Non-stop rain takes its toll in flood-hit south China

China
Mrs. Li looked up to the sky with resignation as rain poured down outside her shop in the southern city of Guangzhou, after a tropical storm passed through and drenched the population.

"It's been raining almost continuously for about two months, much longer than last year, and it's a lot of trouble," she said as shopkeepers around her swept water away from their stores.

Mrs. Li, who would not give her full name, is not the only one in Guangzhou fed up with nearly two months of almost non-stop rain.
Inhabitants of the capital of Guangdong province -- used to bad weather at this time of year -- say they have had enough of the freak downpours that have caused deadly floods in nearby towns and hit business.

Thin line between mayhem and safety

USA
Image: The Mississippi River rushes through a break in Indian Grave Drainage District levee north of Quincy, Ill., and south of Meyer, Ill., on June 18.

Story: Well before record floods overwhelmed at least two dozen levees in the Mississippi River watershed, government officials at all levels have raised concern about the ability of such structures to protect property and lives. For millions of Americans living in flood-prone places, all that stands between the waters of mayhem and safety is a pile of dirt. Earthen berms, dikes and levees, identical to those overtopped and breached in dozens of places along swollen rivers in the Midwest during the past few weeks, make up the vast majority of flood protection efforts across the United States. A growing list of levees around the country are being found wanting as tougher scrutiny from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state regulators and private engineering firms reveals defects in design and maintenance. Even where levees are well-maintained, as those in the flood zone have been in most instances, officials note that the likelihood of flood levels rising higher than the tops of the berms seems to be increasing, because of a combination of more intense storms and changes in land use. Most of the levees that have been overtopped were built lower because they defend mostly farmland rather than cities. But places like Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Iowa City saw rivers crest more than 10 feet higher than levels reached in the then record-setting flood of 1993 — making it impossible to pile sand bags high enough or fast enough on their levees to keep the water out. No one at any level of government knows where all the levees are, much less the condition of thousands of the structures. By some estimates, there may be 20,000 to 30,000 levees scattered across the country, but no one is sure. Maintenance of levees, even those operated by the Corps itself, is years and billions of dollars behind schedule. "The levees are already bad and they are going to get worse. This is not a joke. We know this is going to happen."

Weather warning

Dubai
FREAK weather could endanger the lives of anyone swimming in the sea or trekking in the desert, Dubai Police have warned. The Ports Police Station issued a “cautionary advisory” informing residents and visitors about potential weather changes and urged people to be careful when going to the beach or visiting the desert or hilly areas. They also warned people not to swim at night when the sea becomes rougher. People were advised not to go to remote, unsupervised beaches, which may have hidden dangers such as strong currents or whirlpools. Weather conditions are expected to change constantly over the coming days, meaning anyone going sailing should first inform the operations room at Dubai Police. “This will make it easier for the police to find them in case of any accident.”

Expert says drought to continue 9 more years

California
Earth Change
Expert says drought to continue 9 more years - From measurements of the height of the Pacific from space, it tells him the climate here is in trouble. The scientist has gone beyond the annual fluctuations of El Nino and La Nina. He measures the changing height of the ocean over a five- to 20-year range and sees what he calls a Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Over about a 10-year period, the elevation of vast tracts of the ocean will change and where it was higher and warmer becomes lower and cooler and vice versa. This oscillation has a powerful bearing on global warming and can dramatically reinforce the behavior of El Nino and La Nina, dampening or reinforcing their behavior. The last nine years are consecutively THE NINE DRIEST IN A CENTURY, and that can be traced to the oscillation. "We haven't had a big El Nino in a decade." He predicted temperatures will continue to rise in the region. Even in cooler years such as the one they are in now, temperatures will spike for a few days, resulting in dangerous triple-digit temperatures and heavy water use. He says a crisis is looming, and the only solution is for all of us to reduce water consumption by 50%. Golf courses are a major culprit. They absorb heat rather than reflect it back into space. Global warming has pushed the jet stream farther north, and there is less snow pack. He hopes we can control our thirst, but he has reservations. "The world is getting dumber."

25 Thousand Football Fans Flee Vienna Electrical Storm

(CNN) -- Thousands of football fans fled for safety and millions of TV viewers were left disappointed Wednesday night as an electrical storm in Vienna disrupted coverage of the first of the Euro 2008 semifinals.

Rain and high winds lashed Vienna's Fan Zone -- an outside arena where supporters had gathered to watch the match -- as lightning forked the sky above, forcing police to evacuate 25,000 fans, CNN's Pedro Pinto reported.

Two people were badly hurt during the evacuation, including a woman who sustained back injuries, according to media reports.

Some fans tried sheltering against giant TV screens while others, caught up in the occasion, kicked floodwater over each other or played with footballs.

The match itself, being played in Basel, Switzerland -- the tournament's other co-host -- was unaffected by the severe weather.

However, the feed to TV stations worldwide was lost: only Swiss public TV and Al-Jazeera were unaffected, agency reports say.

Limerick Hit By Torrential Downpours

Ireland
Image: Magdalena Kakol from the Haymarket in Limerick, attempts to avoid the floods on her way to work Pic: Owen South

Limerick hit by torrential downpours - Commuters experienced monsoon-like conditions en route to work this Thursday morning as the heavens opened on top of them. The city streets were submerged during the downpour leaving pedestrians side-stepping large puddles which appeared suddenly on footpaths. The weather is in "a broken mood at the moment because of an Atlantic depression which can affect us at any time of the year, but it is dominating our weather pattern at the moment".

Large ‘Planet X’ may lurk beyond Pluto

An icy, unknown world might lurk in the distant reaches of our solar system beyond the orbit of Pluto, according to a new computer model. The hidden world — thought to be much bigger than Pluto based on the model — could explain unusual features of the Kuiper Belt, a region of space beyond Neptune littered with icy and rocky bodies. Its existence would satisfy the long-held hopes and hypotheses for a "Planet X" envisioned by scientists and sci-fi buffs alike. Skywatch Media News MSNBC

NowPublic

Hundreds of fires sparked by rare lightning storm

California, USA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) In less than a day, an electrical storm unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes that set more than 800 wildfires across Northern California — a RARE example of "dry lightning" that brought little or no rain but plenty of sparks to the state's parched forests and grasslands. The weekend storm was UNUSUAL not only because it generated so many lightning strikes over a large geographical area, but also because it struck so early in the season and moved in from the Pacific Ocean. Such storms usually don't arrive until late July or August and typically from southeast of California. "You're looking at a pattern that's CLIMATOLOGICALLY RARE. We typically don't see this happen at this time of summer. To see 8,000, that's way up there on the scale." Despite the many lightning strikes that hit the ground on Saturday alone, the weekend thunderstorm brought little precipitation because the rain evaporated in hot, dry layers of the atmosphere before it hit the ground. The lightning storm struck California when the state was experiencing one of its driest years on record. From San Francisco to Los Angeles, cities have only seen a tiny fraction of the rainfall they normally receive in a typical year. In the Central Valley, the cities of Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton and Red Bluff have recorded their driest March-to-May periods since at least the 19th century. Even before the lightning struck, California had already seen an UNUSUALLY large number of wildfires, although the fire season typically does not start until July and does not peak until late summer or early fall. "This doesn't bode well for the fire season. We're not even into the meat of the fire season at this point, and the brush is extremely dry. It's not going to get any better, it's going to get worse." The weekend's lighting storm combined with extremely dry conditions to spark about 840 separate blazes. By contrast, 574 lightning-sparked fires blackened about 55,000 acres in Northern California in all of 2007. The weather service has said more dry thunderstorms could strike Northern California later this week. The weather pattern "could happen again across Central and Northern California."

RELATED EVENT
20,000 lightning strikes

North Island, New Zealand

Thunder and lightning roared over Waikato skies last night in an incredible electrical storm which struck the North Island.

HOT SPOTS Image above: A map from MetService shows thousands of lightning strikes in the 24-hours to 8am.

