Earth ChangesS

Snowflake

England: 'Snowman cars' add to travel headaches as cold snap spreads north and east

Martin Wainwright
Guardian
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:36 UTC
Image
© Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesParked cars in snowy Bath.
More flights cancelled, trains delayed and roads closed, and AA warns over drivers failing to clear snow from car roof.

Heavy snow brought its usual mixture of beauty, fun and serious disruption to most of the country on Monday as the cold front that turned southern England white on Sunday moved east and north.

Hundreds of schools were closed, disrupting some GCSE and AS-level exams, and there were cancellations and delays on roads, rail and in the air as bitterly cold winds added drifting to already deep falls and widespread ice.

Heathrow airport suffered worse disruption than expected with 175 flights cancelled by midday, well over the figure of 130 predicted earlier. Sunshine brought a rapid thaw but the total later crept close to the 260 cancellations of Sunday. The airport blamed poor visibility.

Gatwick and Birmingham airports were also badly disrupted and East Midlands and Robin Hood airports were closed to flights.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Whale strands in shocking repeat in Southland, New Zealand

Neil Ratley
The Southland Times
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:48 UTC
Stranded Whale
© Neil Ratley/Fairfax NZBeached: A beaked whale has become on stranded on a Southland beach.
A second rare whale has been euthanised by the Department of Conservation after beaching itself at Sandy Pt yesterday.

It was the second time in 24 hours DOC had to put down an Arnoux's beaked whale, which is relatively rare.

Acting area manager for Murihiku/Southern Islands, Alan Christie, said the whale stranded at Sandy Pt less than a day after an unsuccessful DOC and community effort to save a whale at Omaui Beach.

DOC staff were notified of the second whale's beaching yesterday morning, he said.

The 8-metre-long whale was in a highly distressed state and DOC made a difficult decision, in consultation with local iwi, to euthanise the whale and end its suffering.

While an attempt to refloat the whale would have been ideal, several factors, including the tides and the whale's condition, made this impractical, Mr Christie said.

Among several parallels between the two strandings, he said, were that both whales were females of the same species and yesterday's stranding occurred at the Sandy Pt entrance of Invercargill Estuary, almost immediately opposite the first stranding.
Read More...
Snowflake

More flight disruptions across Europe, as heavy snow causes chaos


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:44 UTC
Hundreds of flights were cancelled and road and rail traffic was severely disrupted across much of Europe on Monday, as heavy snow and freezing weather gripped the continent. Frankfurt airport, Germany's main air hub, cancelled around 500 departing and arriving flights, representing 40 percent of its daily schedule. The busiest airport in Europe, London Heathrow, scrapped nearly 200 flights. Heathrow said a decision was taken 24 hours in advance to cancel 130 flights because visibility was expected to deteriorate as the day wore on, but problems elsewhere in Europe were having an impact too. "The additional cancellations are because a number of airports elsewhere in Europe are experiencing problems so that has a knock-on effect for us," an airport spokesman said.


Heathrow has spent 36 million pounds ($57 million) on upgrading its snow-clearing equipment since 2010, when freezing temperatures and snow almost brought the airport to a halt in the approach to Christmas. Europe's number three airport, Paris's Charles de Gaulle, was also hit. France's civil aviation authority DGAC said it expected to scrap 40 percent of flights to and from Charles de Gaulle and Paris's other main airport, Orly, in a precautionary measure following heavy snowfall on Sunday. Even Munich, a city usually accustomed to taking snow in its stride, cancelled 161 flights at its airport as it grappled with the exceptional conditions.
Read More...
Snowflake Cold

Spot gas prices in Europe skyrocket with temperatures fall


RT.com
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:11 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev
Cold weather in Europe has caused this season's record-high spot prices for gas, crossing the $400 mark. But even this does not make stable but higher long-term contract prices more attractive to European customers.

Over the weekend extreme weather has swept across Europe from the UK to Spain, claiming lives and causing flight cancelations and power outages. The freezing temperatures have forced Europe to consume more gas prompting the spot price to reach $406 per 1000 cubic meter. Gas at Britain's National Balancing Point traded at $398.7 last week which was 8.5% higher than in first week of January.

However, Russia's Gazprom, which in 2011 provided 32% of total gas supplies to Europe, will not benefit much from the rise. Only 20% of Gazprom's gas exports to the EU were spot deals, Sergey Vakhrameev, analyst at Metropol told Vedomosti daily. Long-term contracts make up the majority of Gazprom deliveries, while spot supplies are only 7% of total exports, Vakhrameev added.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Huge landslide demolishes US-441 in North Carolina


WBIR.com
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:44 UTC

Park officials now believe they know what caused the massive landslide, which took out a football field-sized portion of Newfound Gap Road (US 441) on the North Carolina side.

Officials said they found a subsurface spring underneath the landslide site and they aren't quite sure how long its been there. They said the spring, along with last week's massive amounts of rainfall, contributed to the landslide Wednesday morning, near mile marker 22 between Collins Creek and Webb Overlook.

"We were unaware of this subsurface spring which causes embankment failure," said Acting Deputy Superintendent Alan Sumeriski.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Chile's Villarrica Volcano: New deep-seated weak explosive activity detected


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:41 UTC
Image
Terrestrial and satellite observations confirm that for about 2 weeks weak explosive activity deep within the summit crater has resumed and indicates that magma might have begun to rise again within the volcano. This ends a period of more than six months of remarkable inactivity. It is expected that in the coming weeks or months incandescence will be visible again at the crater during the nights. The activity levels are so low, that without the help of satellites it would not have been possible to detect the increase in heat from the crater. In addition, about 2 weeks ago, the seasonal melting of ice and snow on the volcano began and produced large volumes of melt-water that drained within and at the base of glaciers.

