Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

Shallow 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits near New Zealand coast

Thomas Mackie
The Express
Fri, 18 May 2018 03:37 UTC
6.2 magnitude earthquake hits near the coast of New Zealand
© USGS6.2 magnitude earthquake hits near the coast of New Zealand
A MAJOR 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit the coast near the coast of New Zealand, 599km from Tauranga at 1:45pm local time (2:45am BST).

The quake was recorded South of the Kermadec Islands.

It has a depth of 10.6 km.

The earthquake occurred after a series of 15 other quakes hit New Zealand in quick succession, sparking fears that there could be a 'big one' on its way.

Four of the 15 had a magnitude of four or higher when they struck Seddon, on the south island over the weekend and are believed to be aftershocks from the destructive Kaikoura earthquake in 2016.

Government body GeoNet Science Tweeted "It's been a shaky weekend for the top of the South Island.

"These are likely to be aftershocks from the Kaikoura Earthquake."
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Attention

Thar She Blows! Summit of Kilauea Volcano erupts - Hawaii's biggest eruption in 100 years


RT
Thu, 17 May 2018 20:07 UTC
Kilauea volcano
© Terray Sylvester / ReutersAsh erupts from the Halemaumau crater
After over a week of threatening to blow, Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has finally erupted, sending a plume of ash 30,000ft into the air.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the eruption happened at 4:15am (local time), producing a volcanic cloud that reached as high as the cruising altitude for a jumbo jet.

The volcano is still spewing ash into the sky, with some emissions still reaching 12,000ft.

"At any time, activity may again become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent," the USGS said in a statement.

The eruption comes just one day after authorities issued an aviation red alert, warning pilots to steer clear of the erupting shield crater which was already shooting ash and fiery projectiles into the air.

Prior to eruption, Kilauea had opened more than two dozen fissures miles to the east of the volcano, spilling lava into neighborhoods and forcing people from their homes. Over 1,500 people have been evacuated and dozens of homes and buildings destroyed since volcanic activity at the Halemaumau crater was first observed last week.


Comment: Ken Rubin, who heads the department of geology and geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told AFP:
"The last time the volcano near the summit was in the same condition as now was in 1924 and in that year, we had about a two-week period of large explosive eruptions out of the summit."
See also:

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Tornado1

Monster tornado leaves a trail of destruction and injures two in western Germany

TW
Watchers
Thu, 17 May 2018 12:00 UTC
Tornado germany May 2018
Tornado in western Germany on May 16, 2018.
A rare tornado for this part of the world swept through a populated area in western Germany on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, leaving a trail of destruction and 2 people injured. The storm that produced the tornado also dropped large hail on the region.

The tornado formed just before 18:00 local time (16:00 UTC) and moved through Lower Rhine region of North Rhine-Westphalia, just west of Düsseldorf.

According to local police reports, the twister lasted between 10 and 15 minutes and passed through districts of Viersen-Boisheim, Nettetal-Schaag, Schwalmtal-Dilkrath, Schwalmtal and Niederkrüchten.

It damaged some 40 to 50 homes, some of them so badly that they are temporarily uninhabitable.

Comment: Tornadoes aren't actually that uncommon in Germany and, surprisingly, the UK clocks up the most touchdowns every year, however the intensity of them does appear to be increasing, all the while global wind speeds are decreasing: Also check out SOTT's monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - April 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Snowflake

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Several feet of snow in Europe in late May


Adapt 2030
Thu, 17 May 2018 13:55 UTC
snow
From spring to winter again across the peaks and valleys of France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria. Snow depths are measuring in at 2 feet with seven day snow totals at 3.5 feet. It seems late spring snows are becoming a thing of now and the future now. I thought our children would never know what snow was. Arctic temperatures are back to the 1969-2002 base line and new images of glaciers advancing in Norway.


Sources
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Cloud Lightning

Nine people and over 120 animals killed by lightning strikes in just one month across Turkey


Hurriyet Daily News
Thu, 17 May 2018 13:27 UTC
lIGHTNING
A total of nine people have been killed due to lightning strikes over the past month across Turkey, with experts warning that the rising number of such incidents could be related to a boom in magnetic fields across the world, daily Habertürk reported on May 17.

Some 26 people were injured and more than 120 animals were also killed by lightning strikes in Turkey, according to recent reports from European Lightning Strikes Monitoring System.

Around 200,000 lighting strike incidents occurred across Europe countries over the past month, with the Turkish authorities confirming those figures and adding that the number of lighting strike incidents have also increased in the country.
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Wolf

Pit bull attack on 4-year-old videoed in St. James City, Florida


fox4now.com
Wed, 16 May 2018 13:01 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A dog owner says he will try to retrieve his pet from animal services after it attacked a small child in St. James City.

