Earth Changes

Dead humpback whale washes ashore in Rye, New Hampshire

Austin McGuigan
Seacoastonline.com
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 14:45 UTC

A 45-foot female humpback whale, identified as Snow Plow, washed onto some rocks near the Rye Harbor State Park early Monday morning.

© Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline
A 45-foot female humpback whale, identified as Snow Plow, washed onto some rocks near the Rye Harbor State Park early Monday morning.

Crowds gathered Monday morning to witness a 45-foot humpback whale that washed onto rocks outside of Rye Harbor State Park and Foss Beach. Marine investigators quickly identified the whale as an 18-year-old female named Snow Plow.

The whale, which lay on its back, was guessed to have been dead for days before the tides pushed it to shore.

Fisherman had reported seeing the corpse floating 20 miles out at sea Sunday.

"A once in a lifetime experience!" said Rye resident Denise Levin after witnessing her first beached whale. Levin has been living in the area for almost 50 years and had never seen a whale so close.

Marine scientists responded to the scene and were working to determine the cause of death and scientists said a necropsy would be necessary to determine the cause definitively.

Fire rainbows, sun dogs appear over Flagstaff, Arizona

Arizona Daily Sun
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:38 UTC

Several optical phenomena were seen around Flagstaff Thursday evening.

Fire rainbows, or circumhorizontal arcs, are formed under very strict circumstances. First, the sun must be high in the sky. Second, cirrus clouds have to be present and not only present, but also made up of hexagonal ice crystals. This shape refracts the light from the sun that passes through and creates the colorful rainbow hues among the clouds.

Sun dogs are a related type of ice halo, but they mainly occur horizontally with red often appearing on top while the sun is low in the sky. Also sometimes called parhelia, they can often create the illusion of multiple suns minus the color burst.

Thanks to our readers who sent in their sightings!

Sinkholes damage county, city roads in Hanford, California

Mike Eiman
Hanford Sentinel
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 00:30 UTC

Officials are asking drivers to stay vigilant as sinkholes start to take a toll on Kings County roads.

County road crews closed a section of Houston Avenue southeast of Hanford after a massive sinkhole opened Sunday night.

Kings County Roads Superintendent Tony Gomes said motorists discovered the sinkhole in the eastbound lane of Houston Avenue, just east of Sixth Avenue, around 9:30 p.m. County roads employees were called shortly after and found a hole that encompassed the entire lane.

Gomes said a big rig reportedly made it through the area unscathed Sunday night. One car got a flat tire, while a second car got three flat tires.

By Monday morning, the hole had grown to three or four times its original size. Gomes said both lanes of Houston Avenue will remain closed between Second and Sixth avenues until further notice. Motorists are being asked to use Highway 198 to bypass the affected area.

"I have never encountered this in 42 years," Gomes said. "We've had squirrel holes and gopher holes that have taken water from the high side of the road and caused erosion until finally the road will dimple down. But only a dimple, not a huge cavity."

Comment: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth

4th cetacean corpse in 4 days found in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong; 16 beached animals this year so far

Catherine Lai
Hong Kong Free Press
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 14:13 UTC

A dead porpoise was found in Discovery Bay on Sunday afternoon, the fourth dead marine mammal discovered in four days after the bodies of three dolphins were discovered on Thursday.

It was found in the water and handed over to the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation for an autopsy. The OPCFHK said that the porpoise was a 1.55 metre long female and the body had reached the fourth stage of decomposition. Its cause of death has yet to be determined.

On Thursday, the bodies of three Chinese white dolphins were found - one entangled in fishing wire near Lido Beach in Sham Tseng, one in waters near Lamma Island and another in Fan Kwai Tong off Lantau Island.

That makes 16 beached animals this year, according to HK01. The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society (HKDCS), a charitable organisation, told HK01 that dolphin numbers in Hong Kong are decreasing. They estimate that there has been a decline since 2014, when 61 dolphins were estimated to be in Hong Kong waters.

According to the HKDCS, finless porpoises in Hong Kong face threats of habitat degradation from coastal development, net entanglement, vessel strikes, and water pollution.

Nine wildfires burning in California, leaving 70,000 acres scorched

Alexia Fernandez
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 02:15 UTC

Burned rubble is all that remains of the residence at the Erskine fire in Squirrel Mountain Valley.

Nine wildfires continued to burn throughout California on Monday, as flames left nearly 70,000 acres scorched, and occupied the efforts of more than 5,000 firefighters, according to state and federal fire authorities.

The deadly Erskine fire in Kern County is the largest of the fires and has so far burned 45,388 acres since it began late Thursday, south of Lake Isabella. After destroying 250 structures and causing two deaths, the blaze is only 40% contained.

