February 6, 2016 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - California Attorney General Kamala Harris has filed a lawsuit against
the gas company responsible for the methane gas leak near Los Angeles,
calling it a “monumental environmental disaster.” Over 30 suits and
probes related to the disaster are pending.
On Tuesday, Harris joined both Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer
and Los Angeles County in a revised civil complaint filed against
Southern California Gas Company (SoCal Gas), a subsidiary of the San
Diego-based Sempra Energy. The California Air Resources Board,
represented by Harris, also joined the lawsuit.
A methane leak from an underground gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon was first detected on October 23 last year, but no official cause has been given for the event that has forced 6,600 homes in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles to be evacuated.
“This gas leak has caused significant damage to the Porter Ranch community as well as our statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the impacts of climate change. My office will continue to lead this cross-jurisdictional enforcement action to ensure justice and relief for Californians and our environment,” Harris said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Monday, SoCal Gas released an “incident update,” citing its own success in drilling past 200 feet of caprock above the storage zone. The next step is more drilling, but will be within the storage reservoir, requiring care and accuracy to intercept the targeted well at “the appropriate angle and depth,” the statement read. The goal is to stop the leak by the end of February.
WATCH: California methane leak now said to be affecting pets.
The updated lawsuit contends that by causing the release of some 80,000 metric tons of methane so far, SoCal Gas broke health and safety codes, public nuisance laws, and violated hazardous materials reporting requirements. Furthermore, it alleges the company’s business practices were unethical. Civil penalties, injunctions, and restitution are all sought to hold the company accountable.
So far, there are 11 governmental lawsuits or investigations on the local, state and federal level, and 20 private lawsuits waged by affected residents against SoCal Gas.
California Governor Jerry Brown recognized the situation as a state of emergency on January 6. - RT.
A Porter Ranch resident wears a gas mask during a protest
Saturday outside a meeting of the Air Quality Management Board over the
Aliso Canyon gas leak. The leak
started in October and has forced
thousands of residents to flee from the Los Angeles suburb of Porter
Ranch. Regulators have ordered the
gas company to shut down the leaking
well; some residents want the entire facility shuttered.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
January 29, 2016 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - “This the largest natural gas leak in history. We were up there yesterday… what we heard was aloud sound of natural gas escaping that you could hear quite loudly from over half a mile away.” - Rep. Brad Sherman, U.S. House of Representatives.
WATCH: Utilities and Commerce Committee Hearing in Granada Hills over Aliso Canyon Gas Leak.
“Now it’s kind of simple — if you have a well blow-out, you quit
injecting [more gas] underground… No order had been issued [to stop
this] though… We sent a letter [to the Division of Oil, Gas &
Geothermal Resources (DOGGR)] saying, “Stop all of the injections, until
you can stop the leak”… So we sent a letter on Dec. 1 asking them to
stop all injections… Nine days later, they said, “Stop injecting gas”…
You’d think that at least temporarily settled it — because if [SoCalGas]
didn’t like that, SoCalGas could have temporarily appealed… I have no
record of appeal… AQMD [Air Quality Management District] inspected the
facility on Nov. 10… and they found all these wells that weren’t accessible — 16 approximately… We don’t know yet why they were inaccessible. We also learned that 15 wells were leaking. We also don’t know why that happened. I spoke at the AQMD hearing this last week and said, “I’m concerned that the fact that now you guys are looking at these injection wells — you don’t know what that means.” You see,DOGGR knows what that means— and that’s a sign that SoCalGas lost control entirely of the entire field and it’s leaking everywhere…
So we were like, “We want proof. Now if it’s just coincidental, and you
show us why that’s not what’s happening, that’s fine, but provide the
evidence”… Families have a right to know what’s going on in that oil
field.” - Patricia Oliver, attorney (at 11:30 in), Porter Ranch Town Hall Meeting.
WATCH: Porter Ranch Town Hall Meeting - January 22, 2016.
Residents attack slow response to what official called ‘a mini-Chernobyl’… “This is a mini-Chernobyl,”
Mike Antonovich, the LA county supervisor, told a public hearing at the
weekend… [It] is the largest leak of… methane known to experts. - The Guardian.
A new report shows the level of toxins released… has been seriously underestimated,
state regulators said… The findings were released in response to
[SoCalGas' admission that they] underestimated the number of times the
cancer-causing chemical benzene has spiked. - CBS/AP.
Officials Waited Months To Monitor California’s Massive Gas Leak — A massive natural gas leak… had been out of control
for more than a month when the county’s acting health director said in
November that long-term impacts of the cancer-causing chemical benzene
should be measured. It took many more weeks to implement the testing…
“We can always look back and say, ‘Why didn’t we start with an expanded
monitoring program?’” said Angelo Bellomo, deputy county director for
health protection… Rob Jackson, an environmental scientist at Stanford
University, said… it had undermined the ability to measure health
impacts. - AP.
Porter Ranch residents report unexplained ailments, behaviors in pets… [A family] lost all 20 of their brightly colored Koi fish after they started dying… [Others] have noticed fewer bird and wildlife sightings. - City News Service.
[The Katz's], parents of five… are living a nightmare…
Her pride and joy was her garden and a koi pond. She cries when she
recounts how all 20 fish died…“The birds, the butterflies, all of this is gone. It’s quiet now.” - Al Jazeera.
“We used to see coyotes and animals” [Jennifer Marotta] said. “It makes me wonder how bad it really is.” - L.A. Daily News.
[Residents] have noticed fewerbird and wildlife sightings… [Attorney Rex Parris wrote to officials] that pets are ill or disappearing and wildlife, such as birds and rabbits, seem to be disappearing as well
from the community… [Sally Taylor’s dog] quickly became lethargic and
threw up some 20 times within an hour… “[The vet hospital] said it was
the worst blood work the vet has ever seen”… For the Balen family, it’s the sound of birds they’ve missed the most. In late December, they said the absence made their home… “completely quiet… for 10 years… every morning, we wake up to the birds chirping. Not anymore.” - L.A. Daily News.
