'Brace for more snow': Groundhog Day Storm to affect 100 million people next week
- Weather experts predicts a massive winter storm to hit on February 2
- The severe conditions will affect the South, Midwest and Northeast
- Big Apple deluged by snowiest January in history
A massive winter storm forecast for February 2 is set to affect more than 100 million people, weather experts have predicted.
The Groundhog Day snowstorm is expected to hit the South, Midwest and Northeast of the country, building from early next week.
The storm is likely to severely impact ground travel, cancellation of flights and school closures according to AccuWeather.
Groundhog Day Storm: Weather experts have predicted a severe snow storm will affect 100 million people leading up to and on February 2
Meteorologist Heather Buchman said: 'This is the type of storm that could shut down the region with high winds, plunging temperatures, ice, snow and a rapid freeze-up on roads'.
According to folklore, if a groundhog leaves its burrow on February 2 does not see its shadow, this will signify that the end of winter is coming.
However, if the groundhog sees its shadow then it will retreat back into its burrow and there will be another six weeks of winter.
The Groundhog Day storm prediction comes as normal service was resuming in the winter-weary north-eastern U.S. today after yet another storm
Picture perfect: A pedestrian walks in the snow in Battery Park, New York, yesterday after the huge snowfall
Buses in New York were running again after service was suspended on Wednesday and Thursday, while schools reopened yesterday.
The powerful storm - the latest in a long line of such storms this winter - dumped a thick blanket of snow throughout the region.
The blizzard stretched from the southern Appalachian Mountains to coastal Massachusetts.
In New York's Central Park, there were 19 inches of snow on Thursday morning, beating the single-day record set in 1925, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Subway passengers stranded on Coney Island refused to get off the train because they had no other means of keeping warm.
Clearing a path: Snow ploughs hard at work making day to day life possible
'I said, 'I have no where to go, I'm not leaving,'' passenger Eva Mahoney told NY1. 'There's no way I'm gonna get home because I remember the (December) blizzard.'
The dumping gave New York the unenviable record of the snowiest January in history and a state of emergency was called across the city.
Thousands of airline passengers were left stranded and more than 650,000 homes and businesses were cut off by power cuts.
WEATHER FORECAST
Saturday's forecast: The North East will still be deluged by snow with temperatures averaging an icy 35 degrees
Some reprieve: Sunday is scheduled to have a slight let up of snowfall with some sunshine seeping through although temperatures will still remain freezing
Even President Obama was caught up in the snow chaos after his motorcade was stranded for an hour in Washington.
Up to 12 inches fell in the Boston area and 14 inches in areas of Rhode Island. In the Philadelphia area, up to 17 inches of snow fell by the time the storm moved north.
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, workers were nearly out of room to stash their ploughed snow.
In Massachusetts, gusts of 46 mph were reported in Hyannis, 45 mph in Rockport and 49 mph on Nantucket.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: 'Keep an eye on your neighbours or older New Yorkers.'
January 30, 2011 - CORONAL HOLE: A dark croissant-shaped hole has opened up in the sun’s atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind into space. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture of the vast opening during the early hours of Jan. 30th. Researchers call this a “coronal hole.” Solar rotation is turning the coronal hole toward Earth. The stream of solar wind pouring from it will swing around and hit our planet in early February, possibly sparking polar magnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras between Feb. 2nd and 4th. The coronal blast from the Sun storm’s arrival on Earth will coincide with a massive snow storm that will sweep across North America. -Space Weather
January 30, 2011 – NEW ZEALAND – Wellington – Tropical cyclone Wilma lashed the top of New Zealand early Saturday, bringing widespread flooding and landslides which cut highways and power blackouts. The fire service in Auckland, the country’s largest city, reported more than 400 emergency calls in the 11 hours to dawn, including one after a cliffside house collapsed onto a beach on Waiheke Island. Two people were reported stuck up trees for more than four hours as rescuers battled floodwaters to try to reach them. The Northland province was the worst hit, though gale force winds and torrential rain also lashed Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, the Waikato region, Tauranga and Rotorua. Police in many areas said roads were impassable and advised people to stay at home. The MetService said the cyclone was moving away from the country to the south-east and conditions would ease throughout Saturday. -Earth Times
January 30, 2011 – Future shock: The physical world’s rapid deterioration and the unraveling of civilization’s archaic social models are interfacing with the lightning speed of technical innovation. Everything around us appears to be in an accelerated state of change. “Shut up the words and seal the book to the Time of the End. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.” Daniel 12:4 As we approach the event horizon of time’s end as we know it for this present world, the pace of events in the world around us will accelerate.
