Earth ChangesS


Ice Cube

Canada: 270 stranded on powerless train in Labrador for 8 hours in freezing cold


CBC News
Sat, 14 Dec 2013 02:12 UTC
commuter train canada
© Edward ShecanapishA child tries to keep warm while stranded on a train in Labrador on Friday.
Two pregnant women, children and seniors were among the 270 passengers who sat freezing for eight hours on a train after it lost power in Labrador Friday morning, as temperatures plummeted below - 30 C.

​Tshiuetin Rail Transportation rail conductor Joe Shecanapish was unable to bring back power to the train, which was heading to Sept-Iles, Que. from Schefferville, Que.

"We did everything we can. We couldn't do it. Water froze, toilets froze, everything," he said.

Shecanapish said they tried to squeeze people into a small cabin to warm up. He said some blankets were provided to passengers.

During the ordeal, temperatures ranged from - 26 C to - 33 C.

The train stopped about 65 kilometres from Labrador City, with about eight hours to go before its final destination. It was hours before the town was notified about the train.
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Bizarro Earth

China: Sichuan Sinkhole Swallows At Least 12 Buildings


Huffington Post
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 02:03 UTC

A sinkhole nearly 200-foot wide in China's Sichuan Province has swallowed at least 12 buildings and is expected to keep growing.

The sinkhole opened up around 12:40 a.m. Friday in the city of Guangyuan, Shanghaiist reported. As of 6:30 p.m., the sinkhole had swallowed 12 buildings, but no one was seriously injured.

Many who have encounter sinkholes have not been so lucky. In March, a sinkhole opened up underneath the bedroom of a sleeping Florida man, swallowing him entirely.

In August 2012, a man in Taiwan was killed after falling into a huge sinkhole in the wake of a typhoon; and that same month, an Idaho woman died after crashing into a sinkhole on the highway caused by gophers.
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Igloo

Flip-flopping climate science: In 1974 global cooling was called the "new norm" by the National Center for Atmospheric Research who blamed climate disasters on it


Real Science
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 23:16 UTC
This report was originally published in 1974:
Climate Change and its Effect on World Food

by Walter Orr Roberts Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

In February of 1972 earth-orbiting artificial satellites revealed the existence of a greatly increased area of the snow and ice cover of the north polar cap as compared to all previous years of space age observations. Some scientists believe that this may have presaged the onset of the dramatic climate anomalies of 1972 that brought far-reaching adversities to the world's peoples. Moreover, there is mounting evidence that the bad climate of 1972 may be the forerunner of a long series of less favorable agricultural crop years that lie ahead for most world societies. Thus widespread food shortages threaten just at the same time that world populations are growing to new highs. Indeed, less favorable climate may be the new global norm. The Earth may have entered a new "little ice age"

There are strong signs that these recent climate disasters were not random deviations from the usual weather, but instead signals of the emergence of a new normal for world climates.
Read the entire PDF here.
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Cloud Precipitation

Jerusalem: Tens of thousands without power as severe storm continues


The Times of Israel
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 16:29 UTC
snow jerusalem
© Ilan Ben Zion / Times of IsraelSnow in Jerusalem just after midnight Friday
Police tell Jerusalemites to stay home; electric corp. declares national state of emergency; IDF and police rescuing hundreds of travelers stranded near capital

The Israel Electric Corporation declared a nationwide state of emergency Friday as tens of thousands of homes in Jerusalem and the surrounding region remained without power amid the severe winter storm currently besieging the area.

The electric company said it was manning a situation room to receive reports of outages and was calling in emergency workers to help restore power to those affected in certain parts of Jerusalem, Mevasseret Zion, Har Adar, Abu Gosh and Tzur Hadassah where many power lines were hit by fallen trees.
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Ice Cube

Winter Storm 'Alexa' Chills Middle East


Voice of America
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 16:12 UTC
syrian children
Syrian refugees children play near a snowman in a camp for Syrians who fled their country’s civil war, in the Bekaa valley, eastern Lebanon, Dec. 12, 2013.
A powerful winter storm sweeping the eastern Mediterranean this week is causing mayhem across the region and inflicting extra misery on Syrians convulsed in civil war and refugees who have fled the fighting.

