Category: weather

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The Farmer’s Almanac Has Released Its 2020 Winter Predictions, and It’s Looking Pretty Brutal

Ready for a “polar coaster” this winter? Yeah, I don’t think I am, either. But we all better get prepared because that’s what the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting for the winter of 2020, along with a lot of snow and “frigid” and “freezing” temperatures. Great…

The editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, Peter Geiger, said, “Our extended forecast is calling for yet another freezing, frigid, and frosty winter for two-thirds of the country.” Last year’s prediction from the Almanac called for a long winter with a lot of snow and that turned out to be right on the money.

This year, the forecast says that people who live east of the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Appalachians will endure a particularly brutal winter with below-average temperatures and above-normal precipitation. The East Coast is also likely to see a mix of rain, sleet, and snow.

Folks who live in the western-third of the United States can expect a normal, mild winter with average temperatures and precipitation. The coldest temperatures of the year are predicted to occur in late January, affecting millions of Americans across the Northern Plains all the way to the Great Lakes. In other words, it’s going to be a long, cold winter.

Of course, we all know that weather predictions are never 100% accurate and there might be some wiggle room here, but it seems like this will be a pretty good indication of what the winter of 2020 will look like.

It might be time to move to California…

The post The Farmer’s Almanac Has Released Its 2020 Winter Predictions, and It’s Looking Pretty Brutal appeared first on UberFacts.

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Lightning Caused a Freak Toilet Explosion, so Choose Wisely When You Go to the Bathroom

I’m glad no one was injured (or killed) during this incident because this would be a really terrible way to go.

And of course this happened in Florida. Was there ever any doubt?!?!

The scene was Port Charlotte, Florida. During a lightning storm, the homeowners heard a huge crash-bang. When they investigated their home, they found that a toilet in their bathroom has EXPLODED from lightning. Windows in the house had shattered as well.

Let’s chalk it up to good luck that no one was doing their business at the time…

Posted by A-1 Affordable Plumbing inc. on Sunday, August 4, 2019

Jordan Hagadorn, the owner of A-1 Affordable Plumbing, said, “This is probably the first time in history something like this has happened” and that the lightning strike resulted in “perfect ignition inside the sewer.”

To explicate slightly – the lightening ignited whatever was in the sewer (poop gases like methane and such).

Hagadorn also said that 30 percent of the pipes in the house need to be replaced due to damage.

While this story sounds like a one-in-a-million incident, it does happen from time to time. John Jensenius, a lightning expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says, “There have been documented incidents of people injured on toilets. It [lightning] went through the pipes and through the water. If lightning strikes your home, it often finds its way into the plumbing.”

We’re just entering hurricane season, so please be careful and take note of impending storms.

A word to the wise: don’t do your business anymore if there’s a lightning storm outside…no one wants to have to explain that in a loved one’s obituary. Got it? Good!

The post Lightning Caused a Freak Toilet Explosion, so Choose Wisely When You Go to the Bathroom appeared first on UberFacts.

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Lightning Caused a Freak Toilet Explosion, so Choose Wisely When You Go to the Bathroom

I’m glad no one was injured (or killed) during this incident because this would be a really terrible way to go.

And of course this happened in Florida. Was there ever any doubt?!?!

The scene was Port Charlotte, Florida. During a lightning storm, the homeowners heard a huge crash-bang. When they investigated their home, they found that a toilet in their bathroom has EXPLODED from lightning. Windows in the house had shattered as well.

Let’s chalk it up to good luck that no one was doing their business at the time…

Posted by A-1 Affordable Plumbing inc. on Sunday, August 4, 2019

Jordan Hagadorn, the owner of A-1 Affordable Plumbing, said, “This is probably the first time in history something like this has happened” and that the lightning strike resulted in “perfect ignition inside the sewer.”

To explicate slightly – the lightening ignited whatever was in the sewer (poop gases like methane and such).

Hagadorn also said that 30 percent of the pipes in the house need to be replaced due to damage.

While this story sounds like a one-in-a-million incident, it does happen from time to time. John Jensenius, a lightning expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says, “There have been documented incidents of people injured on toilets. It [lightning] went through the pipes and through the water. If lightning strikes your home, it often finds its way into the plumbing.”

We’re just entering hurricane season, so please be careful and take note of impending storms.

