Earth ChangesS


Snowflake Cold

Winter remains in Romania - "It's as if we were preparing for Christmas - not Easter"

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:05 UTC
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Winter in April - In some places the snow measures 30 cm (12 inches).


(Google translate) - Just days before Easter , on April 14, it snowed like at Christmas. - road workers were out working just like in a regular month of winter !

Romania was under code yellow alert for snow and rain in 12 districts in the country !

Everyone hoped the snow would pass quickly, but on Friday it began snowing again, dumping 10 cm of snow on Predeal .

Tourist : "I got winter in the mountains, we came to leave for the summer and winter. I'm not ready , I had to change the tires.... two days of rain and sunny spring and summer and then two days - yesterday and today - two authentic winter days .
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Fish

Half a million carp dead in Cumberland River, Kentucky


nashvillepublicradio.org
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:53 UTC
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© USGSThe silver carp is known for its explosive and high jumping that can be a danger to boaters.
Several sources in Kentucky - including our colleagues at WKMS in Murray - are reporting on a massive and sudden die-off of silver carp in the Cumberland River below the Lake Barkley dam, downriver from Nashville and Clarksville. Estimates of "tens of thousands", maybe as many as 500,000 of the invasive Asian carp species, are believed to have perished in a 24-hour period.

The cause of the die-off is unknown and being investigated, but Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife's Paul Rister has this to say to online newspaper KyForward:
"Whenever there is one species of fish, you are definitely thinking viral or bacterial. It's not anything water quality wise. If it was oxygen-related or chemical related you would see other species"
The silver carp - known for its high jumping skills that can be a danger to boaters - is one of four invasive carp that are illegal to "possess or transport" in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources agency.

The spread of silver carp is so worrisome that wildlife officials are researching special chemicals to poison them.

Here is some detailed information about Asian carp distribution in the U.S. as of last year.
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Snowflake Cold

Winter suddenly returns again for Russia's Urals


RT
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 08:57 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/Aleksandr KondratukPedestrians cross the street during a heavy blizzard in Chelyabinsk, Russia
Russia's Urals region has been hit with freak winter weather, causing massive traffic jams, flight delays, power blackouts and school closures.

Just when everybody in the cities of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk thought they had waved winter good-bye and was anticipating greener spring weather, blizzards dragging the region back to winter.

Having heard the forecast for snow, internet users were taking photos of the frail Urals spring that was proclaimed doomed by meteorologists.

Those would later be used in "before and after" collages with "goodbye summer" hashtags.
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Arrow Down

UK Barn owls suffer worst year on record due to bitterly cold spring of 2013


The Guardian
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 08:30 UTC
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© Marlene Finlayson / AlamyA barn owl in flight.
Monitoring results show species struggled in the bitterly cold spring of 2013

Barn owls suffered their worst year on record in 2013 as they struggled in the bitterly cold spring, conservationists have said.

Results from barn owl monitoring schemes around the UK revealed the number of sites where nesting took place last year was significantly down in every area compared to previous years, and some surveys found no nests with eggs in at all.

Overall the number of occupied nests was down 71% on the average across all previous years, according to the Barn Owl Trust, which collated the information from 21 independent groups stretching from Jersey in the Channel Islands to south-west Scotland.

A survey in Berkshire which normally finds 14 nests in use and a surveyor in Yorkshire who normally finds 25-30 occupied nests both found none at all, while surveys in Buckinghamshire and Sussex were both down more than 90% on normal levels.

Conservationists described the situation as the "worst year ever recorded" for the flagship farmland species.
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Cloud Lightning

Storms bring tornado threat across US Plains this weekend

Kevin Murphy
Reuters
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC
Midwest tornado threat
© Storm Prediction CenterThe area in yellow is at greatest risk of severe weather on Saturday. The green area could also see thunderstorms, which are not expected to be severe.
A strong storm system, with high winds and torrential rain, is taking shape in the south central United States this weekend and threatens to produce tornadoes, which have been relatively uncommon so far this year, forecasters said on Friday.

The storm is expected to develop in north central Texas on Saturday and move through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and possibly Nebraska by Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
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Arrow Down

University of Washington launches effort to prepare Northwest region for 9.0 magnitude quake - 314 years since the last one

Glenn Farley
Krem
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 20:23 UTC
Scientists fully expect that the coast of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and part of northern California to see a magnitude nine subduction zone earthquake again.

It's been 314 years since the last one in January of the year 1700. Scientists know of this quake because of written reports from Japan that recorded a tsunami. The reports of a giant wave also correlate with rings in old trees killed when marsh land along the Washington coast dropped several feet, allowing sea water to envelope their roots.

This week, scientists with the University of Washington gathered 55 experts from around the region. Their goal: to step up efforts to prepare for the next magnitude nine earthquake in the Northwest and the ensuing recovery.
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Map

Raging wildfire on the Latvian-Russian border at Kaliningrad, military called upon and state of emergency declared


LNRT
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:00 UTC

A state of emergency has been declared in the Lithuanian western Neringa Municipality on the Curonian Spit due to a spreading fire on the peninsula, which is a Site of a UNESCO World Heritage.

A call about the fire was received at around 11.55 am.

Having arrived at the scene, Minister of the Interior Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas told the fire has engulfed 35 ha.

12 firefighter's vehicles are involved in the fire-extinguishing operation, assisted by a Mi-8 helicopter of the Armed Forces. According to the minister, Latvia has been asked to send one more helicopter.

Due to the fire, power supply has been shut down on the whole peninsula.
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Sun

Drought covers 100% of California

Jason Wells
L.A Times
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 06:33 UTC

A prolonged period of below-average rainfall has put the entire state of California under some level of drought, ranging in severity from moderate to exceptional, for the first time in 15 years.

The latest drought monitor released by the National Climatic Data Center this week shows that the entire state is under moderate drought conditions, but within that map, 76.6% of the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions, and for 24.7% of the state, the level of dryness is "exceptional."

During the same period last year, none of the state was considered to be under extreme or exceptional drought conditions, and just 30% fell under the "severe" category, according to the assessment released Thursday.

"This is a really serious situation here in California and people need to be cognizant of that and start conserving water as much as they can," said Jayme Laber, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service who is part of a team of scientists who contribute to the weekly drought monitor.
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Cloud Precipitation

Wettest February-to-April on record in Seattle

Scott Sistek
Komonews
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 14:47 UTC
February was among the wettest on record with 6.11" in Seattle. March did it one better and smashed the all-time rain record with a whopping 9.44 inches.


While April likely won't make those lofty heights (11th wettest on record), when combined with the soggy February and March, they make quite the rain trio.

It's now the wettest February-to-April on record in Seattle, with 19.33" as of Thursday and more is on the way. The old record was 18.97 inches set in 1972.

The relatively dry January will likely prevent us from setting the wettest four-month start to a year, currently at 23.03 inches -- 5th wettest, but well behind the all-time record of 26.21 inches set in 1972.

Comment: Record rainfall is not the only natural calamity happening in Washington state, or the rest of the US for that matter:
Yet another natural gas explosion: Mysterious explosion jolts Washington town, destroys three buildings

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X

Yet another natural gas explosion: Mysterious explosion jolts Washington town, destroys three buildings

Doug Esser
Associated Press
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 14:34 UTC
A big explosion and fire destroyed three buildings, damaged several others, sent debris flying for blocks and jolted people awake early Friday in a Washington town, firefighters and North Bend residents said.


About the only good news was the time -- 3:45 a.m. -- when few people were in the business district of the Cascades foothills town about 30 miles east of Seattle.

"We are very, very fortunate that it happened in the early morning. If it was two hours later the street would have been very busy," said Josie Williams, public information officer for Eastside Fire and Rescue.

A couple of minor injuries were reported at an assisted living facility where windows were blown out, she said.

Comment: Another shoe is about to drop: Entire town in Wyoming evacuated after unexplained blast at gas plant
Final death toll from massive Harlem explosion: 8 - Cause remains unknown, but investigators suspect natural outgassing after discovering unusually high levels of methane in soil
Massive explosion destroys apartment complex in Ewing, New Jersey - 1 killed, seven injured
10 injured after massive explosion obliterates two houses in Essex, England
TransCanada pipeline explosion in Manitoba shuts off gas for 4,000 residents in sub-zero temperatures - Cause unknown

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