Heatwave Scorches the Balkans

The Balkans
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia) - Heatwave scorching the Balkans - Two people have died and hundreds have sought medical assistance as a summer heat wave grips the western Balkans. A period of extremely warm temperatures started as of this weekend and will last at least three weeks, meteorologists in the region said. They warned that temperatures – even above 40 degrees Celsius – may be set, creating TEMPERATURE HIGHS NOT SEEN IN THE LAST 100 YEARS. To make the situation even more difficult for the population, this period will also be marked by so-called “tropical nights” where temperatures will remain above 20 or even 30 degrees Celsius overnight. Medical workers warned the population to remain indoors between 11:00 and 17:00 and drink plenty of water. The heat wave in Macedonia has led the national Crisis Management Centre there to warn of possible wildfires due to the tinder dry conditions.

More rain forecast for rain-weary Midwest

USA
Image: Soybeans lie ruined in a flooded field outside of La Grange, Missouri, June 21, 2008. Floodwaters from the Mississippi and Iowa Rivers may have destroyed up to 15% of the this year's corn and soybean crops from Illinois and Iowa. (UPI Photo/Mark Cowan)

ST. LOUIS, June 26 (UPI) -- Heavy rains and forecasts for more rain dashed officials' hopes of taking pressure off rain-soaked levees holding back the Mississippi River north of St. Louis.

The National Weather Service predicts the Mississippi to rise until at least Friday at St. Louis and points upstream, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Severe weather is expected to target the Upper Midwest through Friday, AccuWeather.com reported, renewing flooding problems in the mid-Mississippi Valley area. Waves of thunderstorms were forecast to move across the area Thursday with the potential of producing damaging winds, hail, locally heavy downpours and tornadoes.

Meanwhile St. Louis and 22 counties in Missouri were declared federal disaster areas, which will help defray flood-control costs and cleanup, officials said. One immediate effect: The government will pick up 75 percent of the cost of sandbags, bottled water and other necessities.

Image Left: Farm fields in low-lying areas around Buffalo, Iowa, are just beginning to emerge from flood waters on June 23, 2008. Receding floodwaters from the Mississippi river have left massive crop destruction throughout Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.Officials expect at least 3 billion in damage and a loss of 15% of corn and soybean crops in Iowa. (UPI Photo/Mark Cowan)

Storm and rain lash South China

Hong Kong, China

Tropical storm Fengshen brought more rain and misery to southern China on Wednesday, throwing life out of gear in the economic hubs of Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Fengshen, downgraded from a typhoon after killing hundreds of people in the Philippines, hit Shenzhen, Guangdong province, early Wednesday morning.

But before that it struck Hong Kong, uprooting trees, pulling down bamboo scaffoldings and causing a heavy downpour.

The storm caused rainfall in many parts of southern and some parts of eastern China. Though it hit Jiangxi province too, Guangdong bore the brunt of its assault.

Bangladesh is set to disappear by the end of the century

Skywatch-Media Special Report

Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century – and we will be to blame. Johann Hari took a journey to see for himself how western profligacy and indifference have sealed the fate of 150 million peoplewent to see for himself the spreading misery and destruction as the ocean reclaims the land on which so many millions depend.

Wildfires Rage in California

Firefighters from neighboring states arrived to help Monday after an "unprecedented" lightning storm sparked more than 800 wildfires, from Big Sur to wine country to Humboldt County. Along the coast in the Los Padres National Forest, a 2,000-acre wildfire burning south of Big Sur since Saturday forced the evacuations of 75 homes and businesses, destroyed one house and threatened hundreds of others. It also led to an emergency airlift Sunday of eight endangered California condors. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters transported the seven juveniles and one adult bird from a wildlife center to the Monterey Airport.

Source: earthfrenzyradio.com via steve468

NowPublic

Midwest floodwaters could linger for weeks

CHICAGO (AFP)The worst of the flooding that has ravaged the midwestern United States is nearly over, but it will be weeks before the murky water recedes in many areas. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana due to the heavy rains and deadly storms which swept through the region in recent weeks. Early estimates place the damage in the billions as roads were washed out, rail and barge traffic shut down and millions of acres of crops were swamped. Scores of levees collapsed or were overtopped by the rushing waters which swallowed entire towns. The extreme weather which began May 25 and included a series of deadly tornadoes claimed the lives of 22 people, 17 of whom were in Iowa. More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states were affected by the flooding and extreme weather. All the tributary rivers of the Mississippi above St. Louis, Missouri have now crested, but it will take three more days before the towns down river know whether their levies will hold. The river is expected to rise by about another six inches (15 centimeters) in areas up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) downstream. "A lot of these rivers won't go back below flood stage until mid-July." Image Above: Farmer boats throught a corn field

598 dead or missing in typhoon

Philippines
Image: This image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Fengshen taken Thursday, June 19, 2008 located southeast of the Philippines.

Story: 598 people are dead or missing after Typhoon Fengshen roared through the Philippines, the Red Cross and civil defence said today, dramatically raising the number unaccounted for. Landslides, severe flooding and the loss of dozens of fishing boats had left at least 224 dead and 374 missing, mostly in central areas which bore the brunt of the storm. The figures do not include passengers and crew from a ferry which sank carrying more than 800 people. So far, only 32 survivors have been found. More than 200 people were still missing in the central island of Negros, while 63,000 people are still in evacuation centres after flash floods and landslides forced them to flee their homes. Flooding had not yet receded in many parts of Bulacan province, just outside the capital of Manila. Power was restored in Manila but had not yet returned in some areas outside the capital where lines had been toppled. Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the central Philippines late on Saturday before changing course and moving north across much of the archipelago. It left through the northwest side of the main island of Luzon before dawn today, moving northwest at 15km/h towards southern China. As of 10am (midday AEST) today, the typhoon was charted 300km northwest of the country, packing maximum winds of 110km/h near the centre.

RELATED NEWS
Hopes faded today that more survivors would be found in what could be one of the worst Philippine sea disasters as rescuers failed to find signs of life inside the capsized ferry. Rescue officials said only 38 people had been rescued, including 28 passengers and crew members who came ashore today after drifting at sea since Saturday. A total of 13 bodies believed to be from the ferry Princess of the Stars have been recovered, including 9 that washed ashore today. Divers who beat against the hull of ferry Monday in search of survivors heard nothing that indicated life. Elsewhere, officials tried to assess the losses from the typhoon. Iloilo, a central Philippine province, was the worst hit, with fatalities approaching 100 as of today. It was too early to determine damage to agriculture and infrastructure, but officials said it could run up to millions of dollars. Another concern was the welfare of the nearly 70,000 people throughout the country who were displaced by the typhoon and are now living in evacuation centers. Coast guard officials said that they had cleared the ferry to leave Manila for Cebu, a city in the central Philippines, on Friday night because the initial forecast for Fengshen showed that the storm would only hit the eastern part of the country, away from the ferry's route. But the typhoon changed direction Saturday, moving toward the center of the country, running right into the ferry's path. Coast guard officials said they had advised the ferry to seek shelter, but that the boat's engine had failed after the ship was battered by strong winds and waves, thus leaving it even more vulnerable to the intensifying storm. Image Above: Rescue divers in the Philippines gathering Tuesday near the ferry Princess of the Stars, which was overturned by a typhoon Saturday.

(Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

Rare' gales set to hit Britain

Britain
People across the UK are being warned to brace themselves for UNUSUALLY stormy weather as high winds and heavy rain are forecast for today. The storms - with winds which could reach 65mph across parts of Britain - are expected to peak at about midday. The worst affected areas are expected to be north Wales and northern England, but Northern Ireland and southern Scotland may also be affected. The weather was ABNORMAL for June. It is more likely to be the sort of weather that is seen in the autumn. "Although it's not unusual to have this kind of weather during the winter it's RARE to see this kind of gale this time of year. The vicious gusts of wind will not only be reserved to coastal districts but may happen further inland too. Cities such as Manchester and Leeds are in the path of the heavy weather. Irish Sea coasts will be affected with heavy waves." Strong gusts are also expected as far south as the Bristol channel, Wales, the Midlands and parts of East Anglia.

