Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Tornado in South Florida


YouTube
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:00 UTC
An EF1 tornado touched down in Tamarac, Florida. Several buildings suffered roof damage, broken windows, and shutters torn off.

The funnel formation:


Comment: While not highly dramatic footage, weather changes are progressing.

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Nuke

US: Radioactive Fish Sample Found in Vermont

David Gram
Associated Press
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:48 UTC
Connecticut River
© Jason R. Henske/Associated Press/FileTwo youngsters went fishing in the Connecticut River across from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Montpelier - Vermont health officials said yesterday that a radioactive substance had been found in a fish sample taken from the Connecticut River 9 miles upstream from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

The substance, strontium 90, is a byproduct of nuclear fission that has been linked to cancer and leukemia.

William Irwin, the state's chief radiological health officer, said that the sample was unusual in that the strontium 90 was found in the fleshy, edible portion of the smallmouth bass sample. Irwin said the substance more often turns up in fish bones. Nine of 13 bone, head, and scale samples checked also turned up strontium 90, he said.

"It is to be expected to find strontium 90 in the bone, head, etcetera, because strontium is in the same chemical group as calcium,'' Irwin said. "It is not as likely to be found in muscle tissue, yet the literature does describe results where they have found strontium 90 in the edible portion of fish. It's just not as likely.''

Irwin said the Health Department would do further investigation to see if more evidence could be gleaned tying the radioactivity to the Vermont Yankee plant. He said the finding could have been related to background levels in the environment resulting from above-ground atomic bomb testing in the 1960s and '70s or from the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
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Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Set to Cross Dominican Republic, Haiti


MSNBC
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:00 UTC
Image
© Thais Llorca/EPAResidents of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, faced flooded streets Wednesday after heavy rains from "Emily," the fifth tropical storm of the hurricane season in Atlantic.
Flooding feared; in Haiti, 630,000 people are still without shelter after 2010 quake

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - Tropical Storm Emily was nearing the Caribbean island of Hispaniola Wednesday and could strengthen if it makes it through the island's mountainous terrain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A "steady shield of rain" should reach Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, around noon and the rainfall should worsen by late afternoon, said John Dlugoenski, senior meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

At 2 p.m. ET, Emily was about 120 miles south-southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the hurricane center stated.

"On the forecast track, the center of Emily will move very near or over Cabo Beata in the Dominican Republic late today," the center added, and "over Haiti tonight and into the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday."

"Some restrengthening is possible after the center moves away from Hispaniola," the center stated.
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Bizarro Earth

Satellite Image Shows Ash Plume Drifting From Krakatoa

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:16 UTC
A newly released NASA satellite image shows an ash plume drifting from a volcano that produced one of the largest eruptions in modern history.

Anak Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa), a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, has been intermittently active for the past several decades.

The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates put the death toll much higher. The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin. The shock wave from the explosion was recorded on barographs around the globe.

Anak Krakatoa
© NASA
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Nuke

Tepco Reports Second Deadly Radiation Reading at Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Tsuyoshi Inajima and Kari Lundgren
Bloomberg
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:38 UTC
gamma camera image of an area around the main exhaust stuck of Unit 1 and 2
© Tokyo Electric Power Co. via BloombergA handout photograph shows a gamma camera image of an area around the main exhaust stack of Unit 1 and 2 at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station in Fukushima, Japan, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. On Aug. 1 in another area it recorded radiation of 10 sieverts per hour, enough to kill a person “within a few weeks” after a single exposure, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its second deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo.

The utility known as Tepco said yesterday it detected 5 sieverts of radiation per hour in the No. 1 reactor building. On Aug. 1 in another area it recorded radiation of 10 sieverts per hour, enough to kill a person "within a few weeks" after a single exposure, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Radiation has impeded attempts to replace cooling systems to bring three melted reactors and four damaged spent fuel ponds under control after a tsunami on March 11 crippled the plant. The latest reading was taken on the second floor of the No. 1 reactor building and will stop workers entering the area.

"It's probably the first of many more to come," said Michael Friedlander, who spent 13 years operating nuclear power plants in the U.S., including the Crystal River Station in Florida. "Although I am not surprised, it concerns me greatly; the issue is the worker safety."
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Info

US: Magnitude 3.1 Earthquake Recorded in California Desert


Los Angeles Times
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:50 UTC
Image
A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded Tuesday morning in the California desert of San Bernardino County.

The temblor was centered 15 miles from Boron, 22 miles from Barstow and about 81 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

There were no reports of damage.
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Radar

Moderate Earthquake hits Ethiopia

Armand Vervaeck and James Daniel
Earthquake Report
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:52 UTC
Image
© Google
UPDATE 08:50 UTC : GFZ has revised his earthquake data and has come out with new numbers who are in line with both USGS and EMSC : Magnitude : 4.6 at a depth of 10 km

UPDATE: A potentially dangerous earthquake has hit on the border of Ethiopia and Somalia, early this morning. The earthquake would have been very much felt in the city of Borama and villages nearby.

The USGS has its epicenter directly under Borama.

The huge difference in the estimates of GFZ and USGS show the deficiency of adequate seismological stations in this area of the world (similar to our PNG article).

There are no volcanoes in the immediate vicinity according to CATDAT, so this is most likely a tectonic earthquake in the East Africa rift zone.

A number of earthquakes have occurred in this region previously in 1930, 1951, 1961 and 1980.
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Question

Mysterious Death of 36 Wild Boars on France Coast


Gather News
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:35 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse
A total of 36 wild boars have been found dead over the past month on France's northwestern coast in the Cotes d'Armor region of Brittany. The bodies were strewn along the beach surrounded by large quantities of rotten seaweed, thought to contain toxins that emit hydrogen sulfide gas. According to ecologists and news sources, the growth of seaweed and algae has increased due to an influx of nitrates pollution in rivers from toxic fertilizers used on farms, putting local wildlife in serious danger.

Locals have become increasingly worried about what they now refer to as "killer seaweed." According to the UK Telegraph, an anti-toxic seaweed plan was launched last year in response to the untimely death of a horse in 2009 on the beach in Saint-Michel-en-Grève, leaving the rider unconscious at the scene. Another incident occurred (which is still under investigation) in which a man suffered a heart attack after transporting rotting seaweed.
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No Entry

Canada: Huge Sinkhole Reported in Montreal


CBC News
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:29 UTC
sinkhole
© Radio-CanadaThe pothole is at the corner of Ontario and Plessis Streets.
Traffic was rerouted in east-end Montreal Tuesday, after a 4.5-metre wide pothole opened up on Ontario Street.

The pothole, at the corner of Plessis Street, is at least 1.5 metres deep.

The city says the ground gave away beneath the asphalt, causing the hole to appear.

Traffic will be detoured away from the intersection until at least Wednesday.
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Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Emily forms in the Caribbean


CNN
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:41 UTC
Tropical Storm Emily formed in the Caribbean Monday, prompting area governments to issue warnings and watches, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Dominica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the islands of Guadeloupe, Desirade, Les Saintes and Marie Galante, meaning that tropical storm conditions were expected within 36 hours.

Haiti, the U.S. Virgin Islands and St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat and Antigua were under a tropical storm watch. Storm conditions were possible in those areas within 48 hours.
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