Earth Changes

Dead minke whale found washed up on Fife beach in Scotland

Sarah Vesty
Daily Record
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:44 UTC

Dead Minke whale on the beach at St Andrews

A 23ft whale has washed up on a popular Scots beach after becoming tangled in fishing gear and drowning.

The mammal, which is believed to be an adult male Minke whale, was spotted lying on the West Sands beach in St Andrews, Fife, on Wednesday evening.

Experts from the SRUC's Marine Animal Strandings Scheme travelled to the scene today to carry out an autopsy on the massive mammal.

Members of the public are being urged not to touch the whale and to simply observe it from afar over fears the animal could be carrying infectious bacteria.

Expert Dr Andrew Brownlow said: "There's a huge public interest in this because they're amazing animals that are from our coastline and I think there's a certain level of wonder about the size of them given that they are mammals.

Two farmers were killed by lightning bolt in Cambodia

Pav Suy
Khmer Times
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:05 UTC

Two farmers were killed by a lightning strike in Banteay Meanchey province yesterday, according to police.

The men, a father and his son-in-law, were changing their tractor's tires near their rice field in Thmey Thma Pouk district's Khang Lech village on their way home at about 3:30pm when the storm struck, district deputy police chief So Chhea said.

"The two men were at the rice field changing their wheels after plowing the rice field in the rain while traveling back home. Our forces went to the scene, but the victims had already died. They were under a large tree when the lightning struck," Mr. Chhea said.

He added that in a given year there are typically two to three lightning-related deaths in the area. Last year, a fisherman was struck and killed nearby.

Phum Thmey commune police administrator Yim Sokha identified the father-in-law as 50-year-old Yong Ya and his son-in-law as 31-year-old Ky Sophal.

Shark bites off surfer's leg near Perth, Australia

BBC
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 14:35 UTC

Emergency services tend to the injured surfer

A surfer is in a critical condition after a shark bit off his leg at a beach in Western Australia.

Ben Gerring, 29, was in the water near Mandurah, south of Perth, when the attack occurred.

The attack occurred at around 16:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Local media reports said Mr Gerring was resuscitated before he was taken to hospital. He has undergone surgery and remains in a critical condition.

"He was right out the back looking to get a big wave, one of the set waves that had been coming through during the day," Brian Williams, president of the Mandurah Boardriders Club and friend of the victim, told ABC.

Ambulance and police officers help a critically injured surfer after a shark ripped off his leg in an attack in Western Australia

© AFP/Getty Images
Ambulance and police officers help a critically injured surfer after a shark ripped off his leg in an attack in Western Australia

Space rock? Two waves of loud booms shake ground, shatter windows in Iasi, Romania

TW
The Watchers
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 13:48 UTC

Two waves of very loud explosions were heard in and around the Romanian city of Iasi around 10:30 UTC (13:30 local time) on June 1, 2016. Witnesses say that sonic booms were heard in a diameter of 50 - 75 km (31 to 46 miles) around Iasi, shattering windows and shaking the ground two times within 15 minutes.

Although there are no official explanations as of yet, reports we received describe the event as similar to the February 2013 meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, injuring more than 1,000 people and damaging more than 3,000 structures.

Our reader from Iasi said:

It felt like a group of waves, that hit one after the other. Some glass was broken in apartments, the furniture was shaken, but it was not a simple earthquake, and the sound was identical to a sonic boom and very very similar to this Russia meteor sound shockwave.

The weather was very cloudy, so I can't tell if there was any smoke or trace of anything. 15 minutes after the first wave there was another. It was less powerful, but it lasted longer, for about 5 minutes. After the bang, lights from the house and the TV turned themselves off and came back on after a few seconds.

No one knows what happened, but a lot of people heard and felt it, from the center of the city to the areas located some 50 or 75 km from the center. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any news about craters found or recordings of the event yet. There are some photos of shattered glass, and one local mall was affected, but officials either keep quiet or they answer it wasn't them.

