Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Snow, Ice Spreading Across the South

Kristina Pydynowski
Accuweather
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:05 UTC
Image
© AccuWeather.com
The winter storm that clobbered the southern Plains Tuesday into Wednesday will push from west to east across much of the South into early Thursday with snow, some ice and travel hazards.

The lower Mississippi Valley endured the brunt of the winter storm into Wednesday evening. Up to 20 inches of snow has fallen on parts of Arkansas.

Blinding, heavy snow had already hit Little Rock and Memphis, while a brief area of sleet fell farther south into northern Louisiana Wednesday afternoon.

The snow and/or ice crossing the southern Appalachians will reach the Carolina coast tonight. The cities of Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Raleigh will get enough of the wintry stuff to make for slippery roads into the morning drive Thursday.

A few locations in this slot, including the southern Appalachians, could wind up with a few inches, where more snow falls rather than sleet or freezing rain.
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Better Earth

Sri Lanka Death Toll Increases, Flood Waters Receding

Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Sunday Leader
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:02 UTC
The Disaster Management Center (DMC) has stated that the death toll due to heavy rains and floods that affected nearly 1.2 million persons has increased to 16.

The DMC states that 1,185,601 people belonging to 318,417 families were affected in total by the adverse weather conditions.

The rains have also completely destroyed 2,591.

Meanwhile the Uva Province EducatioSecretaryl Wijesiri has said that all government schools in the Badulla District will be closed tomorrow (10) and the day after (11).

He has said the schools will remain closed till Monday (14) due to the disaster situation that has arisen in the area following heavy rains.

Some roads in the District are still unstable while displaced persons were still being sheltered in some schools.

However, families affected by floods are now returning to their homes since the flood waters are receding in the Eastern Province.

Child Development and Women Affairs Deputy Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah has told the media that most of the welfare camps will be closed today.

Welfare centers in the Ampara District are to be closed tomorrow, government officials in the Ampara District have said.
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Bizarro Earth

Celebes Sea - Earthquake Magnitude 6.5


USGS
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:54 UTC
Celebes Sea Quake_100211
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 14:39:28 UTC

Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 10:39:28 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
4.126°N, 123.017°E

Depth
528.4 km (328.3 miles)

Region
CELEBES SEA

Distances
310 km (190 miles) SE of Jolo, Sulu Archipelago, Philippines

325 km (200 miles) SW of General Santos, Mindanao, Philippines

1185 km (730 miles) S of MANILA, Philippines

2130 km (1320 miles) ENE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
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Cloud Lightning

UK: Perfect storm for a flood

Bob Boughner
The Chatham Daily News
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:08 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Major Thames River flooding is possible this spring because of a three-kilometre-long ice jam which remains in place at the river mouth.

"The potential for serious flooding exists -there is no question about it,'' Jerry Campbell, general manager of the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority, said Tuesday.

He said there is little, if anything, the authority can do other than closely monitor the river and report to municipal officials along the waterway.

Campbell said it's hoped the ice jam will slowly melt away in the coming weeks.

"What we fear is a warm spell accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain,'' he said. "That could spell disaster for residents in the Lighthouse Cove area as well as those upstream from Lake St. Clair.

Campbell said no contingency plans are in place to use dynamite to break up the ice jam or hire an ice breaker tug.
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Bizarro Earth

6.1-Magnitude Quake Shakes Southern Siberia


Xinhuanet
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:32 UTC
Siberian republic of Khakassia
© RIA Novosti. ShidlovskiySiberian republic of Khakassia
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck Khakassia, Russian republic in Southern Siberia, local media reported on Thursday.

So far, there are no reports about the casualties and destruction.

The quake occurred at 8:35 a.m. Moscow time (0535 GMT) and its epicenter was 170 km to the south of the city Abakan, in the Western Sayans mountain range, said Siberian branch of Russia's Emergency Ministry.

The quake was also felt in six Siberian regions, including major cities of Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk. All of the regions are over 500 km from the epicenter.

Local media said this is the first major earthquake in Southern Siberia since October 2000.
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Cloud Lightning

Sri Lankan floods wreak havoc

Sutirtho Patranobis
Hindustan Times
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:05 UTC
The flood situation across Sri Lanka was easing off, but receding waters could reveal hundreds of thousands of acres of paddy fields totally destroyed in the two rounds of flooding in less than a month, officials said on Wednesday. At least 19 persons have been killed and nearly 1.2 millionaffected in several districts in north, central and eastern Sri Lanka in the second round of floods that swept the country in the last seven to ten days.

In the first round of rain and floods in January, more than 40 were killed and at least 1.1 million were impacted.

"The havoc caused by two rounds of flooding in Sri Lanka in January and February have destroyed 576,121 acres of paddy land in all 25 districts in the country. The total paddy cultivated was in 1.82 million acres and the total acres that were destroyed were 31% of the staple rice crop," the official government portal said on Wednesday.

