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Igloo

Bad weather strands thousands near Everest


Reuters
Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:17 UTC
Image
© Narendra Shrestha / EPA file
The autumn season, from September to November, is popular among Western trekkers in Nepal. Thousands of climbers visit the Solukhumbu region, home to Mount Everest, above, every year.
Helicopter rides back from Mount Everest after a week on the slopes of the world's tallest mountain might sound like a trekker's delight, but for the tourists trapped in the remote region of Nepal, the extended stay was not on the itinerary.

Around 2,000 foreign tourists and their porters have spent the past five days stuck in a tiny village 9,186 feet up the slopes of a hill near Everest due to bad weather, with Nepali army helicopters set to begin flying the stranded sightseers to safety on Friday.

They have been trapped in Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest in east Nepal, after thick cloud and blustering winds forced airlines to cancel their flights to and from the remote region, officials said on Friday.

Tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers visit the Solukhumbu region in east Nepal, home to Mount Everest, every year.

Many start their trek from windswept Lukla village where a small airstrip is carved into the rugged mountainside.
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Bizarro Earth

7.5-magnitude quake? Fault found in Rockies

Laura Zuckerman
MSNBC / Rueters
Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:01 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Scientists have mapped a previously unknown and active seismic fault in the northern Rockies capable of unleashing an earthquake with a magnitude as high as 7.5.

The newly discovered fault in central Idaho does not lie in a densely populated area.

But Glenn Thackray, chairman of Idaho State University's geosciences department, said the 40-mile-long fracture in the Earth's crust at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains near the tiny mountain town of Stanley is cause for some concern.

"There's a chance in the next few decades there will be an earthquake on this fault, and if it does happen it will be a rather large earthquake," he said.

A 7.5 tremor is considered a major earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 3.3 Shakes Eastern Nebraska


Associated Press
Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:01 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A moderate earthquake centered near Schuyler rattled eastern Nebraska on Thursday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake occurred at 7:02 a.m. CST about three miles underground and registered a preliminary magnitude of 3.3, the USGS said.

Platte County emergency services director Tim Hofbauer and the sheriff's office said there were no reports of injuries or damage.

Lennie Hiltner, Schuyler police chief, said he had stopped by a car dealership when he heard a loud noise but didn't feel anything shake. He and others at Reinecke Motor Co. quickly inspected the building but found no damage.

Several people called the police department to report hearing the noise.
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Info

Locust plague encroaches on Melbourne


Australian Associated Press
Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:08 UTC
Australia's worst locust plague in 70 years has marched into metropolitan Melbourne as federal and state authorities met to consider their plan of attack.

Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig today met with ministers and officials from NSW, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland to discuss the response to the swarms.

Senator Ludwig said the response so far had been "extremely efficient", but with the pests taking to the wing the time had come to discuss realistic approaches to controlling the swarms.

There had been an increase in reports of fledgling or young adult locusts, with swarms even spotted in Melbourne, he said.

"There has been a sudden influx of locusts into parts of the Melbourne metropolitan area," Senator Ludwig said in a statement.
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Question

African Pelicans migrate in wrong direction and end up in Siberia.

northsunm32
All Voices
Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:23 UTC
Lost Pelicans
© Allvoices
Zoo officials holding pink pelicans at an aviary in Barnaul in the Altai region. The birds were migrating to Africa.

A small flock of African pink pelicans apparently bamboozled by the warm weather in Siberia flew north from Kazakhstan instead of south as any properly functioning pelican GPS system should have told them. Vladimir Pyagin from the village of Suslovo said:"I left home early in the morning and what a sight!" "When I got closer, I immediately realized they were pelicans. ... Everybody in the village started trying to catch them to save the exhausted birds from the dogs""

Residents captured four of the exotic pelicans. They were moved to a zoo in the regional capital Barnaul. The other three birds in the flock were able to fly off.

