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Learning from climate change's instructive past

George Will
Japan Times
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:49 UTC
climate summit cartoon
We know, because they often say so, that those who think catastrophic global warming is probable and perhaps imminent are exemplary empiricists. They say those who disagree with them are "climate change deniers" disrespectful of science.

Actually, however, something about which everyone can agree is that of course the climate is changing - it always is. And if climate Cassandras are as conscientious as they claim to be about weighing evidence, how do they accommodate historical evidence of enormously consequential episodes of climate change not produced by human activity? Before wagering vast wealth and curtailments of liberty on correcting the climate, two recent books should be considered.

In "The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century," William Rosen explains how Europe's "most widespread and destructive famine" was the result of "an almost incomprehensibly complicated mixture of climate, commerce, and conflict, four centuries in gestation." Early in that century, 10 percent of the population from the Atlantic to the Urals died, partly because of the effect of climate change on "the incredible amalgam of molecules that comprises a few inches of soil that produces the world's food."
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Eye 2

Dog rescued from pool filled with snakes in South Africa

Erin Hanekom
Southlands Sun
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:29 UTC
Image
© Southlands Sun.
A picture of the trapped dog in a pool with snakes.
A local snake wrangler rescued a dog from a pool with bush snakes in it.

Trapped in a pool with snakes, a frightened dog was rescued on the Bluff Friday, morning, 9 January by local snake wrangler, Shaun Venter.

Venter, whose main focus is the retrieval of snakes, was alerted to a dog in distress in Brighton Road. The dog was trapped in a pool, with shallow water and bush snakes.

With the assistance of a neighbour and friend, Debbie Andre, Venter approached the stricken animal. "We could see she was very aggressive, but that was all due to being frightened because of her ordeal. With snakes swimming around in the pool and the neighbour trying to keep them away from this girl, only one thing was important - getting her out," said Venter.
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Arrow Down

Huge sinkhole swallows lorry in Nanning, China

Gareth Roberts
Daily Mirror, UK
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 19:52 UTC
Image
© CEN
The lorry will have taken some shifting after plunging into a sinkhole in China
Driver Li Hung had to quickly open his door and scramble to safety as the lorry was dragged back into the cavernous expanse

This is the incredible moment a yawning hole opened up and swallowed a truck.

Chinese driver Li Hung lived up to his name when he found himself hanging over the edge of a huge sinkhole that had opened up behind his lorry.

Li, 35, had been driving back to work in Nanning City, China, when he started to feel his vehicle slipping backwards.

He said: "It almost felt as if I hadn't put the brake on and I had started to roll downhill, but I had my foot on the brake and I realise that I was tipping back not because I was moving, but because of the sinking."

He told local TV he opened the door and jumped out just as the lorry disappeared into the huge hole.
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Cloud Precipitation

South Australia prepares for flooding: 15 times their monthly rainfall

Helen Davidson
The Guardian
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:44 UTC
Image
© Parks Australia
Rain running off Uluru in the Northern Territory, Australia.
South Australian towns have been told to expect up to 15 times their monthly rainfall in the coming days, and there are severe weather warnings in place for several states and territories.

In Alice Springs, Northern Territory emergency services have found a body after a search for a 24-year-old man who was swept away while tubing in the swollen Todd River on Thursday.

Police told Guardian Australia they have not confirmed the identity of the man found or spoken with next of kin yet.

The Todd began flowing on Thursday for the first time since April after heavy rains dumped more than 100mm in its catchment area. The shallow river bed is generally dry for most, if not all, of the year.

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Phoenix

'Hundreds' of animals dead in South Australia fires

Wendy Frew
BBC
Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:05 UTC
Image

Hundreds of animals could not be saved
Hundreds of animals are believed to have been killed in South Australia since bushfires began burning out of control in the Adelaide Hills last Friday.

Vets and animal rescue teams have gained access to parts of the devastated areas to treat pets, livestock and native animals.

However, many animals have not survived or have been put down, according to animal welfare groups.

The fires have been raging across some 12,500 hectares (30,888 acres) of land about 30 minutes drive south east of Adelaide.

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Ice Cube

Chunk of ice, megacryometeor, falls from sky mysteriously crashing through Chicago man's ceiling

Lorraine Swanson
Lake View Patch
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 11:30 UTC
megacrymeteor damage

John “Sinatra” Connors and his cat Oscar, along with the mysterious ice chunks that crashed through his ceiling sometime Tuesday morning, wrecking his living room.
A Chicago man arrived home from work on Tuesday evening only to discover three bowling ball-size chunks of ice in his living room and a freaked out cat.

John "Sinatra" Connors, an information technology specialist and occasional lounge crooner, said that whatever crashed through the roof of his Ravenswood Manor apartment building landed with such velocity that it shattered the ceiling beams.

