Earth Changes
MIAMI - The director of the National Hurricane Center went on leave Monday, government officials said, four days after many of the center's employees called for his removal because of his comments about an aging weather satellite.
Overnight rain and cooler temperatures slowed a South Dakota wildfire, as other fires blackened the landscape in California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Montana and Oregon.
Many of the fires were started by lightning and fueled by dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the western United States last week.
The South Dakota fire had raced out of a canyon, destroyed 27 houses and killed a homeowner who went back to try to save his belongings, a top fire official said early Monday.
The change in weather gave firefighters a chance to shore up their fire lines, though conditions could shift again for the worse, state wildland fire coordinator Joe Lowe told crews at a morning briefing held in light rain.
"This fire is not over yet," he cautioned. "This fire could come back to life again."
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| ©noaa |
Many of the fires were started by lightning and fueled by dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the western United States last week.
The South Dakota fire had raced out of a canyon, destroyed 27 houses and killed a homeowner who went back to try to save his belongings, a top fire official said early Monday.
The change in weather gave firefighters a chance to shore up their fire lines, though conditions could shift again for the worse, state wildland fire coordinator Joe Lowe told crews at a morning briefing held in light rain.
"This fire is not over yet," he cautioned. "This fire could come back to life again."
A giant sinkhole swallowed a stretch of street on Mexico City's east side, with one man feared dead and 30 families evacuated, authorities said Monday.
Even in a city where historic buildings regularly lean, crack, collapse or sink below sidewalk level due to excessive water extraction and unstable soil, the 45-foot-deep sinkhole - which measures about 15 yards in diameter - came as a shock.
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| ©AP |
| Rescue workers stand by a 45 foot deep sinkhole that swallowed a stretch of street in Mexico City on Sunday. It began as a giant crack late Saturday in the eastern Iztapalapa borough and rapidly worsened when the ground collapsed, swallowing a car, the facade of a one-story brick building and pavement. One man is feared dead. |
Even in a city where historic buildings regularly lean, crack, collapse or sink below sidewalk level due to excessive water extraction and unstable soil, the 45-foot-deep sinkhole - which measures about 15 yards in diameter - came as a shock.
Thousands of Argentines cheered and threw snowballs in the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday as the capital's first major snowfall since 1918 spread a thin white mantle across the region.
Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital, accumulating in a mushy but thin white layer late Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow.
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| ©AP Photo/Daniel Luna |
| People hold pigeons in Plaza de Mayo as it sleets in Buenos Aires, Monday, July 9, 2007. Argentina is experiencing one of its coldest winters in decades. |
Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital, accumulating in a mushy but thin white layer late Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow.
Los Angeles suffered through the driest rainy season on record in 2007, marking the least amount of precipitation here in the 130 years rainfall has been measured, weather officials said Sunday.
There were just 8.15 centimeters (3.2 inches) of rain in Los Angeles between January 1 and June 30 -- barely a fifth of the annual average rainfall of 38.3 centimeters (15 inches). "This was the driest rain season ever in downtown Los Angeles and at many other locations in southwestern California," the National Weather Service said in a statement. Most California rains fall in the first half of the year, particularly between January and March. The National Weather Service began compiling precipitation statistics in 1877. Los Angeles residents saw very heavy rains from late 2005 into early 2006, but officials warned that water rationing is possible by next winter if drought conditions persist.
There were just 8.15 centimeters (3.2 inches) of rain in Los Angeles between January 1 and June 30 -- barely a fifth of the annual average rainfall of 38.3 centimeters (15 inches). "This was the driest rain season ever in downtown Los Angeles and at many other locations in southwestern California," the National Weather Service said in a statement. Most California rains fall in the first half of the year, particularly between January and March. The National Weather Service began compiling precipitation statistics in 1877. Los Angeles residents saw very heavy rains from late 2005 into early 2006, but officials warned that water rationing is possible by next winter if drought conditions persist.
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Flintshire is experiencing the kind of freak weather seen only once in a lifetime, including a spectacular tornado.
This photograph - taken by Leader photographer Rick Matthews from Hilbre Island - shows the tornado over the Mostyn/Ffynnongroyw area at noon yesterday (July 8).
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| ©Rick Matthews |
| A tornado over the Mostyn/Ffynnongroyw area at noon on July 8. |
This photograph - taken by Leader photographer Rick Matthews from Hilbre Island - shows the tornado over the Mostyn/Ffynnongroyw area at noon yesterday (July 8).
People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday.
A central eastern Queensland mine has turned up bat fossils which show climate change has had a negative impact on the state's bat population.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) PhD student Sandrine Martinez is currently sifting through what is the largest and best record of the state's southern most bat population from the late Pleistocene Epoch (beginning two million years ago and ending approximately 10,000 years ago).
The fossil deposits were uncovered by mining operations at Mt Etna, near Rockhampton.
They contain a succession of bat remains ranging from the late Pleistocene Epoch to the present and span the transition from full tropical rainforest habitats to the more arid environment that currently characterises the Mt Etna region.
Ms Martinez will compare information obtained from fossil data to the bat communities that still occur in the Mt Etna caves.
"What I've found so far is an overall decrease in species richness - today the Mt Etna caves are inhabited by five species of bat (excluding fruit bats) while in the late Pleistocene there were at least eight," Ms Martinez said.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) PhD student Sandrine Martinez is currently sifting through what is the largest and best record of the state's southern most bat population from the late Pleistocene Epoch (beginning two million years ago and ending approximately 10,000 years ago).
The fossil deposits were uncovered by mining operations at Mt Etna, near Rockhampton.
They contain a succession of bat remains ranging from the late Pleistocene Epoch to the present and span the transition from full tropical rainforest habitats to the more arid environment that currently characterises the Mt Etna region.
Ms Martinez will compare information obtained from fossil data to the bat communities that still occur in the Mt Etna caves.
"What I've found so far is an overall decrease in species richness - today the Mt Etna caves are inhabited by five species of bat (excluding fruit bats) while in the late Pleistocene there were at least eight," Ms Martinez said.
At least 94 people have died and 25 have been reported missing as the result of flooding in seven Chinese provinces, the Xinhua news agency said Monday.
More than 16 million people live in the affected areas, and authorities have evacuated more than 500,000. The western provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi were hit hardest.
More than 16 million people live in the affected areas, and authorities have evacuated more than 500,000. The western provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi were hit hardest.
Violent tidal waves have been battering the coastlines of Kanyakumari district lately, killing four people and destroying more than 50 fishing boats, menacing coastal communities in the southern tip of India.
