© wkow.com
The exact moment was caught on video from only a few blocks away. Luckily, no one was hurt. Classes at the school were canceled for Monday, May 11.
© Via twitter@Lehighs_Finest
Earth Changes
The exact moment was caught on video from only a few blocks away. Luckily, no one was hurt. Classes at the school were canceled for Monday, May 11.
© stcroixsource.com
Turns out it wasn't the end of the world, as someone had suggested. It was a solar halo surrounding the sun, as the name implies; and it seemed to absorb the whole sky.
According to Wikipedia: A halo, also known as a nimbus, is produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, resulting in a wide variety of colored or white rings, arcs and spots in the sky."
Closer to home, University of the Virgin Islands physics professor David Smith shared a professional view on the phenomenon.
"Ice crystals in the upper atmosphere create this halo, like little rainbows," he said. "It's produced by light interacting with the ice crystals."
Smith said the phenomenon isn't all that rare further north.
"It's not as common in the tropics, since there are fewer ice crystals in the upper atmosphere," he said.
© CFP
The solar halo photographed in Chongming County yesterday.
The solar halo photographed in Chongming County yesterday.
While some web users saw this as a celestial blessing for Shanghai moms, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau had a more prosaic explanation.
It was a result of altostratus cloud, formed by the lifting of a large stable air mass, explained forecasters.
That causes invisible water vapor to condense into cloud, creating optical phenomena — such as the sun halo.
Around 10am, many Weibo and WeChat users posted pictures, with many seeing it as a good omen.
According to a Chinese proverb: "When there is a solar halo, it will rain; when there is a lunar halo, it will blow."
And sure enough, rain was forecast overnight.
© AFP
The volcano has registered 30 small eruptions since it rumbled to life on Thursday, the strongest yet occurring on Sunday night, according to the Nicaraguan Geological Institute.
'It spat hot rocks, gas and ash, reaching a height of 400 metres,' the agency said in a statement.
The flaming rocks caused vegetation on the volcano's slopes to catch fire, and fiery balls of burning foliage created a spectacle for observers.
The nearby towns of Posoltega and Guanacastal were dusted in ash following the eruptions, though no major damage or injuries were reported.
Telica, which is 1,061 metres high, is located in the foothills of the Maribios, about 112km northwest of the Nicaraguan capital Managua.
The eruption comes less than a week after the volcano shot a tower of ash 2.5 kilometers into the air, shutting down Juan Santamaría International Airport for the third time since March.
Since Turrialba Volcano re-awoke last October, volcanic ash has dirtied homes, damaged crops and mucked up travel plans. With its frequent eruptions, the volcano has gone from an interesting diversion to a nuisance for nearby residents and visitors.
And experts say the worst is yet to come.
Future eruptions, they say, could jeopardize the health of humans and the environment. They could also cause serious economic damage.
"There is a very high possibility that [the volcano] will reach a higher level of activity," said Lidier Esquivel, the chief investigator of risk management for the National Emergency Commission (CNE).
Scientists with both the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) and the National Seismological Network (RSN) expect Turrialba's eruptions to gradually increase over the next few months until the volcano is erupting on a near weekly basis. Scientists have also confirmed that lava has reached the surface.
© Facebook: Adrian Hayes
Hiker Adrian Hayes has been trekking to remote villages in Nepal and reporting back to aid agencies.
Hiker Adrian Hayes has been trekking to remote villages in Nepal and reporting back to aid agencies.
"The highest village in Makalu region was around 4,000 metres and then down to around 2,000m," professional adventurer Adrian Hayes told ABC's PM via Skype from Nepal.
"[I was seeing] buildings with half their side gone, piles of rubble, some buildings ... some communities completely flattened."
He said that he was often the first person to get to some remote villages after the quake struck. The villagers told him of feeling helpless and said they did not expect to receive any help from their government for years, Mr Hayes said.
"Nepalese people are used to hardship. They live a hard life up there, so people were getting on and trying to rebuild," he said. "Things were getting going, but obviously nowhere near the amount of funding and sort of support that they need."
Mr Hayes has climbed Everest, K2 and many of Nepal's other mountains and spent eight years as a Gurkha officer. He was about 18 kilometres from the Everest Base Camp and due to climb the world's fourth and fifth highest mountains when the earthquake hit. He quickly changed his plans.
Comment: Good to see people of conscience stepping up when the universe places them in the right place at the right time.
© Nathaniel Gore/PA
The sunbathing seal
The sunbathing seal
Nathaniel Gore, 33, was out walking near his home in St Ives on Sunday when he spotted the animal splashing around in the water.
The editorial project manger stopped to film the seal and said it was not put off by the attention.
He added: "I've heard stories of seals being found inland before and he seemed perfectly happy so I wasn't too concerned.
"I stopped for about 20 minutes and he seemed to be enjoying the attention. He was splashing around in the water and sunbathing by the side of the river. I was able to get within three feet and it was a great sight to stop and enjoy."
© BNA
Flash floods in Faryab Province, Afghanistan, May 2015.
Flash floods in Faryab Province, Afghanistan, May 2015.
Flash floods struck on 08 May 2015 in Faryab Province after a period of heavy rainfall. The districts of Garyzan, Pashtunkot and Belcheragh were worst affected. BNA report that at least 7 people were killed and over 1,500 homes damaged. The Faizabada-Takhar highway have been closed to traffic and wide areas of crops and orchards have suffered damaged.
Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) also report that flooding struck in the Baghlan-i-Markazi district of Baghlan province, where 1 person was killed and several injured early on Saturday 09 May 2015.
"There was heavy rain in Baghlan-e-Markazi district Friday evening and the people left their houses to safer areas. It was early Saturday when a flash flood hit the area and washed away more than 500 houses," district Governor Gohar Khan Babri told reporters in provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri, 160 km north of Kabul.
Flooding in China.
In Hunan province, 28.5 million people have been affected by the bad weather. It is thought that at around 2 people have been killed in a landslide caused by the heavy rain in the province. Around 3,200 people were evacuated and more than 2,400 people needed emergency assistance. As many as 400 houses have collapsed and more than 4,600 have been damaged in the landslide and floods.
In Hubai province, 1,300 people have been evacuated after nearly 200 houses collapsed and more than 2,300 were damaged by heavy rain and floods. Over 500 have been evacuated after floods in Guizhou province.
Three people have been reported as drowned in flood water in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
One person died in a lightning strike in Jiangxi province. Another victim was also killed by lightning in Gunagdong province, where around 1,900 people have been evacuated after more than 500 houses were damaged by the severe weather.
Parts of Sichuan province have also been affected by the floods and severe weather.
Surprise: Wild boar gets trapped inside a children's clothing store
The unusual customer had wandered into a Hong Kong shopping centre where it was then trapped and unable to get out.
Video aired by local TV stations showed the boar, which had apparently climbed up a ladder, punching a hole through the showroom's false ceiling with a trotter.
Comment: And a barn: