Mountain communities fear melting glaciers, flooding

Nepal

May 28, 2007

Only 27 years ago Imjha Tse Valley was filled with glaciers but due to a rise in temperature, they have melted at an average rate of 10 metres a year and formed a huge lake containing 28 million cubic metres of water. The lake is 100m deep, 500m wide and 2km long. "The lake is absolute proof of the dangerous impact of global warming in this world, and the worst consequence is in the Himalayan region." In the past few decades, there have been several incidents of glacial lakes bursting, flooding villages, causing landslides, killing people and destroying farms and houses. Over 20 glacial lakes are at risk of bursting out of moraine dams. Of Nepal's 3,000 glacial lakes, over 2,000 have gradually melted and contain lakes, but up to now there has been little study of this phenomenon. Climate change experts are concerned that glaciers formed by over two million years of snowfall are now receding faster in the Himalayas than anywhere else in the world.

Moscow Swelters in Heat Wave

Breaking Earth News
Russia

Yesterday was the HOTTEST MAY DAY IN MOSCOW FOR OVER A CENTURY: thermometers on May 28 read +32.9 degrees Celsius (91.2 degrees Fahrenheit), and meteorologists say that the Russian capital HAS NOT SEEN SUCH A SUSTAINED STREAK OF +30-DEGREE DAYS IN MAY FOR 128 YEARS. "It's really an extreme event." Due to the heat, some Moscow businesses are being obliged to cut down on energy consumption, something that usually only happens during winter's most severe frosts. Meteorologists warn that the heat will last at least until the end of the week, when Moscow will get a brief reprieve before the abnormally hot weather returns. "For the last week – May 23, 27, and 28 – several temperature records have been broken." The UNUSUAL heat is due to a massive high-pressure system sitting over Kazakhstan. "As it revolves, it is sending hot air from Central Asia to Russia. As a result of the high-pressure system, all of European Russia is experiencing hot weather – since last week, every other city in this region has seen new temperature records set. Moscow is experiencing almost the same temperature as in Cairo or the Arabian Desert."

Rain leaves two people dead in Cuba

Cuba

May 28, 2007

Havana - Heavy rain in Cuba and the resulting floods over the weekend have left two people dead, forced the evacuation of some 3,000 others and caused damage to some 370 buildings, local media reported Monday.

The rain affecting areas in the eastern part of the country also damaged sugar cane fields, forcing an early end to the harvest.

Storms cause chaos across Europe

Breaking Storm News

Europe

Nine people died in eastern Turkey, including six killed in severe flooding in mountainous Agri province near the Iranian border, where river waters were swollen by melting snows. Two more people were missing. In nearby Van province, a two-year-old child died when landslides triggered by heavy rain demolished a house. Two other girls also died and another person was injured after being struck by lightning. Six hikers died in Greece while trying to cross a river in the south. In France, two divers and a yachtsman drowned yesterday off the western coast of Brittany in extreme weather. The yachtsman fell into the sea from his 21-metre boat in heavy seas. The two divers were part of a group of six who were caught up in strong waves. The others made it safely to shore. In northern Bosnia, two 11-year-old children, a boy and a girl, died after being struck by lightning on Saturday. In Germany, three construction workers building a windmill in the eastern state of Brandenburg were killed yesterday when lightning hit a tractor they were sheltering under. In Russia, by contrast, meteorologists said today was the HOTTEST MAY DAY IN MOSCOW SINCE RECORDS BEGAN with temperatures hitting 32.7 degrees Celsius. Extreme weather - including drought, heavy storms, flooding and flash frost - have wreaked havoc across Europe this spring. Aside from the human toll, it has also destroyed crops and damaged infrastructure in France, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Kamchatka spews ash to 7 km

Russia

May 28, 2007

The Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is spewing a major ash column to a height of up to seven kilometres (more than four miles) above sea level. There is no danger to nearby settlements. Major incandescence is observed at nighttime above the volcano summit. Hot volcanic bombs are spewed from the crater every five-ten seconds. The spews height reaches 500 metres. Several lava flows heated to 1,000 degrees Celsius are descending on the slopes. “At least three such flows are clearly visible.” Lava is melting the glacier and water and mudflows are coming down the volcano slopes, but they pose no direct danger for the Klyuchi settlement. The volcano roar and explosions could be heard in this settlement. House windows have repeatedly been shaken by massive explosions from the volcano.

Freak weather brings winds of change to the West Coast

Seattle, Washington
May 25, 2007
Ottawa's experience on the Rideau Canal during the winter of 2007 may be considered Canada's tipping point for the idea of climate change. When the canal freezes over in winter, it becomes the world's longest skating rink. Except last winter there was no winter. The canal didn't freeze until a brief period much later in the season. Ottawa is the second coldest national capital in the world, behind only Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia. But on Jan. 5 it was a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit, by far the WARMEST SUCH DATE THERE IN RECORDED HISTORY. People were out golfing, the FIRST TIME IN RECORDED MEMORY people could golf in eastern Ontario in January. The sustained summer threw Central Canada for a loop. Meanwhile, British Columbia was also left aghast, as a prolonged series of ferocious storms battered the coast and buried the interior of the province in yards of snow. The subtropical weather pattern known as the Pineapple Express drenched the coast four times in two weeks during November, accompanied by hurricane-force winds. Then a series of snowstorms hit the length of the coast in December, leaving hundreds of thousands without power for days on end. Followed by more pounding rain in early January. Victoria got three times its normal rainfall for the month. The west coast rain-forest town of Tofino recorded 10 inches in 30 hours. Vancouver's Stanley Park was the prime topic in the west, as the winds blew down huge swaths of old-growth timber and wreaked $3 million in damage. The federal environment minister pronounced the storms a direct example of climate change in action. In the blink of an eye, climate change rocketed up the Canadian public agenda to become the dominant problem in people's minds. "Little has been done to seriously address this problem which is literally threatening life on Earth as we know it." "The more timid our response is, the harsher the consequences will be." There is regional frustration on both sides of the U.S./Canada border about both national governments' stances on climate change. One thing Westerners have in common no matter where they live is a certain dubious skepticism about how they're running things back East. Schwarzenegger last week told President Bush to "get out of the way" and stop hampering California's efforts to curtail emissions or he'll go to court. A "Hydrogen Highway" network of filling stations from Whistler to San Diego is envisioned for alternate-fuel vehicles and a green ports strategy is in the works. "Out of the blue British Columbia has taken everyone by surprise. Nationally we've got made-in-Canada and made-in-America non-solutions. B.C. has stepped aside and done it on it's own, similar to California."

Lithuania swelters in record heat

Lithuania

May 25, 2007

NEW HEAT RECORDS were registered throughout Lithuania this week as more hot weather and thunder showers are forecast for the weekend. On Tuesday, May 22, the nation’s highs were 27 - 30 degrees Celsius, exceeding the temperature records for that day at as many as 15 meteorology stations. More heat records were expected to be broken Saturday.

China hit by deadly flooding, severe drought

China

May 26, 2007

Torrential rain in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides that have left 21 dead, while a neighboring region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years, state media reported Friday.
A further 11 people are missing following the rains in Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality, Xinhua news agency said, in the latest extreme weather to ravage the country.
More than 360 people have been hurt and 112,000 evacuated in the disasters in a region that only last year endured its worst drought in half a century.
Meanwhile, more than 1.6 million people in Gansu province to the north face drinking water shortages due to the worst drought there since the 1940s.
The dry spell, which has had no significant rainfall in some areas for more than two months, is endangering crops or delaying planting on 1.46 million hectares (3.6 million acres) of cropland, Xinhua quoted officials with the Gansu provincial flood control and drought relief office as saying.
China last year suffered a range of extreme weather events including exceptionally strong typhoons, floods, and droughts, which meteorological officials have partly attributed to the affects of climate change.
Officials warned recently that similar weather is expected in 2007.

Quebec forest fires at critical level

Quebec, Canada

May 27, 2007

Forest fires have reached a critical level in Quebec, especially in the northwest and north-central regions, while forcing more than 1,000 people to flee an eastern reserve, officials say.
The provincial forest fire prevention agency, the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu, said 26 fires are burning in the province — six of them out of control.
A spokeswoman for the agency, Melanie Morin, said this year has been worse than usual for forest fires in the province.
"To date, we've had 280 forest fires since the beginning of the season. Our five-year average is 189 fires and only 2,600 hectares, so we're quite above that," she said.
The situation was particularly bad in the northwestern Abitibi region and in north-central Quebec near Senneterre, about 420 kilometres northwest of Montreal. The fire there was being contained Sunday afternoon, said Jacques Nadeau, a spokesman for the société.

Flooding causes damage in Colombia

Columbia, S.A.

May 27, 2007

Heavy rains in southern and western Colombia have caused a mudslide that has seriously affected 30 neighborhoods and left dozens homeless. The flooding took place in Cali, the country's third biggest city where rescue workers had to evacuate people from their residences and vehicles, AP reported. "Every time it rains there are floods; we and our neighbors are affected, so we cordially ask our mayor to help us because everybody has been affected. There are children also, and this (water) has a lot of bacteria, a lot of diseases," said German Arciniegas, a resident of Cali. ''All the underground pipes are blocked. This is getting bad, really bad,'' another resident said. In southern Colombia, authorities declared a state of emergency on Saturday after a mudslide caused by heavy rains destroyed 12 houses and left dozens homeless.

Six km of Talakundha forest gutted in mysterious fire

India

Thalakundha (TN), May 27: About six-kilometre area of Talakundha forest in Tamil Nadu has been gutted in a fire, which is suspected to have broken out from a small volcano.

The fire and smoke from a crater in the forest continue to spread. Hot black coal-like material, possibly magma, can be seen inside it."We received information that a large amount of smoke was emerging from the forest. Initially, I thought it might be a forest fire. But when fire services went there, they saw a huge fire and smoke coming from the forest, and due to the heat, trees were falling down. We still cannot make out what has caused this. If the same situation continues, a major fire accident may take place," said Sardar, a fireman. "This seems to be very dangerous and also the gas coming out from the earth is causing nausea to people in the vicinity", he added.The forestland seems to have collapsed by about five-six feet because of the volcano-type situation. Geologists said methane gas could be coming out of the craters, which causes dizziness and nausea.Locals said they have been seeing the fire in the forest for the past one month. Some village elders even said that their ancestors had talked about similar fire some 100 years ago in the vicinity.Interestingly, the only active volcano in India is located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Quake shakes hill state, 2 killed

India

May 27, 2007

Gangtok: Two persons were killed in a quake-triggered landslip in South Sikkim yesterday.
As many as seven tremors, most of them between 3 and 5.5 on the Richter scale, were reported from several parts of the state.
Prakash Tamang, a resident of Darjeeling, and Ritesh Chettri of Kalimpong were buried alive when a pile of debris fell on them at a construction site on Ralong Road in Rabongla, 60 km from here. People watched in horror as Tamang, 25, and Chettri, 17, disappeared under almost 12 feet of loose soil after the 10 am quake. The bodies were dug out half-an-hour later by police and handed over to the families after post-mortem.
“Many of us did not feel most of the tremors during the day, but the last jolt around 5 pm was scary. It caused panic with people running helter-skelter,” said Ugyen Gyatso, a resident of Rabongla.

Spring snowfall sets city record

Alberta, Canada

May 25, 2007

Homes were left without power, downed trees damaged dozens of cars and school was cancelled for thousands of kids as a blast of record snow slammed many parts of southern Alberta yesterday.
Blustery winds and a record 7 cm of snow for this day in history took down trees and electrical and telephone lines, causing power outages for more than 7,000 homes and damaging cars and buildings around Calgary, say city fire and Enmax officials.
The wintry blast topped the previous snowfall mark of 5.1 cm for May 24, set in 1911, with communities on the city's northwestern edge among the hardest hit

Phivolcs notes bulges near Bulusan

Breaking Volcanic Alert
Philippines

Residents of Irosin town in Sorsogon province in Bicol are starting to feel the "wrath" of Bulusan volcano as some of them reported smelling sulfur from it.This developed as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) noted bulges in the grounds at the volcano's south sector, indicating magma flow underneath.Radio dzBB reported Friday morning that residents in Irosin town have started complaining of "sulfur smell" that they said likely came from the volcano.On the other hand, Solidum noted 62 volcanic quakes and an increase in sulfur dioxide levels in Bulusan in the last 24 hours.

Volcanoes

COLUMBIA - On April 26th, facing the risk of possible new eruptions from the Nevado del Huila volcano, the Nasa indigenous authorities in Tierradentro resolved that 2,307 families in the Tierradentro reservations should leave their sacred territories to safe identified locations. On May 3, the indigenous authorities reported that to date, 1,792 families had been relocated. There is information that indicates that to date, 100 people from the Caloto and Tóez reservations have not left from their shelters. In addition, there are reports that another 30 inhabitants of the reservations are returning daily to care for their belongings. The instability of the system continues, and it's possible that new eruptions will occur.

Third wildfire cuts through Pender

Breaking Earth News
North Carolina, USA

Pender County's third fire in a month burned out of control Wednesday night after consuming 600 to 1,000 acres, forest service officials said.The fire began on residential property near Stag Drive then spread into the adjoining Holly Shelter Gamelands, which is owned by the state, said Pender County Fire Marshal Charles Newman.Winds blowing at 10 to 15 mph aided the blaze, spreading it through the Carolina bay and pocosin swamp vegetation in the game land.

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Rain puts parts of Kansas under water

Aerial Views of Farmland underwater: Photo provided by Toni Kelley

Breaking Earth News
Kansas, USA
HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Torrential rainfall hit parts of the Plains and Midwest, flooding towns in Kansas Thursday, toppling trees and power lines and pelting the countryside with hail.
Some central Kansas towns recorded as much as 7 inches of rain — in some places up to 2 inches per hour — starting Wednesday.
The deluge closed dozens of roads, some flooded for the second time in three weeks, said Dean Speaks, deputy emergency management director for Saline County.
"It's taken out the roads that we fixed (after the first flooding)," Speaks said. Numerous government facilities, homes and businesses in the Salina area were flooded.
Everyone in the Saline County towns of Bavaria and Hedville — about 80 people — evacuated their homes overnight. Fifty homes in Ogden, near Fort Riley, were being voluntarily evacuated as area creeks rose.
In Hutchinson, many motorists had to be helped from their cars as water flooded streets.
"In some places, there are people with water up to their porches," Hutchinson Fire Chief Kim Forbes said. Fire trucks were used to help move people to higher ground or to shelters.

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Flooding in Kansas Causes Millions in Damage

Massive floods are wreaking havoc in Kansas -- 5-7-inch rainfalls have put areas of the state underwater and dozens of roads out of business. Right now it's worst in Saline County.

Rains bring floods, transport chaos

Breaking Earth News

Spain

MADRID: Heavy rain flooded Spanish towns yesterday, stranding thousands as roads and railways were submerged and washing away olive trees and vineyards.Hail and rain destroyed hundreds of millions of euros worth of crops. Farmers in Extremadura near the border with Portugal said fruit harvests like early cherries had been ruined.Over 400 people fled their homes in the town of Alcazar de San Juan as a dike came close to bursting in the normally parched province of Ciudad Real, south of Madrid.Thunderstorms were set to keep pounding the central grain and wine producing region of Castilla La Mancha until the weekend.A wetter-than-normal spring had helped to alleviate drought conditions in central and southern Spain. However, as much rain has fallen on the central region’s rolling plains in the last few days as in the whole of 2005.Train services, including links between Madrid and major Mediterranean coast cities, were suspended yesterday as tracks disappeared under water.“We can’t say when they will restart because it’s still raining,” a spokesman for the state railway operator Renfe said.Farm union Asaja reported extensive damage.“Overflowing rivers have dragged away centuries old olive trees and destroyed hillsides,” it said on its webpage.

