Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Severe Thunderstorms Cause Delays at Minneapolis Airport

Jonathan Yuhas
KARE 11
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:22 UTC
Severe thunderstorms with heavy rain and frequent lightning is causing delays for air travelers Friday in the Twin Cities.


As of 2 p.m. the FAA website said travelers were experiencing delays of up to 78 minutes at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Officials expect flights to be affected throughout the day Friday due to backups on the grid and urge travelers to check with their airline for flight status.

Airport spokeswoman Melissa Scovronski says the lightning also temporarily caused air traffic controllers to ground flights Friday morning.

Thunderstorms will continue to move through the Twin Cities with heavy downpours of rain and frequent lightning into the early afternoon. Some of the storms may contain hail and gusty winds at times.

The storms will mainly be north and east of the metro by 3 p.m. but additional storms could redevelop at anytime. The most likely time for dry weather today will be from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. then more storms likely after midnight.
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Magic Wand

Is summer over already? Clement the cuckoo seems to think so (he's already in Africa for his winter break)


The Daily Mail
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 04:44 UTC
Image
© BTOTrying to tell us something? Clement the cuckoo has already migrated to Africa, where he spends each winter. The tracking device can be seen on his back
It seems the chances of a warm British summer are doomed if the migratory movements of a cuckoo are anything to go by.

So unimpressed with our mild climate is Clement the cuckoo that he has already flown to Africa, where he spends each winter.

He is one of five cuckoos that scientists are tracking on their southward migration, and the first to have left Europe altogether.

Three of the others are currently in Italy, while the last has remained in East Anglia, where all five were caught and tagged with fingernail-sized tracking devices in May.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is monitoring the birds in order to work out why their population has dramatically fallen over the last few years.

The adventurous Clement left Britain on June 3, a month before ornithologists had thought the cuckoos would begin their migration.

He then surprised researchers by taking a westward route, flying over France before heading west through Spain and then crossing the Mediterranean into Algeria.

Scientists had expected all the cuckoos to travel on an easterly route down the length of Italy.
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Binoculars

US: Bear Mauls Boy at Colorado Bowhunting Gathering

Keith Coffman
Reuters
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:05 UTC
A marauding black bear tore through a mountain campsite at a bowhunters gathering in west-central Colorado on Friday and mauled a teenage boy, wildlife officials said.

The bear entered the boy's campsite in Lake County before dawn and broke into a food cooler, feasting on eggs before it entered the boy's tent, Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said.

The bear grabbed the boy by the leg before other campers who heard his screams scared the animal off. The boy, who was not identified, sustained minor lacerations to his leg and was treated at a local hospital and released, Hampton said.

He said wildlife officers were tracking the bear with dogs and would destroy the animal if it is found.

"We like to have a thriving black bear population, but when they become aggressive toward people they must be put down," he said.
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Radar

Moderate 5.5 Magnitude Earthquake Briefly Rattles Tokyo, but Causes No Apparent Damage and No Tsunami


The Washington Post
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Shizuo Kambayashi/Associated PressChildren from Fukushima release LED balls into the river by Tokyo’s historic landmark Nihonbashi Bridge, seen in the background, in Tokyo Thursday, July 14, 2011, at the opening ceremony of a centenary event of the stone bridge-building. The children participated in the event, praying for the quick recovery of northeastern Japan from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, at the bridge, which was originally built in 1603, the starting points of Japan’s five main roads that connect Tokyo and other regions including Fukushima.
A moderate earthquake has been felt in Tokyo.

But the minor shaking caused no apparent damage and no tsunami.

The magnitude 5.5 quake hit at 9:01 p.m. Friday. The epicenter was about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Tokyo in southern Ibaraki prefecture. It was about 60 kilometers (37 miles) underground.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 devastated Japan's northeast coast. Nearly 23,000 people are dead or missing in the disaster that also crippled a nuclear power plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday's quake was felt at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant but caused no further damage to it.

Source: The Associated Press
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Arrow Down

US: Severe Weather, Flooding Slams Greater Minnesota

Kenny King
KSAX-TV
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:01 UTC
flooding
Friday morning's heavy rains left greater Minnesota wading in flood waters; almost seven inches of rain fell, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Streets in Alexandria, Osakis and Nelson were all reported flooded Friday morning.

