Earth Changes
A rare hurricane-like storm in the Mediterranean threatens Egypt and Israel
Medicanes are named for a combination of "Mediterranean" and "hurricane" due to their blend of tropical and extratropical cyclone characteristics.
Up to 200 mm (nearly 8 inches) of rain is possible locally from Friday to late Saturday as the storm moves through the region, raising concerns for flash flooding.
Comment: Are medicanes becoming part of the new normal?
See also:
- Second freak tornado to touch down in France this week
- Deadly storms batter southern France - nearly 5 inches of rain in under 3 hours recorded - UPDATE: Three people killed
- Ibiza tornado: Multiple people injured as storm rips through holiday resort
This is in addition to the 102 lightning deaths between April 1 and July 1, which means 250 people were struck dead by lightning in six months, coming to an average of one a day.
Weather experts believe the unprecedented heat and record rainfall this year were partly, or perhaps jointly, responsible. "The land gets hotter due to the excessively hot summer. When monsoon rain comes in contact with the baking earth, heat is transferred and lighting strikes begin within half an hour to three hours," said a weather expert.
© Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Damage to Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana church, bottom, on Walnut Hill and homes behind it is seen in an aerial view of tornado damage on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Dallas.
Damage to Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana church, bottom, on Walnut Hill and homes behind it is seen in an aerial view of tornado damage on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Dallas.
The nine tornadoes that hit the Dallas, Texas-area over the weekend have caused an estimated $2 billion in damage, an insurer trade group says, making it the costliest tornado loss in Texas history.
The Insurance Council of Texas noted that the previous highest tornado-related loss occurred as the result of the Garland/Rowlett tornado of Dec. 26, 2015, which caused insured losses of $1.2 billion dollars. Sunday's tornadoes, however, extended over a wider geographic span impacting a variety of homes and commercial property, the ICT said.
Commercial and business losses are still being estimated but ICT said it is thought that more than 30,000 auto and home claims will be filed as a result of the Oct. 20 tornado outbreak.
Clean up has already started in many areas to remove debris and damaged vehicles.
The insurance industry mobilized claims operations centers in the field with Farmers, State Farm and USAA meeting customers in the Lowes parking lot on Forest Lane and Inwood Road while Allstate and Nationwide set up mobile operations on Forest and 635. Both mobile centers provide another way for customers to file claims and ask questions about the claims process.
Comment: Major damage reported in Dallas after powerful overnight tornado: UPDATE - Four killed
The Dallas tornadoes are expected to be the 11th billion-dollar weather disaster of 2019 reports the Weather Channel:
Ten other weather disasters have caused at least $1 billion in damage in the U.S. so far in 2019, according to a government report released earlier in October.
Among those billion-dollar weather disasters in the first nine months of the year were a pair of landfalling tropical cyclones, NOAA said in its findings. Severe weather, drought and river flooding also made the list.© NOAA
Not including Sunday's Dallas tornadoes, the U.S. has endured a total of 254 billion-dollar weather disasters inflicting a combined $1.7 trillion (USD 2019) in damage in records going back to 1980.
Of those 254 events, 65 have occurred in the last five years. That's more than twice as many per year as the annual average since 1980. Inflation doesn't explain the increase because the figures are inflation-adjusted.
Sources
© Terry Chea/Associated Press
A purple urchin at Bodega Marine Lab in California, which is running a pilot project to remove purple urchins from the ocean floor, restore them to health, then sell them as premium seafood.
A purple urchin at Bodega Marine Lab in California, which is running a pilot project to remove purple urchins from the ocean floor, restore them to health, then sell them as premium seafood.
Tens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death.
A recent count found 350m purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone - more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. And in northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, perhaps never to return.
Vast "urchin barrens" - stretches of denuded seafloor dotted with nothing but hundreds of the spiny orbs - have spread to coastal Oregon, where kelp forests were once so thick it was impossible to navigate some areas by boat.
Rare bird swept to Dundalk from US by hurricane, says local bird expert
According to Gerry O'Neill of Louth Bird News, the short-billed Dowitcher (pictured) has been seen around the docks in Dundalk and the Navvy Bank.
"This is probably only the fourth Irish record (of such a bird in the country) and has been very popular with birders coming from all parts of Ireland to see it."
— LouthBirdNews (@LouthBirdNews) October 24, 2019
Tiny shorebird from the Arctic ends up in New Zealand after going thousands of kilometres off course
A little stint was spotted at Lake Ellesmere last week, thousands of kilometres from home.
The Arctic wader was spotted at Kaitorete Spit near Christchurch last week - just the fifth time it has ever been seen in New Zealand, but the second sighting this year.
The bird - a little stint, which at about 12cm in length and weighing at most 45 grams is smaller than a sparrow - was seen by ornithologist Niall Mugan, from Keystone Ecology. The identification was confirmed by city council staff carrying out predator control at the lake.
It is distinctive because of its rich coloured plumage, white throat and yellow 'V' shape pattern on its mantle, or upper back.
The piglet with six paws. This is the moment a rare piglet which has been born with six legs on a Uruguayan farm walks around in the grass.
The freak piglet, which was born on a Uruguayan Farm, has caused a stir among locals who say they've never seen anything like it.
In the video, the black-and-white piglet can be seen walking in the grass with its two extra legs in the air.
Apart from its abnormal extra limbs, the baby pig is believed to be otherwise healthy.
© Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Earl Nottingham
FILE - Image of Deer
FILE - Image of Deer
CNN says the 66-year-old man is believed to have been killed as he was hunting in the woods.
Officials say he was found with antler puncture wounds on his body.
The man had made plans with his nephew to field-dress the deer's body together.
Comment: Read in addition: University dumps professor who found polar bears thriving despite climate change