Earth Changes

Lightning kills 32 in a day in Uttar Pradesh as monsoon batters India

RT
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:46 UTC

FILE PHOTO: Lightning strikes over Jaipur,

At least 32 people have died in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and many more were injured across the country after being struck by lightning, the deadliest weather event in India, which claims over 2,500 lives every year.

Lightning claimed the lives of at least 32 people across 10 cities and districts in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, the authorities reported Sunday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and ordered the district administrations to provide compensation to the relatives.

The strongest summer Jet Stream to hit the Pacific Northwest EVER!

Cliff Mass
Weather and Climate
Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:41 UTC

An extraordinary weather event has been occurring above our heads during the past 24-hour. A record that was not only broken, but shattered to little pieces.

The strongest summer jet stream ever observed over the Pacific Northwest.

The jet stream is a narrow current of strong winds in the upper troposphere (roughly 25,000 ft to 35,000 ft above sea level). It is often the conduit for storms and is associated with a large temperature gradient (change in temperature with horizontal distance) in the middle and lower troposphere. Winds in the jet stream are westerly (from the west) and aircraft like to fly in the jet stream going east, while avoiding it going west. You are now Jet Steam certified!

The ECMWF 12-h forecast for 5 AM this morning for the wind speed at the 250 hPa pressure level (about 35,000 ft) clearly shows the jet stream, with the orange/red colors being the strongest winds.

Comment: View in addition: Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Record jet stream as Earth's atmosphere shifts to Grand Solar Minimum pattern

US heatwave prompts concerns about elderly, homeless & inmates

RT
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 22:44 UTC

© Reuters / Brian Snyder
Birds splash in a fountain during the summer heatwave in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 19, 2019

As an extreme heatwave hits the US, locals are being asked to look after their older neighbors, activists try to save inmates from baking in prisons, and authorities hurry to take the homeless off the sizzling streets.

The extreme temperatures, reaching as high as 95F (35C), have been plaguing large parts of the US from the Midwest to the East Coast over the past few days. At least six deaths have already been blamed on the extreme heatwave - four in Maryland and one each in Arizona and Arkansas.

In some places, thermometers have hit triple digits, prompting the authorities and meteorological services to release numerous advisories on how to stay cool, open dedicated cooling centers and hold water parties of all sorts.

Comment: This follows an extremely wet spring in the US which could lead to significant crop shortages. Similar weather patterns are also occurring throughout Europe with many parts already exceeding the average number of wildfires:

Although these unprecedented heatwaves can be deceptive because cold records are also being broken:

Massive wildfires hit Portugal

Euronews
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:47 UTC

Nine injured as 1,000 firefighters battle wildfires in Portugal

A massive fire stretching 25 km has been raging through the night between the central Portuguese boroughs of Vila de Rei and Mação.

At least eight people have been injured, one seriously, a civilian apparently suffering 1st and 2nd-degree burns. The civilian has been airlifted to hospital in Lisbon.

Today, Sunday, the situation was still "far from under control", said early reports.

Strong winds have been fanning flames, increasing difficulties.

Floods wreak havoc on croplands in Bangladesh

Sohel Parvez and Abdul Wahed
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:18 UTC

© Abdul Wahed.
Sitting on a raft made of banana trees, a farmer of Uttar Nawabash in Kurigram shows his vegetable plants destroyed by the floods on his two bighas of land yesterday.

The ongoing flood has submerged 60,000 hectares of paddy and vegetable fields, mainly in the northern districts, affecting both farmers and consumers, as crop loss has sent the vegetable prices soaring for reduced supply in the market.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) estimated that floods affected farmlands in 26 districts until Friday, including 39,000 hectares of aush fields, 11,000 hectares of aman seedbeds, and 10,000 hectares of vegetable farms.

The flooded aush fields constitute 3.39 percent of the total acreage of aush this year.

A senior official of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) said 20 percent of the submerged aush crop might get damaged fully. This would mean the loss of 20,000 tonnes of paddy if the average aush output of last year is considered.

