Bees dying by the millions

Via thepost.on.ca, 19 June 2013 - ELMWOOD - Local beekeepers are finding millions of their bees dead just after corn was planted here in the last few weeks. Dave Schuit, who has a honey operation in Elmwood, lost 600 hives, a total of 37 million bees.

“Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” Schuit said. He and many others, including the European Union, are pointing the finger at a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, manufactured by Bayer CropScience Inc. used in planting corn and some other crops. The European Union just recently voted to ban these insecticides for two years, beginning December 1, 2013, to be able to study how it relates to the large bee kill they are experiencing there also.

Local grower Nathan Carey from the Neustadt, and National Farmers Union Local 344 member, says he noticed this spring the lack of bees and bumblebees on his farm. He believes that there is a strong connection between the insecticide use and the death of pollinators.

“I feel like we all have something at stake with this issue,” he said. He is organizing a public workshop and panel discussion about this problem at his farm June 22 at 10 a.m. He hopes that all interested parties can get together and talk about the reason bees, the prime pollinators of so any different plant species, are dying.

At the farm of Gary Kenny, south west of Hanover, eight of the 10 hives he kept for a beekeeper out of Kincardine, died this spring just after corn was planted in neighbouring fields.

What seems to be deadly to bees is that the neonicotinoid pesticides are coating corn seed and with the use of new air seeders, are blowing the pesticide dust into the air when planted. The death of millions of pollinators was looked at by American Purdue University. They found that, “Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case. Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds.

Local investigations near Guelph, led to the same conclusion. A Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation confirmed that corn seeds treated with clothianidin or thiamethoxam “contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities” last spring.

“The air seeders are the problem,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture director Paul Wettlaufer, who farms near Neustadt. This was after this reporter called John Gillespie, OFA Bruce County president, who told me to call Wettlaufer. Unfortunately, Wettlaufer said it was, “not a local OFA issue,” and that it was an issue for the Grain Farmers of Ontario and representative, Hennry Vanakum should be notified. Vanakum could not be rached for comment.

Yet Guelph University entomologist Peter Kevan, disagreed with the EU ban.

“There’s very little evidence to say that neonicotinoids, in a very general sense, in a broad scale sense, have been a major component in the demise of honeybees or any other pollinators, anywhere in the world,” said Kevan.

But research is showing that honeybee disorders and high colony losses have become a global phenomena. An international team of scientists led by Holland’s Utrecht University concluded that, ”Large scale prophylaxic use in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers, neonicotinoids put pollinator services at risk.” This research and others rsulted in the Eurpean Union ban.

The United Church is also concerned about the death of so many pollinators and has prepared a “Take Action” paper it’s sending out to all its members. The church is basing its action on local research. The Take Action paper states among other things, “Scientific information gathered suggests that the planting of corn seeds treated with neonicotinoids contributed to the majority of the bee mortalities that occurred in corn growing regions of Ontario and Quebec in Spring 2012.”

Meanwhile Schuit is replacing his queen bees every few months now instead of years, as they are dying so frequently. “OMAFRA tells me to have faith. Well, I think it’s criminal what is happening, and it’s hard to have faith if it doesn’t look like they are going to do anything anyway,” Schuit says.

Venus’ winds are mysteriously speeding up

Well, the planets all heated up during this cycle, it wouldn't surprise me that the winds all increase on all the planets as well. The webbot predicts the increase on Earth in relation to the Global Coastal Event language.

Via universitytoday.com, 18 June 2013 - High-altitude winds on neighboring Venus have long been known to be quite speedy, whipping sulfuric-acid-laden clouds around the superheated planet at speeds well over 300 km/h (180 mph). And after over six years collecting data from orbit, ESA’s Venus Express has found that the winds there are steadily getting faster… and scientists really don’t know why.

Over the past six years wind speeds in Venus’ southern atmosphere have been steadily rising (ESA)

By tracking the movements of distinct features in Venus’ cloud tops at an altitude of 70 km (43 miles) over a period of six years — which is 10 of Venus’ years — scientists have been able to monitor patterns in long-term global wind speeds.

What two separate studies have found is a rising trend in high-altitude wind speeds in a broad swath south of Venus’ equator, from around 300 km/h when Venus Express first entered orbit in 2006 to 400 km/h (250 mph) in 2012. That’s nearly double the wind speeds found in a category 4 hurricane here on Earth!

