Earth ChangesS


Umbrella

US: Storm Expected to Bring Snow and Rain To San Diego

A cold storm was expected to hit San Diego County late Thursday, bringing a chance of snow to the mountains and showers everywhere else, forecasters said.

According to the National Weather Service, a cold low pressure system moving southward along the west coast will bring much cooler weather today through Saturday.

"Snow levels could lower to near 4,000 feet for late Friday through early Saturday," the agency advised.

The Weather Service also advised that there was a slight chance of showers today but a greater chance of rain late Friday through early Saturday, along with a slight chance of thunderstorms as the coldest mid-level air moves across Southern California.

Rainfall totals from the storm were expected to be from up to a half-inch at the coast to about an inch on coastal mountains slopes.

Phoenix

Japanese volcano blows its stack

Geologists monitor latest eruptions at Sakurajima, which is sending large amounts of ash into the air

Japan's Sakurajima volcano, which has been regularly recorded blowing its stack since the 10th century, is at it again.

The volcano, located in the south of the country near the city of Kagoshima, is perhaps most famous for a 1914 eruption, which went into the record books as the most powerful of any in 20th century Japan.

The latest flare-up recently led the nation's meteorological agency to issue an ash warning for the Sakurajima volcano, now considered to be "very dangerous." But given what Japan has gone through these last several weeks, this is probably the least of the nation's worries just about now.

Bizarro Earth

Sea Turtle Deaths Mount in the Gulf

Sea turtles continue to wash ashore along the Gulf, forcing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to scramble and figure out what is causing the spike. Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Huffington Post were first to publish blogs about the sea turtle deaths in Mississippi.

Since then, the national media picked up the story. Last Friday, NMFS released a statement with some details about its investigation:
In the past few weeks, we've seen an increase in turtle strandings in the northern Gulf, primarily in Mississippi. The spring time is the typical time when turtle strandings in this region begin to increase, but the sharp increases in recent days are of concern to us....NOAA Fisheries is in contact with the states of MS and LA regarding current trawl and other fishery activity that can result in turtle by catch and mortality. In addition, tests will be done for biotoxins, such as those from harmful algae blooms, which are common in the Gulf. ...All causes of death, including petroleum, will be investigated when possible based on decomposition. During a necropsy, the full GI tract is examined for product or evidence of oil ingestion. Additionally, samples are taken for PAH analysis. In addition, all turtles are being carefully examined for signs of external oiling.

Fish

Iowa: Hundreds of dead fish line cove's banks

Image
Officials aren’t sure what caused this large fish kill along the Des Moines River and did not appear to be aware of it when contacted Wednesday.

Ottumwa - Why are there hundreds of dead fish lining the banks of a cove along the Des Moines River near Eddyville?

Local residents don't have that answer, but they did report the finned casualties to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. One of them, Stephenie Dobson, reported the oddity to the Courier and sent along a photo on Facebook.

David Dobson of Eddyville said he likes to fish the area that's south of Hardfish Landing and west of the railroad trestle, both on the eastern side of the river.

Bizarro Earth

Dead Dolphins Spotted With Oil Washing up on Louisiana Shores

dolphin
Dead dolphins spotted with oil have been washing up in eastern Louisiana.(Courtesy of Gulf Coast Exploreum )

New Orleans - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that eight months after the Deepwater Horizon oil well was capped, dolphins are washing ashore in east Louisiana with some oil from that spilled on their bodies.

Spokeswoman Kim Amendola says the dolphins had spots of weathered oil.

Blair Mase - NOAA's Gulf Coast stranding coordinator - emphasizes there's no way yet to know why the dolphins died. She says the most recent dolphin bearing BP oil was found two weeks ago.

Cloud Lightning

US: Forecast holds for busy storm season

The Colorado State University hurricane prognostication team has slightly lowered its prediction for this season.

On Wednesday, William Gray and Phil Klotzbach dropped from 17 to 16 the number of named storms - of tropical storm strength or higher - they expect will form.

The team stuck to its December forecast that nine of those would become hurricanes and five would grow to major hurricanes, of at least Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with top sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

In 2010, the team's June prediction was 18 tropical storms, 10 hurricanes and five major storms. It was close: There were 19, 12 and five. The 1950-2000 average is 9.6, 5.9 and 2.3.

The team, which is in its 28th year of making predictions, never says how many or where storms will strike along the United States' 3,700-mile coast from Maine to Mexico.

But its new report gave a 48 percent chance - the norm is 31 percent - that a major storm will hit the East Coast, including peninsular Florida.

Cloud Lightning

Montana, US: Winter storm warning issued for Billings region

The National Weather Service in Billings has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow from noon Thursday to 3 p.m. on Friday.

Rain and snow showers Thursday morning are expected to become more widespread and change to snow by this afternoon. Snow, which will be heavy at times, will continue overnight and early Friday, then decrease Friday afternoon.

Driving conditions could become difficult along Interstate 90 and Highway 89, the weather service said. Heavy wet snow also may cause falling power lines and endanger young livestock.

A winter storm warning means a significant amount of snow is expected or occurring. Strong winds also are possible.

The high temperature for Billings will be about 44 degrees Thursday with a low of 29 degrees. Friday's high is forecast to be 37 degrees while the low will be about 27 degrees.

Arrow Down

La Nina weakening; below-average rain seen for US South

The La Nina weather anomaly blamed for the devastating floods in Australia will keep weakening in the coming months, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center predicted Thursday.

In a monthly report, the agency said a majority of weather computer models showed a return to neutral conditions by May-June 2011, while forecasts for the late summer and beyond remained highly uncertain.

CPC also said there was an enhanced chance for below-average rain across much of the Southern United States, while above-average precipitation was favored for the northern Plains.

CPC is an office of the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Cloud Lightning

Strong Wind Gusts and Heavy Rains Shower Western Cuba

Storms associated to a weak cold front caused strong winds and heavy rains in the western region of Cuba particularly in the north coast.

Gusts higher than 100 Km/H were reported in different sites, according to Jose Ramon Palacios, Shift Supervisor at the Weather Forecast Center of the Cuban Institute of Meteorology (INSMET).

Palacios told Juventud Rebelde the phenomenon was produced by a line of thunder storms associated to a weak cold front.

The storms lashed the north coast along the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Mayabeque, Artemisa and Havana, said the specialist.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: New Earthquake Brings Tsunami Warning

A powerful earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan shook a large area late Thursday. The jolt appeared to be an aftershock from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan nearly four weeks ago.

The earthquake generated a tsunami warning, and Japan's NHK television immediately warned residents in the area to move to higher ground, but there were no immediate reports of major disruptions in the ocean.

The earthquake and tsunami alert raised fears about possible effects at the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor, which has been leaking radio since the original earthquake.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said it had no reports of any new damage or casualties near the reactor site caused by Thursday's earthquake, which hit shortly before midnight (at 1432 UTC). The aftershock was initially recorded at magnitude 7.4, but the U.S. Geological Survey later downgraded the jolt to magnitude 7.1 - still a powerful earthquake overall, but far less dangerous than the 9.0-magnitude shock on March 11.

Speaking at a news conference, a TEPCO official said water-pumping operations were continuing to keep the nuclear plant's fuel rods from overheating to a dangerous degree. Workers at the plant have been struggling to bring the nuclear reactors under control for the past three weeks.