© YouTube/Dan Robinson (screen capture)
Earth Changes
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Fifty-four people were injured in the storm due to collapse of trees and houses that struck Pakistanon Tuesday. Many houses were also damaged due to the storms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.province, the PDMA spokesman said. On February 22, at least 10 people were killed across the province and dozens injured in rain and snow-related incidents.
© NOAA
A satellite image shows the large storm moving across the north-central United States early Thursday, April 11, 2019.
A satellite image shows the large storm moving across the north-central United States early Thursday, April 11, 2019.
Nature was showing its fickle side on Wednesday, with blizzard conditions, heavy snow and frigid air pounding parts of the Rockies and the Plains, just a day after the weather was sunny and idyllic. Schools and highways were shut down, hundreds of flights were canceled, and some communities braced for floods.
The storm, caused by a low-pressure system moving east from the Pacific Ocean, dropped temperatures by up to 50 degrees in places like Denver, where it was sunny and in the mid-70s on Tuesday but reached the mid-20s by Wednesday night. The low-pressure system was affecting areas from Colorado to Michigan, with heavy snow and thunderstorms, and even down into Texas, where dry conditions and high winds led to wildfire warnings.
While the whipsawing forecasts drew groans, they did not come as much of a surprise to those familiar with springtime in the Plains and the Rockies.
© Ricardo Moraes
A truck stuck at a flooded street during heavy rains in the Fazenda Botafogo neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A truck stuck at a flooded street during heavy rains in the Fazenda Botafogo neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Two adult sisters died when their home in a slum was buried in a mudslide, while a man drowned in another part of the city, the mayor's office said in a statement.
The rains began around Monday evening and had not let up by midday Tuesday, with a heavy downpour forecast through the end of the day. Some parts of the city got more than 21 cm (8 inches of rain within four hours, according to the mayor's office. That is three times the monthly average rainfall for April.
Comment: In February this year another powerful storm lashed Rio de Janeiro killing at least five people.
Extreme rainfall events are increasingly affecting countries all over the world. These articles are a small selection we have published during the past month:
- Greece - Crete hit by flash flooding again - third time since February
- Evacuations ordered after unprecedented floods hit Iran - Golestan province received 70% of its annual rainfall in ONE day - UPDATE
- More than 13,000 people affected after floods wash away homes in Peru
- U.S. Government warns of historic, widespread flooding "Through May" - Food prices to skyrocket as 1000s of farms are destroyed
- 'This is a 100 year event': New Zealand's Westland declares state of emergency after record rainfall
- Death toll rises to 732 with hundreds missing in devastating Cyclone Idai
The epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake
The earthquake happened at 3:54 p.m. on Tuesday and was centered about 56 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Montagu Island, which is part of a British overseas territory that is known as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
The earthquake was initially measured at 6.7, but the magnitude was later downgraded to 6.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It said the earthquake struck about 47 kilometers (29 miles) below the seabed, making it a shallow earthquake.
Apologies for neglecting to add, h/t to Charles the Moderator from WUWT!
UPDATE 8 April 2019: Falling off cliffs is not a new phenomenon. Here is video of US Fish and Wildlife officials in 1994 trying to explain a situation where walruses are falling even without the impetus from polar bears, at Cape Pierce in the southern Bering Sea (a haulout for adult males during the ice-free season). Explanation? Overcrowding (too many walruses)! h/t to Mark Sullivan.
File photo
The Finnish Metthat it measured 18 cm of snow at its Tikkakoski weather station in central Finland.
The snowfall was the heaviest on Monday evening -- over 4 mm of precipitation per hour. A general rule of thumb in meteorology is that one millimeter of measured precipitation equals one centimeter of snow.
Snowfall across the area made driving conditions hazardous, causing several road traffic accidents. One person died Tuesday morning in a collision between a car and a delivery lorry in Jyvaskyla.
© Denis Balibouse
Spring snow falls in New England
Spring snow falls in New England
The snow storm in New England brought more than 2 inches (5 cm) of snow to Portland, Maine, and up to half a foot fell in inland areas of the state and parts of neighboring New Hampshire, said meteorologist Brian Hurley of the federal Weather Prediction Center.
Some places in New England can expect to receive up to 10 inches (25 cm) of additional snow by Wednesday, when the storm will drift out into the Atlantic Ocean, Hurley said.
The wintry weather in New England was not blustery enough to count as a blizzard, meteorologists said, but a stronger storm was forming over the Midwest, taking shape as a blizzard that will strike on Tuesday night.
© Bruce Mactavish
Gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon
Bruce Mactavish, an avid birdwatcher, captured some spectacular shots of a white gyrfalcon at Cape Spear on the weekend.
The white bird-of-prey is the largest of the falcons, and native to the high Arctic. It is rarely seen as far south as the Avalon Peninsula.
Mactavish's photos are being widely shared within the birdwatching community.
© Scott Olson / Getty Images
Wyoming and Colorado will get a healthy coating of snow in the mountains tonight and tomorrow, but the storm won't get really worked up until it moves into the central portion of the country midweek.
Forecasters aren't yet sure if we can call this storm bomb cyclone 2.0, but it will bring snow, high winds, and possibly thunderstorms to the Plains and Upper Midwest starting on Wednesday. Winter storm watches are in effect in six states. Folks in the High Plains, Northern Plains, and upper Midwest are bracing for what could amount to more than 6 inches of snow, though models show the heaviest band of snow potentially delivering upwards of 30 inches in some places.
While the snowstorm itself is certainly cause for concern, it's the snowmelt that will occur after the system dissipates that's truly troubling for a region still struggling to recover from the March deluge.
Comment: Last month an anomalous lightning storm hit Southern California producing more than 1,200 bursts in five minutes. In December 2018 the sky over New York City lit up with mysterious blue light.
Could the base level electric charge in the atmosphere be changing? See also:
- Changing atmosphere: Red sprites and a blue jet seen above Europe's stormy skies
- Electric universe: Lightning strength and frequency increasing
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