The storm, named Alexa, is expected to last until Saturday, bringing more snow, rain and freezing temperatures to large swaths of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The bad weather, which began on Wednesday, is taking a disproportionate toll on the 2.2 million refugees living outside Syria and the 6.5 million people displaced within the country.
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Snowflake

Snowfall recorded all over Cyprus


Famagusta Gazette
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 16:08 UTC
cyprus snow
According to Cyprus’ Meteorological Service, snow and windy weather will continue tomorrow.
Bad weather conditions that hit Cyprus this week have caused problems in many areas of the island.

Due to heavy snowfall, many areas remain today cut off. The bad weather has also caused power cuts and forced schools to close.
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Cloud Precipitation

For the first time in 112 years, it snows in Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria

Lama Abdel Barr
Prime Magazine
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:49 UTC
snow in Cairo
© Amr ElGabry For the first time in 112 years, it snows in Cairo
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Question

Hundreds of birds fall dead from the sky on Aden Road in Nokesville, Virginia


insidenova.com
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:10 UTC
Image
© Katty Bell
Witnesses say hundreds of black birds fell dead from the sky in Nokesville on Thursday afternoon, littering Aden Road with their feathery remains.

Prince William County police spokesman Jonathan Perok said it happened about 2 p.m., near Aden Grocery.

Police, animal control and crews from the Virginia Department of Transportation were called to the area, where witnesses said they were shoveling dead birds off the road.

It was unclear Thursday night what type of birds they were, and what caused them to die.

Several people reported seeing large numbers of birds gathered on power lines in the area earlier in the day.

Kevin Rose, a wildlife biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said mass bird die-offs are usually the result of lightning or some sort of trauma. That trauma often includes birds in flight striking power lines.

"Without a few samples we can't really tell," Rose said in an email. "Unless it starts happening more, we are not concerned."

Comment: Radar Doppler images confirm overhead 'turbulence' cause of 2011 mass bird death case in Beebe, Arkansas Meteoric Deja-vu: Exactly one year later, dead blackbirds fall again in Beebe, Arkansas

A Sign for the New Year: 1,000 Birds Fall From the Sky in Beebe, Arkansas

Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction

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Alarm Clock

2013: Year of the sinkhole in U.S.

Francys Vallecillo
World Property Channel
Wed, 11 Dec 2013 09:26 UTC
Sinkhole
© Reuters
While the number of natural disasters affecting U.S. property owners was lower than expected in 2013, an unusually high amount of sinkhole activity captured media attention and raised awareness for risks related to this often-overlooked hazard.

Three separate sinkhole catastrophes occurred in Florida in 2013, which may be the sinkhole capital of the U.S., according to the latest Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis by CoreLogic.

In one the disasters, a sinkhole formed underneath a man's home, causing his tragic death. In Clermont, Florida, a 100-foot sinkhole heavily damaged a tourist villa. There are 23,000 identified sinkholes in the U.S. identified by CoreLogic, underscoring the substantial risk from sinkholes for the country and Florida in particular.

Overall, the report shows record low numbers of natural hazard events in 2013.

Comment: Sinkhole activity is becoming a regular occurrence:

Three vehicles swallowed by sinkhole in Glenview, Illinois
Massive sinkhole to keep central Washington D.C. streets closed for another week
Russia: Giant Sinkhole in Dagestan
Sinkhole Forms Under Pool With Family Inside
Sinkhole swallows car in Bakersfield, California
Large sinkhole swallows tree near DeLand, Florida
US: Prince George's residents briefly displaced by sinkhole
Enormous sinkhole swallows two homes, threatens others in Dunedin, Florida
Sinkhole opens up on Lincoln Street in Bangor, Maine
US: Sinkhole shuts down portion of US 41 in Brown County, Wisconsin
Canada: ATV Plunge into Sinkhole Kills Researcher
Large sinkhole discovered in Western Kansas
Pastor plagued by third massive sinkhole on church property in Enid, Oklahoma

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Arrow Down

Sinkhole swallows 14 year old in The Netherlands

Zack Newmark
NLTimes
Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:32 UTC
Flooding
© Martijn DraerThe flooded street that nearly gobbled up a 14-year old in Rotterdam.
A 14-year-old girl cycling home from school yesterday was shaken up yesterday when she biked into a hidden sinkhole. One witness at the scene pulled the girl, Sarah, out before she was harmed.

The girl was biking on the Noordsingel in Rotterdam-Noord. Water covered some of the road's surface, but the girl decided to bike through the puddle.
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