Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Tonga's Hunga eruption produced the highest-altitude lightning flashes ever


Tech Explorist
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 17:48 UTC
The eruption produced 2,600 flashes per minute.

The 15 January 2022 eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Volcano produced a “supercharged” storm in the plume that had the most intense lightning ever recorded in a storm, according to a new study in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters.
© Felix Mittermeier/UnsplashThe 15 January 2022 eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Volcano produced a “supercharged” storm in the plume that had the most intense lightning ever recorded in a storm, according to a new study in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The Hunga Tonga - Hunga Haʻapai volcano in the South Pacific Ocean erupted on January 15, 2022, continuing to break records. The eruption generated a plume of ash, water, and magmatic gas at least 58 kilometers (36 miles) high. Despite blocking satellite views of the vent and making it more challenging to monitor changes in the eruption as it progressed, the towering plume provided scientists with vital information about the eruption's size.

A new study revealed that the eruption created a "supercharged" thunderstorm that recorded the most intense lightning ever. During the eruption, there were approximately 200,000 lightning strikes in the volcanic plume, with the rate reaching a maximum of over 2,600 strikes per minute, according to the experts.

Scientists have now been able to gaze into that plume, plucking out new stages of the eruption's life cycle and obtaining insight into the strange weather it caused thanks to high-resolution lightning data from four sources previously never used together.
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Cloud Precipitation

Video shows Florida deputy swept underwater, appears 100 feet away during flood rescue

Francisco Guzmán
USA TODAY
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 13:23 UTC
Escambia County sheriff's deputies assist a man rescued from floodwaters on Friday, June 16, 2023. The citizen and a deputy were both sucked into a drain pipe during a rescue attempt.
© Escambia County Sheriff's OfficeEscambia County sheriff's deputies assist a man rescued from floodwaters on Friday, June 16, 2023. The citizen and a deputy were both sucked into a drain pipe during a rescue attempt.
A Florida deputy is "lucky to be alive" after being sucked into a drainage pipe and swept underwater for about 30 seconds after trying to help a stranded driver who was stuck in the flood, authorities said.

Escambia County has experienced severe weather and heavy rain over the past few days, and those weather conditions were at a peak Friday morning when deputy William Hollingsworth was on patrol, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said in a statement on Facebook.

At around 1:39 a.m. local time in Pensacola, Florida, Hollingsworth exited his patrol car and approached a man who was trapped in rising waters, Simmons said.

When Hollingsworth got closer, he saw the man get swept underwater and quickly "rushed to his aid without regard for his own safety," Simmons said in the statement.

As Hollingsworth attempted to rescue the man, both were sucked into a drainage pipe and swept underneath a roadway on Hwy 98.

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Cloud Precipitation

Storms and heavy rain flood roads, block railway lines in Germany


ABC News
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:40 UTC
Vehicles drive through a flooded section of the A59 highway as heavy rain falls, Thursday evening, June 22, 2023, in Duisburg, Germany.
© Christoph ReichweinVehicles drive through a flooded section of the A59 highway as heavy rain falls, Thursday evening, June 22, 2023, in Duisburg, Germany.
Storms and heavy rain across a large swath of Germany flooded roads and forced the closure of some major railway routes on Friday, but there was no immediate word of any injuries.

Germany's national weather service had warned earlier this week of severe storms with significant amounts of rainfall, which hit on Thursday.

In the western city of Duisburg, the fire service said it rescued several people from cars that got stuck on flooded streets. Shops were flooded and streets inundated in the northern city of Braunschweig, and there were similar reports from Kassel. In Hattersheim, near Frankfurt, trees fell on houses and cars, German news agency dpa reported.

Germany's national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said that the main line between Hamburg and Berlin was closed because of storm damage, as was a major north-south route between Kassel and Goettingen.

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Boat

Nearly half a million impacted by flooding in India's northeast

Manveena Suri and Rhea Mogul
CNN
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:22 UTC
A man carries belongings from his partially submerged house in the flood affected Dhamdhama village of Nalbari district, in India's Assam state on June 22, 2023.
© Biju Boro/AFPA man carries belongings from his partially submerged house in the flood affected Dhamdhama village of Nalbari district, in India's Assam state on June 22, 2023.
Nearly half a million people in northeast India have been affected by severe flooding after heavy rains battered the region, turning roads into rivers and submerging entire villages.

More than 495,000 people spread across 22 districts in the state of Assam have been impacted by floodwaters, its disaster management authority said in a statement Thursday.

About 14,000 people were evacuated to relief camps after torrential rainfall swept across the region, resulting in the river Beki, which flows through Assam, to overflow. At least one person has died, according to state authorities.

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Attention

Hundreds of dolphins and sea lions have washed up dead or sick in California amid toxic algae outbreak

Rachel Ramirez
ctvnews.ca
Thu, 22 Jun 2023 11:50 UTC
This image provided by Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, shows dead and injured marine mammals ashore on a beach in Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Tuesday, June 20th, 2023.
© Channel Islands Marine Wildlife InstituteThis image provided by Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, shows dead and injured marine mammals ashore on a beach in Santa Barbara County, Calif., on Tuesday, June 20th, 2023.
The scene is unsettling: hundreds of sea lions and dolphins are sprawled across the beaches in Southern California, either dead or sick and exhibiting abnormal behaviour.

