PREVIOUSLY FEATURED DISASTERS

Sunday, April 30, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/29 -
5.9 SOUTH OF SUMBAWA, INDONESIA
5.3 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.6 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
6.8 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.0 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
4/28 -
5.2 SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
5.1 TAIWAN
5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

VOLCANOES -
The imminent eruption of three powerful volcanoes is endangering the lives of more than 70,000 people and threatening to affect the global climate by ejecting millions of tonnes of volcanic ash into the atmosphere. The most serious threat is posed by the Merapi volcano in central Java, one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", which was yesterday throwing out ash and small rocks. Geologists believe that the 1.7-mile high volcano could violently erupt at any time. Two other volcanoes also giving cause for concern are the Galeras volcano in Colombia - expected to erupt within a matter of days or weeks - and the Urbinas volcano in southern Peru, which also appears to be gearing up for an eruption. The eruption of any volcano can have an effect on local and global climate and three large eruptions close together could have a significant impact, leading to cooler temperatures. There is also a dimming effect on the sun caused by the clouds of ash. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 led to a drop in global air temperature over the next three years of between 0.2 and 0.5 °C.

INDONESIA - Volcanic rocks have tumbled down from the peak of Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi volcano but its "standby" status remains unchanged, a vulcanologist said Saturday. The avalanche of rocks created a thin layer of dust that fell on two hamlets located on the western slope.

PHILIPPINES - Bulusan volcano erupted on Saturday, belching ash 1.5 kilometers (about 1 mile) into the sky for the second time this year. “It’s already a mild eruption, but it’s not life threatening.” High sulfur dioxide gas readings of more than 1,000 tons a day, more than double the normal level, that were taken several days earlier, suggested “renewed activity” of the volcano. However, there is no imminent danger of a violent eruption.

ICELAND - On April 22, floods swamped the Skafta River. The flood water was accompanied by dangerously high levels of sulfur, possibly from increased geologic activity. The river flows out from under the Vatnajokull Ice Cap, a large permanent field of snow and ice that covers more than 8,000 square kilometers of southeastern Iceland, including a number of volcanoes and other regions of geothermal activity. Over these hotspots, the lower layer of the ice cap melts to form glacier lakes, some of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean through rivers such as the Skafta. Other lakes are dammed by walls of ice from the overlying glacier. Catastrophic floods can occur when water breaks through the ice dams and bursts into the rivers, or when geologic activity increases and melts more water. In this flooding, the fast-moving Skafta River swept over the dark, volcanic soil west of the ice cap, and carried it into the ocean, turning the ocean milky green with sediment.

HAWAII - Mauna Loa's massive eruptions and rivers of lava could pose a danger to much of Hawaii island , depending on where it comes pouring out. One of the biggest area of concern is on the volcano's southwest rift zone, where people have built homes and where lava could erupt right from the ground. "When there is an eruption of Mauna Loa - that means a vent can break out underneath your house." "This is the most active shield volcano on the face of the earth....the face of the earth." Scientists can't say when it will erupt, but they do say - be prepared, watch for warning signs and be ready to leave a danger area.

JAPAN - the government is continuing to prepare for a possible eruption of Mount Fuji by creating evacuation plans and procedures. There is no indication that Fuji will erupt anytime soon.

ALASKA - Augustine volcano has been downgraded from orange to yellow. The volcano is still restless and an eruption may still occur.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone MALA was 119 nmi NNW of Rangoon, Burma and is rapidly dissipating over land.
MYNAMAR - Cyclone Mala packing winds up to 150 mph battered Myanmar Saturday, ripping roofs off dozens of buildings near the capital, knocking out electricity and forcing tourists to flee flooding along the coast. There were scattered report of injuries and deaths but the government gave no details. The storm produced massive waves and flooding, knocked down trees and forced dozens of youngsters on a yachting trip to seek higher ground. The worst damage appeared to be just outside the capital Yangon, where strong winds damaged more than 150 buildings. "This was the worst damage I have ever seen in my life," said a resident from the industrial zone. "Even containers fell and cars were blown into the air by what looked like a tornado." Storm warnings were also issued for coastal areas in southern Bangladesh, though forecasters said there was almost no chance now that the cyclone would strike there.

THAILAND - possible flash floods are expected to be caused by torrential rains due to the influence of Mala tropical storm.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
TEXAS - Storms battered eastern Texas with wind up to 100 mph and hail the size of baseballs, damaging buildings and slamming parked airplanes into one another at an airport. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged, and some areas still lacked power Saturday afternoon.

NEW ZEALAND - Several houses in Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula have been declared uninhabitable following torrential rain. The Coromandel town of Pauanui is cut off by road and floodwaters forced primary schools on Auckland's North Shore and on the Hauraki Plains to shut for the day. About 175mm of rain fell in the seaside resort of Hahei over a three-hour period. The deluge triggered a dozen major slips and flooded about a dozen holiday homes. Some said it is THE WORST RAIN DAMAGE THEY HAVE SEEN IN 47 YEARS at the seaside settlement. Elsewhere, surface flooding from the rain and a high tide forced the closure of the only road into Pauanui.

MYSTERY BOOMS-
WASHINGTON - A series of explosions that rocked most of the Port Angeles area remains a mystery. Police dispatchers received calls from all around the area the night of the 27th about 11:30pm reporting the series of "booms". But police have been unable to uncover what may have caused the noises. Callers reported a series of five explosions that shook their houses. One caller reported her glass sliding door shattered. No earthquake activity was reported that night in the Port Angeles area.

CALIFORNIA - the source of a mysterious disturbance that rattled San Diego County on the morning of April 4, shaking windows, doors and bookcases from the coast to the mountains was a sound wave that started over the ocean roughly 120 miles off the San Diego coast and petered out over the Imperial County desert. That spot is in the general vicinity of Warning Area 291, a huge swath of ocean used for military training exercises. Researchers have charted dozens of similar, if less dramatic, incidents that seem to have originated in the same general area of the ocean. They aren't sure what caused any of them, whether the April 4 disturbance was natural or made by humans. “But it was certainly a big disturbance in the atmosphere.” There was no Navy or Marine Corps flight activity in Warning Area 291 on that day that would have caused a sonic boom or a countywide tremor. The area covers 1 million square miles and is off-limits to civilian planes and ships. “We don't know at this time where this earthquakelike sensation came from.” The disturbance was the result of a low-frequency wave that traveled through the air at the speed of sound as it moved from the ocean to the desert. It was picked up by more than two dozen seismometers in San Diego and eastern Riverside counties. The wave was felt on San Nicolas Island, northwest of San Clemente Island, at 8:40 a.m. It hit Solana Beach at 8:46 a.m., the western edge of the Cleveland National Forest at 8:47 and the eastern side of the Salton Sea at 8:53 a.m. From there, it appears to have dissipated. The wave moved at 320 meters per second, roughly the speed that sound travels through the air. Its velocity was too slow to be that of an earthquake. The only explanation is that the wave was traveling through the atmosphere, not through the ground. At each location, the wave could be felt for roughly 10 seconds. Several months before the April 4 incident, a team had begun studying other nonquake disturbances that were registering on San Diego County seismometers, including 76 that apparently originated in that same general area of the ocean in 2003. They figured that some of those disturbances surely must have come from offshore military exercises. The researchers haven't been able to determine whether the April 4 wave was more powerful than the earlier ones or whether it simply felt that way because of atmospheric conditions. “I'm told that a sonic boom would not cover that distance at all." Authorities have said a meteor probably wasn't the cause because it would have been noticed by the scientific community. The American Meteor Society reported no fireball sightings over Southern California on that day.

Friday, April 28, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes -
4/27 -
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWESI
5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION
5.5 TONGA ISLANDS
5.2 EASTER ISLAND REGION
5.5 EASTERN NEW GUINEA
5.3 UGANDA

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Mount Merapi is spewing volcanic ash and magma has fully covered its crater, and a powerful eruption could come any day, a scientist warned Thursday. A vulcanologist at a monitoring post near Merapi's peak said "the crater is fully covered by magma," predicting "an enormous and dreadful eruption" within days. Indonesia's official Antara news agency, meanwhile, reported that volcanic debris has begun pouring into Ngargomulyo village in the nearby Central Java district of Magelang. Authorities said, however, they were not ready to raise the alert to the highest level, which requires immediate evacuation of villagers living on the slopes of the 3,000-metre peak.

PERU - Health officials believe people in the Ubinas volcano region in Peru are in danger of suffering serious health risks, even if the volcano never erupts. Residents of nearby villages could contract "bronchial problems, asthma, irritation in the trachea and headaches." The volcano "is releasing particles of matter and gases" which are contaminating the air and water.

CONGO - By night, the red glow of boiling lava lights up the sky. As if Congo did not have enough problems, one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes towers over the city of Goma. The volcano has erupted at least 15 times since 1883 and destroyed large areas of Goma in 2002. The next eruption, when it comes, could be the most devastating yet. Goma's population doubles every decade - at least 560,000 people now live within 10 miles of Nyiragongo's crater. Save for the area around Mount Vesuvius in Italy, nowhere else in the world carries the same risk of volcanic disaster. Moreover, the next eruption will come from a network of fissures stretching outwards from the volcano's cone that extend beneath Goma itself. Liquid lava, straight from the earth's mantle, flows as fast as 25 mph - too fast to outrun. "we might have the worst volcanic catastrophe in history. It's just unbelievable that we have such a big city so close to an active volcano."

TROPICAL STORMS -

Cyclone MALA was 442 nmi WSW of Rangoon, Burma.
INDIA - Tropical Cyclone Mala has become the severest storm in the Bay of Bengal basin since the Orissa Super Cyclone of 1999, but it is churning away too far across to the northeast to be of any consequence to the Indian coast. The massive 1999 storm killed an estimated 10,000 people over a period of three days. Still three days away from making a landfall on the Arakan coast of Myanmar, severe cyclone Mala is threatening to grow into a destructive Category 4 storm by Saturday.
Temperatures in India have been cooler than usual. The extreme northern parts of the country have been witnessing untimely snowfall as late as February. As if this was not enough, there is a fresh alert for a wave of western disturbance approaching the northern parts of Jammu and Kashmir by Sunday with its waft of cooler air. The country can do with some extra heating during the run-up to the scheduled arrival of southwest monsoon. A brighter and hotter sun during the first 15 days of May should be enough to ensure differential heating of the landmass in relation to the surrounding ocean. This land-ocean heating contrast reaching the threshold levels will, in turn, pave the way for moisture-laden monsoon currents to bear down on the southwest coast.

THAILAND - The weather in Bangkok Thursday was cooler than expected considering the sun was perpendicular to the Earth and it might become colder still as "Mala" heads for the Kingdom this weekend, a climate expert said. Thursday's average temperature was 37 degrees Celsius with considerable clouds and rain in about 20 per cent of the capital. On April 7, the northern city had a high temperature of 40.5C, but clouds and rain have since cooled the climate. In Kanchanaburi the temperature peaked Thursday at 37C and is due to decrease as Mala approaches the Andaman Coast on Saturday.

SANDSTORMS -
SAUDI ARABIA - A severe sandstorm that blasted the capital Monday shut down the Gitex Computer and Information Technology show soon after it opened on its second day. More than 600 companies from 15 countries were participating in the show. The Riyadh Exhibition Center, located in an open area in Olaya district, faced the full brunt of the storm for more than an hour. At least one stall collapsed, while exhibits were hurled to the ground. As the wind and sand raged, security personnel at the site struggled to force visitors from the building. The people pushed back to remain inside while others from outside fought their way to get in. Finally, the organizers had to call it a day. Elsewhere in the capital, visibility had been greatly reduced and motorists were driving cautiously causing traffic jams along the city’s main arteries. Several trees were uprooted, blocking roads in many parts of the city.

KOREA - an additional five joint sandstorm observatories between Korea and China will be established until the end of this year in places where such storms start and along their paths such as Manchuria and the border areas between North Korea and China. Some six observatories will be also set up in inland areas of Gangwon and Gyeongsang Province, which have been blind spots in observing sandstorms. The KMA announced it will double the number of forecasts about sandstorm density on the Korean Peninsula and their expected paths to four times a day and increase the number of forecasters specializing in sandstorm movement analysis from the current one to three.
In Korea there were on average 3.6 days of spring sandstorms between 1971 and 2000. But the figure could double this year, which has already seen four such storms. Chinese meteorologists say cold air in Siberia and the Mongolian Plateau is more active than in the past and thus increasing the number of sandstorms. There was only one sandstorm in the springs of 1986 and 1987, but 21 days in 1995 and 31 days in 2001, indicating that the uninvited guest is visiting the nation with increasing frequency.

CHINA - Two people died and widespread damage reported following last week's sandstorm in northern China. The deaths were confirmed in the southern parts of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, one of the worse-hit areas of the giant sandstorm. The sandstorm was the worst so far this spring with an estimated 300,000 tons of dust dumped. It was the 8th sandstorm this year.

TAIWAN - last week was hit by its third sandstorm this year - a sandstorm that originated in Mongolia.

ODD-
RED RAIN - Scientists in Britain say they have confirmed that DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, does exist in the mysterious red rain which fell over the Kerala region of India, in 2001. The blood-coloured rain caused a storm of controversy among the world’s scientists. Many theories have been put forward to explain the strange phenomenon, but the latest results, from studies carried out at Cardiff University in Britain, seem to confirm that the red colour does come from living cells, although where they came remains a mystery. The strange cells fell as red rain for six weeks, following reports of an explosion in the sky. Indian scientists who first analysed the rain expected to see grains of dust or sand, perhaps blown from the Sahara by freak winds. Instead, they found themselves looking at complex cell-like structures, that have many of the characteristics of living organisms. They were even more surprised to find the cells could be made to come to life and reproduce, under laboratory conditions. “If there was an explosion of a small piece of a comet over Kerala, and an explosion was in fact heard just minutes before the first rainfall, those particles would have drifted along a belt of latitude, but when you look at a map of the world, the latitudes west of Kerala run into the Indian Ocean and then into the Sahara. So if it fell all over that area it wouldn’t have been noticed, and in the Sahara there is not much rainfall, so the particles could have drifted a long way away and not be noticed.” Intensive investigation under high-powered microscopes confirmed the cell-like structures are biological and that they do contain DNA, the blue print of all life forms on Earth. What’s not yet known is whether it is terrestrial life or alien DNA, but investigators believe they will know soon. The Cardiff team is now comparing DNA from the red rain with that of all known terrestrial species. "It’s a long and painstaking study, but if no known DNA from Earth matches, the only remaining possibility would be that it is an alien life form from outer space."

MYSTERY BOOM LOCATION PINPOINTED -
CALIFORNIA - Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography believe they have located the mysterious boom heard and felt in San Diego earlier this month. On the morning of April 4, a loud boom rattled windows and doors in many parts of the county. A team of Scripps scientists said the boom was the result of a sound wave that originated over the ocean about 120 miles west of San Diego. The spot is near an area used by the Navy for military training exercises. The Scripps scientists said that they didn't know if the sonic boom was caused by human activity or a natural phenomena like a meteor exploding in the atmosphere. Military officials said that there was no Navy or Marine Corps fight activity in the training area on April 4. [ SITE NOTE - So we still don't know WHAT caused the boom, only where it seems to have originated from.]

Thursday, April 27, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes -
4/26 -
5.3 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
6.1 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Indonesian health officials have warned villagers living on the slopes of rumbling Mount Merapi to be on the lookout for rats escaping the rising heat of the volcano, a report said Wednesday. Health officials fear that as Merapi heats up, the rats could swarm down the volcano spreading disease. The rat caution comes after scientists warned that the deadliest threat from an erupting Merapi may be super-hot heat clouds, known locally as "shaggy goats", which would rush down the mountain burning everything in their path. The heat clouds - high-density mixtures of hot, dry rock fragments and gases that move away from the vent that spews them at high speeds - can reach 600°C and move at more than 100km/h an hour. Merapi's last eruption in 1994 emitted heat clouds that travelled about 7.5km down the slope of the volcano, killing more than 60 people.

TROPICAL STORMS -
INDIA - Tuesday's depression over the South-East Bay metamorphosed into Tropical Cyclone Mala with a current estimated central pressure of 991 millibars and sustained wind speeds reaching 75 kmph to 80 kmph. A drop in barometric pressure to a value of 980 millibars will elevate it to Category 1 status. Conditions are just favourable for its gradual intensification of the system in the coming days as it tracks a north-northeast direction. The fact that it is headed into still warmer waters to the northeast will help strengthen the system further but slow it down as well. Assuming Cyclone Mala sticks to the path predicted it should slam down on the Myanmar coast, where the undulating terrain will absorb its energy and mellow it down. But this will not happen until May 1. The only land feature that could act as a pressure release valve on its path is the Andaman Islands. The system will bring fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very rainfall with gusty winds over Andaman and Nicobar islands during the two days. The Bay of Bengal should normally host one more weather system in the pre-monsoon period. It will be a while before the seawaters recoup the energy needed to initiate the next `low' (a prospective cyclonic storm evolving out of this would bear the name `Mukda').
Tropical storm Mala is forecast to strike India's Andaman islands at about 06:00 GMT today according to data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center. (map of expected track)

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CANADA - People who live in the western Manitoba community of Red Deer Lake are still in shock over flooding that led to the community's hurried evacuation on the weekend. Water levels in the lake rose to more than 60 centimetres OVER THE PREVIOUS RECORD, set in 1979. The evacuation was ordered after high winds on the weekend whipped up waves on the lake. They may be out of their homes for months. "At first, it was a few weeks, and then now they're talking months, just for the water to go down and then the clean-up, because there's sewage and everything else flowing around."

IDAHO - everyone anywhere near the Big and Little Wood rivers were urged to take stock of what their vulnerability might and take action now, before high water comes in a few weeks. “This is going to be the year we’re going to see high water where we haven’t seen it for years. We’re going to see high water and the questions are to what degree and for how long.” In late May and early June the high country begins to let go of its snowpack. The equivalent of three feet of water, or more, sits everywhere in the snowy hills around Blaine county. At this time of year, that’s AWFULLY RARE. The Little Wood Reservoir above the city of Carey holds 32,000 acre-feet of water. “There’s enough water in the snow above it to fill it five times." “Our worst-case scenario is a warm rainstorm. That would bring most of the water down in a hurry.” When that’s happened, Blaine County has seen its highest water on record, but it’s happened only a few times in the last hundred years.

VIETNAM - The number of tropical storms are predicted to be less than average this year while the number of thunderstorms, whirlwinds and hail storms are predicted to increase, according to the National Centre for Meteorological Forecasting. The centre also said there would be four or five heat spells in the North and Central regions from May to July. Since the beginning of the dry season this year, low water levels in rivers and streams in the northern area of the country have reached theLOWEST RECORDED LEVELS FOR MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS. The drought has affected agricultural production. Meanwhile, heavy rains have occurred in central and southern regions, resulting in higher water levels than the average levels for the last three years. Whirlwinds, hail storms and thunder storms have already occurred in many localities, causing significant damage to properties and farms. Several people are also reported to have been injured by these severe weather conditions.

ROMANIA - Thousands of Romanians who fled areas flooded by the Danube River are now facing crowded conditions in tent communities and dwindling food supplies. With waters still rising after about two weeks of flooding, hundreds have taken refuge in tents on a hill overlooking the village of Chiselet. Food is running low, they say, and there are no toilets, forcing them to use a nearby field. It is a situation seen along the length of Romania's southern border, where the Danube — Europe's second-largest river — has reached record levels in the past weeks due to melting snow and heavy rains. About 148 communities have been affected by flooding, and more than 15,000 people have been forced to evacuate.

CHINA - China's water reservoirs are struggling to cope with higher-than-average rainfall this year. More rainfall has been reported in major rivers in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2005. Water in the main branches of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, China's three major rivers, saw a 10 to 30 percent increase in the first three months, over the same period last year. Large reservoirs in 21 provinces and regions, especially in Northwest China's Qinghai, and Northeast China's Jilin and Liaoning, have reported higher water levels than last year.

NEW ZEALAND - Otago emergency services are breathing sighs of relief as river levels drop and flooding recedes after torrential overnight rain closed roads and schools and left Oamaru isolated. Some residents had to be rescued by helicopter. Flooding and slips were affecting many areas between Dunedin and Waitati, and Mosgiel and Milton, and motorists were advised to take extreme care. In what was described as a "VERY UNUSUAL WEATHER EVENT", about 24mm of rain fell on the city in 15 minutes. The deluge was a "ONE-IN-150 YEAR, or even a ONE-IN-300 YEAR, EVENT" for the city. Flash flooding stretched the city's drainage system, causing damage to many homes and shops, with the Leith Stream reaching its biggest flows since the 1991 floods.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - A top pro snowboarder is dead after being caught in an avalanche Friday while riding the mountains near Bella Coola in British Columbia. The Austrian has been sponsored by Quiksilver since 1995 and is considered to be one of the most experienced backcountry riders in Europe.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes -
4/25 -
5.7 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 MYANMAR-INDIA BORDER REGION
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA

SPAIN - There has been an earthquake off the coast of Galicia. Registering 5 on the Richter scale, the quake on Sunday morning was 61 kilometres off A Coruña, and was felt in Ferrol, Cedeira, Boiro, Santiago de Compostela and in Galicia. It was preceded by two smaller earthquakes of 3.3 and 3.1. Locals said the earthquake was very short but very intense. One man in Camariñas said that ‘it was like thunder. It moved the table and the bed.’ The earthquake, which is THE BIGGEST TO EVER HIT THE AREA, caused no injuries or material damage.

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - As Java's towering Mount Merapi spews smoke, officials are urging villagers to flee, but it is to animals on the slopes of the rumbling volcano that aged residents are looking for a final warning of disaster. Villagers living on the slopes or in the shadows of Mount Merapi said on Tuesday they would stay put until nature gives its signals, or the government forces them to leave. Many residents of the Mount Merapi area trust to traditional ways to detect a coming eruption, like animals moving downhill or visible lightning bolts on top of the mystical peak. "The animals have not come down yet." Vulcanologists say the mountain may erupt at the end of the month.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone 02B was 536 nmi SW of Rangoon, Burma.
INDIA - Monday's `low' over Southeast Bay of Bengal is behaving true to predictions and has intensified into a depression with an assigned number 02B, centred around the same latitude as Madurai on Tuesday afternoon. A sufficiently warmed-up Bay and the low `shear effect' will aid its further intensification into a deep depression and even to a cyclone within the next 48 hours. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very rainfall with gusts has been forecast for Andaman and Nicobar islands during the next two days. The system is categorized as `strong' and it is forecast that it will undergo another round of intensification around Thursday/Friday.

AUSTRALIA - Severe tropical storm Monica could intensify back into a cyclone and hit Western Australia, the weather bureau has warned. Monica had winds of up to 350kph near its core when it hit Maningrida, in the Northern Territory's Top End, on Monday night. The category five cyclone significantly weakened once it made landfall. Last night Monica was about 100km southwest of Darwin and a cyclone warning remained in place between the Daly River mouth, and Kalumburu in WA. Strong winds were occurring around Darwin and conditions on the water were "not great". Heavy rain had fallen across the region, with Adelaide River recording 225mm, Elizabeth Valley 192mm and Humpty Doo 166mm in the past 24 hours. "There's been a lot of very heavy rain, localised flooding, and various roads have been cut."
While ex-tropical cyclone Monica left Cape York largely unscathed last week, rangers say wildlife in the Gulf of Carpentaria in north Queensland has paid a price. Monica has churned up discarded fishing nets that were lying on the bottom of the ocean. The nets from foreign fishing boats are washing up on the coast with dead turtles tangled inside. All turtle species in the area are listed as either threatened or endangered.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
KUWAIT - A scene the likes of which only happen in the movie “The Wizard of Oz” occurred Monday night in Kuwait. At approximately 8:00 pm April 24, gale force winds picked up all around Kuwait in a bizarre turn of the weather. According to eye witnesses, an extremely strong wind blew past the palm trees heading out toward the waters of the Gulf, picking up three men at a coffee shop right outside of a Ruby Tuesday Restaurant. The winds carried the three men around 50 feet in the air, over the wall that separates the coffee shop from Aqua Park, and directly into the water park, where two of the men hit their heads upon impact, dying immediately. The third was confirmed alive and well, with cuts and bruises. Witnesses had noticed that the wind had begun to pick up, but no one was expecting what happened next. They said that suddenly a dusty wind came across the parking lot, taking everything not nailed down with it, and blew across the pavement, and past the restaurant, at which time the rain began. The strangest thing, they said, was that the rain didn’t last for long, and suddenly stopped, just as quickly as it had begun, giving people an eerie sense of uneasiness.

EUROPE - Hundreds of Romanians were fleeing their homes in impoverished rural areas today as rescue teams struggled to reinforce dikes holding back the swollen Danube river. In Romania, the worst hit country with tens of thousands of hectares submerged, 4000 people have moved to high ground since Monday after earthen dikes near poor southern villages collapsed, putting the total of evacuees at 9520. "There is still a risk that more dikes will fall as pressure remains very high with water two metres above flooding levels at some places." Heavy rain and melting snow have swollen waterways and inundated vast tracts of land in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary this month, making thousands of people homeless. In Hungary "the rivers are retreating slowly. It could take another 10-12 days and meanwhile the dikes are getting soaked."

BANGLADESH - Eight persons, four of them of a family, drowned and seven others remained missing as a mechanized boat sank in Jamuna river on Monday during a storm. The storm swept through 10 northeastern and northern districts Monday afternoon. Monday's storm hit 10 districts where paddy crops, which were being readied for harvest, were damaged heavily. Hundreds of thatched houses were flattened and many trees and electric poles were uprooted, disrupting the power supply in several districts. A farmer was killed by the storm in northwestern Rangpur district and many people were injured by collapsed houses.

KANSAS - The storm system that brought hail as big as softballs, lemons, and tennis balls Monday only brought sporadic rain to a region that badly needs it. The National Weather Service' s official reporting site next to Mid-Continent Airport recorded just .69 of an inch of rain Sunday night and Monday. That leaves Wichita still nearly 3.5 inches below normal for the year.

SAFE IN YOUR OWN HOME? -
CALIFORNIA - After two days of recovery attempts, workers reached the body of a man who was killed when a huge hole opened beneath his house. Authorities identified the victim as a 32-year-old schoolteacher, whose wife is pregnant. He was relaxing in his living room about 9:30 p.m. Friday when he heard creaking noises, sprang up and began to move across the room just as the floor opened beneath him. He fell into a sink hole that opened and was trapped by rubble that landed on top of him. One of his dogs is believed to have perished with him. Workers trying to extricate his body were forced to retreat because the ground remained unstable through the weekend. It expanded beyond some of the load-bearing walls of the home, leading the recovery team to consider demolishing it. A second sinkhole opened up about 50 feet away from the house. A mine collapse is one likely cause of the strange episode. This area in the Sierra Nevada foothills was heavily mined for gold in the late 1800s. No maps exist of these mines, and there has apparently been no concerted effort to seal old mine shafts in the area. "There may be absolutely no surface evidence that it's there, and it could be five feet below the surface."
The 10-by-10-foot sinkhole continued growing deeper and wider for days. By Sunday night, the pit bottomed out at 20 feet deep, with a diameter that had more than doubled to 30 feet. "If you want to speculate, this house (in Placer County) probably had a void that's been opening up under the slab, and maybe this latest bout of rainy weather could have been the straw that broke the camel's back."

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes -
4/24 -
5.4 FLORES, INDONESIA, REGION
5.0 SOUTH OF JAWA, INDONESIA
5.0 TONGA ISLANDS
5.1 OFF COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA
5.3 EAST OF SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA
5.0 EAST OF SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA

IRAN - A 3.9 tremor hit the city of Doroud in the western province of Lorestan in the wee hours of Monday. A relatively strong earthquake measuring 5 degrees on the Richter scale had earlier rocked Boroujerd on March 31. A quake measuring 4.7 also jolted the city of Doroud in the same province on March 30. Several aftershocks measuring 4.7 to 6 on the Richter scale have since rattled the two cities leaving 63 people dead and 1,418 others injured. The quakes and their aftershocks have also left some 15,000 families homeless and damaged 330 villages in varying degrees.

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - Mount Ebeko, a volcano on the island of Paramushir, which belongs to the Northern Kuril chain in Russia's Far East, has started emitting vapor and gas. There are 36 active volcanoes on the Kuril chain, and at least seven others are also considered to be dangerous, including the Mendeleyev, Golovnin, Tyatya, Grozny, Baransky, Chirip, and Chikurachki.

PERU - Peruvian authorities have been sending aid to hundreds of evacuees after declaring a state of emergency in the area near the erupting Ubinas volcano. Gas and cinder began spewing from the volcano in southern Peru three weeks ago. Tons of aid, particularly tents, water and powdered milk, have been shipped into the affected zone. The army has been brought in to help evacuate nearby villages, although some residents are reluctant to leave. The civil defence institute has recommended that the entire population in the district of Ubinas, about 3,500 people, be evacuated as soon as possible. A dome of incandescent lava seems to be building up in the crater.

INDONESIA - A thick column of sulfurous smoke surged into the sky Monday as Mount Merapi continued to show signs of an imminent eruption. Merapi has a history of being unpredictable, and many of the nearby villagers are distrustful of modern science and the government, turning instead to beliefs steeped in ancient Javanese mythology. As a result, most of the 60,000 people living within striking distance are ignoring the government's call to abandon their homes. On the western end of the mountain, near the town of Magelang, people trade rumors of a mysterious sparkling light sweeping across the sky in the early morning hours, or the distant sounds of howling wolves, both signs of a coming eruption. The Javanese believe increased volcanic activity at Merapi signifies a coming political change and is a warning to politicians to settle disputes.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Cyclone 02B was 609 nmi SW of Rangoon, Burma.

Cyclone MONICA was 698 nmi ENE of Broome, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Cyclone Monica is now expected to weaken to a category 1 storm later today as it continues to track across the Northern Territory. Winds which were 350 kilometres an hour at the cyclone's core have slowed to 125 kilometres an hour. The cyclone is travelling south-south-west at 20 kilometres an hour in the direction of towns like Adelaide River, Batchelor and Daly River, south of Darwin. Overnight the cyclone hit the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida where phone lines still appear to be down and the extent of the damage is unclear.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
NAMIBIA - Streets in the three coastal towns of Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Luederitz turned into flowing rivers as UNUSUALLY heavy rain poured down for the most part of last week. Downpours brought more rain in four days than the average annual rainfall for the area. Since town planners did not make provision for heavy rain in towns on the edge of the arid Namib Desert, the infrastructure cannot drain or channel excessive water away from buildings. Many roads in Luederitz suffered severe damage, while the lagoon and some residential areas had to be evacuated. Repairing the flood damage has been stalled by fears of more rain on the way, as forecast by the weather bureau.

INDIA - At least 50 houses suffered cracks and 50 temporary dwellings collapsed to the ground when a landfill caved in at Kolkata's eastern outskirts Sunday. Hundreds of people of Kuchupota village in adjoining South 24 Parganas district were rendered homeless as the Dhapa dumping ground suddenly caved in. The landslide was emitting black sludge and causing cracks in the adjacent roads and houses, the reports said. Panic-stricken residents of the area were living in the open.

NEW YORK - RECORD-BREAKING RAINFALLS from Long Island to Central Park swamped streets, knocked out power, delayed air travelers, flooded a city hotel and washed out a bluff on the North Shore. The storm dumped up to 6 inches in Nassau and Suffolk and 3.5 inches in Central Park, setting 24-hour rainfall records in several areas, including LaGuardia Airport and Islip Town. "It's UNUSUAL. With a rain event like this you don't usually get so many inches in a short amount of time."

DELAWARE - This weekend's rainfall brought New Castle County more than 2 inches of precipitation, BREAKING A RECORD for April 22 and giving the city an above-normal total for the month. The county, however, remains about 2 inches under its normal rainfall of 12.78 inches for the year so far.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
MAINE - last winter's mild weather and lack of snowfall were a break from the norm. Mother Nature seems to have skipped mud season this year too. The Bangor area received approximately 37 inches of snow between November 2005 and April 2006, 25 inches less than normal and less than half the amount received during the previous winter. Temperatures were also above average. Although April's precipitation figures are close to average, the total rainfall this spring is below average. For Maine's wild creatures, these seasonal abnormalities can be a blessing for some, a source of stress for others and even a death knell for an unlucky few. Salmon are sensitive to unusual weather patterns. This winter Atlantic salmon did not have bone-chilling temperatures creating ice blocks that extend to the riverbed, limiting water flow and starving them of oxygen. But lower river levels this spring could trap the endangered fish inland, thwarting their biological urge to head toward saltier waters. Northern Maine's white-tailed deer population enjoyed manageable snow depths, which make it easier to find food, navigate the woods and escape prey. But lack of snow cover in early spring could cause a boom in the population of ticks that prey on moose, leading to increased moose mortality. One group that stands to suffer the most from dry conditions is amphibians.

Monday, April 24, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes -
4/23 -
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Authorities in Indonesia's densely populated Central Java province said on Sunday surface tremors and multifaced quakes continue on Mount Merapi and warned that a major eruption could take place in a few days. Vulcanologists said a total of nine surface tremors and as many as 156 multifaced quakes were recorded from Merapi's crater in the previous 24 hours. "It's very clear something will happen, but it is very difficult to say when." An expert warned that it is merely a "matter of time" before Merapi's status will be upgraded into a state of alert, when residents living on the danger zones will have to flee their homes immediately.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Cyclone MONICA was 696 nmi WNW of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - People in the small town of Nhulunbuy on Australia's north coast have been told to move to cyclone shelters, in advance of what could be the country's MOST POWERFUL STORM IN THREE DECADES. Cyclone Monica was upgraded to a Category 5 storm on Saturday as it approached Australia's Northern Territory coast. The core of the storm is "very destructive" with winds gusting to 350 kilometres an hour, although 100 km/h is much more common. High tides could cause extensive flooding of coastal areas, and heavy rains may flood rivers. The cyclone is expected to arrive in the Darwin area on Tuesday morning. Darwin is the biggest city in the region, with about 70,000 people.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CONNECTICUTT - RECORD HEAVY RAINS pummeled the Westport area Sunday, flooding roadways and basements and possibly contributing to a one-car accident that killed a 1-year-old baby. Bridgeport’s Sikorsky Airport reported a record 5.28 inches fell in a 24-hour period. Some longtime residents said the rain was the heaviest in their memory.

KENYA - Timbwoiyo village in Central Baringo was quiet and peaceful until two weeks ago, when residents were warned that conditions were ripe for potentially deadly landslides. With the ground already soggy and more rains on the way, the village on the slopes of the Tugen Hills is no longer habitable. The small farming village had hoped for a bumper harvest this season with the onset of the long rains, but it now huge gullies have formed all over the land, which experts describe as earthquake fault lines. The fault lines have also caused cracks on the walls and floors of some of the houses, forcing the owners to vacate them. Houses are falling apart and the land slowly sinking. The movements normally occur in the night with rumblings, shaking and moving of furniture in the houses. They witnessed the same phenomena in 1961 and 1997. "The first incident was worse since we lost our crops and animals after the land sunk, leaving many houses damaged." A hot spring erupted at one farm. Everything went on smoothly afterwards until the 1997 El-Nino rains wreaked havoc in the area. "It was bad because the ground was shaking, houses collapsed but luckily no lives were lost." Geologists in Rift Valley province have yet to go there to assess the situation, but sources at the Geology department confirmed that the area is prone to fault lines. "Surface fault rupture occurs when an earthquake breaks the earth’s surface. Such ruptures cause localised but intense devastation like what is about to occur in Timboiywo." Although the Government has yet to conduct any studies in the area, it would be wise for the locals to move out before disaster strikes. It is expected that the situation will worsen by June if the rains continue to pound the area.

BULGARIA - the waters of the Danube were still rising and had, in one place, reached a record high. In the north-western town of Ruse, the country's most important port on the Danube, the river was 9.11 metres high - 23cm ABOVE THE PREVIOUS RECORD HIGH registered in 1970. The river had risen 10cm in just 24 hours. Luckily for Hungary, the waters have begun to subside.

MYSTERIOUS BOOMS CONTINUE TO BE HEARD -
CALIFORNIA - At various spots throughout San Diego County, people reported a rumbling sound or a booming noise shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, and so far no one has come forward with an explanation. Whatever it was, it caused a woman's bed to shake in Lakeside. It created waves in a backyard pool in Carmel Valley. It set off car alarms in Kearny Mesa and rattled windows from Mission Beach to Poway to Vista. “My garage door is double steel and it weighs about 500 lbs. It was rattling back and forth like a leaf in the wind for about 3 or 4 seconds.” Scientists insist it wasn't an earthquake. The Federal Aviation Administration has no record of any planes producing a sonic boom by breaking the sound barrier. Camp Pendleton officials say no activities on the Marine base could have created such a disturbance. There were no large explosions in San Diego County that day, and no meteor fireballs were reported in the sky that morning. What was it, then? Maybe it was the same thing that caused a strange disturbance in Mississippi on April 7, when the locals heard a loud boom that rattled windows all over Jackson County, throwing emergency workers “into a tizzy.” Authorities in that state still don't have a clue as to the cause. Nor, to this day, can anyone explain what was behind similar episodes in Maine two months ago, or Alabama three months ago, or North Carolina four months ago. In each of those cases – as well as in other incidents around the nation over the years – residents reported hearing windows rattle and feeling floors shake even though no earthquake was detected. [Mobile, Alabama on Jan. 19, 2006: Wilmington, N.C., on Dec. 20, 2005; Winston-Salem, N.C., on March 5, 2005; Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 1, 2003; and Pensacola, Fla., on Jan. 13, 2003. ]

Sunday, April 23, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/22 -
5.3 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.2 NEW IRELAND
5.9 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
4/21 -
5.0 TONGA ISLANDS
5.1 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.3 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.2 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
6.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
6.3 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.2 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.4 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.0 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA

RUSSIA - the powerful earthquake that hit the Koryakia autonomous district in Russia's Far East on Friday has completely destroyed the villages of Khailino, Apuka and Vyvenka, local witnesses said. Residents of the villages, who are only able to communicate with the outside world using satellite telephones, said that the villages had been ruined completely, and even brick stoves in the houses had crumbled. About 1,500 people lived in the three villages, and no assistance has reached them yet. Seismologists believe there is 80% probability that several more strong aftershocks might occur in the northeastern part of Koryakia in the near future. "Following the 7.8 magnitude quake in northeastern Koryakia on Friday, five or six quakes with a magnitude of over 6 are likely to occur near its epicenter within a week. Three of them could measure up to 6.4, one up to 6.9, and there is also 80% probability of a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7 to 7.4 and 50% probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.9."
RUSSIA - More than 500 people have been evacuated from two towns seriously affected by the series of powerful earthquakes in the north of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East. The initial 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest since 1900 in the Koryak area, which is eight time zones from Moscow, injured 31 people and damaged several buildings and facilities in Tilichiki, including a school, a kindergarten, a local airport's runway, and cut power and water supplies in several villages. Earthquake aftershocks of Richter magnitudes of up to five continue, and seismologists have warned of stronger quakes still to come.
[SITE NOTE - This is the area where Russia was expecting a large quake by December of last year. They had flown in supplies in anticipation, but had decided that the danger was past.
Posted here 2/8/06 (link no longer works) - RUSSIA - An earthquake measuring 5.7 points on the open-ended Richter scale occurred on Monday morning in the Kamchatka Strait off the Kamchatka Peninsula’s eastern shores. Despite the quake, the regional administration has lifted high-alert regulations introduced last August on apprehensions that a major earthquake might be forthcoming. Emergency services have returned into a normal mode of operations now, since experts no longer expect quakes with a magnitude of 7.5 or more points on the Richter scale.
Posted here 9/8/05 - RUSSIA - A major exercise conducted by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry to practice dealing with a simulated 8.8 earthquake was under way on the far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. According to research conducted by the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, there is at least a 30% probability of an earthquake with a 7.2-magnitude or higher in the area of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands before mid-December.]

VOLCANOES -
COLUMBIA - On March 28, the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining changed the alert level for Galeras Volcano to II (likely eruption in days or weeks). The area is in a critical state due to the creation of a solidified lava dome capping the main crater and a reduction of seismic activity of the volcano. Most eruptions of the volcano over the past 17 years have occurred when these parameters were similar. April 18 they reported an overall volume of the lava dome corresponding to 3,200,000 m3 (a volume approximately 15 times that of eruptions in 1992). National and local authorities are making progress in upgrading 12 temporary shelters in the three municipalities concerned. Approximately 489 households (2,366 persons) are now hosted in five temporary shelters in Pasto municipality. Another 7 temporary shelters remain empty. Due to the reluctance of the major part of the population to move from high risk areas, the authorities have asked the UN system to help them persuade communities at risk to move to safe locations. In the event of an eruption, water sources would be contaminated and access routes could be blocked for 4 to 5 days.

TROPICAL STORMS -

CYCLONE MONICA was 500 nmi NW of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Tropical cyclone Monica was expected to be upgraded to a category five storm as it descends on the Northern Territory coast. The cyclone, which has several Aboriginal communities in its path, was located in the Gulf of Carpentaria about 285 km east of Nhulunbuy and is moving northwest at 5kph. The core's wind gusts of up to 290kph are expected to approach northwest Arnhem Land early this morning. The cyclone had potential to cause more destruction than recent cyclone Larry in far north Queensland because it is larger and slower. Perilously high tides could cause extensive flooding on the coast.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
SINGAPORE - rain here has been UNUSUALLY heavy. The Bedok and Eunos areas recorded 375mm to 468mm of rain from April 1 to 16. This is roughly four times the average rainfall. On the afternoon of April 14, there was 110mm of rainfall in just 90 minutes. Statistically speaking, the tropical storm that unleashed all that water is SO RARE THAT IT IS PREDICTED TO HAPPEN ONLY ONCE IN 10 YEARS. The rain has been a bit too much for some car owners. The recent spell of wet weather has wreaked havoc around town, flooding some areas in waist-deep waters. They are still a long way from the start of the year-end monsoon season.

UTAH - Nearly two months of incessant rain and snow (150 percent of normal across northern Utah) have taken their toll on hillsides along the Wasatch Front. The soil is wet and soft, and in some cases, moving. Officials with the Utah Geological Survey and the National Weather Service warned Friday that, in addition to potential flooding, landslides pose what they call "a moderate threat" along bench areas from Weber to Utah, and are an even bigger danger in pre-existing slide areas. "What we're seeing in terms of movement is that most of the historical landslides have already reactivated this year. There were four damaging landslides in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties in 1998, and all four have now reactivated. That gives us an indication of where we're at in terms of landslide potential." The Utah Geological Survey currently is monitoring 50 slide areas in northern Utah. Unlike California, where a heavy rainstorm can trigger the collapse of a hillside, Utah slides are more the result of long-term precipitation, with the critical period spanning from March 1 to June 1. As things stand, state geologists are looking at SOME OF THE MOST UNSTABLE SLOPES THEY'VE SEEN SINCE 1999.
UTAH - Large amounts of snowpack still remain in the mountains above the Wasatch Front. Much of it should have melted weeks ago, which has residents and experts a little worried about the potential for flooding. In fact, the dangers have already arisen. "We have a large snow pack that's delayed it's melt, and we are in the third week of April. [It] should have melted… three weeks ago." The hot spots include just about all of the rivers in the Cache Valley, the Weber River, City Creek, Emigration Canyon and the Jordan River.

TEXAS - A severe thunderstorm roared through San Marcos on Thursday, dumping hail as large as softballs. For 15 minutes, hail pounded vehicles, leaving behind broken glass and dents. "It sounded like a war zone." The storm left behind large piles of large ice bills and debris. Witnesses said at one point visibility was reduced to a few feet. "At first it was just golf-ball sized. Then it kept getting bigger. Then, you just couldn't see out the window at all."

CANADA - A few areas in eastern Saskatchewan have been hit with flood advisories. Thanks to a large amount of snow and water the past week in places like Norquay and towards Swan River, Manitoba, rivers are reaching RECORD FLOWS NOT SEEN IN OVER 30 YEARS. Fishing Lake, near Foam Lake, has risen to new levels, but isn't expected to peak until May. As for areas in northern Saskatchewan, the waters are beginning to decrease.

SNOW / COLD -
NEPAL - Three Sherpas went missing in an avalanche in mountainous Khumbu region on Friday afternoon. "The Sherpas en route to climb Mt. Everest lost their trail due to the two-day long snowfall." The snow foot-trails in Khumbu area have been disturbed by the continuous snowfall in the region.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
ALABAMA - there's a lot more hail hitting Huntsville roofs than usual for this time of year. A change in the jetstream has meant a decrease in Alabama's spring winds. That has combined with high temperatures and humidity to create weather that's more like summer than spring. "We're not seeing typical April weather. We're seeing typical June or July weather." With less wind, storms have been able to build vertically, like they might in August, and conditions have been great for hail. Usually, winds across Alabama in the spring are strong enough and temperatures cool enough to produce damaging storms and tornadoes, but not often the icy shrapnel of the past week or two.

Friday, April 21, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/20 -
5.5 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
7.7 EASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.7 NEAR S.CST OF EASTERN HONSHU
5.2 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.3 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.0 NEAR ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS

So far today Siberia has had quakes of:
5.1, 6.3, 5.2, 5.1, 5.4, 5.1, 5.0, 5.1

RUSSIA - The 7.7. earthquake that struck Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka peninisula was followed by nine aftershocks in the region with magnitudes ranging between 4.5 and 5.4. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Some 2,000 people would have been exposed to "intensive shaking," a spokeswoman said. It was LARGEST SEISMIC EVENT IN THE AREA SINCE 1900.

TIBET - A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale destroyed several houses in Tibet yesterday, but caused no loss of life. The quake affected eight of the 10 towns in Baingoin County, of which Jiaqun town suffered the most serious damage.

CALIFORNIA - Much of the East Bay shoreline could turn to quicksand in the next big quake, causing extensive damage to the Oakland Airport and Port of Oakland, homes, businesses and roads. Most of the man-made, filled land that makes up the shore was put in place after the 1906 earthquake and has yet to be really strongly shaken. Liquefaction causes wet ground to momentarily loses strength and flow like liquid. Roads, buildings and other structures can sink, tip, or be pulled apart. About 22 square miles of real estate along the Bay in Berkeley, and Oakland and most of Alameda is made up of the worst possible kind of artificial fill - loose, sandy soil primarily dredged from the Bay.

VOLCANOES -
PERU - The Ubinas volcano in southern Peru threw plumes of smoke high into the sky today, prompting authorities to declare an "orange alert" to encourage villagers to evacuate the area. The explosion sent gases high into the sky, forming a gigantic mushroom-shaped cloud that stretched more than 1km above the earth. Livestock have been poisoned by eating grass that is coated with volcanic ash. "They've told us we've got to learn to live with the volcano and the ash, but we'd never seen anything like this," said a peasant farmer. "We're terrified." The Ubinas volcano is one of the most active in Peru. It erupted 17 times from 1550 until 1969, when it was last active.

INDONESIA - seismic activity in Merapi continues to increase and "the motion of lava inside the crater is becoming more active." The revered king of the city closest to Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi warned that an eruption was likely within 10 days. "This is not a prediction from a mystic, but is based on scientific data and experience," he was quoted as saying.

GREECE - About 30 homes have been evacuated on the western island of Zakynthos, a popular holiday resort, due to damage caused by about a dozen earthquakes as strong as magnitude 5.9 in the past month. The latest quake, of magnitude 4.6, struck yesterday off the southern coast of the Ionian Sea island.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE MONICA was 398 nmi WNW of Cairns, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
INDONESIA - Flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rain have killed at least 23 people in Indonesia. The worst-hit district was that of Bendungan in the east of the main island of Java. Water in some areas had risen as high as two metres (6.6 ft). At least 24 people died in landslides and floods caused by heavy rains in eastern Indonesia in February.

ROMANIA, BULGARIA - Torrential rain has worsened flooding along the River Danube in parts of Romania and Bulgaria, where thousands of people have fled their homes. Some of the heaviest rainfall on Thursday was reported in north-western Bulgaria's Vratsa district. Roads and bridges in the region were damaged and the lower floors of houses in the villages of Vladimirovo and Banitsa were flooded. More than half the houses bordering the Danube in the Bulgarian port of Nikopol were reported to be flooded.

IDAHO - The WETTEST SPRING IN RECENT MEMORY has forced Washington County Road and Bridge crews to close several roads as hillsides give way and gravel surfaces turn to mud. The bottom of Hog Creek Road literally fell out, and an isolated mini-cloudburst at the end of last week pushed Rock Creek to a “massive flow” that ripped over road surfaces, washing out the beds creating a “sloppy juice” of water and mud. Weiser River Road remains open, but a big section has sunk and a “whole hill has sloughed out” covering parts of the Weiser River Trail and endangering the stability of the road surface.

TEXAS - Thunderstorms began sweeping in about 6 p.m. Thursday, but more severe storms with high winds and hail were raking counties to the south and southwest. “As more storms develop throughout the evening, the concern is there for additional heavy rainfall.”

SNOW / COLD -
KOREA - Koreans are struggling with nippy weather conditions as temperatures dropped at one point on Thursday morning to -10 degrees Celsius in the eastern mountainous region. Even a snowfall warning was issued in the eastern province of Gangwon Province and weather experts said more snow would fall in the area until Thursday evening. It's RARE to see a sudden cold spell like this and snow around this time of year in Korea. Meteorologists say the chilly conditions will stay until today, with strong winds whipping up seasonal sandstorms.

NORTH DAKOTA - Crews were working to restore electricity and clear highways Thursday after a powerful spring snowstorm swept through the northwestern Plains, leaving four people dead and snow up to 5 feet in some areas. The heaviest snow was reported in far western South Dakota near the Wyoming border, where the National Weather Service reported snow that was 44 inches deep in the city of Lead. Crews struggling with the weight and volume of snow also had to find a place to put it after scooping it up. North Dakota ranchers in the middle of calving season worked long hours to help their calves survive the storm. Wind gusting to 84 mph overturned a mobile home in the Nebraska Panhandle, and gusts to 71 mph were reported in eastern Montana. Spring storms with heavy snow are not unusual in North Dakota. "We don't get them every year, but every five to 10 years, we usually get a big dump."

Thursday, April 20, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/19 -
6.0 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.3 XIZANG, CHINA
5.1 OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
5.2 OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
5.0 TONGA ISLANDS
5.1 KOMANDORSKY ISLANDS

GREECE - A strong earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale rattled Greece's western Ionian islands Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injury. The island of Zakynthoshas been the scene of nine strong earthquakes since April 11, ranging from 5.0 to 5.9 on the Richter scale. Reports said residents on the island were upset over the latest earthquake, with many running out of their homes in panic.

VOLCANOES -
PERU - At least 1,000 people have suffered respiratory problems from a tower of ash spewing from the Ubinas volcano in southern Peru, and 20 llamas have died after eating poisoned grass. The volcano continued to spit out ash and smoke on Wednesday, and the wind was carrying it north. In recorded history, Ubinas has never had a lava eruption. In the hamlet of Querapi, home to 42 farming families three miles from the volcano, Civil Defense authorities distributed gas masks and recommended evacuation earlier this week.

INDONESIA - Mount Merapi status - On the 18th they observed 113 multi-phase tremors, 8 streams of lava, 7 volcanic tremors, and white and thick SO2 smoke of 400 m height from the crater. They confirmed on April 19th that based on the scientific data, Mt. Merapi will most likely erupt. The Government of Indonesia is working on a third case scenario, one level below the worst-case scenario, anticipating over 80,000 people to be displaced. Communities were encouraged not to conduct any activities in the river having its upper course at Mt. Merapi. Large amounts of evacuation supplies, tents, ambulances and 160 body bags have been mobilized.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE MONICA was 308 nmi NW of Cairns, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MALAYSIA - The unpredictable weather in recent times has hit Kuala Lumpur badly. Thunderstorms have uprooted more than 100 trees and damaged about 30 vehicles and houses in the past one month alone. Falling trees not only damaged vehicles, homes and utility lines but also obstructed traffic in certain areas. The local authority has placed extra personnel on standby at problematic areas to tackle problems resulting from the FREAK weather. “During these four months, the rainy season has been unpredictable. Freak thunderstorms occur at anytime of the day."

ETHIOPIA - authorities and relief agencies have rushed help to thousands of displaced people in the eastern parts of the country after the Awash River flooded its banks, washing away villages and killing hundreds of livestock. "The rains came in from the highlands to the lowlands in a very abrupt way, so that it took people by surprise." The rains are still continuing in some areas of the region. The floods have displaced at least 10,000 people.

ROMANIA - At least 10,000 southern Romanian citizens from 129 towns in 12 districts were evacuated because of a Danube River dam breakage. The river has reached its highest level in more than 100 years, and might go still higher with the rain and melting water affecting more than 620 miles of the nation. There are thousands of people sheltered in schools, hospitals and mayors´ offices, and the army and police continue evacuations. Local weather services predicted rain for today, and according to a provisional report, 700 houses are still under water, 184 houses were destroyed, another 120 are in danger, and more than 3,000 farms are flooded.

BULGARIA - Storm winds, rain falling in torrents and battering hail hit the region of Bulgaria's Vratsa on Wednesday. The storm pounded the northwest place in the evening, soaking ground floors and damaging the asphalt on some roads. In the village of Banitsa the hail was so strong that it piled up in a 20-centimeter deep ice layer, according to reports. It was not immediately clear whether any people were hurt.

SOUTH AFRICA - An estimated 200 people have been left destitute following a heavy hail storm in the Northern Cape. According to residents at Ganspan near Jan Kempdorp, shanties and trees were razed to the ground by the hail, which came from all directions. Strong winds also caused damage and the storm affected sections of Taung in the North West.

CANADA - A state of emergency was declared early Wednesday on Newfoundland's Baie Verte Peninsula after heavy rain caused flooding that blocked the main road into three communities.

OREGON - The wild weather that blew through Brookings Saturday, left even longtime residents scratching their heads trying to figure out what hit them. From just before 6 a.m. to near noon, a strong weather cell blew in from the south and delivered a solid blow with rain, hail, wind and lightning to the South Coast. The anemometer near Humbug Mountain measured gusts as high as 98 mph. Horizontal rain hit between 10 and 11 a.m. "There was a huge, huge blast that just hit us. My house just shuddered. It lasted about three seconds, but just really hit hard." The fact that lightning hit wasn't that unusual, but the timing of the storm was. "Lightning most commonly is on the coast in the winter season because the ocean surface is warm and when the cold air comes across that warm surface, you get a lot of instability." What caused Saturday's wild weather was an UNUSUALLY cold weather front for this time of year. The band of cold air aloft spawned high wind, rain, hail, water spouts, which were reported near North Bend, and a lot of lightning and thunder. Last weekend's FREAKY storm probably marks the end of the last of the real strong winter storms and the return of more normal weather patterns.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/18 -
5.3 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.0 SEA OF OKHOTSK

VOLCANOES -
PERU - Officials urged the small farming town of Querapi in southern Peru to evacuate on Tuesday after a volcano sent smoke and ash 2,600 feet (800 meters) into the air, but residents were reluctant to leave. "A yellow alert has been called, which means precaution due to emission of gases and steam. Civil Defense has sent small anti-gas masks to the town of Querapi and covers for their water deposits." The volcano has not been this active since 1969. The volcano, in the Moquegua region 550 miles (900 km) south of Lima, has been belching for much of the month. It has sent ash and sulfur as far away as the town of Ubinas, home to 3,500 people five miles (eight km) away. Small tremors have also been felt in nearby towns. Emissions had affected crops and water sources.

INDONESIA - Villagers living near rumbling and swelling Mount Merapi volcano have ignored calls to evacuate and local officials were told on Tuesday to prepare for the worst. The complacency stemmed from the fact that the volcano's swelling, a sign of imminent eruption, was not yet visible to the naked eye.

TROPICAL STORMS -

CYCLONE MONICA was 227 nmi N of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Residents of northern Cape York Peninsula were in for a long night with tropical cyclone Monica not expected to clear the mainland until early tomorrow. Communities in Monica's path were bracing for the cyclone, which was expected to weaken to a category two once it passed over land.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
KENYA - Falling rocks are making life unbearable in Kimobo village in Nandi South District. The village, which is located on the slopes of the Kimobo hills, has experienced myriad rockslides that have killed two villagers, destroyed several houses and claimed hundreds of their livestock and poultry recently. Nightfall spells doom, fear and heightened trepidation forcing the villagers to sleep in turns as others keep vigil. The rains have aggravated the situation, which has led to rampant soil erosion, causing the rocks to lean precariously towards the village. "The past five months have seen an increase in the incidents of the rocks killing livestock and injuring people. This has forced some villagers to abandon their homes and seek alternative residential areas."

ODD-
CHINA - The Chinese government plans to seed clouds over Beijing to prompt a cleansing rainfall after the capital was hit by the worst dust storm in five years which dropped an estimated 300,000 tons of dust and sand. A thick layer of yellowish sand covered buildings, cars and open spaces after the storm hit overnight on Sunday. Health officials warned parents to keep their children indoors and hospitals treated more people for breathing difficulties at the height of the dust storm. This week's dust storm extended across the East China Sea as far as South Korea and Japan. The weather system was expected to last through today in some parts of China.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off - updated Wednesdays

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/17 -
5.8 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.1 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE

INDONESIA - A strong tectonic earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale has hit the Mount Karangetang area in the north of Indonesia. The quake was centered 200 kilometers under the seabed of Siau island in the country's northernmost region and there have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties. It comes as Indonesia prepares for the possible evacuation of nearly 30-thousand people living on the slopes of Java's simmering volcano Mount Merapi.

TSUNAMI -
NOAA finished installation of five Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami buoy stations off the East and Gulf coasts and the Caribbean as part of the expansion of the U.S. tsunami warning system. The latest buoy station, off New Orleans, joins stations off Charleston, S.C.; Miami, and two off San Juan, Puerto Rico. "These buoys are a first line of defense in providing citizens of the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf regions with a comprehensive tsunami warning system." NOAA expects the network to total 39 DART II buoy stations by 2008 (32 in the Pacific and seven in the Atlantic Basin). (map of the planned buoy locations). Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems, NOAA is working with its federal partners, 61 countries and the European Commission to develop a 'global network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects'.

VOLCANOES -
TANZANIA - Experts have moved in to investigate the increasing incidents of volcanic eruptions at Oldonyo Lengai Mountain in Ngorongoro in Arusha egion which has been sending shockwaves to the whole region. Though the volcano at the mountain is live, and has been erupting frequently almost every year, the numbers of eruption and dimensions have been on the rise daily in recent months. "I have seen for sure the eruptions this year are bigger than any other time. But we are lucky that nobody or animal has been affected as a result so far." Late last month, a volcano erupted on Mt Oldonyo Lengai forcing over 3,000 inhabitants to flee from the area. The eruption rocked the villages of Nayobi, Magadini, Engaruka, Malambo, Ngaresero, Gelai-bomba and Kitumbeine. There was an exodus after the volcanic mountain rumbled into a red-hot landslide, spewing scalding fumes and lava all over the neighbourhood. A major explosive eruption took place from January to about June in 1917. Ash was deposited as much as 25 - 30 miles away. The mountain is less than 370,000 years old, and is the youngest volcano in the Rift Valley.

TROPICAL STORMS -

CYCLONE MONICA was 267 nmi NNE of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - The waterlogged north Queensland town of Innisfail is preparing for more heavy rain from Cyclone Monica as it struggles to rebuild after the community was hit by Cyclone Larry. 1,200mm of rain has fallen in the region since Larry struck on March 20. Monica is expected to hit the coast tomorrow morning around Lockhart River, about 500km north of Innisfail. It is expected to bring rain to a wide area, including Innisfail, where many people were still living under tarpaulins.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BOLIVIA - More than a quarter-million Bolivians are still struggling to recover from unprecedented rains and hailstorms that caused severe flooding in January and February. Unusually heavy rains have continued into the spring, making recovery from the winter’s floods even more difficult. “It has been a devastating disaster. Many families lost everything – their crops, their livestock, even their homes were destroyed. Some communities were partially buried in mud eight feet deep. Recovery will take many months."

IDAHO - The Governor has declared a statewide flooding disaster emergency. In his statement, he said the state faces danger to public safety and property which is likely to be beyond the control of Idaho's county governments.

INDIA - Powerful rainstorms accompanied by lightning and hail left at least 20 people dead and many others injured in southern India. Heavy downpours and gusty winds lashed Andhra Pradesh state Sunday evening, toppling trees and power lines. Across the state at least 15 people were killed when they were struck by lightning. Five other people died when they were struck by flying debris or inundated by flash floods that followed the downpours. The hailstorms and rain also caused extensive damage to crops in several parts of the state. The tropical storms that lashed the coastal state were caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal.

SNOW / COLD -
THAILAND - It's summertime, and the weather is cooler than expected as cold winds from China have brought unseasonal rain. The director general of the Meteorological Department said that the seasonal rains would arrive sooner than usual and would stay longer this year, continuing until May, as the country has been under the influence of cold winds from China and the seasonal monsoon. All regions except southern Thailand would be affected. Thailand has seen higher than expected levels of rain during this hot summer month, which was QUITE UNUSUAL, especially in upper Thailand.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays.

Monday, April 17, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/16 -
5.4 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
5.7 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
4/15 -
6.0 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
5.9 TAIWAN REGION
5.0 IONIAN SEA
5.3 OFF W. CST OF S.IS NEW ZEALAND
4/14 -
5.0 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA
5.4 MOZAMBIQUE
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.6 XIZANG
5.1 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS

IRAN - One person was killed in a strong 6.0 earthquake that hit a rural area in Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan on Saturday. The quake and a series of aftershocks struck the rural region of Fin in Hormuzgan, causing minor damage to houses. The earthquake had blocked mountain roadways and disrupted electricity in areas hit by the quake.

CALIFORNIA - seismologists warn that the golden state's love of cars could turn into a fatal attraction in the quake-prone state. Elevated freeways, highway overpasses, and garages built under homes are vulnerable to crashing down when the earth shudders. "The automobile culture is really a knife in the heart of earthquake preparedness. We are only as strong as our weakest overpass." While brick buildings and other risky structures in San Francisco have been bolstered, emergency officials concede much of the city would likely crumble in a temblor on par with the 7.8-magnitude earthquake of 1906. "I don't think we quite have it nailed down, but it would appear the recurrence time for the 1906 event is 200 years. So, it looks like we are safe for a while from a recurrence." While the chances of another 1906-type quake along the San Andreas Fault in the next 30 years is one in twenty, there are a plethora of other faultlines overdue for trouble. "It's horrifying to think that along faultlines where there used to be farmland you now have Silicon Valley filled with towns."

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - A huge volcano in the heart of densely populated Java today was spewing thick clouds of smoke and hot lava, triggering plans to evacuate thousands of villagers. Authorities placed Mount Merapi, on Orange Code, or the second highest alert level. "Due to a high level of tremor activities and the spewing of the lava, Mount Merapi is now on alert status." Officials said the military had deployed more than 200 trucks and buses to evacuate villagers living on the slopes.

TANZANIA - A travel warning has been issued for Oldonyo Lengai Mountain, following two major volcanic eruptions last month. The alert was said to be necessary because more volcanic eruption was imminent. "We have been forced to take precautionary measures, because we are not sure when another eruption will occur and to what proportions." The advisory also warned the local people living around the mountain to vacate for their own safety. However, sources say tourists continue to flock near Oldonyo Lengai, with the aim of witnessing the volcanic eruption.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE MONICA was 378 nmi NE of Cairns, Australia.

AUSTRALIA - CYCLONE MONICA - Queensland's second cyclone in less than a month will strengthen and move closer to the Cape York Peninsula by Wednesday, the weather bureau has warned.

RUSSIA - A storm warning was issued in the south of the Kurile Islands this Saturday as a cyclone with winds of up to 30 metres a second was moving from Japan to the region. Sakhalin meteorologists warned the waves will be four to six metres high, and the ships near the Kuriles were recommended to escape to protected bays. The cyclone was expected to rage on the South Kuriles on Sunday and through the night to today. The stormy weather will sweep the entire south of the Sea of Okhotsk, but no heavy precipitation is forecasted.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
COLUMBIA - mudslides in western Colombia have killed at least 29 people, with at least eight more unaccounted for. Rescuers have been hampered by heavy rains, new mudslides and attacks by some of Colombia's armed factions. Rivers of mud have swept away homes and parts of the main road to the Pacific coast, leaving the area cut off. A journalist covering the disaster was swept away by a new landslide on Thursday and is still missing. His cameraman was rescued from the mud suffering from serious injuries. The village of Bendiciones, which is about 350km (220 miles) south-west of the capital Bogota, is reported to have been completely destroyed by landslides. The huge pre-dawn mudslide Wednesday was triggered when the rain-swollen Dagua River overflowed its banks,and it devastated an area of Valle Del Cauca province, between Cali and Buenaventura, Colombia's Pacific port. Since then, numerous mudslides have blocked key roads and forced the evacuation of a thousand people from Buenaventura.

SERBIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA - have all suffered from flooding caused by melting snow and steady rainfall. Emergency teams in the Balkans are shoring up flood defences along the River Danube and its tributaries, but many homes have already been swamped. The Danube has reached its HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1895 (111 YEARS) in Romania, where some farmland and forest areas have been deliberately flooded to protect towns. The Danube is now flowing at nearly 16,000 cubic metres a second, more than twice the normal volume in April. In Belgrade the level of the Danube there reached 8.45m, some 40cm MORE THAN THE HIGHEST LEVEL EVER RECORDED, and it was expected to continue rising. Hundreds of people have been moved from flood-hit homes in Romania and Serbia. Flood defences have been weakened in many places by nearly a week of high waters. The Sava, Tisa and Tamis rivers have also reached dangerous levels.

INDIANA - Two waves of storms roared through the Indianapolis area Friday night, packing golfball-size hail, strong winds and heavy rainfall that damaged cars, broke windows, ripped off roofs and downed power lines and trees.

WISCONSIN - The National Weather Service tracked hail reports from the state's southwestern corner in a fairly straight line northeast to the Milwaukee area Thursday. The largest confirmed hailstone fell near Lake Mills. It had a diameter of 4.25 inches. The lightning was intense - "it looked like spiders crawling across the sky."

SNOW / COLD -
KASHMIR - In occupied Kashmir, two persons were killed and six others wounded when they were buried under a snow slide near Captain Crossing.

SANDSTORMS -
CHINA - A sandstorm struck the Chinese capital today, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years. Desertification of China's west and Mongolian steppes has made the spring sand storms worse in recent years, reaching as far away as South Korea and Japan. Cold, windy weather, a glut of construction sites and poor plant cover around Beijing have also contributed. So far in 2006, Beijing has notched up 13 days of the worst measure of pollution, more than last year's total and the highest in six years. Hospitals have also dealt with a sharp increase in patients with respiratory diseases.

ODD -
AUSTRALIA - Gas from rotting fruit and vegetables has put 16 people in hospital in Sydney. Authorities at first believed there was a mains gas leak on the premises. As the victims were taken to hospital suffering headaches and nausea, firefighters spent hours trying to locate the source of the leak. "They started thinking about decontamination for the people in hospital, who were complaining of a lingering stench on their clothes and body." It finally became apparent that it was the fruit and vegetables that were the cause. "It seems to be a part of the fermentation process had gone wrong." "It was the carbon monoxide making them sick."

Disease - updated Mondays

Friday, April 14, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/13 -
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.4 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN, REGION
5.1 IONIAN SEA
5.2 KOMANDORSKY ISLANDS
5.4 KOMANDORSKY ISLANDS

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone ELIA was 1047 nmi ESE of Diego Garcia and 1847 nmi WNW of Perth, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
COLUMBIA - Landslides in south-west Colombia have left at least eight people dead. Dozens are reported missing after mud swept through the Buenaventura region, on the Pacific coast, among them eight soldiers who were at a checkpoint. The area has been cut off from the rest of the country. The mudslides were triggered by heavy rains which started on Tuesday night and led to several rivers bursting their banks in the early hours of Wednesday. Dozens of homes were swept away by water and mud, and more than 1,000 people are reported to have been affected. In this year's wet season more than 40 people have been killed and thousands left homeless by floods and mudslides, which have also destroyed thousands of hectares of crops. The rainy season began in March and is forecast to continue until June.

BOLIVIA - A string of powerful rainstorms brought on widespread flooding throughout Bolivia from the final week of January through April.

CALIFORNIA - the body of an elderly man was found beneath a mudslide just north of San Francisco. He was buried under tonnes of rock, dirt and trees early yesterday while he cleared a drain behind his Northern California house. A relentless series of storms has drenched the region for more than a month, breaching levees, dangerously filling waterways, and causing hillsides to slip. A duplex that had been evacuated because a hillside in the city of Rio Vista was giving way crashed down the steep incline. Elsewhere, landslides closed roads. While a break in the storms had caused the threat of flooding to ebb, waterlogged hillsides and earthen levees remain at risk of giving way.
A day after Santa Cruz County declared a state of emergency asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help reimburse the cost of storm damaged roadways, more rain pounded the Santa Cruz Mountains, causing additional slipouts overnight. A slide about 600 by 300 feet looms over eight to 10 houses in the Santa Cruz Mountains at East Zayante Road. "The rains that happened Tuesday night were so severe in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I think they got 4 inches of rain and another 4 inches yesterday, which really caused us to reach the tipping point because the soil was getting so saturated." Emergency officials continue to monitor numerous homes and roadways threatened by landslides. As of yesterday morning, there were eight closed roads and 14 with limited access in Santa Cruz County alone. A massive landslide estimated at about three acres has isolated about 10 homes on Two Bar Road off of Highway 9, blocking residents from traveling to and from the area. In addition, a landslide that began moving in 1995 slid further a few days ago at Amesti Road in the south county, breaking two houses in half. Highway 1 at Lucia was temporarily shut down after rocks and mud fell on the roadway late Wednesday night for the third time in about a week.

IOWA, ILLINOIS - One person died Thursday night after a slew of tornadoes ripped through eastern Iowa and toppled the victim's mobile home in Nichols. The tornadoes left some neighborhoods in disarray as heavy winds and hail destroyed cars, crushed homes and cut off power to thousands of Iowans. The weather service reported tornadoes in Tama, Linn, Muscatine and Johnson counties, with much of the damage occurring in Iowa City. Officials were keeping an eye out for more tornadoes in east-central Iowa. The storms swept through northern Illinois, knocking down trees and power lines and prompting tornado warnings. At least one tornado was spotted on the ground in Mercer County.

MALAYSIA - A 16-month-old toddler had a miraculous escape when a large tree uprooted during a FREAK storm yesterday and literally brought the heavy zinc roof down on her. This was the first time a storm had wreaked such damage in the area. "Before this, we only had flash floods to contend with."

FOG -
ILLINOIS - Two rush-hour pileups Thursday morning on a fogbound U.S. highway just north of the town of Muddy left 10 people injured. The crashes involved 28 vehicles and occurred about 7 a.m. on U.S. 45, when thick fog cut visibility to zero. Twenty-two vehicles, including three semitrailers, were involved in the chain-reaction wreck on the two northbound lanes, with six other vehicles crashing into each other going southbound.

JAPAN - A container ship and a freighter collided yesterday morning in foggy conditions at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, damaging the container ship and forcing all its 25 Filipino crew to evacuate in lifeboats. Visibility was less than 200m at the time.

SNOW / COLD -
CHINA - A landslide measuring eight kilometers occurred in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday, leaving no human casualties. The landslide, which occurred at around 2:00 p.m. in Nilka County in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, killed and injured more than 300 sheep, damaged some houses and ruined four kilometers of rural roads. The landslide was triggered by thawing snow.

BANGLADESH - At the time when most of Bangladesh is reeling from sweltering heat, chilly weather continues to prevail in the northern districts of the country, resulting in various diseases like cough, asthma, fever, and diarrhoea. Even now the people in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, and Nilphamari districts are using quilts, blankets, and other warm clothes to protect themselves from cold. The winter season usually begins in the region from November and continues till mid-February. But this year UNUSUAL weather is now visible in the entire region.

DUST STORMS -
A large dust storm whipped out of the Gobi Desert on April 10.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, April 13, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/12 -
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.6 IONIAN SEA
5.0 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.9 KOMANDORSKY ISLANDS, RUSSIA

CALIFORNIA - Tremors within the Earth are usually - but not always - related to the activity of a volcano. Now, such vibrations have been recorded nowhere near a volcano, but at a geologic observatory at the San Andreas Fault. Scientists believe the fault tremors may be related to activity at a subduction zone - a place where one of Earth's constantly moving tectonic plates slips beneath another. Located near Parkfield, the rumblings are the first recordings of non-volcanic tremors in a deep borehole, providing scientists with data to better understand such mysterious underground movements. Scientists are installing instruments to measure the tremors' activity, to determine whether the San Andreas Fault is moving with the tremors. "Unlike the sharp jolt of an earthquake, tremors within Earth's crust emerge slowly, rumbling for longer periods of time. Although not in this case, tremors are usually produced by magma moving in cracks or other conduits beneath a volcano."
[SITE NOTE - so now the subduction zone in the NW Pacific is changing to be more like the San Andreas and is sliding past its neighboring plate instead of under it (see yesterday's item) and the San Andreas is changing to be more like the Pacific subduction zone and is subducting under its neighboring plate rather than sliding past it? Topsy-turvy. And both of these areas are getting quakes more common to volcanic activity.]

