March 4, 2016 - UNITED STATES - Keep your eyes on the skies.
Wednesday night, just before 10 p.m., sky-watchers from Maine to
Philadelphia — and more than a few in the Lower Hudson Valley — caught a
glimpse of a fireball, a meteor, burning up to dust as it entered the
Earth's atmosphere.
The American Meteor Society
keeps a map of public meteor sightings and, according to Operations
Manager Mike Hankey, about 34 reports were received from across the
Northeast, including one from Dobbs Ferry and another from Ardsley.
"It seemed to burn out at a low angle above the horizon," said Andrew
Ploski, of Nyack. "My 9-year-old son and I were traveling back home last
night after a visit with his grandmother in Yonkers. We were traveling
north on the Sprain Brook Parkway near the Ardsley Road overpass. There
appeared a large, very bright fireball with trail about the brightness
and size of a car headlight. It streaked across my field of vision very
quickly from my upper right to lower left — east to west."
Ploski was lucky, according to seasoned sky-watchers. "To see a meteor
in Westchester is a little bit unusual," said Larry Faltz, president of
Westchester Amateur Astronomers. "You have to be looking up at just the
right moment."
Faltz explained that, when you see a fireball in the sky, you are not
actually seeing a meteor but the ionization of the Earth's atmosphere as
the object heads toward the ground. For that fireball effect to be
visible, an object only needs to be as big as a grain of sand.
"It's impossible to say how big it was," Hankey said, though he
speculated — considering reports from public sources that described the
fireball as "about as bright as the moon" — that it was "a significantly
bigger rock," perhaps "as large as a basketball."
Brother Robert Novak, chairman of the Physics Department at Iona College
in New Rochelle, said visible meteors are not all that uncommon in the
Lower Hudson Valley, but that it tends to be more common when there is a
meteor shower like the Perseids in August or the Leonids near
Thanksgiving.
"They follow two cycles," he said. "One is a yearly cycle. The other
cycle depends on the meteor itself." "Rogue meteors," Novak said, are
far more rare and more unpredictable. "From time to time they come into
the Earth's atmosphere," he said.
But it's not unheard of. Hankey there was a similar event, recently,
also in the Northeast not too long ago. 'We had an event about a month
ago in the same region that generated almost 900 reports," he said.
Faltz explained that "A 'meteor' is what we see in the sky. If it hits
the ground, which only a few of the larger ones do, it's a 'meteorite.'"
Uncommon as they may be, The Lower Hudson Valley has experienced an
actual meteor.
"There was a large one that smashed into a car in Peekskill in 1992," Falz said. "The car sold a few years ago for $69,000." - The Journal News.
Tire tracks blaze the trail on an empty, snow-covered street in St. Louis, Mo., on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Winter weather warnings from the National Weather Service
stretched southwest through all of Illinois and into Missouri, where several inches of snow had fallen by early morning, leading to school closures and downing power lines.
(Cristina Fletes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
March 1, 2016 - UNITED STATES - Winter Storm Quo is welcoming the month of March with fresh snow, and
even some ice, from the Upper Midwest to northern New England.
Winter
storm warnings are in effect in parts of Lower Michigan, far upstate
New York and northern Maine, where the heaviest additional snow will
fall.
As of early Tuesday morning, snowfall totals have been less
than 6 inches from eastern South Dakota to Michigan. Luverne,
Minnesota, reported 5 inches of snow, while Kalamazoo, Michigan, picked
up 3 inches. A mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow fell in Chicago.
Current Radar
Winter weather alerts from the National Weather Service.
Winter
weather advisories stretch from parts of Iowa to central Massachusetts
to coastal Maine not only for lighter snowfall, but also for a potential
mix with sleet or freezing rain.
The warm side of Winter Storm Quo
will bring a threat of thunderstorms, some of which could be severe, to
parts of the South. For more on that story, click here.
Below is a look at the timing for Winter Storm Quo and the snowfall forecast.
Winter Storm Quo Timing
Low
pressure at the surface of the earth will organize along an arctic
frontal boundary while strengthening, as it sweeps from Missouri Tuesday
morning to northern New England Wednesday.
Moisture from the Gulf of
Mexico will be pumped in and over the cold air at the surface, wringing
out some snow and even, potentially, a little freezing rain or sleet
along the path of that low.
Winter Storm Quo does not appear to be
a major snowstorm with the potential to dump over a foot of snow over a
widespread area. That said, the combination of snow and ice will impact
travel in the Great Lakes and interior Northeast the next couple of
days.
Tuesday
Snow will taper off in
the Upper Mississippi Valley by midday, but continue Michigan and
develop in northern Indiana and northwest Ohio.
Increasing winds in the Great Lakes may lead to areas of blowing snow and reduced visibility.
Air and road travel will be affected in the region, with flight delays likely at Chicago O'Hare.
A
narrow zone of mixed precipitation, including some ice, may affect
parts of eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, southern
Michigan and northern Ohio, leading to slippery travel conditions.
Forecast high temperatures and weather conditions for Tuesday, March 1, 2016.
Tuesday Night - Wednesday
Tuesday Night:
Accumulating snow and a wintry mix spreads across portions of western
and upstate New York into northern New England, including Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine. Precipitation may start as sleet or freezing rain,
before changing to rain farther south in parts of Massachusetts. Rain
may change to snow in the Ohio Valley and the Appalachians. Snow also
continues in Lower Michigan, northern Ohio and parts of Indiana before
ending from west to east before sunrise.
Wednesday: Snow
and a wintry mix continue in parts of northern New England,
particularly in Maine, ending by evening. Snow may continue in the
Appalachians, western, central and upstate New York.
Forecast low temperatures and weather conditions for Tuesday night.