Classic Autobody in Nelson reported more than six inches of water poured into his business. The total damage has not yet been calculated.

The media center in the Jefferson High School building in Alexandria was left soaked and soggy following the rain downpour Friday morning.

Kim Fuchs said people near Alexandria Recreational Vehicles on Highway 29 were forced to use a paddle boat to get to the mailbox.

KSAX viewers sent in pictures of what appeared to be significant flooding near the St. Agnes School in Osakis.
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Cloud Lightning

US, Maine: Severe Weather Toppled 200-Year-Old Tree in Littleton

Joseph Cyr
Bangor Daily News
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:49 UTC
Image
© Joseph Cyr / Houlton Pioneer TimesDavid Corey of Manchester, Conn., stands next to the massive tree that was knocked down by severe weather on July 6 at his mother Marie Corey’s home on the Foxcroft Road in Littleton. The tree missed the home by about two feet.
A line of heavy thunderstorms that rolled through Aroostook County on July 6 caused a 200-year-old tree on the Foxcroft Road to come crashing down, narrowly missing the home of Marie Corey.

The massive tree, standing more than 100 feet high, missed Corey's house by a mere two feet. Additionally, the high winds scattered several pieces of lawn furniture, some of which blew across the town line and international border into Canada.

Corey's son, David, who lives in Manchester, Conn., was visiting with his mother when the tree was uprooted at about 7 p.m. on July 6. The Coreys also lost power to their home before the tree fell.

"It was crazy," David Corey said. "We heard all the chairs blowing around outside and then we heard, I don't even know what it sounded like. It was loud."
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Attention

Missouri, US: Watch for signs of anthrax after flooding


High Planes Journal
Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:07 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Flooding along the Missouri and other rivers through the central United States is prompting a call for cattle and other livestock producers to watch for signs of the deadly anthrax bacteria once floodwaters recede.

"Cattle producers in areas along the Missouri River should watch for unexplained cattle deaths which might occur as a result of anthrax spores washing down and being consumed by cattle after the floodwaters recede," said K-State Research and Extension veterinarian Larry Hollis. Veterinarians and animal health officials in North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada have issued similar warnings.

"Because the Missouri River is carrying water from the Dakotas where they historically have anthrax just about every summer, anthrax spores may be carried down and end up on flooded Kansas backwater pastures," Hollis said. "Any unexplained cattle deaths should be reported immediately to a veterinarian. The veterinarian may choose to necropsy the carcass to make sure that anthrax is not the cause. Spores of other spore-forming organisms, such as the Clostridial specie that causes blackleg, also can be carried to new areas by floodwaters."
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Phoenix

Indonesia: 4,600 evacuated in volcano eruption


Agence France Presse
Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:49 UTC
More than 4,600 people have been evacuated since an Indonesian volcano erupted on Thursday and its alert status was placed on the highest level, an official said. Mount Lokon on Sulawesi island spewed grey ash up to 800 metres (2,600 feet) high early on Saturday as it continued to rumble.

"The evacuees are placed in six shelter points. No one has died because of the direct impact of the eruption," disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Missouri River floodwaters taking more farmland


Reuters
Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:48 UTC
An aerial view of a farm near Rock Port,
© Reuters/Lane HickenbottomAn aerial view of a farm near Rock Port, Missouri submerged in Missouri River flood waters June 24, 2011.
Kansas City, Missouri - The swollen Missouri River was swamping more farmland in Missouri on Wednesday as federal officials began to prepare for a gradual reduction in water releases from a key dam starting later in July.

Residents from Montana through Missouri have built flood barriers and evacuated homes for more than a thousand miles over the last two months as melting snow and heavy rains overwhelmed six reservoirs on the Upper Missouri River.

Federal officials have released water from the dams at double previous record rates, straining levees through the North and South Dakota capitals down along the borders of Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas and across Missouri.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Offshore Valparaiso, Chile


USGS
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:07 UTC
Chile Qukae_160711
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 00:26:13 UTC

Friday, July 15, 2011 at 08:26:13 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
33.798°S, 72.074°W

Depth
22.9 km (14.2 miles)

Region
OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

Distances
47 km (29 miles) WSW of San Antonio, Valparaiso, Chile

94 km (58 miles) SSW of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile

128 km (79 miles) WNW of Rancagua, Libertador O'Higgins, Chile

136 km (84 miles) WSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile
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