Ice Shelf Collapses in Antarctica

Antarctica
Earth Change

June 16, 2008—Another large plate of ice has broken off the rapidly disintegrating Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula, the above satellite images show. While the ice shelf, located directly below South America, shrank significantly in previous months (see March images), this is the first documented occurrence of an ice shelf collapsing during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

Russia fears climate catastrophe in Arctic

RUSSIA fears climate catastrophe in Arctic - Global warming could bring “terrible destruction” in the Russian North, the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations admits. He says global warming could bring “catastrophic destruction” in the northern parts of country by 2030. The melting of the permafrost could pose a major threat against northern airports, as well as underground reservoirs of oil and gas. A warming of only one-to-two degrees will reduce the firmness of the permafrost by as much as 50 percent. He adds that already today, the thickness of the permafrost is reduced by about four centimetres per year and that the permafrost zone over the next 20 years is expected to move 80 km north. The climate change will increase the chances of flooding and that major amounts of methane might be released from the ground

Massive Dust Storm Hangs Over the MIddle East

Middle East

A massive dust cloud hovered over the Middle East in mid-June 2008, stretching from Iraq to India and spreading south past the Arabian Peninsula. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on June 18, 2008. This image shows part of the storm, including some of the thickest dust, concentrated over the Arabian Sea. Besides the heavy band of dust south of Oman, the storm creates a faint dusty haze covering almost the entire region.

US crazy weather brings snow and heatwaves

USA

2008 has been a year of extreme extreme weather for the United States so far

From Miami to Seattle to Boston to Las Vegas, serious drought, historic flooding, sweltering heat and bitter cold have hit the country- and almost all of it during the months of May and June.

American meteorologists are citing an unusual late spring weather pattern for the spike in extreme weather. The jet stream, a narrow column of fast-moving winds in the mid-levels of the atmosphere which heavily influences temperature and precipitation, has been blamed for much of the widespread extreme weather across the United States. The jet stream has been stationary in an abnormal position, dipping in the mountain west and rising in the east, with the heart of the stream flowing through the center of the country. The dip in the west has allowed cold weather to filter through and bring extreme cold and even snow to parts of Montana and Idaho, while the rise in the east has brought extreme heat from the Gulf of Mexico, and minimal precipitation has fallen over the southeastern US.

But it's been the jet stream's flow through the center of the country that has produced the most damage. Pictures reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath are headlining American news networks, this time displaying images from the upper mid western states of Iowa and Wisconsin, where crippling and historic flooding has washed away homes and businesses not accustomed to intense flooding.

Flooding in Southern China Claims Scores of Victims

Skywatch-Media News: Special Report

South China
Some areas had THE MOST RAIN IN 100 YEARS.

Story: Torrential rains continued to batter a huge swath of southern China on Tuesday near one of the biggest manufacturing zones in the country. The storms and floods killed at least 63 people over the past week, left 13 missing and affected more than 17 million people in nine southern provinces. The high waters have also inundated about 5.4 million acres of cropland, set off landslides and forced more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes in southern and central provinces. Some factories in coastal Guangdong Province — one of the biggest export centers in the country, producing everything from textiles to electronics — have been forced to suspend or curtail operations. The national meteorological service also warned of more danger in the coming days. The natural disasters this year have fed superstitions that this year is somehow cursed, even though many Chinese had hoped 2008 would be a year of Olympic glory, since the number eight is considered lucky.

Entire cities under several feet of water as monsoon rains continue - In many areas waters has reached rooftops and many roads have been cut off by rising flood waters or rain-induced landslides. Even in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, huge metropolitan areas with tens of million of people, are partly under water. Weather forecasts expect more torrential rain for the whole week in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan. The eastern provinces of Gansu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Yunnan and Fujian have also been affected. Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses and caused economic losses estimated at 27.7 billion yuan (US$ 4.2 billion). Now dams are at risk and the authorities have rushed hundreds of people to shore them up and more than 40 rivers are exceeding their warning levels as tens of thousands of people continue to be evacuated. In quake-devastated Sichuan, non-stop rains threaten to cause landslides. Again uncontrolled deforestation has been blamed for the flooding. In many areas entire hills are denuded of trees and left without protection against raging waters, a situation that easily triggers landslides.

Up to 3,000 schools in Guangxi have been damaged due to the flooding. Since the rainy season began in late May, rains have deluged large swathes of southern China, while the northeast of the country is experiencing the complete opposite in the form of an UNUSUAL heatwave. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province usually known as the "Ice City", reported an ABNORMALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE of 37.1 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) Tuesday - the SECOND HIGHEST IN THE CITY'S HISTORY. In quake-hit Sichuan province, where millions of refugees are living in tents and makeshift shelters, the evacuation of up to 110,000 quake refugees from dangerous mountainous areas threatened by rain-induced landslides in Aba prefecture was slated to finish today. In the south in Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi region, the rains have either swamped hundreds of roads or left them cut off by landslides. Thousands of transport trucks have been stranded in both provinces, cutting off food supplies to urban centres and fuelling price rises.

Heavy rain paralyses life in Ctg

Bangladesh
Image: Vehicles slog through knee-deep water on the main thoroughfare at Bahadderhat in Chittagong after deluge throughout yesterday swamped much of the port city. Photo: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

Life became paralyzed in Chittagong yesterday as major parts of the port city were submerged in knee-deep water following heavy rains throughout the day. Two walls collapsed at Lalkhan Bazar and Surson Road in the morning due to the downpour, but no one was hurt. Over 202 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in last 24 hours till 3:00pm yesterday. Many houses were flooded by the cloudburst. The traders at the traditional business hubs of Chaktai and Khatunganj suffered huge financial loss as the Chaktai canal, the backbone of the city's drainage system, overflowed and flooded several godowns and shops damaging goods and properties. The traders at the Chawk Bazar and Bohaddarhat kitchen markets experienced a bad day as the markets went under waist-deep water, disrupting business. Torrential rain also hampered the operations at the port to some extent. Almost all the flights to and from Chittagong airport were delayed due to the inclement weather

Artic Sea Ice 'Melting Fast

EARTH CHANGE

The Arctic

Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter. The year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007. But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss. Scientists say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years. A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013. "I think we're going to beat last year's record melt, though I'd love to be wrong. If we do, then I don't think 2013 is far off anymore. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it'll be within a decade anyway." The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about seven metres (22ft) if it all melted.

Mississippi overflows levees, crops threatened

Breaking Earth News
Midwest, USA
Image: An aerial photograph shows the railroad tracks completely covered by floodwaters from the Mississippi River, bringing train traffic to a halt just East of Burlington, Iowa, June 18, 2008. The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least 12 more levees on Wednesday, as floodwaters swallowed up more U.S. farmland, adding to billion-dollar losses and feeding global food inflation fears. REUTERS/Ron Mayland (UNITED STATES)
In Photos: Catastrophic Flooding in Midwest

FORT MADISON, Iowa (Reuters) - The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least 12 more levees on Wednesday, as floodwaters swallowed up more U.S. farmland, adding to billion-dollar losses and feeding global food inflation fears.

Volunteers and aid workers were piling sandbags up and down the most important U.S. inland waterway to try to protect more levees and thousands of acres of prime crop land threatened as the river's crest moves south after last week's torrential rains.

About 10 levees were breached earlier this week, bringing the total to 22 on Wednesday. The levee breaches lowered the river level by letting water spill onto the surrounding land.

New Changes For Skywatch-Media News

From the Editor's Desk
Skywatch-Media News

Skywatch-Media News and all of its' affiliate websites will soon be implementing a streamline, user friendly website. Our goal is to bring top quality, multi-media entertainment to our regular viewers and Internet visitors. In order to achieve this, we have developed a new website that will serve our purposes as well as those of the general public.

Our new site, will provide all of the news and entertainment services we currently offer, including audio and video podcasts, our radio archives, radio blog, the newsletter, breaking earth news, a merchandise shopping cart, and much more. The new site will provide a private log-in service, both secure and user friendly.

Membership to our new site will be by invitation only prior to our launch, and by paid subscription through our paypal services or via credit card. After we launch the new site, all our news and media postings from our affiliate websites will require a log-in through our hosting services.

To learn more about our new services, or to sign-up for a new account, please email me directly at steve468@skywatch-media.info

As always we are committed to bringing our viewers the very best news and entertainment on our changing planet, and with our new website, we hope to get even better. We hope that all of you will continue to be a part of our growing network as we look forward to providing our new services across the Internet.