Floods, Mudslides Kill 21 in China

China

May 24, 2007

Heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides that killed 21 people and left 11 missing, state media said Friday. The storms that pummeled Sichuan province on Wednesday and Thursday left 11 people dead in the areas of Ganzi and Liangshan, and another five people missing, the Xinhua News Agency said.A mudslide also damaged a 1,000-foot stretch of highway, it said.In the city of Chongqing, floods and lightning killed 10 people and left six missing. Earlier this week, state media said seven children in Chongqing died Wednesday when lightning struck their school and set it on fire.Some 112,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes, Xinhua said, citing She Mingzhe, head of Chongqing's Civil Affairs Bureau.

Earthquake rattles Hawaii near volcano

Breaking Earth News
Hawaii, USA

San Francisco - An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale shook Hawaii's Big Island on Thursday, but no injuries or damage were reported, local media reported.
The epicentre of the quake was near the Kilauea volcano in Volcanoes National Park, reported the Honolulu Star Bulletin. It was the largest earthquake in the area for at least 50 years.
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in October near the Big Island, causing millions of dollars in damage but no deaths or serious injuries.

Softball Hail, Floods, 80 MPH Winds, Tornadoes

Breaking Storm News

Kansas, USA

14 Tornado reports, 54 wind reports (to 80 mph) and 135 hail reports were received on Wednesday evening and overnight in the Central Plains, according to The WeatherMatrix StormMatrix. As of 6 AM Central time, the tornadoes appear to have been in rural areas and have not caused any injuries, according to Google News.

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Storm dumps about 7 inches of rain on already soaked area

The town of Hutchinson, Kansas endured flooding from the storms. Photo: A Hutchinson Police vehicle pushes water that was bumper deep as it crosses 4th on Adams Wednesday afternoon. Torrential rains dumped 4 inches on Hutchinson in two hours Wednesday, causing major street flooding. The water was lapping the doorsteps of some houses. Photo by Travis Morisse

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Icy weather grips South Africa

Breaking Earth News
South Africa

Freezing temperatures gripping South Africa killed at least 22 people this week as millions of the country's poor battled to keep warm.

Snow has fallen in large parts of the country, closing mountain passes and leaving people and buses trapped. Temperatures are expected to drop further with the onset of the coldest weather of the year.

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Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Kamchatka spews ash column

Russia
May 23, 2007

The Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has spewed a major ash column to a height of up to eight kilometres above sea level. The plume is moving to the southeast. There is no danger to nearby populated localities. Klyuchi settlement is located 32 kilometres from the volcano and no fallout of volcanic dust has been registered there. However, the volcano roar and explosions can be heard in this settlement with a population of about 5,000. “House windows are trembling from them.” Two lava flows over two kilometres in length are observed on the volcano slope. They are melting the mount’s glacier at a height of about three kilometres. Phreatic explosions occur when the hot lava with a temperature of 1,000 degrees comes in contact with ice. Volcanic bombs are spewed from the crater to a height of up to 500 metres.

VOLCANOES

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - The hundreds of people who fled their home on Siassi Island in Papua New Guinea are refusing to return home until they get an assurance that the volanic eruption which drove them to higher ground at the weekend won’t happen again. Reports from the local disaster and emergency centre in Morobe province say up to two thousand people fled their home after the eruption on nearby Ritter Island. A resident on Siassi Island, Stella Aitova, says they’re still waiting for the experts to assess the volcano and people won’t return home until then.

Unusual high-tides indicate another tsunami

May 23, 2007

Port Blair: The abnormal rise in sea-level during high-tides in the last three days has re-opened the tsunami scars of thousands on the Islands of Andaman and Nicobar. However, officials have failed to provide any concrete data regarding this. This UNUSUAL PHENOMENON has left huge heaps of sand deposited in front of houses and hotels nearby, causing problems for the people. "The coastal road is overloaded with sea sand of nearly one meter height." After getting similar reports from Phuket and Bangkok, people in tsunami hit Car Nicobar Islands feared this as an indication of another disaster, but local administration dismissed it, saying everything was normal. However, the Port Management Board Harbour Master said that there might be three main reasons - monsoon, change in the beach profile after the tsunami and the timing of tides coinciding with office timings. "This is normal after heavy monsoon as water from hilly areas mix up with seawater which raises the sea level." Normally reading of high-tides in these Islands is 1.8 to 1.9 meters but during monsoon and full moon nights, the reading goes up to 2.4 meters. In this case monsoon and full-moon came together. The waves smashed into the premises of a few restaurants along coastal areas on May 19 and 20, overturning tables and chairs. The National Institute of Ocean Technology had installed nearly 15 tide gauges across the country to measure tidal variations, but officials failed to provide any reading behind this ABNORMAL rise of tide level. "We have readings of rise in the wave height of sea but not of tides. Due to Southwest monsoon, the wave heights are higher and the beach profile of Andaman has already changed which can be the reason behind this." Apart from the changes in the beach profile, many believe that Sea Walls had prevented seawater entry in these places, thereby forcing the sea to flood other adjacent areas. Massive Sea walls have been constructed in various places of South Andaman to reclaim land, inundated by seawater after the tsunami due to tilting of the land mass. The project, Post Seismic Relaxation in Andaman and Nicobar, had already recorded a tilt of four-and-a-half metres along the North-South belt of the 572 island conglomerate in the Indian Ocean and an East-West tilt of two-and-a-half metres, explaining why most of the 1700 hectares of paddy fields in Port Blair's eastern coast were still submerged in water. People and fishermen have not ventured into the sea during the last few days, fearing another disastrous tsunami.

FREAK WAVES/ HIGH TIDES

Mentawai Islands, off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia - Thursday, May 17 & Friday, May 18, has seen an amazing 20-25 feet plus swell hit the Mentawai Island chain. A number of surfers ventured out and scored some of the most epic barrels of their lives. "On Thursday, there was a set of at least 9 waves that were maxing 20 feet - but absolutely perfect...some of the most amazing waves I've ever seen. They were every bit of 25 feet. Just wish I had a camera! " Not everyone was so lucky though. The local villagers of Katiet were swamped by the swell which combined with a seasonal Monsoonal King Tide and has left their village under 0.5 metres of water. "This is the first time we have had so much water in the village. Normally we get a little but spend our time watching the surfers in the big waves. This time, we were too busy to watch as we were bailing out the water. " A resort owner was amazed at the size of the swell. "I've never seen anything like this first hand. The surf was massive."

SPAIN - A quiet holiday in Alicante, Spain ended in tragedy for a British couple when they were swallowed up by a FREAK WAVE, sucked out to sea and one of them drowned. It was before lunchtime on Friday, May 18, when they were walking from the water after a swim in the sea at Cala Estaca beach when a freak wave sucked them under the water and pulled them both out to sea. The woman was able to free herself from the water, however, the 21-year-old male was unable to extricate himself and tragically drowned.

Lahar deposits found at Bulusan; UK warning up

Breaking Volcanic Alert

Philippines

After finding lahar deposits in Bulusan Volcano in Bicol, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned Sorsogon residents to take precaution.Radio dzBB reported Thursday that Phivolcs head Renato Solidum Jr. issued the warning after a Phivolcs team conducted an aerial survey of the volcano.Citing the team's report, Solidum said the volcano had at least three cracks from where steam came out.But he said what prompted them to issue the warning was the lahar deposits that he said may endanger villages around the volcano when the rains come.Weather forecasters expect heavy rains to come in the next few months because of the La Niña phenomenon.On the other hand, the Sorsogon provincial government convened its provincial disaster coordinating council to discuss ways to address potential problems.In a related development, two days after the United States warned its citizens against travel near Bulusan volcano, the United Kingdom followed suit in a travel advisory updated Thursday.In its advisory dated Thursday (Manila time), the UK Embassy cited the raising of the alert level from “1" to “2" by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).“There is a four-kilometre Permanent Danger Zone within which no entry is allowed. Furthermore, areas beyond this zone which are downwind are likely to be affected by ash falls," it said.

Tornado reported in Texas Panhandle

Texas, USA

May 23, 2007

Thunderstorms swept across the northern area of the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, bringing up to tennis-ball sized hail, high winds and heavy rains.
A tornado touched down near the small town of Darrouzett in Lipscomb County and several others were spotted in the Panhandle in open country, authorities said. No damage or injuries were reported.
There was one report of 60 mph winds, said Rich Wynne, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Amarillo.

Tornado Strikes Ontario

Breaking Storm News
Ontario, Canada

At the same time Sherry McCall and her family were watching two funnel clouds approaching the Winthrop-area farm of her parents, Orville and Lila Storey, meteorologist Geoff Coulson was watching “strong rotation signatures” near Winthrop on the radar.“We did have at least one touch down near Winthrop. It was confirmed as an F1 on the Fujita scale, which is winds between 120 and 180 km/h,” says the Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist.Coulson says a damage team sent from Environment Canada and the University of Western Ontario to the area after last Tuesday evening’s storm found plenty of evidence of a tornado.While the exact path and number of funnel clouds haven’t been determined, Coulson says there was wind damage from Winthrop through Brodhagen to Bornholm and Monkton.“We’re not sure if it all links up,” he says.The worst of the damage occurred between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with flattened barns, toppled silos, downed trees and debris sprayed at a wide angle throughout country fields.Luckily, no one was hurt and no one lost their home during the storm.“There was very selective damage in a narrow path, which is very tornadic in nature,” says Coulson.

Drought Lowers Lake Levels; Threatens Drinking Water Supply

Alabama, USA

Click the Photo to View Video

May 21, 2007
It's being called the worst drought in Alabama in nearly fifty years. The lack of rain taking its toll on everything from drinking water in some towns to electricity production.
The dry conditions are perhaps most obvious on the state's lakes and rivers. A close look at the shore line and bridges at Lake Martin reveals a 4-foot drop in the water level over recent weeks.
"All of our lakes and reservoirs are significantly down this spring," said Alabama Power Spokeswoman Jan Ellis.
The power company's Tallapoosa River Manager, David Waites, added, "this is the lowest the reservoir has been since 1960."

Tornado, Hail Nip Two More Bulgarian Villages

Bulgaria
May 22, 2007

Tornado and hail stroke Bulgaria's villages of Yoglav and Gumoshtnik on Tuesday, causing serious damages to dozens of houses.The roofs of numerous of houses were blown by the strong winds in Yoglav. There are also demolished chimneys in the village.Three people have been injured as a result of the hail, which fell in the village of Gumoshtnik. One man has a head trauma and two women were wounded in their arms.All the vehicles that were parked in the open were smashed.

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Bulgarian River Overflows

May 22, 2007

A purifying station near Bulgaria's second city of Plovdiv has been submerged after Tamrashka River has overflown on Tuesday.Teams of Civil Defence services are still fortifying the river's bed using boughs and sacks full of sand.The accident occurred as a result of the torrential rains, which continue pouring over the whole country. Photo: A woman looks terrified at the swollen waters of the Vladayska river near Sofia that threatened to flood residential houses on Monday. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Clean-up under way following Nelson floods

Breaking Earth News

New Zealand

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A massive clean-up operation is underway across Nelson after the city was hit by heavy rain and flash flooding this morning. Nearly 100-millimetres fell in the 24 hours leading up to10:00am, with the suburb of Stoke the worst affected. Three schools were closed and the New World supermarket was also forced to delay opening its doors by a number of hours. Nayland College was one of the worst places hit and had to send students home,,,, Principal Charles Newton says it took them all by surprise. Further north parts of Taranaki were also badly affected, where several homes had to be evacuated after the Oakura River burst its banks.

FLOODS

Overnight Storms Tear Through Central Texas

Texas, USA
Click Photo to View Video (Overnight Storms)

May 22, 2007
Loud storms packed with rain hit Central Texas after midnight Tuesday.
Floodwaters Shut Down Central Texas Roads
Flash floods also put roads underwater in the Waco area, and rescue crews scrambled to save people caught in the rising water.
Storms Wreak Havoc Through Hill CountryCurrents swept away parts of the Mesquite Creek Bridge just outside Lampasas.

Georgia Drought Intensifies in 30 Counties

May 21, 2007

ATLANTA (AP) -- After one of the driest springs in recent history, Georgia farmers, environmental officials and local authorities face some tough decisions about using water.The lingering drought is now categorized as "extreme" in more than 30 counties. It has already led state authorities to limit outdoor water use to only a few days each week. If it intensifies, state officials could soon decide whether to limit most outdoor water usage to one weekend day or even ban it altogether.Farmers are also facing their own tough decision: Whether planting some crops is even worth the hassle. Staples such as corn are particularly suffering. And peanut farmers, who typically plant the seeds in May, are holding off for now.

After a dry fall and winter, the state Environmental Protection Division decided in April to declare a "level two" drought, which triggered statewide restrictions.

RELATED NEWS

Thick Smoke Chokes Atlanta

May 22, 2007

ATLANTA -- Thick smoke settled over Atlanta Tuesday morning causing eyes to water and traffic to slow down.
Winds from the southeast carried smoke from wildfires burning in South Georgia and North Florida.
The smoke appeared almost like a London fog.
There is a code orange air quality warning in effect for the area. That means the air could be unhealthy for sensitive groups. View Slideshow

Weather cranky this year too?

Breaking Earth News

India

Is the weather pattern changing? Monsoons last year saw deficient rains. Winters were fogless. Now summers are witnessing more rains than usually witnessed during this time of the year. Average rainfall from March 1, 2007 to May 16, 2007 was 121% more than the normal standard set for the period. In fact, every district on an average received 48.5 mm rains in said period in comparison to 22.0 mm normally. The phenomenon was widespread. Out of 57-met-districts in the state, 37 witnessed rains more than normal standard. Rainfall exceeded normals by more than 100% at 26 districts. At five places it was more than 300%. In 26-met-districts rainfall was normal or below normal. Ghazipur topped the list by receiving 104.1 mm rains which was 428% above normal. In Bahraich, Azamgarh and Lucknow, the rainfall was 396%, 360% and 330% above normals, respectively. Auraiya, Badaun, Ferozabad and Jyotiba Phule Nagar witnessed rains 229%-297% above normal standards. Significantly, the weather trend has been irregular since the start of 2006. The usual chill was missing from the winters followed by ‘humid’ summers, while the entire month of May was lashed by rains and thunderstorms. Total rainfall in monsoon was 30% less than normal, followed by winters sans fog. Now summer 2007, which is also referred to as post-winter and pre-monsoon session by meteorologists, has also been continuously lashed by rains and thunder showers over the last two and half months, giving rise to fears that monsoon might again go dry this year, if the present situation continues. The change in wind pattern led to a rise in maximum temperatures all over the state on Monday. Dry hot westerly winds dominated the climate, replacing moisture laden easterlies. It was the FIRST TIME IN THE MONTH OF MAY THAT PEOPLE FACED DRY HOT WINDS popularly known as "loo" in this part of the world. While Kanpur was the hottest by recording 42.2 Degrees Celsius maximum temperature, Lucknow was simmering at 41 degrees Celsius. While the weather has been behaving in an HIGHLY UNUSUAL MANNER over the last year, the period taken for assessment is too small to make any sweeping remarks about change in weather pattern. "Weather calculations are based on a period not less than 20 years."