Forecast high temperatures and weather conditions for Wednesday.
Winter Storm Quo Snowfall Forecast
Snowfall Forecast: The
heaviest snowfall accumulations, in excess of 6 inches, are expected
across an east-west swath of Lower Michigan, far upstate New York in the
St. Lawrence Valley, and far northern Maine. Most other locations along
the path of Quo will generally see snowfall totals of 6 inches or less
from the Upper Mississippi Valley to northern New England.
Ice Accumulation Forecast:
Light ice accumulations are possible from northern Illinois to northern
New England. Though the amount of ice accumulation is expected to
remain low in most areas, we will still see slippery travel conditions,
particularly on bridges and overpasses. No widespread areas of tree limb
damage or power outages is expected.
Forecast snowfall through Wednesday from the early week storm.
A narrow strip from the Midwest to New England will see light icing.
February 19, 2016 - EARTH - The following articles constitutes several of the latest reports on heavy snowfall, low temperatures and snow storms as global cooling continues across the Earth.
Ice jam causes flooding in downtown Augusta, Maine
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Kennebec River in Augusta due to an ice jam.
The flood warning is in effect until 3:30 p.m.
At 10:23 a.m. Wednesday an ice jam formed quickly on the river, causing it to rise to 13.2 feet.
The river was at 14 feet as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and was expected to fall slowly.
At 5:30 a.m. Thursday the river was at 12.25 ft in Augusta, prompting
the National Weather Service to extend the flood warning into the
afternoon. Flood stage is 12 ft.
Augusta police said on its Facebook page at about 10 a.m. that the river
was rising and flooding the Front Street parking lot. Front Street was
closed.
Unseasonably warm temperatures earlier this week
caused an early breakup of ice on the Kennebec River, causing minor
flooding in low-lying areas
People came by to take pictures and stare at the ice jam all day
Wednesday, but employees in the building along the river had no time to
watch because there were only a few minutes to move.
A woman sprinted through the water this morning, rushing to save her car from fast-moving water.
The woman got out just in time in the last of the cars to move from the path of the ice jam.
"Something happened, and it all backed up, and by 9:30 there's water in
the parking lot," said Dave Groder of the Augusta Fire Department.
Rain and warm weather over the last few days helped create a jam earlier than usual.
"As far as in February, having it jam up like this, I don't recall it," Groder said.
Deidra Consteanty said it's been quite a while since she's seen a jam this early, too.
"I'm watching, and the water's coming up a little big, a little bit
more, and it's like, 'OK, it's time to call these people,'" Consteanty
said.
WATCH: Ice jam floods Augusta.
"You just watched it, and you couldn't say anything because you
were just fascinated by watching it and the power of nature," Tyler
said.
The warm weather, rain and to a smaller extent, the high tide forced the closure of Front Street for the night, officials said.
The rising tide could redistribute some of the ice, making the situation worse or loosening the jam. - WMTW.
Early icebergs seen off Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
You can usually time the welcome of icebergs by the arrival of summer
and the tourism season, but this year the mighty bergs seem to be
hugging the coastline early.
In my 43 yrs here I don't recall ever seeing a iceberg in Logy Bay in Feb. there's a massive one offshore this morn! pic.twitter.com/3UuTOhHHLq
Icebergs usually show up off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in May and June, and draws large swaths of people to the province each year. - CBC.
February 3, 2016 - MAINE, UNITED STATES - At 6:56 a.m., residents on the east coast of Maine got a wake up call from nature.
A magnitude 3.3 earthquake hit 5 miles to the northeast of Eastport's
shore, but residents thought it felt a lot closer than that.
Luckily, there wasn't much damage, but it gave people a good rattle.
The earthquake was detected coming from the waters between Maine and
Canada's coasts. Residents from Charlotte and Perry and as far as
Machias reported they heard and felt it.
Some people experienced minor
damage like falling household objects up to 10 miles from the center of
the quake.
USGS shakemap intensity.
Early risers even saw waves coming from the epicenter in the
water.
A magnitude 3.3 earthquake is still considered a minor one, but
to some who lived close by, it was anything but.
"The only thing I could think of was the house blowing up," said one Eastport resident.
"There were some things falling off the shelves and it sounded like the
house was going to crack in half," said another Eastport resident.
A worker on the pier said, "a short time later was a big wave rolling in. Just one rogue wave."
This earthquake was small but was enough to get the attention of Eastport residents this morning.
As an earth science instructor at UMaine said, a 3.3 earthquake doesn't cause much damage, and it could've been a lot worse.
Alice Kelly, PH.D., an instructor of earth and climate studies at
UMaine, says it's unusual to see seismic activity in this area.
"For people who experience earthquakes frequently, this is actually rather small. China rattles, things may fall of a shelf. The most active part of the North American plate that's closest to us is in the mid-Atlantic so earthquakes here are very rare," said Kelly.
There have not been any reports of aftershocks. - WCSH.
Earthquakes in the Stable Continental Region
Natural Occurring Earthquake Activity
Most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England, in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and elsewhere. However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake.
Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area more than ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. It would not be unusual for a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in eastern or central North America to be felt by a significant percentage of the population in many communities more than 100 km (60 mi) from its source. A magnitude 5.5 earthquake in eastern or central North America might be felt by much of the population out to more than 500 km (300 mi) from its source. Earthquakes east of the Rockies that are centered in populated areas and large enough to cause damage are, similarly, likely to cause damage out to greater distances than earthquakes of the same magnitude centered in western North America.
