Extended summer stormlover74 future snow hole banter thread 23

[Brian5671]

17 minutes ago, Dark Star said:

I assume it was a rare event.  

You would need a superstorm 1993 type deal to get cold air that far south in March...

[Volcanic Winter]

I think much of my frustration stems from not enjoying the “good times” as much as I should’ve, while we were in them. I’m in my mid 30’s, much of the 2000’s my focus was on everything but the weather and it was mostly a footnote at that time of my life despite always being appreciative of snow and having a better grasp on meteorology than my friends. 

The 2010’s were my early adulthood and once again I just had too many distractions at the time to really appreciate many of the best years (especially at the beginning of the decade).

The exception was Boxing Day, being snowed in with my future wife in our North Brunswick apartment, enjoying every second of our time together and the crazy storm that was. I have to probably offer BD forward as my personal favorite snowstorm of my life. It’s simply my best snow memory. We were definitely in or near one of the CNJ jackpot areas too, because we had so much snow from that it was staggering.

We got married and moved south the year after.

Since things have settled down and I’m at a phase where I can really enjoy winter and have the time / energy to focus on tracking, etc, it’s mostly been a down era. Jan 2018 and Jan 22 were the big events for me from this period, and at least Feb 21 I had good times while at work (lingering more than I needed to at times). Got less snow that year at home than up in Union, but still great overall.

Really would love one more epic season in the next few years, the kind that would be a top memory for all of us. Maybe it’s possible, maybe it’s not in the cards. Before long we’ll probably be moving north, though the exact location is still being debated.

Can’t say I regret living down here the past ten years though, I feel like we did okay relative to what should be expected. But as things warm, it’s only going to get tougher and tougher in this location and more and more dependent on the rare, cold Jan 22 type storms to deliver any snow at all. 

[gravitylover]

If I hadn't just gotten an unexpected foot of fluff with less than .4 liquid I'd be even more pessimistic than I am going forward. Not even hitting 24" two winters in a row is pretty disappointing though. I wish I had a decent way around this stupid warm Pacific but since I don't this pessimism is starting to win and I don't like it. I know, there's a balance and we'll find it soon enough, my worry is that balance means I live at way too low an altitude. 

[Cfa]

Snowing moderately here in Milwaukee, winds picking up too. Not a fan, a lot of these people are surprisingly bad at driving in the snow. But it’s pretty.

[MJO812]

Week ago today I was under a WWA for 2-4 inches

[LibertyBell]

5 hours ago, Volcanic Winter said:

I think much of my frustration stems from not enjoying the “good times” as much as I should’ve, while we were in them. I’m in my mid 30’s, much of the 2000’s my focus was on everything but the weather and it was mostly a footnote at that time of my life despite always being appreciative of snow and having a better grasp on meteorology than my friends. 

The 2010’s were my early adulthood and once again I just had too many distractions at the time to really appreciate many of the best years (especially at the beginning of the decade).

The exception was Boxing Day, being snowed in with my future wife in our North Brunswick apartment, enjoying every second of our time together and the crazy storm that was. I have to probably offer BD forward as my personal favorite snowstorm of my life. It’s simply my best snow memory. We were definitely in or near one of the CNJ jackpot areas too, because we had so much snow from that it was staggering.

We got married and moved south the year after.

Since things have settled down and I’m at a phase where I can really enjoy winter and have the time / energy to focus on tracking, etc, it’s mostly been a down era. Jan 2018 and Jan 22 were the big events for me from this period, and at least Feb 21 I had good times while at work (lingering more than I needed to at times). Got less snow that year at home than up in Union, but still great overall.

Really would love one more epic season in the next few years, the kind that would be a top memory for all of us. Maybe it’s possible, maybe it’s not in the cards. Before long we’ll probably be moving north, though the exact location is still being debated.

Can’t say I regret living down here the past ten years though, I feel like we did okay relative to what should be expected. But as things warm, it’s only going to get tougher and tougher in this location and more and more dependent on the rare, cold Jan 22 type storms to deliver any snow at all. 

I take it you weren't in the area for January 2016?

[Volcanic Winter]

11 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

I take it you weren't in the area for January 2016?

I was, I honestly don’t remember it that well. I know it’s blasphemous to say, and I don’t really recall why. My only memories of that storm were noting the infamous NAM run prior to the event, and worrying about my garage because of the amount of snow piling up on top of it without blowing or falling off. Remember coming out and knocking as much as I could off. Rest of the storm I don’t remember. I don’t think we got all that much down here, at least not much more than some Of the other biggies like Jan 18 here. 

