Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

For Pakistan, monsoon rains bring fresh fears

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© Gallo/GettyThe UN says two to five million people could be affected by this years floods.

Last summer, devastating floods caused by heavy monsoon rains swept across Pakistan, disrupting the lives of close to 20 million people. Nearly 2,000 Pakistanis were killed, 1.5 million houses were destroyed and over 11 million people displaced from their homes.

"The world has never seen such a disaster," UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon declared during a visit to the flood affected areas.

Most of the displaced have returned to start rebuilding their homes, government and UN officials say. But some had nothing to return to, so they remain in displacement camps. Those who did return fear that they might lose it all once again.

The Pakistani government and the United Nations have sent out flood warnings already as the Monsoon season this year arrived a week earlier than usual. Heavy rains will continue through most of July and August as the monsoon moves from northern India and sweeps across Pakistan.

Better Earth

India: Two die as flood situation worsens in Bihar

Flood Bihar, India
© PTIPeople walk through a flooded road, after increase in the water level of Ganga and Yamuna rivers, in Allahabad on Monday.
Alert was sounded after two persons died as the overall flood situation aggravated on Monday in Bihar's Gopalganj, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts with rivers maintaining rising trends.

"We have sounded alert across the state with aggravation of flood threat with heavy rains in the catchment areas of major rivers," Bihar Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary told reporters.

Two youths drowned while crossing the swollen Budhi Gandak river at a place under Bachhbaria police station in West Champaran district, Choudhary said, adding the state government would provide a compensation of Rs. one lakh to bereaved families of each of the deceased.

Swirling flood waters have inundated several villages under Bagha sub-division in the district, officials said.

The flood waters also entered a portion of Balmiknagar Tiger Reserve in the district, they said, adding the flash floods occurred because of heavy discharge of water in Balmikinagar barrage.

Cloud Lightning

Is anyone surprised? US: FEMA denies flood help

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Gov. Andrew Cuomo's request to provide aid to area residents affected by April's floods.

In late April, the Hudson River and Lake Champlain reached record levels due to a combination of heavy rains and snow melt.

The floods caused an estimated $36 million in damage to public infrastructure across 23 New York counties, including Warren, Washington and Saratoga, and resulted in a federal disaster declaration.

While FEMA has declared the affected region eligible for funding to repair damaged public infrastructure, agency officials found damage to private waterfront properties didn't warrant public financial assistance.

Magic Wand

What Beauty! And What Danger it Signifies! Ireland: Noctilucent Clouds Over Tyrone, 3 July 2011

Paul Martin emailed pix@irishweatheronline.com with these images of Noctilucent clouds over Omagh, Co Tyrone at 3.10am on Sunday, 03 July 2011.

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© Paul Martin

Comment: Let us suggest a reason, why instances of noctilucent clouds are intensifying.

What we suspect has been happening, based on our research thus far, is that the upper atmosphere is cooling because it is being loaded with comet dust, which shows up in the form of noctilucent clouds and other upper atmospheric formations.

Magnificent and mesmerizing noctilucent clouds (also called polar mesospheric clouds), were once considered to be rare. But now they are puzzling scientists with their recent dramatic changes. Apparently, the clouds are growing brighter, are seen more frequently, are visible at ever lower latitudes and are now appearing even during the day. If scientists were allowed to conduct honest interdisciplinary research, such changes wouldn't be a mystery.

They would be able to figure out that comet dust is electrically-charged which is causing the earth's rotation to slow marginally. The slowing of the rotation is reducing the magnetic field, opening earth to more dangerous cosmic radiation and stimulating more volcanism. The volcanism under the sea is heating the sea water which is heating the lower atmosphere and loading it with moisture.

The moisture hits the cooler upper atmosphere and contributes to a deadly mix that inevitably leads to an Ice Age, preceded for a short period by a rapid increase of greenhouse gases and "hot pockets" in the lower atmosphere, heavy rains, hail, snow, and floods.


