Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Canada: High Winds Disrupt Travel, Knock Out Power

Cindy E. Harnett & Sandra McCulloch
Vancouver Sun
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:41 UTC
Surfer
© Les Bazso, PNG, Postmedia News, With Files From Vancouver SunKiteboarders at Crescent Beach take advantage of southeasterly gusts of 70 to 100 km-h.
A wind storm forced the cancellation of ferries and seaplanes and took out power to tens of thousands of Vancouver Island homes Wednesday but did not pack the punch expected by meteorologists.

Environment Canada had forecast sustained southerly winds of 70 to 100 km/h, with peak gusts from 100 to 140 km/h. The predictions were off by about 20 km/h, said Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Wray.

"It was definitely one of the stronger storms of the season but it wasn't busting any kind of records," Wray said. "The system was just a little further offshore and north than expected."

The strongest winds on the coast were on Solander Island, off the northwest tip of Vancouver Island, where gusts were clocked at 90 knots (160 km/h).

In Greater Victoria, the storm's peak time was between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., with sustained winds of 50 km/h and gusts of about 70 km/h. By mid-morning the warm, southeasterly winds had driven the temperature up to 9.4 C
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Bizarro Earth

Earth Trembles Again in Southwest Iceland


Iceland Review
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:34 UTC
Krýsuvík
© Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.From Krýsuvík.
An earthquake measuring 3.7 in magnitude on the Richter scale hit one kilometer northeast of Krýsuvík on Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland yesterday and the tremor could clearly be felt in the capital region.

The earthquake, which hit at a depth of 3.8 kilometers, was smaller than those measured in the area last weekend. There was constant seismic activity around Krýsuvík yesterday but no other quakes were stronger than three points on the Richter scale, Morgunbladid reports.

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, there is no reason to conclude that this is anything else than a conventional series of earthquakes while the tremors are all at the same depth - so far, all quakes hit at a depth of three to five kilometers.
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Question

Dolphin, Manatee Deaths Baffle Scientists


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:37 UTC
Manatee
© CorbisLow temperatures can lead to "cold stress" in manatees, which can weaken and eventually kill the aquatic mammals.

Near-record numbers of manatees have died in Florida waters in early 2011, the second straight year of above-average deaths, alarming officials who are also puzzled by a surge in dolphin fatalities along the Gulf Coast.

Of the 163 manatee deaths recorded from Jan. to Feb. 25, 91 of them have been blamed on cold water temperatures off the southern state, where normally temperate weather draws the protected sea creatures during winter months, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Manatees live near the coastline, and when weather turns cold they often shelter near springs or in warmer discharge canals at power plants to avoid the condition known as "cold stress," which can weaken and eventually kill the aquatic mammals.

A record 185 manatees died in Florida during the same period last year, according to the commission.

Authorities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also investigating the huge increase in baby dolphins found washed up dead along the US Gulf Coast, in the first birthing season since the BP oil spill disaster.

Eighty-three bottle-nosed dolphins, more than half of them newborns, were found dead in January and February along the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, where millions of barrels of oil from a leaking undersea well poured into the Gulf of Mexico over three months.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Thousand Cankers Disease Detected in Eugene Tree


KVAL.com
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:07 UTC
Walnut Tree Disease
© KVAL.com

Eugene's urban forest is facing a very serious threat from a new disease called Thousand Cankers Disease that is killing black walnut trees in eight western states.

Laboratory analysis at the Plant Clinic at Oregon State University (OSU) confirmed the large walnut on Madison Street next to Gray's Garden Center to be the first known case in Eugene found to have the disease.

The disease has probably been present in Eugene for the last few years, and it has already been found in every county in the Willamette Valley, according to Dr. Jay Pscheidt, OSU Extension Plant Pathology Specialist.

Thousand Cankers Disease is caused by a newly-discovered fungus (Geosmithia morbida) that is carried to trees by the tiny walnut twig beetle. The fungus kills areas of bark throughout the tree. Cankers eventually grow together and girdle limbs and the trunk so nutrients can no longer move in the tree.
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Attention

Another case of outgassing? Portland, US: Mysterious odor forces Hall kindergartners to move to new classroom

Kelley Bouchard
The Portland Press Herald
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:36 UTC
A kindergarten class at Hall Elementary School has been moved to another classroom while school officials investigate an unknown odor.

The class started meeting in the school's library in mid-February, after its teacher noticed an earthy, unfamiliar odor in the classroom, Principal Kelly Hasson said Wednesday.

Maintenance workers removed interior and exterior walls looking for the odor's source, but they found none, said Hasson, who heads the school off outer Brighton Avenue.

The odor is no longer noticeable in the room, which has its own heating and ventilation system, said Doug Sherwood, facilities director of the city's schools.

The walls have been replaced, and the relatively new carpet will be cleaned and dried before a company tests the room's air quality next week, Sherwood said. Earlier air quality tests didn't reveal any problems.
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Health

India: A mysterious bug wrecks havoc in a village in Ukhrul


The Morung Express
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:06 UTC
Imphal: An idyllic and nondescript New Wahong village located some 80 km north of Ukhrul district headquarters under Chingai assembly constituency has been overwhelmed by a mysterious disease claiming the lives of 4 children with many more needing emergency medical attention.

