Sunday, January 9, 2011

**Conditions are never just right.
People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.**
William Feather


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.

Yesterday -
1/8/11 -
5.1 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.1 VANUATU
5.3 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.4 NORTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
5.6 MOLUCCA SEA
5.2 SOUTHERN IRAN

1/7/11 -
5.4 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.4 TONGA
5.1 SOUTH OF AFRICA
5.3 VANUATU
5.1 VANUATU
5.1 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.0 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.1 TARIJA, BOLIVIA
5.2 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

IRAN - A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck southern Iran's Fars province on Saturday injuring 11 people and damaging some villages.

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

Australian floods which have caused widespread devastation in the northeast will take some time to recede. In the worst-hit areas of Queensland state, some 200,000 people have been affected.In the city of Rockhampton, water levels have fallen only slightly since peaking on Wednesday. Levels are still rising in some places, including the town of St George (450km (280 miles) west of the state capital Brisbane). "The scale of the floodwaters, the sheer size of this is best appreciated from the air, and we are talking about huge areas, lots of water, a lot of it still very fast-moving - and so it's going to be a long time back. Flood waters do not subside quickly. It takes some time...We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars." Some communities could find themselves cut off by the floods in the coming days. "So getting supplies into these towns will continue to be a big priority." The floods in Queensland have washed away roads and railways, destroyed crops and brought the coal industry to a near standstill. The price of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure, coupled with economic losses, could be as high as $5bn (£3bn). (map)

EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -

Australia has just had its coolest year since 2001, with a mean temperature in 2010 of 22C. But the first decade of the 21st century was also the warmest since standard RECORDS began in 1910. And based on preliminary data to November 30, sea surface temperatures around Australia were the WARMEST ON RECORD last year, as were those for the past decade.Globally, the year to the end of October was the WARMEST SINCE 1850 when instrumental climate records started; 0.55C above the 1961-90 average of 14C. Perhaps the cold northern winter will bring the final figure, which will not be published until March, down a little but the WMO was confident enough last month to say that 2010 would rate in the top three warmest years. And the decade also was the warmest ON RECORD - despite the annual peak in 1998. That puts a bit of a dent in the argument that the world has been cooling since 1998.
While the records cover only a relatively short period, the trends happen to follow closely the predictions over the past 40 years of temperature rises resulting from increased greenhouse gas emissions. Most scientists agree that doubling the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is likely to lead to warming of 2C-3C, an amount that risks significant economic and environmental damage. So far the increase since the mid-18th century of all greenhouse gases has been 38 per cent, including a 27.5 per cent rise from 1990 to 2009.
As well as rising temperatures, Arctic sea ice shrank last year to its third lowest area in the satellite records and was offset only slightly by Antarctic sea ice at just above the long-term average. Global snow cover is falling and sea levels rising. Despite that, much of the debate about global warming still is conducted in terms of future and uncertain consequences. Perhaps we should start looking harder at the present. Recent extreme weather events include not only the Victorian bushfires and RECORD floods in Queensland. 2010 saw the second-highest number of natural catastrophes since 1980, with 90 per cent of them weather-related.
Australia always has been a land of drought and flooding rains, and weather records are broken as regularly as cricket records. But not in the way they have been recently. The temperature of 46.4C in Melbourne on Black Saturday was more than 3C above the previous highest for February. July 29 last year saw the temperature reach 38.2C in Moscow, while for the whole month the mean temperature was more than 2C above the previous RECORD. The heatwave and associated fires and air pollution in central Russia killed at least 56,000 people, making it the WORST natural disaster in Russia's history. Pakistan experienced its WORST ever floods, costing 1769 lives. Munich Re says the hurricane season in the North Atlantic was one of the most severe in the last century even though most countries, including the US, had a lucky escape, with the storms mostly over the sea. So, can we blame climate change? Probably to some degree, even cautious scientists tend to say.
The current La Nina that usually generates higher rainfall in eastern and northern Australia is the STRONGEST OR SECOND STRONGEST THEY HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. While there is no evidence to link La Nina to climate change, one possible connection is that water temperatures in the oceans around Australia have never been so warm and the La Nina has been unusually strong. The 12 years of drought was twice as long as the previous longest drought in the region, the heatwave at the end of January 2009 was the WORST Melbourne had ever experienced and the temperatures on Black Saturday saw a large step up from the previous RECORD. There was a succession of extraordinary heatwaves, with big jumps in RECORD temperatures, starting in Europe in 2003 and continuing all around the world, culminating in Russia last year. More than 17 countries broke their maximum temperature RECORDS in 2010. "Putting them together, you really have to strain credibility to say it has nothing to do with climate change. With climate change you expect many more of these really hot events and that is what we are getting. At the same time there are still RECORDS being set for cold temperatures. But for the last couple of decades we have certainly been getting more hot records being set than cold records."
Most developed countries, including Australia, already have set up heatwave alert systems. Other changes will be harder. Reducing water allocations in the Murray-Darling Basin is still years away at best, and the recent rain will tempt politicians to postpone it further. Building rail lines that don't buckle and electricity systems that don't fail, as they did at the time of the Victorian bushfires, let alone the bigger tasks of managing increasingly vulnerable coastlines and transforming agriculture, will be big challenges but ones that only will get bigger the longer they delay.

STRANGE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR -

Four previously abundant species of BUMBLEBEE are close to disappearing in the United States, researchers reported on Monday in a study confirming that the agriculturally important bees are being affected worldwide. They documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers also found evidence the bees are vulnerable to inbreeding caused by habitat loss. The findings are "alarming...These are one of the most important pollinators of native plants."In recent years, experts have documented a disappearance of bees in what is widely called colony collapse disorder, blamed on many factors including parasites, fungi, stress, pesticides and viruses, but most of those studies focused on honeybees.

HEALTH THREATS -

Global fears are mounting over the safety of German meat due to contaminated animal feed, with South Korea banning pork imports and Slovakia suspending poultry sales, even as the EU declared there's no need for a ban. Germany's agriculture ministry on Saturdaysaid test results show acceptable levels of dioxin, a potentially cancer-causing chemical compound, in poultry and meat. Brussels does not consider there are grounds for declaring a ban on exports of German meat or other products from Germany "because the farms have been closed and farm products which have been delivered are blocked, awaiting analysis." Slovakia became the first EU country to impose restrictions on German meat, after it suspended sales of poultry meat and eggs while it conducted tests to assess dioxin levels. Russia's agriculture watchdog said it has stepped up controls on food of animal origin from Germany and also from other EU countries although it did not specify which ones fell under the tougher regime. The watchdog also warned that Russia could ban meat imports if it does not receive official information on the situation. "The European Union still lacks a system to react urgently to cases that could be dangerous for animals and humans."
German officials said on Friday they had shut 4700 farms and destroyed more than 100,000 eggs after tests showed dangerous levels of dioxin. The firm at the centre of the crisis is alleged to have supplied up to 3000 tonnes of contaminated fatty acids meant only for industrial use to around 25 animal feed makers. Most of this - 2500 tonnes - was delivered in November and December to animal feed producers in Lower Saxony, where it was used in fodder. Pressure mounted on the firm, which has been accused of fraud and tax evasion in addition to possibly breaking health regulations. "Lots of things lead us to think that the company cheated its clients and transformed fatty acids into low-quality feed for livestock." The crisis has moved swiftly beyond Germany's borders, with about 136,000 eggs from a suspect German farm exported at the beginning of December to the Netherlands and the European Commission saying tainted eggs may also have been imported to Britain. The Netherlands and Britain have both played down the public health risk.
Newly released test results have revealed much more of the toxic chemical in tainted animal feed than previously thought. The tests at the plant in northern Germany where the contamination happened revealed levels of dioxin at 77 TIMES THE PERMITTED LEVEL.
The plant produces fats to be used in industrial processes like paper-making as well as to enrich feeds for animals. Somehow, a substance containing dioxin which shouldn't have been used in food for animals found its way into (on the current reckoning) 3,000 tonnes of feed. Prosecutors are investigating whether that was by design, perhaps to save money, or by accident.
But the difficulty for the authorities as they try to reassure the public is that information keeps changing.
Initially the scare was confined to Germany, but then it emerged that a batch of affected eggs had been exported to the Netherlands for processing and from there to Britain. The processed eggs were destined for use in the production of a variety of foodstuffs including mayonnaise, cakes and quiches. Some 4,700 German farms have been banned from making deliveries. Authorities believe some 150,000 tons of feed for poultry and swine containing the fat have been fed to livestock across the country. The contaminated fats contained 58 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram. The acceptable limit is 0.75 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram. The ministry has confirmed that tests as far back as MARCH LAST YEAR showed high levels of dioxins, but it was unaware of the results until late December. Those results have now been seized as evidence by prosecutors. "The first indications point to a high level of illegal activity. There are indications that the company was not even officially registered, in order not to expose itself to official controls." A doctor from the town of Havixbeck, near Munster, has lodged a criminal complaint of attempted murder and severe injury against them, saying the company had acted out of greed. German agriculture officials will brief their European Union counterparts next week and the incident could lead to new rules on animal feed.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
-Boncheff Greenhouses, Inc. of Toronto, Ontario, recalls Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., Budwey Markets, Wades Market, Cuba Giant Food Market, And Hegedorn's Cilantro, Curly Parsley, and Italian Parsley, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
-Sprouters Northwest, Inc. of Kent, WA, is recalling all of its clover and clover mix products because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Is it an animal apocalypse? The recent spate of mass animal deaths around the world is sparking conspiracy theories and doomsday predictions on the web. From the US to New Zealand, from Britain to Brazil, bizarre cases of birds, fish and crabs turning up dead en masse have been reported in the past two weeks and no one seems to know why. Not that it’s stopping residents of the internet from having a red hot go. One example is from conspiracy theorists at prisonplanet.com who blame it on "the government". According to the site, authorities have “routinely engaged in secret testing of biological and electromagnetic weapons that have detrimentally impacted both humans and animals many times in the past”. Others are blaming it on the New Madrid fault line in the southern US. Then there are the 2012 end of the world predictions.

