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| ©Unknown |
| Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew is to draw up a plan to rescue bees |
Earth Changes
Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew has pledged to draw up a strategy to rescue Northern Ireland's vanishing bee populations.
If farmers don't see state aid or rain by the winter, Cyprus will cease to have a farming sector, one farmer warned parliament yesterday. Speaking before the House Agriculture Committee, general secretary of the National Agricultural Organisation of Cyprus, Michalis Lytras told deputies that the last time Cyprus suffered as bad a drought was in 1973. "But at least back then we had plenty of ground water. Now, we don't. If we don't see rain this season, you are looking at the end of agriculture," he said.
As Hurricane Ike revs up again over the Gulf of Mexico, residents of coastal Texas, especially Houston and Galveston, are preparing for the arrival of the monstrous storm, which could be the most devastating that the Lone Star State has seen Hurricane Alicia came ashore in 1983, causing nearly $6 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.
Ike is huge. Hurricane-force winds extend out 120 miles (195 kilometers) from the storm's center, and tropical storm-force winds reach out 275 miles (445 km), both measurements exceeding what's seen with many storms. Ike could reach major hurricane status as a Category 3 before it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday morning somewhere along the Texas coast.
And right now it looks like that somewhere will be the Houston/Galveston area.
Ike is huge. Hurricane-force winds extend out 120 miles (195 kilometers) from the storm's center, and tropical storm-force winds reach out 275 miles (445 km), both measurements exceeding what's seen with many storms. Ike could reach major hurricane status as a Category 3 before it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday morning somewhere along the Texas coast.
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| ©NOAA |
| The unnamed Category 4 hurricane that slammed into Galveston, Texas Sept. 8, 1900 remains the deadliest ever to hit the United States, having killed at least 8,000 people (estimates vary) and leveling virtually the entire town. |
And right now it looks like that somewhere will be the Houston/Galveston area.
Airlines prepared to curtail service Friday to Texas cities in the path of hurricane Ike and offered to waive ticket-changing fees for passengers whose flights were scrubbed.
Aviation officials in Houston said flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport would be suspended at 2 p.m. CT on Friday and 3:30 p.m. CT at the smaller Hobby Airport.
Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc., whose largest hub is at Bush Intercontinental, said it might also stop flights early Friday afternoon at other airports along the Gulf. It said service in Houston and any other affected cities was likely to resume Sunday.
Aviation officials in Houston said flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport would be suspended at 2 p.m. CT on Friday and 3:30 p.m. CT at the smaller Hobby Airport.
Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc., whose largest hub is at Bush Intercontinental, said it might also stop flights early Friday afternoon at other airports along the Gulf. It said service in Houston and any other affected cities was likely to resume Sunday.
A sprawling and strengthening Hurricane Ike steamed through the Gulf of Mexico on Friday on a track toward the nation's fourth-largest city, where authorities told residents to brace rather than flee.
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| ©NASA |
| Hurricane Ike as viewed from International Space Station. |
As Hurricane Ike bore down on the Houston area on Friday morning, the National Weather Service issued a stern warning to people living in small houses on Galveston Island that they faced "certain death" from flooding if they remained in their homes.
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| ©Carlos Barria/Reuters |
| A resident took pictures next to the ocean as Hurricane Ike approached the coast of Galveston, Tex., on Friday. |
Australia's coastline is increasingly being battered by extreme waves that are driven in part by climate change, government scientists say.
Research has shown that bigger waves are bearing down on the coastline as severe storms become more frequent.
Research has shown that bigger waves are bearing down on the coastline as severe storms become more frequent.
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| ©AP |
| Scientists say coastal areas will see more and more extreme waves |
For the first time, research planes have flown in the windiest region on Earth. The location - the appropriately named Cape Farewell in Greenland - generated the winds likely to have carried Viking explorers from Iceland and Greenland to North America, making them the first Europeans to discover the continent.
Monthly summary
Unsettled weather is expected to continue into the beginning of October with the best hope of any drier brighter weather in the south and east.
August was an average month in only one respect, temperatures hovered around the seasonal average.
It was a very wet month for most of us with widespread flooding in Northern Ireland and parts of eastern Scotland. Northern Ireland had its wettest August since records began back in 1914.
Unsettled weather is expected to continue into the beginning of October with the best hope of any drier brighter weather in the south and east.
August was an average month in only one respect, temperatures hovered around the seasonal average.
It was a very wet month for most of us with widespread flooding in Northern Ireland and parts of eastern Scotland. Northern Ireland had its wettest August since records began back in 1914.
HOUSTON - Cars and trucks streamed inland and chemical companies buttoned up their plants Thursday as a gigantic Hurricane Ike took aim at the heart of the U.S. refining industry and threatened to send a wall of water crashing toward Houston.
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| ©AP Photo/David J. Phillip |
| Traffic lines Interstate 45 leaving Houston as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 in The Woodlands, Texas. |
Comment: And is there any particular reason for the jet stream being out of position? Any implications for the global climate system?
Consider this article, which reads: And what happens if the "conveyor belt" shifts position, or even worse, stops its motion?