Featured Disasters From Previous Weeks

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
5.5 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.4 VANUATU ISLANDS REGION
5.5 VANUATU ISLANDS REGION
5.1 VANUATU ISLANDS REGION
5.1 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.5 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA
5.2 SOUTHERN IRAN

VOLCANO -
A volcano is erupting on Australia's most remote territory, McDonald Island, in the sub- Antarctic. The volcanic activity is changing the shape of the island and ultimately changing the environmental make-up of its cold and windswept surface. The island is 4100km southwest of Western Australia and was last visited in 2002. The volcano had been dormant for 75,000 years before erupting for the first time in 1992. There have been several eruptions since – most recently in 2001 – and the island's size has doubled in that time from 1.13sq km to 2.45sq km. "The McDonald Island volcano is also unusual because, unlike most oceanic volcanoes, it sits on a shallow submarine plateau. (This) means its eruptions are not as wild and fiery as some, instead producing a slow-moving mass of lava that seeps and spreads." The volcano is just 44km from Australia's only other active volcano on Heard Island, where there has not been any activity for some time.

More than 40 tremors shook the Northern Islands yesterday, as Anatahan experienced long- period earthquakes, which might indicate that volcanic eruptions are about to escalate. Three of those quakes had magnitudes of around 4. The seismic swarm began at around 1:52am and occurred over the next eight hours. At around 5:39am, a 4.2-intensity earthquake occurred, and the National Earthquake Information Center traced the event to about 40 miles northwest of Anatahan.

STORMS -
At least two deaths and more than 2,000 cases of people with breathing difficulties were reported in Baghdad on Monday after an unseasonal freak sandstorm, believed to be the worst in the country's history, hit the Iraqi capital. Meteorologists in the capital were surprised by the intensity of the storm, which reduced visibility to near zero, and warned of more to come over the next few days. "I cannot image what will happen if the storms continue in the coming days. We have a lack of oxygen and are in urgent need of supplies." "It's the first time in our records that a sandstorm has been so strong and the most surprising thing is that it has occurred outside the usual season." Smaller storms are common in Iraq in April and May.

At least 10 people have drowned and dozens are missing in north-east Iran after heavy rain caused flash floods. Floods overnight on Tuesday were even worse than those which had swept through the area a few days before.

Tropical storm Fernanda is 610 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and 749 nmi WSW of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, heading away from land.
Tropical depression Irene is 471 nmi ENE of Beef Island, BVI and 495 nmi ENE of St. Thomas, becoming disorganized.

Beijing weather officials on Sunday forecast that the thunderstorms created by Tropical storm Matsa would be the worst in a decade. It is extremely rare for Beijing to be hit by major tropical storms. Only four typhoons have swept through the city since 1949. At least 12 people had been killed by yesterday in China because of heavy rainfall and flooding caused by Typhoon Matsa, which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. The heavy rainfall ahead of the typhoon was blamed for a freak wave in a spillway of a water reservoir that killed five workers doing repair work. Those deaths occurred on Aug. 2, but they were first reported yesterday.

Dozens of parents and children were left fighting for their lives after a freak tide surged through a beach in England. A team of lifeguards dragged more than 30 people to safety after the waves tore sand from under the paddlers' feet at Perranporth, Cornwall. Calm water turned into a torrent at the north Cornwall beach on Monday when the flash rip struck. If the lifeguards not been at the beach there 's no doubt there would have been multiple drownings. Lifeguards used rescue boats and boards and a Jet Ski. No lifeguard could recall a previous flash rip at Perranporth.

Baseball-sized hail pounded parts of Otter Tail County in western Minnesota early Tuesday, damaging buildings and vehicles. Downed trees lined streets in Underwood. It appeared the largest hail hit in the Underwood area before turning into a wind storm.

South Florida is experiencing an unusual amount of lightning strikes. People have been hit, but not killed, and houses have been destroyed. Storms have been more intense, more brilliant and slower moving than a typical summer thunderstorm. Stroms have shot hundreds more lightning bolts to the ground than the summertime average in South Florida. National Weather Service experts say it mostly has to do with unsettled upper atmospheric conditions and an atypical wind pattern. On Thursday, Palm Beach County recorded 3,219 lightning strikes, when the average is between 300 and 500 strikes in a summer day. By Saturday, both Broward and Miami-Dade counties recorded more than 1,000 strikes, double their averages. "When you get over 1,000, that's quite a bit." On Saturday, a series of lightning strikes hit Miami International Airport's longest runway, leaving three holes. The largest was a foot deep and about 18 inches across.

A fire that raced through the Boise, Idaho, foothills two weeks ago blackened more than 1,100 acres, raising concerns about erosion and flooding. So far officials say there is no clear prediction of the risk of erosion or flooding, or if nearby homes are at any real risk.

Authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, Vietnam, are urging farmers to be ready for flooding as water levels in Tien and Hau rivers are rising rapidly. Flooding has occurred following prolonged rains in the Mekong River area.

With heavy rains worsening already critical flooding in Bulgaria and prompting the evacuation of 12,000 more people, United Nations agencies are mobilizing help for the second time in three weeks. Hundreds of houses have been flooded, some villages cannot be reached by land due to blocked or destroyed roads and bridges, and segments of the main highways and railway system are partially blocked.

COLD -
Bitter Antarctic weather has hit the Tasmanian capital with its first snow in almost 20 years.

An experiment in a dry Antarctic stream channel has shown that a carpet of freeze-dried microbes that lay dormant for two decades sprang to life one day after water was diverted into it, "These mats not only persisted for years when there was no water in the streambed, but blossomed into an entire ecosystem in about a week. All we did was add water."

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 -

QUAKES -
The largest quakes yesterday -
5.8 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.3 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.1 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
4.9 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA

This morning -
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN

From 10 pm on Friday to 8 am on Saturday, 27 aftershocks of differing magnitudes were felt in China after a 5.3 quake jolted the boundary areas of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces on Friday night. Two counties in each province were seriously affected with collapsed houses and injuries. "The earthquake came all of a sudden. We had no indication before that."

VOLCANO -
Tremor levels at Anatahan volcano intensified rapidly early yesterday morning, indicating another possibly strong eruption. Satellite imagery, however, could not detect the level of ash plume, but the Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center issued an ash alert based on the high seismic activity. A gradual increase in tremor levels began around 2:30am. Shortly after 5am, tremor levels rapidly intensified. The high seismic activity persisted for about half an hour, "indicating a possibly eruptive pulse from the volcano." Although dense cloud cover obscured satellite monitoring, the tremor levels surpassed peak levels recorded from June 17-26. Tremors of those magnitudes usually result in ash emissions to more than 25,000 feet.

STORMS -
Five farmers were killed Sunday and two others remained missing in a rain-triggered landslide in southwest China's Yunnan Province. The unexpected landslide rushed down a mountain in Xinping County of Yuxi City, engulfing three households and affecting 17 others. The landslide was triggered by a rainstorm that kept battering the county for five hours. Some 1,365 cubic meters of earth were washed away from the hill. Traffic and water supply in some villages has been cut off.

Beijing is gearing up for a massive evacuation of some 40,000 people from its suburban mountainous areas ahead of the onslaught of a rare typhoon (Matsa) that is fast approaching the Chinese capital.

Tropical Storm Irene weakened into a tropical depression Monday, and Tropical Storm Harvey was falling apart in the cooler waters of the north Atlantic, forecasters said. Neither threatened land. Irene became a tropical storm Sunday and was the earliest ninth named storm on record for the Atlantic hurricane season. Normally, there are only two named storms by this time in the season.

One of the fiercest storms of this year's monsoon season tore through Tucson, Arizona on Sunday with explosive winds, flooding streets, downing trees and utility poles and knocking out power to about 30,000 customers.

In the ongoing weather regime, the mid-Atlantic region is the graveyard of cold fronts. "Fronts moving out of Canada just don’t make it much farther south than Virginia or, at best, the Carolinas. They simply stall and wash out. Each front might bring a little additional instability for a few more thunderstorms, but really does little or nothing with the mugginess that has pretty much camped itself over the area. It’s really not an unusual weather pattern, it’s just a bit more pronounced this year than it has been in some recent summers. Cold fronts need strong upper atmospheric dynamics - i.e. winds - to push them through this muck. The strong jet dynamics have stayed in Canada pretty much since the middle of June. It’s not unusual for the jet stream to vacation in Canada during August, but it’s been really far north this year. Until these strong upper air winds begin migrating southward, not much is going to happen to pry this stagnant weather pattern loose. But fall gets closer with every passing day. By the end of the month, the area of cool air around the North Pole will begin expanding southward as the daylight shorts and the sun angle lessens, and the fast jet stream dynamics will be pushed ever farther south. Gradually, more and more vigorous cold fronts will be pressed farther and farther south, until cool air from Canada and the pole begins invading the United States... This is the march of autumn against summer. Though its speed, duration and strength vary year to year, this southward march of cooler air in the Northern Hemisphere is inevitable so long as the Earth’s axis is on a 23.5-degree tilt and the Earth keeps revolving around the sun."

DROUGHT / HEAT / WILDFIRES -
In Nepal, the monsoon rains this year are lagging three months behind their normal arrival time. Pre-monsoon rains generally occur around mid-May with monsoon rains starting from mid-June. Nearly 21 of the 75 districts in the kingdom are in the throes of a drought-like situation, forcing the government this week to announce that temporary dams would be built in such areas to help irrigation. Already rice cultivation has slumped by 50 percent. Only a thorough and continuous downpour can save the struggling paddy but even then, farmers would lose 15-20 percent of the yield.

After seven years of drought in Afghanistan, the country's farms are alive again since they have received good snows and rains. ''Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has started to recover from the drought and people's lives have been getting better. In previous years, no one even bothered to plant crops because our lands were dry like a desert, but that has all changed and everyone is sowing their land.'' But ''even after such a good harvest, the country will not be able to meet the consumption requirements of its population.''

Though summer can be murder on trout, smallmouth bass and walleye also are getting whacked by this year's hot, dry weather. Cooperative trout nurseries across Pennsylvania have lost 50,000 rainbows, brookies and browns destined for stocking. On the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, including Penns Creek and the Juniata River, smallmouth bass have gone belly-up in big numbers. And at Pymatuning, scores of dead walleye have been seen floating on the water. Fish commission biologists blame warm water and low flow - a combination that can be lethal to trout, a cold-water species, in the wild. But this is not usually a problem for walleye and bass, which can tolerate higher temperatures. Water temperatures are stressing walleye and the shallowness of the reservoir is offering them almost nowhere to go for relief. "It seems a little strange to me, to tell you the truth," said the commission's fisheries management division chief of the die-off. "We seem to see mortality of one species around spawning time. That's not uncommon. This is a little more uncommon."

A violent wildfire has covered nearly 32,000 acres in and around Pomeroy, Washington. Thus far, at least 35 buildings have been destroyed by the fire which continues to feed on arid land and shifting winds. More than 175 homes in the area were evacuated in advance of the flames. The thick smoke prevented helicopters from working to contain the blaze.

A total of 57 new forest fires came to life in northwestern Ontario over the weekend, and provincial officials expected to be fighting 20 more by the end of Monday. The culprit is the weather, which is aggravating the threat in forests parched by hot, dry weather over the past few weeks. "Lightning is the main cause of fires in this part of Ontario at this time of year." They have recorded 150,000 lightning strikes in Ontario over the past week.

Twelve wildfires burned across northern Minnesota on Saturday, as officials warned of dry conditions and asked the public for caution with outdoor fires, ATVs and smoking. Although no fire restrictions are in place, much of northern Minnesota remains tinder-dry after near-record low rainfall in July. Combined with unseasonably high temperatures and gusty winds Saturday, fire conditions have worsened faster than expected. Minnesota gets most of its wildfires in April and May, before trees and grass turn green. But there is a second fire season in August and September that can be just as critical, especially in years when spring rains stop abruptly and conditions turn dry, as they have this summer.

WATER SHORTAGES -
For several years in Illinois a Kane County Board member has been warning about low drinking water supplies. The reaction she often got were smiles, chuckles or just no reaction at all. But as the area continues in the grip of a devastating drought, people are listening. The dry conditions, failing private wells, low Fox River levels and water usage restrictions have made it clearer that water is not infinite, and is a regional community issue.

ENERGY PRICES AND WEATHER -
This summer's surge in natural gas prices is likely to continue, possibly reaching new highs by winter. "Coast-to-coast hot weather, predictions of a tougher hurricane season and a report showing lower-than-expected supplies of gas in storage led natural gas futures to a nine-month high of $8.70 per million British thermal units on Friday. But fundamental supply and demand factors, including declining U.S. production and the traditional winter price spike, have many expecting records to be shattered later this year and early into the next. "We've seen spikes, but we've never sustained $8 and $9 natural gas throughout the summer...we could see $10 to $11 natural gas this winter." Coal shipments to power plants have been slowed down by heavy rains that damaged rail lines and caused derailments in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. With coal shipments down, power generators are leaning more heavily on natural gas-fired plants. Customers in Houston may be left with monthly bills as much as 18 percent higher than last year's.

CLIMATE CHANGE -
The Pacific Ocean off of Oregon has experienced a die-off of birds, declining fisheries and wildly fluctuating conditions in the past few months, and has set the stage for another hypoxic "dead zone" like those of 2002 and 2004, according to experts at Oregon State University. This is the third year in the past four that has demonstrated significantly unusual ocean events, the researchers say, a period unlike any on record. The events have not all been the same. THIS YEAR'S OCEAN BEHAVIOR IS PARTICULARLY BIZARRE, and there is no proof what is causing it. But extreme variability such as this is consistent with what scientists believe will occur as a result of global warming. "And there is no doubt that what is going on right now off Oregon is not normal." In May and June when seasonal "upwelling" events should have begun that bring cold, nutrient rich water to the surface, the ocean was 8-11 degrees warmer than usual. "The nearshore ocean right now looks like a brown pea soup." "The wide variability and oscillation of ocean patterns in recent years is very unusual. "We may be beginning another fundamental phase change right now in how these ocean systems and circulation patterns will operate for decades to come."

