Editorial
Weather wars! Astonishing turn-around from debilitating drought to Biblical type flooding in just hours smells of military intervention (Video)
Hurricane Irma
Commander of the Armed Forces thinks the military should tackle climate change.
At the Canadian Halifax International Forum in November 2016, Dutch Commander in Chief Tom Middendorp warned climate change is real and is a source of social unrest and conflict and the military should fight it! Full story
Fast forward to February 2019...
A year and a half's rain, fall in just 9 days, over a huge area which has been in drought conditions basically during the whole 21st century, how could that be even possible?
Volcanoes
BOOM! Mexico colossus the Popocatepetl volcano spews a two-kilometre ash plume into the night sky causing doors and windows to shake 44 km's away
The Popocatepetl volcano sent a two-kilometre ash plume in an eruption last night, triggering an ash fall alert for communities in the vicinity.
The 9:06 pm eruption was accompanied by the emission of incandescent material that fell a few meters from the crater on the eastern slope of the volcano and the two-kilometre-high plume of ash, water vapour and gases.
The explosion was heard in nearby towns and caused windows and doors to vibrate as far away as Puebla city, located 44 kilometres to the east of the volcano.
Authorities have issued recommendations following the low-scale eruption, including limiting open-air activities, bringing pets indoors and avoiding eating meals outside.
Major quakes
A powerful mag 6.4 strikes Indonesia: Indonesia suffered its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2018 with 3,000 dead from quakes
USGS
An earthquake of magnitude 6.4, struck south of the Indonesian town of Raba, off the central island of Sumbawa, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the second quake to hit the area on Tuesday.
There was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which hit at a depth of 36 km (22 miles), at a distance of about 230 km (143 miles) south of Raba in the east of the island, which forms part of West Nusa Tenggara province.
The quake followed one of magnitude 6 that struck in the same area.
The two quakes bring the total major quakes to 9 in 2019.
Extreme Weather
Weather wars! Astonishing turn-around from debilitating drought to Biblical type flooding in just hours smells of military intervention (Video)
Commander of the Armed Forces thinks the military should tackle climate change.
At the Canadian Halifax International Forum in November 2016, Dutch Commander in Chief Tom Middendorp warned climate change is real and is a source of social unrest and conflict and the military should fight it! Full story
Fast forward to February 2019...
A year and a half's rain, fall in just 9 days, over a huge area which has been in drought conditions basically during the whole 21st century, how could that be even possible?
Volcanoes
BOOM! Mexico colossus the Popocatepetl volcano spews a two-kilometre ash plume into the night sky causing doors and windows to shake 44 km's away
The 9:06 pm eruption was accompanied by the emission of incandescent material that fell a few meters from the crater on the eastern slope of the volcano and the two-kilometre-high plume of ash, water vapour and gases.
The explosion was heard in nearby towns and caused windows and doors to vibrate as far away as Puebla city, located 44 kilometres to the east of the volcano.
Authorities have issued recommendations following the low-scale eruption, including limiting open-air activities, bringing pets indoors and avoiding eating meals outside.
Major quakes
A powerful mag 6.4 strikes Indonesia: Indonesia suffered its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2018 with 3,000 dead from quakes
An earthquake of magnitude 6.4, struck south of the Indonesian town of Raba, off the central island of Sumbawa, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the second quake to hit the area on Tuesday.
There was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which hit at a depth of 36 km (22 miles), at a distance of about 230 km (143 miles) south of Raba in the east of the island, which forms part of West Nusa Tenggara province.
The quake followed one of magnitude 6 that struck in the same area.
The two quakes bring the total major quakes to 9 in 2019.
Extreme Weather
The newest area to suffer a record-breaking weather event is Moscow, the capital of Russia.
According to France 24, seven centimetres (2.8 inches) of snow fell overnight, according to the national meteorological service, with drifts reaching up to 45 centimetres (18 inches).
The Moscow meteorological service said the snowfall beat a record set in 1995 and amounted to almost a third of the average monthly figure, according to news agencies.
Hurricanes and cyclones
Tropical storm on Sunday-Super Typhoon Yutu by Wednesday: Most intense storm to ever strike the Northern Mariana Islands (NASA)
Yutu quickly strengthened from a tropical depression on Sunday into a super typhoon by Wednesday as it became the strongest tropical cyclone so far this year. Yutu will bring the continued risk for flooding, damaging winds and dangerous seas to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands into Thursday as the cyclone moves to the west.
