"The combined effects of pyroclastic flows, volcanic ashes, and tsunamis had disastrous results in the region. The official death toll recorded by the Dutch authorities was 36,417, although some sources put the estimate at more than 120,000. There are numerous documented reports of groups of human skeletons floating across the Indian Ocean on rafts of volcanic pumice and washing up on the east coast of Africa, up to a year after the eruption.
Average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius in the year following the eruption. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888."
Krakatau erupting!
Thousands evacuated!link
Thousands evacuated!link
Tuesday 11th January 2011
Krakatau Volcano, Indonesia
Eruptions from Krakatau volcano, Indonesia have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands residents. Seven districts affected are Kalianda, Rajabasa, Katibung, Sidomulyo, Ketapang, Sragi and Palas. On Monday ash from Anak Krakatau continued to cover residential areas in parts of Banten province and South Lampung. Visual observations showed ash emissions reaching a height of 600 m and drifting east. Ashfall has affected the operation of seismometers on the volcano. Fisherman and tourists are advised to stay at least 2 km from the volcano.
More on Krakatau volcano...
Volcanoes of Indonesia...
Krakatau Volcano, Indonesia
Eruptions from Krakatau volcano, Indonesia have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands residents. Seven districts affected are Kalianda, Rajabasa, Katibung, Sidomulyo, Ketapang, Sragi and Palas. On Monday ash from Anak Krakatau continued to cover residential areas in parts of Banten province and South Lampung. Visual observations showed ash emissions reaching a height of 600 m and drifting east. Ashfall has affected the operation of seismometers on the volcano. Fisherman and tourists are advised to stay at least 2 km from the volcano.
More on Krakatau volcano...
Volcanoes of Indonesia...
Could Krakatoa drive us into an ice age?
Its last major eruption radically altered global weather
and temperatures for years
11 Jan 11 - "With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards," said this 2009 article in the Daily Mail.
The eruptions were so loud "that they were heard over 1,900 miles away in Perth in Western Australia, and over 4,500 miles away in Sri Lanka."
The eruption spewed out 5 cubic miles of pumice, ash and rock, generated a 130-ft-high tsunami, destroyed 165 villages and towns, seriously damaged another 132 and killed 36,417 people outright.
If Krakatoa were to erupt in such a manner again, the article warns, the impact would be far more devastating than that experienced in the 19th century because the region where Krakatoa is situated - between the islands of Java and Sumatra - is now more densely populated. "It is not inconceivable that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed if there were another massive eruption."
Plus, there's my concern that such an eruption could drive us into an ice age.
The huge amounts of sulphur dioxide pumped into the atmosphere during the 1883 eruption resulted in clouds that reflected a greater amount of incoming light from the sun, driving average global temperatures down by as much as 1.2 Celcius.
Such a small drop in temperature may not sound very impressive, but with our low sunspot count and with the UK experiencing its coldest winter in perhaps a thousand years, it wouldn't take all that much to drive us over the edge.
The plot thickens: BBC Hits UK Govt with Freedom of Information Demand in Cold Winter Forecast Fiasco
Image via Wikipedia
The BBC serves Freedom of Information request (FOIA) on UK Government over weather forecast failures secrecy in worst winter for 100 years.
In an almighty battle to salvage credibility three British government institutions are embroiled in a new global warming scandal with the BBC mounting a legal challenge to force ministers to admit the truth. Sceptics ask: Is the UK government’s climate propaganda machine finally falling apart?
continue reading......................................