New reports -

FLORIDA, Port Orange - Hundreds of dead fish floated around the waterways near homes, surrounded by swarms of pelicans and buzzards. Kayakers on the creek saw fish around every bend and it appeared to be one of the most extensive kills they had seen.

KENTUCKY - several hundred birds were found dead in the western part of the state. The grackles, red wing blackbirds, robins and starlings were found last week. No reason has been discovered or given yet.

ENGLAND, Thanet, Kent, - 40,000 dead velvet swimming crabs, or “devil crabs” washed up on Thanet beaches. “We had a crash in numbers last year and we hadn't expected such a large population." The cold weather in Britain has been blamed for the deaths. "the mass crab deaths made up 95 per cent of marine life affected by the cold snap.

JAPAN - Recent discovery of several dead migratory birds in Japan has raised concerns about H5NI avian influenza. Bird sanctuaries, poultry farms and zoos were put on high alert last month after the migratory birds in some region were found dead. A hooded crane was found dead on the Izumi Plain in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan, the largest wild crane wintering site and the nation's leading poultry-raising area. 23 birds were found dead following a search in Tottori in the north. The birds were being tested. In Toyama Prefecture, also in the north, a dead mute swan led to inspections of nearby poultry farms.

Maps of the mass die-off sites.

Reported previously -

-FISH -
ARKANSAS - 100,000 drum fish washed up along a 32km stretch. Fish kills happen every year, but the size of the latest one was UNUSUAL. Some sort of disease may be to blame. "If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish."

MARYLAND - Chesapeake Bay, an estimated two million spot fish died and washed up on the shore. The dead fish are mostly adult spot, with some juvenile croakers. State officials are investigating but suspect it was because of the near-record cold.

NEW ZEALAND - A "carpet" of hundreds of dead, mostly eyeless, snapper washed up on several Coromandel Peninsula beaches on Tuesday, leaving people mystified.

BRAZIL, Paranaguá - At least 100 tonnes of sardine, croaker and catfish have washed up on beaches over the past week. Biologists have explained the deaths could be because of a possible increase in the concentration of algae that produce toxins. Water samples taken from the bay showed elevated levels of two species of toxic algae.

-BIRDS -
ARKANSAS, Beebe - 5000 red-winged blackbirds rained out of the darkness onto rooftops and footpaths and into fields. "They died from massive trauma. Some speculated that a bout of bad weather was to blame. Others said one confused bird could have led the group in a fatal plunge.

LOUISIANA - 500 bird carcasses littered a stretch of highway near Baton Rouge. The birds - a mixed flock of red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings - may have hit a power line or vehicles in the dark. Two dozen of them had head, neck, beak or back injuries. The birds may have been ill or startled from their roost.

SWEDEN - About 100 jackdaw birds were found lying dead on the road in southern Sweden’s Falkoping,
Local veterinarian speculated that the birds had fallen from the sky after being frightened by fireworks set off late on Tuesday. The majority of the jackdaws involved were not "physically damaged."

**The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and,
as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find,
in every hour, some heavenly blessings.**
Henry Ward Beecher


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.4 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.1 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

Yesterday -
1/6/2011 -
5.3 TONGA
5.1 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.2 VANUATU
5.2 VANUATU REGION
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA
5.4 NEW GUINEA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

SPACE WEATHER -

Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport - Runway changes are needed to account for the moving magnetic pole, which is nearing Russia at 40 miles per year. Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached Tampa International Airport. The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north pole.
The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south. Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations. The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth's magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the core of the planet. [Some people are speculating that the bird and fish deaths are related to the magnetic changes.]

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Global food prices rose to RECORD LEVELS in December, driven up by big increases in sugar, cereal and fuel. The Food Price Index went above the previous record of 2008 that saw prices spark riots in several countries, iincluding Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.
There were further riots over food prices in Mozambique in September last year. "The situation is very tight. If we have more natural disasters, we could have a problem."
However, despite high prices, many of the factors that triggered food riots in 2007 and 2008 - such as weak production in poor countries - were not currently present, reducing the risk of more turmoil. But "unpredictable weather" means that grain prices could go much higher, which is "a concern". The current spike in prices is being caused primarily by increases in the cost of sugar and, more importantly, cereals. The price of wheat in particular has risen sharply. This is because wildfires last year in Russia, which accounts for 11% of global exports, resulted in an export ban. The recent floods in Australia, which also accounts for 11% of global exports, has compounded the problem.
The price of corn has also risen, because of greater support for biofuels in the US and the increased price of oil, which makes biofuels more attractive. Droughts in Argentina, the world's second biggest exporter of corn behind the US, have also pushed the price up. Overall global food prices have risen by an average of more than 80% in the past 10 years. "Rising food prices will have an effect almost all over the world but especially in poor countries where food and energy are the major things people spend their money on. There's a risk, I wouldn't say a huge risk, but some risk of higher energy prices and higher food prices being very destabilising in some countries. We saw that in 2008 and in Mozambique last year and it's something to watch."
The news came amid concerns about inflation in the prices of other key commodities. Copper prices went into 2011 at RECORD HIGHS - in a rally driven by increased demand from the global economic recovery and that fact that most countries are holding low stockpiles. And the International Energy Agency said that the current high price of oil would threaten economic recovery in 2011. Oil import costs for countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development had risen 30% in the past year to $790bn (£508bn). If oil returns above $100 a barrel this would be "particularly worrisome". "And higher commodity prices could sap the world's ability to consume because more and more of our income will be going on energy and food."

**The problem with quotes from the internet
is that the sources are hard to verify.**
Abraham Lincoln


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.2 VANUATU REGION
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA
5.4 NEW GUINEA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Yesterday -
1/5/2011 -
5.5 KEP. MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA
5.0 NEAR COAST OF NICARAGUA
6.4 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.3 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.8 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

IRAN - A 5.3-magnitude earthquake jolted southern Iran on Wednesday, injuring 16 people and destroying as many as 10 villages. The quake struck at 9:25 am (5:55 GMT) in the Ardakan region of Fars province. "Sixteen people have been injured, while 17 villages have been damaged, of which six to 10 are completely destroyed." At least five aftershocks occurred after the main quake, which also rattled the provincial capital of Shiraz.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines in the Earth's crust and is prone to frequent quakes, many of which have been devastating. A quake on December 21 in the southeastern province of Kerman had left seven people dead, wrecked several villages and brought down power lines. The deadliest in recent times was a 6.3-magnitude quake which hit the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people - about a quarter of its population - and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.

VOLCANOES -

4 of Colombia's volcanoes on yellow alert - Colombia's Mount Machin and the snow-capped volcanoes Galeras, Huila, and Ruiz have been put on yellow alert after elevated activity. Authorities recorded small earthquakes in the Tomila district late last week. The most significant of these was a earthquake that measured 2.3 on the Richter scale and occurred at 5:22 pm on January 1, 2011. The earthquake was felt by residents of Cajamarca, near the Mount Machin. Geologists noted that seismic events of this type are frequent in the area and people should not worry.
When Mount Machin was on yellow alert in 2010, Ingeominas, Colombia's Geological and Mineral institute, said that due to its chemical composition, the magnitude of its eruptions and extensive deposits to feed those eruptions, Machin has a high propensity to affect widespread damage on the Andean nation. A yellow alert is an advisory that the "volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background level or, after a change from a higher level, volcanic activity has decreased significantly but continues to be closely monitored for possible renewed increase." There are four levels of alert, green, yellow, orange, and red.

