Mar 23, 2021 11:21 PM
Scientists have been underestimating the power of tornadoes
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/...-tornadoes
RELEASE: The U.S. National Weather Service rates a twister's intensity by assessing the damage it leaves in its wake. But this methodology may be underrating tornadoes that move through open fields in rural areas, The Washington Post reports. For a decade, researchers measured the wind speed of 82 tornadoes that hit the Great Plains and showed that most of them were stronger and wider than the damages indicated, with about 20% reaching the highest levels of the so-called Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity. The findings, reported this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will be used by a joint committee of the American Meteorological Society and the American Society of Civil Engineers to improve estimates of the destructive power of tornados.
The Australian Floods Are Devastating Wildlife
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-australi...1846539042
EXCERPTS: Parts of Australia are underwater. The country has seen three feet of rain in just five days, constituting a once-in-a-century event. [...] All kinds of animals have gotten swept up in the floodwaters. “We’ve lost a lot of animals this weekend,” Nat Blatchford of the New South Wales-based animal rescue service Wildlife in Need of Care, told the Guardian, noting that some kangaroos had perished, as had many birds that became waterlogged in the rain.
Experts are also concerned for animals that live underground, like quolls and echidnas. [...] they can easily get trapped inside their homes by floodwaters. Blatchford told the Guardian that her organization has already seen this happen to wombats, and another expert told the outlet that bandicoots have also been affected.
[...] Rescue workers have also found several hawksbill turtles washed ashore by massive storm surge in the ocean, as well as hundreds of baby loggerhead tortoises, which are an endangered species.
[...] Australians have also captured photos of spiders and snakes swarming into their neighborhoods and homes, looking to escape the rising waters. ... That’s bad news since both spiders and snakes play vital roles regulating the food chains of Australian ecosystems. But also, coming home to a flooded house full of snakes is an absolute nightmare in itself. New South Wales authorities are warning residents returning home to keep an eye out for snakes as well as structural damage...
[...] The timing comes after the continent’s wildlife endured a brutal year in 2020 as bushfires ravaged the countryside... (MORE - details)
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/...-tornadoes
RELEASE: The U.S. National Weather Service rates a twister's intensity by assessing the damage it leaves in its wake. But this methodology may be underrating tornadoes that move through open fields in rural areas, The Washington Post reports. For a decade, researchers measured the wind speed of 82 tornadoes that hit the Great Plains and showed that most of them were stronger and wider than the damages indicated, with about 20% reaching the highest levels of the so-called Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity. The findings, reported this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will be used by a joint committee of the American Meteorological Society and the American Society of Civil Engineers to improve estimates of the destructive power of tornados.
The Australian Floods Are Devastating Wildlife
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-australi...1846539042
EXCERPTS: Parts of Australia are underwater. The country has seen three feet of rain in just five days, constituting a once-in-a-century event. [...] All kinds of animals have gotten swept up in the floodwaters. “We’ve lost a lot of animals this weekend,” Nat Blatchford of the New South Wales-based animal rescue service Wildlife in Need of Care, told the Guardian, noting that some kangaroos had perished, as had many birds that became waterlogged in the rain.
Experts are also concerned for animals that live underground, like quolls and echidnas. [...] they can easily get trapped inside their homes by floodwaters. Blatchford told the Guardian that her organization has already seen this happen to wombats, and another expert told the outlet that bandicoots have also been affected.
[...] Rescue workers have also found several hawksbill turtles washed ashore by massive storm surge in the ocean, as well as hundreds of baby loggerhead tortoises, which are an endangered species.
[...] Australians have also captured photos of spiders and snakes swarming into their neighborhoods and homes, looking to escape the rising waters. ... That’s bad news since both spiders and snakes play vital roles regulating the food chains of Australian ecosystems. But also, coming home to a flooded house full of snakes is an absolute nightmare in itself. New South Wales authorities are warning residents returning home to keep an eye out for snakes as well as structural damage...
[...] The timing comes after the continent’s wildlife endured a brutal year in 2020 as bushfires ravaged the countryside... (MORE - details)