GREECE - Four earthquakes measuring up to 5.9 on the Richter scale shook the Ionian island of Zakynthos on Tuesday causing some damage - there were no immediate reports of injuries. The largest tremor, which reached 5.9 Richter, hit the island at about 8.30 p.m. and had its epicenter in an undersea area south of Zakynthos. The tremor was felt as far away as Athens and Kalamata. The three previous tremors struck the island between 12.10 a.m. and 3.02 a.m. and ranged in strength from 4.4 to 5.7 Richter. One house suffered major damage, while eight more homes and the port were also damaged, though not as severely. Schools were closed so authorities could conduct safety checks on buildings. Last week, two tremors measuring 5.7 and 4.8 Richter shook Zakynthos — one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the country.
The Ionian Sea area had 18 moderate quakes Wednesday. More continue today.

VOLCANOES -
An undersea volcano in the Pacific is growing from its summit and could breach the ocean surface within a few decades, a new study reveals. In the meantime, it is creating a thriving environment for some sea creatures, but a death trap for others. The Vailulu'u Seamount is an active volcano lying off the coast of the Samoan archipelago. The volcano has sprouted a new 1,000-foot cone at its summit since it was last explored 5 years ago.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone 22S was 1099 nmi ESE of Diego Garcia and 1804 nmi WNW of Perth, Australia, 420 nautical miles west-southwest of the Cocos Islands.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
SERBIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA - The Danube river rose to its HIGHEST LEVELS IN DECADES overnight, driving people from their homes in northern Serbia and Romania and swamping Bulgaria's main river ports. In Serbia, the Danube and Sava rivers were still rising near the capital Belgrade, while the towns of Titel, Zabalj and Zrenjanin were threatened by the Tisa river. "We are really entering a dramatic phase in the next few days."

TENNESSEE - the traditional spring tornado season of April through June clearly is off to a fast start. Twelve people in Sumner and Warren counties died in Friday's storms. Five days earlier, tornadoes in West Tennessee killed at least 24 people. The United States had not seen this many tornadoes by this time of year since 1999. An "abnormally warm" winter kept temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico warm, increasing the likelihood of deadly storms. Improved radar and computer models mean forecasters can predict tornadoes up to three days out. Tornado warnings now arrive, on average, 15-16 minutes before touchdown, but the information doesn't help answer the question on the minds of many: Should Tennessee expect more damage in 2006? There have been five "outbreaks" of severe weather in the past month. "With this kind of start, you'd have to anticipate a strong May. For now, as far as what we see, this may continue through that part of the year." However, there were far fewer tornadoes in May 2005 than in either 2003 or 2004.

CALIFORNIA - Rivers are flooding, reservoirs are spilling over, levees are crumbling and the hillsides in Northern California are soaked and slipping. Blame it on La Nina or global warning, whatever the cause, wave after wave of rain storms have roared ashore from the Pacific Ocean and drenched the state since the end of February. Weather forecasters say April could end before a dry spell moves in. Homes built on hilltops, into hillsides and at the foot of hills are in danger of being tossed off the hill, slipping from their foundations, or buried by mudslides. Conditions have worsened since landslide conditions first emerged earlier this year. Earthquakes can certainly trigger landslides, and the Big One now would be calamitous.

HEAT -
INDIA - Meteorologists in Jharkhand have sought research on the unusually hot climate in the state at this time of the year, with no sign of rain anywhere. After having failed to come out with accurate predictions on the weather conditions in the state, the experts said they felt the need of an investigation into the global climate, especially Jharkhand. At present, heat in Jharkhand has crossed 40°C and there is no sign of rainfall. “We are shocked by the prevailing weather conditions in the state. In Jharkhand, very high temperatures are normally followed by rain. But despite the conditions at present showing symptoms of an imminent rainfall, the state has got no relief from the scorching heat.” The state has never faced such unusually high temperature during March-end or the beginning of April. This is also the first time there is no rain in the state in the past 40 years of records. “We had a discussion with scientists in New Delhi yesterday about the change in the weather conditions in several parts of India, especially Jharkhand. Even they said they were surprised at the startling weather conditions in the country. We think scientists from around the globe should investigate and find out what geographical and ecological changes are responsible for the unusually high temperature in Jharkhand at this time of the year.” The weather experts also said it was unpredictable as to what turn the future weather conditions would take.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/11 -
5.6 IONIAN SEA
5.4 IONIAN SEA

U.S. WEST COAST - scientists have discovered that the seafloor off the Pacific Northwest is a jumping kind of place, with thousands of small, swarming earthquakes and tectonic plates that are slowly rearranging themselves. The findings could mean that a "Big One" earthquake may not be as severe as previously thought. The evidence is that multiple tectonic plates off the Pacific Northwest appear to be rearranging themselves. The plates have been slowly jamming into each other. One boundary among them appears to be turning into a fault that's more like the San Andreas Fault to the south in California. Instead of ramming together, the plates are rubbing past each other. The consequence could be a shortening of the fault along the Pacific Northwest, so a major earthquake wouldn't be so extensive or severe. The rearrangement could limit the potential for a magnitude 9 earthquake. The project has also turned up evidence of intense clusters of quakes that previously had gone undetected and are associated with underwater volcanic activity and are like the swarms of earthquakes that can precede volcanic eruptions such as that at Mount St. Helens. The quakes were small, on the order of magnitudes 2-4, but numerous, with as many as a thousand of them in a three-week period.
[ SITE OPINION - At these magnitudes it seems odd that thousands of these were 'undetected'. ]

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Government authorities in Indonesia's densely-populated Central Java have banned mountain climbers from Merapi volcano as the province's crater has heated up. The volcano has increased in activity since mid-March, and scientists have since closely monitored its activity. Volcanic tremors had risen in frequency to nearly 100 on Sunday, while hot lava was seen sliding down into the area of Pasar Bubar village, about 350-metres from the Merapi's crater. Vulcanologists have upgraded the volcano's alert stage one level below ordering an evacuation and two below a full eruption.

MONTESERRAT - Residents in Montserrat are being warned of increased dangers as a result of the "vigorous resumption of dome growth" within the Soufriere Hills volcano. A preliminary statement issued by the Scientific Advisory Committee said the eight month old lava dome had grown within the crater to a height of about 250 metres above its base. The scientists say while the dome must grow much larger to approach the size of that of late 2002 to 2003, the potential for collapse of the dome lava leading to pyroclastic flows in the Gage's valley and Tyer's Ghaut has increased.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Rewrite those hurricane record books (again): The 2005 season is officially getting a 28th storm. The National Hurricane Center has added an unnamed subtropical storm to its map of last year's Atlantic hurricane season, adding one more to the year's already record total of 27 storms. (The previous record for a season was 21 storms in 1933.) The unnamed subtropical storm sliced a short swath in the eastern Atlantic on Oct. 4 and 5, peaking at around 50 mph as it passed through the Azores.

AVALANCHES -
KASHMIR - A Jammu and Kashmir government official died due to snow avalanche in Gurez-Bandipora belt of Varmul district while six others were rescued by the Army. Official sources said a group of officials of the state Agriculture Department were caught in a snow avalanche while on the way to Bandipora from border area of Gurez.

RUSSIA - The search-and-rescue operation at the Chimbulak mountain skiing base near Almaty was stopped on Tuesday and no other victims were found. An avalanche of some 20,000 cubic meters, the LARGEST IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY of Chimbulak, went down on April 8. The avalanche buried a 53-year-old employee of the skiing base. A sniffer dog found him under 1.5 meters of snow several hours later. Two Russians survived the disaster. Rescuers thought that the avalanche might have hurt seven to ten people. The avalanche hit a tower of a ropeway to the height of 3,200 meters.

ITALY - An avalanche swept over a group of German skiers high in the Alps in the South Tyrol in northeastern Italy on Tuesday, killing three of them.

NEW ZEALAND - The Routeburn Track was closed on Monday after two trampers were caught in a FREAK avalanche. A couple were caught about 11am while tramping through a narrow section of track above Lake Harris, near the top of the alpine section of the Southern Alps crossing. "They were walking the track with two friends when they were suddenly caught up in a slow-moving slough of soft, wet snow, which pushed them across the track." Their slide was stopped by a large rock. "Any avalanche activity was totally unexpected. We couldn't believe what had happened and thank goodness no one was hurt." "The avalanche was caused by snow sliding off a ledge above the track into a small gully, then sloughing across the track."

DUST STORMS-
Dust blew over the Korean Peninisula toward the Sea of Japan in early April.

Dust from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan mixed over the Arabian Sea in early April.

A dust storm struck north central Texas on April 6.

ODD-
Ice falling from the sky might seem unusual, but some Spanish and American scientists say it is becoming a frequent occurrence throughout the world. Like the estimated 200-plus-pound chunk that fell Saturday on Bushrod Park in California, clear ice from the sky has been reported around the world. Big and small ice-falls have happened in China, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Scotland, Hungary, England, India and more than half of the United States — often in summer and some recorded before aircraft were invented, scientists say. And in each case, no one knows why. "None of us have been able to come up with a process to determine how it is happening. We're really baffled as to what is going on here." The Oakland ice cube was clear and free of debris, ruling out any chance it came from an airplane bathroom, the experts said. But its large size makes it hard to believe the ice is a product of nature. According to one study, every time such an incident occurs, it is precipitated by an unusual atmosphere in which higher altitudes are turbulent and cold. The cold helps create the ice. The turbulence helps keep it together in the sky. A leading hail expert said the "meteorological explanations just don't make sense to me" for creating giant ice balls way up in the dry stratosphere. "I don't like to claim that anything is absolutely impossible, but this comes awfully close." In the late 1990s, when a huge, 400-pound chunk crashed through the roof of a Mercedes-Benz factory in Southern Brazil, U.S. defense scientists analyzed it for signs of cosmic origin. The water's isotopic signature indicated the ice ball was terrestrial, with the water coming from temperate latitudes. Beyond that, tests were inconclusive. Oakland was wet and so was the air high up, but tropospheric conditions overhead Saturday were "nothing extraordinary."
The Oakland, California, solid block of ice that fell from the sky, crashed and left a 3-foot hole in the grass. The ice fell at Bushrod Park in Oakland when a homeowner was waiting to show apartments to prospective renters Saturday. No one was injured, police said. “It was totally amazing. ... I saw this flash, like a streak. Then I saw this explosion, like a big boom. I came over and it (the field) was all covered with ice." The ice was pure water, so “it didn’t come from a toilet on a plane or anything like that.” The National Weather Service said storms haven’t been violent enough to hatch a gigantic hailstone.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 -

CONTACT LENS HEALTH ALERT - Bausch & Lomb voluntarily suspended shipments of its ReNu MoistureLoc brand contact lens solution as the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to investigate a rare fungal outbreak among contact lens users. The decision was made after a preliminary investigation found that ReNu was used by many of those known so far to be infected.

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/10 -
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTHERN INDIA
5.4 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN, REGION
5.7 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.1 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU

TROPICAL STORMS -

HURRICANE SEASON IN THE U.S. - forecastors predict a staggering 96 percent chance of a named storm - tropical storm or hurricane - making landfall somewhere on the East Coast. They predict a 64 percent chance of an intense hurricane striking land somewhere on the East Coast, including Florida. There is a 82 percent chance that an intense hurricane (Category 3 or stronger) will make landfall this year somewhere on the U.S. coast. The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project has become one of the most highly regarded forecasts of its kind. In most recent years, the forecast has been within 10 percent of the season's total number of named storms, hurricanes and intense hurricanes.

AUSTRALIA - Dome-shaped houses constructed to survive extreme weathers like cyclones will sprout across Australia within five years, experts predict.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CALIFORNIA - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Monday in seven northern and central California counties, saying the region's rainiest March on record and more rain on the horizon put people and property in "extreme peril." Many reservoirs in California's Central Valley are groaning at full capacity, and at least 10 more days of rain are forecast for the region. State water officials fear the heavy rain could weaken some levees to the point of failure. They took advantage of a weekend lull in the storms to patch some weak spots in the system but were still concerned. Schwarzenegger wrote that "extreme peril to the safety of persons and property" afflicted the counties of Amador, Calaveras, Fresno, Merced, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Stanislaus.

PHILIPPINES - Residents of at least 17 villages in Bicol that have been classified as most landslide-prone have been asked to relocate as soon as possible. Landslides could happen anytime, especially during heavy rain. Local officials have already been informed of the dangers the communities are facing and have been advised to relocate the residents. The 17 villages are among the 82 barangays identified last year as landslide-prone.

SERBIA - The Danube River has been rising in northern Serbia, flooding villages and farmfields and authorities said the water crest is expected in mid-week. The Danube water mark Monday reached 23.9 feet (7.3 meters) at Novi Sad, Serbia's second major city 45 miles northwest of Belgrade, and is expected to go up to 24.3 feet (7.4 meters). This would be 1.24 feet (.38 meters) lower that in 1965, when the authorities registered the Danube's highest water level. At Smederevo, on the Danube some 25 miles southeast of Belgrade, flood waters reached 24.9 feet (7.6 meters). The Danube water level at Belgrade was 23.4 feet (7.14 meters), and vacation homes close to river's banks were flooded.

BRITAIN - a tornado left a trail of destruction across the area of Middleton. Residents in the Heath estate, Alkrington, were left terrified at the weekend after winds of up 112mph ripped a huge wooden roof off a row of garages, hurling debris 35ft over houses. The force of the winds even bent a metal lamppost over. "A tornado is not something you expect in Middleton. It is a miracle no one was hurt." Met Office experts are now warning that Manchester could see more extreme weather. "When you get cold weather fronts moving north to south across the country it is quite natural to get areas of intense activity. These strong gusts of wind, or mini tornados affect even more localised areas because they develop and decay very rapidly. They are often triggered by hot weather and it is quite possible we could see more in the summer if we have very hot days - although they are relatively rare."

SNOW / COLD -
BRITAIN - Two weeks after spring officially started, winter returned to parts of southern Britain Monday with unseasonal snowfall of up to 12 cm. The sudden cold snap, which struck as trees were in blossom and spring flowers covered the ground, affected the southern counties of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex.

FRANCE - Unseasonably cold weather with unseasonal snow has meant a far from ideal lead-up for world track cycling in Bordeaux, France.

AVALANCHES -
KAZAKHSTAN - One man was killed and several more were feared dead after an avalanche hit a ski resort outside Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty. The avalanche, triggered by heavy snow, buried up to 10 skiers and workers at the Shymbulak ski resort on Saturday. The death toll was likely to rise. The search for other victims was suspended Saturday evening and wasn't resumed until Monday because of poor weather conditions and the possibility of another avalanche.

RUSSIA - Several mountain skiers are believed to be buried under an avalanche in the northern Russian region of Murmansk on the northern slope of Mt. Aikuiaivencher.

NORWAY - Three skiers escaped serious injury after one of them set off an avalanche Monday morning in a popular off-piste area of the Hemsedal ski center. Avalanche warnings remained in effect all over southern Norway. Around 20 centimeters of new snow and strong winds contributed to the unstable snow. Snow slid down mountainsides elsewhere over the weekend as well. An avalanche at Vinje in Telemark crashed down not far from a ski lift on Sunday, but officials later determined that no skiers were caught in it. In Tromsø, however, a 28-year-old woman was badly injured after she was caught in an avalanche at Hamneidet in Nordreisa township. The woman had been out walking her dog with her brother when snow crashed down on them.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, April 10, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/9 -
5.5 NEW BRITAIN
5.1 DODECANESE ISLANDS, GREECE
5.7 NEAR COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
5.0 NW.OF RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.0 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN, REGION
5.2 EL SALVADOR
5.1 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

TROPICAL STORMS -
At the end of February the sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico were slightly higher than those reported during the same date of 2005. That scenario fosters the increase of tropical storm activity, which also gets a boost from the prevailing wind circulation in the lower stratosphere, at altitudes between 21 and 24 kilometers. During the record breaking 2005 season that brought 27 tropical storms, a cooling process took place in the Equatorial Pacific, near the coasts of South America, and that further boosted the cyclonic activity. It looks like that element will not be present this year. The heating of the sea surface observed all over the North Atlantic Basin last season reached the highest temperatures since records of that weather parameter started to be registered in 1951. The 2006 tropical storm season will receive the following names: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie and William.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BANGLADESH - Seven persons were killed and over 1,000 others injured as a tornado and a tropical storm hit parts of western, northern and central Bangladesh Saturday. Many houses were flattened by the short-lived tornado that lashed the sub-district. The tornado badly damaged crops on land. Two persons were killed and over 200 others injured in Ullapara sub-district of western Sirajganj district Saturday afternoon as a tropical storm swept through the sub-district damaging innumerable thatched houses.

PAKISTAN - Heavy rains hit Pakistan's earthquake-devastated northern region, triggering landslides and disrupting return of survivors to their mountain villages on Sunday. The showers came as some 300,000 people prepared to return to their villages after spending the winter in tents encampments. The roads running from Muzaffarabad to two main valleys in Kashmir, Neelum and Jhelum, had been blocked by landslides caused by heavy rains. Authorities are alarmed at the potential for diseases in several spontaneous camps that have sprung up in the quake zone and want them to be closed as early as possible. But many survivors living in these camps are reluctant to leave saying that rains would aggravate their plight in the remote mountainous areas. "The rains will cut off our villages from Muzaffarabad and we will literally be lying helpless on the mountains."

THAILAND - Several areas in the Northeast, East and Central Plains regions have been told to brace for heavy downpours, strong winds and hail storms during the Songkran festival. The cold air mass would nudge its way over the Northeast, East and Central regions during April 14-17, increasing precipitation. The upper part of the country and Bangkok were being hit by unpredictable weather patterns which would bring rain and strong winds today. Hail storms wreaked havoc in some localities in the East and North at the weekend. In Sa Kaeo, more than 30 houses in Prasongsuk village of Aranyaprathet district were destroyed by hail on Friday. The storm also caused a power blackout and uprooted trees.

COLUMBIA - Six women were killed and 43 people injured when the roof of a Roman Catholic church collapsed during Palm Sunday mass in a small Colombian town. The roof fell in as the building was battered by high winds and rain just as worshipers prepared to take communion in the church in the town of Bituima, near the Colombian capital Bogota in the Andes mountains.

CALIFORNIA - Amador County residents are being asked to conserve water after an earthen water canal there collapsed because of the heavy rains. Officials say a landslide beneath the 23-mile-long Amador Water Canal caused a 200-foot section to collapse. The canal supplies water from the Mokelumne River to a treatment plant that serves Jackson, Sutter Creek, Amador City, Ione and Drytown.

HAWAII - One hundred miles is the difference between a dry month and Hawai'i's WETTEST MARCH IN 55 YEARS. "If it had been a little farther to the west of Kaua'i, about 100 miles, (people) would have been asking, 'Where's the rain?" The low-pressure system created a block in the atmosphere that helped spin up last month's destructive series of storms. The atmospheric block, created by the system anchored 200 miles west of Kaua'i, also resulted in an ABNORMALLY LOW total of five days of trade winds in March. Winds last month were mostly out of the southeast, south and occasionally southwest. "We had 22 days of flash-flood warnings, five days of trades. The why is the anchored low pressure to the west just kept spinning up different episodes. We counted seven or eight episodes and in some cases, an episode would last four days." The low-pressure system itself is not unusual. The phenomenon is that it didn't move. "What's UNUSUAL is you're talking six weeks where the pattern was essentially fixed." "Usually with blocking patterns, it's a week, maybe two at the outside. The next time the atmosphere goes into the whole block, which could be later this year, the low could be way over the western Pacific or over the Mainland so we won't get wet." For the scientists, this was a very interesting event. "A lot of interesting weather happened in the Islands — the tornado on Lana'i, big hail on the Big Island, thunderstorms, all the flash flooding, especially FLOODING IN PLACES WHERE THERE'S NEVER BEEN FLOODING BEFORE. The March rainfall totals of 36.13 and 30.08 inches at Kaua'i's Lihu'e Airport and Port Allen, respectively, was 10 times greater than the average rainfall. It's also fascinating that parts of Kaua'i got 10 times more rain while the Big Island's Hamakua Coast had very little. "Places like Honoka'a, from Hamakua up to Kamuela, had less than 2 inches of rain in March, which was way below normal." "You've got this incredible extreme in a matter of a few hundred miles between a very dry March and 10 times the amount of rain."

AVALANCHES -
JAPAN - Six men died, four went missing and one was seriously injured in a series of avalanches which occurred over the weekend in mountainous areas in Nagano and Gifu. The death toll includes three skiers, aged between 57 and 68, in a five-man group that was hit by an avalanche Saturday around the village of Otari, Niigata Prefecture. In Nagano's village of Hakuba on Sunday, a 34-year-old and a 41-year-old man were killed by an avalanche while they were skiing in early afternoon. Two others were seriously injured while the other two in the six-person group were safe. One man was killed by an avalanche which occurred early afternoon on Sunday in a slope of Mt. Abo, which straddles Nagano and Gifu. The police also said four climbers have apparently gone missing after an avalanche occurred in a valley of Mt. Kasagatake in Takayama of Gifu at 11 a.m. Sunday.

FRANCE - Two skiers have been hurt in an avalanche on the Bellecôte at la Plagne around midday. The accident happened at 2500 meters altitude in the Couloir Pepin under the Dôme des Picherès. The victims were part of a group of eight skiing off piste at the time of the incident. The victims were not deeply buried by the slide and were rescued very quickly thanks to their avalanche beacons. The avalanche risk for the region was 1 on a scale of 5 at the time. Two members of a group of five ski tourers have been killed after a cornice collapse in the Mont-Blanc range. The group were making a tour to the Pointe Alphons Favre and decided to venture on foot onto the Aiguille du Belvédère ridge to take some photos. Three of the group walked onto the cornice which collapsed under their weight. By luck one of the group was able to save himself and escaped with light injuries but two friends fell 300 meters and were killed by injuries received.

COLORADO - "We are going to see an avalanche problem coming up as the temperatures warm up." Experts say conditions typically get more dangerous has the day goes on especially after two in the afternoon. "You should be home drinking a margarita by two in the afternoon. You should never be out late afternoon skiing in the backcountry." One week is all that's left of the Colorado ski season, with most resorts closing by Easter. That means more people will start to head into the backcountry. The back country has RECORD snowfall, approaching 400 inches at Copper Mountain.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, April 9, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/8 -
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION
5.1 TIMOR SEA
5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
3/7 -
5.0 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.5 EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA
5.2 VANUATU ISLANDS
6.4 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - There was a minor eruption at a volcano in Alaska Thursday, but it wasn't Augustine creating the noise this time. Mt. Veniaminof on the Alaska Peninsula began to emit ash in the morning. The weather service issued an ashfall advisory for areas to the east of the volcano including the community of Chignik.

CALIFORNIA - Three members of a ski-patrol team, including an avalanche expert, died Thursday when they fell into a volcanic fissure at the Mammoth Mountain resort, about 6 hours from Los Angeles. After they fell, two of the men could be heard calling for help and then were silent within a minute or two. They were probably asphyxiated by poisonous gas spewing from the vent. The vent releases volcanic gas from deep within the earth. It is normally surrounded by a plastic fence to keep skiers away, but the fence had been nearly buried by a RECORD 52 feet of snow. The patrol went to the site Thursday to raise the fence before opening the area. The snow under the team collapsed, causing two patrol members to fall 21 feet to the rocky bottom of the 6-foot-diameter hole. A third patrol member attempted a rescue and died, and a fourth man then went in wearing an oxygen mask, but he also fell unconscious. Another patrol member then held his breath, went in about 15 feet, hooked a rope to the fourth man, and pulled him out.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Last year Lloyd's of London had its first annual loss since 2001. The reason, quite simply, was the weather. Lloyd's was hit with an unprecedented £3.3bn in net claims from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. 2005 was the most costly year to date for natural disasters. Along with the devastating human impact, weather-related global insurance claims reached an eye-popping £120bn. As well as the highest number of hurricanes since records began 150 years ago, 2005 also saw the strongest recorded hurricane and the first hurricane to reach the European mainland. Dismissing all this as a one-off would be easier had the previous record year for freak weather not been 2004. And now scientists are predicting that 2006 could be worse still - with the US tropical storm season set to strike not only the Gulf of Mexico and Florida but perhaps New York and New England too. During the whole of the 1960s there were only 16 major weather-related disasters. The 1990s saw 72 major incidents. Katrina - a single event - caused far more financial damage than all natural disasters during the whole of the 1990s.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
U.S. - At least 11 people have been killed in the US after the latest front of tornadoes and violent storms swept across the central state of Tennessee. It is the second deadly tornado outbreak in the state this week. The suburbs of Nashville were the hardest hit, with at least eight deaths reported in the north-east of the city. The storms uprooted trees, overturned cars and knocked out power to thousands of homes. The number of tornadoes in the U.S. HAS RISEN DRAMATICALLY IN THE FIRST PART OF 2006, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. At the end of March, an estimated 286 tornadoes had hit the US, compared with an average of 70 for the same three-month period over the past three years.

TENNESSEE’s next bout of severe weather could be just days away. The threat of severe weather outbreaks every few days will “continue for the next couple of weeks, but the frequency will seem to come less.” “In the near future, you will probably see severe weather outbreaks again on Wednesday and another one probably a week from Saturday (April 15).” March and early April are the busiest times of the year for tornadoes in Middle Tennessee. Weather experts say tornadoes can occur any time of day but are more likely to appear between 3 and 9 p.m. This tornado season, storms have been largely absent from the Plains states, the traditional area associated with the violent weather systems, and have struck farther east. As the season progresses, “it appears that the system will shift back to the West. The result is, they will be less widespread than what you’ve been getting (in Tennessee), and hopefully with fewer tornadoes.”

CALIFORNIA - Just one week into the month of April, the Bay Area has surpassed its average rainfall total for the whole month. The average rainfall in the Bay Area in April is 1.47 inches. As of the afternoon of the 7th, the Bay Area had received 1.97 inches, and the rain keeps falling. According to weather service records, which go back to 1921, the wettest April was in 1958, when the Bay Area received 5.47 inches. The driest April on record was in 1964, when the Bay Area received just 0.01 inch. "It is UNUSUAL for the rainy season to extend into daylight savings time. Typically our rainy season coordinates pretty well with Pacific Standard Time."
Sodden California is also stumbling toward the wettest year on record, with water managers closely watching stressed levees as a seemingly endless string of storms continues to dump water into the state's rivers. In Ukiah, the current rainfall level is unseen since 1998 - when there were about 73 inches of rain - and in 1983, when Ukiah saw 69 inches. Central California was suffering the brunt of the seemingly endless rain. "This is a wet year. If someone wants to see what a wet year looks like, this is it. 1983 was the wettest year on record (for the state). We're just below that." This much rain this late in the spring is UNUSUAL. The Consumnes River, the only undammed river on the Sierra's western slope, crested at 13.4 feet Tuesday evening, the first time since 1958 the river has reached flood stage in April. That "gives you an idea of the magnitude and quirkiness of this event." The biggest concern is the San Joaquin River basin - where, unlike the Sacramento River system, levees were not stressed by the big storms that socked the state to the north in late December and early January, and so are untested.

Friday, April 7, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/6 -
5.5 SOUTHERN INDIA
5.0 SOUTHERN INDIA
5.3 EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone HUBERT was 196 nmi W of Port Hedland, Australia.

AUSTRALIA - Gales with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are expected to develop on the west Pilbara coast this afternoon. As TROPICAL CYCLONE HUBERT approaches the coast at Category 2, destructive winds with gusts to 130 kilometres per hour may develop in coastal areas between Onslow and Exmouth later this afternoon or tonight. Heavy rainfall is likely about the west Pilbara coast today, causing flooding in coastal streams. Heavy rainfall is not expected to extend far inland. Tides between Exmouth and Onslow are likely to rise above the normal high tide mark with very rough seas and flooding of low-lying coastal areas. Local residents were prepared for their second cyclone in just over a week, following Cyclone Glenda. About 12 hours of continuous rain had resulted in some local flooding but so far no buildings had been damaged. Hubert is WA's seventh cyclone of the season and if it does make land, it will be the fourth to do so in the Pilbara region this year. The last time that happened was six years ago.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CANADA - In Manitoba the unexpected run-off coming into the city of Winnipeg has forced water levels on the Red River very close to levels seen during the summer of 2005, when heavy rains battered Winnipeg. The province has upgraded expected river flow by as much as 30 centimetres. A second crest – heading north from the United States – is expected to hit the city over the weekend of April 14. If the area receives significant rainfall next week, the second crest could be higher than anticipated as well.

SNOW / COLD -
NEW YORK - A FREAK April snowstorm yesterday plowed a mild New York winter into the record books - only days after city temperatures soared into the 70s. The season's snow total was 40 inches for the fourth consecutive year - the FIRST TIME THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE RECORD BEGAN 138 years ago. And there just might be more to come. "This has never happened before." Yesterday's flurries confused New Yorkers after last week's warm sunshine - and blindsided forecasters who failed to predict winter's return. "This climate is crazy. Last week I was outside in shorts, this week's like the middle of January. I don't know what I should wear when I leave the house." Although this year's winter was not among New York's coldest, a snowstorm in February dumped 26.9 inches - the heaviest ever recorded in the city.

AUSTRALIA - Winter has arrived a little early. Despite there being 65 days until the start of winter, temperatures on the Border have gone from summery to freezing overnight. The chilly conditions were the result of a series of cold fronts coming through from Antarctica. “This is QUITE UNUSUAL because normally we wouldn’t get these sorts of conditions until late May or June.” And the cold snap looks set to continue. "There will be another burst of cold weather around Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, which will probably result in more snow on the ski fields.” With strong winds and dry temperatures, fire danger alerts were very high.

Thursday, April 6, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/5 -
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.3 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
5.1 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.0 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.0 NEW BRITAIN

VOLCANOES -
COLUMBIA - While 55 percent of inhabitants in high-risk areas have already been moved to safe places, the Colombian government has decided anyway to stop people´s circulation through roads near Galeras volcano. According to experts, the increase in seismic movements in the Galeras volcano has forced the authorities to pass from alert 3 to level 2, which implies that a new eruption may happen anytime within days or weeks. To avoid potential victims and material damages, the government has ordered the evacuation of more than 9,000 people living in the high-risk department of Narino, and in the municipalities of Pasto, Narino and La Florida.

INDONESIA - The Barren Island Volcano erupted on April 5, sending a plume of volcanic ash and steam toward the northeast over the Andaman Sea. This is the only historically active volcano in the north-south volcanic arc between Sumatra and Myanmar (Burma).

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone HUBERT was 201 nmi WNW of Port Hedland, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Floodwaters have inundated up to a quarter of the outback town of Katherine and 600 residents have been evacuated as a swollen river threatens to compound the situation. The Northern Territory town is on high alert, and it is believed water levels have already reached the roof line of several homes. Authorities are concerned the swollen Katherine River may break its banks in the town tonight. At 6pm (CST), the river was 18.95 metres high – just five centimetres below the bridge – and slowly rising. It is Katherine's second major flood in just eight years. Four people were killed, half the population had to flee their homes and all businesses in the shopping area were flooded when the Katherine River rose to a record 20.3 metres in January 1998. Several other parts of the Northern Territory were also experiencing flooding after heavy monsoonal rains. Tourists have been evacuated from Kakadu National Park and Daly River, which is expected to be inundated with water from Katherine over the next week.

ISRAEL - RARE April weather has brought two heavy rainfalls throughout most of Israel and has boosted this year's rainfall up to 100 percent of the annual average in some areas. Following heavy rain last Saturday night and Sunday, another storm system Wednesday dumped large amounts of rain, particularly in the Galilee and in the south. Haifa and Teel Aviv already have received their average annual rainfall, and the amount in the Galilee ranges between 76 and 93 percent. Jerusalem has received 86 percent.
The heavy rains that fell across Israel caused the Irron River to overflow on Wednesday leading to heavy flooding in Wadi Ara for the second time this week. In the course of three hours, 130 mm of rain fell in the area. It was an event that occurs every hundred years, and so the local infrastructure was not equipped to deal with it. Earlier in the week, five people were killed as a result of floods in Wadi Ara, in the Jordan Valley road north of the Dead Sea, and near the security fence around Kalkilya. Meanwhile on Wednesday, locals and officials in the Western Galilee were working to repair the heavy damage caused by the "mini-tornado" that struck the region on Tuesday. Western Galilee agriculture, including both crops and greenhouses, was hit especially hard. Avocado, litchi and banana crops were severely damaged at Moshav Avdon. An avocado grower on the moshav related that he had never seen anything like this; he noted that all the leaves were shorn off of his trees by the hail. (PHOTO)

YEMEN - The death toll from flash floods that have swamped Yemen in the last two days has risen to 25. The heavy rains also destroyed 60 homes and caused considerable damage to scores of others. Livestock and roads were also affected. Geologists have repeatedly warned of possible landslides during the rainy season, which usually lasts from March to September. More heavy rains are expected in several governorates.

CHINA - exceptionally RARE weather occurred in Hefei, east China's Anhui province on April 4. Darkness enshrouded the city at noon for some 20 minutes and the vehicles on the road had to turn on lights. Lightning was accompanied by peals of thunder. (PHOTOS)

NEW YORK - Wet weather has the RARE birds flocking - The floods that deluged East Yorkshire during ONE OF THE WETTEST SPRING MONTHS ON RECORD have proved to be more than just nice weather for ducks – they have also seen a boom in bitterns. Recent flooding at the RSPB's Blacktoft Sands nature reserve could be an unexpected bonus for the rare reedbed birds. The reserve was awash at the weekend as exceptionally high rainfall coincided with the spring tides, bringing an abundance of water on to the reserve – so much so that the whole site was covered and had to be closed to visitors.

Wednesday, April 5, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/4 -
5.4 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.1 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.5 IONIAN SEA
5.2 TAIWAN REGION
5.0 TAIWAN REGION
5.9 OFF COAST OF JALISCO, MEXICO
5.7 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

PAKISTAN - At least 24 people were injured, three seriously, as an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale shook northern Pakistan Tuesday. The quake was felt in the capital Islamabad and the cities of Peshawar, Mansehra, Batagram, Kohistan and Balakot. Another mild aftershock measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale also jolted these cities four minutes after the first tremor. Roofs and walls of some shanty houses, damaged during last year's earthquake, crumbled in the area. The chief of the meteorological office recently said aftershocks of the October quake would continue until May. According to him more than 1,600 aftershocks have hit the quake-ravaged region since the October 8 tremor.

VOLCANOES -
TANZANIA - A volcano in northern Tanzania known to locals as "the mountain of God" has erupted, forcing about 3,000 people to flee clouds of ash. Oldonyo Lengai Mountain erupted on Sunday and Monday. Oldonyo Lengai is the only remaining active volcanic mountain in Tanzania and its last significant eruption was in 1983, though the inside of the crater is active year-round.

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - Weather experts have found Cyclone Larry may have had 'two eyes' and caused mini tornadoes when it ravaged the far north Queensland coast. Researchers were still identifying the maximum strength of the cyclone, but initial research revealed Larry appeared to have a distorted eye shape, appearing as more than one eye. "They are not unheard of. Hurricane Andrew had those when it hit the States." There were maximum wind speeds up to 293.7km/h when it hit Mt Bellenden Ker, north of Innisfail. Preliminary bureau data suggested the maximum wind gust of Larry was between 240 and 290km/h. The storm's features as it came ashore and hit the high mountain range were 'complex'. When Larry crossed the coast, its eye changed shape from circular to elliptical and back again. "We're doing a sort of detective hunt now, and I think it's got a lot of people kind of scratching their heads to know where the strongest winds are." "If one of these hits a larger urban area it's going to do a hell of a lot more damage than it did in a rural area."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CENTRAL EUROPE - Rising floodwaters have continued to cause chaos across central Europe, with more heavy rain expected next week. The river Danube climbed to RECORD LEVELS in Budapest. In Austria, an 18-month-old boy was found dead on Tuesday as rising water in rivers caused a second dam to break. At least a dozen people have lost their lives in recent floods in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia. In Slovakia, 200 towns and villages have been affected by the flooding, but the water level appears to be stabilizing. Southern Poland has also been hit, but officials from across the region say the flooding has so far not been as serious as in 2002. ( PHOTOS)

AUSTRALIA - South-east Queensland is today bracing for more storms, after a man was struck by lightning and wild weather cut power and ripped the roof from at least one house. The weather bureau has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the south-east of the state, with large hail, damaging wind and heavy rainfall. More thunderstorms were forecast to develop in the afternoon and evening.