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

AUSTRALIA - Flood-hit Queensland braced for fresh storms. More heavy rain is forecast for eastern Australia, threatening flash floods for communities where hundreds of homes are already under water. Forecasters predict central and southern Queensland will be worst hit by the latest deluge which will last into the weekend. In the city of Rockhampton about 500 homes were evacuated as the Fitzroy river peaked at 9.2m (30ft). The town of St George is braced for the Balonne river to peak by Sunday.
About 1,200 homes across Queensland have been inundated since heavy rains set in last month, with another 10,700 suffering some damage. The latest rain will fall in the Wide Bay-Burnett region, affecting Rockhampton and the city of Bundaberg, which has also already suffered severe flooding. "We're watching the rain patterns very, very carefully." The latest storm has delayed the return of the 150 residents of the community of Condamine in south-west Queensland, who were airlifted to safety a week ago when the local river flooded.
The town has no electricity or running water, and the schools and churches are also flooded. Even in parts of Queensland which are beginning to dry out, an influx of snakes is making it dangerous for people to return to their flooded homes. Saltwater crocodiles are posing another hazard. Rockhampton's Mayor said it could take a year for the city to recover. The flooding was unprecedented and has now directly affected 40 communities. Floods that have closed dozens of mines, railways and ports will send coal and steel prices soaring. Queensland produces about half the world's coking coal used to make steel. "Seventy-five percent of our mines are currently not operating because of this flood, so that's a massive impact on the international markets and the international manufacture of steel." (map and photos)
The flood-stricken coal industry is facing lengthy disruptions, with one miner saying it could take weeks to drain its pits of water and the biggest coking coal port warning there was a risk its stocks could run out.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -

It was THE COLDEST DECEMBER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM SINCE NATIONWIDE RECORDS BEGAN 100 YEARS AGO. For central England, it was the second coldest December since 1659. However, the first analysis released of global temperatures shows 2010 was ONE OF THE WARMEST YEARS ON RECORD The UK's harsh weather was caused by ANOMALOUSLY high air pressure that blocked mild westerly winds and brought cold air south from the Arctic.
The UK temperature averaged -1C, a long way below the previous coldest December, in 1981, which registered -0.1C. The December average for the century-long series is 4.2C. It was also the coldest calendar month since February 1986. "It's been an exceptional month, there's no question about that - it will go down in history as one to remember. Our records go back to 1910 and it's certainly the coldest since then, so it's the coldest December in 100 years."
However, the month also turned out unusually sunny and dry. Less than half the expected amount of precipitation (snow and rain) fell, making it the third driest December in the national data series. And the country bathed in sunny conditions for nearly 40% longer than average. As a whole, 2010 was colder in the UK than in recent years - the 12th coldest year in the series, but also among the 10 driest and sunniest.
The sequence of UNUSUALLY COLD UK winter weather has raised the question of whether this is now the norm; but caution was urged in deducing patterns from what could just be natural variability. "Obviously there's something going on given we've now had three in a row - but we've had three wet summers in a row as well, and it's impossible to nail this and say 'that's because of this' - it's all part of variability." It was not yet clear whether the 2010/11 winter would turn out to be unusually cold overall.
Earlier this week the University of Alabama at Huntsville in the US, which collates temperature data gathered by satellites, declared it to be the second warmest year since the satellite record began in 1979.

KOREA - Southeastern Korea saw the MOST SNOW IN 69 YEARS as a severe blizzard hit the region over a two-day period. The city of Pohang saw 28.7 centimeters of snow and some other parts of the region had over 50 centimeters since Monday. The cities of Busan and Ulsan were also hit by snow storms. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the heavy snow fall is due to a cold front moving south coupled with ABNORMALLY HIGH OCEAN TEMPERATURES in the region. Due to the blizzard, a number of streets and highways were closed. But, the farming sector in the region appears to have suffered the most damage.
Some one thousand spinach greenhouses collapsed due to the heavy snow fall, ruining the season's harvest. A blizzard along with freezing temperatures stranded some 50-thousand Chinese in Hunan Province. The cause behind the extreme weather is due to the La Nina phenomenon, characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.

STRANGE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR -

Mysterious BIRD deaths hit SWEDEN - Dozens of dead birds have been found lying in a residential street in Sweden, days after thousands of birds fell to their deaths in the US. Police in the town of Falkoeping have told Swedish media that between 50 and 100 jackdaws had died. Some are said to have been hit by cars but others have no visible injuries. Parallels have been drawn with the mysterious death of about 3,000 red-winged blackbirds in the US state of Arkansas on New Year's Eve. Veterinary officials said that the case in Falkoeping was RARE although they said there could be a number of reasons such as "disease or poisoning". One resident said that as he drove home late on Tuesday night the street in front of him was dotted with "hundreds of dead birds". He had been immediately reminded of the events in the town of Beebe, Arkansas. Scientists have said the blackbirds there may have been affected by fireworks. There have been no reports of fireworks or storms in Falkoeping at the time. (map)

U.S. Scientists don't know what's causing flocks of birds to drop from the sky in the South, even as several hundred more fell dead onto a Louisiana highway. No one is yet connecting the two mass deaths, but the Audubon Society is monitoring the situation. "Mass bird die-offs can be caused by starvation, storms, disease, pesticides, collisions with manmade structures or human disturbance. Scientists are still investigating ... but initial findings indicate that these are isolated incidents." The birds may have hit a power line or vehicles in the dark. A biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies said something must have prompted the birds -- whether they were ill or startled -- to hit the power line. "They don't hit a power line for no reason." He was skeptical of the fireworks theory -- that birds startled by New Year's Eve fireworks became so discombobulated that they they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths -- unless "somebody blew something into the roost, literally blowing the birds into the sky."
The U.S. Geological Service lists about 90 MASS WILDLIFE DEATHS from June through Dec. 12. Five report deaths of at least 1,000 birds and another 12 show at least 500 dead birds. The largest was near Houston, Minnesota, where about 4,000 water birds died between Sept. 6 and Nov. 26 from various parasites. Minnesota typically sees one or two large bird kills a year, mostly from botulism, toxic algae, West Nile or some other avian disease.
The birds were the second mass wildlife death in Arkansas recently. Last week, about 83,000 dead and dying drum fish washed up along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, about 100 miles west of Beebe. Officials say the deaths are not related. Test results could take a month.

2010 a RECORD-BREAKING YEAR for manatee deaths in FLORIDA - The freezes that started and finished 2010 added up to a record-breaking deadly year for endangered manatees in Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released figures Wednesday that show 767 manatees died from various causes in 2010, beating 2009’s record of 429. That’s a 79 percent increase and more than double the annual average of the past five years.
Some days, 14 dead manatees were lying in the Conservation Commission’s necropsy room only to have rescuers get a report of another manatee in distress.The freezes were especially troubling because they were severe enough to kill adult manatees, including females that are crucial to maintaining reproduction rates.
Manatee monitors will need a couple years of data to measure the die-off’s long-term effect on Florida’s manatee populations. “It definitely was a blow." Of last year’s deaths, 279 were attributed to cold weather - 244 in early 2010 and 35 during last month’s cold snap. A cause could not be determined for another 214 deaths, but many of them likely also were due to the cold. Cold weather also contributed to 21 of the 96 newborn manatees that died in 2010 and are tracked under their own category. Last year started with a stretch of cold weather that put the number of dead manatees in 2010 in the record book even before last month’s chill. Since Dec. 5, biologists recovered two manatees in Collier and seven in Lee that died from cold stress. In January 2010, manatee trackers counted more than 5,000 manatees in Florida’s waters, some 1,200 more manatees than they counted in 2009. The aerial surveys represent a minimum number. The counts can vary widely from one year to the next depending on visibility and weather.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Haiti earthquake and floods in Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an EXCEPTIONAL YEAR FOR NATURAL DISASTERS, killing 295,000 and costing $130 billion, the world's top reinsurer says. "The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and RECORD TEMPERATURES both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change," said Munich Re.
The last time so many people died in natural disasters was in 1983, when 300,000 people died, mainly due to famine in Ethiopia. A total of 950 natural disasters were recorded last year, making 2010 the second worst year since 1980. The average number of events over the past 10 years was 785. In terms of economic cost, insured losses amounted to approximately $37 billion, putting 2010 among the six most loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980. "2010 showed the major risks we have to cope with. There were a number of severe earthquakes. The hurricane season was also eventful."
The earthquake in Haiti in January was by far the worst disaster in terms of human cost, killing 222,570 people. 56,000 died in a combination of heatwaves and forest fires in Russia. The other most destructive events were an earthquake in China in April that killed 2,700, floods in Pakistan between July and September that cost 1,760 lives and August floods in China in which 1,470 perished. Although the Haiti earthquake resulted in human devastation on a "staggering scale", it cost the industry very little as very few people in the poverty-stricken country can afford insurance. However, an earthquake in Chile that hit over a month later was the world's most expensive natural disaster last year, with overall losses of 30 billion dollars and insured losses of eight billion dollars. The second most expensive disaster for the insurance industry was a series of earthquakes that rattled New Zealand, which cost an estimated 3.3 billion dollars but caused no deaths.
The global distribution of natural catastrophes in 2010 was however "comparable to that of previous years." The American continent suffered the most disasters with 365, while Asia was second with 310. A total of 120 natural disasters were recorded in Europe, 90 in Africa and 65 in Australia and Oceania. In 2009, considered a "benign" year due to the absence of major catastrophes and a less severe than usual hurricane season in the North Atlantic, there were 900 "destructive natural hazard events", costing some 60 billion dollars. Around 11,000 people lost their lives in natural disasters in 2009, well below the average of 77,000. Man-made and natural disasters generated worldwide economic losses of 222 billion dollars in 2010, more than three times the figure for 2009.