KABC,
Jan 19, 2016: [The gas leak is] affecting many pets… “We’re seeing
probably several hundred total and it’s been going on for around three
months now,” [Dr. David Smith at Northridge Animal Hospital] said. Smith
said it started shortly after [they] first reported the leak… Smith
said he has serious concerns about the health risks for the animals. - .
Government officials have come up with their own interesting explanations for the disappearance of wildlife:
Wild animals may have left the area because of the noisecoming from crews attempting to fix the well, [Department of Fish and Wildlife] spokeswoman Mary Fricke said. - L.A. Times.
January 25, 2016 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - The following excerpts are taken from the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak Town Hall, which was published on January 11, 2016.
Several quotations have been highlighted for emphasis.
• Bob Bowcock, environmental scientist (at 18:00 in):
“We’re starting to hear about the largest natural gas well leak in
the U.S… The State of California and Southern California Gas Company say
it’s leaking somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 kilograms [99,000 and
110,000 pounds] per hour… We’ve done actual field measurements [and] it
can be as much as three times greater than what’s being reported.”
• Erin Brockovich (at 31:05 in): “Every person I’ve talked to — thousands of people — are sufferingrashes, dizziness, shakiness, they feel like they’re in a fog,
nosebleeds, massive headaches… Reports of animals losing their hair,
animals vomiting, animals with diarrhea — people actually relocate to
hotels to find their animals have passed… You are actually the guinea pig in this situation… As we’re now learning that themagnitude of this is way beyond what any of us have ever been told, and reaches beyondwhere we have come in and know that there’s been dangers. We need to learn that that’s been happening.
• Camille Sears, meteorologist (at 41:45 in):
“SoCalGas has said that things aren’t so bad because the leak is 1,200
feet above the elevation of the community, and that gas is lighter than
air. Well, that’s not really the whole story… That gas is going downhill… [Infrared videos] show the plume just running down the hill like water… [which then] goes right into the communities. It’s very little dilution… At night, from midnight to 6:00 in the morning, 90% of the time the winds are coming from that direction [from the gas leak to the communities].
I doubled checked this, because it seems like a phenomenal amount of
time that the winds are blowing from the gas leak to the community… It’s
a very unfortunate situation that the leak is located where it is…
The releases are probably two to three times greater than what the California Air Research Board has been reporting… It’s becoming quite clear that the State is underestimating the amount of gas that’s leaking. I’ve been doing this kind of analysis for 35 years. I’ve done thousands of them since I started doing this in 1980. I’ve never seen a release of this magnitude before… I feel really bad… to report this.It’s not only a worst case emission, it’s the great magnitude of emissions coming out, but it’s also sort of a worst case meteorological scenario
that these releases happened to blow from the gas leak down in to the
community at night 90 percent of the time. As we’ve seen, those gas emissions tend to flow downhill like water and go right into the communities.”
• Robin Greenberg, attorney (at 1:01:00 in): “Pets are really being affected… Time and again someone sends me photographs of their pet and have these horrible sores.”
• Bowcock (at 1:43:45 in): “This isa very dangerous condition, and it’s something that you all should be very, very concernedwith… That’s a pretty substantial area and everyone in that are needs to be concerned about it… Veterinarians are very concerned about it… because the vets are actually seeing a lot of really, really sick animals… It is impacting the animals much, much more — believe me.”
Damaging winds and heavy rainfall lead to flash flooding over Toowoomba, Ipswich, Boonah, Beenleigh, Allora and Clifton.
Severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Laidley,
Gatton, Mulgowie, Grandchester and the area northwest of Cunninghams
Gap. - Strange Sounds.
January 15, 2016 - ATLANTIC OCEAN - January was already shaping up to be a weird month, what with a hurricane out in the Pacific, but it just got weirder:Say hello to Hurricane Alex, a rare January storm in the Atlantic and the first storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season.
A season that doesn't officially begin until June 1.
Alex is the first such storm to form in January since 1978 and
only the fourth January storm formation on record going back to 1851.
The climatological average first date for the first named storm in a
season is July 9.
While it's decidedly not hurricane season,
the official June 1-Nov. 30 dates of that season are artificial ones,
chosen because they encompass the bulk of tropical cyclone activity. But
when conditions are right, storms can, and do, form outside of those
bounds.
Alex formed from a system that first developed in the warm waters off
the east coast of Florida last week and has tracked eastward across the
ocean, gradually becoming stronger and more organized.
On Wednesday, it was finally pulled-together enough that the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami officially designated it a subtropical storm.
This is a hybrid type of storm that has some of the attributes of a
tropical cyclone, which have a warm core and derive their energy from
convective clouds, and the type of frontal system, or extratropical
cyclone, we typically see sweep across the country.
Alex was likely able to form because the prevailing winds in the area
were fairly favorable, said hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach of
Colorado State University.
Forecasters don't expect Alex to strengthen over the coming days as it
moves northward over increasingly colder waters. It is expected to be
fully extratropical by the time it reaches the Azores, though its winds
will still pack a punch and it could drop heavy rains that could lead to
flooding.
Such an early storm doesn't tell forecasters anything about any further
pre-season storm activity or how the season itself may turn out.
"These types of oddball systems happen from time to time," Klotzbach
said in an email, adding that there were likely January storms that were
missed prior to the satellite era, and possible even since their
advent.
Meanwhile, over in the Pacific, Pali is still a hurricane and has come
within just a few degrees of the equator, an exceedingly rare feat for a
tropical cyclone. Only two other storms have been stronger closer to
the equator, according to Klotzbach.
Pali is expected to weaken back to a tropical storm over the next few days and doesn't pose any threats to land.
But while both storms are still going, the NHC and the Central Pacific
Hurricane Center in Hawaii are both issuing advisories on storms in
January for the first time in their history. Like we said, a weird
month. - Discovery News.
January 14, 2016 - PACIFIC OCEAN - The earliest forming Central Pacific hurricane this year could be the first to cross the equator this season
If you were looking for a location that defined the term 'the middle of nowhere', Johnston Atoll would have a strong claim.
This uninhabited island lies 1,390 kilometres southwest of the Hawaiian
Islands, themselves lying in a remote part of the Pacific.
Johnston Atoll is mentioned here because it is the closest island to
what has already become a noteworthy cyclone, Hurricane Pali.
