Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

More mass animal deaths: Hundreds of fish meet an icy end in a frozen pond in Manchester

The bizarre spate of mass animal deaths around the world has continued, with hundreds of fish found dead in a Greater Manchester pond.

Experts say the freezing weather caused the deaths, which follow reports of scores of birds falling to their deaths in the US, thousands of fish found floating off the Florida coast and 40,000 devil crabs washing up in Kent.

The internet has been awash with conspiracy theories over the mysterious mass deaths but there is nothing sinister about the latest discovery as 500 fish - many thought to be large bream and pike - were simply found frozen in an icy pond.


Bizarro Earth

Africa: Storm kills 10, injures seven in Mozambique

A heavy storm killed 10 people and seriously injured seven others in Mozambique's central province of Manica, state-run Mozambique Television said on Wednesday.

The storm on Monday destroyed more than 100 houses and electricity pylons, the broadcaster said.

Seven of the dead were members of a religious sect attending a church meeting under a tree, the broadcaster quoted Conde Adriano, the Mayor of Chimoio, the provincial capital, as saying.

Heavy rains in Mozambique and neighbouring South Africa in the last month have raised fears of a repeat of massive floods of 2000 that killed at least 350 people and displaced a million others in the centre and south of the country.

Bizarro Earth

Canada: Snowstorms blow into southern British Columbia, Halifax, Toronto

Image
© Brad Robb / MyNews.CTV.caSnow blankets the city of Toronto after a storm rolled through the area, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2010.
Canadians are in winter's grip across the country today, as Environment Canada warns of snowy conditions in parts of B.C., Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

On the West Coast, forecasters calling for between 10 and 20 centimetres of accumulation overnight issued snow warnings for southern parts of British Columbia. But conditions will worsen through the morning Wednesday as temperatures climb and the snow turns to rain.

CTV weather specialist Jeff Hutcheson says that's going to create some messy conditions.

"With temperatures on the rise, a lot of that snow's going to be washed away in the rain, and a lot of it, because temperatures are going to be 9 and 7 (degrees Celsius) in Victoria and Vancouver today," Hutcheson said on Canada AM.

"This could create some flooding issues as well, as all that snow begins to melt."

Igloo

Icy weather, sleet force over 100,000 to evacuate in southwest China province

Image
© chongqingtimes.com
Icy weather and sleet have left one person dead and forced the evacuation of 104,900 people from their homes in southwest China's Guizhou Province since the New Year's Day, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Wednesday.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the freezing weather had disrupted the lives of more than 4.64 million people in 83 counties of the province, where accumulated ice had caused more than 8,000 homes to collapse, said a statement on the ministry's website.

Economic losses were estimated at 1.28 billion yuan (194 million U.S. dollars).

Bizarro Earth

US: Storm Pounds Boston After Dumping New Snowfall on New York City

A storm that dropped more than 9 inches of new snow on New York City pounded Boston with blizzard conditions, forcing schools to close and disrupting travel.

Twelve to 20 inches of snow may fall on Boston and parts of New England before the storm moves away late today, forecasters said. Boston officials asked non-essential city workers to stay home and urged other businesses to let employees work from home, according to the city website.

More than 2,000 flights were canceled, mostly in the Northeast, according to airline reports compiled by Bloomberg. Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston after a tree fell on an overhead power line near Sharon, Massachusetts, and the National Weather Service reported downed trees and power lines across the area.

"As the storm bombs out off the New England coast, the winds will pick up and basically create blizzard-like conditions," said Carl Erickson, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

Cities across the U.S. Northeast deployed thousands of plows and sand-spreaders to tackle the second major snowstorm in a little more than two weeks.

New York City declared a weather emergency, urging people to stay off the roads, as the storm moved in. Public schools remained open.

Bizarro Earth

US: Winter Snowstorm: 'Weather Bomb' Slams Into Northeast

The powerful winter storm that left 11 dead and snarled travel across the Southeast moved overnight in the Northeast.

The "weather bomb" arrived in the Northeast late Tuesday after combining with snow from the Midwest.

Forecasters described this storm as a "weather bomb" -- a fast-moving, severe winter storm where air pressure drops quickly and an unusually far south jet stream brings in moisture, causing heavy snows and winds.


Wolf

Foxes zero in on prey via Earth's magnetic field

Image
© Judy Wantulok/GettyMagnetised towards prey
It sounds like something a guided missile would do. Foxes seem to zero in on prey using Earth's magnetic field. They are the first animal thought to use the field to judge distance rather than just direction.

Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany, noticed that the foxes he was watching in the Czech Republic almost always jumped on their prey in a north-easterly direction. Given that cows position themselves using Earth's magnetic field, he wondered if something similar was at work.

Foxes jump high into the air before dropping onto prey. Burda's team found that when the foxes could see their prey they jumped from any direction but when prey were hidden, they almost always jumped north-east. Such attacks were successful 72 per cent of the time, compared with 18 per cent of attacks in other directions.

All observers saw the same thing, but Burda remained baffled, until he spoke to John Phillips at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Phillips has suggested that animals might use Earth's magnetic field to measure distance.

Life Preserver

Australia: Disaster in Brisbane as water keeps coming

flood, Brisbane
© ABC News / Giulio SagginThe CBD in Brisbane was a ghost town on Wednesday.
Brisbane residents have been told it is not too late to evacuate as a once-in-a-century flood threatens 20,000 homes tonight.

More than 50 suburbs are expected to be flooded when the Brisbane River hits an expected peak of 5.2 metres at about 4:00am on Thursday.

Already thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes after the swollen river burst its banks and rose past 4 metres on Wednesday.

Premier Anna Bligh is warning despite a slight revision in the expected flood peak, Brisbane residents are going to wake up to a scene of widespread devastation.

"We will wake tomorrow to an image of Brisbane ... that will shock many of us and I do say to people that we need to be ready for that," she said.

Igloo

Major Winter Storm Wallops U.S. Northeast

Image
© David Tulis/Athens Banner-HeraldSteven Smith, president of Verity Bank, shovels snow and ice from the bank parking lot in Winder, Ga., after a weekend snowstorm.
The U.S. Northeast was hit by its second major winter storm of the season, which was expected to dump up to a foot of snow on New York City by Wednesday evening and create chaos for commuters and travelers.

Airlines pre-emptively canceled hundreds of flights and companies were advising some employees to work from home, while oil prices jumped 2 percent on expectations the cold weather would boost demand for heating oil.

The storm could give New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg a chance to make up for his much-criticized response to the blizzard that paralyzed New York less than two weeks ago.

He declared a weather emergency late Tuesday that urged the public to avoid driving, granted authorities the right to tow cars blocking snow plows and allowed emergency services to "take all appropriate and necessary steps" to ensure safety.

"We didn't do the job that New Yorkers rightly expect of us in the last storm and we intend to make sure that that does not happen again," Bloomberg told a news conference.

Bizarro Earth

US: Dozens Of Dead Birds Found Near Sullivan, Missouri


Dozens of dead birds are discovered near Sullivan, Missouri about an hour southwest of St. Louis. People in and around Sullivan are calling the whole thing a little weird. The scene is just east of Sullivan along the I-44 south service road at Winsel Creek. The Missouri Department of Conservation is looking into the situation.

It was discovered on Monday.

Experts there and with the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park say the dead birds are Starlings. Starlings are among the dead birds that have been found in several other states recently.

It started new years when thousands of Red Winged Blackbirds were found dead in Arkansas.

The reason why all of this is happening is still unclear but a spokesperson with Missouri Department of Conservation does have some theories.