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US: Dangerous 10-Foot Megaweed Invades New York

Natalie Wolchover
Live Science
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:20 UTC
Hogweed
© New York Department of Environmental Conservation
Giant Hogweed can grow up to 20 feet tall.
Giant hogweed might sound like something out of Harry Potter, but it's straight out of New York. This noxious weed has spread across the state, threatening humans with sap that causes severe burns, blistering, permanent scarring and even blindness.

The outbreak has grown so bad that the N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a giant hogweed warning and set up a hotline.

Giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus region of Eurasia, and was brought to the United States in the early 1900s. The gargantuan plant blooms bunches of tiny white flowers the size of umbrellas, which made it a showpiece in ornamental gardens, including one in Rochester, N.Y. In the century since it was planted there, it has spread across the state, with 1,004 confirmed sightings so far this blooming season.

In the words of Charles O'Neill, coordinator of the Cornell Invasive Species Program, hogweed is like "Queen Anne's lace with an attitude." Specimens of the megaflora grow "more than 10 feet tall with two-inch thick stems, flowers two or more feet across and leaf clusters as wide as you can stretch your arms," O'Neill explains in the New York Sea Grant's official giant hogweed fact sheet.
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Cloud Lightning

US; Shoshone floods campgrounds while storms damage radio towers

Martin Kidston
Billings Gazette.
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:54 UTC
Image
© Martin Kidston/Gazette Staff
Portions of Wapiti Campground and others in the North Fork drainage west of Cody remain closed due to flooding of the Shoshone River.

Wapiti, Wyoming - High winds and lightning knocked out two U.S. Forest Service communication towers and flooding along the Shoshone River prompted the agency to close several campgrounds over the weekend.

Wapiti District Ranger Terry Root of the Shoshone National Forest said the campground closures will last another week, as the Shoshone River continues to flood low-lying areas within the drainage.

"We still have numerous camping sites in Wapiti Campground closed because the sites flood at night," said Root. "We had to close Big Game Campground over the weekend, too. The water is flowing through our horse pasture and into the campground."
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Cloud Lightning

US: Nebraska crews continue flood fight in lakeside village, keep watch for levee trouble

Grant Schulte
Associated Press
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:43 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Union, Nebraska - Crews along the Missouri River kept a cautious eye on Nebraska's man-made flood barriers Tuesday, with a focus on a lakeside community 25 miles south of Omaha where a levee recently broke.

Officials are most concerned about a levee break at Lake Waconda about 25 miles south of Omaha, said Mike Wight, an acting spokesman for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. Wight said crews are monitoring that levee and others for water seepage, boils, or any other structural trouble signs.

Wight said officials were urging the public not to walk on levees anywhere along the river, in case they fell or the flood barrier suddenly ruptured. Levee workers have seen only a scattering of onlookers climbing on top, he said.
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Radar

Ballarat's extinct volcanoes could pose risk, expert says

Tom McIlroy
Courier
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:17 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Our extinct volcanoes, including Mt Buninyong, suggest similar volcanoes could form in the area.
The Ballarat region could be at risk from new volcanoes forming as Victoria remains overdue for a volcanic eruption, a University of Melbourne geologist has warned.

Associate Professor Bernie Joyce said yesterday that most of Australia was unprepared for a volcanic eruption which could come without much warning.

Professor Joyce said extinct volcanoes, including Mt Warrenheip and Mt Buninyong, suggested similar volcanoes could form in the area.

"Because the volcanoes around the Ballarat area are not as young as others across western Victoria and Mt Gambier, you could expect a new volcano to come up in a cluster at some point in the future," he said.
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Binoculars

Iceland volcano may erupt soon, scientists say

Brad Lendon
Cable News Network
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:59 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Getty
Iceland's Hekla volcano, pictured in 2006, has erupted four times since 1970. The last eruption was in February 2000.
An eruption of Hekla, one of Iceland's most famous volcanoes, may be imminent, scientists in the island nation say.

Pall Einarsson, a geophysics professor at the University of Iceland, told Iceland Review that sensors around the volcano have shown unusual movements in the past few days.

While those sensors are new and the data they provide cannot be seen as conclusive proof that an eruption is coming, Einarsson told Agence-France Presse that "the volcano is ready to erupt."

