Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Mysterious, wavelike cloud hugs Wyoming mountains

Lenticular cloud
© Jackie SkaggsJackie Skaggs snapped this stunning photo of a lenticular cloud embracing the summit of the Grand Teton Range from the park's headquarters in Moose, Wyoming, on Feb. 12, 2015.
A bizarre sheet of clouds embraced the highest peak in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last week, enchanting even the park's most seasoned visitors.

The clouds looked like a billowing handkerchief or an ocean's wave crashing into the mountain. The clouds were so strange they even surprised park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs.

"I've lived here for almost 40 years, and honestly, I've never seen something last that long and take so many different shapes," Skaggs told Live Science.

Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 3 in Nepalese village near Everest

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At least three people were killed after a lightning struck a mountain village of Waku, located in northeast Nepal to the south of Mount Everest, according to local officials.

Every year scores are killed in lightning-related incidents in the country. In 2012, lightning strikes claimed 130 lives in Nepal, a record for the nation, Yale Scientific Magazine said.

Binoculars

Striped sparrow resident in Mexico turns up 700 miles from home for the first time in the US

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© Austin American-StatemanThe striped sparrow has been seen mixed in with a variety of other small birds feeding on crushed pecans and other food resources, with plenty of water nearby from a Williamson County creek.
Richard Kostecke stood on the side of a Williamson County road for more than two hours peering on and off through a telescope. Then he quietly said, "I've got it."

Right in the middle of his lens was a bird never before seen in the wild in the United States.

The striped sparrow, recognizable by a black mask-like stripe on its head, was perched on a shrub 200 feet away on a sunny February afternoon. It was 700 miles away from its home in the western mountain ranges of Mexico, said Kostecke, the associate director of conservation for the Nature Conservancy in Texas.

Snowflake Cold

Arctic chill to bring coldest U.S. temperatures since late-1800s in East; record cold in Midwest, South

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Old Man Winter will be unrelenting across the Midwest and Northeast this week as yet another blast of arctic air rolls in and spreads deep into the South.

This next push of arctic air is expected to bring air that is just as cold, or even colder than the air that brought subzero lows to the Midwest and Northeast during the weekend.

Millions will shiver from Chicago to New York City as record lows are challenged during this bitter blast. Records may also fall across parts of the South where temperatures manage to fall into the teens and single digits.

Some southern cities forecast to dip into the teens or lower include Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Nashville and Atlanta.

Floridians will even experience a taste of the arctic chill with temperatures dipping down to the lower 30s in cities such as Orlando, Melbourne and Daytona Beach.

The worst of the cold is expected to focus over the East for Thursday into Friday.

In the mid-Atlantic, some daily record lows set during the late-1800s will be challenged.

AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures below 0 F will be common across the regions during the daytime hours, including cities along the Interstate 95 corridor. These values can then drop by as much as 20 degrees during the overnight hours, making for a bitterly cold morning commute.

Snow showers are also likely to develop downwind of the Great Lakes late in the week even though the lakes are quickly becoming covered in ice.

Temperatures can be very dangerous, and possibly even life threatening during this arctic outbreak.

Ice Cube

4,750 square miles of Great Lakes freezes overnight; total ice cover 82%

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© NOAAGreat Lakes ice cover continues to grow rapidly, now surpassing the amount of ice at this time last year.
The recent arctic blasts have caused the ice cover on the Great Lakes to increase rapidly. As of Tuesday, Feb. 17, the amount of ice on the Great Lakes is more than the same date last year.

The total ice cover on the Great Lakes is now rated at 82.3 percent as of Tuesday. On the same date last year, the Great Lakes had 81.6 percent total ice cover.

The Great Lakes ice cover has grown over 5 percent in the past 24 hours. That's about 4,750 square miles of ice overnight. At that pace of ice growth, the Great Lakes would be almost totally iced over in the next four days.

The blast of arctic cold tonight through Friday will certainly help ice continue to grow.