January 30, 2011 – DETROIT – Officials say cold weather and a fish virus likely are to blame for thousands of dead gizzard shad found recently in Lakes Erie and St. Clair, the St. Clair River and the Detroit River. The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report that the weather and viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, are suspected in the fish deaths. Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Toledo took samples of dead shad Thursday and Friday that showed signs of the fish virus. Shad deaths are typical in the winter. It’s expected to take a month to determine whether the fish had VHS. Although not dangerous for humans, the virus has previously caused large fish kills in Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron. It also has turned up in Lake Michigan. -Mlive
January 30, 2011 – BRISBANE -Store shelves have been stripped bare for the 2nd time in a month. Hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders are being urged not to “panic buy” as two powerful cyclones threaten to batter the flood-ravaged state. Residents living on the 1700-kilometre strip from Hervey Bay to Cooktown have been told by authorities to prepare for the worst. Cyclone Anthony is expected to hit near Townsville at 10am tomorrow. It is feared a second cyclone, named Yasi, will develop from an intense tropical low near Fiji. Yesterday in Cairns, residents descended on the Earlville Shopping Centre, stocking up on essentials such as food, water and batteries. A spokeswoman for the IGA supermarket at Woree said people were panic buying. “People are certainly panicking. They’re buying a lot of water and a lot of grog – the essentials,” she said. “People are making sure they are covering their bases by panicking but they’re buying stuff they probably won’t end up using. Me, I can live off the land if I need to. Most people can’t, though.” Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, who is Queensland’s state disaster co-ordinator, told a press conference yesterday people should stock up but not panic about what might happen. “It’s a normal stock-up of the essentials. While some people are concerned, the potential for these events is of such a nature that it would be way too late to prepare next week,” he said. -SMH
January 29, 2011 – WASHINGTON – “Mount St. Helens is an active strato-volcano. On January 26, a magnitude 2.1 quake under the Northwest’s most active volcano jumped the gun on the Oregon ShakeOut by almost three hours. The quake rumbled 1.6 miles beneath Mount St. Helens at 7:34 a.m. PST about 45 miles northeast of Portland, Ore. Now two more quakes have rumbled under the mountain summit- a 2.5 and a 2.6 at the shallow depth of less than 4 km- a possible indication that magma may be on the move. It’s the 4 sizable tremor to rattle the volcanic summit in 3 days. The northwest quadrant of the U.S. is coming alive seismically. Could the volcano be awakening for a major new eruption? Stay tuned…
January 29, 2011 – NEW YORK - A massive winter storm forecast for February 2 is set to affect more than 100 million people, weather experts have predicted. The Groundhog Day snowstorm is expected to hit the South, Midwest and Northeast of the country, building from early next week. The storm is likely to severely impact ground travel, cancellation of flights and school closures according to AccuWeather. Meteorologist Heather Buchman said: ‘This is the type of storm that could shut down the region with high winds, plunging temperatures, ice, snow and a rapid freeze-up on roads’. According to folklore, if a groundhog leaves its burrow on February 2 does not see its shadow, this will signify that the end of winter is coming. However, if the groundhog sees its shadow then it will retreat back into its burrow and there will be another six weeks of winter. The Groundhog Day storm prediction comes as normal service was resuming in the winter-weary north-eastern U.S. today after yet another storm.” -Daily Mail
January 29, 2011 - BUDAPEST – A 4.2 magnitude quake shook parts of NE Hungary. The quake struck at a depth of 8.3 km and was 33 km NW of Székesfehérvár and was 6 km NE Oroszlány. There were no immediate reports of damages. Below, you can see the seismic band width running through central Europe is one of the most pronounced regions showing agitation from the latest planetary tremor. The quake comes on the heels of an earthquake swarm in Bulgaria and a growing sinkhole in Romania.
Germany
January 29, 2011 – PORTLAND – “One day this week, exactly 311 years after the Cascadia Fault’s most recent rupture, more than 37,000 Oregonians dove under desks and tables, or clung to sturdy walls, ducking and covering for 60 seconds. The exercise, the largest in state history, was a part of the first Great Oregon ShakeOut, an earthquake drill designed to prepare people for Cascadia’s next big move. While the drill lasted one minute, Rizzo said that if the Cascadia Fault ruptures, people are going to be hiding under tables a lot longer. “The actual shaking will be between five and 10 minutes long,” Rizzo said. That’s because Cascadia’s fault line — known as a subduction zone, an area where one tectonic plate is diving beneath another — is hundreds of miles long. “It takes between five and 10 minutes for it to break along the entire fault line,” Rizzo said. The geologist added that, in terms of sheer power, the Cascadia Fault has few rivals around the globe. “The amount of movement that takes place on the fault takes centuries to build up,” Atwater said. So when the fault does finally rupture, it unleashes hundreds of years of pent-up energy, producing a devastating earthquake. He said that on average, the Cascadia ruptures roughly every 500 years, but the intervals between quakes can be as brief as 200 years or longer than 1,000. Most recent data suggest there’s about a one-in-10 chance the Cascadia will rupture in the next 50 years. “One could happen here tomorrow, or it may take centuries for the next one to happen,” Atwater said. “But you want to be prepared for it when it does.” Rizzo said part of her job is to make sure people know about the risks and have emergency supplies and plans in place for an earthquake and ensuing tsunami. “We’ve got 9 million people in the impact zone between Washington and Oregon,” Rizzo said. To indicate the devastation a quake could cause, Rizzo pointed to Hurricane Katrina’s effect on New Orleans. “Just imagine New Orleans ― but from Northern California to British Columbia,” Rizzo said. “I don’t want to scare people. I want to empower them to take steps to make sure their families are safe.” -Our Amazing Planet
China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media. China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.
