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New cloud classifications added for the first time in 30 years

Chris Dolce
The Weather Channel
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 16:30 UTC
Asperitas and murus are just two of the names you'll see among several new classifications added to an updated cloud reference released this week by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

This update is the first in 30 years for the International Cloud Atlas, which the WMO calls "the global reference for observing and identifying clouds."

A new cloud species has been added to the atlas called volutus, more commonly known as a roll cloud by meteorologists. Cloud species are subdivisions of the 10 basic cloud "genera," the WMO says.
Roll cloud
© National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington
Roll/volutus clouds are a relatively rare, low-level, horizontal, tube-shaped cloud. Although they are associated with a thunderstorm (or occasionally a cold front), they are completely detached from the base of the cumulonimbus cloud. Volutus is a Latin term for rolled, which perfectly matches their appearance.
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Arrow Down

Most of South Carolina's peach crop lost due to extreme cold weather

Daniel Bonds
wltx.com
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:50 UTC
Damaged peach blossom

Damaged peach blossom
The freezing temperatures last week killed most of South Carolina's peach crop, but strawberries fared better.

"Peaches are a signature South Carolina crop, and this weather anomaly has devastated peach farmers," said Hugh Weathers, South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture.

South Carolina is the largest peach producing state on the East Coast. The state is second only to California nationally.

Weathers said 85 to 90% of the peach crop was lost last week during the extreme cold weather, and the impact will be felt in lots of areas across the nation.

He said, "The South Carolina peach has a great reputation moving up the East Coast, losing the South Carolina peach this summer will bring some tears to New York City."

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Bizarro Earth

Thousands of underground methane bubbles set to explode in Siberia

Kesavan Unnikrishnan
Digital Journal
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 15:07 UTC
As many as 7,000 massive underground methane bubbles, formed by thawing permafrost are set to explode in Siberia. Such explosions, while releasing greenhouse gases, can create massive craters and poses a major safety risk to the local people.
Methane Bubbles
© Steve Jurvetson/Wiki Commons
As the permafrost continues to melt it gives a Swiss cheese-like appearance to the landscape in the Arctic.
Scientists were puzzled over the appearance of numerous craters across the Siberian permafrost over recent years - including the famous 'gateway to the underworld' crater near Batagaiin. Later, it was discovered that unseasonably high temperatures have released methane stored in the permafrost, causing a sort of explosion that forms the craters.

Last year, more than 15 bulges or bulgunyakh in the local Yakut language, were discovered by researchers in Siberia's remote Bely Island. In a followup research, using extensive field expeditions and satellite surveys. thousands of bulging bumps in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas have been identified.

Comment:
In 2014 a mysterious crater-hole was discovered in the Yamal peninsular, northwest Siberia, Russia. It was 'probably caused by methane released as permafrost thawed' according to researchers, and the result of 'internal forces not seen in 8,000 years'. Since then new information has come to light, with witnesses reporting an 'explosion' and a 'glow in the sky' from 100 km away.

This would indicate an extremely powerful explosion occurred from below to form this 'crater-hole', in a region known in the local Nenets language as the 'end of the world'. The recent discovery by scientists of methane 'bubbles' on the remote Belyy Island in the Kara Sea off the Yamal Peninsula coastline may be another alarming sign of increased activity in the depths.
SOTT Exclusive: The growing threat of underground fires and explosions

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Cloud Precipitation

Up to baseball sized hailstones reported in the Carolinas


Spectrum News
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 20:29 UTC
hailstone
The southern Piedmont of North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina took a pounding from hail storms Tuesday evening. In some locations, the hail looked more like snow covering the ground.

Hail up to the size of golf balls was reported near UNC-Charlotte. However, the hail was even larger in South Carolina. Locations near Greenville, South Carolina reported baseball sized hail that shattered car windows in some neighborhoods.
@NWSGSP Brother sent me this picture of hail from Travelers Rest around 6pm. More hail on Wade Hampton moments ago #scwx #severewx #hail pic.twitter.com/U6ml8uqk7z

— Melissa Griffin (@mlgriffinWX1) March 21, 2017
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Wolf

Los Angeles killer pit bulls euthanized...are dog attacks now an epidemic?

Phyllis M Daugherty
City Watch
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 18:33 UTC
PIT BULLS
ANIMAL WATCH-GM Brenda Barnette announced at the LA Animal Services' Commission meeting on March 14, that the two Pit Bulls impounded after the tragic attack which killed Valentin Herrera, 76, and his small dog last month have been euthanized.