A word to the wise: don’t do your business anymore if there’s a lightning storm outside…no one wants to have to explain that in a loved one’s obituary. Got it? Good!

The post Lightning Caused a Freak Toilet Explosion, so Choose Wisely When You Go to the Bathroom appeared first on UberFacts.

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Take a Look at Iceland’s First Dead Glacier Captured in Satellite Images

This is scary and sad at the same time.

The Okjökull glacier was dead, declared Oddur Sigurðsson, a geologist in the Icelandic Meteorological Office back in 2014.

By then, the glacier had mostly disappeared.

Fast forward five years and Sigurðsson and other scientists are hiking to the old summit to place a plaque commemorating it upon the volcano it once dominated. It is officially the first glacier lost to climate change.

These dramatic satellite images show the tragic change of the glacier between 1986 and 2019.

 

The Okjökull glacier is only one of Iceland’s receding glaciers, many of which are also changing at dramatic rates. According to Sigurðsson, glacier conditions all around the world are on the decline due to the impending climate crisis.

He has been documenting the vanishing of approximately 56 out of the 300ish smaller glaciers in the northern part of Iceland.

Here is the image of the Okjökull glacier in September, 1986.

Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Here is the image of the glacier taken August, 2019.

Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Every continent, except for Australia which does not have glaciers, is experiencing the loss of glaciers, some slow, others much quicker.

Alex Gardner, a NASA glaciologist, told Mashable, “We’re not trying to figure out whether the glaciers will melt in the future. We’re just trying to find out how much and how fast.”

Since 2001, 18 of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred. The warm temperatures have thinned the rivers of ice that create the glaciers.

Photo Credit: Vojife

Sigurðsson calculated that in 1890 the Okjökull glacier occupied 16 square kilometers, or 6 square mile. By 1945, it was dwindling, and it eventually died in 2014. Now, only small amounts of snow and ice exist along the slope.

Assuming warming trends continue along with unchanged rates of carbon emissions – which seems to be our trajectory unless something dramatic happens in the global political landscape – Iceland will see a decline in its glaciers of 40 percent by the end of the century.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, all of Iceland’s ice masses could disappear by 2200, if not sooner.

In the meantime, Sigurðsson is taking on the sad task of tracking all the living glaciers, especially those in retreat.

The post Take a Look at Iceland’s First Dead Glacier Captured in Satellite Images appeared first on UberFacts.

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Learn Some Great New Information with These 10 Facts

Ready to exercise that brain? Ready to learn?

Then let’s get to work!

1. I need one of these

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

2. Where the bodies were buried

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

3. That makes sense

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

4. Ouch…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

5. Nice and quiet

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

6. WOW

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

7. Improvement

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

8. No more, no less

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

9. Double rainbows!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

10. Wild animals

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

That was some good learnin’!

The post Learn Some Great New Information with These 10 Facts appeared first on UberFacts.

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Learn Some Great New Information with These 10 Facts

Ready to exercise that brain? Ready to learn?

Then let’s get to work!

1. I need one of these

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

2. Where the bodies were buried

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

3. That makes sense

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

4. Ouch…

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

5. Nice and quiet

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

6. WOW

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

7. Improvement

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

8. No more, no less

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

9. Double rainbows!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2

10. Wild animals

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

That was some good learnin’!

The post Learn Some Great New Information with These 10 Facts appeared first on UberFacts.

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This Is How People in Great Britain Manage During the Relentless Heatwave

Whether you buy the (verified) science of climate change or prefer to live with your head buried in the sand, there’s no denying that it has been H-O-T in the United Kingdom this summer.

Like…it’s never actually been this hot before, and people don’t know how they’re supposed to live with it.

Heathrow Airport saw a record-setting July temperature of 98.4 degrees while Cambridge hit triple digits for only  the second time in the history of recorded temperatures, and England wasn’t alone – France shattered its previous high record with a temperature of 108 degrees, and countries across Europe sweltered under the same kind of conditions.

Residents have had to think on their feet, and if the 20 pictures below prove anything, it’s that people are endlessly creative.

Whether or not the solutions are sustainable (or effective) well… you can decide for yourself.

