Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Sandy devastates the Bahamas leaving 22 dead


TDN.com
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:30 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Franklin ReyesResident Antonio Garces tries to recover his belongings from his house destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in Aguacate, Cuba, Thursday Oct. 25, 2012. Hurricane Sandy blasted across eastern Cuba on Thursday as a potent Category 2 storm and headed for the Bahamas after causing at least two deaths in the Caribbean.
Hurricane Sandy raged through the Bahamas early Friday after leaving 22 people dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm to hit the U.S. East Coast with a super-storm next week.

Sandy knocked out power, flooded roads and cut off islands in the storm-hardened Bahamas as it swirled past Cat Island and Eleuthera, but authorities reported no deaths in the scattered archipelago.

"Generally people are realizing it is serious," said Caroline Turnquest, head of the Red Cross in the Bahamas, who said 20 shelters were opened on the main island of New Providence.
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Blackbox

Another 'booming' earthquake - this time near Niagara Falls: Earthquake causes early morning "boom"


YNN.com
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:16 UTC
Image
© USGS
A minor earthquake is being blamed for causing a loud boom noise that was heard and felt in Niagara County early Friday morning. The U-S Geological Survey is confirming a 2 point 5 magnitude earthquake just outside of Olcott before one A-M this morning. They speculate that low-depth earthquakes can cause a loud noise especially in the Northeast United State.

We received word from viewers early this morning who heard the loud sound they say felt like an explosion around 1 a.m. Friday in Barker, Somerset, Olcott, and Newfane. There were even reports of some residents in Canada hearing and feeling it. Some thought that it may have been caused by a plane at the Niagara Falls Air Base, but the Base tells us that they don't own any planes or equipment capable of creating a sonic boom. The FAA also confirms that there were no aircraft in the area around that time.

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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 5.3 - 6km SE of Mormanno, Italy


US Geological Survey
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:18 UTC
Image
© USGS
Event Time:
2012-10-25 23:05:26 UTC

Location:
39.855°N 16.044°E depth=3.8km (2.4mi)

Nearby Cities:
6km (4mi) SE of Mormanno, Italy
14km (9mi) WNW of Castrovillari, Italy
21km (13mi) ENE of Scalea, Italy
24km (15mi) WNW of Cassano al Ionio, Italy
358km (222mi) WSW of Tirana, Albania
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Sandy hits Cuba hard; 11 deaths reported


CBS Baltimore
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:33 UTC
Hurricane Sandy Cuba
© Collin Reid/APWaves, brought on by Hurricane Sandy, crash on a house in the Caribbean Terrace neighbourhood in eastern Kingston, Jamaica
Cuban state media have announced 11 deaths from Hurricane Sandy, including a 4-month-old boy who was crushed when his home collapsed.

State TV's nightly newscast says nine of the deaths were in Santiago province in eastern Cuba, which is home to Cuba's second largest city. It is also known as Santiago.

The other two deaths were reported in Cuba's Guantanamo province, bordering the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

The newscast says the oldest victim was an 84-year-old man in Santiago province.

The report of the deaths came at the end of the newscast.

Cuban authorities say most of the fatalities occurred when dwellings fell down, but the cause of others is still being investigated.

Comment: Eleven deaths is a significant death toll for Cuba considering they have one of the world's best hurricane preparedness programs. Not including Hurricane Sandy, they've lost 35 people in hurricanes since 2001 despite consistently being in the the center of these storms. Perhaps they got caught by surprise. Time will tell if this foreshadows how the storm is received by many in the east coast. The storm is set to collide with an early winter storm coming from the west and an arctic blast coming from the north. So, make sure you all are prepared!

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Cloud Precipitation

Hurricane Sandy could outdo 'perfect storm'

Douglas Main
OurAmazingPlanet
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:38 UTC
Hurricane Sandy
© NOAA/NASA/GSFC/SuomiNPPThe Suomi NPP satellite caught this image of Hurricane Sandy yesterday morning (Oct. 25), just as the cyclone passed over Cuba.
A frightening collision of weather systems is brewing and could create a tempest even worse than 1991's "Perfect Storm." This "Frankenstorm," as some are calling it, is set to strike the Northeast on or near the 21st anniversary of that historic squall.

On the one hand you have Hurricane Sandy barreling north, expected to hit somewhere on the U.S. East Coast in the middle of next week. At the same time, a cold front is moving across the middle of the country, bringing cold temperatures and snow.

