Month: April 2020

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Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:

There are no current tropical storms.

NewsBytes:

Canada – Update – Fort McMurray is under evacuation for the second time in four years. The Albertan town was besieged by a huge wildfire in 2016, but now it faces flooding due to an army of ice. The Athabasca River that cuts through the town has been choked by piles of ice chunks that stretch roughly 15 miles, according to the Albertan government. That’s left water with nowhere to go but into the streets, businesses, and homes of Fort McMurray, Canada’s tar sands capital. The regional government has issued mandatory evacuation orders for 13,000 people over the past 48 hours and more could be on the way as water continues to back up on the Athabasca and other rivers in the area.

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Kenya – Update – At least 116 people have now died due to floods caused by torrential rains in Kenya, local media reported on Wednesday. The floods in the eastern African country have affected some 29 counties, leaving 100,000 households displaced.

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Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity – New Activity for the Week 22 April 2020 – 28 April 2020

Karymsky | Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) : KVERT reported that a thermal anomaly over Karymsky was identified in satellite images on 17 and 21 April; gas-and-steam plumes containing some ash drifted 80 km SE on those same days. The Aviation Colour Code remained at Yellow (the second lowest level on a four-colour scale).

Krakatau | Indonesia : PVMBG reported that during 21-28 April weather conditions around Anak Krakatau often prevented visual observations, though white plumes were sometimes seen rising 25-50 m high. The Alert Level remained at 2 (on a scale of 1-4), and the public was warned to remain outside of the 2-km-radius hazard zone from the crater.

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Space Events

Comet – Swan

With less air traffic due to travel bans, sky gazers have been enjoying an undisrupted view of the stars. However, stars are not the only celestial treasures worth looking up for: you may also be able to spot a pair of comets during lockdown.

South Africans should hopefully be able to catch a glimpse of the comet Swan, which is visible now and should remain visible for the next week or so, when it will move on to the northern hemisphere. As comet Swan moves closer to the horizon, it will appear to be getting considerably brighter with its tail getting slightly longer, granting an even better view.

Comet

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Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:

There are no current tropical storms.

NewsBytes:

Morocco – Seven people watching a football match in Morocco have been killed in a flash flood that swept across the pitch. Heavy rainfall caused the nearby river to swell which flooded the football field in Tizert, in the Taroudant region of Morocco.

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Wildfires

Wildfires – Florida, USA

A wildfire fire sparked by mistake and fed by drought burned more than 1,200 acres in South Florida’s Everglades and continues to smolder despite pockets of drenching rain over the weekend. The so-called Sunday Afternoon fire that has seared sawgrass prairie, melaleuca and Australian Pine in Everglades National Park began April 19 and was 70 percent contained as of Monday.

Fires on adjacent state-owned land were mostly extinguished, but concerns are mounting that relaxed coronavirus orders could mean more unintended ignitions with 65 percent of the state in moderate to severe drought.

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Disease

COVID-19

The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:

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Covid-19 – Taiwan

For the third consecutive day, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that no additional cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were confirmed. To date, Taiwan has reported 429 confirmed COVID-19 cases–of this, 343 are imported and 55 are indigenous while 31 are Navy members aboard the Panshi fast combat support ship. Of the confirmed cases, there have been 6 deaths.

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Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:

There are no current tropical storms.

NewsBytes:

Somalia – The 2020 Gu (April-June) seasonal rains continued to intensify across Somalia during the 4th week of April. Compared to the previous two weeks, there was a significant increase of rainfall in most parts of Somalia as well as the eastern Ethiopian highlands. Many areas observed more than three days of consecutive heavy rains across the country. The good rains received so far have continued to replenish water and pasture resources. An improvement in livestock body conditions and milk production has been reported as well. On the downside, parts of the country experienced flash flood and flooding has begun in the Juba and Shabelle rivers.

Canada – Floods have forced mandatory evacuations in parts of Fort McMurray, the hub for Canada’s oil sands industry, even as the province of Alberta tries to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, ordered mandatory evacuations of some residents that began on Sunday and were expanded on Monday. Ice jams caused the Athabasca River to spill its banks.

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Wildlife

Climate Change Affecting Antarctic Seals

Crabeater seals have historically been quite successful. Their population ranges around 15 million, and conservationists haven’t had to worry too much about them—until now. Climate change is quickly changing the habitat of these cute Antarctic critters, and a new study shows that these seals will have to work harder for their food in a warmer world.

Despite the name, these ice-loving animals eat krill. In fact, that’s about all they eat. So the team followed seals and looked at their foraging patterns to predict krill habitat and project how that might change moving forward.

The results show that increased heat and loss of sea ice (which helps keep the sun’s heat out of the water) could reduce krill populations and push them to seek shelter farther south. That’s bad news for these seals that love to hang out near the coast on the ice where krill are typically found these days. If the krill move away from coastal waters—as the models in this study predict—the crabeater seals will need to swim farther to find them and eat.

The animals may spend more energy in search of a food source that may be less abundant. But understanding the changes here is crucial not just for the seals’ fate, but krill and other animals that rely on it as the base of the food chain.

The shift in krill habitat away from coastal waters in the north has big implications for species like penguins and fur seals, which can’t make long foraging trips because they have to come back to land to feed their offspring.

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Wildfires

Wildfires – Siberia

Wildfires in Siberia, Russia, are bringing even more misery to an area which is already on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. On April 23, 2020, strong winds helped to push fires set by locals to dry grass out of control. The regions of Kemerovo and Novosibirsk among others have been the hardest hit to date. Nine Siberian regions have been affected by these wildfires. Clouds of smoke have swept across the Siberian landscape.

Novosibirsk

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Disease

COVID-19

The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:

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Zimbabwe – Malaria

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa reports a surge in malaria cases in Zimbabwe. According to officials, the increase in malaria cases began in early March 2020. The week ending April 12, Zimbabwe saw more than 35,000 cases and 25 deaths. Since the beginning of the year through last week, Zimbabwe has seen a cumulative total of 170,303 malaria cases, including 152 deaths (CFR 0.1%).