Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Watch: Video shows massive lightning bolt striking Boston


CBC News
Fri, 28 Jul 2023 11:33 UTC
Lightning striking Boston during Thursday evening's storms.
© CBS BOSTONLightning striking Boston during Thursday evening's storms.
The lightning strike that blasted bricks off a brownstone in Boston's South End Thursday evening appears to have been caught on video.

A WBZ-TV camera atop 200 Clarendon Street, previously known as the John Hancock Tower, shows the massive bolt hitting a building at 7:05 p.m.

Boston Fire District Chief Robert Counihan said "the chimney kind of blew up when it got hit by lightning."

Neighbors said the lightning strike rocked their homes, comparing it to "an explosion." Bricks were thrown onto cars and an iron fence was knocked over by the bricks.

Luckily there were no reports of anyone getting hurt.

Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Typhoon Doksuri hammers China, bringing floods and landslides to southeastern province -14 inches of rain in 12 hours

Echo Xie
South China Morning Post
Sat, 29 Jul 2023 10:37 UTC
Firefighters evacuate residents after Typhoon Do
© cnsphotoFirefighters evacuate residents after Typhoon Doksuri causes flooding in China’s Fujian province on Friday.
Typhoon Doksuri has caused widespread flooding and landslides in the southeastern province of Fujian after making landfall on Friday morning.

As it moves north and deeper inland, the cyclone will bring extreme rainfall to Beijing and its neighbouring provinces, affecting 130 million people, according to the National Meteorological Centre.

Meteorologists said the intensity of rainfall in northern China from Saturday to Tuesday could reach or exceed a 2012 downpour in Beijing that killed 79 people.

As of Wednesday morning, the heaviest rainfall so far in this year's flood season had affected more than 37,000 people in the district, with at least 15 dead and four missing, according to the state broadcaster CCTV.


Comment: There was also severe flash flooding due to a another downpour further west inland in the province of Sichuan a day earlier on July 27:


Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Lightning deaths increase in India as compared to 2022

Nuzhat Khan
Indiaspend.com
Fri, 28 Jul 2023 17:57 UTC
nnnnn
On July 5, 15 people reportedly died after being struck by lightning in Bihar; seven people, including two children died from lightning in Uttar Pradesh on July 7; 22 people died, and eight children suffered burns in UP, from lightning on July 11.

Between April 1 and July 25, 429 people have died from lightning in India, up from 300 that died in the same period in 2022, according to data put together by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organisation, and shared with IndiaSpend by Kiran Pandey, Programme Director of the Environment Resources Unit at CSE. They collate data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Disaster Management Division and media reports.

As of July 25, Bihar had recorded the maximum number of deaths (160), higher than the same period last year when it recorded 57 deaths, Pandey said.
Read More...
Colosseum

Eerily perfect 'vortex rings' keep blowing out of Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, here's why

Harry Baker
Live Science
Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:00 UTC
mount etna volcano smoke ring
© Luca CosmaA series of vortex rings that shot out of the Bocca Nuova Crater in quick succession.
Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, is blowing scores of ethereal "vortex rings" every day from a single vent located in one of its most active craters.

On July 23, Boris Behncke, a volcanologist with Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology who is based in Sicily alongside Mount Etna, wrote on Twitter that the volcano had been "releasing dozens of gas rings" from a single vent in Bocca Nuova crater for around a week and shows no signs of stopping.

Vortex rings are made from a mix of smoke, steam and other gases released from volcanic vents at high speeds. They can remain airborne for several minutes before eventually disappearing.

Photographer Luca Cosma, who also runs the tour company Etna Hiker, snapped a series of stunning pictures of the vortex rings on July 23 while escorting a group to the Bocca Nuova crater.

Comment: There are other reasons to believe the surge in activity at Etna may mean an eruption is brewing: Mount Etna collapse 'could trigger tsunami in Ionian sea', slow subsidence of 4cm over 15 months detected

Read More...
Cloud Grey

Rare Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds spotted off UK's Norfolk coast

Helen Burchel
BBC
Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:27 UTC
Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds
© Joy PatrickThe Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are described by the Met Office as "an extremely rare phenomenon"By
A "rare" cloud formation resembling waves in the sky has been described as "some of the best I've seen in the UK" by a weather expert.

A photo of the Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds was captured by Joy Patrick looking out to the sea at Trimingham in Norfolk.

She spotted them from her bedroom window on Sunday evening as the Eastern Daily Press first reported.