Pali is currently a Category 2 storm (on the five-point Saffir-Simpson
scale), with sustained winds of 157 kilometres an hour and gusts of
195km/h.
It is unlikely to affect any inhabited islands in this part of the Pacific, and can truly be described as a 'fish storm'.
Nevertheless, Pali has already gone down in history: On Monday, it became the earliest-forming hurricane in either the Central or Northeastern Pacific - the area between the International Dateline and the Americas.
This is 19 days earlier than the previous record holder, Ekeka in 1992.
These two cyclones are the only ones to have formed in this region
before May.
This may well be due to the ongoing El Nino weather pattern, one of the strongest on record.
Another notable feature about Pali is that it has formed
unusually close to the equator, currently lying just five degrees to the
north. It is even possible that it could cross the equator, the first
time such an event would have been observed in this region.
#Pali (now south of 6N) is the most equatorward a hurricane has existed on record in the Western Hemisphere. pic.twitter.com/aqyKPKgekw
Certainly, Pali will drift closer to the equator in the coming days, driven there by an area of high pressure to the north.
Pali's track remains highly unpredictable, as there is little precedent for such an early cyclone at such low latitudes.
The current prediction from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre is for
Pali to maintain its strength for several days, as it continues to draw
energy from the warm waters of that part of the Pacific (28 to 29C). - Al Jazeera.
January 10, 2016 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - Utility is installing screens to contain oily mist at leaking well near Porter Ranch…
The structures under construction on the west side of the well head are
designed to capture airborne droplets of a brine solution that “may
have contained trace amounts of oil naturally occurring within the leaking well’s reservoir,” said Trisha Muse, a spokeswoman for SoCal Gas… Now, a mixture of brine water and oil is rising up into the gas company’s natural gas storage zone, then traveling up the well and into the air. As a result, local residents are finding droplets of dark brown residue on their homes, vehicles, fish ponds and gardens… [The company] acknowledged that some residents had asked about “dark brown spots on their property.” “We sampled it and, according to our retained toxicologist and medical expert,” the company said, “the residue contained heavier hydrocarbons (similar to motor oil) but does not pose a health risk.”… On Monday, plaintiffs’ attorneys sent a letter to state regulatory officials [and] demanded that state regulators “explain what is happening with the petroleum now surfacing.”… “There is a complete lack of information in the well files,” their letter says, “to show where the gas and petroleum migrates underground and the risk for creating sink holes and geysers.” - Los Angeles Times.
[A]n oily mist… has been surfacing… The seepage is the result of changing dynamics deep underground… “They (the demister pads) are necessary because as the reservoir pressure declines, fluids (oil and water) encroach into the reservoir and are then carried to surface with the gas. - Los Angeles Daily News.
Residents… point out cars, outdoor furniture and houses which have been marked with brown, oily spots… Tim O’Connor, a lawyer with the Environmental Defense Fund, has called it “an environmental and public health catastrophe,” said . “In terms of timelines this is going to surpass the gulf oil problem by a mile.” - BBC.
Gov. Jerry Brown, faced with mounting public anger and no end in sight to the leak, declared a state of emergency… Mitchell Englander, the Los Angeles city councilman who represents Porter Ranch [said] “This is one of the most disruptive, catastrophic environmental events that I’ve seen. It’s a truly chaotic crisis.”… Many who have stayed have taken to wearing surgical masks when they garden to keep out the rotten-egg smell and the oily mist that sometimes leaves brown residue on their cars… Dennis Arriola, the president of Southern California Gas Company [said] that experts had “never seen anything like this.” - New York Times.
SoCalGas and public officials have turned [Porter Ranch's Matt Pakucko] and his fellow residents into “guinea pigs.”… [Sally Benson, who runs an energy storage lab at Stanford University] shares a worry of many in Porter Ranch as they deal with the mundanities of the leak: that the gas plume will somehow become ignited, leading to [an] explosion… “They’re really fortunate that this one hasn’t caught fire,” Benson says… [The FAA] has imposed a no-fly zone above Porter Ranch “out of concerns that fumes from the gas leak could be ignited from the air.” Schwecke, the SoCalGas vice president, says workers near the relief well are taking every precaution, not using their cellphones and working with brass hammers, which don’t spark… [David Balen, a local businessman on the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council] showed me photographs of a white dust that had collected on concrete surfaces around his property; an expert was coming to test the substance, which Balen thought was something toxic. - Newsweek.
The governor of California has declared a state of emergency in a suburb of Los Angeles over the leaking of methane gas… the company is installing large mesh screens around the leak site to try and hinder the oily mist from spraying down on the community. - BBC.
The sulfurous scent of a natural-gas leak hangs in the air as mail carriers wearing gas masks make rounds… “This is the biggest community and environmental disaster I’ve ever seen, bar none,” said Mitchell Englander, who has represented Porter Ranch on the Los Angeles City Council since 2011. “Life there is not on hold — it’s on the edge and it’s on the brink of pandemonium.” - Bloomberg.
Their animals are dying… their fish are dying in their
fish bowls, their dogs are dying, their cats are getting sick. And their
children are getting sick — they’re suffering nose bleeds, they’re
suffering terrible debilitating migraine headaches, asthma attacks,
respiratory infections, eye infections, ear infections, stomach
ailments… The health impact — it’s not just methane coming out of that hole… This is global crisis, more importantly this is a local crisis. Because not only do you have methane — you have benzene, toluene, xylene, which are carcinogenic. You have hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide — which are neurotoxic, which can injure your brain, affect memory, injure your kidneys, your liver, your other bodily organs. There’s also a lot of radon gas being measured in the area. People believe — we don’t know if this is true — the gas that is leaking at 2 miles deep is now coming out and pushing that radon up into people’s living rooms, their bedrooms, their nurseries. - Robert F. Kennedy Jr..
The leak has caused a continuous flow of gases and fluids.
Methane alone is leaking 100,000 pounds per hour, according to Los
Angeles city attorney Mike Feuer. Along with that greenhouse gas is
methyl mercaptans (odorants added to gas to aid in leak detection) and
aromatic hydrocarbons. More concernedly, health officials have identified benzene and radon, both known carcinogens. - Lawyers and Settlements.
