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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Fire

Satellite images show vast swathes of Arctic on fire - 850,000 hectares burning in Siberia

wildfire arctic
© Pierre Markuse
Vast stretches of Earth's northern latitudes are on fire right now. Hot weather has engulfed a huge portion of the Arctic, from Alaska to Greenland to Siberia. That's helped create conditions ripe for wildfires, including some truly massive ones burning in remote parts of the region that are being seen by satellites.

Pierre Markuse, a satellite imagery processing guru, has documented some of the blazes attacking the forests and peatlands of the Arctic. The imagery reveals the delicate landscapes with braided rivers, towering mountains, and vast swaths of forest, all under a thick blanket of smoke.

In Alaska, those images show some of the damage wrought by wildfires that have burned more than 1.6 million acres of land this year. Huge fires have sent smoke streaming cities earlier this month, riding on the back of Anchorage's first 90 degree day ever recorded. The image below show some of the more remote fires in Alaska as well as the Swan Lake Fire, which was responsible for the smoke swallowing Anchorage in late June and earlier this month.

Comment: RT reports on the current situation in Siberia:
Almost 44,000 people have signed a petition calling for authorities to declare an emergency in the Siberian Federal District due to wildfires in Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions, RIA Novosti reported.

As of Wednesday morning, wildfires had covered almost 846,000 hectares in the north of the Krasnoyarsk territory, with officials saying that there was no immediate threat to cities and villages.

However, local residents say that pollution from wildfires in Krasnoyarsk has spread with air flows to other regions, covering many areas with a thick haze and burning smell.

Large swathes of the Arctic, including in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland are also on fire. Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at Denmark's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said that it was fair to say that July's "Arctic Circle wildfires are now at unprecedented levels."
If there was any merit to global warming due to carbon emissions then the rise in volcanic activity would be much more of a concern. However, by all measures, our planet, overall, is cooling - with cold records being broken all the time, and in both hemispheres. And so these wildfires, heatwaves and droughts are simply one aspect of the extreme fluctuations that occur as our planet continues on into an unsettled period where lower temperatures will soon dominate.

See also: For more on what's occurring on our planet, check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

SOTT is also tracking these shifts in a monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - June 2019: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs




Snowflake

Ski resort in Argentina hit by 2 feet of snow in 72 hours

snow
© Diego Constantini
A major snowstorm in the Andes has been described as, "One of the most important snowfalls of the last 20 years" by staff at South America's largest ski area by uplift capacity, Argentina's Cerro Catedral near the ski town of Bariloche.

The heavy snowfall, that is ongoing at some resorts in Argentina and Chile but hit Catedral hardest at the end of last week, closing the local airport, also led to extensive ski slope closures due first to a high avalanche danger and then a power failure.

Since then the resort has been 'digging out' and gradually re-opening terrain as it is considered safe by ski patrol staff.


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill at least 32 in a day across Bihar, India

FILE PHOTO: Lightning strikes over Jaipur,
© Global Look Press / ZUMA Press
FILE PHOTO: Lightning strikes over Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
At least 32 people, including women and children, were killed and over a dozen injured in incidents of lightning strikes across Bihar in last 24 hours, an official said on Wednesday.

Eight deaths were reported in Jamui, seven in Aurangabad, five in Banka, three each in Bhagalpur and Rohtas districts followed by two deaths in Nalanda and one death each in Gaya, Munger, Katihar and Araria districts.

Comment: Just two days earlier lightning killed another 32 in 24 hours across the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.


Tornado2

Cape Cod hit by rare tornado

EF-1 tornado rips through Cape Cod communities
© WWLP
EF-1 tornado rips through Cape Cod communities, leaves thousands without power
Cape Cod was hit by a rare tornado Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

There were reports of downed trees and power lines but no known injuries, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Christopher Besse said.

More than 50,000 customers were without power as of 6 p.m. ET, energy company Eversource said.

Of the 1,253 tornadoes that the United States has on average each year, Massachusetts sees only one, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; only Alaska and Rhode Island average none.

Video from CNN affiliate WHDH showed extensive damage to the Cape Sands Inn in West Yarmouth. Megan McGuire, who told the affiliate that she and her mother took shelter between beds at the inn, said she'd never seen anything like it in the 24 years she's been vacationing on Cape Cod.

"It was shocking," McGuire said.


