Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Truck carried 27 miles by tornado across Arkansas

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Thu, 01 May 2014 11:53 UTC
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© Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty ImagesA police officer walks past an overturned car near a home that was destroyed by a tornado on April 29, 2014, in Vilonia, Ark.
A truck was reportedly carried 27 miles by a tornado Sunday night in Arkansas, according to meteorologist Darby Bybee of KHBS-TV in Fort Smith.

Bybee reported that the truck was carried from Mayflower, Ark., to near Vilonia, Ark., a distance of about 27 miles. A report from the National Weather Service in Little Rock notes that an EF4 tornado - with winds of at least 180 mph - traveled 41 miles on a path that included both Mayflower and Vilonia.

The tornado killed 15 people.

Many cars were tossed around and destroyed, some mangled beyond recognition, Bybee said. He said it can be difficult to make an insurance claim on a car that can't be found or identified.

Long-distance transport of large objects in tornadoes has been reported before, though Randy Cerveny, a geography professor at Arizona State University, said, "I haven't heard of trucks being thrown that far."

In 1877, a tornado in Illinois reportedly carried "the spire, vane and guilded ball of a Methodist church" 15 miles, according to his book Freaks of the Storm.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - 70km SSE of Namlea, Indonesia


US Geological Survey
Fri, 02 May 2014 11:45 UTC
Namlea Quake_020514
© USGS
Event Time
2014-05-02 08:43:37 UTC
2014-05-02 16:43:37 UTC+08:00 at epicenter

Location
3.801°S 127.435°E depth=54.2km (33.7mi)

Nearby Cities
70km (43mi) SSE of Namlea, Indonesia
83km (52mi) W of Ambon, Indonesia
172km (107mi) WSW of Amahai, Indonesia
506km (314mi) S of Kota Ternate, Indonesia
565km (351mi) NNE of Dili, East Timor

Technical Details
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Cloud Precipitation

Hundreds caught off guard by the single rainiest day ever recorded - rescued from floodwaters in Florida and Alabama

Melissa Nelson-Gabriel and Michael Kunzelman
Yahoo
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 08:45 UTC
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© AP Photo/Pensacola News Journal, Katie E. King A portion of the Scenic Highway collapsed near Pensacola, Fla., Wednesday April 30, 2014. Heavy rains and flooding have left people stranded in houses and cars in the Florida Panhandle and along the Alabama coast. According to the National Weather Service, an estimated 15-20 inches of rain has fallen in Pensacola in the past 24 hours.
People were plucked off rooftops or climbed into their attics to get away from fast-rising waters when nearly 2 feet of rain fell on the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast in the span of about 24 hours, the latest bout of severe weather that began with tornadoes in the Midwest.

On Wednesday, roads were chewed up into pieces or wiped out entirely and neighborhoods were inundated, making rescues difficult for hundreds of people who called for help when they were caught off guard by the single rainiest day ever recorded in Pensacola.

Boats and Humvees zigzagged through the flooded streets to help stranded residents. A car and truck plummeted 25 feet when portions of a scenic highway collapsed, and one Florida woman died when she drove her car into high water, officials said.

Near the Alabama-Florida line, water started creeping into Brandi McCoon's mobile home, so her fiance, Jonathan Brown, wrapped up her nearly 2-year-old son Noah in a blanket and they swam in neck-deep water to their car about 50 feet away.

Then, the car was flooded.


Comment:
Almost 24 inches in 24 hours? Places like India and the Philippines receive large amounts of rainfall in short periods during monsoon season and cyclones. Could there be a permanent climate change happening across the North America and the globe? Here is a thorough meteorological report posted by a writer on the Accuweather blog.

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Attention

Dead Minke whale marked with graffiti discovered beneath Central Pier, Atlantic City

Steve Hughes
Press of Atlantic City
Thu, 01 May 2014 08:20 UTC
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The belly of a dead minke whale appeared to be covered in purple graffiti. The whale washed up Thursday morning beneath Central Pier.
A minke whale, its underbelly tagged with purple spray paint, was found Thursday morning under Central Pier, where it had washed up.

Besides the graffiti-marred whale, a dead common dolphin was also found at the beach on Indiana Avenue, about a half dozen blocks away.

Atlantic City police said the graffiti marks were not gang-related. The discernible markings appeared to be Greek letters.

The whale, roughly 12 to 15 feet long, was dragged from beneath the pier down the beach to a site near Martin Luther King Boulevard using an excavator and chains.

The dolphin was about 5 feet long and weighed less than 200 pounds.

A state pathologist will take samples to determine the cause of death and then they will be buried on the beach, said Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

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Eye 2

Symbolic? Albino snake swallows own tail


The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 01 May 2014 08:00 UTC
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Bizarre footage has emerged of a snake eating its own tail after mistaking it for lunch
Onlookers marvel as a snake thrashes around while devouring its own tail, lending literal truth to the saying "you are what you eat"

A female albino western hognose snake astonished onlookers when they found it lying writhing in a hoop in a water dish.

The snake, whose diet usually includes small rodents, appeared to be eating itself from the tail, and even drew blood.

Snake experts believe this behaviour occurs in sick animals that are unaware of what they are doing.

The western hognose is found throughout the Great Plains states of North America from Canada to Mexico.