Comment: See also:

Rare 'snow' hits tropical Zimbabwe

Robert
Ice Age Now
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 13:22 UTC

Reached a depth of 30 cm (12 inches)

The "Zimbabwe Snowfall" of last Friday was not a hoax, but real. Albeit it was technically not snow, but a form of sleet, frozen rain. There have been thunder storms and very low temperatures.

It is the first time this weather phenomenon has been experienced in tropical Zimbabwe. The depth of the ice was 30 cm and it all happened within a small radius of 5 km.

A real trail of destruction was left behind, vegetables and houses were damaged, trees were being stripped off of their leaves while many small animals like rabbits and snakes died.

The meteorological services department has described the "snow" that fell in lower Gwero last Friday as a rare sleet phenomenon that has taken place in the country for the first time in history."

Earlier news items were a bit skeptical, but it turned out it was not a hoax, it was really true.

'Fire rainbow' phenomenon seen around Puget Sound, Washington

KIRO 7
Tue, 31 May 2016 18:51 UTC

What looks like a rainbow in the clouds and is sometimes called a "fire rainbow" isn't a rainbow at all.

It's a "circumhorizontal arc," a phenomenon that occurs when the sun interacts with ice crystals in high cirrus clouds overhead.

The ice crystals in the clouds cause sunlight to refract or bend -- creating a rainbow appearance.

KIRO 7 viewers flooded Facebook Tuesday with images of a fire rainbow seen around northern Puget Sound.
Below, meteorologist Morgan Palmer explains the special conditions needed for a circumhorizontal arc to occur.

The ice crystals in the cirrus clouds high aloft must be shaped like plates and the wind aloft must orient those crystals at just the right angle to act as prisms for the sunlight. Also, the sun must be at an elevation above the horizon of 58 degrees or greater, which only occurs in the late spring through early fall in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of the year, the sun never gets high enough in our sky.

Growing sinkhole closes 3 lanes on Interstate 5 near Tracy, California

CBS News - Sacramento
Tue, 31 May 2016 21:06 UTC

A sinkhole along Interstate 5 in San Joaquin County is diverting traffic.

The sinkhole is just south of Highway 33, Caltrans says.

Northbound I-5 at Highway 132 will be closed for at least two to three days due to the sinkhole. A detour has been set up at Highway 33.

A Caltrans maintenance crew found the small hole on Tuesday morning, but that hole wouldn't stay small for long. Caltrans says the hole was 15 feet and growing and crews will have to tear apart the roadway to find the source of the sinkhole.

Major thunderstorm in Pakistan leaves 34 dead and almost 200 wounded

Sputnik
Thu, 02 Jun 2016 12:08 UTC

At least 34 people died and almost 200 were wounded in a major thunderstorm that hit the north of Pakistan, local media reported Thursday.

Dunya News TV reported on Thursday that India's Punjab state, bordering Pakistan, was hit by dust and wind storms on Wednesday. The storms led to power cuts, building collapses and fires. Most victims died under collapsing buildings, fallen trees and billboards.

Flight operations were halted at the Benazir International Airport in Islamabad, and city transport service was also suspended, Geo TV said. But on Thursday morning the airport resumed flights.

Waiting for summer: Extreme snowstorm freezes northern Russia

Strange Sounds
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 07:50 UTC

Is summer going to start? Well, not currently in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject in northern Russia. An extreme snowstorm is currently sweeping everything on its path with wind gusts of up to 22 meters per second tearing away roofs, breaking trees as well as road signs.

This is what the summer looks like in Pangody, Russia:

-2 ° C, constant wind blowing at 5 m/s from the north-northeast with gusts reaching 22 m / s, heavy snowfall... Just insane!

Comment: It isn't only northern Russia that is waiting for summer to arrive.

Strong 6.5 quake strikes off Indonesia's coast

RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 23:42 UTC

A powerful 6.5 earthquake hit the western Indonesian island of Sumatra on Thursday. The epicenter of the quake was about 40km (25 miles) from the coast, according to the US Geological Survey.

Earthquake depth was 50.8 km.