Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Weatherspace Prediction: Arctic blast will hit Midwest next week, the Northeast a week after


TheWeatherSpace.com
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:23 UTC
Image

Since early this month, TheWeatherSpace.com has been predicting an arctic blast for half of the United States, far colder than anything seen this winter yet, and it looks like it is coming.

According to our meteorologist's analysis and report today, cold air coming out of Western Canada will dip directly into the United States next week, bringing the coldest air through the Canada and North Dakota border by January 17th, with -30F temperatures expected.

Temperatures are expected to be below zero, even at -10F or lower a day or two after in areas like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Northern Missouri, Eastern Nebraska, and Iowa.

A week after, around January 24th, The Northeastern United States may have temperatures well below zero for even a daytime high as the polar vortex moves through Eastern Canada.

This is a dangerous situation coming up, which will lead to many deaths in anyone exposed to this cold for a short period of time over a large area of the Upper part of the Central and Eastern United States.

Comment: SOTT can't validate predictions made by The Weatherspace.com, but we are certainly interested in monitoring their track record.

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Cloud Lightning

Brazil Flood Death Toll Rises to 443, More Feared

Sergio Queiroz
Reuters
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:25 UTC
Brazil flood/truck in water
© Reuters/Bruno DomingosA partially submerged vehicle is seen after a landslide in Teresopolis, Jan 13, 2011.
Rescue workers dug desperately for survivors on Thursday and struggled to reach areas cut off by floods and landslides that have killed at least 443 people in one of Brazil's deadliest natural disasters in decades.

Torrents of mud and water set off by heavy rains left a trail of destruction through the mountainous Serrana region near the city of Rio de Janeiro, toppling houses, buckling roads and burying entire families as they slept.

"It's like an earthquake struck some areas," said Jorge Mario, the mayor of Teresopolis, where 185 people were killed and scores more were feared dead.

"The death toll is going to climb a lot. There are a lot of people buried who can't get help because rescue teams can't get there," Mario said, adding that three of the town's neighborhoods were destroyed by the flooding.

The mudslides swept away the homes of rich and poor alike in and around Teresopolis and other towns, likely causing billions of dollars in damage. But the brunt of the disaster was borne by poorer rural residents in houses built in risky areas without formal planning permission.

The floods have not affected Brazil's main export crops -- soy, sugar cane, oranges and coffee -- although they could push up local food prices further as the small Serrana region is an important producer of fruit and vegetables for the Rio metropolitan area.

Television images showed rescuers trying to haul residents from raging floodwaters, and going through the ruins of homes in search of survivors, often finding only corpses. One success came when a 6-month-old baby was rescued alive from the rubble of a house, drawing thunderous cheers from residents.
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Bizarro Earth

US: More Aftershocks Rattle Monterey County Following 4.5 Magnitude Earthquake


CBS San Francisco
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:17 UTC
Image
© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reported another pair of magnitude 3.0 and larger earthquakes struck Wednesday evening near Monterey County, less than a day after a 4.5-magnitude tremor and numerous aftershocks rattled the region.

The largest earthquakes this evening - one with a magnitude of 3.7 and the other with a magnitude of 3.9 - shook an area seven miles west of Prunedale at 7:54 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.

Since Wednesday morning, that area of the hills bordering Monterey and San Benito counties has experienced 27 earthquakes following the magnitude 4.5 quake that punctuated the day's seismic activity.

That tremor struck near Fremont Peak State Park at 12:51 a.m., according to the USGS, and had a depth of 1.8 miles. The epicenter was located 10 miles east-southeast of Prunedale and 45 miles south-southeast of San Jose.

Most of the aftershocks had a magnitude between 1.1 and 2.9, but four of the 27 measured 3.0 or larger.
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Bizarro Earth

Sicily: Spectacular Night Footage of Mount Etna Eruption


Russia Today
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:39 UTC
Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna has begun spewing lava again. The Sicilian volcano sent bright orange balls of lava straight up into the air and a steady glowing orange flow ran down its side. According to the ANSA news agency, flames went hundreds of metres into the air and could be seen from the nearby towns of Catania and Taormina.
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Bizarro Earth

Loyalty Islands - Earthquake Magnitude 7.0


USGS
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:06 UTC
Loyalty Islds Quake_130111
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 16:16:41 UTC

Friday, January 14, 2011 at 03:16:41 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.589°S, 168.548°E

Depth:
7.2 km (4.5 miles)

Region:
LOYALTY ISLANDS

Distances:
125 km (80 miles) NNE of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

135 km (85 miles) SSW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu

285 km (180 miles) NE of NOUMEA, New Caledonia

1755 km (1090 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Radar

Floods force a million Sri Lankans from homes

Amal Jayasinghe
Agence France-Presse
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:51 UTC
Image
© Associated Press/Kailapillai Ruthiran
Flooding in Sri Lanka has forced more than one million people out of their homes, the government said Thursday as it began distributing emergency food, clothing and bedding.

