Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

UK weather: Britain faces more 'exceptional' storms, with floods, strong winds and rain ahead

Adam Withnall
The Independent, UK
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 12:37 UTC
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More than 50 ‘severe’ flood alerts have been issued – the Environment Agency’s highest category warning
Britain is facing a new bout of "exceptional" bad weather, the environment secretary has warned, with heavy rain, strong winds and high tides forecast to arrive early tomorrow morning.

The warning from Owen Paterson came after a meeting of the Government's emergency committee Cobra, where ministers heard that the Environment Agency will issue "severe" flood warnings - the highest category available.

In London the Thames Barrier has been closed to protect those living along the river, and power companies and councils are being told to brace for the impact of the storms.

Mr Paterson told Sky News: "I have just chaired a further Cobra meeting as we have further bad weather coming in. We are looking to have a combination of exceptional rain, wind and a surge in sea and high tides and so there are nearly 50 warnings put out around the whole of the west coast and south coast.

"We had a range of ministers from right across Government attending the meeting, who will be working very closely with local councils, power companies, utility and transport companies, making sure that all of those organisations are absolutely prepared for the bad weather that is coming."
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Question

Mysterious creature washed up in East Malaysia


New Straits Times
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 14:14 UTC
Kuching: A remains of an unidentified sea creature was found washed up at Pantai Pasir Pandak in Santubong earlier this morning.

A villager Hamzah Pelita said he found the remains at 7.50 am along the beach.

"The creature is three meters long and it is stranded 50 meters away from the water. It is my first time seeing this creature as I am not sure the species of it," said Hamzah.

He informed the Santubong police station at 8am. The authorities are unsure whether it is a baby whale or a dolphin as the remains were decomposed.
Mysterious Remains
© Mas Adib SaieAuthorities inspecting the mysterious remains of a sea creature.
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Info

Antarctic rescue under way as helicopter lands next to global warming research ship trapped in ice

Bridie Jabour
The Guardian
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 03:24 UTC
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© Laurence Topham/GuardianCrew emerge from the Chinese helicopter that arrived at the trapped Antarctic expedition ship.
Saga of passengers on board the Akademik Shokalskiy trapped in sea ice for more than a week finally coming to an end

A rescue mission is under way for scientists, tourists and journalists on a ship trapped in ice off Antarctica.

A helicopter sent from the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long landed next to the trapped Akademik Shokalskiy on Thursday afternoon and the first group of passengers was due to be evacuated shortly after 8pm local time (7am GMT). The passengers were due to be taken off in five groups, with two further flights to pick up their baggage.

By 8.30am GMT, the second group of passengers had been successfully airlifted and the helicopter had returned to pick up the third.

In a change of plan, the passengers would be taken not the Xue Long, but to an ice floe near the icebreaker Aurora Australis, which tried but failed to break through to the trapped ship earlier this week.
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Snowflake Cold

Winter storm Hercules forecast: Over 100 million targeted in the Midwest, Northeast

Jon Erdman and Nick Wiltgen
Weather.com
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 06:58 UTC
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Jerry Gerardo Lopez shovels snow in his driveway in Detroit as the blizzard-like conditions set in.
We didn't get far into 2014 before the year's first major snowstorm took aim on parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Based on our criteria for naming winter storms, The Weather Channel named this system Winter Storm Hercules.

Midwest Impacts

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© Weather Channel
The back edge of the snow will pull eastward Thursday through the Ohio Valley, including a swath from eastern Missouri through downstate Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and northern Tennessee.

Meanwhile, as the body of Hercules' snow moves east, heavy lake-effect snow will set up off Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron on Thursday.

The Lake Michigan snow band will likely target the cities of Milwaukee and Chicago for a time before swinging into the more conventional northwest Indiana snowbelts. Additional accumulations from the lake effect could push snow totals past the one-foot mark in a rather small area, but that small area could be home to several million people.

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© Weather Channel
Otherwise, a narrow swath of six inches or more of snow (including what's already fallen) appears likely across the southern Great Lakes region through Thursday.

Lighter amounts of generally five inches of snow or less are expected from Missouri into Ohio Valley. Accumulations of at least one inch are also possible over parts of Kentucky and northern Tennessee.

Meanwhile, the subtropical branch of the jet stream will start to become active over the Gulf of Mexico with an area of rain expanding along the Gulf Coast. This should help to trigger the development of a coastal low off the Mid-Atlantic coast Thursday, just as the Midwestern system spreads into the Northeast.
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Snowflake

Blizzard to reach from NYC to Boston Thursday night

Alex Sosnowski
Accuweather.com
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 08:49 UTC
A major snowstorm will reach from across part of the Midwest to the central Appalachians and New England Thursday into Friday. A blizzard will evolve from the storm in parts of the Northeast.

