Earth ChangesS


Fire

Volcano eruption in Tonga deemed 'once-in-a-millennium' event

Alice Klein
New Scientist
Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:50 UTC
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano
© CIRA/NOAA/Handout via REUTERSThe eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga, which triggered a tsunami warning for several South Pacific island nations, is seen in an image from the NOAA GOES-West satellite taken at 05:00 GMT January 15, 2022.
The underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption has already triggered a tsunami, a sonic boom and thousands of lightning bolts, and could now lead to acid rain

The massive explosion of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga on Saturday was its most powerful eruption since AD 1100. The after-effects have been felt around the globe and the damage is still being assessed.

The volcano, located about 65 kilometres north of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, exploded with violent force at 5:10pm local time on 15 January. Satellite images show a mushroom cloud of ash billowing 30 kilometres high and later sweeping more than 3000 kilometres west to Australia.

Comment: Earth can unmake and remake itself at remarkable speeds. The now-destroyed island was just formed in 2015. It's arrogance on the part of the human race to think they have any control over the process.


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Attention

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: An in-depth look at why Tonga erupted


Adapt 2030
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:57 UTC
Dramatic official aerial maps showed the eruption cloud over Tonga after the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted (pictured, satellite images of the volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday)
Dramatic official aerial maps showed the eruption cloud over Tonga after the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted (pictured, satellite images of the volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday)
An in-depth look at the Tonga eruption which sent ash to 95,000 feet and that ash cloud is heading to Australia. What does this mean for global agriculture and crop yields, food pricing and can we foresee any other large eruptions from now to 2024?


Sources
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Boat

Heavy rainfall causes floods, cars washed away in Minas Gerais, Brazil


The Rio Times
Mon, 17 Jan 2022 11:50 UTC
flood
The heavy downpour in Uberlândia (Minas Gerais) on Sunday, January 16, flooded homes and businesses in the city.

The city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, registered floods in several areas after heavy rainfall on Sunday afternoon, January 16.

Videos show the damage caused by the waters, which swept away cars and flooded homes and stores.

The Uberlândia City Hall said on social networks that an emergency task force was set up to mitigate the impacts of the rain.

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Cloud Precipitation

Israel hit by massive flooding


RT
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:53 UTC
Flooding Israel
© Global Look Press / Xinhua
Cars were submerged under water and streets were turned into turbulent rivers in Israeli cities over the weekend after torrential rain and cold weather battered the nation and led to flash flooding.

A neighborhood housing some 18,000 people in the Israeli city of Lod was completely cut off by floods, Israeli media reported on Sunday. Local authorities warned the residents that the only way to get in or out of the area was by train.

Locals told the media that life in the area had come to a halt, with even health clinics and Covid testing centers ceasing operation.

Elsewhere in Israel, floods turned city streets into rivers and saw cars submerged under water. Rescue services were deployed to save people trapped in their vehicles.
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Attention

Two people drowned by abnormally high waves in Peru after Tonga volcano


Reuters
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 20:21 UTC
CHILE BEACH
Two people drowned off a beach in northern Peru, the local civil defense authority reported on Sunday, after unusually high waves were recorded in several coastal areas following Saturday's eruption of an underwater volcano in Tonga in the Pacific Ocean.

The death of two people by drowning occurred on Saturday on a beach located in the Lambayeque region, Peru's National Institute of Civil Defense (Indeci) said in a statement.

The underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, prompting tsunami warnings and evacuation orders in Japan and causing huge waves on several South Pacific islands, where images on social media show waves crashing against homes on the shores.

More than 20 Peruvian ports were temporarily closed as a precautionary measure amid warnings that the volcano was causing abnormally high waves, Indeci said.

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Snowflake Cold

Winter storm leaves more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity


CBC News
Sat, 15 Jan 2022 19:54 UTC
A powerful storm has left thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday.
© CBCA powerful storm has left thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday.
A powerful nor'easter working its way across the province left more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday and has cancelled many flights at the Halifax airport.

As of 4:30 p.m. AT, the utility said 25,244 customers did not have power.

