Global Disasters/ Significant Events – Nov 26, 2013

​US releasing 50% more methane than EPA reported: Study

The United States has been releasing 50 percent more methane, a greenhouse gas, than previous EPA estimates, according to a new study released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The new study estimates the US released 49 million tons of methane into the air in 2008, or  more than the 32 million tons, which is 1.5 times higher than that estimated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The figure is also 1.7 times higher than the estimate released by international Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), a rubber-stamp outfit set up by the European Commission.

Methane is produced in a several ways including leaks during oil and gas exploration and refining, growing rice and livestock manure. Most of the U.S. methane is released in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with about 21 times greater heat-trapping ability per molecule than carbon dioxide.

The atmospheric concentration of methane has more than doubled since preindustrial times, climbing from about 700ppb to 1,826 ppb in 2012.

Methane has a boiling point of −161°C (−257.8°F) at one atmosphere, and is flammable only in concentration range of 5–15% in air.

Greedy Amazon Working Employees to the Bone

An undercover employee had to walk 11 and collect orders every 33 seconds.

An expert said such working conditions could cause “mental and physical illness,” reported BBC.

“Amazon reported UK sales of £4.8 billion [$7.8] last year. It employs around 20,000 staff in the UK during the Christmas period. On the company’s busiest day in December last year, 3.5million items were ordered by customers.”

The undercover reporter was employed as a “picker” collecting orders from 800,000 sq ft of storage. Because he worked night shifts his pay before tax rose from the daily rate of £6.50 [$10.53] per hour to £8.25 per hour.

 

This post will be updated throughout the day …

Deadly Thanksgiving Storm Moves East

Deadly ice storm claims at least 13 lives across the U.S.

A major storm system moving across the U.S. has caused at least 13 deaths including four in Oklahoma, four in Texas, three in California and one each in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as numerous road accident injuries.

The massive storm dumped at least 35cm of snow on Sunday in many mountain regions of Colorado and Utah, as well as significant amounts on  parts of Arizona and Texas.

The system has forced more than a thousand flight cancellations across  southern U.S.

US Composite Satellite Image – Nov 26, 2013 at 00:30UTC. Source: SSEC/Wisc-Uni

U.S. Weather Forecast

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued multiple severe weather Warnings, Watches and Advisories including Ice Storm Warning, Winter Storm Warning, Storm Warning and Flood Warning for a large portion of the country.  The following are highlights of their latest forecast Valid 00UTC Tue Nov 26 2013 – 00Z Thu Nov 28 2013

• Sleet/freezing rain possible from the Southern Appalachians to parts of Northern New England
• Snow is possible from Eastern Ohio Valley/Central Appalachians to the Lower Great Lakes
• Heavy rain possible from the Central Gulf Coast to New England
• Temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees below average from the Central Appalachians to the Central/Western Gulf to the Upper Midwest
• A complicated storm will develop over the Central Gulf Coast and move to the Mid-Atlantic by Wednesday.
• Another storm over the Central Gulf Coast will move northeastward to Mid-Atlantic and combined with the energy from the Great Lakes. The developing storm will produce moderate to heavy rain over the Central Gulf Coast and expand into the Southern/Central Appalachians by Tuesday morning. The moderate to heavy rain will move eastward to the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday, expanding into Northern New England by Wednesday morning. Showers and thunderstorms will develop along the Central Gulf Coast and move eastward to the Southeast by Tuesday night, moving offshore by Wednesday morning.