During Thursday and Thursday night, the storm will affect 20 states with more than 120 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities.
blizzard storm
It will be far from the worst storm to ever hit the area, but people should be prepared for flight delays and cancellations because of direct and indirect impacts from the far-reaching storm. Some roads may even close for a time.
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Nuke

Plumes of mysterious steam rise from crippled nuclear reactor at Fukushima


RT.com
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:48 UTC
Fukushima Reactor
© AFP Photo/TEPCO
Fresh plumes of most probably radioactive steam have been detected rising from the reactor 3 building at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said the facility's operator company.

The steam has been detected by surveillance cameras and appeared to be coming from the fifth floor of the mostly-destroyed building housing crippled reactor 3, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant's operator.

The steam was first spotted on December 19 for a short period of time, then again on December 24, 25, 27, according to a report TEPCO published on its website.

The company, responsible for the cleanup of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, has not explained the source of the steam or the reason it is rising from the reactor building. High levels of radiation have complicated entry into the building and further inspection of the situation.
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Igloo

2013: A year of Alaska weather extremes, from Barrow to Juneau

Laurel Andrews
Alaska Dispatch
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:39 UTC
A River ice strewn about the flood
© Ed Plumb / NWS A River ice strewn about the flood ravaged community of Galena on the banks of the Yukon River. May 29, 2013.
As a whole, the state of Alaska rode a rollercoaster of wild weather in 2013. Devastating floods, record-breaking heat waves and massive storms were just a few of the extreme weather events to hit the state this year. Here's a look back at how Alaska's weather affected residents, farms, and even migratory birds in 2013.

Forever winter

2013 started off with a bang, with January bringing the coldest weather of the year to the state, the National Weather Service writes. The Interior community of Delta shivered through the lowest official temperature of the year, at 63 below zero on Jan. 28.

Related: Families from Galena still displaced by flooding, but holiday traditions go onWith sewer offline in flood-damaged Kotlik, residents welcome aid in form of honeybuckets

Anchorage saw its longest snow season since 1917, with the first snow recorded Sept. 28, 2012, and the last of the season on May 18, for a total of 232 days with snow in the 2012-2013 winter.

Winter hung on into Mid-May for much of the state, the effects of which reverberated through communities across Alaska.
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Igloo

Winnipeg deep freeze as cold as Mars


CBC News, Canada
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 08:23 UTC
Winnipeg Deep Freeze
© CBC News, CanadaParts of Manitoba hit -53 C, colder than Mars.
In terms of astonishing weather facts, it doesn't get much more impressive than being as cold as a distant planet for a day. The Manitoba Museum is reporting Winnipeg's temperatures on Tuesday were actually as cold as the surface of Mars.

According to the Curiosity Rover, Mars reached a maximum temperature of -29 C on Tuesday, a temperature Winnipeg only reached shortly before 3 p.m. The deep freeze over much of Southern Manitoba prompted extreme wind chill warnings in the area and most of the north.

In Winnipeg, the daytime high temperature for Tuesday was only expected to reach - 31 C, but the windchill made it feel more like - 40 to - 50. That means exposed skin can freeze in less than five minutes.

On Monday, it got as warm as - 28 C.

In the northern half of the province, in places like Thompson, Nelson House, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Churchill, the wind chills on Tuesday made it feel like - 48 to - 53.

The entire province was under an extreme wind chill warning on Monday, but it was later lifted in the central portion of Manitoba as well as the southwest and southeast corners.
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Ice Cube

In the icy grip of fear that global warming is claptrap

Roger Franklin
The Daily Telegraph
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
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© UnknownAntarctica
If you are going to get yourself marooned, the Seychelles or some palm-fringed Pacific atoll would seem to be the shot. Caressed by balmy winds and encircled by golden sands, they are warm and pleasant places with bars, duty-free shops, clean sheets and room service.

Just the sort of spots, in other words, for an academic to hole up with his latest grant and contemplate the ravages of global warming.

But go to the Antarctic?

Let's just say that making the South Pole your destination implies a great disadvantage from the start.

Arrive in Kiribati, one of those islands frequently reported to be sinking beneath the waves, and local politicians will greet you at the airport with ready quotes about how it is all the fault of the industrialised West's carbon emissions.

Much easier to predict than global temperatures, the next sentence from their lips is sure to be a cup-rattling plea that large sums of UN-administered cash be transferred to the island's treasury without delay.

After those formalities the climate caper is a piece of cake.
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Battery

Hawaii: Storm super cell - non-stop lightning (video)

MrMBB333
You Tube
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Crazy Super Cell stalls over Hawaii December 30, 2013. Non-stop lightning!
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