Holistically as a recalled experience, it’s just not even close to Boxing Day for me. I recall almost that entire event and what we were doing throughout. 

[LibertyBell]

Just now, Volcanic Winter said:

I was, I honestly don’t remember it that well. I know it’s blasphemous to say, and I don’t really recall why. My only memories of that storm were noting the infamous NAM run prior to the event, and worrying about my garage because of the amount of snow piling up on top of it without blowing or falling off. Remember coming out and knocking as much as I could off. Rest of the storm I don’t remember. I don’t think we got all that much down here, at least not much more than some Of the other biggies like Jan 18 here. 

I was looking at pictures from the 2010-11 winter and wow did we have an amazing amount of snowcover that season..... looking at pictures from Boxing Day and also in February when the snowcover was at maximum extent there were several feet of snow in my backward which made everything seem level.....

My two greatest memories of snowfall from that decade are that winter and January 2016

[Volcanic Winter]

15 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

I was looking at pictures from the 2010-11 winter and wow did we have an amazing amount of snowcover that season..... looking at pictures from Boxing Day and also in February when the snowcover was at maximum extent there were several feet of snow in my backward which made everything seem level.....

My two greatest memories of snowfall from that decade are that winter and January 2016

2009-2011 was stupid nuts. I was in Long Branch then North Brunswick for that period, moving to my present location for 2012. Apparently 09-10 my current location had 74 inches, which is ludicrous. 

Vivid memory of driving up to pick my wife up at her house near East Brunswick in early / mid Feb 2010 to be with her for my bday that year, during a storm that had at least ten inches on the ground at the time I was heading toward her. I’ve never been bothered by driving in snow, and for whatever reason that memory sticks out vividly. 

[LibertyBell]

1 hour ago, Volcanic Winter said:

2009-2011 was stupid nuts. I was in Long Branch then North Brunswick for that period, moving to my present location for 2012. Apparently 09-10 my current location had 74 inches, which is ludicrous. 

Vivid memory of driving up to pick my wife up at her house near East Brunswick in early / mid Feb 2010 to be with her for my bday that year, during a storm that had at least ten inches on the ground at the time I was heading toward her. I’ve never been bothered by driving in snow, and for whatever reason that memory sticks out vividly. 

I found pictures from that season too, the snow happened with so much wind that the sides of my house were encased in snow!

This was from the storm at the end of February, it's the latest storm to dump 20 inches of snow at NYC since March 1888!  The anniversary is actually coming up-- it was on the 26th!

From February 2010 to January 2011, there were three 20" snowstorms!

[Volcanic Winter]

13 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

I found pictures from that season too, the snow happened with so much wind that the sides of my house were encased in snow!

This was from the storm at the end of February, it's the latest storm to dump 20 inches of snow at NYC since March 1888!  The anniversary is actually coming up-- it was on the 26th!

From February 2010 to January 2011, there were three 20" snowstorms!

Yeah, we’re all incredibly lucky as snow lovers to have lived through that period, whether we recognized it at the time or otherwise. 

I do believe that was the intersection of favorable decadal variability and a “boon” from warming that hadn’t progressed to the point of hurting enough to offset things just yet. 

As I alluded to above, I hope when ‘built in’ favorability swings back around, we’re still able to capitalize on it. It’s extremely debatable and I’m not suggesting I have the answers, merely hoping. One more epic winter would go down nicely for all of us after the 2016 to present period (which of course wasn’t terrible all the time, thankfully - but it has been significantly warmer in the winter since, the temperature stats on recent winters have been extremely jarring to say the least, and we’re not talking anything theoretical here just what was actually observed). 

I’ll tell ya Liberty, I’d be extremely intrigued by a Tambora sized eruption happening in our lifetimes. Hopefully an isolated NH volcano without much direct human impact, and a classic gas composition. I don’t think we’d have much risk of a severe volcanic winter in terms of what people faced in 1816, I think we’d simple see a temporary regression in average temperatures for a couple years (we’re so far above the temperatures at the end of the LIA a volcanic winter would be a different animal today, IMO). From our current setpoint I don’t believe it’d be that severe, but a sudden decrease of ~1C would certainly feel like quite a shock.  

[Stormlover74]

16 hours ago, Volcanic Winter said:

2009-2011 was stupid nuts. I was in Long Branch then North Brunswick for that period, moving to my present location for 2012. Apparently 09-10 my current location had 74 inches, which is ludicrous. 