"When I walked into my apartment the chair that is normally against the wall was pushed into the middle of the living room," he said. "There was ice everywhere. I could see the sky through the hole in my ceiling."

Connors found one chunk of ice in his bedroom, a good 15 to 20 feet away from the crash's epicenter. He says he was in was in too much shock to notice the frigid, arctic wind whipping through the gaping hole in his ceiling.



Comment: Here are other occurrences and information about megacrymeteors in the news in recent years:

Icy 'Window Fallers' or Frozen Harbingers of Change? The Peculiar Phenomenon of Megacryometeors

Megacryometeor? Giant ice meteor slams to Earth near kids playing in Tennessee

Giant ice meteors fall from clear skies

Car-destroying chunk may be icy meteor

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Cloud Precipitation

Hurricane-force winds cause damage and travel disruption across north of Britain

Auslan Cramb
The Telegraph, UK
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:55 UTC
Image
© Danny Lawson/PA

A lorry blown over in heavy wind between junction 9 and 10 of the M74 near Kirkmuirhill, South Lanarkshire
Rail services suspended and ferries cancelled in Scotland after winds reach 113mph overnight in worst storm of winter

Hurricane-force winds gusting to over 100mph left a swathe of damage across the north of Britain overnight, bringing down trees and power lines and damaging buildings and road signs.

There was widespread disruption to road, air and ferry travel and all domestic train services were suspended in Scotland before 8am, causing chaos for commuters.

Around 75,000 homes were left without power in the Highlands and Islands in the worst storm of the winter.

A wind speed of 113mph was recorded in Stornoway in the Western Isles overnight, the strongest gust recorded in the town since records began in 1970. Elsewhere, there were gusts up to 110mph at Loch Glascarnoch, and 97mph Altnaharra. A wind speed of 140mph was recorded on the summit of Cairngorm mountain.

Stornoway coastguard went to the aid of a vulnerable 80-year-old woman after the windows of her house in the village of Point, on Lewis, were blown in during the night.
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Eye 2

Deadly eastern brown snake emerges from the surf on Australian beach

Oliver Milman
The Guardian
Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:14 UTC
Image
Unexpected arrival of the snake, from between the lifesaving flags at Forster beach, causes visitors to flee and lifeguards to warn people away

Visitors to a beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales made a hasty retreat on Tuesday after spotting an eastern brown snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world, emerge from the surf and glide along the sand.

The unusual incident occurred at One Mile beach at Forster. The unexpected arrival of the snake, which emerged right between the lifesaving flags, caused visitors to flee as lifeguards warned people away.

Beachgoer Olivia Moffatt said that visitors were initially afraid it was a shark when lifeguards blew their whistles.

"The snake travelled out of the water and remained on the shore for a while until waves washed up against it," she told the Great Lakes Advocate.

"Raising its head, it headed for shade towards the lifeguard trailer and happily sat there until again moving up along the beach to the bush."
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Snowflake Cold

Alabama breaks cold record from 1886

Emily Hill
AL.com
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:56 UTC
Image
© Mike Kittrell/AL.com
Ice forms on vegetation in a pond Thursday morning, Jan. 8, 2015, in midtown Mobile, Ala.
Thursday morning Mobile was at 17 degrees, beating the 1886 record of 18 degrees, however the freezing temperatures should rebound by mid-morning according to the National Weather Service.

The area will have a hard freeze warning until 10 a.m., as many areas are in the upper teens to low 20s along the coast, according to Eric Esbensen with the National Weather Service Mobile. The wind chill Thursday morning put most areas at single-digit temperatures.

Officials at Hutchens Elementary School in west Mobile sent out an alert asking parents to pick up their children Thursday morning because of a broken water line.

Esbensen said Mobile can expect highs today in the lower to mid 40s near the coast and upper 30s, possibly hitting 40 inland.

Comment: Check out the latest SOTT video summary for December:

SOTT Summary Video - December 2014: Extreme Weather, Earth Changes, Fireballs, High Strangeness

      Read More...
Wolf

Are wolves on the loose in Stockholm, Sweden?


thelocal.se
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:01 UTC
Image
© Länsstylrelsen
The tracks discovered this week.
Officials in Stockholm say they have found evidence that a wolf pack has formed in the south of the city, including tracks, droppings and urine spotted when snow fell earlier this week.

Animal experts believe that two wolves have made the Swedish capital their home and are currently analysing what are believed to be their droppings.

The County Administrative Board of Stockholm (Länsstylrelsen), which is responsible for monitoring the movement of animals in the city, is investigating.

"The collected droppings will be DNA tested and this will hopefully provide answers on whether the two wolves have been marking their territory," said Arne Söderberg, a spokesperson for Länsstylrelsen in a statement.
      Read More...
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