19. Sun’s out, guns out.

18. Watch your step.

Tales of heatwave madness – the floor is lava ♨

Posted by Mouki Koutouki on Thursday, July 25, 2019

17. With age comes wisdom.

16. We’re not dramatic or anything.

15. All helpful advice.

14. I think it’s going to last.

13. Save yourself.

12. The old “pretend you’re at the beach” trick.

Sun, deckchair, beachball, sand (from a bag) middle of Blackfriars bridge, as you do.

Posted by Tom Evison on Wednesday, July 24, 2019

11. You know it’s bad when not even the electronics can handle it.

10. No one accuses cats of being dumb.

9. What even is dry skin?

Nice to know there’s one place on my body that I didn’t sweat from during this heatwave from TrollXChromosomes

8. Wanna get away?

Easy Jet nailing their advertising

Posted by Luke Brancaccio on Thursday, July 25, 2019

7. We just hug all day long.

6. Desperate times.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. from CasualUK

5. He will fight you for that outlet.

This guy is an absolute baller. from CasualUK

4. Everyone standing around was wondering if they could get away with doing the same.

3. People have come for the essentials.

Heatwave : No ice cream…This is a National Emergency !!!

Posted by Krzysztof Jan Darewicz on Thursday, July 25, 2019

2. My kingdom for some water.

1. Tips and tricks.

 

Stay cool out there!

The post This Is How People in Great Britain Manage During the Relentless Heatwave appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Guy Trapped in the Snow for 5 Days Survived on Taco Sauce Packets

Jeremy Taylor is a lucky man…and he has taco sauce to thank for it. The Oregon man and his dog were trapped for nearly five days after his Toyota 4Runner got stuck in the snow on a forest service road.

Taylor said he fell asleep in the car the first night and woke up the next day only to realize that more snow had fallen during the night. He and his dog tried to walk to safety, but Taylor said the deep snow made it impossible and they returned to the vehicle.

Photo Credit: Facebook

The Sheriff’s Office released a missing person report asking for help in locating Taylor.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Taylor said he periodically started his car to keep warm and that he ate taco sauce packets from Taco Bell that he found in the vehicle.

Finally, after almost five agonizing days spent snowbound in his vehicle, a snowmobiler found Taylor and called 911. The Sheriff’s Office arrived and found that Taylor and his dog, Ally, were both in good condition but were very hungry.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Taylor let all his friends and family know that he was okay.

Photo Credit: Facebook

And he added this comment…

Photo Credit: Facebook

Stay off those back roads, Jeremy!

The post A Guy Trapped in the Snow for 5 Days Survived on Taco Sauce Packets appeared first on UberFacts.

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Lewis Fry Richardson derived…

Lewis Fry Richardson derived many of the complex equations needed for weather prediction in the 1920’s. However, the math was so difficult that to predict the weather six hours in advance, it took him six weeks to do the calculations.

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Amsterdam Enacts a Ban on All Gas and Diesel Vehicles

Pollution is the global issue of our time, and around the world more and more cities are trying to take measures to reduce their carbon impact.

Most recently, the city of Amsterdam has taken a MAJOR step towards cleaner air: the Dutch city has announced that it is planning to phase out all gas and diesel vehicles by 2030.

Amsterdam’s traffic councillor recently said, “Pollution often is a silent killer and is one of the greatest health hazards in Amsterdam.” You might be surprised that such a world-renowned bike-friendly city (30% of Dutch commuters travel by bike) has such an awful pollution problem, but air pollution in the Netherlands is worse than European rules permit. This is mainly due to the heavy traffic in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The city’s plan is to replace all gas and diesel engines with electric or hydrogen cars, or other emission-free alternatives, by 2030. The plan will begin next year when diesel engines built before 2005 will be banned from Amsterdam. The plan then calls for gradual banning of more vehicles from city streets.

The current levels of nitrogen dioxide and particle matter in Amsterdam’s air can cause respiratory illnesses and shorten life expectancy by more than a year. The city plans to get rid of public buses that run on gas by 2022, to increase the number of electrical charging stations to 23,000 by 2025, and to offer subsidies and special parking permits to encourage residents to make the switch to electric and hydrogen cars sooner than later. We all know how crucial a nice parking spot can be, right?

Hopefully, other cities around the globe will take note – and in fact Brussels, Belgium, is already looking to follow Amsterdam’s lead.

The post Amsterdam Enacts a Ban on All Gas and Diesel Vehicles appeared first on UberFacts.