Dr. Cyrus Rangan, the Director of Toxicology and
Assessment for the county, came to CBS2/KCAL9 to answer questions…. It’s been reported that radon is being released… “This is a theoretical possibility,” Dr. Rangan said, “and when you’re addressing a problem that might be several hundred or even several thousand feet deep, you might generate what are called preferential pathways for something like radon, beneath the Earth’s surface, to make its way up to the surface. So primarily our concern about radon is from the worker’s exposure, for the people actually doing the repair job. If we find radon there, we can address the situation. And if radon does exist in the work site then we may need to have to look at the residential community and monitor for it.” - CBS LA.
There is the issue of radon, a naturally occurring byproduct of uranium… as SoCalGas and its partners bore into the ground in an attempt to stem a leak that is unleashing a constant cloud of gas into the atmosphere, radon has crept into the conversation. - Lawyers and Settlements.
Public officials and the gas industry have a tricky and deceptive way of saying things. Methane itself is not dangerous… methane is an indicator that other gases are involved, including radon and benzene, both carcinogenic and very dangerous… gas can escape through any perforation in the earth and on the way up to the surface, it can encounter the aquifers underground, where it will leave behind chemicals, including benzene and radon. - Robert Kennedy Jr.
WATCH: Staggering methane leak in California.
[B]enzene and radon [are] the carcinogens that are commonly found in natural gas. - Erin Brockovich.
[R]adon gas, which may potentially be released during repair operations, is also a concern [L.A. County Department of Public Health Interim Director Cynthia Harding] said. - Los Angeles Daily News.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said a new report by county public health officials had concluded that since the gas leak has continued for so long, emissions levels could produce “significant long-term health effects, including cancer.” Antonovich said the report had identified benzene as the “chemical of greatest concern,” because it is known to cause cancer. It also cited concerns about radon, another known carcinogen. - Los Angeles Times.
Public Health Director Cynthia Harding told members of the Board of Supervisors in a Dec. 1 letter [that radon] could also be released as the leak is repaired. - KPCC.
Health officials are also concerned that the company’s attempt to fix the leak by drilling into the ground to construct a relief well could release radon, a radioactive, naturally occurring and odorless gas that is found in geologic formations and causes lung cancer. - Los Angeles Times.
Laura Gideon and her family endured the sickening stench from an out-of-control natural gas leak for about a month before they could no longer tolerate the nausea, headaches and nosebleeds.
After she went to the emergency room in November vomiting and with a severe migraine, Gideon, her husband and their two children abandoned the only home they'd ever known together in the upscale Los Angeles suburb of Porter Ranch.
They moved in with her parents about 10 miles away to await a fix that could still be months away.
"We're in mourning now," she said. "We didn't ever want to leave. We were in a nice gated community. We were safe, you know, supposedly good schools. This wasn't our plan."
Thousands of her neighbors have voluntarily followed suit in an exodus from an invisible threat that wafts occasionally and doesn't sicken everyone in its path, though it continues to spew enormous amounts of climate-changing methane.
The leak has cost the utility $50 million so far and is expected to balloon as the company tries a tricky fix to plug a well deep underground, while also shelling out compensation for exasperated residents and fighting dozens of lawsuits.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an emergency last week for the prolonged blowout that requires the utility to cover the costs and instructs state regulators to protect ratepayers.
The well is one of 115 in the Santa Susana Mountains where Southern California Gas Co., a division of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, stores natural gas in a vacant oil field about a mile and a half underground. It is the largest natural gas storage facility west of the Mississippi River and can provide energy to all of Southern California for a month.
It has been gushing the equivalent of about a quarter of the state's daily output of methane, along with other gases, since it was reported Oct. 23. It is also blamed for depositing tiny oil droplets on cars and houses that are about a mile away.
The hillside Porter Ranch community of about 30,000 people in mostly single-family homes has grown considerably in the three decades since scenes in the movie "E.T. the Extraterrestrial" were filmed here.
Public health officials said most of the gas is dissipating and not causing long-term problems, though many residents have left because they doubt the air is safe. Foul-smelling additives that make highly flammable gas detectable have been blamed for maladies including irritated throats, coughs and respiratory problems.
"It's like being in a disaster area, but it's not a disaster you can see," said Sue Hammarlund, who has seen her share of national disasters as a Red Cross volunteer and has suffered from headaches and nosebleeds recently. "I think this is more debilitating mentally."
Two local schools nearest the leak closed in December and nearly 1,900 students will start the year at different schools Tuesday.
On Saturday, hundreds of residents crowded into a high school gym to urge air quality regulators who are reviewing a proposal to control the leak to take more aggressive action and shut down the gas storage facility.
While more than 4,500 families have either left or are on the move, many have stayed behind - either because they're not bothered by the smell, aren't worried or don't want to hassle with moving.
Bob Casselman has lived near the entrance to the gas facility 43 years. His wife, Pat, has only noticed the smell a few times and had very few symptoms. The retirees are concerned about the impact on property values, but they're not moving.
"I can't understand all these people," Bob Casselman said. "Everybody wants a freebie ... Unless something's really bad, we don't complain."
The company has apologized for failing to disclose the leak after residents began complaining about the smell and for reacting slowly to their concerns.
The incident is unprecedented for a utility and it is "forging new ground," said Gillian Wright, a SoCalGas vice president.
Under orders from the county health department to relocate people who want to leave, SoCalGas has offered to pay up to $250 a night for hotels, plus $45 per person per day for food, or up to up to $7,500 a month for rental homes. The leak is expected to be stopped in March, but the company has agreed to house people through April.
Some residents have complained about not getting help calls returned and not finding relocation services helpful.
Cheri Derohanian said representatives she spoke with in Chicago and Colorado were useless because they didn't know the lay of the land. One found her a downtown Los Angeles condo that was 30 miles away and better suited for urban hipsters than her family of four.
"We're not a bunch of hicks. We're like Porter Ranch, it's like, you know, the Beverly Hills of the valley," Derohanian said. "We're like BMW people and you're giving us Pinto service."
Many have set out on their own only to lose bidding wars to neighbors or encounter sky-high rents when landlords realize they're gas leak refugees.
