According to observations by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards department, the activity level of the volcano on Tanna island is still at alert level 2 but an increase to 3 in the near future is possible.
Earth Changes
According to observations by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards department, the activity level of the volcano on Tanna island is still at alert level 2 but an increase to 3 in the near future is possible.
© Wikipedia
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Lysenko
Under Lysenko's view, for example, grafting branches of one plant species onto another could create new plant hybrids that would be perpetuated by the descendants of the grafted plant. Or modifications made to seeds would be inherited by later generations stemming from that seed. Or that plucking all the leaves off of a plant would cause descendants of the plant to be leafless.
Lysenkoism was "politically correct" (a term invented by Lenin) because it was consistent with certain broader Marxist doctrines. Marxists wanted to believe that heredity had a limited role even among humans, and that human characteristics changed by living under socialism would be inherited by subsequent generations of humans. Thus would be created the selfless new Soviet man.
Also Lysenko himself arose from a peasant background and developed his theories from practical applications rather than controlled scientific experiments. This fit the Marxist propaganda of the time holding that brilliant industrial innovations would arise from the working classes through practical applications. Lysenko's theories also seemed to address in a quick and timely manner the widespread Soviet famines of the time arising from the forced collectivization of agriculture, rather than the much slower changes from scientific experimentation and genetic heredity.
Apart from being a bit of a pain generally, the prolonged bout of unseasonably-cold weather has caused severe problems for farmers, prompting a surge in the number of livestock deaths and damaging vast areas of crops.
The average temperature over the period came in at 6.0C, which is 1.8C, or nearly 25 per cent, lower than is typical for the time of year, according to the Met Office.
This makes it the fifth coldest spring since records began in 1910 and the chilliest for 51 years.
A Met Office spokesman said: "The colder than average conditions have been caused by difference patterns at certain times, but generally this season has seen frequent easterly and northerly winds which have brought cold air to the UK from polar and northern European regions."
Rainfall was lower than normal in March and April but May has been wetter than usual, the Met Office added. As a result, spring has been slightly drier than average, but not as dry as the springs of 2010 and 2011.
The Met Office data runs up to the end of March 28, meaning that it does not take into account the final three days of spring.
A pod of around 500 dolphins are caught on camera by the Japanese coastguard in one of the country's southern seas. Also captured is a pod of killer whales, which are thought to have been chasing the dolphins as prey. Officials believe there are at least 50,000 killer whales in the wild.
Source: ITN
Top U.S. corn and soybean producing state Iowa has received the most spring rainfall since records began 141 years ago, slowing crop plantings and threatening to reduce yields, an Iowa climatologist said on Friday.
Top U.S. corn and soybean producing state Iowa has received the most spring rainfall since records began 141 years ago, slowing crop plantings and threatening to reduce yields, an Iowa climatologist said on Friday.
"From March through May, which is our spring record keeping period, Iowa had received 17.48 inches of rain as of Thursday," Iowa State Climatologist, Harry Hillaker said. "There may be another 0.15 inch added to that today."
Hillaker said the old record of 15.36 inches was set in 1892 but rainfall seen from March through to May is the most since records began.
Hillaker said typical March-May rainfall in the state was 10.22 inches. "That would be normal and is based on rainfall received for the past 30 years," he said.
Excessive wet weather in the U.S. Midwest has slowed seedings of corn and soybeans, pushing corn plantings up to the end-of-May deadline that farmers can plant without suffering cutbacks in crop insurance coverage.
Top U.S. corn and soybean producing state Iowa has received the most spring rainfall since records began 141 years ago, slowing crop plantings and threatening to reduce yields, an Iowa climatologist said on Friday.
"From March through May, which is our spring record keeping period, Iowa had received 17.48 inches of rain as of Thursday," Iowa State Climatologist, Harry Hillaker said. "There may be another 0.15 inch added to that today."
Hillaker said the old record of 15.36 inches was set in 1892 but rainfall seen from March through to May is the most since records began.
Hillaker said typical March-May rainfall in the state was 10.22 inches. "That would be normal and is based on rainfall received for the past 30 years," he said.