A search for "Egypt'' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown".
Read more
Kenichi Horie was a promising auto engineer, exactly the sort of youthful talent
Japan needs to maintain its edge over hungry Korean and Chinese rivals. As a worker in his early 30s at a major carmaker, Mr. Horie won praise for his design work on advanced biofuel systems.
But like many young Japanese, he was a so-called irregular worker, kept on a temporary staff contract with little of the job security and half the salary of the “regular” employees, most of them workers in their late 40s or older. After more than a decade of trying to gain regular status, Mr. Horie finally quit — not just the temporary jobs, but Japan altogether.
Read more 
EUGENE, Ore. – Confirmed UFO sightings over Cairo and the port city of Suez in Egypt early Saturday morning comes at a time when the United Nations is reviewing the French government produced COMETA Report that states “about five percent of UFO sightings defy conventional explanation” and often occur at a time of world crisis; while, also stating that UFOs “constitute a real phenomenon warranting immediate international attention.”
Foreign exchange students at Eugene’s Lane Community College told local media today that while there’s a news blackout in Egypt. But, there’s also reports of UFOs. Moreover, there have been BBC and other international media confirmations; news of lights and UFO sightings in skies over this ancient land.
Information about the COMETA Report and the photo that accompanies this story was researched in part by a review of National Archives and the Division of Special Collections and University Archives, at the University of Oregon here in Eugene.
Read More... 
- Heavy army presence at Pyramids as Priceless treasures become target.
- 30.000 Stranded British tourists warned to stay in Hotels after 4 pm.The army was on guard at Egypt’s most popular tourist sites last night after two 2,000-year-old mummies in the country’s national museum were destroyed by looters attempting to steal the treasures of King Tutankhamun.
Soldiers were positioned at the Pyramids and Cairo’s Egyptian Museum – the holding place for Tutankhamun’s priceless golden mask and other artifacts – on the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.
The military deployment came amid an almost complete collapse of law and order, with the violence escalating outside the capital. Residents in Alexandria, north-west of Cairo, were forced to stand guard outside their homes armed with sticks as gangs rampaged through the city. Read more... 
Thousands of Egyptians have joined local vigilante groups to protect their neighbourhoods as claims emerge of rich elites fleeing to Dubai.
Report of gangs looting and robbing has resulted in people coming together to protect their families and neighbourhoods. It's unclear who is behind the crime, but the result is the same - the choice between protesting and protecting has emptied the streets.
"Our jobs are done and over. There are thugs everywhere, ransacking our shops," shop owner Saleh Salem said.
Islamic leaders called on people to join the vigilante groups to protect their homes themselves and scenes of looting appeared to spread from upscale parts of Cairo to downtown and poorer areas as well.
Egyptians armed with guns, sticks, and blades have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.
"Since the government is not doing it, we are sending down our boys to create human shields to fight the criminals."
Read More..
MANILA, Philippines — Non-stop rains that started before New Year’s Day continue to wreak havoc on several parts of the country, adversely affecting 394,065 families or 1,972,433 people in 2,188 villages in 189 towns and 18 cities throughout the country, while the death toll increased to 75 and 22 remain missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Saturday. The NDRRMC also said that Bohol province and the cities of Cebu and Mandaue were placed under state of calamity due to floods.
Latest NDRRMC bulletin also showed 225 families of 1,089 persons from Mainit town and Surigao City, both in Surigao del Norte, were evacuated due to massive flooding that have so far affected 65 barangays in nine municipalities in the province and one municipality of Dinagat Islands.
One person, identified as Amado Basadre, from Barangay Honrado in the same town was reported missing when he was caught by strong current while attempting to cross a river. A bridge in Libjo, Dinagat Islands was damaged.
Reports reaching the NDRRMC operations center in Camp Aguinaldo showed that massive flooding was experienced in Metro Cebu as a result of a heavy downpour on January 25 that lasted almost two hours, affecting 12 barangays in Cebu City.
Read More ...