Storm Havoc in South Africa

South Africa

May 21, 2007

Snowfalls on the Boland mountains have contributed to plummeting temperatures as Cape Town today picked up the pieces in the wake of the weekend's vicious storm.
Residents in Cape Flats informal settlements were still mopping up today after their homes and the pathways in their areas were flooded by heavy rain overnight.
Snow fell on mountain peaks above Ceres, Franschhoek and Somerset West, as temperatures plummeted to below freezing point in higher-lying areas.
Temperatures are expected to remain low throughout the week, with a maximum of 13º C today.
And there's more rain on the way, as a weaker cold front approaches from the south-west to hit late on Wednesday or Thursday morning. Another is expected to arrive on Saturday, said forecaster Nick Koegelenberg.
The winter weather, caused by a north-westerly storm generated by a cut-off low pressure system, caused widespread flooding and damage that left more than 1 000 people temporarily homeless.

New Guinea villagers flee after eruption

Breaking Volcanic News
New Guinea

UP to 2000 villagers have fled to higher ground from their seaside homes on Siassi Island in Papua New Guinea after a volcanic eruption on nearby Ritter Island.
There were no reports from the island of casualties, but sea surges reportedly destroyed four houses and a boat following Saturday's eruption, Morobe Province disaster and emergency director Roy Kamen said today.
Around 1500 to 2000 people from two villages had moved to higher ground for fear of tsunamis and locals were too afraid to travel by sea, he said.
"They reported waves and the level of the sea rising," Mr Kamen said.
"They still hear rumbling noises and see smoke coming out of the island and had a few tremors last night."
The islands lie between the PNG mainland and the island of New Britain.

Photo: Rabaul Volcano on Ritter Island, New Guinea

Related News
Island blows up
THOUSANDS of people on the eastern side of the Siassi Island in Morobe province are homeless after fleeing to higher grounds after the nearby active Ritter Island blew up.The Disaster and Emergency Office in Lae last night said the island erupted last Saturday and was spewing ash and smoke, catching the Rabaul Volcanic Observatory by surprise.Disaster and Emergency director Roy Kamen said reports from the area confirmed that tidal waves created by the eruption smashed into Kabi and Kampalap villages on the eastern part of Siassi Island, flattening four houses and sending about 10,000 local villagers fleeing to the hills for safety.

Thunder, hail, rain hit NE Washington

Breaking Storm News

Washington State, USA

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A severe thunderstorm brought hail and nearly an inch of rain to Spokane County and eastern Lincoln County, caving in the roof of a state building, causing power outages and flooding streets,

Tanja Merriman, a janitor at the state Department of Social and Health Services building on North Maple in Spokane, stepped out of a restroom she was cleaning Monday evening to find the waiting room had become a wading pool - the ceiling collapsed and a torrent of rainwater rushed in.

The storm caused a quick temperature drop and gusty winds knocked down some branches in the area, said National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Koch. Before Monday's storm, the region was 2.5 inches below the normal amount of precipitation.

Video News: 13 Dead in Mudslides in Rain Soaked Columbia

Breaking Earth News
Columbia, S.A.

Effects of global warming can be reversed through proper planning

Global Warming Alert
PESHAWAR, May 20 (APP)
Earlier characterized as a remote threat, the effects of global warming have started emerging in Pakistan with summers becoming hotter and winters chillier, making it unbearable for human beings to adapt themselves to the sharply swinging mercury. In some areas of NWFP an unprecedented freezing cold weather was recorded this year that crippled life and its routine activities. The meteorologists' have predicted record hot weather this year which would enhance chances of health related problems apart from increasing shortages of food and water. Moreover, due to the changing global weather, the risk of heavy floods would increase that would inundate low lying areas. The world renowned meteorologists maintain that the lives of high number of people are at great risk due to the rapidly altering weather. According to the research of Psychology experts, the rising suicide ratio in the society is also caused by the altering atmosphere which is one of the major factors leading to the behavioral change in people. Likewise, meteorologists and weather experts have forewarned of acute dearth of food and water by the year 2020 and have said that 2007 would be the hottest year after 1850 when the recording of temperatures was started.

Landslide Blocks Major European Road in Sofia Suburb

Bulgaria
Photo: The torrential rains flooded Sofia and its suburbs, making some of the roads virtually impassable. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

May 20, 2007
A landslide caused by the heavy torrential rains blocked the E79 European road in the Vladaya suburb of Bulgarian capital Sofia late on Sunday.

The road links the city to the southwestern part of the country, continuing on to Greece through the Kulata border checkpoint.

Emergency crews are cleaning up the debris, but their work is complicated by the downpour, while the traffic has been detoured to a bypass road.

Some emergency units had to be dispatched to clear another landslide, which blocked a lesser road, from Sofia to Samokov in the foothills of the Rila Mountains.

The torrential downpour has swelled the small rivers passing through the Bulgarian capital, causing minor damages and slowing down traffic.

Phivolcs raises alert at rumbling Bulusan volcano

Volcanic Alert
Philippines
May 20, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- State volcanologists raised the alert level to 2 at the volatile Bulusan volcano effective noon Sunday, warning about the “possibility of an explosive eruption.”

Over the past three days, 673 earthquakes have been recorded in the area of the volcano, up from 223 tremors during the previous three-day period, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Director Renato Solidum Jr. said Sunday.

Volcanologist also observed “inflation” on the side of the volcano due to gas and fluid pressure.

“We raised the alert at level 2 after we observed an increase in volcanic unrest. At alert level 2 there’s a possibility of an explosive eruption,” Solidum said.

He “strongly advised” residents “to stay out of the four-kilometer radius of the volcano, which is a permanent danger zone.”

Bulusan last spewed ash on May 12, the 23rd such explosion since March 2006.

Huge waves continue to pound Indonesian coasts

Indonesia
May 20, 2007
Jakarta- After destroying hundreds of houses across the
coastal lines of Java, Bali and western Sumatra, tidal waves struck
the coasts of eastern Indonesian islands of Lombok and Flores, forced
to more than 1,000 people to flee their homes and keeping fishermen
onshore, local media reports said Sunday.

While residents across the southern coast of Java and Bali, and
the western coast of Sumatra, were cleaning out debris from their
homes which were damaged by the tidal waves two days earlier, the
huge waves heavily damaged or destroyed more than 150 homes along
coastlines on Lombok and Flores islands.

At least 1,000 residents were forced to abandon their homes on the
two islands, and the tidal waves also forced on fishermen to halt
their activity, a leading Kompas daily reported.

Weather officials say the waves were a result of the accumulation
of winds in one spot and are not linked with annual weather patterns.
Forecasters warned that high waves may reoccur in the coming days.

Swell Causing Serious Floods Across The Country

Maldives
May 16, 2007
Dozens of islands across the Maldives have reportedly been affected by a large swell that struck the country on Tuesday. The government says the number of inhabited islands affected is 55 out of a total of 197, but some local reports say 80.
The people of Fares Mathoda, Gaaf Dhaal atoll, reportedly abandoned the island, which was submerged, and took to boats at around 12:30 last night. Waves are also reportedly lashing Gadhdhoo, Gaaf Daal atoll.



The Maldives Meteorological Office warned all islands to be braced for further unusual tides through Wednesday and possibly Thursday. The Met Office cannot explain why the sudden swell has taken place but has said it is definitely not the result of a tsunami.

Related News: India Government Cover-up involved in Freak Tidal Surge
Government Wrong To Blame Storm Surges
A Meteorological Office forecaster has told Minivan News storm surges are not responsible for last week’s widespread flooding in the Maldives, despite the government’s insistence they are to blame.

On Thursday government spokesman, Mohamed Hussein Shareef, said “media reports of tidal waves are exaggerations… these are clearly storm surges [which] regularly happen in the Maldives at this time of year.”

Opposition parties have added to criticism of the government’s handling of the floods, by accusing the government of responding slowly and failing to involve the Disaster Management Centre early enough.

Water shortage knocks at Turkey's door

Thursday, May 17, 2007
ISTANBUL

The effects of global climate change will make itself felt this summer in Turkey, in the form of water shortages. Alarm bells are ringing in the country's three-largest cities. Officials, startled by the low level of water resources have been warning the public over the last few days about a possible water shortage crisis. Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir municipalities have been proposing measures to the public that if implemented will relegate activities like watering gardens or washing cars with a hose to the annals of history.

Water levels in dams serving Istanbul indicate supply will last just six more months at current levels, announced officials. Meteorology reports stating that the weather this summer will be warmer than in former years increases the worries. The percentage of water in the dams supplying Istanbul decreased by 47 percent announced the General Directorate of Istanbul Water and Canalization Administration (İSKİ), the Anatolia news agency reported. İSKİ advised people not to waste water suggesting that people close the tap while brushing teeth or shaving, and stop washing cars and carpets with a hose.

People could build cisterns and store rainwater to irrigate their gardens as a means of saving water, the Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbaş suggested. Environmentalists meanwhile, warned that long term and serious strategies were necessary to prevent drought.

Manhattan-sized ice island will be weather balloon of climate change

Canada

May 19, 2007

Climate Change Alert

Photo: Universite Laval Technician Dennis Sarrazin stands on Ayles Ice Island in the Arctic Ocean in May 2006. The ice island formed in August 2005 when the Ayles Ice Shelf, which was between 3,000 and 4,500 years old, cracked off Ellesmere Island and slid into the sea. It is 66 square kilometres in area and between 30 and 40 metres thick, making it the largest ice island in Canada in 30 years.Photograph by : The Canadian Press, file

A Manhattan-sized ice island off the northwest coast of Canada's Ellesmere Island could soon be on the move because of extraordinary conditions in the eastern Arctic - a "sentinel" of climate change, being fitted with a tracking device, that can be followed in real time as it travels the Arctic. Huge cracks and areas of open water have been appearing near the Ayles Ice Island in recent weeks. The ice island formed in August 2005 when the Ayles Ice Shelf, which was between 3,000 and 4,500 years old, cracked off Ellesmere Island and slid into the sea. It is 66 square kilometres in area and between 30 and 40 metres thick, making it the LARGEST ICE ISLAND IN CANADA IN 30 YEARS. The island could soon start moving because of the remarkable ice loss occurring in the nearby Lincoln Sea at the northeastern tip of Ellesmere. The sea is losing vast amounts of ice because the Nares Strait ice bridge, which normally forms between Ellesmere Island and Baffin Island in December - and prevents the Arctic ice from moving south, did not form this winter. The loss is also generating enormous fractures in the polar pack ice, some of them hundreds of kilometres long. Large parts of the Lincoln Sea "have essentially been ice-free for the last month or two, which is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL." Huge slabs of thick, hard multi-year ice up to 90-kilometres across have been breaking free in the Lincoln Sea and sailing south, bound for the waters off Labrador and Newfoundland. The ice is coming down and breaking up as it travels through Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. Some chunks have been spotted as far south as Fogo Island off Newfoundland. In the past, large ice islands have migrated around the Arctic for 40 to 50 years. The big question now is whether Ayles Island, which is expected to head toward the southwest, will become stuck in Canada's Arctic islands, or head for the Beaufort Sea - a prospect that worries oil companies. The Ayles Ice Shelf was one of six ice shelves left in Canada, remnants of a vast icy fringe that covered the top end of Ellesmere for eons.

Torrential Rains Leave Farmers and Beachgoers Frustrated

Lebanon

Click Map to Enlarge

May 18, 2007

Beirut & Chouf - Spring-time storms have damaged crops across the Chouf Mountains and the Bekaa Valley and led to the flooding of Al-Assi River.

Torrential rains in the past few days caused flooding in several parts of the Bekaa, transforming streets into rivers and leaving residents stranded in their homes. The government deployed earth-moving equipment Thursday to redirect waters that had trapped residents in their homes.

Farmers in the upper Chouf villages say that high winds and hail this year have smashed both trees and fruits, cherry crops destroyed.

Changes in climate are widely suspected as an impact of global warming. The persistence of cloudy skies and rainfall in May may be part of a broad, long-term alteration of the country's weather patterns. The unpredictable weather has frustrated beachgoers, pedestrians, and farmers.

"We never saw such ugly weather since 1948," said Nidal Zeineddine, a longtime cherry farmer in the Chouf. "Our whole season is now at real risk."

TORRENTIAL RAINS/ FLOODS

TIBET - There's growing concern for people living in a remote county of Tibet where days of torrential rains have triggered an avalanche and mud-slide closing the only highway to Zayu County isolating more than 22,000 people. As of Thursday morning no casualties had been reported but there has been little contact with villagers and herders in the area. Zayu has received more than 140 millimeters of rainfall since Monday, more than half of the county's monthly average for May. Located in southeastern Tibet, Zayu County borders India and Myanmar and has a total population of 26,200. More than 1,000 cubic meters of snow covered a 90-meter-long stretch of highway, while the mud slide left a 35-meter-deep gully on another section of the road.

View Powerful Video: Tears for Lebanon

Freak hailstorm lashes Troodos

Cyprus

MOUNTAINOUS areas and villages in Limassol felt the brunt of a freak hailstorm that lashed the Troodos range yesterday afternoon.Residents of Limassol district villages on the range yesterday said they sustained catastrophic damages to their fields and crops from the heavy rain and hailstorms to strike the villages of Amiandos, Chandria, Pelendri, Agros and Kyperounta.The violent downpour started at around 3.30pm and residents of the villages could only look on in horror as the rainstorm was followed by one hour of hailstones which some witnesses said were the size of walnuts.Yesterday, the narrow streets of Chandria were iced with hailstones with elderly residents of the village inspecting their roofs and gardens to examine the severity of the damage.Fields were flooded as were the roads especially in the mountains. Firemen were called to some homes and workshops that were also flooded with muddy water.The Kyperounta–Agros road was closed off well into the night due to heavy floods and the local authorities were placed on high alert after it was reported that the nearby Xyliatou Dam was close to overflowing.

Beach access closed as high waves pound Phuket

Photo: Beach, Patong, Phuket, Thailand

PHUKET, May 19 (TNA) – Provincial authorities are guarding beaches in this Thai tourist haven, banning swimming and access to the beaches due to dangerously strong winds and high tide.

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation chief Aroon Kerdsom said that this week's unusually high tide peaks Saturday at Phuket Island, considered one of the world's best-known beach resorts.

Life has slowed to a standstill with the rising tide affecting beachfront shops, homes, and seaside restaurants.

Activity on the waterfront focuses on officials helping local residents to move their belongings to higher ground, he said.

Beach guards maintain their watch over tourist beaches as swimming is banned as would-be holiday-makers instead gaze raptly at waves which are three- to four-metres high.

