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Super Typhoon Wutip becomes the strongest February typhoon in West Pacific Ocean

Super Typhoon Wutip
© NOAA/RAMMB
Himawari-8 infrared image of Super Typhoon Wutip taken at 7:00 am EST Saturday, February 23, 2019. At the time, Wutip was a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds--the strongest February typhoon on record.

'Taiwan's Shield' expected to fend off Super Typhoon Wutip


Wutip is the first super typhoon recorded by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) for the month of February since 1911, but forecasters believe "Taiwan's Shield" will hold up yet again and prevent it from impacting the country directly.

As of 2 a.m. this morning, Super Typhoon Wutip had a radius of 220 kilometers, and was located 2,350 kilometers east-southeast of Taiwan's southernmost tip of Eluanbi moving north-northwest at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour (kph). Wutip was packing maximum sustained winds of 183 kph and gusts of up of to 226 kph.

Over the weekend, Guam avoided the brunt of the storm as it veered to the southwest of the island, only coming within 165 miles at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Heavy rain and strong winds were reported on Guam that day, but other than a few downed signs and tree limbs, no structural damage was incurred, reported The Guam Daily Post.

Snowflake

Snow and gale force winds sweep across Greece

‘Oceanis’ Storm Buries Northern Greece in Snow

‘Oceanis’ Storm Buries Northern Greece in Snow
Temperatures dropped by around 10 degrees Celsius as the cold front "Oceanis" settled over Greece on Saturday, bringing icy cold weather that has disrupted both road and sea transport.

Gale force winds of 8-9 Beaufort, with gusts reaching up to 10 on the Beaufort scale, have led to the cancellation of all scheduled ferry departures from the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio on Saturday afternoon, as well as hydrofoil ferries to the Saronic Gulf ports. Also closed are the Rio-Antirrio, Kyllini-Kefallonia and Kyllini-Zakynthos ferry links.

A scheduled journey from Volos to the Sporades islands in the Aegean was cancelled on Saturday and the Keramoti-Kavala-Thassos, Alexandroupolis-Samothrace ferry lines were closed.


Arrow Down

Two engineers die in Kishtwar landslide, Kashmir

landslide
Two engineers engaged with the Pakal Dul hydroelectric project in Kishtwar district were killed by a landslide on Friday evening.

The incident occurred around 40 km from the district headquarters near the Ikhala area in the Dachan tehsil of Kishtwar. A rescue operation was launched by the authorities and the bodies were recovered.

The deceased have been identified as senior mechanical engineer Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Jammu, and electric engineer Vijay Gupta, a resident of Udhampur.

Question

Mystery as 36ft-long humpback whale is found dead near the mouth of the Amazon river

dead whale
A 36-feet long humpback whale has been found dead in the Amazon jungle, miles from its natural habitat.

Experts in Brazil have been left baffled as to how the ten-tonne animal came to be lying in the woodland area around 50ft (15 meters) from the sea.

The marine mammal was discovered last Friday in the middle of the undergrowth on the island of Marajo off the Araruna Beach, at the mouth of the Amazon River.

Scientists believe the creature died at sea and may have landed in the wooded area after rough seas and high tides threw it inland, far from the ocean.

A team from Semma went to the region to inspect the remains, believed to be a 12-month old calf, and to gather information which could help to explain how the aquatic creature crash landed in the jungle.


Attention

Texas freshwater turtles are dying and state officials don't know why

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is investigating several occurrences of dead or dying turtles at locations around Texas. The department has documented about 60 deaths
© Carl Franklin‎
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is investigating several occurrences of dead or dying turtles at locations around Texas. The department has documented about 60 deaths
Dozens of turtles across Texas have been found dead or dying in the past four months and experts don't know why.

Since Texas Parks and Wildlife staff first noticed the occurrences in November, they've documented about 60 deaths among four different species of freshwater turtles in Fort Worth, Houston and Jasper, department spokeswoman Aubry Buzek said.

The affected turtles have usually been found alone, either near the shore or out of the water, Stephanie Garcia, another department spokesperson, said. Those still alive are lethargic and seem reluctant to move or escape when approached. Their eyes appear to either be swollen or caked closed with exudate, she said. Testing has shown they are terminally septic, meaning their bodies are fighting severe infections that have spread through the bloodstream.

