Earth Changes
Thunder shower hit the Yanqing District of Beijing at dusk on Sunday, with average precipitation reaching 19.1 millimeters from 17:00 on Sunday to 14:00 on Monday. Because of the high altitude of the Haituo Mountain, where the temperature was minus 0 degree Celsius, the rainwater turned to snow.
Elsewhere, the lowest temperature in Wulingshan National Nature Reserve in Chengde City dipped to minus 15 degrees Celsius and the depth of snow was estimated at 18 centimeters.
The current snowfall in May marks the second one in Chengde since 1991, according to local meteorological department.
"It is quite rare to see such snow and it really came all of a sudden," said Wang Jihui, staff member of Wulingshan National Nature Reserve.
Allegiant Air's Flight 7001, a charter operated on behalf of Apple Vacations, encountered "unreported moderate clear air turbulence" Thursday afternoon and was diverted to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport, according to the company.
When the Airbus A319 landed, emergency personnel assisted four flight attendants and three passengers who had suffered multiple injuries, from bruises and lacerations to head injuries -- none life-threatening.
According to airline spokesperson Jessica Wheeler, a nurse aboard the flight assisted crew members following the turbulence, and all passengers were "ambulatory" by the time they were transported to Broward Health Medical Center.
Seventeen Chinese nationals were injured, with 12 taken to hospital, today as a Hong Kong Airlines flight departing from Bali, in Indonesia, was hit by severe turbulence.
"Twelve people were rushed to a hospital, one of them with a very serious injury," said Herni Pramuharjo, spokesman of the transport ministry said, according to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua. "Five others were treated at the health clinic in the airport. All of them were Chinese nationals."
The incident occurred when the aeroplane was flying over Borneo, about one hour after flight HX6704, bound for Hong Kong, took off from Bali International Airport.
The deceased were identified as Ayat Ali, 60, and his wife Asabi Begum, 50, of the area.
Local Kamal Khan said a streak of thunderbolt struck Ayat Ali and his wife around 7:30pm while working at their courtyard, leaving them dead on the spot.
As drought sucks regions of Maharastra and Telangana dry, the Himalayas are getting singed by forest fires.
From Uttarakhand to Jammu and Kashmir, lack of rainfall and scorching heat are sparking wildfires in dry forests which are getting wafted into residential areas by strong winds. Apart from losing acres of lands to these flames, human as well as animals are literally in the line of fire.
However, India is not the only country suffering. Wildfires seem to be springing up in different parts of the world.
Last year, Indonesia was hit by some devastating wildfires that killed 19 people and led to at least 5 lakh cases of respiratory tract infections as well as 100,000 premature deaths.
This year, the world continues to battle raging wildfires, with India being high on the list:
With dense black smoke billowing in the skies for kilometers (miles), authorities were urging villagers to be on alert and tourists to avoid traveling to the Himalayan foothills, popular during the summer for their cooler temperatures.
Dozens of fires were spreading unpredictably in the states of Uttarakhand and neighboring Himachal Pradesh, officials said.
"We are struggling to bring the situation under control," forest officer Bhanu Prasad Gupta said in the state of Uttarakhand.
After state firefighters were unable for months to put out the fires, the Indian government sent air force helicopters over the weekend to drop water on blazes covering nearly 23 square kilometers (8 square miles) of pine forests.
After areas were soaked from above, groups of villagers fanned out into the steaming jungle forests and used green-leafed branches to beat out the embers still glowing on the ground.

Mount St. Helens is a volcano in the state of Washington, seen here in 2004. It has recently been hit with a wave of small earthquakes.
In the past eight weeks, more than 130 small earthquakes have trembled beneath the surface of Mount St. Helens. At this point, "there is absolutely no sign that it will erupt anytime soon, but the data we collect tells us that the volcano is still very much alive," the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Seismologists reported that there are no anomalous gases,and no signs that the collection of magma, which is the molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth, is getting inflated in the recent swarm of earthquakes at the volcano. Although there are no signs of an imminent eruption, the volcano is recharging, scientists say.
Mount St. Helens is in Washington state, 95 miles south of Seattle and about 55 miles northeast of Portland, OR. The earthquakes have been measured at a magnitude of 0.5 or less and the largest was at 1.3. They've been measured about 1.2 to four miles underneath the surface. With such small magnitudes and such depths, you wouldn't be able to feel the earthquakes on the surface.
But it's not the magnitude that has gotten scientists attention -- it's the frequency.
They've become increasingly common since March 14, "reaching nearly 40 located earthquakes per week," according to the USGS.
The gargantuan fire is currently raging through 101,000 hectares of land, senior wildfire manager Chad Morrison told reporters on Friday. Temperatures are expected to reach 27° Celsius on Saturday, which could double the size of the fire by the end of the day, Morrison added.
There are still thousands of evacuees hiding out in oil sands work camps north of the city that need to be moved as soon as possible, officials warn. Luckily, many of these camps have runways for small aircraft, which have been used to evacuate some 7,000 people already. At least 5,500 more will be airlifted out later on Friday.
A convoy of as many as 1,500 cars has also been trying to escape south to Edmonton via the highway passing through Fort McMurray. The first attempt failed, according to mounted police escorting the vehicles, as the drivers were faced with 60-meter-high (200ft) walls of flame raging on the sides of the road.
Metro service on the Orange, Blue, and Silver lines was restored just prior to the Friday morning commute. A fire at the Federal Center SW station on Thursday caused the closure of two stations near the US Capitol building and the offices of several federal agencies. Metro sent shuttle buses to the stations affected, making for a complicated commute for many area residents.
The fire and explosion at Federal Center SW was caught on a security camera at about 4:30pm ET. WMATA general manager Paul Wiedefeld said the fire was caused by debris on the track.
Comment: In addition to the four incidents described above - two yesterday, one in March and one in January 2015 - there was also this last month (April):
24 April 2016: Fire crews responding to blast, fire - train evacuated at Washington, DC metro station
Circuits are being fried all over the place!
What is the source of this 'surge'?
A source in the regional Forest Directorate, Dhangadi, said many wild animals along with different bird species were burnt to death in the forests due to wildfire.
Many animals and birds have scattered and have migrated to safer areas after their habitats were destroyed by wildfires.
It is said wild animals that managed to flee are astray.
Sources in the directorate further added that monkeys, snakes, rabbits, porcupines, deer, wild boars and pheasants were among the wildlife killed due to the inferno.














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