February 4, 2016 - 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.
Dead sperm whale washed ashore at Ganjam, India
The sight of dead body of a 35 feet long and 10 feet round sperm whale
washed ashore shocked locals on Tuesday near Kantiagada village that
under Ganjam block.
The whale is suspected to have died five days back.
Informing about the body that washed ashore, Khalikote Forest Ranger,
Dilip Kumar Martha, said, "We doubt that the whale died four or five
days back. Initial investigations suggest that the whale died after
being hit by a ship. The Odisha museum has also been informed about the
whale if they ever want to preserve it. If they don't, the whale will be
buried near the coast." - Iamin.
Blue whale rescued off Dapoli, India
The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded
in the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then
trapped in the sand.
Sightings of whales along the coastline of Maharashtra seem to
have become a common occurrence. Three days after a 45-feet-long Bryde's
Whale was found dead on the Juhu beach, another behemoth whale was
spotted around 200 km away from Mumbai.
A 40-feet-long blue whale was spotted stranded in the shallow waters of
Dapoli beach in Ratnagiri district by members of the Sahyadri Nisarg
Mitra on February 1,who successfully rescued it and sent it back into deeper seas.
According to the environmental group, on a chilly morning at around 6
am, a volunteer of the group saw the whale struggling to keep itself in
the waters, almost 100 metres from the shore.
The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded in
the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then
trapped in the sand.
"Immediately, the volunteer alerted other members of the group and we
informed the forest officials," Project Director, Mohan Upadhye from
Dapoli said. The distress call by the group was heeded by around 25 men
of the village, alongside a strong force of forest officials as well.
Upon reaching the spot, they saw that the whale stuck in the
sand. Efforts started to keep it in water, while a veterinarian checked
the mammal for any injury.
"The vet found that the whale was suffering from some infection, he
administered an injection and then the whale started beating water with
its tail," Upadhye added.
A herculean task involving watering the whale and checking its vitals was carried out for more than five hours.At
5 pm, during the high tide, the group brought two trawlers to tow the
whale back into deeper waters. They safely attached a thick rope to the
tail of the whale and started to tow it into the deep sea.
"The rope broke twice because of the sheer weight of the whale. However
on the third attempt, we were successful in putting it in deep waters," Upadhye told.
Swimmers untied the rope from the whale which gracefully dived in the Arabian Sea, before surfing up once. - DNA India.
Rare wild jaguar spotted living in U.S.
Researchers
in Arizona have released video showing jaguar living near Tucson. It is
thought to be the only living jaguar in the United States.
December 4, 2015 - ARIZONA, UNITED STATES - Geminids meteors are beginning to fly. The shower peaks on the night of December 13.
Our friend Eliot Herman - who has a very cool set-up for capturing
meteors - sent us this photo.
It appears to be an early Geminid meteor,
and not just any meteor but a fireball, or exceptionally bright meteor.
We're still many days away from the peak of this shower on the night of December 13 (morning of December 14), 2015. But the shower should be gearing up around now. Eliot wrote:
Fisheyes curve, or distort, so one needs to be a bit careful about
projecting back [to the radiant point], but it looks like the right
place.
He's talking about the fact that meteors in annual showers, like the
Geminids, all appear to stream in our sky from a single point, called the radiant point.
You don't have to be looking at the radiant point to see the meteor
shower, but - to see the greatest number of meteors - it's better if the
radiant point is above the horizon, and best if it's high in the sky.
For the Geminids, the highest point in the sky is around 2 a.m. local
time. That's the time on your clock no matter where you are on Earth.
January 2, 2015 - EARTH
- Despite global warming alarmism, climate change models seems to be
generating one false prediction after another, as evidence of global
cooling continues to accumulate. Check out the latest stories of record
cold temperatures across the planet.
Southern California cold snap breaks record
Temecula residents found palm trees and swimming pool decks coated in snow on Wednesday. Terri Hubbard / For the Times
A
cold front from Canada brought snow and chilling winds to Southern
California, but forecasters said it only brought one record-setting
temperature Thursday — and it wasn't at the Rose Parade.
There was a record low recorded at Los Angeles International Airport, according to Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service. The temperature at LAX dropped to 36 degrees, breaking the Jan. 1 record of 38 set in 1972.
And despite concerns that the 126th Rose Parade might be the coldest since 1952 -- when the thermometer dropped to a brisk 32 degrees in Pasadena -- Seto said the weather on New Year's Day wasn't as chilly as anticipated.
The official low in Pasadena on Thursday was 36, Seto said.
Extreme cold weather blasted the Southland this week, bringing freezing temperatures, snow at lower-than-normal elevations and powerful winds that left two people dead on Catalina Island.
Freezing temperatures were reported overnight in numerous locations. According to the weather service, temperatures were in the 30s in Long Beach, Van Nuys, Fullerton, Riverside and Burbank. Lancaster was an icy 16 degrees.
Seto said temperatures Thursday were expected to rise to about 60 degrees, kicking off a warming trend later this week that should bring temperatures back to normal. - LA Times.
