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Exceptionally warm February weather breaks records across Switzerland


The Local Switzerland
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 10:08 UTC
the sun
© The Local
Thursday was exceptionally warm in Switzerland with many places across the country seeing temperatures of around 20 degrees, breaking previous records for the month of February.

The unseasonal weather, due to a mass of dry, hot air moving up from Spain, meant it felt more like the end of April than February, with temperatures on the Swiss lowlands some 12 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year, said MeteoNews.

The cities of Nyon, Sion, Aigle and Neuchâtel all broke their previous February records. In Sion, the mercury rose to 21.2 degrees, smashing its previous record of 19.8 set in 1998. Nyon reached 18.4 degrees and Aigle 19.5.

Cities in German-speaking Switzerland were also affected, with Thun, Interlaken and Basel-Binningen all surpassing 20 degrees. Lucerne wasn't far behind with 19.9 degrees, Zurich reached 19.5 and Bern set a new city record for February with 18.5 degrees.
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Tornado2

Tornadoes and large hail hit US Midwest leaving at least 2 dead

JULIA JACOBO and MELISSA GRIFFIN
ABC News
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 01:00 UTC
Tornado watch in Illinois
© ABC
A tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch were issued for several parts of Illinois Tuesday night.
Parts of the Midwest were hit with severe weather Tuesday evening, including tornadoes and thunderstorms that are expected to continue into early Wednesday morning. At least two fatalities have been reported.

As of late Tuesday night, a tornado watch was in effect until 4 a.m. for parts of Illinois and Indiana.

Some of the most widespread damage was found in Ottawa, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The warning for this area described the tornado responsible for the damage as particularly dangerous.

The deputy chief of the Ottawa Fire Department tells ABC News that the city has sustained one fatality.

And according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, an apparent tornado picked up at least 15 cars from a junkyard near I-55, and dumped them on the interstate. One of the junk cars hit an occupied vehicle on the Interstate, killing its occupant, a resident of nearby Perryville.


Comment: First ever February tornado hits Massachusetts

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Hardhat

Large sinkhole opens in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Joe Cavaretta
Sun-Sentinel
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 22:00 UTC
Ft. Lauderdale, FL sinkhole
© Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel
Sinhole formed just north of Davie Boulevard along 24th Avenue.
The sinkhole didn't swallow anybody or anything. But it was large enough to easily fit several full-sized adults inside.

The sinkhole that was spotted early Monday along Southwest 24th Avenue's frontage road, just north of Davie Boulevard, happened after a 6-inch water pipe below ground broke, officials said. By Monday afternoon the pipe had been repaired.

Crews from Fort Lauderdale and Florida's Department of Transportation are working to rebuild the concrete structure around the storm drain. It's likely that the travel lane where the sinkhole formed will be closed until Thursday, according to Matt Little, Fort Lauderdale spokesman.

The hole is too large to put a plate over it, Little said.

"We expect fill and pavement to be complete on Thursday depending on weather and delivery of materials," Little said.
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Blackbox

Louisiana sheriff's office investigating reports of loud house-shaking boom


KSLA12
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 17:11 UTC
Mystery boom
Natchitoches officials are searching for an explanation for a loud boom that nearly four dozen residents say shook their homes.

The parish's 911 call center received about 50 calls reporting the loud boom just before noon Saturday, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office reports. Most callers said that they felt their houses shake and that windows, pictures on the wall and dishes shook as well, Sheriff Victor Jones said.

Deputies who went to areas of the parish where the boom was heard were unable to pinpoint an exact location.

"Over the course of the last week, U.S. Forest Service has been conducting numerous control burns in south Natchitoches Parish consisting of several thousand acres which have caused smoke haze in the area," sheriff's Capt. Tony Moran said. That wouldn't explain the noise.

And Fort Polk officials said no military training operations were being held at Peason Ridge.

Comment: On Sunday evening a loud boom and fireball were reported in nearby Texas.

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Arrow Down

Huge sinkhole swallows SUV in Hoboken, New Jersey


nbcnewyork.com
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:23 UTC
A huge sinkhole swallowed an SUV after a water main break flooded streets in Hoboken Tuesday morning.

A huge sinkhole swallowed an SUV after a water main break flooded streets in Hoboken Tuesday morning.
A huge sinkhole swallowed an SUV after a 12-inch water main break flooded streets in Hoboken, New Jersey, Tuesday morning.

Chopper 4 showed the muddied red SUV on its side as workers stood around the waterlogged pit on Willow Avenue between Fifth and Sixth avenues just before 7:30 a.m. No one was in the vehicle; it had apparently been submerged and workers only noticed it once the water receded.

