Earth ChangesS


Question

Parks Canada testing mysterious substance found in Moraine Lake

Colette Derworiz
Calgary Herald
Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:01 UTC
Image
© Parks CanadaShelley Humphries, Parks Canada aquatics specialist, assesses and works to clean up a mysterious contaminant at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park on Friday, September 21.
As a glacier-fed lake in the Rockies, Moraine Lake is known for its distinct blue colour.

But a section of the pristine lake near the village of Lake Louise took on an shade of lime green Friday when an unknown contaminant was found in it.

Visitors and parks officials alike were wondering what was floating on the lake's surface.

"It was mysterious," said Shelley Humphries, an aquatics specialist with Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks. "We're still not sure what it is."

The substance, which was quickly contained by booms, was collected and taken to a federal lab for testing.

"If it's what we suspect it is, it's not toxic," said Humphries, noting it looks like fluorescent tracer dye that's often used for industrial or ecological purposes. "I don't know if this was an accident or if someone was curious about what would happen, but we're taking it very seriously."

The incident diverted half a dozen Parks Canada staff to the lake to deal with the issue.
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Arrow Up

World on Track for Record Food Prices 'Within a Year' Due to US Drought

Emma Rowley, and Garry White
The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Brace yourself for some painful "agflation". That is the shorthand for agricultural commodity inflation, otherwise known as rising food prices.

drought
© Reuters
They are being driven upwards by the climb in grain and oilseed prices as US crops weather the country's worst drought since 1936, while the farming belts of Russia and South America suffer through similar water shortages.

What we are seeing represents the third major rally in global grain and oilseed prices in just half a decade.

Worse is to come, new research warns. World food prices look set to hit an all-time high in the first quarter of next year - and then keep rising, according to the analysis from Rabobank, a specialist in agricultural commodities.

By June 2013, the basket of food prices tracked by the United Nations could climb 15pc from current levels, according to the bank's analysts.

"The coming year will see the world economy re-enter a period of agflation as grain and oilseed stocks decline to critically low levels, pushing the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organisation] Food Price Index above record nominal highs set in February 2011," they say.
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Cloud Lightning

Chunk of ice fell from the sky and shocked local residents


glasistre.hr
Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:52 UTC
Image
The chunk of ice that fell from the sky in Croatia
Croatia - An unusual event happened in Saturday in sunny Istria. Out of the blue at 6.20 PM a large chunk of ice fell and scattered on the meadow. Witnesses said the ice was about half a meter in height, long and wide about a meter and 300 - 500 kg heavy. It fell about 10 meters from the nearest house and a couple of meters from the main road.

Witnesses heard a noise they described as a flock of birds flying, baloon filled with hellium, or a missile crashing, and when the ice slammed the ground, crowd of local residents saw parts of the ice on the lawn.

Edi Ritoša was the first to come out to see the ice and five minutes later contacted Korade Korlević over whom we found out about it. As we arrived to the village, ice was melting and the kids was happy.
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Bizarro Earth

Another Earthquake Swarm - Virgin Islands, Magnitude 3.6 - 119km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands


US Geological Survey
Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:10 UTC
Image
© USGS
Event Time

2012-09-23 19:44:46 UTC
2012-09-23 15:44:46 UTC-04:00 at epicenter
2012-09-23 12:44:46 UTC-07:00 system time

Nearby Cities

119km (74mi) N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands
132km (82mi) NNE of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
170km (106mi) NE of Fajardo, Puerto Rico
179km (111mi) NE of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
189km (117mi) NE of Carolina, Puerto Rico

Swarm Data
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Cloud Lightning

Undulatus Asperatus Could be the First New Cloud to be Officially Recognised for 61 Years


Daily Mail
Sun, 23 Sep 2012 08:30 UTC
Image
© Ken PriorEvery cloud: The Cloud Appreciation Society is lobbying for the undulatus asperatus or agitated wave, seen here just above the horizon in Schiehallion, Perthshire, Scotland, to be added to the International Cloud Atlas
With its turbulent swirls and brooding peaks, this is the magnificent 'undulatus asperatus,' a new species of cloud discovered by amateur sky watchers.

Now the UK-based Cloud Appreciation Society (CAS) is lobbying for it to be formally recognised by the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva and be included in the International Cloud Atlas. The latter has not been produced since 1975.

If the CAS is successful it will be the first time a new cloud type has been officially recognised since 1951.

Meaning 'agitated wave,' the undulatus asperatus was first photographed above Cedar Rapids in Iowa, U.S. in 2006.

Since then the rather complex formation has been spotted in France, Norway, Salcome in Devon, Middlesbrough and Perthshire in Scotland.

In a bid to get it formally recognised, the CAS has been gathering many pictures of the formation and helping with academic research, mostly conducted at Reading University.