Sun

Extreme weather has had massive impact on food production in Andalusia, Spain

DRIED FRUIT
As reported by COAG Andalucía, the dry weather registered in 2019 in Andalusia has had a massive impact on many parts of the region and has had consequences on the fruit and vegetable production, reducing the harvest forecasts in most provinces.

So far, as far as rainfall is concerned, the hydrometeorological year has been very dry, without significant changes until September with the start of the new rainy season.

The month of April stood out, as the amount of rainfall stood 30% above the average for the whole region, which partially alleviated the situation and allowed the water supply for irrigated crops to be increased (from 4,500 m3 / ha to 5,400 m3 / ha at the Confederation of the Guadalquivir). This was followed by the driest May ever recorded, and those same dynamics continued in June. With such a beginning of the summer, we can expect the water supply situation to worsen in the coming months.

When it comes to the productions affected, in Almería, the rainfed almond harvest has been disastrous, both due to the scarcity of rain and to the drop in temperatures recorded in spring, as well as the gusts of wind that caused the fruit to fall from the trees.

Binoculars

Very rare seabird from Brazil drops in on Bermuda - 4,300 miles away from usual nesting sites

Trindade petrel

Trindade petrel
A rare Brazilian seabird was spotted in Bermuda recently — and may have been trying to nest.

The Bermuda Audubon Society said the Trindade petrel was seen only a few feet from a footpath at Spittal Pond.

A BAS newsletter said: "Robert Branco was visiting Spittal Pond on July 2 when he heard a very loud 'ki ki ki ki' call.

"Following the call, he found a dark seabird sitting in what looked like a nest scrape, about five feet from the main path.

Comment: The entire world population of the species has been estimated as only 2260.


Sun

Severe drought in its 4th year in Klein-Karoo, South Africa badly affecting crop production

Berg River dam, 29 June 2019
© My Franschhoek / Twitter
Berg River dam, 29 June 2019
Vegetable seed and fruit production badly affected, irrigation dams running dry

The water situation looks better in the Boland and Cape Town but alas, that doesn't tell the full story of the Western Cape: the Klein-Karoo has barely had rain or snow this winter and the dam levels are shocking: two important irrigation dams, the Kammanassie Dam and the Stompdrift Dam are 8% and 2% full respectively. The Poortjieskloof Dam is 0.2% full.

According to Agri Western Cape, many fruit orchards and wine vineyards in the Klein-Karoo have either already withered and died because of the drought, or have been removed to relieve pressure on extremely limited water sources.

The production of onion, carrot and beetroot seed in this important seed production area has been hit very hard by the acute shortage of irrigation water.

Cloud Lightning

Man dies after being struck by lightning on Indiana lake

LIGHTNING
A coroner says a man died of cardiac arrest after being struck by lightning while boating on a northern Indiana lake.

Marshall County Coroner John Grolich says 65-year-old Richard Eberhardt and a friend were trying to reach shore at Lake of the Woods after a strong storm blew in Saturday, causing several lightning strikes in the area. Lightning struck hit Eberhardt before their pontoon could make it to shore.

Grolich says CPR was started immediately and emergency responders were dispatched, but Eberhardt was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eberhardt's friend was not injured.

Source: AP

Attention

Lion population has declined by 50% in 25 years - only 25,000 left in Africa

lion
There are half as many African lions than there were 25 years ago. Conservation programs aim to protect the disappearing species by promoting human-lion cohabitation across the African savanna.

For every lion in the wild, there are 14 African elephants, and there are 15 Western lowland gorillas. There are more rhinos than lions, too.

The iconic species has disappeared from 94 percent of its historic range, which once included almost the entire African continent but is now limited to less than 1.71 million square kilometres. With fewer than an estimated 25,000 in Africa, lions are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which determines the conservation status of species.

Cloud Precipitation

Deadly floods hit south and east China - 6 inches of rain in 3 hours

floods
Downpours cause widespread disruption from Sichuan to Fujian provinces.

Rain-triggered floods killed four tourists in east China's Jiangxi province, official media reported early on Monday. The heavy rains started on Sunday afternoon in a mountainous area in Yichun city.

Flooding caused by the downpour trapped 285 hikers from three tourist groups, according to the Jiangxi provincial emergency management bureau.

The remaining hikers were rescued by Monday morning after local authorities sent more than 530 rescuers to the affected area, according to the Xinhua news agency.