Blog note. Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity, frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a woman experiences in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great Tribulation period

… And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11).

… And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (Luke 21:25)

… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)

… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)
Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. These verses are several of many such prophecies from throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This list can go on. Most studied Eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like a woman having labor.

A heat wave in Antarctica melted 20% of an island’s snow in 9 days

By Scottie Andrew, CNN Updated 12:20 PM ET, Mon February 24, 2020

A nine-day heat wave scorched Antarctica’s northern tip earlier this month. New NASA images reveal that nearly a quarter of an Antarctic island’s snow cover melted in that time — an increasingly common symptom of the climate crisis.

The images show Eagle Island on the northeastern peninsula of the icy continent at the start and end of this month’s Antarctic heat wave. By the end of the nine-day heat event, much of the land beneath the island’s ice cap was exposed, and pools of meltwater opened up on its surface.

Antarctica experienced its hottest day on record earlier this month, peaking at 64.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Los Angeles measured the same temperature that day, NASA said.

In just over a week, 4 inches of Eagle Island’s snowpack melted — that’s about 20% of the island’s total seasonal snow accumulation, NASA’s Earth Observatory said.

“I haven’t seen melt ponds develop this quickly in Antarctica,” Mauri Pelto, a geologist at Nichols College in Massachusetts, told NASA’s Earth Observatory. “You see these kinds of melt events in Alaska and Greenland, but not usually in Antarctica.”

Climate scientist Xavier Fettweis plotted the amount of meltwater that reached the ocean from the Antarctic peninsula. The heat wave was the highest contributor to sea level rise this summer, he said.

A perfect storm of conditions for a heat wave

As Pelot noted, melt events like this are quite rare for Antarctica, even during the summer. It’s one of the coldest places on Earth.

This heat wave was the result of sustained high temperatures, he said, which almost never occurred on the continent until the 21st century. It’s the kind of weather event that grows increasingly common as global temperatures rise.

This month, high pressure over Cape Horn in Chile’s archipelago allowed warm temperatures to build up and travel. Antarctica’s northernmost peninsula is typically protected from these high temperatures due to strong winds that cross the Southern Hemisphere, but those winds were unusually weak and couldn’t stop the high temperatures from penetrating the continent’s northern tip, NASA reported.

Ice caps in Antarctica are already melting rapidly due to heat-trapping gas pollution from humans. Rising sea levels could be catastrophic for the millions of people who live along the world’s coasts: Antarctica’s ice sheets contain enough water to raise global sea levels by nearly 200 feet, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

And earlier this month, a massive iceberg along the western edge of Antarctica broke off from the Pine Island Glacier. The 116 square mile-chunk of ice likely fractured as a result of warmer sea temperatures, and it’s evidence that the glacier is quickly responding to climate change, the European Space Agency said.