Our land has always been ready to share with us all that it has, but man has turned out to be a bad master. He wanted complet control over everything: the land, the climate, the seas and oceans, the near-earth space. And it seems that the planet is no longer able to tolerate us, importunate and insatiable people, who cut down forests, pollute the surface, the sky and orbit. And nature strikes back.
As the solar minimum continued, subfreezing temperatures and snowfalls were still breaking records in February. Canada and the US experienced another arctic blast from the now split 'polar vortex', pushing wind chill temperatures in Canada to -62°C and covering much of the northern, central and eastern U.S. with heavy snow. The cold blast also descended to Europe and parts of Asia. This 'Beast from the East' brought heavy snow to much of Europe with some parts colder than the Arctic!
China was hit by heavy snow, disrupting transportation and flights, while Japan had one of its worst winters in decades. Snow also blanketed unusual places like the UAE and Morocco.
Heavy rain caused destructive floods in Indonesia, New Zealand, Cyprus and deadly mudslides in South America, while seventy rivers overflowed from the Great Lakes to Texas. Record-breaking size hail pounded Argentina, while California and Saudi Arabia were pounded by hailstorms that caused damage and disrupted traffic for hours.
The Ring of Fire continued with increased activity, volcanoes and mud volcanoes that had been dormant for decades awoke with a vengeance, triggering evacuations and disrupting the flights of thousands of travelers. Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and Mexico were also shaken this past month by significant earthquakes as the cosmic ray grand maximum approaches.
Dry tides are becoming more common all around the world, while mass fish deaths and strandings continue to baffle scientists.
Meteor fireballs put on quite a show again this month, while the reports of unexplained loud ''booms'' increased all over the world.
Extreme cold is becoming the new normal around the world with multiple snowfall records being broken each winter. atahis phenomena is already causing significant worldwide impact on crops, basic infrastructure and daily life.
Most of the US continued to experience one of the worst winters in its history this year. As temperatures got a little less cold, snow and ice melt has been causing destructive ice-laden flooding in the Mid and Northwest.
Meanwhile China, Japan, Taiwan and Japan also saw record snowfalls and freezing temperatures, and extreme cold was also present in unusual places like Morocco, Tanzania, Turkey, Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia. And of course, Europe got its fair share as usual.
This month, hurricane like winds wreaked havoc in Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America, and in some cases was accompanied by unprecedented tornados.
The Ring on Fire showed increased activity, with volcanoes erupting around the globe along with several earthquakes of significant magnitude. Some researchers link these phenomena to the increased incidence of cosmic rays.
''Random video taken during a cross-country flight in eastern Nebraska on February 11, 2018. Did not notice anything during the flight but looking at the video noticed the strange visual at 00:34 seconds. Put together this compilation with the following sequence: 1) Full video clip (44 seconds; UFO at 34 seconds) 2) Regular speed replay of the UFO 3) Four ultra slow motion clips of the UFO 4) Two regular speed repeats of the UFO.''
A brilliant, bright-green meteor blazed through the sky just north of Milwaukee on Wednesday, February 6th 2017 around 01:27CST (7:31 UT).
The green fireball was seen primarily from Illinois and Wisconsin but witnesses from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, Minessota and Ontario (Canada) also reported the event.
The falling space rock likely burned up in the sky about 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) north of Milwaukee, or about 100 miles (160 km) north of Chicago, according to the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
On September 18, Frankie Lucena of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, photographed an enormous sprite over the Caribbean Sea. For a split-second, the sky was illuminated by a mushroom-shaped flash: Oscar van der Velde, a member of the Lightning Research Group at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, explains what Lucena photographed:
''This type of sprite is often called 'jellyfish' or 'A-bomb,' and ranks as the largest type of sprite in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, '' he says. ''It consists of a bright halo approximately 85 km above Earth's surface surrounding sprite elements with long tendrils reaching down as low as 30 km above ground level.''
''This kind of sprite tends to be triggered by a very impulsive positive cloud-to-ground flash,'' van der Velde said to spaceweather.
The curios thing is, Lucena did not observe an instigating lightning bolt. Instead, just before the sprite appeared, he recorded a bright point-like flash of light. ''Was it a cosmic ray hitting the camera?'' wonders Lucena. Another possibility: The point-like flash could have been a cloud-to-ground strike mostly eclipsed by intervening clouds.
