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Dolphins a rare sight in Baltic Sea

Two dolphins have been spotted in the Baltic Sea, the first such sighting in many years. Maritime expert assume their appearance is the result of warmer temperatures due to global warming.

©DPA
A dolphin swims along side a police boat in the Baltic Sea, Sunday. It was the first such sighting in the area for many years.

Germany's martime experts are excited at the appearance of some friendly visitors to the country's northern shores. Two dolphins have been spotted in the Baltic Sea -- the first sighting of these creatures here for many years. Scientists are assuming that their sudden appearance is linked to global warming.

Bizarro Earth

Hail and sleet surprise many in Chennai, India

Chennai was in for a mid-afternoon surprise on Thursday when a sudden hailstorm, combined with sleet, descended on certain parts of the city.

©K. Pichumani

The hailstorm, lasting a few minutes, was witnessed by people on the arterial Anna Salai, Cathedral Road and Kodambakkam High Road and in Triplicane and Mylapore.

©Unknown

Bizarro Earth

North America's Northernmost Lake, Ward Hunt Lake, Affected By Global Warming

Analyses conducted by researchers from Université Laval's Center for Northern Studies reveal that the continent's northernmost lake is affected by climate change.

©BBC

In an article to be published in the September 28 edition of Geophysical Research Letters, the international research team led by Université Laval scientists Warwick Vincent and Reinhard Pienitz reports that aquatic life in Ward Hunt Lake, a body of water located on a small island north of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, has undergone major transformations within the last two centuries.

Evil Rays

2 Quakes Off Japan, No Tsunami

Two earthquakes struck almost simultaneously off Japan's central coast late Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued and no damage was reported.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.6, struck at 10:41 p.m. and was centered in the Pacific Ocean off Iwo Jima, about 930 miles south of Tokyo.

Another quake with a magnitude of 7.4 occurred off the Mariana Islands around the same time, according to the agency.

Cloud Lightning

'The Worst Thunderstorm in Memory' for West Virginia town

The storm struck at about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday with intense 60-80 mile an hour winds, pouring rain and golf-ball-size hail. The storm only lasted 45 intense minutes, but early estimates suggest about a half million dollars in damage.

Robin Hobbs house was hit hard by the storm. It uprooted two trees in her backyard and ripped the power lines right out of her house.



©Danny Snyder / Times West Virginian
Strong thunderstorms packing hail and winds estimated at between 60-80 mph uprooted trees in a narrow swath of Marion County from Fairview to just north of Rivesville Wednesday night.


"It started as a normal thunderstorm, but then all of a sudden it hit all four sides of the house with hail and rain and lightning," she said.

Cloud Lightning

Tornado-Like Storm Ravages Northern Warren County, New York

A hot, humid, sunny fall day suddenly turned violent as residents of northern Warren County headed home from work Thursday afternoon.

About 5:30 p.m., a storm from the south brought sudden gusts of wind estimated at 50 to 60 mph, whipping trees, raining pine needles and leaves in Chestertown, snapping off trees, felling some onto power lines and uprooting others. Spurts of heavy rain fell but as suddenly as it came, the storm was over, leaving over 4,000 National Grid customers without power in the county.

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Calif. poisons lake to kill off pike

PORTOLA, Calif.- California wildlife officials dumped 16,000 gallons of a fish poison into a northern Sierra reservoir to kill off the invasive northern pike.

Bizarro Earth

UK Bluetongue farm family 'hopeful'

The family running a Suffolk farm hit by the UK's first case of bluetongue disease say they are "hopeful" about their future.

©AFP
Police have closed the road leading to the farm.

The insect-borne virus, which has killed livestock across Europe, was found in a Highland cow at the Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm, near Ipswich.

Magnify

The possible effects of bluetongue disease in Britain

Bluetongue is a mysterious disease, with no suitable vaccine, but there are still reasons for optimism for British farmers, despite the case at a Suffolk farm.

If bluetongue were to take hold in Britain it would change the landscape.



©SPL
The virus is of the same type as northern Europe suffers.

Anywhere which has hills dotted with sheep would be devastated. The strain of the disease found at a rare breeds farm in Suffolk has come from northern Europe.

Bizarro Earth

Bluetongue disease forces restrictions on transport of sheep in eastern Montana

A potentially fatal sheep disease spread by gnats has triggered a quarantine in eastern Montana, preventing ranchers from moving their animals at a time of year when lambs are shipped out, often to Colorado feedlots.

State veterinarian Marty Zaluski's order this week prohibits the transportation of sheep from 16 of Montana's 56 counties. The disease, bluetongue, has been confirmed in tests from eight flocks in six counties, said Lisa Schmidt, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Livestock.