Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

US: Stranded dolphin improving, fifth dead dolphin found in Mississippi

dolphin
© The Mississippi Press/Kaija WilkinsonInstitute Director Moby Solangi watches a dolphin that was stranded on the beach in Fort Morgan, Alabama, make circles in its pool at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.

Gulfport, Mississippi -- A stranded dolphin found alive in the marsh near Fort Morgan, Alabama continues to improve, said Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies at Gulfport.

Another dead dolphin, the fifth in the past week, was found at Waveland on Monday, he said.

"They are all about the same age, which is the group of animals that would have been born earlier this year in February and March," Solangi said. "They were less than a year old and still dependent on their mothers."

All the dead dolphins were about 5½-feet long, he said.

Cloud Lightning

UK: floods hit the North following rain, gales . . . and even a tornado

Sitting atop his taxi surrounded by flood waters, this man was one of hundreds caught out as Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland were hit by heavy rain yesterday.

This scene was captured in a car park in Greenock, Scotland as some parts of Scotland were battered by a fortnight's rain in just 24-hours.

The deluges forced roads to close and train cancellations, while several schools were forced to close due to the rising waters.
Image
© unknownStranded: A man sits atop his taxi in Greenock, Scotland after heavy rain caught him unawares
Image
© PAFireman study the debris left by a fallen chimney that injured a pensioner after a cloud-burst and sudden strong winds hit the Heaton Moor at around 2.25pm today

Better Earth

Earthquake rocks north Philippines; no damages

Image
© UnknownA map of the Philippines.
Manila, - An official says an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 shook the capital and parts of the northern Philippines. There are no immediate reports of damages or injuries.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology chief Renato Solidum says movement in the Manila Trench off the country's western coast set off the earthquake Wednesday but it occurred deep under the ocean floor and did not cause any destruction.

Solidum says the quake was felt in metropolitan Manila and in the nearby provinces of Zambales, Bulacan, Pangasinan and in the mountain resort city of Baguio.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

Bizarro Earth

Philippines - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Luzon

Luzon Quake_301111
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 00:27:08 UTC

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 08:27:08 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
15.467°N, 119.031°E

Depth:
14.6 km (9.1 miles)

Region:
LUZON, PHILIPPINES

Distances:
152 km (94 miles) WNW of Olongapo, Luzon, Philippines

154 km (95 miles) WSW of Dagupan, Luzon, Philippines

171 km (106 miles) WNW of Angeles, Luzon, Philippines

230 km (142 miles) WNW of MANILA, Philippines

Attention

Four villages evacuated as volcano begins to erupt in Ecuador

Tungurahua erruption
© EPAViolent eruptions: The molten heart of the Tungurahua volcano, near Quito in Ecuador, as it begins to spew out lava and hot gas
Four Ecuadorean villages are being evacuated after a volcano close to the country's capital began spewing smouldering rock and billowing columns of ash.

The government is urging 700 people living beside the Tungurahua volcano near Quito to leave the area as soon as possible.

Tungurahua - which means 'Throat of Fire' in the indigenous Quechua language - has been active since 1999 but began erupting violently on Sunday, sending red-hot clouds of gas up into the atmosphere.

Igloo

US: Alabama Gets First November Snow in 35 Years

Snow Storm
© NASA/NOAASnow covered the South last January. This season, the white stuff came earlier.

Last night it wasn't the stars, but the snow that fell on Alabama.

It wasn't much, but yesterday (Nov. 28) was the first time since 1976 that Alabama has had snow during November. Making the day even weirder weather-wise, temperatures in the Deep South dipped to near the freezing point while temperatures in many places in the Northeast topped 70 F (21 C).

New York City yesterday set a record high temperature of 70 F for the date, breaking a record set in 1896 and tied in 1990.

The white stuff that fell across Alabama mostly fell in the northeast part of the state.

"It looks like they had an inch or so, maybe more," said Andy Kula, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Huntsville, Ala."None of it has really stuck because it's too warm on the ground."

Cloud Lightning

South Africa: Heavy downpour kills eight

Durban Storm debris
© Wendy Knowler and Puri Devjee/INL SAThe heavy downpour last night saw massive amounts of debris wash on to the shore from Country Club Beach to Blue Lagoon.
At least eight people were reported dead, about 700 houses had been destroyed and thousands had been left displaced in KwaZulu-Natal, following last night's heavy downpour, the eThekwini Disaster Management Unit said on Monday.

According to the SA Weather Bureau, 62.6mm of rain fell last night in Durban, which had already recorded 209.6mm for November, almost double its average.

The acting head of the eThekwini Emergency Control and Disaster Management Unit, Vincent Ngubane, said deaths had been recorded at Umlazi, Newlands East and Chatsworth.

The official death toll is eight, but the numbers could rise as emergency operations begin.

Bizarro Earth

US: Snow-vember Surprise: Why Deep South Is Seeing Frosty Weather

Weird Weather
© NOAA/NWS The NWS weather map for Nov. 28.

In a weird weather reversal, cities in the Deep South are under winter weather advisories while northern cities, more accustomed to snow this time of year, are flirting with record high temperatures.

From Memphis, Tenn., to Atlanta, a rare Southern snow may coat cities tonight (Nov. 28) as the temperatures and precipitation continue to fall. The southern slide into winter is due to a "cold bubble" that has formed over the South, said forecaster Brian Carcione of the National Weather Service (NWS) in Huntsville, Ala., where an inch of snow is expected.

Between 1 to 5 inches (2.5 to 13 centimeters) of snow have been forecast across Alabama, Tennessee and North Georgia, according to the NWS. Much of the snow should quickly melt, with little accumulation on roads, but the wild plunge into winter is a jarring halt to the warm Thanksgiving week in the South. Temperatures there were well above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) yesterday.

That warm air has pushed to the Northeast, where New York City set a record high temperature for today at 70 F, breaking a record set in 1896 and tied in 1990. Newark, N.J., hit 72 F (22 C), one degree shy of a record high. Yesterday, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., set a record high for the day at 70 F.

Cloud Lightning

New winter storms threaten Sweden

Sweden storm
© Beatrice Murch/File
The storm that battered Scandinavia over the past few days has lulled, but as parts of southern Sweden are still battling to get their power grid back online, forecasters warn that new fronts of strong winds are predicted to hit the region mid-week.

"We'll get an area of rain and strong winds. It will be windy but not of the same calibre as yesterday," said Emil Björck, meteorologist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI, to daily Aftonbladet.

Forecasters are predicting a Tuesday characterized by mild weather, followed by strong winds hitting the region by Wednesday. This time, cooler temperatures might mean that the precipitation will arrive as snow, the first flakes of the winter for most parts.

Cloud Lightning

Sweden: Storm 'Berit' leaves 80,000 without power

Swedish storm
© Johan NIlsson/Scanpix
Some 80,000 households remained without electricity in southern Sweden on Monday morning in the wake of the weekend's storm.

The low pressure front which caused the storm has passed Scandinavia, with its epicentre now close to St. Petersburg in Russia as it continues its march eastwards.

Winds battered several areas of southern Sweden with heavy rains in places.

"The wind is still hard locally," said SMHI's duty meteorologist Thomas Fyrby to the TT news agency early Monday.

The major power companies continued the battle to repair their battered power grid on Monday with the worst affected being Eon's subscribers in the far south, mainly in Skåne, where around 60,000 lacked power.

"I dare not say when all this will be repaired," said Jan-Erik Olsson at Eon's press office.