Coldest New Year's Eve On Record In Fort Collins
The
coldest New Year’s Eves on record in Fort Collins were -22F in 1898 and
1900. It isn’t even 11 PM and we are already down close to that, with
clear skies and no wind.
Bitterly cold temperatures settle into southern Arizona tonight following New Year's Eve cold front.
Tucson only managed to top out at 41 degrees this afternoon making it the coldest daytime high ever recorded on a New Year's Day in the city. The previous record low maximum temperature for a January 1st was 43 degrees set back in 1960.
Lows overnight plummet below the freezing mark for southern Arizona. A Hard Freeze Warning is in effect for Pima and southern Pinal Counties Friday from 3 AM until 9 AM. Metro Tucson drops to the low to mid 20's, with teens across portions of Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties.
A repeat performance is expected for Friday with highs in the mid 40s and another overnight freeze into early Saturday.
In true Arizona fashion, temperatures rebound fast as high pressure builds in next week. A warming trend will bring highs back into the 70s by the first workweek of 2015. - KVOA.
Record-low -13.5°C measured in Bulgaria’s Veliko Tarnovo
Picture: Focus Information Agency
Record-low temperature of -13.5°C has been measured in the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo this morning.
The local Hydro-meteorological Observatory announced the information for Radio FOCUS.
This is the lowest temperature measured in the town on January 2 since 2002, breaking the previous record of -10.6°C.
Another record was broken yesterday – January 1, when the thermometers hit -15.1°C, breaking the previous record of -14.5°C measured back in 1973.
“The
low temperatures will remain for the next days, too. The weather will
be cold and we do not expect a warmer spell for the next week,” the
observatory said, adding that snowfall was possible during the weekend. - FIA.
Global Sea Ice Area Second Highest On Record
December 26 global sea ice area is second highest on record. The exact opposite of what experts both predicted and report.
May 24, 2014 - NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES - Six people were killed
Thursday evening in a traffic accident involving several vehicles during
a dust storm on Interstate 10 near Lordsburg, New Mexico State Police
said.
Seven vehicles were involved
in a fiery crash Thursday on Interstate 10 near the New Mexico-Arizona
border. Six people died in the crash. (Courtesy photo)
State police said the accident occurred about 5:30 p.m. in Hidalgo County about six miles from the Arizona state line.
"At this time, there are six confirmed fatalities related to this crash," said state police in a news release Thursday night.
The accident involved cars and semi-trucks during "a severe dust storm," police said.
Police said that the accident closed I-10. Late Thursday night, I-10 East remained closed but the westbound lanes had been reopened.
Seven vehicles were involved in a fiery crash
Thursday on Interstate 10 near the New Mexico-Arizona border. Six people
died in the crash. (Courtesy photo)
It had not been revealed how many vehicles were involved in the accident, the number of people injured or the names of those killed.
Police said that traffic crash investigators from other parts of the state were on their way to the scene on I-10 Thursday night.
The accident occurred at the start of the travel period for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service in Tucson on Thursday afternoon had reported "dry thunderstorms" east of Tucson and issued "Blowing Dust Advisory" for Interstate 10 between Tucson west to Casa Grande, Arizona. The advisory stated that high winds and low visibility could make driving hazardous. Drivers had been advised to pull to the side when encountering blowing dust that lowered visibility.
Seven vehicles were involved in a fiery crash
Thursday on Interstate 10 near the New Mexico-Arizona border. Six people
died in the crash. (Courtesy photo)
It is not uncommon for dust storms to close stretches of I-10 in the area of New Mexico-Arizona state line because blowing dust causes visibility difficult. - El Paso Times.
November 23, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Rain records are falling like, well, rain, around Arizona on Friday, the start of a what is expected to be a very wet weekend.
A wash in Mesa. (Twitter Photo/@abc15)
More than an inch of rain has dropped on Sky Harbor Airport, the most in a single day since 1973. The previous mark was a half-inch.
The airport rain gauge hadn't measured any rain since Sept. 9. Rain began falling Thursday night.
The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a flood watch, which will be in effect until 11 p.m. Heavy rain has already forced closure of southbound Loop 303 from Peoria Avenue to Camelback Road. Motorists had already been trapped in flooded areas before 7 a.m.
Weather map. (Screenshot)
Snow and whiteout conditions were reported on State Route 87 north of Flagstaff. Locations around Flagstaff reported 1 to 4 inches of snow by 7:30 a.m.
Thursday, Yuma broke a 129-year-old single-day mark with more than a third of an inch.
Forecasters said the storm system from the West could last 18 hours.
In Tucson, firefighters were trying to recover a person who was swept away by high water in the Santa Cruz River. Tucson Fire Department officials said they believed the person was dead but the body has yet to be recovered.
In Prescott, city officials said road crews will be ready to plow snow and treat ice if necessary.
A flooded parking lot. (Twitter Photo/@abc15)
Snow in Flagstaff. (Twitter Photo/@ArizonaDOT)
Flagstaff, early morning Nov. 22, 2013. (Twitter Photo/@mrobisonfox10)
The storm on Friday, Nov. 22, knocked down a saguaro at a Phoenix resident's home. (Twitter photo/@Jspea)
Elsewhere in northern Arizona, State Route 67 to the north rim of the Grand Canyon was temporarily closed due to drifting snow and poor visibility.
On Lake Mohave in northwestern Arizona, workers were removing mud, boulders and other debris that closed the access road to Willow Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
The state Department of Public Safety advised motorists driving on wet highways to refrain from abrupt steering changes and braking to avoid loss of control. Motorists also were urged to allow extra space between vehicles.
The weather service said rain will gradually diminish Saturday through Sunday, though flowing washes and continued ponding in low-lying areas were possible into Saturday night. - KTAR.
October 30, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A stream of thick, blowing dust crossing an Arizona highway led to a chain-reaction crash that killed three people in an area where gusting winds often stir up towering clouds of dirt that can reduce visibility to zero.
Twelve other people were injured Tuesday in the 19-vehicle pileup on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson.
Crews brought in portable lights as they worked past sunset to pry apart the 10 commercial vehicles, seven passenger cars, one tanker and one recreational vehicle that were involved, Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officers
investigate a multiple fatality accident involving six semi
tractor-trailers and 19 other vehicles in the eastbound lanes of
Interstate 10 south of Casa Grande, Ariz., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013.
Authorities say three people are dead and at least 12 others injured
after a dust storm led to chain-reaction collisions. (AP Photo/Arizona
Daily Star, Ron Medvescek)
Three people were killed and at least 12 injured after a dust storm led
to multiple crashes Tuesday on Interstate
10 between Phoenix and Tucson,
authorities said. (AP Photo/Arizona
Daily Star, Ron Medvescek)
Television footage showed at least one car pinned between two 18-wheelers and others wedged under big rigs near Picacho Peak in south-central Arizona.
Henry Wallace told KPHO-TV he got out of his car just in time before the chain-reaction crashes began.
‘‘One truck hit another truck. Cars start piling into each other, and they pushed that one truck right into me and off to the side of the road,’’ Wallace said. ‘‘I couldn’t see anything because the (dust) was so thick, but I could just hear it, ‘Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.'’’
Medical helicopters airlifted several of the injured to hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix, and DPS officials said at least one person was in critical condition.
Gordon Lee Smith, 76, of Mead, Wash., was identified as one of the people who died. Smith’s wife was injured, DPS officials said, but her condition wasn’t disclosed.
DPS officials on Wednesday identified the other two people who died as Lenny Lubers, 46, of Phoenix, and David D. Bechtel, 51, of Milton, Iowa.
DPS investigators were interviewing survivors to determine the chain of events.
‘‘This could be three, four or even five crashes. That’s where the interview comes in with the drivers and witnesses,’’ DPS Officer Carrick Cook said.
‘‘That area of I-10 is historically known for these blowing dust storms that come through,’’ Cook added. ‘‘At the time of this crash, there were reports that there was zero visibility in the road, and with these dynamic systems that come through so quickly, people are often surprised by it.’’
The National Weather Service had issued a blowing dust advisory shortly before the crashes, with wind gusts of up to 30 mph reported in the area.
‘‘A steady southwest wind created channels of dense, blowing dust,’’ weather service meteorologist Chris Dunn told KPHO. ‘‘Unfortunately, one of those localized channels of dust ended up over a busy Arizona interstate.’’
DPS spokesman Bart Graves said Tuesday’s crash was one of the worst chain-reaction accidents in that area in the past seven years.
WATCH: Arizona Dust Storm Pile-Up Kills Three.
Parts of westbound I-10 were closed for more than five hours.
The Arizona Department of Transportation recommends that motorists who find themselves in a dust storm pull completely off the paved portion of the road, turn off all lights including emergency flashers, set the emergency brake, keep feet off the brakes so others don’t try to follow the tail lights, and stay in the vehicle with seat belts fastened. - Boston.
June 03, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A shallow magnitude 4.1 earthquake was reported Monday afternoon five
miles from Niland, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
USGS earthquake location.
The
temblor occurred at 12:04 p.m. PDT at a depth of 1.9 miles.
According to the USGS, the epicenter was 17 miles from Brawley and 29 miles from El Centro.
USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.
In the past 10 days, there has been one earthquake magnitude 3 and greater centered nearby. - LA Times.
May 09, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A climber and his faithful dog have perished in Arizona after they appear to have been attacked by killer bees as he scaled a cliff.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office says that 55-year-old Steven Johnson, a counselor with some 30 years experience hiking and climbing was found dead, hanging 70-feet from the ground in his climbing gear in the Santa Rita Mountains on Monday night.
A swarm of African honeybees: The rise of Africanized bees across the United States has led to education
programs in how to react to encountering the territorial animals.
The cause of death has not been determined yet, but officials said that Johnson was covered in bee stings when he was found while his dead dog was discovered at the top of the cliff.
Johnson was last seen Friday when he went hiking, and friends became worried when he didn't go to work on Monday.
Sheriff's Lt. Raoul Rodriguez says Johnson may have disturbed bees by hammering a spike into the cliff.
Rodriguez of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said the 55-year-old man was found hanging from his climbing gear on a cliff near Mount Hopkins.
'He had anchored himself to the wall as he was going down so he was actually anchored and he must have been attacked and was not able to climb back up or go back down,' said Rodriguez.
