Earth ChangesS


Fish

US: Thousands of white bass turn up dead in Arkansas River

Suzie Parker
Reuters
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:08 UTC
Image

Wildlife officials have discovered thousands of dead fish along the Arkansas River in Little Rock and were still counting carcasses on Tuesday, a day after an angler reported seeing dozens of dead white bass.

"We are on the river trying to determine the extent of the fish kill," said Keith Stephens, public information coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Wildlife investigators said the dead fish were mainly white bass, which are common in the river, and were between 5 and 8 inches long. Most were found near the foot of the Two Rivers Bridge, an 80-foot pedestrian bridge that opened in July.
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Bizarro Earth

US: "Extremely Rare" Third Straight Spare-the-Air Alert Tomorrow

Charles Burress
El Cerrito Patch
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:43 UTC
In a highly unusual move, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued a smog health alert for tomorrow, Wednesday, the third day in a row. Residents are urged not to drive and to avoid vigorous outdoor exercise except in the early morning.
Bay Area Smog
© El Cerrito Patch

Bay Area smog levels are expected to be unhealthy again tomorrow, Wednesday, for the third day in a row, according the region's air quality monitoring agency.

"It is extremely rare for 3 alerts to be called in a row!" Nick Tiano, a communications consultant for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, said in an email.

"Air quality in the Bay Area is forecast to be unhealthy for the third day in a row tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21," according to a district news release.

"This late seasonal hot spell is expected to create conditions for unhealthy air quality for the third day in a row," Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the agency, said in a statement. "We're urging everyone to make clean air choices, such as taking public transportation, reducing energy use, and refraining from using gas-powered lawn equipment, to keep pollution levels down."

The agency advises against outdoor vigorous exercise on Spare the Air days, except in the early morning hours when ground ozone levels are lower. Wood-burning is banned on such days.
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Bizarro Earth

Australia: Mystery Weed Found on Beaches

Roderick Makim
Fraser Coast Chronicle
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:23 UTC
Weed
© Alistair BrightmanBuild up of green gunk on the beach at Pialba.
A mystery weed has been washing up on Hervey Bay beaches this week, and no-one seems to know what it is.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management and the Fraser Coast Regional Council were both scratching their corporate heads over the unknown flotsam, unable at this stage to even say whether it is a type of seaweed or algae.

The weed appears to be clumps of soft, dark green strands about 10-30cm in length, and members of the public have told the Chronicle about an awful smell it makes after being left behind in the sun at low tide.

The council also confirmed they had received a complaint from the public about the algae/seaweed.
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Bizarro Earth

Rare tornado, storms cause havoc in Italy


The Gazette / Agence-France Presse
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:47 UTC
Violent storms across Italy that led to four deaths over the weekend caused damage and disruption on air, port and city transport systems on Monday, officials said.

Six underground subway stations in the capital Rome that were closed due to flooding overnight disrupting the morning rush hour reopened in the early afternoon. Buses took travellers between stops.

Palermo airport on the island of Sicily was forced to close for 40 minutes after a tornado whipped a Falcon 2000 aircraft off the runway, throwing it against police and emergency vehicles.

The storm also ripped free the 'Suprema' ferry from its moorings at Palermo port, causing a small boat nearby to sink before running into an English destroyer, the Monmouth, which was undamaged.
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Life Preserver

China flood deaths rise to 57, thousands evacuated


The Times of India
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:48 UTC
China Flood
© The Times of IndiaUnprecedented rains over the past week have swamped parts of China.
Heavy rains and floods across China have left 57 people dead, dozens of others missing and hundreds injured, while more than a million residents have been evacuated from their homes, the government said.

Unprecedented rains over the past week have swamped parts of northern, central and southwest China, and although the affected region is breathing a tentative sigh of relief as the downpours pause, rivers continue to swell.

The ministry of civil affairs said in a statement that the rain had forced authorities to evacuate more than 1.2 million people from their homes.

"Constant strong rainfall has caused serious flood disasters in Sichuan (southwest), Shaanxi (north) and Henan (central China) -- 12.3 million people were affected, 57 died and 29 are missing," it said late on Monday.
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Phoenix

Chile: Low Level Activity Continues At Chilean Volcano

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:38 UTC
puyehue Chili
© Unknown
As the eruption of Puyehue Cordón Caulle wanes, life is returning to normal in nearby communities.

The first domestic aircraft landed at Bariloche, Argentina, in more than three months commenced on Saturday (17 September) while residents began the process of returning to their homes close to the volcano.

Bariloche is an Andean town about 60 kilometers southeast of the eruption center. At the time, winds blew the ash plume from Puyehue Cordón Caulle towards the northwest, away from the town. An airport spokesperson expects future traffic to be dependent on the weather.