**If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.**
Robert Quillen


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
6.4 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.4 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.8 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

Yesterday -
5.3 SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA
5.1 WESTERN INDIAN-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.2 TONGA

VOLCANOES -

ITALY - Mt. Etna becomes active, no lava eruption recorded yet. Mount Etna in Sicily has once again become active erupting large amounts of ash. Seismologists have recorded the eruption of Mount Etna and say that it is accompanied by the ejection of volcanic ‘bombs’ (large stones) and a large amount of ash in the area southeast of the crater on Monday night. The most active emissions for duration ranging from one to three minutes occurred between midnight and two o’clock in the morning. These large volcanic ‘bombs’ reached a height of several tens of meters over the crater. By around 06.00 am the volcanic activity decreased significantly, but had not stopped completely. However, no eruption of lava has been recorded from the crater.

INDONESIA - In the worst outflow of lahar since Central Java’s Mount Merapi erupted in October, a torrent of cold lava and mud from the volcano severed several bridges and cut off a main highway for almost 18 hours until Tuesday. “In addition to destroying the Gempol main bridge on the Putih River, lahar also destroyed bridges in other villages, leading to the isolation of hundreds of residents in seven hamlets." No casualties have been reported so far. The flood overflowed from the Putih River in Jumaya village, Salam subdistrict, on Monday night, cutting off the Magelang-Yogyakarta highway at Kilometer 23 for almost 18 hours until about 1 p.m. on Tuesday. More than 500 meters of the highway were submerged under meter-deep lahar. It took seven heavy vehicles to dredge the mud.
“We were really overwhelmed in trying to overcome the worst lava flooding since Mount Merapi stopped erupting.
We’re worried about subsequent lahar floods as the rainfall is still high on the slope of the mountain.” The lahar overflow on Monday evening was the most severe since the status of Merapi was downgraded from “stand-by” to” beware” at the end of December. “For the umpteenth time, we warned the people against lahar floods, a secondary threat after the volcano’s eruption. If the rainfall reaches 20 millimeters per hour, as what happened on Monday night, the lahar will overflow into villages and roads." Lahar can move down the slope of the volcano at a speed of more than 60 miles per hour (97 kmh) and kill anyone or damage anything in its path. “We should not underestimate the lahar floods, and we urge people not to see the flow from a close range." The lahar flood destroyed six bridges and a police office in Cangkringan subdistrict. “Our suffering was not really finished with the end to the volcano’s eruption. We do not know when the disaster will end." “In a very short time, our office was destroyed by the heavy flow of lahar. We could only save computer units, typewriters and other office equipment, but some records are still being tracked. All members of the police and the detainee could be evacuated. No injuries reported."

Alert declared following volcanic eruptions in Papua New Guinea - A level three alert has been declared following a series of eruptions of the Manam volcano in Madang Province in Papua New Guinea. The Rabaul Volcanic Observatory has issued the alert following a series of eruptions on Christmas Day which increased in magnitude over the next five days.
The alert warns people not to climb to higher gardens or walk into or across valleys because of possible lava flow. The eruptions frightened over 1000 villagers who are demanding to be evacuated but government officials have gone to the island to provide assurance to them. There appears to be no immediate danger providing precautions are followed.

2010: Volcanic Year in Review - It was a busy year, both for the usual suspects and some volcanoes that erupted seemingly out of the blue. (photos)

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

STRANGE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR-

BIRD DEATHS IN TWO U.S. STATES - Some of the nation's top experts Tuesday were looking for clues into sudden, mass deaths of birds in two states over New Year's weekend. "This one is UNUSUAL because of the time period over which so many birds died." In Arkansas, as many as 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings fell from the sky in a square-mile area in less than an hour on New Year's Eve. In Louisiana, 500 red-winged blackbirds, starlings and grackles were found dead in Labarre. A preliminary report conducted Monday by the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission found that the birds in Beebe, Arkansas, likely died from massive trauma.
There had been reports of loud sounds in Beebe before the reports of birds falling began to come in. It's possible the sounds made the birds disoriented, and they went into sudden, chaotic flights, crashing into each other and into objects. "You're disturbed, you're disoriented, you're trying to figure out where you are. We have seen some stuff like this before when there's heavy dense fog, and they'll run into towers and power lines.
Other bird experts agree that that's a likely explanation. Still, the sudden deaths are QUITE UNUSUAL. "It's kind of a FREAK event. You just don't see these kinds of mass deaths very frequently at all." At this time of year, blackbirds are in huge roosts, particularly throughout the southeastern United States. They generally don't fly at night. In the course of a year, about half the birds that are around die -- even under the best circumstances. The life of a bird is brutish and short. But it just usually happens out of the sight of people."
It's possible that the loud sound that triggered the incident was New Year's Eve fireworks, though officials said the investigation is ongoing. "If it had been any other day of the week," he might have suspected people to be behind the deaths. "There's a lot of purposeful killings. ... People really don't like these big roosts. But I can't see anybody doing that on New Year's Eve." His "first suspicion is that they were frightened and went into a mass panic. I would call this event UNUSUAL, but not unprecedented." The birds showed evidence of trauma in the breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and a lot of internal bleeding. All major organs were normal. Such incidents can be caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. A strong storm system moved through the state earlier in the day Friday.
The experts saw nothing surprising in there being a similar report of bird deaths in Louisiana. "It's another one of those coincidences. I'm really interested to see if there's anything that could possibly be related. I asked about weather conditions there. There's sometimes high-altitude hail." But, so far officials were not aware of "any strange weather patterns" in the area.
There may be more reports of dead birds found around the country. "As soon as one of these things hits the airwaves, people are just more sensitive to seeing dead birds around." Meanwhile, Arkansas officials are investigating the death of an estimated 100,000 fish in the state's northwest, but suspect disease was to blame.
[Beebe isn't far from Guy, Arkansas where a mysterious earthquake swarm has been occurring. From September 20 to December 14 , the community of 549 residents north of Little Rock experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes.
"These are shallow quakes between two and eight kilometers (between one-and-a-quarter and five miles) below the surface." While earthquakes aren't unusual in the Southeast state, the frequency is. "This time last year we had 39 quakes total for the entire state." There are several geologic faults in the area, but none associated with the New Madrid fault. There was another historic flurry of earthquakes in 1982, 15 miles south of Guy. Geologists know it as the Enola Swarm, responsible for 15,000 quakes within a year's time, followed by more shaking in 2001.]
BIRDS - LOUISIANA - Two days after thousands of dead birds fell from the sky in Arkansas 500 more have been discovered in Louisiana. Biologists are trying to determine what killed the birds that littered a quarter-mile stretch of highway in Point Coupee Parish. The birds included red-winged blackbirds and starlings. Monday's discovery along Louisiana Highway 1 came just three days after more than 3,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Authorities say examinations showed those birds suffered internal injuries that formed deadly
blood clots.

MARYLAND - FISH Kill Caused By Cold Stress. Thousands Of Dead Fish Wash Onto Bay Shores. Tens of thousands of small fish have died in the Chesapeake Bay due to the stress of the cold water. Reports of a fish kill started coming in last week from Calvert County and Kent Island. Monday the fish had begun washing onto the shore. The types of fish that have died are menhayden, spots and croakers. The fish usually swim to warmer waters before the severe cold weather that the area experienced in December. There is no word on why the fish didn't do that. They do check them out to make sure the kill isn't caused by a pollutant.

NEW ZEALAND - FISH - There has been another inexplicable case of dead animals with dozens of dead fish washing up on a New Zealand beach. The snapper were floating close to shore.

Mysterious killing of FISH in coastal BRAZIL - At least 100 tons of fish (sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead since last Thursday off the coast of Parana. On Sunday, representatives took samples to verify the reason for the deaths. Apart from Paranagua, the dead fish are starting to appear in other coastal towns. "The dead fish are going to Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do Paraná. We need an urgent solution to this."
There are three hypotheses for the death of fish. “We will wait to see what happened, but speculations suggest that fish may have died due to an environmental imbalance, dropping a fishing boat or leakage of chemicals." The sale of seafood as a precaution, is temporarily suspended in the region. “It is not forbidden, but we have oriented people do not purchase or consume these products to avoid any problems. There is no indication that someone has gone bad [or became ill]." The whole situation worries the fishing community of coastal Paraná. “I urge the authorities to look for these problems from the sea. Not just in Paranagua, but throughout our state. When such a disaster, the fishermen suffer. We cannot let that happen."

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Fireworks likely caused Arkansas bird deaths - US scientists believe fireworks may have caused thousands of birds to fall from the sky over an Arkansas town on New Year's Eve. The red-winged blackbirds probably flew low to avoid explosions and collided with objects. Further tests on the dead birds are planned.
Officials say more than 3,000 birds fell over the city of Beebe. The few that survived their fall stumbled around like drunken revellers, witnesses said. Birds were "littering the streets, the yards, the driveways, everywhere. It was hard to drive down the street in some places without running over them." Initial laboratory reports said the birds had died from trauma. Residents reported hearing loud fireworks just before the birds started raining from the sky. Blackbirds have poor night vision. "They started going crazy, flying into one another." The birds also hit homes, cars, trees and other objects, and some could have flown hard into the ground. "The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level" to avoid explosions above. Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things." Beebe police were inundated with calls from residents who saw the birds fall. Severe weather over Arkansas could also be the cause of the mystery deaths. Poisoning has been ruled out after several cats and dogs that ate the dead birds suffered no ill effects. City authorities have hired a specialist waste disposal firm to collect the dead birds from gardens and rooftops, and remove them.
Hundreds of thousands of fish were found dead in the Arkansas River about 200 kilometres away from Beebe a day before the birds were killed. Officials believe they were killed by disease because only one species - drum fish - was affected.