Sincerely,

Steven Shaman
Skywatch-Media

Southern Chile volcano erupts with renewed strength

Chile, S.A.
Image: Chaiten, a column of volcanic ash rose 20 miles high

Story: The Chaiten volcano in southern Chile has erupted with renewed strength, belching thick clouds of ash and hurling molten rocks into the air. The volcano first began to erupt in May after lying dormant for centuries. "There has been an increase in the volcano's activity." Witnesses reported seeing two new craters, and of seeing "significant gas emanations and volcanic material" coming from the volcano. The National Service of Geology and Mining said it registered 15 low-level earthquakes early Thursday in the volcano area. Since the volcano had calmed down in the past weeks officials were hoping to let evacuees return to recover their belongings - but that plan was put on hold "until we are certain that this increased activity is something temporary."

Lebanon hit by seven tremors since Thursday

Lebanon
Seven earthquakes struck southern Lebanon and northern Israel during the past 24 hours, Lebanese seismologists said Friday. Two of the tremors struck on Friday morning, measuring 3.8 and 3.9 on the Richter Scale, respectively. The other five hit within the space of three hours on Thursday.

Japan earthquake death toll rises

Japan
Photo Gallery
Six people are known to have been killed and more than 200 injured in the 7.0 quake that struck the rural mountainous region of Iwate on Japan's main island of Honshu. Landslides followed the tremors across Akita prefecture - the epicentre of the quake. There have been more than 200 aftershocks. Those missing include seven people feared buried by a mudslide at a hot spring hotel in mountains outside the town of Kurihara, Miyagi region. With major roads buckled and unusable, search teams hiked through mountain trails to reach isolated towns. A small amount of radioactive water was leaked at a nuclear power station, but officials said there was no danger to the public from the minor spillage at the facility in Fukushima. Seismologists issued a warning of the earthquake moments before it struck around 0845 (2343 GMT) on Friday. Surveillance cameras in the city of Sendai showed it being shaken violently for about 30 seconds.

UPDATE - The quake death toll has risen to at least nine. Mountains were carved away by the force of the quake, trees crashed into newly slashed ravines, roads were cut off by landslides, and bridges buckled and broke. More than 260 aftershocks had jolted the area by this morning, and officials warned there could be strong quakes to come. Efforts to find seven people believed trapped in a hot spring resort swamped by a massive landslide resumed early this morning. Rescue workers picked their way through debris while scores of others, including soldiers, began carefully crossing a river of mud covered with makeshift wooden boards to get to the two-story inn, whose first floor had completely collapsed. Some 100 people were cut off in remote areas after roads were blocked by landslides. Experts said the scope of the quake was far smaller than the one that hit China a month ago and the region's sparse population and Japan's stricter building codes also limited the damage.

Floods hammer Iowa City

Breaking Earth News
Skywatch-Media Special Report: Floods Devastate Iowa
Iowa, USA
Image: Columbus Junction city councilman Mark Huston, left, and public works employee Fred Lukavsky inspect a flooded plain along the Iowa River. Sandbags failed to stop the torrent.

JULIE JACOBSON: ASSOCIATED PRESS

IN PICTURES: THE IOWA FLOODS

Sandbagging has failed as towns scurry to battle the surge

IOWA CITY, IOWA — A week's work of frantic sandbagging by students, professors and the National Guard couldn't spare this scenic college town from the surging Iowa River, which has swamped more than a dozen campus buildings and forced the evacuation Sunday of hundreds of nearby homes.

The swollen river, which bisects this city of about 60,000 residents, was topping out at about 31.5 feet — a foot and a half below earlier predictions. But it still posed a threat and wasn't expected to begin receding until tonight.

"I'm focused on what we can save," University of Iowa President Sally Mason said as she toured her stricken campus. "We'll deal with this when we get past the crisis. We're not past the crisis yet."

Some numbers from the Iowa floods:

Deaths from flooding: 3

Evacuees: Roughly 36,000 Iowans in 11 counties, including 25,000 in Cedar Rapids.

Counties declared federal disaster areas: 24. A total of 83 counties are covered by a disaster declaration by Gov. Chet Culver.

Iowa National Guard soldiers deployed: 2,500

Sandbags: 4.8 million

Gallons of drinking water distributed: 180,930

Acres of soybeans lost: 2 million

Acres of corn lost: 1.3 million

Tillable acres of farmland under water: 16 percent of the state's 25 million acres.

The lesson from Iowa's floods

Image: A boy carries his bicycle through flood waters in Des Moines, Iowa.(AP Photo/John Gaps III)

“The heavy rains and flooding will have national, and even global, consequences through rising food prices,” said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. There’s nothing the government can do about the weather, but it can avoid compounding the pain with “bad policy.” So the devastating rains have provided yet another reason for Washington to abandon harmful ethanol subsidies, which drive up grain prices, and inflationary monetary policy.

The floods have hurt so badly they’re “likely to change the way we do a few things,” said David Yepsen in the Des Moines Register, and they should. For one thing, the flood proves Iowa has neglected its aging infrastructure for too long,” and the state’s roads, bridges and, “yes, levees,” just weren’t adequate to face this test. “We're now paying a terrible price for that neglect.”

VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

Northern California Faces Massive Fires

California, USA
About 32 homes from Stockton were destroyed by wildfires that started Tuesday, reported the Los Angeles Times. The fires were mainly caused by the high winds across Northern California.

7.2 Earth Quake Rocks Japan

Breaking Earth News
Japan

At least six people are dead and more than 140 injured after a powerful earthquake struck northern Japan, triggering landslides.

The 7.2-magnitude quake was centred on Iwate - a rural mountainous region on Japan's main island, Honshu.

Military helicopters are taking in supplies and flying the injured to hospitals. A landslide at a hot spring reportedly buried seven people.

And a small amount of radioactive water was leaked at a nuclear power station.

But officials said there was no danger to the public from the minor spillage at the facility in Fukushima.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said: "Our most important task is to save as many lives as possible, and we are doing the best we can."

Florida tomato industry collapses

Florida, USA

THE tomato industry in Florida has collapsed and $US40 million ($42m) worth of tomatoes will rot unless the source of a salmonella outbreak can be quickly traced, an industry official says.

There have been 145 reported cases, including at least 23 hospitalisations, related to the salmonella outbreak since mid-April. The infections were caused by Salmonella Saintpaul, an uncommon type of the bacteria.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday warned US consumers that the salmonella outbreak was linked to eating certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing those tomatoes.

Several major restaurant and grocery chains have stopped selling those varieties.

UPDATE: Florida Tomatoes Deemed Safe to Eat

Florida tomatoes are safe to eat, health officials said.The Food and Drug Administration reported the locally grown crop is not linked to the nationwide salmonella scare.Dozens of states report cases of food poisoning linked to tomatoes.

However, there are no cases here in Florida, which is the largest producer of tomatoes in the country.

Drought closes world's biggest cattle ranch in Australia

Australia
Image: Drovers muster cattle at Anna Creek Station, South Australia

Story: Anna Creek station, which is bigger than Israel, encompasses 9,267 square miles of scrub, sand dunes and savannah in the Outback of South Australia.

It is normally capable of supporting 16,000 cattle but the "Big Dry" – the worst drought in a century – has exhausted the land, forcing the herd to be whittled down to less than 2,000.

Half the cattle were sold for slaughter, while the rest were moved to other properties owned by S Kidman & Co, one of Australia's best known pastoral companies.

Article Continues

Storm gusts knock out power to thousands

Washington, USA
High winds knocked out power to at least 18,700 homes in Seattle and South King County late Monday as an unseasonably strong storm blew through the area. Across Western Washington, about 30,000 customers were without power late into the evening. Monday's storms came as Puget Sound-area residents had just begun to thaw out after the COLDEST JUNE WEEK ON RECORD. The average high temperature in Seattle last week was a less-than-balmy 57.3 degrees - nearly two degrees lower than the previous record, set in 1917. That's 10 degrees lower than the normal high for the week, 68 degrees. The National Weather Service issued a gale wind warning Monday evening. The statement cautioned that wind gusts up to 57 mph could drive 6-foot waves during the night. At higher elevations in the Cascade Range, the cold front was expected to bring 5 to 10 inches of snow to mountain passes. Forecasters predicted the snow level would drop to 2,500 feet overnight Monday. The cold, wet weather likely will mean a dusting at Snoqualmie Pass and snow accumulations up to 5 inches at the state's higher passes. "We have a cold front that's coming through, which is obviously UNUSUALLY STRONG. I can't remember a time when we've put out a heavy snow advisory in June." The snow warning for the Cascade and Olympic ranges has forced highway crews to delay mowing grass and return to the mountain passes with snowplows.