Megan Zahedi said she hasn't been helped by the gas company and when she sought housing she found rents doubled to $9,000 a month and houses were snapped up immediately.
"We're not looking for a vacation provided by the gas company," said the single mother, who fears paying a mortgage and additional rent. She feels like a bad parent as her two children suffer from rashes, nausea and headaches, and have been abandoned by their friends.
Down the street in the 1,100-home Porter Ranch Estates, Gideon entered a dark and cold home to pick up a few things Wednesday. She moved here with her college sweetheart 17 years ago. It's where her children took their first steps. The heights of the two are penciled on a wall in the garage.
Everything in the two-story stucco-and-brick house was as they left it seven weeks ago. Portraits and family vacation photos lined walls and shelves. Her husband's UCLA football jersey was framed on the family room wall. Toys and dolls were scattered on her daughter's bedroom floor.
A neighbor who is among those who fear a crime spike in vacant houses called to make sure it was Gideon in the house.
The stench was gone that day. Her 11-year-old daughter, Faith, didn't get a headache and said it felt good to be home - even briefly. Gideon isn't sure what the future holds, but she doesn't plan to return permanently.
"The American dream turned into a bit of disaster for us," she said. "We're not coming back. In my opinion, it would be negligent." - AP.
Areas of above-average sea temperatures dominating the Pacific
Ocean have been dubbed “the Blob,” “Son of Blob,” and “Godzilla.”
(Modified image: ClimateReanalyzer.org)
January 9, 2016 - PACIFIC OCEAN - By now, everyone has probably heard about El Niño and the effects of this weather pattern across the Western Hemisphere. Some are predicting this El Niño to be the biggest ever, naming it the “Godzilla El Niño.” But step aside, Godzilla: Another monster weather anomaly has been wreaking havoc with the West Coast. Beware of “the Blob.”
First identified (and nicknamed) in 2014 by Nick Bond, a climatologist at the University of Washington, the Blob is a huge mass of warmed ocean waters (about 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal) lurking in the Pacific Ocean just off the western coast of North America, now stretching its reach from Mexico up to Alaska. The 60-foot-deep blob of water is causing great problems with weather and wildlife and continues to require health advisories for visitors and locals alike.
And as the El Niño weather system has been storming across the Pacific this season, it has stirred up ocean waters enough to cool down the original Blob off Alaska but at the same time helped give birth to what has been nicknamed the “Son of Blob” off the coast of Southern California. The still-warmer Alaskan waters and Son of Blob sector are expected to continue to magnify the El Niño effect for months to come, according to Weather Underground’s “Blob Watch” blog.
This satellite image from October 2015 shows weather patterns affecting climate change. (Photo: NOAA)
For travelers, these unexplained blobs can affect what you see (for whale watching and other nature viewing), your fishing (people fishing have caught odd species in odd spots), and what you can eat (a resulting toxic algae bloom has prompted warnings in certain areas against eating shellfish and other species).
And whatever the cause, from global warming to the “Pacific Decadal Oscillation” or a “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge,” the fact is, the waters are warmer. The first effect has been warming temperatures in the Pacific Northwest. NOAA satellite imagery shows the dramatic combination of the two systems. One researcher in Alberta, Canada, has gone so far as to say “this may be the year that winter is canceled.” So if you’re planning to go skiing or ice fishing in western Canada this winter, bring some hiking and biking gear as well.Visitors to the Northern California shores in 2014 were shocked to see masses of beached starving, dying sea lions, thought to be a result of lack of fish in the waters (their normal meals migrated to cooler waters). Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center reported having to rescue more than 1,100 of the sea lions that season. Then in 2015, dozens of disoriented seal and sea lions began wandering inland, including poor Rubbish the sea lion pup, who had to be rescued from the streets of San Francisco and brought to the center for treatment. Considered the result of a neurotoxin from red algae growing in the warm waters, this algal bloom is now killing off seals. The Marine Mammal Center is treating some seals with a healthy fish diet and liquids, but the troubles continue. Travelers to Northern California beaches should be aware of potentially sick or strangely acting sea lions and contact the MMC if they find one.
This image from NOAA shows sea surface temperature anomalies from
November 1997 and July 2015; the 2015 image also shows the Blob, a large
pool of warm water along the northwestern coast of the U.S. (Photo:
NOAA)
Most alarmingly for travelers and locals alike is the danger the Blob-influenced algae blooms have on human-consumed seafood. In the fall, the California Department of Health lifted a ban on harvesting mussels but maintained a warning against eating anchovy, sardines, and crabs from Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara counties because of high levels of the potentially fatal domoic acids. So if you’re traveling to the area, make sure to check where your seafood has come from — and don’t go grabbing any of these yourself. Seafood bans have also had an impact on certain parts of Oregon and Washington as well with at least one commercial fishery closed for the season. A 2009 study by NOAA shows that the influence of an extended “red tide” season like that of the Blob could result in a more than $22 million loss in tourist revenues to the Washington coast, where razor-clam digging is a popular tourist activity. The whale-watching season is also being affected by the Blob. Certain species of whales, like humpbacks, which have a diet similar to sea lions, may also be suffering the effects of the poison algae. Record whale beachings and die-offs have been seen from Chile up to Alaska, and while the root cause is unknown, the Blob is a prime suspect. The numbers of observed dead whales don’t appear to be large enough to affect the species, and as naturalist Jackie Hildering told Yahoo Travel, “there is not likely [yet] to be an impact” on numbers seen in whale watching, but the warm waters are shifting migration patterns and could result in “exotic species coming into areas where previously they were not.”
But still, beware of the Blob: On a recent whale-watching expedition of my own to British Columbia, my ship was delayed due to extreme weather in part caused by the unnaturally warm waters, the captain citing the Blob as a factor. And the rogue wave that has been blamed for the tragic sinking of another whale-watching boat may also have been a result of the strange happenings of the Blob — travelers should keep tuned in to National Weather Service alerts and be prepared for a very unusual winter indeed. - Yahoo.
January 7, 2016 - EARTH - As the effects of the most severe El Nino in almost 20 years
still reverberate around the world, preparations are already under way
for La Nina.
