Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Tornado Season, Watches, and Warnings

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© The University of OklahomaTornado Incidence Map
In the United States, "tornado season" generally is in the spring when tornadoes are more prevalent from April through July, with May and June being the peak months. But like thunderstorms, tornadoes can form any time of the year.

The area in which tornadoes are most prevalent is known as "tornado alley," typically defined the region from Texas north to Nebraska. But, of course, tornadoes can and do occur in every state in the country.

For accurate and timely storm updates in your area, watch The Weather Channel, check for severe weather alerts, listen to NOAA Weather Radio, or get free severe weather alerts on your phone and in your email from The Weather Channel.

Bizarro Earth

India: 30 Cattle Deaths Spark Panic in Velur, Mudhur

The mysterious death of more than 30 heads of cattle in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in Arakkonam taluk in the last week has sparked panic among farmers in the locality. Though an anthrax attack rumoured to have caused the death of the animals in the two panchayats, officials attached to the department of animal husbandry have denied this.

Milch animals, including goats and cows, in Velur, Velurpettai, Mudhur and its hamlets have been dying in quick succession over the last 10-15 days. The total deaths livestock due to the mysterious disease has crossed 30, according to the villagers. Claiming that 24 cows and 11 goats had died in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in the last one-and-a-half weeks, they said 16 cows had died in Veeranarayanapuram village recently.

The animals had stopped consuming fodder and their stomachs had started to bloat two days before the death. They did not move and were found frothing at the mouth just hours before the death, said the villagers. The sudden death of the animals has left farmers, who depend on them for their livelihood, worried. With the cause of death still remaining a mystery, the farmers are clueless on how to protect their animals.

Radar

Naked Bodies and a New Messiah: Green Groups Try to Sex Up Climate Change

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© Deutsche Presse-Agentur
The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps going up and up, but public interest in climate change is sinking. Environmentalists are trying to come up with new ways to make the issue sexy. But shock tactics can backfire all too easily.

Climate change used to make headlines. But these days the issue appears to have largely fallen off the radar.

World leaders recently negotiated a new climate agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, but public interest in the issue was limited. It was a marked contrast to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, which had been declared of historic importance in the runup to the meeting, only to then fail spectacularly. The theft of e-mails from the University of East Anglia had badly damaged the image of climate research shortly before the summit.

Question

A Lot of Birds and Fish Found Dead in Arkansas; 5 Other Animal Die-Offs

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© Unknown
First, more than 1,000 dead birds fell out of the sky in Arkansas. Then, an estimated 100,000 fish washed up dead on the shore of the Arkansas River.

We don't know what exactly caused the bird and fish die-offs. But we do know that usually, these seemingly mysterious animal die-offs can be explained after science, zoology and environmental experts take a closer look.

Surge Desk found five other examples of similar die-offs.
  1. The disappearance of the honeybee.

    When an estimated 20 percent to 40 percent of the U.S. honeybee colonies began disappearing in 2006, environmentalists were alarmed. After all, the honeybee is a pivotal part of the North American ecosystem, pollinating many of our agricultural products.

    Status: Solved -- maybe.
    In late 2010, a team of military scientists and bee experts announced that they had identified the possible culprit behind the bee disappearance: a fungus combining with a virus. But not everybody accepts this explanation. Other proposed causes include pesticides, climate change, weakened immune systems and malnutrition.

Hourglass

Inside a flooded Australian home

Military aircraft are flying supplies into the Australian city of Rockhampton, where rising flood waters have cut off all but one access route.

Waters have been gradually submerging parts of the city.

More than 20 towns in Queensland have been cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany, with more than 200,000 people affected.

Authorities have now confirmed three deaths caused by flood waters in the past few days.

Alex Finlayson is an English teacher from Emerald in Queensland. He has finally been allowed to return to his flood-damaged home.


Fish

Penguins Starve to Death on New Zealand Beaches as La Nina Affects Nation

Penguin
© Unknown

Large numbers of penguins and other seabirds are dying of starvation on New Zealand beaches because of a La Nina climate pattern affecting the nation this year, the government said.

Dead birds have started washing up on the nation's North Island after calmer seas made it harder for them to find food, Department of Conservation vet Kate McInnes said in a statement. There could be thousands of deaths over the summer due to the weather event, the statement said.

The bird deaths are the latest natural shocks in New Zealand to be blamed on environmental factors. Scientists said that a bacterial disease that started spreading through kiwifruit orchards in November was likely awakened by weather conditions. Earlier this month, the government said that Pacific oysters in the North Island were being killed by a herpes virus triggered by warmer sea temperatures.

Black Cat

Thousands of Birds fall from the sky in South America

Could it be related to 7.0 in Argentina?


Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 4.6 - Utah

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, January 03, 2011 at 12:06:36 UTC

Monday, January 03, 2011 at 05:06:36 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.247°N, 112.340°W

Depth:
5.4 km (3.4 miles)

Region:
Utah

Distances:
10 km (6 miles) NW (325°) from Circleville, UT

10 km (6 miles) W (277°) from Junction, UT

14 km (9 miles) WNW (288°) from Kingston, UT

61 km (38 miles) ESE (105°) from Milford, UT

203 km (126 miles) ENE (69°) from Caliente, NV

281 km (175 miles) S (188°) from Salt Lake City, UT

Bizarro Earth

Colored snow falls in Russia's Samara

Snowfall
© Sergei Silkin
Grey and beige colored snow fell in several areas of the Russia's southeastern city of Samara on the New Year's eve, a spokesman for the local branch of the Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday.

Experts believe that the anomaly was caused by sandstorm from Kazakhstan as the colored snow contained mixture of clay and sand. The snow does not threaten the health of the residents of Samara, the spokesman said.

Black Cat

Situation Update More than 5000 birds fall dead from Sky in Arkansas 12-31-2010 New Years Eve

Situation Update No. 2


Arkansas game officials hope testing scheduled to begin Monday will solve the mystery of why up to 5,000 birds fell from the sky just before midnight New Year's Eve. The birds -- most of which were dead -- were red-winged blackbirds and starlings, and they were found within a one-mile area of Beebe, about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said. Birds fell over about a one-mile area, the commission said in a statement. As of Saturday, between 4,000 and 5,000 birds had been found dead, said Keith Stephens with the commission. "Shortly after I arrived, there were still birds falling from the sky," said commission wildlife officer Robby King in the statement. He said he collected about 65 dead birds. The commission said it flew over the area to gauge the scope of the event, and no birds were found outside of the initial one-mile area. Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday.

"It's important to understand that a sick bird can't fly. So whatever happened to these birds happened very quickly," Rowe told CNN Radio on Sunday. "Something must have caused these birds to flush out of the trees at night, where they're normally just roosting and staying in the treetops ... and then something got them out of the air and caused their death and then they fell to earth," Rowe added. Officials also speculated that fireworks shot by New Year's revelers in the area might have caused severe stress in the birds. Rowe said Sunday there was evidence that large fireworks may have played a role. "Initial examinations of a few of the dead birds showed trauma. Whether or not this trauma was from the force of hitting the ground when they fell or from something that contacted them in the air, we don't know," Rowe said. The dead birds will be sent for testing to labs at the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission and the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin. The necropsies will begin Monday, Stephens said, and the findings should be available sometime this week. The city of Beebe has hired U.S. Environmental Services to begin the cleanup and dispose of the dead birds, the commission said. The firm's workers will go door-to-door and pick up birds still in yards and on rooftops.