Japanese waters warming faster than world average

Japan
Photo: Waves wash up to a roadside along the coast in the city of Fukuoka, western Japan in 2004. The temperature of waters around Japan has risen at a much faster rate than the rest of the world's oceans in the past century, partly because of global warming, according to an official report.(AFP/JIJI Press/File)

May 16, 2007
TOKYO (AFP) - The temperature of waters around Japan has risen at a much faster rate than the rest of the world's oceans in the past century, partly because of global warming, according to an official report.

Average sea temperatures in areas around Japan rose by 0.7-1.6 degrees Celsius between 1900 and 2006, a higher rate than the world average of 0.5 degrees Celsius, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

This compared with an average rise of 1.1 degrees Celsius in the temperature on the ground in Japan in the past century, the governmental agency said in its report this week.

The warmer ocean was expected to impact fish resources and the ecosystem including colonies of corals, said Yasushi Takatsuki, a marine meteorology specialist at the agency.

Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis

Skywatch-Media Public Announcement
May 18, 2007

'What Is Live Earth?'Learn more about the concerts now
watch video



Inspired by Live Earth, Madonna has written a new song titled "Hey You," which is available exclusively on MSN, free of charge, for seven days. "Hey You" was produced by Pharrell Williams and Madonna and recorded in London. Madonna will perform "Hey You" as one of the headliners for Live Earth U.K., joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, the Beastie Boys and other performers at Wembley Stadium in London on July 7, as part of the 24-hour, seven-continent Live Earth concert series.
As the exclusive online destination for Live Earth, MSN is pleased to offer this song in conjunction with Madonna and is proud to donate 25 cents for each of the first 1 million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection, in support of Live Earth.

Download the exclusive free Madonna Song Here!



Join LiveEarth.org and become part of the solution
Live Earth will bring together more than 150 of the world's top musicians for 24-hours of music from 9 concerts across all 7 continents. Live Earth will bring together an audience of more than 2 billion at the concerts and through television, radio, film, and the Internet. That audience, and the proceeds from the event, will create the foundation for a new, multi-year global effort to cotmbat the climate crisis led by Vice President Al Gore. Kevin Wall, Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, is producing Live Earth.






© 2007 Skwatch-Media. All Rights Reserved

Central Texans witness a rare weather effect

Texas, USA

Updated: May 16, 2007

Watch Video

NBC 6 got a number of calls Wednesday afternoon from people wondering about something kind of interesting in the sky.
A large ring encircled the sun for a little while as some clouds passed overhead.
NBC 6 Chief Meteorologist Andy Andersen says it was an optical phenomenon caused by the sun shining through thin clouds at a very high altitude. Frozen water droplets acted as prism, creating a halo effect.

Rainy season begins with more heavy downpours on wide scale

Vietnam

Photo: Staff members of the Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control in the northern province of Son La’s Quynh Nhai District practise on the Da River to enhance their capacity to cope with disaster in preparation for the coming flood season. — VNA/VNS Photo Dieu Chinh Toi

May 17, 2007

The beginning of the rainy season brought prolonged heavy downpours to the southern provinces and the Central Highlands last week. The rainy season this year differed to that of past years. The past years saw small, sporadic showers on a small scale during the beginning of the season. This year, the rainy season started earlier with prolonged heavy rains across large areas from the south-east, the south-west and the Mekong River Delta provinces to the Central Highlands. Rainfall in Dong Nai, HCM City and Long An last weekend measured between 100-130mm, higher than the average level during the same period in previous years. The early high rainfall was attributed to a tropical low pressure system coupled with a cold atmosphere wave moving south from the northern provinces. Prolonged torrential rains during the past few days have submerged several roads in the city centre. Many sections of Dinh Tien Hoang and Nguyen Huu Canh roads wee under 20-30cm of water, blocking traffic for several hours. In the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong heavy downpours have caused small floods that disrupted traffic for several hours on National Highway 27. Many sections of this highway were under 50cm of water. In Phan Rang - Thap Cham Town, in the south central province of Binh Thuan, rainfall measured 120mm, the HIGHEST LEVEL IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS. In the Central province of Quang Tri, torrential rains have hit districts of Hai Lang, Gio Linh and Cam Lo, destroying several thousands of hectares of rice. Initial losses are estimated at VND10bil (US$625,000). In the Mekong River delta, prolonged heavy downpours during the last four days have led to a sudden change in the water environment, resulting in a loss of half of the area's tra catfish stocks. About 30 hectares of fish ponds in Binh Minh District, Vinh Long Province have been infected by a disease that flourishes during heavy rainfall, forcing tra catfish farmers to stop breeding new fish stock until the prolonged rains stop. The rainy season this year is expected to last until the end of November with high rainfall in June, September and October.

Huge waves hit Indonesian coastlines

Breaking Earth News

Indonesia

Photo: Residents watch huge waves at Pandansimo beach in Bantul outside the city of Yogyakarta, May 18, 2007. Massive waves have hit coastlines across Indonesia, sending hundreds of panicky residents rushing from their homes and also destroying fishing boats and beachside shacks, officials and media reports said on Friday. REUTERS/Stringer

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Massive waves have hit coastlines across Indonesia, sending hundreds of panicky residents rushing from their homes and also destroying fishing boats and beachside shacks, officials and media reports said on Friday.
Television footage showed high waves crashing into the tourist island of Bali, parts of the southern coast of Java island and Sukabumi area in West Java where dozens of residents scrambled inland as flood waters flowed into a little village.
"More than 400 people escaped from their houses since the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the tidal waves will last for three days," Memo Hermawan, deputy regent of West Java's Garut area near Sukabumi, told Reuters.
Weather officials said the waves which began hitting the Indonesian coast on Thursday and continued on Friday were unusual and not linked with the annual weather pattern.
Waves as high as 4-5 metres (13-16 feet) struck Bali's Jimbaran known for its string of beachfront seafood restaurants, destroying at least 100 fishing boats and sending waiters out to rescue chairs and tables.

First a heatwave, then torrential rain and now a twister

England
Photo: Start of tornado sighted over Claines. Picture taken by Alan Davies.

May 17, 2007
IT was the moment the start of a tornado developed above Worcester.
As rain lashed the city, the funnel cloud developed near Ombersley and quickly headed for the north of the city.
The event was captured by Worcester News reader Alan Davies, who was at home in Claines when he spotted the funnel cloud in the sky at 4.45pm on Tuesday.
The bizarre phenomenon is the latest in strange weather conditions to hit Worcestershire. Following the warmest and one of the driest Aprils on record - with temperatures in the county reaching a sizzling 24.6C (76.2F) - May has been plagued with heavy rainfall.
Downpours have been so torrential that Malvern was named as the wetttest place in the country at the beginning of this week - with 33mm in the 24 hours to 7pm on Monday.
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By stark contrast, Pershore was the hottest place in the whole of Britain yesterday at 17C (62.6F).
Worcester weatherman Paul Damari said: "We have seen a month's rain fall in 24 hours. All of these weather conditions are down to global warming and this is something we are going to have to start getting used to."

'Five Years Left To Save The Planet'

May 15, 2007

Our planet is just five years away from climate change catastrophe - but can still be saved, according to a new report.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns governments have until 2012 to "plant the seeds of change" and make positive moves to limit carbon emissions.
If they fail to do so, the WWF's Vision For 2050 warns "generations to come will have to live with the compromises and hardships caused by their inability to act".
"We have a small window of time in which we can plant the seeds of change, and that is the next five years," James Leape, from the WWF, said.
"We cannot afford to waste them. This is not something that governments can put off until the future."

Southern wildfires could burn for months

Breaking Earth News

Photo: Members of the media covering a wildfire are surrounded by smoke Monday, May 14, 2007, near Lake City, Fla. (AP Photo/Sentinel, Red Huber)

Thursday, May 17, 2007
FOLKSTON, Ga. — Mark Ruggiero has 400 firefighters, 56 engines, 49 bulldozers and nine helicopters under his command. And that still won’t be enough to snuff out the wildfires that have shrouded the Okefenokee Swamp in smoke and flame for the past month.His only hope is a big rainstorm just shy of a hurricane. And it could be months before that happens.“The fire will burn in the swamp until we get a tropical depression that will drop nine to 10 inches of rain,” said Ruggiero, who has been directing firefighters headquartered at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. “That’s what it’s going to take.”The worst wildfires in Georgia since the 1950s have blackened more than 600 square miles of dried-out forest and swampland in drought-stricken southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. Commercial timber losses are estimated to be at least $30 million.

Storm cuts swath of wreckage

Breaking Earth News

Indiana, USA

Photo: Steven Heintz, from C and E Tree Service, carries away a log from the buckeye tree that landed on the Crown Point home of Edwin Kaspar in Tuesday night's storm. A portion of the hit the roof causing minor damage. (Leslie Adkins/Post-Tribune)

Chain saws and generators provided the soundtrack for cleanup Wednesday, one day after a nasty storm walloped many parts of Northwest Indiana, hitting Portage particularly hard.
Tree-removal crews worked around the clock to mop up the mess from the Tuesday afternoon storm that brought damaging winds between 60 and 70 mph and left one dead.

NIPSCO continued efforts to restore power after 52,000 customers were left in the dark at the height of the storm.

Related News

Rush Hour Storm Wreaks Havoc

A line of fast-moving thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon brought high winds, heavy rain, lightning and thousands of power outages to Connecticut. Northeast Utilities reported more than 50,000 customers without power shortly after 5 p.m., including almost 8,000 in Cheshire, where about 70 percent of the town was knocked off the power grid.

Floods kill dozens in Afghanistan

Photo: A house damaged by flooding in the Baharak district of Badakhshan Zhulia Yaftali/IRIN

KABUL, May 16 (Reuters) - Floods triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 800 homes in Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Several other people have gone missing since the downpour started overnight and hit various parts of the remote and impoverished province on the border with China, Pakistan and Tajikistan, the ministry said.
It urged local and foreign aid groups to help the victims.
After years of successive harsh drought, Afghanistan had heavy snow and rainfall this year.
Several hundred people have died mostly from floods in recent months in various parts of the country.

FLOODS

People evacuated across Yakutia amid floods

KHABAROVSK, May 14 (Itar-Tass) - A storm warning was issued on Monday in the city of Yakutsk, where the drifting of ice and a sharp rise in the water level of the Lena River is registered.
Several streets have already been partially flooded in Yakutsk. Sixty-nine people, including 16 children have been evacuated. Evacuation will continue round-the-clock. Brigades of specialists are fortifying the dam.

Earthquake Rattles South Arkansas

Arkansas, USA

May 16, 2007

A small earthquake rattled the El Dorado area Wednesday morning, but no damage or injuries were reported. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) now says the small earthquake was magnitude 3.0. Initial indications pegged the quake at no more than a 2.5.The USGS says the quake was centered seven miles northeast of El Dorado and that the temblor had a depth of 3.1 miles.

Union County Chief Deputy Jerry Thomas says he was outside when the quake struck and that the shaking lasted for about five seconds. He says he looked at a man standing next to him and said, "What in the world was that?" Then about 50 calls came in to the sheriff's department in the next five minutes.

Laos hit by powerful earthquake

Laos

May 16, 2007

A powerful earthquake has hit western Laos, with tremors felt as far as away as Thailand and Vietnam.
The quake measured magnitude 6.1 and struck not far from the northern city of Luang Prabang, the US Geological Survey reported.
Buildings swayed in both the Thai and Vietnamese capitals. People reportedly fled shopping centres and buildings were evacuated in Bangkok.

The earthquake struck 155km (97 miles) west-north-west of Luang Prabang at just before 1600 local time (0900GMT), the USGS reported.

Flood preparations in gear as melt accelerates

British Columbia, Canada
May 15, 2007
The mountain melt-off is accelerating in British Columbia, with a torrent of water triggering a massive mudslide that shut down the Trans-Canada Highway near Golden yesterday.
Higher than seasonal temperatures at the beginning of this week facilitated the melting of the third-largest snowpack ever recorded in the Fraser River watershed. Some mountains are holding 130 per cent more snow than usual, and civilian and military flood preparations are now well under way. The last major flood of the region took place under similar conditions in 1948.
Parks Canada spokeswoman Doreen McGillis said meltwater had cut a new channel down the side of a mountain, bypassing catchment drainage basins dug by Glacier National Park engineering crews.
"We do get, normally, mudslides in the eastern part of the park, but what is unusual with this one is that the new channel bypasses those protection measures," she said. "That doesn't usually happen."

Climate change to force mass migration

May 14, 2007

A billion people - one in seven people on Earth today - could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis, a new report from Christian Aid predicts.
The report, which is based on latest UN population and climate change figures, says conflict, large-scale development projects and widespread environmental deterioration will combine to make life unsupportable for hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the Sahara belt, south Asia and the Middle East. Article continues

Australian capital faces water cuts

Australia
Photo: Canberra Parliament House

May 15, 2007 (Full Article Content)
CANBERRA (AFP) - The gardens gracing Australia's capital could soon be condemned to death by water restrictions as the country's worst drought in living memory bites deeper, an official said Tuesday.
Canberra, where the roof of the federal parliament is covered with green lawn, will face the harshest possible cutbacks in water usage by July if it does not rain.
The "stage four" restrictions could be imposed even earlier as dam levels continue to drop sharply, the managing director of the local water authority, Michael Costello, warned in a statement.
Stage four cuts ban the watering of gardens and the washing of cars. Even the fountains in the national capital would have to be turned off.
Costello said the water authority recognised the impact the harsh restrictions would have on the community, but said they were necessary to stop the city running out of water altogether.
The authority has started consulting business and industry groups to ensure the restrictions have a minimal economic effect, he said.
In the past six years, water inflows to catchments in the area have dropped by 63 percent. Last year, they were almost 90 percent less than the long-term average.
Canberra is not alone in facing the full impact of what is called "the big dry".
Neighbouring New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, has warned that several towns face stage four restrictions -- which also ban the watering of sports fields in this sport-crazy country and the use of public showers at beaches.
Australia's second-biggest city Melbourne is also on track for cutbacks after announcing Tuesday that it had endured its driest 12 months on record, receiving less than half its average rainfall.
The government said last month the drought crisis had become so severe that it could be forced to cut off irrigation water to Australia's prime agricultural zone, the Murray-Darling basin.

Prime Minister urges Australians to pray for rain

Breaking Earth News

Australia

This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio.Reporter: Sabra Lane

Almost a month has passed since the Prime Minister warned that unless there were substantial inflows to the Murray-Darling Basin, there would be zero water allocations to farmers from July.Today, Mr Howard renewed his plea to the nation to pray for rain: he said recent rainfall across the basin just hadn't been enough.Bureaucrats are drawing up contingency plans in preparation for the July deadline, with farmers warning that there's no precedent for what's about to happen. Full Transcript Here

Radio Broadcast On the Air At Earth Frenzy Radio

Wildfire burns thousands of acres in NJ

(Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey- WABC, May 15, 2007) - A wildfire on the border of Ocean and Burlington counties in southern New Jersey burned thousands of acres of brush and forest on Tuesday, closing several highways, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate and damaging several homes.
The area burning is about 25 miles north of Atlantic City.

