Earth ChangesS


Snowman

Tokyo snowfall matches record from April 1969


The Japan TImes
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:49 UTC
Image
© KYODO PHOTOOut of season: Women in kimono walk in the snow among blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo's Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on Saturday as the mercury fell in the capital and many areas across the country.
Snow fell in central Tokyo on Saturday as temperatures plunged, matching a 41-year-old record for the season's latest snowfall, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Snow also fell in other areas in the Kanto-Koshin regions, mainly in the early hours, with 16 cm accumulating in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture, 18 cm in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, and 3 cm in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, as of 5 a.m.

Saturday's snow in central Tokyo, Yokohama, Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, and some other areas matched the record for the latest snowfall logged April 17, 1969.

In Tokyo's Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, visitors enjoyed the cherry blossoms and snow, a rare view at this time of year.
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Bizarro Earth

Volcanic lightning around Eyjafjallajokull eruption


Space Weather
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:44 UTC
Image
© Harald Edens
It is well known that volcanic eruptions produce strong lightning. Less well known is why? Ordinary lightning in thunderstorms is not fully understood; volcanic lightning is even more of a mystery.

To investigate, a team of researchers from New Mexico Tech has traveled to Iceland to monitor the Eyjafjallajokull volcano--and they have found it crackling with electricity.

"On the evening of April 16th, there were some small eruptions producing ash clouds up to about 6-7 km, with lightning," says photographer Harald Edens. "The sky was nice and clear, so I was able to photograph the bolts from the town of Hvolsvollur using my Nikon D700 and a 80-200/2.8 lens."
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Bizarro Earth

Guatemala: Earthquake Magnitude 5.6


US Geological Survey
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:32 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 13:30:58 UTC

Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 07:30:58 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
14.523°N, 92.014°W

Depth:
64 km (39.8 miles) set by location program

Region:
GUATEMALA

Distances:
50 km (30 miles) SE of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico

65 km (40 miles) WSW of Quezaltenango, Guatemala

160 km (100 miles) W of GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala

930 km (580 miles) SE of MEXICO CITY, D.F., Mexico
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Bizarro Earth

Afghanistan: Earthquake Magnitude 5.3


US Geological Survey
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:25 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 20:28:50 UTC

Monday, April 19, 2010 at 12:58:50 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
35.697°N, 67.654°E

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN

Distances:
125 km (75 miles) SSE of Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan

175 km (110 miles) SSE of Termiz (Termez), Uzbekistan

175 km (110 miles) SSW of Shaartuz, Tajikistan

190 km (120 miles) NW of KABUL, Afghanistan
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Bizarro Earth

Iceland volcano ash keeps Obama, others from attending Polish president's funeral

Jaroslaw Adamowski
The Christian Science Monitor
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:00 UTC
Krakow airport
© Petr David Josek/APPassengers look out from the windows of Krakow airport, Poland, Friday. A cloud of volcanic ash from an Iceland volcano caused cancellation of flights across Europe which kept leaders from attending the burial ceremony of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife, killed in a plane crash.
One week after the tragic plane crash in which Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and a number of senior political and military leaders died, a mourning Poland is honoring its leader.

The president's funeral took in the country's historical site, the Royal Wawel Castle in Krakow, where Polish kings and key statesmen have been buried, but ash from the Iceland volcano continues to ground planes over Europe, preventing many world leaders from paying their respects in person.

President Obama's Sunday visit to Poland was canceled at the last minute due to the volcanic ash cloud that has paralyzed Europe's air traffic. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and other guests have announced their absence at the ceremony for the same reason.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, however, managed to get there.

"The tragedy of eight days ago and the sympathy and help extended by the Russians in these days give us hope for better relations between our two great nations," said Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz during the funeral. "I direct those words to [Mr. Medvedev]."
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Red Flag

Iceland volcanic ash cloud could extend travel chaos until Friday. What ash cloud?

James Meikle
The Guardian
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:56 UTC
Image
© Halldor Kolbeins/AFP/Getty Images
Gordon Brown warns against rail, coach and ferry operators trying to exploit passengers desperate to find travel alternatives

The airline crisis was deepening today as air traffic controllers extended the ban on UK flights until at least 1pm tomorrow and the government warned the crisis caused by the volcano eruption in Iceland could last well into Tuesday.