In the district of Matale alone, around 4336 farmers had possibly lost their source of livelihood, latest statistics with the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) revealed.

Paddy and other field crops planted in Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts have completely been lost.

Many of the flooded areas were barely recovering from the January floods when intense rain over three to four days, again inundated fields, washed away homes and roads, triggered landslides and forced lakhs of people to take shelter in makeshift camps.
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Igloo

Arkansas braces for another winter storm


Associated Press
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:54 UTC
Little Rock - A powerful storm system could bring more than a half-foot of snow to Arkansas, marking the fifth episode of severe winter weather in the past month for a state that can go an entire season without receiving major wintry precipitation.

More than 6 inches of snow was expected in western and central Arkansas. National Weather Service meteorologist Tabitha Clarke said beleaguered far northwest Arkansas would escape the worst of the storm.

The highest snow totals are expected to be in the Ouachita Mountains in western and southwestern Arkansas.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Mike Beebe ordered only essential personnel to report to state offices in Little Rock.

And many school districts have canceled classes for Wednesday.
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Snowman

Storm dumps more on snow-weary Wichita

Stan Finger
The Wichita Eagle
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:10 UTC
Image
© Bo Rader/The Wichita EagleA Kansas Highway Patrol trooper comes to the aid of a motorist on the off ramp from I-235 to Zoo Boulevard. Numerous cars slid off the ice-covered ramp Tuesday morning with several cars getting stuck. Troopers closed the ramp until salt trucks could treat the road.
Closings, cancellations and accidents piled up with the snow in the Wichita area Tuesday as the latest in a series of winter storms dumped snow on the metropolitan area.

The Wichita public school district was one of several that have canceled classes today. Also canceling classes: Andover, Derby, Goddard, Haysville, Maize, Newton, Rose Hill, Valley Center and the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.

About 4 1/2 inches of snow had fallen at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport by 10 p.m. Tuesday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Schminke said up to 1 1/2 inches more snow was expected overnight before tapering off after 6 a.m. today.

Wichita's parochial schools closed at 2 p.m. Tuesday and all USD 259 after-school and evening activities were canceled as the snow continued to fall.

Tuesday's storm came a week after a winter storm packing high winds, low temperatures and plenty of snow closed schools and made driving miserable for much of last week.
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Arrow Down

Record Low Temperatures All Across New Mexico

Kay Brooks
Weatherbug Backyard Community
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:13 UTC
Image
© UnknownThe doves seem to be having a difficult time coping with the cold.
The villages of Angel Fire and Eagle Nest in Northern New Mexico boasted the coldest temperature in the country at -36 F (-37.7 C) on Thursday morning. Albuquerque set a record low temperature of -7 F (-21.6 C) surpassing the previous low set in 1939. Five other cities set all-time records, Moriarty -34 F, Pecos -31 F, Ruidoso -27, Capitan -22, and Socorro -14. Moriarty is about 40 miles East of Albuquerque on the East side of the Sandia Mountains. Temperature highs around the state ranged from a low of 9 F at Ruidoso to 25 F in Silver City in Southwest New Mexico. I recorded a high of 18 F (-7.7 C) for the day. Winds here were less of a factor than previous days with a high reading of only 9 mph. As a result of the unusually cold temperatures, approximately 32,000 people around the state are still without natural gas as a result of frozen regulators in the pipe line coming out of Texas.

Overnight temperatures moderated somewhat around the state on Friday morning. My home, at the Eastern edge of Albuquerque, recorded a low of 7 F (-13.8 C) this morning. It has now warmed to 33 F (0.5 C), the wind has switched to WSW at 1 to 2 mph, and the sky is clear. All of our major snow drifts have been cleared and we are almost back to normal.
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Bizarro Earth

UK: Farmer Devastated as Prize Flock Dies in Freak Weather


The Leader
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00 UTC
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A farmer says he is "devastated" after seeing more than 200 of his elite sheep drowned in a flash flood.

It is the second time in just over a year that Eryl Morris has been hit by the River Dee bursting its banks.

The flood, early on Sunday, has cost him many thousands of pounds and the pride of his flock.

Mr Morris was away in Buckinghamshire helping a sheep farming friend when millions of gallons of water poured on to the rich Bangor-on-Dee grazing land he has farmed for more than a decade.

Almost too upset to speak from the south of England yesterday, he said: "I am totally devastated by this - I have lost a hell of a lot sheep."

His wife Glenys said: "It was 12 hours of flash flooding that did the damage and it started about 1am.

"When I heard on the radio that Bala was flooded I knew we were in trouble too.

"The same thing happened to us in November, 2009, but although we lost some sheep then - about 40-50 - it wasn't anything like this.

"Altogether 230 of our sheep have died and another 70 were saved by the fire service and other people who were going out there in canoes I think.
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