**Men are alike in their promises.
It is only in their deeds that they differ.**
Moliere


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.

Yesterday -
1/3/11 -
5.1 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

VOLCANOES -

ICELAND - Eyjafjallajökull Still Rumbles. A farmer living close to the glacier-volcano Eyjafjallajökull in south Iceland said yesterday that he had heard the glacier rumble and that the noise was similar as to when it last erupted in the spring of 2010, just not as loud. “It might very well be true. If the wind is blowing in your direction, you hear it once in a while,” a policeman said. More people living in Rangárthing eystra have reported rumblings in the glacier under such wind conditions. “I don’t know what it means and it is difficult to predict anything. It started without notice last time and we know that the crater is still open and boiling." According to information from the Icelandic Meteorological Office, there is nothing that indicates increased seismic activity in Eyjafjallajökull. (photo)

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

AUSTRALIA - Floodwaters in Queensland are inching towards New South Wales, with authorities warning small communities south of the border to prepare for the deluge. About 400 people in the towns of Goodooga, Weilmoringle and Angledool are facing the possibility of isolation when flood peaks flow into state's north later this month. No homes are under threat but roads are expected to be cut, leaving residents stranded in a handful of communities and surrounding rural properties. The weather bureau is predicting moderate to major flooding on the Culgoa, Bokhara, Birrie and Narran Rivers, swamping the region for four to six weeks. The Bokhara River at Goodooga is expected to reach 4.2 metres on January 21, while the Culgoa River at Weilmoringle is likely to peak at almost 6 metres on January 23. "It's weeks away but these are very slow rising floods ... which means roads can be cut a week or more ahead of the flood peak and a week or more after. It's not out of the ordinary, these are decent sized floods but they are not exceptionally large like those in Queensland which are floods of record." Queensland's flood crisis has inundated or isolated more than 20 towns and cities, with more than 200,000 people affected.
Australia flood death toll rises; rains cause more havoc - Floodwaters in Australia's Queensland state created havoc in at least 22 cities and towns throughout the region grappling with several weeks of devastating rains. At least three people have been killed in the flooding since Saturday, and Queensland officials said as many as 10 have died in weather-related incidents beginning in late November. About 200,000 people have been affected by the flooding, with many leaving their homes and seeking rest and food at relief centers. Spillover from Fairbairn Dam, the second-largest catchment area in Australia, was causing evacuations and other problems in several towns. Floodwaters cut off towns and submerge buildings in Queensland state. "Rockhampton is now completely stranded — a town of 75,000 people, no airport, rail or road." Although waters have begun to recede in some areas, others are looking at a week in which the situation could get considerably worse. Forecasters warned of more rain.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -

India shivers in deadly cold snap - Indian-administered Kashmir has been hardest hit by the cold weather. An intense spell of cold weather has disrupted life across northern India, reportedly claiming two dozen lives. The capital, Delhi, has been badly hit by the cold snap, along with Indian-administered Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In Leh in Kashmir, temperatures dropped to -23.6C - this winter's lowest - on Sunday. Delhi, which is EXPERIENCING ONE OF ITS COLDEST WINTERS IN YEARS, has been hit by thick fog which disrupted flights.
Sunday was Delhi's coldest day this winter with temperatures dipping to 7.8C - cold by the standards of the Indian capital. Indian homes rarely have central heating. The cold wave is being felt most intensely in Kashmir with the summer capital, Srinagar, recording sub-zero temperatures.The highway linking Kashmir with the rest of India has been shut due to snowfall. Homeless people have taken to gathering around street fires to try to keep warm and the night shelters for the poor in Delhi are overflowing. Five more people - including a 70-year-old man and a two year-old boy - suffered cold-related deaths in Uttar Pradesh. Three more cold-related deaths were reported in Indian-administered Kashmir.

EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -

ALASKA - Warm temperatures ring in Fairbanks for the New Year. A blizzard that’s been rolling up the western coast of Alaska brought RECORD-BREAKING HIGH TEMPERATURES to Fairbanks during the holiday weekend. Winds on the eastern edge of the storm pushed over the Alaska Range and north into the Interior. They warmed up as they moved downslope. “You can actually get pretty warm temperatures here, even in the dead of winter, if you get a good strong southerly flow coming over the Alaska Range." After the COLDEST DECEMBER IN 30 YEARS, including a low of minus 40 on Christmas Eve day, the temperature soared to 41 degrees Fahrenheit at Fairbanks International Airport on Sunday morning. Wind gusts were clocked at 25 miles per hour in the hills. The warm weatherwais expected to hang around until today. The thaw created slick roads as moisture in the air deposited onto cold road surfaces and formed instantaneous frost. The warm spell melted a trivial amount of snow and canceled out the one inch of snow that fell on New Year’s Eve.
The cold weather in December was caused by a large blocking pattern that lasted for about three weeks. It prevented air from moving east to west and kept a high-pressure system fixed above the Interior. The average temperature last month was about 18 degrees below zero, 12 degrees colder than normal. That doesn’t mean January will be colder, or milder, than any other year. January is typically the coldest month of the year in Fairbanks. “We’re in a strong La Niña pattern, which generally speaking will cause colder- than-normal temperatures."

2010: Warmest year ever in New England - With 2010 officially over, the numbers are in and it was a record breaking year in parts of New England. 2010 was THE WARMEST YEAR EVER for the region.
The average temperature in 2010 was 52.9 degrees Fahrenheit which is 2.5 degrees warmer than a normal year and beat the previous record warmest year of 1990 by 0.1 degree. Connecticut and Boston Logan International Airport had their warmest year on record in 2010. Providence, Rhode Island experienced the second warmest year ever with Worcester Mass reporting the 4th warmest year on record. This warmth came as we transitioned from an El Nino weather pattern to a La Nina pattern. That transition started late spring and continued through late summer. The pattern lead to a ridge of high pressure which provided plenty of sunshine and one of the warmest summers ever.
The temperatures weren't the only UNUSUAL feature of 2010. There is not much left of the snow they had in 2010, in fact, the year itself brought significantly less snowfall than they normally have in certain parts of New England. Below average snowfall contributed to less than average precipitation for the year. "Where we should have been getting rain other people were getting rain, when it should have been cold here other people were getting slammed so it's just totally different than the way it used to be." So far in the first three days of 2011, high temperatures have been averaging 9 degrees above average.

2010 WRAP-UP -

NEW JERSEY - Blizzard capped a year of extreme weather in New Jersey. The Christmas weekend blizzard that dumped an average 15 inches of snow in Morris County seems a fitting end to what has been a year of weather extremes in New Jersey. Between a particularly snowy winter, a wet spring and a hot, dry summer, 2010 was a RECORD-BREAKER. "This was a year of extremes, unlike anything we've seen in recent years."
The winter was the third wettest on record since the state began keeping records in 1895. Morris County was hit by nine snowstorms in 2010, including a string of three in February. In Morristown, 32.4 inches of snow fell that month, well above the 8.7 inches average snowfall in a typical February. But the winter pummeling alone wasn't enough- just a month later, much of the state was deluged with heavy rains. A nor'easter in March that lasted several days brought 5 to 8 inches of rain in Morris, knocking out power to thousands and forcing hundreds of flood-prone Pequannock and Lincoln residents along the Passaic, Pequannock and Rockaway rivers out of their homes.
The wet season was followed by a summer of dry heat - with the HOTTEST APRIL AND JUNE ON RECORD. The summer was THE DRIEST SINCE 1966. June and July saw 2.47 inches and 2.87 inches of rainfall, respectively. The average monthly rainfall is 4 inches. What probably prevented it from being the driest on record was a wet August that helped saturate the ground and fill up reservoirs. Despite the extremes, annual precipitation averaged 42.27 inches statewide, or slightly more than 1 inch below the long-term mean.

