Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Seventeen dead and hundreds evacuated after 'apocalyptic' storm tears through Sardinia


Daily Mail
Tue, 19 Nov 2013 06:11 UTC
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Rescuers work in a flooded street in the small town of Uras, Sardinia. A violent rainstorm flooded entire parts of the Mediterranean island

Seventeen people have died and hundreds were evacuated when storms tore through the Italian island of Sardinia last night.

Cars were swept away and caused a bridge to collapse, local media reported.

Television pictures showed torrential rain, with streets submerged in muddy floodwaters and rivers bursting their banks

Olbia Mayor Gianni Giovannelli said the city had been destroyed by the ''apocalyptic'' storm, with bridges felled and water levels reaching 3 meters (10 feet) in some places. He described the ferocity of the storm's rains as a ''water bomb.''.
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Bizarro Earth

81 U.S. Midwest tornadoes highly unusual for November

Max Golembo
Yahoo! News
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:31 UTC
Tornadoes
© Good Morning America
After one of the quietest U.S. tornado seasons in 40 years, Sunday was nature's comeback, with a total of 81 tornado reports in Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio.

Illinois was the hardest hit, with 43 tornadoes, followed by 23 in Indiana, 13 in Kentucky, one in Missouri and one in Ohio.

According to the National Weather Service's preliminary ratings, New Minden, Ill., in the southern part of the state, was in the swirl of an EF4 tornado, with winds of at least 166 mph. In Washington, Ill., the tornado, also an EF4, packed even more force, with winds from 170 to 190 mph.

According to the climatology of U.S. tornadoes in the Midwest, twisters of such force were unusual for this time of year. In the lower 48 states, the peak of severe weather and tornadoes usually occurs in April and May; November is known as the second peak for severe weather.
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Bizarro Earth

5.7 magnitude earthquake hits Japan amid Fukushima fuel rod removal


CommonDreams.org
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:26 UTC
A strong earthquake has struck Japan's coast south of the Fukushima nuclear plant currently undergoing a dangerous removal of highly radioactive Unit 4 fuel rods, according to online reports.
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© USGSAn image from the U.S. Geological Survey shows the approximate location of the earthquake.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a 5.7 magnitude earthquake has struck Japan 25 kilometers southeast of Toba, releasing the following tweet:
Strong earthquake, NEAR S. COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN, Nov-18 19:10 UTC, 0 #quake tweets/min, http://t.co/jAAXkTfU5k
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Cloud Lightning

Golf ball-sized hailstones rain down on Australia


The Telegraph, UK
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:35 UTC
Severe hail storms sweep across south-east Queensland with gale-force winds and hailstones the size of golf balls

Australia's Gold Coast has been hit by a heavy storm, sending golf ball-sized hailstones crashing to the ground and causing damage to cars and homes.

Video shows the hailstones plummeting to the ground in a garden. The balls fall with such force that they bounce a few feet up into the air again.

The State Emergency Service has received 350 calls for help after the storm hit in the afternoon with gusts of up to 86 mph.

The Gold Coast experiences substantial summer thunderstorms and heavy showers occasionally lasting up to a few weeks at a time giving locals "the Summer blues".
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Brick Wall

Glass deathtrap kills flock of 80 Swedish birds

Solveig Rundquist
thelocal.se
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:54 UTC
Eighty birds flew into a glass sound barrier in western Sweden on Sunday, in a mishap that proved fatal for the vast majority of the flock.

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Nearly 80 birds died after flying into a glass wall
"It was awful and tragic," Kirsten Ekholm of the Bird Center in Partille told The Local. "It's sad because it's so unnecessary. We know how to avoid this."

Ekholm was at the Bird Center, an organisation near Gothenburg which rehabilitates injured wild birds, when a couple came in with several shaken Bohemian Waxwings. Ekholm accompanied them back to a glass sound barrier near a highway, where she was shocked to see nearly eighty bird bodies strewn about.

"We have never seen so many at one time," Ekholm recounted. "And most of them were very young birds. It was a terrible sight."

Ekholm spent her Sunday gathering the bodies and examining the dead. Seventy-two of the birds were already dead when she arrived, and one died of its injuries during the night. Seven were still alive on Monday morning, but she said there was no guarantee they would make it.

