Earth ChangesS


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Minnesota's moose population is in mysterious decline


Times Leader
Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:38 UTC
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© Times Leader
Fly over northeastern Minnesota with "Sky Dan" and you'd see a moose. One time, he spotted 15 of them during an hour flight. The pilot was so confident, he even offered those on his aerial tours a money-back guarantee.

"If you didn't see a moose, you didn't pay," Dan Anderson, 49, said.

No longer. Anderson stopped providing refunds to customers in 2008. He was handing back too much money.

The state's iconic moose population has been mysteriously declining for years, a drop-off that pushed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources this month to propose labeling moose a species of "special concern."

"It's a classification that means we need to pay attention to this species," said Richard J. Baker, endangered species coordinator for the department.
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Bizarro Earth

Hypothermic sea turtles continue to wash up in record numbers on Cape Cod


WickedLocal.com
Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:54 UTC
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This distressed loggerhead sea turtle was found on Nantasket Beach in Hull. Another turtle was found earlier in the week in Humarock.
Hypothermic sea turtles continue to wash up in record numbers on Cape Cod but in an unusual twist, two large loggerhead sea turtles have stranded on South Shore beaches since Monday. On Tuesday, Hull animal control officer Casey Fredette retrieved a live loggerhead from Nantasket Beach while on Monday another 40-pounder was rescued in the Humarock section of Scituate.

Cold-stunned sea turtles strand annually on Cape Cod but almost always on the southern and eastern beaches of Cape Cod Bay from Sandwich to Truro. Typically, the northwest and northeast winds of late autumn create enough wave activity to drive the floating, nearly immobile marine reptiles ashore on those windward towns. Strandings on the South Shore are very rare events, and normally are confined to the discovery of long dead, smaller turtles early in the winter.
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Snowflake

Half of the U.S. set for a white Christmas: huge winter storm expected to dump snow from Dallas to Maine . . . and wreak havoc for 87m travelers


Daily Mail
Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:56 UTC
More than 150million Americans are dreaming of a white Christmas. Meteorologists predict snowfall could blanket nearly half the nation on Tuesday - from Dallas to Maine - as a massive snowstorm moves from the Great Plains and up into the Northeast. Accuweather is now predicting that 'significant' snow will fall in Oklahoma and Arkansas, potentially giving Oklahoma City its first Christmas snowfall since 1914.

Little Rock Arkansas could get up to three inches. That last time more than an inch fell on Christmas Day was 1926.
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© Accuweather
Even Dallas, Texas, could see flurries for Christmas - though likely no accumulation. The last time Dallas saw snowfall on Christmas Day was 1997 - though a 2009 blizzard left several inches behind on Christmas Eve.

'Southern Oklahoma and Arkansas look like they're going to get slammed with some serious snow, strong winds -- four to eight inches in some places. It's a pretty powerful storm system,' Ted Ryan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth, Texas, told MailOnline.
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Cloud Precipitation

Quebec snow storm leaves 130,000 people without power


CBC News
Sat, 22 Dec 2012 08:39 UTC

Canada - Thousands of clients are without power across Quebec after a winter storm dumped 60 to 100 centimetres of snow in the Lanaudière and Laurentian regions.

Approximately 130,000 households were without electricity this morning, according to Sophie Lamoureux, director of regional affairs at Hydro Québec.

Lamoureux said that many Hydro Québec clients will have to wait until tomorrow evening before their power is restored.

The Laurentians is one of the most affected areas, where close to 77,000 people are without power. Many in the Lanaudière and Outaouais regions were also left in the dark.

Yesterday's heavy, wet snowfall was the main cause of the power outages, according to Lamoureux. She said the snow, combined with strong winds, brought down trees in heavily wooded areas in the Lanaudière region and the Laurentians.

She said Hydro Québec crews are working to restore electricity. They have also asked for extra assistance from other regions of the province that were less affected.
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Snow Globe

Rare Christmas snow for Dallas, Oklahoma City, Little Rock

Kristina Pydynowski
Accuweather.com
Sun, 23 Dec 2012 03:07 UTC
Not often does Dallas, Oklahoma City and Little Rock see snow on Christmas, but Mother Nature is ready to defy those odds this year.

Residents of Dallas, Oklahoma City and Little Rock may find it hard to believe snow is on the way for Christmas with temperatures set to warm into the 40s and 50s on Christmas Eve.

In addition, the chance of a white Christmas in all three cities is less than five percent.

