Category: Black Horse

In drought-plagued northern Mexico, tens of thousands of cows are starving to death

By Kate Linthicum – August 1, 2021

CAJEME, Mexico — In the parched hills of southern Sonora, Marco Antonio Gutierrez paced around a clearing, counting the dead.There were seven rotting carcasses — jutting ribs and shriveled hides — and two sun-bleached skulls. Nine cows, felled by heat and hunger.

“There’s nothing for them to eat,” said Gutierrez, a wide-brimmed hat shading his downcast eyes. “There used to be big ranches here. Now it’s pure sorrow.”

Two years of extreme drought have turned large stretches of northern Mexico into a boneyard. Between starvation and ranchers forced to prematurely sell or slaughter their livestock, officials say the number of cattle in Sonora has dropped from 1.1 million to about 635,000.

It’s an unimaginable loss for a state that is world-famous for its high-quality cows, and where beef is not just a central part of the diet and economy but also a tradition that binds families together.

This is a place, after all, with a bull on its state flag, and where families gather every Sunday around their charcoal grills. Red meat is considered a birthright: It’s not uncommon for folks here to eat beef three times a day — machaca scrambled with eggs for breakfast, arrachera for lunch and carne asada for dinner.

Gutierrez, 55, and pretty much everyone he knows was born ranching. By the age of 10, he and his friends had all learned from their fathers how to lasso, brand and even pull a calf from the womb.

Now, as they desperately watch the skies for rain, they wonder if there’s any future in it.

https://www.latimes.com

Biggest in 50 Years: Alaska Rocked by Powerful 8.2 Earthquake, Follow-up Tsunami Warnings

Simon Kent – July 29, 2021

A powerful earthquake rocked Alaska’s southern coast early Wednesday morning, with prolonged shaking in the aftermath that prompted tsunami warnings across nearby coastal areas.

AP reports only minor damage was recorded, but officials said that could change after sunrise and people get a better look at an earthquake event set at the biggest in 50 years.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was magnitude 8.2 and hit 56 miles (91 kilometers) east southeast of Perryville, Alaska at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

The National Tsunami Warning Center canceled the warnings early Thursday when the biggest wave, of just over a half foot, was recorded in Old Harbor.

A tsunami warning that had also been issued for Hawaii was also canceled, and officials said there was no threat to Guam, American Samoa or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

Patrick Mayer, the superintendent of schools for the Aleutians East Borough, told AP he was sitting in his kitchen in the community of Sand Point when shaking from the quake started.

“It started to go and just didn’t stop,” Mayer told the Anchorage Daily News. “It went on for a long time and there were several aftershocks, too. The pantry is empty all over the floor, the fridge is empty all over the floor.”

On the Kenai Peninsula, a steady stream of cars were seen evacuating the Homer Spit, a jut of land extending nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) into Kachemak Bay that is a draw for tourists and fishermen.

https://www.breitbart.com

Plummeting reservoir levels could soon force Oroville hydropower offline

Julia Wick – July 21, 2021

A major California hydroelectric power plant could soon stop generating power amid worsening drought conditions.

According to state water officials, the Edward Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville could go offline as soon as August or September — a time frame that would coincide with a feared power crunch this summer. The plant, which opened in the late 1960s, has never been forced offline by low lake levels before.

“I think it’s a bit shocking,” said Jordan Kern, a professor at the department of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University. “The fact that it’s projected to go offline just speaks to how severe the drought is,” said Kern, who studies how power grids are impacted by extreme weather.

California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley said the commission is actively planning for the power plant to go offline this summer. But the Hyatt power plant is far from the only hydroelectric power source in the state that will likely be affected by California’s extreme weather.

On July 1, the energy commission, along with the California Independent System Operator and the California Public Utilities Commission, released a letter touching on the drought-driven hydropower losses expected this year, which are occurring amid historic heat event driven by climate change. According to the system operator, drought conditions could reduce the state’s hydropower capacity by up to approximately 1,000 megawatts in the coming months.

The Hyatt power plant is designed to produce up to 750 megawatts of power but typically produces between 100 and 400 megawatts, depending on lake levels. According to Buckley, average high demand in a day across the state is typically about 44,000 megawatts, so 400 megawatts would be a little less than 1% of that total.

“It’s not necessarily the tipping point,” Buckley said. “There’s a lot of different factors that are challenging overall grid reliability this summer. And Hyatt is one piece of the story.”

https://www.latimes.com

The U.S. experienced 8 billion-dollar disasters in the first six months of 2021

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The first six months of 2021 brought a total of 8 billion-dollar disasters to the United States, according to data provided by the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Disasters. The 1980 – 2020 annual average is 7.1 events (CPI-adjusted), while the annual average for the most recent 5 years (2016 – 2020) is 16.2 events (CPI-adjusted).

The United States experienced 4 severe storms with damages in excess of $1 billion in the first 6 months of 2021, including tornadoes, hail and high wind damage. The nation also had 2 flooding events with damages exceeding $1 billion, 1 winter storm with a deep freeze, and 1 heat wave-influenced drought.

The costliest event was the February 10 – 19 winter storm and cold wave in Texas that incurred direct losses of approximately $20 billion.

The next costliest disaster was the severe weather outbreak of April 27 – 28 in Texas and Oklahoma that caused $2.4 billion in damages.

The large hailstone you can see on the featured image fell on April 28, 2021, near Hondo, Texas. NCEI verified that it’s the largest hailstone on record to fall in Texas. It had a diameter of 16.29 cm (6.416 inches) and weighed 0.57 kg (1.26 pounds).

According to NOAA, these events resulted in the deaths of 331 people, but the actual number might be higher as it’s still not clear how many people died in the 2021 Texas deep freeze.

In 2020, the country had a record 22 weather and climate disasters, each causing at least $1 billion in damages. However, despite the record number of disasters in 2020, none of them made it among the costliest disasters ever to strike the U.S.

The 2021 YTD inflation-adjusted losses from all eight disasters were also at a near-record high for the first 6 months and came in at nearly $30 billion – only behind 2011, NOAA said.

The U.S. has experienced 298 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2021). The total cost of these 298 events exceeds $1.975 trillion.

https://watchers.news

WATCH: Rocks tumble down Sierra Nevada mountains after 6.0 quake & dozens of aftershocks rattle northern California

RT – July 9, 2021

A powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake and dozens of aftershocks have struck the California-Nevada border area, triggering a rockslide in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and reports of shaking from San Francisco to Carson City.

The most powerful jolt, eventually upgraded by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to magnitud 6.0, happened at 3:49pm local time on Thursday, some 150 miles east of Sacramento. Within the next two hours, the area was rattled by over 50 aftershocks ranging between 2.5 and 4.6 on the Richter scale.

The quake was the “result of normal faulting in the shallow crust of the North America plate,” USGS said, noting however that there is a small chance this was a foreshock of a larger earthquake, according to CBS Sacramento.

The earthquake swarm occurred along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, but witnesses reported shaking across much of Northern California, including the Sacramento region, and even as far away as San Francisco’s Bay Area and Carson City, Nevada.

The quake also triggered rockslides and a brief closure of Highway 395, where several cars were reportedly struck by rocks, though nobody was injured, according to the California Highway Patrol. Large boulders were seen scattered along the road in footage shared on social media.

Besides the rockslides, the state’s Office of Emergency Services said there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

https://www.rt.com

Approximately 1,000 evacuated as Canadian fires engulf town

AFP Staff Writers- July 1, 2021

About 1,000 people were evacuated in western Canada, authorities said Thursday, as fires raged amid an unprecedented heat wave, charring most of at least one town.

The province of British Columbia has recorded 62 new fires in the past 24 hours, premier John Horgan told a press conference.

“I cannot stress enough how extreme the fire risk is at this time in almost every part of British Columbia,” Horgan said.

The town of Lytton, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Vancouver, “has sustained structural damage and 90 percent of the village is burned, including the centre of town,” local MP Brad Vis said.

The village’s 250 residents were evacuated on Wednesday evening, one day after it set a jaw-dropping Canadian record high temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit).

The evacuation order was extended Wednesday night to residents of about 100 properties north of Lytton.

“The last 24 hours have been devastating for Lytton residents,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan wrote on Twitter, adding that the Canadian armed forces “are ready to support residents as we move forward in the next steps.”

Provincial authorities have not yet announced any injuries or death related to the fires, a number of which were also clustered north of the city of Kamloops, located some 150 kilometers northeast of Lytton.

Early Thursday evening, British Columbia fire authorities said the unprecedented hot and dry conditions had led them to expect another difficult day ahead.

https://www.terradaily.com

Drought Indicators in Western U.S. Flash Warnings of the ‘Big One’

Brian K Sullivan and Elizabeth Elkin – June 24, 2021

(Bloomberg) — Sarah Brunner opened the irrigation spigots on her farm in March, three months early. The rain should have still been falling in California. Now that summer is taking hold, she and her husband are considering shifting their meager water supplies into pastures so their animals will have enough to eat.

Brunner’s worries don’t stop at the barnyard. The family’s fields of shallots, garlic and goats are surrounded by thick Northern California forests, dried out and primed to burn. An early season wildfire near her home recently prompted Brunner to document her possessions and reevaluate her fire insurance. “I don’t feel safe anymore. It’s going to hit us hard,” she says. “There’s no doubt about it, we’re going to be inundated with fires. It’s just a matter of time.”

