Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

UK flooding, Met Office, and a map from 878AD

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There's quite a hullabaloo in the UK as the Met Office tries to link recent flooding in Bridgwater, Somerset with global warming, with Lord Lawson even calling Met Office Julia Slingo's claims "absurd". Josh even has a cartoon at Bishop Hill about it.

But, even more instructive than the row is this historic map that shows flooding would likely be a normal occurrence in Bridgwater in the county of Somerset, UK, located on this map at right.

Now look at this map from 878AD. "Swamp or Alluvium" anyone? The arrow notation is mine. This is the Danelaw map, from 878 AD, drawn in modern style:

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Ice Cube

Great Lakes almost completely frozen! Will they break 1994 record?

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© AP Photo/ Traverse City Record-Eagle, Keith King PoolThe Mackinac Bridge over the the Straits of Mackinac spans an ice cover that stretches into the horizon in Michigan.
They haven't frozen over this much since 1994

The Mackinac Bridge over the the Straits of Mackinac spans an ice cover that stretches into the horizon in Michigan.

It's been so cold for such a long time in the Great Lakes region that the lakes are now almost completely covered with ice for the first time in 20 years. Ice cover has now reached 88% across the five lakes, the most since 1994, when 94% of their surface was frozen, the AP finds. Average ice cover has receded around 70% over the last four decades, so this year's deep freeze will do much to replenish lake water levels by limiting evaporation.
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© NOAALake Superior is almost completely frozen over

Map

Earthquake in South Carolina felt hundreds of miles away

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This USGS community internet intensity map shows how many people reported feeling the earthquake
The snow and ice dumped by an unusually severe winter storm were melting, once-frigid temperatures were rising and residents of South Carolina and Georgia finally had begun to relax.

Then the earth shuddered.

A small earthquake shook both states late Friday, shaking homes and rattling residents hundreds of miles away.

The quake happened at 10:23 p.m. and had a preliminary magnitude of 4.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's website. It was centered 7 miles west of the town of Edgefield, S.C. , and was felt as far west as Atlanta and as far north as Hickory, N.C., each about 150 miles away.

"It's a large quake for that area," said USGS geophysicist Dale Grant. "It was felt all over the place."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported two nearby dams on the Savannah River appeared to be undamaged, but planned a thorough inspection Saturday morning, Edgefield County Emergency Preparedness Director Mike Casey said.

Cloud Grey

Two killed as hurricane after hurricane pummels UK

Building collapse
© Sky NewsWoman Killed In Building Collapse

A woman is killed by falling masonry and a man dies after a wave crashes into a cruise liner as powerful gusts reach 80mph.


A woman has been killed and a man taken to hospital after a building fell on a car in central London, as stormy weather lashed parts of Britain.

The building collapsed at around 11.05pm on Friday opposite Holborn Underground station, the Metropolitan Police said.

A spokesman added: "There were two occupants in the car and a woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

"A man was pulled from the car and was taken to hospital, where he is in a stable condition at the moment."

Images from the scene showed chunks of masonry and debris strewn across the pavement.

London Fire Brigade said the concrete fascia of the building collapsed on to the car in Kingsway.

Around 20 firefighters helped with the rescue, freeing the two people from the car.

Igloo

Philadelphia breaks 130-year-old snow record

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The onslaught on Wintry Weather continues this morning. Snow is piling up fast across the Delaware Valley as our monster Nor'easter climbs up the Eastern seaboard.

And with the snowfall in the city of Philadelphia Thursday, a 130-year-old record was shattered. For the first time in the city's history, there have been four 6+ inch snowfalls or more in season. In addition, we are now in the top 5 snowiest winters of all-time.

The storm has a history of producing historic snowfall and ice accumulations across the Southern United States and now it is blasting our region with blinding snow, heavy sleet, flooding rain and wicked winds.

This storm also adds insult to injury as hundreds of thousands of people just got their power back after last week's crippling ice storm.

Newspaper

Censorship and bad science: South Coast Today News will no longer print skeptical AGW opinions

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© South Coast Media Group
From the newspaper SouthCoastToday.com:

Our View: There is no debate on climate change

The "debate" over the reality and cause of climate change stopped being scientific long ago. Today, the "debate" is nothing more than a distraction that serves a political purpose for those who would stand to lose the most by policies that would curtail the release of carbon from its restful, stable location below the surface of the earth, in the form of fossil fuels, into our environment.

One hundred percent of the current and former UMass Dartmouth scientists participating in an editorial board meeting at The Standard-Times on Tuesday agree both that climate change is occurring and that human activity - particularly the combustion of fossil fuels - has a significant impact on it.

