Wildfires
S


Binoculars

Smoke from Western Wildfires Reaches Atlantic Ocean

Image
© NASA.In a June 28 satellite image, smoke from wildfires hangs over North America.
Dozens of wildfires are raging around the western United States, and the large-scale burns are sending smoke as far east as Greenland, according to some atmospheric models.

In all, about 60 wildfires are burning around the nation, from Alaska to Utah to Florida, and satellite images show hazy curtains of smoke hanging over huge portions of the eastern two-thirds of the country.

Smoke travels well, said Georg Grell, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo.

The hotter the fire, the higher its smoke can go - and the higher the smoke goes into the atmosphere, the farther it typically travels, Grell told OurAmazingPlanet.

"The winds are much stronger up there, so it gets transported much quicker," he said. In addition, once smoke gets to certain altitudes, it's less likely to be washed out of the air by rainstorms, Grell said.

Smoke from extremely hot wildfires can rise 4 to 5 miles (7 to 8 kilometers) into the atmosphere, and can even trigger massive thunderstorms, but it's likely that the smoke from the recent spate of fires is hanging out about 1 mile (1.5 km) above the ground.

Alarm Clock

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

Image
© Reuters'Damn you al-qaeda!' An American flag waves in front of a house leveled by the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows community in Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2 July 2012
Over the past 18 months, we've been growing increasingly concerned for the future of all life on planet earth. Sure, the signs that things have been going 'south' have been there for some time, but our concern began in earnest at the very beginning of 2011, when masses of birds began to fall dead from the sky around the world. The phenomenon continued for several months, and birds around the world are still dying for officially unknown reasons. None of the dead birds showed any sign of disease, but in several incidents birds were found to have 'external injuries' like they had been "hit by some kind of blunt instrument". All sorts of explanations for the deaths were offered (like fireworks or birds colliding with each other) including the predictable attempts by 'science experts' to downplay any significance to the bizarre deaths. But among the flurry of speculation, one report stood out.

NewsChannel5 Chief Meteorologist Mark Johnson decided to take a look at the the Doppler radar images from Beebe, Arkansas from the night when many red-winged blackbirds had fallen dead to the ground, and he discovered something interesting.
"There it was. This huge plume of turbulence over the Beebe birds just as they began their frenzied flight," Johnson said.

The turbulence appears above the birds between about 7,000 and 12,000 feet. Johnson realized there are only a few possible explanations for this phenomena.
Having homed in on the probable cause, Johnson then introduced some nonsense:
"Birds don't fly that high, and he quickly ruled out military action, a sonic boom, meteor shower or alien invasion."
While we can understand why Johnson ruled out military action or a sonic boom (there were no flights over the area at the time), Johnson never explained why he ruled out a "meteor shower", although we can understand the inclusion of "alien invasion" - to ridicule by association the idea of a "meteor shower" or other meteorite-related phenomenon.

Johnson then went on to say:
"Something in the atmosphere, something mysterious, occurred over Beebe, Arkansas that night... And I believe it was part of what caused those birds to fly and then die."
Indeed, but with the answer staring him in the face, Johnson lost the plot completely:
Johnson's research captured an unseen temperature reversal just above the birds' roosting area at about 1,500 feet above the ground. This temperature "inversion" acted like a megaphone, amplifying all the noises that occurred in Beebe at that time. As the fireworks exploded, the sound was amplified by the inversion and became much louder than normal. This appears to have startled the birds so much that they burst into flight, running into each other, and nearby buildings. Thousands of the now-disoriented birds then crashed to the ground, dying from blunt force trauma.
Image
The Doppler radar image used by Johnson to explain the bird deaths. We have added the blue-green arrow to illustrate the trajectory of a meteor reaching that altitude before exploding in the lower atmosphere.
Temperature reversal? At 1,500 feet? But previously Johnson stated that the 'turbulence' occurred between 7,000 and 12,000 feet. He even produced a graph of the Doppler radar images that shows this. While temperature inversion does occur and can amplify sound, when birds are startled by noise they don't generally fly into each other and buildings in large numbers. What's most likely, is that the bird deaths of January 2011 (and later) were caused by an overhead meteorite or comet fragment (MoCF) explosion, with either the actual shock wave killing the birds (through blunt force trauma) or associated electrical effects 'frying' their 'circuits'.