Officials have received more than 1,000 calls in recent weeks from beachgoers, tourists and residents reporting sick, dying and dead sea mammals washed ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego County, amid a growing toxic algal bloom in the waters off the coast.

The wave of dead or sick animals is "one of the largest in memory," Justin Greenman, a stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. "It's completely overwhelming."

And, Greenman said, it doesn't appear to be ending any time soon.

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Fish

Thousands of dead fish washed ashore along southern Thai beach


Roya News
Thu, 22 Jun 2023 11:44 UTC
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Thousands of dead fish, crabs and prawns were scattered down the picturesque Thung Wua Laen beach in the southern Thai province of Chumphon Thursday.

They were killed by toxic algae bloom known as the red tide, which depletes oxygen in the water and "prevents fish from breathing through their gills", local fishing authority Boonyawat Thonghom told AFP.

Local residents have been picking up dead fish along the two-kilometer stretch of white sandy beach.

"We advise the locals not to consume the fish as the algae might be toxic, but using them as fertilizer is OK," said Boonyawat.


AFP
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Umbrella

High waves crash over Barbados as Tropical Storm Bret hits eastern Caribbean


Guardian
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 11:25 UTC
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Barbados was battered with near-hurricane strength winds as Tropical Storm Bret moved across parts of the eastern Caribbean's Lesser Antilles island group.

Meteorologists noted the weather pattern was unusually early and aggressive for the Atlantic cyclone season that formally began on 1 June.

It is only the second hurricane to form in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began, according to forecasters


Source: Reuters
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Fire

Eruption of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano in Kamchatka, Russia


RIA Novosti
Fri, 23 Jun 2023 10:35 UTC
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An eruption has begun on the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano, Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Group at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti.

"An eruption of the Strombolian type began on the Klyuchevskaya volcano tonight. Satellite images show a bright thermal anomaly, a spasmodic tremor is recorded. There are no ash emissions yet," Girina said.

At night, there was a glow from the lava, which had already appeared in the western part of the summit crater. This was recorded by CCTV cameras installed at the observatory in the village of Klyuchi.

The volcano has so far been assigned a "yellow" increased hazard code for aviation, since there are no ash emissions. If the activity increases significantly, emissions may pose a danger to air vehicles.

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Cloud Precipitation

13 dead, 26 missing as flash floods and landslides wreak havoc in Nepal (UPDATE)


abplive.com
Mon, 19 Jun 2023 11:15 UTC
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Flash floods and landslides wreak havoc in Eastern Nepal, death toll climbs to 5 with 28 still missing, Police say, as reported by the news agency ANI. According to the police, all the incidents have been recorded within 24 hours since Saturday evening in three different districts of Eastern Nepal, as reported by ANI. Sankhuwasabha, one of the affected districts which has seen continuous downpours since Saturday evening, has reported 16 missing workers from a hydropower project.

"16 workers of Super Hewakhola Hydropower have gone missing after floods in Hewakhola since Saturday evening. The floods have swept away seven houses," District Police Office Chief, Birendra Godar confirmed ANI over the phone. "A worker's body has been found offshore. We are trying to establish the identity of the deceased," Deputy Superintendent Godar added.


Comment: Update June 22

Onlinekhabar reports:
Thirteen people have died and 26 people have gone missing due to floods and landslides in eastern Nepal this week.

Floods and landslides brought by the rain have caused havoc in eastern Nepal.
Floods and landslides brought by the rain have caused havoc in eastern Nepal.
According to Mahadev Panth, acting secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and head of the Disaster Management Division, 13 people died in floods and landslides between June 14 and 22.

According to him, people died in Taplejung, Kaski, Bhojpur, Gorkha, Nuwakot and Tanahun in the last seven days.

He said 20 people are missing in Sakhuwasabha and three each are missing in Taplejung and Panchthar.

Panth also informed 41 houses were completely damaged due to floods and landslides over the past week.

Additionally, he stated that the government has made preparations, considering the potential occurrence of floods and landslides.



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Cloud Lightning

2 dead in lightning strike during football match in Kushtia, Bangladesh


United News of Bangladesh
Thu, 22 Jun 2023 18:50 UTC
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Two people including a college student died and another sustained injuries in a lightning strike while playing football at Almasadarpur village in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia on Thursday afternoon.

The deceased -Tariqul Islam, 35, and higher secondary student Shakil Ahmed, 18, were from Naodapara and Mohdipur villages respectively under Mirpur upazila.

The injured, Nayeem Hossain, is from Gachher Daur area under Daulatpur upazila.

Witnesses said a lightning struck some local youths while they were playing football amid rainfall at Almasadarupur High School field around 3pm, leaving the trio critically injured.

Locals rushed them to Mirpur Upazila Health Complex where Tariqul was declared dead upon arrival, said the hospital's resident medical officer Dr Jubayia Farzana.

Shakil and Nayeem were referred to Kushtia General Hospital for better treatment, she said.
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