As of Monday, Toronto, Canada had sweated through 39 days with temperatures above 30C, roughly THREE TIMES THE 30-YEAR AVERAGE FOR A WHOLE SUMMER. "In many ways it is a preview, a dress rehearsal, of what we may see more often." according to projections of the greenhouse effect. Although the heat has been most intense in southern Ontario, temperatures have been above average across much of Canada. Montreal had 22 days above 30 C, compared with an average of seven or eight. Winnipeg had 16 hot days, compared with an average of 13 for an entire summer. As for smog, which is in large part a function of the heat, so far this summer they have recorded a record-setting 45 days with smog above health limits. This year's heat wave is just a shadow of life in a greenhouse world. "The thing to say is, you ain't seen nothing yet. To say this is a glimpse is probably one of the greatest understatements of all time. The projections of what is likely to happen in this century would put events like this as minor." The weather across the Canada - not only the heat wave in Ontario but the droughts, downpours and floods in other regions - is consistent with what computer models predict. "We may in fact be seeing real changes linked to climate change now but even if this is just some freak weather this is what we have to look forward to in the future." Experts have also been warning for years that Canada's sovereignty over the NW passage is likely to be challenged as the ice melts. The Northwest Passage route from Tokyo to London would be 40 per cent shorter than that using the Panama Canal.

Do you remember last year's weather? (from September 2004) - For the first time in history, four hurricanes – Charley, Frances, Ivan (the Terrible), and Jeanne - smacked into Florida's long coastline one after another in a single hurricane season (not yet over then). In March Brazil experienced the South Atlantic's first hurricane ever - Brazilian meteorologists didn't even know what to name it; the Atlantic coast of Canada got whacked by Hurricane Juan, "the storm of the century," late last year (and the Canadian government suspects a link to global warming); the United States had already experienced a record number of tornados in 2004; Japan had the worst season of typhoons in memory; extreme weather events increased across the planet, including massive flooding in Europe, Bangladesh, and China. At a hearing the Inuit Circumpolar Conference Chair said, "We find ourselves at the very cusp of a defining event in the history of this planet… The Earth is literally melting." And she pleaded with the assembled senators: "Use us as your early warning system. Use the Inuit story as a vehicle to reconnect us all so that we can understand the people and the planet are one." You might say that, "as the Inuit canary expires in the mine, our response is to dig harder and faster, while those whose job it is to signal danger point the rest of us the other way." Our failure to act on the global warming threat - "someday this will, of course, look like the most errant of follies (if anyone's left to look)."

Monday, August 8, 2005 -

QUAKES -
This morning there was a 6.0 in PAPUA / IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA.

The largest quakes yesterday -
4.9 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.7 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA
5.2 OFF COAST OF NORTHERN PERU
5.2 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.5 FLORES SEA
5.5 PRINCE EDWARD IS. SOUTH AFRICA
6.1 PRINCE EDWARD IS. SOUTH AFRICA
4.8 NORTHERN AND CENTRAL IRAN
4.8 SOUTHEASTERN AFGHANISTAN

An aftershock of Friday night’s earthquake rocked Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Saturday morning and, though some residents thought it was stronger than the earlier one, no damage or casualties were reported. On Friday, Vietnam’s southern hub had been hit by a quake of 4.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale, causing panic and some minor damage. Panic broke out again when the aftershock – magnitude still unknown – struck at 1.10am. Hundreds of people living in apartment blocks fled their homes just like the previous day, fearing a building collapse. A volcano in Binh Thuan, Hon Tro, could have been the trigger. The volcano, which is active every few decades or so, reportedly erupted in 1923 and 1987. However, it is not a powerful volcano. Due to the seismic conditions in the area, possible future earthquakes in southern Vietnam would not be bigger than Friday night’s or capable of causing heavy damage. There was also no risk of such quakes triggering tsunamis.

TSUNAMI -
Tsunami stories from the December disaster.

STORMS -
A weather system far out in the Atlantic strengthened Sunday into Tropical Storm Irene, the ninth named storm of the busy Atlantic hurricane season and the EARLIEST NINTH STORM ON RECORD FOR THE ATLANTIC SEASON. It posed no immediate threat to land, forecasters said. Farther north in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Harvey weakened with top sustained winds of 50 mph, down from 60 mph on Saturday. Harvey was about 670 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and moving northeast near 12 mph. At 5 p.m. EDT, Irene was about 1,100 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and was moving to the west-northwest near 10 mph. The five-day projection indicates the storm will make a turn to the north, bringing it east of Bermuda.

Bulgaria's second city Plovdiv is threatened by infections because of the lack of drinkable water, health experts warned. The Maritsa river overflowed in Bulgaria's second city Plovdiv causing several neighbourhoods located near its banks to be evacuated. The water level is slowly decreasing but the situation remains critical. The deluge and heavy rains affected some 2 million people in 131 communities across Bulgaria over the last two months.

Sikkim and Kalimpong town in West Bengal's Darjeeling district of India remained cut off from the plains for the third day, following a landslide at Swetijhora on Sunday, affecting vehicular movement on the arterial National Highway 31-A. Huge chunks of rocks, which spread over 100 feet area of the highway could not be cleared till this morning with incessant rains causing fresh mud slips.

A landslide triggered by incessant rains killed eight members of a single family and injured 30 others in a hillside village in northern India. Big boulders fell on Pithoragarh smashing almost a dozen houses. Many parts of Uttaranchal have been cut off from Dehradun - which links the state to the rest of India - after seasonal monsoon rains triggered a series of landslides this week across the region. The rains continued Sunday.

Baghdad, Iraq was paralysed by a sandstorm this morning with shops closed and very little traffic as a cloak of orange dust reduced visibility to a few metres.

DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / HEAT -
Fire-fighters in Portugal, Spain and France were struggling to contain forest and brush fires as scorching temperatures punished the region hit by its worst drought in six decades. Spain was expected to record the highest temperatures of the year, with the civil protection agency issuing Saturday heat warnings for 10 out of the country’s 17 regions. A fire at Pradet in the Var region, which had forced the evacuation of some 3,200 residents and tourists, was made more dangerous by the presence of unexploded munitions that had been embedded in the rugged terrain ever since 1947.

In the Valley near Bakersfield, California, the temperature will be 106-107 through Monday, then will start tapering off to the 102-101 range. "Folks shouldn't look for weird weather theories or start talking about global warming: "We just have a high-pressure system sitting over the western U.S. right now, but it's not all that rare. It's only running four to five degrees above normal." This summer's weather in California is considered normal. If people are looking for truly unusual weather, try Canada this summer with oppressive heat in southern Ontario, fog in Nova Scotia and heavy rains across the plains. The senior climatologist for Environment Canada told newspapers there this week: "We're out of superlatives to talk about this summer."

CLIMATE CHANGE -
The oral history of native Alaskans tells of climate change. The oldest inhabitant is 92. "When I was a child", she says, "it was so much colder and the winds in winter used to be fierce." She remembers her elders telling in their stories that the weather was going to change. Many elders make reference to the 1970s as the time that they began to notice changes in the climate. Elders have spoken of what they describe as crazy changes in the climate. "The last couple of years has been really crazy. It is kind of scary when the wind comes up at the wrong time and we have rain in the winter, the change is really there and I am not very comfortable with it." "Up here in the Arctic we are definitely warming up, the polar pack ice has all but gone." One area is referred to as a "drunken forest". The spruce trees are falling over because of thawing permafrost. Western nations need to have scientific proof that the climate is warming rather than believing the word of the native people but: "The white man, the climatologists are just learning what we knew was going on."
Images of how the earth has changed.

Pension fund trustees in the UK have a duty to address the financial risk posed by climate change when making investment decisions, according to a report just issued. The report marks the first time that investors have been explicitly warned to consider the effects of climate change on companies as an investment risk. It comes at a time of increasing awareness among corporations about the costs of climate change. Allianz, the German insurance giant, warned earlier this year that an increase in natural disasters linked to climate patterns could seriously damage the sector's future prospects. The group said extreme weather associated with rising temperatures had already led to €36bn (Ł25bn) worth of damage since 1999 in Europe alone.

Sunday, August 7, 2005 -

QUAKES -
This morning there have been a 6.1 & a 5.5 quake near PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, SOUTH AFRICA.

The largest quakes yesterday -
5.4 NORTH OF SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA
5.5 PERU-BOLIVIA BORDER REGION
5.5 TONGA ISLANDS
5.3, 5.0, 5.1 , & 5.0 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.1 NEAR S. COAST OF EASTERN HONSHU

The 5.3 earthquake which jolted the county of Huize in southwest China's Yunnan Province Friday left nine injured. The quake toppled down 3,700 houses and affected more than 25,000 households. "We have never experienced a disastrous earthquake like this. We were terrified when it happened," said 50-year-old villager. The government put up tents to form a 30,000-square-meter temporary living area. There are about 80,000 people living near the epicentre in the mountainous area where traffic and communications are very poor.

Though no severe damage has been reported, a 3-4 plus Richter magnitude quake in Vietnam opened up cracks in some buildings in the city of HCMC. In the outlying Cu Chi district, people called the police to report that the tremor lasted some five seconds, causing furniture to move. “According to our initial estimate, this was caused by minor seismic activity off [the southern] Vung Tau city caused by the Thuan Hai-Minh Hai fault. " Dr. Tran Luan Ngo, who was part of a research project to build subways in the city, said it was unusual for HCMC to be hit by earthquakes. “Foreign companies involved in the research project said there won’t be many earthquakes in the area.”

An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale jolted Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures this morning. The quake occurred at around 1:15 a.m. (1605 GMT). It was strongly felt in Tokyo's urban area and some other cities in east Japan.

WHAT THE ...?
A bizarre freeway of fish swimming by the thousands along the shore of Englewood Beach in Florida Thursday morning left crowds of beach-goers agog and marine biologists bewildered. Beach-goers reported that a wide variety of sea creatures came swimming south in a narrow band close to the beach in about 18 inches of water at mid-morning. Included in the swarm were clouds of shrimp, crab, grouper, snapper, red fish and flounder. They were joined by more usual species, including sea robins, needlefish and eels. They were headed south, and the moving mass of sea life stretched a good mile long. All the species "were swimming amongst each other. They weren't attacking each other." "I have never seen anything like that in my life. " The event lasted until late morning, although the parade had thinned out by 11 a.m. A few scientists contacted were surprised to hear of the unusual fish behavior. It was not typical schooling, they said, because many varied species were involved. They agreed was A HIGHLY UNUSUAL EVENT, ONE THEY HAD NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE.

TSUNAMI -
Andaman and Nicobar Islands have tilted northeast-southwest following the December 2004 tsunami. The northernmost inhabited region in North Andaman, Diglipur has risen between 0.5 and 0.8 meters, whereas India's southern most point - Indira Point - on Greater Nicobar Island has sunk by between 1.4 and 1.5 meters. The high tide seawater now innundates agriculture lands and coconut forest in several parts of South Andaman and Nicobar Islands. However, the Government has not decided to construct mud sea walls all around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

STORMS -
Three people were killed overnight in Bulgaria and more than 5,000 people fled their homes as severe floods devastated the Balkan country, destroying roads and cutting off remote villages. Water levels have reached more than 1.5 metres above normal. Torrential rains have swept across the Balkan region for most of the summer, killing dozens of people in Bulgaria and neighboring Romania and causing hundreds of millions of euros in damage to roads, bridges, railways and crops.

More than a million people have been forced from their homes in China's Zhejiang province as Typhoon Matsa hit the country's eastern coast. One person was killed in Shanghai and there has been widespread disruption to shipping and aircraft. The typhoon has now been downgraded to a tropical storm as it moves north, but the authorities warn the risk of more flooding and landslides remains.

Concerned residents in northern Taiwan flocked to hypermarkets and emptied their shelves of vegetables Friday, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that veggie supplies were stable after the typhoon, and urged the public not to fret about a potential hike in prices. The COA Friday distributed 300 tonnes of the strategic frozen vegetable reserve - designed to prevent emergency vegetable shortages - to help neutralize and stabilize prices. Officials at the COA were unable to confirm how many tonnes of frozen vegetables remained in the strategic vegetable reserve, saying only that they "did not have that information." However, the COA chairman remained confident that Taiwan could avoid a vegetable apocalypse. "Typhoon Matsa only swiped through northern part of the country. Since the major vegetable farms are located in the south, these farms remain in good shape."

In Chandigarh, India, several areas of the state were lashed by heavy rains, causing damage to crops and triggering landslides. The rains accompanied by high velocity winds damaged the maize crop. A cloudburst in the Khokhan area of Kulu district has damaged property estimated to be in thousands after the water entered shops and houses. The sudden rise in the water level after the cloudburst created panic in the area. The Bhuntar-Khokhan road was extensively damaged and would take months before it is restored. The flood situation in Sangli and Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra, India continues to be critical on Saturday with rising waters of the Krishna River inundating several villages. The death toll has risen to 1,056.
Sikkim and Kalimpong town in West Bengal's Darjeeling district in India are cut off following a large-scale landslide. Huge chunks of rocks rolled down to NH 31-a, the arterial link between Siliguri and Gangtok on Friday evening badly damaging the road. But there were no casualties. Work is on to remove the debris but work has been impeded by heavy rains in the area since Saturday morning.

Hurricane experts are predicting a "hyperactive" year - "hyperactive" reflects a season at least 50 percent more active than average. "Since 1995, every hyperactive year has had at least one East Coast hurricane landfall." The experts didn't expect June and July to see an unprecedented number of tropical systems and based their original outlooks primarily on August, September and October, normally the busiest months. Further, forecasters initially thought El Nino, an atmospheric condition that inhibits hurricane formation, might come into play. But it didn't. Also, vertical wind shear decreased, particularly in the Caribbean; Atlantic temperatures warmed about 4 degrees above normal; and West African rainfall was above average in June and July. One expert predicts three hurricanes in August, four in September and two in October. He projects a 77 percent chance that an intense hurricane, with winds greater than 110 mph, will hit the U.S. coastline in the remainder of the season. If global warming played a role, storm activity would have increased in all ocean basins, and it hasn't. Rather, scientists point to a natural cycle of warm water shifting to the Atlantic region where hurricanes form, a cycle that could last another 10 to 30 years.

Serious problems have been created in many regions of northern Greece due to heavy rainstorms and hail which followed a week-long heatwave throughout the country. The storms began on Friday evening and continued through Saturday, while the rain is expect to move down to central Greece, the Cycladic islands, the Aegean and parts of the Attica region. Meanwhile, extensive damage was caused to many vineyards in Myrtofytou, due to heavy hail which struck the region. The hail also damaged many agricultural vehicles, while minor damage was caused to the provincial road network of Eleftheron Municipality from the fall of trees.

