Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Environment Canada now says Manitoba tornado was strongest ever in country


CP
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:20 UTC
Environment Canada has confirmed a tornado that blew apart homes in Elie, Manitoba this summer was an F-5 - the strongest in Canadian history.

Spokesman Dave Carlson says after reviewing videotape of the twister, Environment Canada has determined the tornado packed winds upwards of 400 klometres an hour - strong enough to toss around cars and houses and standblast the bark off trees.
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Bulb

Surprise strategy: Bees smother enemies


AFP
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:07 UTC
Cyprian honey bees under attack by predator hornets have evolved a grisly and lethal way of fighting back which scientists have called "asphyxia-balling," according to a study published Monday.

An intruding hornet looking for a snack in a beehive may suddenly find itself enveloped inside a buzzing ball of black-and-yellow worker drones. The bees squeeze in tightly around the abdomen -- where hornets breath -- until the would be aggressor dies of suffocation.
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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon heads for China, targets Shanghai


Reuters
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:21 UTC
China was evacuating tens of thousands of people from its financial hub Shanghai on Tuesday in the face of a powerful typhoon churning towards the east coast.

About 200,000 people living in exposed areas in the city of over 14 million would be moved to temporary shelters before evening when Typhoon Wipha is expected to make landfall after swiping the island of Taiwan.

Schools, offices and markets were closed on the northern part of Taiwan near the capital, Taipei, where it has been raining steadily since late Monday.
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Snowman

Snow Falls Early in South Iceland


Iceland Review
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:26 UTC
Unseasonably early snowfall restricted traffic in south Iceland on Saturday, since motorists had not yet prepared their vehicles for the winter with studded tires, designed to drive on slippery roads.

According to information from the Iceland Meteorological Office, the blanket of snow measured five centimeters in Kirkjubaejarklaustur on Saturday morning, Morgunbladid reports.
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Cloud Lightning

Warning Raised as Wipha surges from Tropical Storm to Category 4

Preciosa Dumlao
AHN
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:13 UTC
Taiwan announced a sea warning alert for all the ships traveling through its northern and eastern waters as tropical storm "Wipha" approached the island and packing winds of 67 miles per hour Monday.

The Central Weather Bureau said, as of 11 a.m. local time Monday, the center of Wipha was located about 367 miles southeast of coastal Yilan county in northern Taiwan.

©TSR
Typhoon Wipha

Comment: This story doesn't mention that the storm is now a Category 4 and intensified to this level from a Tropical Storm in one day.

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Bizarro Earth

Moderate Earthquake Rattles Honduras


AP
Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:46 UTC
A moderate earthquake rattled Honduras on Saturday, sending panicked residents into the streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries but some buildings were damaged, authorities said.

The quake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 5.5, struck just before noon and was centered about 50 miles north of the capital of Tegucigalpa, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
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Cloud Lightning

Intense Thunderstorm and Hail Hit Torrevieja, Spain


torrevieja.com
Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:41 UTC
Between the 16.45 and 17.15h a big thunderstorm of hail, causing damages in cars and windows of housings. The climatology this evening has surprised us. Minutes before 17:00h, the sky was darkened prelude of the thunderstorm that was approaching. A waterspout of hail, with pieces of ice the size of a chick-pea, and an intense rain that fell down on Torrevieja, did not last very long, but it was sufficient to cause damages to vehicles and generated problems of traffic.

©torrevieja.com
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Magic Wand

Alaska Bird Makes Longest Nonstop Flight Ever Measured

Dave Hansford
National Geographic
Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:08 UTC
A female shorebird was recently found to have flown 7,145 miles (11,500 kilometers) nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand - without taking a break for food or drink.

It's the longest nonstop bird migration ever measured, according to biologists who tracked the flight using satellite tags.

The bird, a wader called a bar-tailed godwit, completed the journey in nine days.

©USFWS
A shorebird called a bar-tailed godwit, like the one pictured here, was recently found to have flown 7,145 miles (11,500 kilometers) nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest uninterrupted bird migration ever recorded, scientists say.

In addition to demonstrating the bird's surprising endurance, the trek confirms that godwits make the southbound trip of their annual migration directly across the vast Pacific rather than along the East Asian coast, scientists said.
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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon Nari Set for South Korea After Lashing Japan

Kim Kyoungwha
Bloomberg
Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:12 UTC
Typhoon Nari is forecast to arrive at the southern coast of South Korea later today after pounding Japan's Okinawa islands group with heavy rains and high winds.

The eye of Nari was about 137 kilometers (85 miles) from Yosu, a port city southwest of Seoul, as of 2 p.m. Seoul time, and was moving northwest at 30 kilometers an hour, according to the latest advisory on the Web site of Korean Meteorological Administration. Nari has winds of 155 kilometers per hour.

©TSR
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Stop

California: Fire in San Bernardino National Forest explodes to 18,000 acres


Sign on San Diego
Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:22 UTC
An out-of-control wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest tore through 18,000 acres of brush and timber Saturday, forcing evacuations in a pair of mountain communities.

The entire resort community of Green Valley Lake and the Fawnskin area near Big Bear Dam were under a mandatory evacuation order. About 5,000 people were affected, said Jim Wilkins of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

"It's just been running and gunning all day long, eating up ground," Wilkins said. "It's a very aggressive fire burning through fuels that haven't been burned in 50 to 75 years."

Winds of about 20 miles an hour and humidity of just 10 percent were helping the blaze grow and it crept within a half-mile of homes in Fawnskin, Wilkins said.
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