The two will probably meet about the time the hurricane makes landfall and, together, could form an even bigger nor'easter (snor'eastercane, some have said). And that's bad news.

"In all likelihood, it will be worse than the Perfect Storm," said William Komaromi, a hurricane expert at the University of Miami.
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Attention

One dead as 5.3 magnitude earthquake hits southern Italy

Nick Squires
The Telegraph, UK
Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Alamy
The quake struck the province of Cosenza in the southern region of Calabria in Italy at 3.15am (0115 GMT), when most people were asleep in bed
One person has died and buildings were damaged after a powerful, 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit southern Italy in the middle of the night on Friday. An 84-year-old man died of a heart attack when the quake struck the province of Cosenza in the southern region of Calabria, Italy.The quake struck at 3.15am (0115 GMT), when most people were asleep in bed. Many people spent the rest of the night outdoors, afraid to return to their homes."I got up, it was the middle of the night, and ran out into the street. Outside there were lots of people and there was rubble all over the ground," Vincenzo Alberti, who lives in Mormanno, told Corriere della Sera.A hospital in the small town of Mormanno was evacuated after cracks emerged and many homes were damaged.
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Snowflake

Hurricane Sandy could bring snow to Eastern Canada next week

Scott Sutherland
Yahoo! Canada News - Geekquinox
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
Are we ready for winter? A number of converging factors could dump snow in Atlantic Canada early next week.
This morning, U.S. forecasters are predicting a convergence of Hurricane Sandy, an early winter storm in the west and cold arctic blast from north which would make for some very messy and expensive weather over the Northeast US and Atlantic provinces for the first half of next week.

"It'll be a rough couple days from Hatteras up to Cape Cod," said Jim Cisco, a forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "We don't have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting."

Forecasting the weather 4 or 5 days before it happens is difficult because so much can change in that time. However, it's also difficult to dismiss the results when every piece of guidance you use starts pointing towards the same thing, with even greater certainty, each time you update your forecast.

That's what's happening right now.

The computer models forecasters use for guidance in making their forecasts showed the first indications of the merger of these weather systems, and the results of each subsequent model have made it more and more likely.
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Butterfly

Giant Atlas moth found on windowsill in Ramsbottom


BBC News
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:04 UTC
Atlas Moth
© BBC News
A giant moth with a 1ft (30cm) wingspan has been found on a windowsill in Greater Manchester.

The Atlas moth is the biggest moth in the world and is normally found thousands of miles away in South East Asia.

When it landed at a house in Ramsbottom, it was so large the Blackmore family "thought it was a bat".

The moth, which only lives for a week, has since died but 30 of its offspring are being reared at a butterfly farm in Bolton.

How the moth arrived in Ramsbottom is a mystery although it's believed to have escaped from a private collection.

Watch Video
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 5.7 - 18km NNE of Siglufjordur, Iceland


US Geological Survey
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:49 UTC
Image
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-21 01:25:22 UTC+00:00 at epicenter

Location
66.296°N 18.685°W depth=9.9km (6.2mi)

Nearby Cities
18km (11mi) NNE of Siglufjordur, Iceland
73km (45mi) NNW of Akureyri, Iceland
283km (176mi) NNE of Reykjavik, Iceland
286km (178mi) NNE of Kopavogur, Iceland
291km (181mi) NNE of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland
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Bizarro Earth

After series of tremor, Icelandic authorities warn people in the north of the island on Thursday to prepare for a possible big earthquake

Robert Robertsson
Reuters
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:46 UTC
Icelandic authorities warned people in the north of the island on Thursday to prepare for a possible big earthquake after the biggest tremors in the area for 20 years. The north Atlantic island, where almost 320,000 people live, is a hotspot of volcanic and seismic activity as it straddles a fault in the earth's surface.

The Civil Protection Department said in a statement that recent small quakes in an area under the sea about 20 km (12 miles) off the north of Iceland had prompted it to issue a warning to local people. It said such shocks, one of which was a magnitude 5.6, often led to stronger quakes. Warnings were issued when there were grounds to expect a natural or manmade event that could threaten health and human safety, it added.

"People are anxious because they don't know what might happen," said Amundi Gunnarsson, chief of the fire brigade in Fjallabyggd, one of the small towns in the area, and a member of the Civil Protection Department. "At the same time, life goes on as usual. People are going to work and children are going to school, but everyone is on alert," he told Reuters by telephone.
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