It has happened so often this summer, it hardly feels like news anymore. But it is. On July 4th, noctilucent clouds (NLCs) swept across Europe. There was "a large display" in Belgium, and a "stunning, amazing" show in Germany. In Slovakia, the clouds lingered so long that photographer Matej Sekeráš had time to pose his nieces in front of them.

"It was the first time we witnessed these incredible clouds," says Sekeráš. "The electric-blue ripples were visible for nearly an hour."

At the apex of the display, NLCs descended all the way to northern Italy. "I saw them from Sumirago at latitude +45N," reports Paolo Bardelli. "Another emotional night!"

NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. They form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise up to the edge of space (~83 km high) and crystalize around disintegrated meteoroids. When you see one, you're literally seeing a cloud of frosted meteor smoke. The best time to look is during the hours before dawn or just after sunset.

A major fire broke out at a coffin-making factory in Northern Ireland today after the building was reportedly struck by lightning.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said efforts to quell the blaze at O'Doherty and Sons Coffin and Casket manufacturers in Railway Street, Strabane, are likely to continue into Monday.

Around 80 firefighters have been dispatched to tackle the fire, with the public urged to avoid the area.

Four people were found dead on Sunday as a huge fire raged for a second day in Cyprus, razing tracts of forest and gutting dozens of homes in a blaze one official called the worst on record.

The blaze, fanned by strong winds, affected at least 10 communities over an area exceeding 50 square kilometres (19 square miles) in the foothills of the Troodos mountain range, an area of pine forest and densely vegetated shrubland.

"Its one of the most destructive (fires) we have experienced, unfortunately, with victims," Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters from the area. The state would stand by and support all those affected, he said.

Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island's southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.

The government on Sunday opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.

Elsa was located about 175 miles east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm killed one person in St Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.

Five members of a family were killed in Jharkhand's Khunti district on Saturday after they were struck by lightning.

The incident took place on Saturday evening when the family had gone to the field with a bullock. After some time, it started raining heavily and the family took shelter under a tree while returning home.

The deceased have been identified as Manga Munda (60), his wife Jeevanti (54), their son Puna (28), daughter-in-law Jaya (25), and grandson Ayush (1). Arpan, the two-year-old son of Puna and Jaya, was the lone survivor of the incident.

After the incident, the police reached the spot and brought the dead bodies to Karra police station.

In a separate incident, two women, Bhauwa Horo and Dulari Horo, received severe burns after being struck by lightning while they were working in their field in Bhusa Toli. They are undergoing treatment at Karra CHC.

(With inputs by Arvind Singh)

6.0 magnitude earthquake 89 km from Vallenar, Atacama, Chile

UTC time: Sunday, July 04, 2021 01:01 AM

USGS page: M 6.0 - 89 km WSW of Vallenar, Chile

USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Reports from the public: 26 people

10 km depth

The EU came up with the great idea of reducing the environmental impact of farming by cutting crop production, while food production worldwide is getting a significant hit from extreme weather, and the Covid lockdowns... you know, because reducing CO2 and "going green" is more important than food security. Make no mistake, they don't know what they are doing, and they do not have the planet's and your best interest in mind.

In the same nonsensical line, mass media focused on record heat temperatures in the West US during June, while completely ignoring the hundreds of record cold temperatures in the South and Midwest because it does not fit the "official climate change narrative".

At all costs, you must not pay attention to reality because reality does not follow the official narrative! So don't mind about the summer frost that swept across the UK or the below-freezing temperatures in the Scottish islands. And don't pay attention to Greenland's massive ice gains during the melt season, while Iceland reported anomalous snowstorms that trapped tourists in Vík í Mýrdal. And that's not all, New Zealand reported the all-time lowest temperature ever recorded with a -8.8°C at Dunedin International airport. And on the other side of the planet, Argentina reported an incredibly rare snowfall that damaged crops in Cordoba.

And what about those noctilucent clouds that have been seen further and further South, like in Paris and Calgary this month? These clouds are more evidence of the upper layers of the atmosphere getting colder, and more loaded with cosmic dust and volcanic ash. Of course, higher precipitation, and bigger hail are other related phenomena.

But Ok, it was not all about cold and snow, localized areas of the US Northwest and the Canadian West Coast are being beaten by record heat and droughts, which are making it almost impossible to grow seasonal crops.

Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil are also suffering from an anomalous drought that has damaged crops and affected food production, forcing halts in wheat exports. Brazil has lost 27% of its production this year, and 60% of households have food insecurity due to the lack of sufficient access to food.

In general, food prices continue to rise as global food production is reaching a bottleneck mainly caused by extreme weather.

All this and more in our SOTT Earth Changes Summary for June 2021:

Storm Elsa was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on Friday morning, July 2, as it hit Barbados with sustained winds of 74 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Barbados, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

A landslide in the Jawang Khola section of the Prithvi Highway of Rorang Rural Municipality-10 of Dhading buried five vehicles, killing two people on Saturday morning. Six others were injured in the incident.

Birbal Praja, approximately 18, traveling in an ill-fated truck ( Na 8 Kha 4540) was killed when the truck was buried by the landslide, according to DSP Jageshwar Bhandari of District Police Office of Dhading. "Likewise, Soni Devi - an Indian national -- who was travelling in a Container (Na 7 Kha 320), was also killed in the landslide," DSP Bhandari added.

Similarly, Hari Bahadur Praja, 40, of Rapti Municipality-6 and Sudeep Praja of Chitwan were injured when the truck ( Na 8 Kha 4540) in which they were traveling was also buried by the landslide. They are currently undergoing treatment at Chitwan.

Also, Rakesh Kumar, 55, Suvham Kumar, 7, Sandesh Kumar, 27 and Raja Kumar 25 were injured when a container truck (Na 7 Kha 320) was buried in the incident. They are Indian nationals. They are currently undergoing treatment at Gandaki Hospital in Pokhara, according to the police.

The New Brunswick sighting of an eagle native to eastern Russia is generating excitement across North America's bird-watching community.

Forest Condo, a fisheries ranger with the Listuguj Mi'kmaq First Nation, was on the Restigouche River as part of his job on Monday evening, when he came across a steller's sea eagle perched in a tree on Gillis Island.

Speaking to birder Alain Clavette, Condo said he at first thought the bird might have been one of the dozens of bald eagles that regularly prey on sea bass in the area, but a closer look revealed its noticeably large, bright yellow beak and unique white patches on its wings.

"I was dumbfounded — like, wow, what is this?" Condo said.

"So I Googled it and that's what came up — the steller's eagle — and I was like, really, really surprised. What's that doing in our area? A bird that should have been in Russia."