This electrical effect can also explain the massive fish die-offs around the same time. Consider this report, just in today, about two children being mysteriously electrocuted to death as they swam in a lake in Missouri on 4th July. The thousands of dead fish found upstream from Beebe on New Year's Eve 2010 could well have had their circuits fried because of significant electrical discharge that accompanied the overhead MoCF airburst. Now check out this Tunguska blast simulation by Sandia lab. An incoming bolide exploding overhead would knock the wind out of anything within a radius relative to the extent of its blast. It would probably knock airplanes out of the sky too - more on that below.

Bizarro Earth

Floods, Fires, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Sinkholes and more in the months of May and June 2012

May 2012

Storms, Wind and Rain, Flood and Drought
India Ferry Capsizes Due to Heavy Rain and Winds; 103 Dead, 100 Missing

Wettest April in 100 years - Sodden Britain braces for more floods

Flash floods kill 27 in Afghanistan- scores missing

Huge Dust Storm Swallows Iowa College Campus

Britain to see month's rain in one night as severe weather warnings issued

Widespread floods in Kenya kill 15 as 50,000 left homeless

At least 30 killed following flash flood in Takhar province, Afghanistan

More deadly floods strike north Afghanistan, 10,000 left homeless

Violent rainstorm wreaks havoc in North-Eastern France

Hurricane Season Comes Early This Year

Freak storm lashes Cannes film festival, soaking stars

Hurricane Bud could bring life-threatening conditions to Mexico

Hurricane Bud heading for area near Puerto Vallarta

North Korean Farmers Cite Grave Drought; Aid Unlikely

Montreal Floods: Heavy Rain Causes Power Failures, Shut Down Parts Of Metro
Abnormal Cold or Heat
Rare April Freezing Rain in Brazil

Forget The Floods And Get Ready To Shiver

Frost kills early blooms in Ontario, apple crop losses to top $100M

Farmers worry that May snow and freezing temperatures could bring crop failures to Britain

Scotland colder than the ARCTIC as country hit by snow and freezing weather

Hot Enough for You? Warmest May to April Ever for U.S

Britain's Coldest May in 300 Years

Unusual cold weather wiped out two of Morocco's primary crop exports

Northeast Ohio wine grapes destroyed by hard freeze

The Ice Age Cometh! Heavy snow surprises Bosnians after a hot weekend in mid May

First Time in 50 Years - Snow Hits Bosnian Capital

Snow and unusual weather in the UK Midlands

'Scientific experts' confounded by increasing snow cover on Mount Kilimanjaro

Late-season storm could bring summer snow to Sierra, California

Perth's Coldest May Night in 98 Years
Sinkholes
Family's terror as their Florida house is nearly engulfed by 100ft wide sinkhole

Sinkhole in Arkansas parking lot swallows SUV

Update: Massive Florida Sinkhole Expanding

Three sinkholes open up in Prince William County, Virginia

Huge sinkhole opens in Montreal after student protest

Massive Sinkhole Forms Near Central City, Colorado

Anoka County, Minneapolis sinkhole is growing
Hail, Tornadoes and Typhoons
Deadly tornado rips through eastern Japan

More Weird Weather: Supercell brings tornado to England

Twin Waterspouts Caught on Camera

40 Die in Chinese Hailstorm

Freak storm brings never seen before hail to Philippines, homes destroyed

Hailstorm rips through Cuttack, India, Capital hit too

Tornado Hits Weimar, Texas

Tornado damages 15 homes in North Port, Florida

Tornado Confirmed on Ground near Wausau, Wisconsin

Tornadoes strafe Kansas, damaging homes; 1 hurt

Tornadoes cause heavy property damage near Montreal
Earthquakes
USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 5.7 - Michoacan, Mexico

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Offshore Chiapas, Mexico

Cascadia tension: earthquake swarm continues off the coast of Vancouver

Azerbaijan hit with strongest earthquake in 4 years- swarm of tremors follow

Civil Defense of Peru issues earthquake warnings after two days of abnormal tremor activity