“This is an enormous increase in the already high wind speeds known in the atmosphere. Such a large variation has never before been observed on Venus, and we do not yet understand why this occurred,” said Igor Khatuntsev from the Space Research Institute in Moscow and lead author of a paper to be published in the journal Icarus.

Cloud structures in Venus’ atmosphere, seen by Venus Express’ Ultraviolet, Visible and Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIRTIS) in 2007 (ESA)

A complementary Japanese-led study used a different tracking method to determine cloud motions, which arrived at similar results… as well as found other wind variations at lower altitudes in Venus’ southern hemisphere.

“Our analysis of cloud motions at low latitudes in the southern hemisphere showed that over the six years of study the velocity of the winds changed by up 70 km/h over a time scale of 255 Earth days – slightly longer than a year on Venus,” said Toru Kouyama from Japan’s Information Technology Research Institute. (Their results are to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.)

Long-term studies based on tracking the motions of several hundred thousand cloud features, indicated here with arrows and ovals, reveal that the average wind speeds on Venus have increased from roughly 300 km/h to 400 km/h over the first six years of the mission. (Khatuntsev et al.)

Both teams also identified daily wind speed variations on Venus, along with shifting wave patterns that suggest “upwelling motions in the morning at low latitudes and downwelling flow in the afternoon.” (via Cloud level winds from the Venus Express Monitoring Camera imaging, Khatuntsev et al.)

A day on Venus is longer than its year, as the planet takes 243 Earth days to complete a single rotation on its axis. Its atmosphere spins around it much more quickly than its surface rotates — a curious feature known as super-rotation.

“The atmospheric super-rotation of Venus is one of the great unexplained mysteries of the Solar System,” said ESA’s Venus Express Project Scientist Håkan Svedhem. “These results add more mystery to it, as

Venus Express continues to surprise us with its ongoing observations of this dynamic, changing planet.”
Read more here on ESA’s Venus Express page.

Major flooding and land slides in New Zealand

A few days ago there was more extreme flooding going on, along with landslides over in New Zealand. This time it was where I am from as well as other locations in New Zealand.

INUNDATED: The hillside home above Sandy Bay that collapsed during a slip on Sunday.

Landslide victim 'great little soul' - This article tells the story of a woman who lost her life as a landslide came down upon her house near Marahau in the Nelson region.

Waters rising in Westbank Rd, Motueka, yesterday.

Tasman Floods: What you need to know - An entry explaining all the areas impacted by the flooding in in the Tasman district of the south island of New Zealand.

IN SHOCK: The hatchery at the Anatoki Salmon Farm has been saved after a large landslide which wiped out the main farm.

Salmon farm devastated - Golden Bay tourist attraction Anatoki Salmon, which is a Salmon farm that I have been to a number of times has been wiped out totally by a landslide.

State Highway 1 near Waikouaiti has been restricted to trucks only.

Worst flooding in close to 40 years - Flooding in North Otago's Waitaki Valley has been described as the worst seen in close to 40 years.

Christchurch - WARRINGTON ST: Rain is still falling across the city causing traffic problems

Flooding closes roads, schools - Canterbury drivers are being urged to stay off the roads, with more rain forecast to fall over the next few hours. The Canterbury Civil Defence emergency management group is urging residents to avoid non-essential travel.

Mass Anti-Government Protests Swell In Brazil

This year is certainly turning out to be a popular time for an uprising, no matter what the topic is concerned.

Via npr.org, 18 June 2013 - What started as small protests about higher bus fares has swelled into nationwide, massive anti-government demonstrations in Brazil.

Last night, reports O Globo, more than 100,000 protesters filled the streets of Rio de Janeiro, while an additional 65,000 hit the streets of São Paulo. Nothing tells the story quite like this video of the streets of Rio posted by Lucio Amorim on Twitter:

Reporting from São Paulo, NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro tells our Newscast unit that people on the streets are demanding that the government pay attention to them.

"The cost of living here is extremely high, there's a massive rate of inflation, and so people say that they are fed up, that they want their government to do something for them," Lourdes said.

One of the big issues is that Brazil has been gearing up for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. Lourdes says people feel as though the government has been focusing on those big, international events while allowing them to languish.

The New York Times says the protests are the largest and "most resonant since the nation's military dictatorship ended in 1985." What's more, the Times reports, the protests share something in common with the mass protests occurring halfway across the world in Turkey. The newspaper writes:

"The demonstrations in Brazil intensified after a harsh police crackdown last week stunned many citizens. In images shared widely on social media, the police here were seen beating unarmed protesters with batons and dispersing crowds by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into their midst. 