The incident happened Friday, in the parking lot of Winn Dixie on Stringfellow Road. The 4-year-old child involved in the attack was flown to Tampa General Hospital for injuries on his face. His family said he is expected to make a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, Sage, the 4-year-old Pit Bull, is quarantined at Lee County Animal Services until May 21st. Surveillance video showed the dog dart between cars, and take down the child. Despite the incident, her owner believes Sage is a sweet dog, and said the incident was an accident.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills one, injures 2 others in Parkland, Florida

Joan Murray
cbslocal.com
Wed, 16 May 2018 12:52 UTC
lightning
A lightning strike killed a woman and injured two other people in Parkland Wednesday afternoon.

Coral Springs Fire Rescue confirms a 911 call came in at 2:08 p.m. to report that two people had been struck by lightning at C.W. Hendrix Farms located at University Drive and Loxahatchee Road.

The woman, identified as 53-year-old Maria Francisco Pascual of Lake Worth, was pronounced dead.

According to BSO, Pascual was working in the fields when she was hit by lightning. A man and woman working nearby sustained lightning related injuries.

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Cloud Precipitation

Tens of thousands ordered to evacuate after floods at Colombia's Hidroituango dam

Joe Parkin Daniels
The Guardian
Wed, 16 May 2018 21:30 UTC
Colombia dam flood
© Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty ImagesDisplaced families from the banks of the Cauca river camp on a road near Ituango municipality on 13 May 2018.

600 people already left homeless after heavy floods at hydroelectric dam project, with another wave of flooding feared

Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in western Colombia after heavy floods at Colombia's largest hydroelectric dam project, which had already displaced hundreds over the weekend.

The Hidroituango dam on the river Cauca was in the final stages of construction when a blocked tunnel was cleared on Saturday night, causing flooding downstream that swept through a riverside hamlet. Six hundred people were left homeless and two bridges, two schools and a health centre were destroyed.

On Wednesday, authorities issued evacuation orders for eight municipalities downstream from the dam amid fears of another wave of flooding as heavy rains continue to batter the megaproject.

Comment: At least 41 people were killed after a dam break in Kenya recently following record flooding.

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Cloud Lightning

Five dead, nearly 300,000 without power as severe storms hit US Northeast

Pam Wright
The Weather Channel
Thu, 17 May 2018 00:10 UTC
Newburgh storm damage
© AP Photo/Seth WenigTrees and power lines are scattered across a road in Newburgh, N.Y., Wednesday, May 16, 2018.
Two people died in Connecticut, including a Danbury man who was killed when a tree fell on his truck, according to the Associated Press. Connecticut State Police say a tree also fell on a car on Brush Hill Road in New Fairfield, killing a 41-year-old woman.

Matthew Ryan, 31, of Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, was killed when a tree fell on a vehicle near the town of Effort in the Poconos, WNEP.com reported.

An 11-year-old New York girl was killed when a large tree toppled onto the car she was in with her mother in Newburgh. The mother suffered minor injuries, the Associated Press reported. Another woman was killed in the same town of Newburgh when a tree fell on her vehicle, authorities confirmed.

The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF0 tornado hit Newburgh, which is located in Orange County. Conditions were so bad with downed trees and damage to electrical infrastructure that the city closed all roads Tuesday evening until further notice.

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Bizarro Earth

Climate scientists find the wind is slowing down

Michael Lucy
Cosmos Magazine
Wed, 16 May 2018 18:06 UTC
windblown tree
© NickRH / getty images
Near-surface wind speeds over landmasses across the planet have dropped by as much as 25% since the 1970s, and climate scientists are taking note.

The wind isn't what it used to be. Scientists say surface wind speeds across the planet have fallen by as much as 25% since the 1970s. The eerie phenomenon - dubbed 'stilling' - is believed to be a consequence of global warming, and may impact everything from agriculture to the liveability of our cities. It has taken more than a decade for scientists to get a handle on stilling, a term coined by Australian National University ecohydrologist Michael Roderick in 2007.

Roderick had spent years studying a 50-year decline across Europe and North America of a climate metric called pan evaporation. It measures the rate at which water evaporates from a dish left outside. With his colleague biophysicist Graham Farquhar, he found the cause: the sunlight had dimmed due to air pollution. Less light equals slower evaporation.

Comment: There other possible factors that could be considered besides "global warming". The Earth's rotation is slowing, cosmic ray bombardment is increasing.

Changes In Winds Could Have Been Cause Of Abrupt Glacial Climatic Change

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