Drought in a habitat shared with bears, cougars and coyotes, all searching for a drink, has a way of compounding the danger. “The animals are going to get more desperate,” Brunner says.

Unstoppable drought is rolling over California and the Western U.S. once again, as it has with little interruption since the new century began. Nearly 98% of land across 11 Western states is abnormally dry, and more than 90% is covered by some category of drought—the worst levels in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s 21-year history. Reservoirs have drained to their bottoms, leaving bath-tub rings on their shorelines. Rivers reduced to trickles are setting off conflicts for dwindling water rights. Millions of acres of trees and shrubs have turned from shade to fuel for the out-of-control blazes everyone predicts will come.

“As far as drought goes, this is the big one, especially if we are talking about the broader drought across the whole Southwest,” says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles. “By a lot of metrics, it is the most severe drought on record.”

https://finance.yahoo.com

Shallow M6.1 earthquake hits Seram Island, Indonesia – tsunami warning issued

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A shallow earthquake registered by the Indonesian BMKG as M6.1 hit Seram Island, Moluccas, Indonesia at 04:43 UTC (11.43 LT) on June 16, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC and USGS are reporting M5.8 at a depth of 10.6 km (6.6 miles).

The epicenter was located 70.6 km (43.9 miles) ESE of Amahai (population 47 653) and 147 km (91.3 miles) E of Ambon (population 355 596), Maluku, Indonesia.

There are 300 000 people living within 100 km (62 miles).

9 000 people are estimated to have felt moderate shaking and 278 000 light, according to the USGS.

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) warned of possible aftershocks and tsunami potential, especially to Seram Island. “Please move away from beaches and move to higher ground,” BMKG said.

While the agency initially said there was no tsunami potential, it later said a tsunami wave could potentially be triggered by landslides.

“The results of tsunami modeling with a tectonic earthquake source showed that this earthquake has no tsunami potential, but based on observations of sea level… it showed the sea level rose as high as 0.5 m (1.6 feet),” BMKG said.

Residents along the coast of Tehoru panicked and ran up nearby hills when the sea started rising, but many have since returned home.

Local officials said some buildings sustained damage like cracked walls and windows, but there were no reports of injuries or casualties.

https://watchers.news

The Shaking In California Is Getting WORSE As Hundreds And Hundreds Of Earthquakes Cause Alarm On The West Coast

– June 6, 2021

Are we getting close to a major seismic event on the west coast?  Within the past several days, we have seen hundreds of earthquakes happen in southern California, there have been large earthquakes offshore near the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and there has been a very alarming swarm of earthquakes at Mt. Hood.  We haven’t seen this much seismic activity along the west coast in quite a long time, and many are concerned that this could be leading up to something really big.

At this moment, scientists are carefully monitoring the area around the Salton Sea.  According to the USGS, in one 24 hour period over the weekend more than 600 earthquakes of at least magnitude 1.0 shook that area of southern California…

More than 600 small earthquakes have been recorded this weekend in a rural area near the Salton Sea in Southern California, with the largest having a magnitude of 5.3, a US Geological Survey geophysicist told CNN.

Geophysicist Randy Baldwin said 603 temblors with a magnitude of at least 1 happened in the area from Saturday to just before sunrise Sunday.

The magnitude 5.3 quake was felt throughout the region.

In fact, it is being reported that it was even felt at an apartment building that was 95 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake…

People in Chula Vista, San Diego, El Centro and Indio felt the 5.3 quake, according to the USGS, Did You Feel It reports. The tool collects information from people who report they’ve felt an earthquake and creates an interactive map.

Saturday morning’s shaking could be felt in an apartment building near Del Mar, California, approximately 95 miles away from the location of the earthquake.

When I wrote about the alarming rise of earthquake activity on the west coast a week ago, just over 1,000 earthquakes had occurred in California and Nevada over the previous seven days.

Now that number is up to 1,757, and it seems to be going up with each passing hour.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

Another worrying earthquake swarm hits Lake Tahoe – Scientists concerned about the potential for a tsunami

Strange Sounds – May 28, 2021

At least six earthquakes, including one with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2, shook the Lake Tahoe, Reno and Carson City area early on Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The strongest one struck near the north end of the lake at Dollar Point, Calif., around 8:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. There were no immediate reports of damage.

It came as Lake Tahoe’s resorts and tourist destinations prepared for a Memorial Day holiday that they hope will help lift the pall of the coronavirus pandemic and as legislators in Nevada’s capital met in early sessions to finish business before heading home for a long weekend.

It was also the latest in a series of quakes that had seismologists watching the Lake Tahoe area closely, concerned that a bigger quake could create a tsunami.

https://strangesounds.org