Monday, January 3, 2011

More than 1,000 blackbirds fall out of Arkansas sky - Officials are investigating why more than 1,000 birds - most of them dead - fell out of the sky in the US state of Arkansas on New Year's Eve. The Arkansas Fish and Game Commission said it began receiving reports of the falling birds at about 2330. By midnight, more than 1,000 red-winged blackbirds had fallen in one area of the city of Beebe. The birds could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail. About 65 dead birds have been sent off for scientific analysis to determine the cause of death. It does not appear as though the birds were poisoned. "Since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky, it is unlikely they were poisoned, but a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds died from trauma or toxin. "
Severe weather over Arkansas could be the cause of the mystery deaths. Tornadoes swept through Arkansas and neighbouring states on 31 December, killing seven people. However, the AFGC did not say whether the blackbird deaths could also be attributed to the storms. City authorities have hired a specialist waste-disposal firm to collect the dead birds from gardens and rooftops, and dispose of them. (photos)
An estimated 100,000 fish have died in the northwest of Arkansas, the same state where up to 5000 dead birds recently fell from the sky. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it suspected disease was to blame for the death of the drum fish, which floated in the water and lined the banks of a 30 kilometre stretch of the Arkansas River near Ozark, about 200km northwest of Little Rock. Ozark is about 200km west of the town of Beebe, where game wardens were trying to find out why up to 5000 blackbirds fell from the sky just before midnight on New Year's Eve. The game and fish commission said fish kills occurred every year, but the size of the latest one was UNUSUAL, and suggested some sort of disease was to blame. "The fish kill only affected one species of fish. If it was from a pollutant, it would have affected all of the fish, not just drum fish." A tugboat operator discovered the dead fish on Friday night, and fisheries officials collected some of the dying animals to conduct tests.
Meanwhile, the game and fish commission said the blackbirds found in Beebe showed physical trauma, and speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail". The AP said more than 1000 birds fell from the sky, but CNN put the number at up to 5000. The commission said that New Year's Eve revellers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress. The birds fell over a two-kilometre area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

**Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.
Teach him how to fish and you get rid of him for the whole weekend.**
Zena Schaffer


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.

Yesterday -
1/2/11 -
5.7 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
7.2 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.0 LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

A strong earthquake has shaken central Chile, disrupting power and communications but causing no casualties or serious damage. The quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and its epicentre was 70km (45 miles) northwest of Temuco with a depth of 25km. Hundreds of people in coastal areas fled to higher ground for fear of a tsunami, but no alert was issued. "Up until now we don't have any reports of injuries, there's no damage, just overloaded telephone lines and some partial power cuts." An 8.8-magnitude quake in the same area last February caused huge destruction. Chile is still rebuilding after February's massive quake, which smashed infrastructure and triggered a tsunami that devastated several coastal towns, killing more than 400 people. (map)

VOLCANOES -

RUSSIA -Thin layer of ash from the active Kizimen volcano on Sunday covered the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky where 60 percent of the Kamchatka Peninsula residents live. "A taint of grey ash typical of Kizimen can be seen on the snow, on the cars and on all of the surfaces in the city." The layer is tiny - about 0.5 millimeters and the current situation does not pose a threat to the health of the local residents. However, the ash could affect the operations of aircraft. The Kizimen volcano is located 265 kilometers away from Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky. Kizimen's previous eruption occurred at the end of 1920's, but it started to exhibit activity last June and a new eruption began a month ago.

Indonesia reduces Merapi volcano alert level - Indonesia has downgraded the alert level for volcano Mount Merapi, more than a month after it began erupting, killing more than 350 people. Most of the 250,000 people who had been living in evacuation shelters can return home. An area on the volcano's southern slope remained off limits. The volcano is still spewing smoke but the threat of a deadly eruption is thought to have passed for now. "The volcano's threat is now limited to only some parts on the southern slope." Merapi, on Java island, began erupting on 26 October. Most of the 353 people who died were caught in the biggest eruption on 5 November when Merapi shot out jets of boiling gas and rock. A wide area around the volcano was covered in a thick layer of ash and many homes were destroyed.

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

Authorities maintained a warning in Western Australia state for a potential tropical cyclone as the low pressure system moves away from coastal regions. The tropical low, which may develop into a cyclone today, “is not expected to affect the mainland” at it moves west at 26 kilometers an hour (16 miles per hour). While strong winds are forecast for coastal waters, the bureau said gales are no longer predicted.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

AUSTRALIA - Dozens of moviegoers have been injured after the roof of a cinema complex in central western New South Wales collapsed. Heavy rains caused the false ceiling at The Metro Cinema at Bathurst to collapse at 12.45pm (AEDT) today. Thirty-six people were initially trapped when the roof collapsed, with emergency services using thermal imaging cameras to find them in the rubble. A worker in a neighbouring shop said he couldn't hear the ceiling collapse because it was raining so heavily at the time. “You could barely hear anything due to the large amount of rain coming down." There was enough rain in 10 to 20 minutes to collapse the roof. Paramedics were treating those at the scene as they emerged, but said they had only minor injuries.
Floodwaters in the Australian city of Rockhampton are rising faster than expected, Queensland authorities say. The city has already been badly hit, with many people being forced to flee. More than 20 towns have already been cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany, with more than 200,000 people affected. Earlier, a woman swept from the road in her car has become the first victim of the widespread flooding, and at least two others are reported missing. While waters are receding in some areas, in Rockhampton - a city of 77,000 - they have yet to reach their peak. Floodwaters are expected to reach nine metres (30 feet) on Monday and peak at 9.4 metres on Wednesday, threatening as many as 4,000 homes. There are fears that damage from the floods could cost billions of Australian dollars to repair. Rockhampton's airport, a major regional hub, was closed to commercial traffic due to flooded runways, while many main roads and railways into the town had been cut off, and power supplies were disrupted. The city could be isolated for up to 10 days. "These waters are exceptionally fast, they're not to be trifled with and they're not to be taken lightly."
Meanwhile, the weather bureau has warned Queensland residents of another severe storm, which is forecast to bring "damaging winds, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and large hailstones". One Rockhampton resident said there had been panic-buying in the city. About 40% of the city could be affected, and the floods swept snakes downstream. "Snakes have been swimming at people's feet as they make their way through the waters. I know one guy who killed four snakes this morning, one of which was a Taipan - the more it bites, the more it injects venom that could easily kill." Officials have warned that the mining, farming and tourism industries will all suffer.
Recovery efforts are beginning in some areas where flooding has subsided, including the severely affected towns of Emerald and Bundaberg. Residents are preparing to return home, though the towns of Theodore and Condamine, which were completely evacuated, remain empty. In some areas, helicopters have been used to deliver supplies and food to cut-off householders. (photos & map)

2010 WRAP-UP -

CALIFORNIA - Highlights of San Diego's odd 2010 weather. -
JANUARY: "Probably influenced by El Nino, a strong polar jet developed over the Pacific and brought several storm systems to the coast with periods of strong wind, heavy rain, and mountain snow from the 18th to the 22nd. The barometric pressure reached an ALL-TIME RECORD LOW of 29.21 inches on the 20th at Lindbergh Field. Strong southerly winds allowed deep moisture to invade the deserts. Rainfall ranged from 2 to 8 inches in the deserts, 4 to 8 inches west of the mountains, and 6 to 12 inches on the coastal slopes. Snowfall of 40 to 60 inches was reported at the higher resorts with up to seven feet at the highest ski resorts ... On the 19th, a tornado hit Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, and another hit Laguna Beach, both causing local property damage. Winds were measured above 90 mph in Newport Harbor that day."
MARCH: "An extensive low pressure trough stretching along the West Coast of North American guided several weak-to-moderate storm systems through the region during the first 10 days of the month. This was replaced by a high pressure ridge around mid-month which brought an extended period of dry and warmer-than-normal weather until the final days of the month when a cold trough pushed in from the northwest. Despite the moist start, March came up decidedly dry, continuing the trend of dry Marches in recent years."
APRIL: "A broad area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere dominated the weather through much of April, bringing above average precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) and below average temperatures to Southern California."
MAY: "The cool spring conditions continued with average monthly temperatures generally between 2 and 4 degrees below normal. On the 23rd, a very cold, late season storm slid through Southern California accompanied by thunderstorms, RECORD COLDd, and moderate rain and snow showers. Up to 5 inches of snow piled up at higher elevations. After this storm, the rainfall season came to an abrupt end."
JUNE: During the second week, a large trough developed bringing cooling, and a deeper marine layer with periods of drizzle west of the mountains. The cool spring conditions continued with average monthly temperatures generally between 2 and 4 degrees below normal."
JULY: "A broad and persistent upper-level trough dominated the weather during the month, keeping temperatures well below the seasonal average. West of the mountains a deep marine layer dripped some light rain and drizzle from time to time. The trough retrograded west as high pressure built over the interior of the U.S. during the second week, bringing fleeting warm weather and our first surges of monsoonal moisture. Low pressure quickly redeveloped just off the coast again and persisted through the end of the month, allow a deep moist marine layer to keep it cool, and even produce some drizzle and measurable light rain. "Numerous LOW MAXIMUM DAILY RECORDS WERE SET throughout the month. The all-time record low maximum for San Diego for July was tied on the 8th with 64 degrees."
AUGUST: "For month of the mont, temperatures were 4-5 degrees below normal along the San Diego County coast due to a strong cool sea breeze. The seasonally strong subtropical high did make a move north and west during the third week, setting an easterly monsoonal flow of moist and unstable air ... The moist and unstable monsoonal flow was quickly snuffed out by a strong low pressure trough during the final week. August continued trend observed much of the summer.".
SEPTEMBER: "High pressure aloft and offshore flow developed bringing the hottest weather of the year west of the mountains the day after summer ended. Many RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES were reached on the 26th and 27th. Some of the highest all-time temperatures were reached on the 27th, like the 113 degrees at downtown Los Angeles. All significant rain for the month fell with a storm on the 30th.
OCTOBER: It was a wet month. In fact, it was the 4th wettest on record in San Diego. In the beginning of the month, a low pressure trough pumped moist and unstable air into Southern California and produced several rounds of showers and thunderstorms. Most of the storms were concentrated in the mountains and deserts and were fast-moving. Some of these storms were considered by long-time residents in the high desert as THE MOST INTENSE EVER EXPERIENCED. Local flooding resulted. By mid-month, a second vigorous storm system came through the region. Some rain fell west of the mountains almost every day from the 15th through the 25th before the atmosphere finally dried out with a brief episode of Santa Ana winds."
NOVEMBER: "During the first week, high pressure aloft caused RECORD-BREAKING HEAT, and in San Diego it produced the HOTTEST NOVEMBER DAY IN HISTORY on the 4th with a reading of 100 degrees. It was actually hotter at the coast than it was inland.
DECEMBER: "The first half of the month was dry with weak high pressure dominating our weather. Then a strong subtropical jet stream from the central Pacific sent a long fetch of moisture into California for a week. From the 17th to the 23rd more than 28 inches of rain fell in Lytle Creek and Crestline, 6'' to 12'' in Orange County and most valleys, over 8'' in parts of the high desert, almost 5'' in San Diego. Numerous RAINFALL RECORDS WERE BROKEN. It was the wettest week since January 2005. A final quick storm hit on the 29th, which brought DECEMBER RAINFALL TOTALS AMONG THE GREATEST ON RECORD for many locations."

