Earth Changes

More than 30 dead pilot whales have been found on Tasmania's east coast

Jano Gibson
abc.net.au
Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:38 UTC

More than 30 dolphins washed up on shore on Bryan’s Beach on Tuesday.

Chris Theobald has had many close encounters with wildlife around the world.

But the nature guide's latest interaction on Tasmania's east coast has left him devastated.

He along with two of his colleagues had travelled by boat to Bryans Beach, not far from the popular tourist destination of Wineglass Bay.

It was there they came across more than two dozen pilot whales lying in the shallows on Wednesday morning.

All of them were dead.

"It was pretty heart-wrenching," Mr Theobald said.

Downpour causes flash floods in Jurong West, Singapore - 4 inches of rain in just 75 minutes

Sherlyn Sim
The Straits Times
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:18 UTC

The water level in Boon Lay Avenue almost reached the height of the seats of a bus stop, with vehicles travelling slowly along that road.

Several roads in the Jurong West area were flooded on the afternoon of Nov 28 following heavy rainfall over western Singapore.

National water agency PUB said on Facebook the same evening that a flash flood had occurred in Boon Lay Way at 3.42pm. It subsided within 20 minutes.

In a separate alert on Telegram earlier in the afternoon, it said the flash flood affected two of the three lanes there.

PUB said on Facebook that its quick response teams were on site to help the public. It added that it had issued flood risk alerts for six locations.

Videos posted on Facebook show the water level in Boon Lay Avenue near River Valley High School almost reaching the height of seats at a bus stop, with vehicles travelling slowly along that road.

One of snowiest ever Novembers in the Alps

snow-forecast.com
Wed, 29 Nov 2023 13:15 UTC

It's still early-days but this months snowfall in the Alps appears to have laid the base for a great start to the season, with high resorts like Val Thorens saying they already have enough snow to see them through the whole season ahead.

The past week has seen more big accumulations of typically 50-100cm (20-40″) on high slopes, 10-20cm (4-8″) at resort level, the latest is a month which began with big snowfalls too.

It's all very different to the start of last season when ski areas struggled for cover below 1,800m altitude. It also comes after a warmest and dry first half of autumn/fall.

Tignes is pictured above after fresh snow yesterday, Avoriaz below after a snowfall on November 6th.

Destructive deer-eating 'super pigs' invade northern US from Canada

Truth Press
Sun, 26 Nov 2023 20:19 UTC

© s1033.com
Destructive "super pigs" from Canada are beginning to invade the U.S., threatening to add to the billions of dollars in damage already inflicted annually upon the nation by feral swine.

Canadian bacon

Dr. Ryan Brook, lead on the University of Saskatchewan's Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, told Field and Stream earlier this year, "The U.S. has a 400-plus year history with invasive wild pigs, but we didn't have any here until the early 1980s."

"There was a big push to diversify agriculture with species like wild [boars] and ostriches. Wild boars were brought in from Europe to be raised on farms across Canada," said Brook.

The swinish imports from Eurasia, kept both on meat farms and in hunting preserves, were crossbred with domestic pigs, resulting in "super pigs." These monstrosities were not only larger, but hardier and capable of surviving in cold climates.

Comment: Canada's Global News was reporting on the problem a year ago:

Storms cause damage to homes, floods and leave thousands without power in South Australia

Rafqa Touma,
Guardian
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 14:15 UTC

Flooded roads in Wayville, in the wake of thunderstorms across Adelaide.

Wild storms have downed trees, flooded streets, damaged some homes and left thousands of others without power across Adelaide.

An inflatable whale was also swept down the River Torrens and other local Christmas decorations were plunged underwater, after metropolitan areas around the Adelaide Hills were hit with significant rainfall since Monday morning.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Jenny Horvat said the city had recorded above 50mm in parts, with Scotch College, south of the city, receiving 75mm of rain.

"[It is] quite a lot of rainfall in a short period of time," Horvat said. "So we have seen some local river rises, and some localised flash flooding ... and water heading straight down into the [River] Torrens."

"It is not one of those things happening every second day in November, but it can happen."

Uruguay: Over 3 thousand people displaced by flooding

telesurenglish.net
Sun, 26 Nov 2023 13:55 UTC

At present, 3,442 displaced persons remain.

In the northwest region, over 3 thousand people have been displaced from their homes due to the flooding caused by the overflow of the Uruguay river.

The National Water Directorate of the Ministry of Environment forecasts that the level of the river will rise in the department of Salto in the next few days in the range of five to 10 centimeters per day and the probability of reaching up to 14.40 meters.

At present, 3,442 displaced persons remain: 249 are evacuated and 3,193 are self-evident. Of that total, 179 are in Artigas, 1,170 in Salto and 2,093 in Paysandú sais the Uruguayan government on its official website.

Shallow 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes north of Papua New Guinea

Hindustan Times
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:19 UTC

A shallow, 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake hit about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast, a short distance from the town of Wewak, capital of the Pacific island state's East Sepik Province.

The epicentre was detected at an estimated depth of 12 kilometres (seven miles) at 8:46 am local time (2146 GMT Monday), the USGS said.

There is "no tsunami threat", the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said in a separate bulletin.

'Storm of the century' kills 4, cuts power to 2mln in Russia, occupied Ukraine

The Moscow Times
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:21 UTC

A severe storm on the Black Sea hit parts of Ukraine and southern Russia on Sunday night, killing at least four people and knocking out power to nearly 2 million, with strong winds continuing into Monday.

"About 1.9 million people remained without power supply as of 10:00 Moscow time due to unfavorable weather conditions," Moscow's energy ministry said, listing the Russian regions of Dagestan, Krasnodar and Rostov, as well as the occupied Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The storm peaked on Sunday evening, with some parts of Russian-annexed Crimea receiving 33 millimeters of precipitation and winds reaching speeds of 144 kilometers per hour.

As waves up to 8 meters high battered the coast, crude oil loading was halted on Russia's Novorossiysk oil terminal and the nearby Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal — leading Kazakhstan, which exports through the CPC, to reduce oil production by nearly 15% compared to the day earlier, reported Bloomberg.

Comment:

Snowstorm causes massive power cuts across Ukraine

BBC
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:08 UTC

Dozens of passengers in Ukraine have had to be rescued from vehicles stuck in heavy snow

Snowstorms and strong winds have left more than 2,000 towns and villages without power across many regions of Ukraine, local officials say.

They say 48 people, including children, have been evacuated from trapped vehicles in the worst-affected Odesa region in the south-west.

At least six people have suffered from hypothermia. Traffic is currently blocked on 14 motorways.

Moscow hit by rare 'black blizzard'

The Press United
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 12:17 UTC

Heavy snowfall that started in the Russian capital overnight is expected to continue into Tuesday

Moscow is already going through its first major snowfall. Meteorologists have described the weather pattern over the Russian capital as a "black blizzard" - a phenomenon usually encountered in the Far North, when snowflakes fly almost parallel to the surface, decreasing visibility to around 100 meters.

The snowfall that started on Sunday intensified overnight, with 35% of the monthly average of precipitation already falling in the city, according to the FOBOS weather center.