Chris Bell, a meteorologist from WeatherQuest, said the cloud photo was an "especially good, large example".

Comment: Amidst the increasingly extreme weather, a variety of other, perhaps less obvious, phenomena are also being documented and that only further serve to demonstrate the shift occurring on our planet, and elsewhere in our solar system: Also check out SOTT radio's:

Read More...
Arrow Down

Large sinkhole opens up in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Punya Bhasin
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Wed, 26 Jul 2023 10:40 UTC
Workers from the Philadelphia Water Department examine the sewage by washing down dyed water to see if there is a hole in the sewage pipe at the cross section of 57th and Media Street in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 26, 2023
© Tyger WilliamsWorkers from the Philadelphia Water Department examine the sewage by washing down dyed water to see if there is a hole in the sewage pipe at the cross section of 57th and Media Street in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 26, 2023
A large sinkhole has closed a street in West Philadelphia while crews are investigating.

The city learned of the cave-in, located near 57th and Media Streets, before 11 a.m. on Wednesday, said Brian Rademaekers, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Water Department. The residential 1400 block of N. 57th Street is closed while an investigation is ongoing, Rademaekers said.

The cause of the cave-in is unknown, Rademaekers said, and no water issues have been reported.

Read More...
Arrow Down

Large sinkhole appears on expressway in Malaysia

Kristy Inus
The Star (Malaysia)
Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:23 UTC
nnnnn
A sinkhole has appeared on the East Coast Expressway (LPT) section leading to Karak, prompting road closure.

Bentong MP Young Syefura Othman shared this latest development on her Facebook account, alerting those who are travelling between Kuala Lumpur and Karak.

"I've received information on the sinkhole ... the road has been closed off (for both directions).

"For those planning to travel to Kuala Lumpur or to Karak, they have to go through Bentong," she said in her Facebook post, reminding everyone to be safe on the road and follow LPT management's directives.

Read More...
Boat

At least 21 dead and 40 rescued after a wind-tossed boat overturns in the Philippines


battlefordsnow.com
Thu, 27 Jul 2023 17:26 UTC
mmmmm
At least 21 people died and 40 others were rescued after a Philippine passenger boat overturned Thursday when it was lashed by strong winds in Laguna Lake southeast of Manila, police said.

Police said rescue operations were continuing, but did not immediately provide figures for the total number of people on board the MBCA Aya when it capsized in Rizal province.

The boat capsized when its passengers moved to one side of the boat in panic when it was battered by fierce winds about 46 meters (about 150 feet) from Kalinawan village in Binangonan town, the coast guard said.

The Rizal provincial police said it immediately launched a search and rescue operation with the help of the coast guard and other local authorities and at that least 40 people were saved but 21 others drowned.


Comment: Related: Typhoon Doksuri (Egay) leaves at least 6 dead and displaces thousands in the northern Philippines

Read More...
Fire

Wildfires kill three people in southern Italy


Al Jazeera
Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:10 UTC
A fire burns in the area of Monte Grifone and the town of Ciaculli near Palermo, Sicily
A fire burns in the area of Monte Grifone and the town of Ciaculli near Palermo, Sicily.
Wildfires have killed at least three elderly people on Italy's southern island of Sicily as a heatwave and severe storms gripped continental Europe.

The charred bodies of a couple in their 70s were found in their burned-out home on the outskirts of the capital, Palermo, according to Italian media reports.

Another woman in her late 80s died in Palermo province after an ambulance was unable to reach her home due to the fires.

In an overnight message on Facebook, Sicilian President Renato Schifani said "scorching heat and unprecedented devastating fires" had turned Tuesday into "one of the most difficult days in decades".

Read More...
Attention

Dead humpback whale found in Westport, Massachusetts

Dan Medeiros
The Herald News
Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:37 UTC
Baby humpback whale at Town Beach in Westport Tuesday.
© COLIN FURZEBaby humpback whale at Town Beach in Westport Tuesday.
A pleasant summer's day at Town Beach became an open-air science class on Tuesday afternoon, as a crew of researchers conducted a necropsy of a young whale that washed up near Gooseberry Island.

Nicholas Vidmar of Westport Animal Control said the dead humpback was spotted over the weekend in the water near Gooseberry Island, then washed ashore at one of the private properties along East Beach Road.

Earlier Tuesday the body was pulled by tugboat to Town Beach, where biologists and researchers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare attempted to determine how it died.

"They think it's no less than a year old," Vidmar said, adding that it was possibly female and about 20 to 25 feet long.

Read More...