Vivid memory of driving up to pick my wife up at her house near East Brunswick in early / mid Feb 2010 to be with her for my bday that year, during a storm that had at least ten inches on the ground at the time I was heading toward her. I’ve never been bothered by driving in snow, and for whatever reason that memory sticks out vividly. 

I've been fortunate to live in other places during some of their best winters and also live here during our best winters as well. Experienced the epic 93-94 winter in state college including a 3 foot snowpack in early March. Lived outside Chicago for one winter but it happened to be during the Jan 99 blizzard. Unfortunately I spent most of the 96 blizzard on a bus headed back to school so I did miss experiencing the bulk of that one.  And I'm old enough to remember the blizzard of 83 as my first real memory of a snowstorm

[LibertyBell]

1 hour ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Yeah, we’re all incredibly lucky as snow lovers to have lived through that period, whether we recognized it at the time or otherwise. 

I do believe that was the intersection of favorable decadal variability and a “boon” from warming that hadn’t progressed to the point of hurting enough to offset things just yet. 

As I alluded to above, I hope when ‘built in’ favorability swings back around, we’re still able to capitalize on it. It’s extremely debatable and I’m not suggesting I have the answers, merely hoping. One more epic winter would go down nicely for all of us after the 2016 to present period (which of course wasn’t terrible all the time, thankfully - but it has been significantly warmer in the winter since, the temperature stats on recent winters have been extremely jarring to say the least, and we’re not talking anything theoretical here just what was actually observed). 

I’ll tell ya Liberty, I’d be extremely intrigued by a Tambora sized eruption happening in our lifetimes. Hopefully an isolated NH volcano without much direct human impact, and a classic gas composition. I don’t think we’d have much risk of a severe volcanic winter in terms of what people faced in 1816, I think we’d simple see a temporary regression in average temperatures for a couple years (we’re so far above the temperatures at the end of the LIA a volcanic winter would be a different animal today, IMO). From our current setpoint I don’t believe it’d be that severe, but a sudden decrease of ~1C would certainly feel like quite a shock.  

Thats what I hope for too-- what about something like Laki in Iceland again, do you think it's possible? Is Laki due for another eruption?

 

[LibertyBell]

26 minutes ago, Stormlover74 said:

I've been fortunate to live in other places during some of their best winters and also live here during our best winters as well. Experienced the epic 93-94 winter in state college including a 3 foot snowpack in early March. Lived outside Chicago for one winter but it happened to be during the Jan 99 blizzard. Unfortunately I spent most of the 96 blizzard on a bus headed back to school so I did miss experiencing the bulk of that one.  And I'm old enough to remember the blizzard of 83 as my first real memory of a snowstorm

April 1982-- did you experience that one? That's my first clear snowstorm memory.

[Stormlover74]

2 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

April 1982-- did you experience that one? That's my first clear snowstorm memory.

I don't recall it but there's pics of my brother and I in our Easter suits with piles of snow behind us

[Volcanic Winter]

1 hour ago, LibertyBell said:

Thats what I hope for too-- what about something like Laki in Iceland again, do you think it's possible? Is Laki due for another eruption?

 

Laki is just a name for the crater row generated by the eruption (Lakagigur, and the Icelandic name for the event is Skaftareldar, the Fires of the Skaftar river), the parent volcano was Grimsvotn which last erupted to VEI 4 level in 2011. 

These mega rift drainout eruptions are exceedingly rare, only three exist of Laki or greater size in the entire Holocene and two were 800 years apart (Eldgjà to Laki). Grimsvotn doesn’t have the magma right now to do it again, it was likely very deep long dormant storage getting shaken up and making a break for the surface in a truly massive rift event. 

There actually was a large rift eruption in 2014 (Holuhruan, from the Bardarbunga volcano within the Vatnajokull icecap, next to Grimsvotn). It was about 15x smaller than Laki and nowhere near as gaseous, but still tremendously large to have actively lived through. Events of that size are only once every several hundred years going by Icelandic eruptive history. 

Holuhraun however was massively larger than the Fagradalsfjall or Grindavik eruptions all put together since 2020. Trying to impart a sense of scale, Laki was beyond comprehension. The Tambora of effusive events. A genuine lava flood, or miniature flood basalt (probably the most analogous event in recorded history to one of the ancient Mesozoic flood basalt eruptions despite being thousands of times smaller). 

