Earth ChangesS


Igloo

New Englanders Dig Out After Snowstorm

New England Blizzard January 2010
© Jessica Hill/Associated PressRoy Williams of Westfield, Massachusetts, shovels snow from in front of his car on a ramp to Interstate 91 south during a winter storm in Windsor, Connecticut, on Wednesday.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick lifted a state of emergency Thursday, one day after blizzard conditions pounded his state and created hazardous travel conditions across New England.

Hundreds of schools remained closed in Massachusetts as crews continued to clear snow and to salt icy roadways, according to state Emergency Management spokesman Peter Judge.

The state's 250 National Guardsmen -- who were mobilized as a precautionary measure on Wednesday -- were relieved from duty by Thursday morning, Judge said.

Delta Air Lines canceled more than 200 Delta and Delta Connection flights in an effort to minimize delays, the airline said. It had canceled 1,300 flights Wednesday because of the storm.

Amtrak, which had suspended rail service between New York City and points north, resumed full service by Thursday morning, according to Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole.


Sun

Strange Phenomenon: Sun rises two days early in Greenland, sparks fear

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© Unknown

The sun has arrived two days early in Greenland according to KNR Radio. It usually rises on January 13th but for some reason rose on 1/11/11 this year.

Inhabitants from the area appeared worried when witnessing the strange phenomenon. "The sun is not supposed to be here until January 13th, something isn't right" a 74 year old local reported to KBR radio. [1]

Some scientist believe the melting of ice sheets is what caused the phenomenon. "The constellation of the stars has not changed and if it did the data of Earth's axis and rotation would be monitored minute by minute all over the world," said Wolfgang Lenhardt, head of the geophysics department at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).

Bizarro Earth

Mysterious Infection is Killing B.C. Salmon

Sockeye Salmon
© John Lehmann/The Globe and MailA male sockeye salmon attacks another male as they make their way up the Adams River at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park north of Chase B.C. October 12, 2010.
Large numbers of sockeye salmon are dying in the Fraser River, before spawning, because of a mysterious virus, new research suggests.

Historical records show that some fish always die en route to their spawning beds, but since the early 1990s the problem has become increasingly acute - with more than two million fish dying in some years. Researchers have long puzzled over what was causing the seemingly healthy fish to suddenly stop swimming and turn belly up.

A large team of researchers from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and three Canadian universities has now found most of the fish that die before spawning have a common "genomic signature" - or a pattern that shows changes have taken place in an array of genes activated to fight infection.

"Our hypothesis is that the genomic signal associated with elevated mortality is in response to a virus infecting fish before river entry and that persists to the spawning areas," says the report published in the journal Science on Thursday.

Studies on the spawning grounds show more than 70 per cent of the salmon that died before spawning had the genomic signature.

Igloo

Weatherspace Prediction: Arctic blast will hit Midwest next week, the Northeast a week after

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Since early this month, TheWeatherSpace.com has been predicting an arctic blast for half of the United States, far colder than anything seen this winter yet, and it looks like it is coming.

According to our meteorologist's analysis and report today, cold air coming out of Western Canada will dip directly into the United States next week, bringing the coldest air through the Canada and North Dakota border by January 17th, with -30F temperatures expected.

Temperatures are expected to be below zero, even at -10F or lower a day or two after in areas like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Northern Missouri, Eastern Nebraska, and Iowa.

A week after, around January 24th, The Northeastern United States may have temperatures well below zero for even a daytime high as the polar vortex moves through Eastern Canada.

This is a dangerous situation coming up, which will lead to many deaths in anyone exposed to this cold for a short period of time over a large area of the Upper part of the Central and Eastern United States.

Comment: SOTT can't validate predictions made by The Weatherspace.com, but we are certainly interested in monitoring their track record.


Cloud Lightning

Brazil Flood Death Toll Rises to 443, More Feared

Brazil flood/truck in water
© Reuters/Bruno DomingosA partially submerged vehicle is seen after a landslide in Teresopolis, Jan 13, 2011.
Rescue workers dug desperately for survivors on Thursday and struggled to reach areas cut off by floods and landslides that have killed at least 443 people in one of Brazil's deadliest natural disasters in decades.

Torrents of mud and water set off by heavy rains left a trail of destruction through the mountainous Serrana region near the city of Rio de Janeiro, toppling houses, buckling roads and burying entire families as they slept.