The cold will come with a 10 mph to 20 mph wind, which could temporarily break up and reduce some ice. But the light wind days in the next 10 days also look very cold.

So it's going to be very interesting to watch the ice expand in the next few weeks.

From the bitter cold weather I'm expecting to head our way, combined with several days of light winds, I think we will surpass last year's total ice cover on the Great Lakes. In fact, I'm wondering if we could see the Great Lakes almost totally ice up by the end of February.

Comment: It sure isn't getting any 'warmer' is it? Read the book Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection to learn more about this topic. The New Ice Age might be just around the corner:


Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills 4 Masvingo, Zimbabwe

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Four people from Mukaka village under Chief Maranda in Mwenezi died on the spot on Sunday after being struck by a bolt of lightning as they sought shelter under a tree during a thunderstorm.

The incident comes exactly two weeks after seven other people in Chief Mazungunye's area, Bikita, were killed by lightning which struck their grass-thatched huts on February 2.

Masvingo acting provincial police spokesman Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa referred all questions to national police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi, who said he was yet to get the details of the incident.

Sources in Mwenezi said a bolt of lightning struck at around noon and killed Shaiwai Mukuvashuro (29), Thangson Chimiti (29), Batanai Moyo (32) and Richard Chandavengerwa (33) after they had sought refuge under a tree.

Blue Planet

Natural climate change: Louisiana's 'disappearing' coastline is actually growing

Louisiana river delta growing
© NASA Earth ObservatoryNow you don't see it...
Louisiana river delta growing
© NASA Earth Observatory...now you do.
Louisiana's wetlands are famously disappearing, thanks to a century of dredging and drilling in the Mississippi River. A football field-sized swath of land falls into the ocean every hour. But along on small part of the coastline, the land is actually growing. Welcome to Atchafalaya Bay.

A pair of recent satellite images released by the NASA Earth Observatory shows Atchafalaya Bay in 1984 and 2014. A necklace of barely visible islands morphs into prominent chunks of land. The mouths of two rivers, the Atchafalaya and Wax Lake Outlet, grow substantial deltas. By one estimate, the deltas have added one square mile every year.

Comment: So much for 'sea-level rise will be induced by man-made global warming, threatening all coastal communities...'

Clearly 'climate science' doesn't have a clue!


Bizarro Earth

Mexico's Colima volcano - violent eruption captured on film

Mexico's Colima volcano is playing to the camera. Known locally as the Volcán Fuego or Volcano of Fire, Colima's recent activity is being captured on video and time-lapse photography as well as during monitoring flights around the area.

The latest blast, featured in this BBC clip, shows a huge ash column climbing over a mile into the sky. Blankets of ash covered villages as much as 15 miles away, but there was no structural damage.


Ice Cube

Niagara Falls freezes over as extreme winter weather continues

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Niagara Falls has frozen over due to temperatures which dropped to 16F on Wednesday
Extreme winter weather has been causing problems for millions across the East Coast, but it has also made for some beautiful sights.

Among those beautiful sights is Niagara Falls, which has now frozen over due to temperatures which dropped to 16F on Wednesday.

And it looks like the popular tourist destination may stay frozen, as temperatures are expected to drop even lower come Thursday.


Attention

Sperm whale dies off the Philippines coast

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© Quezon policeThe Sperm whale carcass floating off the coast of Bangkorohan village in Calauag town, Quezon province.
A sperm whale that had been stranded near a coastal village in the town of Calauag, Quezon province, died yesterday, an environment official of the province said.

Manny Calayag, community coordinator of the Quezon-Environment and Natural Resources Office, said the sperm whale, one of the world's largest animals, died around 7:30 a.m. in the shallow portion of the waters off Lamon Bay near the coast of Bangkorohan village.

The whale was found by fishermen a kilometer away from the shore on Tuesday, said Senior Insp. Noel Divino, Calauag police chief.

He said the whale, measuring 40 feet long and 10 feet tall, was found with a wound on the right part of the belly.