" 'The violence has come from the government,' said Mariana Toledo, 27, a graduate student at the University of São Paulo who was among the protesters on Monday. 'Such violent acts by the police instill fear, and at the same time the need to keep protesting.' "

As CNN reports, the protests have another thing in common with Turkey: They began over something relatively small — a 9 cent increase in the price of a bus ticket. One thing that is different, reports CNN, is that President Dilma Rousseff is encouraging the protests.

"Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy. It is right for the youth to protest," she said in a statement.

PLAGUES & PESTILENCES: WHO Says MERS Virus Death Toll Hits 33 - After 2 Fatalities In Saudi Arabia!

The global death toll from the SARS-like virus MERS has risen to 33, after two new fatalities in Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said the Saudi health ministry had informed the UN agency of three new laboratory-confirmed cases, one of them fatal, and the death of a patient already diagnosed with the disease.

Until last month, the disease was known simply as novel coronavirus, before being renamed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. (File photo: Reuters)

“Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 58 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 33 deaths,” Chaib told reporters.

Until last month, the disease was known simply as novel coronavirus, before being renamed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, as cases initiated in that region.

There have now been 44 confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia, 28 of them fatal, according to WHO figures.

WHO logs cases by country of infection, rather than of death, and its Saudi toll includes one individual who died in Britain.

One person has died in France after being infected in Dubai, and a patient died in Munich, Germany who was transferred there after first being treated in Abu Dhabi.

There have also been two cases in Jordan, both of them fatal. Qatar has seen two, with those patients treated in Britain and Germany.

Two patients caught the disease in Britain from a person who had been to the Middle East, one of whom died.

Tunisia has seen two non-fatal cases and Italy two -- one of whom caught the virus in Jordan and gave it to a contact in Italy. 

France has recorded one infection, a man who is thought to have caught the disease while sharing a hospital room with the deceased patient who had got it in Dubai.

The virus is a member of the coronavirus family, which includes the pathogen that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

SARS sparked global panic in 2003 after it jumped to humans from animals in Asia and killed 800 people.

Like SARS, MERS appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering from a temperature, cough and breathing trouble. But it differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure.

Health officials have expressed concern about the high proportion of deaths relative to cases, warning that MERS could spark a new global crisis if it mutates into a form that spreads more easily. - Al Arabiya.

MASS BEES DIE-OFF: The Global Food Crisis - 34-50% Of ALL HONEYBEE Colonies Died-Off During Past Winter In England, Scotland, United Kingdom; The Worst Losses Since Survey Began?!

June 14, 2013 - UNITED KINGDOM - More than a third of all honeybee colonies in England died over the winter, according to figures from the British Beekeepers Association, the worst losses since its winter survival survey began.

The level of honeybee colony losses across England is more than double what it was last year, up to 33.8% from 16.2% in 2012, the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

On average, 33.8 colonies in every 100 perished over the long winter of 2012-13 compared with 16.2% the previous winter. In the south-west of England, more than half of all colonies were wiped out and in the northern part of the country 46.4% didn't survive.

In Scotland and Wales, honeybees fared no better. The Scottish beekeepers association, which has yet to complete its annual survey, predicts losses of up to 50%. And bee farmers in Wales have reported 38% losses.

The BBKA attributed the alarming high bee mortality to the poor weather during 2012 continuing into 2013 and exacerbated by the late arrival of spring.

"The wet summer prevented honey bees from foraging for food, resulting in poorly developed colonies going into winter. When they could get out there was a scarcity of pollen and nectar. Honeybee colonies which are in a poor nutritional state become more vulnerable to disease and other stress factors," said a BBKA spokeswoman.

Many beekeepers also reported incidence of "isolation starvation", when the cluster of bees in the hive becomes too cold to move close enough to eat their food stores in another part of the hive, and so starve.

But there are fears that the death toll for bees in England could be even higher, since the BBKA survey of 846 members closed at the end of March before the arrival of spring.

"April this year was very cold, and the start of May, so bees were confined to the hive for much longer and we still had bees dying from starvation in May. So losses could be much more serious," said Glyn Davies, a beekeeper from Devon and former president of the BBKA.