ISRAEL - A tornado has hit northern Israel, a RARE sight in the Holy Land. Residents caught it on videotape, showing the characteristic wide cloud at the top tapering into a funnel racing along the ground. Residents reported damage, including a car that was thrown through the air. The FREAK storm also brought high winds, rain and golf-ball-sized hailstones. About 70 people were taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries, most of them hit by flying objects. Heavy storms raged across the Western Galilee. "To use military terminology, this is an escalation in terms of weather and a VERY RARE occurrence in Israel. This is an example of how extreme the weather in Israel has become." Western Galilee farmers who had been smiling in recent days, grateful for the much needed rain, lost a large part of their crops due to Tuesday's heavy hail. Strong south-western winds blew at up to 50-70 kph. "In southern Israel sandstorms reduced visibility to under one meter." A sandstorm covered roads in the Ovdat valley in 20 centimeters of sand. Drivers along the Arava highway were warned to take precautions due to similar sandstorms. In the southern resort city of Eilat, winds caused waves in Eilat Bay to reach over three meters in height. Five people were killed Sunday in the northern Israel due to flooding. Today the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms from the north to the central Negev. Temperatures will drop and there is a fear of dangerous flooding. The rain is expected to continue on Thursday.

BANGLADESH - experienced a heavy torrential rain Tuesday afternoon after a long spell of sultry and humid weather that created a drought-like situation in many places in the country. After a long stint of exceptionally dry weather, which started relatively early this year, the powerful shower has brought a sigh of relief, at least for the moment, for most people, especially the farmers who were fearing heavy losses in crops. This is the first rainfall in the country since the beginning of summer. They expect to have further rains within the next two to three days as the sky was still cloudy and there was considerable humidity in the weather. Expert sources said due to global warming, the world has been going through climatic changes over the last few years. As a result, the climatic pattern in Bangladesh has also undergone a sea change over the last few years, which has pushed the country towards extreme weather conditions.

CALIFORNIA - Two levees broke Tuesday in California's chief agricultural region, flooding a trailer park, threatening other homes in Merced and inundating farmland near Sacramento. There were no immediate reports of any injuries across the Central Valley. The breaks occurred as rain continued to fall across Northern California, with some residents evacuating their homes near San Francisco because of the threat of landslides and forecasters predicting continued wet weather for two more weeks. Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Rafael and Santa Rosa all broke rainy-day records last month. Sacramento had 5.29 inches of rain in March, 2.49 inches more than average. The rain also is melting snow in the mountains, swelling streams in the Central Valley. Southern California received heavy rain Tuesday. In Los Angeles, part of the roof of a RiteAid drugstore collapsed because of an apparent buildup of rainwater.
Sacramento braced for more heavy rain and localized flooding Tuesday as a RARE series of powerful April storms plowed through the area. Just three days into the month, the city is already splashing through half its average rainfall for the entire month of April. It comes on top of the wettest March since 1995. Forecasters predict wet weather for the next 10 days, and they're scratching their heads to put a name on the phenomenon. "There's definitely something WEIRD going on," said a National Weather Service forecaster in Sacramento. The rain caused a mud and rock slide on Highway 50 Monday. The slide carried an estimated 100 tons of material, covering about 150 yards of the road. "Another 200 tons of rock face is splitting about 125 feet up." Friday brings another storm that will linger through the weekend. Forecasters said the main culprit is a southern shift in the jet stream drawing tropical moisture all the way across the Pacific. The tropical connection normally weakens in April. But this year it's still so strong that forecasters predict a 40 percent chance for above-average April rain. The storms threaten Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's emergency effort to fix 24 levee erosion sites. Crews have been unable to inspect many sites because they're underwater.

CANADA - Parts of southern Manitoba are underwater after the combination of rain, warm weather and melting snow caused major flooding on Monday. So far, the unexpected flooding has washed away 32 roads in RM Franklin. Water from the RM Franklin area eventually drains to the Roseau River, the Roseau in turn drains to the Red River – which is where the real concern lies. The Red River south of the border is expected to rise six metres above the flood stage. Because of this, students in Fargo, North Dakota have been excused from class in order to help with the sandbagging. The excessive flooding in the United States is expected to impact southern Manitoba as well.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone that came from the Pacific Ocean hit the Kuril Islands on Tuesday. Gusts of wind on all the islands are up to 17-22 metres per second. It is heavily snowing and there are snow blizzards on the Southern Kuriles. Airports on Iturup and Kunashir islands are closed to air traffic.Weather forecasts have it that the cyclone will continue to rage on the Kuriles until April 7. (PHOTO)

THE MYSTERIOUS BOOMS ARE BACK -
This time they're in California - San Diegans are wondering what's behind a series of mysterious booms heard across the county Tuesday morning. The booms were heard at around 8:45 a.m. and rattled residents, causing a flood of calls to sheriff's dispatchers. No measurable seismic activity was recorded in San Diego County Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Local military officials had no reports of a sonic boom happening. Marines at Camp Pendleton conducted mortar training Tuesday morning, but officials say they were unaware if the noise was a result.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off - updated Wednesdays

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/3 -
5.0 SERAM, INDONESIA
5.1 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION

CHINA - The Chinese space agency has ambitious plans, including robotic Moon missions starting next year. The agency envisions a "constellation" of eight satellites to monitor global disasters, and another satellite that would watch the Earth's magnetic fields as a possible predictor of earthquakes.

TSUNAMI -
INDONESIA - Mangroves and other vegetation did not protect Asian coastal communities directly in the path of the December 2004 tsunami, according to a study released Monday, contradicting earlier reports claiming green belts helped save lives. The study also warned that governments in India and Sri Lanka are offering a false sense of security and displacing scores of residents unnecessarily by proposing green belts and buffer zones in areas hard hit by the massive waves. "It's a beautiful idea that green belts can stop a tsunami, and its aims are commendable. But it isn't true, and it won't work." "Our re-analysis revealed that the distance of a village from the coast and the height of the village above sea level explained 87 percent of the variation in mortality among villages. The apparent link between vegetation area and mortality was actually due to the fact that more vegetation grows at higher elevations above sea-level, and the greater the distance from the sea, the greater the area of vegetation."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MIDWESTERN U.S. - The death toll has risen to 27 from thunderstorms packing at least 63 tornadoes and hail as big as grapefruits which ripped through eight US midwestern states, injuring scores and destroying hundreds of homes. Tennessee was hit hardest, but severe thunderstorms, many producing tornadoes, also struck parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Tennessee officials estimated 1200 buildings were damaged in one county alone. About a half-dozen tornadoes struck Arkansas and one destroyed nearly half of the town of Marmaduke. In mid-March, tornadoes spun off by another huge storm system killed nine people in Missouri and injured dozens in Illinois. Initial reports indicated that system was responsible for more than 100 twisters in five states from Oklahoma to Illinois.

Do giant hailstones ever kill anyone? Yes, but it's very rare. Hailstorms have caused only a handful of deaths in the United States over the last 100 years or so; most of those killed were children. A Texas farmer perished on account of hail in 1930, and babies had their skulls broken by balls of ice in 1979 and 1981. Hailstone deaths in other countries are somewhat more common. A few years ago, the Chinese government reported that at least seven people in Zhengzhou died in a storm of "egg-sized" hail. Dozens more ended up in the hospital. In Bangladesh, a giant storm of "grapefruit-sized" hail killed almost a hundred people in 1986. Some of the stones weighed more than 2 pounds. Individual hailstorms have killed dozens of horses and hundreds of chickens at a time in the United States. (Size and frequency trade off as a general rule: The bigger the hailstones, the fewer of them there are.) Grapefruit-sized hail is 4 inches in diameter.

HAWAII - Despite an almost two-day stint of sunshine over some parts of the state, they continue to feel the effects of more than a month of steady rain, including mudslides striking days after the rain stopped. Some areas got stormy weather again on Sunday.

CALIFORNIA - Last month's relentless rain will continue into April, with storms expected to hit the Bay Area Monday morning and then again Thursday evening. Today may also see hail and strong, gusty winds. The storms are a product of a persistent weather pattern that is "just not shifting or breaking down." Many stable weather patterns - whether they bring inclement or sunny weather - can stick around from a week to 14 days. To have a stable weather pattern persist for more than a month is "PRETTY UNUSUAL." But it seems likely this bout of rainy weather will stick around "at least through the middle of April."

INDIA - Three persons died and several others were injured, some of them seriously, in a cyclone in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district in the wee hours today. The cyclone hit the district town Nongstoin at 1:30 am and caused extensive damage to electric supply, communication lines, government offices and quarters, private properties and the civil hospital. A hailstorm also hit the area at noon and uprooted trees obstructing roads at some places.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, April 3, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/2 -
5.4 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.5 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.1 NEW BRITAIN
5.0 SOUTHWESTERN RYUKYU IS. JAPAN

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
INDONESIA - Following four days of heavy rain in parts of South Sulawesi, major flooding claimed the lives of four children and damaged thousands of houses and public facilities as well as hundreds of hectares of rice fields. Residents were caught largely unprepared for the flooding on Wednesday, because a relatively light rain fell on Tuesday, accompanied by strong winds. "Flooding occurs here each year, but this time was the worst because the main roads were submerged and the floodwater reached over 1.5 meters."

ISRAEL - The heavy rains that have fallen on Israel since Saturday night have caused the flooding of many of Israel's highways and the deaths of at least five people.

CZECH REPUBLIC - A further 4,000 people were ordered late Sunday to evacuate homes in the southern Czech Republic, joining thousands who've fled since more than 20 rivers around the country started flooding last week. The spring floods, fed by a rapid snow melt in the mountains, have killed at least five people and caused millions of dollars in property damage. The latest evacuation included four towns threatened after a dyke broke at the confluence of the Dyje and Jevisovka rivers. The area is about 200 kilometres southeast of Prague near the Czech-Austrian border. Some of the most serious floods have affected towns and farms along the Dyje, including the city of Znojmo where about 2,300 were evacuated last week. Also Sunday, hundreds of people fled the flooding Morava River in and around Olomouc, the country's fourth-largest city.

CANADA - Spring flooding forced dozens of residents of the Quebec town of Beauceville from their homes on the weekend. More than 60 residents had to evacuate homes and businesses Saturday night after an ice jam about a kilometre north of the town caused the Chaudiere River to break its banks. "The last two days it was too warm out. The water level had to go up." The area floods nearly every spring but some residents say this is the worst in several years.

HAWAII - residents awoke to sun this weekend after more than 40 days of downpours that left a wake of havoc across the islands and BROKE RECORDS FOR RAIN at the wettest place on Earth. Nearly 92 inches - or about 7 1/2 feet - of rain were recorded during March at Mount Waialeale, considered the rainiest spot on the planet. The previous record was about 90 inches in April 1971. Even the normally dry Honolulu Airport received more rain in the first three months of 2006 than in all of 2005. The near biblical downfall left the islands disheveled with debris, flooded homes, and led to a sewage spill in the water off Waikiki. The spate of rain that began on Feb. 19 has been "like living in a hurricane".

IOWA - For the second time in three days, severe thunderstorms, funnel clouds and tornadoes have been reported across Iowa. Severe storms late Saturday afternoon - which included high winds, lightning, heavy rain and pea-sized hail - followed similar weather early Thursday evening. Large storm outbreaks across Iowa can be common at this time of year, but the National Weather Service says it is UNUSUAL to have two similar severe storm events occurring only a few days apart.

U.S. MIDWEST - violent spring storms packing tornadoes raked wide sections of the central US killing at least 14 people, most in Tennessee. Many residents were attending Sunday evening worship services at area churches when the storms hit and officials were having trouble locating everyone.

FOG -
TAIWAN - Heavy fog forced Kinmen's Shangyi Airport to cancel almost all flights to and from Taiwan yesterday, stranding over 1,000 passengers. The airport was all misty since early morning as visibility was less than 500 meters, much worse than the minimum requirement of 1,200 meters. The fog did not clear up until 4: 47 p.m.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, April 2, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
4/1 -
5.0 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
5.3 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
5.1 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.0 BANDA SEA
5.3 TONGA ISLANDS
5.2 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.1 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
6.2 TAIWAN REGION
5.3 MARIANA ISLANDS
3/31 -
6.0 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
5.8 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.4 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.2 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.1 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
6.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.1 NORTHEASTERN CHINA
5.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.1 WESTERN IRAN
5.7 WESTERN IRAN

IRAN - Strong tremors on Thursday night helped keep the death toll down because they drove many to leave their homes and take to the streets well before the big 6.0 quake hit. 330 villages were severely damaged, 70 people were killed, and more than 1,200 people were injured in an area around the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd in the province of Lorestan. In the worst hit areas, brick buildings collapsed into piles of masonry and mud homes were reduced to mounds of dust.
Different parts of western Lorestan province have been rattled by some 43 aftershocks since Thursday evening when the quake hit. The strongest aftershock, which lasted for one minute on Friday, shook the cities of Dorud, Borujerd and Khorramabad, followed by 42 minor ones causing panic among residents. The quakes and aftershocks which hit Borujerd and Dorud have rendered about 15,000 families homeless. According to provincial officials, the quakes damaged 330 villages by 40-100 percent.

TAIWAN - A strong earthquake rocked Taiwan on Saturday, shaking office buildings but causing only minor damage. Forty-two people were slightly injured. Most of the people were hurt by falling ceilings or goods in the houses, while some others were wounded as they ran about in shock. The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was east of Taitung on the eastern coast, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). Television footage showed a collapsed wall outside a military base in the southern county of Kaohsiung, but nobody was hurt. Some phone lines were cut off in the eastern part of the island. Initial reports said Taitung City had a strong jolting, electricity was initially cut off, a fire broke out, and gas pipes were leaking. Two buildings in Taitung County were reportedly cracked up.

CHINA - Some houses and warehouses suffered damages but no casualties were reported in the tremblor that hit villages of northeast China's Jilin province Friday. The epicentre was at Laoyingtai village located across Qian'an and Qian Gorlos counties in Songyuan City, about 200 kilometres north of the provincial capital Changchun. Cracks were visible on the walls of a number of houses in the village and some warehouses have also collapsed. Rescuers have set up a few tents in anticipation of more tremors.

NEW ZEALAND - An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale rocked New Zealand's volatile Raoul Island Saturday - one of many to hit the area. The tremor hit Raoul Island with its epicenter 100 kilometers east of Raoul in the remote Kermadec Islands. The Kermadecs are New Zealand's northernmost territory, about 1,000 kilometers from the mainland. Following the March 17 volcanic eruption on the island, which killed one scientist, up to 30 earthquakes a day have been recorded in the area.

LOUISIANA - New Orleans is at the top end of what looks like a gigantic, slow-moving landslide, according to geologists who have been carefully studying the ground movements in the area. "Not only is southern Louisiana sinking, it's sliding." The pumping of groundwater, levee building, and oil and gas extraction have carried the blame so far for the area's gradual sinking below sea level, but what's being called "tectonic" subsidence appears to account for 73 percent of all sinking from 1969 to 1971 and 50 percent from 1971 to 1977. Like a landslide on the side of a hill, the huge Southern Louisiana landslide has a "headwall" where the slide is breaking away and a "toe" out in the Gulf where the debris from the slide is piling up. The only difference from a traditional landslide is that this one is far, far larger and it's buried under lots of wet sediments. There are faults along which the motion is taking place. One such fault, the Michoud Fault, runs right through New Orleans and is essentially the place where the sliding section of earth is breaking away.

ALASKA - Although California gets most of the attention when it comes to earthquakes, especially with the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake on April 18, 1906, Alaska is America's true seismic hotspot. Seven of the 10 largest earthquakes in the U.S. have occurred in Alaska, and it vibrates with 11 percent of the world's temblors each year. About 60 each day occur there, roughly 22,000 a year. Alaska's most devastating quake, on March 27, 1964, was a magnitude 9.2 and was focused in Prince William Sound. It was the second-largest in the world, behind a magnitude 9.5 that struck Chile in 1960. The Indian Ocean earthquake in December 2004, whose ensuing tsunami killed tens of thousands of people, ranks third.

PAKISTAN has decided to move a quake-devastated city to a new location after experts declared any new construction dangerous. Balakot, a town about 120 miles north of the capital Islamabad which had a population of 300,000, was destroyed last October when the 7.6-magnitude quake hit the country.

VOLCANOES -
TANZANIA - Villagers living around Mount Oldonyo Lengai in northern Tanzania have fled their homes as the active volcano started erupting again. Minor eruptions at the volcano are not unusual. Eruptions are a common phenomenon at Mount Oldonyo Lengai because they occur almost every year. Eyewitnesses said that they heard rumbling sounds before the volcano began to discharge ashes and lava on Thursday. Mount Oldonyo Lengai is the world's only active sodium carbonite volcano and is therefore the world's only volcano that erupts natrocarbonatite lava. Natrocarbonatite lava usually contains almost no silicon and is much cooler in temperature than other lavas. The last explosive activity of Mount Oldonyo Lengai was recorded in 1966.

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - Communties across much of Western Australia's northwest were mopping up in the wake of cyclone Glenda, but there's a threat of more flooding in the Murchison River catchment.

BALI - Saturday residents of Bali were asked to be on alert to the possibility the resort island will be hit by tropical cyclone Glenda. "Cyclone Glenda is expected to come following building pressure in the north west of Australian waters." The storm would bring continuous rains which could trigger floods and landslides in some areas of Bali Island. Over the past three days, Denpasar, Bali`s capital city, was raining incessantly with low and moderate intensity. Tourists swimming in the Legian beach have been warned of possible huge waves. "Indeed in the past few days, the weather has not been so friendly. Big waves could come and swallow swimmers." The National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency has issued a warning for people to be alert for any changes in the colour of the sea or abnormal waves. Last Wednesday (March 29), three Indonesians swimming in the Legian beach were hit by a huge storm-driven three-meter (10-foot) FREAK wave. Two of the domestic tourists were able to be saved but one died.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
IOWA - Severe thunderstorms swept through Iowa Thursday night bringing high winds, heavy rain, golf ball-sized hail and reports of tornadoes. Tornado touchdowns were reported near Creston in southwest Iowa and DeSoto in central Iowa. An intense low pressure system that moved out of Kansas into Nebraska brought warm, moist air into Iowa. The storms, with winds reaching up to 80 miles per hour in some parts of the state, mark the beginning of the severe weather season. "A larger outbreak like this is not necessarily unusual, but it is certainly starting a bit early."

MIDWESTERN U.S. - Authorities are making damage assessments in the wake of a severe storm system that raked the Midwest on Friday. A tornado ripped through central Indiana and at least 20 homes were damaged. In Michigan, there's word of damage to homes and barns along a seven-mile area. Earlier, the same storm system drenched parts of North Dakota. The National Weather Service is predicting major flooding in the Grand Forks area in the coming days.

MONTANA - Wednesday and Thursday were the RAINIEST CONSECUTIVE MARCH DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF RECORD-KEEPING at Billings Logan International Airport. Rainfall both days broke records. The March 29 record fell Wednesday with a total of 1.13 inches; the old record of half an inch was set in 1977. Wednesday was also the RAINIEST DAY EVER RECORDED IN MARCH. It beat the 0.95 inches that fell on March 22, 1973. The March 30 precipitation record succumbed Thursday morning when Billings had received 0.75 inches. The previous record for the day was 0.32 inches set in 1981. The two-day total brought Billings the second-wettest March on record. Total for the month is at 2.63 inches. A 2.70-inch record set in 1954 still stands. Most mountain snow is still pretty well intact and shows no sign of an early melt.

HAWAII - A powerful thunderstorm swamped parts of Oahu, with torrential rains flooding neighborhoods across Honolulu.
The MOST UNUSUAL WEATHER IN ANYONE'S MEMORY may end this weekend, with thunder, lightning and rain, and even snow on Hawai'i's highest mountains. Thursday's drenching may be the beginning of the end of a series of thunderstorms that have pounded the state for 40 days. The National Weather Service sees an "easing off" from current conditions heading into today, the second day of April. On O'ahu, the rain caused a landslide on Round Top Drive above Kala'i'opua Place, the sixth landslide in eight days in that area. The La Niña affecting Hawai'i's weather is slightly off from the typical December-through-February time frame. "It is affecting the rather UNUSUAL POSITION of the jet stream, a branch of which has been swooping down over the Hawaiian Islands. Along the path of this jet stream branch, individual packages of energy have been traveling at Hawai'i almost once every day."

CZECH REPUBLIC - this winter, the MOST SEVERE ONE IN 35 YEARS, meteorologists and other prognostics assured the people that it was not extreme weather, that the amount of snow was normal too and that nothing dangerous could be expected later when the snow would start melting. However reality was as usual different from their optimistic prognoses and major flooding is threatening the southern parts of the country. People should re-consider the terms '10-year' or '100-year' water. They have lost their original meaning as the country has suffered from floods repeatedly over the interval of several years. "What if the phenomenon that is still being considered only 'the ups and downs of the weather' becomes standard? I do not dare to make a prognosis. I only have some dark intuition, which the experts probably had this winter, too, when they were comforting the public with their optimistic forecasts."

THAILAND - The Meteorological Department forecasts the possibility of scattered thunderstorms during the next two days, influenced by a westerly trough covering the upper part of the country. A tropical storm hit Bangkok Thursday night, causing heavy downpours, gusty winds and uprooted and fallen trees in the capital. The northern, northeastern, eastern, and central regions faced thunderstorms and hail in some areas Friday before the weather returns to normal summer on Saturday. However, it warned people should beware of heavy winds and severe thunderstorms for the time being. The weather department also advised farmers outside irrigation zones to grow drought-resistant plants with short life spans during the summer.

Friday, March 31, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/30 -
5.2 WESTERN IRAN

IRAN - Two strong earthquakes flattened villages in western Iran early today, killing at least 38 and injuring hundreds. At least 10 tremors rocked the mountainous region throughout the night - the first one had a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 and struck around 1 a.m. local time. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7 magnitude quake shortly before 5 a.m. local time, followed by a 4.7 magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later.

INDONESIA - U.S. researchers have warned that the fault that caused the devastating earthquake in Indonesia in December 2004 could still cause some big ruptures. Analysis of the damage of a quake that followed in the same area three months later shows potential for large movements south of the 2004 and 2005 ruptures. "This southern part is very likely about ready to go again. It could devastate the coastal communities of southwestern Sumatra, including the cities of Padang and Bengkulu, with a combined population of well over a million people. It could happen tomorrow, or it could happen 30 years from now, but I'd be surprised if it were delayed much beyond that." The 2004 quake caused dramatic warping and uplift among the islands and coral atolls in the Sumatran archipelago.

JAPAN - As a result of this year's survey of active faults, the government learned that the Uemachi Fault stretches 58 kilometers between Toyonaka to Kishiwada, not just the 32 kilometers between Toyonaka and Sakai cities as recorded in the previous survey. The revised forecast paints a much grimmer picture than the 1996 forecast of quake damage on four active faults in the prefecture. About 710,000 houses and buildings located on the Uemachi Fault in Osaka Prefecture would be destroyed or damaged if a major shallow-focus earthquake of maximum intensity on the Japanese scale of 7 were to occur.

CALIFORNIA - Seven in 10 Californians believe a big earthquake will strike the state and affect them, but only 22 percent consider themselves well prepared. The lowest rates of preparation were in the Bay Area and the Central Valley. "In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it's surprising to find that nearly half of Californians believe that state, local and federal government are prepared for a major disaster. Let's hope they're right." The Red Cross is trying to train 1 million people this year in disaster response, and they urge people living in earthquake zones to keep five days' of supplies such as food, water and prescriptions on hand.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone GLENDA was 213 nmi WSW of Port Hedland, Australia. (the final warning has been issued for this system.)
AUSTRALIA - Residents of Western Australia's Pilbara coast have begun cleaning up the minor damage done by Cyclone Glenda, but there are concerns about widespread inland flooding. The eye of the category four cyclone passed right over Onslow, 1390km north of Perth, felling trees and cutting power as it lashed the fishing town with fierce winds and horizontal rain. Now a category-one storm, Glenda is expected to weaken as it moves further inland today, but destructive gusts of up to 130km/h are still possible south of the cyclone. It was incredible that there were no reports of injury and very little damage from such a powerful storm.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CENTRAL EUROPE - Emergency crews are working with soldiers to reinforce river banks in the southern Czech Republic as flood waters rise, forcing thousands from their homes. The worst hit area in the Czech Republic was near the town of Znojmo, 200km south east of Prague, where 10,000 people were evacuated from low lying areas along the Dyje River near the border with Austria. Residents in the German states of Bavaria and Saxony were also bracing for flood waters as weather forecasters predicted rain for much of the region through the weekend. About a thousand people were evacuated overnight from the eastern German town of Bad Schandau, close to the river Elbe in Saxony. Other communities were readying to leave their homes.

CALIFORNIA - San Francisco set a NEW ALL-TIME RECORD FOR RAINY DAYS IN MARCH yesterday, the 24th day this month with rainfall, beating the old March record of 23 rainy days set in 1904. It's supposed to rain today, which would be rainy day No. 25. If it rains a little more than half an inch by midnight, it will be the rainiest March EVER in the city. Oakland has also BEATEN ITS OLD RECORD for wet March days. It's had 21 rainy days this month, trumping the old record of 20 set in 1983. San Jose is still a day short of breaking its record of 21 rainy March days, set in 1983. It probably won't rain forever, but the cycle of annoying little storms isn't going to change any time soon. "We are not seeing any shift or break in the pattern. Usually the jet stream kind of wiggles around the globe. Right now it's not wiggling. It's bringing this string of storms across the ocean from Japan." "The rainfall is way above average and it's UNUSUAL that it has extended this far into spring. But each rainstorm has been a pretty average rainstorm."
The ground began to slide under some of Northern California’s priciest and most picturesque homes Wednesday night. A record stretch of rainy days has left the soil saturated in Marin County. A chunk of earth let loose in Sausalito around 7:30 p.m. Officials said the homes surrounding the slide area would be evaluated for structural damage. The slide comes just days after Marin County SET A RECORD FOR THE NUMBER OF RAINY DAYS IN THE MONTH OF MARCH. As of Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported 21 days of rain, breaking a 31-year-old record of 18. With rains expected to continue this week, that toll, and the danger of additional slides will likely continue to grow.

SOUTH AFRICA - Northern Cape farmers beneath the Spitskop dam want the region to be declared a disaster area due to flood conditions that have stopped all farm production for almost a month. Further flooding is expected within the next few days. The floods have caused damage to crops, arable land (due to erosion), irrigation systems and structures. One farm has lost 286ha of lucerne. The concern is that many of the farmers will not be able to rebuild farms and keep their workers. Many farmers in the region had made preparations for the flood conditions, but the water levels rose to beyond "known" flood levels. Farmers in the area produce mainly cash crops such as lucerne and maize. The Taung area in the North West province - upstream from the Spitskop dam - has already been declared a disaster area.

NEW ZEALAND - a FREAK accident in the Waioeka Gorge saw a Gisborne driver plummet into the river when he was hit by a landslide. The driver walked away with minor injuries after his car was thrown about 20 metres into the Waioeka River on Wednesday afternoon. The man was travelling towards Opotiki about 2:15pm when the slip came down, picked up his car and threw it clear over the guard rail, down the bank and into the river. (photos)

PHILIPPINES - The municipal council declared the town of Penablanca, Cagayan under a state of calamity on Tuesday as local officials continued to evacuate 128 families in two villages found to be prone to erosion and landslides. Last week, policemen started relocating 48 families in Buyun and 80 families in Sitio Dabba in Sisim. The villages are at the foot of a hill whose limestone cover has started to erode. Some sections of the villages were observed to be sinking. A landslide in Buyun, a village built on a rolling-to-steep slope, covered about a hectare of land. Trees in the area have slid about three meters. Residents have also heard rumbling sounds. Monitoring confirmed signs of weak soil foundation and saw cracks in several areas in the villages. The village of Taytay in Baggao town was also being observed for signs of landslides and erosion. They are also monitoring a section of the zigzag road in San Jose Village in the town.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A helicopter carrying aid to a group of tourists hit by an avalanche has arrived in southeast Siberia. The heavy-duty Mi-8 brought rescuers and paramedics to the Irkutsk Region to attend to eight tourists who sustained various injuries in the slide on Wednesday. All of the group's 18 tourists are alive. Springtime is an avalanche-hazardous season, and another snow-slide claimed three lives on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.

SWEDEN - A man in his 30s died in an avalanche in the Swedish ski resort of Åre on Thursday. The avalanche struck around lunchtime. Early reports say that skiers released the avalanche, which was around 50 metres wide, onto an off-piste area between two pistes. Heavy snowfall has created an unstable snow layer, leading to an increased risk that it will give way on steeper sections. The avalanche risk was 3 on the 5 point scale.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, March 30, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/29 -
5.1 QINGHAI, CHINA
5.0 NEW BRITAIN
5.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.1 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.5 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.4 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.3 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.3 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.4 SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA
5.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
5.3 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

CALIFORNIA - At approximately 5:36 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, an earthquake shook up residents throughout the Mojave Desert area. With an epicenter located about five miles east of Ridgecrest and 13 miles from Inyokern, the temblor registered at a 4.1 magnitude at a depth of about 6.4 miles. Described as a “short, rocking jolt”, the rumbler did some slight damage and was felt as far north as Panamint Springs in Death Valley National Park and as far east as Barstow. At least one Ridgecrest business had reports of damage, consisting mainly of cracks in walls.

VOLCANOES -
COLUMBIA - Authorities have demanded the evacuation of nearly 9,000 residents close to Colombia’s most active volcano after the geological institute said an eruption may be days or weeks away. The status of the Galeras volcano was raised to level two following increased activity in the volcano’s core. “I trust the scientists and my feeling is that this could be a big eruption. We are appealing to the common-sense of the people to leave the area of danger and so save their lives.”

PHILIPPINES - Bulusan volcano spewed a column of ash nearly 1.5km into the sky late Tuesday, raising fears of a major eruption. Officials said they were considered increasing the alert level. More earthquakes had been recorded in the area recently, a possible sign that the volcano may be about to erupt more powerfully. The ash column may have been created by a reaction between water and hot materials, a "possible sign of rising magma". A four-km exclusion zone is already in place around the volcano.

SOUTH AMERICA - Vilama Caldera may be another unappreciated ‘supervolcano’ (like Yellowstone) hidden in a mega-volcano nursery, dubbed the Eduardo Avaroa Caldera Complex in the tri-section of Argentine, Bolivia and Chile. Vilama Caldera formed during a single event during an eruption 8.4 million-years ago and it is among the world’s largest known eruptions. In contrast, Yellowstone had three cataclysmic events: at 2.0, 1.3, and 0.6 million years ago. “Among the other calderas in the region that need to be studied in detail and which in all cases are also certainly 'supervolcanoes' are Cerro Guacha, Coruto, Pastos Grandes, and Capina."

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone GLENDA was 129 nmi WNW of Port Hedland, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Some of Australia's biggest oil and mining operations shut down and residents were told to take immediate shelter as severe cyclone Glenda bore down on the country's west coast packing winds of up to 265 kilometers per hour (165 miles per hour). Glenda was a category four cyclone, just one level below the maximum five, and was forecast to make landfall later today in the Pilbara. Glenda is expected to create a very dangerous storm tide and flooding in the region, which has already seen substantial rains in recent weeks, the height of the eastern Indian Ocean cyclone season. "The cyclone is basically very close and there are extreme winds and a lot of danger."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CALIFORNIA - The skies over the Sacramento region went FREAKY Tuesday with thunderstorm and flood watches and sudden blasts of hail here and there, thanks to an offshore Pacific storm. The offshore storm was expected to lose steam as it pushed onshore and should serve up a dry reprieve until Friday. The water-water-everywhere theme continues with yet another storm rolling in by Friday evening, followed by - surprise - another storm Sunday afternoon. The normal rainfall for March is 2.80 inches. The total so far is 4.61 inches. The string of storms are not classic "pineapple expresses," storms that suck up tropical moisture from the Hawaiian islands and then whirl it onto the West Coast. Most of the steady rain those bring is falling in Southern California, unlike the thunderstorms and off-and-on rain pattern in the Sacramento area. Bay Area dwellers are about to suffer through the RAINIEST MARCH SINCE 1904, when it rained for 23 days.
Meteorologists are marveling at the pattern's rare persistence. An unusual meshwork of atmospheric highs and lows is clamped down over the Pacific. Storms have been spoiling holidays in Hawaii for days on end, while a south-tilted jet stream has been pumping buckets of moisture into Northern California. Dreary, wet weather seems certain to persist across Northern California until at least the middle of next week, with one storm after another interrupted by only the briefest hints of spring sunshine. Sooner or later, something always perturbs this kind of pattern, which will allow the storm track to move back to the Pacific Northwest where people are more used to this kind of daily soaking. For now, though, all that the meteorologists can see are systems feeding off each other, citing atmospheric phenomena all over the globe including high pressure over Canada, which blocks Pacific storm systems from moving east, and a series of tropical cyclones over Australia, which is "helping to anchor the long wave pattern." "Think of the atmosphere like a river. There's a big current of air that flows around from the west to the east, and there are these buckles in it, areas that loop northward and other areas that loop southward." One such loop is a persistent trough of low pressure over the West Coast, and a high-pressure ridge to the north. As storms develop in the Gulf of Alaska, they ride up and down the ridge, skimming over Washington and Oregon for the most part but pummeling Northern California. "Once this patterns breaks down, it will be much more likely for the pattern to be drier in April, and maybe drier than normal." "There's no physical reasoning for me to say what I'm saying, but I would just anticipate, as the sun is moving north, for the jet stream to follow, and then we would think the storm track will move father north." Total rainfall, as measured in downtown San Francisco, has been 7.88 inches so far this month, exceeded only six times since the Gold Rush. Snowpack is about 25 percent above average in the Sierra. Last month had almost three weeks without any rain at all.

THAILAND - On Tuesday night, storms and windshowers hit northern and northeastern parts of the country, and Bangkok. The weather bureau predicts more FREAK storms such as that one. Meteorologists said such storms could be expected from time to time until the end of the dry season, each storm lasting about an hour. The bureau said a westerly wind from Burma would spread to northern Thailand and cause thunderstorms, winds and hail over some areas from tomorrow to Sunday.

COLUMBIA - The number of dead Colombian citizens from the first winter rains in 2006 has reached 34, with 50 injured from landslides, flooding rivers and other damages caused by the strong rain. More than 37,000 Colombians, some 7,000 families, are affected by the rains that started in mid March. The rain has so far produced 57 mudslides, 16 storms, 32 floods, and four avalanches, with rain continuing in some regions for more than 72 hours. Prevention and rescue organizations have named 132 high risk zones, in which there are 10,000 families, and decreed an orange alert in 15 of the 32 departments of Colombia. Valle del Cauca remains on yellow alert, as does Antioquia, where several landslides took place, leaving 3 houses destroyed and 20 seriously damaged. At least 200 people were affected by floods.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/28 -
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 UNIMAK ISLAND, ALASKA
6.0 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.5 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone GLENDA was 169 nmi N of Port Hedland, Australia.
TROPICAL CYCLONE GLENDA, the sixth tropical cyclone of the WA season, is off Western Australia's Pilbara coast and has intensified into a massive category five storm. Glenda is expected to approach the coast later today and during Thursday. There is the risk of very destructive winds Thursday as the cyclone moves closer to the coast.
AUSTRALIA - Only the most intrepid surfers were in the water yesterday as huge waves pounded beaches around Sydney. Waves reached heights of up to eight metres, according to weather experts. High winds from the weather system formerly known as Tropical Cyclone Wati started the huge swell 1000 kilometres offshore in the Tasman Sea.( photo gallery of monster waves)
The aftershocks of Wati and Cyclone Larry have been felt across the country, with rain lashing Western Australia and South Australia. A trough of low pressure brought rain to South Australia's lower north region, where in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday Spalding received 94mm, Gladstone 39mm, Caltowie 33mm and Yacka 63mm. The trough is expected to move east as a large area of high pressure dominates the Bight from Friday. Heavy rain from ex-tropical cyclone Larry in Queensland's northwest has caused the Leichhardt and Alexander rivers to burst their banks. And 80km inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria a shark was reported in a river. The huge surf conditions on the NSW coast over the past two days were caused by a low following Wati, which travelled down from the Coral Sea towards the Tasman Sea on Sunday.
Residents of cyclone-shattered far north Queensland are being urged not to desert the region despite many being left without work and homes. "There is a powder keg up there and it just needs somebody to strike a match. There are thousands of people walking the streets who have no homes, they have no jobs and they are very, very angry indeed." Estimates have put the damage at well over $1 billion, along with widespread job losses, including 4,000 from the banana industry. Cyclone Larry caused widespread flooding in the Gulf country and there are reports of hundreds of cattle swimming for their lives. "They can't keep swimming forever, obviously." Several towns, including Burketown, Doomadgee and Gregory, have been isolated by floodwaters and more than 2,000kg of food will be airlifted on today.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CZECH REPUBLIC - Authorities reinforced the main river in Prague on Tuesday as rising waters from the Vltava river threatened to flood low-lying parts of the historic city, including its zoo. Barriers were erected to prevent water spilling into streets. Rivers across the central European country were rising fast due to rain and unusually warm weather which melted deep snow which fell over the winter. The water flowing into Prague was three times the average for spring, and estimates are it could rise by another about 75 percent in the coming days. Weather forecasters said there would be more rain throughout the week. Prague suffered its worst flooding in centuries in the summer of 2002.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - A spring blizzard continued to pound eastern Newfoundland Tuesday with another 15 centimetres of snow expected to fall. Monday's storm dumped 20 centimetres of snow and caused heavy drifting on the Burin, Bonavista and Avalon peninsulas. "What we're looking at today is an additional 10 to 15 centimetres through overnight, and winds gusting to 100 km/h." High tides and heavy waves along the east and northeast coasts were also a concern until today. While the snow should melt this week, another unpredictable weather system is expected next Monday. "We're not quite sure how much rain and how much snow is going to be with that one." Early spring snowstorms are not uncommon in Newfoundland. "It's been known on the May 24th weekend to get six inches of snow."

HAWAII - Freezing winds in Hawaii? The summit of Haleakala National Park on Maui sustained 70 mile per hour gusts, hale and ice Tuesday forcing the closure of the visitor center. The National Park Service says the wind chill at the ten-thousand-foot summit reached minus-two degrees. Restrooms and heaters in the center were also out due to a power outage. The temperature for the coastal areas of Maui was a balmy 80 degrees.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/27 -
5.0 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA, REGION
5.1 MINDORO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.2 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.0 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.3 NORTHERN CHILE
5.5 KYUSHU, JAPAN
5.2 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 SAMOA ISLANDS REGION

Battered over the past 15 months by seven of the 10 most-expensive catastrophes in the company's history, Allstate Insurance Co. is taking steps to reduce its exposure to disasters by discontinuing writing residential and commercial earthquake coverage in most of the U.S. The company also is planning to shed some of the 407,000 earthquake policies it already has in force nationwide. Earthquake coverage costs a homeowner 20 cents to 40 cents per $1,000 of a residence's value. Allstate's main concern in the Midwest is the New Madrid seismic zone near the intersecting borders of TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY and MISSOURI. The Geological Survey agency predicts a greater than 90 percent chance of a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake in the New Madrid area during the next 50 years. Allstate has been among the most aggressive insurers in reducing disaster exposure. The company recently said it was cutting back on homeowners policies in NEW YORK, on adjacent LONG ISLAND and in parts of TEXAS. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in September stopped writing property insurance policies in FLORIDA, and this month will begin dropping 35,000 homeowners policies that come up for renewal in the hurricane-prone states. "The current insurance model is not well-suited for handling losses from low-frequency, high-severity, mega-catastrophic events."

VOLCANOES -
COSTA RICA closed the area surrounding its central mountain range Monday, due to fear of new eruptions from Poas Volcano. The generated earth movements do not represent any immediate risk to the residents on the volcano´s slopes, but there exists the danger of new explosions. Park Security stated that the measure will be in effect for a long time, in order to protect the lives of the neighbors and tourists. Alajuela Province´s Poas Volcano, 40 miles northwest of the capital, suddenly began emitting water and wet sediment since Friday.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone GLENDA was 143 nmi N of Broome, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Western Australia's latest cyclone has been upgraded to a category three system and is expected to intensify before it crosses the coast. Cyclone Glenda, which has brought huge rainfall to parts of the Kimberley, in the north, is about 270 kilometres north of Broome and veering away from the coast at 13 kilometres per hour. Communities from Mitchell Plateau down to Broome have been placed on blue alert, in case the cyclone turns inland. Glenda is most likely to develop further and cross the Pilbara coast later in the week. "It's highly likely to develop further, so we expect it to be a category five cyclone - when it crosses the coast."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Mid-north residents are cleaning up after the WORST FLASH FLOODING IN MORE THAN 60 YEARS. About 100mm of rain fell in less than four hours in and around Spalding and Jamestown. "There is more than 50 tonnes of rock and mud on the netball courts that have to be removed by hand because we can't get any machinery in there. Several hundreds of tonnes of debris is on the main road as well, so everyone is working together to clean up this mess."
Flooding has reached RECORD LEVELS on some remote cattle properties in north-west Queensland. Heavy rains from ex-tropical cyclone Larry last week led to the Leichhardt River bursting its banks and isolating several stations in the region. "It's a massive flood."

HAWAII - Fears of flooding face Windward Oahu residents as the wet weather keeps falling. Island residents continue to deal with torrential rains; trying to dry out, and at the same time, getting ready for more wet weather.
The turnaround from December's record-low rainfall has been an unusually wet March in Hawai'i as the storm watch continues with no end in sight. Boulders from a hillside littered Kailua Road yesterday morning, blocking one Kailua-bound lane from about 10 a.m. to noon. Heavy rains also caused boulders to fall elsewhere on O'ahu. "It's got to end sometime. This is wild. I've never experienced this kind of weather event or episode to my recollection. This kind of persistent trough is VERY, VERY RARE. Like a one-in-a-hundred-years kind of thing." The weather service was reviewing data to confirm if this has been the wettest March on record in Hawai'i. It already is the WETTEST MONTH EVER in Lihu'e, Kaua'i. From March 1 through 8 p.m. Sunday, Lihu'e had recorded 32.95 inches of rain. The previous high for the entire month of March was 3.03 inches. Honolulu International Airport had recorded 10.28 inches for the month as of 4 p.m. Sunday. 1.64 inches is the average March rainfall at the airport. "So far, February was wetter than normal and we're coming up to 40 days of excessive rains."

SOUTH AFRICA - Several families have been left homeless after their homes flooded and collapsed at Qho and Qhonyana village in Taung in the North West due to heavy rain. Taung residents are now starting to panic. Since the rain started about three months ago, six people drowned and 1040 families have been left homeless. Heavy floods have also destroyed bridges, burying them underwater, making it impossible in some villages for children to attend school. The last heavy floods to hit Taung were about 18 years ago. At the beginning of March, when the first floods fell on the area, the North West government promised to promptly supply food and shelter. However, communities say they are still waiting.
The situation in most villages of Taung in the North West remains critical following continuous torrential rain in the area. Most bridges in the villages are underwater. The floods, which hit the area for almost three months, have reportedly left some of the villages isolated and inaccessible. Rains the night of the 24th - measuring about 30mm - caused extensive damage at Qho village where several houses mostly built of mud have collapsed. More rain is still expected in the area.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Traffic on the Puerto Plata-Navarrete highway has become chaotic in the last days, due to new mudslides affecting the route from the heavy rains. A 300 meter section of the Maimón–La Colorada road has been washed out by torrents and debris falling from the hills located on both sides of the route. Along the old highway numerous potholes and sunk pavements can also be observed, which makes the transit of vehicles in the zone markedly difficult.

GERMANY - A RARE tornado wreaked havoc in the northern German city of Hamburg yesterday, tearing the roofs off houses, overturning cars and killing two people. In June 2004, two small villages in eastern Germany suffered extensive damage when a tornado tore through them.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - A FREAK tornado destroyed 23 houses and left more than a thousand people without shelter in Hauna village on the Sepik River 13 days ago on March 14. The storm struck at 8:30pm - it lasted only three minutes but the damage was extensive. Witnesses said houses were ripped off the ground and into the air for several seconds before they came crashing to the ground. Some claimed to have seen young children being lifted off the ground. There was only one casualty reported out of the 2,000-odd villagers – an elderly woman who suffered some cuts and bruises when her house fell on her. The storm also flooded several houses, destroyed food gardens and other properties.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA, NEWFOUNDLAND - A late-season blizzard shut down schools, banks and many businesses in eastern Newfoundland Monday. Compared to some of the blizzards that struck the island earlier this year, Monday's storm was modest. But high winds reduced visibility to near zero in some areas. In central Newfoundland and along the northeast coast, wind warnings were in effect.

CALIFORNIA - Spring arrived on Monday, and only several hours later, it felt like winter again. Snow pounded Oakhurst and its surrounding communities Monday afternoon, causing power outages, road closures and chain restrictions, the latest in a series of storms to hit during the past month. Two more storms were forecasted for the next five days. In Yosemite National Park, snow accumulation continues to extend from the higher accumulations to the valley floor. "On the valley floor, it's probably compacted about six inches and that's fairly significant. It means that we will have water in the falls for longer because the water is kind of stored in the higher elevations and released over a longer period of time."

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, March 27, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/26 -
None 5.0 or higher.

IRAN - One person was killed in the powerful 6.0 earthquake that hit a mountainous area of southern Iran on Saturday, damaging some rural houses and blocking mountain roadways to villages.
Reports released on Sunday said that the city of Fin has been jolted 23 times over the past 24 hours.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical low FLOYD was 547 nmi WSW of Broome, Australia.
Cyclone GLENDA was 176 nmi NNE of Broome, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Residents of the far north of Western Australia were bracing for the sixth cyclone of the season. At Port Hedland and in the Pilbara region, residents were urged to prepare for tropical cyclone Glenda, which today was a category one storm off the Kimberley coastline. This system is expected to rapidly intensify as it moves off the north-west coast. "At this stage we are saying it could be at least a category three, which is severe." Floyd, the fifth cyclone of the November to April season in WA, was downgraded to a tropical low.
Cyclone Larry has helped save the Great Barrier Reef from a major bleaching event, after a one degree rise in sea surface temperatures above the normal summer maximum due to global warming, by lowering the water temperatures, a marine specialist says. Cyclones Larry and Wati together helped avoid an event similar to that of 2002 when over 60 per cent of the reef was bleached and 10 per cent actually died. "It's certainly eliminated any possibility that a final blast of summer might have caused further damage from coral bleaching."

NEW ZEALAND - Tropical Cyclone Wati is expected to weaken further over the next day or two, bringing relief to northern areas of New Zealand lashed by heavy rain overnight. This morning Wati was no longer a tropical cyclone. "It's still quite a deep low sitting in the eastern Tasman Sea. It's expected to slowly weaken further and cross the North Island tomorrow but it will be pretty weak by then." Over 100mm of rain fell in parts of the Coromandel in the last 24 hours and Northland was lashed by heavy rain yesterday. "The weather is pretty unsettled in a lot of places really. There is rain over most of the North Island and parts of the South Island as well." The weather will be unsettled for the next couple of days.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - Two people died and three others were missing after a group of snowmobiles was caught in an avalanche on the Russian Pacific peninsula of Kamchatka Sunday. About 10 snowmobiles were riding near a volcano about 35 miles south of the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, when the avalanche hit around 10am.

PAKISTAN - In occupied Kashmir, two persons were killed and another injured in a snow avalanche in Poonch district. The three persons, who were on their way from their native village Barari to Dholewali of the district, were trapped in a snow slide near Dholewali. Two persons died and another was seriously injured.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, March 26, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/25 -
5.2 MYANMAR-INDIA BORDER REGION
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.2 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.5 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.5 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.7 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.0 OFF COAST NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
3/24 -
5.9 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION
6.0 NEAR NORTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA

IRAN - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 (5.7) on the Richter scale and a series of aftershocks struck the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan on Saturday. The quakes caused minor damage. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The earthquake was centered near the rural area of Fin in Hormuzgan province. Fin has a population of about 15,000, lies some 70 km north of the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf, and is home to one of the Islamic Republic's key refineries.

CALIFORNIA - Several faults lurk beneath the Bay area, including the San Andreas Fault on the west side, but geologists say the parallel Hayward on the Bay's east side is the most likely to snap next. "It is locked and loaded and ready to fire at any time." The Hayward Fault runs through one of the country's most densely populated areas. It slices the earth's crust along a 50-mile swath of suburbia east of San Francisco. The ground on each side of the fault could shift 3 feet, meaning two objects on opposite sides could be abruptly carried a total of 6 feet apart. The fault is obvious, marked by a crack that snakes through a parking lot in Hayward's business district, fractures in the pavement outside houses, misaligned street curbs, warped concrete gutters, new cracks that appear in ceilings every few weeks, strange bulges in the street.

TURKEY - Residents in a small quake-prone central Turkish town have set up tents in streets and gardens in fear of a possible earthquake following the March 29 solar eclipse. Northwestern Turkey was struck by a devastating earthquake in August 1999 that killed some 17,000 people just six days after another solar eclipse, and some believe the temblor was triggered by the phenomenon. Although scientists have appeared on television to reassure the public that there is no evidence of any link between an eclipse and earthquakes, many still fear that next week's eclipse could cause a new disaster. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon crosses between the Earth and sun. On March 29, the eclipse will be visible across a track stretching from Brazil, crossing through much of Africa, into Turkey and ending in Mongolia.

VOLCANOES -
PHILIPPINES - Government authorities have drawn up contingency plans for the evacuation of thousands of residents living in 6 towns near the foot of Mt. Bulusan which has shown restiveness since last Sunday. At present, however, the volcano remains at the low Alert Level No. 1.

MONTSERRAT - Scots scientists are on an urgent mission to find out if a the Soufriere Hills volcano is about to erupt. The Caribbean island, which belongs to the UK, was devastated by the volcano's eruption in July 1995. Two-thirds of the population fled abroad and only a handful ever returned. The mountain is once again showing signs of activity after a lava dome was spotted growing at its summit. The formation is caused by new magma, which is forced up from within the Earth. The dome will eventually become unstable and collapse with deadly hot rocks and ash flowing down the mountainside.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone FLOYD was 543 nmi WSW of Broome, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
HAWAII has been hit with UNUSUAL WEATHER lately. A heavy dose of wintry weather has caught people by surprise. "Every other day it seems to be like thunderstorms and lightning. At home, thunder was shaking my house and I've never seen it like this before." "In normal times, it would come for a day or two, then move out," said the National Weather Service. "For a number of reasons, globally this winter, the pattern has remained static, and this low-pressure system is not moving out." The persistent low-pressure system northwest of the islands is causing the STRANGE conditions. "It is creating more instability in the atmosphere, allowing the thunderstorms to grow to sizes and heights that we don't normally see in Hawaii." The conditions will stay around until next week.
HAWAII - There was more than just the rumble of thunder that rolled through the state Thursday night. A tornado tore thru the island of Lana'i. A shack was smashed to smithereens, and the force of the winds broke up a fence anchored in concrete and tore apart trailers at a construction site. Thunderstorms are not too common, but tornadoes are RARE here in the islands. Hawaii only gets one per year statewide on average.
A brief hailstorm blanketed parts of South Kona with pea-size pieces of ice. Strong winds were blowing the ice particles nearly horizontally, embedding them in the screens on windows. Hail was reported in several Big Island communities. A mile from Captain Cook, in Kealakekua, hailstones the size of quarters were reported. High winds knocked down electric lines and television cables The UNUSUAL event was preceded Thursday night by a thunder and lightning storm out to sea in the direction of Maui where the tornado touched down. At daybreak, Kona weather seemed normal, but at about 9:30 a.m. a sudden dark cloud formed. Residents found themselves in a swirling fog, and winds pushed rain and hail nearly horizontal. "In 20 minutes the whole thing was over." At about 4:25 p.m., a replay happened on the other side of the island in Puna. The National Weather Service said hailstones the size of nickels fell near Mountain View, south of Hilo.

SNOW / COLD -
NEPAL - Locals near Everest fret about Mother Nature’s next surprise. Trekkers and Sherpas in Khumbu were asking last week, "If there is all this global warming how come it snowed so much this spring?", as an UNPRECEDENTED and UNSEASONAL blizzard dumped heavy snow at the tail end of a bone-dry winter. Meterologists explain it is not so much climate change but climate variability associated with the greenhouse effect. No one we spoke to in Khumbu last week could remember a winter like this without snow, or a spring with so much. “This is something we never saw and heard about,” said an 80-year-old. “It’s quite ominous.”

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
The amount of sunshine reaching earth is increasing, accelerating the pace of climate change, scientists have found. A series of independent studies around the world show a significant rise in the amount of sunshine penetrating the atmosphere to be absorbed by the earth’s surface and turned into heat. “The enhanced warming we have seen since the 1990s along with phenomena such as the widespread melting of glaciers could well be due to this increased intensity of sunlight compounding the effect of greenhouse gases.” Measurements of sunshine levels between 1960 and 1990 had shown a decrease in the amount of sunshine reaching the earth, a phenomenon known as global dimming. This was thought to have been caused by dust, smog and other pollutants, mainly from industrialised western countries. In the last two decades, however, there have been significant decreases in such pollutants, partly due to industry becoming cleaner but largely because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and much of its heavy industry. “A widespread brightening has been observed since the 1980s. This may substantially affect surface climate, the water cycle, glaciers and ecosystems.”

NEW ZEALAND - Rainfall records show New Zealand's weather is changing in line with forecasts for climate change. Analysis of rainfall over the past 100 years shows western New Zealand is getting wetter. The figures also confirm expectations that climate change will mean more droughts on the country's east coast. Another trend is stronger westerly winds over the south of the country. While New Zealand's climate is highly variable, an increase in average temperatures has also been recorded. There are also more extreme events, with more episodes of very heavy rain.

Friday, March 24, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/23 -
5.7 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
5.0 MOZAMBIQUE
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND - Tauranga residents were rudely woken early today by an earthquake centred 20km southwest of the city. It struck at 4.16am and while measuring only a modest 3.5 on the Richter scale, was at a depth of just 1km. It was the third quake in this country in a period of less than four hours. The earlier quakes were a magnitude 4.1 shake northwest of Porirua at 2.37am with a depth of 60km, and another at 12.17am measuring 4.3 centred north of Gisborne at a depth of 25km.

CALIFORNIA - Earthquake swarms with temblors measuring 3.7 magnitude near Moraga and 2.9 near Anderson Springs occurred Tuesday, jiggling nerves in both the East and North Bay but causing no reports of damage or injuries. As a precaution the BART system slowed its trains to half speed until the rail lines in the area near quake were checked. The 3.7 temblor hit at 1:42 p.m. about 4 miles southeast of Moraga and was followed over the next 40 minutes by seven smaller quakes. At Anderson Springs, near Santa Rosa, four quakes measuring from 2.9 to 2.1 hit starting at 2:05 p.m. A similar swarm struck near the Hayward Fault on March 1. Typically an earthquake with a magnitude as large as a 3.7 will be followed by a swarm of smaller quakes. "I guess the UNUSUAL thing is that other than the 3.7 and the 3.2 in February we haven't seen any earthquakes as large as (magnitude) 2 in this area." Tuesday's East Bay quakes were located between the Hayward and northern Calaveras faults, rather than on one of the major Bay Area faults. They were felt by thousands of people. The last large quake to occur on the Hayward Fault - estimated to have been about magnitude 7 - took place in 1868.

JAPAN - A court has ordered Japan's newest nuclear reactor to be shut down over fears about its safety in the event of an earthquake. This is the most modern nuclear facility in Japan and the ruling raises questions about the 54 other reactors in operation.

GREENLAND - Scientists have recorded a significant and unexpected increase in the number of "glacial earthquakes" caused by the sudden movement of Manhattan-sized blocks of ice in Greenland. The rise in the number of glacial earthquakes over the past four years lends further weight to the idea that Greenland's glaciers and its ice sheet are beginning to move and melt on a scale not seen for perhaps thousands of years. The annual number of glacial earthquakes recorded in Greenland between 1993 and 2002 was between six and 15. In 2003 seismologists recorded 20 glacial earthquakes. In 2004 they monitored 24 and for the first 10 months of 2005 they recorded 32. In a single area of north-western Greenland scientists recorded just one quake between 1993 and 1999. But they monitored more than two dozen quakes there between 2000 and 2005. Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen far faster than in other parts of the world over the past few decades, resulting in the rapid acceleration in polar melting. Of the 136 glacial quakes analysed by the scientists, more than a third occurred during July and August.

VOLCANOES -
PHILIPPINES - After an initial ash explosion and a continuous jet of steam, Mount Bulusan became subdued on Thursday. The Phivolcs’ seismic network in the area recorded seven volcanic earthquakes the past 24 hours, much lower than the 59 seismic events that preceded the 10:58 p.m. explosion on Tuesday. On Wednesday, scientists observed a continuous jet of steam after it spewed 1.5-kilometer-high ash columns into the sky shortly before midnight Tuesday. The volcano started rumbling on Saturday. The threat of hazardous explosion remains within the coming days or month. The government institute reiterated its alert level 1 on Bulusan, meaning the volcano is still exhibiting the precursors to what could be a hazardous eruption.

NEW ZEALAND - Experts says Raoul Island's seismic readings follow a fairly predictable pattern. A team of Department of Conservation staff and scientists remain on the island despite the crater being deemed too volatile to search. The team is looking for the DOC worker who went missing after an eruption last Friday. A sweep of the area yesterday found the Green Lake had risen up to eight metres. Such activity on the island is not unusual. The lake level rose after a series of earthquakes in March 1993.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone FLOYD was 821 nmi W of Broome, Australia.
Cyclone WATI was 671 nmi E of Townsville, Australia.
Cyclone Wati could be heading for New Zealand. It formed behind Larry, which crossed the Queensland coast on Monday. Wati has been slowly building in strength in the Coral Sea off northern Queensland for several days. The Metservice says it might start moving south over the next few days and reach New Zealand on Monday or Tuesday. Cyclones have seldom hit New Zealand in history.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
HAWAII - The heavy rains caused a landslide that covered part of Round Top Drive Thursday morning. It's the second day in a row that the rains have created problems for the area. It happened at about 6:30 a.m. in the same area where a landslide covered the roadway on Wednesday. The landslide on Thursday covered about a 200-foot stretch of road. The earth piled up as high as 12 feet in one spot. State Department of Land and Natural Resources teams had surveyed the area on Wednesday. They said it didn't appear that there would be any imminent threat of another landslide.

SNOW / COLD -
FLORIDA - patchy frost was possible late last night through early this morning across the coastal portions of Northwest Florida and southwest Alabama. Lows are expected to reach the mid-30s in coastal areas, with lows near freezing in northern parts of the area counties. "Frost can form in those temperatures. It's a little STRANGE for this time of year."

OKLAHOMA - Snow fell across a wide section of Oklahoma on Wednesday night and early Thursday, causing hazardous conditions on roadways and a number of traffic accidents. A freeze warning was in effect for much of the region, with temperatures expected to dip into the 20s by Thursday night. The wintry blast is UNUSUAL for this time of year in Oklahoma. The forecast low in Oklahoma City on Thursday evening was 24 degrees, just one degree warmer than a record low set in 1965.

CALIFORNIA - the first two-thirds of March yielded nearly 150 percent of the normal rainfall for the entire month, so the appearance of the sun last Saturday and Sunday was cause for great wonder locally as were temperatures which actually reached their average highs for this time of year - mid to upper 60s. The break was short-lived, and yet another front in a seemingly endless progression of fronts brought rain back to the Valley. In the high latitudes over Greenland and northern Canada, a persistent blocking high has forced the jet stream to dip sharply over the steep ridge to their west and dive directly into the coast bringing round after round of perfectly awful weather while practically ruining a month that almost always can be counted on to provide more than just a few days of beautifully benign sun and warmth. These copious late-winter rains have been a boon to northern California's lakes and reservoirs which are filling rapidly with all the runoff. The high Sierra sports more than 20 feet of snow in some locations - a snowpack that is almost guaranteed to last well into the summer. The Climate Prediction Center's long range outlook, for more than a few months now, has been touting a spring, summer, fall and winter marked by above normal temperatures with near normal precipitation (except for below normal during the July, August, September period). With the way the pattern has been here for the last month or so, there will have to be a major shift in the upper air flow to effect that sort of a radical change before the first of April.

MYSTERIOUS BOOM -
CANADA - British Columbia - Possibly a meteorite - A loud explosion in Burnaby late Wednesday night, March 22, has authorities scratching their heads. About 11:05 the blast rattled windows and awakened neighbours near the Chaffey Burke Elementary School on Abbey Avenue. Police responded with officers and a dog but came up empty handed. All they could find was a small hole in the ground. No damage has been reported and there were no injuries.

CLIMATE CHANGE -
In recent months, a cascade of new scientific evidence on climate change has made even mainstream scientists increasingly concerned about what lies ahead. Now the most urgent question is not whether climate change is real, but how serious and rapid it will be, and whether it will soon be too late to do anything to stop it. Scientists have not been frank enough about the fact the outlook on climate change now includes the possibility of calamitous change. "I think sea-level rise is going to be the big issue soon, more even than warming itself." New evidence supports the growing scientific proof that predictions about climate change have been underplayed.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, March 23, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/22 -
5.0 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
5.0 OFF COAST NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
5.0 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

SERBIA - A central Serbia region, already suffering from more than 100 landslides, was hit Wednesday by a moderate 4.5 earthquake which caused additional damage to an area where dozens of homes have been destroyed amid heavy rains and melting snow. The quake caused cracks in several old buildings and triggered a brief panic at its epicenter. The same region was hit by stronger, 5.4- and 5.7-magnitude quakes in 1998 and 1999 respectively. "The situation is getting worse by the hour," said the chief municipal official in Trstenik. "The ground is splitting, walls are cracking, roofs falling." A state of emergency was also declared in the Kraljevo district, where an entire village moved by a dozen meters (yards) as the slope on which it is located shifted downhill due to recent heavy rains. Twenty-nine houses were destroyed and about 100 badly damaged by the landslides in the southwestern municipality of Cacak. Eighteen roads were damaged near the southern city of Krusevac, threatening to cut off several villages.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone FLOYD was 729 nmi WNW of Broome, Australia.
Cyclone WATI was 442 nmi E of Townsville, Australia.

AUSTRALIA - Cyclone Larry might have left a trail of damage 150km wide through the Great Barrier Reef and stripped bare 95 per cent of rainforests where it struck the coast. The cyclone was a category-four storm for most of its journey across the reef before it smashed into the coastal town of Innisfail early on Monday as a category five. It is feared coral in sections of the Great Barrier Reef may have been reduced to rubble, while once-lush rainforests in the Innisfail and Mission Beach areas are thought to have been badly damaged. "We think that there's probably less than five per cent vegetation cover in most areas where the cyclone came ashore, in particular around Mission Beach, Innisfail and Palmerston." The extent of wildlife fatalities was still unknown.
TROPICAL CYCLONE WATI will swirl towards south-east Queensland but is unlikely to cross the coast, the weather bureau has forecast. There had been fears Wati could follow Larry's destructive path and bring a second wave of devastation to flattened parts of far north Queensland. The bureau predicted this movement several days ago but later doubted their forecasts when Wati became stationary. Wati will bring winds and high seas to the south-east coast, but little of the desperately needed rain.
CYCLONE FLOYD formed northwest of Australia in the Timor Sea on March 21. The cyclone gained power gradually and was heading west into the Indian Ocean. It was not predicted to travel over any large landmasses, though it may pose a threat to Christmas Island well off the Western Australian coast in the Indian Ocean.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
HAWAII - Heavy rains soaked much of Oahu on Tuesday night. The storm caused landslides on Round Top Drive and in Manoa. Tons of mud slid down the hill at about 4 a.m. and covered an area 100 feet long and 7 feet high in certain parts. The landslide blocked the lanes in both directions. There were no homes in the area and no one was injured. It took 22 truckloads to remove the mud. More rains are expected to drench the islands in the next couple of days. All of the islands are under a flash flood watch through tonight. The unstable weather spawned a waterspout off Kaneohe on Tuesday afternoon that touched down near Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

UNUSUAL PLANT BEHAVIOR -
NEW ZEALAND - An UNUSUALLY PROLONGED and prolific flowering period of cabbage trees has been linked to global climate change. Though some cabbage trees had flowered profusely during their normal flowering time in November, others had flowered in late summer, which had never been seen before. "Normally cabbage trees flower at the beginning of summer, and the density of the flowering is regarded by some as an indication as to how dry the summer will be. This year, as well as some flowering profusely in November, others flowered in late January-early February." "Kahikatea also experienced a flush season, producing a huge amount of fruit." The weather had been unusually dry and sunny on the Kapiti Coast in January – it was the DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD. This month was also proving to be unusually dry and sunny, though temperatures had been a lot cooler than normal. A biologist who had studied cabbage trees for about 20 years, had never heard of them flowering in late summer. Some pohutukawa trees north of Waikanae had flowered in late summer as well, which he regarded as QUITE ODD. Some cabbage trees in Otaki had not stopped flowering all summer, which was HIGHLY UNUSUAL. The very dry and cool weather on the coast had prompted early autumn leaf coloring. "Extremely dry weather can cause trees to produce huge amounts of flowers and seeds to ensure the species will continue. This season the abundance of fruit has been spectacular – extremely high yields compared with last season when there was virtually no fruit at all."

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/21 -
5.0 PAKISTAN

MOZAMBIQUE - Aftershocks continue, weeks after the February quake. Three minor earth tremors were recorded on Sunday in the central Mozambican province of Manica, affecting the same areas hit by the earthquake of February 23. Since the post-quake readjustment of the plates could take months, more aftershocks are likely to happen. But as time passes they will diminish in intensity. Authorities claim that about 1,000 people were "affected" by the earthquake. There were five known fatalities, while 28 people were injured and 300 traditional homes and other structures built with flimsy materials were destroyed.

VOLCANOES -
PHILIPPINES - a volcano has spewed a column of ash 1.5 kilometres into the sky, raising fears of a major eruption. Officials are considering increasing the alert level from level one to level three, indicating "moderate unrest", after Mount Bulusan in the central Philippines belched ash an hour before midnight (3am AEDT). The Philippine Institute of Seismology and Vulcanology said the ash was unlikely to cause any harm. More earthquakes had been recorded in the area recently, a possible sign that the volcano may be about to erupt more powerfully. Bulusan had a series of similar explosions in 1994 and 1995.

NEW ZEALAND - The Raoul crater is still potentially volatile according to GNS Science volcanologists aboard a flight over the island. The volcanologists have completed their aerial assessment of the crater and been in contact with the ground-based scientists. No sign was seen of the missing DOC staff member. They observed a rise in the level of the Green Lake of 6-8 metres compared to the footage of the area taken on Friday. This is similar to what occurred prior to the 1964 eruption. "Even from a distance the effects of the eruption were spectacular. Large trees are just uplifted and blown apart. Boulders are strewn across a large area with a thick layer of ask everywhere around the eruption site.”

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone FLOYD was 551 nmi WNW of Broome, Australia.
Cyclone WATI was 409 nmi ENE of Townsville, Australia.

Cyclone Wati is baffling weather experts - "Wati is much more of an erratically moving cyclone than Larry, which moved in a straight line and very steadily." Forecasters were no longer confident of earlier predictions that Wati would move south. Wati would probably bring gale-force winds and large waves along the coast over the next 24 hours. "The combination of the cyclone being where it is and a high pressure system in the Tasman Sea means there will be fairly large waves on exposed beaches and gale force winds of 34 to 40 knots." Category-three Wati is hovering off Queensland and forecast to intensify but weather experts cannot say whether it will cross the coast. "It will be fairly slow moving and remain off the coast for the next few days – it's hard to predict it's movements after that. Over the past few hours it's become a lot slower – in fact it's become stationary because mid-level winds that were steering it towards the coast are weakening due to the approach of an upper trough."

AUSTRALIA - Around 150 millimetres of torrential rain has fallen at Innisfail, the town hardest hit by cyclone Larry, hampering the rescue work that desperately needs to be carried out. Earlier this morning the highway was cut both north and south of the town but rain is expected to ease. Until this past weekend, it had been more than 30 years since a powerful hurricane struck Australia.

NEW YORK could be devastated this summer by a killer storm as powerful as Hurricane Katrina - one that could claim countless lives and cause billions of dollars in damages, top meteorologists warned Monday. They say the metropolitan area is long overdue for a powerful hurricane, and weather conditions now being monitored are alarmingly similar to those that triggered the catastrophic, nameless hurricane of 1938, which killed 600 people in the Northeast. "The Northeast is staring down the barrel of a gun. [With] the weather patterns and hydrology we're seeing in the oceans, the likelihood of a major hurricane making landfall in the Northeast is not a question of if - but when." Even more vulnerable than New York City, meteorologists say, are the Hamptons, which could see huge areas of land disappear under water if the storm surge the hurricane generates is powerful enough. Fire Island, a glorified sandbar of multimillion-dollar homes, would likely be wiped out.

TEXAS - Calling Hurricane Rita "a warning shot," a major private weather service warned Monday that the Texas Gulf Coast - including Southeast Texas - likely will see higher-than-normal tropical storm activity in the next 10 years. "The Texas coast is in for a long period of tropical activity, particularly the region from Corpus Christi to Sabine Pass at the Louisiana border." Accuweather.com predicted the Northeastern U.S. would be hit by a hurricane "larger and more powerful than anything that region has seen in a long time." A hurricane of this magnitude has not made landfall in the northeastern U.S. in almost 60 years..."it could become the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - A family of six was killed when a landslip buried their house in the Obura-Wonenara district in the Eastern Highlands Province last week. The family members were buried alive while asleep when the landslip swamped their house. Landslips and floods caused by continuous heavy rains also left 500 people from the Ungai-Bena district homeless. Villages in Obura were severely affected and had been forced to leave their homes. Heavy rain also washed away three bridges, many food gardens and coffee trees.

HAWAII - The constant deluge is taking an emotional toll on residents. Many are at wits' end after the fifth time heavy rains have slammed some homes during the recent storms. Though Oahu received a break from the heavy rain Monday, many residents mostly on the Windward side remain frustrated after most or all their furniture and personal items were damaged. And more rain is predicted to arrive later this week. Kauai is expected to receive the brunt of a thunderstorm, and a flash-flood watch could be in effect today and Thursday.

SNOW / COLD -
ARKANSAS - cooler temperatures forecast for the region this week are UNUSUAL. High temperatures should climb to about 65 by the end of the weekend, which is normal for this time of year.

WASHINGTON - The warmest high temperature and the coolest low temperature of the regular reporting stations Monday were both west of the Cascades, which is UNUSUAL.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off - updated Wednesdays.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/20 -
5.0 GUERRERO, MEXICO
5.2 PAKISTAN
5.5 PAKISTAN
5.4 NEW BRITAIN
5.4 NEW BRITAIN

ALGERIA - An earthquake measuring 5.0 has killed at least four people and injured 36 others in Algeria, reports say. However, one eyewitness said that seven people had been killed. Some 30 houses are said to have collapsed in the town of Laalam in the province of Bejaia, about 300km (190 miles) east of the capital, Algiers. Algeria has suffered a number of deadly earthquakes in recent years.

PAKISTAN - Some unknown persons Monday started a false rumour that an earthquake would be coming soon creating panic amongst the students of Noor Model School who started rushing out of the school resulting in a stampede. As a result four students sustained severe injuries.

VOLCANOES -
JAPAN - A volcano in northern Japan erupted early today, spewing a small amount of ash into the air. Mount Meakandake on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido, about 890 kilometers (555 miles) northwest of Tokyo, erupted about 6:28 a.m. A column of white smoke up to 400 meters (1,320 feet) high was observed moving toward the southeast. About 8,500 residents of the nearby town of Ashoro have been advised not to go near the volcano, but no evacuation order has been issued. The volcano had another minor eruption in 1998.

MARIANA ISLANDS - In early March, the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands extended the state of emergency for the island of Anatahan, citing continued volcanic activity. This volcano began erupting in January 2005 and remained active for much of the year until August 2005, when the volcano quieted.

RUSSIA - Karymsky Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula showed considerable activity between March 10 and 17. The volcano emitted ash several times, and satellite imagery showed debris, most likely ash, draped along the sides of the mountain. When the skies were clear over the volcano, satellites also observed a thermal anomaly at the summit. In late March, the United States Geological Survey placed Karymsky at code orange, the second-highest level of concern, meaning that the volcano was not erupting or posing a major hazard, but was clearly active and merited careful monitoring.

INDONESIA - Scientists are closely monitoring a volcano on the densely-populated island of Java after registering increased activity over the weekend. [Site Note - This is all the info I have, as the link is not working.]