Excessive wet weather in the U.S. Midwest has slowed seedings of corn and soybeans, pushing corn plantings up to the end-of-May deadline that farmers can plant without suffering cutbacks in crop insurance coverage.
DIA spokeswoman Laura Coale says 11 flights were diverted to Colorado Springs Airport, five went to Cheyenne Regional Airport and one was sent to Fort Collins-Loveland Airport between about 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Friday. She didn't know how many airlines were involved.
Coale says at one point, incoming flights were delayed by more than an hour and a half, while departing flights were delayed between half an hour and an hour.
National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Dankers says the peak wind gust between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. was 34 mph.
Winds shifted late Friday morning, allowing air traffic controllers to use more runways at DIA.
© James Baichtal, U.S. Forest Service
One of the newest volcanic vents discovered in Southeast Alaska is an underwater volcanic cone in Behm Canal near New Eddystone rock.
One of the newest volcanic vents discovered in Southeast Alaska is an underwater volcanic cone in Behm Canal near New Eddystone rock.
In the past three years, 12 new volcanoes have been discovered in Southeast Alaska, and 25 known volcanic vents and lava flows re-evaluated, thanks to dogged work by geologists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Forest Service. Sprinkled across hundreds of islands and fjords, most of the volcanic piles are tiny cones compared to the super-duper stratovolcanoes that parade off to the west, in the Aleutian Range.
But the Southeast's volcanoes are in a class by themselves, the researchers found. A chemical signature in the lava flows links them to a massive volcanic field in Canada. Unusual patterns in the lava also point to eruptions under, over and alongside glaciers, which could help scientists pinpoint the size of Alaska's mountain glaciers during past climate swings.
"It's giving us this serendipitous window on the history of climate in Southeast Alaska for the last 1 million years," said Susan Karl, a research geologist with the USGS in Anchorage and the project's leader.
© REUTERS/Bill Waugh
Storm chasers follow a large cloud lowering between Perkins, Oklahoma and Cushing May 30, 2013, as storm systems moved across the state.
Storm chasers follow a large cloud lowering between Perkins, Oklahoma and Cushing May 30, 2013, as storm systems moved across the state.
Storms in Oklahoma and Arkansas left an Arkansas county sheriff dead and at least one man missing in an attempted water rescue and at least five other people injured elsewhere, officials said.
"The atmosphere will become extremely unstable this afternoon, especially in Oklahoma, while winds in the atmosphere will be favorable for organized severe storms, including a few supercell thunderstorms," the National Weather Service said in an advisory.
The body of Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpenter was recovered early Friday, said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Authorities continued to search for another person missing after Thursday night's rescue attempt along the Fourche La Fave River.
Another man died in Tull when a tree fell on his car during a possible tornado, said Pete Roberts, Grant County sheriff's office chief deputy.
Arkansas had numerous reports of damage from high winds, heavy rain and possible tornadoes. Entergy Arkansas reported more than 30,000 customers without power.
Emergency crews, especially in the southern part of the metropolitan area, responded to numerous reports of drivers stuck in high water after they drove into water-covered roads.
The drivers became stranded by the fast rising and swift moving waters.
The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, Mo., continued a flash flood warning for most of the Kansas City area until 11 a.m. Friday.
The warning is in effect for Johnson, northern Miami and southern Leavenworth County in Kansas and southwestern Lafayette, northwestern Johnson, southern Jackson and northern Cass counties in Missouri.
The National Weather Service said radar indicated at 6 a.m. Friday that thunderstorms with torrential rainfall was moving across the southern Kansas City metropolitan area.
© The EveningTelegraph, UK
A close-up of the mystery creature’s head.
A close-up of the mystery creature’s head.
Locals were left scratching their heads after the fearsome looking remains of the dead animal were found by a passing local on Easthaven beach.
Measuring between four and five feet long, the creatures's jaw is also filled with a set of sharp teeth.
Dozens of people have speculated online about what the mystery sea creature could be.
Some have suggested it could be a Conger Eel that has washed up, whereas others believe it could be a ling.
But some locals have pointed out that the grisly remains could be a shark or a pike.
More amusing suggestions even say it could be a dinosaur or the Loch Ness monster.
