Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Typhoon toll rises as 300,000 evacuated in Asia


Herald Sun
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:38 UTC
Image
© Associated PressResidents wade through a flooded street in the town of Navotas in suburban Manila
The death toll from Typhoon Saola has risen to 42 in the Philippines and Taiwan, and 300,000 people have been evacuated in China as Typhoon Damrey makes landfall.

The Philippines recorded 37 deaths in floods and accidents caused by Saola's torrential rains and strong winds, officials said on Friday. Four people were missing and feared dead.

Taiwan residents spent Friday cleaning up storm damage and returning to work, a day after Saola slammed into the island, packing winds of up to 155 kilometres an hour, dumping 1.8 metres of rain and killing five people. Two were reported missing.

Saola weakened into a tropical storm before making landfall on Friday morning in Fuding in China's south-eastern province of Fujian with winds of 90km/h at its centre, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Louisiana's Bayou Corne Evacuated: Swamp Gas Turns into Monster Sinkhole


WBRZ
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:27 UTC

Napoleonville - Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Friday in Assumption Parish after officials ordered an immediate evacuation of the Bayou Corne area because a slurry area appeared to be expanding.

"The fear of the unknown prompted the evacuation order," said John Boudreaux, director of the parish's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "The fear of it possibly compromising either the nearby pipelines or cavern storage areas, that could cause a risk to the community."

Boudreaux said about 150 homes are affected by the order. He was unsure how long it would remain in effect. The governor's emergency proclamation extends through Sept. 2 unless terminated earlier.

Boudreaux initially estimated the area was about 200 feet by 200 feet. He said it's on private land near the Texas Brine Co. LLC facility. Police Jury President Marty Triche said that in speaking with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the Governor's Office, he was advised there was a risk that the slurry area could grow to a size of about 2,000 feet across.
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Attention

Man swallowed by massive sinkhole as Typhoon Saola pounds Taiwan, reporter nearly taken by second sinkhole minutes later

Rheana Murray
New York Daily News
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 06:18 UTC
Image
Emergency workers at the scene of the enormous sinkhole.
There appears to have been no warning before the ground opened up beneath the man's feet. At least five people have died in the storm so far and two are missing.

Unbelievable footage captures the moment a man was swallowed by a sinkhole that suddenly opened up on a Taiwan street.

The unidentified man was reportedly walking in Taipei Wednesday morning when the road beneath him suddenly collapsed, pulling him to his death.

CNN reports the incident occurred near the Temple of Sansha.

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Phoenix

Oklahoma fires destroy homes


CNN
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:15 UTC
Oklahoma fire
© CNNA line of flames from one of several wildfires advances through an Oklahoma field.
Low humidity and strong winds Friday helped fuel a half-dozen wildfires in Oklahoma that have so far burned at least 65 structures and are threatening more.

The largest of the fires is just south of Oklahoma City in Cleveland County, according to Jerry Lojka, spokesman for the department of emergency management.

"The metro area is not in danger, but there are still homes out there, and there are subdivisions that are in those wooded areas," he said.

Twenty-five structures have burned in Cleveland County, according to Kelli Cain, another spokeswoman at the emergency department. Roughly 100 or so homes there are threatened.
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Phoenix

Wildfires blaze in parched northwest Colorado

Tegan Hanlon
The Denver Post
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:56 UTC
Fires blazed in northwest Colorado Friday night amid low humidity and gusty winds.

Dry thunderstorms and lightning sparked three fires on Bureau of Land Management land in Moffat and Rio Blanco counties, according to a release issued by the Northwest Colorado Fire Management Unit.

The Wolf fire, located about 5 miles south of Elk Springs, is at an estimated 700 acres and "is burning actively in sagebrush and pinon and juniper trees," the release said.

