Earth Changes

Thai farmers asked to delay rice planting as drought bites

Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat
Thai Visa News
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:43 UTC

© REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
FILE PHOTO: A farmer plants rice in a paddy field in Thailand's Nakhonsawan province, August 16, 2015.

The Thai government has asked farmers to delay planting rice because of drought and the pumping of water from reservoirs for irrigation threatens household supplies, an agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Farmers in the world's second-biggest rice exporter usually plant their main crop in May, the beginning of the rainy season, for harvest between August and October.

But this year, the rain has been sparse and drought has been declared in more than a dozen provinces in northern and northeastern rice regions.

The government is considering measures such as cloud seeding to try to bring rain but in the meantime, farmers have been asked to hold off.

"We would like to ask farmers not to grow new crops of rice because there may not be enough water," Irrigation Department official Sanya Sangpumpong told Reuters.

The pumping of water to keep crops alive had led to a serious depletion of reservoirs, he said.

Comment: A Global Food Disaster is in The Making

Monsoon death toll tops 650 with 10 million affected as rains unleash flood fury in South Asia

France24
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 18:24 UTC

In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam (pictured) states cut off because of flooding

© AFP
In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam (pictured) states cut off because of flooding

Severe floods and lightning have claimed the lives of more than 650 people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, officials said Monday as the annual monsoon took its toll on the rainfed region.

More than 10 million people in the South Asian countries have been affected by the deluge, which has also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

In India, heavy rains since the start of July have killed at least 467 people with many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam states cut off because of flooding.

In Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, lightning strikes killed 37 people in separate incidents, a disaster management official told AFP. The latest fatalities took the northern state's toll to 228 dead.

Dead blue whale found floating in Marbella, Spain

Laurence Dollimore
The Olive Press
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 11:29 UTC

TRAGIC: Whale in waters of Marbella port

The animal has been taken to experts at CREMA Aula del Mar de Malaga, where scientists will analyse the carcass

A whale has been found dead in the waters of Marbella.

The body of the huge mammal was discovered at around 10am on Friday.

Comment: Other dead whales have washed up in recent days off Argyle in Scotland and Cape Cod in Massachusetts with 2 found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.

Lightning kills 32 in a day in Uttar Pradesh as monsoon batters India

RT
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:46 UTC

FILE PHOTO: Lightning strikes over Jaipur,

At least 32 people have died in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and many more were injured across the country after being struck by lightning, the deadliest weather event in India, which claims over 2,500 lives every year.

Lightning claimed the lives of at least 32 people across 10 cities and districts in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, the authorities reported Sunday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and ordered the district administrations to provide compensation to the relatives.

The strongest summer Jet Stream to hit the Pacific Northwest EVER!

Cliff Mass
Weather and Climate
Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:41 UTC

An extraordinary weather event has been occurring above our heads during the past 24-hour. A record that was not only broken, but shattered to little pieces.

The strongest summer jet stream ever observed over the Pacific Northwest.

The jet stream is a narrow current of strong winds in the upper troposphere (roughly 25,000 ft to 35,000 ft above sea level). It is often the conduit for storms and is associated with a large temperature gradient (change in temperature with horizontal distance) in the middle and lower troposphere. Winds in the jet stream are westerly (from the west) and aircraft like to fly in the jet stream going east, while avoiding it going west. You are now Jet Steam certified!

The ECMWF 12-h forecast for 5 AM this morning for the wind speed at the 250 hPa pressure level (about 35,000 ft) clearly shows the jet stream, with the orange/red colors being the strongest winds.

Comment: View in addition: Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Record jet stream as Earth's atmosphere shifts to Grand Solar Minimum pattern

US heatwave prompts concerns about elderly, homeless & inmates

RT
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 22:44 UTC

© Reuters / Brian Snyder
Birds splash in a fountain during the summer heatwave in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 19, 2019

As an extreme heatwave hits the US, locals are being asked to look after their older neighbors, activists try to save inmates from baking in prisons, and authorities hurry to take the homeless off the sizzling streets.

The extreme temperatures, reaching as high as 95F (35C), have been plaguing large parts of the US from the Midwest to the East Coast over the past few days. At least six deaths have already been blamed on the extreme heatwave - four in Maryland and one each in Arizona and Arkansas.

In some places, thermometers have hit triple digits, prompting the authorities and meteorological services to release numerous advisories on how to stay cool, open dedicated cooling centers and hold water parties of all sorts.