The above natural-color satellite image shows Puyehue Cordón Caulle and the surrounding area at roughly local noon on September 17. A pale plume of volcanic gas and ash streams to the northwest from the active vent. The September 15 status report from the Chilean National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) stated that the eruption continued at a low level.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC. Instrument: Terra - MODIS
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Igloo

Record Snowfall in Switzerland, 45 cm in St Moritz


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:07 UTC
Record Snowfall
© Terra Daily
Snow fell in the Swiss Alps overnight Sunday to levels unseen for the month of September, Swiss weather agency Meteosuisse reported on Monday.

In the ski resort of St Moritz, in the southeast canton of Grison, a total of 45 centimetres (nearly 18 inches) of snow was recorded on Monday morning, it said. The weather agency said the high levels of precipitation were due to a cold front which lowered the snow line to 800 metres (2,600 feet).

Rainfall was also higher than usual, with around 100 liters per square meter measured in the town of Santa Maria, also in Grison, the highest level since records began in 1901, Meteosuisse said.

The snowfall also provoked traffic disturbances in the mountains, with the St Bernard, Flueela and Nufenen passes closed, according to ViaSuisse, which reports on the condition of Swiss roads.

The Gothard, Lukmanier and Oberalp passes are also covered in snow, it added.
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Cloud Lightning

1.3 million urged to evacuate as typhoon nears Japan


MSNBC
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:34 UTC
Image
© APResidents wade through a flooded street caused by an approaching typhoon in Nagoya, Japan, on Tuesday.
Heavy rains already trigger floods; at least 2 missing, roads damaged

A major hurricane that could hit Tokyo or Kyoto overnight has already triggered floods, left two people missing and forced officials to urge 1.3 million people in central Japan to evacuate.

Typhoon Roke could make landfall closer to Kyoto Tuesday night if it moves to the west of the forecast track, Rick Knabb, The Weather Channel's tropical weather expert, told NBC News.

"If it goes right at Tokyo, landfall near there might be roughly 2-4 a.m. ET," he added. "If it goes far enough right of track, the center could miss Japan altogether, but still with significant effects there."

Public broadcaster NHK said about 1.3 million people have been advised to leave their homes due to rising rivers. In the city of Moriyama, 80,000 residents were ordered to evacuate.

Heavy rains as the storm approached caused floods and road damage in dozens of locations in Nagoya and several other cities, the Aichi state government said.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Farmers Flee as World's Deadliest Volcano Rumbles

Nasrullah Roa
The Associated Press
Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/KOMPAS Images, Iwan SetiyawanIn this Oct. 19, 2010 aerial photo, Mount Tambora's 10 kilometers (more than 7 miles) wide and 1 kilometer (half a mile) deep volcanic crater, created by the April 1815 eruption, is shown. Bold farmers routinely ignore orders to evacuate the slopes of live volcanos in Indonesia, but those on Tambora took no chances when history's deadliest mountain rumbled ominously this month, Sept., 2011.
Bold farmers in Indonesia routinely ignore orders to evacuate the slopes of live volcanoes, but those living on Tambora took no chances when history's deadliest mountain rumbled ominously this month.

Villagers like Hasanuddin Sanusi have heard since they were young how the mountain they call home once blew apart in the largest eruption ever recorded - an 1815 event widely forgotten outside their region - killing 90,000 people and blackening skies on the other side of the globe.

So, the 45-year-old farmer didn't wait to hear what experts had to say when Mount Tambora started being rocked by a steady stream of quakes. He grabbed his wife and four young children, packed his belongings and raced down its quivering slopes.

"It was like a horror story, growing up," said Hasanuddin, who joined hundreds of others in refusing to return to their mountainside villages for several days despite assurances they were safe. A dragon sleeping inside the crater, that's what we thought. If we made him angry - were disrespectful to nature, say - he'd wake up spitting flames, destroying all of mankind."
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Snowman

Summer snow cripples Austria

Luboš Motl
The Reference Frame
Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:15 UTC
Image
Two Austrian citizens relax at the snow-covered pastures above the Furggels Valley.
While global warming is threatening the life of our planet if not the Milky Way, Austria woke up to something that mavericks like to enjoy at the end of the summer: snow.

It's been pretty intense and some ski resorts (which were predicted not to see any snow again a few years ago) received as much as 50 centimeters of new snow. In the summer.

An unexpected summer snowstorm has covered pretty much all places of Tyrol that are above 700 meters above the sea level, including its capital Innsbruck which is just 574 meters above the sea level. Many children were made happy; many drivers were made unhappy. Children who like to drive had mixed feelings.

Much like all interesting and uninteresting weather events on Earth and beyond, this fun was brought to you by man-made global warming that was caused by CO2 emissions from industrial companies and viewers like you. Thank you. ;-)
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