Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Czech floods widen, death toll rises to 13

Petr Josek
Reuters
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:07 UTC
Husinec - Heavy rain swept the southern Czech Republic on Sunday causing further flooding and bringing the death toll for the last week to 13, rescue teams and Czech media reported.

Meteorologists said rains would continue into the next week, keeping the east and southwest of the central European country on flood warning until Wednesday.
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Igloo

Polar bear expert barred by global warmists

Christopher Booker
Telegraph.co.uk
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:13 UTC
Polar Bears
© Associated PressAccording to the world's leading expert on polar bears, their numbers are higher than they were 30 years ago
Over the coming days a curiously revealing event will be taking place in Copenhagen. Top of the agenda at a meeting of the Polar Bear Specialist Group (set up under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission) will be the need to produce a suitably scary report on how polar bears are being threatened with extinction by man-made global warming.

This is one of a steady drizzle of events planned to stoke up alarm in the run-up to the UN's major conference on climate change in Copenhagen next December. But one of the world's leading experts on polar bears has been told to stay away from this week's meeting, specifically because his views on global warming do not accord with those of the rest of the group.

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Ladybug

Bee parasite spreading on Hawaii, US


Forbes
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:57 UTC
The varroa mite parasite that's been killing bees across the country is spreading on the Big Island, threatening local fruit and macadamia nut industries. The tiny bug has escaped a quarantine area around Hilo and spread to Hamakua and Puna.

The varroa mite became established on the mainland in the 1980s. Since then, it's destroyed more than half of some beekeepers' hives and devastated most wild honeybee populations. Mainland bees have also been hit by another illness called colony collapse disorder, which causes adult bees to abandon their hives.

Hawaii's first varroa mite was found in 2007 on Oahu, where it is now widely established.
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Cow Skull

Plague wipes out prairie dog town

Kevin Welch
Amarillo.com
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:30 UTC
The heat is not the only thing Panhandle residents need to be careful of this summer. Bubonic plague is affecting animals, and at least one person has contracted West Nile virus in the region.

A prairie dog town in northeast Hansford County was wiped out by bubonic plague in the past few weeks, said Ron Antalek, the county's emergency management coordinator. He suggested being on alert for signs of other die-offs, controlling pets to prevent them from getting the fleas that carry the disease and not directly handling dead rodents.
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Bizarro Earth

3.6 Earthquake felt in NW Oklahoma near Enid, Covington


Enid News & Eagle
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:16 UTC
An earthquake measured at 3.6 on the Richter scale has hit Garfield County in northwestern Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake occurred about 4:23 p.m. Friday. It was centered seven miles east-northeast of Covington, 10 miles southeast of Garber and 23 miles east-southeast of Enid.

The survey records about 50 earthquakes in Oklahoma each year, although few are reported as being felt by residents. The last earthquake in Garfield County happened on Feb. 22.

There were no reports of damage from Friday's quake.

Covington-Douglas High School principal and football coach Brian Smith says he felt and heard "a loud rumble" that sounded like thunder, but that the tremor didn't knock anything off shelves.
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Bizarro Earth

5.1 Earthquake Rattles Island of Santorini


Monsters and Critics
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:13 UTC
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale hit the popular Greek holiday island of Santorini in the early hours Saturday, causing residents and tourists to run out of their homes and hotels in a panic.

The epicentre of the quake was at sea. Two smaller earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.9 and 3.7 had struck the island earlier in the evening.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
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Bizarro Earth

Eight Earthquakes Hit New Zealand's Central North Island


Xinhua
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:00 UTC
Eight earthquakes shook New Zealand's central North Island over a 12-hour period on Saturday, causing no casualties or damage, the GNS Science said.

The quakes began at 1:01 a.m. (13:01 GMT Friday), with a tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale, 10 km north-west of Turangi, at a depth of 3 km.

Six further quakes shook the same location with the last at 10:54 a.m., according to New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS Science). All were at a depth of 5 km or less.

At 12:40 p.m., an earthquake struck within 5 km of Turangi, measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale.
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Bizarro Earth

4.9 Earthquake Hits Central Chile


Xinhua
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:49 UTC
An earthquake with magnitude of 4.9 degrees on the Richter scale shook the central Chile Friday, without reports of casualty and damage.

The earthquake occurred at 9:06 a.m. local time (1306 GMT), its epicenter was located 29 km west to Illape, in Coquimbo region, according to the Seismological Service from the University of Chile.

According to the National office of Emergencies (Onemi), the earthquake has a maximum intensity of III grade in Mercalli scale in the cities of Illapel, Canela, Salamanca, Punitaqui, Los Villos and La Ligua.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Strange cloud formations over New York City

Tima Vlasto
Examiner
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:03 UTC
Mammatus clouds
© UnknownMammatus Cloud Formations over Union Square Park
These very strange cloud formations suddenly appeared in the sky around 8:30 p.m. when the sun was setting in Union Square Park in NYC today.

Moments before their appearance, people were casually sitting on the steps of the park entrance and carrying on as most New Yorkers do. Suddenly, there were sounds of gasps and one by one people held their cell phones up to the sky to photograph this strange occurrence.

These weren't the famed chemtrails, neither the Lenticular clouds that are mistaken for UFO's or the wispy metaphysical Sylphs often spoken about in spiritual circles.

Comment: Here is an article covering the discovery of the "new" cloud formations.

The clouds with no name: Harbingers of a mighty storm

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Briefcase

It's only a bloody computer model!

John Brignell
Number Watch
Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:31 UTC
First let us deal with the inevitable question that comes up when one addresses this topic - what makes you think you are qualified to criticise computer models?

Your bending author:
  • Started digital computer modelling in about 1960 on the first digital computer delivered in the UK for academic research, after wasting a year on an analogue computer. The machine was a Ferranti Pegasus, which had considerably less computing power than a modern hand-held device. Indeed, the computer you are using to read this almost certainly has more computing power than the whole world had then.
  • In the subsequent forty years, reviewed hundreds of computer models - in undergraduate reports, PhD theses and, as a consultant, in industrial applications.
  • Formulated the law of computer models long before global warming hit the headlines.
Most computer models are nonsense. This does not include those used by engineers in designing airplanes, bridges etc., which are based on detailed experiments on the systems involved and tested in a variety of real conditions before being used.
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