[Volcanic Winter]

@LibertyBell

Here’s a cool vid of the Holuhraun eruption. This vid is just one snapshot of one phase of the event.  This went on for months at an enormously high effusion rate. 1.5 cubic kilometers of basaltic magma, total volume. 

 

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

3 hours ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Yeah, we’re all incredibly lucky as snow lovers to have lived through that period, whether we recognized it at the time or otherwise. 

I do believe that was the intersection of favorable decadal variability and a “boon” from warming that hadn’t progressed to the point of hurting enough to offset things just yet. 

As I alluded to above, I hope when ‘built in’ favorability swings back around, we’re still able to capitalize on it. It’s extremely debatable and I’m not suggesting I have the answers, merely hoping. One more epic winter would go down nicely for all of us after the 2016 to present period (which of course wasn’t terrible all the time, thankfully - but it has been significantly warmer in the winter since, the temperature stats on recent winters have been extremely jarring to say the least, and we’re not talking anything theoretical here just what was actually observed). 

I’ll tell ya Liberty, I’d be extremely intrigued by a Tambora sized eruption happening in our lifetimes. Hopefully an isolated NH volcano without much direct human impact, and a classic gas composition. I don’t think we’d have much risk of a severe volcanic winter in terms of what people faced in 1816, I think we’d simple see a temporary regression in average temperatures for a couple years (we’re so far above the temperatures at the end of the LIA a volcanic winter would be a different animal today, IMO). From our current setpoint I don’t believe it’d be that severe, but a sudden decrease of ~1C would certainly feel like quite a shock.  

What a would give for a VEI 7 in our lifetime. Obviously somewhere unpopulated. Say Kamchatka. I would love to walk across the Hudson to New Jersey, something that happened regularly in the LIA. Solid snow pack from mid November to mid April. The kind of winter you now have to go a thousand miles north for or over  3000’.

[LibertyBell]

1 hour ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Laki is just a name for the crater row generated by the eruption (Lakagigur, and the Icelandic name for the event is Skaftareldar, the Fires of the Skaftar river), the parent volcano was Grimsvotn which last erupted to VEI 4 level in 2011. 

These mega rift drainout eruptions are exceedingly rare, only three exist of Laki or greater size in the entire Holocene and two were 800 years apart (Eldgjà to Laki). Grimsvotn doesn’t have the magma right now to do it again, it was likely very deep long dormant storage getting shaken up and making a break for the surface in a truly massive rift event. 

There actually was a large rift eruption in 2014 (Holuhruan, from the Bardarbunga volcano within the Vatnajokull icecap, next to Grimsvotn). It was about 15x smaller than Laki and nowhere near as gaseous, but still tremendously large to have actively lived through. Events of that size are only once every several hundred years going by Icelandic eruptive history. 

Holuhraun however was massively larger than the Fagradalsfjall or Grindavik eruptions all put together since 2020. Trying to impart a sense of scale, Laki was beyond comprehension. The Tambora of effusive events. A genuine lava flood, or miniature flood basalt (probably the most analogous event in recorded history to one of the ancient Mesozoic flood basalt eruptions despite being thousands of times smaller). 

If that eruption was in 2014, could it have caused the extremely cold winter of 2014-15?  That February was colder than anything I could have imagined in our current era....

 

[Volcanic Winter]

9 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

If that eruption was in 2014, could it have caused the extremely cold winter of 2014-15?  That February was colder than anything I could have imagined in our current era....

 

It’s unlikely as Holuhraun didn’t have 2km high lava fountains / overall explosive components that Laki had, and the enormous thermal updrafts Laki generated are probably the reason why it was even able to impact the climate. 99% of effusive events do not and are nowhere near the peak intensity of Laki, Holuhraun included. 

Laki was an exceedingly rare exception and also just a very unique volcanic event in general. 

[LibertyBell]

1 minute ago, Volcanic Winter said:

It’s unlikely as Holuhraun didn’t have 2km high lava fountains / overall explosive components that Laki had, and the enormous thermal updrafts Laki generated are probably the reason why it was even able to impact the climate. 99% of effusive events do not. 

Laki was an exceedingly rare exception and also just a very unique volcanic event in general. 

Laki was also the only time I've heard of fluorine gas being released into the air.... fluorine is extremely deadly!

 

[forkyfork]

On 1/24/2024 at 9:52 AM, forkyfork said:

  

sometimes i'll see pheasant or partridge when birding before a hawk wipes them out because they're farm raised and have no survival instinct and hang out in the open

from my birder friend today. pheasant 

[Volcanic Winter]

55 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

Laki was also the only time I've heard of fluorine gas being released into the air.... fluorine is extremely deadly!