Severe thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain, high winds and hail struck, cut at least one swath across Livingston County, Illinois, while other areas had little or no rain Thursday. "Suddenly it was hailing very hard then following that was a heavy, heavy rain that seemed to come down horizontally. I thought to myself 'what is this a hurricane?' When it finally stopped raining there was water standing everywhere and then a while later the ground was so dry it had absorbed the water and you could hardly tell it rained." In Broughton Township hail of varying sizes fell for more than 20 minutes. The hail was followed by heavy rains and high winds. Soybeans and corn in the same area of Broughton Township also sustained visible hail damage. "We are at a weird turning point in this agricultural season. There have been significant stresses to the crops all season and now their maturing timetable, in some areas, may be lengthened by rain. Or, on the other hand, the crops just may give up and do nothing."

WILDFIRES / DROUGHT -
A series of wildfires burned out of control late Friday along a major highway in western Montana, prompting authorities to establish roadblocks to keep motorists from getting caught in the billowing smoke. Flames along Interstate 90 burned right to the edge of the town of Alberton and sometimes into yards. Large fires also were active Friday in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. So far this year, wildfires have charred 4.9 million acres, compared with 5.5 million at the same time last year.

Since June 1, rainfall in Ohio has been about four inches below normal. Because of this summer's unusual heat, 13 Cincinnati City pools have extended their seasons, some of them past mid-August. As of Friday, the tri-state had experienced 20 days in which the thermometer reached 90 or higher. That's two more than the average for the entire summer. Buffalo, N.Y., had its warmest June and July ever. Las Vegas had its hottest July ever.

Saturday, August 6, 2005 -

QUAKES -
This morning there was a 5.4 NORTH OF SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA, a 5.6 in the PERU-BOLIVIA BORDER REGION and a 6.0 in TONGA.

The largest quakes Friday -
5.2 YUNNAN, CHINA
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

VOLCANO -
The Soufriére Hills Volcano in Montserrat may not be fizzling out after all, but about to return to days gone by like 1997. A newly discovered deeper source of magma indicates the volcano is, more likely than not, ready to restart explosive eruptive activity. The first week-long volcano scientific conference in the history of the Lesser Antilles came to a close on the 30th of July in Montserrat and crushed hopes of a dying volcano. The Soufriére Hills Volcano has been exhibiting some very familiar behaviour from the eruptive past throughout the entire week of scientific deliberations.

Anatahan's volcanic eruption escalated anew yesterday morning with increased tremor levels. Volcanic smog from Anatahan has reached parts of Japan. There were two periods of increased seismicity yesterday morning. The first one occurred at about 6:47am and lasted about five minutes, while the second one began at about 9:19am and lasted about 10 minutes. After the heightened activity, the volcano mellowed down. Despite this, ash emissions appeared to continue.

STORMS -
At least 75 Bangladeshi fishermen were missing and feared drowned because of storms in the Bay of Bengal over the past two days. The storms sweeping the coast line also damaged hundreds of houses.

Heavy rains lashed huge swathes of China yesterday, causing widespread chaos and at least one death in Beijing. It was the worst rainstorm the city has encountered this summer. About 20 provinces and municipalities were struck by gale-force winds, thunderstorms and lightning. "The heavens opened over most of China, particularly the northern provinces, and we have entered a new flood season." In East China's Anhui Province, some 300,000 people were affected on Tuesday when the downpour brought a record 260 millimetres of precipitation in just six hours to Suzhou.

Officials moved nearly 600,000 people from coastal areas near Shanghai Friday as typhoon Matsa crept closer to eastern China. Torrential rains are already soaking the eastern cities of Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou, leading to fears of flooding. Chinese television reported ports from Shanghai south have been closed because of predictions of 40-foot waves. The storm is also bring lightning, thunder, hail and up to a foot of rain. Forecasters are also warning of landslides and mud and rock flows. As the storm hit Taiwan, mudslides clogged roads and trapped hundreds of people in mountain villages. More than 10,000 homes had no power in the storm's wake, and the same number of people had no tap water.

Cheju Island and other parts of Korea are braced for the likelihood of rain today under the influence of typhoon Matsa, moving northward from Taiwan. The typhoon is veering away from the Korean Peninsula but its accompanying clouds will drench Cheju Island and other areas with heavy rainfall and strong winds through Monday.

Heavy storms and floods this summer have killed 17 people and caused 393 million levs ($248 million) of damage in Bulgaria. From May to July, most of the victims were killed by lightning or drowned in swollen rivers and lakes as fierce storms swept the Balkan region. Around 2 million of the country's 8 million people were directly affected by floods that damaged thousands of buildings and made many homeless. The rains destroyed roads, bridges, and large stretches of rail tracks, and also damaged crops, forcing authorities to cut the country's 2005 wheat harvest forecast by around a fifth. In neighbouring Romania floods also destroyed thousands of homes and killed dozens.

Hurricane Ivan generated a wave more than 90 feet (27 metres) high - thought to be the tallest and most intense ever measured. It would have dwarfed a 10-story building and had the power to snap a ship in half - but never reached land. The wave was recorded by sensors on the ocean floor as Hurricane Ivan passed over the Gulf of Mexico last September. The observations suggest prior estimates for extreme waves are too low. "Our results suggest that waves in excess of 90 ft are not rogue waves but actually are fairly common during hurricanes." Since hurricane activity is predicted to increase over the next few decades, more research needs to be carried out.

A rock slide in Portugal claimed two victims, which local authorities said they believe were a Spanish couple on vacation.

DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Fires worsened in Portugal in the last two days as hot winds from Spain sent temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in the interior. Firefighters fought at least 31 fires raging out of control across the nation, forcing the evacuation of three central villages and the closure of several roads. "The situation is out of control, it is dramatic, it is worrying." The high temperatures are expected to last until at least Saturday. In the town of Torres Vedras, 60 km north (37 miles) of Lisbon, the thermal hot springs baths of Vimeiro were shut. "There isn't enough water to feed the baths. It is the first time in our 60 years that we have had to shut." Other thermal baths across Portugal have also complained about low water levels in recent weeks. All of Portugal is in severe or extreme drought this year in the worst dry spell since at least 1945. There have been 4,353 forest fires this year, almost two-thirds more than the average for the previous five years. Neighbouring Spain is also suffering its worst drought since records began in the 1940s. In western France, water levels are at their lowest since a drought in 1976. Spain's drought-hit wheat and barley harvest is down 61% of last year's.

Most of the areas around Uganda are experiencing prolonged dry spells. With the weather increasingly becoming unpredictable, farmers can no longer be sure of the best time to plant crops. "These things have happened in the past but it is the intensity and frequency with which they have occurred recently that gives us reason to get worried."

Scotland had its driest July in 50 years. It experienced only 39% of the long-term average rainfall for July. Scotland East had 53% of the average, and Scotland North slightly more at 54%. "The average temperature across the country, even up to Shetland and down to Glasgow, has been above normal. The average hours of sunshine were just above the norm too." "The weather is strange and when we have these really extreme spells then, of course, it puts wildlife under pressure."

Experts now believe another ice shelf the size of Tasmania may collapse in Antarctica in the next two years because of global warming. A geological study released today claims the collapse of a huge ice shelf in Antarctica in 2002 has no precedent in the past 11,000 years. "A further two-degree increase over the next 30 years would be devastating for Australia, with more heatwaves and bushfires, extended droughts, reduced rainfall in southern Australia and extensive damage to the Great Barrier Reef."

Spring in Stockholm, Sweden was cold, the weather patterns were unfamiliar according to an 'average' citizen.

DISEASE -
Humid, hot weather this summer has contributed to a near record number of anthrax cases in South Dakota. At least 200 head of cattle and buffalo have died in South Dakota this summer because of anthrax.

Canadian officials fear the scorching, dry summer in many parts of the country could mean more cases of West Nile disease, with the number of suspected or confirmed cases sitting at eight so far this year. Last month, Manitoba declared a West Nile health emergency and ordered extensive fogging with the chemical malathion to try to kill the hordes of mosquitoes. In Toronto the city's first case of human infection with the West Nile virus in 2005 was diagnosed three weeks earlier than last year's first case.

Friday, August 5, 2005 -

QUAKES -
This morning there was a 5.6 quake in the ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA.

The largest quakes Thursday -
5.1 WINDWARD ISLANDS (Caribbean)
5.9 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.9 EASTER ISLAND
5.8 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

A powerful 6.0 earthquake rocked Indonesia's Papua province yesterday but there were no reports of injuries or damage. The quake was centered about 60 kilometers beneath remote forests and 170 kilometers northwest of the capital city, Jayapura, on Papua island, about 3,300 kilometers east of Jakarta.

VOLCANO -
Anatahan's volcano in the Mariana Islands spewed ash to 42,000 feet in the air on Wednesday night, after days of fluctuating seismicity. Escalating volcanic activity prompted the Governor to place Saipan and Tinian under volcanic ash advisory. Rota remained under a volcanic haze declaration. Unlike Monday and Tuesday's hazy condition over Saipan and Tinian, yesterday's situation worsened in that the ash plume - besides volcanic gases - reached the skies over the two islands. On Wednesday night, an aircraft suffered engine trouble in mid-air shortly after taking off from the Saipan International Airport, prompting it to return to the tarmac for emergency landing.

Nicaragua's disaster prevention agency on Wednesday warned of an impending eruption of the country's Concepcion Volcano. A recent series of 10 earthquakes measuring above 4.0 on the Richter scale and 20 minor ones in Ometepe Island in Nicaragua Lake could be a sign that Concepcion Volcano "has awakened" pending an eruption. The strongest jolt measured 5.6 on the Richter scale. The condition of Concepcion warrants "special attention" because the quakes are "a symptom of the start of an eruption process." The Concepcion Volcano unleashed several explosions last week and expelled ashes spreading over 24 km to its west.

STORMS -
Yet another tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical depression Nine is located about 1426 nmi E of Bridgetown, Barbados, moving west.

Tropical Storm Harvey gained strength as it moved away from Bermuda yesterday after it soaked the mid-Atlantic British colony but caused little disruption. Harvey, the eighth tropical storm, posed a threat only to ships as it moved toward the east-northeast over the open Atlantic Ocean. Never in more than 150 years of record-keeping had the Atlantic hurricane season produced eight storms this early. Half of the hurricane seasons since 1851 did not produce eight storms in their entire season. An average hurricane season has 10 tropical storms, with six becoming hurricanes and two strengthening into major hurricanes.

It is the heavy rainfall associated with tropical storms that concerns Florida forecasters this year. Storms striking after periods of higher-than-normal rainfall are especially likely to cause flooding. The combination of warmer waters, low wind shear and low pressure, as well as the jet stream, favor storm formation. The sea surface is 2 to 3 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. Wind shear, a change in wind direction with altitude, can suppress these storms, while lack of shear allows them to form. The jet stream is in place to guide disturbances moving off the coast of Africa. Hurricanes form in the Gulf of Mexico in the early part of the hurricane season around June and the late part of the season in November and October. Mid-season storms form further out in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans. All storms have an equal chance of hitting the Gulf Coast, but the mid-season storms give much more warning of their approach. Southeast Texas and Southwestern Louisiana have been extraordinarily lucky when it comes to tropical storms. There could be as many as 32 tropical storms of varying intensity formed in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf the remainder of the season and between one and four of them are likely to threaten the upper Gulf Coast. "We will run out of letters in the alphabet if the trend continues. We are already up to the H's, and the halfway point isn't until September."

Tropical depression 01C is moving in the Pacific Ocean, as is Typhoon Matsa. 01C is 815 nmi ESE of Honolulu, Hawaii. The system marks the first cyclone of the season in the Central Pacific, but it is not very big and at this point is not expected to threaten Hawaii. Right now the waters are still a little on the cool side for any further development and some upper level winds are expected to weaken the storm. Two to three cyclones are forecast for the Central Pacific region this season.
Matsa is approximately 245 kn W of Okinawa and 98 nmi E of Taiwan. Taiwan warned of torrential rain and landslides on Thursday as Matsa heads towards the island's north-eastern coast. If the typhoon stays on its present course, it is unlikely to make landfall. But the Central Weather Bureau issued a land alert, saying the storm is likely to bring heavy rains to Taiwan's north-east region. China is making all-out preparation efforts to fight against Matsa. The typhoon is expected to land at the coastal province of Zhejiang on August 5-6, and will bring high winds and torrential rains. A storm warning has been issued in Japan's south. The hurricane is in the form of a gigantic funnel slowly shifting in a northerly direction, gaining in strength. Waves may be more than 10 metres high near the coast of the typhoon-affected islands. Torrential rains, accompanied with gale-force gusts of wind of up to 90 km an hour are expected on almost all southern Japanese islands. Up to 300 mm of rainfall within 24 hours is expected in the area of Okinawa island.

Monsoon rains that drenched western India for a week, killing more than 1,020 people, have changed course and are now claiming lives in the southern state of Karnataka. At least 90 people have died in Karnataka and vast tracts of land are under water. Some of the flooding is being caused by the release of waters from dams in adjoining Maharashtra state. The worst of the rain is over now in Mumbai, but drizzle continues to plague the city.

In Arizona, weather experts said that a wicked thunderstorm on Tuesday — two storms, actually — that turned streets into streams and sprung leaks in roofs WAS REMARKABLE BECAUSE OF ITS SIZE AND VIGOR. "Good rain is 7 inches over two weeks; bad rain is 2 inches in an hour." Tuesday’s downpour was by far the wettest monsoon storm of the season, although no official rainfall record for the date was set. Wind gusts exceeding 60 mph also were recorded. The activity began in the afternoon, when storms built to the northeast and southeast of the Valley. They grew while sliding toward the city, and when they collided around 9 p.m. the real fireworks started. The monsoon got off to a late start July 18 — 11 days off the average — giving the impression it’s been slow. "We’ve found that, oftentimes, when the monsoon starts late it kinds of makes up for it, if you will, it terms of it being fairly active once it does get going."

