Myth: If it isn't raining, there is no danger from lightning.
Fact: Lightning often strikes away from heavy rainfall. It may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
The Earth's jet streams, the high-altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting--possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes.
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| ©NOAA
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| Hurricane Andrew. Storm paths in North America are likely to shift northward as a result of the jet stream changes. Hurricanes, whose development tends to be inhibited by jet streams, may become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from the sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born.
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Charlotte Porter
BloombergThu, 17 Apr 2008 21:50 UTC
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7 rocked the northwest coast of the Japanese island of Honshu today, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The quake, recorded at 4:19 a.m. local time, was 147 kilometers (91 miles) deep, the agency said. Its epicenter was 372 kilometers north of Tokyo, and about 81 kilometers south of Akita.
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| ©AP Photo/Pueblo Chieftain, Chris McLean
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| Farm structures, fence, trees and brush go up in flames on rural property near Ordway, Colo., on Tuesday, April 15, 2008. What started as a grass fire southeast of the small town in southeastern Colorado quickly grew into a massive blaze as high winds fueled flames and destroyed houses and agricultural ground.
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Firefighters were hoping rain and snow Wednesday would help them quell blazes that scorched thousands of acres, forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and left three people dead.
Six teenagers and a teacher have been killed in a flash flood on a river in New Zealand. The river level had risen sharply in half an hour, sweeping some of them downstream through a gorge.
A group of 12 students and teachers were on an outdoor leadership course when they were hit by floodwaters late yesterday in the Mangetepopo Gorge, in an isolated area near the centre of New Zealand's North Island.
Sylvia Westall
ReutersWed, 16 Apr 2008 19:27 UTC
Vienna -- Scientists are developing a tsunami warning system for the Mediterranean region which they said on Wednesday should be ready in 2011 and could save thousands of lives.
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Thursday but there was no tsunami threat and no immediate reports of damage, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
Cleveland, Ohio - Researchers from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo have discovered a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam - a find that carries great scientific and cultural significance. Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle was previously thought to be extinct in the wild. Three other turtles of the species are in captivity, said experts from the Zoo's Asian turtle program.
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| ©AP Photo/Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
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| This undated photo provided by the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo shows a captive Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle from Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. Zoo researchers recently discovered one of the rare giant turtles in the wild in northern Vietnam.
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Rudy Trevino
KIIITVWed, 16 Apr 2008 22:42 UTC
Killer bees in Kingsville apparently living up to their name. The Africanized insects swarmed a neighborhood leaving one man seriously injured and killing at least five dogs.
As Jesse Rios was recounting his harrowing brush with the killer bees Monday afternoon, we came under attack.
Reference:
Araneda, A., Torrejon, F., Aguayo, M., Torres, L., Cruces, F., Cisternas, M. and Urrutia, R. 2007. Historical records of San Rafael glacier advances (North Patagonian Icefield): another clue to "Little Ice Age" timing in southern Chile? The Holocene 17: 987-998.
