Earth ChangesS


Snowflake

Heavy snow keeps Balkans in deep freeze

Predrag Milic
yahoo.com
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:06 UTC
Children play in the snow in the Montenegrin
© AP Photo/Risto BozovicChildren play in the snow in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Heavy snowfall in blizzards have closed roads, disrupted power supplies and shut down an airport in Montenegro, amid a winter freeze that has killed several people and created travel chaos in the Balkans since last weekend.
Podgorica, Montenegro - Blizzards blocked roads, stranded villages, disrupted power supplies and temporarily shut down an airport in the Balkans on Tuesday, the fourth straight day of tough winter weather in the region of southeastern Europe.

In one of the worst-hit areas, snowdrifts and avalanches blocked roads in hilly northern Montenegro, where about a meter (3 feet) of snow fell overnight, officials said.

Across the border in southwestern Serbia, heavy snowfall blocked roads to more than a dozen villages, with some left without electricity and schools being closed for the rest of the week, officials said.

"We have got heavy machinery out and we are doing all we can," said emergency official Samir Bakic. "The wind is making the effort more difficult."

At least nine deaths across the region have been blamed on the snow and deep freeze, with temperatures as low as minus-15 Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit).
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall - State of emergency declared in Kyiv, capital of Ukraine


Censor.Net
Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:07 UTC
Oleksandr Popov, head of Kyiv City State Administration, has declared a state of emergency in the capital.

Popov's statement published on the official website of the Kyiv city administration says:
"Because of a potential threat to the economy and the life of the city as a result of the impact of heavy snowfall Kyiv is now officially in the state of emergency. This will allow the capital to engage forces not subordinate to the city authorities."
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Windsock

Sudden outbreak of at least 13 tornadoes across Southeastern U.S. as Dallas, Texas gets more snow than Chicago this season


ABC News
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 04:59 UTC
More snow in Dallas than Chicago? Tornado outbreaks in Florida in December? What in the world is going on with all this crazy weather?

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Blackbox

Hundreds of dead Humboldt squid washed up on beaches Sunday along Rio Del Mar in Santa Cruz County, California

Chris Roberts
BeforeItsNews.com
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:26 UTC
Someone ready a deep-fryer and aioli. Hundreds of dead Humboldt squid washed up on beaches Sunday along Rio Del Mar in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz Patch. There is no immediate explanation for why so many of the large invertebrates would die suddenly and in this location. Humboldt squid have not been native to the Monterey Bay area for very long. The squid have been seen further north - which can be confusing for some, since the squid are named for Humboldt Bay, where they can also be found - since the 1997 El Nino event, according to the Patch, and apparently like the Monterey Bay area for its plentiful food.

The squid grow to as big as four feet long thanks in part to the bounty of fish in the Monterey Bay - itself a notable area for the deep Monterey Canyon just offshore. Squid have washed up on California beaches before. In 2009, dead squid were found in the sand after an earthquake.

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Windsock

Rare December tornadoes slam southern U.S. states


NBC News
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:00 UTC
At least six tornadoes ripped through four southern states Monday evening, blowing over gas pumps and destroying homes.

The hardest hit areas by the unusual December tornadoes were in Florida and Alabama.

In Edgewater, Fla., 40 homes were damaged and 12 completely destroyed. There were two people with minor injuries but no deaths, the Edgewater Fire Department reported. Most of the damage was inside Terra Mar Village, a mobile home community.

In Alabama, there were no reported injuries or deaths, the Birmingham Fire Department reported, but a gas station off I-165 had its pumps blown over.

The forecast for Tuesday calls for a slight risk of tornadoes in areas stretching from Daytona Beach to Fort Meyers, Fla. Damaging winds, spotty hail and three to four inches of rainfall are expected.
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Cloud Precipitation

Storm dumps more than a foot of snow in Upper Midwest: roads treacherous or impassable

Leslie Dyste
KSTP.com
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:52 UTC
Image
At least this time the Metrodome roof stayed up.

A slow-moving storm more than a foot of snow in parts of the Upper Midwest, making roads treacherous or impassable and leading to at least one fatal crash.

The system dropped 10.6 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and up to 14 inches on parts of the Twin Cities on Sunday, Minneapolis' heaviest snowfall since a blizzard two years ago caused the Metrodome roof to collapse.

