Archive
Russian volcano activity causes global concern
Now the world has something else to grip about when it comes to Russia – the weather.
A string of volcanoes on Russia’s eastern seaboard of Kamchatka have been unusually active for the last six months. The dust they threw up diverted winds in the Arctic, pushing cold air over Europe and North America and causing the unusually cold winter this year, say scientists.
The volcanoes (160 in total, of which 29 are active) are still on the go and could create more problems this year, depressing harvests around the world just as global food prices soar and Read more…
Sri Lanka Flooding; nearly 900,000 Displaced
At least 13 people have been killed and more than 800,000 affected by fresh floods across Sri Lanka that have swept away homes, roads and vast swathes of agricultural land. Renewed heavy rainfall across several districts in Sri Lanka have forced army and navy personnel to fan out in teams to reach relief to the affected.
The incessant rains in several parts of the country have called for more humanitarian assistance for those who have lost their homes and livelihoods.
The prevailing weather conditions in most parts of the country have once again left thousands homeless for the second time in two months.
This time, however, the number of people that have been affected is somewhat lesser than last time. The people in the North Central and Eastern Provinces have been warned of the situation and have been advised to be on alert.
The situation has forced many schools to once again temporarily halt their activities for the safety of the children and the teachers. Some of them have been converted into temporary shelters for those who have been displaced.
While priority has been given for the well being of the affected people, the focus has also been on unprecedented effects of climate change.
The Meteorological Department admits that this was the worst weather condition experienced by Read more…
Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms
Superstorms can also cause certain societies, cultures or whole countries to collapse. Others may go to war with each other.
 Courtesy: Weather Snob
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(CHICAGO) – NASA has been warning about it…scientific papers have been written about it…geologists have seen its traces in rock strata and ice core samples…
Now “it” is here: an unstoppable magnetic pole shift that has sped up and is causing life-threatening havoc with the world’s weather.
Forget about global warming—man-made or natural—what drives planetary weather patterns is the climate and what drives the climate is the sun’s magnetosphere and its electromagnetic interaction with a planet’s own magnetic field.
When the field shifts, when it fluctuates, when it goes into flux and begins to become unstable anything can happen. And what normally happens is that all hell breaks loose.
Magnetic polar shifts have occurred many times in Earth’s history. It’s happening again now to every planet in the solar system including Earth.
The magnetic field drives weather to a significant degree and when that field starts migrating superstorms start erupting.
The superstorms have arrived
The first evidence we have that the dangerous superstorm cycle has started is the Read more…
Queensland counts Yasi’s huge cost
By Greg Ansley
Under leaden skies and sheets of torrential rain that obscured its ranges, north Queensland was last night counting both costs and blessings as Cyclone Yasi raged far into the west, losing potency as it went.
The massive category-five cyclone – raging on to the coast between Cairns and Townsville early yesterday and cutting a 1000km-wide swathe – was the largest storm in the state’s modern history.
But while it caused huge damage, it missed the region’s biggest population centres and, as far as authorities could judge last night, left no one dead or seriously injured. However, last night, two men were missing in Innisfail.
In Cairns, three babies were born at Yasi’s peak – one a girl in an evacuation centre, helped by a midwife also sheltering there.
There may yet be some tragic shocks: Read more…
Australia Cyclone Yasi upgraded to Category 5
Ian Hitchcock / Getty Images
CAIRNS, Australia — A powerful cyclone bearing down on Australia was upgraded to a maximum-strength Category 5 storm, with the likelihood of serious damage and risk to life.
“This is the most severe, most catastrophic storm that has ever hit our coast,” Anna Bligh, premier of Queensland State, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We’ve seen a number of worst case scenarios come together.”
“This impact is likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations,” Queensland disaster officials added in an updated warning.
Yasi is expected to make landfall overnight on the Queensland coast between Cairns and Innisfail. Read more…
South Africa: Floods kill 120 and destroy crops
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South Africa is reeling from unusually heavy rainfall that has caused flooding in many parts of the country, wiping out crops in what is the continent’s main breadbasket.
More than 120 people have been killed in the thunderstorms and flooding since mid-December, and some 20,000 people are in need of assistance. The South African government has declared disaster areas in eight of its nine provinces.