He said the south-west was particularly badly hit because of the relentless rain. "It was the wet, wet, wet, wet summer followed by an enormously long winter. I've never seen anything like it in the 35 years I've been keeping bees," said the 74-year-old beekeeper.

The winter bee losses come just weeks after EU member states voted for a suspension of three pesticidesalleged to cause serious harm to bees.

Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at University of Sussex, said pesticides weren't the cause of the high bee mortality: "It was the worst summer ever. I had my own bees starving to death in the summer. It is nothing to do with pesticides; bad weather is enough of an explanation. It's not healthy for bees to be trapped in their hives during the summer. Some queen bees couldn't get out to mate and confined bees are more likely to get nosema [a gut parasite] and viruses from the varroa mite."

When the BBKA survey began in 2007-08, winter bee mortality was 30.5%. Since then losses had been steadily falling.

The government's National Bee Unit says its initial 2012-13 findings of around 30% winter bee losses are the highest recorded loss since its bee inspectors began to formally gather their own figures five years ago.

Mike Brown, head of the NBU, commented, "These figures are not surprising given the harsh winter and long cold spring which followed on from an extremely poor summer last year. The National Bee Unit has continued to offer colony husbandry advice to beekeepers through these prolonged periods of inclement weather."

The Scottish government has announced £200,000 in funding to help bee farmers restock their colonies, but a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman said: "We do not provide government money for restocking bees. We are working with beekeepers to provide support and training to help them ensure the health of their bees." - Guardian.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: More Sinkholes Keep Popping Up Across America - Line Of Sinkholes In Florida County Could Be Sign Of More To Come!

June 14, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Homes in the sinkhole-plagued community of Seffner could be sitting on a fracture line linking them to about 20 other sinkholes, including the 20-foot-deep pit that opened under a home in February and killed Jeffrey Bush. 

And as Hillsborough County enters what one geologist labels "sinkhole weather," the potential for sinkholes to form will only increase. 

A sinkhole that killed a man in Seffner in March is one in a line of sinkholes in Hillsborough County.
© DIRK SHADD | Times

Since Bush's death brought national attention to sinkholes here, they seem to be sprouting all over Hillsborough, including several in the past week. 

"You'll get areas that just seem to get active," said Sandy Nettles, a private geologist in Palm Harbor. "It could be any number of things that actually stimulated it, but usually once they start rolling into an area, you get more action." 

In Plant City, Tom Manus was told to leave his home on North Country Hills Court after a sinkhole was discovered under his porch Saturday. 

On Sunday, a Bob Evans restaurant in Seffner was closed after employees found cracks on the ceiling, floor and walls. Geological tests are ongoing, but that type of damage is associated with sinkholes. 

Later that day, a Tampa family on Jean Street was asked to evacuate after a sinkhole developed in the front yard. The home is east of Hesperides Street and a half mile north of Hillsborough Avenue. 

On Wednesday, a 30-foot-deep possible sinkhole opened under 138th Avenue at Bruce B Downs Boulevard below a 2010 Nissan Versa. The car drove safely off the road, but its tires were damaged. 

Though sinkholes are as much a part of Florida as hurricanes and pythons, their frequency and media coverage in recent months have many wondering whether this string is unusual and where they're coming from. 

Experts say the recent bout of heavy rains, including from Tropical Storm Andrea, could lead to a summer of sinkholes. 

Susanna Martinez Tarokh, a spokeswoman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, said there were 150 confirmed sinkholes last year in Hernando County during and immediately after Tropical Storm Debby. 

"This is sinkhole weather," said Anthony Randazzo, a retired geology professor at the University of Florida and president of Geohazards Inc. "It's very much to be expected that there would be numerous sinkholes opening up following a tropical storm, especially after a period of drought. This type of weather pattern is very conducive to the triggering of sinkholes." 

Sinkhole formation starts with water. Rocks such as the limestone that dominates the area begin to dissolve when they're exposed to acidic water, such as rain. For eons, acidic water has flowed through the rocks in Florida, dissolving limestone and creating underground voids. When the ground above those voids collapses, a sinkhole is formed. 

All sorts of events can create similar collapses: low water levels, broken sewers and septic tanks, poorly compacted soil after construction, even buried trash and other debris. Many of these cases are not labeled sinkholes, but the effects are similar. 

Though it's hard to say, the sequence of occurrences in east Hillsborough could be linked to one fracture system, Nettles said. 

