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Welcome to Armageddon Online - Disaster News, Future Scenarios, Preparedness and Survival |
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Climate + Environment
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May 06, 2013 |
Californians are preparing for a prolonged season of wildfires after an unusually dry winter that left millions of acres of scrub brush in the most populous U.S. state primed to burn. The tinder-box conditions have sparked more than 840 wildfires since January, about 320 more than the five-year average, according to the state Forestry and Fire Protection Department, known as Cal Fire. A fast-moving fire in Ventura County over the weekend charred an area the size of San Francisco, forced the evacuation of a college with 4,900 students and threatened 4,000 homes northwest of Los Angeles.
Wind-swept fires across the state following similarly dry winter months in 2008 burned more than 1.2 million acres and killed 13 firefighters, according to Cal Fire. In 2007, firestorms swept through Southern California, destroying 1,500 homes, displacing almost a million residents and killing 17. |
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May 06, 2013 |
Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.
Scientists even have a horror-movie name for the infestation: Brood II. But as ominous as that sounds, the insects are harmless. They won't hurt you or other animals. At worst, they might damage a few saplings or young shrubs. Mostly they will blanket certain pockets of the region, though lots of people won't ever see them. |
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April 23, 2013 |
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant must get its act together and stabilize the plant’s “essential systems,” the International Atomic Energy Agency urged on Monday, saying that it will likely take more time than the 40 years to properly decommission the site.
Picture taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on April 17, 2013 shows members of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology inspecting the control room of the unit one and two reactor buildings of the crippled TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture (AFP / IAEA) The prepared statements from the IAEA were released just hours after Fukushima operator TEPCO said it had switched off a reactor cooling system after discovering two dead rats near critical equipment—the third time in five weeks that cooling equipment at the site has gone off-line because of rodents. |
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April 18, 2013 |
Yellowstone's underground volcanic plumbing is bigger and better connected than scientists thought, researchers reported here today (April 17) at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting.
"We are getting a much better understanding of the volcanic system of Yellowstone," said Jamie Farrell, a seismology graduate student at the University of Utah. "The magma reservoir is at least 50 percent larger than previously imaged." -- Knowing the volume of molten magma beneath Yellowstone is important for estimating the size of future eruptions, Farrell told OurAmazingPlanet. {LIVESCIENCE} |
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March 24, 2013 |
Spring has arrived, but Winter Storm Virgil will make it feel like we are in the heart of winter for millions from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic through this weekend and into Monday.
Virgil delivered nearly a foot of snow to Denver and 15 inches of snow to Goodland, Kan. on Saturday.
Snow will gradually wind down Sunday morning across eastern Kansas, southeast Nebraska and northeast Oklahoma. |
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March 21, 2013 |
Another major storm will cross the nation from coast to coast with heavy snow, flooding rain and severe thunderstorms. The worst conditions with the storm may center over the Palm Sunday weekend.
Like many storms during the second half of the winter, this first major storm of the spring could threaten lives and property, bring significant travel disruptions and foil outdoor plans. After bringing drenching rain and heavy mountain snow to the Northwest and part of the Rockies later this week, a storm from the Pacific will reorganize over the Central states this weekend. |
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February 25, 2013 |
Extreme weather events have been on the rise in the last few decades, and man-made climate change may be causing them by interfering with global air-flow patterns, according to new research.
The Northern Hemisphere has taken a beating from extreme weather in recent years — the 2003 European heat wave, the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2011 heat wave in the United States, for example. These events, in a general sense, are the result of the global movement of air. Giant waves of air in the atmosphere normally even out the climate, by bringing warm air north from the tropics and cold air south from the Arctic. But a new study suggests these colossal waves have gotten stuck in place during extreme weather events. |
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January 22, 2013 |
The accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011 alerted the American nuclear industry and its regulators to the possibility that operators at plants with more than one reactor might have to deal with more than one meltdown at a time in a flood, earthquake or other catastrophe. Officials are now working to assure that they could master that situation.
