Earth Changes
WASHINGTON - Another week, another rumbling train of tornadoes that obliterates entire city blocks, smashing homes to their foundations and killing people even as they cower in their basements.
Two further aftershocks have destroyed more than 420,000 houses in the Chinese region hit by a massive earthquake two weeks ago, state-run media say.
Many of the homes appear to have been empty, but six people are said to have been critically injured in the tremors.
Many of the homes appear to have been empty, but six people are said to have been critically injured in the tremors.
A report this week from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology says that weather in the Pacific Ocean is generally neutral, but there is a warming trend, which may signal the start of an El Nino pattern. Iowa State University Extension Climatologist Elwynn Taylor says that there is a change coming and that "there's not a La Nina with its risk of drought anymore."
A 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit the Zandjan province in northwest Iran on Tuesday, a seismological assessment center in Tehran reported.
The quake was registered at 10:48 local time (06.18 GMT). No reports of destruction or casualties have been released.
The quake was registered at 10:48 local time (06.18 GMT). No reports of destruction or casualties have been released.
CARBON buried in the Earth could ultimately determine the fate of our planet's atmosphere. So concluded a pioneering meeting last week about the Earth's long-neglected "deep" carbon cycle.
You may have heard earlier this month that global warming is now likely to take break for a decade or more. There will be no more warming until 2015, perhaps later.
Climate scientist Noel Keenlyside, leading a team from Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Science and the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, for the first time entered verifiable data on ocean circulation cycles into one of the U.N.'s climate supercomputers, and the machine spit out a projection that there will be no more warming for the foreseeable future.
Of course, Mr. Keenlyside -- long a defender of the man-made global warming theory -- was quick to add that after 2015 (or perhaps 2020), warming would resume with a vengeance.
Climate scientist Noel Keenlyside, leading a team from Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Science and the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, for the first time entered verifiable data on ocean circulation cycles into one of the U.N.'s climate supercomputers, and the machine spit out a projection that there will be no more warming for the foreseeable future.
Of course, Mr. Keenlyside -- long a defender of the man-made global warming theory -- was quick to add that after 2015 (or perhaps 2020), warming would resume with a vengeance.
NOAA reports that April 2008 was a full degree (F) below normal making it the 29th coldest April out of 115 years for the United States, the coldest in 11 years. Much of the western 2/3rds of the lower 48 were colder than normal. In Washington State, it was the second coldest April on record. In contrast in the east, in New York State it was the 3rd warmest.
All the monthly global data sets are updated now. The University of Alabama Hunstville (Spencer-Christy) MSU satellite derived lower tropospheric data shows an anomaly of just +0.015C. The UK Hadley Center version 3v which includes land station and some ocean reports showed an anomaly of +0.265C. Adding this month to the plot since 2002 shows the downtrend continues.
All the monthly global data sets are updated now. The University of Alabama Hunstville (Spencer-Christy) MSU satellite derived lower tropospheric data shows an anomaly of just +0.015C. The UK Hadley Center version 3v which includes land station and some ocean reports showed an anomaly of +0.265C. Adding this month to the plot since 2002 shows the downtrend continues.
Chinese officials rushed Tuesday to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a channel to try to drain away the threat.
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| ©Xinhua |
| In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, the Tangjiashan quake lake formed by the landslide following the May 12 earthquake near Beichuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province is seen on Monday, May 26, 2008. Chinese officials rushed Tuesday to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a channel to try to drain away the threat. |
© REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino/Files
Visitors walk amid the remains of flooded village Sant Roma as it emerges from the low waters of the Sau reservoir, north of Vic near Barcelona, April 6, 2008.
Visitors walk amid the remains of flooded village Sant Roma as it emerges from the low waters of the Sau reservoir, north of Vic near Barcelona, April 6, 2008.
For most of the past four decades, all that has been visible of the village of Sant Roma has been the belltower of its stone church, peeping above the water beside forested hills from a valley flooded in the 1960s to provide water for the Catalonia region.
This year, receding waters have exposed the 11th-century church completely, attracting crowds of tourists who stand gazing around it on the dusty bed of the reservoir.
The National Weather Service has allowed tornado warnings issued earlier this evening to expire, but weather advisories remain in effect across the state.
The weather service has issued a tornado watch in 29 western Oklahoma counties effective until midnight.
The watch covers Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Major, Noble, Nowata, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Roger Mills, Texas, Tulsa, Washington, Washita, Woods and Woodward counties.
The weather service has issued a tornado watch in 29 western Oklahoma counties effective until midnight.
The watch covers Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Major, Noble, Nowata, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Roger Mills, Texas, Tulsa, Washington, Washita, Woods and Woodward counties.
