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UK suffers potato shortage & price rises following 'record autumn rains'

Sarah Marsh
The Guardian
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:12 UTC
potatoes
© Andrew Paterson/Alamy
FILE PHOTO: A ruined crop of potatoes. Experts say supermarkets may have to rely on imports from as far afield as Egypt, pushing up environmental impact.
UK farmers are struggling with one of the lowest potato harvests on record after an autumn of heavy rain, raising fears about supplies for this year's Christmas dinners.

Experts are warning that supermarkets could be forced to turn to imports from as far afield as Egypt to fill potential gaps on shelves, pushing up the environmental impact of the festive meal.


Comment: The Guardian journalists are worried about the (relatively inconsequential) Co2 emissions - as world leaders fly to the UAE in their private jets for the COP28 climate summit - meanwhile, as inflation continues to push up prices, tens of millions of people in the West worry about how they're going to be able to afford the Christmas celebrations.


Fred Searle, the magazine editor of the Fresh Produce Journal, said potato planting had reduced significantly and the sector was "looking at the lowest UK crop on record this season", with an estimate that about "4.1m tonnes of potatoes would be harvested, 2m less than five or six years ago".

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Snowflake

Snow and gusty winds hit inactive volcano summit on Hawaii's Big Island


ABC 7 Chicago
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:42 UTC
Several inches of snow dumped on Hawaii's Maunakea, which has a peak of nearly 14,000 feet.

Several inches of snow dumped on Hawaii's Maunakea, which has a peak of nearly 14,000 feet.
Snow and gusty winds lashed the summit of an inactive volcano in Hawaii as a 'Kona low' low-pressure system brought stormy weather to the state.

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Attention

Massive solar storm to hit Earth today (Dec.1) with danger of radio and internet blackouts

Vishwam Sankaran
Independent (UK)
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 13:08 UTC
nnnnnnn
Radio, internet and GPS fluctuations are likely in some parts of the world on Friday as a massive solar storm is predicted to hit the Earth, US forecasters say.

The solar storm, or coronal mass ejection (CME), could interfere with the Earth's magnetic field and is likely to impact various forms of communications as well as sparking vibrant auroras, space weather physicist Tamitha Skov said.

"The storm is predicted to hit Earth by midday December 1... If the magnetic field is oriented correctly, expect aurora to reach deep into mid-latitudes. Amateur radio and GPS reception issues are likely, especially on Earth's nightside," Dr Skov posted on X.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other forecasters had already predicted that three solar storms were heading towards the Earth with some of them likely to merge to produce stronger magnetic field disruptions.
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Snowflake Cold

Snowstorm causes massive power cuts across Ukraine - at least 10 dead (UPDATE)


BBC
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:08 UTC
Dozens of passengers in Ukraine have had to be rescued from vehicles stuck in heavy snow
© DSNS EMERGENCIES SERVICE
Dozens of passengers in Ukraine have had to be rescued from vehicles stuck in heavy snow
Snowstorms and strong winds have left more than 2,000 towns and villages without power across many regions of Ukraine, local officials say.

They say 48 people, including children, have been evacuated from trapped vehicles in the worst-affected Odesa region in the south-west.

At least six people have suffered from hypothermia. Traffic is currently blocked on 14 motorways.


Comment: Update November 28

CNN reports:
At least 10 people have died and thousands remain cut off from the power grid in Ukraine, in three days of stormy weather that has blanketed parts of the country in heavy snow, a senior official said Tuesday.

More than 400 settlements across 11 regions were without electricity, and more than 1,500 responders were trying to reach thousands of people in need of rescue, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, as fresh bouts of snow are expected to continue this week.

Another 23 were injured, including two children, Klymenko said Tuesday, adding the deaths were in Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions.

Videos showed Ukrainian police battling fierce winds as they pushed and towed cars back onto icy highways after they had slid off-road into ditches.


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Attention

Rare oarfish dubbed 'harbinger of earthquakes' found washed up on beach in the Dominican Republic

Louis Regan
The Sun (UK)
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:45 UTC
An oarfish was spotted on the shoreline of Los Coquitos beach in Dominican Republic
© Jam Press Vid
An oarfish was spotted on the shoreline of Los Coquitos beach in Dominican Republic
A RARE fish believed believed to be a precursor of earthquakes has been found washed up on a beach.

Spotting a deep-sea oarfish species is a signal for an impending quake, according to Japanese folklore.

The elongated fish was spotted on the shores of Los Coquitos beach in Pepillo Salcedo, Dominican Republic on Monday.

The oarfish died shortly after.

