Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

New Zealand's North Island shaken by 5.7 earthquake

Cherie Howie
NZ Herlad
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 17:11 UTC
Image
© Thinkstock
Some people described the shaking as 'huge'.
North Islanders were again rattled by a strong earthquake yesterday, but experts say the tremor was not related to a much larger quake four days earlier.

GeoNet reported a magnitude 5.7 quake struck 10km south of Turangi at 12.50pm. The quake was 90km deep and, though police said there were no reports of damage, some residents said trinkets had been smashed.

It came four days after a magnitude 7 earthquake, centred at a depth of 230km and offshore from Taranaki, rattled residents from the Bay of Plenty to Canterbury, but caused little damage.

Shaken people took to social media and message boards yesterday to share their experiences, some describing the shake as "huge".
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Cloud Lightning

Chaos in skies over Britain: forecasters describe horrific summer as 'the worst since records began'


The Extinction Protocol
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 17:08 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Britain is facing its "worst ever" summer with cold wet weather ruining family holidays and blighting the Olympics, forecasters warned last night. August is set to be a washout following a miserable July and the wettest June since records began - meaning summer is effectively over. Gloomy forecasts suggest dire weather will continue as officials last night put Britain on flood alert after torrential downpours yesterday wreaked havoc.

As the Environment Agency warned of a "potential danger to life" with rivers swelling to breaking point in the Midlands, Yorkshire and Wales, Government forecasters were on standby to brief the Cabinet if severe floods strike. The agency last night issued 51 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - and 135 alerts. Monsoon-like downpours hit 85,000 music fans at the T In The Park festival in Kinross, Scotland, and 28,000 Formula 1 spectators camping for the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. Race meetings today in Nottingham and Carlisle were cancelled while play was delayed on all courts at Wimbledon - other than Centre Court.
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Fish

Another sign of the times: Thousands of fish dead in multiple incidents across US

Miguel Llanos
MSNBC
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:30 UTC
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© J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel/APCrews using rakes and an industrial vacuum remove dead fish from Butterfly Lake in Knoxville, Tenn., on Monday. Some 10,000 bluegills died.
In lakes and rivers across parched areas of the U.S., heat and lower water levels are reducing oxygen levels -- and killing fish populations by the thousands.

At one lake in Delaware, up to 6,000 dead gizzard shad and 600 perch were found floating this week.

"Aggravating this summertime problem, increased temperatures lead to warmer water, which holds less dissolved oxygen," state natural resources spokesman John Clark told NBCPhiladelphia.com.

In South Carolina, some 500 fish died at Lake Hartwell.

"It started Sunday afternoon," local resident Brandi Pierce told NBC affiliate WYFF-TV. "We started seeing ten fish popping up out of the water. Then Monday, it was full."

Across South Dakota, fishermen have reported thousands of fish kills in multiple lakes and rivers.

Comment: They're blamed on heat, blamed on cold, yet often these fish kills remain a real mystery...

More dead fish found in Arkansas River
Unprecedented fish kill in St. Johns: Fish kill isn't related to annual cycle
Glen Ellyn resident fears 'fish kill' not natural
Australia: Fish kill remains a mystery
Mysterious fish kill under investigation in Kuwait
Ireland: Big Fish-Kill on Bandon

...Sott.net investigates:

Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction

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Bizarro Earth

Strange Water Phenomenon On Lake Ontario


13WHAM
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:16 UTC
A seiche
© James Montanus
Rochester, New York, US - Wind and thunderstorms are producing some strange occurrences on Lake Ontario.

Residents along the lake have noticed water rushing out away from shore and coming back, similar to tides.

The 13WHAM Weather Authority explains the phenomenon as a "seiche." A seiche occurs in lakes, bays, and harbors, when we see a changes in air pressure and strong winds . This causes the water to be displaced from one portion of a shoreline and resulting in flooding in another location.
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Bizarro Earth

New hydrothermal vents form at Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano


Volcano Discovery
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:46 UTC
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Panorama of the summit crater of Anak Krakatau (2 July 2012)
During our recent expedition to Krakatau volcano, we could no longer see the lava dome active during Feb-May this year. Probably, the magma column had dropped in mid to late May and the dome collapsed. At its place, there were only 2 collapse pits, very hot ground and intense degassing from numerous fumaroles inside and outside of the now large summit crater. Seismic activity when visiting the local volcano observatory was at very low levels, suggesting that Anak Krakatau is at the moment in a phase of repose.

