Earth ChangesS

Snowman

Flashback 35-degree temperature ties September record low in Toledo, Ohio

Yesterday's low of 35 degrees at Toledo Express Airport tied the record low for Sept. 16 that was set in 1966, the National Weather Service said.

The record was tied with a 7 a.m. reading.

Similar temperatures prevailed throughout the region, but temperatures remained balmy enough - barely - for flowers, tomatoes, and soybeans to survive.

Cloud Lightning

New York breaks temperature records

National Weather Service reported a temperature of 82.9 degrees at 2 p.m. Tuesday, breaking the record high temperature for the date of 81 degrees set in 1970.

Cloud Lightning

Temperature Records Broken in Ontario

After a record-setting spring and summer, Mother Nature decided to make it a hat trick yesterday.

With the temperature reaching as high as 33 in Toronto, not only did the city have the warmest Sept. 25 on record (the old standard, in 1958, was 28.3), it was the highest temperature for any fall day dating back to the beginning of record keeping in 1840.

Cloud Lightning

25 Yard, Half Foot Deep Lightning Trench in Florida

For all of us on the Gulf Coast, lightning is nothing new. But many people have never seen a lightning trench as visually compelling as one we heard about at a local family cemetary.

This story first began after the Labor Day Weekend. The strike left behind the mysterious trench that has family members checking for any damage to their families graves.

©Alan Sealls, WKRG-TV
Lightning trench in West Mobile created when lightning struck tree, travelled down to ground and then horizonatally just below ground surface.

Magnify

Fertilizers linked to frog deformities

Fertilizers from farms and lawns are responsible for frog deformities cropping up in ponds and lakes across North America, a new study shows.

The finding not only has implications for worldwide amphibian declines, but could shine light on such diseases as cholera, malaria, West Nile virus and diseases affecting coral reefs, said assistant professor Pieter Johnson of the University of Colorado's ecology and evolutionary biology department.

©Pieter Johnson / University Of Colorado

Bizarro Earth

Flashback 9-legged frog raises concerns

If you are a parent, then you know kids will sometimes bring home a new pet. But when a little boy brought a 9-legged frog home to Kansas, some adults got worried.

©11Alive.com
The 9-legged frog is raising concerns about a former landfill.

Looking from above, the frog may seem normal. But with a closer look, it's clear there is a problem.

Bizarro Earth

5.6 Magnitude Quake Off Papua New Guinea

An earthquake struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea but there was no threat of a major tsunami, officials said Thursday.

Bizarro Earth

Gang of 350 Baboons Terrorize South African Town

A criminal gang being blamed for countless burglaries, thefts and vandalism in South Africa is made up entirely of baboons.

Residents of Cape Peninsula said the gang is at least 350 baboons strong.

©Unknown

Comment: Hard to believe the Neocons have the time to visit South Africa regularly.


Info

The oldest trees on Earth, Bristlecone Pine

They have neither the soaring majesty nor the celebrity of the giant redwood, but in one respect the bristlecone pine is the undisputed king of trees: longevity.

Scattered on a remote mountainside of eastern California, these gnarled, twisted specimens are the oldest living organisms on Earth, the most senior among them some 4,700 years old.

©Signs of the Times
Ancient bristlecone pine trees are seen 13 September 2007 in the White Mountains of the Inyo National Forest near Bishop, California.

Comment: Mike Baillie in the book Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters With Comets uses research in the field of dendrochronology and specific information from tree ring samples of the bristlecone pine to build the case that earth is regularly visited by cyclical catastrophies from space.

Laura Knight-Jadczyk's essay 'Independence Day' includes information from Baillie's book and provides further research and detail on the subject.


Cloud Lightning

Slovenia floods kill five

At least five people were killed when strong rainstorms swept Slovenia, damaging houses and isolating towns and villages from the rest of the country.

Heavy rains driven by high winds were strongest in northern Slovenia Tuesday, rendering serious damage to houses, flooding roads and railways and cutting off electricity and phone networks, the Serbian news agency Beta reported Wednesday.

©AFP
Slovenians clean debris and wrecked cars after heavy floods in Zelezniki, some 60 kms northwest of Ljubljana. Four people died and four were still missing Wednesday, the day after the heaviest rains in 30 years hit Slovenia's northwest, causing flooding and mudslides, state radio said.