The ozone hole over Antarctica keeps intriguing by its unusual pattern this 2023 season. The Southern Hemisphere ozone hole size had a series of rebounds in late November, as shown by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) data, at a period when it usually declines until its closure. This behaviour raises questions about what's behind yet another peculiar ozone hole season.
The Southern Hemisphere ozone hole is unusually large, at a time when it normally reduces until its total closure, generally in December. Instead, since the end of October the ozone hole area has virtually remained unchanged, with a series of rebounds, remaining at a size of some 15 km2, to become the third largest after 30 November.
Comment: Despite decades of propaganda scaring people into believing that everything from hairspray to old fridges were destroying the ozone layer, it has become fairly clear that, despite claims to the contrary, the mechanisms driving the formation of the ozone layer are very poorly understood by mainstream science: Magnetic storms can destroy up to a quarter of the Earth's ozone layer, new study reveals
Heavy snowfall overnight has paralysed air and rail connections in the southern German state of Bavaria, leaving thousands of travellers stranded.
All flights were grounded at Munich Airport, a key regional and international hub, until 6am (05:00) GMT on Sunday, the airport said. Air traffic had initially been suspended until noon (11:00 GMT) on Saturday.
"Passengers are strongly advised not to travel to the airport today [Saturday] and to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport tomorrow," airport authorities said.
German airline Lufthansa noted the knock-on effect of the closure of Munich airport, saying that many other airports in Germany, including the one in Frankfurt "are affected with limited flight operations".
The severe weather, which is expected to continue, also disrupted rail services in Bavaria, with the main railway station in the capital, Munich, brought to a virtual standstill.
Daniel Bellamy Euronews Fri, 01 Dec 2023 13:23 UTC
Mount Etna eruption lights up the night sky
Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily erupted at dawn on Friday, creating a festive spectacle of fire and ice.
At 3,3057 metres, it's Europe's tallest volcano and has been constantly active in the past ten years.
But no one has been injured and no one is in danger.
Volcanologists have described the activity on Etna in recent days as a succession of Strombolian eruptions - which are moderately explosive but short eruptions named after the volcano on the nearby island of Stromboli.
UK farmers are struggling with one of the lowest potato harvests on record after an autumn of heavy rain, raising fears about supplies for this year's Christmas dinners.
Experts are warning that supermarkets could be forced to turn to imports from as far afield as Egypt to fill potential gaps on shelves, pushing up the environmental impact of the festive meal.
Comment:The Guardian journalists are worried about the (relatively inconsequential) Co2 emissions - as world leaders fly to the UAE in their private jets for the COP28 climate summit - meanwhile, as inflation continues to push up prices, tens of millions of people in the West worry about how they're going to be able to afford the Christmas celebrations.
Fred Searle, the magazine editor of the Fresh Produce Journal, said potato planting had reduced significantly and the sector was "looking at the lowest UK crop on record this season", with an estimate that about "4.1m tonnes of potatoes would be harvested, 2m less than five or six years ago".
Radio, internet and GPS fluctuations are likely in some parts of the world on Friday as a massive solar storm is predicted to hit the Earth, US forecasters say.
The solar storm, or coronal mass ejection (CME), could interfere with the Earth's magnetic field and is likely to impact various forms of communications as well as sparking vibrant auroras, space weather physicist Tamitha Skov said.
"The storm is predicted to hit Earth by midday December 1... If the magnetic field is oriented correctly, expect aurora to reach deep into mid-latitudes. Amateur radio and GPS reception issues are likely, especially on Earth's nightside," Dr Skov posted on X.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other forecasters had already predicted that three solar storms were heading towards the Earth with some of them likely to merge to produce stronger magnetic field disruptions.
At least 10 people have died and thousands remain cut off from the power grid in Ukraine, in three days of stormy weather that has blanketed parts of the country in heavy snow, a senior official said Tuesday.
More than 400 settlements across 11 regions were without electricity, and more than 1,500 responders were trying to reach thousands of people in need of rescue, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, as fresh bouts of snow are expected to continue this week.
Another 23 were injured, including two children, Klymenko said Tuesday, adding the deaths were in Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions.
Videos showed Ukrainian police battling fierce winds as they pushed and towed cars back onto icy highways after they had slid off-road into ditches.
A RARE fish believed believed to be a precursor of earthquakes has been found washed up on a beach.
Spotting a deep-sea oarfish species is a signal for an impending quake, according to Japanese folklore.
The elongated fish was spotted on the shores of Los Coquitos beach in Pepillo Salcedo, Dominican Republic on Monday.
The oarfish died shortly after.
The sea serpent was eerily located near the Septentrional-Oriente strike-slip Fault Zone, responsible for the 1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake and tsunami in neighbouring Haiti, which killed approximately 5,300.
Significant winter weather hit communities across the interior Northeast on Wednesday morning, causing at least one fatal road accident.
As expected, more than 40 inches of snow fell over the past two days over parts of the Great Lakes and interior Northeast in the first significant lake-effect snow event of the season.
The heaviest snowfall was recorded at Constableville, New York, where 42.7 inches landed.
All lake-effect snow warnings expired at 7 a.m. Wednesday. By the afternoon, the snow was winding down across the Great Lakes, with a few flurries or light snow showers trickling across lakes into northwest Pennsylvania and western New York. Heavy snowfall is not expected through the rest of Wednesday, but 1 or 2 inches of snow will still be possible.
Comment: Despite decades of propaganda scaring people into believing that everything from hairspray to old fridges were destroying the ozone layer, it has become fairly clear that, despite claims to the contrary, the mechanisms driving the formation of the ozone layer are very poorly understood by mainstream science: Magnetic storms can destroy up to a quarter of the Earth's ozone layer, new study reveals
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