The sea serpent was eerily located near the Septentrional-Oriente strike-slip Fault Zone, responsible for the 1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake and tsunami in neighbouring Haiti, which killed approximately 5,300.

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Snowflake Cold

More than 40 inches of snow blankets the Northeast as arctic blast sweeps the US

Patrick Smith and Kathryn Prociv
NBC News
Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:24 UTC
Heavy snow along Route 4 in Killington, Vt., on Tuesday.
© Killington Police Department
Heavy snow along Route 4 in Killington, Vt., on Tuesday.
Significant winter weather hit communities across the interior Northeast on Wednesday morning, causing at least one fatal road accident.

As expected, more than 40 inches of snow fell over the past two days over parts of the Great Lakes and interior Northeast in the first significant lake-effect snow event of the season.

The heaviest snowfall was recorded at Constableville, New York, where 42.7 inches landed.

All lake-effect snow warnings expired at 7 a.m. Wednesday. By the afternoon, the snow was winding down across the Great Lakes, with a few flurries or light snow showers trickling across lakes into northwest Pennsylvania and western New York. Heavy snowfall is not expected through the rest of Wednesday, but 1 or 2 inches of snow will still be possible.

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Attention

More than 30 dead pilot whales found on Tasmania's east coast

Jano Gibson
abc.net.au
Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:38 UTC
More than 30 dolphins washed up on shore on Bryan’s Beach on Tuesday.

More than 30 dolphins washed up on shore on Bryan’s Beach on Tuesday.
Chris Theobald has had many close encounters with wildlife around the world.

But the nature guide's latest interaction on Tasmania's east coast has left him devastated.

He along with two of his colleagues had travelled by boat to Bryans Beach, not far from the popular tourist destination of Wineglass Bay.

It was there they came across more than two dozen pilot whales lying in the shallows on Wednesday morning.

All of them were dead.

"It was pretty heart-wrenching," Mr Theobald said.

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Cloud Precipitation

Downpour causes flash floods in Jurong West, Singapore - 4 inches of rain in just 75 minutes

Sherlyn Sim
The Straits Times
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:18 UTC
The water level in Boon Lay Avenue almost reached the height of the seats of a bus stop, with vehicles travelling slowly along that road.

The water level in Boon Lay Avenue almost reached the height of the seats of a bus stop, with vehicles travelling slowly along that road.
Several roads in the Jurong West area were flooded on the afternoon of Nov 28 following heavy rainfall over western Singapore.

National water agency PUB said on Facebook the same evening that a flash flood had occurred in Boon Lay Way at 3.42pm. It subsided within 20 minutes.

In a separate alert on Telegram earlier in the afternoon, it said the flash flood affected two of the three lanes there.

PUB said on Facebook that its quick response teams were on site to help the public. It added that it had issued flood risk alerts for six locations.

Videos posted on Facebook show the water level in Boon Lay Avenue near River Valley High School almost reaching the height of seats at a bus stop, with vehicles travelling slowly along that road.

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Snowflake

One of snowiest ever Novembers in the Alps


snow-forecast.com
Wed, 29 Nov 2023 13:15 UTC
mmmm
It's still early-days but this months snowfall in the Alps appears to have laid the base for a great start to the season, with high resorts like Val Thorens saying they already have enough snow to see them through the whole season ahead.

The past week has seen more big accumulations of typically 50-100cm (20-40″) on high slopes, 10-20cm (4-8″) at resort level, the latest is a month which began with big snowfalls too.

It's all very different to the start of last season when ski areas struggled for cover below 1,800m altitude. It also comes after a warmest and dry first half of autumn/fall.


Tignes is pictured above after fresh snow yesterday, Avoriaz below after a snowfall on November 6th.
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Bizarro Earth

Destructive deer-eating 'super pigs' invade northern US from Canada


Truth Press
Sun, 26 Nov 2023 20:19 UTC
super pigs feral hogs canada to us
© s1033.com
Destructive "super pigs" from Canada are beginning to invade the U.S., threatening to add to the billions of dollars in damage already inflicted annually upon the nation by feral swine.
Canadian bacon

Dr. Ryan Brook, lead on the University of Saskatchewan's Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, told Field and Stream earlier this year, "The U.S. has a 400-plus year history with invasive wild pigs, but we didn't have any here until the early 1980s."

"There was a big push to diversify agriculture with species like wild [boars] and ostriches. Wild boars were brought in from Europe to be raised on farms across Canada," said Brook.

The swinish imports from Eurasia, kept both on meat farms and in hunting preserves, were crossbred with domestic pigs, resulting in "super pigs." These monstrosities were not only larger, but hardier and capable of surviving in cold climates.

Comment: Canada's Global News was reporting on the problem a year ago:



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