"It's difficult to say if they will live. Many of them have internal bleeding, and one had its eye completely smashed," Ekholm told The Local.
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Galaxy

Strange 'sky' sounds heard in Michigan, 5 November 2013


Sott.net
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:10 UTC
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Are these strange sounds the aural equivalent of visual displays of 'northern lights'?
Two separate video recordings made in Michigan on the night of 5 November 2013 picked up more of these 'strange sky sounds' that people the world over have been hearing. Note how in this first video, the witness is confused as to where the sound is coming from, then eventually settles on it 'coming from the sky', while the witness in the second video describes the ground beneath his feet shaking, suggesting the sound was coming from below.

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Cloud Lightning

28 die in Vietnam floods, 9 missing - 80,000 displaced


GMANewsonline.com
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 08:30 UTC
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© Vietnam News Agency/AFP/Getty ImagesResidents move their belongings from a flooded house in Qui Nhon city, central Vietnam.
Flooding in Vietnam has killed at least 28 people since Friday, with nine others missing and nearly 80,000 displaced, state media and government reports said, after a tropical depression dumped heavy rains across central regions of the country.

In Quang Ngai province, where nine were killed and four people are missing, flood waters rose above a previous peak measured in 1999, submerging many houses, the official Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported on Sunday.

Flood waters rose quickly after 15 hydro power plants in the central region opened their sluice gates to release water in reservoir protection, the newspaper reported.

Around 100,000 houses were submerged and nearly 80,000 people have been evacuated, the government-run committee on floods and storm protection said in a report. Roads have been closed due to floods and some national train services canceled.
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Snowflake Cold

100 days of heavy snow: Britain now facing worst winter in SIXTY YEARS, warn forecasters


Daily Express
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:45 UTC
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Britain is facing up to 100 days of heavy, persistent snow this winter
Long-range weather forecasters have warned that Britain should prepare for heavy and persistent snow for up to THREE MONTHS with winter 2013 set to be the worst in more than 60 years.

The latest detailed forecasts for winter 2013 ALL point towards months of relentless extreme cold with heavy snow 'extremely likely' across the country.

Arctic air will roar in from the North Pole later this week, triggering the start of the worst winter in many people's lifetimes.

Experts in long-range weather forecasting said the WHOLE of Britain should be prepared for this winter to be the most severe since 1947, which saw the UK hit by relentless snow and some of the lowest temperatures on record.
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Cloud Lightning

At least 6 dead, 54 hurt as dozens of tornadoes rip through U.S. Midwest


Daily Mail and Sott.net
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 05:20 UTC
  • Six people killed after dozens of tornadoes flattened large parts of the Midwest
  • Three people died in Massac County, two in Washington County and one in city of Washington, Tazewell County
  • Winds of 166 to 200mph reported in Washington County, The National Weather Service confirmed
  • Unusual late season storms moved east at about 60mph over five hours on Sunday
  • Dozens treated for injuries in Peoria as rescuers scrambled to uncover survivors in at least 70 leveled homes
  • A Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens game delayed for two hours as storms approached Chicago's Soldier Field
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    Six people were killed and dozens of homes devastated when up to 80 tornadoes struck Illinois and the surrounding states
    Six people have been killed and scores of homes destroyed after at least 60 tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the American Midwest yesterday.

    States of emergency have been issued for seven Illinois counties in the wake of a series of powerful tornadoes that blew flipped over cars and uprooted trees.

    Dozens of people were injured in the unusually powerful, late-season tornadoes. Three people were killed in Massac County, two in Washington County and one person died in the city of Washington, Tazewell County.

    There are fears that some residents are still trapped inside their collapsed homes.

    The National Weather Service confirmed preliminary EF-4 tornado damage in Washington County in southern Illinois, with winds of 166 to 200 miles per hour.

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    Snowflake Cold

    The winter is coming: Whistler ski resort to open 13 days early

    Tom Metcalf
    Telegraph UK
    Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:46 UTC
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    © Paul MorissonSkiers and snowboarders will be able to hit the slopes at Whistler from Saturday
    One half of North America's largest ski area will open this weekend, thirteen days ahead of schedule.

    Whistler Mountain at Whistler Blackcomb will now open on Saturday, thanks to cold temperatures, intensive snowmaking and heavy snowfall.

    Five lifts will be in operation and guests will have the option of uploading from the Whistler Village or Creekside gondolas, with three lifts running higher up the mountain. Blackcomb Mountain will open as scheduled on 28 November.
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