Most earthquakes in North America east of the Rockies occur as faulting within bedrock, usually miles deep. Few earthquakes east of the Rockies, however, have been definitely linked to mapped geologic faults, in contrast to the situation at plate boundaries such as California's San Andreas fault system, where scientists can commonly use geologic evidence to identify a fault that has produced a large earthquake and that is likely to produce large future earthquakes. Scientists who study eastern and central North America earthquakes often work from the hypothesis that modern earthquakes occur as the result of slip on preexisting faults that were formed in earlier geologic eras and that have been reactivated under the current stress conditions. The bedrock of Eastern North America is, however, laced with faults that were active in earlier geologic eras, and few of these faults are known to have been active in the current geologic era. In most areas east of the Rockies, the likelihood of future damaging earthquakes is currently estimated from the frequencies and sizes of instrumentally recorded earthquakes or earthquakes documented in historical records.
Induced Seismicity
As is the case elsewhere in the world, there is evidence that some central and eastern North America earthquakes have been triggered or caused by human activities that have altered the stress conditions in earth's crust sufficiently to induce faulting. Activities that have induced felt earthquakes in some geologic environments have included impoundment of water behind dams, injection of fluid into the earth's crust, extraction of fluid or gas, and removal of rock in mining or quarrying operations. In much of eastern and central North America, the number of earthquakes suspected of having been induced is much smaller than the number of natural earthquakes, but in some regions, such as the south-central states of the U.S., a significant majority of recent earthquakes are thought by many seismologists to have been human-induced. Even within areas with many human-induced earthquakes, however, the activity that seems to induce seismicity at one location may be taking place at many other locations without inducing felt earthquakes. In addition, regions with frequent induced earthquakes may also be subject to damaging earthquakes that would have occurred independently of human activity. Making a strong scientific case for a causative link between a particular human activity and a particular sequence of earthquakes typically involves special studies devoted specifically to the question. Such investigations usually address the process by which the suspected triggering activity might have significantly altered stresses in the bedrock at the earthquake source, and they commonly address the ways in which the characteristics of the suspected human-triggered earthquakes differ from the characteristics of natural earthquakes in the region.
January 1, 2016 - UNITED STATES - Ice balls on Lake Michigan are currently forming along the shoreline near Traverse City. A New England man also captured video of "waves of snowballs" lapping against the shore in Maine's Sebago Lake.
Ice balls form on Lake Michigan along the shoreline near Traverse City
In this video, shot on December 29, 2015, ice boulders are seen clanking
against one another along the shores of Lake Michigan.
What are they?
Where did they come from?
This curious ice phenomenon doesn't happen often, so when it does, it's something to celebrate and take note of.
Ice balls start out life as a small chunk of ice in the water. The small
chunk of ice grows by thin measures as it tumbles in the waves.
Ice boulders can only form when the air is cold enough for the water to instantly freeze and the lake is cold, but not too cold.
A stiff breeze helps to churn things up.
WATCH: Lake Michigan ice balls.
When a face of the ice boulder is hit with the water from a wave, it freezes in the cold air, getting just a bit larger in size.
After hours of tumbling, what started out as a small chunk of ice can
grow to the big balls you see in the video above. - Strange Sounds.
A New England man captured video of "waves of snowballs" lapping against the shore in Maine's Sebago Lake.
David Allen of Stone Point Studio posted a video to Facebook showing the
unusual state of the Sebago Lake waves Tuesday, just after the first
winter weather hit the area.
"This was one of the most awesome natural events I have ever seen!" Allen wrote in his Facebook post.
He offered some speculation as to how the snowball waves might have formed:
"I cannot say for sure, but here are the conditions leading to this.
There was NO ice on the lake, so it isn't lake ice. In fact it has been
very warm, right up until we got this snow/sleet/freezing rain storm. It
was very cold when I shot this, maybe around 20 degrees. I fished out a
couple of the balls, and sure enough, they broke apart and were very
slushy, definitely not ice. The area where this was shot had a small
stone jetty that acted as a catch and prevented the balls from
continuing on down the shoreline. It seems to me, that this had a lot to
do with the snow from the storm somehow accumulating in this way, in
this very particular spot. My best guess, was that it was SO cold and
windy, that when the snow hit the water, it didn't melt, but instead,
remained as slush on the surface. This slush then got stuck in this
area, and through wave and wind action, turned into these very uniform
WATCH: 'Snowball waves' filmed on Sebago Lake, Maine
December 15, 2015 - UNITED STATES - Heavy snow warnings for parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho,
Utah, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New
Mexico, Arizona, Michigan and Maine.
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
344 AM CST TUE DEC 15 2015
MNZ002-003-022-027>032-040-NDZ024-028>030-038-039-049-052-053-
170000-
/O.CON.KFGF.WS.A.0003.151216T0000Z-151217T0000Z/
NORMAN-CLAY-MAHNOMEN-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-EDDY-GRIGGS-STEELE-
TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-RICHLAND-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ADA...TWIN VALLEY...HALSTAD...
MOORHEAD...MAHNOMEN...NAYTAHWAUSH...WAUBUN...DETROIT LAKES...
WOLF LAKE...BRECKENRIDGE...FERGUS FALLS...PERHAM...
NEW YORK MILLS...PARKERS PRAIRIE...HENNING...BATTLE LAKE...
WADENA...MENAHGA...ELBOW LAKE...HOFFMAN...ASHBY...HERMAN...
BARRETT...NEW ROCKFORD...COOPERSTOWN...FINLEY...HOPE...MAYVILLE...
HILLSBORO...HATTON...PORTLAND...VALLEY CITY...FARGO...LISBON...
ENDERLIN...GWINNER...MILNOR...FORMAN...RUTLAND...WAHPETON
344 AM CST TUE DEC 15 2015
...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...
* TIMING...SNOW WILL SPREAD NORTH INTO SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA
AND PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA EARLY TUESDAY EVENING AND
WILL CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...POTENTIAL FOR 4 TO 7 INCHES.
