Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Tanzania floods kill at least 155 people as heavy rains continue in Eastern Africa (UPDATE)


Myjoyonline.com
Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:51 UTC
Visuals from the regions affected by flood
© X/@rcs1962) Asian News InternationalVisuals from the regions affected by flood in Tanzania.
Nearly 60 people have died since the start of April in heavy rains and flooding that has hit several parts of Tanzania, the government said.

The coastal region of the East African country is one of the worst affected, with floods damaging thousands of farms there, Mobhare Matinyi, the government spokesperson, said in a statement on Sunday.

"Serious flood effects are experienced in the coast region where 11 people have so far died," Mr Matinyi added.

He said, so far, 58 deaths have been recorded across the country from the flooding.


Comment: Update April 26

CNN reports:
Flooding in Tanzania has killed 155 people and left at least 236 injured, the country's Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Thursday.

More than 10,000 houses have been damaged and upwards of 200,000 people have been affected, Majaliwa told the Tanzanian parliament in the capital Dodoma.


The prime minister added that "the heavy El Nino rains, accompanied by strong winds and flooding and landslides in various parts of the country, have caused adverse effects."

"These include deaths, damage to crops, homes property, infrastructure like roads, bridges and railways," Majaliwa said.

The flooding has also affected Kenya, which shares a border with Tanzania in East Africa.

As of Tuesday, at least 32 people had died from the flooding in Kenya, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHR).


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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 3, injures 4 in Rajasthan, India


Th Week (India)
Fri, 26 Apr 2024 16:37 UTC
vvvv
Three men were killed by lightning on Friday when they were sheltering under a tree to protect them from rain, police here said.

Four more people who were with them and were also struck by lightning are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The victims were identified as Chatra Bheel, 40, Deva Bheel, 60, and Sohan Bheel, 50, all residents of Bhainsrorgarh of Chittor district.

The seven were standing under a tree in the Gurjar Ghata area of Dabi Police Station jurisdiction when they were struck by lightning at around 3 pm, Deputy Superintendent of Police Tarunkant Somani said.

The seven men, all belonging to the Bheel community, had come to the Dabi area to seek labourer's work.

PTI
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Volcano

Mount Semeru erupts 4 times in Indonesia, spews nearly one km high volcanic ash

Rahmad Nasution
Antara
Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:12 UTC
mmmmm
Mount Semeru in East Java erupted four times and spewed volcanic ash between 800 and one thousand meters above its peak on Thursday from 12:15 a.m. to 8:34 a.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB).

"The ash column was observed colored white to gray, with moderate intensity, (heading) towards the south," an officer of the Mount Semeru Observation Post Liswanto stated in a report received here on Thursday.

The first eruption at 12:15 a.m. had a volcanic ash height of 800 meters heading to the southeast and south. Thereafter, the second eruption occurred at 2:34 a.m., with a volcanic ash height of 800 meters heading to the southwest.

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Arrow Down

Highway along China border washed away after massive landslide due to heavy rain in Arunachal Pradesh, India

Ratnadip Choudhury
NDTV
Thu, 25 Apr 2024 13:20 UTC
A massive landslide hit Arunachal Pradesh, washing away a major stretch of highway near India-China border.
© IANSA massive landslide hit Arunachal Pradesh, washing away a major stretch of highway near India-China border.
A massive landslide has washed away a major portion of a highway in Arunachal Pradesh, disrupting road connectivity with Dibang Valley, a district bordering China.

The district witnessed heavy landslides between Hunli and Anini on the National Highway-313 yesterday due to heavy rainfall over the past few days, authorities said.

Videos showed a stretch of the highway missing, making it impossible for vehicles to cross to the other side and posing difficulties for the locals and security forces who consider the highway a lifeline in this difficult terrain.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill 17, injure 32 in Marathwada, India


Lokmat Times
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:52 UTC
vvvv
Unseasonal rainfall between April 9 and 22 wreaked havoc across 853 villages in Marathwada, claiming the lives of 17 people and injuring 32 others due to lightning strikes.

The relentless weather has significantly impacted the lives of over 15,438 farmers, damaging crops on a staggering 8008.13 hectares of land. The 17 deaths include Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (4), Parbhani (2), Hingoli (1), Nanded (3), Beed (3), and Latur (4).

Livestock has not been spared either, with lightning strikes causing the deaths of 280 animals, with the highest number of casualties reported in Jalna (70). The unseasonal rains have damaged agricultural land across the region, affecting farmers in 853 villages. The breakdown of the damaged land includes 1255 hectares of non-irrigated land, 3416 hectares of irrigated land, and 3335 hectares of orchards.

