Earth Changes
At least 17 tornadoes hit Central US during a severe weather outbreak in March, leaving a massive trail of destruction. Nashville, Tennessee was heavily affected this month as a huge tornado cut a path through downtown, killing 25 people, destroying buildings, toppling electrical lines, and littering streets with debris.
Also last month, an earthquake rocked Croatia's capital Zagreb - the strongest quake to hit that city in 140 years - damaging buildings and leaving cars crushed by falling chunks of masonry. In Russia's Far East region, a 7.2-magnitude quake struck off the Kuril Islands and set off a minor tsunami.
The skies, as always these days, are heavy with meteor traffic. The media didn't report it as such, but based on eyewitness statements and analysis made by local experts, we suspect that a meteor IMPACTED the planet last month, carving out a major 68 feet-wide crater in the middle of a road in the Nigerian city of Akure.
All this and more in this month's SOTT Earth Changes Summary:

All city snow-clearing equipment, including two plow trucks last used to clear snow after the March 2017 blizzard, has been pressed into action since April 3, the second day of a six-day span that saw 65.6 centimetres of snow fall, with three of those days setting daily snowfall records.
Snow fell in Thompson four of the six days from April 2 to April 7, setting records on three of them. The 15.6 centimetres that fell last Thursday was the most since 6.8 cm of snow in 1995, while the 34.4 cm that fell on Friday beat the previous record of 6.4 cm from 1967 by 28 cm. Only 2.8 cm fell April 4, well below the 1973 record of 8.4 cm, while the 12.8 cm of snow on April 7 was close to double the previous record of 6.5 cm in 1981.
According to a study by researchers at the Natural Disaster Surveillance and Early Warning Center (CEMADEN), an agency of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC), both the total rainfall and the frequency of extreme rainfall events in metropolitan São Paulo have increased significantly in the last seven decades.
While there were practically no days with heavy rain (more than 50 mm) in the 1950s, such days have occurred between twice and five times per year in the last ten years in metropolitan São Paulo, according to the authors.
The study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation — FAPESP under the aegis of its Research Program on Global Climate Change (RPGCC). The findings are reported in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Researchers affiliated with INMET, the National Space Research Institute (INPE) and the University of São Paulo's Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (IAG-USP) also took part in the study.
"Intense rainstorms lasting a few hours with huge amounts of water, as much as 80 mm or 100 mm, are no longer sporadic events. They're happening more and more frequently," José Antonio Marengo, a senior researcher at CEMADEN and principal investigator for the study, told.

"The column of ash rose 9.5-10 km above sea level. According to KVERT's satellite data, the ash cloud spread nearly 45 km to the south and south-east from the volcano toward the Kamchatka Bay," KVERT said.
Volcanologists say that Shiveluch's explosive-extrusive eruption continues. The volcano may spew ash again as high as 10-15 km above sea level at any moment.
The Shiveluch is the northernmost active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is located in 50 km from the Klyuchi settlement with around 5,000 residents. The Shiveluch is 3,283 meters high and around 60,000-70,000 years old. The volcano has been erupting since spring 2009.
Strong winds disrupted sea transport and downed trees. Winds of 100 km/h were reported in parts of Central Greece Region. Heavy rain triggered flooding in Thessaly and Thessaloniki Regions, among others.

The National Disaster Management Office said residents along much of the south coast, home to many of the country's major tourist resorts, should evacuate
Cyclone Harold passed over Fiji's south at about midday, levelling homes and snapping communications links in the archipelago, which has adopted curbs on the movement of people to rein in the coronavirus.
"We've seen reports of injuries," Vasiti Soko, the director of the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), said by telephone.
"As to the number, as well as the intensity, of the injuries, that's yet to be ascertained."
2 Apr 2020 - With temperatures dropping below -5 °C (even to -8 °C in some valleys) during the time of blossoming trees, the damage is almost complete - 100% in many vineyards and fruit plantations.
There are numerous reports of destructive frost to the fruit trees (cherry, peach and almond orchard) and some other crops across Slovenia, northeast Italy, Croatia, Serbia and Hungary.
After three sleepless nights operating the anti-frost system, Davide Vernocchi, president of Apo Conerpo, is dispirited: "With these temperatures, this defense system is in crisis. We are talking about 5, 6 degrees below zero in some areas of the province of Ravenna. Apricots, peaches, plums, kiwis: in some cases, the damage is of 100%. There will be less work for everyone. Nature has cruelly solved one of our great concerns: the lack of manpower. Paradoxically, several farmers in the next few months will have to go looking for work somewhere else".












Comment: At least 18 people killed by floods and landslides after 11 inches of rain in 12 hours in São Paulo state, Brazil