Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Storm brings 100-year flood to Christchurch, New Zealand

Tom Yulsman
Discover Magazine
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 03:24 UTC
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© NASANASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of a powerful storm swirling off the coast of New Zealand on March 4. The storm has caused what has been reported as a 100-year flood in the city of Christchurch.
The satellite image above shows the powerful storm that brought gale force winds and 36 hours of heavy rainfall to New Zealand, triggering what has been described as a 100-year flood in the city of Christchurch.

The city has been beset by flooding before, as well as a devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 2011 that killed 185 people.

Authorities warned residents to consider the floodwaters contaminated. It's unclear how many homes were flooded. One account puts the number at up to 100.
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Dollar

Ice storm costs South Carolina $360 million in timber

Paresh Dave
Los Angeles Times
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 03:04 UTC
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© Bruce Smith / Associated Press / February 19, 2014Trees near Lodge, S.C., show damage from the February ice storm.
Snow, sleet and frozen rain damaged a year's worth of South Carolina's timber harvest last month, making it the most damaging storm in the region since 1989, officials reported.

About 11% of the forestland was significantly affected by the pre-Valentine's Day storm, which left an inch of ice across half of the state. Though most of the $360 million in damage was considered "light" by the South Carolina Forestry Commission because some of it could be salvaged, the agency declared a disaster and called on timber companies Wednesday to save as much as they could.

The rest of the South also felt the wrath of the storm, which shut down schools and businesses and snarled traffic from Feb. 10-13.

The storm claimed about $65 million worth of timber in Georgia, the state's Forestry Commission said last week. Among casualties there was the famous Eisenhower Tree, a pine on the Augusta National golf course that was said to have repeatedly caught the former president's tee shots.

Comment: Also see: UK storms caused 'greatest tree loss in a generation'

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Boat

Fishermen still suffering in aftermath of UK storms

Andrew Glover
BBC News
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:45 UTC
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The coastline of the UK has been lashed by storms in recent months
The winter storms that battered much of the UK's coastline have also stopped fishermen heading out to sea to bring in their next catch. Now many families are facing financial hardship and wondering where their next pay day will come from.

As the wife of a shell fisherman, Sarah Bentley-Jones is used to a winter lull in her family's earnings.

Her husband Ian, 37, fishes out of Keyhaven, close to their home in Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, but extreme weather has meant he has hardly spent any time at sea for months.
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Cloud Lightning

UK storms caused 'greatest tree loss in a generation'


BBC News
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:24 UTC
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© UnknownA tree uprooted at West Malling Golf Club
The winter storms that battered the UK caused the greatest loss of trees since the Great Storm of 1987 in some areas, the National Trust has said.

More than 50 of the trust's sites were surveyed, with some losing hundreds of trees including valued ancient specimens.

Many trees were uprooted and blown over rather than snapped, due to the saturated ground.

The trust said that despite the damage, the losses could have been worse.
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Ice Cube

Great Lakes Snow, ice cover may cause flooding

Jerry Zremski
The Buffalo News
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:40 UTC
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This image, provided by NASA, shows the ice covering the Great Lakes. Scientists worry the ice could complicate the coming spring.
Like a boxer who knocked his rival to the mat and who then gets down on his knees to keep pummeling the poor guy, the wicked winter of 2014 may not be done with us yet.

Federal officials Wednesday marveled at the size of the ice sheet that as of this week covered 91 percent of the Great Lakes. That ice cover could produce problems long into the spring.

A fast melt could produce ice jams in rivers and streams that in turn cause flooding, said George A. Leshkevich, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

And even if that doesn't happen, Leshkevich said, this winter's deep freeze could make the spring colder than usual, as winds whipping off the frozen lakes continue to chill communities just when it's supposed to be getting warmer.

Leshkevich and Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit, joined reporters on a conference call Wednesday to discuss the effect all the snow, ice and cold might have on lake levels.
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Bug

Cold weather is killing off bees in Ohio

Lissa Guyton
13abc.com
Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:02 UTC
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The cold weather is responsible for more problems than just potholes, it's causing massive losses for beekeepers. 13abc's Lissa Guyton spent the day in Hancock County at the Keller Bison and Bee Farm to learn more about the serious problem that could affect us all.

The farm normally has about 1,800 hives at dozens of different sites around the Arcadia area but the owner thinks that more than half of them have been lost this winter. Lyle Keller has been a beekeeper for more than three decades. He says this is setting up to be one of his toughest years, "When you start losing 50-60% of your total number it is not easy to recover from that quickly." Bees provide more than honey, they also pollinate fruit and vegetable crops.

We were with Keller on Tuesday as he checked on some of his hives, "The bees need to get out and fly every 4-6 weeks to cleanse themselves and they haven't been able to do the cleansing flights this winter. It's rough on them. They are under heavy snow and in the extreme cold."