He said Johnson's dog had also been attacked by bees and was found dead nearby.
Johnson is described as a father, climber and friend, who was well-liked throughout the climbing community in Southern Arizona.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office says 55-year-old Steven Johnson (pictured) was found in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson late Monday.
'It's devastating news for the Tucson community, for sure, he was a very prolific climber in Tucson,' said John Mavko, who works at Rocks & Ropes, a climbing facility that was frequented by Johnson.
Deputies of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department and its search and rescue unit found Johnson’s body Monday at 6:30 p.m.
The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on Wednesday to determine the cause of his death.
Killer bees have become a problem in the south west of the country, especially in cities like Phoenix and Tuscson which have programs to destroy them for public safety.
However, despite their fearsome reputation, Dr. May Berenbaum, a professor and department head at the University of Illinois' Department of Entomology and one of the country's leading bee experts said that public information is the key to limiting fatalities.
'When bees sting, it's always in defense. They're not cruising the neighborhood to make trouble,' said Berenbaum. 'They're not kamikaze, intent on their own destruction. They sting if they perceive a threat on their own home.'
However, Berenbaum's description of an African bee attack to ABC News makes for disturbing reading.
Once stung, the bee releases a pheromone that attracts other bees to attack - which is why most African bee attacks are in swarms.
Search and rescue teams found both Johnson and his dog dead in the Santa Rita Mountains on Monday night.
Killer Bees in Arizona: Africanized bee attacks on the rise
Africanized bees, also known as killer bees are hybrids of the African honey bee which are a hostile and invasive species.
They
arrived in America in 1957 when a stand-in bee-keeper accidently
released 26 Tanzanian queen bees and drones which were being used for
research purposes.
After
the accidental released, the bees started to breed with the Brazilian
bees and produced what we now know as Africanized honeybees or killer
bees.
The Africanized
honey bee or AHB is similar in physical characteristics to European
honey bees - the major difference being in their defensive behavior.
They swarm to attack and sting in large numbers when they detect any threat from 50 feet away.
Every year around a dozen swarm attacks are atributed to Africanized honey bees in the south west of the country.
In 2011, a 95-year-old man was out walking in Phoenix when he was attacked and stung 600 times - remarkably surviving.
Scientists estimate as general rule of thumb that ten stings per pound of body weight equals a fatality.
So a person weighing 150 pounds would need to be stung roughly 1,500 times to be killed.
March 01, 2013 - SKY - Something caused some shaking, rattling, and rolling over many parts of Tucson Wednesday night. It happened about 7:45 p.m. Tucson News Now was inundated with calls from people asking what it
was. We made calls to several law enforcement agencies and Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base. D-M says it was not one of their aircraft that caused a
sonic boom.
Mysterious Loud Boom Heard And Felt All Over Tucson.
Capt. Adam Goldberg from Northwest Fire District says all the area
fire departments received about 100 calls. The Tucson Fire Department
says most of their calls came from the west side of Tucson. Tom Peine with the Pima County Sheriff's Department tweeted, "We
checked with variety of places to include mines, DMAFB, Pinal Army Nat.
Guard, TIA, SW Gas, El Paso Gas, TEP/So far all negative." Peine also tweeted, "calls reference "boom" seem to come from W of
Campbell/from Pinal County line to northern Green Valley/still trying to
determine source."
Genna Short posted, "East central side. Mostly my windows rattled."
Melba Alderete Munoz wrote, "Windows rattled, in the downtown area."
Cindy Calderon Weltjen posted, "3-4 large booms that shook our
house. Silverbell between Sunset/Ina. Our dogs didn't like it either!"
Summer Desrosiers Parker posted on the Tucson News Now Facebook
page, "There was something in the sky after the bang. It looked like a
lot of debris slow falling and shiny. I am on the Far East side (golf
links and Harrison) and I was looking towards the base when I saw it." - Tucson News Now.
Texas Man Captures Mysterious Light Streaking Across The Sky.
Texans in the Houston area noticed a fiery glow light up the sky Wednesday morning.
Captain William Lowery was on his boat in the Freeport area when he saw a meteor fly across the sky in a brilliant orange flash around 3 a.m.
"Nothing like that magnitude," said Lowery. "I've seen shooting stars, but this lasted three to four minutes."
After the Russian meteor exploded across the sky, it prompted scientists to better identify large meteor and asteroid threats.
- WCSH.
WATCH: Texas man captures mysterious light streaking across the sky.
Enormous Fireball Reported Over Gulf Of Mexico.
27 February 2013 - D. Beebe, Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana 03:05 CST
1 minute plus duration. South to Northwest, I was facing South. It was
orange color and about Venus brightness. It fragmented into ~15 pieces
and glowed orange/white leaving a very long tail of sparks directly
behind it, then slowly faded away.
27 February 2013 - Bart. @ 27 03'0N; 092 03'2W - 03:30 Central USA
30 seconds duration. It was yellow to amber color and fragmented.
27 February 2013 - Seadog71, Gulf of Mexico 3:30am
20 seconds duration. Travelling south to north. White and orange color
and as bright as Venus. It was quite large and broke apart into a few
bigger and many small fragments. It was heading towards the Louisiana
coast. I took video, but it's a bit grainy at night.