RELATED REGIONAL NEWS
OREGON - A wintery storm within a week of summer is producing snow and ice. The southern Blue Mountains can expect 3-5 inches of snow, and the northern Blues could get 6-10 inches. The weather service also issued a hazardous weather outlook for most of Eastern Oregon, and there is a frost advisory in effect into Wednesday night for the Blue Mountains and much of Wallowa County. Baker County could get three to five inches at higher elevations and one to two inches in the valleys.
Image Above: An unseasonable snowstorm Tuesday covers flowers and a lawn in a rural yard near La Grande in northeastern Oregon. Trucks were required to chain up and plows were put back in service on Interstate 84 in the nearby Blue Mountains.

Mexico battered by deluge

Mexico
Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in Eastern mexico as thousands of people flee landslides and mudflows triggered by the profuse deluge. Landslides have destroyed many homes in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz as authorities struggled to reach certain areas owing to blocked transportation routes and damaged communication lines. The intense rains in eastern Mexico have lasted several days, flooding numerous homes and roads in various parts of Veracruz.

Heavy rain forecast for storm-hit China

Breaking Earth News
China
Image: Flooded Streets of Hong Kong, June, 2008

Rain storms are forecast for southern China over the next two days after RECORD DOWNPOURS caused havoc in Hong Kong and nearby Guangdong, triggering landslides and halting traffic. At least seven cities, home to 1.5 million people, in the coastal province of Guangdong have been hit by continuous rains, with more than 1,500 houses destroyed and more than 150 factories having to suspend operations. "Guangdong's coastal cities will probably face typhoons or high tides this month, and flooding might be more severe than expected. Rainfall will diminish today in the Pearl and Yangtze river basins, where it has been heavy from Saturday to yesterday, before again becoming torrential." Heavy rains are also seen in southern Jiangxi and Guangxi where water was knee-deep or higher on main streets. Rainstorms brought havoc to Hong Kong on Saturday, bringing the heaviest downpour since records began and sparking widespread flooding and dozens of landslides, one of which killed two people.

Cedar River flooding will be ‘historic event’

Iowa, USA
Image: Richard Campbell of Cedar Rapids carries a pepper plant he rescued from his and his wife Barbara's garden at the Ellis Park community garden plots Monday in northwest Cedar Rapids. The couple pulled their tomato, pepper, watermelon and cucumber plants from their swamped plot. They also pulled out some radishes. Rising water of the Cedar River already has swamped many other gardens.

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jeff Zogg, hydrologist at the National Weather Service office in Davenport, said one word, more than any other, describes what is happening now on the Cedar River — “historic.”

At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Zogg said the National Weather Service just bumped up its crest prediction for the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids from 21.2 feet to 22 feet.
The record crest in Cedar Rapids is 20 feet. The significant flood of 1993 only sent the river to 19.27 feet.

“Feel free to use this in your story,” Zogg said. “This is a historic event. These are river stages we’ve never seen before.”

Zogg said predicting the coming river crests was “extremely challenging” because the stages at some points along the river now are ones never observed before.
“We don’t know exactly what will happen when water gets that high,” he said. “We don’t know for sure, and nobody knows for sure.”

Nevada quake swarm strengthens

Reno, Nevada, USA
Residents of Reno were on guard Monday for earthquake activity after a "swarm" of minor temblors shook the northern part of the state. The swarm, actually made up of thousands of minor quakes, has been going on for three months but picked up considerably Sunday, shaking shelves and causing tall buildings in downtown Reno to sway. There were no reports of significant property damage. Four quakes measuring at least magnitude 3.0 struck the area Sunday morning, capping off a 12-hour period that saw about 20 minor earthquakes. One seismologist said it was the strongest sequence of Nevada quakes in the last month and signaled a pickup in activity. The current swarm's strongest quake was a magnitude 4.7 temblor that struck Reno April 15.

Heavy rain, waves cause flooding in Mexican resort of Acapulco

ACAPULCO, Mexico: Mexican officials say heavy rains and large waves have caused flooding in low-lying parts of the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

City civil defense Director Jorge Pacheco said Monday that teams were working to clear the roads of flooding that cut off Acapulco's airport and affected about 5,000 homes.

Port Capt. Antonio Piza said the port was closed to small craft because of high surf.

Winter Persists in Washington State

Washington, USA
Image: Visitors Trying to Stay Warm and Dry in Seattle's Pikes Place Market

Friday's rain, cloudy skies and chilly breezes capped a week of UNUSUALLY cold weather for the first week of June. The temperature got all the way to an October-like 54 degrees. In the mountains, snow was falling as if winter never left. The weather was so odd that carving Halloween pumpkins might have been more fitting, given the fall colors and cold-weather gear spotted on Seattle's streets. People in Seattle saw temperatures never get any higher than 62 degrees. And that was way back on Monday. Typically, early June in Seattle brings temperatures of 68 degrees. From Sunday through Friday afternoon, 1.18 inches of rain had fallen at Sea-Tac Airport - just 0.31 inches short of the average amount for the entire month. Forecasters downplayed La Niña as the force behind the week's weather because this phenomenon typically occurs during winter. "All I can say is it's really cool, and there's an upper-level trough over British Columbia and Washington state." That trough can bring cooler air to a region, and overcast skies block the sun and drop temperatures. One resident questioned whether the unusual weather was part of a secret U.S. government project. She acknowledged that people might think she's a crackpot - but she insisted that the Internet has credible information about government efforts. And a year ago, during the first week of June, Seattle's temperatures peaked at 84 degrees. Forecasters expect up to 10 inches of snow in parts of the Olympics and Cascades by Saturday.

Experts warn Canadians to prepare for tornadoes

Canada
Image: This image taken from footage captured by KWTV/News 9 via CNN, shows a tornado moving through Oklahoma on Saturday May 24, 2008.

Story: Experts warn Canadians to prepare for tornadoes - For much of this year, Canadians have looked on as tornado after tornado has hit the U.S. But now, weather experts say residents here may need to prepare for twisters as well. South of the border, the U.S. already appears to be on track to set an unwanted record. If current trends hold, an unprecedented number of tornados will have touched down in the country - 1,300 tornadoes this year alone and that's before the U.S. has even reached its peak season for twisters. The latest twister hit Friday in Minnesota, making its way through the Midwest. No deaths or injuries were reported. But the twister cut a nearly-kilometre-wide path of destruction in the northwestern part of the state, destroying homes, toppling trees, and cutting power to thousands of residents. While American residents appear to be getting the worst of this season's twister season, weather experts say Canadians may not necessarily escape unscathed. Tornadoes have already hit Manitoba five times this year. One barely swept past a small community near Winnipeg. "(The region is) tapping into the high humidity that fuels these storms, and the particular jet stream and wind pattern that causes the tornadoes." Part of the problem in the U.S. may have to do with what's happening in Canada. Experts say UNUSUAL cold fronts from north of the U.S. border are flowing southwards. There they disrupt masses of moist, warm air - and that sends clouds swirling and tornadoes on their furious paths.

RELATED NEWS
Drivers in northwestern Ontario are being asked to stay off the roads following a near-record rainfall that caused flooding. The Ministry of Transportation issued the travel advisory Friday, asking people to delay or cancel their travel plans over the next couple of days after the area was hit with up to 80 millimetres of rain in a span of a few hours. The same storm system dumped heavy rain on Manitoba and spawned tornadoes in Minnesota. Several townships in the Thunder Bay area as well as the Fort William First Nation declared a state of emergency, and some residents of the village of Hymers, near Thunder Bay, were moved from their homes as a precaution. At least one major highway has been closed because of a washout, and several secondary roads have been damaged. Residents in Laird Township east of Sault Ste. Marie spent Saturday assessing the damage after being hit by what they believe was a tornado on Friday. Witnesses said the twister cut a path through a forest and the storm that accompanied it brought near golf ball-sized hail that sounded like gunfire when it hit cars and homes.

Rainy, windy weather that knocked down power lines and led to an unusual rescue attempt was expected to set a RECORD FOR RAINFALL Friday in Winnipeg. About 35 mm of rain fell in Winnipeg between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. - that amount matched the previous record for June 6, set back in 1982. A rainfall warning was later issued for Winnipeg with another 15 mm of rain anticipated, bringing the expected total for the day to about 50 mm. The rain caused the deaths of three peregrine falcon chicks believed to have drowned on the Radisson Hotel's 13th-storey ledge. An elite fire department team was dispatched to try to save the endangered falcons. "Unfortunately, the birds had drowned."

