reasons and are making cars drive on the grass to avoid the sinkhole. The Bay County Roads and Bridges Department and the Panama City Beach Water Department are trying to figure out who's jurisdiction the road is in before they fix it.
Read More...
Newspaper

Villages, FL sinkhole re-opens, being filled a second time


Daily motion
Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC

A sinkhole that officials filled over the weekend in The Villages has reopened.
Read More...
Question

Early fish die off in Maryland waters centered on Baltimore remains a mystery


WJZ
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC
Baltimore fish die off
A skim boat filled with dead fish from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
As quickly as it started, a fish kill in Baltimore's Inner Harbor appears to be easing.

Alex DeMetrick reports what triggered the sudden die-off is still guesswork.

The city moved fast to remove the die-off, with skim boats collecting hauls more commonly seen on commercial fishing boats and as menhaden and shad died from the Inner Harbor out to the Key Bridge.

"And some of them were struggling at the surface, looking like they were trying to catch their breath. It was sad to see; it was just so widespread," said John Tapscott, Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rains cause Italy flooding

Steff Gaulter
Al Jazeera
Sun, 04 May 2014 08:16 UTC
Italy flooding
© EPAIn the port town of Senigallia, streets were submerged and cars were seen floating in filthy water.
At least one person has been killed and another is missing after flooding hit the Le Marche province in central Italy.

The port town of Senigallia, on the Adriatic coast, was the worst hit when the River Cesano burst its banks.

Streets were submerged and cars were seen floating in the filthy water.

The man who has been confirmed dead is believed to have been suffering from a heart condition, but the ambulance was unable to reach him due to the flooded roads.

More rain is expected in the region over the next few days, but the heaviest rain is expected to move southwards, across the southern parts of Le Marche and the Abruzzo province.

Read More...
Road Cone

Sinkholes opening up all over Nicobar Islands

Malini Shankar
Inter Press Service
Fri, 02 May 2014 06:17 UTC
While the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is sparing no effort to fill a rapidly widening sinkhole in Florida since Apr. 23, India's Geological Survey has closed its field station in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where sinkholes have sprung up all over as an aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Image
© Malini Shankar/IPSA sinkhole is widening in Car Nicobar, but the authorities are clueless about its potential dangers.
The administration in this popular tourist destination in the Bay of Bengal may be prepared for another tsunami. But it seems clueless about these holes in the ground that can sometimes cave in or lead to other geological events like hot springs, water spouts, natural gas emissions or even cracks in the subterranean magma chambers.

Islanders told IPS that sinkholes have appeared all over Nicobar. Whether that is also the case with the Andamans remains a matter of speculation as there is no official documentation of it, nor did the administration facilitate this writer's photo assignment to visit the geologically volatile islands.

IPS discovered and photographed sinkholes in three Nicobar Islands - Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay.
Read More...
Colosseum

SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - April 2014

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 04 May 2014 15:06 UTC
Signs of the Times in April 2014

The fourth installment in our new monthly series, the following video compiles footage of 'signs of the times' from around the world during April 2014 - 'earth changes', extreme weather and planetary upheaval.

Highlights this month include: wildfires breaking out in places where it subsequently snowed, the largest tornado outbreak of the season in the U.S., the mother of all sinkholes (or was it a landslide?) opening up in downtown Baltimore... and a new one for the record books: the highest number of strong earthquakes recorded globally for one month.

Hold on to your seats!...


Watch on Sott.net's Vimeo Channel for those who can't view Youtube videos:


Knowledge protects, ignorance endangers
Read More...
Binoculars

Rare Arctic Ross's gull found in Torbay, Newfoundland


vocm.com
Thu, 01 May 2014 15:33 UTC
Image
© Bruce MactavishRoss's Gull at Torbay, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland
Birdwatchers in Torbay had a treat this week when a rare Ross's Gull was spotted. Bird expert Bill Montevecchi says the seagull is recognizable for its pink colour, making it perhaps the flashiest gull on the water. Montevecchi says the bird, along with many European golden plovers, have made it here because they have been blown off-course by strong northerly and northeasterly winds.

He says birders looking for rarities are watching the weather. He says these winds are the most interesting because that's how European birds wind up here.

Montevecchi says for birds blown off course, Newfoundland is a welcome rest for them before they get back on their way.

He says a lot of the birds probably don't make it, and perish in the ocean. But for the ones who do, they get a chance to refuel. He says they most likely do get back on track after they rest.

Read More...
Ice Cube

Wind pushes 8-foot high ice slab ashore on Keweenaw Peninsula, Lake Superior damaging property

Angie Jackson
mlive.com
Fri, 02 May 2014 13:55 UTC
Image
© National Weather ServiceStrong winds on Lake Superior pushed a mass of ice against homes and outhouses in the Keweenaw Peninsula along Big Traverse Bay on Monday, April 28.
Strong winds on Lake Superior this week slowly edged an 8-foot mass of ice against outhouses and homes on the Keweenaw Peninsula, an event that meteorologists say is rare for the area.

Dave Petrovich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township, said outbuildings and other structures along Big Traverse Bay were damaged Monday, April 28, when easterly winds stronger than 27 mph pushed the ice mass to shore.

"It was moving this mass of ice westward, not very fast mind you, but inexorably when it got to the eastern shores," Petrovich said. "The ice itself was not like the thick ice skating rink ice that you would imagine on a lake."

Petrovich said the slow and steady ice formation called ice shelving isn't unheard of - there have been other recent formations in Gladstone that moved into a city park, he said - but it is rare for Lake Superior, which was still about over 60 percent covered when the ice mass formed.

"They happen quite regularly when the conditions are like this," Petrovich said. "In recent history we've not had as much ice."
Read More...