© Matt Berry
Fuel truck stuck in deep snow in Idaho.
Fuel truck stuck in deep snow in Idaho.
Earth Changes
© Larry Newberry
Results of a fish kill in the Macleay River in northern New South Wales, which locals said was like ‘cake mix’.
Results of a fish kill in the Macleay River in northern New South Wales, which locals said was like ‘cake mix’.
Parts of the Macleay River - favoured by recreational fishers - have been turned into what locals described as "runny cake mix" that stank of rotting vegetation and dead fish.
One freshwater ecologist told Guardian Australia the impact of the fish kill might be felt for decades to come, with long-lived species like Australian bass hit hard.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries has been receiving reports of "hundreds of thousands" of fish dead in the river since December 2019.
Locals say rain in the past 10 days has seen more ash and mud from the parched and burned landscape running into the river.
The disaster on the Macleay River is one of eight fish kills reported to the department this year, with the cause of most linked to lack of rainfall.
Sierra-at-Tahoe is busy Friday morning after receiving about 17 inches of fresh snow.
The snowstorm that hit Lake Tahoe Thursday performed as expected and dumped up to 2 feet on the mountains.
Flurries still expected this morning and that will add to the already abundant snowfall.
Tahoe Donner has the most reported snow as of early morning reports with over 2 feet, 26 inches.
Northstar California received 22 inches, Sugar Bowl got 21, Heavenly Mountain Resort got 18, Sierra-at-Tahoe 17 and Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Diamond Peak is reporting 15 inches.
Chain controls are in effect all around Lake Tahoe and traveling to resorts will take extra time with the snowy, icy conditions.
Newly selected Taos Pueblo Gov. Edwin Concha confirmed this week the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator is looking into the woman's death, but Concha declined to identify her "out of respect to her family."
Sandra Bible of Tulsa identified the slain woman as her sister, 52-year-old Kay Torres.
"She had worked for Taos Pueblo Head Start," Bible said in a phone interview. "She'd worked for Taos Public Schools over the years."
A killer whale has been found up washed up on the English shore for the first time in nearly two decades.
The organisation said a 'large fragment of plastic material' was discovered in the young orca's body, however they believe this was unlikely to be its cause of death.
This discovery marks the first confirmed stranding of a killer whale in England and Wales nearly 20 years, the Zoological Society of London has confirmed.
Comment: Dead whales have also washed up recently in Sumatra (Indonesia), New Zealand and Myanmar (Burma):
© (Kompas/Asahan fishery and maritime affairs agency
Dead humpback whale found off Sumatra on Jan 11th.
Dead humpback whale found off Sumatra on Jan 11th.
The dead whale found off Myanmar (Burma) on January 15th
The 2.9 metres long animal was found dead, however, the cause is unknown at this time.
"Perhaps it got into trouble at the rocks of the breakwater, because it was injured. Presumably, it stranded and then died," Jan Haelters, a marine biologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences told the media.
© Joseph Bradley of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Auroras in the aftermath of a near-Earth magnetic explosion on Dec. 20, 2015.
Auroras in the aftermath of a near-Earth magnetic explosion on Dec. 20, 2015.
It has taken researchers more than 4 years to fully wrap their minds around what happened, and their results were published just this week in the January 13, 2020 edition of Nature Physics.
Explosions in Earth's magnetic field happen all the time, writes Dr. Tony Philips of spaceweather.com. Gusts of solar wind press against Earth's magnetosphere, squeezing lines of magnetic force together. The lines crisscross and reconnect, literally exploding and propelling high energy particles toward Earth — auroras are the afterglow of this process.
"Usually, these explosions happen at least 100,000 miles from Earth, far downstream in our planet's magnetic tail," explains the study's lead author Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA.
"On December 20, 2015, however, we observed a reconnection event only 30,000 miles away-more than 3 times closer than normal."
The discovery was a case of good luck and perfect timing.
The state Department of Transportation tweeted that, over the past five days, Snoqualmie Pass had received 77 inches of snow that forced the closure of Interstate 90 on several occasions. Three more inches have fallen so far Thursday for a total of 80 inches - or 6.67 feet - of snow.
Going back to Jan. 1, an impressive 117 inches of snow have fallen so far this year at Snoqualmie Pass. That's only three inches shy of 10 feet.
© Johannes Plenio
Nakuru Police Commander Stephen Matu has confirmed the deaths saying the pupils were struck this evening while at the school.
Matu has said five of the 27 undergoing treatment at Kuresoi Health Centre are in a critical condition.
"Two pupils died on spot after being struck while one died while being attended to at the hospital," Matu has said.
The city at the top of the Olympic Peninsula got hammered Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
"This was a bit sudden," said Damon Morris, as he used a snowblower at a business parking lot. "We got about a foot last night. A little over a foot. Kind of a shock."
He underestimates the snow total. It was reportedly anywhere from 18 inches to two feet.
"Something else, that's for sure," said Chelsea Littlejohn, who lives in Port Angeles.
Comment: See also: