Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Erin Heads for Texas

Lynn Brezosky
AP
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:22 UTC
Tropical Storm Erin formed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward Texas, threatening to bring downpours to a state that already has had one of its rainiest summers on record.

Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency vehicles and personnel, including National Guard troops, to the Harlingen and Corpus Christi areas.

©NOAA
NOAA satellite imagery shows Tropical Storm Erin intensifying Wednesday morning in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Because storms have saturated much of our state this summer, many communities in this storm's projected path are at high risk of dangerous flash flooding," Perry said in a statement.
Read More...
Evil Rays

Southern California Long Overdue for Quake, Experts Say

Sara B. McPherson
National Geographic
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:16 UTC
It's only a matter of time before a massive earthquake shakes Southern California to its core, scientists say.

Though dormant for more than 300 years, the southern end of the San Andreas Fault is long overdue for a giant upheaval, according to experts.

And the results of such a quake would be devastating.


"A large earthquake would likely kill thousands and cause billions of dollars in damages," said Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Sixty feared dead in landslide in Indian Himalayas


Reuters
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:22 UTC
Around 60 people are thought to have died in the Indian Himalayas after a cloudburst caused a landslide that buried an entire village, officials said on Wednesday.

The army has been called in to look for bodies after Tuesday night's cloudburst in Dharla village in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. But heavy rain was hampering rescue work.

©BBC
Read More...
Magic Wand

Not so "mindless" after all: Ants tend to gravitate to what they do best, researchers show

HENRY FOUNTAIN
The New York Times
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:38 UTC
The remarkable ability of ants and other social insects to divide the work in a colony is a result of many factors: genes, age, social interactions, even size or other physical attributes.

But might individual experience be involved as well? Might those who turn out to be good at a task end up specializing in that task, and those that aren't go on to something else?

©F. Ravary
Cerapachys biroi

These are questions that Fabien Ravary and Emmanuel Lecoutey of the University of Paris-North in Villetaneuse, France, and colleagues sought to answer. To do so, they chose an ant, Cerapachys biroi, that allowed them to focus on experience to the exclusion of everything else. These ants produce a new generation of workers all at once, so they are of precisely the same age and size and are raised under the same conditions.
Read More...
Calculator

Firms warned offsetting CO2 emissions does "more harm than good"


Business Green Blog
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 09:34 UTC
A leading scientist with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has warned that "doing nothing is better than offsetting" on the grounds that there is a serious risk that the practice is leading to increased emissions.
Read More...
Arrow Up

Deadly heat wave settles over South of the US

BETH RUCKER
AP
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:51 UTC
A heat wave continued to bake parts of the South on Tuesday, raising the number of heat-linked deaths in Tennessee to at least five and buckling roads in Mississippi.

The temperature in Memphis hit at least 100 degrees again Tuesday, the fifth consecutive day of triple-digit highs, as hot air blanketed the south-central portion of the nation. Monday's top reading in the city was 105.
Read More...
Question

The mystery of Scotland's disappearing common seals

Ian Herbert
The Independent
Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:21 UTC
There have been no obvious signs of them washed up on the shore; no evidence that disease or human hand is behind a dramatic reduction in numbers of the sea mammal. But a routine survey has delivered the baffling news that 5,000 common seals have disappeared from the shores of Orkney and Shetland.
Read More...
X

At least 14 killed by floods overnight in north Indian region


RIA Novosti
Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:48 UTC
At least 14 people died Monday night in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh as monsoon floods continued to devastate the region, local radio said.

About 30 people have been killed in the province over the past three days in ongoing torrential rains and landslides, which have destroyed buildings, roads and rail lines, and disrupted water and power supplies.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Microburst Throws Barn 200 Feet in Colorado

Lauri Martin
kktv.com
Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:39 UTC
A microburst blew through the town of Midway, a small area south of Fountain, lifting a barn and throwing it into a house. A microburst is straight-line winds with wind gusts up to 100 miles-per-hour that are confined to a small area.

"The force blew pieces of the barn through the house and ended up 200 feet over there," Mike Harder said as he points out the damage to his home.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Floods hit southern Norway


UPI
Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:18 UTC
Heavy rains caused flooding in southern Norway Monday, forcing many residents to leave their homes.

Floods ripped through the northern tip of Randsfjord in southern Norway, Aftenposten reports.

Several homes were destroyed or severely damaged and cars were swept away after the heavy rains caused a dam to break, sending torrents of water rushing down the Nordraak River.
Read More...