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Earth's atmosphere showed a mean streak in 2010, and there may be more to come. Along the East Coast of the United States, buried under the avalanche of this week's blizzard in New York City, are the memories of "Snowmageddon" -- the big Nor'easter that in the first week of last February dumped RECORD snowfalls on major cities in the Mid-Atlantic region, from Wilmington to Washington. In Spring, great downpours of rain brought floods across the Southeast, including Oklahoma and Arkansas, but especially Tennessee, where 33 people died and damages were estimated at nearly $2 billion in Nashville alone.
And then came summer, with heat-waves across much of the Northern Hemisphere. Nineteen nations recorded new RECORD high temperatures -- including a reading of 128.3 degrees F in Pakistan, the hottest ever in Asia. Russia suffered through its hottest year in 1,000 years of history. In Moscow, at least 10,000 people died from the heat. The wheat crop was heavily damaged and wildfires spread across the country. In the United States, intense heat spread from Maine to Pennsylvania in July and across the Southeast in August. In the Southwest, continuing drought shrank Lake Mead, the enormous impoundment behind Hoover Dam that waters much of the region, to a fraction of its former self. In Pakistan, monsoonal rains brought floods of staggering proportion, destroying bridges and roads and dams, and leaving thousands dead and millions homeless.
The year's wild, dangerous weather is leading many climate scientists to see a pattern. They are beginning to wonder whether the climate system is showing signs of instability brought about by its changing chemical composition, by the added heat and water vapor, and by changing circulation patterns prompted by the loss of Arctic sea ice. A pattern of more frequent weather extremes is a feature that is common to most global model simulations of the future in our changing climate. If they are right, of course, 2010 could mark the early stages of a longer trend of more frequent dangerous weather. As the New Year approached, thousands of residents in Queensland, northeastern Australia, found themselves stranded by floodwaters. Queensland's premier called it "a DISASTER ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE," which seemed to be a pretty good epithet for the year as a whole.

**Be at war with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors,
and let every new year find you a better man.**
Benjamin Franklin


LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.

Yesterday -
1/1/2011 -
5.2 VANUATU REGION
6.9 SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA
5.3 SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
5.0 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

12/31/2010 -
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 DOMINICA REGION, LEEWARD ISLANDS
5.3 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

ARGENTINA -Northern Argentina hit by 7.0 quake. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and the deep quake occurred at a depth of 583.6 kilometres (362.6 miles).

Pending threat of enormous earthquakes - A physicist and author of "Physics of the Future" warned world citizens New Year's Eve morning on Good Morning America about the pending threat of enormous earthquakes. "In our life time, we could very well see one of these cities destroyed - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, Tehran, Tokyo."
He pointed to changes in the physical structures of human civilization, and how the new composure poses many risks. "We are creating mega cities where there used to be fishing villages." About the many disasters this year, he said: "Well, look at the Chilean earthquake. You realize it was so big it actually rocked the planet earth. The axis of the earth shifted 3 inches as a result of that 8.8 earthquake. The day is no longer 24 hours, it's been shortened by one micro-second, That's how big that earthquake was."

VOLCANOES -

Two thousand years ago Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii. Today, a larger, far more deadly supervolcano lurks on the other side of Naples. If it erupts, Campi Flegrei could wipe out all life in Europe. An international team wants to drill down inside the caldera to try to better understand exactly why part of it has risen 10ft since 1969. The area at the epicentre of the swelling has seen whole streets of houses crumble and collapse. The threat is imminent. The last time the ground rose like this (between 1430 and 1538) there was an eruption that caused the formation of a new volcano.
"The future eruption begins with a swarm of 1,000 small earthquakes that ripple under the pavements of Naples. Air-conditioning units fall from the sides of buildings and tiles slip from the walls. Inside the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s control centre, a bank of screens indicates that the quakes aren’t being generated by the giant Mount Vesuvius, which looms over the city. These quakes are coming from something far bigger, from one of the largest and most dangerous volcanoes in the world: the Campi Flegrei caldera. Vesuvius, which destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii, incinerating and suffocating thousands, is nothing more than a pimple on the back of the sleeping dragon of Campi Flegrei, an active four-mile-wide sunken volcano. A call is quickly put through to Civil Defence and the Italian Ministry of the Interior: the city must be evacuated immediately.
A short distance away, the ground around the ancient town of Pozzuoli is stretching, swelling, doming. Fumaroles – vents emitting columns of steam rich in CO2 – open up in the broken Tarmac. Four-and-a-half miles below the surface a bolt of magma has escaped the main reservoir and is rising upwards, changing and solidifying. As it reaches groundwater, it’s converted into a sponge-like stone. As the water boils away it feeds critical amounts of gas into the sponge, and the pressure builds until finally it explodes like a malfunctioning boiler.
Hundreds of billions of cubic feet of volcanic rock blasts up into the atmosphere: an explosion 200 times greater than that of the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which brought chaos to Europe, grounded planes in the UK for a week and is said to have cost the world economy in excess of £3 billion. Back on the streets of Naples, it’s too late to run. Bumper-to-bumper traffic comes to a halt as drivers grind on their horns. They watch helplessly as a boiling black cloud of hot gas and rock rolls over the horizon at hurricane speed, suffocating everything in its path. In this area inhabited by millions, built in one of the most dangerous volcanic regions on earth, all life is over."
While a new eruption at Campi Flegrei would be more likely to result in the creation of another Vesuvius-like cone, the worst-case scenario COULD SEE IT OBLITERATING MUCH OF LIFE IN EUROPE. In this eventuality the Earth’s surface would swell and crack and a series of small eruptions would cause the four-mile-wide caldera floor to collapse into the larger magma reservoir, which would in turn push more magma to the surface.
The last time the ground gave way like this, 39,000 years ago when the caldera was formed, it created the cliffs that the postcard town of Sorrento stands on now – volcanic deposits over 300ft deep. If the same kind of eruption happened today, this part of Italy could cease to exist, and the ash clouds would blot out the Sun and lower the Earth’s temperature. Life in the UK as we know it would end. We would lose our livestock, crops and three-quarters of our plant species, plunging us into a new dark age of rioting, starvation and perpetual winter.
‘Right now we may well be in another period of uplift. If it occurs as before, we might expect another 60 years’ worth of unrest, and possible earthquakes and eruptions, with two or three more episodes and uplift to occur in the next ten years. We have to presume we have a few more decades of unrest, and if this is going to be the case, then we have to get more data about the volcano now.’
Yet despite the urgency, the mayor of Naples has just dramatically halted the project. Drilling was to begin this month on the site of the old Bagnoli steel mill, on the eastern part of the caldera, but was stopped following the very public objections of a sole local scientist, who has warned that the drilling itself could actually trigger an explosion that could destroy the city. The people of Naples seem to be damned if they do and damned if they don’t. (photos)

TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.

A cyclone warning has been issued for regions of Western Australia as a tropical low pressure system moves toward the coast. The tropical low is moving parallel to the Pilbara coast at a speed of 31 kilometers (19 miles) an hour and may develop into a cyclone later today. The system is unlikely to cause flooding in the Pilbara region due to its speed and likely location offshore. Apache Corp. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. halted oil field production off Western Australia because of the storm and Port Hedland, 1,300 kilometers north of Perth and the world’s largest bulk export terminal, has suspended movements of inbound shipping. The cyclone warning in Western Australia comes as heavy rain and flooding on the other side of the country shut down mines in Queensland state.