The fire had initially been suspected of killing three people, but authorities announced Monday one set of remains found in the 4100 block of Fiddleneck, in South Lake, was determined to have belonged to an animal, not a human.

Comment: Could 2016 be California's worst wildfire season?

Lightning strikes kill 6 in Uttar Pradesh, India

Times of India
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:59 UTC

Lightning claimed six lives including four children of a family in Sonbhadra district on Sunday.

According to reports, Golu (7), Pushpa (5), Durgavati (7), Gudia (13), Nandu (7) and Gita (8) of a family of Tolabadi area of Kanahar, were playing under a tree in morning, when massive lightning struck them. Golu, Durgavati, Pushpa and Gudia died on the spot while Nandu and Gita suffered serious injuries.

On getting information, SDM Sadar Kailash Singh reached the incident site and asked policemen to rush the injured children to NTPC hospital. He assured the family that government will provide compensation to them.

Meanwhile, in Sagobandh area of Babhani one more child Renu (7) was killed in lightning while Raju and Kamlesh suffered burns. One Nirmala Devi (26) of Bairkhand area of Windomganj was also killed in lightning. Their bodies were sent for postmortem.

Three boys killed by lightning bolt in Odisha, India

Odisha Sun Times
Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:51 UTC

In a tragic incident three boys killed in a lightning strike today in Megha village under Athgarh subdivision in Odisha's Cuttack district.

According to reports the boys had taken shelter under a mango tree in the village as heavy rains lashed the area. It was here when lightning struck them and they were killed on the spot.

More details are awaited.

Lightning damage claims 15 times higher than normal in June says UK insurer

Lee Boyce
thisismoney.co.uk
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:29 UTC

Huge storms: Britain - and especially the South East - have had a number of big storms this month causing flash flooding and lightning damage

June has been a washout month for the British weather, especially in London and the South East, with flash flooding and storms hitting many households and motorists.

As a result, one of Britain's biggest insurance firms, Direct Line, says June has had roughly 15 times the normal number of lightning claims with 200 so far with a week still to go.

One policyholder in Preston, Lancashire, claimed for £46,000 of damage after a single lightning bolt struck their home, it said.

This caused damage to the electrical system: CCTV cameras, intruder alarm, water features, telephone line, heating and lighting systems were just some of the listed items that required replacing in the insurer's biggest lightning claim to date.

The strike also damaged four flat screen TVs and Sky boxes together with a Bang & Olufsen sound system in the home's gymnasium.

Thousands of lightning strikes spark dozens of new wildfires across Alaska

Chris Klint
Alaska Dispatch News
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:21 UTC

© Courtesy Alaska Interagency Coordination Center
10,292 lightning strikes were recorded across Alaska between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on June 26, 2016, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

Thousands of lightning strikes over the weekend, especially in northern Alaska, have given wildfire crews more than three dozen new fires to contain and track, including at least three near Huslia.

According to Sunday posts on the Alaska Wildland Fire Information blog, maintained by the federal Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Fire Service, about 18,000 new lightning strikes were reported across the state from Friday through Sunday evening, including 10,292 in a 12-hour period from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

"By 10 p.m. Sunday, there were an estimated 37 new fires reported throughout the state including a few false alarms," fire officials wrote. "Initial attack suppression efforts are underway on several fires with more discoveries anticipated Monday."

Alaska Fire Service spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said in an email Monday morning that numerous tasks remained for fire crews in the wake of the weekend's lightning.

"Things will be changing a little bit today as we add more crews to some fires, fly other fires to see where they're burning and check other areas that recorded lightning strikes to see if anything ignited," Ipsen wrote.

The fire service reported 24 of the new fires are within the service's jurisdiction, with at least four new fires being actively fought by firefighters Sunday.

"Five loads of smokejumpers were dispatched to five different fires at different times Sunday," fire officials wrote.

Comment: A study showed that wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth.

Could a significant factor in the escalation of these events be that they are fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes and other 'cosmic' ignition sources?

Experts discover link between glyphosate use and rise in strange animal deformities

number23
AnonHQ
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 02:00 UTC

In rural northeast Argentina, the number of animals born with strange deformities has skyrocketed. According to locals, a supernatural spirit is responsible for the recent flux of deformities. However, experts discovered a correlation between the rise in deformities and the increased use of glyphosate.

"It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders," wrote Don Huber, an emeritus professor of plant pathology at Purdue University.

In one case, a piglet born with skin so thin, allowed the farmer to see the piglet's blood pumping. In a nearby village, a black puppy was born with a mini trunk protruding from its nose.