 

Laki was extremely deadly to the population of Iceland, and their livestock.  

And the cloud of sulfur hanging in the troposphere drifted over to Europe by way of the UK and did a lot of damage to agricultural workers. 
 

120 Tg’s of sulfur was outputted by that event (compared to 20 for Pinatubo). Plausibly only a fraction of that made it beyond the tropopause and caused a volcanic winter, imagine if it all did…

Hekla also releases fluorine when it erupts, IIRC. 

[LibertyBell]

33 minutes ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Laki was extremely deadly to the population of Iceland, and their livestock.  

And the cloud of sulfur hanging in the troposphere drifted over to Europe by way of the UK and did a lot of damage to agricultural workers. 
 

120 Tg’s of sulfur was outputted by that event (compared to 20 for Pinatubo). Plausibly only a fraction of that made it beyond the tropopause and caused a volcanic winter, imagine if it all did…

Hekla also releases fluorine when it erupts, IIRC. 

I find this absolutely fascinating.

Have you heard about the deadly lake in Cameroon that killed over 1500 people in just a few minutes when it exhaled CO2?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_disaster

On 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.^[1]

The eruption triggered the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons (1.6 million tons, according to some sources^[who?]) of carbon dioxide (CO₂).^[2][3] The gas cloud initially rose at nearly 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph; 28 m/s) and then, being heavier than air, descended onto nearby villages, suffocating people and livestock within 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the lake.^[4][5]

A degassing system has since been installed at the lake, with the aim of reducing the concentration of CO₂ in the waters and therefore the risk of further eruptions. Along with the Lake Monoun disaster two years earlier, it is one of only two recorded limnic eruptions in history.^[6]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Monoun#Disaster

 

Lake Monoun is a crater lake (maar) in West Province, Cameroon, that lies in the Oku Volcanic Field. On August 15, 1984, a limnic eruption occurred at the lake, which resulted in the release of a large amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that killed 37 people. At first, the deaths remained unexplained, and causes such as terrorism were suspected. Further investigation and a similar event two years later at Lake Nyos led to the currently accepted explanation.^[1]

Disaster

Lake Monoun located in the West Region of Cameroon

Several people reported hearing a loud noise on August 15, 1984, around 22:30. A gas cloud reportedly emanated from a crater in the eastern part of the lake. The resulting deaths of residents in a low-lying area are believed to have occurred between 03:00 and dawn. The victims were said to have skin burns, which reports later clarified as "skin damage" such as discoloration. Survivors reported that the whitish, smoke-like cloud smelled bitter and acidic. Vegetation was flattened around the eastern part of the lake, probably by a large wave of up to 5 m (16 ft) height.^[1]: 7

Although Lake Monoun is near the center of a volcanic field that includes at least 34 recent craters, the subsequent investigation found that the event was not caused by an eruption or sudden ejection of volcanic gas from the lake. Rather, emission of carbon dioxide in a limnic eruption is thought to be to blame. The cloud's smell and skin damage to victims were not fully explained. Some theories attribute the skin problems to a combination of preexisting conditions and routine postmortem effects like livor mortis, another medical interpretation says the body's metabolic rate was reduced inducing a severely restricted circulation in capillary vessels of the skin, resulting in necrosis,^[1]: 6 although there is no clear consensus.

Among the victims were some of the riders in a truck carrying twelve people. The truck's engine stopped working as it became starved of oxygen, and the people inside the truck got out and were killed. Two people sitting on top of the truck survived, because their elevated position allowed them to breathe – carbon dioxide is heavier than air (oxygen and nitrogen) which causes it to stay close to the ground.

Two years later, on 21 August 1986, a similar and even more deadly event occurred at Lake Nyos, about 100 km (62 mi) north-northwest, killing 1,746 people and more than 3,000 livestock.^[2] Along with Lake Nyos and Lake Kivu, Lake Monoun is one of three lakes in the world known to have high concentrations of gas dissolved deep below the surface and which have the right conditions for a limnic eruption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Kivu

 

Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes.^[2] It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika.^[3] In 1894, German explorer and officer Gustav Adolf von Götzen was the first European to discover the lake.