By 10 p.m., the fire had consumed about 12,000 acres, about 19 square miles, according to Bert Plante, a division fire warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Vast Regions Of West Antarctica Melted In Recent Past, NASA Finds

Breaking Earth News

Antarctica

Image: NASA's QuikScat satellite detected extensive areas of snowmelt, shown in yellow and red, in west Antarctica in January 2005. (Credit: NASA)

A team of NASA and university scientists has found clear evidence that extensive areas of snow melted in west Antarctica in January 2005 in response to warm temperatures. This was the first widespread Antarctic melting ever detected with NASA's QuikScat satellite and the most significant melt observed using satellites during the past three decades. The affected regions encompass a combined area as big as California.

Rev. Jerry Fallwell Dead at 73

Breaking U.S. National News


LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.

Ron Godwin, Liberty's executive vice president, said Falwell had been found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.

Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but noted that Falwell had “a history of heart challenges.”
Continue Here

Florida wildfire forces evacuations

Breaking Earth News
LAKE CITY, Fla. - Authorities evacuated hundreds of homes after a massive wildfire along the Georgia-Florida border jumped a containment line overnight, authorities said Tuesday.

Firefighters pushed the flames back to the containment line, but dry weather and 15 mph wind in north Florida was expected to further hinder their work.

“If we can just get through today,” said Russell Hubright, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.

Story Continues

Update: 3 killed, 50 missing as cyclone Akash makes landfall

From the Europe Media Monitor
St Martin's Island
Photo: Charpara Road in the coastal Cox's Bazar town went under knee-deep water yesterday as tropical cyclone Akash triggered a tidal surge in the Bay. PHOTO: STAR

Three fishermen were killed in Saint Martin's Island while at least 50 others went missing in the bay as cyclone Akash crossed the coastal area yesterday morning and weakened into a land depression.

A tidal surge triggered by the cyclonic storm with winds up to 80 kph, swept through the coastal district of Cox's Bazar at about 9:00am yesterday, damaging some two thousand houses, sources at the district administration's control room said.

Quoting the island's union parishad chairman Firoz Ahmed, BSS reports that some 45 houses and 30 shops were flattened and around 200 trees were uprooted by the cyclone while a fishing boat capsized in the sea. Twenty fishing boats were rescued.

In Cox's Bazar, the storm and accompanying rain cut off power and uprooted trees, while the tidal surge swamped several roads, a disaster management official said. They also said that at least 10 boats with some 50 fishermen aboard are still missing, our correspondent there added. Satellite Image: Cyclone Akash on Monday May 14

Rumbling Wakes Up Dozens of Knox County Residents

Tennessee, USA
May 14, 2007

ANOTHER MYSTERY BOOM REPORTED
Dozens of people in Knox County woke up to some rumbling Monday morning and investigators are still working to figure out what it was. Dozens of calls flooded central dispatch at about 1:15am, mostly from two neighborhoods off Northshore Drive in West Knoxville; Admiral's Landing and Northshore Landing. Many people tell us they woke up to loud rumbling and thought there were animals or prowlers in their basements or attics. Others thought there was some sort of explosion shaking the ground. "Half of our neighborhood had come outside and there was these constant shakes in the ground, constant thud. It felt like some type of missile attack. It wasn't an earthquake, I've been through an earthquake."

Namibia: Swakop Swelters in Record-Breaking Heatwave

Africa
May 14, 2007
RECORD TEMPERATURES at the coast soared at the weekend, as the dreaded annual east-wind conditions set in. The mercury at Swakopmund shot up to 42.3 degrees Celsius on Friday. This may well be the highest maximum temperature officially recorded at the coast. There were only 12 days since April 1994 when temperatures rose above 40 degrees. The last record reading was 42 degrees, and that was measured in April 1999. According to these statistics, it could be safe to assume that Friday's maximum temperature was in fact the HIGHEST THE CENTRAL COASTAL AREA HAS EVER EXPERIENCED. It is the start of winter, even though it felt and looked like summertime at the coast this weekend.

City suffers driest year on record

Breaking Climate News
Australia
Photo: Not so green ... Melbourne has recorded its driest year in 40 years. Picture: David Caird

Melbourne has notched up its DRIEST YEAR ON RECORD, with less than half the average annual rain falling on the city. The 40-year record was smashed at 9am (AEST) today with a measly 316.4mm of rainfall recorded in the past 365 days. Melbourne's average annual rainfall is 638.8mm. UNPRECEDENTED severe drought conditions persisted in Melbourne and surrounding areas over the last year. They have had an UNPRECEDENTED 10-year pattern of below-average rainfall, prompting a dire warning from the weather bureau. "Melbourne will need to experience significantly higher than average rainfall for sustained periods for water catchments to return to near-normal levels."

Flood warnings as rain 'won't let up'

Breaking Earth News
Great Britain

BRITAIN was on flood alert last night as forecasters warned further heavy downpours were set to cross the country.

Days of torrential rain have already saturated many areas in a deluge that saw half May’s entire rain fall in just 24 hours. Up to an inch fell on Sunday alone in some parts. At one stage yesterday, 12 areas across England and Wales were at risk of flooding and were being monitored by the Environment Agenc

The wet weather follows the warmest April since 1914. Hard ground resulting from April's unusually warm weather led to the increased risk of flooding, as instead of seeping into the soil, the rain is falling into the rivers, causing the levels to rise.

Freak of Nature Down Under

Breaking Earth News
Australia
BIZARRE: A spectacular tornado sucks up soil near Lara yesterday during an eight-minute meteorological show. Photo: DAVE EVANS

Massive storm clouds clashed to unleash a spectacular tornado near the You Yangs yesterday. The storm front developed about 3pm at the foot of the mountains and gained momentum as it sucked up dirt from dusty paddocks surrounding Lara. The tornado spanned almost two kilometres and reached heights up to 700m before it died down after an eight-minute afternoon spectacle. Residents were amazed by the size of the tornado, which produced a black twisting haze above the mountains. One witness captured the majority of the tornado on video. He said the experience was surreal. "It was like a double tube, like there was a tornado inside the tornado. It was really weird. It was just amazing. I can't believe I've seen one of those today. There was no wind, no nothin' and just this cloud that produced this cell." Tornadoes are usually associated with the super cell variety but this storm didn't fit into that category.

AMAZING TORNADO
This video taken on Monday, May 14, is of a mini tornado in the You Yangs north of Geelong

Bangladesh on cyclone alert

Tropical Cyclone Alert
Bangladesh
Photo: People in coastal areas headed to storm shelters as the tropical cyclone approached [AFP]

As many as 80,000 people have been evacuated to cyclone shelters in Bangladesh as the tropical storm blew in towards the low-lying South Asian country. About 100 fisherman and up to 20 boats have been reported missing as rain and strong winds swept Bangladesh's coast. The body of one man had already been washed ashore. Tropical storms and cyclones kill hundreds of Bangladeshis every year. One of the worst cyclones to hit the country killed 138,000 people in 1991.

Cyclone spawns floods in North

Breaking Earth News

Thailand

Hundreds of homes and farms in Thailand's northern provinces have been inundated, and more rain is on the way, all due to a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, west of neighbouring Myanmar. Hundreds of families in Pichit were affected by floods, with homes and farmland in Photalae district and a concrete bridge destroyed by rising torrents. In Nakhon Sawan, continuous rain has caused flooding and road links with other communities have been cut off. Some 4,000 acres of croplands were inundated. Residents of low-lying areas have been warned of imminent flash floods. In Phrae, a flash flood hit three villages in Wangshin district. Hundreds of homes have been damaged, and few villagers were able to move their belongings to higher ground before the onrushing waters arrived. Many farming families reported that their livestock was swept away by the floodwaters. Provincial authorities in Phrae warned residents of five districts to brace for more flash floods. In Uttaradit, local authorities are concerned about the flood situation. Some 4,000 acres of paddy fields were under one-metre deep floodwaters. The Meteorological Department warns of further heavy rain throughout Thailand as the weather system is influenced by the Bay of Bengal cyclone.

Severe Storms Barrage Denver Area

Breaking Earth News
DENVER, Colorado, USA
Photo: Flooding a 6th and Washington on May 14

A barrage of powerful thunderstorms swept across Colorado's Front Range and Eastern Plains Monday, dumping heavy rain and hail and causing localized street flooding. Two people, including a child, were missing and presumed dead after being swept away.

The storms dropped up to four inches of hail in parts of Weld County. Weld County sheriff's spokeswoman Margie Martinez says there's no immediate confirmation of funnel clouds touching down.

Earthquake Rocks Poás Area

Costa Rica, C.A.
May 12, 2007

An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale shook the area surrounding Poás Volcano, northwest of San José, Saturday, according to a statement from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) based at Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José. The quake occurred at 9:11 a.m. and was felt in the San José area; Alajuela, northwest of San José ; the central Pacific; and Cartago, east of San José.

-Tico Times

Earth Changes and the Passage of the 10th Planet

Skywatch-Media Special Presentation
May 14, 2007
Video Talk:Earth Changes and the Passage of PlanetX
Quest Nancy Lieder of Zetatalk
*Note: This presentation is 49 minutes long and includes several intermissions.

Nancy Lieder has made it her mission in life to prepare the inhabitants of planet Earth for the drastic ... earth changes that will accompany the passage of Planet X, or the Twelfth Planet. As a contactee and emissary of a race of extraterrestrials known as the Zetas, (from Zeta Reticuli) Nancy has ongoing, lucid contact and has been sharing their information through her website. (See below)

Traumatic earth changes are, according to the Zetas, about to occur because of the passage of Planet X. As this magnetic giant passes by, it will force our North and South Poles to rotate 90 degrees. The shifting poles will drag the Earth's crust with them, ultimately producing a new global map in a matter of hours in a massive cataclysm affecting all life on earth. These events have occurred before, as ancient legends and Prophecies fortell, creating what man interprets to be ice ages, wandering poles and the flood, and have resulted in the extinction of the Mastodon and the sinking of Atlantis.

However, humans have in the past and will again this time, survive these cataclysms, and in the section of Nancy's website known as "Troubled Times", a volunteer organization was formed to help. The Troubled Times mission is to place into the public record a set of solutions for survival into the next century, solutions that are affordable, attainable, and which will produce a healthy lifestyle in the Aftertime.




This Video Presented by
Out There TV March 13, 2007





Zetatalk the Book


Nemesis: The King of Terror: Seven Orbits of Planet X through the Solar System

Massive wildfire blazes along Georgia-Florida border

Associated Press
May 14, 2007
LAKE CITY, Fla. — Hope in the form of rain turned to fear of stronger wind gusts Monday as firefighters faced another tough day battling a massive wildfire along the Georgia-Florida line.
The wildfire that raced through the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia and into Florida was started by lightning more than a week ago. By Monday, it had burned 41,500 hectares in Florida after charring 53,400 hectares in Georgia — more than 948 square kilometres all.
Scattered rain showers swept the area Sunday, but the extent of the rain's effect wasn't known, and the wind in the fire zone Monday was expected to reach 24 kilometres per hour with gusts up to 40 kph, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Nina Barrow.

Deadly Effect Of Florida Drought and Fires

Florida, USA

May 12, 2007

Plants and wildlife are being severly affected by fires and lack of water

Small birds were dropping from the sky in one area of North Miami on the 11th. Stepping outside lately has been like stepping into a smoke-filled room. The fires have been burning for weeks now all over the state of Florida. They say those little birds couldn't breathe the air and with their tiny lungs just couldn't survive.

Hundreds of dead birds have been spotted in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Officials say the thickness of the smoke disorients the birds and causes them to fly into windows, resulting in their death. Bird experts say that the birds that weren't killed suffered severe head and neck injuries.

Bee die-off troublesome to keepers

Area apiarists are concerned about the recent and poorly understood Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD has been attributed to massive die-offs of beehives or colonies.

Michigan, USA

May 13, 2007

Colony Collapse Disorder has wiped out an estimated 25% of the 2 million-plus commercial honeybee hives in the U.S. "The thing that really scares me about this is that we have no idea what this is. We're all nervous. Hopefully, somebody will figure this out.” Even without a widespread CCD die-off locally, farmers and beekeepers are starting to see a ripple effect. Beekeepers are having a hard time finding enough bees to fill their orders, while farmers are paying high prices for bee hives to pollinate their orchards. The CCD die-off hasn't been nearly as pronounced in Michigan as in Florida and in Pennsylvania, where beekeepers reporting CCD cased lost more than 70 percent of their hives. "I think Michigan is one of the best-off states.” A large majority of CCD die-offs are being found in migratory honeybees — colonies moved by operators to different areas around the country where they're needed by farmers and growers.

Weather of mass destruction

Humanitarian Alert

Photo: A Sri Lankan soldier guards a flooded highway in the eastern Sri Lanka city of Batticaloa, December 2004. REUTERS

May, 2007

Drought, crop failure, submerged coastal cities, mass migration, armed conflict - those are the kind of horrors we can look forward to if the world fails to get its collective act together on climate change, and temperatures and sea levels continue to rise.

Climate security enthusiasts agree that global warming is, well, a global issue. It cuts across national boundaries, and while most people on the planet will be affected by climate change in some way, it's likely to be the poorest who suffer the worst.

A group of disasters experts argue in their report "Climate Change and Human Security" that climate change will affect both "inter-state relations and international and national security in a narrow, geo-strategic sense" and "the well-being and survival of human beings and humankind and thus human, water, health and livelihood security".

Withering drought worsens; Georgia crops at risk

Georgia, USA

May, 2007

Crops are at risk because of a drought that has reached extreme conditions in 33 out of 159 counties. The dry weather is the WORST SEEN IN 38 YEARS by the agriculture department director. There have been longer and harsher droughts in the past, but he can't remember a year that was so dry this early. Apples, peaches and other crops that help make agriculture a $50 billion industry in Georgia are suffering badly. Fruit trees were already hard hit by an April freeze. Unless the state sees a dramatic increase in rainfall in the next few months, some farmers could lose their entire harvests. That could cripple the economy in Georgia's farm communities and drive up prices on peanut butter, fresh produce and the other crops that survive. The extreme drought conditions in 33 counties are expected by weather experts only ONCE EVERY 50 YEARS. Another 46 counties are rated as having severe drought, meaning the dry spell is as bad as experts would expect ONCE IN 20 YEARS. The rest of the state is under a moderate drought.

CROP FAILURE/ FOOD SHORTAGE

CALIFORNIA - CATTLE - San Luis Obispo County cattle ranchers are selling cattle off in RECORD NUMBERS after this season’s meager rainfall failed to produce enough grasses to sustain their herds. Cows and their calves are being sold nearly two months earlier than usual — and at lower weights — because ranchers say they’d rather sell than pay for expensive feed. Cattle and calves are the second most valuable agricultural product in the county, valued at more than $59 million last year. They are second only to wine grapes, which are valued at $151 million. The last dry season that pushed them to sell early struck in the late 1980s or early 1990s. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a year like this, and I don’t know if it was this bad." Calves are weighing in about 450 pounds, when they often weigh as much as 650 pounds at the time of sale.

Two missing after giant wave lashes French Indian Ocean island

Breaking Earth News

Photo: A man passes by the remains of a fishing boat destroyed by high waves on the south coast of French Island La Reunion, where two fishermen went missing since yesterday night due to an unexpected strong wave coming from Madagascar.

SAINT-DENIS-DE-LA REUNION, Reunion, May 14, 2007 (AFP) - Freak waves devastated parts of the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion where two fishermen were missing Sunday after their boat capsized the previous evening.
The giant waves lashed the southern port of Saint Pierre on Saturday evening sending several piers crashing down and flooding homes along the coastline. Five families had to be evacuated from their homes.
Many locals said the waves were worse than the tropical cyclone Gamede.

