Earth Changes
© FELICIA FONSECA / AP
Tim Ahlman shovels snow outside his home in Bellemont, Ariz. Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. A series of winter storms have dropped more precipitation in Flagstaff than the city had during last summer’s monsoon season.
Tim Ahlman shovels snow outside his home in Bellemont, Ariz. Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. A series of winter storms have dropped more precipitation in Flagstaff than the city had during last summer’s monsoon season.
Just days after Malibu, California, known for its balmy beaches, was blanketed with snow by an unusual winter storm, frosty flakes made their way to Nevada and Arizona - shocking for some but a welcome relief for many in the drought-plagued U.S. West.
Prescott, Arizona, home of Whiskey Row bars and live music venues, reported 18 inches of accumulation by mid-morning on Tuesday, and it was still snowing, said meteorologist Bob Oravec of the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
"They are actually very happy they are getting this snow," he said. "Snow pack is always good for future water management."
Hot volcanic material flowed for 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) down the slopes of Mount Merapi
There were no reports of casualties, but the Development Center kept the alert system at its second-highest level.
The explosion happened just as residents had begun to return to their nearby homes on the island of Java after fleeing previous eruptions.
The resulting lava flow was the biggest since authorities raised the danger level in November, Hanik Humaida of the local Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said.
© Project Jonah
One of the four Gray's beaked whales that got stranded on Ruakākā Beach couldn't swim back out to sea and died.
One of the four Gray's beaked whales that got stranded on Ruakākā Beach couldn't swim back out to sea and died.
Locals found four Gray's beaked whales stranded on the beach on Tuesday evening and called Project Jonah- an environmental organisation dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and seals.
Three whales were refloated and helped back out to sea while one kept turning around and coming to the shallows.
Several locally-trained medics who volunteer for Project Jonah went down to the beach after the three whales swam back out to sea to help those that worked on the fourth whale.
© WRBC
The tornado left a swath of destruction Monday night in Fultondale, a Jefferson County city north of Birmingham. Piles of furniture, appliances and tree limbs were strewn about and vehicles ended up in awkward positions, as if a child had flung his collection of Matchbox cars into the air. One car landed upside down against some tree branches on a large pile of debris.
Police Chief D.P. Smith said several other family members trapped in the basement were critically injured, while one escaped harm. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday morning .
"They were doing what they were supposed to be doing,'′ the chief said.
Fultondale Fire Chief Justin McKenzie said 17 people have since been hospitalized and 11 others were treated on scene, WVTM-TV reported.
A slew of new all-time cold and snow records have been set across Spain this January, snowfall so substantial that people even skied the streets of Madrid:
A Kāwhia local reported that 134 dead birds had washed ashore on the coastline, and most of them were juveniles.
A Kāwhia local reported 134 dead birds had washed ashore between Kāwhai Ocean Beach and Aotea Harbour on Saturday.
Ōtorohanga District Council and the Department of Conservation were notified, and it's believed high tides sweeping over a breeding colony on nearby Gannet Island were to blame.
The dead birds were initially mistaken as albatrosses, then identified as gannets by DOC - with 117 of them juvenile gannets, known as gugas.
© W.M. Keck Observatory
The Maunakea summit was blanketed with snow Monday evening amid a winter storm warning that remains posted for Hawaii Island summits until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Maunakea summit was blanketed with snow Monday evening amid a winter storm warning that remains posted for Hawaii Island summits until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Honolulu are calling for heavy snow, with accumulations up to 8 inches, and wind gusts up to 45 mph, for the two Hawaii Island summits.
The Maunakea Access Road was closed to the public Monday evening at the Visitor Information Station at the 9,200-foot level elevation.
Forecasters predict that a strong high pressure system northeast of Hawaii and a trough to the southwest will combine to create locally strong southeast winds over Hawaii through the midweek.
Flash flooding and landslides were reported in Florianópolis after heavy rainfall on 21 January, 2021.
More heavy rain was reported in the state of Santa Catarina during the following days, in particular in the capital, Florianópolis. Civil Defense of Santa Catarina (DCSC) said almost 40mm of rain fell in Florianópolis in a 1 hour period around midday on 24 January. DCSC added that 86mm of rain fell in 3 hours and 104mm in 6 hours.
Migratory birds wintering in northern Iran increased by 30% due to severe, premature cold in Siberia
The population of migratory birds took flight to spend the cold season in the northern province of Mazandaran increased by 30 percent since the beginning of winter (December 21, 2020) compared to the same period last year, head of wildlife affairs at the provincial department of environment (DOE) has said.
The reason for the increase in the migration of wintering birds this year is due to the severe and premature cold in Siberia, Korous Rabiei stated, IRNA reported on Monday.
According to the wintering census last year, 90 species of migratory birds with a population of over 500,000 migrated to the three wetlands of Miankaleh, Sorkhrud, and Azbaran, reservoirs and protected areas of the province, which is predicted to reach up to 700,000 this [Iranian calendar] year, he explained.
He went on to say that the largest increase in the migratory birds' population is related to the whooper swan, whose number increased about 10 times compared to the same period last year, from 500 to about 5,000.
Comment: Winter storms alerts in effect for 23 US states