Environment

The devastating wildfire that has already forced all 88,000 residents to flee Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, exploded tenfold in size on Thursday, cutting off evacuees in camps and shelters north of the city. Firefighters are trying to battle the out-of-control blaze, which has already destroyed homes and is threatening infrastructure. Wildfire Spreads in Fort McMurray https://t.co/WP4HnKjL7T#NASApic.twitter.com/7dUTDAmqRd — NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) May 5, 2016 Officials estimated that 1,600 structures had been damaged or destroyed by Wednesday night.

Submitted by Wolf Richter of Wolf Street

Freight Rail Traffic Plunges: Haunting Pictures of Transportation Recession

292 Union Pacific engines idled in Arizona Desert

Total US rail traffic in April plunged 11.8% from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported today. Carloads of bulk commodities such as coal, oil, grains, and chemicals plummeted 16.1% to 944,339 units.

An estimated 40,000 tons of salmon, 8,000 tons of sardines, and masses of dead wales have washed up on the beaches across Chile in recent months. The mass creature deaths are thought to be as a result of the El Niño that arrived at the beginning of 2016, which authorities say have choked the sea life to death. Telesurtv.net reports: That is about 12 percent of annual salmon production in Chile, the world’s second-biggest producer of the fish after Norway. This month, some 8,000 tons of sardines were washed up at the mouth of the Queule River.

A meteor shower from the tail of Halley’s Comet is due to peak this week creating a display across the May night skies The dusty debris that Halley’s Comet has shed on its 75-year-long laps around the sun slams into Earth’s atmosphere during the first week of May every year, creating an annual meteor shower known as the Eta Aquarids A new Moon on May 6 will create favorable conditions for observers to see the shower and astronomers suggest watching the shower just before dawn.

A new scientific study claims that water may be responsible for carving out the dark streaks seen on the surface of Mars.  Raw Story reports: A team from France, Britain and the United States constructed models and simulated Mars conditions to follow up on a 2015 study which proffered “the strongest evidence yet” for liquid water — a prerequisite for life — on the Red Planet. That finding had left many scientists scratching their heads as the low pressure of Mars’ atmosphere means that water does not survive long in liquid form. It either boils or freezes.