The point was made in the meeting that it is not typical that scientists would agree so broadly. There's a reason for that: Theories aren't agreed upon in the scientific community, but facts are.

Theories are debated. Facts are facts.

Igloo

Blizzard to lash Eastern New England on Saturday

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Into the first part of the weekend, light to moderate snow will push from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic states, but a blizzard is forecast to develop in eastern New England.

The storm has the potential to bring a new round of ground and airline disruptions to parts of the South and East that were hit with the winter storm at midweek and also to some places that escaped the storm in the Midwest.

The storm is forecast to remain rather weak along most of its journey. However, it could bring just enough snow to treat, shovel and plow from parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to much of Kentucky and Tennessee into Friday afternoon.

Motorists are advised to exercise caution this evening along Interstates 64, 65, 71 and 75 in Kentucky as temperatures falling below freezing can make for icy travel. Similar conditions in southeastern Pennsylvania early this morning contributed to a multiple vehicle accident on the Turnpike, north of Philadelphia.

The storm brought between 1 and 4 inches over a large part of Iowa and northern Missouri early Friday and was heading across central Illinois toward Indiana during the midday Friday. St. Louis received a wintry mix.

A swath of snow will affect portions of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York during part of Friday night. A couple of inches could fall on parts of these states with locally higher amounts. The snow could conceal patches of ice beneath.

Snowflake

Virginia: Storm brought record breaking snowfall to Washington Dulles Airport

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© CBS
The snowstorm that buried the Mid-Atlantic region this week brought Washington Dulles International Airport its ninth biggest one-day snowfall on record, the National Weather Service said Friday.

Dulles got 11.7 inches on Thursday alone. That broke the record for that date of 3 inches set in 1992, and ranks ninth among the biggest daily snowfalls recorded at the airport near Sterling, Va., meteorologist Heather Sheffield said.

She said the storm dropped a total of 13.3 inches of snow at Dulles from Wednesday through Thursday.

Trained spotters reported unofficial, but credible, storm totals of 2 feet or more in north-central Maryland, including a 26-inch reading near the Baltimore County community of Glyndon, the weather service said.

"Just looking at the overall pattern of the snowfall, I don't have a reason to question the numbers," said Calvin Meadows, observing program leader in the agency's Sterling, Va., office.

The nor'easter was linked to at least four deaths in the region.

Snowflake Cold

Tokyo paralyzed by second major snow storm in a week: worst in 45 years

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Heavy snow fell on Tokyo for the second this time week, forcing some companies to cancel work and send their employees home. Nissan Motor Co.'s Yokohama office asked its employees to head home early because snow has already impeded plane and railway services.

The Japan Meterological Agency said to prepare for as much as 10 centimeters, or 4 inches, of snowfall within the next 24 hours in Tokyo. Just last weekend, a record 24 centimeters of snow fell on the Japanese capital. Broadcasting company NHK reported that the amount of snow over the weekend was worst snowfall to hit the city in 45 years. Train and plane services were paralyzed because of the snow, leaving many commuters stranded. While ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co., had to cancel 138 domestic and international flights, while six lines from the East Japan Railway Co. were stopped from running. On the other hand, bullet trains such as those from Central Japan Railway Co. were only delayed for up to 50 minutes, as wells as lines from West Japan Railway Co.

Due to the cancellation of 63 domestic flights by ANA, around 9,500 passengers were rendered helpless by the storm, according to Ryosei Nomura of ANA. The heavy snowfall also forced the closure of a runway at Nagoya airport because of the thick ice on the ground. Chris Keefe from Nissan Motor Co. asked employees to leave by 12:30 p.m on Friday because of the dangers heavy snowfall pose, such as slipping off the icy ground, lack of transportation, and roads closed to traffic because it's rendered impassable.

Cloud Lightning

Atlantic storm brings more misery to drenched Britain: heaviest rainfall in 250 years

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Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, helps with flood defenses on February 14, 2014 in Datchet, United Kingdom
Princes William and Harry rolled up their sleeves Friday to help out with flood defense efforts as Britain braces for another hammering Friday from a major storm off the Atlantic.

The princes showed up at 6 a.m. local time in the flood-hit village of Datchet, west of London.

The community is one of several in Berkshire and Surrey to have been hit by flooding in recent days after the River Thames burst its banks.

Nearly 6,000 homes have been inundated along the Thames Valley and elsewhere following England's wettest January in 2½ centuries.

Some communities in low-lying areas of Somerset, in southwest England, have been under water since December.

And there's no letup in sight just yet.

The Environment Agency has warned of more flooding along the Thames over the weekend as the river reaches its highest level in 60 years.

A powerful Atlantic storm that is blowing in on Friday will add to people's woes.