5.3 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Israel and Palestine

5.4 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Northeast India

Moderate earthquake hits Tajikistan: USGS

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - Tarapaca, Chile

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Papua New Guinea

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - Off The Coast of Aisen, Chile

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Northern Italy

Update: Powerful quake kills at least 3 in northern Italy

In pictures: Italy earthquake

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Off The East Coast of Honshu, Japan

M6.2 quake and several above M5.0 hit off Northeast Japan in last day

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 5.6 - Bulgaria

Japan Quake Aftershock Tally Exceeds 5,000

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 (Magnitude Changed to 6.0) - Hokkaido, Japan

Magnitude 5.8 Bulgarian Earthquake Followed By 80 Aftershocks, Worst in Region Since 1917

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - Norwegian Sea

Earthquake Magnitude 4.8 shakes nervous Christchurch, sending shoppers fleeing into the streets

5.6 earthquake which jolted Bulgaria was strongest since 1858, and the aftershocks continue

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Bonin Islands, Japan Region

Fourth earthquake rocks East Texas

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.7 - Santiago Del Estero, Argentina

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 5.8 - Northern Italy (aftershocks included)

Update: Italy Hit by 2nd Deadly Quake in Days; Death Toll at 16
Mass Animal Deaths
32 Dead Porpoises Worry Wildlife Experts

Fish Pond in Shenzhen Ravaged Overnight

Peru pelican and dolphin deaths prompt warning to stay off beaches

Mysterious fish kill under investigation in Kuwait

Mystery Surrounds Dead Pelicans Found Along Indian River

Peru Says 5,000 Birds, Nearly 900 Dolphins Dead

2,300 Birds Found Dead Along Chilean Beaches

Mass Bird Deaths: Mystery Linked To El Nino

Pacific Mystery: What's Killing the Dolphins and the Pelicans?

Bee Kills and Genetic Engineering in the Corn Belt

Dead Fish Pile up on Mula-Mutha Banks

Dolphin Deaths in Peru: The Mystery Deepens

60,000 to 100,000 dead fish wash up eastern shores of U.S. near Chesapeake Bay

Black Sea Ecologists Alarmed By Dolphin Deaths

Hundreds of Endangered Antelopes Dying in Kazakhstan

Thousands of Shellfish Found Dead in Peru
Volcanoes
Mount Asphyxia Volcano Erupts - South Sandwich Islands

Popocatepetl Volcano Threatens Millions with Gas and Ash, Mexico on High Alert

Increased Volcanic Activity at Mt. Baekdu

Pagan Island Volcano Erupts in Mariana Islands

Icelandic volcano warming up for eruption: Small glacier flood continues at Katla

Mexico Volcano Spews Huge Ash Cloud, Frightens Villagers

Growing fears that huge North Korean volcano will soon erupt

Blasts Continue to Menace People Near Popocatepetl Volcano

Dramatic eruption seen at Sakurajima volcano in Japan

Guatemala Fuego Volcano Spits Lava and Ash

Is an eruption at Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano imminent?

Residents evacuated near Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano after gas emission

Growing unrest: preventive alert declared for three Costa Rican volcanoes

500 evacuated from vicinity of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano
Fires
Three Forest Fires Burn Out of Control in Alberta; Fire Ban in Effect

Clouds of Smoke, Ash from Forest Fire Lead to State of Emergency in Timmins

Wildfires Hit Six U.S. States, Small Towns Evacuated
Miscellaneous
Mysterious smell detected in Tel Aviv, Israel

Mystery smell in Tel Aviv: Source still unknown

Source of Vibrating Houses Traced to Methane Gas From Landfill

Mysterious Noises, Vibrations Reported in Austin

Mystery Earthquake Near McCall Puzzles Scientists, Technicians

Purple Skies

'Roll Clouds' Filmed in Texas, Montana 29-30 May

Greenland Glaciers Are Speeding Up

Bering Sea Sees Surprising Record Ice Cover

Destabilization: Scientists discover new unstable region the size of New Jersey under Antarctica Ice Sheet

Researchers find New Zealand more seismically unstable than previously thought

Japan's Mt. Fuji a Ticking Time-bomb? Scientists Find 30 km Long Active Fault

Sumatra Volcanoes May Pack Deadly Punch

In less than 24 hours, Lake Cachet II in Chile's southern Patagonia vanished
'Climate Change'
Rise and Fall of Underwater Volcano Revealed

Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive

Global Cooling on the Way? Lake Sediment Proves Sun Cooled Earth 2,800 Years Ago and Could Happen Again Soon!