Indonesia is set to distribute water pumps to farmers and assessing its rice stockpiles in anticipation of the weather event materialising in October, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman told reporters in Jakarta today (Jan 6).
La Nina, sometimes thought of as El Nino’s opposite, typically brings more rainfall to the region, threatening crops with flooding and delaying harvests.
Australia says El Nino has peaked and there’s a chance of its counterpart occurring in the second half of the year.
El Nino has hampered cocoa crops in Ivory Coast, curbed the monsoon in India and forced the Philippines to import more rice.
Indonesia deployed planes last year for artificial rain to help alleviate drought conditions that restricted palm oil output and exacerbated forest fires that engulfed the region in haze.
Based on the 26 El Nino events since 1900, about 50 per cent have been followed by a neutral year with 40 per cent by La Nina, Australia’s weather bureau said yesterday.
PALM OIL
“We’ll anticipate early, like we did on drought,” Mr Sulaiman said.
Palm oil output may stagnate or fall about 3 per cent this year, according to Mr Bayu Krisnamurthi, the head of the government-appointed Indonesia Estate Crop Fund for Palmoil.
El Nino is a warming in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, while La Nina is a cooling of the waters. Each can impact agricultural markets as farmers contend with too much or too little rain.
A large part of the agricultural US tends to dry out during La Nina events, while parts of Australia can be wetter than normal.
The previous La Nina began in 2010 and endured into 2012.
Conditions typically last between 9 months and 12 months, while some episodes may persist for as long as two years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Both La Nina and El Nino tend to peak during the Northern Hemisphere winter. - Today Online.
January 5, 2016 - CAMBODIA - Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, said 107
Cambodians, mostly rural dwellers, had been killed by lightning strikes
in 2015, up 42.6 percent from the 75 deaths in 2014.
Keo Vy, Spokesman for the Management, said on Tuesday in Phnom Penh that besides the fatalities,thunderbolts had injured 77 others last year, up 35 per cent from the 57 injuries in a year earlier.
He said the casualties rose because torrential rains with thunder, lightning and strong wind had happened more often last year.
Vy said lightning strikes occur every year in Cambodia, particularly in rainy season from May through October.
He advised that to avoid the dangers from lightning strikes, people
should stay in homes or shelters when there are strong rains. - Leadership.
January 2, 2016 - EARTH - Category Five: the phase evokes an almost reverential awe in novice and
seasoned hurricane watchers alike, as one considers the incredible power
and majesty of these most perfect but terrifyingly destructive storms
on the planet. As we look back on the year in weather, a striking
feature of 2015 is the bumper crop of these fearsome storms that
appeared--thanks to El Niño bringing record-warm ocean temperatures to
large swaths of the Pacific Ocean.
Nine Category 5 storms whipped into life over the world's oceans in
2015: five in the Northwest Pacific, one in the Northeast Pacific, one
in the Southeast Pacific, and two in the South Indian Ocean. Since
accurate global satellite records began in 1990, only one year has seen
more. That record is held by the El Niño year of 1997, which had twelve
Category 5 storms--ten of them in the Northwest Pacific.
Cat Five #9, Northeast Pacific Hurricane Patricia
as seen by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft at 1:30 pm
EDT October 23, 2015. At the time, Patricia was the most intense
hurricane ever observed in the Western Hemisphere, with 200 mph
sustained surface winds and a central pressure of 879 mb. Patricia made
landfall in an relatively unpopulated area near Cuixmala in Southwest
Mexico on October 23 as a Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds, killing
fourteen and doing $300 million in damage.
Cat Five #8, Northwest Pacific Super Typhoon Atsani
as seen by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft at 05:30 UTC
August 19, 2015. Six hours later, Atsani hit peak strength with 160 mph
winds and a 925 mb central pressure. Atsani spent its life over the open
ocean waters to the east and southeast of Japan, and did not affect any
land areas.
Super Typhoon Soudelor
Cat Five #7, Northwest Pacific Super Typhoon Soudelor
as seen by the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi spacecraft at 03:43 UTC
August 4, 2015. At the time, Soudelor was a peak-strength Category 5
storm with 180 mph winds and a 900 mb central pressure. Soudelor passed
directly over Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands on August 2 as a
Category 2 storm, causing widespread damage and injuring ten people on
the island. Soudelor hit Japan's Ryukyu Islands on August 5, causing
over $3 million in damage, then hit Taiwan as a Category 3 storm with
120 mph winds on August 7, knocking out power to 4.85 million
households--the largest power outage in Taiwan's history. On August 8,
Soudelor hit Fujian Province in China as a Category 1 storm with 85 mph
winds, causing over $3 billion in damage. Soudelor killed a total of 41
people and did $3.2 billion in damage along its entire path.
Cat Five #6, Northwest Pacific Super Typhoon Dolphin
as seen by at 01:05 UTC May 16, 2015 by MODIS. At the time, Dolphin was
an intensifying Category 4 storm and would reach peak intensity as a
Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds 17 hours later. Dolphin affected
Guam and Rota in the U.S. Mariana Islands as a Category 2 storm with
sustained winds of 110 mph. The eye of Dolphin passed through the
channel between the islands of Guam and Rota, and Andersen Air Force Base on Guam experienced sustained winds as high as 84 mph and a peak gust
of 106 mph. Damage in the Mariana Islands from the typhoon was estimated
at $10 million.
Cat Five #5, Northwest Pacific Super Typhoon Noul
as seen by the new Japanese Himawari-8 satellite at 00:50 UTC May 10,
2015. At the time, Noul was a peak-strength Category 5 storm with 160
mph winds and a 915 mb central pressure. Noul hit northeast Luzon in the
Philippines at 09 UTC May 10 as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds,
killing two and causing less than $1 million in damage. Noul was the
fourth strongest typhoon on record for so early in the year. The only
stronger ones were Super Typhoon Amy of 1971, which deepened to 890 mb on May 2, Super Typhoon Iris
of 1951, which hit 909 mb on May 3, and Super Typhoon Maysak that
occurred just over a month previously (March 31, 2015, 905 mb central
pressure.) The University of Wisconsin CIMSS, put together a remarkable hi-res satellite animation of the storm from the Himawari-8 satellite (which is still in check-out mode.)