But documents uncovered by a group that is critical of nuclear safety show that a high-level safety analyst at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission posed the possibility to his superiors in July 2007, about four years before the earthquake and tsunami that led to three simultaneous meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. The documents also show that in August 2008, the commission staff formally acknowledged the issue. [NYT] |
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January 20, 2013 |
Unrelenting snowfalls have caused unprecedented chaos in Russia. Over the past week, the country has seen scores of traffic accidents, flight delays and, in some cases, the complete isolation of some remote settlements and towns.
On Friday, Moscow was on a verge of traffic collapse as more than 10 inches of snow fell on the city, which is more than half of January’s average.
Thousands of passengers were stranded overnight in the capital’s major airports, as several dozen flights were delayed. |
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January 12, 2013 |
Record heat, deadly cold temperatures, flooding and rare snowfall - a wide range of extreme weather events have taken place around the world in the last few weeks.
The latest such example is from the Middle East, where flooding rains this week were followed by rare snow on Thursday.
- Several inches of snow accumulated in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Thursday, according to reports from The Associated Press. The snow, reportedly the most in a decade, had significant impacts on transportation.
- Prior to the snow, heavy rainfall led to flooding in parts of the Middle East.
Let's step through four more world weather extremes beginning with record heat where it's summer right now. |
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January 07, 2013 |
Beginning near or just past the middle of the month, signs are pointing toward waves of frigid air moving southward across North America from the North Pole.
Much of the nation has been experiencing higher-than-average temperatures and lower heating bills so far during the cold weather season, with the exception of some bouts the past couple of weeks. However, there are signs of a potential change on the way beginning during the second half of January. [ACCUWEATHER] |
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December 24, 2012 |
All the ingredients are coming together for a major snowstorm to unfold Christmas Day and spread from the southern Plains to the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast.
Far more potent than the snow event headed to the Northeast just in time for Christmas, this storm will unload windswept and burying snow on its northwestern flank.
While snow will push through the Rockies--including Denver--into tonight, the worst of the snowstorm will take shape Christmas Day across the southern Plains. |
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December 24, 2012 |
Drought, wildfire, hurricanes, a deadly typhoon and cold snap — this year had a lot to offer in terms of weather news.
Weather historian Christopher C. Burt, who blogs for the meteorological website Weather Underground, has been keeping tabs on events this year, and the headliner is clear, he said: Unusually warm temperatures, most notably across the continental United States.
We take a look back at the most significant weather of 2012: |
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December 04, 2012 |
Scientists using NASA satellite data and climate models have projected drier conditions likely will cause increased fire activity across the United States in coming decades. Other findings about U.S. wildfires, including their amount of carbon emissions and how the length and strength of fire seasons are expected to change under future climate conditions, were also presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Doug Morton of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., presented the new analysis of future U.S. fire activity. The analysis was based on current fire trends and predicted greenhouse gas emissions.
"Climate models project an increase in fire risk across the U.S. by 2050, based on a trend toward drier conditions that favor fire activity and an increase in the frequency of extreme events," Morton said. |
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December 04, 2012 |
A "black swan" cyclone may sound like the latest comic book hero, but this "extreme of the extremes" is the result of climate models that suggest global warming will make future hurricanes more intense.
The rare monster tropical cyclones (the term for hurricanes, typhoons and other tropical storms) could inundate coastal areas with storm surges greater than 15 feet (4.6 meters), and could even surpass 30 feet (9 m) in some regions of the world. The research was described here yesterday (Dec. 3) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. [LS] |
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November 29, 2012 |
Sea-level rise is occurring much faster than scientists expected – exposing millions more Americans to the destructive floods produced by future Sandy-like storms, new research suggests.
Satellite measurements over the last two decades found global sea levels rising 60% faster than the computer projections issued only a few years ago by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The faster sea-level rise means the authorities will have to take even more ambitious measures to protect low-lying population centres – such as New York City, Los Angeles or Jacksonville, Florida – or risk exposing millions more people to a destructive combination of storm surges on top of sea-level rise, scientists said. |
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November 23, 2012 |
Wild weather is taking a toll on roads, airports, railways and transit systems across the country.
That's leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy that are straining the nation's transportation lifelines beyond what their builders imagined.
