logo
Watch: Cow caught in flood found alive on Australian beach 11 miles away

Watch: Cow caught in flood found alive on Australian beach 11 miles away

UPI23-05-2025

May 23 (UPI) -- A cow was found alive on an Australian beach after being carried up to 11 miles by floodwaters.
Layla Philipson found the cow alive on the sand on Old Bar beach, on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.
The cow was one of multiple bovines swept away by floodwaters brought on by torrential rains in New South Wales.
The bovine is believed to have originated from Taree, about 11 miles from the beach where it was located.
Philipson posted photos of the cow to the Taree Community Noticeboard on Facebook, where they came to the attention of the animal's owner.
The owner said the cow has been removed from the beach and is being treated by a veterinarian.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Australia, Pacific rocked by ocean heatwaves in 2024
Australia, Pacific rocked by ocean heatwaves in 2024

Yahoo

time18 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Australia, Pacific rocked by ocean heatwaves in 2024

Ocean temperatures in the southwest Pacific reached fresh highs in 2024 as heatwaves struck more than 10 per cent of the world's marine waters. Long stints of extreme ocean heat were experienced by nearly 40 million square kilometres of the region last year, including the waters surrounding Australia, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has revealed. WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said ocean heat and acidification were together inflicting long-lasting damage on marine ecosystems and economies "It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide," she said. High ocean temperatures have been wreaking havoc on heat-sensitive coral reefs worldwide, with Australian authorities reporting the sixth mass bleaching event at the Great Barrier Reef in less than a decade. Warming on land was also higher than it had ever been in 2024, with Thursday's report from the United Nations weather and climate agency identifying temperatures around 0.48C above the 1991–2020 average across the region. Heatwaves were particularly acute in Western Australia, with the coastal town of Carnarvon reaching 49.9C in February and breaking existing temperature records by more than two degrees. The southwest Pacific assessment aligns with global temperature records being consistently broken as concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reach fresh highs. Last year was the hottest on record and the first to surpass 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial times, the benchmark temperature under the Paris climate agreement. The global pact has not yet been breached as it refers to long-term trends but more warming is expected, with a separate WMO report predicting a 70 per cent chance the average temperature over the next five years will exceed 1.5C. The WMO regional report pre-dated Cyclone Alfred and the devastating flooding events Australia experienced in the first half of 2025 but captured above-average rainfall for the northern states in 2024. A sea level rise in the Pacific region that exceeds global averages was also recorded, threatening island communities living near the coast. Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia's glacier ice degraded 30 to 50 per cent compared to 2022. If melting continues at the same rate, the ice is on track to disappear entirely by 2026 or soon after. The Philippines was struck by twice as many cyclones as normal, with 12 storms hitting the country between September and November. Climate patterns also influenced the year's weather events, including El Nino conditions at the start of 2024 in the tropical Pacific ocean that weakened to neutral conditions by the middle of the year. Head of the federal Climate Change Authority Matt Kean said there was still "time to arrest this direction of travel to a hothouse destination" at an event in Sydney on Wednesday. "First, we should ignore the doubters whose main mission seems to be to prolong the life of fossil fuel industries," he said while delivering the Talbot Oration at the Australian Museum.

La Nina's role explained in Atlantic hurricane season
La Nina's role explained in Atlantic hurricane season