"We've mapped the sinkholes we work on in Seffner and plotted the locations of the two that opened up previously, and they're all on a straight line," said Nettles, who counts about 20 sinkholes on his map. "Sometimes, something in one of those fracture systems breaks lose, and it creates a whole series of movements." 

Fracture lines have high potential for sinkholes, Nettles said. Intersecting and parallel fracture lines are at an even higher risk. 

"When you get a system that moves, it moves until it starts to stabilize," Nettles said. "You probably had one collapse, and it just reverberates down the line and gets everything else loose." 

Randazzo and Clint Kromhout, a professional geologist with Florida Geological Survey, don't agree with the idea that a few collapsed sinkholes increase the likelihood of others along the same fracture. But areas sitting on a fracture in the limestone are more likely to be exposed to the groundwater that dissolves it, Randazzo said. 

"(A fracture line) can be a very common place where you would form a whole series of sinkholes," Randazzo said. "The fact that they would line up is particularly indicative of that kind of phenomena." 

There's no way to determine what an average number of sinkholes for the state or a particular region would look like, Kromhout said. Many go unreported or unnoticed. And while one region of the state might be more at risk than another based on geology and rainfall, it's nearly impossible to tell whether a series of occurrences is abnormal. 

"Every day in this state, there's likely a sinkhole that occurs that, A, no one sees or, B, no one thinks to say anything about," Kromhout said. - Tampa Bay Times.

Tornadic waterspout rips through the South of France

Via rt.com, 9 June 2013

A natural phenomenon more common for America, a tornado, has hit the South of France shocking locals and holidaymakers on the Côte d'Azur, the Mediterranean coastline.

As thousands in Central Europe are struggling to cope with devastating floods which have already claimed the lives of at least 21 people, a tornado ripped through the French Riviera on Sunday morning.

The violently rotating column of air and water formed off the coast not far from popular resort towns of Cannes and Nice.

The phenomenon was observed from the Cagnes-sur-Mer commune in southeastern France, rising off to Villeneuve-Loubet and Antibes, reports Nicematin.com.

So far, no damage or injury has been reported.

The incident is being widely discussed on social networking services where users – some of them freaked out others rather thrilled - share videos and photos of the “tornado.”

“OMG there was a mini tornado in my town today. In Nice!” tweeted user nicknamed Sachamallow.

“There's been a tornado in Cannes. I bet the end of the world is approaching! we're all gonna die you, will see,” noted @Amaandarine.

Watch the video.

Weekly recap - Lethal GRB, global flooding, unusual tornadoes, landslides, strange seasonal weather, giant coronal hole, social unrest, interplanetary shock wave and more...

via transients.info

Last Wednesday I wrote the following post, 'A recap on current events - Doctor Simon Atkins, Global Coastal Event, increase in space rocks, lakes in the sky, Volcanic activity and more' , which looked back over the posts I had made since roughly a week before, in relation to the earth changes and a few other aspects that relate.

28 May - EARTH may lie in the path of a lethal gamma-ray burst that could wipe out a quarter of our atmospheric ozone. Astronomers say WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star about 8000 light years away, could go supernova any day, which would generate gamma-rays that could reach earth. - 'Lethal gamma-ray burst from star WR 104 could reach earth'

May 29 - Kenya's power grid failed on Tuesday, plunging east Africa's biggest economy into a nationwide power blackout, sole power distributor Kenya Power said.- 'Kenya hit by national blackout after power grid failure'

May 29 - A friend of mine just informed me that she was just in the middle of a number of tornadoes that came though Michigan in the USA. Houses are down in her area and a number of High Schools. Luckily her home was not in the path. However, severe storms are expected to continue to head through Michigan overnight. (It's just after 1AM there now) - 'Tornadoes hit Michigan, USA'

28 May - The equivalent of a magnitude 7 quake is quietly rocking the capital, though until now you'd have only noticed it if you were a geophysicist. 'Silent' quake gently rocks Wellington, New Zealand'

29 May - While size of this earthquake is only 3.8, it's a rare event for the UK. The British Geological Survey is quoted as saying that they only get one this large about once a year. It looks like the strongest earthquake in the last 200 years for Britain was a 5.4, near to the location of this quake, back in 1984. - 'Residents woken by tremor of 3.8 magnitude on the Llyn peninsula in Wales, UK'

29 May - Yesterday I woke up to to really heavy fog. I heard later on that it was also in the City. It's been reported that ferry services were cancelled and at least 20 flights were diverted away from Sydney airport yesterday, causing extensive delays around Australia. The fog was back today. - 'Heavy fog hits Sydney, Sydney Airport diverts flights'

30 May - The recent weather in Germany indicates everything but global warming and widespread drought, which climate experts have been telling us would be the case unless we stopped burning fossil fuels fast. - 'Germany recording coldest Spring in 40 years! “…Climate Experts Running Out Of Arguments…”!'

