Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Two killed by lightning strikes in Tamil Nadu, India

LIGHTNING
Two persons, including a college student, were struck dead by lightning in separate incidents in the district on Wednesday night.

Police said K. Gomu (55) of Pirancherry near Gopalasamudram was killed when lightning struck him in his farm on Wednesday night.

Similarly, M. Mariappan (20), a college student from Thidiyoor near Munneerpallam, was struck dead by lightning when he was collecting paddy straw from the stackyard to feed the cattle in his house.

Munneerapallam police have registered a case.

Attention

Kangaroo attacks the car of tailgating driver in Lake Bathurst, Australia

Kangaroo attack
A driver on a rural Australian road at night ended up having their car whacked by a road raging kangaroo that didn't take kindly to being tailgated.

The driver said they were driving behind the kangaroo for more than half a mile March 2 in the Lake Bathurst area, and the dashboard camera footage of the encounter shows the marsupial hopping along the road a few yards in front of the vehicle.

The kangaroo, apparently deciding to change tactics, stops abruptly, causing the car to stop. The 'roo strikes up an intimidating pose before unleashing a brief flurry of punches on the car. The driver attempts to get around the animal, but it follows and continues to punch the car.

"I had followed this Roo for about 1 kilometre, and it just stayed on the road. Unfortunately, if you pass them, they will often jump sideways straight into your car. The Roo decided he had a better plan and thought he'd go for fight over flight!" the driver wrote.


Tornado1

Sharknado? Bull shark washes up in aftermath of Cyclone Debbie in Ayr, Australia

bull shark on road
© Queensland Fire and Emergency Services / Facebook
A storm can leave in its wake a trail of destruction and devastation, but as Cyclone Debbie made its way through Queensland, Australia, residents of Burdekin Shire weren't expecting to find a man-eating shark beached on the road.

The meter-and-a-half bull shark was discovered on a muddy road near Ayr in Burdekin on Thursday. Bull sharks are one of the most dangerous sharks in the world - alongside great whites and tiger sharks, they're the most likely to attack humans.

"He must've gotten caught in a torrent and confused, beached himself on the side of the road," journalist Philip Calder told news.com.au. "We were pretty amazed, we were turning up to shoot a flooding road, we weren't expecting to see wildlife as well."

Bizarro Earth

Harvard scientists announce launch of geoengineering program that could have disastrous results

Geoengineering
Officially kicking rumors of 'chemtrails' into overdrive, Harvard scientists announced the launch of a $20 million geoengineering program, set to kick off mere weeks from now — the first such project this comprehensive in scope — in a bid to stave off soaring global temperatures.

Geoengineering, in other words, just moved one colossal step closer to reality, on a massive scale, but what some scientists see as a viable, cost-effective solution, at an estimated $10 billion, others see as a nightmarish development — which could eventually spawn catastrophic drought.

"Sometime next year," MIT Technology Review explains, "Harvard professors David Keith and Frank Keutsch hope to launch a high-altitude balloon, tethered to a gondola equipped with propellers and sensors, from a site in Tucson, Arizona. After initial engineering tests, the 'StratoCruiser' would spray a fine mist of materials such as sulfur dioxide, alumina, or calcium carbonate into the stratosphere. The sensors would then measure the reflectivity of the particles, the degree to which they disperse or coalesce, and the way they interact with other compounds in the atmosphere."

Comment: US scientists launch world's biggest solar geoengineering study


Eye 2

Man swallowed whole by 23-foot reticulated python in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Reticulated python
Reticulated python
A 25-year-old Indonesian man has been swallowed whole by a python on the island of Sulawesi, villagers and news reports said.A six-minute video on the website of the Tribun Timur publication shows villagers slicing open the python's carcass to reveal the legs and torso of the dead victim, named Akbar.

Junaedi, the secretary of Salubiro village in West Sulawesi province, told The Associated Press that villagers began searching for Akbar on Monday night after realizing he hadn't returned from working on his palm oil crops the previous day.Junaedi said Wednesday that the search party found scattered palm oil fruit, a picking tool and a boot, and then spotted the engorged 7-meter (23-foot) -long reticulated python.

"When its stomach was cut, we first saw his boot and legs near the neck," he said. "It seems he was attacked from behind because we found a wound on his back."

Warning: Graphic content


Tornado2

Multiple waterspouts simultaneously appear in the Florida Keys

waterspouts
It was a wild sight out on the seas in the Florida Keys Tuesday when not one, not two, but at least five waterspouts popped up.

The National Weather Service posted photos of the waterspouts that were spotted south of the Lower Keys. The funnel clouds popped up around 1 p.m., which prompted a special marine warning.

Seismograph

Shallow 5.7M earthquake hits the Gulf of California

earthquake map
An earthquake with an initial magnitude of 5.7 struck in the Gulf of California Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. PT, the USGS reported.

The largest population center is approximately 65 miles east of the epicenter in Los Mochis, Mexico.

People as far away as Glendale, California reported feeling the effects of the quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's data.

No other information was available.

Comment: An additional datum from Earth Track states that it occurred a depth of only 10 kilometers.


Question

Biologists scrambling to find out why birds are dying along Florida coast

Osprey
Osprey
Local birds are dying and biologists are scrambling to find out why. The deaths are being reported up and down the coastline.

Experts are asking for the community's help in letting them know if they see something suspicious.

Some birds -- including ospreys, pelicans and other seabirds -- were close to death when locals rescued them, and they were rushed to the Bird Emergency Aid & Kare Sanctuary, or B.E.A.K.S.

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said something mysterious in the ocean is making locals seabirds sick.


Attention

Humpback whale discovered dead on Anderson Island, Washington

Dead Humpback whale, Anderson Island
© Robert LydenDead Humpback whale, Anderson Island
Researchers are trying to determine how a humpback whale that washed ashore Tuesday on Anderson Island died.

According to the Cascadia Research Collective, a non-profit group that conducts research on whales, the humpback had been spotted in the area recently and looked small.

It washed ashore in the Thompson Cove area on the south end of Anderson Island.

Researchers are conducting a necropsy to determine how the whale died.

Friend of Q13 News and photographer Robert Lyden said the whale will likely be towed to McNeil Island soon for more research.

Cloud Precipitation

11 departments hit by heavy rain, floods and landslides in Colombia

Aftermath of the floods in Rivera, Huila, Colombia
© UNGRDAftermath of the floods in Rivera, Huila, Colombia
Colombia's National Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) says that 11 departments have been affected by severe weather events since 17 March 2017.

Overall, 55 municipalities have reported a total of 60 emergencies which have affected 1,396 families and left 12 people dead. The emergencies mostly include floods, heavy rain and landslides, but also thunderstorms and wind damage. Around 22 homes have been destroyed and another 565 have been affected by flooding.

UNGRD says the department of Antioquia has been worst hit so far with 14 events reported, followed by Cundinamarca where 9 events have been reported. The departments of Cauca (8), Valle del Cauca (7), Nariño (6), Santander (4), Chocó and Caldas (2 each) and Putumayo, César and Risaralda (1 each) have also been affected.