WINFIELD, Missouri - The weakest spot left along the swollen Mississippi River may be the Pin Oak levee, a barrier so tenuous that soil slides down its slope.
Only National Guard soldiers and firefighters in life vests are allowed to stack sandbags, because volunteers and heavy equipment could sink. A single muskrat recently created a geyser of riverwater by digging into the berm.
Earth Changes
Heaven forfend that the good folk of Los Angeles should have to stop watering their lawns or rinsing the suds off their shiny cars even if the city, indeed the entire state of California, is officially now in the grip of a drought. If we can't save water, then let's wring more of the stuff out of the clouds, by seeding them.
Cloud-seeding, you may be thinking, went out of fashion decades ago, perhaps in 1969 when the hippies swore that it was CIA scientists fiddling with nature who caused the downpours at the Woodstock music festival. Not so. In fact, it seems to be more in vogue than ever, in California and elsewhere.
Cloud-seeding, you may be thinking, went out of fashion decades ago, perhaps in 1969 when the hippies swore that it was CIA scientists fiddling with nature who caused the downpours at the Woodstock music festival. Not so. In fact, it seems to be more in vogue than ever, in California and elsewhere.
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| ©The Independent |
Auckland was hit by freezing hail storms just before 6pm and the AA sent out a general road safety warning as a wintry blast gripped much of the country.
Cold southerly winds laced with rain, sleet, hail and snow currently lashing parts of the country are expected to head offshore tonight.
Earlier today snow fell to 200m in Southland and the road warnings were issued for much of the country.
In the South Island State Highway 60 was closed north of Motueka and chains were required west of Oamaru and near Reefton.
Cold southerly winds laced with rain, sleet, hail and snow currently lashing parts of the country are expected to head offshore tonight.
Earlier today snow fell to 200m in Southland and the road warnings were issued for much of the country.
In the South Island State Highway 60 was closed north of Motueka and chains were required west of Oamaru and near Reefton.
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| ©Malcolm Gayfer |
| Thick snow and hail blanketed much of the South Island today. |
Leading water experts have urged the Federal Government to tackle the country's water shortages at next week's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
A briefing in Melbourne has been told water reform has been talked about on a federal level for 14 years, but there has been no action.
A briefing in Melbourne has been told water reform has been talked about on a federal level for 14 years, but there has been no action.
A storm killed four people on Monday in western Ukraine and brought trees and power lines crashing to the ground, officials said.
FUZHOU - East China is bracing for the arrival of severe tropical storm Fengshen, which is forecast to make a possible landfall in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong on Wednesday.
The Fujian provincial meteorological observatory issued a warning at 6:33 am on Tuesday, saying strong winds would hit the southern coastal area and the Taiwan Strait in the next 24 hours.
The Fujian provincial meteorological observatory issued a warning at 6:33 am on Tuesday, saying strong winds would hit the southern coastal area and the Taiwan Strait in the next 24 hours.
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| ©Cat Sidh. Creative Commons |
| Hole Punch Clouds |
Yesterday afternoon, the citizens of Elmira, NY received a treat as they looked up to the sky. The phenomenon is referred to as 'Hole Punch Clouds'. It is caused by an area of cold air that sinks through a layer of clouds.
More than 800 wildfires sparked by an "unprecedented" lightning storm burned a swath of Northern California from Big Sur to wine country to Humboldt County on Monday.
Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was alarmed by the number of fires that kept erupting.
Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was alarmed by the number of fires that kept erupting.
A fast-spreading virus recently killed thousands of round gobies near Milwaukee, and officials fear the same fate may await fish elsewhere in Lake Michigan.
The gobies washed ashore May 28 after dying from viral hemorrhagic septicemia, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The virus causes fish to hemorrhage and suffer organ failure.
The Milwaukee incident made Lake Michigan the fourth of the five Great Lakes to suffer a large VHS-related fish kill.
Only Lake Superior has avoided the disease. It has killed millions of fish in lakes Erie, Ontario and Huron and threatens the Great Lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fisheries.
The gobies washed ashore May 28 after dying from viral hemorrhagic septicemia, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The virus causes fish to hemorrhage and suffer organ failure.
The Milwaukee incident made Lake Michigan the fourth of the five Great Lakes to suffer a large VHS-related fish kill.
Only Lake Superior has avoided the disease. It has killed millions of fish in lakes Erie, Ontario and Huron and threatens the Great Lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fisheries.
Wild salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, off the west coast of Canada's British Columbia, will be extinct within 10 years due to parasite contamination from fish farms, according to a study published in the journal Science.
"The impact is so severe that the viability of the wild salmon populations is threatened," said lead researcher Martin Krkosek, from the University of Alberta.
"The probability of extinction is 100 percent," Krkosek said, "and the only question is how long it is going to take."
"The impact is so severe that the viability of the wild salmon populations is threatened," said lead researcher Martin Krkosek, from the University of Alberta.
"The probability of extinction is 100 percent," Krkosek said, "and the only question is how long it is going to take."
Comment: See: Russia: Sometimes it rains cement.