Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

Shallow 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Macquarie Island region

mmmmm
6.1 magnitude earthquake

UTC time: Tuesday, March 05, 2024 19:52 PM
Your time: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 7:52 PM GMT
Magnitude Type: mww
USGS page: M 6.1 - Macquarie Island region
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 0 people

10 km depth

Attention

2 dead whales spotted in Virginia Beach in 1 day

A juvenile humpback whale washed up dead in Virginia Beach, marking the first of two deceased whales to make landfall
A juvenile humpback whale washed up dead in Virginia Beach, marking the first of two deceased whales to make landfall on the Virginia coast in two days.
Two dead whales were spotted in Virginia Beach on the same day.

The Virginia Aquarium confirmed a dead whale was spotted drifting in Virginia Beach waters on Sunday. Monday evening, the whale landed on the coast of False Cape State Park, according to the aquarium.

The aquarium's Stranding response team will examine the whale.

That same day, another dead whale was seen in the city. It had washed ashore on the Oceanfront near 25th Street.

A recovery team from the aquarium worked to bring the whale away from the water.

The aquarium tells us they're going to perform a necropsy to learn how the beached whale died.


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Massive snowstorm leaves high avalanche danger in the Alps after 2 meters of snow fell

Erezberg avalanche.
Erezberg avalanche.
Huge amounts of snow have fallen in parts of the south west Alps. An avalanche struck an open piste in Saas-Grund in Switzerland killing a skier.

A 16-year old boy died in Italy. Some resorts remain closed with disruption to transport. UPDATED

A skier was buried by an avalanche on the pistes in the Kreuzboden-Hohsaas area of Saas-Grund in Switzerland on Saturday.

The avalanche risk was at Level 3 - considerable.

According to the cantonal police an avalanche occurred at around 11:40 a.m. and hit the slope above the mountain restaurant in Hohsaas.

The avalanche caught a skier traveling on the 1a "Gletscher Hohkraut" run and buried him under a meter of snow.


Comment: The same source reports on March 4:
The storm that hit the south-western Alps over the weekend has delivered some truly staggering snowfall totals in places.

Much more than originally predicted.

"Some areas have seen between 1- 2m of new snow in the last three days, and in some cases 1m or more in just 24 hours alone," said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk




Solar Flares

Northern lights deliver spectacular show over Russia (PHOTOS)

Northern lights in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.
© RIA Novosti via TelegramNorthern lights in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

The incredible display was seen in regions as far south as Moscow

Stunning images of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, were captured in the skies above multiple Russian cities on Sunday.

People from the northern regions of Leningrad, Tver, Pskov, and Novgorod, as well as the cities of Volokolamsk and Murmansk, shared breathtaking photographs of the natural phenomenon. The impressive light show, which is caused by solar storms, began at around 8pm and lasted until midnight.


Comment:
In the last few days, many other locations have witnessed northern lights. On the same evening as the photos from Russia, there were other areas, that witnessed spectacular shows:




Snowflake

Here's how much snow fell during the Sierra blizzard in California - up to 10.5 feet

California blizzard hits Sierra Nevada mountains and closes key highway
California blizzard hits Sierra Nevada mountains and closes key highway
A powerful blizzard that pounded the Sierra Nevada over the past several days dumped well over 100 inches of snow in some locations, according to the National Weather Service.

Here's a breakdown of how much snow piled up between 4 a.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Monday in the following locations, per the weather service.

Sugar Bowl: 126 inches
Soda Springs Caltrans: 116 inches
Kingvale Caltrans: 106 inches
Palisades Tahoe: 93 inches
Dodge Ridge: 89 inches
Sierra Snow Lab: 75.2 inches
Boreal: 74 inches


Snowflake

Metre of snow in Pyrénées and floods hit south-east France

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Severe weather struck several parts of France at the weekend causing dramatic scenes, particularly in the south-east.

Heavy rain caused flooding in a number of towns and coastal gales brought down trees. Snow covered the lowest altitudes of the Alps and more than a metre fell in the Pyrénées.

A roadside assistance worker was killed near La Turbie, close to the French border with Monaco, after consecutive accidents on the A8.

The man was responding to an initial accident between two cars, caused by the rainfall, and was subsequently hit by a third vehicle driving too quickly in the heavy rain.

Four other people were injured, two severely, including another roadside assistance worker and two gendarmes.


Kayak

The cities of Corrientes, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay under water due to heavy rains

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The city of Corrientes, the capital of the Argentine province of the same name, was left under water Sunday as 209 millimeters of heavy rains caused floods and material damage while vehicles were swept away by the current. Classes were suspended for Monday amid widespread power outages, with streets turned into temporary rivers.

Relief teams were deployed as City Hall authorities urged the population to follow the safety indications and avoid unnecessary displacements as victims were evacuated. The province is under an orange storm alert issued by the National Meteorological Service (SMN).

"It is the worst natural catastrophe since official records exist," Corrientes City Undersecretary of Risks and Catastrophes José Pedro Ruiz said. "We are working intensively with all the equipment at the disposal of the citizens. We started with the most complicated areas, but we are going to be all over the city. The teams will be working for the next 48 hours," he also explained. "Unfortunately there were floods and very damaged sectors because the reality is what we always say: the city's drains are not enough to cope with such intense phenomena, no matter how unblocked and clean they are. It is like unloading a 500-liter tank in a kitchen sink at once, it will clearly collapse."


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Avalanche blocks tunnel in Northern Italy: 6 thousand people isolated

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6 thousand people remained isolated after an avalanche in the Aosta Valley hit a tunnel in the municipality of Gaby, in the province of Aosta. The tunnel is located on regional road 44 in the Lys valley and, due to the fall of an impressive snow avalanche, it has been closed for a few hours now. The two municipalities further upstream are completely isolated from the rest of the region.

Italy is currently affected by a strong wave of bad weather. Cyclone Fedra gives no respite in the North, where, on Monday 4 March 2024, the orange alert has already been triggered, in particular in Piedmont and Emilia Romagna.


Fire

Volcano on uninhabited Galapagos island erupts, sends lava flowing to sea

In this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
© Galapagos National ParkIn this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
A volcano on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos has begun erupting, lighting up the nighttime sky as lava tumbled down its sides toward the sea.

The La Cumbre volcano on Fernandina island began erupting Saturday around midnight in what officials with Ecuador's Geophysical Institute said could be its largest eruption since 2017. The 1,476-meter (4,842-foot) volcano last erupted in 2020.

Images shared on social media taken by visitors to the Galapagos show the volcano profiled against a crimson red sky.

While the eruption posed no risk to humans, the island is home to a number of species, including iguanas, penguins and flightless cormorants. In 2019, scientists found on the island a giant tortoise not seen in more than a century and had been feared extinct.

The La Cumbre volcano is one of the most active in the Galapagos Island chain, which is famous throughout the world for helping 19th century British scientist Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

Source: AP


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Rockfall after heavy rain in two sections of the Central Highway in Peru

The rock slide caused extensive damage.
The rock slide caused extensive damage.
The Deviandes concessionaire has ordered the total closure of the road from Corcona to Casapalca, so drivers are urged to take alternative routes.

The heavy rains that have fallen in recent days have caused heavy rocks to fall in two sections of the Central Highway, an important road that connects Lima with the mountains.

The RPP correspondent in Junín reported that one of the avalanches was recorded at kilometer 97 of the Central Highway, in the Cacray sector, belonging to the district of San Mateo, province of Huarochirí.