Rain inundates central Indiana, threatens dams

USA
Image: Mike Coy paddles a kayak around the flooded streets of Franklin, Ind. Saturday, June 7, 2008.

Strong storms smashed houses, deluged neighborhoods and left thousands without power across the Midwest on Friday in the latest round of fierce weather. Hot temperatures baked the region even as residents coped with the lack of electricity. A tornado raked a half-mile-wide path of destruction in northwestern Minnesota, where a house overlooking Pickerel Lake near Emmaville was destroyed, its contents spilling down the hill. Flooding forced the evacuation of about a dozen homes in the central Iowa town of Cambridge. Heavy rains that began Thursday night seeped into most basements and at least one foundation collapsed. In Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said a 72 mph wind gust was recorded near Lake Geneva in Walworth County. Funnel clouds were reported but damage was limited mainly to downed trees and power lines. Power outages and collapsed buildings due to high winds were reported late Friday in Michigan, and flash flooding forced highways closed in Missouri and Minnesota. Thousands of power outages caused by wind damage were also reported in Ohio, where temperatures Thursday reached the 90s. In Illinois, high winds and storms were causing delays and cancellations at airports. In Oklahoma, more than half of the town of Altus remained without power Friday after powerful storms the day before. In Indiana, the governor declared 41 counties disaster areas from recent severe storms and tornadoes. One person was killed earlier this week.

Mount Soputan spewing sand and thick smoke

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Volcano Soputan located between South and Southeast Minahasa districts, North Sulawesi, on Friday at about 16:15 local time spewed sand black clouds into the sky.

An eyewitness, Inyo Rumondor, as contacted by Antara in Amurang city, the capital of South Minahasa, about 15 km from the explosion said the billowing hot ashes formed high cloud which was visible from Amurang city.

Another eyewitness, Jerry Rawis who is also a local resident of Molompar I village, Southeast Minahasa district, through his cell phone said that the ashes were mixed with mud spewed by the volcano.

Other Images: GALAPAGOS ISLAND - eruption photos. Cerro Azul - one of five active volcanoes on one of the islands - erupted for four days.

Aftershocks rock China quake lake zone

Breaking Earth News
China

A strong aftershock has rattled the area near the dangerously swollen "quake lake" in south-west China, triggering landslides on nearby mountains, state media reported.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said in a brief dispatch that the aftershock had caused "massive landslides", adding that the impact on the "quake lake" was being monitored.

Xinhua said the magnitude of the aftershock was not known. The US Geological Survey reported a 5.0-magnitude earthquake at the exact same time, with its epicentre located 70 kilometres north-west of quake-hit Mianyang.

The Tangjiashan "quake lake" formed as a result of the devastating May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province, which triggered a huge landslide that blocked the Jianjiang river, creating a massive body of water.

The lake has become one of the most pressing issues in the aftermath of the May 12 quake that struck mountainous Sichuan, killing 69,136 and leaving 17,686 others missing, according to the latest toll.

Hong Kong hit by 'black' storm

Breaking Earth News
Hong Kong
STREETS in Hong Kong were flooded by torrential rain on Saturday, as lightning and thunder roared above the southern Chinese city for several hours.

The Hong Kong Observatory upgraded the storm to a 'black' at 6.40am, as more than 200 millimetres of rain was dumped in the city overnight.

The 'black' warning means 70 millimetres of rain was expected to fall in just one hour.

The downpour caused severe flooding across some streets of Hong Kong island.

In the western district of Sheung Wan entire streets were hit as amid thunder and lightning people looked for ways to navigate the floods as water flowed over pavements. Shopkeepers stacked sandbags in an effort to keep their businesses watertight.

'This is the heaviest rain I have seen in years,' said Mr Edmund Kwan, an office worker who was waiting for his girlfriend at the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) station.

In some areas water was almost up to the windows of parked cars as people rolled up their trousers and waded through knee-deep water in flip-flops.

RELATED PHOTO: HONG KONG

VIDEO: Quake Crack Spews Boiling Mud

From National Geographic News
May 30, 2008—An earthquake in Iceland caused damage on Thursday and opened up a new fissure that is spewing boiling mud and steam.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com via steve468

NowPublic

US Economy Takes a Big HIt

USA
Economy takes nose dive as Israel Threatens Strikes on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pink slips piled up and jobs disappeared into thin air in May as the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in the biggest one-month jump in decades. Wall Street swooned, and the White House said President Bush was considering new proposals to revive the economy.

Help-wanted signs are vanishing along with jobs, so the unemployment rate is likely to keep climbing, a government report indicated, underscoring the toll the housing and credit crises are taking on jobseekers, employers and the economy as a whole.

Adding to the pain, oil prices soared to a new record high, while the value of the dollar fell.

The Dow Jones industrials tumbled almost 400 points.

The White House snapped into crisis-management mode. The president is now considering further plans to help energize the economy, which had already been teetering on the edge of recession, said counselor Ed Gillespie. Bush acknowledged, "This is a time of turbulence in the housing market and slow growth for our overall economy."

Pounded by soaring energy prices and plagued by uncertainty, nervous employers clamped down further on hiring in May.

Friday's Labor Department report was filled with sobering numbers:

-- Employers eliminated 49,000 jobs in May, the fifth straight month of nationwide losses.

-- The number of unemployed people grew by 861,000 -- to 8.5 million.

-- Job losses for the year reached 324,000.

Oil hits new high as Israel calls strike on Iran 'unavoidable'

Oil prices leaped to record highs yesterday as Israel warned about Iranian nuclear sites and the dollar slumped on the biggest jump in American unemployment for 22 years.

The global crude price ended a run of lower prices earlier this week as it jumped by more than $9 a barrel to $136.79 (£69.44) - it has risen by over $14, or 10%, in just two days. The week before last saw an all-time high of $135.09 a barrel but, by Wednesday this week, prices had receded to as low as $122.

Already jittery oil markets were sent into spasms by remarks from Israel's transport minister that an attack on Iranian nuclear sites looked "unavoidable". Iran is a big Opec oil producer and any attack on the country would threaten oil supplies from the whole region.

Monster Storm Hits Washington

Washington D.C., USA
Image: Tree that fell on cars during "Round One" of severe weather in Dupont Circle.

Story: Once the numbers are finalized, June 4, 2008 may go down in the record books as ONE OF THE MORE ACTIVE SEVERE WEATHER DAYS IN RECENT HISTORY in the D.C. region. Following a widespread and destructive squall line in the mid-afternoon, several mwell into the night.

The National Weather Service in Sterling issued ore rounds of severe weather afflicted the region, with storminess lasting an astounding 70 severe thunderstorm, marine, and tornado warnings in the Baltimore/Washington region. The storms were caused by several ripples of enhanced energy moving along a near-stationary frontal boundary draped north of the region. On the south side of the front, temperatures rose into the mid to upper 80s across the area, with sticky dew points nearing 70 degrees under abundant sunshine that followed very early morning rain. This moist, unstable airmass at the surface set the stage for the severe storms. Thunderstorms that originated in the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley began to re-develop in West Virginia by late morning. This thunderstorm activity was embedded in strong upper level winds from the west. Strong updrafts and downdrafts (vertical motions of air) developed which generated intense wind gusts. At least one fatality was caused by the storms when a falling tree struck a moving car. Tornadoes were being reported by storm spotters near Fredericksburg, Virginia just before 8 pm. 2008 has been a remarkable year for severe weather in the U.S. Perhaps the only bit of good news is that June 4 was such a RARE event that it's unlikely to be repeated soon. Image Above: Bow echo passes Washington at 3:24 p.m. Courtesy Weather Underground.

Tornado tears through swath of Minnesota

Minnesota, USA
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. - A strong storm packing at least one tornado raked a half-mile-wide path of destruction in northwestern Minnesota, ripping up roofs and trees and pushing cars off the road Friday, the National Weather Service said.