"It's like an earthquake struck some areas," said Jorge Mario, the mayor of Teresopolis, where 185 people were killed and scores more were feared dead.

"The death toll is going to climb a lot. There are a lot of people buried who can't get help because rescue teams can't get there," Mario said, adding that three of the town's neighborhoods were destroyed by the flooding.

The mudslides swept away the homes of rich and poor alike in and around Teresopolis and other towns, likely causing billions of dollars in damage. But the brunt of the disaster was borne by poorer rural residents in houses built in risky areas without formal planning permission.

The floods have not affected Brazil's main export crops -- soy, sugar cane, oranges and coffee -- although they could push up local food prices further as the small Serrana region is an important producer of fruit and vegetables for the Rio metropolitan area.

Television images showed rescuers trying to haul residents from raging floodwaters, and going through the ruins of homes in search of survivors, often finding only corpses. One success came when a 6-month-old baby was rescued alive from the rubble of a house, drawing thunderous cheers from residents.

Bizarro Earth

US: More Aftershocks Rattle Monterey County Following 4.5 Magnitude Earthquake

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© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reported another pair of magnitude 3.0 and larger earthquakes struck Wednesday evening near Monterey County, less than a day after a 4.5-magnitude tremor and numerous aftershocks rattled the region.

The largest earthquakes this evening - one with a magnitude of 3.7 and the other with a magnitude of 3.9 - shook an area seven miles west of Prunedale at 7:54 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.

Since Wednesday morning, that area of the hills bordering Monterey and San Benito counties has experienced 27 earthquakes following the magnitude 4.5 quake that punctuated the day's seismic activity.

That tremor struck near Fremont Peak State Park at 12:51 a.m., according to the USGS, and had a depth of 1.8 miles. The epicenter was located 10 miles east-southeast of Prunedale and 45 miles south-southeast of San Jose.

Most of the aftershocks had a magnitude between 1.1 and 2.9, but four of the 27 measured 3.0 or larger.

Bizarro Earth

Sicily: Spectacular Night Footage of Mount Etna Eruption

Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna has begun spewing lava again. The Sicilian volcano sent bright orange balls of lava straight up into the air and a steady glowing orange flow ran down its side. According to the ANSA news agency, flames went hundreds of metres into the air and could be seen from the nearby towns of Catania and Taormina.

Bizarro Earth

Loyalty Islands - Earthquake Magnitude 7.0

Loyalty Islds Quake_130111
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 16:16:41 UTC

Friday, January 14, 2011 at 03:16:41 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.589°S, 168.548°E

Depth:
7.2 km (4.5 miles)

Region:
LOYALTY ISLANDS

Distances:
125 km (80 miles) NNE of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

135 km (85 miles) SSW of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu

285 km (180 miles) NE of NOUMEA, New Caledonia

1755 km (1090 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia

Radar

Floods force a million Sri Lankans from homes

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© Associated Press/Kailapillai Ruthiran
Flooding in Sri Lanka has forced more than one million people out of their homes, the government said Thursday as it began distributing emergency food, clothing and bedding.

At least 23 people have died during a week of monsoon floods, with the centre and east of the island worst hit by rising water levels and mudslides.

A spokesman for the disaster management centre in Colombo said the eastern district of Batticaloa, which saw bloody fighting in the civil war that ended in 2009, was badly affected after heavier than usual seasonal rains.

"Some 541,000 people have been displaced in Batticaloa district alone where we have set up 275 camps to accommodate them," the spokesman said, adding that a total of 1,081,000 people have been displaced.

More than 350,000 people have taken shelter in state-run relief camps while other displaced people have moved to higher ground, often staying with friends or relatives, he said.

Bizarro Earth

New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands on Red Alert for Cyclone Vania

Cyclone Vania
© Storm2k.orgCyclone Vania lashed southern Vanuatu and moved on the Loyalty Islands.
French authorities in New Caledonia today flagged a red alert for the French Pacific territory's north-eastern Loyalty slands group, due to the ominous approach by tropical cyclone Vania, which has overnight lashed at neighbouring Vanuatu's southern islands.

The red alert, which is a maximum level on a scale of three (yellow, orange, red) was due to come into force at 3 pm local time (GMT+11), the French High Commission in Nouméa said in a release.

The red alert effectively means that people should stay indoors until further notice and continue to monitor cyclone-related advice on local media.

A previous orange alert had been imposed on the Loyalty Islands, on Wednesday, prompting the population to store goods and essential items such as batteries, water and food.