Interestingly, a number (at least four) areas with apparent submarine hydrothermal iron-bearing vents were observed that had not been there last year. In these areas, bubbling could be seen in the water, and where accessible, iron-rich greenish warm mud was found at the sea floor, which oxidized to orange when brought to the surface. The sea water around these areas had an intense yellow stain. Very similar submarine activity is known from around Nea Kameni Island, Santorini.
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Sun

4500 record highs broken: Jet stream pulled up towards Canada, 'out of whack' says U.S. meteorologist

Jon Erdman
WeatherChannel.com
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:43 UTC
It's not that the Midwest hasn't been extremely hot before, and it's not that it hasn't been incredibly dry. But it's unusual for a vast swath of the Midwest to be so very hot and so very dry for so very long - particularly this early in the summer. The current heat wave - which is spurring comparisons to the catastrophic heat of 1936 - is "out of whack," meteorologist Jim Keeney said Friday in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Even on the East Coast today, temperatures are 100 or above" - basically, Keeney said, the heat wave extends from Kansas all the way to the East Coast.

Image
© Weatherchannel.com
"It's a good chunk of the eastern half of the country, barring the far northern states, of course. So it's pretty intense." Temperature records are being broken and residents are suffering in what Keeney called a "corridor of extreme heat," generally through Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and into western Kentucky. Heat records are being shattered as are records for the number of days in a row the temperature has hit 100 or higher, he said.
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Bizarro Earth

'Unimaginable' - month's amount of rain falls in hours: flash flooding kills over 100 in Russia


CNN
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:36 UTC
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© UnknownFlash floods from heavy rain in the Krasnodar Krai region in southern Russia have killed dozens of people.
At least 103 people have died as floodwaters surge through southern Russia's Krasnodar region, Russia's Interior Ministry said Saturday.

Of those killed, 92 are in the Krymsk district, nine in Gelendzhik district and two in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the ministry said.

The flash floods follow heavy rains in the area since Friday.

The Krymsk district is a mostly rural area with many one-storey homes, Russia's state news agency Itar-Tass reported.

Flood waters rose 7 meters (23 feet) overnight in Krymsk, the news agency said, flooding homes while most people were still asleep. Others were rescued by police after seeking refuge on roofs and in trees, it said.

The death toll has climbed steadily through the day as the waters have gradually subsided, allowing police to find more bodies in flooded buildings in Krymsk.
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Attention

Daniel Now a Hurricane Over Open Waters in Pacific


ABC News
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
Forecasters say Daniel has become a hurricane while moving westward over open waters in the Pacific.

The National Hurricane Center said late Friday that Daniel had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (121 kph) and was moving westward at 12 mph (19 kph). It was located 745 miles (1199 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California.

The center said Daniel was a Category 1 hurricane but posed no threat to land. It could strengthen overnight and into Saturday, but should start weakening over colder waters on Sunday. Daniel becomes the third hurricane of the Eastern North Pacific season.

Source: The Associated Press
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Sun

Oppressive heat in the Midwest breaks records

Corey Williams
The Boston Globe
Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Daily Herald
St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, and several other Midwest cities have broken heat records this week. And with even low temperatures setting records, some residents have no means of relief, day or night.

The National Weather Service said Friday that the record-breaking heat that has baked the nation's midsection for several days was beginning to move into the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast. But excessive-heat warnings remained in place Friday for all of Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as much of Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Kentucky.

The National Weather Service said it expected heat warnings and advisories to be continued or expanded on Saturday, with the heat largely centered over Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic states.
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Bizarro Earth

Drought Stalks the Global Food Supply

Alan Bjerga
Business Week
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Scott Olson/Getty Images
When rain doesn't fall in Iowa, it's not just Des Moines that starts fretting. Food buyers from Addis Ababa to Beijing all are touched by the fate of the corn crop in the U.S., the world's breadbasket in an era when crop shortages mean riots.

This year they have reason to be concerned. Stockpiles of corn in the U.S. tumbled 48 percent between March and June, the biggest drop since 1996, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week. And that was before drought hit the Midwest. Chicago last month saw its first 100F June day since 1988, the year parched ground caused $78 billion in crop damage. The percentage of the corn crop with top-quality ratings was 48 percent as of July 1; it was 69 percent a year ago. And with little rain in the forecast, farmers can only hope to preserve what crops they can while watching corn futures rise 33 percent since June 15, to $6.75 a bushel.
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