27 February 2013 - Dan Richard Lafayette, Louisiana USA 03:10 CST
Event lasted over 20 seconds, then it disappeared behind clouds as it
broke up. It was moving in a southeast/northwest direction. It was white
with a tinge of red and blue as it broke up. As bright as the moon. It
looked similar to Shuttle Columbia breaking apart, but not as bright.
27 February 2013 - Byron Byrd, North Central Gulf of Mexico 03:30 CST
Over 30 seconds duration. Seen it travel across 3/4 of the visible
horizon, from south to north. It was bright white with orange sparks,
like a bright star with trails. 6 - 8 smaller fragments broke off and
followed one larger piece. They were very bright and seemed slow-moving.
27 February 2013 - Joel Ciochetto, Galveston, Texas 03:07 CST
30 seconds duration, travelling from south to north. It was a large
fireball with a long white tail. It looked like sparks were coming off
it. I'd say it was as bright as the sun.
27 February 2013 - Anthony Smith, Houston, Texas 03:15 CDT
I estimate it was visible for 15 seconds. I was going south, the lights
in the sky going appeared to be going from west to east, before
vanishing behind clouds. There were about 6-8 bright lights with tails.
As bright as Venus.
27 February 2013 - Max Watts, Dickinson 03:25 CST
I'd say it lasted for about 1 minute and 30 seconds from the time I
first noticed it. It was real bright with red tails. I thought it was a
comet at first glance. Brighter than the full moon, this thing was very
large. In fact, it was one large piece with a number of fragments behind
it. It seemed to be heading Northeast. I fully expected to hear several
impacts but heard none. My first thought was 'Russia!' and that now it's happening here!
Overhead Meteor Explosion In Bradford, Vermont, Air National Guard Claims Responsibility.
Another 'mystery boom' in the sky, this time over Vermont. The military
claimed responsibility, but locals don't seem too convinced.
WATCH: Meteor explosion in Vermont?
Two Separate Fireballs Seen Over East And West Coasts Of Canada.
25 February 2013 - Kristine Waverley, Nova Scotia 21:45 AST
5 seconds duration. It went from right to left, I was facing North. Blue
colour, as bright as the Sun. It was very low in the sky.
25 February 2013 - Nadia, Porters Lake, Nova Scotia 10:00 pm Atlantic Std. Time
~ 3 seconds duration. Moved from South to North. No sound. Bright yellow
colour with a green flaming tail. As bright as the Sun/moon. It burned
up before my eyes, and moved fast and low.
3 seconds or so duration. Big bright streak, straight down. I was facing
west. It was white colour. It was very bright and seemed very big
considering how far away it appeared (perhaps over the Pacific coast?).
Sky was still light.
25 February 2013 - Darragh Courtenay, BC, Canada 18:30 PST
I saw it for 2 seconds as I was driving through town. I was facing it
and it was heading north at a sharp enough angle downwards. Bright white
colour with a white tail and trail of smoke into the hills. It was bright, cause it was still a clear sky and still daylight there was a long trail of smoke. I tried to track it down, cause it looks like it went to the ground, there was a vertical smoke stream.
'Mystery Overhead Explosive Boom' Over Charleston, West Virginia.
Kanawha emergency dispatchers were fielding dozens of Tuesday after a
loud boom rocked several homes in Charleston and eastern Kanawha County.
Dispatchers began receiving calls a little before 5:30 p.m. from concerned residents wondering about the sound.
People in the Ariel Heights and Falling Run Road areas, both near
Oakridge Drive, told dispatchers they heard a loud booming noise and
felt their homes shake. Dispatchers said those callers reported their
power still was on and they had not seen any smoke.
Callers reported hearing the sound on Garrison Avenue and feeling it in
Fort Hill. Dispatchers said calls came in from all over the county but
no one had been able to pinpoint where the noise came from or what
caused it.
Dispatchers said first responders were on the lookout for anything that could have caused the noise but the source remained unknown.
A meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Charleston said there
was a "zero percent" chance the sound was thunder and that the office
had not received any reports of any possible earthquake. - Charleston Daily Mail.
Green And Yellow Fireball Seen Over North Carolina And Virginia.
27 February 2013 - Lucas, Wilmington, North Carolina 20:30
4- 5 seconds duration. South to north direction. Light green and yellow
color. Brighter than Venus. I didn't see any fragmentation, but the tail
was quite long.
27 February 2013 - Nick, Charlotte, NC 20:12
2-3 seconds duration. It travelled straight up to the horizon. Northwest
to southeast direction. Blue colour, as bright as a car light. No tail
and was about 1/4 the size of the moon.
27 February 2013 - Jayne Knight, Benson, NC 20:00
Approx. 7 seconds duration. West to East, from my left to right. I was
facing north. It was a red fireball with a reddish-orange tail. It was
very bright - like the sun. It looked as though the whole thing burnt
out at some point. I don't know what it was that I saw. I've never seen
anything like this before and it looked as if it was directly in front
of me and not very high up at all. Please let me know from my
description what it was that I saw.
