Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Huge waterspout spotted off Croatian coast


A huge waterspout has been spotted off the coast of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik.

Amateur footage captured by a passerby from a nearby cliff face shows a whirling column of air and water travelling across the ocean.

Funnels and waterspouts are caused by unstable weather conditions and are becoming increasingly common in this part of Adriatic Sea.

Question

More than 100 elk found dead in northeastern New Mexico


State biologists are trying to unravel a mystery of what killed a herd of elk in northeastern New Mexico.

More than 100 elk found were dead on a ranch about 20 miles north of Las Vegas this week.

Sky News 13 flew over the gruesome discovery on the sprawling 75,000-acre Buena Vista Ranch near Mora.

The elk weren't shot, so the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is investigating just what caused the deaths.

Their top suspicion: something called Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, or EHD. The often-fatal disease is caused by insect bites.

"With EHD, an elk could get a fever," said Game and Fish spokesperson Rachel Shockley. "It's usually a pretty fast illness, and up to eight to 36 hours later the animals go into shock, and then they die."

Question

Eighty sea turtles wash up dead on the coast of Guatemala

Eighty dead sea turtles have been recorded since the first week of July on the country's southeastern beaches

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© Michael Patrick O'Neill/AlamyAmong the stranded sea turtles were leatherbacks, a critically endangered species.
An assortment of marine animals and birds reside along the black volcanic sand beaches of Guatemala's Pacific coast, but lately both residents and visitors on the southeast beaches of the country have observed a tragic event - the stranding of dead sea turtles.

Eighty dead sea turtles have been recorded since the first week of July on the beaches of La Barrona, Las Lisas, Chapeton and Hawaii according to a statement released by the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association (ARCAS), a Guatemalan non-profit organization formed by citizens in 1989.

"The entire coast has historically been a significant nesting area for olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles," Colum Muccio, ARCAS administrative director, told mongabay.com. While not known to nest in Guatemala, east pacific green turtles forage in estuaries and mangrove waterways along the Pacific coast.

Phoenix

Wildfires sparked by lightning plague Portugal in country's worst drought in recent years

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© Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
Portugal has been experiencing the worst drought in years. Drought and the dry conditions that follow lead to wildfires set by just a spark or a lightning strike. Portugal's north has been plagued with wildfires due to these such conditions. Spain and France have joined their firefight lending water-dumping aircraft in an effort to quell the raging fires. The dry conditions, heat, high winds, and difficult terrain in the area where the fires have been most active have produced what the firefighters over there have dubbed "the perfect storm."

Snowflake Cold

Snowstorm in Alaska: White-out conditions close Dalton highway

Dalton Highway
© UnknownDalton Highway
Fairbanks - A severe winter storm hit Alaska's Brooks Range on Wednesday, stranding numerous trucks on the Dalton Highway amid heavy drifting snow, high winds and zero visibility.

The Alaska Department of Transportation said that conditions are forcing maintenance crews to withdraw from a 110-mile stretch of the Dalton Highway in the Atigun Pass area. Travel is not advised because of the poor conditions, which include winds of 50-60 mph. "They just can't keep it open," said DOT spokeswoman Meadow Bailey. "They plow through it, and it just blows over again." An undetermined number of trucks also are stuck between 275 Mile and 305 Mile, according to DOT.

Bailey said drivers are being retrieved from trucks stuck in the roadway, but most appear to be staying put while parked along the side of the road. Bailey said it's the fourth weather-related closure of the Dalton Highway this year. Before that, she said the Dalton hadn't been closed for at least a few years. The recent storms have caused trucks to stack up on both ends of the closed area.

Ben Krzykowski, who owns Ben's Auto and Truck Repair, has spent the past week pulling out stuck vehicles when weather allows it. He said there were at least 50 trucks piled into the Coldfoot Camp parking lot last Saturday. "There was basically no room to park in there," he said. An additional 10 trucks are parked at the other end of the closure at the Sagavanirktok River DOT station until conditions improve, Bailey said.

Snow Globe

Peru - More than 250,000 alpacas die of cold and snow

Alpacas in the snow
© Craig LovellAlpacas In The Snow - Peruvian Andes
President declares state of emergency.

Peru's government has declared a state of emergency in parts of the southern Andean region of Puno hit with the coldest temperatures in a decade, daily El Comercio reported.

President Ollanta Humala announced the emergency for seven provinces in Puno - Carabaya, Sandia, Lampa, San Antonio de Putina, Melgar, Puno and El Collao.

Hundreds of families have been affected and more than 250,000 alpacas have died due to freezing temperatures and snow storms.

Passengers on buses running between Puno and Arequipa were forced to wait some eight to 10 hours on the icy highways at temperatures of minus 15 degrees Celsius.

Snowflake

Brazil - Worst snowfall in 13 years

Snow in Brasil
© Artur Alexandre/EspecialVacaria, Brasil

Maybe 15 years. Maybe 22 years.

Snowfall of such intensity and duration in São José dos Absent is the highest in 13 years.

Perhaps even longer.

The Municipal Secretary of Tourism, Alziro Paim Rock, a resident of St. Joseph of the Missing for 20 years, thinks Wednesday's snow - which caused the suspension of classes in the municipal and state levels - surpassed that of 13 years ago.

The dimension of the phenomenon on Wednesday was much larger than expected, said Rocha. I talked to the staff that makes the prediction in the city and this was the biggest snow in 15 years.

Mary Rosineris, 22 years old, has never seen so much snow in the town.

The streets, fields and houses were covered with about five inches of snow, said Ronaldo Coutinho Prado, of the agency ClimaTerra.

Target

Elephant smashes into car at Kruger national park, South Africa


A female African elephant charges into a vehicle in the Kruger national park in South Africa. Johann Lombard, who has 23 years of experience as a professional safari guide, filmed the incident and says neither the elephant or anyone in the vehicle was harmed. Lombard says it is unusual for elephants to charge vehicles in this manner

Bizarro Earth

Magma chamber beneath Japan's Sakurajima volcano is about 90-percent full

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It's been erupting constantly for nearly 60 years, spewing out smoke and ash and sending shivers through the more than half a million people who live nearby. Japan's Sakurajima volcano recently blasted 100,000 tonnes of ash more than five kilometres into the sky, reminding surrounding communities of its power and volatility. Vulcanologists warn that the magma chamber beneath the mountain is about 90 per cent full, meaning that a large lava eruption cannot be ruled out.

The ABC's North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy travelled to Sakurajima in south-west Japan to see how people live with this rumbling giant.

In legend, this belching giant was named for a beautiful goddess, the divine being venerated as the symbol of delicate earthly life. But Sakurajima is anything but delicate. It is the mother of all Japanese volcanos. Just across the water from the city of Kagoshima, it is both a tourist drawcard and a troublesome neighbour. And for our visit on this perfect summer's day, the mountain is putting on yet another show.

Sakurajima is one of the world's most active volcanos. Some years it belches into life or erupts over 1,000 times and this bad-tempered beast is just eight kilometres from the 600,000 residents of Kagoshima.

Blackbox

Colcord, Oklahoma, residents told to watch out for blood worms in water supply


The people of Colcord, Oklahoma, might need something a little stronger than Brita filters to remove the impurities from their drinking water. Blood worms -- small, red insect larvae -- have been appearing in water glasses and filters in the rural town.

Authorities have warned Colcord's 800 residents not to drink, cook with or brush their teeth with the worm-infested tap water. Schools in the area have been closed since Tuesday as officials try to figure out where the bright-red creatures came from and how long it will take to get rid of them.