Comment: This seems to be more evidence of our changing atmosphere. For more information, please read:

Chemtrails, Disinformation and the Sixth Extinction

Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction

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Snowflake

Snow already? Duluth, Minnesota gets summer snow


Duluth News Tribune
Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:32 UTC
Light rain turned over to light snow for a time late Friday night at the Duluth airport, resulting in the city's first official measurable snowfall of the season, and its earliest measurable snowfall in 17 years.

The National Weather Service recorded a tenth of an inch of snow for the day. Weather spotters in Alborn and near Canyon reported three-tenths of an inch of snow overnight. Any snow that fell didn't last long, as ground temperatures remained warm and air temperatures climbed back above 40 in the early morning hours.

Duluth's tenth of an inch was short of the record for the date - two-tenths of an inch, which fell in 1974. One-tenth of inch of snow also fell on Sept. 21, 1995, the Weather Service reported.

The Weather Service had previously reported a trace of snow on Wednesday, which tied a record for the date. A trace is not considered measurable snow.

The earliest measurable snow in Duluth was in 1991, when 2.4 inches fell on Sept. 18. The average date for the first measurable snow in Duluth is Oct. 24.
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Bizarro Earth

Tens of Thousands of Oak Trees Killed by Gold-Spotted Oak Borer in San Diego County

Miriam Raftery
East County Magazine
Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:09 UTC
Oak Borer
© Wikimedia CommonsThe Goldspotted Oak Borer
A voracious new pest is gnawing its way through East County. The gold-spotted oak borer has already killed over 21,500 trees in San Diego's inland regions. Infestations have been found on federal, state, private and Native American lands across 1,893 square miles.

"Has anyone driven through Japatul into Julian lately? We did last weekend and it was a very SAD sight! Almost all of the Oaks are BARE SKELETONS or half brown and going fast," Jerry Williams of Deerhorn Valley wrote in an e-mail to ECM.

In California, San Diego is the only region impacted so far. The hardest hit area centers around Rancho Cuyamaca State Park and the Descanso Ranger District in Cleveland National Forest. County Parks are also infested, including Dos Picos in Ramona, William Heise at Julian and Louis Stelzer in Lakeside. Ramona Patch reports that officials also fear the beetle has reached Volcan Mountain Open Space Preserve near Julian.

The infestion reaches from Pine Valley north to Lake Henshaw. At least two city parks, Marian Bear and Kate Sessions, also have trees under attack.

Native to Guatemala, southern Mexico and southeast Arizona, the beetle was first discovered in San Diego County in 2004. Experts believe it most likely hitched a ride into the area on firewood, since the gold-spotted oak borer can survive for years in dead woods. It can attack and kill coast live oaks, California black oaks and canyon oaks. Engelmann oaks and other tree species are believed safe from the pest.

The University of California, Riverside has set up a webpage with lots of information on the gold-spotted oak borer.
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Umbrella

60 MPH Winds and Sheets of Rain in the Forecast for Britain

Andrew Hough
Thetelegraph.co.uk
Fri, 21 Sep 2012 17:21 UTC
The glorious autumnal weather is to be blown away by "severe" conditions and potential flooding over coming days, forecasters have warned.
Image
© Bernie Pettersen / SWNS.comThe colder weather will turn wet and windy towards the end of the weekend.
Households across swathes of the country were placed on high alert from tomorrow night as gale force winds and torrential showers threaten to bring about widespread damage.

Forecasters warned the storm sweeping across the country this weekend would bring "powerful" gusts of more than 60mph and up to two inches of rain in a matter of hours.
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Cloud Lightning

Flood Kills at Least 92 People and Damages Infrastructure in Niger


Afriquejet.com
Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:55 UTC
At least 92 people have died in floods that have swept Niger following torrential rains, according to the latest data released by the Prime minister's office on Friday. The data indicate that 72,396 families are affected with 511,484 people being victims, as at Thursday. All the country's eight regions are affected by floods with Tillabéry, Dosso and Niamey being the worst affected. Huge damage is reported on basic socio-economic infrastructure and other items crucial to the people.

Rice crops, schools, health centres, roads, bridges, dams have all been affected while a huge quantities of food and many cattle have been swept away by flood waters.
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Snowflake

Snow falls in Winnipeg on last day of summer


Yahoo! News Canada
Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
snow
Canada - On the last day of summer, a few rogue snow flurries were actually spotted in Winnipeg Friday.

But Environment Canada's senior climatologist is sticking to his story.

Dave Phillips says Manitoba is still headed for a warmer-than-normal fall.

Phillips said after one of the hottest summers ever across Canada, Manitoba's lakes, rivers and the land are still very warm.

"There's a lot of residual heat that may certainly keep us warm as we move into October," he said.

That's certainly true in the short term, he added.

"Over the next few days nothing but that great Manitoba sunshine wall-to-wall."

Phillips is forecasting October to be warmer than normal, with normal to less-than-normal precipitation.
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