27 February 2013 - Brenda, Fredericksburg, Virginia 08:15 approx.
Observed on my 30 min drive to work. Southeast direction. Sun was white
but clouds below were brighter than the sun. I couldn't help but
thinking it peculiar. It appeared as if the sun was the moon and
something hidden in the cloudiness was much brighter.
'Sparkly' Silver Light Seen In Otago Sky, New Zealand.
A bright light was seen descending behind Treble Cone.
Photo / Otago Daily Times.
A bright "sparkly" silver object seen falling from the sky in Otago on Sunday afternoon was probably a rarely seen daylight meteor. The Otago Daily Times received reports from about a dozen people in at least six locations about the object seen between 2.45pm and 3pm on Sunday. Mark Davis of Wanaka saw an "extremely bright" silver light dropping to Earth as he was driving from Omarama towards the Lindis Pass at 2.45pm on Sunday. He glimpsed it only briefly and described it as "sparkly".
Three people, including Wanaka farmer John Leith and Chris Scott of Christchurch saw it from west Wanaka. Mr Leith said it was a "silver flash" coming out of the sky. "It looked almost like three rockets joined together with their tails pointing towards the Earth." It was travelling so fast he did not even have time to say to others in the group: "Hey, have a look at this." Ms Scott said it was just like a shooting star. "It was very silvery; like a sparkler glittering." Sean O'Connell of Wanaka and his golfing partner saw the object passing over Mt Roy where "it seemed to splutter out".
"Definitely bright; had a sparkly, fiery trail, and some smoke." Mr O'Connell said the object, which he assumed was a meteor, seemed to "fizz" and was similar to a flare but higher and faster. The superintendent of the University of Canterbury's Mt John Observatory, Alan Gilmore, said that from the descriptions the object was likely to have been a "daylight meteor". "They are pretty rare because they have got to be exceedingly bright to be seen." Mr Gilmore could recall just two previous occasions when daylight meteors were reported in New Zealand - one in Hawkes Bay in 1971. The brief and "sparkly" appearance of the object supported the idea it was a meteor.
"They are very fast and so generally you don't see them for much longer than a second, unless they are on a very low trajectory." Mr Gilmore said meteors were falling all of the time but to have been visible, the one on Sunday would have been bigger than usual. He said at a "wild guess" it could have been as big as a baseball to begin with but would have burnt out before hitting the ground. "If the same thing had happened at night time it would have been quite spectacular. It would have lit up the whole countryside." - NZ Herald.
Bosnia 'Meteor' Intrigues New Generation In Wake Of Russia Strike.
A mysterious rock at a quarry in central Bosnia has seen a spike in
visitors in the wake of the meteor explosion over Russia last week.
A few years back, workers in a stone quarry in Kostajnica dug out a
massive, rusty, egg-shaped rock that locals believe is a meteorite. Quarry owner Dimitrije Tatic said the tale of the falling rock had been
passed down from generation to generation in this small Bosnian town.
"They believed that it fell off the moon," he said.
"It was so hot that it was impossible to approach and when it fell all the houses in the vicinity collapsed too," he added.
The rock is estimated to weigh some seven tonnes.
"People come every second, every third day, mostly scientists and school children. They are curious about it," Tatic said.
The meteor - estimated to weigh about 10 tonnes - entered the Earth's
atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 33,000 mph and shattered
into pieces about 18 to 32 miles above the ground, the Russian Academy
of Sciences said in a statement.
The astonishing event blew out windows in more than four thousand
buildings in the region, mostly in the regional capital Chelyabinsk.
Scientists have yet to dismiss nor verify the nature of the Bosnian rock. - Telegraph.
WATCH: Bosnia 'meteor' intrigues new generation.
Bright Blue Fireball Over Latvia Caught On All-Sky Cameras.
According to Andris Bieznis, Latvian Centre of meteorites recorded on
Wednesday at midnight a meteor fall in the Gulf of Riga in Latvia.
According to Andris Bieznis in an interview with local radio station
"Baltcom", a witnesses saw the fall of the meteor, which was accompanied by an unusual bright of blue light and noise.
The meteor was observed in several regions of Latvia: Vidzeme, in the
central part of Latvia and in Zemgale in southern Latvia. It was also
observed in Finland on a surveillance camera of the University
Observatory. - Hainanwel.
WATCH: Meteorite falls into the Gulf of Riga in Latvia.
If you saw a flash of light in the sky Thursday night, you were hardly alone.
Dozens of Eyewitness News viewers reported seeing a blazing-bright meteor fly through the sky around 10:30 p.m.
Viewer Simon Crask sent us a photo he snapped with a low-light camera in Anaheim. The meteor could be seen on the left.
Sightings were reported all around the Southland, including in Los
Angeles, Alhambra, Burbank, Malibu, Pasadena, Culver City, Santa
Clarita, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and Ventura.
Many people took to Twitter to describe what they saw. Viewer Trina
Megumi said she was driving on the 60 Freeway in Pomona when she saw a
bright blue light that appeared to be coming down from the sky. - KABC.