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone LARRY was 121 nmi SW of Cairns, Australia.
Cyclone WATI was 555 nmi E of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Cyclone Larry has been downgraded to a category three storm, but not before leaving a trail of destruction along the North Queensland's coast. The town of Innisfail suffered the biggest hammering from Larry's 290 kilometre an hour winds. It is estimated one in three homes around Innisfail have been damaged or destroyed. The mayor says he's never seen anything like it. Banana and sugar cane farmers say their livelihoods for the next 18 months have been wiped out. 80% of the banana crop has been wiped out and their price has doubled. No serious injuries have been reported.
Larry has shredded cane crops worth $200 million, wiping out 10 per cent of Australia's sugar production for the season.
AUSTRALIA'S avocado industry has been damaged by Cyclone Larry, with the storm destroying fruit worth at least $15 million. Larry is now a rain depression. However it was still dumping large falls of rain on the southern Gulf country and whipping up winds of up to 100km/h.

AUSTRALIA - Cyclone Wati is unlikely to follow the destructive path of Cyclone Larry and cross the coast into north Queensland. Computer modelling on the category two cyclone indicated it was likely to turn away from the Australian coast. "It will actually sit off the coast, possibly turning to the south-east and moving parallel to the coast away towards New Zealand." If Wati follows the expected path, it could still bring gale-force winds and large waves along the coast.

Hurricane season begins in late spring in the northern hemisphere – May 15 in the northeastern Pacific and June 1 in the northern Atlantic. Before these dates, hurricanes are almost unheard of and even tropical storms are rare. One of the earliest ever was Tropical Storm Ana in mid-April 2003.

LOUISIANA - The bodies of two people killed last summer when hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans were found on Sunday, as officials warned more would be found as demolition work speeds up. About 400 people are still missing. More bodies are being found each week in the Lower Ninth Ward. The darkened, stiff bodies found on Sunday were so badly decomposed, their gender couldn't be immediately determined.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
COLUMBIA - Seven young hikers were found dead and four others were missing after their scouting expedition was swept away by a mudslide triggered by a flash flood in central Colombia. Two young boys and an adult guide were rescued. The youths were on an expedition on Saturday with two guides near the snowcapped Nevado del Ruiz volcano close to their home city of Manizales, 165km west of Bogota. The groups were in a steep canyon after Chinchina River swelled several metres, carrying a crushing load of earth that swept away the scouts as they were bathing and practicing tying knots. "It wasn't raining where they were. They had no idea what was coming from upstream."

INDIA - The 300-km long Jammu-Srinagar national highway was on Monday closed for traffic after landslides caused by heavy and incessant overnight rains. Two-way traffic on the highway, the economic lifeline of Kashmir valley, had just been restored on Sunday after remaining affected for most of the past week. Landslides are a common occurrence on the highway at this time of the year due to rain.

TEXAS - Continuous severe thunderstorms have dropped more than ten inches of rain in Dallas County since Friday. Storms dumped 8.64 inches of rain in Garland and 5.82 inches in Benbrook, as well as more than 6 inches in Wylie, Cleburne, and Cooper. Flooding Sunday damaged mobile homes, apartments and homes. One woman died when storms swept her car off the road into Turtle Creek Sunday in North Dallas. Rescue crews managed only to save her friend. (links to videos of damage and photos)

SNOW / COLD -
U.S. - A storm system barreled across the Plains states on the last day of winter, piling snow more than a foot deep that stalled highway and train travelers in South Dakota and Colorado and causing flooding in Texas. Hundreds of schools were closed Monday in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and South Dakota, and six-foot snowdrifts were reported in western South Dakota. At least two deaths were blamed on the storm, one in Colorado and the other in Dallas. About 200 miles of Interstate 90 was closed Monday across South Dakota from Rapid City to Chamberlain because of the heavy snow and stuck trailer-trailer rigs. It had been shut down since Sunday afternoon. "It's pretty RARE." In Council Bluffs, Iowa, the storm is expected to be the worst of this winter for the area, as they were expecting 16 inches of snow. Up to 13 inches of snow was reported in Nebraska and South Dakota, with 11 inches in eastern Colorado. The rains were the first real relief in weeks for wildfire-ravaged Texas, but falling at 2 inches an hour, one problem just replaced another. Up to 8 inches of rain was reported in North Texas, causing weekend flooding around the Dallas area.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
ALABAMA - the current decade has been the worst for snow lovers since weather measurements began in Birmingham in 1895. The city has now gone 6 years and 2 months since the last measured snow on Jan. 28, 2000, the LONGEST TIME WITHOUT SNOW EVER RECORDED. The high of 85 on March 12 was the SECOND HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE DATE IN 111 YEARS, exceeded only by the record high of 87 on March 12, 1967.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays.

Monday, March 20, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/19 -
5.2 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.4 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.4 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.0 MOZAMBIQUE
5.2 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.4 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.8 VANUATU ISLANDS REGION
5.8 VANUATU ISLANDS REGION

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone LARRY was 53 nmi SSW of Cairns, Australia.
Cyclone WATI was 817 nmi E of Cairns, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Destructive Cyclone Larry is continuing to batter the far north Queensland coast. Authorities say cane farming town Innisfail, which has borne the brunt of the storm, will be plunged into financial ruin in the wake of the destructive cyclone. Cairns has also been significantly affected. The cyclone hit as a maximum category five this morning, with wind gusts reaching 290kph. It has since been downgraded to a four. Despite the downgrade, forecasters have warned the far north region has probably not yet seen the strongest winds. "We have reports of fairly major structural damage around Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so. There's also some reports of a few people missing as well." "The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months. It'll kill us completely...(We're expecting) a lot of problems, massive problems."
Larry is "THE WORST CYCLONE WE'VE HAD IN DECADES."
The cyclone is expected to retain its intensity until at least Tuesday morning as it continues to push hundreds of kilometres inland. Coastal residents between Cairns and Townsville are specifically warned of the dangerous storm tide as the cyclone crosses the coast. (cyclone path and satellite photo)
To add to the region's concern, a second cyclone, Wati, has formed behind Larry but was today near Vanuatu, still days away from hitting the Australian coast. It does look like it will be following a similar path to Larry in the next few days.

HURRICANE RITA - signs of Rita's passage still abound in Southeast Texas six months later. Hurricane Katrina hit less than a month before Rita. Hurricane Rita will go down in history as one of the 20 strongest hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Regionally, it will be seen as one of the strongest and one of the worst. Insured losses from Rita have been estimated at $4.7 billion. One UNUSUAL factor with Rita was its multiple eye walls. Usually the strongest winds are just in that main eye wall, but with Rita they were spread out really far. "This year's looking like another intense year for hurricanes. The Gulf of Mexico's already warmer than average in many locations."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
KENYA - East Africa's long-running drought has devastated livestock and wildlife in Kenya, but now a spurt of rains is killing animals too. Hungry animals ate too much when rains finally fell on parched lands in recent days. "Once the grass sprouted, the animals fed excessively and many died owing to bloat."

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, March 19, 2006 -

On TV tonight - "Perfect Disaster" at 9 p.m. on both coasts - the first episode of a new series on the Discovery Channel. Tonight's episode is "Super Tornado," which reduces the entire city of Dallas to rubble. The series examines what might happen if some of Nature's most destructive storms were unleashed on some of the world's most populous cities. Each catastrophe is presented as a mini-movie, complete with actors and fictional storylines, but unlike similar Hollywood creations, each episode is peppered with expert scientific commentary and slick computer animations explaining the science behind the storms. The series' tagline is "It may not happen tomorrow, but it is scientific prediction." The second episode is "Solar Storm". It's the year 2011. The Sun has reached its solar maximum, a turbulent period in its sunspot cycle, and it has unleashed a monster solar flare and massive amounts of radiation. NASA's SOHO satellite has just detected a coronal mass ejection three times stronger than anything scientists have ever seen. If it strikes Earth, the CME will easily break through the magnetosphere, the Earth's natural shield against solar storms, and could cause global blackouts that last for years. The series also includes: a super typhoon bearing down on Hong Kong; a mega flood engulfing London; a fire storm blazing up Sydney; and an ice storm that brings Montreal to a standstill.

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/18 -
5.4 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
5.6 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
5.4 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
5.0 BANDA SEA
3/17 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 TONGA ISLANDS
5.6 BANDA SEA
5.4 BISMARCK SEA
5.3 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.5 BANDA SEA
5.0 MOZAMBIQUE

VOLCANOES -
ITALY - Mount Vesuvius may be getting ready to blow, but Italians living on the mountain are oddly complacent. In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, geologists put the chance of an eruption by the end of this calendar year at a whopping one in two. In 2002, scientists at the Vesuvius Observatory warned that the mountain was starting a new cycle of eruptive activity. According to the civil authorities in Naples, they hope to have as much as a 27-day advance warning in order to evacuate the 600,000 residents who live in the so-called "red zone" within a 2.7 mile radius of Vesuvius's cone. If given about a month to plan, they say they can get all these residents to safety within seven days. There's no guarantee that geologists will be able to predict an eruption seven days out. The recent history of Italian volcanic eruptions provides ammunition for both sides. No Italian volcano in the last few decades has erupted without some sort of pre-eruptive seismic activity.

ALASKA - Nineteen volcanoes in Alaska and the Northern Mariana Islands that seriously threaten aviation are not monitored by ground sensors able to communicate in real time, according to the federal government's top volcano hazard warning official. Without such ground-based monitoring, confirmation of an eruption can take hours. A delay of hours could be fatal when jets filled with people travel the skies at eight miles per minute. "More than 200 flights carry roughly 25,000 people over northern Pacific air routes on a daily basis."

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone LARRY was 262 nmi ENE of Townsville, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - CYCLONE LARRY - Damaging winds, high tides and flooding are expected to batter parts of north Queensland today as Cyclone Larry intensifies. The weather bureau overnight upgraded the cyclone to a category three.
Larry could be destructive by the time it crosses the coast. "Now my information is that they're warning it'll go to a four and could possibly be a five [category] by the time it crosses the coast."

Rack up yet another record for last year's Atlantic hurricane season: Meteorologists say Hurricane Emily briefly swelled to Category 5 strength as it barreled toward the Yucatan Peninsula in July. That means the season produced an UNPRECEDENTED FOUR STORMS to reach that most elite tier of hurricanes: those bearing sustained winds greater than 155 mph. Last year's other Category 5s were Katrina, Rita and Wilma, which by themselves had set a record of three in one season. Emily also sets the RECORD FOR THE EARLIEST in the season that a Category 5 storm has formed in the Atlantic basin and is the only one to have appeared in July.
2005 also produced:
• A RECORD 27 tropical storms or hurricanes, ending with Tropical Storm Zeta. (This may soon rise to 28 if the National Hurricane Center declares that a previously unannounced subtropical storm formed in the eastern Atlantic in October.)
• A RECORD 15 hurricanes.
• Seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher, just below the record of eight major storms set in 1950.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - More than 30,000 people are cut off from basic services after a landslip swept away the Mongi bridge in the Pindiu area. “There are more than 30,000 people in Hube and the Burum-Kuat LLG who are cut off from basic services because of the continuous rain, landslide and the destruction of Mongi bridge.” They cannot reach the Pindiu airstrip to collect medical and school supplies.

GREECE - In what is seen as the WORST FLOODING IN MORE THAN 40 YEARS, more than 30,000 hectares of land in the Evros region were submerged by water Thursday, causing residents to flee their homes. Homes, warehouses, roads and farmland disappeared under floodwater. More flooding also occurred further west in the Serres region where the overflowing Strimonas River, which enters Greece from Bulgaria, has covered more than 400 hectares of farmland, causing tens of thousands of euros in damage. Conditions have reached a critical point. “The situation is getting worse as it goes. As the water level rises, so does our anxiety.” Volunteers were handing out bottles of water to residents as drinking water supplies were cut off. The local train network stopped operating. Along with severe damage to crops, authorities estimate that the toll on livestock is also heavy. Stables, many of which still had animals in them, have been swept away by the floodwaters. Heavy rainfall and melting snow are blamed for the flooding along with the entry of massive amounts of water from neighboring Bulgaria. Three of the four reserves that supply Athens with water are currently overflowing. Officials from the Athens Water Company estimate that there is enough water now to supply the capital for the next five years.

INDIA - Hailstorm, rain and strong winds unleashed their combined fury on the State capital and southern parts of the State on Thursday evening. A hail of woes came crashing down on Bhopal residents as a power shutdown threw life out of gear as electricity wires broke under branches of trees that fell. The hailstorm left a trail of destruction of the standing crops. The calamity hit the State while it was still smarting under the destruction of last week's hailstorm. High velocity winds and lightning preceded heavy rains and bouts of hailstorm that continued for about an hour in the evening. The wind velocity was so high that trees were uprooted in parts of the City.

HAWAII - Devastating rain, up to an inch an hour in some spots, brought more misery to Kauai Thursday, flooding homes and businesses on the South Shore and closing roads from Hanalei to Kekaha. Ground search-and-rescue operations were expected to resume on the North Shore, where the Ka Loko Dam above Kilauea burst on Tuesday. Two bodies have been recovered, and five people are still missing from the breach's torrential flood. Other dams on Kauai remain under a close watch but appeared to be holding. On the North Shore, police will be stationed along Kuhio Highway 24 hours a day for months to direct traffic along the stretch of road damaged by Tuesday's dam breach. Only one lane could be reopened due to erosion on the shoulders of the road.

CALIFORNIA - Part of the Bay Area experienced a rare cloudburst on Thursday when a thunderstorm converged with a frontal system during the early evening. The isolated thunderstorm cell swooped down from the north and got caught up with a funnel system from the south to produce the downpour. "It was a FREAK occurrence. It probably won't happen again (today), but I wouldn't write it off completely. We seem to have had lots of FREAK OCCURRENCES lately." "Such heavy rain is UNUSUAL. It happens, but only about every five years or so."

WIND -
CANADA - Ontario's Point Pelee National Park has lost its point. The southernmost tip of Canada is in the park, near the town of Leamington. There have always been several hundred metres of sand jutting out from the mainland. But park officials say recent high winds have washed away the sand point and all that remains is a platform. The park advertises itself as "the southernmost tip of Canada's mainland, which is at the same latitude as northern California." A no-swimming sign that used to mark the southernmost point washed up on a beach in Madison, Ohio, about 100 kilometres across Lake Erie. Officials say the sand patterns at the point change frequently.
The tip - an 800-metre sand spit jutting out - was swallowed by Lake Erie some time between Monday night and Tuesday morning. Wind blasted Point Pelee National Park, a triangular peninsula about 50 kilometres southeast of Windsor, Ont., and whipped up waves that erased the point. "It's the second time the spit has vanished in two years; this year, it was the combined result of Ontario's RECORD-BREAKING mild winter, which brought no ice cover to Lake Erie, and extreme winds that whipped north from the United States during a sudden storm. Monday night's FREAK storm, part of the fierce tornado system that killed 10 people in the United States on Monday, ate the spit completely. Before its disappearance two years ago, the spit hadn't done its vanishing act for 10 years. "It's happening a lot more frequently, and in the last two years it's the WORST WE'VE EVER SEEN." Of greater concern to scientists is the persistent erosion that has chipped away at the shores of Lake Erie.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone, the second this week, hit the Khabarovsk Territory on Saturday. Snowfalls and winds of up to 15 metres a second are raging all over the territory from the western borders to the Okhotsk Sea coast. According to meteorologists, the cyclone will move east during the day and next night, and good weather is expected to set in by Monday. The previous cyclone raging in the territory for three days brought six weeks' level of precipitation and impeded air and road traffic.

FRANCE - The French authorities' battle to convince British skiers and snow boarders to abandon the growing trend of "free-riding", or leaving set ski runs, reached desperation point this week when a 35-year-old snow boarder from Cumbria became the latest tourist to die in a spate of snow slides that have killed a RECORD-BREAKING NUMBER OF PEOPLE, more than 80 people across the Alps this season. Within the past two weeks Les Arcs has seen two metres of snow in eight days, the FASTEST SNOWFALL FOR 20 YEARS. A combination of deep snow and cold fierce winds has triggered almost 100 small avalanches across the Alps.

Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.

Friday, March 17, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/16 -
5.2 MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWESI
5.3 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.4 JAWA, INDONESIA
5.0 BANDA SEA
5.2 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS

TSUNAMI -
INDONESIA - The March 15th 6.4 earthquake, and 5 metre tidal wave that occurred in the aftermath of the earthquake, has caused two fatalities, and seriously injured one person. One person has been reported as missing. The quake also caused heavy damage to houses in Pela Village (116), Batu Jungku Village (54), Waimorot Village (30), Wailawa Village (25), and Waimoly Village (16). It has not been specified whether these damaged houses are easily repaired or still habitable. Some 1,200 persons from Batu Jungku and Pelang Village of Bata Bual Sub-District fled from their homes to higher/mountainous areas.
INDONESIA - Three people are dead after waves as high as five metres (16.5 feet) swept away at least 116 village houses following Tuesday's 6.4 quake. Police in speedboats and villagers in wooden fishing boats were still searching for three missing children. The quake, which rocked several islands in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, also damaged hundreds of homes in five other villages on Buru island.

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Merapi volcano in Central Java has shown a sign of increased activity in the past few days, forcing the local authorities to raise its alert status to "Awas Merapi" (Beware Merapi). Sensors detected increased activity in its crater. 10,000 people living in vulnerable villages on the volcano`s slope were making preparations to flee their homes in case of eventualities. Merapi "could erupt within days if the current activity continues."

INDIA - The volcano on Barren Island is very active and the height of the volcanic cone has increased by about 50 metres during the past nine months since its eruption in last May. Although the intensity of the lone active volcano in India was on the rise, there was no need for panic. Such a phenomenon does not lead to any major earthquake in this region. On the contrary, the continuous emission of lava from the volcano releases energy thus cutting out chances of high-magnitude tremors.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Sea temperature boosts storm force - Of all the factors that drive a major storm — such as humidity, wind shear or broad air circulation patterns — only the steady increase in sea surface temperatures over the last 35 years can account for the rising strength of tempests in six ocean basins around the world, including the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology reported. The increase in the most severe storms — category 4 and 5 hurricanes have doubled since 1990 — was directly linked to the rising temperature of tropical oceans, which warmed globally by 1 degree Fahrenheit during the same period. "This trend can't be explained by natural cycles because the cycles are different for each basin. This is not natural variability." Many hurricane experts, however, said that the severity of storms depends on so many technical factors — ranging from the salinity of regional seawater to the pervasive influence of El Nino currents — that it is misleading to single out ocean temperatures as the dominant factor.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
HAWAII - Rain continued to fall yesterday, with Kaua'i, the Big Island and O'ahu getting most of it. The National Weather Service calls for more rain until at least the weekend. A series of upper-level, low-pressure systems that have been hitting the Islands since February have resulted in rainfall that is between two to six times the normal amounts. The total inches of rain across the hardest-hit areas in the last three weeks is equivalent to the normal rainfall in those areas for the first three months of the year. "For most places on Kaua'i, it's three months of rain in three weeks. It's UNUSUAL to have such a prolonged wet period but it's not like it's never happened before." From Feb. 18 to March 15, Kaua'i's Hanalei River had 34.82 inches of rain. O'ahu's Wilson Tunnel had 39.12 inches. On the Big Island, Mountain View had 37.78 inches. The normal rainfall in March for Hanalei is 13.4 inches; for Wilson Tunnel, 11.5 inches; and for Mountain View, 19.6 inches. That's the result of four high-level, low-pressure systems developing just to the northwest of the state, bringing unstable conditions and tapping into an abundant moisture supply to the south. The systems arrived Feb. 19-24, March 1-3 and March 8 through Friday, with the latest onslaught ongoing.

SNOW / COLD -
FRANCE - A British woman has been killed in an avalanche in France, taking the Alps death toll to 87, the HIGHEST ON RECORD.

NORTH DAKOTA - Saturday's snowfall brought with it UNUSUAL snow formations. Spontaneous snowballs blowing over the plains were reported in more than one location, according to the National Weather Service. The snowballs settled after the wind died down and made for an interesting sight in rural fields. Meteorologists speculated that the unusual formations were the result of wet snow and light winds. They suspect the snow phenomenon happened because the snow was sticky and wet. When it started to blow, it picked up more snow, much like a manmade snowball would. "I had never heard of this until now. Maybe it has to do with the rate of snowfall. There was enough of it to work with."(photo)

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
A prominent University of Ottawa science professor says what we know about global warming is wrong - that stars, not greenhouse gases, are heating up the Earth. High-energy rays from distant parts of space are smashing into our atmosphere in ways that make our planet go through warm and cool cycles. "Empirical observations on all time scales point to celestial phenomena as the principal driver of climate, with greenhouse gases acting only as potential amplifiers." The majority of climate scientists still firmly believe that greenhouse gases are to blame.

ODD -
MYSTERY BOOMS STILL A MYSTERY -
OREGON - The Portland Air National Guard says they do not believe F-15 fighters are to blame for loud booms heard throughout the area on Saturday. The Air National Guard checked Portland's flight track and determined jets were conducting training flights over the Northwest when a series of strange rumbling noises hit. However, the two jets that broke the sound barrier were over the ocean and pointing west. That sonic boom would not have traveled more than 20 miles. "If it was us, we'll confess and make sure we look at procedures and make sure it doesn't happen again." Many people on the base heard the noise as well, but say it was much different than a sonic boom. The Air National Guard will now check Seattle's flight track to see if any other jets may have been flying at the time.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, March 16, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/15 -
5.0 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.3 UNIMAK ISLAND, ALASKA
5.6 MOZAMBIQUE
5.3 MOZAMBIQUE
5.5 VANUATU ISLANDS

MOZAMBIQUE has been hit by another earthquake, the second in less than a month. The 5.6 quake was felt between Beira in the north and Maputo. A quake on February 23, which registered 7.5 on the Richter scale, caused the death of five people. No reports of injuries or serious damage to property have been received yet. The tremor was severe in Chipinge where panic-striken residents were seen running in fear. In Zimbabwe the tremor shook tall buildings. A large aftershock of 5.3 followed the quake.

"The moon is seismically active." Shallow moonquakes occur only 20 or 30 kilometers below the surface. Between 1972 and 1977, the Apollo seismic network saw twenty-eight of them; a few registered up to 5.5 on the Richter scale. Furthermore, shallow moonquakes lasted a remarkably long time. Once they got going, all continued more than 10 minutes. "The moon was ringing like a bell." On Earth, vibrations from quakes usually die away in only half a minute. What causes the shallow moonquakes? And where do they occur? "We're not sure." Scientists are developing a proposal to deploy a network of 10 to 12 seismometers around the entire moon, to gather data for at least three to five years. This kind of work is necessary to find the safest spots for permanent lunar bases. And that's just the beginning. Other planets may be shaking, too.

FLOODING -
HAWAII - Tuesday a storm dumped 5 to 6 inches of rain on Kauai in 24 hours. Days of heavy rain broke through an 1890s-era plantation dam in the island's rugged northern hills. The rush of flood water Tuesday swept away two homes and covered the only highway along the northern coast. Searchers found one person dead and were looking for at least seven others, some of them children who hadn't been seen since the deluge. Rain hampered the search and road-clearing efforts, and officials were worried Wednesday that other old earthen dams in the area may have been catastrophically weakened by days of heavy rain. One dam in particular was also in imminent danger of collapsing. "The entire island is kind of flooding in different parts. We're just hoping and praying for the rain to pass and the skies to clear." Authorities estimated that about 1,400 acre-feet of water poured out of the reservoir, enough water to cover 1,400 acres a foot deep, or more than 60 million cubic feet. The water cut off access to thousands of rural houses and luxury condominiums along Kauai's north shore. "Sounded like a 747 jet crashing here in the valley, all the trees popping and snapping and everything. It was just a horrendous sound, and it never quit." "To my knowledge, there was no warning whatsoever." Nearly all of Hawaii's dams were built early in the past century before federal standards existed or the advent of the state's program for assessing dam and levee safety. "I would characterize this as a growing crisis on Kauai." (photo)
Devastated - that is how residents in Kilauea on Kauai’s North Shore said they felt early Tuesday after a 70-foot high, 200-foot wide "tsunami" wave that sounded like thunder, came crashing down from the mountain around 5 a.m., washing through homes and dragging between three and eight people away. The "thunder," which residents say kept getting louder until they could hear nothing else, was actually more than 300 million gallons of fresh water that raced toward the tiny beachside community from the mountain after several weeks of heavy rain caused the 116-year-old Kaloko Dam to breach its earth barrier. Several residents are still trapped in their homes because a 300-foot area of the Kuhio Highway, the only road leading to the community, was ripped away. A thick tropical forest behind the homes, with trees more than a century old, was crushed, leaving just a barren path of silt. There are other dams already overflowing, including the nearby Morita Dam and the South side’s Waita Reservoir, which could break at any time. The imminent threat caused state and county officials to suspend their search and rescue efforts on land. Forecasters say more rain continues to pour down in the area.
The reservoir collapse is the WORST NATURAL DISASTER ON KAUA'I SINCE HURRICANE INIKI IN 1992. The disaster was the most serious consequence so far of this winter's rash of storms. The Red Cross estimates that 137 homes were damaged by flooding on O'ahu over the last three weeks. (flood photos, map, and link to a video).

CALIFORNIA - The Sacramento area levee system poses a potential severe flooding risk. The city sits at the convergence of two large rivers - the American and the Sacramento. Much of the city is only around 28 feet above sea level and a system of levees surrounds many neighborhoods. Upstream on the American River sits the Folsom Dam - which the dam's own operator stated as "No. 1 on the federal Bureau of Reclamation's safety priority list." The mix produces a possible recipe for a huge disaster in an area with more than 500,000 residents - not to mention the hundreds of thousands more that live downstream on the Sacramento River as it approaches San Francisco and the Bay. "The delta is very fragile. If there's a levee breach in the wrong place, it would all go - it could be a Katrina-sized disaster. The ways the levees are set up, it could start a chain reaction." Some neighborhoods now have developers building homes on top of levees or right up next to levees. "The heavy rain seasons wear away at our levees." This is an area that's already seen many, many floods in the past century and before the levees were built - the worry is that time is running out on when the next major flood will cause a tremendous disaster. "If you have a 30-year mortgage on your house, there's a one in four chance of this occurring during your 30 years." There is a 66 percent chance that either a major earthquake or flood would lead to catastrophic levee failure in the Delta region in the next 50 years.

NORTH DAKOTA - Forecasters say lingering cold weather could delay the Red River Valley snowmelt this spring, increasing the flood potential. "The longer we wait before we start the melt it could cause more water to come into the system." The latest flood outlook in Grand Forks gives a 90 percent chance that the Red River will top off more than 40 feet, the "moderate" flood stage, but only a 30 percent chance it will hit the 46-foot "major" flood level. Minor flood stage in Grand Forks-East Grand Forks is 28 feet. The situation is more serious in Fargo, where there is a 90 percent chance of major flooding. The Red in Fargo is expected to climb to a level of 30 feet. Flood stage in the city is 18 feet. The cold weather is expected to hang around the area for about two weeks. Summer flooding seems to have been more of a problem in the Red River Valley in recent years. "It used to be, you had your springtime flood, and you're done."

AUSTRALIA - Children as young as six years old have laboured to help build emergency levees to protect their small West Australian town of Kalbarri from the BIGGEST FLOOD IN LIVING MEMORY. Their efforts in the past two days had paid off, with the biggest levees built in WA still holding back flood water from the Murchison River. The sandbanks, one 400m long and one metre high and another 500m long and two metres high, were believed to be the longest and highest built in WA. "No floods have ever gone to this height on record or in living memory. It is beyond all expectations at this stage." The floods were the end result of two cyclones on the WA north in the past couple of months. "The water has come from about 400km away so you are talking major distances." The town was bracing to see what would happen at the next high tide at noon. The historic Murchison House Station, 40km further north, was not so lucky. They had never seen anything like this flood. "We're just floating, metres and metres, all the houses have had it."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
U.S. - An experimental long-range storm forecasting program accurately predicted last weekend's massive outbreak of severe weather almost eight days before it happened. Now that same program indicates a similar weather pattern may be developing for this weekend. It appears it could be setting up for the same thing on Sunday. "We're seeing a warm front and cold front merging together in extreme northeast New Mexico, and that's sure what it looked like with you guys before all hell broke loose last weekend." The program examines high-level jet stream patterns, the flow of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and high and low temperatures. The experimental six-day forecast shows warm, moist air colliding with colder, dry air over Kansas and Oklahoma on Sunday. With high-speed jet stream winds angling across that boundary, it could be the perfect setup for tornadoes. "There is a cold front coming down that will set it up for a definite possibility of severe weather." The experimental program is designed to make accurate weather projections as far as eight days out. Several of Sunday's tornadoes hit the same homes destroyed by twisters in 2003. In particular, the tornado cut through Lawrence and Christian counties on almost an identical path. Yet the supercell thunderstorms that produce tornadoes are so big that ground features don't affect which way they go.

LIGHTNING -
ENGLAND - A Southgate family were startled when two beer cans cooling on their doorstep took a direct hit from a bolt of lightning during a FREAK electrical storm. Thursday afternoon the sky darkened as a cloud passed over head. "There was a terrible bang which the whole of Southgate could hear and then there was a loud flash, lots of smoke and an awful smell." When they stepped outside they noticed the bolt of lightning had left four identical holes through the two cans of beer sitting outside. Indoors up to £1,000 worth of electrical equipment including an internet router, two televisions and a DVD player were wrecked by the surge of power, shortly after 4pm. Neighbours also said their televisions and computers stopped working after the lightning struck.

WEST VIRGINIA - A massive lightning strike is the likely cause of the explosion that killed 12 workers at the Sago Mine when the strike ignited methane gas in a sealed-off area. Weather monitors confirmed an UNUSUALLY LARGE AND POWERFUL lightning strike near the mine; the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a seismic event at Sago at the same time; and the mine's own atmospheric monitoring system signaled a combustion alarm. The precise route the electrical charge followed remains under investigation, but there is no evidence that a nearby gas well contributed to the explosion. "The explosion was an unpredictable and highly unusual accident."

SNOW / COLD -
ENGLAND - The Arctic cold gripping Wales has delayed spring and could have a devastating impact on the nation's wildlife, experts have warned. For the past five years spring has been arriving earlier than usual because of what is widely accepted as the effect of global warming and climate change. But 2006's freezing temperatures have led to a seasonal delay that is already confusing Wales' rich variety of flora and fauna. Migratory birds have usually arrived from the Sahara by now. So far they have failed to show up. Insects are yet to hatch, and the spring flowers they depend on, including daffodils, primroses and pussy willow, are late to flower. Now conservationists are worried about a lack of food for the nation's wildlife during the breeding season. Weather forecasters' warnings of more snow to come have heightened these concerns. Wales was currently around 4C colder than average temperatures.

FRANCE - Fierce winds and heavy snowfall have unleashed a rash of avalanches in the French Alps, sweeping away skiers seeking off-piste thrills and making this ski season THE MOST DEADLY IN AT LEAST 35 YEARS. The rough weather this year is the culprit. "The dangers were in place from the start of the season." 53 peole have been killed this season. Usually, snowslides kill about 25 people on France's slopes each season. The surge in avalanches has been concentrated in the southern reaches of the French Alps and appears largely confined to France. In neighboring Switzerland, there have been 21 avalanche fatalities this season, eight fewer than last season's final total.

WESTERN U.S. - Yet another powerful March snowstorm swept across the region Tuesday, bringing several feet of fresh snow to the Sierra and covering the valleys in the Reno-Carson City area in white. Roads were snarled with accidents and two residential areas of north Lake Tahoe were put under an avalanche advisory. About 30 homes in the Crystal Bay area were in danger while several homes and a fire station on Mount Rose Highway were threatened in Incline Village. March is on pace to become one of the snowier Marches on record with another storm expected to hit today. There's no immediate letup in sight, forecasters said. The unending snowfall makes the weather feel unlike spring is only a week away. "It feels like January."

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
TEXAS - Stiff winds pushed wildfires deeper into the parched Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, threatening six small towns. The devastation is of historic proportions. Wildfires have consumed more than 840,000 acres since Sunday, and still they burn. 700,000 acres is the equivalent of two-thirds of Rhode Island.

OKLAHOMA - Multiple wildfires are burning across Oklahoma, fueled by a windy Wednesday afternoon.

MARYLAND & VIRGINIA - Conditions are perfect for large wildfires - gusty winds combined with dry weather conditions and low humidity.

NEW YORK - It's was very windy Wednesday. What's UNUSUAL is that the sources of the wind was far away. A high pressure system is building up in the Midwest. As that gains strength the pressure gradient between it and a stationary low pressure system over Nova Scotia increases. The steeper the pressure gradient the faster the wind as the atmosphere tries to level out the pressure differences. Winds will be blowing at a steady 20-30 miles an hour, with gusts up to 50 mph. The wind is bringing very dry air into the region. The dew point temperature dropped ten degrees over a few hours. Add winds and very dry air and the chance of brush fires goes way up. The busy National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning, meaning there is a high fire danger. Even the slightest spark could start a fire, and once started a fire is going to spread rapidly. Staten Island has already seen a couple of fires break out this week. (satellite photo)

INDIA - Farmers in Uttaranchal are reeling under a drought-like situation following a dry winter spell in their region. While parts of the western, central and northern India have been affected by unseasonal rainfall, vast tracts of Uttaranchal have reportedly dried up due to lack of rains. Farmers say though there has been a decline in rainfall in the region for the past 5-7 years, this dry winter spell is UNUSUAL. “This is the first time I am seeing such a dry spell in winter season, even though there has been a decline in the rainfall in the past 5-7 years. Our crops have damaged. We had sown wheat crop but it's all damaged." India's annual monsoon rains, crucial for a farm dependent economy, are forecast to be normal this year due to favourable wet weather patterns. The four-month monsoon is the main source of water for most farmers in India, and reached 99 percent of the long-term average between June and September in 2005.

A century of data shows intensification of the water cycle but no increase in storms or floods. Although many aspects of the global water cycle have intensified, including precipitation and evaporation, this trend has not consistently resulted in an increase in the frequency or intensity of tropical storms or floods over the past century. "A key question in the global climate debate is if the climate warms in the future, will the water cycle intensify and what will be the nature of that intensification." The weight of evidence from past studies shows on a global scale that precipitation, runoff, atmospheric water vapor, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, growing season length, and wintertime mountain glacier mass are all increasing. The key point with the glaciers is that there is more snowfall resulting in more wintertime mass accumulation – another indication of intensification. "This intensification has been proposed and would logically seem to result in more flooding and more intense tropical storm seasons. But over the observational period, those effects are just not borne out by the data in a consistent way."

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/14 -
5.1 SERAM, INDONESIA
6.8 SERAM, INDONESIA
5.2 REVILLA GIGEDO ISLAND, MEXICO
5.1 SEA OF OKHOTSK
5.4 NEW IRELAND

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - A geology professor warned that the country must be prepared in the short term for a strong earthquake, which could even generate a tidal wave in the country’s North or South zones. There are serious indications, “which have occurred in nature leading us to forecast a possible earthquake with fatal consequences.” He was making reference to the latest tremors which have taken place in the country’s North region, which in his opinion could be the prelude to something stronger.

BULGARIA - The region of Kurdzhali to the south of Bulgaria was shaken yet again by four light-to-moderate quakes on Tuesday. With a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale, the first tremor was felt on the higher floors of apartment buildings. Its epicenter was right in the village of Murgovo. Twenty minutes later the region was hit by a new wave of a moderate strength of 2.8 on the Richter, followed by yet another at 10:30 a.m. The third quake shook at 3.3 on the Richter scale, and the fourth one - about two hours later - was felt at 2.5 on the Richter scale. There have been no reports of injuries or damages. Over the past few weeks the Kurdzhali region was shaken by an alarming number of moderate and light quakes. Experts fear that these could be the warning signals of a devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the works.

TSUNAMI -
PHILIPPINES - On Monday several areas turned into ghost towns after thousands of residents of three coastal towns fled the shorelines following rumors that they would be hit by a tsunami or tidal wave. Residents panicked as they sought higher ground to avoid the supposed tidal wave. Classes were also suspended. Residents blamed TV station GMA 7 for spreading the news. As of Tuesday evening no tsunami hit the area but the flight of people, especially those living along the shore, continued. Nasugbu's Mayor, who initially ordered the evacuation of his townmates to safer places, said he has already advised residents that the tsunami report was false. People have been advised to return to their homes but many families continue to leave the town. Earlier Tuesday the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology dispelled the tsunami rumors saying that no seismic activity which could have triggered such a phenomenon has been recorded near the shores of Batangas.