The outages covered the entire mainland, with a few hundred people in Cape Breton without power.

In a news release issued Saturday morning, Nova Scotia Power said the company had more than 500 people in the field working to restore power.

Speaking to CBC News on Saturday afternoon, Lia MacDonald, vice-president of transmission, distribution and delivery for Nova Scotia Power, said crews were working to restore power to most parts of the province by Saturday evening subject to weather conditions.

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Tornado1

Multiple tornadoes spawned by winter storm damage homes in Florida


The Weather Channel
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 19:24 UTC
damage
Tornadoes spawned by a powerful winter storm moving across the South damaged several homes in southwest Florida Sunday morning.

Video on social media showed multiple waterspouts roaring ashore in Lee County. Waterspouts are just tornadoes over water. When they reach land they are considered tornadoes.

Those tornadoes caused damage across the Fort Myers metro area, the Lee County Sheriff's office confirmed, and injured at least one person.

Fire Department officials in Lee County said 20 homes were destroyed at an RV park in the Fort Myers area, the Associated Press reported. Up to 200 people were forced out of their homes due to the damage, WINK news reports.

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Seismograph

Magnitude-6.1 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea


RT
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 19:00 UTC
graph
A day after Tonga was hit by giant waves following the eruption of a volcano in the ocean off its coast, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck the island of Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

The epicenter of the quake was located in the autonomous Bougainville region, at a depth of 408 kilometers (253 miles), according to the agency. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) also registered the quake, putting its magnitude at 5.8. There have so far been no reports either of casualties or significant damage.

Papua New Guinea, a country of nine million, occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and a group of smaller islands in Melanesia, north of Australia.
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Attention

Best of the Web: Tsunami waves hit Tonga after massive underwater volcanic eruption sends debris and ash 20km into the sky

Peter Vincent
Daily Mail
Sat, 15 Jan 2022 11:31 UTC
Dramatic official aerial maps showed the eruption cloud over Tonga after the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted (pictured, satellite images of the volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday)
Dramatic official aerial maps showed the eruption cloud over Tonga after the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano erupted (pictured, satellite images of the volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday)
Australia has become the fifth nation to issue a tsunami warning after an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean caused havoc in Tonga.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an urgent alert that dangerous waves will start to affect Australia from 9.45pm on Saturday.

A tsunami struck Tonga sending terrified residents fleeing for their lives as surging waves crashed into homes and volcanic ash rained down from the sky.

Locals were warned to get out of the water and move to higher ground from as far away as Fiji as homes in the small South Pacific nation were swept away by the rising torrent.



Comment: Note how there's a lightning strike at 0:27, just as another vent erupts. This is due to an electric charge differential between the ash cloud, which is eruption debris that is now higher up in the atmosphere, and the freshly erupted material, which has just burst forth from inside the planet!


Comment: Spaceweather.com further reports:
The shockwave was recorded as a sudden uptick in air pressure as far away as Alaska, Belize and multiple locations in Florida. The global wave is expected to converge on southern Algeria, giving an especially strong signal there.

High-altitude balloon and satellite measurements indicate that the exhaust plume has reached the stratosphere, as high as 60,000 feet.
Here's footage showing the eruption's global shockwave:





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Snowflake Cold

6 die due to heavy snowfall in Japan - 21 inches in just 12 hours, bad weather expected to continue


Mainichi
Fri, 14 Jan 2022 12:32 UTC
snow
Six people have died as a strong winter pressure pattern around Japan on Jan. 13 has led to heavy snowfall concentrated on the Sea of Japan side of the northern to western parts of the country.

Amid concerns that heavy snow will continue to fall into Jan. 14, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is urging vigilance against high waves in the Sea of Japan side of the eastern to western parts of the country, and of blizzards and other conditions causing traffic disruptions in northern Japan.

According to the JMA, snow is expected to settle on the plains of the country's Pacific Ocean side through Jan. 14. Due to the effects of an atmospheric pressure trough, there are fears of localized heavy snowfall primarily in parts of central Japan's Hokuriku region.

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