Mr. Herrera and his 5-year-old Pomeranian were walking in the 2600 block of Lincoln Park Blvd. near his home on February 2, when two male Pit Bulls which had escaped from a nearby yard grabbed the tiny dog, "shredding his body like a piece of material," according to a neighbor. An eyewitness said that the owner of the Pit Bulls saw the dogs attacking but took no action to stop them.

When he tried to save his best friend, Mr. Herrera was also attacked, suffering severe injuries to his head and arms.

He underwent surgery but remained in a coma and never regained consciousness. According to a statement by a family member on their GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses, "...after about 3 weeks of being in the hospital the doctors have told us that his brain is no longer functioning. The family and I have decided to let him go and rest, because we know he has been through so much."

Mr. Herrera died on February 28, just before a scheduled hearing on the attack by the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services on March 1.
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Tornado2

Two waterspouts filmed near Carmila, Australia


Yahoo! News
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 15:39 UTC
Waterspouts off Carmila
Two waterspouts were spotted near Carmila in Queensland on March 20. Severe thunderstorm warnings were in place for the area, according to local reports. Rain rates of up to 2.3 inches were also recorded in Queensland.

This video shows the waterspouts from a distance. The uploader told Storyful that the waterspouts "only lasted for a couple of minutes."


Source: Storyful News
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Blue Planet

The rusty patched bumble bee officially placed on endangered species list


RT
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 15:36 UTC
Bee pollinating
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The rusty patched bumble bee has been given the dubious honor of being the first bee to make the endangered species list. The bee, which was once a prominent feature of the Midwest, has lost 90 percent of its population, giving many cause for concern.

The rusty patched bumble bee on Tuesday became the first bee in the continental US to be placed on the endangered species list by the Department of the Interior. The bee's status was the result of a bureaucratic tug-of-war between the transfer of power from Barack Obama to President Trump.

The bee was initially proposed for the list in September 2016 after it was determined that in the past 20 years, the rusty patched bumble bee's population has decreased over 90 percent due to disease, pesticide, climate change and habitat loss, Reuters reported.
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Attention

Dead whale found near Port aux Basques, Canada


The Gulf News
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 13:55 UTC
A dead whale washed ashore near Port aux Basques on Friday and was carried out to sea by winds and tide later in the evening.
© Harold Strickland
A dead whale washed ashore near Port aux Basques on Friday and was carried out to sea by winds and tide later in the evening.
A dead whale was spotted in the waters surrounding Port aux Basques on Friday morning.

The bloated carcass was carried out to sea by winds and tide until it disappeared from view sometime later that evening, according to local coast guard reports.

The species of whale is uncertain. It was estimated to be about 50-feet long.
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Attention

Dead baleen whale found at the mouth of Yangtze River in China

Zhang Ningning
Shanghai Daily
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 13:36 UTC
Fishermen were alarmed to see the creature had no head

Fishermen were alarmed to see the creature had no head
A dead whale, found at the mouth of Yangtze River by fishermen, will be preserved as a specimen.

The local agricultural commission said yesterday that the cause of death was still under investigation and dissection would take place.

The male baleen whale, some 22 meters in length, was missing its left fin and had been dead for more than 10 days, experts with Shanghai Ocean University and Shanghai Science and Technology Museum said after a preliminary study yesterday.

The body was highly decayed, they said. The remains were taken to a port in Pudong's Nanhui area on Monday.

"We first noticed the whale on Sunday afternoon," Lu Haibing, 59, captain of the boat that spotted the whale, told Shanghai Daily. "At first we thought it was an overthrown yacht and then realized it was body of a big creature."

Comment: See also: Stranded sperm whale with 'mouth full of garbage' dies in Guangdong, China

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Seismograph

5.5 magnitude earthquake shakes Bali, Indonesia


Globalnews.ca
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 22:12 UTC
Bali earthquake March 2017
© USGS
An earthquake has hit Indonesia's resort island of Bali, causing some panic among residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.5 earthquake that struck at 7:10 a.m. Wednesday was centred two kilometres northeast of Banjar Pasekan, a town in the southeastern part of Bali, at a depth of 118 kilometres.

Witnesses said many residents and tourists ran out of their homes and hotels toward higher ground, but the situation returned to normal after they received text messages saying the quake had no potential to trigger a tsunami.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency measured the earthquake at 6.4 magnitude but said it would not cause a tsunami because the epicenter was so deep.

Indonesia is prone to the seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. In December 2004, a massive earthquake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
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