Related News
U.S. - At least four tornadoes struck in Kansas on Thursday as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic worked to restore power and clean out flooded homes after a rash of severe thunderstorms left three people dead. And in the Mid-Atlantic, work crews were trying to restore power to thousands of homes ahead of a sweltering weekend forecast. In West Virginia, residents were just starting to dry out Thursday night after storms on Wednesday dumped several inches of rain and knocked out power to 67,000 customers. All four gas stations and both grocery stores in Gilmer County, W.Va., were under water after the Little Kanawha River crested 9 feet above flood stage.

IOWA - Floodwaters have spread across Iowa, and it could get a lot worse. The National Weather Service predicts heavy rain and possible hail to fall across the state through this morning. Parts of southwest Iowa have been the hardest hit, with some areas getting isolated tornado damage from Wednesday followed by heavy rain and hail.

A RECORD AMOUNT OF RAINFALL inundated the Des Moines area last night, flooding streets and raising Walnut Creek to flood stage levels. The weather pattern causing the poor conditions in the state could stay active for the next week, and flare up every two to three days. Image: Des Moines, Iowa, June 6, 2008

The First Costa Rica Born Tropical Storm

Costa Rica, C.A.
Image: Communities of Perez Zeledon are Just Now Regaining Road Access After Alma.

Alma deemed THE FIRST COSTA RICA-BORN TROPICAL STORM - The effects of tropical storm Alma, the first of the season, are still being felt in the southern zone of Costa Rica where a RECORD AMOUNT OF DESTRUCTION occurred along the Interamerican Highway and many families are still without shelter after watching their properties get washed away in the floods. The storm provoked at least 34 landslides that obstructed or destroyed large segments of road trapping some 1,500 people for two days and cutting off the south of the country and access to Panama. Alma, which is the first tropical depression ever to be born in Costa Rican territory, is said to have caused more damage than hurricanes in the past, including Hurricane Cesar that passed through in 1996 destroying sectors of the same road. In the past, hurricanes have affected the country indirectly because they were relatively close, but never before was a storm ever born in their waters. Low pressure and a heavy accumulation of clouds, with rain and lightning that somehow set off differently than was expected and high ocean temperatures helped in the formation of the storm. When the cloud formation hit the warm water, the speed of the wind increased dramatically, giving birth to what was categorized a tropical depression, soon becoming a tropical storm. This took place some 50 kms away from the coast of Guanacaste, SOMETHING NEVER EVER SEEN BEFORE! This occurred this year because of the rainy activity along the Pacific coast, which usually occurs in the Caribbean. Meteorologists pointed out that this had occurred previously in Mexico, but that never before had this phenomenon occurred in their waters. The IMN reckons that during this period, they received between 50 and 80 millimeters more water than usual in some regions of the country, and this is going to surpass the average rainfall that they get normally during this season in these sectors. In the mountains, the precipitation could easily reach 100 millimeters, and winds in the northern and central Pacific can be expected to reach 70 kms per hour. The rain that continues to fall in the region is making it hard for workers to begin the process of rebuilding some of the sectors of road that washed away.

Related News
'Surprise' Tropical Storm Arthur caused damage in Belize. The storm formed suddenly in the Caribbean and swept across Central America on June 1-2, following on the heels of Tropical Storm Alma and catching Belize's 300,000 residents by surprise. Heavy rains and strong winds have caused flash flooding that claimed at least four lives in Belize, although officials have not confirmed the death toll. Thousands have been driven from their homes by rising waters. Roads and bridges have been severely damaged, leaving parts of the country inaccessible. The storm also wiped out papaya plantations, shrimp farms, and the rice crops, devastating the nation's economy and food supply.

Food Prices Keep Rising

International Food Crisis
Effects on Families Across the World
BBC News followed the profiles of six families around the world to see how their shopping list and their eating habits have changed with the global increase

Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468

NowPublic

Governor Declares Drought in California

Breaking Earth News
California, USA
Image: With water being diverted upstream, the Kern River in Bakersfield, Calif., is expected to remain dry. Reserve wells were opened this week in Kern County.

Story: Governor declares drought in California and warns of rationing - Its reservoir levels receding and its grounds parched, California has fallen officially into drought. The state might be forced to ration water to cities and regions if conservation efforts do not improve. Drought conditions have hampered farming, increased water rates throughout California and created potentially dangerous conditions in areas prone to wildfires. The declaration comes after THE DRIEST CALIFORNIA SPRING IN 88 YEARS, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41% of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing. The state’s snowpack water content was 67 percent of average, and the Colorado River Basin, from which California draws some water, is coming off a record eight-year drought, contributing to the drop in reservoir storage.

Artic Ice On Track For Extreme Melt

Arctic sea ice extent for May 2008 was 13.18 million square kilometers (5.09 million square miles). The magenta line shows the median ice extent for May from 1979 to 2000. Data Note

—Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center

The Arctic
Arctic sea ice extent has declined through the month of May as summer approaches. Daily ice extents in May continued to be below the long-term average and approached the low levels seen at this time last year. As discussed in our last posting, the spring ice cover is thin. One sign of thin and fairly weak ice is the formation of several polynyas in the ice pack.

Arctic sea ice extent for May stood at 13.18 million square kilometers (5.09 million square miles), which is 0.28 million square kilometers (0.11 million square miles) greater than May 2007, but is still 0.42 million square kilometers (0.16 million square miles) less than the 1979 to 2000 average for the month.

Heatwave Descends Upon Norway

Norway
A period of UNUSUALLY WARM warm weather has settled over southeastern Norway, with temperatures due to exceed 30C (nearly 90F) for the next week. No rain was in sight. Even the temperture of the water in the Oslo Fjord was rapidly rising. It's often still below 10C (50F) in early June, but water temperatures at some Oslo-area beaches were 18C (nearly 70F) on Tuesday morning. It's been warm, bordering on downright hot, since late last week. Few are complaining, but Norwegians quickly notice the lack of air conditioning in most homes. Nighttime temperatures have stayed relatively warm as well, with morning breezes dying down in the afternoon and evening in the Oslo area. The lack of rainfall in recent weeks has sharply increased the danger of forest fires.

Related News
PAKISTAN - The sizzling heat upset routine life as the mercury level increased in most parts of the country including Lahore on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature reached 40 C while the minimum was recorded as 25 C. The ongoing merciless load shedding has added to the miseries of the heat-stricken Lahorites who almost spend eight hours a day without electricity as well as water. Increase in the heat wave also doubled the demand of water and the situation became even worse when people found that there was no water in the taps.

Parts of Indonesian capital swamped by tidal wave

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A 2.2-meter (7-feet) high tidal wave inundated parts of Jakarta overnight as the city government and citizens tried to hold the water back with emergency embankments, a government official said on Wednesday.

The height of the water was far greater than earlier predictions. The World Bank, which has been monitoring flooding and tidal waves in Jakarta, warned last week of a 1.2 meter tidal surge in parts of the city.

Authorities in the capital, home to more than 10 million people, had been bracing for high tides with sand bags and wire netting filled with stones.

Image Above: Residents ride on a pedicab along a flooded street in Jakarta June 4, 2008.

RELATED NEWS

AUSTRALIA - A series of EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH tides this week – along with the current low pressure system off the east coast – is putting more pressure on several beachfront properties at Old Bar. Yesterday a vigil was being kept on three homes which stood perilously close to a sand bank several metres high, being further eaten away with every incoming wave. A high tide at around 10 o’clock last night was the first of four this week peaking at over two metres. At 2.04 metres (last night), 2.08 metres tonight, 2.07 metres tomorrow night and 2.01 metres about midnight on Friday, they are by astronomical measures the highest this year and in tonight’s case, THE HIGHEST IN 16 YEARS. Weather experts are warning, however, that the effect of the king tides will be felt even more because of the sea’s current turbulence. Yesterday’s weather warnings included three to four metre waves for the Mid North Coast, the huge seas forced up by the wind and rain event.

International Food Crisis

The global food crisis looms as a humanitarian catastrophe that could dwarf even the 2004 Asian tsunami, posing an immediate threat to 290 million people, according to estimates released overnight by aid group Oxfam International. This is in addition to the 854 million people who already endured persistent hunger before food prices skyrocketed to a 30-year high - rising 83% in three years. As world leaders gather in Rome today for a three-day food summit, Oxfam warned of an UNPRECEDENTED threat to more than a billion people. "This crisis represents an enormous challenge - but also a genuine opportunity to deliver long-overdue reforms to the food and agriculture system."