The heavy rains have also caused significant damage to homes, with 18 houses completely collapsing and 574 houses partially collapsing, bringing the total number of damaged houses to 602. According to weather experts, the unseasonal rains might continue to fall till next week.
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Cloud Precipitation

Best of the Web: 'Fields are completely underwater': UK farmers fear widespread crop failure following wettest year in centuries

Tom Ambrose
The Guardian
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 09:19 UTC
england flooding
© Ben Birchall/PAAccording to the Met Office, 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024, the highest amount recorded for any 18-month period in England... since at least 1836.
Farmers have been dealing with record-breaking rainfall over at least the past year, meaning food produced in Britain has fallen drastically.

Livestock and crops have been affected as fields have been submerged since last autumn on account of it being an exceptionally wet 18 months.

According to the Met Office, 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024, the highest amount record for any 18-month period in England.

Here, British farmers and growers tell us how they have handled the inclement weather conditions and what the heavy rainfall means for their immediate futures.


'We are going to have an appalling harvest this year'

Our farm is mainly arable so it's crops that we grow. The constraints that we are facing this year means we are going to have an appalling harvest. We've hardly got any crops in the ground at all, I've only managed to get 30 hectares [74 acres] of my 170 hectares planted and we have 110 hectares of "croppable" land. That's less than a third.
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Attention

160 pilot whales stranded on Western Australia beach with 26 confirmed dead

Jordan King
The Standard (UK)
Thu, 25 Apr 2024 08:34 UTC
pilot whales are stranded on a Western Australian beach
© DBCAPilot whales are stranded on a Western Australian beach
Some 160 long-finned whales have become stranded on the western Australian coast, with at least 26 confirmed dead.

Wildlife authorities have begun a rescue attempt after marine scientists and veterinarians reached the scene at Toby's Inlet near the tourist town of Dunsborough on Thursday. The stranded whales were from four pods spread across 1,640 feet of shore, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said in a statement.

An additional 20 whales were in a pod almost a mile offshore and 110 whales formed a pod closer to the beach. The statement said: "Our team is making every effort to safely respond and keep volunteers and staff safe, while also acting in the best interests of the whales."

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Sun

BBC, Guardian raise alarm about 'deadly' heatwaves in Mali and Burkina Faso, despite little rise in average temperatures last 85 years

Chris Morrison
The Daily Sceptic
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:00 UTC
woman walking
© unknown
Legacy media filled its columns last week with poppycock 'attribution' stories suggesting that recent heatwaves in Mali (the hottest country in the world), Burkina Faso and the rest of the Sahel would have been impossible without human-caused climate disruption. Needless to say, a number of important facts were missing from this latest bout of climate catastrophism. Average temperatures in both Mali and Burkina Faso have barely risen in the last 85 years, rainfall in both countries has increased slightly in recent times, agricultural production is up, while de-desertification is under way across the entire Sahel region.

This last fact is never likely to be mentioned in these footling stories dreamed up to promote Net Zero collectivisation. To do so would be to open a Pandora's Box showing global plant levels have accelerated due to the recovering levels of carbon dioxide in a previously denuded atmosphere. A recent science paper revealed that over the last two decades, plant growth had accelerated over large areas of the planet. During the last 40 years, it is thought that there has been 14% more plant growth, bringing immeasurable benefits for local biodiversity as well as more food for human consumption
Map stuff
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Snowflake

Heavy snowfall at the end of April continues in the Alps - meter of snow in 3 days

Patrick Thorne
Inthesnow.com
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:54 UTC
Stubai Glacier
The snowy end to April in the Alps shows no sign of abating with a number of resorts posting up to a metre of snowfall in the last three days.

The latest big falls come after Gstaad's Glacier 3000 ski areas reported a 1.5m (five foot) accumulation in a similar period last week.

At the start of this week it's Austria's Stubai Glacier (pictured top earlier this week) in Tirol region, which has had over a metre of snowfall and is now posting Europe's deepest snow up high at 5.65 metres (nearly 19 feet), one of the deepest snowpacks reported all season. It's staying open to late May.

Switzerland's Engelberg, also open into May, is the latest to report nearly a metre (97cm) of snowfall in 72 hours and reports its snow 4 metres deep on the glacier.

Around 30 ski regions remain open in the Alps for the final week of April with around half of them planning to stay open into May.

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Cloud Precipitation

Softball-size hail smashes windows, destroys homes in the Carolinas: 'All hail broke loose'


FOX Weather
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:17 UTC
The balls of hail were as big as softballs.
© X / @kristinnleslieThe balls of hail were as big as softballs.
Severe thunderstorms brought a massive hailstorm to the Carolinas on Saturday, blasting out windows, tearing down fences and leaving yards covered in enough ice to create the appearance of a fresh blanket of snow.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was in effect for Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Tega Cay in South Carolina on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. ET. The warning included the potential for winds of up to 70 mph and huge hail.

Warnings were also in effect for central North Carolina through Saturday night into early Sunday morning. During the severe thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday, the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, received hail reports ranging from quarter to golf ball size.

Teams with the National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, conducted surveys on Monday in Rock Hill and York to assess the damage from Saturday's severe thunderstorms.

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