Earth Changes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.















Comment: RT reports on the current situation in Siberia: 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:
- Professor Valentina Zharkova explains and confirms why a "Super" Grand Solar Minimum is upon us
- Europe's record breaking warm winter leads to unprecedented wildfires
- Colder summers killing Antarctica's moss forests
- Erratic seasons and extreme weather devastating crops around the world
- SOTT Exclusive: The growing threat of underground fires and explosions
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