* WINDS / VISIBILITY...SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY ARE
POSSIBLE. WINDS WILL BE NORTHERLY AT 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
30 MPH WEDNESDAY.
* IMPACTS...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR DIFFICULT DRIVING
CONDITIONS...INCLUDING DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE ON WEDNESDAY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.
February 5, 2015 - MAINE, UNITED STATES - Seventy-six inches and counting. That's
how much snow has fallen in Eastport since Jan. 25, which is a new
10-day record for documented snowfall anywhere in Maine.The
previous record of 71 inches was set more than 50 years ago at
Ripogenus Dam, just west of Baxter State Park in Piscataquis County,
over a 10-day period, from late December 1962 to early January 1963,
according to the National Weather Service.
Victor Nouhan, a
forecaster with the National Weather Service in Caribou, emphasized
Wednesday the amount of data and information available to the federal
agency is limited, so he cannot say whether Eastport's 76 inches is the
most snowfall ever in Maine in a week and a half. He said the Fryeburg
area got an exceptionally heavy dumping of snow in February 1969, which
may rival the amount that officially has been measured in Eastport.
Regardless of whether Eastport's snowfall total ever has been exceeded -
there have been reports of heavy snowstorms in New England dating back
several centuries - the
amount the easternmost city in the United States has received since
late January is "extremely unusual" in recent history, Nouhan said.
Having repeated storms in a short period of time that all follow the
same path is not typical.
There are a couple of
factors that could explain it. One, Nouhan said, is that water far
offshore in the Atlantic is warmer than average, which could be helping
to steer storms over the Gulf of Maine that otherwise would veer
offshore further south. Another is a "deeper" or more southerly wind
trough in the upper atmosphere, which enables weather systems to pick up
more moisture over the Gulf of Mexico and the southeast coast before
they turn northeast toward Cape Cod.
Eastport, Nouhan added,
has been right in the firing line of the recent storms as they travel
northeast and bear down on Atlantic Canada. The bands of snow that are
generated as the ocean storms approach land often are heaviest along the
coast, he said, similar to "lake-effect" snowfall in states or Canadian
provinces that abut the Great Lakes.
"If the storms take the same track, the ocean doesn't freeze over so there's no shortage of moisture," the forecaster said.
Nouhan said the intensity of the snowfall in coastal and Down East
Maine is not necessarily a new thing, because weather patterns can take
decades or even 100 years to complete a cycle.
He said there
are several historical reports of multiple storms repeatedly dumping
snow in New England during the past 300 years. Some of these storms,
such as the Great Snow of 1717, could have dumped more snow in Maine, he
said, with local accumulations that either went unnoticed or were not
scientifically documented.
"This is not unprecedented," he said.
But Eastport residents might not be taking much time to consider
Maine's snowfall history, given predictions for their immediate future. According
to forecasts, parts of Washington County, including Eastport, are
expected to get another 6 to 8 inches of snow by Thursday evening.- Bangor Daily News.
Incoming: This forecast from the Weather Channel predicts a maximum of five inches of snow in New York City, with parts of New England facing a potential eight inches
January 23, 2015 - UNITED STATES - A
fast-moving coastal storm is forecast to blast several major cities in
the Northeast with a mix of snow, sleet and rain on Saturday all along
the busy I-95 corridor.
The
biggest snowfall amounts are expected in southern New England, but
forecasters warned that temperatures hovering near freezing could make
for slippery driving conditions across the region.
The approaching storm is also likely to plummet in pressure, leading to strong winds which will drive the snow and sleet.
If the drop in pressure equals of exceeds 24milibars within 24 hours the storm will then meet the technical definition for a weather bomb - in a process known as bombogenesis.
First flakes: This picture, from Leesburg, Virginia, shows the first traces of snowfall
Snowfall: Gaithersburg, Maryland (above), had also started to see frosty downpours
'It's kind of the first one, so it's a good thing it's happening this weekend,' National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson in Taunton, Massachusetts, said Friday.
'If this happened during a weekday, it could be really slow and messy.'
According to the Weather Channel, sleet and snow will begin to hit Washington, D.C., and southern Pennsylvania on Friday night.
By Saturday morning, a mixture of sleet and snow is expected to be falling in all major cities from D.C. as high as Portland, Maine - including New York City.
As the day warms up slightly, some places could see snow in the morning, sleet in the daytime, then snow in the evening again.
The fiercest snow is predicted for Rhode Island, Maine and the Massachusetts coast around Boston.
A winter storm warning was issued Friday for a large portion of central Pennsylvania ahead of the storm.
It begins: Friday night is set to bring widespread up to the Mason Dixon line, after which sleet and snow will fall
Colder: Snow on Saturday is set to be more widespread, with a long sweep of inland areas in the firing line
Forecasters said the area from Gettysburg to Johnstown, stretching from West Virginia through Maryland to just south of State College and Williamsport, could get 5 to 8 inches of snow between Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Some predictions also say New York City, Porland and parts of Connecticut could face eight inches.
The Maryland State Highway Administration warned motorists that travel may become hazardous. The agency said it would have salt, snowplows and chain saws at the ready in case of fallen trees.
By Sunday, forecasters say the storm is likely to have headed out into the Atlantic once more.
After a relatively tame start to the winter, Connecticut has plenty of salt and snow-treatment chemicals stockpiled around the state and a fleet of 632 plow trucks ready to go, Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said.
He said crews have been pre-treating some highways and bridges, but there already is some salt leftover from recent, smaller storms.
'We don't need to go full tilt,' he said.