Continuous brilliant flashes of lightning at 12:30 a.m. Aug. 2 was the beginning of about THE MOST INTENSE LIGHTNING STORM IN SEVERAL YEARS in Hingham, Massachusetts. Flashes of lightning and booms of thunder were coming every one to three seconds. The storm knocked out power to parts of town and also set house fires. Three houses were struck and damaged by lightning and fire all in less than one hour. An official there said he COULD NOT REMEMBER THIS HAPPENING IN 31 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE. Other homes were struck in nearby communities. Well over half of the continuous lightning flashes occurred within the clouds and did not hit the ground. The downburst of rainfall brought almost 0.75 inch in 15-20 minutes. There were no wind gusts of note and no large hail within this thunderstorm so it could not be termed a "severe" thunderstorm which requires gusts of at least 58 mph and hail to 0.75 inch in diameter. The rainfall was brief and intense, though, and similar to an event on June 22. The weather has been odd - in July it was only slightly warmer than normal but they had six days of 90-degree heat and two consecutive days of 94-degree heat. July 7-8 were likely record cold for the dates, while the warm minimum of 74 degrees July 27 equaled a record high minimum set in 1995. They had a three-week dry spell yet over 4 inches of rain, as more than 3 inches or almost 80 percent of the monthly rain total fell in just three days early in the month. They set a new record for most rainfall in just five days for July.

WILDFIRES -
Fire crews are fighting a sudden onslaught of wildfires that have started around the Boise National Forest in Idaho. 30 fires are burning, most sparked by overnight ightning storms. About 25 different wildfires have started since last Friday in the northern part of the forest. Seven different fires started Monday night alone. Until yesterday, those fires have been in open range, not forested mountains. "Right now is when the timber starts burning. We've had the lightning storms come through, so we'll be busy for the next couple months with this."

DISEASE -
It is being claimed that global warming will increase disease outbreaks due to the extreme weather. An analysis of four decades of disease records from Bangladesh shows that periods of extreme rainfall, drought or high temperatures can sharply increase cholera rates. The effect of weather on disease can be dramatic. In one period of turbulent weather from 1992 to 1994, the study found a six- to eight-fold increase in the number of cholera cases. "It's the extremes that are bad for our health." Scientists have long suspected that climate variability fosters the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue fever.

THE ECONOMY AND WEATHER -
Top U.S. retailers ranging from Gap Inc. to Nordstrom Inc. posted disappointing July sales on Thursday as a heat wave curbed demand for fall back-to-school fashions, sending stocks lower. Wal-Mart Stores was among the few retailers whose sales beat expectations, helped by the hot weather that drove sales of air conditioners, and a busy hurricane season that prompted people in stricken regions to stock up on food and other supplies. This July is expected to rank in the top 10 hottest in 111 years.

Thursday, August 4, 2005 -

QUAKES -
The largest quakes Wednesday -
5.2 & 5.9 NICARAGUA
5.0 BANDA SEA
5.8 NORTH OF HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
5.3 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA, REGION
5.5 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.8 & 4.9 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

A strong 6.3 earthquake shook Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica before dawn Wednesday, but no injuries or damages were reported. The quake was centered 75 miles southeast of Managua. It hit at 5:03 a.m. at a depth of 6.2 miles. Nicaraguan authorities also reported a second earthquake of magnitude 4.5 about an hour and a half later in nearly the same location. The earthquake jarred awake residents on the island of Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua. Islanders were still jittery after eruptions last week at the 5,282-foot tall volcano that rained ash 10 miles away.

STORMS -
Residents of Sand Point, Alaska, about 600 miles west of Anchorage, witnessed a weather phenomenon that elders say is a first-time occurrence. They looked across Popof Strait to nearby Unga Island last week and watched a tornado touch two uninhabited mountains. "You could see the clouds twisting and debris spinning off of it." "It's very rare for the Alaska Peninsula." One reason for the small number of reports of tornados in Alaska is the size of the state and the small population."If it has happened, it probably wasn't observed." The temperature was about 60 degrees and winds were calm. Even more unusual for the island's maritime climate, it was humid and muggy. "It probably won't happen [again] for another 100 years."

"Toronto's Pearson International Airport was on Red Alert at the time of the Air France crash. That indicates that special measures were being taken because of severe weather conditions, including lightning and wind shear. Some eyewitnesses said they saw lightning strike the plane, and some passengers said, after the crash, that the cabin lights briefly went out just seconds before the crash. Washington Post said the jetliner apparently landed 'during a red microburst alert'. Could the aircraft have crashed because of the same violent weather phenomenon that downed another plane exactly 20 years ago to the day (at Dallas-Fort Worth airport)?

A freak storm wreaked havoc in Seberang Prai, Malaysia uprooting trees and blowing off rooftops.

Torrential downpours that struck the southern part of Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday left 13 missing or dead, with the west coasts of North Jeolla Province experiencing more than 300 mm of rainfall. On top of that, Typhoon No. 9 Matsa, now in the sea south of Taiwan, is making its way northward and expected to make an impact on the entire Korean Peninsula by the end of this week. They expect two or three typhoons to hit Korea this year.

La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, California hit hard by a wind storm and dealing with storm debris. No one believe how strong the winds were, up to 60 miles an hour at some points. "I mean, this has been the most unusual weather year I have ever seen in the Coachella Valley.""I've never seen anything like this."

Thunderstorms caused flash floods in southwestern Utah Tuesday, taking out a bridge, closing a highway and flooding several homes.

WILDFIRES -
Nearly 5,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in Hawaii and the only road connecting Waikoloa to the rest of the Big Island was closed as a brush fire blazed out of control. By late Tuesday, the fire had charred more than 25,000 acres.

DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE / FOOD SHORTAGES -
As this summer's European drought continues, two climate research groups have warned that it will unleash large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, giving further impetus to global warming. And drought is also sweeping much of the US. Corn crops are failing and cattle are dying of heat stress in the Midwest, where many areas have seen less than half their typical rainfall. Summer CO2 releases may be rising across the world.

The scorching drought in Spain has sent olive oil prices soaring up 20% as farmers in the world's top producer estimate this year's harvest could fall almost 30 percent. Even before the drought started, olive oil producers were trimming their estimates after frosts destroyed some of their trees. About 4 percent of all Spain's olive trees lost this year's harvest because of the frosts. Some of those trees will have to be replanted, and so will not produce for about five years. Italy is the world's No. 2 producer, followed by Greece.

Dairy processors in Australia say they are fighting for milk because the drought and high grain prices have reduced supplies. A cheese factory has been mothballed due to the lack of milk supply.

Heavy rains in Burma flooded paddy fields and destroyed crops in the outlining regions of the country but an extraordinary harsh spell of droughts are also destroying seasonal beans and sesame plants. Burmese merchants believe that the rising price of cooking oil could rise even higher in the coming year due to the reduction in the yields. According to environmental experts, the destruction of rainforests in Burma is going at the fastest rate in Asia causing unpredictable weather patterns.

The worst drought in 13 years has struck in Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries where 80% of the population of 11 million rely on subsistence farming to eke out a living. Up to 4.2 million Malawians are facing hunger after the drought sent maize production, the main staple food, plummeting by 24%. "The drought happened at the most critical point for the growth of maize.""From today no maize should be exported to other countries because we have to feed ourselves first."

Dry conditions persist across the Midwest, and will likely be getting worse in the coming weeks, according to forecasts issued from the Climate Prediction Center. Experts with the National Drought Mitigation Center conclude that the weather models paint a bleak outlook for farmers who were hoping for an end to the lack of precipitation. In the latest forecast, the next 14 days are expected to see mostly dry and exceedingly warm weather across most of the country. Data shows that all of America’s corn and soybean regions are now in trouble.

While the great drought of 2005 is proving less ruinous to most Washington farmers than expected, Washington State officials say it has raised the risk of future crises by dangerously draining the region's already drying water tables and reservoirs. Though some farmers have plowed under entire sections of their orchards due to lack of water, the industry has saved large swaths of plantings by drawing heavily from state reservoirs. As a result, state officials are now more concerned about 2006 and beyond than they are about 2005. "If this lasts into the next year, the consequences could be quite serious. We've not had a multiyear drought since the '30s."

For the pear crop in California untraditional weather patterns have caused one of the shortest crops in the past three decades and the quality of the crop varies when comparing different orchards. "It turned out to be a very early season because we had almost the coolest June on record, which accelerated the harvest. So far we have had the hottest July on record, which in turn has slowed down the process. It is quite a short crop. It is one of the shortest in probably the past 30 years. Mendocino County is down and the whole Pacific Coast is down, as are all other crops. It was just an odd growing season."

In Illinois, some wells are going dry and towns are struggling to persuade residents to cut back on water use, and officials believe it is time to create water-usage restrictions that cross municipal boundaries and design codes to encourage water conservation. "A lot of the water wars out west are sort of a preamble to what we're going to be facing here." Restrictions are being imposed in Waukegan, Highland Park and Lake Forest, where there are record-setting draws on pumping stations that supply water from Lake Michigan.

Due to drought in Illinois, farmers have lost 25 to 30 percent of their expected yield of corn and if it doesn't rain soon they're looking at half the crop. In much of northern and western Illinois drought levels are now reaching record-breaking levels. Officials warn the situation may get worse before it improves. To varying degrees, the drought covers the northern three-quarters of Illinois. Statewide, 55 percent of the corn crop and 36 percent of the soybean crop is rated very poor or poor. Estimates of crop failures continue to rise. Northern and western Illinois were 7 to 10 inches short of average annual rainfall since the drought began March 1. The soybean plants are green, but blooms are falling before sprouting pods, and it will take 7 inches of rain or more by mid-August at the latest to get them to sprout new blossoms and grow pods.

Summer of 2005 is looking pretty dismal in the heartland of America’s Midwest. The last real rainfall, on July 4, was only about eight-tenths of an inch and that was still more than we received during the entire month of April - normally out wettest month. Since January our cumulative shortfall for the year is over ten inches - and this is on top of a cumulative shortfall of four plus inches for 2004. Both the sweet corn and field corn are tasseling out at a height of 18+ inches less than normal and cob/ear formation is "pickle sized," if at all. The drought factor is being accentuated by the record breaking temperatures of the summer of 2005 which are being set from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico.

The corn harvest in Missouri is also suffering due to drought, if the rain doesn't come soon, yields this fall could suffer. One hundred and six of Missouri's 114 counties are affected by the drought. The extreme heat has also taken its toll on pastures. The grass has stopped growing. Some farmers are reporting that the conditions are so bad they're being forced to use hay they would normally use in winter to feed livestock now.

Farmers and crop scouts have found fusiarium head blight, or scab, in wheat and barley fields in the Red River Valley and other parts of North Dakota. Area farmers are weary from excessive rains that damaged crops and now are starting to find diseases in their fields. "I think it's going to be even a bigger problem than we ever want to think about." Some sugar beets also are infected with root rot diseases. The amount of damage caused by root rot and other diseases is unknown because many crops are still developing, but Minnesota-Dakota's growers will lose about 40 percent of this year's crop to flooding. Harvested beets could yield half the co-op's average, making this year's crop the smallest in more than 10 years. Crystal Sugar could lose 30,000 acres of the 500,000 planted to beets this spring.

A pessimistic assessment is being made of this year's crop yield in the Midwest, often described as the nation's breadbasket. A line stretching from central Texas up the Mississippi Valley all the way to Wisconsin and reaching into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has experienced the worst drought since the disaster of 1988 that resulted in a national economic loss of about $40 billion. Contributing to this looming crisis is an unmerciful heat wave that has seen the mercury jump over 100 degrees on several occasions. Northern Illinois appears to be suffering the most damage with the fifth driest growing season in 110 years, although parts of eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin and a good chunk of Missouri are facing similar strains. It is estimated the drought will destroy 30 percent or more of their crops. Ultimately, the biggest problem could be the alfalfa crop. Normally, cattle and sheep farmers plant and cut several fields of alfalfa and other grasses during the growing season and store it as hay to be used as feed during the long winter. But conditions already have dried up pastures, forcing growers to dig into their reserves. That means less hay will be available when snow covers the ground. Consumers will almost surely find themselves paying more at the supermarket checkout counter, particularly if farmers are forced to pay inflated hay prices.

Wednesday, August 3, 2005 -

QUAKES -
A 6.3 quake has struck in NICARAGUA and a 5.8 in HALMAHERA, INDONESIA.
The largest quakes yesterday -
5.4 NORTHERN MOLUCCA SEA
5.1 NEW BRITAIN
4.7, 5.0 & 5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.9 SERAM, INDONESIA
6.0 FLORES, INDONESIA, REGION
5.5 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN, REGION
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Last Monday's 5.6 earthquake in Dillon, Montana so far has followed a normal pattern of one large quake followed by a decreasing number of smaller aftershocks, meaning it probably isn't a precursor to anything bigger. It was the largest earthquake to rattle southwest Montana in years. Quakes of 3.5, 3.2, and 2.8 occurred near Dillion yesterday. Western Montana is lined with a spiderweb of faults. They're not like the famous San Andreas Fault of California, which has formed where two tectonic plates are slowly grinding against each other. Instead, the Montana faults are the result of the land being stretched and pulled, resulting in uplifting. It is same process that created Montana's mountains and wide valleys. Bozeman is literally boxed in by faults in all directions.

STORMS -
This year's hurricane season will be worse than expected with as many as 21 tropical storms and 11 hurricanes that could menace the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, government weather forecasters predicted Tuesday. "Although we have already seen a record-setting seven tropical storms during June and July, much of the season's activity is still to come. We're in a different hurricane era." The new forecast, based on atmospheric conditions and warmer-than-usual ocean temperatures, would mean a tie for the record number of tropical storms. The most active season was 21 storms in 1933. NOAA blamed the increase on cyclical conditions, not global warming. Hurricane activity was low from about 1970 to 1994 before a more active cycle began in 1995. Although NOAA declined to forecast where 2005 storms would hit, some private forecasters said the Carolinas may be a target.

The risk of a major hurricane hitting New York City is significantly greater than it has been in a long time. Meteorologists have observed that Atlantic Ocean hurricanes tend to wax and wane over roughly 20-year cycles. Nineteen ninety-five marked the beginning of a period of above-normal hurricane activity. We are now in the middle of that cycle. The 1938 borderline category-4 hurricane that plowed into West Hampton, causing widespread death and devastation across New York, New Jersey and New England, was the last major hurricane to hit the region. New York City is behind only Miami and New Orleans on the list of U.S. cities most likely to suffer a major hurricane disaster. Though it is rare for big hurricanes to hit the New York metropolitan region, there are a variety of "oceanographic, demographic and geologic characteristics that greatly amplify any hurricane" that comes their way. In many ways "the New York City area is the worst possible place for a hurricane to make a landfall." Much of Lower Manhattan is built on landfill. Places like Rockaway, Coney Island and Manhattan Beach "are stretches of land that nature has created to protect the mainland from hurricanes. In our civilization this is also the most desirable land to develop and build on." New York City's hurricane season runs from August to October, peaking around September 10.