February 01, 2013 - UNITED STATES - It was a normal Sunday in Vail for Geradine Vargas. Normal, until she
and her husband stumbled upon something kind of weird."We were taking
photos around the area and we just.... I mean, how could you miss this?"
Geradine said. "It was just like glittering in the sun."Thousands of
tiny, purple-hued spheres piled in the middle of nowhere.
"It's just one of those things that you've never seen before."They were
watery, some where translucent, and the pile was completely isolated.
Gerardine was amazed, and she wanted answers."We did email a friend of
ours who's a zoologist, but she didn't know. I mean, she didn't seem to
recognize what it was."
So, she sent KGUN-9 pictures of the spheres, hoping we could find some answers.We checked out the mysterious spheres for ourselves, and learned they
were still there. They're like gooey marbles that ooze out a water
substance when squished. They roll, they shine, and they're out of this
world. Geradine was dying to know what they were, and so were we. We spoke to Darlene Buhrow, director of marketing at Tucson Botanical
Gardens, who's husband is a botanist. He said if these are something
naturally occurring, they could be a slime mold or jelly fungus.
We've received tons of calls into the newsroom tonight from viewers who think they are a product like Deco Beads, which are tiny, colored, water-filled spheres that keep plants hydrated.But thousands of them? In the middle of the desert?
No one is positive what these spheres are, and for now, all we can say
for certain is that they're definitely out of the ordinary.
- KGUN9.
WATCH: Mysterious Purple Spheres Found in the Desert.
It's only April, but some extreme heat has arrived over the Southwest U.S. this weekend. Why is this happening? A major upper-level ridge of high pressure has taken up shop across the region. This
upper ridge provides subsidence or sinking air. Sinking air actually
compresses and pressure builds. This build-up in pressure leads to an
air mass temperature increase.
We are forecasting high temperatures in the Desert Southwest to reach
the upper 90s and triple-digits; coming close to or exceeding the
record highs for the date in some cities. Cities that could break their daily record highs this weekend including Phoenix, Yuma, Tucson and Las Vegas. Before this weekend, Phoenix had not reached the century mark in
2012. The average first 100-degree reading comes around May 2. Last
year, the city first hit 100 degrees on April 1. The major warmth
won't only be confined to the Southwest but also permeate into the
Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys of California (Sacramento, Fresno) and also into the heart of the intermountain West (Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, Boise). In fact, record highs may be broken in the Pacific Northwest too including in Portland and Medford, Ore.
Highs across the region are forecast to be 10 to 20 degrees above average. This
intense heat will continue through at least the early part of the work
week with some slight mitigation of the heat by midweek. Look for Wednesday highs in the 90s again in the Desert Southwest, mid to upper 70s in the Salt Lake Valley and 80s to near 90 on the Strip in Vegas. Will
this pattern stick around? Unlike the previous pattern in place, this
shift will be relatively short-lived. Computer weather models currently
show the western ridge weakening as a new storm system approaches the
California coast late Wednesday into Thursday. - MSNBC.
Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.
Possible UFO sighting recorded from the Shenzhou 8, an unmanned flight of China's Shenzhou rocket program, launched on Monday, the 31st of October 2011, by a modified Long March 2F (CZ-2F) rocket which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
WATCH: UFO near China's Shenzhou 8 rocket.
Two videos of UFO activity over Phoenix in Arizona filmed in early November 2011.
WATCH: UFO over Phoenix, Arizona.
This strange flashing light was recorded in the night sky above Coquitlam in British Columbia, Canada on Sunday, the 30th of October, 2011.
WATCH: UFO over Coquitlam, BC, Canada.
New footage of UFO activity in the skies above Fresno in California. This was recorded on Saturday, the 4th of November, 2011 around 5:30 am.
WATCH: UFO activity over Fresno, California.
This footage of unknown flashing lights in the night sky was recorded in Tucson, Arizona on Wednesday, the 2nd of October, 2011.
WATCH: UFO over Tucson, Arizona.
This video of unknown bright objects was filmed in Cidade Ademar in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday, the 31st of October, 2011.
A blinding dust storm rolled across the Arizona desert Tuesday, causing three pileups involving dozens of vehicles on a major interstate. One man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured, authorities said.
The first two crashes occurred just after noon as a dust storm suddenly covered Interstate 10 near Picacho, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Those collisions involved 16 vehicles and led to the fatality. News footage showed dust roiling over dozens of cars, tractor-trailers and ambulances pulled over or strewn about the highway. Authorities were unable to transport injured motorists by helicopter because of the heavy dust. "It looked like a war zone," Patrick Calhoun, one of the first rescuers to responder to the scene, told The Associated Press. "This has been one of the worst pileups we've had on the I-10." Calhoun, with the Avra Valley Fire District, said the man who died was in the passenger seat of a car driven by a woman who appeared to be his wife. Their car had slammed into the back of a semi and was lodged underneath it, killing the man almost instantly and leaving the woman critically injured in a semiconscious state of shock.