Storm's brewin': This satellite image shows the system swirling over the Atlantic around midday Thursday. it is expected to sweep over the north-east bringing snow. A second system bound for New England is developing in the Gulf of Mexico
The storm is expected to begin as snow across much of the region, with areas east of I-95 receiving mostly rain.
Forecasters say accumulation amounts will depend on how quickly the rain line moves west. The weather service said the Philadelphia area could receive as much as a quarter-inch of ice Saturday morning before the rain arrives.
Meteorologist Peter Wichrowski in Upton, New York, said snow likely would start to fall in New York City in the early morning hours of Saturday, with a mix of rain and maybe a little sleet along the coastal areas. He said snowfall totals were expected to be around 1 to 2 inches across eastern Long Island.
Baltimore and Washington were expected to get only rain as temperatures hover just above freezing. - Daily Mail.
January 1, 2015 - UNITED STATES - The following constitutes some of the latest reports of sinkholes across the United States.
Horse rescued from a sinkhole in Oxford, Florida field
Bizarre scene: Owner Maryann Marsh tries to
comfort Nate the horse after he was found in a sinkhole in his pasture
in Oxford, Florida
There
was no time for horsing around at a stable in Florida last Friday after
a sinkhole nearly swallowed up one of the equines.
Nate, a
30-year-old nag living at TMMA Farms in the rural community of Oxford,
was found with his head poking out of a grassy pasture while the rest of
his body lay trapped below ground.
It took a team of around ten people - including fire personnel - more than two hours to haul the large animal to safety.
Video footage of the rescue shows how workers dug earth out around Nate's body in a bid to free him.
WATCH: Horse falls into Florida sinkhole.
They then put harnesses around his torso to lift him to ground level.
After lots of pulling and pushing, Nate finally gets one hoof up and is able to crane his other legs out of the pit.
He appears to be stunned by the ordeal, standing still with his nostrils flared.
Firefighters apparently placed an oxygen mask on Nate's face to help him breathe until he was able to walk on his own.
Maryann Marsh, co-owner of TMMA Farms, said she had never seen anything like it before.
She told ABC News that Nate was in a 'retirement pasture' and it's thought that the 'ground just collapsed underneath him' during the afternoon.
'He was lucky enough to almost be in a sitting position in the hole, which is why he didn't break any legs,' she added.
Marsh recruited neighbors to help pull Nate free but when their efforts failed, she called 911.
With the additional manpower they were able to get the animal out of the sinkhole.
Nate is one of three horses on TMMA Farm, which specializes in alpaca breeding.
Marsh says Nate is doing 'very well' and only suffered a swollen back leg.
A post on the farm's Facebook page noted: 'We will still watch him
closely over the next few days but for over 30, he is our tough old
guy!' - Daily Mail.
Calf rescued from sinkhole in Alachua County, Florida
A
mama cow's mournful lowing for her lost newborn ceased and was replaced
with a joyful gallop after a team of Alachua County firefighters and
staff at the University of Florida veterinary college rescued a
2-day-old calf from a sinkhole Saturday.
The technical rescue
team members put training to the test when the calf slid into a newly
formed sinkhole about 15 feet deep and 15 feet wide at a Newberry farm.
"If you could have seen the cow, the mother, come running past when we
turned that calf loose," Alachua County Fire Rescue District Chief Jeff
Harpe said. "She just goes running by like she was being chased by
cowboys. As soon as we turned the calf loose, it looks around like, are
you my mama? And then wanders off. Then here comes the galloping of the
mother."
The ACFR technical rescue team is trained to rescue
people from hazardous situations with rope, ladders, harnesses and other
equipment. It also works with UF College of Veterinary Medicine
Director John Haven and his team to rescue animals.
Haven had
been training with the ACFR team Saturday in Newberry. They had wrapped
up and were at the Fort Clarke Boulevard station when the call came in
about the stranded calf.
ACFR went immediately to the scene, while Haven got a UF team member and then went to the farm.
A plan was developed to lower firefighter Brian Ferguson into the
sinkhole. The calf was not injured in the fall and did not kick up any
fuss at all as Ferguson attached a harness so it could be hoisted out of
the sink. - The Gainesville Sun.
January 1, 2015 - EARTH -
The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic
animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and
the appearance of rare creatures.
Masses of dead fish wash ashore along the coast of Chennai, India
Fisherfolk, dependent on the Adyar estuary for their livelihood, were shocked by this sudden surge of dead fish along the coastline
from Srinivasapuram up to Besant Nagar. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan. The Hindu
A
large quantity of dead fish was washed ashore along the coastline from
Srinivasapuram up to Ashtalakshmi temple in Besant Nagar on Wednesday.
Fisherfolk, dependent on the Adyar estuary for their livelihood, were shocked by this sudden surge of dead fish.
R. Suresh, a fisherman from Nadukkuppam, said release of untreated hazardous wastewater from a couple of hospitals could have caused the death of the aquatic life. “Since yesterday, we have been sensing a stench and then, this morning, saw the huge quantity of dead fish on the shore,” he said.
S. Palayam, president, Oorurkuppam Fishermen Cooperative Society, said he, along with five other fishermen, could earn nearly Rs, 2,000 by spreading their nets at the mouth of the estuary. Similarly, a good quantity of prawn was also caught in the bay, he said, adding that the release of untreated hazardous waste into the Adyar River had led to the death of fish.
“It not only affects the fish, but even the prawn fingerlings get wiped out due to contamination by polluted waste. So far, we have not had such a large-scale death of fish in our area,” he said. Mullet, sardine and milk fish were the three species found in abundance in the area, he added.