And it’s not over yet. Above-average rainfall is forecast for South Africa and neighboring countries for the next few months.
Much of southern Africa is now on flood alert, including Mozambique, where at least 13 people have died from floods and thousands have fled their homes for higher ground. Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia are also on alert for flooding.
While this is the annual rainy season in southern Africa, the heavier than usual rainfall has been blamed on La Nina, the weather pattern behind the severe flooding in other southern hemisphere countries including Australia, Brazil and the Philippines.
In South Africa, the government has put the flood damage at $211 million, but this is an early estimate and expected to rise. At least Read more…
Why Are Commodity Prices Rising? Let Me Count the Ways
Our overview of 2011 ‘What Ifs’ concentrated on the concepts of bifurcation and biflation. Those themes are already playing out just a couple of weeks into the New Year. Inflation in all types of commodities has ramped up even further, leaving countries like China, India, Brazil, Thailand and South Korea to deal with more than their fair share of these inflationary forces. Meanwhile, easy monetary policy in the U.S. and Europe just adds fuel to the inflation fire.
The United Nations food agency (FAO) kicked off 2011 by announcing that December of 2010 saw food prices eclipse the record levels hit during the 2008 food crisis, which triggered riots in Egypt, Cameroon, and Haiti at the time. The current spike in food prices has already caused violent food riots in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen, and Jordan.
Food Inflation by the Numbers
Food inflation has already hit double digits in China, India and Brazil. It’s not hard to see why when you look at how some of the major soft commodities have performed over the last 12 months:
- Corn: + 69%
- Wheat: + 47%
- Soy Beans: + 44%
- Sugar: + 15%
- Coffee: + 65%
- Cotton: + 105%
(Trailing 12-month price moves as of January 12, 2011)
While these price spikes are causing food and clothing prices to rise, those effects will undoubtedly be exacerbated by the simultaneous rise in energy and raw materials we have seen:
- Oil: + 15% over 12 months and + 30% since the August, 2010 low
- Copper: + 30%
Overall, you can see the rise in commodity prices in the CRB Index, up about 30% since August of 2010, but well off the parabolic peak of 2008: Read more…
Brazil mourns as flood toll tops 600
BRAZIL has declared three days of mourning for at least 610 people killed near Rio de Janeiro in the country’s worst flood disaster.
Emergency workers in the disaster zone, in the Serrana region just north of Rio, were overwhelmed by the body count. Refrigerator trucks were brought in to store corpses.
Workers transporting bodies said they feared the death toll from last Wednesday’s floods and mudslides could top 1000 as rescuers reached outlying hamlets.
An estimated 14,000 people were assisted by rescue workers or lost their homes in the Serrana area towns hardest hit about 100 kilometres from coastal Rio, civil defence figures showed.
The hardest-hit town was Nova Friburgo, where 274 people were killed. Nearby Teresopolis had 263 dead, 55 were killed in Petropolis and 18 lost their lives in Sumidouro, officials said.
Workers transporting bodies said they feared the death toll could more than double. President Dilma Rousseff declared three days of mourning, government news agency Agencia Brasil reported. Rio de Janeiro state authorities said their state would observe a week of mourning. ”I think in the end we’ll see more than 1000 bodies,” a funeral worker said.
Authorities made an urgent appeal for blood, bottled water, food and medicine.
At least four refrigerated trucks were outside an overflowing makeshift morgue inside a church in Teresopolis.
Flooding, Avalanche Threat Continues Across Northwest
Drenching rainfall from the latest in a series of storms will continue to cause flooding across parts of the Pacific Northwest today.
Another 1 to 3 inches of rain will fall today along the Pacific coast and in the valleys of western Washington and Oregon, including Seattle and Portland. Heavy rain will also douse areas well to the east of the Cascades, across parts of western Washington and Oregon, as well as parts of Idaho.
The rain will fall heaviest during the morning hours before becoming more showery-in-nature by tonight.
Regardless of intensity, any additional rainfall will only exasperate ongoing flooding, which could make for slow travel along the I-5 corridor south to Medford. Motorists should always avoid driving through areas where water is ponding.
Higher rainfall totals are likely in the upslope areas of the Cascades. River flooding is already ongoing along rivers flowing off the mountains, including the Cowlitz, Nisqually and Puyallup Rivers. Read more…
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