France's meteorological office said Saturday's waves, estimated at 11 metres (36 feet) in some places, came from the south and added that it was a "recurring phenomenon in winter" in the southern hemisphere.

Earthquake Warnings for Great Britain

Great Britain

May 13, 2007

Scared residents in the coastal town hit by an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale have been warned there could be another big quake on its way. Since the initial quake shook Folkestone on April 28, seven smaller tremors have been felt by residents, with the biggest measuring 1.8 on the scale according to seismologists. And experts at the British Geological Survey have warned the tremors could be leading up to an aftershock that could measure 3.3 on the Richter scale. “The general rule is that aftershocks may reach a magnitude of one less on the Richter scale than the initial earthquake. “The last aftershock was on May 5 which measured just under two on the scale and we are likely to see more around this magnitude. But I cannot rule out one of a magnitude three in the next few weeks.” More than 1,500 properties were affected by the tremor and more could be damaged by an aftershock. “Earthquakes are unusual in the UK so we need to study this one on detail. We are looking at why it happened and what it means for the future.”

Quake Risk: Allstate Drops Calif. Home Insurance

May 10, 2007
Video
(AP) CHICAGO Allstate Corp. will stop writing new homeowners policies in California beginning in July, the company said Thursday.An Allstate spokesman said the move was to help control its catastrophe exposure in the state, which is prone to wildfires and earthquakes.The move will not affect current customers, nor will it affect auto insurance. Allstate agents in the state will continue to work with customers, but will offer new homeowners customers insurance through partner Pacific Specialty Insurance Co.

16 acres of volcanoes coastline collapses into sea

Hawaii, USA

Photo: JASON LUX / COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICEOnlookers watched Thursday as 16 acres of the East Lae'apuki Delta at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park collapsed into the ocean, sending up large plumes of steam and debris

Steam plumes shoot as high as a thousand feet, raining black sand on visitors miles away

On May 10, 16 acres of the East Lae'apuki Delta at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park collapsed into the ocean, sending up large plumes of steam and debris, with steam plumes as high as a thousand feet, and black sand raining on visitors miles away. The Thursday afternoon lava-bench collapse happened about two miles from the nearest public viewing spot. Park visitors saw steam and rocks shoot up from the collapse area as the coastline gave way over about four hours. Fist-size rocks were thrown as far as 450 feet inland, and one rock 14 inches in diameter was found 394 feet inland. Each new segment of collapse produced a steam plume blackened by fragmented stone as hot rocks hit the sea. Portions of the "lava delta" - new land built by recent flows -- did not collapse, but large new cracks crossing those areas could signal more catastrophic, future land losses There are three general areas on the coast where lava has been entering the sea off and on

Storm kills 27 in northern India

May 12, 2007

India

At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured when a violent storm hit the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, police have said.
Twenty-four people died in Sultanpur when several buildings collapsed, while three others were killed by lightning in the neighbouring town of Pratapgarh.
The strong winds of over 60km/h also pulled down power lines, leaving large areas of the state without electricity.
Officials have been sent to the area to evaluate the extent of the damage.
A spokesman for the police said many of the victims had been killed when trees fell on their homes.
"The people who were inside were crushed to death," Surendra Srivastava said.
The town of Sultanpur is 140km (85 miles) south-east of the capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.

Analysis: U.N. calls climate debate 'over'

UNITED NATIONS May. 10 (UPI) -- A former chief of the U.N. World Health Organization who also is a former prime minister of Norway and a medical doctor has declared an end to the climate-change debate.

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, one of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's three new special envoys on climate change, also headed up the 1987 U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development where the concept of sustainable development was first floated.

"This discussion is behind us. It's over," she told reporters. "The diagnosis is clear, the science is unequivocal -- it's completely immoral, even, to question now, on the basis of what we know, the reports that are out, to question the issue and to question whether we need to move forward at a much stronger pace as humankind to address the issues."

Brundtland was at U.N. World Headquarters in New York for the high-level segment of the Commission on Sustainable Development winding up Friday.
Opening that segment Wednesday, the secretary-general said climate change required sustained, concerted attention, as it had broad impact not just on the environment but also on economic and social development.

Ban said the world urgently needs to step up action to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions. Industrialized countries need to make deeper emission reductions, and there should be further engagement of developing countries as well as incentives for them to limit their emissions while safeguarding economic growth and poverty eradication.

There is no doubt, Brundtland said, that climate change is manmade as reported by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Freak Storm Causes Chaos in Cyprus

Island of Cyprus

May 11, 2007

Larnaca - Freak May weather in the Mediterranean holiday island of Cyprus slightly injured six school children on Friday and delayed flights at its main international airport, said officials.

Six flights were delayed by up to an hour at Larnaca international airport when the thunderstorms, hail and gale-force winds were at their peak. A tornado also hit the Larnaca coast, said witnesses.

Roads were flooded, vehicles damaged, trees and electricity pylons felled by the storms, police said. Power supplies to parts of Larnaca were also disrupted.

The usually sunny holiday island's adverse weather comes after a mini-heatwave in which temperatures reached 38C degrees, about 10 higher than the seasonal norm.

Hundreds of firefighters battling US wildfires

Breaking Earth News

USA

Firefighters on Friday battled to contain wildfires that scorched thousands of acres of tinder-dry parkland and forced large scale evacuations across the United States.
Several hundred firefighters were deployed to tackle blazes in Florida and California, where record dry weather and high temperatures have forced authorities to maintain a state of near-perpetual alert.

Bulusan volcano showers 11 villages with ash

Breaking Volcanic Alert

Philippines

MANILA: The unstable Bulusan volcano in the eastern Philippines spewed a column of ash into the air on Saturday, showering 11 villages with ash, government scientists said.
Bulusan shot a four-kilometre plume of ash into the air, scattering particles for some six kilometres around the the 1,565-metre tall volcano, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement.
"Three days prior to the ash explosion, an increase in the daily number of volcanic earthquakes and moderate to voluminous smoke were noticed," Phivolcs said.

Related Content

Floods in northern provinces; landslide alert

Breaking Earth News

Thailand

PHICHIT, May 12 (TNA) – Flooding has come to many northern provinces, while disaster prone areas have been warned of the potential for landslides as rainstorms are expected to continue.
Flash flooding in Phichit's Photalae district is critical following a heavy overnight rain.
The Yom River spilled over its banks, and flash floods have hit ten villages, with some 1,600 acres of farmlands affected. Roads and bridges still under construction after flood damage last year have been destroyed.

Missouri steps up efforts amid flood warnings

Breaking Earth News
USA

Click Image to Enlarge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Levee breaks along the Missouri River flooded farms, highways and railroad tracks, and left dozens of homes surrounded by water, as the flooding that has inundated the region was expected to peak in some spots this weekend.
Near-record flood levels dropped in parts of Missouri, but rose in northwest and central parts of the state, as worried residents removed valuables from their homes and filled sandbags to protect river communities. Story Continues

Second Georgia wildfire burns 100,000 acres

Breaking Earth News
Photo: Officials close a portion of Keystone Heights, Florida on May 10, because of dense smoke from wildfires.

Slideshow


FOLKSTON, Ga. - Okefenokee Swamp has burned more than 100,000 acres, rivaling in just five days the vast record-setting fire that has scorched southeast Georgia for more than three weeks, firefighters said Thursday.
The rapidly growing fire, fed by fast-burning swamp grasses, had been reported at just 68,650 acres Thursday morning. Though mostly well within the swamp, it was spreading mostly to the west toward the town of Fargo, a tiny city of 380 about eight miles west of the swamp.
Story Continues

NASA study: Eastern U.S. to get hotter

Breaking Climate News

USA

Image: Future eastern United States summers look much hotter than originally predicted with daily highs about 10 degrees warmer than in recent years by the mid-2080s, a new NASA study says. (AP Graphic)

May 11, 2007

Future eastern United States summers look much hotter than originally predicted with daily highs about 10 degrees warmer than in recent years by the mid-2080s, a new NASA study says. Previous and widely used global warming computer estimates predict too many rainy days, the study says. Because drier weather is hotter, they underestimate how warm it will be east of the Mississippi River. In the 2080s, the average summer high will probably be 102 degrees in Jacksonville, 100 degrees in Memphis, 96 degrees in Atlanta, and 91 degrees in Chicago and Washington. But every now and then a summer will be drier than normal and that means even hotter days. Simulated results for July 2085 show the average high in the southeast neared 115 and pushed 100 in the northeast. Even Canada flirted with the low to mid 90s. The study got mixed reviews from other climate scientists, in part because the eastern United States has recently been wetter and cooler than forecast.

Santa Catalina Island is Ablaze

Breaking Earth News

Photo: A firefighting helicopter flies over a raging wildfire, near the town of avalon on Catalina Island, Ca. Thursday, May 10

USA

Ash rains down 'like snow' as firefighters battle Santa Catalina blaze

AVALON, Calif. - Firefighters struggled early Friday to protect a resort island’s main city from a wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee on ferries as ash rained down “like snow,” by one resident’s account.

The blaze broke out Thursday afternoon and grew to 4,000 acres as it fed on dry brush, fanned by a steady wind into the night on the island about 30 miles off the Southern California mainland.
The orange inferno loomed behind the quaint crescent harbor, landmark 1929 Catalina Casino and homes, restaurants and tiny hotels clinging to slopes above the waterfront.
'Like a nightmare'As flames threatened the city limits of Avalon, hundreds of people lined up at the harbor Thursday night to board ferries to the mainland. Many covered their faces with towels and bandanas as ashes fell.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Uruguay struck by worst floods in decades

Breaking Earth News

Uruguay, S.A.

Up to 110,000 people have been affected by the worst floods in Uruguay since 1959, with more torrential rain forecast, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Friday.
Some 12,000 people have been forced to leave their homes with this number expected to rise. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged.
The government called on the UN for help after the heavy rains washed away roads and damaged water supplies, sewage systems, power and telephone lines. Some 30,000 people were left without access to fresh water.
The departments of Durazno, Soriano and Treinta y Tres were the worst affected. Here landslides followed a week of heavy rain which saw rivers break their banks. In Durazno, the River Yi was 14 meters above its average height.

Update from Newstex

Global Warming Expedition 2007

Skywatch-Media Special Report

May, 2007
Note*(Four month expedition began in mid February)

Educators and explorers Will Steger, John Stetson, Elizabeth Andre and Abby Fenton will join three Inuit hunters on a 1200-mile, four-month-long dogsled expedition across the Canadian Arctic’s Baffin Island. The expedition will be traveling with Inuit dog teams over traditional hunting paths, up frozen rivers, through steep-sided fjords, over glaciers and ice caps, and across the sea ice to reach some of the most remote Inuit villages of the world.

Each day, the team will use innovative technologies to post video, images, sounds and text to the http://www.globalwarming101.com/ website, and communicate with online participants around the world. Students and teachers will integrate the educational curriculum components developed by the team into their coursework, and will participate in the expedition through research and forum discussion. During the week-long visits to each Inuit village, the team will listen to and document the Inuit’s experience with climate change. These collected images, sounds and stories will illustrate the dramatic climate-related changes happening in the Arctic: starving polar bears, retreating pack ice, melting glaciers, disrupted hunting and traveling, and the unraveling of a traditional way of life

Fires, floods plague U.S.

Breaking Earth News
USA
NEW YORK – Nature’s fury made life miserable Wednesday from one end of the nation to the other, with people forced out of their homes by wildfires near both coasts and the Canadian border and by major flooding in the Midwest.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

At Least 14 Killed In Tornado In Southern Chad

NDJAMENA, May 8, 2007 (AFP) - At least 14 people were killed and more than 100 were injured when a ferocious tornado virtually wiped out the small town of Bebedjia in southeastern Chad, police said Tuesday.
"A violent storm accompanied by a vortex (tornado) struck the town yesterday (Monday) evening. It began at around 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) and provoked general panic among the population," prefect Mbainodji Barthelemy told AFP in a telephone interview.
"This storm of such incredible violence lasted for about 20 minutes and caused enormous material and human damage. This morning, we have counted 14 dead and 145 seriously injured," Mbainodji said.
"Ninety-five percent of the town was destroyed," he added.
An equally violent second storm followed at around 10:00 pm, increasing the damage to this town located near the Doba oil fields, Mbainodji said.
A similar meteorological phenomenon took place on May 2 near Ndjamena, leaving nine dead and around 100 injured and destroying some 50 houses.

Manitobans soak up record-breaking heat

May 09, 2007

CANADA - the mercury climbed to RECORD-BREAKING LEVELS across southern and central Manitoba. At 5 p.m. CT, it was 31 C in Winnipeg. The city's previous record for May 9 was 30.7 C, set in 1992. Winnipeg isn't the only Manitoba locale to smash a heat record Wednesday. "We had RECORDS SET, for example, in Dauphin, at Gimli, at Swan River, at Fisher Branch, Gretna, Melita and even in central Manitoba." The town of Emerson, south of Winnipeg on the U.S. border, was Wednesday's Canadian hotspot at 31.7 C. Normal temperatures for the region are around 18 C.

Rain a record-breaker for Omaha

Nebraska, USA

May 09, 2007

Omaha SET A RECORD FOR RAINFALL for the first seven days of May. Based on readings at Eppley Airfield, the city received 7.46 inches of rain during that period. That exceeded the previous high by nearly 2.5 inches. Omaha has seen its WETTEST YEAR ON RECORD, too. The city recorded 17.03 inches of precipitation from Jan. 1 through Monday. The record was 14.58 inches in 1973. TWO DAILY RECORDS for May were set, too. The city got 3.37 inches of rain Saturday and 2.76 inches more on Sunday. Lincoln is seeing its third-wettest year on record; Norfolk its sixth-wettest. May is not typically the wettest time of year, so it takes less rain to set records. "Obviously, this was an extremely wet period."

First named storm of '07 crashes into Georgia coast

Breaking Storm News

USA: Atlantic Seaboard

Satellite images show Subtropical Storm Andrea off the coast of Florida and Georgia.
NOAA

Strong winds and waves carved sand from some South Carolina beaches, and gas and power lines were shut off Wednesday as a precaution when water lapped at the base of several homes and condominiums. Only eighteen tropical storms and four hurricanes have been recorded in May since 1851. Subtropical Storm Andrea churned Wednesday about 100 miles southeast of Savannah.

"I don't think it's a good sign," said Ashley Pagan, 24, at the beachside shop where she works. "It's not even hurricane season. That's kind of scary."

Houses damaged in freak weather

Breaking Storm News

Northern Ireland

Freak weather conditions wreak havoc in Carrickfergus, ripping roof tiles off homes and endangering motorists.
Residents around the Thorndene Park area described the winds as a mini-tornado, which struck at about 2100 BST on Wednesday.
Local woman Helen McGuinness said "all of a sudden the sky got dark".

Mayan Warning of Great Earth Changes

Skywatch-Media Newsletter

April 29, 2007

The Mayan counsel of high priests came together to discuss the predictions according to the Mayan Calendar for the coming year. Elder Carlos Barrios of the Mayan high priests indicated that the counsel is very concerned regarding the escalation of events the world will see in the coming months.