"The mountain has been slowly expanding in the last few years because of magma buildup," AFP quotes Einarsson as saying.
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People

Rains to cut Ukraine wheat harvest, USDA says

Caroline Henshaw
Dow Jones Newswires
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:49 UTC
Image
© Unknown
London--Ukraine could lose up to 30% of its grain in some regions as heavy rain hammers crops just as the harvest gets underway, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wednesday.

A powerful cyclone--abnormal for this time of year--has hit the center of the country, with some parts receiving 150 millimeters of rain in four days, compared to a monthly average of 80 millimeters, according to Hydrometcenter.

Some industry analysts project a 10% decline and some say the losses may reach 20%-30% in the affected regions if heavy rains continue for another week, as forecasters expect, said the USDA.

"Rains in Ukraine that lasted for over a week in the last part of June will definitely have a negative impact on the production of major winter crops, including wheat and barley," it said in the report.
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Radar

7.9 quake near New Zealand


Reuters/Associated Press
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:13 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near the Kermadec Islands in the South Pacific Ocean on Thursday, triggering a tsunami alert for New Zealand and Tonga, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The quake struck at 7:03 a.m. Its epicenter was 131 miles east of Raoul Island, part of the Kermadec archipelago, and was only 30 miles deep, the USGS said.

The Kermadec Islands are a remote outpost that are generally uninhabited aside from a weather station and a hostel for visiting New Zealand scientists.

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Center said that it did not yet know whether an actual tsunami had developed but said that if it had, it would hit East Cape in New Zealand within two hours and Auckland within three hours.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Apocalyptic Time-Lapse Video of Massive Phoenix Dust Storm

Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:16 UTC

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

This isn't space and astronomy-related, but this video of the massive dust storm that swept through the Phoenix area yesterday is just amazing, if not apocalyptic! Mike Olbinski, a photographer from the area shot this timelapse, and on his website says, "There are really not many words to describe this dust storm, or what we call it here (and they also do in places like the Sahara Desert)...a haboob. This was a haboob of a lifetime. I've lived in Phoenix for my entire 35 years of existence and have never seen anything like this before. It was incredible."

Olbinski stood on the top of a 4-story parking garage and said people everywhere were snapping photos and video, "like madmen."

Olbinski says he wishes he could have shot five more seconds of video, but the dust was so thick, daytime turned into night instantaneously. He also has an amazing black & white photo of the event posted on his website.
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Bell

Attack of the jellyfish: Sea creatures shut down ANOTHER power station amid claims population surge is due to climate change


Dailymail.co.uk
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:43 UTC
Another power station was shut down by jellyfish today amid claims that climate change is causing a population surge among the species.

A huge swarm clogged up the Orot Rabin plant in Hadera, Israel, a day after the Torness nuclear facility in Scotland was closed in a similar incident.

Hadera ran into trouble when jellyfish blocked its seawater supply, which it uses for cooling purposes, forcing officials to use diggers to remove them.

Image
© Agency Presse France/Getty
Nuisance: A digger drops jellyfish cleared from the power station in Hadera, Israel.
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Alarm Clock

South Korea: Mysterious Tremor Sends Mall Shoppers Scurrying


The Chosun Ilbo
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Some 500 tenants and shoppers fled to safety on Monday morning when the TechnoMart shopping mall in Seoul began to tremble for unknown reasons. The Gwangjin District office ordered all tenants to stay away for three days and began a precision safety check. The mall accommodates about 1,200 small electronic appliance shops, a large shopping center, a multiplex cinema, and restaurants.

Tremors

"The building rocked up and down right after 10 o'clock in the morning and I felt dizzy, so I rushed to the elevator with about 60 colleagues," said a 35-year-old woman who gave her surname as Lee and works on the 20th floor. The water in plastic bottles and leaves of potted plants shook visibly, she added.

A staffer of Prime Center, the property firm managing the mall, said, "Mild tremors occurred, but we regard them as temporary since there were no signs of further tremors."

The 39-story building complex was built based on an anti-earthquake design so that strong winds can shake the building from side to side.

According to tenants, tremors were felt mainly on floors 18 to 39. But some people on the seventh and ninth floors also said they felt tremors. "I thought it was an earthquake," said an office worker on the 22nd floor who gave his surname as Choi. "At the time, people who were walking fast or talking on the phone didn't feel the tremor, but nearly everyone who was sitting down did."
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