The animals that detect disasters - BBC Future Planet

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"For millennia, people across the globe have reported alarmed animal behaviour in the run-up to natural disasters. Could these signals be used to warn us of impending catastrophes? "

"... Local manmade early warning systems, such as tidal and earthquake sensors, failed to raise any clear alert. Many sensors were out of action due to maintenance issues, while many coastal areas lacked any tsunami siren warning systems. Haphazard communication also failed to provide warnings, with many text messages failing to reach mobiles in threatened areas or going unread.

Yet in the minutes and hours before surging walls of water up to 9m (30ft) high smashed through coastlines, some animals seemed to sense impending peril and make efforts to flee. According to eyewitness accounts, elephants ran for higher ground, flamingos abandoned low-lying nesting areas, and dogs refused to go outdoors. In the coastal village of Bang Koey in Thailand, locals reported a herd of buffalo by the beach suddenly pricking their ears, gazing out to sea, then stampeding to the top of a nearby hill a few minutes before the tsunami struck.

"Survivors also reported seeing animals, such as cows, goats, cats and birds, deliberately moving inland shortly after the earthquake and before the tsunami came," says Irina Rafliana, previously part of an advisory group for the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk (UNISDR) and now a researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn. "Many of those who survived ran along with these animals or immediately after." "

Ants bank up their hills before rain.

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Tonight
Rain before 5am, then freezing rain likely. Some thunder is also possible. Low around 22. South wind 8 to 16 mph becoming north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total nighttime ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible.
Thursday
Freezing rain and sleet before 8am, then snow, possibly mixed with sleet between 8am and 9am, then snow after 9am. The snow and sleet could be heavy at times. Temperature falling to around 20 by 2pm. North wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow and sleet accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
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