A head-on train crash in eastern Germany has killed 10 people and injured at least 33 others, eight of them severely.
A passenger and a cargo train crashed near Hordorf village, close to Saxony-Anhalt's state capital Magdeburg. Several train cars derailed and overturned, a spokesman for the district's firefighters said.
Rescue operations were still under way early on Sunday, and police had no immediate information as to what could have caused the accident late Saturday evening, regional police spokesman Frank Kuessner said.
Eight bodies have been retrieved from the passenger train so far and some 35 suffered injuries, he said.
Mr Kuessner had no immediate explanation for the differing casualty figures as the rescue operations continue.
"The death toll may well rise further," Mr Kuessner said.
Saxony-Anhalt's Deputy Interior Minister Ruediger Erben, who rushed to the scene last night, said the trains must have crashed head-on at high speed.
The accident happened about 125 miles southwest of Berlin.
Source...
US government officials are set to review a spate of deadly attacks on police officers that has been dubbed a 'war on cops'.
A series of shootings has left 15 officers dead in January alone - with 11 gunned down in one 24-hour period alone. The Department of Justice says it will study whether the behaviour of officers, deficits in training or financial cut-backs could have contributed to the number of fatalities.
The crisis has been highlighted by
extraordinary CCTV footage from a police station in Detroit showing a man opening fire on officers, injuring four.
The gunman struck because he was angry at a search of his home.
The shootings have taken place across the US and follow a dramatic rise in the number of officers killed in the line of duty last year.
Read More...
January 31, 2011 – SINGAPORE – Bridge under construction at Punggol The Waterway collapses. A partially completed bridge at the construction site opposite his house collapsed under the weight of rainwater on Sunday morning, reported The Straits Times Reader Simon Low who took and sent in a picture from his flat in Block 638b Punggol Drive. In an email report to The Straits Times website, Mr Low wrote: ‘This morning, I noticed part of the bridge had collapsed due to the heavy rain. ‘I believe the bridge also acted as a dam, but the water overflowed (from the right side) the partially built bridge, and pushed the bridge away. ‘The banks of the waterway on the right side of the bridge overflowed due to this morning’s heavy rain. I wonder whether it will happen again once the waterway is fully completed.’ -The Strait Times
January 30, 2011 – BRAZIL - “A skyscraper in the city of Belem in Para State, Brazil, collapsed on Sunday, injuring several people and trapping three beneath piles of rubble. The incident occurred just as four construction workers had left the site. The collapsed building was in the process of construction and was due for release in December this year. The three trapped workers had been completing their shift, according to union representatives. According to a report filed by Reuters, the building tower collapsed after swaying dramatically in high winds and rain. It is unknown whether the building caused damage to surrounding structures as it fell, but police have cleared surrounding buildings while inspections are carried out. Emergency services in the city had been dispatched to the scene to find the trapped men, said Para state Health Minister Helio Franco, although it unknown if they survived. The collapse reduced the building to a pile of rubble. -Malaysian Sun
January 30, 2011 – “Melbourne is preparing for a scorching day, with the weather bureau forecasting the first day of 40 degree weather for the year. It is expected to be even hotter in the north-west with 42 degrees expected in Mildura and Swan Hill, where many residents are continuing preparations for a peak in floodwaters. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart says a cool change should sweep through Melbourne at around 6:00pm or 7:00pm. “There will be southerly winds, initially fairly gusty, but they should settle down and temperatures by around eight o’clock this evening should be around 25 to 30 degrees,” he said. He says an unprecedented heatwave in Central Australia has contributed to today’s extreme forecast for the state. “With a high pressure system in the Tasman Sea we’re likely to see the northerly winds develop over south-east Australia and bring some of that very hot air from the inland down over Victoria,” he said.”We’re expecting a lot of centres to get over the 40 degree mark, even as high as 42 up in the north-west of the state.” -ABC News.net
January 30, 2011 - KERMANDEC ISLANDS – For more than a month now we’ve been noticing some very unusual seismic and magnetic anomalies under the Kermandec Islands, north of New Zealand and near the island of Tonga. The islands are part of a volcanic arc that includes some of the largest underwater volcanoes known to exist in the South Pacific. The extraordinary eruption of the underwater volcano off the coast of Tonga in 2009 and the more than 4000 tremors that have rocked the North Island of New Zealand area following the 7.1 Christchurch earthquake on September 4, 2010 could be an omen of escalating actitivity in the region. Canterbury University geology professor Mark Quigley said the Christchurch quake produced what “looked to us could be a new fault” which had ripped across the earth and pushed some surface areas up about three feet (a meter). The quake was caused by the ongoing collision between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates, he said. “One side of the earth has lurched to the right … up to 11 feet (3.5 meters) and in some places been thrust up,” Quigley told National Radio. 1
Norway – January 29th planetary tremor