Pooja Kumar, of Coastal Resource Centre, Besant Nagar, said they got the call from fishermen around 3 a.m. on Wednesday about the dead fish washed ashore. A drainage pipe on the old Adyar bridge had got damaged in some portions, from which the sewage seems to have leaked into the river. Thus, the water passing through Adyar Creek before reaching the Bay of Bengal could have become contaminated, resulting in the mass death of fish, she explained.
Nearly five lorry loads of dead fish were collected by unidentified persons, who said they would sell them to units manufacturing poultry feed.
Mr. Palayam said that, on several occasions, the fishermen had complained to authorities about the release of untreated raw sewage into Adyar River. But, so far, no action had been taken. The rise of new hotels and residential apartments near the coast along Foreshore Estate exacerbated the issue, he said.Sources with the fisheries department said eutrophication (presence of excessive nutrients due to increased presence of algae) could have caused the death. - The Hindu.
Dead humpback whale washes up on Little Cranberry Island, Maine
Scientists
from the College of the Atlantic have identified the carcass of a
36-foot humpback whale that washed ashore on Little Cranberry Island on
Christmas Day as Triomphe, a nearly 7-year-old male.
"The
pigmentation on the flukes was sufficient to identify the individual,"
said Rosemary Seton, research associate and Marine Mammals Stranding
Coordinator at the college's Allied Whale Program. "He was in our
catalog, born in 2008 to a female humpback named Spar."
The
whale was discovered on the afternoon of Dec. 25 and showed some signs
that it had been entangled in fishing gear, Harbormaster Bruce Fernald
said.
"There were
some entanglement signs, but nothing I saw that was deep," he said. "You
could just see a little groove in about two or three places on its tail
- it was nothing that I would think would kill a whale, but I don't know."
Seton said it might be impossible to determine a cause of death.
"Even when you do necropsies, and can see things inside, finding the cause of death is not always easy," she said.
In this case, tissue samples were collected but a full necropsy will
not be performed because of the scale of such an undertaking.
Seton said researchers at the Bar Harbor-based college on average deal
with one dead humpback whale a year, but one year saw three.
"Last year, one was seen by one of our volunteers in Cutler," she said.
"It was floating in the harbor and ended up on Great Spruce Island." - Bangor Daily News.
Thousands of fish, animals dying in Turkey Creek, Florida
Thousands of fish and animals are dying in a local waterway, and longtime residents say it's not just an ordinary fish kill.
Turkey Creek in Palm Bay is known for its clean, fresh water. It flows
into the Indian River Lagoon downstream, and it's there in the lagoon
where most fish kills happen, not in the creek.
Chris Jones grew up along Turkey Creek.
WATCH: Thousands of fish, animals dying in Turkey Creek, Florida.
"You can get out and be in old Florida, natural Florida, the way it was
hundreds of years ago before people were here," said Jones.
But now, catfish have been dying for weeks.
People have reported dead animals including an alligator and some raccoons and turtles. They've taken pictures of a film on the water.
"I've never seen catfish or any fish die off to this extent," said Jones.
"It's quite upsetting because I've been here since '73, and the waters were much better," said John Mongioi.
Palm Bay Public Works employees checked the water for dissolved oxygen but said so far levels look normal.
The city sewage plant spilled effluent into the creek in September. It
seems unlikely that could still be having an effect. It's an unnerving
mystery.
"I don't know if I'm going to get sick from it. I
don't know if I'm going to get something from just dealing with the fish
in the water," said Jones.
State biologists have taken samples and they're doing a lot of analysis, hoping to find the answer. - WESH.
Rare Eurasian kestrel appears in Nova Scotia, Canada
Bird watchers in Nova Scotia are being treated to a rare sight.
Birders are flocking to Hartlen Point in Eastern Passage to try and
catch a glimpse of a rare Eurasian kestrel. The bird was first spotted
in the Eastern Passage area in November and is still there.
Blake Maybank with the Nova Scotia Bird Society says it's a male.
"Presumably this bird just got caught up in the wrong weather, not a
storm per se, but they tend to follow tailwinds and it got carried over,
but when, we can't be sure," he said.
Maybank was one of many
bird watchers in Eastern Passage on Tuesday hoping to catch a glimpse of
the rare sight. He found the Eurasian kestrel lunching in a spruce
tree.
WATCH: Rare bird spotted near Halifax.
According to the National Audubon Society, the birds are larger than their North American cousins, American kestrels.
Eurasian kestrels are quite common across their home range of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, but are very rarely seen in North America.
The last time a Eurasian kestrel sighting was recorded in Canada was back in 1988 near Amherst.
John Loch of Eastern Passage made the trip to see the bird then, but never did see it. He had better luck Tuesday.
"I've worked pretty hard the last few days to try to see it and finally
David called me to tell me it was here and I'm really pleased," Loch
said. "It's a beautiful bird, it's a little immature but it's got
beautiful markings."
Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) distribution
David Currie, with the Nova Scotia Bird Society, says news of the kestrel sighting has spread.
"We had people in from Quebec yesterday and people in from Maine as
well," he said. "I've been contacted and I understand there are more
people from the U.S. coming here." - CBC.
Llama on the lam: Furry fugitive escapes, hits the town in Greater Manchester
Reuters / Jorge Silva
A
spooked llama on the run in Greater Manchester evaded capture for six
hours before being escorted home by its owner on Monday night.
Interludes of the creature’s journey throughout the town of Littleborough, just outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were recorded on film.
The video captured the frazzled animal galloping down a road as vehicles slowed down allowing it to pass safely. Other cars came to halt as the furry fugitive marched along the center of a residential street.
WATCH: Pet llama on the loose in Manchester.
The
llama had fled its home quarters on Monday evening after being
frightened by a dog in the neighborhood. The llama, by the name of
Calista, was rescued by her owner Dan Taylor, who eventually found her
and guided her back to his farm.