To Read More Visit the Newsletter Archives

The Great Red Comet
Issue 67, Volume 7
©2007, Skywatch-Media. All Rights Reserved

Fires and Floods Rage, Coast to Coast

Breaking Earth News
USA
Reported by ABC News (Video Included)

Photo: California Department of Forestry firefighter Brad Lowry, right, speaks with a Los Angeles firefighter after watering down a a nearby hillside while helping fight an approaching wildfire in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, Tuesday, May 8, 2007. (Kevork Djansezian/AP Photo)

Wildfires Hit Los Angeles Park and Florida Swamplands, While Floods Threaten the Heartland
Biblical Weather, Coast to Coast
Rescue crews have their hands full coast to coast as floods and fires have hit several parts of the country.
Flooding along the Missouri River has put several towns under water in Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, and forced thousands to evacuate. Some areas received up to eight inches of water in one day. Some towns could be hit as hard as the devastating floods of 1993.
In Florida, authorities evacuated about 300 homes in the northern part of the state as two fires covering 130,000 acres -- about 203 square miles -- continued to rage on the Georgia-Florida line. Florida officials warned that they might soon need help if the blazes grew out of control. Heavy smoke reduced visibility across the state.
In Georgia, a 107,000-acre blaze in Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was called the largest blaze in state history and was nearing part of the park that has served as a fire crew command post. Another fire 10 miles away covered 40,000 acres.
And in the wilderness of northeastern Minnesota, a wildfire has burned at least 25 square miles and destroyed 40 structures. The fire has now spread north into Canada.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Breaking Related News

Wildfires Raging in Florida, Georgia and Minnesota
Authorities evacuated about 300 homes in north Florida as two fires totaling 130,000 acres continued to rage on the Georgia-Florida border.

Meanwhile, a wildfire in northern Minnesota has already destroyed 40 homes and buildings, and brush fires in Georgia and northern Florida have charred more than 200 square miles.
In the Midwest, a wildfire near the Canadian border in northeastern Minnesota had burned 16,266 acres since it was spotted Saturday. It destroyed around 40 buildings, including multimillion-dollar homes, and forced more than 100 people to evacuate.








VIDEO PRESENTATION

First Named Storm of Hurricane Season Forms

Breaking Storm News

US Atlantic Seaboard

Tropical Storm forms 3 weeks ahead of official hurricane season

MIAMI (AP) - The first named storm of the year formed Wednesday off the southeastern U.S. coast, more than three weeks before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, forecasters said.
Subtropical Storm Andrea had top sustained winds around 45 mph Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Still, a tropical storm watch was issued for parts of Georgia and Florida, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Wildfire Forces Evacuations at LA's Griffith Park

Breaking Earth News

USA

LOS ANGELES, CA) - Firefighters made progress early Wednesday against a wildfire blazing over Dante's View in the brush-covered hills behind the city's iconic Griffith Observatory. Animals at the nearby Los Angeles Zoo were moved indoors, and dozens of homes were evacuated.

Griffith Park is a mix of wilderness, cultural sites, horse and hiking trails and recreational facilities set on more than 4,000 acres in the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.
Visitors to its Greek Theatre, Observatory and the Museum of the American West were told to leave. At the Autry National Center, which includes a museum of Western artifacts, staff threw tarps over the collections to protect them in case the sprinkler system went off, said Faith Raiguel, chief operating officer.
The flames forced officials to put most of the Los Angeles Zoo's 1,200 animals inside holding quarters.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Areas of Burma Still Under Water Following Heavy Rains

Burma

May 08, 2007
Many areas of Burma were hard hit by flooding after torrential rains struck the country over the weekend. “About 600 homes in Pegu are under water from rains that began on Friday.” Food and other supplies are scarce. “People are suffering from a lack of food and no living accommodations. So far authorities have done little to help.” Some 8.94 inches of rain were recorded in Pegu on May 6. It is the MOST RAIN RECORDED OVER A 24-HOUR PERIOD IN THE MONTH OF MAY IN 42 YEARS in Burma. Rangoon has also reported flooding from heavy rain over the weekend, with hundreds of houses reported to have suffered damage, trees and telephone lines downed and damage to commercial buildings. At least five people were killed as a result of flooding in Rangoon. Burmese officials said that rain in the former capital from May 4-5 was the HEAVIEST IN AT LEAST FOUR DECADES. The 11.14 inches of rain that fell in Mingaladon in Rangoon was the HIGHEST IN 60 YEARS

Weekend storms signal deadly year

USA TODAY
The weekend blitz of tornadoes in Kansas and the Plains puts 2007 on track to be one of the busiest and deadliest tornado years in a decade, severe-storms meteorologists said Sunday.
"Even if the year stopped right now, it would be the deadliest year we've had since 1999," said Greg Forbes, severe-weather expert for The Weather Channel.
The huge twister that leveled the south-central Kansas town of Greensburg late Friday, killing at least eight people, is the first tornado of the year rated at the top scale — EF-5, or "incredible," — of a new rating system adopted in February to measure intensity.
The tornado, which carved a 22-mile path and reached 1.7 miles wide, had winds estimated up to 205 mph, the National Weather Service reported.
The last one to reach such intensity was May 3, 1999, when an F-5 tornado — considered the most powerful under the old rating system — slammed an Oklahoma City suburb, killing 36 people.

"Considering that we're probably going to be close to 600 (tornado) reports already this year, this season is probably going to be one of the busier we've had since 1998-99," said Dan McCarthy, meteorologist at the federal Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The annual average for the past 10 years is 1,272 tornadoes.
This year's 69 fatalities are more than twice the usual number by this date and the worst of the season may just be starting. The prediction center says May averages the most tornadoes each year, followed by June and April.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Record-level flooding predicted in US midwest as rivers breach banks, residents evacuate

USA

May 08, 2007

RECORD-LEVEL FLOODING predicted - Five burst levees along the Missouri River sent a deluge of water that submerged the tiny town of Big Lake on Tuesday, as thousands in the region fled their homes amid warnings that the flooding could approach the devastation of 1993. Big Lake is about 95 miles (153 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. Missouri declared a state of emergency and mobilized National Guard troops to help. At least 19 Kansas counties declared local disaster emergencies. A Kansas man died when his vehicle overturned in a water-filled ditch near Wichita. Since the 1993 floods in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins, only two or three other flooding episodes have been comparable to what forecasters are predicting for the next several days.

FROM THE DISASTER NEWS NETWORK

Heavy rains cause flooding in Midwest

Flooding brought on by heavy rains has forced thousands of people in the Midwest from their homes as rivers and streams approached levels that some meteorologists said have not been seen since the major Midwestern floods of 1993.

Photo: Heavy rains have forced the Kansas River near Topeka out of its banks and into communities.Credit: National Weather Service

FYI

The Great U.S. Flood of 1993

The Great Flood of 1993 constituted the most costly and devastating flood to ravage the United States in modern history. Levees were broken, farmland, town, and transportation routes were destroyed, thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes, and 47 people died as a direct result of the flood.

1993 Flood Photos

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Extra-Tropical Storm Washing Away Volusia County Coast

Florida, USA

Related Video

May 08, 2007

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- When it comes to our beaches, the extra-tropical storm off the Atlantic coast may cause even more damage than a hurricane. Volusia County officials are getting a little concerned about homes that have no sea wall.
When the sun came up in New Smyrna Beach on Tuesday, beachgoers saw quite a sight. High waves pounded the sand and lapped at the seawall. It was enough to impress even the most experienced surfers.
"I've never seen it this big," said surfer Ryan Sedang.
The Atlantic low pressure system was battering Volusia County’s beaches, Tuesday, and county officials said it's hard to predict how much erosion it could cause.
The winds coming from the north and northeast have a history of sucking Volusia's sand out to sea. The unusual waves have some who stay along the coast feeling a little uneasy.

Related News

Storm slams Carolinas coast

The weather system is considered UNUSUAL for this time of year. A nor'easter has not formed during late spring in the Carolinas in the past 12 years. The weather also increases the chance of of forest fires because of the high winds and low humidity. In North Carolina, the weather was blamed in at least three rescues at sea Monday. The cool water temperatures are keeping the system from becoming the first named storm of the season.

Spectacular eruption of Mt. Etna volcano caught on tape again

Italy

May 8, 2007

Mt Etna in Italy began erupting violently again last night, spewing lava fountains almost 500 feet in the air from the south-eastern crater.

Vulcanologists on Etna-watch reported an increase in activity coming from inside the volcano. This is the third time Mount Etna has erupted in 22 days.

4.6-magnitude quake causes damage in US

Breaking Seismic News

Montana, USA

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — An earthquake damaged an apartment building and knocked bricks off the facades of Main Street buildings in southwestern Montana on Tuesday, authorities said.
The 4.6 magnitude quake, reported at 9:46 a.m., was centered about nine miles northeast of Sheridan. It was felt in Helena and as far away as Idaho, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website.
Students at Sheridan Elementary School were under their desks Tuesday morning, in some cases before teachers realized an earthquake was shaking the area, the school secretary said.
"It was a hard jar, and really loud," said secretary Jenny Burke. "It was like somebody just shook the heck out of us for two seconds."

Higher chance of Gulf Coast hurricane in '07

Breaking National News
USA
HOUSTON-Texas (Reuters) - There is an above-average chance that a major hurricane will hit the U.S. Gulf Coast this year, marking a possible return to the destructive seasons of 2004 and 2005, leading storm forecasters predicted on Tuesday.

Hurricanes in 2005 devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast, and knocked out a swath of the country's offshore oil platforms and coastal refineries, pushing oil prices to then-record highs. In 2004, four strong hurricanes struck Florida, the country's biggest citrus producer.

AccuWeather and Colorado State University said Tuesday at a storm conference in Houston the chance that a storm will swing over the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico and into the Gulf Coast states again this year is higher than normal.

The highest area of risk has swung southwest from the Atlantic to Florida and the eastern and central Gulf Coast regions," he said.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Levee collapse floods several homes and businesses

Breaking Earth News

Colorado, USA

An earthen levee a half mile north of Colorado 47 along Fountain Creek disintegrated Monday morning. Large chunks broke away until it was close to 100 feet wide. Water poured into a small neighborhood that includes several businesses and houses. The creek was running at 3,000 cubic feet per second--six times what it was yesterday. More than an inch of rain overnight, pushed the creek to its banks and beyond.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Melting Of The Greenland Ice Cap May Have Consequences For Climatic Change

Breaking Earth News
University of Barcelona (Spain)

According to two international-research studies on the last ice age, studies with the participation of Dr Rainer Zahn, research professor in the ICREA at the UAB Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), before the great ice sheets of the Arctic Ocean began to melt, early sporadic episodes of melting of the old ice sheet which covered the British Isles had already begun to affect the circulation of the ocean currents, which played a key role in the climatic stability of the planet. Based on this observation, scientists consider that the acceleration of the melting of the Greenland ice cap could play an important role in the future stability of ocean circulation and, hence, in the development of climate change.

The magnitude of possible climate change in the future will depend to a large degree on the response of ocean circulation to global warming, as the ocean currents distribute an immense quantity of heat around our planet and, besides, determine levels of humidity and energy. Any variation in ocean circulation may lead to substantial and abrupt climate changes (that is to say over less than 30 years) on a global scale.

Source: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Heat Wave Triggers Record Temperatures

California, USA
May 07, 2007
Santa Ana-like winds baked the San Francisco Bay Area Monday, sending temperatures soaring toward RECORD LEVELS. The weather pattern tied or broke three local records on Sunday. Richmond recorded a high of 87, tying the previous mark set in 1969. Oakland soared to 90 degrees downtown, topping the previous high of 86 set in 1987 and topped 89 degrees at the Oakland International Airport to best the mark of 86 in 1949. Several long-standing records were being threatened early Monday including San Francisco's 93 set in 1879 and Santa Rosa's 91 set in 1916. It was unseasonably warm Monday morning at 2 a.m. when it was already 73 degrees in San Francisco - 21 degrees warmer than at the same time on Sunday.

Video
San Francisco Heatwave
Click the Image to activate Video

Raging Wildfires in Georgia

From the Disaster News Network
May 07, 2007
Georgia, USA

More than 100,000 acres have been burned by a wildfire in southeast Georgia.

A raging wildfire in southeast Georgia – now burning into its fourth week – has consumed more than 100,000 acres, or 156 square miles, as of Monday night. The blaze was one of several burning in the area. Elsewhere, wildfires were reported in Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan and Arizona, forcing evacuations in some areas as flames threatened residential areas. In northeastern Minnesota, a 16,500-acre wildfire forced about 100 people from their homes. The fire destroyed about 30 buildings.

Mount Etna erupts for third time since March

Breaking Volcanic News
Italy

Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe, has spewed jets of lava up to 600 feet into the sky in a new eruption.

The eruption, which began on Sunday, cracked open a new crater on the volcano’s south-eastern side.

The eruption was the third since March. Etna is in an almost constant state of activity and last December the nearby airport at Catania had to be closed for two weeks because of ash blown into the atmosphere.

Mount Etna Erupts Again

Storm Lashes Southeast Coast; Flooding in the Plains and Midwest

Breaking Storm News
USA
(State College, PA) - A storm off the coast of the Carolinas continues to whip the shoreline with gusty winds, heavy surf, beach erosion and rip currents, while areas in the Plains struggle with flooding that rivals the historical inundation of 1993.


Related News
Midwest Braces For Major Flooding
(CBS/AP) Numerous communities were evacuating their residents Monday as the National Weather Service predicted near-1993 flooding levels across much of the state, authorities said.
Rivers and streams already were overrunning their banks Monday in parts of northwest Missouri and flooding was expected later in the week farther east. As the floodwaters rose, Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and signed an executive order authorizing the mobilization of Missouri National Guard troops. Photo: A submerged SUV and tractor-trailer truck sit stranded Monday May 7, 2007 in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Interstate 29 is closed in several stretches in western Iowa due to high water over the road. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)

VIDEO PRESENTATION

How climate hurts the birds and bees

India

May 05, 2007

CLIMATE CONCERN: With the weather turning unpredictable, people need to re-look at the birds and the bees.

Last July, four hundred open bill storks built nests, paired, mated and in August, but because of a shortage of rainfall all nests were abandoned. This is no freak incident, with the weather increasingly playing spoilsport in many parts of the country. Last year, mango trees in Andhra Pradesh flowered three months early because of the rising heat. A few years ago, bees in the Himalayas were impacted by similar erratic flowering patterns, leading to a big drop in the honey supply. Chennai frogs have all but disappeared from most parts of India. Locals have also reported a marked decline in the population of sallows in Srinagar valley. Rising temperatures in the Capital have even resulted in the near disappearance of some species of birds. “There has been an 80 per cent drop in numbers of Golden Oreole and Paradise Flycatcher in Delhi because of increasing temperatures. Weather has impacted not just birds, ladybirds, butterflies across the country and soon mammals will be next."

