Earth ChangesS


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South Africa: Swallows dying by the thousands

Tens of thousands of swallows have died in Limpopo province a week before they were due to migrate to Europe, said BirdLife SA on Wednesday.

Executive director Gerhard Verdoorn said the vast climate changes during March, from the extremely hot to the bitterly cold, played a major role in the death of the swallows.

About three weeks ago, cold air from Angola passed over Namibia and Botswana and entered the South African Lowveld. Temperatures plummeted from 21° to 9°.

Cloud Lightning

Scientists downplay global warming's effect on hurricanes

Global warming is not the cause of increased hurricane activity, researchers said, but many more busy -- and costly -- seasons are ahead.

Cloud Lightning

Nobel scientist issues warning on global warming

The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who rang the first alarm bells over the ozone hole issued a warming about climate change on Saturday, saying there could be "almost irreversible consequences" if the Earth warmed 2.5 degrees Celsius above what it ought to be.

"Things are changing and there's no doubt that it's as a result of human activities," said Mario Molina, a Mexican who shared a Nobel prize in chemistry in 1995 for groundbreaking work on chlorofluorocarbon gases and their threat to the Earth's ozone layer.

Comment: It would be helpful if this story would point to how Mr. Molina reached his conclusion that "Things are changing and there's no doubt that it's as a result of human activities". The science is still out on what is causing Global Warming and its effects. For a few related stories, see here, here and here. Here's one on the media's complicity.


Cloud Lightning

Iceland: life on global warming's front line

If any country can claim to be pitched on the global warming front line, it may be the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland.

On a purely physical level, this land of icecaps and volcanoes and home to 300,000 people is undergoing a rapid transformation as its glaciers melt and weather patterns change dramatically.


Cloud Lightning

Scientists from around the world meet in Rhinelander to discuss global warming

Twenty different organizations with over 100 people from eight countries met at the Holiday Inn in Rhinelander the past few days.

It was one of the largest scientific meetings ever held in the city.

Cloud Lightning

Global warming continues, says U.N.

The long-term trend of global warming is continuing, despite the current La Nina weather phenomenon that is bringing relatively cooler temperatures to parts of the Equatorial Pacific region, says the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.


Cloud Lightning

Uncommon cold is an antidote to warming fears

You have to hand it to the global warming crowd. A little cold and snow doesn't scare them one bit.

Here in Northwest Montana we recently received good news when it was announced that our local ski resorts are having record years for snowfall. The Whitefish Mountain Resort, for instance, had gotten 424 inches of snow at the summit as of April 4, a hefty improvement over the previous record of 406 inches, which was set in the 1996-97 season.

Bizarro Earth

Minor Earthquake Shakes Santa Rosa

The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 2.9 struck at about 5:19 a.m. Wednesday near Santa Rosa.

According to the USGS, the earthquake had a depth of 3.8 miles and was centered 3 miles northwest of Santa Rosa and 52 miles northwest of San Francisco City Hall.
Click here to find out more!

A few NBC11 viewers called the newsroom to report they felt the shaking but said that nothing was damaged.


Health

Swarming Killer Bees Send 70 Mexican Police Officers to the Hospital

At least 70 police officers were hospitalized after so-called Africanized bees swarmed a police shooting range in southern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.

The attacked occurred Monday in Tapachula, Chiapas, after one of the policemen hit the bees' hive with a bullet, local police officer Miguel Serrano said Tuesday. At least 10 of the 70 officers stung were in serious condition, he said.

Bizarro Earth

7.3 Earthquake Among Series To Hit South Pacific

Vanuatu ― A series of earthquakes has rocked an area of the South Pacific, the strongest being a 7.3 magnitude Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

At least 7 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater have occurred in the last 12 hours, according to the USGS website.