First Posted: 07/6/11 09:22 AM ET Updated: 07/6/11 05:25 PM ET

A monstrous dust storm roared through Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday night, delaying flights and causing power outages for thousands of people.

The AP reports that the massive dust cloud, also known as a “haboob,” was around 5,000 feet when itarrived in Phoenix, but radar data reveals that it reached heights anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 feet high prior. The storm appeared to be around 50 miles wide in some areas, KSAZ-TV reported.

The dust storm originated in Tucson, and was a part of Arizona’s monsoon season.

According to CNN, the dust storm prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a ground stop on flights at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport for about an hour and 15 minutes. At its peak, the storm left 10,000 customers without power, Jenna Shaver of the Arizona Public Service told CNN.

to read more and see the video, go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/06/phoenix-dust-storm-photos-video_n_891157.html

The Seven Ancient Wonders of The World

June 28, 2011 — In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks – all bent northward. Surrounded by a larger forest of straight growing pine trees this collection of curved trees, or “Crooked Forest,” is a mystery.
Planted around 1930, the trees managed to grow for seven to 10 years before getting held down, in what is understood to have been human mechanical intervention. Though why exactly the original tree farmers wanted so many crooked trees is unknown.

to read more, go to:   http://news.discovery.com/earth/polands-crooked-forest-mystery-110628.html

Odd visitors in local waters a deep mystery

The unusual visit last week of two long-beaked dolphins to waters outside Olympia was just the latest in a string of strange animal sightings in and around Pacific Northwest waters. Lots of creatures that at first glance might not seem to belong have found their way here in recent years.

By Craig Welch Seattle Times environment reporter

There was the brown booby, the plunge-diving tropical seabird that inexplicably hopped aboard a crab boat this spring in Willapa Bay.

And fishermen have caught spear-snouted striped marlin off the Washington coast and a 6-foot leopard shark in Bellingham Bay. The shark, in particular, is hardly ever seen north of Coos Bay, Ore.

Even Bryde’s whales, which normally range from Chile to northern Mexico, have washed up dead on southern Puget Sound beaches. Twice. Just since early 2010.

The unusual visit last week of two long-beaked dolphins to waters outside Olympia was just the latest in a string of strange animal sightings in and around Pacific Northwest waters. Lots of creatures that at first glance might not seem to belong have found their way here in recent years.

The reasons are as diverse as the beings themselves. Green sea turtles that wind up stranded on Washington beaches often are presumed to have ridden warm-water currents up from California during El Niño years. Once they land in the cold Northwest, they grow too lethargic to make it home or swim at all.

Huge rock avalanches rumble down Mount Rainier

Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano’s flanks.

By Sandi Doughton

Seattle Times science reporter

Some of the biggest rock avalanches in years have been roaring off Mount Rainier the past several days, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and propelling rivers of muddy debris nearly two miles down the volcano’s flanks.

No one has been injured, but one group of climbers fled as dust descended on their tent after a rockfall Saturday afternoon.

“From my standpoint of looking at the mountain for 20 years, we’ve probably had rockfalls like this once every five or 10 years,” said Stefan Lofgren, lead climbing ranger for Mount Rainier National Park.

Since Friday, at least three major rockfalls and several smaller ones have sloughed off the rocky ridge called Nisqually Cleaver, at an elevation of about 12,800 feet. The one that let loose Saturday afternoon was the biggest.