Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Flood emergency declared in Italy


Press TV
Sat, 31 May 2008 17:26 UTC


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Italy declared a flood emergency in the northwest after torrential rainfall caused floods and landslides and killed at least three people.

Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Service told reporters after an emergency meeting in Turin, "We are still in the middle of a crisis and will be so for the next 24 hours". The emergency was called as the river Po reached dangerously high levels.
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Cloud Lightning

Trend of deadly tornadoes puzzles experts


Journal Now
Wed, 28 May 2008 15:39 UTC
2008 is expected to break U.S. record for number of tornadoes in one year

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©Associated Press
Clouds descend from a storm that created tornadoes near Marshall, Okla., on Saturday. So far this year, tornadoes have killed 110 people.

Another week, another train of tornadoes that obliterates entire city blocks, smashes homes to their foundations and kills people even as they take shelter in their basements.
The year is not even half done, but 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of tornadoes in a year, the National Weather Service said. Also, this year's storms seem to have been unusually powerful.

Meteorologists cannot explain exactly why this is happening.


Comment: They haven't been reading SoTT

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Umbrella

Alaska: Strange Weather Hits Fairbanks All Month Long


ABC News
Fri, 30 May 2008 15:35 UTC
Fairbanks residents have been experiencing some unusual weather lately. Throughout most of the month of May pellet sized hail has been falling from the skies over Fairbanks, a phenomenon officials said was very strange.
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Arrow Up

Death toll in Mongolia storms rises to 52


RIA Novosti
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:23 UTC
The death toll in the heavy snow and sand storms that hit Mongolia last week has risen to 52, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Monday.

The storms most severely affected seven provinces in the west and center of the country. Wind speeds reached 40 meters a second in some areas.
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Stop

Sri Lanka floods kill 13, leave 150,000 displaced


RIA Novosti
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:59 UTC
Thirteen people have been killed and another 150,000 left homeless in Sri Lanka following floods triggered by torrential rains, local emergencies services reported on Monday.

Torrential rains have struck a total of eight regions in central and western parts of the country, mainly the Kaluthara district, during the past three days, damaging thousands of houses and roads and ruining crops.
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X

Flashback Swiss government wants to roll over biotech ban


GMO Compass
Wed, 21 May 2008 11:57 UTC
Switzerland's agriculture will stay "GMO-free" until 2013 when the outcome of a National Research Programme (NRP59) on the benefits and risks of genetically modified plants has been concluded and the outcome is known. Programme results are expected by mid 2012.

The research programme was initiated shortly after the adoption of the current national moratorium in 2005. This ban prohibits the cultivation of genetically modified plants and the market placement of transgenic animals for food production. However, unless further action is taken, the moratorium will expire in November 2010.
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Cloud Lightning

Bangladesh: Six killed in lightning


The New Nation
Fri, 30 May 2008 10:17 UTC
Two persons were killed and two others injured by lightning in Narail, C'nawabganj on Saturday.

The victims were identified as Kanika Biswas, 35, wife of Anil Biswas of Ratadanga village under Sadar upazila and Esamul Shaikh, 10, son of Salam Shaikh of Boyra village under Lohagora upazila.

The injured were Kamel Sikder, 12, and Zamela Khatun, 9, of Ratandanga village. They received first aid at local clinics.

Meanwhile, four persons including a house wife were killed by lightning in the district on Saturday afternoon.
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Better Earth

Stalled warming

Benny Peiser
Financial Times
Fri, 30 May 2008 08:54 UTC
The science of climate change is increasingly confronted by profound disagreements and re-adjustments. The rise in temperatures that occurred during much of the 1980s and 1990s appears to have stalled for much of the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, global carbon dioxide emissions have been accelerating considerably. Greenhouse gas emissions increased on average 3 per cent a year from 2000 to 2005, compared with a growth rate of 1 per cent a year on average during the 1990s. Yet global temperatures failed to rise as a result of accelerating emissions.
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Magic Hat

Hurricane season outlooks of little use

Allen G. Breed
news.yahoo.com
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:18 UTC
RALEIGH, N.C. - Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow near the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting his every word.

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©AP Photo/Logan Wallace
A solitary sunbather, a renourishment pipe and a condemned oceanfront home is shown in North Topsail Beach, N.C., Wednesday, May 14, 2008. The island has ongoing difficulties with erosion that may make it particularly vulnerable to hurricane strikes.
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Attention

Dukono Volcano Alert

John Seach
Volcano Live News
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:14 UTC
Dukono Volcano in Indonesia was upgraded to level 3 alert (out of maximum 4) on 30th May 2008. Volcanic explosion earthquakes increased from 32/day to 280/day between April and May 2008. On 25th May, ash emissions reached 800 m above the crater, and booming noises were heard coming from the summit. Ash emissions reached 1000 m above the summit on 29th May. Residents close to the volcano are warned to be alert for ashfall. A 3 km exclusion zone has been placed around the volcano. The volcano was on alert level 2 between January 2002 and May 2008.
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