Japan tornado: Temperature differences spawned supercell storm

Belief That CO2 Can Regulate Climate Is 'Sheer Absurdity' Says Prominent German Meteorologist

Canadian Journalist exposes UN IPCC 'leading scientists' to be ideologically compatible grad students

US Offense Secretary Panetta: Climate change a national security threat

Global Warming Propaganda Alert! NASA Scientist James Hanson Says Civilization Will Be At Risk if Canada Exploits Oil Sands

Climate Change Nonsense: Dinosaur flatulence may have led to global warming

Phoenix

Four major Wyoming wildfires destroy structures, force evacuations

Squirrel Creek fire
© Andy Carpenean/Boomerang photographerA sudden wind shift draws smoke back over the top of Sheep Mountain Tuesday as the Squirrel Creek fire spreads.
Fed by bone-dry timber and fanned by hot winds, the four major wildfires burning in Wyoming today have destroyed an unknown number of buildings and forced hundreds to evacuate.

The Albany County Sheriff's Office issued an immediate evacuation notice this morning for areas east of Sheep Mountain to Harmony Lane, and south of Lake Hattie as crews battle the Squirrel Creek Fire near Woods Landing southwest of Laramie. The notice includes the area northwest of Lake Hattie to Highway 130.

The evacuation center is the Albany County Fairgrounds. For more information, call 307-721-1801.

Authorities urged evacuees to assist neighbors if necessary.

The Albany County media release also advised that the Arapaho Fire in the county's northeast area is advancing quickly. Authorities said residents should be prepared to leave the area immediately. "This fire is moving at unprecedented rates," the release said.

The Arapaho Fire, currently the state's largest, is burning near Laramie Peak southwest of Wheatland. It had burned nearly 88,000 acres by this morning, fire spokesman Jim Whittington said.

Phoenix

Razed to the ground: Shocking before-and-after images reveal scale of destruction caused by fires sweeping through Colorado

Image
Before (above) and after (below): The devastating Colorado wildfire can be seen in two overhead images in the Colorado Springs neighbourhood of Mountain Shadows
  • 32,000 evacuated from Colorado Springs including Air Force Academy cadets as inferno spread
  • About 300 homes reportedly destroyed in Waldo Canyon Fire, which has been named the No. 1 priority for emergency crews
  • Obama to tour the disaster-stricken area on Friday to meet firefighters working around the clock
Photos of the heartbreaking devastation of the wildfires that have ravaged Colorado in the last several days have revealed piles of rubble where houses once stood before the flames engulfed the region, leaving more than 30,000 people homeless.

The photos revealed the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, where dozens of homes can be seen decimated by the fast-moving fire.

The raging wildfire that has encroached on the state's second-largest city and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Mayor Steve Bach said a more accurate account will be available later in the day of the damage from a blaze that has burned out of control for much of the week and forced more than 30,000 evacuees to frantically pack up belongings and flee.

Phoenix

Northern Cheyenne Reservation Burning

The Ashland Creek fire on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation outside Billings, Montana, continued to rage on Wednesday and Thursday, with no sign of containment, authorities said.

As it surpassed 110,000 acres on Wednesday, three towns were evacuated and the people taken to Lame Deer 21 miles away, according to KULR TV in Billings. But Lame Deer is without power, so 700 people were crowding into the shelter there looking for food and other assistance.

"We've had quite a few families that are actually displaced," Geri Small, of the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Cheyenne, to the television station. "Their homes burned, and they don't have nothing. Some don't even have their shoes on."