In addition to the extreme cold, Keller says pesticides and the lack of quality food sources are two main reasons for the population decrease, "About 25 years ago losing 10% of your hives during the winter was a big deal, this year I'll be happy if I only lose 50%."Keller plans to rebuild hundreds of his hives this spring," I will always have bees. I truly enjoy them. I may just have to scale down a bit because it takes a lot of work and I am not getting any younger."

Honey prices have gone up dramatically in the last few years. Keller expects the increase to continue this year. His bees produce some honey but their main job is the pollination of local fruit and vegetable crops. He takes them to farms around the region to do their work. Each hive costs more than $100 to maintain throughout the year.
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Ice Cube

Massive storm swirling off Antarctica captured by satellite

Dylan Stableford
Yahoo News
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:44 UTC
A European satellite that flew over Antarctica on Wednesday captured a massive storm churning in the ocean off its northern coast.
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Satellite captures stunning swirl at bottom of the globe
The satellite - known as EUMETSAT, which monitors weather and climate from space - was conducting an overflight when it caught the late summer storm with swirling clouds extending thousands of miles from its center. According to Simon Proud, a postdoctoral associate at MIT's atmospheric, oceanic and climate sciences program, the cloud tail stretches nearly 3,500 miles.

Of course, big storms and harsh weather are not unusual for Antarctica, one of the most treacherous and isolated places on Earth.

Earlier this year, a Russian research vessel that was trapped in the ice off East Antarctica for 10 days led to a international effort to rescue the 52 people onboard.
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Attention

Dwarf sperm whale washed ashore in India

P. Oppili
The Hindu
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:38 UTC
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© The New Indian ExpressEnvironmentalists inspecting the Dwarf Sperm Whale that was washed ashore near Panayur on the East Coast Road on Tuesday
A dwarf sperm whale was washed ashore at Nainarkuppam near Uthandi on Monday.

Volunteers of the TREE Foundation who noticed the dead carcass established the identity of the species with the help of Zoological Survey of India authorities.

Supraja Dharini of the Foundation said the whale's carcass was highly decomposed and the lower body of the whale had been severely damaged. It was badly injured with the rib cage and stomach exposed.

It also had an injury on its head near the blowhole region which could be one of reasons for the whale's death, she said.

The whale was 6.69 feet long and weighed nearly 300 kgs. The flipper was 27 cm with a width of 18cm.

Dwarf Sperm Whale is one of the smallest marine mammals to be called a whale. There are totally three species of sperm whales - Sperm Whale, Dwarf Sperm Whale and Pygmy Sperm Whale. As they are small in size, slow and lead a solitary life, it becomes difficult for researchers to observe them in the wild. Because of this, not much information was available, say the Zoological Survey of India authorities.

The carcass was buried by the Foundation members, she added.
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Attention

10-Meter sperm whale discovered dead in Philipines

Ric V. Obedencio and Mike Ortega Ligalig
The Freeman
Sat, 01 Mar 2014 13:24 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons.
A 10-meter sperm whale was found dead and floating nearby Pamilacan island off this town, Wednesday morning.

Mayor Alvin Uy confirmed this incident to The Freeman, saying he had decided to have the dead whale buried after its decomposing body caused stench wafting around the area.

Uy, in an interview over station DyRD, said the body of the 5-ton whale will be excavated someday and have its bones restored to its original form. "The whale's bones can be mounted as a special tourist attraction," Uy said.

Jun Gultia of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said the agency was no longer interested to conduct an autopsy because it was established that the whale died of accidental bumping into a ship's rudder, as evidenced by a long and deep wound on the animal's belly.

Another source said a fisherman, identified as Alan Tapon, was the one who found the dead whale floating.

BFAR said that, aside from sperm whale, among the commonly-sighted marine animals found between the seas off Pamilacan Island and mainland Bohol are bottlenose dolphin, Bryde's whale, Risso's dolphin, melon-headed whale, pygmy killer whale, short-finned pilot whale, spotted whale, Fraser's dolphin, and manta ray.

This town, where the oldest stone church is located but destroyed by the Oct. 15 earthquake, hosts the whale-watching in industry tourism during this season and summer months off the island.

Fishermen on the island used to catch whale shark using harpoon years back but they are now into whale watching since ban on catching marine mammals took effect in the late 1990s
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Cloud Lightning

Electric Universe: Clue to earthquake lightning mystery

James Morgan
BBC
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:40 UTC
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Strange glowing orbs were seen in the sky during the Fukushima earthquake
Mysterious lightning flashes that appear to precede earthquakes could be sparked by movements in the ground below, US scientists say.

Unidentified glowing objects were spotted moments before major quakes in China and Italy recently.

These flickers could be triggered by shifting soil layers which generate huge electrical charge, say scientists.

Using a tub of plain kitchen flour, they discovered an entirely new physical phenomenon.

They announced their findings at the American Physical Society meeting in Denver.
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