A critical mass of water might have entered the volcano's hydrothermal system. The internal heat evaporates the water in the immediate area of โ€‹โ€‹the volcanic conduit and forms condensation on the inner walls above. The condensation phenomenon has been observed in good weather, notably on 16 and 17 January after noon. The detailed analysis of more than 12,000 daily sequential images indicates that no ash emissions have occurred nor landslides in recent months. - Volcano Discovery
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Scientists are warning New Zealand's Mount Tongariro may erupt again


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:39 UTC
Image
Scientists are warning Mount Tongariro may erupt again as the Department of Conservation looks at re-opening the remainder of the iconic Tongariro Crossing next month. GNS Science say emissions of steam and a gas plume have been a continuous feature of the mountain since the August 2012 eruption. Scientist Tony Hurst said the volcano is still in an "active" state. "Therefore we have to be prepared there will be other events like that without any warning," said GNS Scientist Tony Hurst. The risk of another eruption is causing concern for the Department of Conservation as it prepares to reopen the northern section of the Tongariro Crossing which was damaged in the August eruption. GNS Scientists are also concerned neighboring Mt. Ruapehu may be due to erupt.

Gas samples show there could be a blockage underneath the volcano's surface. The blockage could burst and erupt without warning. Tourism operator Stewart Barclay from Adrift Outdoors said tourism on Mt. Ruaphu and Mt. Tongariro is reliant on the findings of GNS scientists. "We can't do anything until the scientists scratch their heads and reckon it's all safe to go up," said Barclay. DOC has closed the area within 2km of the centre of crater lake at the summit of Mt Ruapehu. -TVNZ
Read More...
Question

Bigfoot or animals? Strange sounds coming from swamp on Umatilla Indian Reservation

Richard Cockle
The Oregonian
Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:20 UTC
Soggy Wetland
© Richard Cockle/The OregonianNobody ventures into this soggy wetland on the edge of Mission on the Umatilla Indian Reservation after dark when the shrieks begin. Resident Sylvia Minthorn once thought about plunging in to find the source of the cries. "ย€ยœI used to play back there when I was a kid,"ย€ย she says. "ย€ยœBut then I thought, "What if I do find something? Then what am I going to do?"
Pendleton, Oregon -- Baby foxes or Bigfoot?

The eerie late-night serenades began in November and emanate from a brushy swamp on the Umatilla Indian Reservation east of Pendleton. The cries range from high-pitched screams to basso profundo roars.

"It's causing an uproar around here," said Sylvia Minthorn, who lives in a tribal housing unit near the swamp, where she used to play as a child.

She's seen grown men's hair stand on end when the shrieks commence.

Colleen Chance, a tribal housing authority employee, keeps a recording of the howls on her iPhone.

"It's kind of spooky," she said. "Some say it's foxes, some say it's a female coyote and some say it's Sasquatch. I don't know what it is."

So far no one's pinpointed the source of the noise on this rugged 178,000-acre reservation that extends into northeastern Oregon's Blue Mountains and is home to about 1,500 people. The swamp in question borders the old reservation community of Mission, in a canyon north of the Wildhorse Resort and Casino.

Phone calls about the wails started coming in last month to the housing authority, and the office has had a half dozen so far. More could come in because the cries are continuing from time to time.
Read More...
Bug

Rare and spectacular spider find in 150-year-old tombs in London!


WildLife Extra
Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:44 UTC
Rare Spiders in Tomb_1
© London Wildlife TrustA large, rare spider has been recorded for the first time in London - deep in tombs at Highgate Cemetery.
First record of orb weaver spider in London

A large, rare spider has been recorded for the first time in London - deep in tombs at Highgate Cemetery.

As part of the Wild London Inclusive London project, staff at London Wildlife Trust have been working with the staff and local community of Highgate Cemetery since last summer. During a bat survey in December, Trust staff came across a population of large spiders in the vaults of the Egyptian Avenue at the Cemetery.

Britain's largest orb weavers

Interestingly, these orb weavers are the species Meta bourneti, the rarer of two species of Meta (Britain's largest orb weavers). The identity of the spider was confirmed by Edward Milner, Spider Recorder at the London Natural History Society - and it is the very first record of the species in London!

Meta bourneti is particularly fascinating because, due to its origins as a cave-dweller (also known as a cave spider), it requires total darkness. Even an outdoor night time environment is too bright for it, so the spiders never leave the tombs.
Read More...
Igloo

Record snowfall closes lifts and roads in the Pyrenees

meteo morris
Wepowder
Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:39 UTC
Pyrenees Snowfall
© Saint Lary skiresortThis bus was still moving yesterday. But today?
The Pyrenees are experiencing historic, but also terrifying moments right now. Around 200 centimeters of freshies came down in the ski resorts on the French side of the Pyrenees since Sunday. All the lifts in the resorts are closed since Tuesday morning as a precaution.

The combination of a stormy wind (100 km/h), the huge and intense snowfall and the fact that warmer air is coming in this afternoon is causing a very critical situation. Around 200 centimeters came down since Sunday and you can expect another 40-70 centimeters today.
Pyrennees Road Closures
© WepowderLots of roads are closed.
Read More...