A tropical depression over the western Atlantic was expected early today to strengthen into a tropical storm named Harvey as it slowly approached Bermuda.

Tropical Storm Matsa is the ninth storm of the 2005 northwestern Pacific’s typhoon season, and the first one to pose a significant threat to Okinawa. Matsa is expected to strengthen into a typhoon early this morning. Its closest projected point of approach is 138 miles west of the island of Okinawa at 4 p.m. Friday. Rains and high winds are expected.

Just a week after Birmingham, England was battered by a tornado, another British city has witnessed a US-style twister sweeping across its suburbs. Residents in Bristol were stunned to see a spiralling cloud funnel forming over the south of the city on Monday night. It was several hundred feet high and lasted for up to 20 minutes. Despite the spectacular size of the twister, there were no reports of any damage to property.

In India, rescue workers are still trying to recover bodies from flooded areas of Raigad district, 150 km south of Mumbai. More than 20 villages have been evacuated due to fears of fresh landslides. "For the past seven days there has been no electricity nor drinking water. Taps are churning out muddy and filthy water." Meteorologists are still forecasting heavy rain and strong winds in the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.

With the monsoon intensifying over the Aizawl region of India and triggering torrential downpours, as many as 20 landslides were reported across the state in the past few days and claiming a life here. Heavy rain on Saturday night again caused a major landslide blocking the Aizawl-Silchar National Highway stranding more route than 200 vehicles. Landslides occurred again yesterday in almost nine places on the same. Reports from the other districts said frequent minor landslides occurred during the past week. More rains are expected during the next 48 hours across the state. More landslides are expected once the rain intensifies, the officials warned.

In northeast Turkey heavy rainfall unleashed landslides and flooding, killing five people and leaving four missing. Several homes and businesses were destroyed, bridges washed away and major roads closed.

HAZE / WILDFIRES -
Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur was blanketed in a choking haze overnight after smoke from more than 500 fires in Indonesia made its way over to the country. The brown smog rapidly moved over the city, covering the Petronas Towers, once the world's tallest buildings, and permeating office buildings with the smell of smoke. More than 500 fires are burning in Indonesia's Riau and South Sumatra provinces, as well as fires in Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sarawak state. Although the smoke had appeared abruptly, the haze, carried by monsoon winds from the south-west, reportedly had just "taken some time to cross over." Haze caused by fires in Indonesia and Malaysia is a common occurrence during hot, dry seasons. In 1997 and 1998 choking haze caused by Indonesian forest fires enveloped parts of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, for months.

Dozens of families have been evacuated in central Washington state after flames burned to within a hundred yards of their homes near Wenatchee. In Idaho, wildfires are burning over thousands of acres of grass, sage and pine. The biggest covers 34 square miles near the Oregon border. Two of Oregon's largest wildfires have been contained, but officials say lightning strikes have started about 40 more. Lightning has also complicated efforts to fight a 300-acre blaze in western Montana. One fire official says it has the potential to grow because it's popping up "all over the place."

Forest fires in the Yukon and Alaska last year changed air quality worldwide.

CLIMATE CHANGE -
Low temperatures in the winter months are very common in some Brazilian regions, but each year the cold has arrived later. Temperatures were predicted to stay in the 30s last week, when suddenly, in only one day, the mercury plunged. This week, the southern region is getting the first days of extreme cold, under a frozen air mass entering through Argentina.

In Australia the mercury topped 21.7C at 2pm, which was a new August 2 record, eclipsing the previous high of 20.9C set in 1991. The above-average temperature was unseasonal for August which is wintertime in Australia.

DISEASE -
The deadly bird flu virus has been found in a third Siberian province, as Russian officials began a mass cull to contain its spread and three ex-Soviet countries imposed poultry import restrictions. The virus appears to have been carried to Russia by birds migrating from South-East Asia. "All the afflicted villages have been put under quarantine and all measures needed to contain the infection are being taken. Checks are continuing concerning information from other areas of the Russian Federation where bird deaths have been noted." Health experts have said the westward spread of bird flu to Russia was predictable, following outbreaks in neighbouring areas of western China. Scientists have been racing to find ways to prevent a major epidemic in the event that the virus mutates to a form easily transmitted between humans.

A strain of bird flu dangerous to humans could spread to parts of the European Union from Siberia, a senior Russian veterinary official warned on Monday. "(Infected) wild birds from China may have been in contact in Russia with birds that will fly on to the Netherlands, France and elsewhere," the official said. "North America is not safe either, as some birds from Russia fly there, too."

Tuesday, August 2, 2005 -

QUAKES -
The larger quakes on Monday -
5.6, 4.8 & 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
4.9 DODECANESE ISLANDS, GREECE
5.0 SOUTHERN PERU
Turkey appears to be quieting down.

VOLCANO -
A 3.3-magnitude earthquake trembled beneath Mount St. Helens early Sunday, the latest in a SERIES OF STRONGER-THAN-USUAL QUAKES AT THE VOLCANO. The quake at 2:34 a.m. likely triggered the overnight collapse of a large section of rock at the north end of the growing lava dome. Much of the smooth surface of the ridge, which is created as rock extrudes from the vent, has been removed by rockfalls over the past few weeks. Scientists say a explosive eruption, possibly dropping ash within a 10-mile radius of the crater, is possible at any time.

STORMS -
A tropical storm rocked four northern Vietnam provinces yesterday . Three people are dead and two missing, with total damages estimated to be at least VND300 billion. Meanwhile, emergency teams successfully rescued 22 people whose vessels were swept away off Hai Phong city during the storm. Over 1,000 people in the Cat Hai Island offshore of Hai Phong city had to evacuate to higher ground during the storm. Over 26,500 hectares of shrimp farms and more than 28,170 hectares of crops were swept away and completely destroyed. Most worrying, however, the storm collapsed hundreds of meters of sea dyke in Hai Phong, Nam Dinh and Quang Ninh.

The freak tornado that hammered Lingbi County in East China's Anhui Province on Saturday, killing 15 people and leaving 46 injured, was unusual. "Traditionally tornadoes are a rare occurrence in Lingbi County." The tornado lasted for about half an hour, with winds of over 120 kilometres per hour overturning vehicles and uprooting trees. Meanwhile, a tropical storm slammed into South China's Guangdong Province Sunday morning, causing widespread economic damage, and wrecking traffic operations around Leizhou Peninsula in west Guangdong. The storm, the eighth to hit the Chinese coast this year, also caused big economic losses. One person was killed and four are still missing in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province after a storm caused a mudslide in Ziyang County. Unexpected rainstorms also caused troubles elsewhere in the country. However, drought is plaguing Southwest China's Guizhou and Central China's Hunan provinces, leaving nearly 2 million people facing drinking water shortages.

At least a 1,000 people are still living on the edge of death at Narayan Nagar in Ghatkopar, in India where the landslide last Tuesday claimed 74 lives. Though, it has been six days since the incident, residents say that no one has helped them relocate. As a result, 200 families continue to live 60 feet above the ground, on the same cliff. Residents say they live in constant fear and the threat of another tragedy. Yesterday, after heavy rains in the city, a small cliff on the same hill-face, collapsed, though there were no casualties. “This is a limestone cliff. Once the rains stop, the cliff-face dries out, and the moment it rains again, the soil becomes weak and crumbles and can easily collapse.”

The devastating rainfall that hit Mumbai on July 26 has been call "a cloudburst," a phenomenon in which there is very heavy rainfall for a brief period. On the 26th though, it was "an UNUSUAL CLOUDBURST LASTING CLOSE TO 24 HOURS" WHICH HAS BEWILDERED WEATHERMEN. This exceptionally heavy rainfall was confined to about 20-25 km of radius. "It was a very unusual kind of cloudburst. Cloudbursts generally do not have that prolonged longevity. They are very short-lived. Whereas in this case, the phenomenon was noticed for 12-18 hours… the intense rainfall. Therefore it was a unique type of cloudburst." Meteorologists in India do not think there is some change in the weather trend, since "it was a highly localized system and very sluggish and slow. It cannot be linked to any climate change."

As relentless torrential rains continued to batter India's financial capital for the second day Monday creating an unprecedented human crisis, the army was called out to assist in a major rescue and relief operation. With the authorities unable to cope with the magnitude of the disaster, human and animal carcasses were seen floating around in middle-class western suburb of Kurla along with household goods and automobiles. Area after area all over Mumbai turned into virtual lakes, with young men using boats and rafts to distribute drinking water and food to people trapped in their homes. Tens of thousands of slum dwellers were the worst victims after gushing rainwater, at times rising up to 15 feet, washed away their homes and almost all their belongings. THE WORST RAINS IN 100 YEARS LAST WEEK claimed an incredible 350 lives in just two days. The meteorological department forecast more rain for the next couple of days. Tens of thousands are homeless.

Flash floods that hit several parts of the island of Netherlands Antilles late Saturday afternoon took the life of at least one woman, left one man missing and caused extensive damage to cars and buildings. Drainage and infrastructure proved insufficient to handle the immense amount of water in many residential areas. 68mm of rain fell in St. Peters, South Reward and surrounding areas in 24 hours. A meager 22mm fell on the other side of the hill. The downpour was described as “a cloudburst from a tropical wave system.” THE CLOUDBURST WAS NOT EXPECTED.

The town of North Canaan, Connecticut. was cleaning up Monday morning after a damaging storm Sunday night that dumped five inches of flooding rain on the town. This is A STORM THAT HAPPENED SO QUICKLY AND SEEMED TO ONLY HIT NORTH CANAAN.

Three waves in the Atlantic are moving westward with one of the systems entering an area where conditions favor develoment over the next couple of days. That tropical wave, accompanied by a weak surface low pressure area, is moving westward at 20 mph across the southeastern Caribbean Sea. One wave is in an area of widespread cloudiness, where thunderstorms have become a little more concentrated, about 400 miles east-northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Upper-level winds are currently unfavorable for tropical cyclone development to occur in this area but they may become a little more favorable during the next day or so. A large non-tropical low pressure system is located over the central Atlantic about 1,150 miles southwest of the Azores Islands. This system could become a subtropical cyclone over the next day or so as it moves slowly northward.

Typhoon Matso is located approximately 565 NM south of Okinawa tracking northwestward at 10 knots.

There is controversy among meteorologists and cyclone experts over a study stating that hurricanes are becoming larger and producing stronger winds. An MIT hurricane specialist said the destructive power of North Atlantic and North Pacific hurricanes has nearly doubled during the past 30 years - partly due to human-caused global warming. He says hurricanes striking the Eastern United States and typhoons in Southeast Asia are, on average, releasing far more energy than their predecessors did during the mid-1970s. There seems to be a clear correlation between increasing strength and length of storms and a temperature increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius on the surface of the sea during the same period.

Strange weather continues in California. Thunderstorms were in the forecast for yet another day in mountain and desert areas of San Diego County, with a flash flood watch for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday. Heavy rains could bring thunderstorms and high winds as well as mudslides and flooding. Monsoonal downpours struck East County Sunday, causing flooding, thunderstorms and lightning fires.

Two of Oregon's larger wildfires were contained overnight yesterday but more than 4,000 LIGHTNING HITS IN 24 HOURS started about 40 other blazes.

SINKHOLE -
A 15-foot sinkhole in central Florida stranded or delayed 10 trains, including more than 1,200 Amtrak passengers. Officials first said they would have the hole repaired by Sunday evening, but later realized it would take much longer. Repairs were expected to be completed by Monday night.

DROUGHT / HEAT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
In Georgia, two weeks of hot temperatures were unusual for the area. “It was definitely a long stretch of unusually high temperatures." Tropical Storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis struck the county recently, bringing massive flooding. More storms and hurricanes were headed this way but changed course. The hot temperatures put a sort of protective shield over the area. “The temperatures helped to block any other tropical storms from coming into this area. It kept Tropical Storm Franklin and Gert out the area." The hot spell has passed and normal summer weather patterns are on the horizon for Fayette County.

300,000 square kilometers of Europe's Mediterranean coast — an area larger than Britain — with a population of 16.5 million, is threatened by "desertification." The Spanish minister of the Environment warned in June about a long-term decrease in rain and an increase in temperatures: "the beginning of a long cycle" of extreme drought. The word "desertification," in Europe, essentially means that the land itself dies and becomes agriculturally unproductive, even if people still build apartments on it or, indeed, greenhouses. Optimism among scientists is increasingly hard to find. Rainfall is expected to decline by 15 percent on average and 40 percent in the scalding summers before the end of the century. "Historically, the Mediterranean has always fought over water. We are now seeing a modern version of those historical water wars between regions in Spain."

The main weather pattern so far this winter in New Zealand has been low pressure systems coming from the Tasman Sea. "We've had five lows in June and six in July and there's another moving in today. Although this is one of the standard weather patterns for winter, IT IS UNUSUAL FOR THE PATTERN TO LAST SO LONG." A series of four lows in quick succession between 14 and 20 July was responsible for the most persistent and intense rainfall so far this winter.

Monday, August 1, 2005 -

QUAKES -
An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the open-ended Richter scale shook central Turkey on Sunday, but officials said there was only minor damage in some villages. The quake was centered on a rural area in the Bala district of Ankara province. Small and moderate earthquakes are a near daily occurrence in Turkey, which is crisscrossed by seismic faultlines.
Since Sunday's 5.3 quake, there have been over 50 small quakes so far -
3.6, 3.4, 3.2, 3.2, 3.2, 4.2, 3.3, 3.2, 3.0, 3.4,
3.2, 3.1, 3.1, 3.0, 3.4, 3.2, 3.3, 4.3, 3.4, 3.2,
4.0, 3.3, 3.0, 3.9, 3.2, 3.2, 3.2, 3.2, 3.2, 3.1,
2.9, 3.3, 4.5, 3.8, 3.3, 3.5, 4.3, 3.2, 3.4, 3.4,
3.2, 3.2, 3.3, 3.1, 4.0, 3.5, 3.3, 2.8, 3.1, 3.0
2.7, 3.0, 3.1

Quakes in Indonesia Sunday -
Sumatra 5.0, 5.3, 5.2
Andaman Islands 5.0
Sulawesi 5.6

The larger quakes elsewhere on Sunday -
Loyalty Islands 5.2
Egypt 4.6
Honshu, Japan 4.8

A 4.2 aftershock that jolted Montana Wednesday morning damaged a chimney on the oldest building at the University of Montana-Western. The chimney on Main Hall, built in 1896, suffered a large crack after Monday's 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook Montana and other states, but was still structurally sound. The aftershock worsened the crack and sent bricks tumbling down the hall's roof.