11 storms hit Philippines in 2010 - Even with the extreme weather disturbances associated with La Niña, the country was still relatively spared from horrendous destructions brought on by tropical storms as compared to 2009. Back-to-back onslaughts by Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) and Pepeng (international codename: Parma) in 2009 left billions of pesos' worth of damage to crops, infrastructure and property. The twin storms also killed a thousand people and rendered hundreds of citizens homeless. The delayed start of the rainy season in the Philippines due to the El Niño phenomenon has also trimmed down the number of tropical cyclones. Only 11 storms visited the country in 2010, six of which failed to make landfall. "Although some storms were not able to enter the country, they were able to enhance the southwest monsoon (prevailing at that time) and bring rains. In the Philippines, many of our areas are flood prone. It (flood) is always a perennial problem for us." Only two storms registered substantial effects. These were typhoons Basyang (international codename: Conson) and Juan (international codename: Megi), which hit the country in July and October, respectively. Aside from directly hitting Metro Manila and triggering Luzon-wide blackouts, Basyang's three-day (July 12-15) blitz caused widespread flooding in the nation's capital, Southern and Central Luzon, and parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. The storm killed 102 people while 91 are injured and 46 are still missing. Total damage to infrastructure and agriculture reached P377.83 million, with rice and high value crop-generating areas in Luzon bearing the brunt of the typhoon. Typhoon Juan, on the other hand, nearly flattened villages in the eastern seaboard of Isabela as it affected more than two million people in Luzon and left 31 dead, 42 injured and four missing. Damage was pegged at P12.03 billion, with agricultural production incurring heavy devastation, most especially rice and corn (P9.29 billion). With media calling it a "super typhoon," Juan's strength was compared to that of Typhoon Reming (international codename: Durian), which killed over a thousand people in the Bicol region and Southern Luzon in late 2006. Juan was also the world's strongest storm this year, packing maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour near the center.
Although it has yet to come up with an estimate number of storms for 2011, Pagasa keeps itself busy in fast-tracking the rehabilitation of radar stations, as well as strengthening its partnership with the private sector. Additional automatic weather stations and rainfall monitoring equipment will be installed nationwide. By the end of the year, the country will have seven Doppler radars in place.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

PHILIPPINES braced for the effects of the La Niña phenomenon, and beyond-normal rainfall conditions have already been recorded in different parts of the country. La Niña is expected to continue at least into the March-April-May (MAM) 2011 season. The Governor declared a state of emergency Thursday following torrential rain, which caused landslides and flooding. The affected towns are Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay, Manito and Jovellar. The high water forced the evacuation of more than 3,500 residents from the region. At least one woman died and her son missing as a result of the inclement weather. The extreme weather was caused by an Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a dangerous and difficult to predict weather pattern. To make matters worse for the battered Bicol region, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recorded Thursday eight volcanic earthquakes near Bulusan Volcano. Alert Level 1 remains over the area.

Tornadoes kill seven in south and mid-western US - A series of tornadoes in the south and mid-western US has killed seven people, injured several others and caused power failures for thousands in the region. Three residents of the small town of Cincinnati in Arkansas were killed early on Friday. Tornadoes were later blamed for the deaths of three people in southern Missouri. And a woman seriously hurt on Friday near the south-east Missouri town of Rolla died in hospital on Saturday. Several other people in Arkansas and Missouri were injured.
The tornado in Cincinnati caused damage near a local highway in the town's centre and points west of Washington County in Arkansas. The tornado hit the town, located about 20 miles (32km) west of the city of Fayetteville, around 0610 local time (1210GMT) on Friday. Emergency responders were experiencing difficulties early on Friday in reaching damaged areas in the region because of power lines that had been knocked down. A combination of warm, wet air in the region and colder air moving in from the west created the conditions necessary for the tornado. "Anytime you have a significant change in air mass there is going to be unsettled weather marking the two different air masses." The deaths in Cincinnati and Missouri pushed this year's count of tornado-related fatalities in the US to 42.
ARKANSAS - A tornado fuelled by an UNUSUALLY WARM winter air sliced through parts of northwestern Arkansas early on New Year's Eve, killing three people, injuring several others and knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.
The region has been bracing for severe weather for much of the week. Gulf moisture riding southerly winds pushed temperatures into the upper 60s and 70s Thursday - ahead of a cold front expected to drop temperatures into the teens by Saturday morning. The same storm system caused damage in nearby Tontitown, but emergency responders had trouble reaching the damaged areas because of downed power lines.
Later, in south-central Missouri, baseball-sized hail was reported north of Mansfield in Wright County. "In the winter you don't always have the instability" that would allow tornadoes to develop. "This time, we have the instability." The tornado fatalities are the first in the nation since September 16, when a woman hit a falling tree while driving in Queens, New York, and a man was killed in his home at Belleville, West Virginia.
After a week of extreme weather in the U.S. - rain and mudslides in the West, blizzard conditions in the East - it seemed the only thing missing was a tornado. Friday there were at least 20. Six people were known dead. From Arkansas to Missouri to Illinois, the funnel clouds came out of nowhere in THE WORST OUTBREAK OF TWISTERS ON A NEW YEAR'S EVE IN 50 YEARS. Tornadoes are EXTREMELY RARE this time of year, but those that do occur are often deadlier because they move faster in the cold air, leaving less time for warnings.
WEIRD Weather Hit Much of the Country - Blizzard warnings were in effect for parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. On the Las Vegas strip, people preparing to party were shivering from the cold. In Arizona, RARE snow flurries dusted the desert around Phoenix, a RARE blizzard dumped a foot of snow on higher elevations and shut down Interstate 17 Thursday overnight. The Denver area received about half a foot of snow overnight. Blowing snow in North Dakota led to a massive pile-up Thursday along Interstate 94 west of Fargo. The chain reaction accident involved up to 100 cars and trucks.

EGYPT - Floodwaters caused by torrential rains swept a bus packed with 77 schoolgirls and their teachers off a highway in the country's south, killing 15 people. Poorly equipped rescue workers and local residents struggled to save those on board the bus, which overturned late on Wednesday in a deep trench created by strong flood currents along the highway leading to the city of Minya, 200km south of the capital Cairo. The dead included an ambulance driver who had rescued 20 of those on board the bus before the floods swept him away and he also drowned. Survivors recounted that the bus driver had stopped to have a closer look at the surrounding terrain, inundated with torrential rains and flooding, when the water suddenly swept them away. Egypt's southern region, where village houses are built of mud bricks and the roads are poorly maintained, was heavily affected during the rains and bad winter weather earlier this week

AUSTRALIA - flood zone bigger than France and Germany combined (and bigger than the state of Texas). More than 200,000 people have been affected by relentless flooding in northeast Australia, with the flood zone now stretching over an area bigger than France and Germany combined. Thousands of homes and businesses across Queensland state have been inundated with water after days of pounding rain caused swollen rivers to overflow. The entire population of two towns was forced to evacuate as water swamped their communities, cutting off roads and devastating crops. Heavy rains and flooding in northeast Australia is common during the southern hemisphere summer, but the scope of the damage from the recent downpours is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. "We now have 22 towns or cities that are either substantially flooded or isolated because the roads have been cut off to them.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -

JAPAN - Four men have been killed after an avalanche engulfed them on a ski slope in western Japan. The men were on patrol at a ski resort on Mount Daisen after an earlier avalanche. "They were checking the safety of skiers when a second avalanche occurred, sweeping them away. The area was hit by a snowstorm Friday and the weather agency warned of blizzards and violent winds around New Year in western and northern Japan. Nearly 80 domestic flights had been cancelled by late Friday.

EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -

FLORIDA - December's cold - one for the RECORD books - may be done, but extreme weather is not over as the new year arrives. On Friday, northern Palm Beach County was ratcheted up to "severe" drought conditions. And the remainder of the county remains with a "moderate" drought rating. Firefighters battled brushfires in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach, suburban West Palm Beach and Pahokee on Friday.
At the same time, the National Weather Service issued a coastal flood statement for Palm Beach County for overnight Friday, warning of a high risk of rip currents on area beaches. Persistent east-to-southeast winds of about 15 miles per hour create the risk. Rip currents are 10- to 30-yard channels of water which suck swimmers away from shore. On Friday, county lifeguards flew yellow warning flags and, in southern Palm Beach County, purple flags as well, warning of Portuguese man-o-war. "I bet we've had an abundance of man-of-war stings today." Man-of-war - which are not jellyfish, although they are sometimes mistaken for them - are blue-colored invertebrates with long, stinging tentacles. Droves arrive on area shores when winds pick up. To the north, a lifeguard and training officer in Juno Beach reported an influx of another kind - all kinds, actually, of ocean creatures. 'Everything that swims has been hugging the shoreline. Manatee, bottle-nosed dolphin, spinner sharks, snook, tarpon, grouper."

SPACE WEATHER -

SUNSPOT ALERT: 2011 is beginning with a flurry of sunspots. Five dark cores have emerged on the Earth-side of the sun. So far, none of the new regions is producing strong solar flares.
A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole should reach Earth around Jan. 3rd - the first solar wind stream of the New Year. US Department of Defense polar-orbiting satellites are observing bright bands of auroral light circling the North Pole. "It shows the sinuous path of the energetic particles entering Earth's upper atmosphere." These sinuous bands could descend south over Europe and parts of North America around Jan. 3rd when the solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. (photos)