Utility company Suez was investigating the break. It said no customers were without water by 9:30 a.m., and repairs were expected to be completed by early afternoon.

Streets were shut down in the area as crews worked to repair the main. Some NJ Transit bus service was rerouted.

The cause of the break is under investigation.

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Gold Bar

Storm runoff could trigger new California gold rush

Joe Vazquez
CBS San Francisco Bay Area
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:21 UTC
Gold panning in California
© YouTube/CBS SF Bay Area (screen capture)
Weeks of rainy weather across Northern California and the storm runoff through the hills of gold country have triggered a new gold rush.

"Miner Gary" Thomas said he always finds at least a little gold here on his property near Jamestown in Tuolumne County, but this year, there's so much more runoff than normal and it's shaking the gold from these hills.

Thomas said it could provide a "Eureka" moment for those inclined to come up here and look for it. "(The runoff) kind of 'etch-a-sketches' everything," said Thomas. "Everything I had dug up and now my dig spots are all gone."

The known gold digs were washed out, trees uprooted, and landscape eroded. The runoffs have also removed gold out of the old abandoned mines and sent it down the river.

"It's going to bring down more gold," said Thomas. "It's going to bring up new areas that I never got to."

Thomas runs tour groups through his property and said now is the optimum time for gold hunting because the storms have just finished churning the landscape.

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Snowflake

At least 65 Snowy owls invade Bruce County, Ontario

Rob Gowan
Owen Sound Sun Times
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 17:19 UTC
A snowy owl flies over a field near Chesley.
© Rob Gowan
A snowy owl flies over a field near Chesley.
The snowy owls have landed in Bruce County.

As many as 40 of the birds have been spotted in an area north of Chesley over the past couple of weeks, attracting birders, photographers and others to the area.

"It is quite remarkable," said local birder Peter Middleton, who has been down to count and document the owls on a couple of occasions.

The flat open farmland in the area has traditionally been an area hot spot for the large, majestic birds whose traditional territory is the Arctic. But locals are reporting larger numbers of owls over the past couple of weeks than traditionally have made their way to the area, with some reports of over 40 owls in the area near Chesley and 65 across southern Bruce County.

Middleton said the reason why the birds have made their way to Bruce County recently is open to conjecture, but he believes it is related to a massive irruption of the birds on the Arctic tundra about three years ago.

"This is an irruptive species, which means it will move either according to weather or more normally in response to the presence of prey," said Middleton. "If prey is thin-spread they will move south in search of it."
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Seismograph

Earthquake of 5.6 magnitude strikes off Japan's Fukushima, no tsunami risk


Hindustan Times
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:44 UTC
A picture taken on February 10, 2016 shows cranes at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Namie, Fukushima prefecture, in Japan.
© AFP
A picture taken on February 10, 2016 shows cranes at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Namie, Fukushima prefecture, in Japan.
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday struck northeastern Japan near the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant but there was no fear of a tsunami, Japanese and US authorities said.

The quake struck at a depth of 42.3 kilometres (26 miles) in the Pacific Ocean 34 kilometres east-northeast of the town of Namie, the US Geological Survey said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no risk of a tsunami from the quake, which caused some swaying in high-rise buildings in Tokyo.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries though some local service train services stopped, public broadcaster NHK reported.
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Seismograph

Powerful shallow earthquake of 6.0 magnitude hits Pakistan

Dawood Rehman
Daily Pakistan
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:37 UTC
GRAPH
An earthquake has hit the upper and central parts of Pakistan.

The epicentre of the 6.0 magnitude quake was located in Tajikistan at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Tremors were felt in Peshawar, Lower Dir, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Azad Kashmir region.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

The tremors have reportedly caused panic among residents across the country, where the cities and towns most affected by the quake are located.
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Attention

Fourth dead whale in a month washes ashore in Virginia

Hillary T Chesson
Delmarva Now
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:25 UTC
The carcass of what appears to be a heavily decomposed and scavaged humpback whale washed ashore at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, according to Matthew Klepeisz, public relations manager at the Virginia Aquarium.
© Chase Haugh
The carcass of what appears to be a heavily decomposed and scavaged humpback whale washed ashore at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, according to Matthew Klepeisz, public relations manager at the Virginia Aquarium.
The carcass of what appears to be a heavily decomposed humpback whale washed ashore over the weekend at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, officials said.

"We are planning to get a team out there this week for a necropsy, but, candidly, I don't know how much they will be able to find given the advanced state of decomposition," said Matthew Klepeisz, public relations manager at the Virginia Aquarium.

It is the fourth humpback whale to wash ashore in Virginia in the past month.
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