Phoenix

Waldo Canyon fire: About 300 homes destroyed in Colorado Springs

This aerial photo taken on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, shows burned homes in the Mountain Shadows residential area
© AP Photo/John WarkThis aerial photo taken on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, shows burned homes in the Mountain Shadows residential area of Colorado Springs, Colo., that were destroyed by the Waldo Canyon wildfire. More than 30,000 people have been displaced by the fire.

Waldo Canyon fire: No official reports on damage but the
Denver Post says at least 300 homes were burned to the ground by the Waldo Canyon fire Wednesday in Colorado Springs.

Tens of thousands of Colorado residents forced from their homes by an out-of-control wildfire took refuge with friends or family and crammed into hotels and shelters as Army troops helped firefighters protect the U.S. Air Force Academy from the flames.

The blaze was raging early Thursday in the mountains and in Colorado's second-largest city, after more than 30,000 evacuees quickly packed up belongings and fled. The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah.

The full scope of the fire remained unknown. So intense were the flames and so thick the smoke that rescue workers weren't able to tell residents which structures were destroyed and which ones were still standing. Steve Cox, a spokesman for Mayor Steve Bach, said at least dozens of homes had been consumed.

Phoenix

Colorado wildfire of 'epic proportions' displaces 32,000; tests firefighters

Smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire engulfs Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the blaze burns out of control Tuesday, June 26. The 6,200-acre Waldo Canyon Fire has caused 32,000 residents to be evacuated. At least six other fires are acti
© CNNSmoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire engulfs Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the blaze burns out of control Tuesday, June 26. The 6,200-acre Waldo Canyon Fire has caused 32,000 residents to be evacuated. At least six other fires are active in Colorado.
Firefighters again will battle inferno-like conditions on Wednesday as they try to tame an explosive wildfire that has already chased some 32,000 residents from their homes near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"This is a firestorm of epic proportions," Richard Brown, the Colorado Springs Fire chief, said late Tuesday. Winds gusting to 65 mph through mountain canyons blew the wildfire through containment lines into northwest Colorado Springs on Tuesday afternoon.

Gov. John Hickenlooper surveyed the Waldo Canyon Fire, telling reporters it was a difficult sight to see.

"There were people's homes burned to the ground. It was surreal," he said late Tuesday night. "There's no question, it's serious. It's as serious as it gets."

The 6,200-acre fire remained only 5% contained. Officials labeled it as exhibiting "extreme fire behavior."

Evacuee: Wildfire 20 feet from home Evacuees watch and hope homes remain 'Smoke plume was coming toward us'

Phoenix

Waldo Canyon Fire: Colorado wildfire worsens, forcing 7,000 more from homes

fire
© Reuters/Rick Wilking
A monster Colorado wildfire raging near some of the most visited tourist areas in the state took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as hot winds pushed flames north, prompting the evacuation of 7,000 more people, officials said.

Colorado's so-called Waldo Canyon fire sent a mushroom cloud of smoke nearly 20,000 feet into the air over Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak, whose breathtaking vistas from the summit helped inspire the song "America the Beautiful".

Closer to the blaze, which has been fanned by winds blowing into the Southern Rockies from the prairies to the east, trees were visibly twisting from the heat of the flames.

The latest evacuations brought the total number of people forced from their homes to about 12,000 as the blaze posed a renewed threat to hundreds of dwellings and appeared to have roared to within about a mile of the U.S. Air Force Academy grounds in Colorado Springs.

Phoenix

Flagstaff Fire: Blaze at 200-300 acres; pre-evacuation orders for south Boulder, Colorado


Aided by a massive C-130 air tanker, Boulder County firefighters are battling a 200-to-300-acre wildfire west of Boulder this afternoon, a fast-growing and "extreme" blaze that has forced the evacuation of 26 households in the foothills and put parts of south Boulder on pre-evacuation notice.

Approximately 931 south Boulder phone numbers have been called with pre-evaucation warnings.

"We're about one ridge over from the city of Boulder," Boulder County sheriff's spokesman Rick Brough said of the fire at an afternoon press briefing.

The fire started near the 1500 block of Bison Drive in the Walker Ranch area around 1:15 p.m. and is believed to have been sparked by lightning, Brough said.

The blaze is now burning toward the northeast, Brough said.