Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Rain, hail, lightning slam Puget Sound area

What an encore!

A day after wind gusts of over 60 mph Thursday, Western Washington was "treated" to a second round of storms Friday.

A large cool of very cold, unstable air moved into the region Friday, lighting up the radar with widespread showers that brought heavy rain, large hail, and frequent lightning across the Puget Sound area -- thunderstorms that were certainly big by Northwest standards.



©K. McAlpine


Cloud Lightning

Rain washes out 107-year-old Minnesota record

No, it wasn't your imagination.

Last week's endless days of rain and leaden skies were, indeed, the stuff of records.

The National Weather Service announced Friday that the 18.91 inches of rain that fell in the Twin Cities during August, September and October set a record -- well before October ends.

Arrow Up

Temperatures hit record high in Toronto - warmest October on record

Residents who donned their shorts yesterday may find it no surprise it was a record warm day.

Temperatures at Pearson Airport hit 26C, more than twice the normal high for that day. Toronto's last record high for the day was in 1979 when the mercury hit 24C, said Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

But it wasn't a one-day deal. This is the city's warmest October on record so far, said Phillips.

Better Earth

Ladybugs Help New York As Pest Killers

It sounds like a horror movie: 720,000 ladybugs on the attack in Manhattan.

In this real life story, however, the red-and-black bugs have been unleashed on the 80-acre grounds of one of New York's biggest apartment complexes with a mission: eat pests infesting the neatly landscaped property.

The ladybugs from Bozeman, Mont., arrived at the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex on Manhattan's East Side on Thursday afternoon, packed in boxes shipped by a natural gardening company.

Bizarro Earth

South Africa: Iceberg off St Francis Bay

An iceberg, 25 meters in length and 20 metres in height, has been spotted south-east of St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Monday.

"This is very unusual and in fact we don't know of anything in recent history that has being reported this close to South African waters," said NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon.


Cloud Lightning

Flood hits provinces in NE, central Thailand

Flood has hit a number of northeastern, lower northern and central provinces in Thailand, local media reported Thursday.

The northeastern border province of Buri Ram declared nine districts as disaster zones. The damages by flood are initially estimated at more than one million baht (about 29,400 U.S. dollars), according to the Thai News Agency.

Question

Burst canal devastates Welsh village

A Welsh village has been devastated by a 'tsunami' wave of water even though it is 20 miles from the sea.

Ten people were rescued and three homes evacuated when a canal burst its banks - sending a 4ft wave surging through the country village.

©INS
There is still mystery surrounding why the village's canal burst it's banks trailing tonnes of mud and debris into villagers' homes.

Bizarro Earth

Two strong quakes hit Bengkulu, Indonesia

Two strong tectonic quakes hit Bengkulu province of Indonesia's Sumatra island Sunday evening, but no casualties or injuries were reported.

The first struck at 19:34 hours (1234 GMT) with a magnitude of 5.3 on the Richter Scale, and the second at 19:40 with a 5.5 magnitude, Antara news agency Monday quoted the coordinator of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Bengkulu, Adjat Sudrajat, as saying.

Cloud Lightning

Cyclone cuts off electricity to almost 200,000 people in Primorye, Russia

The cyclone raging in the Primorsky Territory has left about 100 populated areas of almost 200,000 people without electricity, the head of the press service of the Far Eastern regional centre for emergencies, Olga Alkina, told Itar-Tass.

Repair teams continue to work day and night there, but it is difficult for them to reach some areas because of the heavy snowfall. While some electro-transmission lines are repaired, new line breaks occur, she said.

Bizarro Earth

Fiery Wind Fueling 1000-Acre Malibu Blaze in California

A wildfire driven by powerful Santa Ana wind threatened a university and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the Malibu Hills on Sunday, authorities said. Flames destroyed a church and several homes, one of them a landmark castle.