Sierra Nevada Snowpack 71 Percent Below Normal

California, USA

May,2007

State water officials said the measured water content of snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was 71 percent below normal, the LOWEST IT HAS BEEN IN 20 YEARS. On Tuesday the California Department of Water Resources completed its final survey for the winter months. "This is continued bad news for the Bay Area water supply." The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission gets 85 percent of its water from the Sierra Nevada snowmelt. The remaining 15 percent of the water comes from local watersheds, which also dry up during a drought

Alarm grows in European farming over drought

Europe

May 2007

Berlin, Germany - A spring drought affecting parts of Europe north of the Alps is worrying farmers, who say they need rain within the next couple of weeks or crops will fail. Mechanical rakes raise clouds of dust when they are drawn over many fields. Helmut Born of the German Farmers Federation said this week: "We are hearing from the meteorologists that the drought area stretches from northern France through to Poland."Affected farmers say the soil is as dry as it usually is in August. Erhard Kunz, a 43-year-farmer at Alzey in western Germany who grows wheat and barley, says, "Even if it rains now, it can't be a top harvest. I'd guess it will be about 80 per cent of potential. "And if it doesn't rain in the next week or two, it will be a lousy harvest."After a rainy March, this April was among the hottest on record for many places in Europe, and dry too. Reports are coming in from farm advisers in much of Germany that the rural world is worried, "very worried," according to Frieder Zimmermann of the Rhineland Palatinate farmers' union in Germany.

Wildfires spreading in Siberia

Siberia

May 03, 2007

KHABAROVSK, Russia, May 3 (UPI) -- About 30 square miles of taiga burned Thursday in the Amur region of Russian Siberia.
Officials in the Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass that the area affected by fires quintupled in one day. But they said so far the fires had not threatened inhabited areas, pipelines or roads. At least 25 fires had been reported Thursday.
Fires in the taiga -- the coniferous evergreen forests of Siberia -- have become increasingly large and frequent in recent years. While fires are a normal part of the forest's life cycle, scientists have been concerned about the extent that climate change or human exploitation of the forest could be contributing to the increase.

NASA Has Refused to Release its Full Analysis on "Near Earth Asteroids"

PRESS RELEASE

Date Released: Saturday, May 5, 2007

Source: B612 Foundation

The technical report ("2006 Near Earth Object Survey and Deflection Study") backing up NASA's recent summary report to Congress on NEOs is now available on the B612 Foundation website (Note: be forwarned this is a 23 MB PDF download).

B612 Foundation believes that openness and transparency on the NEO issue is critical to maintaining public confidence in those with responsibility for their safety. While NEO impacts occur very infrequently when they do the devastation can exceed that of any other natural hazard. Furthermore, with adequate warning NEO impacts can actually be prevented, unlike most other natural hazards.
NASA is an important player in the chain of responsibility for enabling the prevention of these infrequent devastating disasters. For this reason we believe that all information on this subject should be open to all for review. To date NASA has repeatedly refused access to this technical report, even to the professional community who contributed their technical inputs at NASA's request.

33 die in Bangladesh due to drought

May 06, 2007

Dhaka : At least 33 people died in northern Bangladesh in the past two days due to the effects of a rainless summer that has struck the country's rice growing hinterlands, officials and media reports said Sunday.
Health Department officials in the worst affected northern regions of Rangpur and Dinajpur said hundreds of people infected by a diarrhoeal epidemic were treated in government-run hospitals, while the daily Ittefaq quoted health officials as saying the 33 deaths were due to intestinal diseases.
A severe shortage of safe drinking water was caused by a drought that swept the countryside, drying up deep wells and other reservoirs.

Scientists issue warning of climate change death threats

Britain
May 05, 2007
Heatwaves and a rise in food poisoning, flooding, ultra-violet light and ozone pollution triggered by global warming could kill thousands of people a year across Britain in coming decades, say government forecasts published yesterday.

Scientists commissioned by the Department of Health to update a 2002 study on the impact of climate change concluded that the nation had adapted well to rising temperatures over the past 30 years, with no extra heat-related deaths.

The document, which is now out for consultation, does not alter a number of key forecasts made five years ago, including some benefits of climate change such as the likelihood that warmer winters will cut the number of annual cold-related deaths by about 20,000.

But research conducted following the 2003 heatwaves that killed more than 35,000 people across Europe suggested there would be 6,350 premature deaths during such an event in Britain - the likelihood of which was put at one in four over the next 10 years.

Global Warming – A Christian Issue?

Polar Ice Cap Melting - Cause by human or nature? (Christian Today Australia )

Skywatch-Media Special Report

By: Sze Leng Chan

Christian Today Correspondent

May 05, 2007

The issue of climate change and more specifically global warming has become increasing prominent in Australia, as a Federal Election is fast approaching. The latest factor to boost this issue into the spotlight was the contrasting position each major party had taken to deal with global warming. The question for Christians is whether this issue should be a consideration in deciding who they vote for?The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN’s leading authority on climate change, in February this year said temperatures have risen by 0.76 degrees Celsius (1.37 Fahrenheit) since the 19th century and it is ‘very likely’ caused by people, reported Bloomberg. Reverend John Henderson, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, in response to this issue said, “…We do know that human activity is doing great, and maybe irreparable, damage to our home, the earth.”In the ‘Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change’ report published last year, the Australian Baptist Churches said there was ‘overwhelming scientific evidence show(ing) that humans have caused much of the global warming occurring today.’ Even though the cause of global warming is hotly contested by both sides, Christians are split as to how to respond to this issue. Some believe that Christians should stay clear of it given that there is ‘no consensus on this issue.’ However others are urging for immediate action to tackle this problem, saying the failure to do so will ‘cause severe consequences.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Western Montana soaked with record-breaking rain

Breaking Earth News

Montana, USA

KALISPELL - Heavy rains and even some snow soaked western Montana on Thursday, breaking wet-weather records and pushing rivers higher with spring runoff.“Missoula has already set a record today,” Ray Nickless said at midafternoon Thursday, “and it's still raining.”
According to the National Weather Service in Missoula, the storm had delivered 0.79 inches of moisture to Missoula since midnight. The previous May 3 record of 0.52 was set in 1964. Kalispell also set a record with 0.71 inches, as did Butte with 0.61 inches. More than 2 inches fell in Noisy Basin, high in the mountains east of Kalispell.

Torrential Rains/ Floods/ Landslides

CANADA - In Calgary on the 3rd, the city got hit with a RECORD 36.6 mm of rain in a 12-hour period - washing away the previous May 3 record of 15.2 mm from 1996.

AFGHANISTAN - One Czech soldier was killed and another injured in a landslide that swept a Czech military convoy in northern Afghanistan. The rock and mud landslide Thursday evening hit a four-vehicle Czech military convoy. The accident occurred during a storm about 20 miles outside a Czech military base in northern Afghanistan. Flooding caused by heavy rains in northeastern Afghanistan left 15 people dead and destroyed dozens of houses on Thursday.

INDIA - Heavy rains during the last three days has taken a toll of 11 people. More than 500 trees were uprooted in the city of Mysore and more then 50 vehicles were damaged. The authorities have been struggling hard to clear the trees which affected traffic at various points. Meanwhile the entire city was under dark due to power supply failure following torrential rains. The water supply to the city was also affected. In Lucknow, May 3, the 43-mm rain recorded was the HIGHEST EVER IN THE FIRST WEEK OF MAY. The humidity reached 100 per cent. The weather was responsible for the loss of at least one life. In Itaunja, a man died after being hit by lightning.

GUAM - Get ready for the rainy season, the National Weather Service says, as Guam's dry season may end sooner than expected. The El Nino conditions that caused this year's mini-drought have ended and returned to what is called "Enso Neutral" or normal. This means that they are now in a transition phase from the dry-to-rainy season sooner than they anticipated. "The reason for this is that initially it was induced by the El Nino that we had last year so this is the drought following the El Nino, but it was a fairly weak El Nino event and it ended quite abruptly." Now if another weather phenomenon known as La Nina develops, this year's typhoon season could be a relatively tame one.

Series of Quakes Swarm Yellowstone Park

Click Map to Enlarge: Simplified map of Yellowstone National Park, caldera, and resurgent domes(locations of benchmarks and place names referred to in leveling data) Curtosy USGS C

Volcanic/Seismic Alert

Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming, USA

May 5, 2007

A “swarm” of 16 small earthquakes measuring up to 2.7 on the open-ended quake scale shook Yellowstone National Park’s Pitchstone Plateau from Monday through Wednesday.A seismograph network operated by the University of Utah and partners recorded the temblors, which started a few minutes before midnight Tuesday. The largest occurred at 3:09 a.m. Tuesday and the series continued until Wednesday when it finally died down.The quakes all were centered in the middle of the plateau, a lava dome at the southern end of the park. Geophysicist Dr. Bob Smith, a University of Utah professor and a Jackson Hole homeowner, said he was working the night the swarm started and found it “interesting and intriguing.”“I was up working and watching these, saying ‘Whoa, what does this all mean?’” Smith said in a telephone interview from Utah on Thursday. “It kept my interest quite high.”

Devastating Floods Inundate Sri Lanka

Breaking Storm News
Sri Lanka

Eleven people have died after heavy rain caused major flooding in the capital city of Sri Lanka.
More than 50,000 people have lost their homes in the Asian city of Colombo after rainfall flooded the roads.
People who have lost their homes are now living in schools and temples while they wait for the water to go down.
Experts believe that more people could be without basic shelter and food with up to 80,000 residents struggling to cope with the effects of the downpour.

Click here find out about floods


VIDEO PRESENTATION

Severe Drought: State of Emergency Declared in Italy

Environmental Alert
Italy
May, 2007

Northern and central Italy were placed under a state of drought emergency on Friday because of hot, dry weather that the authorities fear may harm agriculture and cause electricity blackouts in the next few months.
The centre-left government announced the measure at a cabinet meeting in Rome, one day after France imposed water rationing in seven out of its 96 mainland departments because of similar concerns about drought.
Italy experienced its warmest winter this year for 200 years, and a dry April witnessed temperatures more commonly experienced in Italy at the start of summer in June.
Continue Story

RELATED STORY

Erupting Russian Volcano is melting Glacier

Russia
Volcanic Alert
Photo: Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Kamien in foreground

May 5, 20o7
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, May 4 (Itar-Tass) - An almost two kilometres-long stream of lava has poured out of the crater of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. It descended down the north-western slope to the mark of three kilometres above sea level. The volcano itself is 4,750 metres high. The lava, heated up to 1,000 degrees, is melting the glacier, Chief of the Klyuchevskaya Volcanic Station Yuri Demyanchuk told Itar-Tass on Friday by telephone from the village of Klyuchi, which is thirty-two kilometres away from the volcano. This inhabited locality is closest to the Klyuchevskaya Sopka. It has a population of approximately five thousand people.

The Klyuchevskaya Sopka is the highest active volcano in Eurasia. It began to erupt on February 15. The eruption, which was quite weak at the beginning, grew notably by the end of March. Today, the volcano is very active. However, no sharp eruption changes were recorded so far, experts note. Over 100 local earthquakes are occurring daily on the volcano, and sometimes even more. The giant is periodically spewing columns of vapour mixed with a large amount of ashes. The vapour columns occasionally rise up to an altitude of 6.5 kilometres above sea level, experts of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) report.

Update: Tornado obliterates Kansas farming town

Breaking Earth News

Photo: tornado has wiped out large parts of a small Kansas farming town, killing seven people and injuring dozens, authorities said on Saturday. The funnel cloud hit Greensburg on Friday evening, smashing buildings and overturning vehicles. REUTERS/Graphics

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - A tornado wiped out most of a small farming town in southwestern Kansas, killing nine people and injuring at least 63, emergency officials said on Saturday.
The funnel cloud hit Greensburg on Friday evening, smashing buildings, overturning vehicles and knocking out communications towers. Aerial television news footage showed ruins throughout the community of about 1,800 people.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

Studies Show Global Warming Could Change the Length of the Day

May 04, 2007

By Scott Kessman

(AC)

Will global warming make the day shorter or longer?

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past five years, then you've likely already read countless articles and heard many reports about the current global warming crisis our world faces. The concept of global warming has faced lots of criticism and outright denial, but at this point in time, most of the world's leading scientists are in agreement that global warming is real and is having a profound effect on the future of the environment.In the face of recent events and cold hard facts, many who once disbelieved the idea of global warming have come to change their minds, noting that the earth's climate is definitely changing, with the most recent changes happening just this past year. Strange weather patterns, rising tides, melting ice shelfs and other occurrences all lend credence to those who say the environment is in trouble and that global warming is the culprit.Now, it would seem that another change looms on the horizon. A new study conducted by Jochem Marotzke, a scientist conducting research at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, shows that global warming could cause the day to grow shorter.Jochem Marotzke explains that as a result of global warming, sometime over the next century or two, warming ocean waters will cause the ocean's circulation to change, along with sea levels. These changes will cause the ocean's water to be redistributed toward the North Pole, causing the Earth to spin faster on its axis.

Other research contradicts Jochem Marotzke initial findings on the effects of global warming, showing that a warmer atmosphere would serve to create stronger winds, in effect causing the earth to slow its rotation, and thus making the day longer.

Climate report ignored by Chinese media

Breaking International News

China

Photo: Cyclists pass a coal-fired power plant on the outskirts of Beijing. China's media largely ignored a landmark report on global warming on Saturday as Beijing sweated through an unseasonal heatwave(AFP/Frederic J.Brown)

BEIJING (AFP) - China's media largely ignored a landmark report on global warming on Saturday as Beijing sweated through an unseasonal heatwave.

Weather information indicates that China is already feeling the effects of global warming.
Newspapers on Friday reported record temperatures in Beijing which saw the mercury hit 31.9 degrees (89.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on May 3, the highest in 40 years.
This followed the warmest winter on record in the Chinese capital, when temperatures rose to 16 degrees Celsius in early February, far above the normal average of around freezing.
In Bangkok on Friday, experts from 120 nations endorsed proposals made by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to fight global warming which they said were cheap and easy enough for political leaders to act on right away.
But the only Saturday report of the summit in a mainstream Chinese newspaper was in the Beijing Youth Daily which ran a five paragraph factual account on page 10 attributed to China's official news agency Xinhua.
On the Internet, the same Xinhua report was reproduced on the leading Chinese portals like Sina.com and Sohu.com.

Bill Clinton warns of looming disasters

May 04, 2007
Photo: Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a Harvard University Kennedy School of Government conference to study how governments prepare and react to disasters Friday, May 4, 2007, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Former President
Bill Clinton said Friday that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate.


"This is coming," Clinton said. "And I know there is no great political constituency for it, but we can avert these disasters for not very much money if they can be put into the public debate and people understand clearly what's going to happen."


Clinton warned presidential candidates of both parties — a group that includes his wife, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton- that it will be hard, and likely unpopular, to prepare for foreseeable disasters.

Kansas town slammed by tornado

Breaking Storm News
Tornado kills one person and causes significant damage in Greensburg

GREENSBURG, Kan. — Rescuers pulled about 30 people from a partially collapsed hospital Saturday after a tornado ripped through this southwest Kansas community. At least one person was reported killed and dozens were injured.
The injuries of those who were trapped there were minor, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department.
The tornado struck Friday night, leaving a broad swath of destruction in the Kiowa County town about 110 miles west of Wichita. The storm front spawned tornadoes along a path stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas.


VIDEO PRESENTATION
A tornado that barreled through Arnett, Oklahoma was caught on video. It caused some damage, but no injuries. (May 5)