Mount Bromo in East Java erupts

antaranews.com
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 13:11 UTC

Mount Bromo's volcanic ash passes through Ngadas Village, Malang District (PVMBG

in East Java erupted on Friday evening, coupled with cold lava flows owing to rains.

The 2,329-meter-high volcano erupted for a duration of some seven minutes from 4:37 p.m. local time, but the height of the ash column was not observed, Chief of the Volcano Mitigation Section of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) Hendra Gunawan remarked on Friday night.

The seismogram recorded the eruption at a maximum amplitude of 37 millimeters, lasting for a duration of some 14 seconds, he noted.

Heavy rain hits western Japan, tens of thousands ordered to evacuate

The Straits Times
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 05:02 UTC

© AFP
Forecasters warned of mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers on the island of Kyushu and the Chugoku region in Japan.

Authorities issued an evacuation order to tens of thousands of residents in western Japan on Sunday (July 21) as torrential rain lashed the region.

Forecasters warned of mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers on the island of Kyushu and the Chugoku region, as Typhoon Danas, which was moving over the Korean Peninsula, dropped record-breaking rain on some parts of western Japan.

About 300mm of rain had been dumped on the cities of Tosu and Kurume on Kyushu for 12 hours until 10am local time (9am local time), according to the Meteorological Agency.

Authorities issued an evacuation order to tens of thousands of residents in the prefectures of Fukuoka and Hiroshima.

As of 9 am, the eye of the storm was over the Korean Peninsula, travelling north-east at 30 kilometres per hour with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h and gusts of 90 km/h, the agency said.

Mini tornado causes damage in Manchester, UK

BBC News
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 19:36 UTC

A miniature tornado hit south Manchester on Friday

Buildings and cars were damaged when a tornado swept through parts of Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

Rain caused havoc near Manchester Airport and the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park for about an hour from 16:30 BST on Friday. There have been no reports of any injuries.

Rebecca Jeffery said debris "swirled through the air" at Stamford Park.

"My son says I just shouted: 'Stay beside me' over and over again as I was panicking he'd get blown away."

She added: "I turned the pram away from the wind and grabbed my six-year-old and then we stood as the wind went crazy and metal and wood swirled through the air above the houses.

"I've never seen trees move like that.

"I saw the tree branches fall down behind us and then suddenly it was all gone again. It was surreal."

Baby girl born in India with three head-like protrusions

George Martin
Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 19 Jul 2019 12:43 UTC

A remarkable baby has been born with three heads in India, which has stunned doctors.

The unique birth took place on July 11 at a primary health centre in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district.

The pregnant mother, from the district's Pilua village, was admitted to the health centre after suffering extreme pain in the build up to her labour.

However, family members and the doctors were left 'in shock' when she delivered a baby with three 'heads'.

Aside from the usual head, the baby girl has two large protrusions formed from the back of her skull.

'The girl child had three heads. She looked like an alien,' said Bijji Thakur, who witnessed the bizarre birth.

Flash floods in northern Turkey's Düzce leave 1 dead, 6 missing - year's worth of rain hit in a day

Daily Sabah
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 19:52 UTC

A gendarmerie personnel looks at a house tipped over due to floods in Esmahanım village, Düzce, July 19, 2019.

Six people remain missing while search and rescue crews found one body on Friday after floods and landslides wreaked havoc in Akçakoca and Cumayeri, two districts of the northern province of Düzce.

Düzce was hit by flash floods on Wednesday and early Thursday. Three people from one family and four members of another went missing in the village of Esmahanım, near Akçakoca.

Crews combing the area found a woman's body in a river bed, between Esmahanım and another village and were trying to identify the victim. Among the missing were a mother and her three daughters between the ages of 7 and 9.

Rescue crews from the Turkish Red Crescent, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and gendarme units were mobilized to find the victims. Sniffer dogs also searched the area while helicopters and drones were dispatched to remote, mountainous areas of the region to find the missing.