Comment: This follows an extremely wet spring in the US which could lead to significant crop shortages. Similar weather patterns are also occurring throughout Europe with many parts already exceeding the average number of wildfires:

Although these unprecedented heatwaves can be deceptive because cold records are also being broken:

Massive wildfires hit Portugal

Euronews
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:47 UTC

Nine injured as 1,000 firefighters battle wildfires in Portugal

A massive fire stretching 25 km has been raging through the night between the central Portuguese boroughs of Vila de Rei and Mação.

At least eight people have been injured, one seriously, a civilian apparently suffering 1st and 2nd-degree burns. The civilian has been airlifted to hospital in Lisbon.

Today, Sunday, the situation was still "far from under control", said early reports.

Strong winds have been fanning flames, increasing difficulties.

Floods wreak havoc on croplands in Bangladesh

Sohel Parvez and Abdul Wahed
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:18 UTC

© Abdul Wahed.
Sitting on a raft made of banana trees, a farmer of Uttar Nawabash in Kurigram shows his vegetable plants destroyed by the floods on his two bighas of land yesterday.

The ongoing flood has submerged 60,000 hectares of paddy and vegetable fields, mainly in the northern districts, affecting both farmers and consumers, as crop loss has sent the vegetable prices soaring for reduced supply in the market.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) estimated that floods affected farmlands in 26 districts until Friday, including 39,000 hectares of aush fields, 11,000 hectares of aman seedbeds, and 10,000 hectares of vegetable farms.

The flooded aush fields constitute 3.39 percent of the total acreage of aush this year.

A senior official of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) said 20 percent of the submerged aush crop might get damaged fully. This would mean the loss of 20,000 tonnes of paddy if the average aush output of last year is considered.

Mount Bromo in East Java erupts

antaranews.com
Sat, 20 Jul 2019 13:11 UTC

Mount Bromo's volcanic ash passes through Ngadas Village, Malang District (PVMBG

in East Java erupted on Friday evening, coupled with cold lava flows owing to rains.

The 2,329-meter-high volcano erupted for a duration of some seven minutes from 4:37 p.m. local time, but the height of the ash column was not observed, Chief of the Volcano Mitigation Section of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) Hendra Gunawan remarked on Friday night.

The seismogram recorded the eruption at a maximum amplitude of 37 millimeters, lasting for a duration of some 14 seconds, he noted.

Heavy rain hits western Japan, tens of thousands ordered to evacuate

The Straits Times
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 05:02 UTC

© AFP
Forecasters warned of mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers on the island of Kyushu and the Chugoku region in Japan.

Authorities issued an evacuation order to tens of thousands of residents in western Japan on Sunday (July 21) as torrential rain lashed the region.

Forecasters warned of mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers on the island of Kyushu and the Chugoku region, as Typhoon Danas, which was moving over the Korean Peninsula, dropped record-breaking rain on some parts of western Japan.

About 300mm of rain had been dumped on the cities of Tosu and Kurume on Kyushu for 12 hours until 10am local time (9am local time), according to the Meteorological Agency.

Authorities issued an evacuation order to tens of thousands of residents in the prefectures of Fukuoka and Hiroshima.

As of 9 am, the eye of the storm was over the Korean Peninsula, travelling north-east at 30 kilometres per hour with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h and gusts of 90 km/h, the agency said.

"The FDA has many decisions to make beyond just approving the drug, or not. It must decide whether pregnant women - and any other at-risk groups -...

prehistoric

Many people who are hesitant to be vaccinated for Covid-19 see the drug as a treatment or prophylactic for the disease, though so far there is no...

Good Optics

With mail in voting likely to become a thing, does it really matter any more? Stick a fork in us...this country is done.

Bezel Bub

Other comets coming sooner, although not quite as big. E.g. "Leonard" this December https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2021_A1_(Leonard)

Tsidkenu

Tornadoes here in Aus too, as I reported here [Link]

Tsidkenu

Earth Changes

Thai farmers asked to delay rice planting as drought bites

Monsoon death toll tops 650 with 10 million affected as rains unleash flood fury in South Asia

Dead blue whale found floating in Marbella, Spain

Lightning kills 32 in a day in Uttar Pradesh as monsoon batters India

The strongest summer Jet Stream to hit the Pacific Northwest EVER!

US heatwave prompts concerns about elderly, homeless & inmates

Massive wildfires hit Portugal

Floods wreak havoc on croplands in Bangladesh

Mount Bromo in East Java erupts

Heavy rain hits western Japan, tens of thousands ordered to evacuate

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