One weather forecaster was predicting problems until Friday as airlines continued to revise their plans with the lockdown on flights continuing across much of northern Europe. Over 20 countries have airspace restrictions, many banning all non-emergency flights.

Comment: Air traffic controllers in individual European countries did not make these decisions. Eurocontrol, the central air traffic control center for Europe, made the call based on the forecasts provided by the Volcanic Ash Centre in London.

Gordon Brown today sought to assure stranded passengers that British airspace would be reopened "as quickly as possible" and warned against rail, coach or ferry operators trying to exploit passengers desperate to find alternative methods of travel. He also said he would be seeking EU funds to help companies stricken by the disruption.

Comment: A Sott.net reader sent us this photo of the ash cloud above northern Europe:

Image


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Arrow Up

Death Toll from Northwest China Earthquake Tops 1,700


RIA Novosti
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:45 UTC
Image
© Alfred Jin/Reuters
The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northwest China, has risen to 1,706, with 90 people still missing, the official news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The quake also left 11,849 people injured, including 1,300 in serious condition.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to strike the country in two years, hit an area in Qinghai, near Tibet, on the morning of April 14. The epicenter of the earthquake was registered at the depth of 33 km (20 miles) in Yushu county, in the south of Qinghai province.

Aftershocks complicated relief operations. Hundreds of people remain under the debris in Yushu, a Tibetan plateau county where more than 15,000 houses, or 90% of all homes, were destroyed by the quake.
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Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.3 - Eastern New Guinea Reg, Papua New Guinea


US Geological Survey
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:00 UTC
Papua Earthquake
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 23:15:24 UTC

Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 09:15:24 AM at epicenter

Location:
6.744°S, 147.259°E

Depth:
66.2 km (41.1 miles)

Distances:
30 km (20 miles) E of Lae, New Guinea, PNG

215 km (135 miles) NE of Kerema, New Guinea, PNG

300 km (185 miles) N of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2370 km (1470 miles) NNW of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Cloud Lightning

Severe tropical storm strikes eastern India

Shree Haran
World Socialist Web Site
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:28 UTC
A severe tropical storm struck the eastern Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam, as well as neighbouring country Bangladesh, on Tuesday night, destroying an estimated 100,000 homes and killing at least 136 people. The death toll will almost certainly rise further, with others believed to be buried under debris. Many of the survivors are yet to receive assistance, triggering protests in several areas.

The Meteorological Department in Bihar reported winds of 100 kilometres per hour. Tornados also developed within the storm. Trees were uprooted, telephone and electricity lines snapped and mud huts swept away. The storm, which hit at night while most people were sleeping, was the deadliest in the region since Cyclone Aliya swept Bangladesh and eastern India in May last year. As many as 500,000 people are believed to have been affected by Tuesday's storm.

Bihar, India's poorest state, was the worst affected. The confirmed death toll has reached 83, and about 80,000 homes were destroyed in five of the state's districts. In Purnia, a rural area, 39 people were killed including 17 children. In Araria, another rural area, 33 died including 11 children. The district magistrate of Araria, Uday Kumar, told reporters that "while the exact number of people rendered homeless would be ascertained by Saturday, 25,000-30,000 people were affected".
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Attention

Europe Cuts 77% of Flights; Relief May Come April 22

Matthew Brown and Omar R. Valdimarsson
Bloomberg
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:22 UTC
Image
European airlines canceled more than 77 percent of their flights today as most of the continent's northern and central nations remained closed to air traffic, and Accuweather predicted little change until April 22.

No flights will operate out of the U.K. until at least 7 a.m. London time tomorrow, the National Air Traffic Service said today via e-mail. German airports will remain closed until 8 a.m. Berlin time tomorrow, the DFX air traffic control agency said. The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, or Eurocontrol, expects about 5,000 flights across Europe today, compared with 22,000 on a "normal" Saturday, it said today in a statement.

"Expect ongoing interruptions for the next four or five days," Teitur Atlason, at the Icelandic meteorological office, said in a telephone interview today. "The eruption is still in full swing, and the volcano is spewing pretty dark ashes as high into the air as 5 to 6 kilometers."
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