UPI

timea day ago

  • UPI

La Nina's role explained in Atlantic hurricane season

1 of 3 | Large parts of New Orleans were flooded weeks after several levees failed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. That hurricane occurred around the onset of La Niña conditions. File Photo by Bob McMillan/FEMA Photo for UPI | License Photo Most people associate La Niña with warmer winters or drought in the southern United States, but its influence stretches far beyond the winter months. When La Niña sets in during hurricane season, it has the potential to dramatically increase both the number and strength of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. La Niña is part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle and is defined by lower-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator. Although the phenomenon originates far from the Atlantic Ocean, it disrupts global weather patterns in a way that suppresses wind shear across much of the tropical Atlantic. This matters because vertical wind shear -- the change in wind speed or direction with height - tends to prevent tropical systems from organizing. When shear is reduced, clusters of showers and thunderstorms are more likely to organize, strengthen and turn into tropical storms and hurricanes. "La Niña increases the number of hurricanes that develop and allows stronger hurricanes to form," said AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva. "It also raises the chances for the continental U.S. and the Caribbean Islands to experience a hurricane." During La Niña years, meteorologists often observe more named storms, more major hurricanes and higher accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), a measure of the strength and duration of storms over time. The odds of U.S. landfalls also increase, particularly for the Gulf Coast and Southeast. Two of the most active hurricane seasons in modern history occurred around the onset of La Niña conditions: 2005 and 2020. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, and the official storm naming list was exhausted for the first time, prompting the use of Greek letters. In 2020, the Atlantic basin experienced a record-breaking 11 storms that made direct landfall on U.S. soil, including Hurricane Laura. As for 2025, La Niña is not expected during the early part of the hurricane season. However, forecasters are watching for signs that it could emerge later in the year. "If we trend toward La Niña late in the hurricane season, we could see an active end to the season, similar to what we saw last year," DaSilva said. Complicating matters is the presence of unusually warm water in the Atlantic Ocean, which increases the risk of rapid intensification -- a dangerous trend in which storms gain strength quickly just before landfall. One of the biggest factors for tropical development in 2025 is the abundance of warm water available to fuel storms. "The water temperatures across most of the Atlantic are above average for this time of the year," DaSilva said. "They're not quite as warm as what we saw last year and in 2023, but they're still well, well above average." If La Niña arrives in the second half of the season and combines with this ocean heat, the Atlantic could be primed for a particularly volatile stretch during the peak hurricane months of September through November. La Niña doesn't guarantee an above-average season, but it dramatically shifts the odds in that direction. And for coastal communities, that makes understanding its influence more important than ever.

2 rounds of tropical trouble brewing in Atlantic
2 rounds of tropical trouble brewing in Atlantic

UPI

time2 days ago

  • UPI

2 rounds of tropical trouble brewing in Atlantic

AccuWeather meteorologists are expecting a busy hurricane season, especially early on and perhaps the latter part with a lull in the middle. File Photo (2016) by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo While a disorganized mass of drenching showers and thunderstorms near the southeastern United States will be watched for development over the next few days, another tropical threat could emerge in the Caribbean prior to the middle of the month. "These are the areas that we would typically look for tropical development during the month of June, so it's not uncommon to see that," AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said. Watch the southern US Atlantic coast this week An area strewn with showers and thunderstorms stretching from the Bahamas to South Florida and Cuba will slowly drift north-northeastward into Thursday, drenching Florida, southern Georgia, and coastal areas of the Carolinas. The downpours can be beneficial for drought-stricken areas, but too much rain may fall too fast and lead to flash urban flooding. Cities such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida Charleston, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina should be prepared for flooding. Up to a few inches of rain can fall in as many hours on some communities. Not only is urban flooding a concern, but building seas and local onshore winds from the budding low pressure area can lead to dangerous rip currents, coastal flooding, and beach erosion from the Florida east coast to the Carolinas. "In terms of tropical development of this feature along the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast, water temperatures right along the coast are still below that critical 80-degree Fahrenheit threshold," DaSilva said, "Waters are warmer over the Gulf stream, but that is well off the coast at this time. So if this can try to develop later this week, it would probably be over that Gulf Stream and not along the immediate coast." Watch the western Caribbean next week During the second week of June, a zone farther south-over the western and central Caribbean needs to be watched closely. A slow-spinning massive low pressure area known as a gyre may develop, which can then give birth to smaller but more intense areas of low pressure that can evolve into tropical storms and hurricanes. "What's going to happen is that the Central American gyre is finally going to develop in the next week or so. When you see trade winds coming from the east, and then you actually see some winds coming from the west down here, that kind of turns a big area of low pressure down here," DaSilva said. The waters are plenty warm in the Caribbean to foster and sustain tropical development. "The timing we are looking at for possible tropical development in the central and western Caribbean is June 7-12 or perhaps a bit later," DaSilva said. "Should a tropical depression or storm take shape early next week, it may be more likely to track into the Gulf and then perhaps swing towards Louisiana or Florida," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said, "Should it wait till later next week or perhaps hold off until nearly the middle of the month, steering breezes would be more likely to take it into southern Mexico or Central America." AccuWeather meteorologists are expecting a busy hurricane season, especially early on and perhaps the latter part with a lull in the middle. Between three to six direct impacts on the United States are anticipated.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store