Members of the Bird Conservation Union said the pelicans were flying back to their native Africa from Kazakhstan but obviously lost their way. The head of the Union said: "This is a unique case. Some reports suggest pelicans last flew here over 100 years ago,"
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Bizarro Earth

Mysterious crack still begs answers

Cameron Clark
Fox 11
Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:56 UTC
Nearly 200 yards long, 5 feet deep in parts


Menominee Township, Michigan - Nestled just beyond the tree line of Eileen Heider's 53 acres, is Menominee County's newest tourist attraction.

"It's amazing, I want to get back there and check the rest of it out," said Kevin Clermont of Wallace, Michigan, who stopped on his way home from work to sightsee.

Heider and neighbors heard an explosion-like sound Monday morning. Heider found the nearly 200-yard-long crevice, which measures five-feet deep in parts, Tuesday.

"I was sitting in my recliner and the recliner started to vibrate," said Heider. "And it's not electric."
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Landslide Cuts Off Cornwall as Storms Hit Southwest

Andy Bloxham
The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 17 Nov 2010 03:41 UTC
Image
© Suzanne Chapman/Apex
Flooding on Station Road in St Blazey, Cornwall
The main train line into Cornwall has been blocked by a landslide, cutting off the county from the rest of Britain, as storms bring flooding and disruption to large parts of the south west.

Drivers were washed into Portloe harbour near Truro while still in their cars and three feet of standing water trapped hundreds of people in their homes in many places.

Traffic on the main routes through mid-Cornwall backed up for several miles, causing long delays to commuters.

The landslip took place at around 6.30am at Lostwithiel and there are currently no trains in or out of the county.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported this morning despite the severity of the weather.

Gales have contributed to the problems as trees have been brought down and blocked roads including the A390 at Gunnislake.

Many schools have been closed.

Lostwithiel, Bodmin, St Austell, Par, Luxulyan and St Blazey have been flooded.
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Thai Flood Death Toll Climbs to 227


PressTV
Wed, 17 Nov 2010 03:30 UTC
Image
© PressTV
A flooded house affected in the recent Thai floods
Thailand's flood death toll has risen to 227 with the government helping flood victims obtain compensation in the affected provinces.

Wiboon Sanguanpong, the director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, confirmed on Tuesday that 227 people were killed in the recent flooding, reported China's Xinhua news agency. Heavy floods, caused by a combination of heavy rainfall and water released from overloaded reservoirs, have hit Thailand since October 10, especially in the country's northeast and the south.

The families of the flood victims will receive additional financial aid under state regulations, a government official said.

Overall, 51 provinces have been impacted by the flooding, affecting more than 8.6 million people. The floods in 35 provinces have eased and restoration work has begun, while floodwaters remain in 16 provinces with 1.4 million people being affected.
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Cloud Lightning

Trees Crash Down, Cut Power In Windstorm


KiroTV.com
Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:24 UTC
Image
© KiroTV.com
Shipping containers at the Port of Tacoma
Power crews worked to restore service after 150,000 customers were without power after a windstorm hit Western Washington hard.

Puget Sound Energy started out with about 90,000 outages across all of the counties it services for except Kittitas County. Olympia was hit especially hard. By noon, 76,000 were still without power. The utility said some in Thurston County may not have service restored until Thursday.

Chris Gleason with Tacoma Power said they started out with 54,000 outages but are down to 6,000 customers without power as crews work to restore service.

Jonathan White said 5,600 customers of Peninsula Light Company in Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula were in darkness, but by noon they were down to 3,700. White said trees were the main culprit for the outages.
      Read More...
Igloo

Climate change means colder winters: study


Toronto Star
Tue, 16 Nov 2010 10:37 UTC
snow shoveling
© Andy King - Associated Press
Climate change could lead to colder winters in northern regions, according to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on Tuesday.

Vladimir Petoukhov, lead author of the study, said a shrinking of sea ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional warming of lower air levels and may lead to anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents.

"These anomalies could triple the probability of cold winter extremes in Europe and northern Asia," he said. "Recent severe winters like last year's or the one of 2005/06 do not conflict with the global warming picture but rather supplement it."

Petoukhov, whose study is entitled "A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents," said in a statement a warming of the air over the Barents-Kara Sea appeared to bring cold winter winds to Europe.
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