Cloud Lightning

Denmark floods: Scenes of chaos in Copenhagen


Heavy rains have caused flooding in the Danish capital Copenhagen, damaging homes and sparking travel chaos in parts of the city.

Sun

US: Holiday weather forecast: Record heat AND snow


It is a weekend of extreme weather across the country. Much of the nation is hot. There have been heat advisories in the Midwest and Southwest. There's a heat warning in Phoenix tonight after another day of triple-digit temperatures.

But as you travel north you'll find something you don't expect this time of year: lots of snow.

CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports that some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. Robert Frost's words clearly were not on the minds of holiday skiers at Crystal Mountain, Washington.

"I'm so excited. It's great. Get a tan. All this snow is awesome," says Lukas Holland, a snowboarder.

Actually, it's 50 feet of awesome. This has been the mountain's best season in 12 years. All across the West this weekend, skiers are flocking to mountains flush with snow: 40 feet at Arapahoe Basin, west of Denver; 70 feet at Squaw Valley, Idaho.

But record snowfalls mean dangerously swollen rivers. Nowhere has that been more evident than Minot, N.D., where heavy rains compounded the massive snowmelt. Thousands are still homeless, while many returning this weekend found conditions unlivable: flooding forced sewage into their homes.

Bizarro Earth

Mt Soputan Volcano Spews Smoke, Gas in Indonesia

Mt Soputan
© Associated PressVolcanic smoke billows from Mount Soputan as seen in this photo taken from the town of Amurang, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008.
Jakarta - A volcano in central Indonesia has erupted in clouds of smoke and searing gas that shot up nearly 20,000 feet (six kilometres) into the air.

State volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name, says no one was injured when Mount Soputan, located on Sulawesi island, exploded early Sunday.

The nearest villages are well outside the danger zone and there are no immediate evacuation plans.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Soputan lies around 1,350 miles (2,160 kilometres) northeast of capital Jakarta. It last erupted in 2008, causing no casualties.

Sun

U.S.: Power out as Phoenix temps hit record 118

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© KPHOA microburst snapped power lines, causing thousands of customers in the Phoenix area to lose electricity on the hottest day in the city's history, Saturday, July 2, 2011.

Phoenix - About 4,000 homes in the metropolitan Phoenix area are without power - and air-conditioning - on a record-shattering day of heat in one of the nation's hottest cities.

Phoenix hit a high temperature of 118 degrees on Saturday, topping a 10-year-old record of 116 degrees for the date.

The National Weather Service say clouds from monsoon activity likely kept the area from reaching 120 degrees, but they say it's still the city's hottest day so far this year.

Bizarro Earth

US: Exxon's Yellowstone oil spill: Up to 1K barrels

yellowston,oil
© AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Casey PageOil swirls in a flooded gravel pit in Lockwood, Mont., after an ExxonMobil pipeline break early Saturday, July 2, 2011.

Laurel, Montana - Hundreds of barrels of crude oil spilled into Montana's Yellowstone River after an ExxonMobil pipeline beneath the riverbed ruptured, sending a plume 25 miles downstream and forcing temporary evacuations, officials said.

The break near Billings in south-central Montana fouled the riverbank and forced municipalities and irrigation districts Saturday to close intakes.

The river has no dams on its way to its confluence with the Missouri River just across the Montana border in North Dakota. It was unclear how far the plume might travel.

Cleanup crews deployed booms and absorbent material as the plume moved downstream at an estimated 5 to 7 mph.

"The parties responsible will restore the Yellowstone River," Mont. Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.

Question

Vermont, US: Boaters report 'mysterious' bubbling at Quassy

An investigation into the source of a mysterious bubbling on Lake Quassapaug only turned up a few beer cans.

Police were told last week that something was causing bubbling in the north end of the lake near a cove, a few days after a boat had been seen speeding away from the area.