VOLCANO -
Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano on Saturday sent a cloud of ash two kilometres into the sky south of Mexico City. The moderate eruption came a day after two eruptions that sent a column of hot ash almost three kilometres into the air and spat red-hot rocks up to a kilometres from the volcano's base.

STORMS -
Torrential rain lashed Mumbai, India again yesterday, disrupting flights, hampering rescue efforts and bringing more misery as the death toll from the heaviest downpours in the Indian city's history neared 1000. Low-lying suburban areas of the city were again flooded knee-deep. Flooding again occurred in the district of Raigad, 170 km south of Mumbai, where seven major landslides last week buried scores of people. "Heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong gusty winds is expected in the city and suburbs. The forecast is valid until Monday morning."
On Sunday, many local trains, considered the lifeline of this megapolis of 15 million people, were cancelled or diverted due to flooding of tracks. All long distance trains connecting the city with eastern India have been cancelled until Aug 6. With the metrological department predicting more rains over the next 48 hours, people were urged to stay indoors.

One person was buried alive and five were injured, one of them seriously, when a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains struck their houses at village Kanda nala of Sirmaur district, India last night. Heavy rains flooded Kanda Nallah river which changed course and three houses belonging to the deceased were buried under tonnes of debris.

A tornado lashed east China killing 15 people, including 11 schoolchildren who died when the roof of their classroom collapsed. The injury toll from the tornado has risen to 206. State television footage showed collapsed houses and overturned vehicles in the aftermath of the tornado that lasted some 20 minutes.

Continuous rainstorms have resulted in flooding in some medium and small rivers of northeast China's Heilongjiang province, inflicting severe damages to the cities of Hegang and Yichun. The flood peak level in the Wutong River of Hegang city reached 99.02 meters on July 29, THE HIGHEST SINCE 1972. The flooding in the Wutong River also threatened the safety of the Yuanbaoshan Reservoir in the city, which burst some spillways and spillway gates of the reservoir.

Powerful storms lashed much of Germany Saturday night, killing at least two people, injuring dozens more and disrupting road and rail traffic. High winds, which reached 191 kilometers (118 miles) per hour in the northern Saxony region, downed trees and damaged houses. Heavy rain also forced authorities to close some major roads, while rail services were also affected. In the southwestern town of Muenstertal, a mini-tornado damaged about 50 houses. Twelve of Germany's 16 states were affected by the bad weather. The storms also battered neighbouring Switzerland, in particular the cities of Geneva and Basel.

A slow-moving thunderstorm deluged north Macon, Georgia with about 2 inches of rain. Basements, apartments, streets and parking lots flooded. "You would just not believe it. It was like a tidal wave. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a river."

Landholders in east Gippsland, Victoria, Australia are cleaning up after the wettest weekend of the year. A band of cloud dropped more than 100 millimetres, bringing down trees, blocking roads and causing minor flooding. SNOW FELL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES IN SOME AREAS, blocking roads. 40 centimetres of fresh snow fell in the weekend storm. Snow weighed down a power line, and shorted it to a farm fence causing a blackout. People said they had never seen conditions like it. "No, never... and the fact that a kangaroo got marooned in the back garden because there's a slope down to the back and he couldn't move and he couldn't move up and he couldn't move down and he had no skis to get out."

DROUGHT / WILDFIRES -
The National Drought Information Center launched a Drought Impact Monitor this week, where people from around the U.S. can log on to the Web site and report the impacts of drought. The Web site, http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/, allows people to view impacts of drought by every county in the country. People can also trace drought history, by entering in a certain time period they are interested in seeing.

Against a backdrop of declining world wheat stocks, bad weather has hit world production this year and will raise trading volumes as countries increase their imports. From the plains in the United States midwest to the wheat prairies of Australia, water shortages have hit. Argentina is dry and India is mulling over a wheat import-duty cut to combat domestic shortages. This will help exporters in France, where farmers have large stocks from last season and still expect a good-sized harvest. Much-needed rain in Australia looks to have now saved the wheat crop there. China is forecast to consume 15 million tonnes more than forecast production this year.

The drought in the South East in England is the result of a major reduction in rainfall since November 2004. Levels are at only 68 per cent of the national average. 'THE LAST SIX MONTHS HAVE BEEN THE DRIEST SINCE 1976.' As a result, reservoir levels are dangerously low. Britain's water crisis is mirrored by heatwaves and droughts afflicting much of Europe. Italy is currently in the grip of a searing heatwave, with Level 3 alerts in operation - the highest warning, indicating a danger to the general population - in many cities. Spain is suffering its worst drought since national figures were first produced in 1947. In some areas reservoirs are down to just 14 per cent of their capacity. And in western France, water levels are at their lowest since the drought of 1976. Some 52 Portuguese municipalities are now receiving water from tankers, as are some villages in northern Spain. A brutal heatwave has hit the US, killing dozens of people and frying areas already suffering severe drought. Across the US, new temperature records were set in 200 cities last week.

Eight, mainly elderly, people have died over the past 24 hours in a heatwave which has sweltered in Romania for the past three days.

Scores of wildfires fanned by violent winds destroyed about 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of forests and crops in Greece over the weekend.

Slovakia has banned public access to forests in the northern High Tatras mountains near the border with Poland after THE WORST FIRE THERE IN 60 YEARS consumed more than 250 hectares (620 acres) of woodland. In November 2004, a violent storm struck the mountain range, flattening thousands of trees and causing losses of more than 200 million dollars.

CLIMATE CHANGE -
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF REAL CHANGES IN WEATHER PATTERNS ON A WORLDWIDE SCALE due to global warming. Once it begins, the common wisdom in our field is that the frequency of irregular phenomena will increase and their scale will become increasingly greater." Typhoons being generated more frequently, they are also becoming more powerful. It's possible that Japan will be hit be not one, but several big ones this summer. If a typhoon in the monster class were to strike the capital, it would be capable of flooding 41 percent of Tokyo's 23 central wards, inundating a total area of 265 square kilometers. Aberrant weather patterns have made for a strange rainy season so far this year in Japan. It remains to be seen if the record-breaking number of typhoons that made direct landings on the Japanese archipelago in 2004 - 10 of them - will be exceeded. But just about everyone agrees that the seasonal weather patterns aren't what they used to be.

As July wraps up, it's shaping up as THE HOTTEST JUNE-JULY EVER RECORDED IN SSEVERAL EASTERN U.S. CITIES. The National Weather Service said the average in June was 72.3 degrees, 3.6 degrees higher than normal. Syracuse (73.8), Buffalo (73.6), Albany (73.5), Utica (71.7), Ithaca (71.4) and Binghamton (70.6) all set two-month records, as did Scranton (74.1) and Erie (73.4) in Pennsylvania. Meteorologists say a flow of high pressure centered around Bermuda captured hot and very moist air from the southeastern part of the country and planted it over the Northeast, causing the heat to recycle itself in a clockwise flow day after day. It's not an unusual phenomenon for a week or so. "What's been unusual this year is that that weather pattern has been the dominant weather pattern for most of the past two months." The oppressive weather means uncomfortable cows who produce less milk. On the plus side, the growth of corn in the state of New York is "almost freakish. Farmers will tell you it's the highest they've seen." The National Weather Service said there is some chance for higher than normal temperatures over the next two weeks, but there's no clear signal about what the rest of August will feel like.

Flounder fishing's a flop so far this summer in the central coastal area of North Carolina. Flounder landings from the inshore waters of the central coast were down about 36 percent from the previous five-year average for the same months. "It's one of the worst summers I've seen all my life." The unusual weather is being blamed for what started out as a sluggish season. A cooler spring was followed by abrupt hot weather. "Everything's been messed up around here. The shrimp and everything's been running a little late."

In Queensland, Australia THE WEATHER HAS BEEN UNSEASONAL, with very high rainfalls, extremely high winds for this time of year, and unusually low temperatures. "The rain is actually coming over from the west, which is fairly unusual for this time of year." "It seems like June and July are our wet weason this year, rather than the traditional Feburary, March and April months." The July average amount of rain (912mm) has already been doubled.

Sunday, July 31, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Lots of moderate quakes occurring in Turkey

Quakes in Sumatera, Indonesia Saturday -
5.1, 5.0, 5.9< br> Nicobar Islands 4.9

Quakes in Honshu, Japan Saturday -
4.8, 4.8

Elsewhere:
Kermadec Islands - 5.4
Macquarie Islands - 5.2

STORMS -
The Birmingham, England tornado began on Thursday with a mighty bang of thunder before creating havoc on a Biblical scale. The area looked as if a bomb had hit it, which is what many of the residents, with thoughts of the recent London blasts fresh in their minds, believed had happened. "I saw it pick up a boy of about 10. He flew through the air, landed on his feet and kept on running."Some homes still had walls but not much in the way of roofs. The mighty wind tearing through tight grids of terrace streets at 130mph ripped up trees, whipped tiles from rooftops, sent chimneys flying and blew in windows. And it made a lot of people think the end of the world had come.

‘‘Due to the formation of a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, India close to Balasore in Orissa, isolated heavy rainfall across the Gangetic plain is predicted. If the depression continues, there may be cyclonic conditions in Gangetic West Bengal and Orissa in the next 48 hours.’’ Due to the depression, strong winds will blow over these areas at speeds of 50 to 60 kmph, accompanied by incessant rainfall. However, according to the Metereological Department, there is no likelihood of a deluge similar to the one that brought Mumbai to a standstill.

Large hail from strong thunderstorms ruined crops and damaged homes near Davis and Centerville, South Dakota early Friday. Hail stones the size of golf balls and even baseballs pelted some area farms. Many stands of corn and soybeans in the area were damaged or ruined. The hail storms lasted 20 to 30 minutes. An agronomist said he has never seen such crop devastation. "It's been a rough year. With the excess water from the rain in June, and now this. It's bad." The hail broke 10 windows and did roof damage. "It punched holes all the way through. Hail came into the house." It was the worst storm one man has seen in the 29 years he's lived on his place. Another said, "I've been here 57 years, and the only time we've had this kind of damage was in 1957."

Saturday, July 30, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Yesterday in Honshu, Japan -
5.2, 5.0, 5.5, 5.4

Yesterday in Indonesia -
Sumatra 5.0 & 5.9
Nicobar Islands 5.1
Andaman Islands 4.7
Seram 5.1
Jawa 4.6
So far today in Sumatra -
5.1, 5.0
S. Indian Sea 5.4

Also yesterday -
Nikolski, Alaska 5.6
Mount St Helens 3.2, 2.9, 2.5, 2.7 (Latest dome crumbling activity)

Web sites posting quake warnings days before they are expected to arrive - often with surprising accuracy - are proving extremely popular in Japan. The prediction methods in use at these sites are as exotic as they are diverse, and they are universally irksome to officials who maintain that reliable nationwide quake prediction is impossible. There are groups who monitor erratic catfish behavior, long held by Japanese folk wisdom to be an earthquake omen, and others who scrutinize the inner workings of the nemunoki ("sleeping tree"). Whatever their forecasting method, they almost all share the view that quakes can be predicted by monitoring electromagnetic disturbances around the Earth.

VOLCANO -
Concepcion Volcano erupted at least four times on Thursday on the island of Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua, sending ash raining down on the island's 10 000 residents up to 20 kilometres away. The 1,610-metre tall volcano is located 100 kilometres southeast of Managua, the capital, on an island popular with adventure tourists. No one was injured by the eruptions. Concepcion Volcano has registered 17 eruptions since 1883. The last was in 1999.

Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano staged two early morning eruptions Friday, sending ashes raining down on parts of southern Mexico City. The moderate eruptions sent a column of hot ash 2.5 kilometers into the air and spat red-hot rocks up to a kilometer from the volcano.

STORMS -
Tropical storms have become significantly more intense in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the past 30 years, according to an analysis. Tropical storms' overall intensity has increased by about 50 percent since the mid-1970s.Although many of the fiercest storms of the past three decades haven't made landfall when they were at peak intensity, "the near-doubling of hurricanes' power during this period should be a matter of some concern, as it's a measure of the (future) destructive potential of these storms."

The south province of Guangdong, China is on high alert for the approaching Typhoon Tianying that is expected to land before noon. The route of the powerful Tianying will be complicated and it will land rapidly with rainstorms.

Two tourists were engulfed by a rain-triggered landslide Friday and remained missing in central China's Henan Province. The accident happened at about 4 p.m. when an unexpected downpour trapped ten tourists on a mountain in the Xinmi City. Eight of them were rescued but two others washed away by the torrential landslide were still missing as of 10 p.m.

DISEASE -
Five people have died from cholera in Niger, the UN health agency said, warning that disease could spread rapidly among hundreds of thousands of people weakened by the country's food emergency.

Scientists are perplexed by the unusually high, and rising, number of deaths in southwestern China from a mysterious pig-borne disease and they are beginning to question if it is indeed swine flu. Twenty-seven people in Sichuan province have died in recent days from the disease, which has caused 104 others to fall ill. Medical experts outside mainland China said the unusually high mortality rate of 20 percent and reports that many of the 27 victims died within a day of showing symptoms were inconsistent with what is known so far about swine flu. Human infections of swine flu are rare. And where they have occurred, mortality rates have been below 10 percent. "The deaths in China are very unusual." Many patients in Sichuan were bleeding under the skin, a symptom that has been cited in only two or three cases in medical literature on the bacteria.

Friday, July 29, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Quakes off Honshu, Japan Thursday -
5.1, 4.5, 5.0, 4.8, 5.2, 4.8
So far today -
5.2, 5.0

Other quakes yesterday -
N. Molucca Sea - 5.0 & 5.5
Fiji - 5.4
Philippines - 5.3
Sumatra, Indonesia - 5.0 & 4.5 (so far today a 5.0)

This morning there was a 5.5 in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

VOLCANO / TSUNAMI RISK -
Dozens of newly discovered volcanoes in a stretch of the Pacific Ocean pose a major tsunami risk due to the area's seismic instability, an Australian geologist warned on Thursday. Research teams have discovered 75 previously unknown volcanoes in a 2,000km strip from New Zealand north to Tonga. 40 percent of them are releasing hot water and gas through vents which indicated magma below. "To a volcanologist, realistically that means all of them are potentially active." Previously, only 10 volcanoes were known to exist in that area. Researchers had targeted the area for investigation because the tectonic plates that comprise the earth's crust are known to be converging north of New Zealand faster than anywhere else on the planet. They are moving at a rate of about 25 millimeters a year. A tsunami could occur at any time and threaten communities across the Pacific.