Kivu lake shoreline at Gisenyi, Rwanda

In the past, Lake Kivu drained toward the north, contributing to the White Nile. About 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, volcanic activity blocked Lake Kivu's outlet to the watershed of the Nile.^[4] The volcanism produced mountains, including the Virungas, which rose between Lake Kivu and Lake Edward, to the north.^[5] Water from Lake Kivu was then forced south down the Ruzizi. This, in turn, raised the level of Lake Tanganyika, which overflowed down the Lukuga River.^[4]

Lake Kivu is one of three lakes in the world, along with Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun, that undergo limnic eruptions (where overturn of deepwater stratified layers releases dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂). The lake's bottom also contains methane (CH₄), meaning if a limnic eruption occurs, the lives of the two million people living nearby would be in danger.

[LibertyBell]

38 minutes ago, Volcanic Winter said:

Laki was extremely deadly to the population of Iceland, and their livestock.  

And the cloud of sulfur hanging in the troposphere drifted over to Europe by way of the UK and did a lot of damage to agricultural workers. 
 

120 Tg’s of sulfur was outputted by that event (compared to 20 for Pinatubo). Plausibly only a fraction of that made it beyond the tropopause and caused a volcanic winter, imagine if it all did…

Hekla also releases fluorine when it erupts, IIRC. 

I wonder if it all did or there was another eruption like that somewhere it would be enough to create a cascading reaction and trigger another ice age?

Wasn't there an era when volcanic eruptions were much more common?  Something must have triggered them....

[LibertyBell]

8 hours ago, forkyfork said:

from my birder friend today. pheasant 

Flacco the Owl is dead

stupid humans....

 

[LibertyBell]

 

 

[LibertyBell]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-dead.html

 

He was able to avoid vehicles by sticking largely to rooftops, water towers and other elevated elements of the built environment after leaving Central Park last fall. But the risk that he would be killed in a building strike was great: As many as 230,000 birds a year die in New York City when they hit windows, according to the National Audubon Society.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/24/flaco-new-york-citys-beloved-owl-dies-after-striking-building

 

 

News of the owl’s death caused an intense reaction on social media. More than 1,000 users reposted the zoo’s announcement of Flaco’s death on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This is an immense loss,” read one comment that summarised the sentiments of many on the platform. “I’m so grateful for everyone who came together to witness Flaco’s incredible journey.”

Another X user suggested tearing down the building where Flaco crashed.

The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the larger species. Flaco’s wingspan was reported to be about 6ft (1.8m).

Federal officials estimate that up to one billion birds in the US die annually after accidentally flying into buildings’ windows.

In October 2020, ornithologist Stephen Ambrose wrote on LinkedIn that there was evidence light glare from city buildings’ windows could blind owls momentarily and increase their risk of crashing into the structures, especially at night.

 

 

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

58 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-dead.html

 

He was able to avoid vehicles by sticking largely to rooftops, water towers and other elevated elements of the built environment after leaving Central Park last fall. But the risk that he would be killed in a building strike was great: As many as 230,000 birds a year die in New York City when they hit windows, according to the National Audubon Society.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/24/flaco-new-york-citys-beloved-owl-dies-after-striking-building

 

 

News of the owl’s death caused an intense reaction on social media. More than 1,000 users reposted the zoo’s announcement of Flaco’s death on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This is an immense loss,” read one comment that summarised the sentiments of many on the platform. “I’m so grateful for everyone who came together to witness Flaco’s incredible journey.”

Another X user suggested tearing down the building where Flaco crashed.

The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the larger species. Flaco’s wingspan was reported to be about 6ft (1.8m).

Federal officials estimate that up to one billion birds in the US die annually after accidentally flying into buildings’ windows.

In October 2020, ornithologist Stephen Ambrose wrote on LinkedIn that there was evidence light glare from city buildings’ windows could blind owls momentarily and increase their risk of crashing into the structures, especially at night.

 

 

He would have died eventually from arsenic poisoning. He was subsisting exclusively on rats which are loaded with arsenic from eating bait traps. The rats are building an immunity to rat poison over time. 

[LibertyBell]

6 minutes ago, LongBeachSurfFreak said:

He would have died eventually from arsenic poisoning. He was subsisting exclusively on rats which are loaded with arsenic from eating bait traps. The rats are building an immunity to rat poison over time. 

That absolutely sucks. I read that he was getting quieter with time, so maybe he was sick already.

At the same time, light pollution kills over 200,000 birds a year in Manhattan alone, so we should find a way to use more "smart lighting" which doesn't waste electricity and cause health and environmental issues.  I see complaints are up from building residents who complain they can't sleep because of all the wasteful light.