Earth & Space Weather

Derecho Hits Midwest with Strong Winds, Tornado Reports

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Weather.com - Becky Kellogg and Associated Press - Jun 25, 2013

A shelf cloud is spotted over Huntley, Ill. as a derecho invaded the Midwest on Monday, June 24, 2013. (NWS Chicago/Francis Uy)

A derecho struck the Midwest Monday, June 23 leaving wind damage in Chicago, Iowa, and other parts of the Midwest.  The Monday storms snarled traffic, air travel, and downed dozens of trees in the region.  There were also several tornado reports Monday, June 23.

Derechoes are large clusters of thunderstorms that produce widespread wind damage, usually as a result of one or more curved lines of thunderstorms known as bow echoes. The word in the Spanish language means "straight" and these windstorms leave wide, long swaths of straight-line wind damage. These winds can be as strong as 50 to 100 mph or higher.

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West Fork Complex fire is still burning

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Koaa.com - 6/24/13, Andy Kohn

An abundance of dead trees helped fuel the fires of the West Fork Complex burning in the mountains west of Alamosa.

More than 75-thousand acres have burned between West Fork, Papoosa and Windy Pass. As many as 70 percent of the Engelmann Spruce trees in the forest had been killed by years of drought and beetle-kill even before the fire began.

More than 800 firefighters are on the ground in what has become the top priority wildfire in the U.S.

Link: Koaa.com

Increased seismic activity at Mount Shasta in northern California, US

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The Watchers Posted by Chillymanjaro -June 23,2013

 

Mount Shasta volcano showed signs of elevated seismicity since June 11, 2013. The volcano typically displays a relatively low rate of earthquake occurrence. Earthquake-Report connects the recent uptick in seismicity at Mount Shasta, the Greenville earthquake sequence, several deep (30-40 km depth) events beneath the Klamath Mountains to the west, as well as recent small earthquakes at Lassen Peak; and relates them with ended slow-slip event along the subducted slab beneath the region. Slow-slip occurs when the overlying crustal plate periodically (and only partially) detaches from the underlying (subducting) oceanic plate and slowly slips (millimeters/day) westward (contrary to its normal eastward movement) over a period of days to weeks. The events occur about every 14 months beneath Washington and British Columbia, about every two years beneath Oregon (one just occurred there earlier this year!), and yearly beneath Northern California.

 

Read More: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2013/06/23/increased-seismic-activity-at-mount-shasta-in-northern-california-us/

Fossilized Bigfoot Head Found, Utah Man Claims

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Epoch Times, 6/24/13, Jack Phillips

GFP Note: This story is posted as Satire for entertainment purposes only. We do not have any scientific proof that this is fossilized remains of Bigfoot. Please use discretion while reading.

A screenshot of a Standard-Examiner newspaper's video shows the purported Bigfoot skull fossil.

 

A Utah man claims he found the fossilized head of Bigfoot, telling a local newspaper about his finding. “I found a fossilized Bigfoot skull,” said Todd May of Ogden, Utah, according to the Standard-Examiner.

May showed the “fossil” to a reporter at the paper, who described it as a rock that “looks vaguely like a smaller version of one of those Easter Island heads.” It had a pronounced forehead, flat nose, and a “chiseled” jaw and chin, the paper said.

Wildfire: Colorado Town Sees Long Evacuation

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Theepochtimes.com - 6/24/13, Associated Press

The sun sets through wildfire smoke Sunday, June 23, 2013, near Monte Vista, Colo. A large wildfire near a popular summer retreat in southern Colorado continues to be driven by winds and fueled by dead trees in a drought-stricken area, authorities said. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

The sun sets through wildfire smoke Sunday, June 23, 2013, near Monte Vista, Colo. A large wildfire near a popular summer retreat in southern Colorado continues to be driven by winds and fueled by dead trees in a drought-stricken area, authorities said. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

DEL NORTE, Colorado — Tourists and business owners forced to flee a popular summer retreat in the southwestern Colorado mountains resigned themselves to a long wait as fire officials declined to speculate when they might be able to reign in an unprecedented and erratic blaze raging through the Rio Grande National Forest.

The fire more than doubled in size over the weekend, growing to an estimated 114 miles by Sunday night, authorities said.

Calgary Flood May be Canada's Most Expensive Flood in History

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Wunderground - Jeff Masters - June 24, 2013

Figure 1. A historic flood quenches the Flames: The inside of the Calgary Saddledome, in Calgary, Alberta, home to the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames. The Saddledome was flooded up to the 10th row, leaving the dressing rooms submerged on Saturday, June 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Calgary Flames)

The massive floods that devastated Calgary, Canada late last week have raced downstream, and are now bringing the highest flood waters ever recorded to Medicine Hat, Alberta's 5th largest city (population 67,000.) The flood peaked early Monday morning in Medicine Hat, which had evacuated 10,000 residents in anticipation of the flood. The homes of nearly all of the residents evacuated have received flood damage, according to CBC News.

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NY Plans to Begin Composting Program to Benefit Environment

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Guardian.co.uk -6/29/13, Sadhbh Walshe

Waste for compost in a green bin

New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced plans to introduce composting into the city's garbage mix with the goal of making it mandatory in a couple of years. The scheme has barely gotten off the ground and already some New Yorkers are fretting about the prospect of a future where they will be required to throw a banana peel in one bin and the non biodegradable sticker that was once attached to it in another.

Terrifying as such a prospect may be to composting virgins, however, one can only hope that such resistance will be overcome, as the benefits of diverting food waste from landfills far outweigh any (perceived) inconvenience.

For more information on this story please see Guardian.co.uk

India Floods 2013: Rescue Efforts Hampered By Bad Weather

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The Huffington Post - Rafiq Maqbool - 23 June 2013

GAUCHAR, India — Bad weather hampered efforts Sunday to evacuate thousands of people stranded in the northern India state of Uttarakhand, where at least 1,000 people have died in monsoon flooding and landslides, army officials said.

The army resumed helicopter flights to rescue stranded people late Sunday after rain stopped and dense fog lifted in the Himalayan region, Brig. Uma Maheshwar said.

Thousands of people were still stranded in high mountain passes in the temple town of Badrinath and rescue efforts were concentrated on getting them to safety.

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