STORMS -
India's financial capital was paralyzed Wednesday by the strongest rains ever recorded in the nation, with floods, landslides, building collapses and torrential downpours marooning drivers, snapping communication lines and leaving at least 800 people dead statewide. At its worst, the RAINFALL DESCENDED IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE A SOLID WALL OF WATER, overwhelming Bombay, a crowded city long accustomed to monsoon rains. "NEVER BEFORE IN BOMBAY'S HISTORY HAS THIS HAPPENED." At least 83 people have died in Bombay, crushed by falling walls, trapped in cars or electrocuted since the most intense rains swept through the city Tuesday evening. Phone networks collapsed, highways were blocked and the city's airports, among the nation's busiest, were closed. While Wednesday's precipitation was still being totaled, officials said parts of the city had been hit by up to 37.1 inches of rain Tuesday, much of it falling over just a few hours. Across Bombay, traffic was backed up all night and into Wednesday, with drivers abandoning their vehicles on roads turned into waist-high rivers. At one point, about 150,000 people were stranded in railway stations. Others stayed for hours on buses and trains surrounded by swirling water. Television footage showed crowds of people scrambling for food parcels dropped from helicopters by navy rescue teams as the bodies of two men lay sprawled in the streets of a Bombay neighborhood. SUCH SCENES HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN SEEN IN BOMBAY, a cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries. Every year, Bombay is brought to a halt for a day or two by heavy monsoon rains that drench the country between June and September and often leave hundreds dead nationwide. But this week's downpours left the city reeling. "The city always gets heavy rains in the monsoon but it has never been like this. The waters have not receded." "Most places in India don't receive this kind of rainfall in a year." Weather officials predicted more heavy rains on the way for the city of 15 million. The death toll passed the 800 mark when residents of a Mumbai shantytown stampeded after false rumours that a dam had burst. 16 people died in the crush of the stampede, including seven children. Eighteen people were injured. In another incident blamed on the freak weather, hundreds of rescued oil workers were taken by helicopter to Bombay from an oil platform that was destroyed by fire when a ship crashed into it in rough seas. A number of workers are dead or missing.

Nineteen people have been injured - three seriously - as a tornado ripped through the streets of Birmingham, England. The sudden storm damaged buildings, uprooted trees and trapped people in their homes with wind speeds estimated to have reached 130mph. One sq km of damage was caused in Kings Heath, with "hundreds" of properties affected. "It all happened in just a couple of minutes. There is a tree through a car and trees on houses - it looks like something from a film set." "We have an average of 33 reports of tornadoes in the UK each year but THESE ARE ESPECIALLY RARE IN BUILT-UP AREAS AND THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE OF THIS STRENGTH IN MANY YEARS. City centres are not the natural habitat of a tornado; the tall buildings would normally stop their formation." Birmingham also experienced flash floods on Thursday afternoon. Freak weather conditions have hit many parts of England, including London, in the last few days with heavy rain and high winds. (11 photos)

Hurricane force winds flipped planes at a lakefront airport as a series of storms pounded northern Ohio yesterday.

With seven named storms emerging in less than eight weeks, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season is flirting with becoming the most active ever. At this pace, 22 systems would form by Nov. 30, which would surpass the record of 21 set in 1933. Four months remain in the hurricane season, including the meanest stretch from mid-August through September, when the most powerful storms spawn. On Monday, three more tropical waves were rolling off the coast of Africa, and "they look quite vigorous." If even 15 storms form this year, as they did last season, it still would be a rare event. In the past 75 years, only seven seasons have seen 15 or more significant tropical systems - 1933, 1936, 1969, 1995, 2000, 2003 and 2004. This season has seen the most named storms in July. It is also the earliest that the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh systems have formed, according to hurricane records dating back to 1851. In addition, hurricanes Dennis and Emily exhibited unprecedented intensity for so early in the season.

Temperatures soared in Tokyo and its vicinity Wednesday after Typhoon Banyan moved away from Japan.

A tropical cyclone brought heavy rains and stormy wind to the Kurile Islands, Russia Wednesday night. The precipitation on the islands was estimated at 25-40 millimeters and the wind force reached 25-27 meters per second. The storm has spread to all the islands and is currently moving northeastward to the Kamchatka peninsula.

HEAT / GLOBAL WARMING -
The heat has been blamed for deaths across the U.S., including 28 in the Phoenix area alone. At least four deaths have been blamed on the heat in Missouri. Two young children left in hot cars died in Oklahoma. A 29-year-old hiker died Monday in Kentucky. And a 48-year-old woman was found dead Tuesday in her non-air-conditioned apartment in Cincinnati. Oppressive heat also posed health risks for animals. Heat is being blamed for at least 1,200 cattle deaths in Nebraska.

Over the next two decades, the Earth will see an acceleration of ecosystem changes already under way. Such alterations will include different migration and breeding seasons for some animals and new flowering seasons for plants. "We're also seeing changes in species distribution. Things like trees can't react too quickly" to climate change. "But mobile organisms, like birds, can simply move. We're already seeing major range extensions of species. If the birds move north, forests may be more susceptible to insect attacks, which means more dead wood, which means more fire. The whole nature of the forest can change fairly quickly."

On July 17 temperatures in the Arctic, 600 miles from the North Pole, soared to the HIGHEST EVER RECORDED HERE, an extraordinary 19.6C, a full degree-and-a-half above the previous record. These are unusual times for Ny-Alesund, the world's most northerly community. Perched high above the Arctic Circle, on Svalbard, normally a place gripped by shrieking winds and blizzards, it was caught in a heatwave. That they could bask in the sun merely confirms what these scientists have long suspected: that Earth's high latitudes are warming dangerously thanks to man-made climate change, with temperatures rising at twice the global average. 'We have found that not only are glaciers retreating dramatically, but the extent of the pack ice that used to stretch across the sea from here to the pole is receding. It is now at an absolute minimum since records began.'

DISEASE -
The World Health Organisation says there is a 10 per cent chance a flu pandemic will break out in the next 12 months.

Thursday, July 28, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Quakes off Honshu, Japan Wednesday -
5.1, 5.5, 5.6, 4.8, 4.8, 4.9, 5.3, 5.5, 5.2, 4.8, 5.1, 5.1, 4.9
So far today -
5.2, 5.0, 5.0, 5.0, 5.1

In Indonesia Wednesday -
4.6 & 4.6 in NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA, REGION
5.1 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
So far today -
5.2 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA

Seismologists have ruled out further serious earthquakes around oil rich Daqing in Northeast China, after THE PROVINCE OF HEILONGJIANG'S LARGEST AND MOST DESTRUCTIVE QUAKE FOR 20 YEARS (5.1) struck the city on Monday, killing one man and injuring 12 others. Nearly 1,100 homes were damaged in the earthquake, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,500 people. However, sounding a note of caution, a leading forecaster said it was still not known how the earthquake may have affected the geological structure underground, which could represent a danger for the oilfields in the long term. "Earthquakes usually originate 5 kilometres underground and this one came from about 10 kilometres down. As most oil in Daqing is taken from less than 1 kilometre below the surface, this quake should not have caused any great problems for oil production."

At least 8 aftershocks rattled southwestern Montana early Tuesday following a 5.6 magnitude earthquake, but the rumbling did little damage and probably isn't an indication of a bigger event on the horizon. The earthquake was felt throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming and Colorado and in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. More aftershocks can be expected, although they probably won't be felt. "It was a very shallow event, only three to five miles below the surface." THE LAST EARTHQUAKE IN THE DILLON AREA WAS RECORDED IN 1897. That magnitude 6.4 quake damaged chimneys and other structures. Earthquakes are frequent in Montana.

Mount Saint Helens was rattled Wednesday by a 2.1 magnitude earthquake, part of an ongoing eruption that began last fall. The quake at 12:06 p.m. Wednesday came after a rockfall that occured Tuesday night at the top of the mountain's latest new dome. Wednesday's quake was less forceful than other recent quakes. The quakes and rockfalls usually cause a small plume of ash to drift out above the crater's rim. Such was the case both Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

A mild 4.0 earthquake was felt in Anchorage late Tuesday night but apparently did no significant damage. The shaking rattled dishes and other objects. It was centered about 30 miles southeast of Anchorage and about 10 miles below the surface IN AN AREA WITHOUT ANY KNOWN QUAKE FAULTS.

The chairman of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority objected yesterday to a project to link the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, saying it would increase the risk of earthquakes in the Middle East. “The two seas canal would lead to strong seismic activity in the region because of the rush of water.” The canal, designed to generate electricity for a desalination plant and to prevent the Dead Sea from drying up, would carry 850mn tonnes of water a year.

VOLCANO -
Mexico's Volcano of Fire staged a spectacular, predawn explosion on Wednesday, shooting incandescent rock, ash and steam up to 2,700m into the air over western Mexico. The eruption sent ash raining down on nearby communities, but officials had no reports of major damage. The volcano has had several strong explosions in recent months, but officials have said the activity is normal.

HIGH TIDES -
A tidal surge triggered by a storm in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday flooded islands off the coast of Bangladesh and left about 3,000 people homeless. Most people took refuge in cyclone shelters as a two-metre-high surge swept through the islands of Kutubdia, Moheskhali and Saint Martin. The coastal district of Cox's Bazar was also hit. "The sea water rose up and flooded our coastal village." The tidal surge also washed away more than 100 shrimp farms. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department had warned of high waves during full tide unless a monsoon depression over the Bay of Bengal subsided.

LANDSLIDES / STORMS -
At least 99 people were reported killed and more than 100 trapped as the HEAVIEST DAY OF RAIN EVER RECORDED IN INDIA triggered landslides and building collapses in the western state of Maharashtra. Mumbai received 944.2 millimeters (37.1 inches) of rainfall in a 24- hour period ending mid-morning Wednesday, beating a record which has stood since July 1910.
In India, the torrential rains triggered a fresh landslide at Dasgaon, 150 km from Mumbai, raising the death toll in the worst-hit Raigad district of Maharashtra to 56. The Army yesterday reached Jui village where nearly 100 people are feared trapped in a landslip. Authorities said chances of survival of the trapped from 20 families at Jui was "bleak". Thirty-two persons were killed in landslides in Raigad district in the past three days while 24 others were drowned. Eight persons were killed and 40 others feared trapped in a landslide in Dasgaon, ten kms from Mahad. Several parts of Raigad are still marooned as the district continued to be hit by torrential rains since Sunday night. Five bodies have been recovered from the Kundawati village, even as nearly three dozen people are feared trapped beneath the debris of the landslide on Monday. The Dasgaon village also had witnessed a landslide on Monday evening, but as the entire village was inundated no rescue operation could begin.

A powerful thunderstorm Sunday evening in Aspen, Colorado swelled local creeks and caused a 4-mile-long mudslide in the midvalley. The road was impassable as nearly the entire length of the creek slope washed away. The storm brought "an amazing amount of water in a short amount of time." The Aspen airport received more than a half-inch of rain in about 90 minutes. "That's quite a bit for this area. If it falls pretty quickly, that's very significant." A high pressure system that baked the West for several days has lifted. In its wake is a southerly flow laden with moisture. Some of it is probably due to Hurricane Emily hitting the Gulf of Mexico. But this also monsoon season.

HEAT -
Temperatures reached a 100 degrees and beyond in several South Carolina cities, and forecasters were again calling for a third-straight day of dangerously hot and humid weather. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE IN FLORENCE REACHED A RECORD 101 DEGREES on Wednesday, breaking the old high mark of 99 set in 1949.

RECORD HIGHS HIT NORTH CAROLINA ON TUESDAY and sent people scrambling for shade, air conditioning and water. The temperature topped 100 degrees Tuesday. There is some slight relief on the way by the end of the week as a cold front will be moving in. It will still be hot, but there will be increased chances of showers and temperatures could drop into the mid- to high 80s. That could bring more thunderstorms. Moore County has had its fair share of those recently, including several severe thunderstorms Friday night that produced intense lightning and sparked several house fires, heavy rain that caused flooding and high winds that blew down trees and knocked out power. More than four inches of rain caused a wastewater spill of 480,000 gallons of untreated waste.

Throughout the last week of July 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency has been issuing air quality warnings for the Midwest, the Southeast, and the Mid-Atlantic, United States. This image shows haze over the Eastern seaboard.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Japan and Indonesia continue to shake - Japan Tuesday - 5.4, 5.5, 5.0, 4.8, 5.2
So far today - 5.2, 5.6, 5.6, 5.1

Nicobar and Sumatra Tuesday - 5.3, 5.1, 4.8

Also on Tuesday -
Kamchatka, Russia - 5.8
Peru - 6.0
Banda Sea - 5.1

STORMS -
Two people died in West Virginia attributed to the heavy winds that accompanied Monday evening's storm. A 73-year-old man who was sitting outside on his second-floor apartment landing reading his Bible was killed when a window frame blew out of a building and struck him, and a large tree limb snapped and fell on an elderly man who used a wheelchair, who was trying to get into his car. "I never saw the wind blow that hard. It was so fierce outside. After it was all over, we ended up finding bricks in our yard and had no idea where they came from."

GLOBAL WARMING -
Australians can expect higher temperatures, more droughts, severe cyclones and storm surges over the next 30 to 50 years. A Federal Government-commissioned report said climate change is inevitable and Australia should prepare for climate change. The report said climate change would affect Australia's native flora and fauna, damage urban areas and pose a threat to agriculture even without further greenhouse emissions.

Except for a small area in the East Greenland Sea, Arctic sea ice has retreated almost everywhere in June 2005. The month set a new record low: 6 percent below the long-term mean for June sea ice extent. June marks the beginning of the melt season for Arctic sea ice, which reaches its minimum extent at the end of the season in September. In the past few Septembers, Arctic sea ice concentration (the amount of ice in a given area) has been markedly reduced. So far, 2005 is shaping up to be another record-low sea ice year in the Arctic. Even after warm summers, Arctic sea ice has typically recovered in wintertime, but this has changed in recent years. Besides showing dramatic retreat in the summer, Arctic sea ice has begun to decline in the wintertime as well. Some scientists have begun to wonder whether Arctic sea ice has crossed a critical threshold from which it can’t recover.