VOLCANOES -
ECUADOR - Three unique photographs of a recent volcanic eruption in a remote part of Ecuador show A PLUME UNLIKE ANY PREVIOUSLY DOCUMENTED, and hint at a newly recognized hazard. The usual volcanic plume consists of a stalk capped with an umbrella, and resembles the mushroom of an atom bomb blast, but the umbrella on this plume was wavy, like the shell of a scallop." "We had never seen a scalloped umbrella before. UNUSUAL conditions must have existed in the volcanic plume that formed this umbrella." Instead of the usual hot ash, the Reventador eruption on Nov. 3, 2002 appears to have been laden with steam and a fairly cool ash from the destruction of the summit cone. The unusually cool umbrella could not spread for a long time. It rapidly became a heavy mixture of air, steam and ash hovering precariously over the lighter air below. While most umbrellas produce gradual ash falls, scalloped umbrellas behave differently and might represent a previously unrecognized hazard.

RUSSIA - A volcano on an island in a Russian chain in the Pacific has calmed down after years of sporadic activity. Scientists say Mount Ebeko, on the island of Paramushir, is the most dangerous volcano on the Kuril Islands. The volcano started emitting vapor and gas in February, following phases of activity in 2005, 1999 and 1998. There are 36 active volcanoes on the Kuril chain, and at least seven others are also considered to be dangerous.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BULGARIA - Heavy rainfall has flooded thousands of homes in Bulgaria and caused rivers to rise to dangerous levels in neighbouring Greece and Turkey. A state of emergency has been called in parts of Bulgaria and Greece with bridges damaged and farmland inundated. The floods are said to be the border region's WORST IN 15 YEARS. The governor of Turkey's province of Edirne has accused Bulgaria of letting dangerous amounts of water through dams on the Arda river. In Greece, one of the worst hit towns is Soufli, where 6,000 acres of fields have been flooded. "We are preparing for a nightmare... At the moment we are at the mercy of the army who have been told to be on standby to evacuate people."

CHINA - Five workers were missing after a landslide buried their cabins at a phosphate rock mine in Mianzhu, Sichuan Province, on Monday morning. About 30,000 cubic meters of rock and mud collapsed and moved 100 meters before burying three cabins where the victims were sleeping. The biggest rock in the landslide weighs at least 100 tons. Recent rainfall and snow were partly to blame for the landslide.

HAWAII - Kauai fire officials and the U.S. Coast Guard were searching the ocean off Kilauea Stream on Kauai’s North Shore for at least three people (and possibly 7) who were apparently swept away by floodwaters unleashed when a dam broke Tuesday morning. Kauai was hit with heavy rain all night. At about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, a major landslide, caused by a breach of the Kaloko Reservoir, knocked down power cables and utility poles and left Kuhio Highway, the only way to the north shore, impassable. A 100-foot-wide river of water across the highway was making it difficult for state and county workers to even get to the source of the trouble. The storm front that dumped the rain over Kauai was expected to hit Oahu Tuesday afternoon and evening. The other islands were expected to get hit later in the week. The entire state remains under a flash flood watch through Thursday. In the 24 hours that ended at 8 a.m. Tuesday, 8.45 inches of rain fell at Mt. Waialeale on Kauai, 5.39 fell in Hanalei, 4.36 at Lihue Airport and 5.78 in Omao. State and county parks have been closed for weeks thanks to recent rain. The flood also damaged Kalapaki Beach, leaving a large swath and mountains of debris.

WIND -
MICHIGAN - A BIZARRE combination of high winds and unfortunate timing left one person dead and two with serious injuries Monday. High winds were among the dangerous weather conditions associated with a quickly moving cold front. Temperatures Monday fell over 30 degrees, from above 60 degrees to 30, with thunderstorms and two tornado watches in Oakland County.

SNOW / COLD -
CALIFORNIA - the parade of icy Alaskan low-pressure cells that have chilled California since late February is likely to keep blowing through the Bay Area and the rest of Northern California into the early weekend, bringing rain with it, forecasters say. In recent days, average Bay Area temperatures have been about 15 degrees below normal. So the hills surrounding the Bay Area get dusted with snow, the lower levels are hit with bone-chilling rain or hail and some of the roads become dangerously icy. "We have had a series of these areas of low pressure that have drifted out of the Gulf of Alaska. And thanks to a fairly persistent cloud cover, "when you have cold air like we've had, the sun just can't warm it up." From March 1 to March 13, Ski resorts in the Sierras got 40 inches to 76 inches of snow in various locations in the area, compared to 5 to 9 inches during the same period last year. At Kirkwood Mountain Resort, 35 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe, the snowpack is also expected to linger UNUSUALLY long this year. In early February Californians were expecting a slightly drier, warmer period into April because of La Niña, but as of March 1, the amount of rainfall in San Francisco was 135 percent higher than the winter average to that point.

UKRAINE - Four avalanches, including one that blocked the Mukachevo-Rogatin road near the village of Yasinya, have been reported from the Carpathian Mountains. An avalanche in western Ukraine killed two skiers and another three are missing. A group of eight lost their way in thick fog while skiing in the Carpathian Mountains on Monday and got caught in the avalanche. Rescuers began searching for the skiers – all from the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi - after they failed to return to their hotel. The crews found one of the skiers early Tuesday morning, then located three others, one of whom was dead. Rescuers later recovered a second body.

ARGENTINA - Huge chunks of ice have tumbled off Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier - a rare spectacle that prompted a vigil by hundreds of tourists. Argentine television stations interrupted regular programming with live coverage of the break-up of the glacier known as the "White Giant," which was caused by building water pressure in the lake that it extends across. Perito Moreno forms a natural ice dam extending across a part of the lake. Occasionally, rapidly flowing water beneath the ice leaves a fragile bridge that eventually collapses. Perito Moreno is the world's only expanding glacier, and spreads across a large swathe of southern Patagonia, ending in a translucent blue wall of ice along the Lago Argentino.

ODD -
RUSSIA is red again - after a FREAK fall of colored snow. Northern regions of Russia's Maritime territory have been blanketed by a creamy reddish snow caused by a combination of weather patterns. Authorities have been broadcasting non-stop weather bulletins to explain the phenomena is due to natural causes after panicked locals bombarded police and emergency services. Meteorologists have explained sand storms from neighbouring Mongolia are to blame. A cyclone passed over Mongolia on its way to Russia causing sand particles to be driven up into the air causing the colour of the snow to change. The red snow comes just weeks after yellow snow, caused by pollution from an oil and gas factory, fell on Russia's Far East island of Sakhalin. ( yellow snow photo ). [SITE NOTE - So far there has been red snow and yellow snow in Russia, yellow snow in South Korea, a rust sandstorm and a saffron-yellow sandstorm in China, chocolate brown snow in Arizona.]

MORE MYSTERY BOOMS -
OREGON - People from the coast all the way to the mountains heard mysterious rumbles Saturday night, so what on earth were they? No, it was not an earthquake from Mount St. Helens and it was not thunder and lightning. It seems everyone had their idea what the noises were and nearly everyone had a different opinion about how long it lasted. A meteor was the best guess from the National Weather Service, but that is unconfirmed. The 911 dispatch center told KATU News they heard it was military jets causing sonic booms. Monday morning, KATU contacted McChord Air Force Base to find out if they were conducting some kind of exercise over the metro area. They were still waiting to hear back from them.
UPDATE - The source of those mysterious rumblings over the weekend that caught the attention of so many continues to be a mystery. The focus is on F-15s at the Portland Air Base, which KATU News was originally told were on the ground, but later learned were not. It turns out a group of F-15s were launched from the Portland International Airport Saturday night as part of three days of intensive training. Within an hour of their departure, people started hearing things and feeling some rumblings. That is when the 911 calls began. Even the commander of the F-15 squadron heard the strange noise from his home in Lake Oswego. The logical explanation seemed to be that the fighter jets set off a sonic boom, but the Air National Guard says it does not make sense that so many people, from Longview to the Oregon coast, would hear the same sonic booms at the same time. A much smaller range of 10 to 20 miles is more likely. With so many wondering what happened, the Air National Guard is continuing its investigation. That leaves others to speculate about meteors and to do comparisons with a similar unexplained phenomenon in FLORIDA last year and in MAINE just last month. Others speculate it is a secret government plane, code-named Aurora, which supposedly flies out of Area 51 in Nevada. For years, unusually intense sonic booms rocked LOS ANGELES, with many believing it was Aurora passing by at four times the speed of sound. The Air National Guard says they plan to interview the pilots individually on Wednesday, which may lead to some kind of answer. Each time an F-15 pilot causes a sonic boom over populated areas, they are required to write a log of the event. [SITE NOTE - If you are wondering why I put news of these mystery booms on the page, it is because mystery booms deep in the plate boundary were reported in Indonesia in the months before the December 2004 quake and tsunami. The booms may not be related to quakes, but just in case they are, it seems prudent to keep note of where they are occurring.]

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
MARYLAND - The temperature Monday peaked at 80 degrees, but it was not high enough to break a record. "It was very warm and UNUSUAL for March, but not a record-breaker." The average high temperature for March 13 is 51 degrees. The average low is 30 degrees. Monday's high is the average high temperature for June 6. "To say it was like spring would be an understatement. It was actually summer. But since this is March and not June, it will not last and we're going to have colder weather coming up."

PENNSYLVANIA - Temperatures were anything but typical for early March. Monday's high of 75 TIED THE RECORD DAILY TEMPERATURE set in 1990. The average temperatures for March start out with a high of 40 and progress to a high of 52 by the end of the month.

Sea ice in the Arctic has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far sooner than predicted. Satellite measurements of the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice show that for every month this winter, the ice failed to return even to its long-term average rate of decline. It is the second consecutive winter that the sea ice has not managed to re-form enough to compensate for the unprecedented melting seen during the past few summers. The greatest fear is that an environmental "positive feedback" has kicked in, where global warming melts ice which in itself causes the seas to warm still further as more sunlight is absorbed by a dark ocean rather than being reflected by white ice. The Arctic ice cover is thought to be a key moderator of the northern hemisphere's climate. "One of the big changes this winter is that a large area of the Barents Sea has remained ice-free for the first time. This is part of Europe's 'back yard'. Climate models did predict a retreat of sea ice in the Barents Sea but not for a few decades yet, so it is a sign that the changes that were predicted are indeed happening, but much faster than predicted."

A controversial new theory attributes climate change not to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels but water vapor. The apparent rise in average global temperature recorded by scientists over the past hundred years could be due to atmospheric changes resulting from the Tunguska Event, a massive explosion over Siberia on the June 30th, 1908 that is thought to have resulted from an asteroid or comet entering the earth's atmosphere and exploding. The event could have caused "considerable stirring of the high layers of atmosphere" and triggered the subsequent rise in global temperatures. According to Shaidurov's theory, "small changes in the atmospheric levels of water, in the form of vapour and ice crystals can contribute to significant changes to the temperature of the earth's surface, which far outweighs the effects of carbon dioxide and other gases released by human activities." Shaidurov claims that a 1 percent rise of water vapour could raise the global average temperature of Earth's surface by more than 4 degrees Celsius.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off - updated Wednesdays

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 -

QUAKES -
This morning there has been a 6.8 quake in Seram, Indonesia.

Largest quakes yesterday -
3/13 -
5.3 LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS
5.4 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.0 HINDU KUSH, AFGHANISTAN
5.1 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU
5.1 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
U.S. - A swarm of 113 tornadoes killed at least 10 people across the American midwest and damaged so much of Illinois' capital that the mayor said he believed "every square inch" of the town of Springfield suffered the effects. A series of powerful storms crossed eastern Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana Sunday and Monday.
The storm system was the BIGGEST TO PASS THROUGH CENTRAL ILLINOIS IN A DECADE. "To have a storm that actually stays together from all the way west of Kansas City to just south of Chicago is HIGHLY UNUSUAL. ... It could have been much worse." Strong winds continued to buffet parts of Illinois Monday.
The storm that struck Sunday night made a two-hour journey of destruction through Central Illinois, toppling trees, knocking down power lines and blowing roofs off homes. The National Weather Service called the time the tornado was on the ground or just above ground "a HIGHLY UNUSUAL EVENT."
All of the deaths were reported in Missouri, where hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed over the weekend. Witnesses said hail stones as large as softballs fell from the sky. The severe storm system resulted from moist air from the Gulf of Mexico colliding with colder air from Canada. It brought as much 50 centimetres of snow to parts of western South Dakota.(photos)
Videos of storm damage.
The estimated 113 tornadoes that touched down on Sunday, BROKE A 16-YEAR-OLD RECORD FOR ANY DAY IN MARCH. Damage and power outages from the storms and twisters extended across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Missouri‘s emergency management agency said 29 of the state‘s 114 counties sustained storm damage. Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania absorbed the brunt of the storm system as it moved eastward on Monday, while another round of storms hit Minnesota and Wisconsin with snow (up to 24 inches), ice and wind. The unsettled weekend weather included FREAK SNOWFALLS in normally balmy sections of California and relief from the RECORD 143-day drought gripping Phoenix.

MICHIGAN - The huge weather system that spawned deadly tornadoes in Kansas and Illinois Sunday is giving West Michigan residents a chance to experience weather from all four seasons in just three days. Sunny skies and temperatures near 70 degrees Saturday made it feel like a mild summer day. That was followed by more than 3 inches of rain Sunday night. Monday's weather featured the gales of March followed by winter's freezing temperatures and snow. Weather forecasters said they were somewhat surprised by the amount of rain (3.4 inches) that drenched Muskegon, Ottawa and Newaygo counties in less than eight hours Sunday night.
Pouring rain, high winds and flood warnings were making for a wild day of weather in mid-Michigan on Monday. There were tornado and high wind warnings. It is early in the season for the possibility of tornadoes. Monday's warnings came at an UNUSUAL TIME as well - between 6 a.m. until 8 a.m.

MOZAMBIQUE - Flooding continued to worsen over the weekend in the lower Zambezi valley. The river continued to rise remorselessly in Caia and Marromeu districts, in the central province of Sofala - areas which have already been flooded once this year, in late January. Cahora Bassa lake is gradually filling up. On Sunday, at the dam wall the height was measured at 324.8 metres. When that measurement reaches 326 metres, the lake is regarded as completely full. The Cahora Bassa dam management has thus been obliged to increase discharges from the dam.

SCOTLAND shivered and struggled back to work as one of the heaviest snowfalls in years started turning to slush. Weather experts warned of floods as mountains of snow melted due to rain and rising temperatures. The big thaw brought more misery for travellers and commuters after yesterday's chaos, when whiteout conditions swept the country.

FOG -
VIETNAM - In the last few days, heavy mist and fog caused the delay of many flights from Ha Noi’s Noi Bai International Aiport, as well as from the airport in Vinh in Nghe An Province. Vietnam Airlines plans to install a lighting system at the airport in Vinh to help prevent such flight delays in the future.

SNOW / COLD -
UTAH - After three days of searching, rescue crews recovered the body of a snowboarder swept away in an avalanche near the Snowbasin Ski Resort.

RUSSIA - The Oktyabrsky settlement with a population of some 2,800 people on Monday found itself totally isolated from the outside world due to the Kamchatka cyclone. The road linking this settlement with the rest territory of the region is closed for all kinds of transport. There is zero visibility on the road running along the sand spit on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk due to squall wind and heavy snowstorm, which makes traffic impossible. The south of the Kamchatka region remains under the influence of the cyclone that came from the Sakhalin Island. A storm warning is in effect. The fleet is staying at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ports. Classes in primary schools have been cancelled. Flights on local air routes have also been cancelled.

ODD -
CHINA - A sandstorm dimmed the sky and turned the air the colour of rust in northwest China, reducing visibility to less than 50 metres. In Artux, capital of the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, the deputy head of a monitoring station called it the WORST AND STRANGEST SANDSTORM TO HIT THE CITY IN 13 YEARS. "It is like going into a flour mill. It is hard to breathe when standing outside as the air is so smoky." Particle counts in the city's air were as much as 222 times higher than normal on Sunday. Sandstorms have become a regular spring phenomenon in parts of China as desert areas expand under pressure of overgrazing and drought. This storm was blamed on a strong cold front that began affecting the region on Saturday, causing gale-force winds. In the city of Kashi, a yellow sandstorm swept in early Sunday morning and later turned the sky saffron yellow.

SOUTH KOREANS have been treated to a RARE WEATHER PHENOMENON when yellow snow fell in the capital and elsewhere across the country. But the snow - containing dust or sand from the desert regions of northern China, could pose a health hazard, the country's meteorological office warns. "It's tough to say whether it's yellow sand mixed in snow or if it's snow mixed in yellow sand." A high concentration of the dust particles prompted the weather bureau to issue a yellow dust warning for the second time in three days. South Korea frequently gets sand or dust storms, but a yellow snow storm is VERY RARE. "I have never seen yellow snow falling before," a meteorological official said. The agency says the yellow snow is a health hazard and officials have warned the pollutants in the flurries included heavy minerals.

HAWAII - A FREAK GUST of wind sent 13 utility poles crashing onto Farrington Highway Sunday, trapping motorists under live power lines but causing no serious injuries. 20 vehicles were damaged. A pole flattened the roof of a Chevy Astro van down to the window sills, but the three people inside escaped with only a scrape to the shoulder of the driver. The huge wooden poles splintered in two about 1 p.m., some crushing cars, and fell across all four lanes of the highway in what many said looked like a hurricane scene — or a disaster movie. Radar spotted 45 mph trade winds coming from the east between 12:30 and 1 p.m., about one mile in altitude. "When a 45 mph wind dips down from aloft, it can accelerate to higher speeds. It is FREAKISH, out of the norm." "It is a RARE AND UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE. Poles are designed to withstand 80 mph winds, which is near hurricane-type conditions. It's hard to say what factors caused the poles to fall. It is under investigation." "It's a miracle that no one got killed." (photos)

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a NEW RECORD LEVEL. The latest data shows CO2 levels now stand at 381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial average. The research indicates that 2005 saw ONE OF THE LARGEST INCREASES ON RECORD - a rise of 2.6ppm. The figures are seen as a benchmark for climate scientists around the globe. The latest data confirms a worrying trend that recent years have, on average, recorded double the rate of increase from just 30 years ago. The precise level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is of global concern because climate scientists fear certain thresholds may be "tipping points" that trigger sudden changes. "Today we're over 380 ppm. That's higher than we've been for over a million years, possibly 30 million years."

CANADA - this has been the WARMEST CANADIAN WINTER SINCE 1948 when nationwide record-keeping began.

YO-YO WEATHER -
OREGON - A week of BIZARRE WEATHER EXTREMES ended with a stunning weekend on the Oregon coast. After a few days of high winds, extremely heavy surf, and a rotating mix of snow, hail, rain, lightning and moments of sunshine, the coastal region finally settled down to a pleasant weekend that was largely cloudless and devoid of wind. Temperatures were a bit on the chilly side, lingering in the 50’s and upper 40’s. Friday saw the tail end of some of the mixed bag of weather that dumped ODD conditions on the coast, including the occasional spot of snow. Thursday’s snowstorms left a few inches on the coast range summits, and by Friday evening the passes were a bit icy in some spots.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays.

Monday, March 13, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/11 -
5.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.5 SOUTHWEST INDIAN RIDGE
5.9 NEW IRELAND

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Cairns was mopping up today after a weekend of heavy rain flooded homes and caused a landslip at the back of a house. The slip reached the bottom of window sills at the back of a new house built without a retaining wall. 90mm of rain fell in Cairns in the 24 hours to 9am (AEST) today, on top of the 243mm dumped in the same period to 9am on Sunday. "The outlook is for continued showers with the odd moderate fall. The southeast trade winds that are currently quite strong off the coast are showing an easing trend. When that happens, we usually do see reductions in the rainfalls."
Torrential rain wreaked havoc across far north Queensland with flash flooding inundating homes and blocking roads. To the south of Cairns, 202mm of rain soaked Babinda. Heavy rain is not abnormal in the area during this time of year.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Floodwaters caused by heavy weekend rains in Papua New Guinea have washed away riverside dwellings, wiped out food gardens and killed livestock in villages near the capital Port Moresby. The downpours caused the Laloki River just outside the city to burst its banks and sweep away several houses. No one was reported lost but residents say dozens of domestic animals were washed away and riverside food gardens devastated.

FIJI - is expecting localized flooding in low lying areas around the country. A low pressure system currently lies west of Fiji moving south-west. This is expected to bring more rain for the next few days. Meanwhile, the Yavuva Irish crossing near Mulomulo, Nadi, is still closed to all traffic after heavy rain and rising water levels damaged the crossing yesterday afternoon.

PHILIPPINES - The suvivors of the landslide in Barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, have not yet gotten over their grief over the deaths of their relatives and fellow villagers who were buried alive under tons of rocks and soil from the mountains, but here comes another monstrous landslide threatening one more hapless mountainside barangay. This time, the place is not in some remote faraway village. It is very near Greater Manila, a barangay in the hill town of Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal. It is in danger of being buried in another landslide because of rampant logging and quarrying in the mountains. Montalban had experienced several landslides and flash floods before, from which a number of its residents died. That is why residents are deathly afraid of another landslide, especially with the news of landslides happening in many places in the Philippines and with the warning that La Nina will bring torrential rains and floods even this summer.

U.S. - Severe storms across the Midwest packed winds that knocked over airplanes, ripped roofs off homes and spawned tornadoes that killed three people.
KANSAS - Large hail pelted parts of Osage county breaking out windows and causing roof damage. Reports of golf-ball sized hail (and larger) came down in Burlingame and throughout the county. Parts of Osage County saw hail as large as baseballs hit the ground.
ARKANSAS - Thunderstorms broke out late Saturday across Northwest Arkansas, bringing high wind, heavy rain, unconfirmed reports of baseball-size hail and a possible tornado in Ozark.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone has paralyzed the traffic in central and northern Sakhalin. Even the snow cleaning machinery cannot move. The drivers cannot tell where the road ends and a ditch starts. The wind reached 24 meters per second in the north. A gale is on in the Tatar Strait, and the Vanino-Kholmsk ferry line that connects the island to the mainland has been stopped. Two cyclones that clashed above Sakhalin caused the heavy snowfalls and blizzards. One of the cyclones came from Japan, and the other approached from the Khabarovsk territory. About a dozen avalanches went down in southern Sakhalin on Saturday. No one was hurt.

CALIFORNIA - A huge 28-vehicle pileup on Highway 101 in Sausalito killed two people and injured more than a dozen. The unusually brisk weather is the product of a massive trough of cold air that's blown in from the Arctic. While such cold air masses are not uncommon in the Bay Area during the winter, this one is UNUSUALLY LARGE - covering most of the West Coast and reaching as far southeast as Arizona - and UNSEASONLY LATE. Indeed, the last time it snowed in the Bay Area in March was in 1896. Rain is expected to return Tuesday, but it will be a significantly warmer storm, with the snow level rising to a more seasonal 4,000 feet. "We don't often see something this big or this late in the season. It's VERY UNUSUAL."

SCOTLAND AND WALES have woken up to a blanket of snow, in what is an UNUSUAL end to the winter season. Western Scotland was worst hit by heavy blizzards Saturday night, leaving around 3,000 partygoers stranded in a nightclub and a bus station in Glasgow. Bitterly cold temperatures have also spread across the north of England, and snowstorms could reach the West Midlands and Bristol. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning, and officials say there is an increased risk of flooding as the snow begins to melt. Up to six to eight inches of snow could have fallen on higher ground by Sunday night. The cold snap is caused by cool air from Scandinavia. 'This is quite late in the winter season to be seeing snow of this magnitude.'

WILDFIRES -
TEXAS - Raging wildfires that scorched more than 300,000 acres Sunday across Texas were blamed for six deaths, including two victims who were trying to escape their burning home. Dense smoke from a raging 300,000-acre wildfire reduced visibility on a Texas Panhandle interstate, leading to a multi-vehicle crash that killed four people and injured six. The wildfires - which rival in size the fires that blackened thousands of acres of grassland and killed three people in late December and early January - forced the evacuation of eight towns. "This is probably ONE OF THE BIGGEST FIRE DAYS IN TEXAS HISTORY." Cooler temperatures today should help firefighters, but winds around 15 mph will still make battling the blazes difficult.
A separate 70,000-acre grass fire burned Sunday in nearby southeastern New Mexico, prompting evacuation orders for up to 200 people and injuring one man. Several smaller wildfires also burned in Oklahoma, where several people were evacuated from the central Oklahoma town of Carney.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, March 12, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/11 -
5.1 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.0 NEAR SOUTH COAST OF MYANMAR
5.8 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
3/10 -
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.3 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.4 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
6.0 SCOTIA SEA
5.1 PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN - a 5.2-magnitude earthquake has jolted northern Pakistan, killing one person and injuring 22. The quake was an aftershock of the huge October 8 South Asian temblor that killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan. A second aftershock, measuring 4.0, rocked Mirpur about two hours later. Many buildings and structures were left unstable and susceptible to the more than 1750 aftershocks that have shaken Pakistan since October's 7.6-magnitude earthquake. Occasional aftershocks are expected to continue for another few weeks.

INDIA - Nobody died in the temblor that hit Gujarat earlier this week but the 50 million people of this earthquake-prone state continue to be haunted by the devastating earthquake that wrought havoc five years ago. Back then 12,000 men, women and children died, 1.2 million were rendered homeless and property loss totalled a whopping Rs200 billion. This time, the moment the tremors were felt around midnight, many panic-stricken residents living in skyscrapers jumped out of their balcony in the blink of an eye only to land in the hospital, like what the panicky residents did in the 2001 disaster when even children were thrown out as their buildings began swaying after a 6.9-strong quake. Since the deadly upheaval in 2001, Gujarat has witnessed 1204 tremors, including 11 that measured more than 5.1 on the Richter scale. And geology experts are predicting more 'moving experiences' in the days to come, so fears of yet another cataclysm will continue.

NEW ZEALAND - A series of four quakes ranging from 3.8 to 4.5 rocked Wanganui on the west coast of the North Island over an eight hour period. A large quake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale struck 40 kilometres west of remote Te Anau on the west coast of the South Island.

OHIO - A small 3.0 earthquake shook northeast Ohio for a few seconds Saturday, the fourth and largest quake to hit the area this year. The quake was centered about three miles off of Mentor beneath Lake Erie. The other three earthquakes this year had magnitudes of 2.0 to 2.6. It is UNUSUAL to get this many earthquakes in a short period of time in Ohio.

TSUNAMI -
THAILAND - Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center Saturday warned Phuket and other provinces in the country's southern Andaman Sea region to pay close attention to any earthquake in the Andaman Sea that may cause a tsunami. 31 earthquakes measuring from 4.0 to 5.3 on the Richter scale took place recently in two days on the seabed some 400-600 kilometers west of the Ranong coast. The quakes were at irregular intervals, but the epicenter is an undersea mountain which has probably resulted from a new undersea volcano. "If a huge explosion occurs, it could cause a new tsunami." The center urged residents to pay attention to earthquake and tsunami indicators, and to closely monitor earthquakes in the Andaman Sea. The authority also advised fishermen and other coastal and deepwater shipping in the region to take particular note of peculiar movements of ocean waves and the behavior of marine animals. The center urged those who notice the peculiar signs to immediate report through the center's hotline, or other local government agencies as soon as possible. However, Phuket authorities have not announced an evacuation or set off other alarms, as the intensity of the earthquakes at just over 5 on the Richter scale is not considered very dangerous.
The new Tsunami alarm sounded by the Natural Disaster Warning Centre said, “In two days, there were 31 quake tremors. If the cause is the eruption of an underwater volcano, the risk of a Tsunami is very high.” From March 9 to 11 there were “UNUSUAL PHENOMENA” about 500km off Ranong Province. “There were 31 tremors measuring between 4 and 5.3 on the Richter scale. There would be one of three reasons for this: a new underwater volcano, the eruption of a volcano called Baren or the eruption of another volcano. In the last case, the risk of a seaquake is very high.” The Admiral of the Royal Navy put all his men on alert. All fishermen were invited to give “timely” reports to the centre and Navy personnel about any suspect phenomena.
The National Disaster Warning Centre Saturday issued the urgent warning asking the people to monitor announcements from the centre constantly. It said the number of the quakes was irregular and the epicenter was at a fault where undersea mountains were located and sometimes lava had seeped out from the fault. The centre said the quakes might have been caused by the force of the lava which was pushing out through the fault or the moving of the fault. The centre added that the quakes also indicated that the Bahrain Volcano, which was about 110 kms away from the fault or 67kms from Thailand might explode in the future and affect Thailand. Fishermen were asked to watch out for possible signs of undersea volcano explosion, such as the change of sea colours and strange behaviours of sea animals and smelling of phosphorous and seeing bubbles coming up from the sea.

VOLCANOES -
ITALY - Recent claims that Vesuvius could be set for a massive eruption are groundless and irresponsible, Italy's top volcano expert said. An assertion by a US vulcanologist that the volcano has a 50% chance of sowing disaster this year unless current evacuation plans are changed is "absolutely devoid of scientific basis." An article claimed that Vesuvius was set for a repetition of a largely ignored 4,000 BC eruption that spread fire and ash in a 17km radius. Such an event would threaten the whole of Naples, not just the southern slopes covered by current emergency plans. "The possible periodicity of about 2,000 years for a major eruption, which would raise fears of a short-term event, has no statistical foundation."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
INDIA - Lightning killed 11 people and injured eight in 24 hours in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, hit by unseasonal rain and hailstorms. The latest deaths brought the death toll due to bad weather to at least 35 since March 1. More than 100 people have been injured and thousands of hectares of mustard, lentil and wheat crop damaged. Scores of trees have been ripped out by strong winds. “As per preliminary reports, 720 villages in 30 districts have been affected by the unseasonal rains and hailstorms, and crops in 31,850 hectares of land have been lost."

MALAYSIA - The 30-minute storm that wreaked havoc in Subang Jaya, Kelana Jaya and Shah Alam on Thursday was a case of severe cumulus nimbus clouds. A Meteorological Services Department spokesman said such freak storms are RARE in Malaysia. “However, if and when it occurs, it can create havoc and damage lots of property.” Such storms are also unpredictable. “Usually, when freak storms are about to occur, dark clouds appear in huge forms.” Thunder is much louder than normal and lightning appears frequently or at short internals. Thursday’s freak storm was also destructive as the strong down draft that accompanies the storm added to its force. “Down drafts occur when wind comes from the clouds and goes straight to the ground.”

TENNESSEE - Property damage, spot power outages and a rainy rush hour were the main problems during the storm period that hit the midstate Thursday afternoon. Winds between 45 and 60 miles per hour were common during the worst of the storm, and in some places the winds reached as much as 100 miles per hour. The best chance for the next storms combined with high wind speeds in the coming days will be Monday, when a cold front moves through the area. "After that, the temperatures cool down a little below climatological norms, and there might be a little taste of cool weather left. Another cold front comes through later next week, and we might be looking at lows down into the low 30s and upper 30s by late next week."

PHILIPPINES - A landslide hit a village in Tarragona, Davao Oriental in southern Philippines on Friday, but all the villagers were evacuated beforehand and there were no reported casualties. Continuous rains that weakened the area's soilstructure caused the landslide, which damaged crops and about 100 million pesos (2 million U.S. dollars) worth of infrastructure, including a village hall, a school and several houses. Some 160 families were evacuated from the village since Wednesday following a warning of possible landslide.
A geologist has warned the public that a crack in an area in Barangay Luminggan, Alimodian could worsen into a landslide should the rains continue to pound the town. In 1998 and 2004, landslides have occurred in the said area, but nobody was hurt. Due to its geologic setting and geographic location, the Philippines ranks among the most vulnerable to natural disasters.

MALAWI - Three men have drowned in Malawi, swept away in the swollen rivers that have caused flooding in the south and centre of the Southern African country. The HEAVIEST DOWNPOUR IN 28 YEARS has caused flooding in Mangochi district, leaving 6 000 people homeless, destroying crops and damaging roads. Meanwhile, at least seven illegal gold panners have died in the past week just over Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique after heavy rains brought chaos to the area. There are fears the casualty figure could be much higher, up to 50. "People are dying and there were bodies everywhere."

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone with heavy snowfalls and windstorms has hit huge regions in the Far East. The precipitation in the city of Khabarovsk and the Khabarovsk Territory Friday and Saturday exceeded a month's normal level. The wind speed was up to 20 metres a second.

INDIA - Friday Himachal Pradesh recieved fresh snow in the backtracking winter and unseasonal rains continued to lash several places in north India while Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka got a respite from the downpours which claimed over 70 lives in the past three days. The higher reaches of Lahaul, Spiti and Pangi valleys in Himachal Pradesh groaned under freezing weather with the mercury plunging to minus 5-13 degrees Celsius. Many areas had a heavy bout of snowfall while widespread rains swept across the mid hills. The Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) had 50 cm snow.

CALIFORNIA - Wave after wave of snow-bearing dark clouds bore down on the coastal cities, dropping loads of flakes and icy pellets on roads, roofs and trees. Inland, in higher, colder places like Hoopa, several inches coated the hills. Blue moons are far more frequent than sea-level snowfall on the North Coast, so snow showers in Arcata, Eureka, McKinleyville and other seaside towns Friday were a giddy spectacle for some and a hazard for others. On Woodley Island the last time it snowed this much was in 1990. Friday's storm came out of the Gulf of Alaska, bringing with it super-cold air. The air at the upper levels of the system was around minus-38 degrees. The precipitation was drawing that cold air down with it, so it didn't have a chance to melt in the warmer air near the surface.
RECORD COLD - Friday's "frigid" high of 48 BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD of 53 degrees for the day, recorded in 1999."We beat the record big time." The morning's low of 37 degrees tied the low of the same day in 1999, according to area temperature records that date to 1949. While weather patterns this late in the winter season are UNUSUAL, they aren't unheard of.

OREGON - On Friday morning the Oregon coast saw a fair amount of snow, which was a RARE event. The cold weather pattern is expected to last through this morning before warmer temperatures return.

WASHINGTON - The wind has quieted from full-out howl on Thursday to a growl. The snow is melting and power has been restored in Grays Harbor County. The air is still a little chilly, but it appears the worst of the storm is over. A RARE lightening storm left 25,000 residences from Montesano to Ocean Shores without power Thursday morning. “It’s VERY RARE that we have lightning here. That was a pretty good-sized hit.”

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
CONNECTICUTT - It's been a funny winter - mild, with major snowfalls that promptly melted and temperatures that seemed confused about the actual season. January was among the 10 mildest on record since the state began keeping weather records in 1905. With January's temperatures averaging 33 degrees - a substantial 7.4 degrees above normal - they then encountered an early February that felt more like March before turning consistently chilly. "We had a RECORD SNOWFALL on Feb. 12, then three days later, it was 57 degrees! We've had warmer winters, and winters with more snow, but we've never had a winter with such fluctuations." Those fluctuations have been in terms of both temperature and snow. Snowfall as of last week was about 29 inches above normal. The charts show 69 inches for Hartford, compared with 39.3 inches on average. The casualties of this winter-that-was-and-wasn't might be insects - the good and the bad. The fluctuating temperatures would have forced at least some insects in and out of the process of hibernation before true spring, a process that can depress insect numbers. One of the great New England storms of all time - the Blizzard of 1888 - occurred in March. "If we can have April in January, we can have January in April."

INDIA - It has been raining so much in several parts, including in the city, that even seasoned weather observers are stumped at the 'strange phenomenon'. This time of March is not used to receiving rains, at least not at the levels that the nation is witness to. Chennai has been receiving intermittent showers all through the week. Down South, in places like Tuticorin, Kanyakumari and nearby places, it has been belting down hard. Elsewhere across the Vindhyas, up North, summer usually simmers by this time. But places like Punjab, Delhi have been receiving heavy showers. Rains that have cooled northern India are also likely to move east towards Jharkhand, Bihar and Bengal. The spell of freak weather that has brought relief from the heat is said to be a result of upper air cyclonic circulation systems, which interacted with the existing pre-monsoon circulation pattern.
Many parts of the state are reeling under the heavy downpour OF A SCALE NEVER WITNESSED IN THE MONTH OF MARCH IN 70 YEARS. “On March 7, 1936, Bhopal received a rainfall of 35.1 mm. But by Friday morning this year, the city had received a rainfall of 44.7 cm.”

Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.

Friday, March 10, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Early this morning -
5.0 JAWA, INDONESIA
5.3 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA

Largest quakes yesterday -
3/9 -
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA
5.8 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 XIZANG
5.8 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.3 EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA

INDIA - Six persons were injured in Rapar taluka of Kutch district of Gujarat in earthquake which jolted many parts of the state late Tuesday night. The earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale also damaged houses in many places of the district. Most of the injured have suffered fractures in the leg and the arms after portions of their houses collapsed during the quake. Rapar was one of the talukas which was one of the worst affected during January 26, 2001 earthquake in Gujarat.

