Earth ChangesS


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Swiss avalanche at Riffelberg, near Zermatt Alps resort, kills three


abc.net.au
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 14:41 UTC
The avalanche broke below a lift on the Riffelberg.
The avalanche broke below a lift on the Riffelberg.
Three people have been killed and another person injured in an avalanche at Riffelberg, near the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Zermatt.

Footage on social media showed a wall of snow crossing an off-piste sector of the Riffelberg sector of Zermatt, one of the most luxurious ski resorts in the Alps.

Authorities launched a major rescue operation despite bad weather but it was later suspended.

Heavy snowfall and very strong winds had prompted authorities to warn of a major avalanche risk in the southern Swiss Alps.

The risk was considered especially high in the Grisons and Valais cantons, both popular ski destinations.

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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstorm, downpour and flooding wreaks havoc in Saudi Arabia

Khitam Al Amir
Gulf News
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 11:23 UTC
Municipal workers and field teams clearing the hail from major roads and streets to facilitate the resumption of normal traffic flow.
© SaudiNews50/XMunicipal workers and field teams clearing the hail from major roads and streets to facilitate the resumption of normal traffic flow.
A hailstorm on Sunday morning in Al Namas governorate, part of the Asir region, resulted in significant damage, with a video circulating on social media showing the aftermath of the event.

The footage shows numerous cars with their rear and front windows shattered due to the impact of large hailstones, alongside damage to the vehicles' exteriors.

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Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 6.2 earthquake - North Pacific Ocean, off the Northern Mariana Islands


Volcano Discovery
Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:02 UTC
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A very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 128 km (80 mi) from Northern Mariana Islands in the late afternoon of Tuesday, Apr 2, 2024 at 7.54 pm local time (GMT +10). The quake had a very shallow depth of 10 km (6 mi) and was reported felt by some people near the epicenter.
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Volcano

Costa Rica's Poas volcano awakens: ashfall and gas emissions trigger green alert


The Tico Times
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 10:54 UTC
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Today, the Poas Volcano experienced one of its most significant ash eruptions in the past five years. As of noon, ash and gas emissions persisted, though details regarding the height of the plume remain undisclosed, visible from kilometers away. This morning's event marks a continuation of ongoing activity from the colossus that commenced on Friday, March 29. A volcanic eruption of such magnitude has not been witnessed since 2019.

Maarten de Moor, a volcanologist from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), classified this eruption as passive, devoid of violent events or the expulsion of stones or incandescent material.

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Attention

San Francisco Highway 1 crisis: 1,600 trapped near Big Sur after roadway crumbles

Jessica Flores, Sam Whiting
Sanfrancisco Chronicle
Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00 UTC
A landslide destroyed part of Highway 1 south of Rocky Creek Bridge on the Big Sur coast.
© Caltrans District 5A landslide destroyed part of Highway 1 south of Rocky Creek Bridge on the Big Sur coast.
A portion of Highway 1 in Monterey County remained closed Sunday after collapsing during Saturday's storm, state transit officials said, stranding 1,600 people on Easter weekend.

Engineers with the California Department of Transportation were assessing the slip-out that forced the closure of Highway 1 south of the Rocky Creek Bridge at Palo Colorado on Saturday, the state agency said Sunday. An estimated 1,600 residents and visitors were stranded after parts of the southbound lane collapsed. The rain was coming down at a rate of 2 inches per hour at one point, according to the National Weather Service.

Comment: See also: Severe flooding in Southern California leaves drivers stranded after 2 inches of rain in 1 hour



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Cloud Precipitation

Severe flooding in Southern California leaves drivers stranded after 2 inches of rain in 1 hour


NBC News
Sun, 31 Mar 2024 11:32 UTC
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Nearly two inches of rain fell on Southern California in just one hour, causing severe flooding that shut down Highway 101 and left drivers stranded. Orange County roads turned dangerous for drivers, and part of Highway 1 was washed out. NBC News' Jesse Kirsch reports.

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Alarm Clock

Climate change has slowed Earth's rotation — and could affect how we keep time

Elizabeth Gibney
Nature
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:01 UTC
penguins iceberg
© Alessandro Dahan/GettyAs polar ice has melted and moved mass towards the Equator, it has slowed Earth’s rotation.
The effect of melting polar ice could delay the need for a 'leap second' by three years.

Climate change is starting to alter how humans keep time.

An analysis1 published in Nature on 27 March has predicted that melting ice caps are slowing Earth's rotation to such an extent that the next leap second — the mechanism used since 1972 to reconcile official time from atomic clocks with that based on Earth's unstable speed of rotation — will be delayed by three years.

Comment: There seems to be no end to what the radicals will blame on "human-caused climate change". It's a major impediment to science in all its branches. How much further would the science studying the speed of the Earth's rotation be if not for assumptions based on "global warming"?

See also:

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Windsock

Easter storm brings Sahara sand to the Alps and southern France

Julia Schneemann
SnowBrains
Sun, 31 Mar 2024 13:54 UTC
he Engadin Valley in Switzerland received a lot of Sahara sand in the storm on Easter weekend.
© Engadin Facebookhe Engadin Valley in Switzerland received a lot of Sahara sand in the storm on Easter weekend.
A rather unusual sight was in store for visitors to some ski resorts on the south-side of the Alps, with slopes at Corviglia or Corvatsch, Switzerland, looking like a caramel Fudge Sundae.

Slopes in the southern Alps were covered in Sahara sand carried in by the strong winds that were blowing across the Alps with gusts of up to 100km (62 miles). Warm southerly winds have been bringing large amounts of fine sand from the Sahara to Central and Southeast Europe for days. On Saturday, large parts of Austria, Switzerland, and southern Germany were affected. Instead of a sunny Easter Saturday, it was partly eerily dark in the middle of the day in some areas.

According to calculations by Swiss Meteo, 180,000 metric tons of Sahara dust hung in the air over Switzerland alone on Saturday. While Sahara dust is a regular occurrence, this much is quite unusual. Normally, the wind will carry about half as much sand to Switzerland.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 15 sheep in Swat, Pakistan


24newshd.tv
Sat, 30 Mar 2024 11:54 UTC
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Lightning killed more than 15 sheep in Swat distinct of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 24NewsHD TV channel reported Saturday,

According to local police, the lightning struck a house in the Malkidam area of Swat, killing more than 15 sheep.

Heavy rain and hailstorms hit KP areas and the chief minister put the PDMA and Rescue on high alert to cope with the challenge.
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Windsock

Amur region rocked by orange sandstorm in Russia


RT
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:42 UTC
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An unusual sandstorm struck Russia's Amur region from China and Mongolia, giving the air some orangey tints.

Residents will have to endure bizarre conditions for a few more days, while health experts have advised to take care of their eyes amid the sandy winds.

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