Taylor, 48, had searched the small town for his pet for six hours before discovering her in an agitated state.
He
told the Manchester Evening News that he owns 19 llamas, which he keeps
on his farm. Reflecting on the saga, he told the paper all his llamas
had been frightened by the dog.
Reuters / Mariana Bazo
“They are very timid and friendly creatures and this kind of thing really upsets them,” Taylor said. “I would really urge dog owners not to let their animals out loose in the area as they are not allowed in the field.”
Llamas
are members of the camelid family and are generally found in the Andes
in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. A domesticated variant of their wild cousin
the guanaco, they are often used by the Andean people to carry food.
No further incidents of llamas running loose in Littleborough have been reported since Monday. - RT.
November 3, 2014 - NORTH AMERICA - A
wintry storm blasted New England on Sunday, dumping nearly two feet of
snow in parts of Maine and knocking out power across the region. Cary,
Maine, near the border with Canada, was blanketed by 21 inches of snow
by Sunday evening, while Bangor reported nearly 15 inches, according to Weather.com, and the area could get more.
Elsewhere, Toledo, Ohio, tied its record low for the date at 22 degrees,
according to Weather.com, but the north and the Midwest weren't the
only regions seeing the effects of the early winter weather. Record lows
were set in parts of Florida, which saw temperatures plunge to the low
40s on Sunday morning, and many states in the South — South Carolina,
Georgia, West Virginia and Tennessee — were reporting snowfall,
Weather.com reported. Mt. LeConte, Tennessee, 6,400 feet above sea
level, was pummeled by 22 inches of snow, while in North Carolina, the
Asheville area was hit by up to 6 inches of snow.
Record snowfall prompts road closures and evacuations from Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Rangers
in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed all roads due to
slick conditions from snow and ice and concerns about downed trees from
high winds.
The list of road closures includes U.S. Highway
441/Newfound Gap Road, Little River Road, Laurel Creek Road and Cades
Cove Loop Road.
The Sugarlands and Oconaluftee visitors centers are open.
Rangers also began working to evacuate campers at the Elkmont and Cades
Cove campgrounds due to fallen trees and concerns about safety.
All
campers must leave Elkmont. Campers in tents must leave Cades Cove. RV
campers will be allowed to stay at this time.
According to the National Weather Service in Morristown, Mount
LeConte has recorded 22 inches of snow so far.
That's a new daily
snowfall record for the park. The previous record of 6 inches was set
back in 1993.
As of 3 p.m. Saturday, they said it was 17 degrees with some
wind.
They said the lodge is closed for Saturday, except for
taking care of Friday night's guests who felt it wise to not try and
trek down due to the hazardous conditions.
Already an early U.S. winter? A foot of snow in Maine, record unprecedented early-season snow in South Carolina
Up
to a foot of snow has fallen in Maine from a storm system that earlier
brought an unprecedented early-season snow to parts of South Carolina on
the first day of November.
Bangor, Maine, reported 12 inches of snow as of 2:50 p.m. EST Sunday. Scroll down for more on the snow forecast for New England.
Snow was observed Saturday as far south and east as Charleston, South Carolina, the earliest flakes on record in the city.
This occurred less than three days after a string of four straight days
in the mid-upper 80s. Places like Folly Beach and downtown Charleston
picked up a trace of snowfall.
Even more stunning were the snowfall amounts in the South Carolina Midlands. Up to 4.5 inches of snow fell in Red Bank, just west of Columbia. Red Bank is only about 350 feet above sea level.
A couple of inches of snow coated grassy areas and some roads near
Greenville and Pelion, South Carolina. Power lines were downed in
Greenville, Greenwood, and Lexington Counties due to the combination of
strong winds and wet snow accumulations.
Farther northwest in
the southern Appalachian Mountains, up to six inches of snow fell around
Asheville, North Carolina while 2.5 inches were measured in Boone,
North Carolina. Seven inches fell near Marshall, North Carolina
(elevation 2280 feet). Up to 3 inches blanketed Bluefield, West
Virginia.
Mt. LeConte, Tennessee (elevation 6400 feet) measured
22 inches of snow, with waist-deep drifts. Numerous roads were shut
down in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including U.S. 441. Trees
were "cracking and popping" due to the weight of almost 13 inches of
snow near Hartford, Tennessee (elevation 3400 feet).
Up to 2
inches of snow were observed on Burnt Mountain northwest of Dawsonville,
Georgia, and flurries fell in parts of the Atlanta metro area.
Midwest Sees Snow, High Waves
Heavy snow fell in parts of the Upper Midwest late Thursday into
Friday. Ten inches of snow fell in Presque Isle, Wisconsin and near
Three Lakes, Michigan. Wind gusts up to 69 mph were clocked in Gary,
Indiana Friday, and Chicago saw its first measurable Halloween snow on
record early Friday, though only one-tenth of an inch piled up at O'Hare
International Airport.
Waves on southern Lower Michigan and southern Lake Huron reached heights similar to those measured during Superstorm Sandy. Records Re-Written: Snow Shatters Southern Records
In most locations, this was not the earliest measurable (at least 0.1
inches) snow on record. Except for the Palmetto State, that is.
Prior to this weekend, the previous earliest measurable snow on record
in Greenville, South Carolina was on Nov. 11, 1987 and 1968. This event
shattered the previous earliest trace of snow in South Carolina's
capital city of Columbia, set over a hundred years ago (Nov. 9, 1913).
According to the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia,
this would be the earliest measurable snow on record in Blairsville,
Georgia, if accumulations occured there. In both Cleveland and Helen,
Georgia, the standing record for earliest measurable snow was on Nov.
12, 1968. Official data from co-operative observers have not yet been
released, but up to half an inch of snow was reported in the Blairsville
area.