Calhoun said it took 45 minutes to hook up winches to the vehicle, pull it out and then cut the woman out of the car to take her to a hospital. A second vehicle also was lodged under a semi, Calhoun said, and two people were extricated in a similar manner before being taken to a hospital. Blowing dust was a factor in both accidents agnd prevented a rescue helicopter from landing at either scene, Arizona public safety department spokesman Bart Graves told Reuters. "Deputies reported zero visibility when they arrived at the scene. There's still almost no visibility. The storm is just hovering around out there," he added. A third pileup occurred almost two hours later on I-10 just north of Casa Grande and involved eight vehicles. No one was killed in that collision; two people had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Graves said. Katie Maass, a spokeswoman at University Medical Center in Tucson, said the hospital was treating 12 patients involved in the collisions. Three were listed as critical and the other nine were in serious condition. - MSNBC.
UFO sightings in the United States have more than doubled this summer, according to a new research. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - an organisation that tracks reports of unidentified flying objects, said some states doubled their numbers in the last six weeks. According to MUFON, 1,013 sightings were reported in August, up from an average of about 500 per month nationwide. MUFON international director Clifford Clift told Life's Little Mysteries: "It's pretty exciting."
Mr Clift said the 'UFO flap', which occurs when a cluster of sightings happen in a short period of time, could be due to a psychological phenomenon called 'priming', in which people believe they see what they are told to look for, whether it exists or not. A shift in focus in popular culture could have led to an increase in sightings, he said - with more books, movies and television shows focusing on the mystery of the UFO and alien invasion. 'It's likely that the media and (alien-themed) movies that are coming out, like Apollo 18 and Paul, are piquing people's interest in UFOs,' Mr Clift told Little Mysteries. People are also more likely to go outdoors in the summer months, increasing the chance for sightings. Numbers could also be inflated due to duplication in sightings. Mr Clift also said MUFON has received reports of objects reported as UFOs, which the organisation has determined to be other objects, such as airplanes, shooting stars, satellites and weather balloons. The organisation, he said, is still investigating data on UFO sighting reports from recent weeks. - Daily Mail.
According to MUFON, 1,013 sightings were reported in August. Reports from their website UFOStalker.com detail a series of alleged sightings in the last week alone:
September 18, 2011: Hoboken, New Jersey - 'White stationary object...started to move and then reversed direction' September 17, 2011: Gilbert Mesa area, Arizona - 'Amber/orange glowing object' September 16, 2011: Westfield, Massachusetts - 'First two glowing orbs travelling at similar speeds' September 16, 2011: Charlotte, North Carolina - 'Orange lights that appeared to fly like controlled ballons' September 13, 2011: Bullhead City, Arizona - 'Five crafts flying down the Colorado river in formation then they stopped and hovered for several mins and then continued down the river'
Over the last couple of weeks, I have documented several of these sightings, including the flying object captured on television cameras during a Notre Dame football earlier this month and the weird light phenomenon seen across several states last week. Here are few more, plus sightings from around the world:
Possible unidentified submerged object (USO) was recorded on the West coast in Sweden. This video was recorded several days ago.
WATCH: Possible USO sighting on Sweden's coast.
New footage of unknown lights and objects hovering in the night sky above Tucson in Arizona. This was filmed on Monday, 19th September 2011.
In this one there is a bit more action then just a floating light you can see the blinking one which i think is Human made and the stable floating ones are the UFOs on the right corner you can actually see when one just disappears! - Brookefb Youtube Channel.
WATCH: UFO activity over Tucson, Arizona.
Two linked bright objects were recorded flying across the sky above Fraser Valley in Grand County, Colorado on 19th September 2011.
I first submitted a report about a sighting I had around 5:15 AM in the sky high above James Peak (Continental Divide) on August 29th, 2011. In the 21 days since, I have witnessed similar sightings, in the same general vicinity, for most of the clear mornings (cannot be seen when cloudy). There is a flashing, very bright object(brightest object in sky besides moon)in the sky high above the Continental Divide. The object at times appears still, but then clearly moves, making short jutting motions in erratic directions. For the first several nights (mornings, actually - I viewed it at varying times between 3:00 AM and 6:30 AM when the sun is up) I tried to capture this object on any and all of our cameras, but had no luck. All the cameras could capture was blackness. Finally, on September 4th, I was able to capture still photos and video of the object on my Blackberry phone (pictures/video attached). At times when millions of stars are visible to the naked eye, this is the only object that the camera on my phone would pick up, that evening and in several evenings since. Perhaps this isn't so odd, considering this object appears to be the brightest object in the sky, although many of the stars are nearly as bright, just not quite as large to the naked eye... - MUFON.
WATCH: UFO over Fraser Valley, Grand County, Colorado.
UFOs captured by an eye-witness on a Airbus A320 plane coming from France. This video capture was filmed on August 21 of this year.
A great UFO sighting come from the France. There are some UFOs taken from an airplane. The witness was on the Airbus A320 Airfrance, and he took three photos out the airplane to landscape. In a first time, he saw nothing. Only later, reviewing the photos, the witness noticed the UFO. According to Angelo Carannante, the manager of CUBMGC (Centro Ufologico di Benevento Mars Group Campano) and CUFOM (Centro Ufologico Mediterraneo), the appearance of these UFOs are very common. Carannante claims: “Seems that UFO have change tactics. This is a very interesting sighting." - CUFOMCHANNEL.