Cold weather closes schools in Vietnamlink
January 11, 2011 - “Hanoi – Cold weather has prompted hundreds of schools in northern Vietnam to close for the past week, authorities said Tuesday. Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said the north of the country was suffering its coldest spell since 2008. The Ministry of Education last week ordered nurseries and primary schools to close when the temperature falls below 10 degrees Celsius. Secondary schools will close if it drops to 7 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, hundreds of schools closed as the temperature in most of northern Vietnam fell below 10 degrees Celsius. In mountainous areas, including the popular tourist site of Sa Pa, the temperature fell to minus 1 degree Celsius, preventing tourists from leaving their hotels. Temperatures rarely fall below freezing in Vietnam. Hospitals were overcrowded as the number of patients, especially the elderly and children, was increasing fast, mostly with respiratory problems, said Vu The Hung, director of Trang An hospital in Hanoi. Authorities said the low temperatures had killed thousands of cattle. Electronics and clothes shops said business was brisk, with many people buying heaters and warm clothes, the Cong An newspaper reported. Shops have increased prices by at least 5 per cent.” -Earth Times
Rare winter storm sees ice sheets spread across 9 U.S. states
January 9, 2011 – “A dangerous snow and ice storm is getting under way over the Deep South, threatening to create extremely dangerous roadway conditions, hundreds of flight delays and cancellations, and power outages. The storm that will spread the treacherous and rare wintry weather is the same storm that triggered severe thunderstorms and torrential rain over Texas on Friday night. Very cold air in place ahead of the storm is setting the stage for the wintry weather as all the moisture from the storm spreads eastward. Sunday morning lows plummeted into the single digits through the Ohio Valley and the teens southward through northern Alabama. Moderate to heavy snow will spread from northeastern Texas to the Carolinas through the start of the week, while a zone of freezing rain and sleet, just south of the snow area, expands eastward.” -AccuweatherPlanet convulses from double seismic tremor eventlink
January 9, 2011 – The Earth is now being shaken from a double seismic tremor. Today, Vanuatu was hit with 2 powerful quakes a 6.9 and a 6.5 but from what we see what’s rattling the Pacific island is no ordinary tremors. We see evidence of the Pacific plate trembling and being obstructed as it dives under the Australian plate which is being forced upwards. The North American Plate was also given a sizable jolt as seismometers across the U.S. registered the event from Indiana to Arizona. We can’t attribute this one to the Sun. It looks more like an internal upheaval going on within planet Earth. Let’s look at the seismographs which recorded this unsual event. Double seismic tremors shows entire planet was trembling. 
New Zealand seismometer
Antarctica seismometer
Indiana, USA
Inland tsunami' no beat-up: Hinch
Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 11 January, 2011 - 4:33 PM link
Relatives and friends seeking information about people in the affected areas should call 1300 993 191 to register their details.
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PLAY: Hinch, Bligh and the reporter who saw it all in 1974
Toowoomba Mayor and Hinch on current situation in tragedy zone
REPLAY: Latest 3AW News
HINCH: Queensland. They hoped the worst was over. It wasn’t. When I saw the first tweet last night about the Toowoomba disaster I thought it was a Twitter exaggeration. It mentioned an ‘inland tsunami’. And that’s what it was.
A muddy tidal wave of biblical proportions that swept through the centre of that Queensland town taking all before it.
Toowoomba! It’s 700 metres above sea level. About 2,000 feet. But it is built in a sort of a crater. And, when 80 mls of rain falls in half an hour anything can happen.
As a local said; ‘The place is built like a bucket ... and when the creeks burst the water had to go through the middle of town’. And it did. The railway line and the main road suddenly became a river.
To try to put the speed of it all into perspective - and to explain why Toowoomba got no warning of the tragedy about to strike – a local said: ‘in about three minutes, the time it takes to boil an egg, we went from a bit of water to a disaster.’
Eight feet of water roared through the town. Imagine parking your car in the car park, ducking into a shop, and coming out to find your car washed away and your life in danger. The street a river.
Ironically, for Toowoomba, on this very day 35 years ago, the town was hit by a massive hail storm and 5,000 houses were damaged. Nothing compared to the current disaster.
After a fortnight of floods the areas of Queensland under water are reportedly the size of Victoria and New South Wales. The death toll from the inland Tsunami could reach 50 or 70. Thousands of people have been evacuated in town after town.
By lunchtime today even parts of Brisbane were being evacuated as the waters headed for the coast.
All day we have been seeing TV footage of people being rescued from the roofs of almost submerged cars. People huddled precariously on roof tops. People desperately clinging to lamp posts.
Stories coming in of brave rescuers and personal tragedies. One devastated family reportedly had to leave their grandmother behind in a wheelchair as they scrambled on to the roof.
One of the most poignant scenes was a black-sleeved, seemingly disembodied, arm waving desperately from a tree-top as the rising brown water hurtled past.
And in the midst of the flood stories came pictures out of Western Australia of houses being destroyed by out of control bushfires. At least seven of them reportedly started by arsonists.
As the disaster stories continue to unfold - floods and locusts plagues on one side of the country and bushfires on the other – I think of a book written 45 years ago by one of our most famous authors, George Johnston.
That book was called The Australians. In his opening line Johnston wrote that Australia ‘was never really intended as a place for people.’
Maybe he was right.
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