A direct strike with winds over 240 km/h (150 mph) on Saipan and Tinian likely caused extensive damage to structures, downed trees and caused power outages.
Spaceweather
2019 more signs and wonders! The brightest star in the night sky Sirius will disappear briefly on Monday eclipsed by asteroid 4388 Jürgenstock
More signs and wonders, the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius will disappear briefly on Monday, February 18th, when the asteroid 4388 Jürgenstock will eclipse it for a couple of seconds.
According to the Weather Channel, it will be the first time Sirius has been blacked out.
The asteroid is sweeping around the sun and will come between Sirius and Earth on Monday, on Feb. 18th between 09:11 pm PST and 09:27 pm PST.
Western Mexico, Central US and Canada will be able to witness Sirius "disappearance."
Manmade disasters
Last week 214 whales died around New Zealand and Trump approved seismic tests that will harm thousands of Atlantic dolphins and whales.
Allegedly the US Navy, Australian Navy and New Zealand Navy were conducting a RIMPAC type underwater electronic weapons testing with Raytheon right where these whales died, I can not prove or confirm this but in a press release last week the President Trump administration approved seismic tests that could harm thousands of Atlantic dolphins and whales.
Climate Change
Arkhangelsk, Russia to introduce a state of emergency after a large group of aggressive polar bears have moved into town entering homes
Military people have since December been patrolling and guarding the streets to ensure safety but without the desired effect.
The polar bears no longer react to noise- and light signals from the guards patrolling with cars and dogs, the statement issued on Saturday by Arkhangelsk officials reads.
Consequently, the state of emergency is declared and a task force to assess the situation is now on its way to Novaya Zemlya.
Disease
A new disturbing Ebola-related virus has been found in bats in China known as the filovirus or Mengla virus and can be deadly to humans
The potentially dangerous filovirus, known as Mengla virus, comes from the Rousettus bat in Yunnan Province, China, and can lead to fatal fever diseases in humans, according to findings published Monday in Nature Microbiology.
"Studying the genetic diversity and geographic distribution of bat-borne filoviruses is very important for risk assessment and outbreak prevention as this type of infectious disease can affect the general public without warning with devastating consequences," Wang Lin-Fa, Director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Signature Research Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, said in a news release.
Animal Die-Offs
Thousands of cuttlefish wash up dead on a beach in Chile after heavy rains wreaked havoc at normally one of the driest places on Earth (Video)
Locals say such an incident has not happened before, and environmental authorities are investigating and have warned locals not to eat the fish amidst pollution fears.
There are concerns that the dead fish could damage the region's fishing industry, a major driver of the local economy. Bahia Inglesa is a popular summer destination for Chile, with thousands attracted to the area's pristine beaches.
The deaths remain as ever, a mystery.
The thousands of dead cuttlefish washed up close to where heavy rains have wreaked havoc in northern Chile last week causing rivers to overflow and forcing residents from their flooded homes.
Environment
Photo of the day! From pristine blue sky to sickly yellow in 30 minutes: Chemtrails above North Holland
Yesterday I decided to sit in the garden and catch my first vitamin D rays of 2019.
Around 12: pm, I sat in a comfy chair ready to enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon in the garden.
Within minutes the pristine blue sky began to turn a sickly yellow as lines and lines of chemtrails appeared almost simultaneously, within half an hour the sun had been blotted out completely.
I managed to take a couple of pictures with my cell-phone.
Wildfires
Its the headline of 2019: "Record" high temperatures causing massive forest fires in Chile as government declares a 'state of catastrophe'
Declaring catastrophe in parts of Biobio, La Araucania and Los Rios paves the way for the armed forces to take part in the efforts to battle the blazes, said acting Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla.
He told reporters that the fires have "increased significantly," prompting officials to take more drastic measures.
"High temperatures, strong winds and low humidity have been factors" in sparking and spreading the fires, said Ubilla.
Photo of the day
Picture of the day: Very tame Blackbird lays two beautiful blue eggs just 1 meter above our dining table
Earlier this month we noticed a female Blackbird hanging around under our conservatory in the back garden.
She was incredibly tame and totally unfazed by being around humans and we soon realised she was building a nest just 1 meter above our dining table, see picture below.
She soon delivered two beautiful blue eggs.
She stayed with us for a week or so sitting in her nest while we all went about our business and she was obviously very comfortable living among us.
Unfortunately one morning we came downstairs to see our lady friend in her nest with broken eggshells and behaving in a distressed manner, we think the nest was attacked by Magpies earlier that morning.
She is still to be found in our garden however and she is still very tame.