At least 23 people have died during a week of monsoon floods, with the centre and east of the island worst hit by rising water levels and mudslides.

A spokesman for the disaster management centre in Colombo said the eastern district of Batticaloa, which saw bloody fighting in the civil war that ended in 2009, was badly affected after heavier than usual seasonal rains.

"Some 541,000 people have been displaced in Batticaloa district alone where we have set up 275 camps to accommodate them," the spokesman said, adding that a total of 1,081,000 people have been displaced.

More than 350,000 people have taken shelter in state-run relief camps while other displaced people have moved to higher ground, often staying with friends or relatives, he said.
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Bizarro Earth

New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands on Red Alert for Cyclone Vania

Patrick Decloitre
Pacific Scoop, New Zealand
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00 UTC
Cyclone Vania
© Storm2k.orgCyclone Vania lashed southern Vanuatu and moved on the Loyalty Islands.
French authorities in New Caledonia today flagged a red alert for the French Pacific territory's north-eastern Loyalty slands group, due to the ominous approach by tropical cyclone Vania, which has overnight lashed at neighbouring Vanuatu's southern islands.

The red alert, which is a maximum level on a scale of three (yellow, orange, red) was due to come into force at 3 pm local time (GMT+11), the French High Commission in Nouméa said in a release.

The red alert effectively means that people should stay indoors until further notice and continue to monitor cyclone-related advice on local media.

A previous orange alert had been imposed on the Loyalty Islands, on Wednesday, prompting the population to store goods and essential items such as batteries, water and food.
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Bizarro Earth

Update: Torrential Rain, Mudslides in Brazil Kill 239

Juliana Barbassa
The Globe and Mail, Canada
Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:49 UTC
Brazil Floods
© Roberto Ferreira/APCars sit in debris in a flooded street in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. Torrential summer rains tore through Rio de Janeiro state's mountains, killing at least 140 people in 24 hours, Brazilian officials said Wednesday.
Summer rains sent tons of red mud and torrents of water rushing down mountainsides in towns outside Rio de Janeiro, enveloping the homes of rich and poor alike and killing at least 239 people in 24 hours. Some survivors clung to trees to escape the water and landslides.

Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands to dig through debris in a search for survivors Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how many people were rescued. At least 50 remained missing, and officials feared that figure would rise.

In Teresopolis, a town 65 kilometres north of Rio, the rain overflowed creeks and flash floods swept over already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees were washed away in surging earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of rusty red mud.

Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year. Especially punished are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built on steep inclines with little in the way of foundations.

At least 114 people died in Teresopolis, the local Civil Defence agency said. The mountains saw 26 centimetres of rain fall in less than 24 hours.
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Question

Pair of Dolphins Found Dead on Bali Beach

Arya Kencana
Jakarta Globe
Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:48 UTC
Denpasar - Two beached bottle-nosed dolphins have been found dead near Serangan Beach in Denpasar, Bali.

The pair, a male and a female, were discovered by officials from the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) during a routine patrol of the Suwung mangrove forest next to the beach, just a few meters from the waterline.

Head of the BKSDA Soemarsono said the officials rushed to carry the dolphins back down to the water but found them unresponsive and stiff.

He said the conservation officials, with help from local fishermen and residents, then brought the bodies back to the BKSDA office for burial.

"We suspect the two dolphins got separated from a larger pod that was migrating through the waters south of Bali," Soemarsono said.

"They probably washed up in the mangrove forest during high tide on Tuesday night. Then when the tide went out, they were left stranded."
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Question

New Zealand: Single Whale Survives Stranding


Waikato Times, New Zealand
Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:08 UTC
Stranded Whales
© Bruce Mercer/Waikato TimesRescue Effort: Local Surf Club members and local residents try to float a Grey Beaked Whale back to sea at Sunset beach at Port Waikato.

Four of the five stranded whales at Port Waikato have died this morning while the fifth was successfully refloated to sea.

Shane Edwards, who helped with the rescue effort, said the surviving whale, believed to be a juvenile, was exhausted.

"I haven't done a rescue before so it was good to help out. It didn't look like it had much energy when it swam back out - I think it was scared of the Department of Conservation people."

The whales are believed to be Gray's eaked whales but the species will have to be confirmed by DNA testing.

Conservation Department project manager for biodiversity in the Waikato, Dion Patterson, said the juvenile had little chance of surviving unless it joined with its pod.
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