Spokeswoman Lynn Barclay said the fire was reported at 12:16 p.m. Friday. Winds up to 35 mph drove the fire throughout the day.
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Bizarro Earth

Worldwide Transport of Dust Particles May Have Impact on Storms, Temperatures and Other Weather Patterns

Emily Sohn
Discovery News
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 01:00 UTC
Image
© NASA/Earth ObservatoryA dust storm can be seen over Turkmenistan, Central Asia, in this photograph from the International Space Station in 2009.
THE GIST
  • High up in the atmosphere, half of the dust over North America comes from Asia and elsewhere.
  • Dust particles can have large but still poorly understood impacts on weather.
  • Future climate models will need to incorporate the movement of dust around the world.
Three miles above the United States, the atmosphere is filled with dust that has blown thousands of miles from Asia and elsewhere.

The discovery, which used data from a new satellite that provided a three-dimensional view of the air from above, suggests that the transport of tiny dust particles around the world may be having an unexpectedly large impact on storms, temperatures and other weather patterns.
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Attention

Spectacular Noctilucent Clouds Photographed Over Iceland


SpaceWeather
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:47 UTC
A bank of electric-blue noctiluent clouds swept across Iceland on August 2nd, producing a vivid display of luminous ripples and tendrils over Reykjavik:

Noctilucent Clouds
© Iurie Belegurschi

"These are the highest clouds in Earth's atmosphere, located at altitudes of around 76 to 85 kilometres," says photographer Iurie Belegurschi. "It was a beautiful display."

New data from NASA's AIM spacecraft prove that noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are seeded by space dust. The tiny ice crystals that NLCs are made of nucleate around "meteor smoke" wafting through the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere. Not only do these clouds look alien, they really are alien. A new video from NASA explains the research.
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Stop

Whale Is Found Dead In Australia Swimming Pool

Jonathan Samuels
Sky News
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:06 UTC
The dead body of an 11m-long whale has been discovered in an open-air swimming pool in Australia.


Early morning swimmers discovered the humpback whale, which had been washed into the ocean pool in Sydney by heavy seas.

The 30-tonne young adult mammal was washed up at Newport beach, ending up in the man-made swimming baths which are filled with sea water.

"It does have some external injuries but there's no way of knowing whether they were ante-mortem or post-mortem," said Wendy McFarlane from the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA).

Ms McFarlane said one possible explanation for the otherwise seemingly healthy animal to die at sea could be that it had been struck by a ship.

It is thought the whale died several days ago.

The beach has now been closed due to the risk of sharks being attracted to the area by the rotting carcass.

The authorities are now deciding how best to remove the whale.

They may try to wash it back out to sea at high tide, or resort to the least preferred option of cutting it up and removing it in sections.
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Cloud Lightning

21 Killed in Xinjiang Mudslide


Xinhua
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Xinyuan, Xinjiang - The bodies of three additional victims have been pulled from an iron ore mine that was buried by a mudslide in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 21 thus far, local authorities said Wednesday.

Seven people remain missing in the mine, according to Xue Weichang, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of Xinyuan county.

The fatal mudslide, which occurred at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the township of Araltobe, Xinyuan county in the Kazak autonomous prefecture of Ili, trapping 28 workers in the mine.

More than 500 rescuers are working to carry out search and rescue operations.

A survey conducted by the local land resource authorities found that the disaster was a result of downpours that hit Xinyuan on Sunday.

The local meteorological department said heavy rains will continue to pound the region from Aug. 2 to 4.
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Holly

Blackberries fruiting at record late time of the year in UK

Martin Wainwright
The Guardian
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:07 UTC
Image
© Barry Lewis/AlamyAnother sign of impending food shortages
Rowan and elderberry also affected as dismal weather delays wild trees and shrubs' fruiting season

The devil is set to get into the blackberries later than ever before this century, according to early reports from the UK's annual survey of wild trees and shrubs' fruiting season.

The traditional phrase for the fruit over-ripening and losing its crisp taste is unlikely to be bandied around until mid or late August, if first reports from the mass exercise prove to be a consistent pattern.

Early indications from the army of amateur naturalists - or "citizen scientists" as they are now called by the project's organisers at the Woodland Trust - show a delay of eight days over all previous first sightings dating back to the year 2000. Similar setbacks, almost certainly due to the dismal weather since late March, are also affecting rowan and elderberry.
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