However, kids and those young at heart will be happy to learn that snow will indeed fall on Christmas thanks to the arrival of a strengthening winter storm and noticeably colder air. On the other hand, travelers both on the ground and in the air are likely to greet that news with jeers.

Snow from the Rockies will reach western Kansas, western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle during the predawn hours of Christmas. At the same time, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will start erupting across southeastern Texas.

Oklahoma City will also see a few snowflakes (and ice pellets) fly before sunrise on Christmas, but the daytime is when heavier snow will fall and accumulate around three inches.
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There could be locally higher amounts in the above 3- to 6-inch zone.
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Bizarro Earth

Red alert issued for Chilean volcano


RT.com
Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:05 UTC
Copahue Volcano
© AFP Photo/Antonio HuglichA view of the Copahue volcano spewing ash from Caviahue, Neuquen province, Argentina, some 1500 kms southwest of Buenos Aires.
A top level "red" alert has been issued by the Chilean authorities as Copahue volcano began spewing ash raising fears of an imminent eruption.

­No evacuation has been ordered by the National Emergency office as there are no big towns are in the current risk area. About 500 people live in Copahue, a village famous for its spa waters, and there are about 900 in the town of Caviahue and an estimated 800 more in local indigenous Mapuche communities.

"The intensity of seismic signals suggests the eruption in progress is on the smaller side (but) we are not ruling out the possibility that the activity could turn into a larger-scale eruption," the Geology and Mining Service said in a statement.
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Cloud Precipitation

Homes evacuated after several landslides in Wales, heavy flooding and travel disruption continues


BBC
Sun, 23 Dec 2012 06:27 UTC
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© BBCThe landslide in Ystalyfera, which led to 11 homes being evacuated
Homes have been evacuated after landslips due to flooding in a Swansea valley village and in Pontypridd.

Residents in Ystalyfera spent the night in a leisure centre after 11 homes were affected. Meanwhile, a wall collapsed at the back of cottages in Berw Road, Pontypridd.

Flooding was causing disruption on rail lines between Cardiff and Bridgend and near Caersws in Powys.

There are seven flood warnings by the Environment Agency in Wales.

Some residents have also had to leave their homes in Berw Road, Pontypridd, after a retaining wall collapsed with a "loud bang" overnight.
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Arrow Down

Landslide caught on camera in Dorset, UK


BBC
Sat, 22 Dec 2012 06:23 UTC

Part of a second cliff fall on the Dorset coast has been captured by a member of the Portland Coastguard rescue team.

Walkers in the area are being urged to heed warning signs and stay away from the edges and undersides of the cliffs.

The landslip, near the Grand Hotel at Burlington Chine in Swanage was first reported on Friday afternoon.
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Igloo

Best of the Web: Nearly 200 killed in cold snap across Russia, eastern Europe


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:25 UTC
Cold Snap
© Agence France-Presse49 deaths in Poland from cold in December.
A vicious cold snap across Russia and eastern Europe has claimed nearly 200 lives, officials figures showed Friday, as forecasters warned it would last until Christmas Eve.

In Russia, the cold has killed two people in the past 24 hours, the Ria-Novosti agency reported, citing medical sources, bringing the total number of deaths over the past week to 56.

The freeze had also left 371 people in hospital.

Thermometers have been stuck below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in Moscow -- and below minus 50 degrees (minus 58 F) in some parts of Siberia -- for a week.

Russian weather forecasters said temperature in the Khabarovsk region in eastern Russia had dropped to minus 43 Celsius, while Krasnoyarsk in Siberia reported minus 47.

This "abnormal" frost would last till Monday because of a persistent anticyclone, they added.

In Russia's European region, meanwhile, the mercury is expected to fall to minus 31 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve before rising rapidly afterwards.

Other European countries hit hard by the extreme temperatures were counting the toll as temperatures gradually started to return to normal.
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Bizarro Earth

Increased activity at Copahue volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina - authorities in both countries on alert


Daily Telegraph
Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:01 UTC
The Copahue volcano in Argentina's Neuquen province and Chile's Biobio region began spewing ash and gas early on Saturday, but officials say it's still in an early eruption stage. Chile's Mining Minister Hernan de Solminihac says the volcano's smoke plume led Argentine emergency officials to issue a yellow alert and constantly monitor its activity in case of a full eruption.
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© AFP / Antonio Huglich View of the Copahue volcano spewing ashes behind the lagoon of Caviahue, Neuquen province, Argentina.
Flights expected to pass by the area around the volcano have been warned.Officials say there's no need yet to evacuate people near the volcano, which is part of the Andes mountain chain.
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