Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Hurricane force winds, rain and snow batter Scotland

Scotland was battered by a triple whammy of hurricane-strength winds, torrential rain and driving snow today forcing the closure of schools and causing problems on roads and communications.

The far north and north west bore the brunt of the weather as the storm tore in from the Atlantic this morning.

And tonight Strathclyde police advised drivers not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

One amateur weather station at Ness on the Isle of Lewis recorded a Hurricane gust of 91mph with more heavy weather expected tonight.

Schools and many businesses in the Western Isles closed at lunchtime to prepare for the high winds and heavy rains.

While the Northern Isles and Hebrides were facing winds of up to 90mph the central belt experiencing winds of 60-70mph on Thursday evening.

Bizarro Earth

Dead fish wash up on Florida shore

dead fish
© CNN
Sebastian - Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they believe a lack of oxygen is what caused thousands of fish to die at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

WPBF 25 News alerted the FWC after u local user jhazel uploaded photos of the dead fish that had washed ashore Friday morning.

"I saw the fish jumping out there and I thought it was going to be a really good day for fishing, and then I noticed over here in the surf that they're all dead," fisherman Jeff Johnson told WPBF 25 News.

FWC biologists arrived to assess the situation and take water samples as people watched.

"It's a little shocking, yes," Johnson said. "I don't know if there's chemicals in the water or the temperatures that caused this."

Biologists said it's neither.

Bizarro Earth

Brazil - Thousands of dead fish in the Pantanal

dead fish
© Rhobson T. Lima/O Pantaneiro
Mato Grosso Do Sul, Amazon Region - At Aquidauana, pantanal region of the Mato Grosso do Sul state, shoals of painteds, pacus, golden fishes, cacharas - and even stingrays, are floating dead in Rio Negro, one of the largest in the Amazon River basin.

The estimated Environmental Policy is of that several tons of fishes died, adding that the authorities and experts, they still do not have the scale of the ecological disaster.

Biologist of the State Institute of the Environment, Robert Gill Machado, noted the phenomenon, considered of great proportion, after flying over the region of sub-basin of Rio Negro. At this place fishing is banned. The area is considered one of the nurseries of fish breeding of the Pantanal.

According to the technicians of the Institute the symptoms that occur in this case are the same symptoms of other instances of the genre. The fish are dying putting their heads out of water trying to obtain air, due to lack of oxygen in the water. This deficiency is due to the large volume of ash produced by burned, which is carried by runoff along riverbeds of the wetland.

Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Chicago Blizzard 2011 - Thunder Snow - Strike!

There was a lightning flash and I almost dropped my camera. Who knew thundersnow existed?


Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Volcanic hell: Japan entering new stage of geological upheaval

shinmoedake
© Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images A plume of smoke rises from the crater of Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima mountain range of Kagoshima prefecture, Japan.
Shinmoedake, a volcano on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, erupted again as the government said it will send officials to the area to help local authorities create an evacuation plan.

The 1,421-meter (4,660 feet) volcano in the Kirishima range erupted at 9:42 a.m. local time following three eruptions yesterday, sending a plume of ash and smoke as high as 3,000 meters, a branch division of the agency said in a statement. The plume was drifting east-northeast toward Miyazaki Prefecture's Pacific coastline, the statement said.

The government plans to send a group of natural disaster officials to the area as early as Feb. 7, Shigeo Ochi, an official at the Cabinet Office, said in a telephone interview today. Japan's Meteorological Agency is maintaining a level 3 alert for Shinmoedake, indicating an eruption "may seriously affect places near residential areas." Evacuations are carried out when the alert reaches the maximum 5.

Cloud Lightning

Snow Hits Mexico Border Towns

Unusually cold weather hit most of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua on Wednesday bringing temperatures of 8 degrees to the region.
Image

Bizarro Earth

Whales Appearing in New York Harbor in Greater Numbers

Humpback Whale
© Zorankovacevic / Wikipedia Commons
Just minutes outside of the New York Harbor, whales, dolphins and seals have been arriving in increasing numbers.

Prof. Christopher Clark, neurobiology and behavior and zoology, has monitored the animals since 1972 by placing acoustic recorders on Long Island and the mouth of New York Harbor and analyzing the data collected from them.

Although their presence has surprised many people, whales and other aquatic mammals have inhabited the area for many years, Clark said. He explained that scientists had not studied them consistently until recently.

"The whales are quite mobile and might go out from the continental shelf into the Gulf Stream, but there are enough of them moving around that there are always whales in New York," Clark said. "This is part of their home turf."

Clark estimates that as many as 30 to 50 fin whales are now living in the ocean offshore of New York City.

Fish

More strange animal behavior: More than 100,000 Sharks off Florida beach!

Image

Pilot Steve Irwin was astonished after spotting a mass of more than 100,000 sharks swimming just 100 yards off Florida's sandy beaches.

The long-time fisherman and marine technology expert was cruising 300ft above the clear waters in his helicopter on Sunday when he came across the astonishing scene.

Experts say this is the time of year when sharks migrate and head for warmer waters, typically swimming close to the shore while chasing after bait-fish.

But Mr Irwin, who runs Island Marine Services in Fort Pierce, was baffled as to the staggering number of sharks gathered in the shallow waters.

Cloud Lightning

Thunder Snow in Chicago Blizzard 2011

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Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel witnessing epic thunder snow on the streets of Chicago! Amazing!


Bizarro Earth

Myanmar - India Border: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4

Myanmar-India Quake_040211
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time
Friday, February 04, 2011 at 13:53:47 UTC

Friday, February 04, 2011 at 08:23:47 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
24.616°N, 94.740°E

Depth
88.8 km (55.2 miles)

Region
MYANMAR-INDIA BORDER REGION

Distances
85 km (50 miles) ESE of Imphal, Manipur, India

130 km (80 miles) SSE of Kohima, Nagaland, India

690 km (425 miles) ENE of Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India

1800 km (1120 miles) E of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India