Nature Has Fired the First Shot for 2008

Africa
Sierra Leone
After a long dry spell which was UNUSUAL for the Western Area in May, Nature fired the first volley, the warning shot of what they might expect in the weather pattern this year. The ferocity of a storm on Wednesday evening was frightening. The storm left in its wake a trail of destruction in the city of Freetown. In some places whole roofs of buildings were removed by the storm and deposited far away. The total amount of damage is incalculable. If the trees in and around Freetown and its environs were left standing instead of having being cut down, they would have provided a break mechanism which would have controlled the force of the storm. They haven't entered the rainy season proper, but every little downpour leaves a trail of environmental degradation in its wake. What is happening to the Western area peninsular forests is happening all over the country to the extent that the weather pattern has altered over the years and added to the global phenomenon of Climate Change.

Qld floodwaters wreak havoc

Australia
More than 165 millimetres of rain has fallen on the Sunshine Coast in the last 24 hours, causing flash flooding and landslides. Up to 140 millimetres of rain has fallen on some parts of the coast in just three hours. Authorities were locked in an emergency meeting on Monday after six people were rescued from floodwaters. Two teenage girls who were stuck in a tree near Cooroy, west of Noosa, are safe and well after being rescued. Earlier, four people were pulled to safety from the top of their car. "For the first time ever, road crews in the northern region have run out of 'road closed' signs." There has been up to three metres of erosion on some beaches at the northern end of the Gold Coast and it is likely to get worse. "We've got some very high tides, king tides coming up tonight (Monday), tomorrow night and Wednesday night in the Noosa River that may well cause some local flooding and inundation out of the river."

Global warming threat to coldest desert

India
INDIA's only cold desert could be on the brink as a result of weather shifts. Heavy rains are only the beginning of the problem in Ladakh. The summers have been getting hotter. There are now locusts 15,000 feet above sea level. "If you take a look at the past 15 to 20 years, every year the temperature in this region is increasing especially during the summer months. And because these insects are finding very suitable climate here, so they have invaded and are just wiping out whole of the pasture lands." But here's the irony: this year, the region also saw its severest winter in 20 years. Scientists say one of the first signs of global warming is a trend of freak weather. As a result of the unexpected and excess water, heat and snow, people have lost their homes, their crop and their cattle.

VIEW VIDEO

Act on climate change, top scientists warn U.S.

CLIMATE CHANGE

A group of 1,700 leading scientists called on the U.S. government Friday to take the lead in fighting global warming. Citing the "UNPRECEDENTED and unanticipated" effects of global warming, the scientists presented a letter calling for an immediate reduction in U.S. carbon emissions. The statement came as the Senate prepares to debate a bill next week that would impose economy-wide limits on greenhouse emissions to avert what it describes as "catastrophic climate change". The White House joined in the chorus of gloom when it issued a long-delayed report bringing together research into global warming. The report was issued after environmental groups won a court order last year enforcing a statute that obliges the government to produce an assessment of global warming every four years. Described as a "litany of bad news in store for the U.S.", the report catalogues threats from drought, natural disaster, insect infestation and energy shortages. The scientists call on the government to "put our nation on to a path today to reduce emissions on the order of 80% below 2000 levels by 2050...There is no time to waste. The most risky thing we can do is nothing." Another group of climate scientists warned that a "false optimism" has infused international climate talks. The scientists said the world has lost 10 years talking about climate change when it should have acted. The scientists say that even the most politically feasible target, of a 50% global reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 from the levels of 1990, would still entail "major global impacts".

RELATED NEWS

A record number of tornadoes has ripped through the Midwest this year. In recent years we have already witnessed a greater number of high-intensity hurricanes. Water levels in the reservoirs of the West are so low that water managers are trying to figure how to keep water flowing to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles. Forest fires and insect outbreaks are more frequent. A warmer climate speeds the maturation of crops, such as grain and oil seeds, and the crops are more susceptible to failure. 800 scientific studies have examined the effects of global warming on 1,598 animal species and nearly 60% have already been affected. Climate change is not something happening in the future. It is happening now. Even the Bush administration, which did its best to delay action, now admits as much.

Flooding wreaks havoc

ITALY has declared a state of emergency in the country's north after flooding and mudslides left at least four people, including an infant, dead in heavy rains that have also hit BELGIUM, BRITAIN, FRANCE and GERMANY. In Piedmont, four people were killed in landslides, including a three-year-old child whose body was found yesterday. Schools were closed in the town of Saviglano because of mudslides and 30 people were evacuated from their homes in Demonte. A mudslide at Villar Pelice, near Turin, swept away a house, killing an elderly man inside it. A second person was found dead in a car also caught up in the mudslide. Road tunnels linking France and Italy were closed to trucks for several hours after parts were affected by a mudslide. Several highways were blocked or closed for safety in the Alpine districts of Savoie and Isere. Mudslides and flooding also hit villages and cut secondary roads in eastern France, while other routes were blocked by fallen trees. Streets were turned to rivers of mud in the eastern Belgian city of Liege after a violent storm. Belgian television showed cars swept along in the mud and flooded houses. In Germany, heavy rain and hail caused extensive damage. Image Above: Torrent ... the swollen Arc river at Lanslebourg on the French side of the Mont Blanc and Frejus tunnels linking the country with Italy.
Photo: AFP

The HEAVIEST RAINFALL IN NEARLY 60 YEARS caused flooding and mudslides on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Month Long Strange Weather Hits Alaska

Alaska, USA
Strange weather has hit Fairbanks all month long. Fairbanks residents have been experiencing some UNUSUAL weather lately. Throughout most of the month of May pellet sized hail has been falling from the skies over Fairbanks, a phenomenon officials said was VERY STRANGE. A combination of cumulus clouds and cold temperatures are responsible for producing many of the hail events. The BIZARRE WEATHER is the result of UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERNS whereby extreme cold mixed with moisture from low hanging clouds to form the hail. Temperatures were reported to have dropped below freezing at 3,200 feet on Thursday. Cloud cover topped out at 10,000 feet. The result of this weather system is the formation of snow pellets as moisture in the clouds freezes and remains frozen by the time it hits the ground. Thus hail falls instead of rain.

World Bank warns tidal flood may hit Jakarta

Indonesia
Tidal flood may hit Jakarta - The World Bank warned Thursday that an exceptionally high tide could inundate the Indonesian capital this week, forcing thousands of people to flee homes and cutting off the highway to the international airport. The situation - exasperated by global warming and the fact that Jakarta is sinking up to 2 inches a year - could mean flooding will exceed last November's roof-high levels in the hardest-hit areas. "This is just the beginning." Homes a mile inland will likely be affected Tuesday and Wednesday by the 18-year semiannual tide cycle. "It's getting worse and worse." Indonesia is one of the world's largest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to the rapid pace of deforestation. Experts say the country is also at risk of becoming one of the biggest victims of climate change. Rising sea waters especially pose a threat to coastal cities like Jakarta, which has sunk at least 7 feet in the last three decades because of excessive ground water extraction. Eventually, the government should consider building a Dutch-styled dike to protect the Jakarta Bay, "but that will cost billions of U.S. dollars." The 18-year high tide cycles occur when the sun and moon are in direct alignment and making their closest approach to the Earth. Other factors, such as global warming or El Nino and La Nina, have made the sea swells even larger in recent years.

Montserrat Volcano Alert

Montserrat, Caribbean
Last Saturday morning, May 20, at about 6.00 a.m., vulcanologists noticed signs of increased activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano, and at about 7.20 a.m. the lava dome that had been growing from the main peak collapsed, triggering a pyroclastic flow to the east and emitting a big cloud of ash. Regularly scheduled flights to airports in the vicinity had been cancelled or diverted because of the huge ash cloud above the central Leeward Islands. The rear window of one resident's car was shattered by a rock ejected during the eruption.

Nearly eleven years ago, Montserrat’s long-dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano began erupting for the first time in the island's recorded history. A series of pyroclastic flows and sometimes violent eruptions of ash and gases covered much of the southern part of Montserrat, including the capital, Plymouth, rendering it uninhabitable. The volcano is still very much active, though in recent years it's been relatively quiet, with small ash eruptions and pyroclastic flows every six or nine months.

Image: The Soufriere Hills Volcano on Saturday 20 May. Photo from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website