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Fish

Thousands of dead fish along Wisconsin shorelines after harsh winter


Star Tribune
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 07:01 UTC
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© AP Photo/Daily Tribune MediaIn this photo taken April 28, 2014, a pair of dead fish lies in the sand along the East shoreline of Lake Petenwell in Rome, Wis. Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of some central Wisconsin lakes.
Thousands of dead fish are washing up on the shores of some central Wisconsin lakes.

Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources says the phenomenon is likely the result of thick ice that trapped fish in waters with low oxygen, Daily Tribune Media reported (http://bit.ly/1rB4iJ6 ) Monday.

"They're all over the lake, probably thousands and thousands," said Rome bar owner Tom Koren.

Residents near Lake Petenwell are seeing a second unusual sight - pelicans have come to scoop up the dead carp, walleye and other fish.

"We don't normally have pelicans here," resident Jim Kiehl said. "Then, I saw dead fish lying on the bank."

DNR Fish Team supervisor Justine Hasz says it's likely the pelicans are turning up because their normal staging grounds on Lake Michigan are still frozen.

The DNR expects the cold winter will result in more dead fish in lakes throughout the state. The department expects winter kill to be worst in shallower, backwater areas. Castle Rock Lake also may have been hit hard, Hasz said.

Hasz said the DNR planned to investigate the issue further on Tuesday.

Source: Associated Press
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Attention

Viral disease? More than 20 peacocks die in Tharparkar, Pakistan


The Express Tribune
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 06:50 UTC
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Peacocks, such as the one pictured above, are native to Tharparkar. Several of them have died in the past week as the authorities struggle to find out the cause behind these sudden deaths.
More than 20 peacocks have died in different parts of the drought-hit district of Tharparkar while several others are infected with a viral disease

Nasrullah Samoon, a resident of Malsirio village, said that at least 18 birds have died in the last five days and many more have fallen sick. "The wildlife officials are not giving any attention towards the issue," he complained. "We are taking our own measures and giving them medicine tablets so our birds can survive."

In the adjacent Nangarparkar taluka, the situation is no different. "The birds can survive if the government starts vaccinating the birds right away," he said.

Meanwhile, the officials denied that so many birds have died. An assistant conservator of Tharparkar, Lajpat Sharma, admitted that a few cases have surfaced but, he insisted, the deaths have not been this many. "These birds are very sensitive to the weather and they are dying from the rise in mercury," he claimed.

Sharma said that his department has conducted tests recently and they found no traces of the Rani Khet disease among the peacocks in the desert. "Different diseases have been reported in recent days, such as eye infections."
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Info

Seabed survey reveals human litter in Europe's deepest ocean depths

Jessica Aldred
The Guardian
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 06:25 UTC
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© : Hermione Project/Plymouth University A Heineken beer can found by a remote-operated vehicle in the upper Whittard canyon at 950m water depth.
Seabed survey reveals depth of marine litter problem by mapping waste in Atlantic and Arctic oceans and Mediterranean

Bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets and other human litter have been found in Europe's deepest ocean depths, according one of the largest scientific surveys of the seafloor to date.

Scientists used video and trawl surveys to take nearly 600 samples from 32 sites in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, from depths of 35 metres to 4.5 kilometres. They found rubbish in every Mediterranean site surveyed, and all the way from the continental shelf of Europe to the mid-Atlantic ridge, around 2,000km from land.

Plastic was the most common type of litter found on the seafloor, accounting for 41%, while rubbish associated with fishing activities (discarded net and fishing lines) made up 34%. Glass, metal, wood, paper and cardboard, clothing, pottery and unidentified materials were also documented.
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Eagle

Symbolic? Bald eagle crashes into boat on Interstate in Wisconsin and ends up trapped under shrink wrap

Brett Hart
The Chippewa Herald
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 05:43 UTC
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© SCOTT KREGNESS, Lee Newspapers Scott Kregness of Tower, Minn., found this bald eagle inside the shrink wrap between to motors of a fire boat he was transporting after the bird crashed into the boat on Interstate 94 near Menomonie Friday morning.
Scott and Marilyn Kregness of Tower, Minn., got the surprise of a lifetime just before 9 a.m. Friday when a bald eagle used interstate highway speeds to take up residence in a fire boat being taken from Florida to northern Minnesota.

As the couple crossed over the Red Cedar River on Interstate 94 near Menomonie, the eagle dove across the top of the pickup truck and crashed through the shrink-wrapped boat, near the pilot house.

"We do a lot of traveling, and I've never had anything like this," Scott Kregness said.

An initial look over the crash site revealed a hole in the shrink wrap, but no blood or feathers, so the couple kept going. But a gentleman following them on the interstate pulled up beside them with his lights flashing and signaled for them to pull over. After pulling into the Menomonie rest stop, the other driver told Scott and Marilyn the eagle was still inside the boat.
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Cloud Precipitation

Devastating floods in northern Afghanistan kill 127; thousands homeless


Reuters
Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:46 UTC
Image
© Unknown
More than 100 people have been killed and thousands left homeless by flash floods in north and west Afghanistan, officials said on Friday, prompting desperate pleas for help from the impoverished provincial authorities.

Thousands of homes have been engulfed by flood waters in four provinces after three days of heavy rain in what is traditionally a wet period at the start of spring.

In the northern province of Jawzjan, police chief Faqer Mohammad Jawzjani said 55 bodies had been recovered, and that the number of dead would increase over the coming days.

"Providing aid or help from the ground is impossible," he told Reuters. "We have carried 1,500 people to safe areas of neighboring districts by helicopter. We need emergency assistance from the central government and aid agencies."
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