Despite their concerns about intense rain, historic floods and record heat waves, some transportation planners find it too politically sensitive to say aloud a source of their weather worries: climate change. [LA] |
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November 07, 2012 |
Weather experts had good news for beleaguered northeast coastal residents Tuesday: A new storm that threatened to complicate Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts on Wednesday now looks like it will be weaker than expected.
As the storm moves up the Atlantic coast from Florida it now is expected to veer farther offshore than earlier projections had indicated. Jeff Masters of the private weather service Weather Underground says that means less wind and rainfall on land.
Even so, he said winds could still gust to 50 mph in New York and New Jersey Wednesday afternoon and evening. |
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November 05, 2012 |
A week after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the New Jersey and New York coast lines, another challenge loomed Monday for the region: a slow-moving Nor’easter, capable of delivering punishing amounts of wind, rain and snow.
Though this storm will not have near the magnitude of the impact Sandy had, the combination of rain, wind and snow will add insult to injury for the recovery process along the East Coast," The Weather Channel’s Chris Dolce reported.
Starting in Florida Tuesday morning, the storm will move up the East Coast and into the Carolinas late in the day, TODAY Show Chief Meteorologist Al Roker said. By Wednesday morning, the storm will move into New Jersey with strong onshore wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour and waves measuring 10 to 20 feet high. The storm could bring 2 to 4 inches of rainfall in the area as it makes its way into New England Thursday. |
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October 15, 2012 |
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Some of the deadliest outbreaks of tornadoes in recent years have been linked to a particular type of climate pattern by a new study. The findings could help forecasters determine when twisters are most likely to strike. The pattern is called Trans-Niño and is part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the climate cycle influenced by surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, which affects global weather patterns. Trans-Niño occurs most notably when La Niña is winding down in the springtime, and creates conditions favorable for tornadoes in the central and eastern United States, according to the study, published recently in the Journal of Climate. |
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October 11, 2012 |
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Drought conditions in the United States grew even worse over the last week as historic drought conditions crept north and threatened new winter wheat planting in several states. September was the driest in 118 years of U.S. record keeping for North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana and was the third-driest September for Nebraska and Oregon, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the University of Nebraska's National Drought Mitigation Center. [sciam] |
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October 02, 2012 |
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Would Hurricane Katrina have been even more devastating if it hadn't been named? Would people take more notice of blizzards more seriously if a strong front were named after a Greek god or goddess? That's what the Weather Channel is thinking. The company announced Tuesday that it would name major winter storms during the upcoming season. "The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation," the company said in its official announcement. "Winter storms occur on a time and space scale that is similar to tropical systems." |
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October 02, 2012 |
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The combination of dry air and gusty winds will enhance the risk for fires across a large part of the West and northern Plains today. Coming off a record fire season, this is the last thing that exhausted firefighters want to hear. Parts of more than a dozen states will experience near-optimal conditions for fire ignition and growth; that is, relative humidity levels less than 20 percent and wind gusts over 20 mph. Recent and long-term dry weather has already set the groundwork, with plenty of dried vegetation and leaves present for any fires to feed off of. |
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October 02, 2012 |
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Australia's Great Barrier Reef is a glittering gem — the world's largest coral reef ecosystem — chock-full of diverse marine life. But new research shows it is also in steep decline, with half of the reef vanishing in the past 27 years. Katharina Fabricius, a coral reef ecologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and study co-author, told LiveScience that she has been diving and working on the reef since 1988 — and has watched the decline. "I hear of the changes anecdotally, but this is the first long-term look at the overall status of the reef. There are still a lot of fish, and you can see giant clams, but not the same color and diversity as in the past." To get their data, Fabricius and her colleagues surveyed 214 different reefs around the Great Barrier Reef, compiling information from 2,258 surveys to determine the rate of decline between 1985 and 2012. They estimated the coral cover, or the amount of the seafloor covered with living coral. [LS] |
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October 01, 2012 |
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It’s often overlooked and taken for granted, but it’s the most essential of all human resources : Water. We’re paying 75% more for it today than we were in the year 2000. According to a recent study by USA Today, which looked at 100 large municipalities across the country, the price increases over the last decade are so significant that many Americans are having to cut other expenses just to keep up. |
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October 01, 2012 |
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Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain. Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year." |
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Climate + Environment 
