Earth ChangesS


Attention

Massive 52-foot fin whale washes up on beach in San Diego, California

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A dead 52-foot fin whale washed up on Pacific Beach in San Diego Sunday.

The whale came ashore sometime before 9:30 a.m. local time, NBC San Diego reported, off of Santa Rita Place near the border of Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.

The dead whale was bleeding from its side, but it appeared to be from birds pecking at it rather than a major injury, Michael Milstein, a public affairs officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told NBC San Diego.

Lifeguards made an unsuccessful attempt this morning to tow the massive mammal back out to sea by tying its tail to a small boat, NBC San Diego reported.


Cloud Precipitation

Makkah streets flooded as heavy rains lash region of Saudi Arabia

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Heavy rains and thunderstorms hit areas of Saudi Arabia on Sunday, according to the country's National Centre of Meteorology.

Videos surfaced online showing streets in Makkah flooded as heavy rains lashed the region. The NCM has issued a yellow alert in several parts of the country.

Rains, thunderstorms and dust storms are expected to continue until Wednesday, as per the country's weather authority.

Several videos from Arab Storms show cars trying to get past flooded streets with water reaching window level near some parked vehicles.


Attention

Bear attacks in Japan are at a record high - 212 people attacked, 6 killed in 2023

Seishi Sato attacked by a bear while picking mushrooms, in Iwaizumi, Iwate prefecture.
© Seishi SatoSeishi Sato attacked by a bear while picking mushrooms, in Iwaizumi, Iwate prefecture.
Seishi Sato had an ominous feeling when he saw something rustling in a bush during a recent stroll in a forest in northern Japan.

Before he knew it, two Asiatic bears had sprung from the shrub, one charging at him as he frantically tried to fend it off while fearing for his life.

"When I saw them, I was so close and I thought I was in deep trouble," the 57-year-old from Iwate prefecture, in northeast Japan, told CNN.

He survived the attack — but not without plenty of scratches and puncture wounds on his arm and thigh.

Sato is among at least 212 people who survived what has been a record year for bear attacks in Japan, according to the Ministry of Environment. Six people have died.

Doberman

Dogs attack, kill 50-year-old Greek woman

dog attack
A 50-year-old Greek woman has died after she was attacked by three shepherd dogs in her garden in the village of Neochorouda, Greece, Sky News reports Monday.

According to police sources, the dogs escaped through a hole in their owner's fence about 80 metres away and ran to the woman's garden where she was working.

A man, who police said was deaf-mute, was helping the woman with the gardening but was far from her at the moment of the attack and could not hear her screams, the report stated.

The woman was severely mauled and bleeding heavily and was confirmed dead at the scene after the arrival of emergency workers with an ambulance.

Tornado1

Best of the Web: Tornado causes serious damage in Leitrim Village, Ireland


Comment: A tornado... in Ireland... in winter! We're definitely in a 'new climate normal'...


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Serious damage was caused property and cars in Leitrim Village this lunch time when a tornado struck.
A freak weather event this lunch time has caused serious damage to property and cars in Leitrim Village.

With Storm Fergus descending on the country this afternoon, there was serious thunder and lightning witnessed at about 12.30pm in the Carrick-on-Shannon area.

Reports then came in of a tornado ripping through Leitrim Village at about 12.40pm, causing damage to properties, knocking trees and walls as well as damaging cars.


Fire

Red alert declared as wildfires threaten populated areas in Limache and Villa Alemana, Chile

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The National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response (Senapred) has declared a red alert for the Marga Marga Province due to the wildfires that have affected Villa Alemana and Limache. At least 370 hectares have been affected by the fires in both municipalities of the Valparaíso Region.

The fire is close to populated sectors and has affected an area of at least 70 hectares in Limache, prompting the deployment of a technician, nine brigades, two helicopters, four planes, and a tanker truck from Conaf, in addition to personnel from the Limache Fire Department and the municipality.


Fire

Sakurajima volcano erupts in Japan on December 10

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Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Tokyo (VAAC) issued the following report:

FVFE01 at 01:36 UTC, 10/12/23 from RJTD
VA ADVISORY
DTG: 20231210/0136Z
VAAC: TOKYO
VOLCANO: SAKURAJIMA [AIRA CALDERA] 282080
PSN: N3136 E13039
AREA: JAPAN
SUMMIT ELEV: 1117M


Cloud Lightning

Flashback History of life shaped by great catastrophes

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Tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis: Mother Nature seems to have it in for our world these days.

In a way, though, we live in a relatively peaceful time. While it's no comfort to those hurting or grieving now, Earth saw far greater catastrophes in its long and troubled past.

The planet has been frozen, roasted, smothered, battered, shaken, half-drowned. Entire species have been obliterated; so far, fortunately, that doesn't include Homo sapiens, but we've had a close call.

And these are all natural calamities, not those caused by humans, such as war, terrorism or the Holocaust.

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Flashback Best of the Web: Comets may have caused Earth's great empires to fall

Triumph Death Pieter Bruegel Elder
'The Triumph of Death', by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Recent scientific discoveries are shedding new light on why great empires such as Egypt, Babylon and Rome fell apart, giving way to the periodic "dark ages'' that punctuate human history.

At least five times during the last 6,000 years, major environmental calamities undermined civilizations around the world. Some researchers say these disasters appear to be linked to collisions with comets or fragments of comets such as the one that broke apart and smashed spectacularly into Jupiter five years ago.

The impacts, yielding many megatons of explosive energy, produced vast clouds of smoke and dust that circled the globe for years, dimming the sun, driving down temperatures and sowing hunger, disease and death.

The last such global crisis occurred between A.D. 530 and 540 - at the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe - when Earth was pummeled by a swarm of cosmic debris.

Snowflake Cold

Best of the Web: Coldest start to winter in decades for Russia: Parts of Siberia are enduring extreme cold below minus-70 degrees Fahrenheit

russia siberia cold
© weatherbell.comA major cold snap has hit eastern Russia in recent days
As the icebox of the Northern Hemisphere, Russia's Siberia is notorious for its frigid weather. But the cold so far this December — the most severe in decades in some areas — is extreme even by its own bone-chilling standards.

Temperatures around minus-58 degrees (minus-50 Celsius) and even lower have spread over northeastern Siberia in recent days and will persist for several more. The mercury has dipped as low as minus-73.7 degrees (minus-58.7 Celsius) thus far.

Most of Russia is predicted to endure temperatures much below average through the next week. The coldest conditions relative to normal will tend to drift toward the central and western parts of the country with daily temperature some 20 to 40 degrees below average.

The punishing chill in Siberia is a massive departure from abnormally warm weather prevailing over much of the rest of the planet. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Service announced Wednesday that last month was the warmest November ever observed by a wide margin and the sixth month in a row to set a record high. This year is a virtual lock to be the planet's warmest on record.


Comment: That's according to 'satellite data', which is 'cooked' to produce 'the right results'. The actual, lived November for most Europeans was a cold and wet one.


Climate scientists still expect bouts of extreme cold in a warming world, but they are projected to become less frequent and intense, while covering smaller areas, over time.

Comment: See also: Temperatures in Siberia dip to minus 56 Celsius as record snow blankets Moscow