Earth Changes

Thousands of starfish wash ashore at Port St. Joe, Florida

Zak Dahlheimer
wjhg.com
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 14:48 UTC

Dead starfish

For Bud and Susan Whiten, a stroll on the beach in Port St. Joe early Sunday afternoon turned out to be a little fishy.

"We walk this beach every day if we can, preferably at low tide, looking for shell, coral, whatever we can see because it's a beautiful nature area," Susan Whiten said.

But they said their trip to the beach left them star struck.

"We saw what looked to be a whole lot of shells that had washed up, but it was actually thousands of starfish," Whiten said. "I just couldn't imagine that there would be any starfish left as many as we saw. It was just unbelievable."

"I've never seen it like this before," Mike Forbess, a resident from Callaway, said. "There's just thousands upon thousands of them. We walked on the beach for maybe a quarter mile, and it was just solid dead starfish."

Wrong time, wrong place: Dark-Sided Flycatcher from east Asia found wintering on Iceland

Iceland Monitor
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:54 UTC

Dark-sided Flycatcher

"I had no idea what kind of bird we were looking at, it was so weird," says ornithologist Brynjúlfur Brynjúlfsson at the South East Iceland Bird Watching Centre. He is the first person to have spotted a Dark-Sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica) in Western Europe.

The species, according to Wikipedia, breeds in South-East Siberia west to beyond Lake Baikai as well as in Mongolia, China, North Korea and Japan.

Their wintering range includes India, Bangladesh, southern China, Taiwan, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines. Vagrant birds have been previously recorded as far as Alaska and Bermuda.

Some lanes reopen after large sinkhole damages Interstate 8 in San Diego

Sarah Parvini and Lyndsay Winkley
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 11:59 UTC

Two lanes on eastbound Interstate 8 in San Diego have reopened as crews repair a sinkhole near San Diego State University.

A large sinkhole opened on the right shoulder of the freeway Thursday, snarling traffic for miles as crews worked to repair the pit.

The hole, estimated to be 20 feet by 30 feet, and 20 feet deep, formed between College Avenue and Waring Road in College Area about 10:10 a.m., CHP Officer Tommy Doerr said.

Lanes closest to the sinkhole remained closed in case the cavity widened underneath the freeway, Caltrans spokesman Edward Cartagena said. Crews later learned the space had spread about two feet under the farthest right lane.

Flooding in Argentina leaves coastal areas crawling with thousands of snakes

News 24
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 11:27 UTC

An invasion of poisonous snakes washed downriver in recent floods forced authorities to close beaches to summer holidaymakers in northern Argentina, officials said on Monday.

Floodwaters in the Rio Plata and Rio Parana carried a species of water lily and with it countless crawling, slithering creatures, south to beaches at the mouths of those rivers near Buenos Aires.

"We are raising awareness of the risk and danger present today. There are otters and species of snakes that are poisonous," said Matias Leyes, an official in the coastal town of Quilmes, south of the capital.

"The beaches of Quilmes have been closed as a precaution. We were cleaning up the coast during the week and while doing so we saw the snakes under the water lilies."

Huge waves hit already battered Pacifica coastline in California

Sergio Quintana
abc13.com
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 11:12 UTC

© Leah Millis, San Francisco Chronicle
Properties along Esplanade Ave can be seen perched on the edge of an eroding cliff Dec. 23, 2015 in Pacifica, Cali

Massive waves have been relentless in Pacifica.

Sky 7 HD was over the coastal town Saturday and it showed where recent storms damaged a sea wall and threatened homes.

A high surf advisory is in effect in Pacifica until 10 p.m. El Nino-enhanced storms have pounded the city's coastline, forcing a local state of emergency.

Since Dec. 15, storms have damaged the Pacifica Pier, the Milagra watershed and caused a massive sinkhole. Big boulders have been put in that hole as a temporary fix.

Apartments on the eroding cliffs of Esplanade Avenue are also threatened. They were condemned several years ago. New properties near those apartments could be next.

Sinkhole holds up truck by bumpers in Thunder Bay, Ontario

Jeff Walters
cbc.ca
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:37 UTC

© Jeff Walters/CBC
A sinkhole developed overnight at the corner of Brock and Sprague Streets, which eroded the ground, eventually having this truck rest on its bumpers.