30 May - What is life going to look like as our precious water resources become increasingly strained and the western half of the United States becomes bone dry? - 'The Colorado river, the high plains aquifer and the entire western half of the U.S. are rapidly drying up'

30 May -  Police and rescuers scrambled into action Tuesday evening when a deluge of rain resulted in flash flooding that stranded motorists, blocked streets and pushed flood waters into places like Sandburg Mall and Carl Sandburg College. - "Torrential rain leaves Galesburg (Illinois, USA) scrambling amid flooded streets'

30 May - The sinkhole in downtown Washington will continue to block lanes and impede traffic until the end of the work week, officials said Tuesday. - "Sinkhole to close D.C. streets through Friday'

30 May - Three people have died from a a deadly new SARS-like virus, taking the total death toll to 27.
The unnamed victims were from Saudi Arabia and died in the country's eastern region, the Saudi health ministry confirmed today. - 'World Health Organisation calls Middle Eastern virus, MERS, 'threat to the entire world' as death toll rises to 27'

Spring planting in the US

31 May - When astronomers analyzed radar readings to create their first maps of 1998 QE2, the big asteroid that's due to sail past Earth on Friday, they were surprised to find that it has a moon twice as big as an ocean liner. - 'That's no space station! Asteroid 1998 QE2 has a moon, radar shows'

31 May  - An Alaskan town was flooded after a 30-mile ice jam on the Yukon River sent water flowing onto the land. - 'Amazing ice jam on Yukon River triggers devastating floods in Galena, Alaska'

31 May  - The Institute of Vulcanology warned that the eruption could intensify with ash rising as high as 1000 to 2000 metres, posing a threat to air traffic at Guatemala's international airport. - 'Pacaya volcano erupts in Guatemala'

31 May  - 'That Coronal Hole now facing Earth'

31 May  - Riot police charge at firefighters during a protest against austerity measures in front of the Catalunya Parliament in Barcelona, Spain, on May 29, 2013. - 'Firefighters clash with Riot Police in Spain'

31 May - 'Huge waterspout near Dubrovnik, Croatia'

1 June - CRE theory says cosmic rays – energy particles originating in space – play the dominant role in breaking down ozone-depleting molecules and then ozone." ... "Lu’s theory has been confirmed by ongoing observations of cosmic ray, CFC, ozone and stratospheric temperature data over several 11-year solar cycles. - 'Global Warming caused by Chlorofluorocarbons, not carbon dioxide, study says'

1 June - The tornado destructed parts of the city, toppled trees and ripped roofs off houses. To help the people of Tula region affected by the disaster, the department of Defence sent troops. - 'Amazing video of a Tornado striking through Yefremov, Russia, on 22 May 2013'

1 June -  A massive landslide in Wellington has swept away backyards and left houses teetering on a cliff edge. - 'Homes evacuated by landslide in Wellington, New Zealand'

1 June - The widest Tornado ever recorded hits Oklahoma -  'Tornado emergency with extensive damage, critical injuries reported in Oklahoma City suburbs'

1 June - '88% chance of Atlantic Tsunami Event - Update from Climate Risk Scientist Doctor Simon Atkins'

2 June - Over 200 witnesses reported a large fireball over Ohio last night around 11:05 PM local central time (3:05 UT). The fireball was seen from primarily Ohio and Indiana, but witnesses from West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and North Carolina also reported seeing the fireball. - 'Large Fireball Meteor with sonics over Ohio - 30 May 2013'

2 June - The Earth's magnetic field just had around fifteen hours of continuous geomagnetic storming, which has calmed down a little now. It's been reported that the cause of the fifteen hours of Earth being bombarded with energy is from an interplanetary shock wave with an unknown source. - 'Interplanetary Shock Wave hits Earth, source 'unknown'

2 June - As violent protests persist across Turkey, and spread from Istanbul to the capital Ankara, and Izmir, here is a visual summary of what is going on courtesy of Reuters. 'Photo gallery and live webcast from a violent Turkey'

