16th June 2012 - Colorado Wildfire Could Burn All Summer

Colorado wildfire could burn all summer, officials fear and that means it's could be cloudy with a chance of hell: wildfires change the weather

In Lincolnshire, Sutton-on-Sea church hit by lightning - as usual all the storms missed here, though I did see some lightning over Doneskt in Ukraine, on TV.   Meanwhile washout weekend trend continues - and although midweek looks drier, next weekend is not looking too good either.

Highlands and Islands fire crews praised for Lewis blaze efforts after another big heath fire on the island.

And after their daft stories were highlighted yesterday, George Monbiot asks why the Daily Express continues to suffer outbreaks of dodgy weather reporting

One I missed whilst I was on holiday: Stockholm sees coldest June day in 84 years

Hurricane Carlotta makes landfall in Mexico

Brazil biofuel: Shell axes 'illegal' sugar cane plan - good news for the Guarani, though I doubt it'll make much difference to deforestation and consequential climate change.

New evidence suggests that glaciers 'helped shape Dartmoor

But new dating of Panama formation throws cold water on Ice Age origin ideas -  the presence of a 10my old fossil tree suggests the isthmus formed much earlier than thought and therefore its creation, and subsequent changes to global ocean currents, couldn't have been the reason Arctic regions began to cool plunging the world into the Pleistocene Ice Age (which is, of course, still on-going).   However I suspect it's not as simple as that.  The Thermo-haline circulation today flows through quite a narrow channel between islands in the Indonesian Archipelago and may well be an analogy for the situation in Panama 10mya.

Particles point way for NASA's Voyager as it enters interstellar space.  I  remember it being launched.

Good news: there'll be no Earth impact in 2040:  NASA releases workshop data and findings on asteroild 2011 AG5  Of course, before then there's Apophis in 2029 and 2036 - likely to be the next 'doomsday' dates once this December has passed (although current indications are that it too poses no risk - but they would say that, wouldn't they!)

And on an off topic note, I please to see that the 'working class' British Empire Medla revived in the Queen's birthday honours this year.   This is what the honour system is about, not given gongs to celebrities just because they are popular and have lots and lots of money, or are just good at what they do for a living, (and if if they do do charitable work, it's often only their huge wealth that allows them to do so - though I accept there are some exceptions).   I remember seeing my friend Bernard Heath recieve his BEM in recognition of his work for the MBA, many years ago.