Seismograph

HUGE 100ft sinkhole appears after 'earth tremor' reported in Montenegro

An enormous sinkhole has appeared after an earth tremor in north-eastern Montenegro.

The 100-foot-deep hole in the snowy ground appeared near a water reservoir outside the town of Rozaje. It opened up moments after a slight earth tremor. Stunned residents insisted they had never seen anything like it before.

Ibrahim Halilovic, who lives nearby, told local media: "Nothing has ever happened like this in these parts in all the 91 years I have been around.

"I used to know the forest areas well because I was a shepherd."


Sun

Cosmic rays intensifying for the 4th year in a row

Cosmic rays in the stratosphere are intensifying for the 4th year in a row. This finding comes from a campaign of almost weekly high-altitude balloon launches conducted by the students of Earth to Sky Calculus. Since March 2015, there has been a ~13% increase in X-rays and gamma-rays over central California, where the students have launched hundreds of balloons.

COsmic Rays Increasing
© SpaceWeather
The grey points in the graph are Earth to Sky balloon data. Overlaid on that time series is a record of neutron monitor data from the Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory in Oulu, Finland. The correlation between the two data sets is impressive, especially considering their wide geographic separation and differing methodologies. Neutron monitors have long been considered a "gold standard" for monitoring cosmic rays on Earth. This shows that our student-built balloons are gathering data of similar quality.

Snowflake

Heavy snow in SW Colorado prompts roof clearing warning - 29 inches in 2 days

Heavy snow in southwestern Colorado has closed schools and prompted a warning for people to shovel their roofs.
© Droneflyer Nick
Heavy snow in southwestern Colorado has closed schools and prompted a warning for people to shovel their roofs.
Heavy snow in southwestern Colorado has closed schools and prompted a warning for people to shovel their roofs.

The Durango Herald reports that children in and around Durango got a second straight day off from school Friday because of the storm still hitting the area.

A stretch of U.S. Highway 550 north of the city was also closed until crews can do avalanche control and clear the road.

Wolf Creek Ski Area, known for its big snowfall amounts, says the storm has brought 29 inches (74 centimeters) of snow over the last two days

The region was hit by a severe drought last year but conditions have eased a bit thanks to snow this winter.

Source: AP

Doberman

Video shows dog viciously attacking mail carrier in Detroit

DOG ATTACK
A video captured a dog attacking a mail carrier Friday in Detroit as neighbors tried to stop the attack.

A man driving on Ardmore Street near Eight Mile Road on the city's west side saw the vicious attack and people trying to stop the animal.

One person tried to intervene with a broom, while the man in the vehicle got out and used a trash can, but the attack continued. Eventually, a neighbor was able to get hold of the dog's leash and get it off the mail carrier, and the man who was in the vehicle got the victim in his car for protection.

The dog managed to bite through the mail carrier's shoes. EMS transported the victim to a hospital.


Snowflake

Flagstaff, Arizona digs out from a 36-inch snowfall that shatters 126 year record - UPDATE

Flagstaff snow
© Lisa Abernethy
Lisa Abernethy posted this photo to Twitter saying "I don't think the stop sign will be visible much longer."
Flagstaff shattered the all-time daily snowfall record by 5 p.m., Thursday when the Flagstaff Airport registered 31.6 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.

The previous record, 31 inches, was set on Dec. 30, 1915.

Total snowfall from the storm, which included Wednesday night, was 33.1 inches in Flagstaff as of the latest update provided Thursday from the National Weather Service.

Flagstaff declared a state of emergency Thursday, as schools remained closed and travel was discouraged.

The storm also brought heavy snow to other parts of northern Arizona, including Payson, which saw nearly two feet of snow as of 5:30 p.m., according to the NWS. It prompted officials to close several long stretches of highways throughout the state by Thursday evening.

Other cities receiving significant snowfall amounts of 20 inches or more were Prescott and Williams, while other cities in northern Arizona had seen at least a foot of snow.


Comment: Winter Storm Petra bears down on US East Coast with 200 million people in parts of 39 states in its path

Update: Albuquerque Journal reports:
"This was a very cold and highly unusual event for northern Arizona," said Brian Klimowski, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Flagstaff. "We had record snowfall in several locations - certainly a historical event."

Historical indeed. Flagstaff, Arizona, officially picked up 35.9 inches, its highest single-day snow total in the 126 years that records have been kept. It shatters the previous one-day total of 31 inches, which had stood since 1915.