Earth Changes

Puna district on Hawaii island gets rare hail and waterspout

Leila Fujimori
Honolulu Star Advertiser
Sat, 06 Feb 2021 11:24 UTC

More sweater-and-socks weather is in store for the Hawaiian Islands this weekend and next.

"This weekend's going to be rather clear, with clouds and isolated showers in windward areas," National Weather Service forecaster Will Ahue said Friday.

Temperatures will get down into the 50s in places like Wahiawa, and in the 60s elsewhere. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport hit 60 degrees Friday.

"Another system early next week will mix up the air mass a little bit," Ahue said. "Behind that air mass will be cold weather, but not as cold as this week."

Puna on the Big Island got a rare treat of hail and a waterspout Friday afternoon.

Severe Saharan sandstorm hits Algeria

KN News
YouTube
Sat, 06 Feb 2021 11:18 UTC

Severe sandstorm in Algeria: Oran, Tlemcen, Mostaganem - 05/02/2021

Flash floods hit Basse-Terre Island, Guadeloupe after 3 inches of rain in 6 hours

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Sat, 06 Feb 2021 10:57 UTC

Heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding in Basse-Terre Island, Guadeloupe from 03 February 2021, leaving at least 3 people missing.

Météo-France Antilles-Guyane said the highest accumulation of rain was measured in Pointe-Noire and Petit-Bourg with 86.5 mm and 64.9 mm respectively during a 6 hour period between 12:00 and 18:00 on 03 February, 2021. Météo-France Antilles-Guyane added that the intensity of the rainfall was unusual.

Lightning strike kills 25 cattle in Zimbabwe

Luthando Mapepa
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
Sat, 06 Feb 2021 10:43 UTC

Chipinge commercial farmer Mr Dawe Joubert was left counting losses after his 25 cattle were struck by lightning on Thursday

Chipinge commercial farmer Mr Dawie Joubert was left counting losses after his 25 cattle were struck by lightning on Thursday afternoon.

The district's Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services livestock promotion officer Mr John Mwandifura confirmed the incident and said he had liaised with the Chipinge district development coordinator Mr William Mashava over the case.

Mr Mashava confirmed the incident.

"Yes, I can confirm the 25 cattle owned by commercial farmer Mr Dawie Joubert were struck by lightning cattle at his farm, popularly known as Chibonere Farm, on Thursday," he said. "The carcasses of the 25 cattle were ferried to a crocodile farm in Chiredzi."

Disaster declaration after floods in south west France

The Local France
Fri, 05 Feb 2021 16:14 UTC

The French prime minister says that a natural disaster will be declared after floods in the south west saw dozens evacuated from their homes.

The département of Lot-et-Garonne in south west France on Friday morning had 45 roads that were impassable, while six schools were closed and dozens of people were evacuated from their homes.

Visiting the area on Friday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said that the formal declaration of a catastrophe naturelle (natural disaster) would be put in place "after the briefest delay possible".

After thanking the "quite exemplary" rescue forces and expressing the "solidarity of the State", Castex announced that the file for declaring a state of natural disaster "will be examined, as always with great diligence, so that it can be declared as soon as possible".

Comment: Rivers across France burst banks as Storm Justine dumps half a month's worth of rain in 24 hours

A sign of the coming times? Snowy owl seen in Central Park, New York after 130 years, a rare spotting of an 'unpredictable' Arctic bird

Ryan W. Miller
USA Today
Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:29 UTC

A snowy owl was seen in Central Park in New York City on Jan. 27, 2021.

Becky DePorte was about 45 minutes outside the city when she got the text from a friend last Wednesday: A snowy owl was in Central Park.

DePorte - an avid bird-watcher - was then unaware a sighting of the owl hadn't been reported in Central Park in 130 years. At the time, she was in Rockefeller State Park Preserve with a friend who was looking for a pileated woodpecker, a bird she had seen plenty of times growing up in rural Pennsylvania.

"I really didn't care about a pileated woodpecker," she said. So she hopped in an Uber, and "$60 and 45 minutes later, I was back in Central Park running to the ballfield with my camera."

"I was so happy" as she snapped photos of the bird, DePorte added. "It was the best, most unusual spotting I had had."

Tidal wave crashes into cars in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela

KN News
YouTube
Mon, 01 Feb 2021 19:21 UTC

Tidal wave crashes cars in Venezuela, Puerto Cabello - 31/01/2021.

"Rare" snowfall hits Maui, Hawaii for fourth year in a row

Cap Allon
Electroverse.net
Fri, 05 Feb 2021 19:01 UTC

The summit district of Haleakalā National Park, Maui was closed on Feb. 3 and 4 due to rare wintry conditions and inches of snow, reports mauinow.com.

Rangers urged the public not to travel to the park, and closed both the road and entrance gate — locals were not permitted to see the snow or ice.

Comment: Snow covers the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Hawaii

Somalia declares state of emergency over locust invasion

Aggrey Mutambo
The East African
Fri, 05 Feb 2021 14:55 UTC

Somalia has declared a state of emergency over a locust invasion that is threatening to wipe away crop due for harvest from April.

Somalia already has about three million people facing food shortage.

Said Hussein Lid, Somalia's Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation, said the government has identified a large swarm of locusts in the southern federal states of Hirshabelle, South West and Jubbaland.

With the declaration, Somalia is seeking targeted funding and efforts to tame the swarms attacking a region that, according to a situational report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), is already food poor.

Somalia's decision came on Thursday after Mr Lid met representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and ministers from the three southern states of Somalia.

Avalanches claim the lives of 5 people within a week in the U.S.

Jackson Cote
MassLive
Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:42 UTC

Backcountry skiing proved to be a deadly activity for multiple people in the U.S. this week whose lives were taken in separate avalanches.

The body of a skier who had been missing for days was found underneath more than a dozen feet of snow Wednesday evening on a trail near Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the state's Fish and Game Department said in a statement.

In Colorado, three skiers died in an avalanche earlier in the week in an area called Mineral Creek near Silverton. They were publicly identified by the county and town of Eagle as Seth Bossung, Andy Jessen and Adam Palmer.