The inscrutable disease has claimed the lives of 4 children between the age of 6 months and 1 year in the last 2 months. At least 8 other children have been transferred and are now being treated in Ukhrul district hospital.

The symptom of the disease resembles that of dysentery with excessive vomiting, said a source.

Despite the fact that the mysterious disease has claimed predominantly young suckling, an old woman has reportedly died showing similar symptom.

People from the village lamented that far from getting emergency medical attention the suffering of the people has been multiplied with many children already affected and many more potentially in danger of contacting the disease.
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Igloo

South East of England suffered darkest winter on record


Daily Mail Reporter
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:50 UTC
It was the darkest winter since records began for the South-East of England, experts have said.

The Met Office revealed that the sun shined 40 per cent less than usual between December and the end of February.

London was particularly gloomy, with only 98.2 hours hours of sunlight at Heathrow over the period, making it the darkest winter since monitoring began in 1957.

Darkest Winter South east England
© APBleak: London was particularly gloomy, with only 98.2 hours hours of sunlight at Heathrow over three months, making it the darkest winter since monitoring began in 1957
However, the North West was unusually bright, while Northern Ireland enjoyed 223 hours of sun - 62 per cent more than average.

Even Scotland basked in 20 per cent more shine than usual.

But a beaming sun didn't necessarily mean warm weather. In fact, it was partnered by high pressure systems and freezing temperatures.

But although it may have felt like the coming of a new ice age, it was only the 15th chilliest winter of the last century.
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Radar

Bodies pulverised by New Zealand earthquake 'may never be found'


Daily Mail
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:10 UTC
The bodies of some victims of New Zealand's devastating earthquake may never be recovered because they were pulverised by the buildings that collapsed around them, police said today.

Superintendent Dave Cliff said four more bodies had been pulled from rubble by recovery teams in the shattered city of Christchurch overnight, bringing the latest tally to 159.

But many more people remain missing and Mr Cliff has said the final tally is likely to be around 240.

Image
© UnknownAfter-effects: A cloud of dust covered Christchurch New Zealand today as a police chief warned that many of the bodies crushed in the earthquake might never be recovered

A cloud of dust covers Christchurch New Zealand Tuesday, March 1, 2011, as the silt caused from the liquefaction dried out and is blown around by high winds.

The gloomy verdict came on the day that thick clouds of dust engulfed the city which is still reeling from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake.

Strong winds whipped up particles of debris from the fallen rubble in a haunting after-effect of the disaster.
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Cloud Lightning

New Zealand: Massive Dust Storm Hits Quake-hit Christchurch


Terra Daily
Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseA cyclist wears a protective mask in Christchurch on Wednesday, March 2. Strong winds whipped up huge dust clouds in earthquake-hit Christchurch as officials defended the devastated city's building standards.
Strong winds whipped up huge dust clouds in earthquake-hit Christchurch Wednesday, as officials defended the devastated city's building standards.

Gusts of 70 kilometres per hour (44 mph) buffeted emergency crews in the ruins of New Zealand's second largest city, hampering the search for bodies amid fears of masonry dislodging and trees toppling.

"In some places it was difficult to stand up, you'd look across the city and see these enormous clouds of dust blowing down the main avenues -- it's been a terrible day," mayor Bob Parker said.

The winds stirred an estimated 200,000 tonnes of silt and sand pushed up from the ground after the power of the February 22 quake loosened the bond between soil particles in a process called liquefaction.

Search and rescue teams donned respirators and dodged flying sheets of corrugated iron as they raked through the wreckage, while supplies of facemasks were rushed to Christchurch for residents.

The death toll from last week's 6.3-magnitude tremor stood at 160 Wednesday, climbing toward a final tally that police expect to exceed 240.

About 400 relatives of the dead visited the city's worst-hit sites in what Parker said was a difficult and emotional trip that he hoped would bring them some closure.
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Question

New Zealand: Kiwis Terrified by Fresh Earthquake Prediction

Tamara McLean
Herald Sun, Australia
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:54 UTC
A New Zealand mathematician who predicted the deadly Christchurch quake has terrified Kiwis with news another will strike the city in two weeks.

Popular long-range weather forecaster Ken Ring is warning that a second jolt will hit the already-devastated South Island city on March 20.

Mr Ring, who lives in Auckland, uses the moon, sun and tidal activity for the basis of his theories, which have been dismissed by scientists.

His warning is clear.

"If I lived in Christchurch, I'd get out for a few days over that time, go camping, visit friends, just get out and keep safe," he said.

"And if you don't live there, stay away."

His frightening words have panicked New Zealanders, with hundreds using Twitter and Facebook to brand his theories as "crackpot", "wacky" and scientifically baseless.

Despite this, his following is substantial, with more than 5000 New Zealanders - including farmers, gardeners and even disaster specialists - signed up to receive his weather predictions.

On Valentine's Day, he issued a tweet stating that conditions were "potent" for a quake in Christchurch between February 15 and 25.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck on February 22, killing as many as 240 people.
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