2 June - The financial system of the third largest economy on the planet is starting to come apart at the seams, and the ripple effects are going to be felt all over the globe.  Nobody knew exactly when the Japanese financial system was going to begin to implode, but pretty much everyone knew that a day of reckoning for Japan was coming eventually. - 'The Japanese financial system is beginning to spin wildly out if control'

2 June - Melbourne appears to have escaped major flooding despite a night of record-breaking heavy rain. - 'Melbourne city in Australia has had its wettest June day on record'

2 June - Tomorrow calls time on the coldest spring in more than 50 years, as the past fortnight of below average temperatures dragged the average thermometer reading during March, April and May putting it on course for its lowest level since 1962. - 'UK sees coldest spring in 50 years, says Met Office'

2 June - 'Clif's Wujo 2 June 2013 E55 - Hooray! we're still here, Global Coastal Event, Farsight and independent remote viewing mention'

3 June - At least two people have been killed in devastating floods gripping the western Czech Republic. The disaster caused by torrential rains has prompted the evacuation of metro stations, several hospitals and the zoo in the capital. - 'Prague evacuated, state of emergency as floods grip Czech Republic'

3 June - Tim Samaras was one of the most knowledgeable and highly respected of the band of storm chasers who cross the Great Plains every tornado season. His bravery and skills were particularly admired because he managed to get scientific recording equipment into some of the most violent twisters, in an effort to increase understanding about them and thus reduce their devastating effect. - 'Experienced storm chasers among dead in Oklahoma tornadoes'

4 June - "People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees.  Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation." "These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives." - 'What is happening in Istanbul?'

4 June - Swollen rivers gushed into the old section of Passau in southeast Germany on Monday, as water rose in the city to levels not seen in more than five centuries - 'Situation in flood-hit German city 'dramatic''

4 June - As the breeze swept in under the cafe's parasols and the sky darkened over Rome, waiter Apu Haq exchanged commiserations with a customer nursing an espresso and a scowl. "They said summer was going to arrive this week," remarked Haq, "and instead came winter." Within minutes, torrential rain was lashing the cobblestones as thunder rumbled in the distance. "It's all the wrong way round," said a bewildered Haq, from Bangladesh. "It's incredible. I've been here for 10 years now and I've never seen anything like it. It's too strange." - 'Italy shivers through 'cursed spring' of relentless rain'

4 June - 'Brace for deluge, heavy snow expected - New Zealand'

4 June - A layer of snow on the second day of summer has put the citizens of the Russian city of Kemerovo completely out of humor. Meteorologists say the anomaly occurred because a cyclone brought cold Arctic air from Kara Sea region into Siberia dropping, temperature to lows typical for summer north of the Arctic Circle. Bloggers were at a loss when commenting the issue. - 'Snow in Summer - Kemerovo, Russia'

4 June -  Thousands of people, including victims from the Fukushima disaster in 2011, took to a central park in Tokyo on Sunday to protest the Japanese government's intent to restart the nation's nuclear reactors. - ''Only unevolved Apes want Nukes' - Anti-Nuke march in Tokyo, Japan'

4 June - Some 2,000 homes have been evacuated in Southern California as firefighters struggle to contain tens of thousands of acres of wildfire amid extremely hot, dry and windy weather. Two major blazes in New Mexico have also spiraled out of control. - 'Thousands evacuated as huge wildfires roar uncontained in California, New Mexico' 

5 June -  Bitter cold conditions, heavy rains and hail have wreaked havoc in Cape Town, South Africa, with a new cold front set to arrive on Monday. The mountains close by have seen heavy snowfall. - 'Cape of Storms: Western Cape, S. Africa hit by storms, hail, snow'

98,700 affected by extreme weather in NW China

Via mysinchew.com, 9 June 2013 - URUMQI, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rain, hail and floods have affected about 98,717 residents in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region since Tuesday, local authorities said on Sunday.

Strong rainfall began on Tuesday and has continued into Sunday morning,affecting Xinjiang's northern and western areas of Altay, Aksu and Tacheng, the region's civil affairs department said in a statement.

The rainstorm has damaged over 12,300 hectares of crops and killed 2,340 heads of livestock, while 303 houses have been toppled or damaged, forcing the evacuation of 939 people.

Direct economic losses are estimated to have reached 104 million yuan (about 17 million U.S.dollars), the department said.

The rainstorm has also triggered torrential floods, destroying parts of channels, sluices and infrastructure as well as electric wells, bridges and roads, it added.