Cat Five #4, Northwest Pacific Super Typhoon Maysak
as seen from the International Space Station at approximately 6 pm EDT
Tuesday March 31, 2015 (just after dawn local time.) At the time, Mayask
was at peak intensity, with sustained winds of 160 mph (as estimated by
the Joint Typhoon Warning Center) and a central pressure of 905 mb (as
estimated by the Japan Meteorological Agency.) Maysak was the strongest
typhoon ever observed in the Northwest Pacific prior to April,
and one of only three Category 5 typhoons ever observed in the
Northwest Pacific so early in the year. Maysak killed 9 and did $8.5
million in damage to several small islands in the Federated States of
Micronesia, which it struck at Category 5 strength on March 31. The nine
people killed by the storm made it Micronesia's second deadliest storm
in recorded history, according to EM-DAT. Their deadliest disaster was Category 4 Typhoon Chataan,
which dumped 19.90" (506 mm) of rain in 24 hours on Chuuk, causing
landslides that killed 47 people. Maysak is the 2nd most expensive
disaster in Micronesia's history; the most expensive was Category 1 Typhoon Nina, which did $6 million (1987 dollars) in damage on November 21, 1987.
Tropical Cyclone Pam
Cat Five #3, Southeast Pacific Tropical Cyclone Pam
near peak intensity (165 mph winds, 896 mb pressure), as seen by the
VIIRS instrument on the Suomi satellite at 10:42 am EDT March 13, 2015,
just southeast of Efate Island, where the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila,
lies. Pam killed 16 people and did $250 million in damage to the island
nation of Vanuatu, making it the 2nd most expensive disaster in their
history (the most expensive, according to EM-DAT: Cyclone Eric of 1985,
which did $173 million in damage in 1985 dollars, or $377 million 2015
dollars.) Pam was the third most intense storm in the entire Southern
Hemisphere by central pressure, only after Cyclone Zoe of 2002 and
Cyclone Gafilo of 2004. Pam is tied with Cyclone Orson and Cyclone
Monica for having the strongest sustained 10-minute average winds of any
cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cat Five #2, Southwest Indian
Cat Five #2, Southwest Indian Tropical Cyclone Eunice
as seen by the MODIS instrument at 05:30 UTC January 30, 2015, when the
storm was at peak intensity (160 mph winds, 900 mb pressure.) Eunice
was the 3rd strongest cyclone ever observed
in the Southwest Indian Ocean by pressure, and the strongest by winds.
Fortunately, Eunice affected only ocean areas in the South Indian Ocean.
Cat Five #1, Southwest Indian Tropical Cyclone Bansi
as seen from the International Space Station, when lightning was
lighting up the eye. The date of the photo was not given, but presumably
was January 13, 2015, when Bansi was near peak intensity as a Category 5
storm with 160 mph winds, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Bansi grazed the French island of La Reunion, off the coast of
Madagascar, on January 13, dumping up to 22 inches of rain. After
weakening to a Category 2 storm, Bansi passed about 90 miles from
Rodrigues Island, which recorded sustained winds of 93 mph.
Approximately 90 percent of the island was left without power.
The near misses
Three tropical cyclone achieved an intensity of 155 mph winds, just
missing the cutoff for being classified as Category 5 storms. It is
possible that in post-season analysis, these storms will be classified
as Category 5 (this happened to two typhoons in the Pacific in
post-season analysis after the 2014 typhoon season.) The near-miss
storms of 2015 were Hurricane Joaquin in the Atlantic, Tropical Cyclone
Chapala in the Arabian Sea, and Super Typhoon Nangka in the Northwest
Pacific. - Wunderground.
Clockwise from top left: Flooding in Straiton, Scotland, on Wednesday; haze in Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, in October; flooding in Horry County, S.C., in October;
drought in South Australia in November. Credit Danny Lawson/Press Association, via AP; Haris Sadikin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Janet Blackmon
Morgan/The Sun News, via AP; David Gray/Reuters
January 1, 2016 - EARTH - What is going on with the weather?
With tornado outbreaks in the South, Christmas temperatures that sent trees into bloom in Central Park, drought in parts of Africa and historic floods drowning the old industrial cities of England, 2015 is closing with a string of weather anomalies all over the world.
The year, expected to be the hottest on record, may be over at midnight Thursday, but the trouble will not be. Rain in the central United States has been so heavy that major floods are beginning along the Mississippi River and are likely to intensify in coming weeks. California may lurch from drought to flood by late winter. Most serious, millions of people could be threatened by a developing food shortage in southern Africa.Scientists say the most obvious suspect in the turmoil is the climate pattern called El Niño, in which the Pacific Ocean for the last few months has been dumping immense amounts of heat into the atmosphere. Because atmospheric waves can travel thousands of miles, the added heat and accompanying moisture have been playing havoc with the weather in many parts of the world.
WATCH: How It Happens | El Nino. The weather phenomenon known as El Niño can cause dramatic effects around the world. Henry Fountain explains where it comes from
But that natural pattern of variability is not the whole story. This El Niño, one of the strongest on record, comes atop a long-term heating of the planet caused by mankind’s emissions of greenhouse gases. A large body of scientific evidence says those emissions are making certain kinds of extremes, such as heavy rainstorms and intense heat waves, more frequent.
Coincidence or not, every kind of trouble that the experts have been warning about for years seems to be occurring at once.
Waiting out the flood Wednesday in Dumfries, Scotland, after heavy rain. Credit Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“As scientists, it’s a little humbling that we’ve kind of been saying this for 20 years now, and it’s not until people notice daffodils coming out in December that they start to say, ‘Maybe they’re right,’ ” said Myles R. Allen, a climate scientist at Oxford University in Britain.
Dr. Allen’s group, in collaboration with American and Dutch researchers, recently completed a report calculating that extreme rainstorms in the British Isles in December had become about 40 percent more likely as a consequence of human emissions. That document — inspired by a storm in early December that dumped stupendous rains, including 13 inches on one town in 24 hours — was barely finished when the skies opened up again.
Emergency crews have since been scrambling to rescue people from flooded homes in Leeds, York and other cities. A dispute has erupted in Parliament about whether Britain is doing enough to prepare for a changing climate.
