By Michael Snyder
August 18, 2025
Why does just about everything seem to be going haywire in 2025? In particular, the natural world has been thrown into a state of complete and utter chaos. We are experiencing “the year of the fire” and “the year of the flood” simultaneously, and we are constantly being hammered by large earthquakes and major volcanic eruptions. I have written much about the natural disasters we have been witnessing, but today I am going to focus on some of the more bizarre ways that nature is in chaos right now. For example, a massive invasion of rats is suddenly plaguing California’s almond industry…
Rodent expert Roger Baldwin used to get less than one yearly inquiry about rat issues during most of his extended stint at the University of California-Davis, where he’s a professor of cooperative extension focused on managing human-wildlife conflict.
Now his phone keeps buzzing with dozens of requests from farmers, journalists and others seeking his expertise amid an unprecedented phenomenon: A massive assault by rats on the state’s $4.7 billion almond industry.
Nobody seems to know why vast numbers of rats have shown up in this region.
But they are causing an immense amount of damage.
We are being told that so far these rats have “caused $109 million to $311 million in losses from damage to equipment and crops”…
A newsletter this month by the Almond Board of California said the infestation in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, one of the world’s top agricultural regions, has impacted more than 100,000 acres and caused $109 million to $311 million in losses from damage to equipment and crops over a year.
The sudden invasion starting last fall took growers by surprise, and they’re still scrambling to figure out how to repel the intruders, often turning to Baldwin for guidance.
Perhaps you don’t really care about what is happening to the almond industry in California.
But you should, because California accounts for 75 percent of all global almond production.
In neighboring Nevada, vast hordes of mosquitoes are causing havoc in Las Vegas…
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/las-vegas-mosquito-problem-explained-rcna225002
If at one time it was thought mosquitoes couldn’t survive in desert climates, this city is a case study in how wrong that is.
Mosquitoes typically prefer more tropical, humid conditions, but these biting machines have exploded in number throughout the Las Vegas Valley in recent years because of a host of changes.
It doesn’t make sense for Las Vegas to be having such a severe problem with mosquitoes.
But it is happening anyway.
And it turns out that an increasing number of these mosquitoes are carrying West Nile virus…
In recent weeks, 169 of over 24,000 pools of mosquitoes tested for West Nile virus returned positive — meaning at least one insect in the pool carried the disease — across 25 southern Nevada ZIP codes. The number of mosquitoes recorded and the tally of positive pools this early in the season break the area’s records for both metrics, set in 2019.
“These are huge numbers of mosquitoes, and we’ve already identified a concerning number of them carrying the West Nile virus,” said Vivek Raman, an environmental health supervisor for the Southern Nevada Health District.
West Nile virus can kill you.
In fact, it is killing people as far north as Idaho this year.
So this is a story that we will want to keep a close eye on.
Of course terrifying diseases are spreading among our animal populations as well.
Last week, I wrote about the diseased rabbits with “tentacle-like growths on their faces” that are causing such a stir in Colorado.
Today, I am going to tell you about a plague of diseased “zombie squirrels” that is frightening homeowners in both the United States and Canada…
A PLAGUE of terrifying “zombie” squirrels has gripped backyards across America.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/36336465/zombie-squirrels-oozing-pus-sores/
Squirrels may look cute with their big bushy tails on a good day, but these have been seen covered with ghastly, pus-filled tumours.
These grotesque sores make the animals look like something out of a zombie apocalypse.
What is happening to these precious little squirrels is a tremendous tragedy.
According to authorities, the pus-filled growths are likely being caused by a disease known as “leporipoxvirus”…
Squirrel fibromatosis has been identified as the likely culprit – a skin condition that’s caused by leporipoxvirus.
It spreads through direct contact between healthy squirrels and the lesions or saliva on those that are infected.
The condition leads to the wart-like growths spotted on the infected squirrels – which can burst open and ooze fluid.
Have you noticed that all sorts of very strange diseases seem to be on the rise here in 2025?
Why is that?
Meanwhile, “the year of the flood” continues to claim even more victims.
Recent floods in Pakistan that caused tsunami-like devastation in some areas killed over 200 people…
Residents of a northwestern Pakistani district where devastating floods have killed more than 200 people said on Monday they were too scared to go back to their deluged homes as authorities warned of more rains to come.
“Everybody is scared. Children are scared. They cannot sleep,” said Sahil Khan, a 24-year-old university student.
One official said that the sudden apocalyptic floods were like “a doomsday scenario”…
“It was like a doomsday scenario,” he said of the flash floods caused by heavy rains and cloudbursts that, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, have killed at least 341 people in the northwest since Friday – more than 200 of them in Buner.
The fatalities include 28 women and 21 children, it said.
In all of modern history, we have never seen flooding like we have seen this year.
But a lot of people out there are still convinced that conditions will eventually “return to normal”.
We are also seeing an extremely unusual level of seismic activity in 2025.
Yesterday, a volcano in Indonesia ejected hot volcanic ash nearly 10 kilometers into the air…
Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in Indonesia erupted on August 17, 2025, ejecting volcanic ash up to 9.8 km (32 000 feet) above sea level, according to the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC).
The eruption began at 23:55 local time (LT) on August 17, with the Darwin VAAC issuing an advisory reporting ash reaching 9.8 km (32 000 feet) above sea level and drifting west at approximately 37 km/h (23 mph). The current Aviation Color Code is Red.
The eruption continued into August 18, with multiple moderate to strong eruptions.
If one of the major volcanoes in Oregon or Washington did that, everyone would be freaking out.
But because it occurred on the other side of the planet it isn’t getting much attention at all.
Elsewhere, Queensland was just hit by the strongest earthquake that it has experienced in 50 years…
A strong earthquake registered by Geoscience Australia as M5.6 hit near Kilkivan, Queensland at 23:49 UTC on August 15 (09:49 local time) on August 16, 2025, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). The quake caused temporary power outages and minor structural damage, and marked the state’s largest on-shore earthquake in 50 years.
I warned that global chaos was coming, but at first a lot of people out there didn’t want to believe it.
Needless to say, there are a lot less skeptics these days.
But this is just the beginning.
We really are living in apocalyptic times, and sticking our heads in the sand isn’t going to change that.