DISEASE -
Flu viruses can swap many genes rapidly to make new resistant strains, US researchers have found. Scientists previously believed that gene swapping progressed gradually from season to season. Instead, influenza A exchanged several genes at once, causing sudden and major changes to the virus. The findings suggest strains could vary widely each season, making it potentially harder to treat.

Saskatchewan reported its first possible case of West Nile Virus - which could make it the first human case in Canada this year.

West Nile found in 41% of mosquitoes in Louisiana tests.

China's Ministry of Health has confirmed an illness that has killed 24 people involves bacteria that had spread among pigs.

SUNSPOTS -
In recent days the farside of the sun has been very active. One or more sunspots have been exploding, hurling coronal mass ejections over the sun's limb. Because the sun spins, sunspots on the farside now will be rotating around to face Earth later this week and next, raising the possibility of geomagnetic storms and auroras.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Moderate quake so far this morning -
5.2 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA
5.1 & 5.2 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 XIZANG, CHINA
5.6 WESTERN MONTANA

Lots of moderate quakes Monday -
5.5 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.5 JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
5.0 HEILONGJIANG, CHINA
4.9 IONIAN SEA
5.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.4 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.2 & 5.6 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION

Many clusters of small quakes (35) near Pinnacles, California on Monday .

The powerful 7.2 earthquake that shook India's Andaman and Nicobar islands on Sunday has shaken the confidence of people in the remote island chain, although it caused no damage or casualties. Close to 350 aftershocks have rattled the region since the 9.3 Dec. 26 quake. "The aftershocks were less in the past two months but it seems to be starting again. We are really worried about the fate of these islands." Sunday's earthquake was felt in the southern Indian city of Madras on the mainland as well as other parts of south India. The Naval meteorological office in Port Blair said it was the second biggest aftershock after the Dec. 26 earthquake.

VOLCANO -
Anatahan's volcano continues to be in a state of constant eruption , based on monitoring records in the last 24 hours. In a joint report by, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Emergency Management Office, said the seismic amplitude levels of the eruptions show that the rates of eruption are between 30 to 60 percent of the peak levels compared to what was observed from June 17 to 26, 2005. The eruptions occasionally increase due to strong and high winds.

STORMS -
Severe tropical storm Banyan was nearing the coast of Japan's main island today, threatening the densely populated Tokyo region with strong winds and torrential rain and disrupting transport. Coastal roads were being closed and some flights and ferries cancelled. It is the first tropical storm of the season to hit Japan, although the 7th typhoon of the season. Last year, Japan was battered by a record 10 typhoons, compared with an annual average of about three. Experts blamed the unusual number of typhoons hitting land on warmer-than-normal sea water and weaker-than-normal Pacific high pressure areas, which some people blame on global warming. Conditions this year are similar in some ways. "The sea water temperatures are high this year, but the Pacific high pressure areas are not quite as weak. So it's still impossible to predict what kind of typhoon season we're likely to see this year." As the typhoon moves in a northerly direction, it is expected to activate a front dormant in eastern Japan, causing large rain clouds to build up around its perimeter. These rain clouds are expected to dump large amounts of rainfall over a wide area covering western to northern Japan.

Heavy rain is wrecking havoc in India. Several parts of Panjim, remained under water for the fourth day even as heavy rains continued to lash the state. Hundreds of trees were uprooted in coastal areas in south Goa due to fierce winds. Eleven laborers were killed at Dicarpale, five kilometres from Margao in south Goa, in a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall.

Monday, July 25, 2005 -

QUAKES -
A 5.4 quake (aftershock) hit Nicobar Islands, India this morning.

An earthquake measuring more than five on the Richter Scale has hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands every eight months for the past hundred years. These islands, categorised in seismologicaly active Zone V, have experienced 25 earthquakes measuring more than 6 on the Richter scale over the past 100 years. ''Fifty seven per cent of the landmass of India is prone to earthquakes, 40 million hectare of land is prone to flood damages and the 8000-km-long coastal area is prone to cyclone damage. We all know these islands are prone to earthquakes, tsunami and cyclones so Andaman is in a multi-hazard situation, which is not seen in any other place of this country." The islands are actually much closer to Indonesia than India and in fact lie right on the fault line of the Dec. 26 earthquake. The U.S.G.S. estimates that about 18 earthquakes at magnitude 7 or greater strike around the world each year. Those with a magnitude of 8 or greater shake the planet only once in a typical year.

Three earthquakes hit the cities of Qidar, Genaveh and Kerman in Iran on Sunday. The quakes were respectively measuring 4.1, 3.7 and 3.9 on the Richter scale.

MORE HIGH WAVES -
Earthmoving equipment has been used to protect homes in far north Queensland, Australia from big waves that have buffeted coastal areas. The wild weather has lashed the region for two days, flooding houses, bringing down trees and causing substantial erosion to beaches.

STORMS -
This is one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons in history. Never before, in more than 150 years of record keeping, had six tropical storms formed by the end of July. Tropical Storm Gert is No.7 and she threatened eastern Mexico with heavy rain overnight while Tropical Storm Franklin churned through the Atlantic Ocean toward Bermuda. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

HEAT -
A heat wave that has been breaking records across the U.S. west is about to hit Washington. It's been 43 C in Phoenix, where there was a dust – not rain – storm, and more than 20 deaths have been blamed on the heat. Parts of 23 states issued heat advisories this weekend, and hundreds of cities shattered temperature records. "We're absolutely having a hotter summer than normal. This is something that we actually saw coming for a while." You "feel like you have three suns shining on you."

DISEASE -
The death toll from an unidentified disease has risen to 17 with 41 other people affected in southwest China's Sichuan province. The victims, all farmers, came from dozens of different villages around the neighbouring cities of Ziyang and Neijiang, who apparently did not have any contact with each other. All of them showed similar symptoms such as fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting and later became comatose. According to a preliminary investigation, the affected farmers had butchered sick pigs or sheep before coming down with the mystery illness.

The Chinese government has failed to provide global health agencies with vital information on recent bird flu outbreaks - caused by a lethal mutating virus that experts say could rapidly spread around the world and potentially kill tens of millions of people. Three outbreaks of avian flu have affected western China in recent months but the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international agencies have received neither the information nor virus samples from infected birds that they requested from Beijing. "We stress that this virus is highly unpredictable and versatile and can change any time. It is highly dangerous."

Sunday, July 24, 2005 -

A major earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit India's southern Nicobar Islands today, triggering panic in the islands and prompting Thailand to issue a tsunami warning for the region. By late today, no tsunami was seen and there had been no significant rise in the sea level two hours after the quake. Thailand withdrew its warning about 90 minutes after the quake hit. Today's quake also was felt in Indonesia's Aceh province, the area hit hardest in the December tragedy. Aceh residents, jolted from their sleep, said the quake rattled their homes for about 10 seconds. In the Nicobar islands, residents there say the earth shook violently and there was some damage to buildings, even the newly constructed tin shelters for December's tsunami victims. Aftershocks of 5.3, 4.7, 5.2, 5.1 and 4.8 have followed. A 7.2 strike-slip earthquake like this one typically ruptures a 15 km by 80 km patch along a fault, whereas the December, 2004 thrust-faulting earthquake ruptured a patch of fault about 1200 km long and 200 km wide.

QUAKES -
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 shook eastern Japan, injuring at least 27 people, rattling buildings and disrupting train and plane services. The quake was the strongest to rock Tokyo in more than a decade and left a number of people trapped in elevators. The earthquake struck at 4.35pm (5.35pm AEST) with its epicentre in the Boso peninsula of Chiba prefecture just outside of the capital at a depth of 90 kilometres underground. The tremor caused at least two minor fires in Tokyo. The quake came hours after thousands of volunteers and rescue workers took part in one of Japan's largest-ever tsunami drills.

Another large quake Saturday - A 6.1 in Kermadec Islands, New Zealand.

INDONESIA -
Quakes Saturday in Northern Sumatra - 5.2, 5.0, 5.8. (This morning a 5.1)

Dozens of houses were destroyed by tidal waves that struck the Indonesian tsunami-hit province of Aceh Saturday morning, forcing thousands of residents to flee to higher ground. The waves as high as three meters swept through the southern part of the province at around 06:00 a.m (23:00 GMT Friday), running until 15 meters from the coastlines. At least 23 homes in three sub-districts in South Aceh regency were destroyed by the waves but there is no immediate report of casualty. The full moon on Friday night created the ‘routine’ flood and tides. ( Brunei also reported unusually high tides yesterday in several parts of the country. Tutong Town which is situated on the river also felt the effects of the high tide.)

Heavy rain accompanying a cyclone, from Friday afternoon till early Saturday, in Lhoksemauwe, North Aceh, Indonesia, caused 100 families (387 people) to lose their homes. The cyclone blew off house roofs and collapsed several wooden houses. At least 94 houses were badly destroyed but there is no report on casualties. A lot of trees also collapsed and disconnected electric lines. The trees also fell into and closed the highway.

Indonesia reported its first three human deaths from bird flu this week - a government official and his two young daughters living in a suburb of the capital, Jakarta.

STORMS -
Less than three months after severe flooding in western Romania – which caused damage exceeding $600 million - the country has been hit again by devastating floods. 31 counties out of 42 are affected by the current flooding with Moldavia being the worst hit. The death toll currently stands at 28. The floods, the worst in more than half a century, were triggered by heavy rain causing rivers to overflow. Soldiers and fire fighters evacuated 12,166 people from 13,800 flooded homes. 368 homes collapsed instantly. More than 550 bridges and power lines were brought down and 106 towns had no electricity for 3 days.

The 7th storm to develop in the Atlantic is Tropical Storm Gert, 95 miles N of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico and heading inland. It brought heavy rains Saturday to parts of the Yucatan Peninsula and Honduras, Belize and Guatemala. Rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudlides, especially in areas previously affected by Hurrican Emily.

Tropical Storm Franklin is in the Atlanitc, moving ENE, 341 nautical miles SE of Wilmington, NC and 380 miles NE of Freeport, Bahamas, but appears headed out to sea, away from the U.S. mainland, towards Bermuda. The system is no major threat to any land mass, and may lose its tropical characteristics by early next week. Its rotation carried extremely hot weather to the Florida peninsula. Franklin is the earliest sixth-named storm on record for the Atlantic hurricane season.

Tropical Strom Banyan is 587 nmi ESE of Kadena AB, Okinawa and 621 nmi NW of Saipan, N. Mariana Islands in the Pacific.

Tropical depression Nalgae has been downgraded from a tropical storm, currently 1033 miles E of Tokyo, Japan and 1332 mi NE of Saipan, N. Mariana Islands in the Pacific and weakening.

Mexican authorities yesterday reported their first death blamed on what had been Hurricane Emily. The storm destroyed thousands of buildings in Mexico and drove about 90,000 people from their homes. No deaths or injuries were reported in South Texas, where Emily earlier this week unleashed heavy rain and some tornadoes. Mexican officials say a woman was swept away by floodwaters in the northern city of San Pedro Garza Garcia.(photos)

More than 600,000 people in several counties in China are still without running water 5 days after Typhoon Haitang wreaked havoc with rivers and pipes. The arrival of Typhoon Haitang early this week has increased the turbidity of water in rivers nationwide. In southern Taiwan, floods washed away Fengkang Bridge and ruined pipes carrying tap water to several coastal townships. The absence of the bridge has left Hengchuen Peninsula isolated.


A freak thunderstorm wetted parts of San Diego, California yesterday morning as moisture from former Hurricane Emily fed into a persistent high-pressure dome over the region. Showers and lightning were reported in the valleys after midnight, and localized storms moved across coastal areas around 4 a.m., creating an unusual spectacle for July. "Typically, once per summer we'll get some sort of thunderstorms near the coast. Sometimes twice a summer if we're really lucky." The storms prompted a flash flood watch in some mountain areas. Thunderstorm are forecast to sporadically soak San Diego through Monday.

A heavy storm crossed Central Indiana Thursday night, leaving flooded streets, felled trees and downed power lines in its wake. From 10 to 11 p.m., the area endured 60 mph winds, a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado warning. No tornadoes were confirmed, but the storm "had a large amount of lightning, especially along the leading edge." That lightning led to a number of house fires.

Four people were rushed to the hospital Saturday afternoon, after lightning struck Clearwater Beach, Florida. The people were all on the beach. It had been raining for about 20 minutes, and people reported hearing thunder in the distance before it happened. Firefighters say the victims came close to losing their lives, but luckily, rescuers were nearby. Clearwater firefighters say they've never seen so many people hit before. More lightning in the area worried rescuers.“I was walking off the beach, I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think anybody was, all my guys. I was scared to death for them because the lightning was popping around so much.”

WILDFIRES -
Residents in Gunlock, Utah were asked to evacuate Friday afternoon as a wildfire burned to the edge of the Santa Clara River, sending a thick blanket of acrid smoke over the tiny town. The fire threatening the residential community was one of several that sprang to life after a lightning storm passed over Washington County in southwestern Utah Thursday night before, bringing 2,000 firefighters to the area. Between the flooding river that isolated the town in January when it washed out bridges and wildland fires that have initiated the second evacuation warning in the past two months, the year is destined to be a notable one in town history. "We just can't win in 2005. It's like hell year."

Firefighters in Portugal gained control Saturday of wildfires which have raged across the parched country, some of them for days, due to the arrival of slightly cooler weather.

Forest fires in drought-hit Spain's central-western region near the border with Portugal, that broke out two days ago, have been brought under control.

LOCUSTS -
Freak swarms of locusts devouring vineyards in and around the northern Italian province of Alessandria, sometimes moving at speeds of up to 30mph, are threatening this year's production of a venerable wine. In addition to the vineyards, the insects are landing on fields of green beans, courgettes, lettuces and animal forage as well as lawns. "I've never seen anything like this. The locusts are even eating peaches." Small numbers of the locusts are normal in Italy during the summer months but the size of the swarms, evidently due to the lengthy drought, is unprecedented. Citizens were at their wits' end with locusts flying into cars and bags, entangling hair and finding their way into clothes. "There are thousands of them massed on the walls of our houses from morning to night. It seems as though here we are living through a scourge from the Bible."

DUST CLOUD -
A cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert could move over large sections of Florida by early next week. But forecasters do not expect the system to cause widespread problems or pose any serious health risks. The massive cloud is nearly the size of the continental United States. It should arrive between Monday and Wednesday. Dust clouds, especially at this time of year, are not uncommon. The dust is expected to spark colorful sunrises and sunsets.

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