A truck is being held up by its bumpers after a sinkhole appeared overnight at the corner of Brock and Sprague Streets.

As of 10 a.m., city crews had already plowed back snowbanks, and were preparing to dig down to find the exact cause of the sinkhole.

Pieces of sidewalk and roadway were crumbling around the deep hole, as the underside of pavement and concrete could be seen hanging in mid air.

The intersection is supposed to open late Friday evening, but will have to be closed again on Saturday.

Heavy snowfall and freezing weather strikes China

BBC
Sun, 24 Jan 2016 10:11 UTC

Heavy snowfall and freezing cold temperatures in China, Hong Kong and Japan have been breaking temperature records, as well as causing transport gridlock.

Camilla Schick reports.

Cold snap sweeping East Asia kills 85 in Taiwan

BBC news
Mon, 25 Jan 2016 03:03 UTC

A cold snap sweeping across East Asia has killed at least 85 people in Taiwan and stranded 60,000 tourists in South Korea.

Taiwanese media reported deaths from hypothermia and cardiac disease following a sudden drop in temperature over the weekend.

Meanwhile heavy snow forced the closure of the airport on the Korean holiday island of Jeju, cancelling flights.

The cold spell has also hit Hong Kong, southern China and Japan.

'Sudden drop'

Many of those who died in Taiwan were elderly people living in northern regions such as Taipei and Taoyuan. Those areas accounted for 66 of the deaths.

Another 16 were confirmed dead in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

The temperature in Taipei city fell to a 44-year low of 4C (39F) on Sunday, and many homes in Taiwan lack central heating.

Many victims reportedly had heart trouble and shortness of breath.

"In our experience, it's not the actual temperature but the sudden drop that's too sudden for people's circulatory systems,'' said a city official quoted by AP news agency.

Comment: For other related articles pertaining to the extreme cold spell affecting Asia, see also:

The sun is cooling - Garbage science of global warming

Dr. Mark Sircus, Ac., OMD, DM (P)
Dr. Sircus.com
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 19:32 UTC

Western government propaganda is increasing as the weather around the world defies global warming predictions. The latest publication insists that global warming is likely to disrupt a natural cycle of ice ages and contribute to delaying the onset of the next big freeze until about 100,000 years from now is utterly senseless.

In a new explanation for the long-lasting plunges in global temperatures that cause ice ages, scientists pointed to a combination of long-term shifts in the Earth's orbit around the sun, together with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They forgot though to mention what every astrophysicist knows is that the sun itself has cycles of higher and lower output (sunspot, solar winds and movement of solar belts on the sun itself) and that these variations cause mini ice ages that occur frequently.

"Humans have the power to change the climate on geological timescales," said lead author Andrey Ganopolski. The findings suggest human influences "will make the initiation of the next ice age impossible over a time period comparable to the duration of previous glacial cycles."

We are being convinced at great expense in the global warming scenario. We need to be convinced because it simply is not true no matter how many times they tell us it is true.

7-year-old boy killed by dog in Robeson County, North Carolina

wral.com
Sun, 24 Jan 2016 19:09 UTC

One child was killed and his brother was injured after a Sunday dog attack in Robeson County.

Family members told WRAL News that 7-year-old Talen West and 8-year-old Jaylen West were playing in the woods near a home at 2484 Odum Road in Lumberton late Sunday morning when they encountered a neighbor's pit bull.

The dog attacked both children. Emergency crews were called at about 11:20 a.m. and they found Talen West unresponsive upon arrival. The brothers were taken to Southeastern Medical Center, where Talen West died.

Authorities said he had severe puncture wounds on his body.

Jaylen West was treated for leg injuries and released.

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Earth Changes

Thousands of starfish wash ashore at Port St. Joe, Florida

Wrong time, wrong place: Dark-Sided Flycatcher from east Asia found wintering on Iceland

Some lanes reopen after large sinkhole damages Interstate 8 in San Diego

Flooding in Argentina leaves coastal areas crawling with thousands of snakes

Huge waves hit already battered Pacifica coastline in California

Sinkhole holds up truck by bumpers in Thunder Bay, Ontario

Heavy snowfall and freezing weather strikes China

Cold snap sweeping East Asia kills 85 in Taiwan

The sun is cooling - Garbage science of global warming

7-year-old boy killed by dog in Robeson County, North Carolina

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