Dr. Allen does not believe that El Niño had much to do with the British flooding, based on historical evidence that the influence of the Pacific Ocean anomaly is fairly weak in that part of the world. In the Western Hemisphere, the strong El Niño is likely a bigger part of the explanation for the strange winter weather.
Cutting grass in South Africa, which is experiencing its worst drought since 1994. Credit Joao Silva/The New York Times
The northern tier of the United States is often warm during El Niño years, and indeed, weather forecasters months ago predicted such a pattern for this winter. But they did not go so far as to forecast that the temperature in Central Park on the day before Christmas would hit 72 degrees.Likewise, past evidence suggests that an El Niño can cause the fall tornado season in the Gulf Coast states to extend into December, as happened this year, with deadly consequences in states like Texas and Mississippi.
WATCH: Heavy Flooding Across Britain. Many parts of England and Scotland are experiencing damage from severe flooding brought on by Storm Frank.
Matthew Rosencrans, head of forecast operations for the federal government’s Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Md., said that the El Niño was not the only natural factor at work. This winter, a climate pattern called the Arctic Oscillation is also keeping cold air bottled up in the high north, allowing heat and moisture to accumulate in the middle latitudes. That may be a factor in the recent heavy rains in states like Georgia and South Carolina, as well as in some of the other weather extremes, he said.Scientists do not quite understand the connections, if any, between El Niño and variations in the Arctic Oscillation. They also do not fully understand how the combined effects of El Niño and human-induced warming are likely to play out over the coming decades.
Although El Niños occur every three to seven years, most of them are of moderate intensity. They form when the westward trade winds in the Pacific weaken, or even reverse direction. That shift leads to a dramatic warming of the surface waters in the eastern Pacific.
“Clouds and storms follow the warm water, pumping heat and moisture high into the overlying atmosphere,” as NASA recently explained. “These changes alter jet stream paths and affect storm tracks all over the world.”
The current El Niño is only the third powerful El Niño to have occurred in the era of satellites and other sophisticated weather observations. It is a small data set from which to try to draw broad conclusions, and experts said they would likely be working for months or years to understand what role El Niño and other factors played in the weather extremes of 2015.
It is already clear, though, that the year will be the hottest ever recorded at the surface of the planet, surpassing 2014 by a considerable margin. That is a function both of the short-term heat from the El Niño and the long-term warming from human emissions. In both the Atlantic and Pacific, the unusually warm ocean surface is throwing extra moisture into the air, said Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
Storms over land can draw moisture from as far as 2,000 miles away, he said, so the warm ocean is likely influencing such events as the heavy rain in the Southeast, as well as the record number of strong hurricanes and typhoons that occurred this year in the Pacific basin, with devastating consequences for island nations like Vanuatu.
“The warmth means there is more fuel for these weather systems to feed upon,” Dr. Trenberth said. “This is the sort of thing we will see more as we go decades into the future.” - NY Times.
December 31, 2015 - MONTREAL, CANADA - Montreal was hit with 39.2 centimetres of snow in its first major snowfall of the season, and as always, after the snow fall comes the problem of carting it away.
The major snow removal operations began Wednesday morning. The city says
removal will be underway in every borough by 7 p.m. The operation will
cost around $20 million.
The city announced its new snow removal policy, an attempt to harmonize the cleanup across all 19 boroughs, in August.
The first priority is the city's main arteries, busy commercial streets,
priority bus routes, reserved lanes, hospital entrances and very narrow
streets. Then the operation begins on smaller streets, other bus
routes, and finally local streets and industrial areas.
About 3,000 city employees will be involved in carting the snow away.
Their mandatory 36-hour break will begin Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. and end Jan. 2
at 7 a.m.
The city says the suspension of blue collar workers from earlier this month won't affect snow removal.
The most oft-cited impediment to snow removal is cars that are in the
way, so residents are being asked to download the Info Neige app or
check out the website, which shows the progress of snow-clearing
operations and tells you where and when you can park on the street.
"When we have to tow away a car, this is a major stallblock for
us because the convoy comes to a complete hault," said city spokesperson
Jacques-Alain Lavallee.
While the app is supposed to provide real-time updates on snow removal, some are finding the information isn't always accurate.
"We're adjusting. The info is updated as quickly as possible but we've just started the operation," Lavallee said.
The city says 5,700 free parking spaces are available to drivers across the city for when they can't park on the street.
Tuesday's snowfall set a record for Dec. 29. The previous record of 30.5 centimetres was set in 1954. - CTV.
Montreal record busting snow sours the mild winter climate narrative
On the 24th December this year, Montreal was a poster child for the "new
normal" - mild weather, no snow in sight. All that came to an abrupt
end on the 29th, when Montreal strayed off narrative with a record
breaking snowfall.
From the 24th;
Montreal's Christmas Eve record-breaking temperature matches Los Angeles
Dec. 24 high of 16 C matches cities synonymous with sunny, warm weather at this time of year
...
The balmy temperature was the last thing Anaum and Muhammed Sajanlal
were expecting when the siblings arrived in Montreal from Kuwait
recently.
They had big plans for winter fun.
"I was looking forward to building a snowman because we see in the
movies and cartoons that they build lots of snowmen. We can't do that in
Kuwait," said Anaum, 11, on CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
Montreal saw a record snowfall for a Dec. 29 on Tuesday after 39.2
centimetres of snow blanketed the city and caused delays at the airport
and left streets a mess for motorists and pedestrians.
Environment Canada confirmed the record, which eclipsed the 30.5 cm of snow that fell on Dec. 29 in 1954.
A few more centimetres were expected Wednesday, but no other major
accumulations are in the forecast for the moment, Environment Canada
told the Montreal Gazette.
City crews and contractors began the lengthy cleanup process at 7
a.m. on Wednesday, with all of the city's boroughs getting to work by 7
p.m. to clear as much snow as possible before a pause for New Year's Eve
kicks in at 7 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Clearing operations are to resume Jan. 2 at 7 a.m.
No doubt all that snow was due to CO2 causing climate alarmists to
make fools of themselves.
Thankfully civic authorities in Montreal
ignored the hype; Mayor Denis Coderre's new snow clearing programme appears to be a resounding success. - WUWT.