In Boone, North Carolina (elevation about 3,300 feet),
the average first measurable snow falls around the Thanksgiving holiday
(Nov. 26). In Asheville, North Carolina (elevation about 2,100 feet),
that average first measurable date is Christmas Day. The record earliest
measurable snow in Asheville, however, was Oct. 1, 1952.
New England Snow Continues
Winter storm warnings, watches and winter weather advisories continue
for northern New England as the season's first snow targets them Sunday.
Snow, heavy, in parts of northern New England, accompanied by
strong winds, will taper off late Sunday night. Some wet snow may also
fall in parts of southern New England, primarily in eastern
Massachusetts. The wind will be very strong as well. As of Sunday
morning, there have already been several reports of 40+mph wind gusts
and reports of trees/powerlines down in eastern Massachusetts and
eastern Rhode Island.
In northern Maine, interestingly, this
first measurable snow would be just a tad late. Caribou sees its first
measurable snow by Oct. 23, in an average season.
Heavy snow and high winds continue Monday in parts of Atlantic Canada, from New Brunswick to Labrador. Snowfall Accumulation Forecast
At right is our latest 48-hour snowfall forecast. Additional
accumulations will mainly be limited to Maine, where totals will exceed
12 inches in a few spots.
Even without any snow, it will be
chilly and raw, with highs in much of the Great Lakes and Northeast
holding in the 40s, or even 30s in some spots. - TWC.
Canada: New Brunswick snowstorm leaves 7,600 without power
New
Brunswick was blasted with the region's first snowstorm of the year on
Sunday, causing power outages and prompting officials to urge people to
stay off roads.
Environment Canada said a low pressure system
was intensifying as it tracked across the Maritimes Sunday. The national
weather forecaster had issued snowfall warning for central and
northwestern parts of New Brunswick.
Meteorologist Barrie MacKinnon said the snowfall was intensifying throughout the day and would persist until Sunday evening, with as much as 30 centimetres expected in some areas.
"It's certainly the first (snowstorm) and a big one for them," said
MacKinnon from Halifax on Sunday. "But tonight we're expecting things to
taper off and by tomorrow we'll just be seeing some flurries."
New Brunswick Power said roughly 7,600 customers were without power at
one point in Fredericton, Woodstock, St. Stephen, Bouctouche, Miramichi
and Sussex.
The New Brunswick government was warning residents to watch for flooding and to postpone non-essential travel.
The low pressure system also prompted wind warnings in southwestern Nova Scotia and in Prince Edward Island, wherewinds were expected to gust up to 90 kilometres an hour.
Environment Canada said higher than normal water levels and pounding
surf were expected on Sunday evening and throughout Monday along the
northern coast of P.E.I. - The Canadian Press.
100 Year Snow Records broken across the South Eastern US on October 31st and November 01st
It
was the earliest and heaviest snow in several places since records have
been kept dating as far back as 1880. Reduced sunspot count shows Solar
hibernation is occurring along with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation
(PDO) showing a cooling Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Multi-Decadal
Oscillation (AMO) Atlantic Ocean temperature is predicted to fall by
2020, which screams of cooling events to take place globally.
March 12, 2014 - UNITED STATES -You've got to give the groundhog credit. He's getting every last drop out of his forecast of six more weeks of winter.
People trek through a golf course in Durham, North Carolina, as heavy snow falls on Thursday, February 13.
Just as the jonquils and tulips are poking their leaves above ground, a monster of a storm is sweeping across the Midwest, up the Great Lakes and into the Northeast.
Look at these snowfall predictions with the official start of spring just over a week away.
Chicago-area commuters could be facing up to 8 inches of fresh new snow as they head to work Wednesday.
Despite the springlike start to the week, winter and substantial snow
will make a comeback across the Midwest and Northeast for midweek.
Sorry Cleveland, it looks even worse for you. Close to a foot of snow is possible by the time the storm passes.
Blizzard warnings are up for western New York. Up to 18 inches of snow is forecast for Rochester. Winds will gust up to 44 mph.
Ready to cry uncle yet?
A man skis in front of the Capitol building in Washington on February 13.
A family walks
along letters spelling the word "love," which was carved out of ice
covering a Manhattan playground Saturday, February 8, in New York.
Burlington, Vermont, is in the cross hairs too. Folks there will see winds up to 32 mph. Snowfall could reach 20 inches before it's all over.
And so it goes, all the way into Maine. People in Bangor can look forward to up to 19 inches of snow before the system exits New England Thursday.
Out West, the weather's warming up, but even that comes with problems.
Ice forms on the
Niagara River in front of the American Falls on the left and the
Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right on Wednesday, February 5.
Children play in the snow Tuesday, February 4, in New York's Central Park.
The melt from a heavier-than-normal snowpack has turned into flooding along the Bighorn River in north-central Wyoming, forcing folks from their homes.
"We actually have about 60 residences that we've evacuated," Worland Police Chief Gabe Elliott told CNN affilaite KCWY. "Probably around 80 people who reside in those residences."
Motorists can anticipate difficult driving conditions on lengthy
stretches of highways and interstates. The snow could come down heavily
for a time, quickly clogging roads and making travel treacherous. One of
the most dangerous areas will be in western and central New York for
the evening commute.
Numerous flight delays and cancellations can be expected throughout the
Midwest and Northeast with potential ripple-effect delays elsewhere in
the United States. The storm will initially spread mainly rain across communities around
the Ohio River and along the I-95 corridor from Providence, R.I., to New York City to Washington, D.C.
Police are preparing for the worst, he said.
"The area's just getting larger and larger and further northbound," according to Elliott. "So it's definitely expanding as we speak." - CNN.