This time around, stadium officials resorted to blasting the heat in an effort to melt snow from the roof as quickly as possible.

Blizzard conditions, blowing and drifting snow made visibility so poor that the state Department of Transportation pulled snowplows off some highways in southwest and west Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported more than 600 crashes by Monday morning, and at least 1,140 spinouts, according to Lt. Eric Roeske, and driving conditions remained hazardous. One person was killed in a crash involving a semi near Red Wing and injuries were reported in 63 other accidents, the patrol said.
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Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the Banda Sea off Indonesia felt more than 600 kilometres away in Darwin


Radio Australia
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:01 UTC
Image
© Credit: Audience submittedA shipping container was shaken off its stands at Nguiu on the Tiwi Islands, about 100 kilometres north of Darwin.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the Banda Sea off Indonesia has been felt more than 600 kilometres away in Darwin.

Geoscience Australia says there could be more aftershocks from the quake that shook the Top End of the Northern Territory overnight.

Tremors were felt in Darwin and Katherine at about 2.30am local time and were the strongest in the north for about 20 years.

Overnight staff at the Darwin weather bureau evacuated their third-storey office while the building shook.

Duty forecaster Angeline Prasad says the tremor was the strongest she has felt.

"The building started shaking and it just became worse," she said.

"It is the worst tremor I've felt in Darwin.
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Blackbox

Mystery of the mystery noise continues: The Verde Valley booms heard around the country, world

Steve Ayers
Verde Independent
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:13 UTC
Camp Verde, Arizona - Noises sounding similar to the mysterious ones heard across the Verde Valley on Tuesday afternoon have been reported around the country. And one reporter at a Rhode Island newspaper says she has heard reports from as far away as London, England, of a similar phenomenon.

The Corsica Daily Sun newspaper in Corsica, Texas, reported mysterious tremors and noises beginning around 3 p.m. local time, 2 p.m. Arizona time. Reporter Janet Jacobs reports that the Navarro County emergency coordinator, Eric Myers, received calls of "tremors being felt along with a rumbling type of noise." Two hours later, heavier tremors were felt along with descriptions of "popping and shaking." After the notice was posted on the department's Facebook page, additional reports indicated the phenomenon was felt along a line 50 to 60 miles long.

"They didn't act like any other thing except perhaps earthquake booms, which are low, shallow sometimes undetectable tremors similar to what's been happening locally," Jacobs reported. The Auburn Plainsman, a student newspaper at Auburn University, reported loud noises around midnight on Tuesday.

Residents in the area of the university reported the sound was "far too loud" to have been a gunshot. Campus police responded but found nothing unusual.

Comment:
Mysterious noises heard across Verde Valley, Arizona

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Blackbox

Columbia County Georgia mystery 'boom' not attributable to earthquake, blasting or military jets


Colombia County News Times
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:01 UTC
Residents of Columbia County are wondering what, or whom, is responsible for the boom. Residents on and near Louisville Road near Appling reported hearing, and feeling, a loud boom early this morning. "It woke me out of a dead sleep," said Terry Glasscock. "You could feel the vibration. It wasn't like the whole house shook, but you could feel it."

He said he went outside to see if a transformer had blown to discover his neighbors outside as well, also investigating the noise. "I know the rock quarry blast. We hear the siren and can sometimes feel that, but this was a little different." He said he felt something similar about six weeks ago, but did not report it.
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Columbia County Emergency and Operations Division Director Pam Tucker said the proximity of the reports to the Easter Piedmont Fault initially indicated it might be an earthquake. After following up with seismologists, that has been ruled out. She also said there has been no blasting at area quarries. A spokesman from Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C. said the base had no aircraft flying at that time.

Comment: Mystery of the mystery noise continues: The Verde Valley booms heard around the country, world

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Blackbox

New Strange Sounds from the Sky in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA, December 8 2012


Strangesounds.org
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:05 UTC
These Strange Sounds from the Sky recorded in Bayonne, New Jersey are very loud and scary. They are similar to an airplane flying by or as the recorder says as a sort of ship coming from no where. Really nice records. Actually, people in this area seem to be very familiar with this strange and unexplained phenomenon since the weird noises were recorded several times last month and this month over there! A sign? But of what? Thank you for your following and for your postings!

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