LOUISIANA - A 3.1 earthquake Tuesday at 9:12 pm near Mount St. Helens in Washington state caused brown water to flow from some faucets in rural West Feliciana Parish on Wednesday. “People don’t want to believe me when I say an earthquake caused their brown water, but it’s true.” Strong seismic activity on the West Coast and in Central America and Mexico affects two wells at Laurel Hill, causing them to briefly pump water discolored by manganese when seismic waves pass through the area. “It’s only these two wells. They are about 500 feet from each other, and there’s some instability underground for some reason.” Water district employees can prevent the wells from pumping the discolored water if they learn about an earthquake hundreds or thousands of miles away in time to temporarily shut down the wells. They look at Geological Survey seismograph readings, via the Internet, at two sites in Arkansas and one at Pickwick Lake, Ala., to verify their suspicions. “If they had movement at Pickwick, we get brown water.”

VIRGINIA - Prompted by the area's increased seismic activity over the past few years - minor earthquakes west of Richmond and the microquakes that rattled the city in 2004 - scientists hope to catch central Virginia in motion with a new network of seismic equipment. Two quakes in 2003, including one of magnitude 4.5, a lesser temblor in 2004 and the "booms" that shook Richmond's North Side that fall convinced the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory's director that he needs to know more about underground activity in central Virginia. Equipment was placed in Richmond because of the mysterious "booms" that rocked the Ginter Park neighborhood. At the time of the shaking, in the fall of 2004, little was known about these microquakes, but there had been a few recent reports in eastern Henrico County and earlier in the area in the winter of 1986-87. Now it appears that the microquakes occur in episodes that can last a few days or even weeks. The epicenter for these swarms seems to be underneath Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's statue and grave at the center of the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road, "as best I can tell." Although some of the booms were blamed on two teens, later convicted, who set off homemade explosive devices, he believes that some were microquakes so minor that they wouldn't register on monitors far away. He thinks the granite and other hard rock underneath the city is strained by some unknown factor, possibly groundwater fluctuations, triggering the shaking. He hopes the new monitors will shed some light on the cause. "It's a curious phenomenon." Virginia has had more than 160 earthquakes in the past three decades, but only about a sixth of them were felt.

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - After blowing off more steam and triggering numerous avalanches, scientists say they are noticing something else on Augustine. Early Wednesday morning, geologists saw something new. They began to see a different signal on the seismometers on the island. They say it could have to do with the rate lava is coming out of the ground or the stickiness of the lava. So, they're closely monitoring the volcano. “We were starting to see very small, repetitive events that we've seen at other volcanoes and actually at Augustine back in 1986, and 1976, during what's called a dome building eruption. So, the signals are very consistent with lava slowly coming out of the ground.” They say they're still interpreting the signal and trying to figure out what it means. For now, the code warning remains at orange.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Western Australia's Billabalong and Twinpeaks stations are both thought to have borne the brunt of the rising Murchison River Wednesday night. Billabalong looked a bit like a war zone. "They had sandbags at all the doors and all the gear at least two foot high." Flooding from ex-tropical cyclone Emma has caused SOME OF THE HIGHEST WATER LEVELS ON RECORD in the Murchison catchment, with the river more than 10 kilometres wide in some places. Murchison pastoralists are expected to report large stock losses once flood waters recede.

HAWAII - Intense rain floods Hauula, even long-time Windward Oahu families are calling this THE WORST THEY'VE SEEN IN 35 YEARS. As the night wore on, water from deep in the valley washed down toward Kamehameha Highway, flooding home after home. Rain is in the forecast through the weekend. Heavy showers last week destroyed four homes and dropped up to 22 inches in 48 hours. The rains are being caused by a low-pressure system west of the islands, which is interacting with moist, unstable air.

ARKANSAS - Sharp winds are kicking down trees and fences, bending road signs, and ripping shingles from rooftops in Arkansas. Most of the state was under a tornado watch this morning and at least two possible tornadoes were spotted. Storms sweeping across the Plains states have unlocked heavy rainfall. And southern Oklahoma reported hail the size of baseballs. The rough weather is caused by a system rumbling out of the Pacific Northwest. Ahead of the cold front, weather-watchers say large hail, strong winds and tornadoes are possible.

INDIA - A sudden bout of heavy rain accompanied by thunder and lightning made life easier for heat-weary Mumbai residents on Thursday. The UNSEASONAL rains that lashed the city from early Thursday morning continued throughout the day and were accompanied by thunder and lightning. For most part of the day, the sky was overcast as if it was monsoon time already. "This weather is expected to continue in most parts of the state - especially in the coastal belt - for the next 48 hours."
In Bhopal and other areas lightning killed 5 people on Wednesday. The rain water and hail ruined crops of wheat and mustard.

MALAYSIA - Residents in the densely populated suburb of Subang Jaya thought a hurricane must have swept across their neighbourhood when a FREAK storm that lasted 30 minutes uprooted trees, blew off roofs, toppled over lampposts and caused chaos. Besides houses and property ravaged by the storm, hundreds of cars were also damaged by flying debris and falling trees and branches. Residents described the blustery weather conditions that started at 3pm yesterday as “NOTHING LIKE THEY HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE.” The Meteorological Department, when contacted, was unable to explain the phenomenon. “It was like a typhoon...This is the first time I have experienced something so unnatural as this storm.” One man saw the evidence of strong winds coming from both the right and left sides. “The wind was so strong, it felt like a hurricane. It’s so weird as this is the first time we see this happening. Roof tiles were flying all over the place and partitions were falling on cars.”

ISRAEL - Torrential rain and hail storms were sweeping through the center of the country yesterday, and ice was reported on the roads in the Binyamin area of Samaria. Hail the size of marbles also fell from Kiryat Arba to the southern Hevron Hills. Heavy rains are pummeling Jerusalem, and the precipitation is to continue until this afternoon. Temperatures will be UNSEASONABLY high by Sunday, but another storm system is headed for Israel and is likely to dampen Purim festivities next week.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - An UNUSUAL late-winter storm brought high winds, heavy rains and snow to southern British Columbia on Wednesday, and is also being linked to the crash of a small plane. The storm also dumped heavy rain in some areas, bringing more than 50 millimetres to North Vancouver.

CALIFORNIA - Weather reports for the Tollhouse area indicated a strong cold front would move into the area Thursday night, and the snow level may descend as low as 500 feet. Snow accumulations may be anywhere from a trace to a couple of inches. This is a HIGHLY UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERN for this time of year in central California.

GEORGIA - Heavy snowfalls and the danger of avalanches in the area of the Kazbegsky district interrupted motor traffic at the Gudari-Kovi section of the Military Georgian Highway leading to Russia (North Ossetia Republic). Snow is one meter thick at that section of the highway. Several dozens of motor vehicles are waiting for the opening of the highway. The traffic at this section of the highway was sealed off last time for several days in mid-February. In March, traffic blocked over snowfalls is very RARE, as temperatures are usually warm. Traffic is also very slow on the highway in the Ninotsmindksy district, connecting this area of southern Georgia with Armenia.

SWITZERLAND - Friends in Garmisch, Germany, are mourning the loss of a popular ski instructor from Idaho who died Monday in Switzerland when he fell hundreds of meters in an avalanche. The area had received much snow over the weekend and conditions were ripe for avalanches, especially away from marked trails.

FRANCE - A member of the high mountain police based at Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée in the Alpes-Maritimes department has been killed by an avalanche during a mountain rescue excercise to practice the evacuation of a chair lift. Two others suffered multiple fractures.

EUROPE - Avalanches have killed at least 86 people in Europe's Alps this winter. The French government reported a RECORD NUMBER of avalanche-related fatalities. A large avalanche nearly hit the village of Oberried in Switzerland on Thursday. The avalanches are being triggered by UNUSUAL late-season snowstorms coupled with more backcountry skiing and snowboarding. Adding to the risk: This winter has been UNUSUALLY dry and cold. "In an avalanche, your first 15 minutes are your golden window of rescue ... with a 92% chance of surviving." After that, victims usually die from suffocation or carbon dioxide poisoning from breathing their own expelled air in the space where they are trapped. The off-piste community has been stunned by the number of people killed who were experienced skiers.

MONTANA - A skier was injured in an avalanche on the back side of Big Mountain.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
OHIO - Since 1978, which had only 0.65 inch of precipitation, NO FEBRUARY HAS BEEN DRIER THAN 2006. Rainfall during the month typically averages 2.9 inches with an additional 5 inches of snowfall. This year’s weather didn’t come close to that with only 0.62 inch of rain and 2.3 inches of snow. “I’m hoping that we make up some (precipitation) in March otherwise the farmers in this county are going to have a rough time. We need almost three-fourths of an inch every single week to make up for water usage.” Lack of precipitation wasn’t the only UNUSUAL aspect for February this year. It’s also only the fifth time since 1976 that the month of February has been colder than January. The previous years were 1980, 1989, 1993 and 2002. Averages are somewhat distorted by a series of temperature swings of more than 10 degrees on several occasions. On Feb. 16 the high was 69 but by Feb. 17 the high was only 39 and 26 one day later. The area will experience those major temperature swings about every five years or so when warm fronts move through and are then quickly followed by a cold front. The high temperature this year was UNUSUAL, though, since the area hasn’t hit 70 in February in several years.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, March 9, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/8 -
5.5 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.8 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.4 KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA

PAKISTAN - A predicted "second massive wave of death" among the three million people left homeless by an earthquake in Kashmir in October has failed to materialize. The United Nations credits a relatively mild winter and a co-ordinated helicopter airlift of relief supplies into the mountainous region adjacent to northern Pakistan and neighbouring India. The region still faces peril as reconstruction efforts pick up steam starting in April. For example, the danger of mudslides will be high when monsoon season begins in July.

TSUNAMI -
JAPAN - the Wakayama prefectural government is building emergency tsunami evacuation towers. The evacuation towers aim to provide shelter for people in low-lying areas if tsunami tidal waves hit the coast. The feared Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes that could spawn tsunami are estimated to have at least a 50-percent possibility of hitting within 30 years. Starting in fiscal 2006, the prefecture will subsidize half of the construction expenses for local governments that decide to build the towers. The towers are three-legged steel structures supporting a platform. They range from 5 to 10 meters tall, and can hold 50 to 100 evacuees each. Kushimoto, in southernmost Honshu, has plans to build two towers by the end of March, at a cost of 30 million yen. Hiwasa in Tokushima Prefecture built a tower in December. Towers were built in Taiki and Shima, Mie Prefecture, in fiscal 1998 and fiscal 2003, respectively, and plans are under way to build towers at three to five more sites.

HAWAII - While the five most severe tsunamis to hit here in the past 60 years have come from three areas — Chile, Russia's Kamchatka region, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands — Hawai'i is at risk from almost every point of the compass. Emergency preparedness officials maintain that no Hawaiian shoreline is safe from a tsunami. Tsunamis that have caused damage in the Islands in recent generations have come from the Aleutians (1946 and 1957), Kamchatka (1952), Chile (1960) and Alaska (1964), and from an earthquake near Kalapana on the Big Island (1975). A 1994 earthquake in Japan's Kuril Islands prompted a statewide coastal evacuation in Hawai'i, but the wave measured only a few inches locally.

VOLCANOES -
NICARAGUA - Nicaraguan civil defense authorities on Wednesday warned residents about a volcano that has been shooting off columns of gas and ash. The activity had ceased by Wednesday morning and there were no immediate plans to evacuate communities near the San Cristobal volcano, 60 miles west of the capital of Managua. The renewed activity began Monday night and involved small explosions alternating with mini-earthquakes. "It is launching abundant columns of gas and ashes on a constant basis." It was not as strong as in December, when the San Cristobal spewed ash over the communities. "But we are on constant alert. Nothing is foreseeable." It is part of a range of four volcanoes that have been active since November 1999.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone DIWA was 588 nmi S of Port Louis, Mauritius.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
INDIA - An upper air cyclonic circulation over southern Rajasthan caused rain and hailstorm in Delhi late Wednesday evening, bringing down the soaring mercury. A weather office spokesperson said that the western disturbance was likely to bring showers to the capital and its surrounding areas for at least the next 48 hours with a resultant drop in temperatures over the next two-three days. While a hailstorm and showers affected only certain parts of Delhi, other parts experienced a moderate to heavy dust storm. Reports of glass panes being broken by the hailstorm were reported in some areas as the sudden downpour caught Delhi's citizens unprepared. Traffic was thrown out of gear for some time while a dust storm raged.

UGANDA - At least 27 people were killed and more than 86 others injured when a church roof collapsed during torrential rains in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. A brick wall at the partly constructed church in Uganda collapsed during a service on Wednesday. The wall fell on the congregation during a storm that pelted the structure with heavy rain and high winds.

ARKANSAS - A severe weather outbreak was possible late Wednesday through today across Arkansas. High winds, hail and tornadoes are possible. Some severe thunderstorms have already erupted across mostly northern parts of the state. A line of thunderstorms will develop and move into western Arkansas Wednesday evening. Damaging winds above 70 miles per hour will be possible along with large hail.

TEXAS - A cold front was expected to move across North Texas last night, bringing the chance for strong to severe storms and the possibility of strong winds and hail. While the storms aren't expected to drop tornadoes in and west of Dallas, wind gusts and hail could bring storm damage.

CALIFORNIA - During a five-minute period around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday the California Highway Patrol reported at least three car crashes on Interstate 80 from Horseshoe Bar Road to Maple Street. Unsafe speed, periods of heavy rain and hail may have contributed to multiple car crashes and spinouts in the Auburn area. "We didn't have anything of major consequences and no fatalities. We did have numerous spinouts and roadways clogged with vehicles and debris." "Today we had a downpour that all of a sudden hit us with rain and hail. It's like driving on marbles." The National Weather Service is predicting rain on and off throughout the remainder of the workweek with snow possible at the 2,000 foot level late today.

WIND -
MALI - "The whole of Mali woke up this morning to such strange weather and no visibility." A desert wind blew clouds of orange sand and dust across the sky, grounding planes.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A Siberian avalanche has killed two snowboarders, one from France and one from Switzerland. The avalanche buried six of a group of 19 snowboarders and two Russian instructors snowboarding in the mountains near Lake Baikal. Rescuers pulled four people out alive from under the snow.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
OKLAHOMA - Pear trees, peach trees, even azaleas already are blooming across Muskogee. They have even seen tiny peaches on the trees. Azaleas are already blooming, even though the bushes normally don’t bloom until late March. But underneath the beautiful blossoms is concern that the blooms and the fruit that follows might not survive a March freeze. The last freeze of winter usually hits around March 29. Also a concern is the drought that has dried the ponds. “It’s going to be bad news if it doesn’t rain. The ponds are as low as I have seen them and I was living during the Dust Bowl.” “This has been such a strange year. I’m not sure how the blossoms are going to be affected. Even with irrigation, we still go out and dig in the beds and they’re dry. We have never dealt with this kind of weather in the history of the azalea festival.”

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/7 -
5.5 NORTH OF HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
5.3 SOUTHERN INDIA
5.8 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
6.2 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.2 NEW BRITAIN

BULGARIA - Nearly 100 earth tremors have been detected over the last two weeks in Bulgaria, particularly in the area around the town of Kurdzhali. Tuesday Sofia felt mild by-shakes after an earthquake of 2.6 on the Richter scale rocked once again the southern part of the country. The quake was registered at 4:25 p.m., with an epicentre located about 200 km south-east of Sofia.

VOLCANOES -
ITALY - Researchers are warning that the next eruption of Vesuvius could be much more deadly than the Italian authorities are planning for. Italian plans call for the evacuation of 600,000 people from the city. But the researchers say up to three million people could be at risk according to the new assessment. "It actually has a fairly high probability [of occurring] if we consider there have been eight large eruptions of this kind in the history of Vesuvius with a separation in time of 2-3,000 years, and it's been nearly 2,000 years since the last one."

PHILIPPINES - Philvocs office in Surigao City Tuesday denied rumors about a volcanic eruption of Mt. Paco, an inactive volcano found in Mainit, Surigao del Norte. It has been inactive for three hundred years. Rumors are abounding in the Philippines - a rumor was floating that a tsunami would inundate the coast of Surigao Monday.

ALASKA - Mount St. Augustine has come alive again. On Monday the Alaska Volcano Observatory Web site described a low level eruption throughout the day characterized by small ash plumes. Southern Cook Inlet experienced light ash fall. Monday night the mountain experienced increased levels of seismic activity, but by morning seismic activity decreased. Since Saturday, overall seismicity at the volcano has been elevated. Minor ash emission continues to be seen in the current island web camera image and this is likely to continue intermittently. Satellite images show a strong thermal anomaly and occasional local ash clouds.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone DIWA was 445 nmi S of Port Louis, Mauritius.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
RUSSIA - A total of 450 residents in southern Russia are being evacuated after a dam broke Tuesday, threatening their village with massive flooding. About 120 houses in Sinyavskaya, a village on the Don River, about 20 miles from the regional center of Rostov-on-Don, might be destroyed in flooding, due to poor maintenance of the broken dam. "The breakage was caused by an overflow of a water basin with melting snow."

ODD -
MASSACHUESETTS - On the side of the road near Route 106 in Plympton was a pumpkin. Growing. In March. "I know it sounds bizarre, but it is so real." The ideal growing season for pumpkins begins when weather is consistently in the 70s - far from the up-and-down temperatures the Commonwealth has seen this winter.

WEATHER AT SEA - the Southern Ocean - "I have experienced some very strange weather today as we were sailing along. Every couple of hours we had extremely poor visibility where you could see no more than a couple of boat lengths and everything was really wet. Then in just a couple of hours we would pass through it and be in clear skies with visibility all the way to the far off horizon. A very strange sensation and for safety I kept the radar on as I cannot shake the visions of icebergs that I have etched on my mind from the end of last week. Also as we approached the frontal system of the low, the sea temperature dropped from 10.3 to 8.2. This was not what I was expecting and can only put it down to large chucks of ice chilling it down." The ice littering the path was the result of an iceberg 15-20kms in length breaking off from Antarctica, which had been floating north into the Indian Ocean for some months, breaking up into a group of icebergs spread over a 100km area. "I don't recall reports of so much ice in any of our 50 crossings of the Southern Ocean.”

Tuesday, March 7, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/6 -
5.6 MID-INDIAN RIDGE

CALIFORNIA - Nearly 550 bridges, many in Northern California, could collapse in a major earthquake because the state has stopped contributing to a program paid largely by the federal government to reinforce them. More than 1,200 bridges around the state were targeted for strengthening after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, but state budget woes have prevented nearly half from being fixed. Caltrans quit investing in the program in 2002 even though for every $11.50 the state contributes, it receives $88.50 in federal matching funds. Many cash-strapped cities and counties say they are unable to generate enough funds to trigger the federal match.
Californians are unmotivated to prepare for the next disaster - they believe that their state is prone to disasters, but see little motivation to prepare for nature's crushing blows, a new poll has found. The poll found that only 22 percent of Californians consider themselves to be prepared or very prepared for a disaster in their area. Nearly half singled out "common sense" as the reason to prepare for disaster, but noted few incentives that would motivate them to be ready for future earthquakes, floods or fires. "They recognize risk, but they often assume it will happen to someone else. They acknowledge that they aren't prepared, but they can't find the motivation to strap their water heaters, clear dry brush or prepare a home inventory." Since 1990, California has experienced 32 natural catastrophes or disasters in which insured losses totaled more than $25 million, with losses totaling $19.4 billion. Even if a disaster struck their neighborhood, 31 percent of respondents said they would rebuild in their current community.

TROPICAL STORMS -
TROPICAL DEPRESSION 01W was 727 nmi ESE of Cebu City, Philippines.
CYCLONE DIWA was 303 nmi SW of Port Louis, Mauritius.

PHILIPPINES - tropical depression 01W is nearing the area of Southern Mindanao. As of Monday morning, the weather disturbance was estimated at 1,150 kms east of Southern Mindanao with maximum winds of 55 kph near the center. It is forecast to move west northwest at 13 kms per hour and will be named Basyang once it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility by early this morning. Media reports were circulating from a yet unknown source that a tsunami would inundate the coast of Surigao yesterday, on Monday, but the weather bureau denied that there was any scientific basis for such a warning. "There's no such news. They must have associated the tropical depression with tidal waves."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - The Bureau of Meteorology says the severity of the recent low pressure system that hit the north coast of New South Wales was UNUSUAL. The region is recovering from a few days of heavy rain, flooding and gale force winds. The low was from Queensland, and it caused damage because it was moving so slowly. The low pressure system has now moved out to sea. They usually hit in the cooler months.

WIND -
TENNESSEE - wind started blowing in November and hasn't stopped in over three months. "I don't remember this much wind in an East Tennessee winter...ever. I can easily envision a crisp autumn wind that lifts and swirls orange and red leaves like tossing a giant salad. And we've all seen yellow daffodils bobbing in a cold March wind, sometimes bowing so deep they kiss the ground. But continuous winter winds? No. On the contrary, except for the occasional blustery day brought on by an approaching storm front, what I remember most about Tennessee winters is the stillness. Cold and still...When the January temperatures soared into the 60's, I heard frequent remarks of, "They say it's in the 60's but that wind still gets to you. Better bundle up."...Mere days ago, headlines announced hundreds of thousands without power in several states due to freak windstorms. On a global scale, in spite of state of the art detection systems in place, doesn't the weather seem less predictable?... Is this restless wind making anyone else a trifle uneasy?"

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - Alpine ski resorts were on high alert after heavy weekend snowfalls caused avalanches that killed at least five people in the last three days. In the Swiss resort of Lauterbrunnen, an American resident of Germany who was skiing well off the marked run, was swept away by a snowslide and killed. Another US national died across the border in the French resort of Tignes, after apparently falling into a frozen lake while snowboarding on unmarked territory. The force of the avalanche projected him through a 20-centimetre-thick layer of ice on frozen Tignes Lake. The victim's companion, a French woman, was injured. In nearby Val d'Isere, a 19-year-old Swede who was skiing off marked trails was swept away by an avalanche and killed. Avalanches also were responsible for a number of injuries in France and Switzerland, where four skiers were hurt near the popular resort of Verbier after being caught up in a 300-metre wide snowslide. On Saturday, a 45-year-old woman was killed while snow-shoeing near the Alpine resort of Les Diablerets. Together with Monday's death near Lauterbrunnen, there have been 18 avalanche victims in Switzerland this season. Almost all of those killed by avalanches had ventured outside marked ski runs. A 28-year-old Norwegian tourist also died in a landslide on an Italian mountain while sightseeing.

CANADA - One snowmobiler is dead - the third in as many days in the B.C. Interior - after he and a friend were swept away yesterday in an avalanche near Fernie. The pair had been snowmobiling in the Three Sisters area north of the town, about 200 km southwest of Calgary, when the slide was triggered about 3 p.m.

SPAIN - Three British climbers were found dead in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains, a day after one of the group battled blizzards and freezing temperatures to raise the alarm. The three died of hypothermia after a snowstorm battered the mountains east of Granada, in the southern region of Andalucia.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
NEW ENGLAND - scientists say recent extremes - record floods that washed away roads and homes, a rainy fall that dulled the foliage and turned apple season soggy, and a more-than-mild winter - prove that change isn't decades away. "Climate is changing in New Hampshire and New England, and the evidence is already here." Sea temperatures have gone up. So has annual precipitation. The growing season has increased by 8 days and the date of ice-out throughout New England has crept earlier. Between 1970 and 2000, the number of days per year when there was snow on the ground dropped by 16. "It's possible to look down the road and say, maybe in some way, this will be a good thing. But between here and there, there's a huge period of disruption and uncertainty."

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires

Monday, March 6, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/5 -
5.1 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 TONGA ISLANDS
5.4 NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA
6.1 TONGA ISLANDS
5.3 NORTHERN PERU

TSUNAMI -
AUSTRALIA - more than 7 per cent of Australia's houses are in low-lying areas near the coast that would be vulnerable to a tsunami. The Gold Coast leads the list with more than 92,000 houses under threat. Brisbane was second. Coastal vulnerability is increasing as more people flock to the coast. The study follows a federal government report that warned the risk of a tsunami in the region was real. "Australia is surrounded ... by some 8000km of active tectonic plate boundaries capable of generating tsunamis."

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - After subsiding for weeks, pressure inside Augustine Volcano has started to build up again, scientists said this week. The likeliest explanation is that the mountain's new lava dome - which has raised the elevation of the island peak by several hundred feet - is sealing off vents in the volcano, trapping volcanic gas. That means an explosive eruption could recur. In the past week, scientists have detected a swelling of around one inch on the volcano. Slight underground tremors from breaking rock have also been picked up.

TROPICAL STORMS -
TROPICAL DEPRESSION 01W was 671 nmi SW of Agana, Guam.
CYCLONE DIWA was 232 nmi WSW of Port Louis, Mauritius.

MAURITIUS raised its warning level on Saturday as cyclone Diwa approached, bringing lashing rains and strong winds to the tiny Indian Ocean island.

The tropical depression 01W located about 285 miles east-southeast of Palau, and 700 miles southwest of Guam was drifting westward at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 30 miles an hour. Forecasters are concerned with the slow movement of the weather system because it gives it an opportunity to intensify. The storm will bring heavy rains to Palau. The center of the storm was expected to pass south of Palau late last night or early this morning. The storm is not expected to significantly affect Guam.

AUSTRALIA - A fourth cyclone of the season is building up for Western Australia, with a tropical low intensifying off the Kimberley coast. There was a cyclone watch for the coast between the tourist town of Broome, and Kalumburu at the northern tip of WA. "Though currently moving westwards, it is likely the low will turn sharply towards the southeast later today and approach the Kimberley coast on Tuesday.

BANGLADESH - At least four people were killed and more than 100 injured as a tropical storm flattened over 500 houses in six villages in the country's southern Sunderbans coastal region. The storm hit late Saturday night in the massive mangrove forest that runs along the Bay of Bengal coast from southern Bangladesh to India. "The storm hit the villages with winds packing over 150km/h and destroyed almost all houses within a few minutes."

Hurricane season - the director of the National Hurricane Center, is warning coastal residents - everybody on the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean - to prepare right now for the hurricane season that begins June 1. The next season may be worse than the past two, which resulted in an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes that hit U.S. shores. Meteorologists say that we're going to be in this active hurricane period for another 10 to 20 years.

The Weather Channel lists New York City as the third most vulnerable city in the entire nation to hurricane hazards, behind only Miami and New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina six months ago. New research indicates that New York City is woefully underprepared for the possiblility of a major hurricane strike. Concerns raised by the report include the stability of the city's shore areas, and whether citizens living in high risk areas have access to evacuation procedures. One of the largest private insurance companies in the country has already begun acting as if history will repeat itself soon. Allstate announced they would not be writing any new homeowner policies. Instead, they insist that the federal government create a catastrophic fund, which would indemnify them from natural disasters like hurricanes.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Wild weather unleashed winds of 115 km/h, bucketing rain and monster waves off southeast Queensland yesterday. One wave measured by a buoy off North Stradbroke Island reached a staggering 17m high, only 6m shorter than the Cape Moreton lighthouse. Rain from the Clayton's cyclone – a deep low with clockwise winds but without the warm air of a tropical cyclone – increased dam levels up by almost 1 per cent. Some dams gained the equivalent of 11,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools during 4 days of rain, the best since last May. Trees fell on houses, Gold and Sunshine Coast beaches were closed and suburbs blacked out. The system's clockwise winds and low pressure system branded it as a cyclone, but not a tropical cyclone. "It's an east coast low, we often get them in autumn and winter." Although winds in the low-pressure system could be very strong – in this case equivalent to a category 2 cyclone – a tropical cyclone would have stronger winds for the size of the system. Cyclones of this type are not named as they occur hundreds of times in the southern ocean. The huge waves generated by the storm swamped bureau predictions which had been less than half the actual wave heights. The severe weather is set to continue, with gales and thunderstorms expected until a southeasterly change on Wednesday.

INDIA - An UNUSUAL heavy downpour late on Friday night led to the collapse of walls at three places on the city fringes of Hyderabad, killing eight persons, including two girls and a boy. In the incident at Pahadi Sharif, six persons were killed and seven others injured. A midnight cloudburst with deafening thunder brought strong winds and a shower of hailstones. "So heavy was the rain that even our police station's arch caved in." A student who was playing inside his house premises, died on the spot when the wall of the bathroom collapsed on him on Saturday morning at Adityanagar in Miyapur. Locals said the wall got soaked due to the night's downpour. The parapet wall of a double-storeyed building fell on a tin-roof house killing one man at Nehrunagar of Chandanagar.

VIETNAM - High tides fueled by heavy northeasterly winds coming in off the East Sea were confirmed as the cause of flooding in southern Vietnam last week. The southern Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center said the fierce winds together with the flood tides brought on high water levels down river. The northeasterlies and the tide are to weaken in about 10 days with another less aggressive tide coming in. However, if the tide coincides with the incoming northeast winds, water levels could be high again, warned the center. When the winds hit, two sections of Ho Chi Minh City’s dike on the Saigon River had been breached, flooding over 400 houses.

PHILIPPINES - More than 100 families have been evacuated to safer grounds after a landslide hit Bgy. Carmen, Baguio District, Davao City on Friday. The landslide occurred around 5 p.m. on Friday following heavy rains. The weather bureau said UNUSUAL heavy rains are affecting the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao, attributing this to the "La Niña phenomenon."

SNOW / COLD -
SWITZERLAND struggled to dig itself out after RECORD SNOWFALL overnight Saturday set off avalanches, collapsed roofs, left the country's two main highways blocked and caused three deaths. Near the largest city, Zurich, 21 inches of new snow was recorded on the heights of Zuerichberg, the HIGHEST IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD SINCE RECORDS BEGAN in 1931.

FRANCE, GERMANY - Thousands of people spent a night trapped in their cars, trains or emergency shelters after heavy snow blanketed the Alps. Heavy snow and high winds lashed Europe over the weekend, causing the deaths of at least 17 people in weather-related accidents and avalanches. Hessen state in the south was dealing with THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IN 15 YEARS, saw five accident-related deaths, while four were killed in neighbouring Baden-Wuerttemberg.

FRANCE - A website which monitors off-piste conditions calls the recent period "the WORST IN LIVING MEMORY" for avalanches. This weekend, the avalanche risk in many resorts was classified as "extreme". Since January, heavy snow has fallen across the region, creating the best skiing conditions for many seasons. But temperature fluctuations have also brought masses of snow cascading down mountains.

SCOTLAND - Heavy snow was due to bombard the North-east as the big freeze continued. Extreme weather has brought the area to a standstill. More than 10 inches of snow have fallen since the start of March - the MOST SEEN IN MARCH SINCE RECORDS BEGAN in 1958.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
COLORADO - La Niña pushes the jet stream north so it cuts right through Colorado, leaving part of the state wet and the other dry. Up in Leadville, "it seems like it's been snowing a foot every three days since Christmas." Meanwhile, down in Trinidad, it has been so dry that ranchers have had to haul water for their cattle. Leadville and Trinidad are a microcosm of what's happening across Colorado, where heavy spring runoff in the north may portend floods, while a parched south promises early-spring wildfires. Fire danger is high for this time of year, with no relief in sight, and a lot of wind is compounding the problem. The snowpack in Leadville is 150 percent of average, while just 214 miles away, Trinidad's snowpack is 30 percent of average. The weather bedeviling Colorado is caused by a mass of Pacific Ocean cold water, about the size of the United States, stretching for 5,000 miles off the South American coast - called La Niña. "We've had some real strange weather going on - with extended dry periods in Denver and crazy snow in the mountains." Scientists disagree how long La Niña will last. It could be a year. It could be less. "This event had an UNUSUAL start in the late fall and was poorly predicted, so it could fade away this spring."

AUSTRALIA - could be in for much needed above-average rainfall after the World Meteorological Organisation said it saw UNPRECEDENTED SIGNS pointing to a looming La Nina, a phenomenon that can disrupt weather patterns in many parts of the globe. Temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific have been between 0.5C and 1C below normal since the start of the year. "Combined with broader tropical Pacific ocean and atmosphere conditions, this is consistent with the early stages of a basin-wide La Nina event. It is UNPRECEDENTED in the historical record for a La Nina of substantial intensity or duration to develop so early in the year." This typically brings far drier weather to the south-western US, Florida and western Latin America and above-average rainfall to Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. But there can also be a knock-on much further afield, with an increase to monsoon rainfall in South Asia, unusual coolness in tropical West Africa, South-east Africa, Japan and the Korean peninsula. La Nina usually lasts nine to 12 months, although "some episodes may persist for as long as two years." The buildup of this La Nina was so EXCEPTIONALLY SWIFT AND INTENSE that it was impossible at the moment to infer what the impact would be and how long the phenomenon would last. There is much speculation among climate scientists that man-made global warming may make El Nino and La Nina more frequent and more vicious and this trend may have already started.

ODD -
FLORIDA - For the past month, boat wakes have lasted for hours in the foamier-than-usual Banana River Lagoon. Puffs of the brown and white stuff washed up along the lagoon banks and canals in Cape Canaveral. Scientists haven't come up with a definitive answer on the foam's cause, but the prevailing theory is an algae die-off, despite tests last week that found a normal concentration of algae species typically seen in the lagoon. So far, water tests ruled out detergents and several toxic algae species. No red tide toxin or the toxin that contaminates lagoon puffer fish have turned up, either. Test results from new samples sent this week to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St Petersburg are expected early next week. The reason for all the foam may have more to do with warmer than usual conditions this winter that allowed more algae to grow and die faster than usual. Temperature data from the Banana River suggests warmer than usual water for most of the winter, followed by a blunt cold snap late in the winter that may have caused the excess algae to die off all at once. "Typically, these things would die off in smaller scales. We're hoping that we've seen the worst of it, and we should see it disperse." The foam is too widespread to be an environmental spill. "Maybe it's related to some of the plants and animals growing now that we haven't seen before, or haven't seen as many as before." The natural breakdown of rotting plants and animals releases products that can lather up water. Although not an immediate threat, the foam hints at an underlying chronic algae problem. "I'm not so concerned about the foam as I am with these larger populations and organic matter, which can result in low dissolved oxygen." "It is a freak thing. I've been coming down here in 10 years, I've never seen anything like this."

Disease

Sunday, March 5, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/4 -
5.4 NEAR S.CST OF EASTERN HONSHU
5.4 OFF COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA
5.2 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 UNIMAK ISLAND, ALASKA.
3/3 -
5.0 MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWESI
5.2 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.3 LEEWARD ISLANDS
5.8 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical storm 01W was 562 nmi SW of Agana, Guam.
Cyclone DIWA was 142 nmi NW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
HAWAII - Torrential rains flooded scores of homes, washed out roads and shut down traffic from Waiahole to Kahuku on Windward O'ahu Thursday, bringing with it flash flood warnings that continued late into the night. "This is probably the largest flooding event we've had since the 1996 flood." Rains have been unrelenting for days in Windward O'ahu. Similar weather patterns were found on Maui and Kaua'i. Kaupo, on the remote southeastern Maui coast, was drenched with nearly 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. And on O'ahu, the automated rain gauge at Punalu'u recorded more than a foot and a half of rain in 48 hours. There has been widespread property damage. The rains also caused a 200-yard long landslide near Kualoa Ranch. The stretch of Kamehameha Highway from Kahalu'u to Kahuku was littered with branches, mud, rocks and fallen trees.
Some are calling it the WORST FLOOD ON THE WINDWARD COAST OF OAHU IN DECADES and it's far from over. The destruction is massive. From Kahaluu to Kahuku, hundreds of homes were flooded Thursday evening after torrential rain hammered Oahu. But the real nightmare is in Kaaawa. "The low level windflow has hit the Koolau at just the right angle to hold those showers in place. It's UNUSUAL for it to last this long, but it's held it in place for about two days, so it's just been a repeated damage for people on the windward side."
Rain-making "multiple, similar weather systems" are to blame for recent drenchings on O'ahu and Kaua'i. While the systems were expected to be replaced by trade wind weather as the weekend approached, forecasters expect the systems will likely be back later this month. "These systems make the air to the east and southeast of the low unstable, creating a greater chance of heavy rain shower." The Hawaiian Islands experience two or three Kona low systems each year, but they normally pass from west to east through the Islands. The recent low systems are UNUSUAL in remaining to the west.

AUSTRALIA - Wild weather damaged a number of homes and cut off power to thousands more throughout south east Queensland overnight. The Gold Coast was worst hit. The Gold Coast recorded 140mm of rain overnight while winds along the coast uprooted trees and whipped up seven-metre waves.
Aid is being airlifted to about 500 people in Bellingen after rising flood waters stranded them on the NSW mid-north coast for the duration of the weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting more heavy rain along the NSW mid-north coast, with a severe weather warning for the far north coast.

MICHIGAN - a layer of warmer air slid between two layers of colder air, causing snow falling from the upper layer to melt and turn to freezing rain Thursday. What was UNUSUAL, however, was the springlike weather to the south colliding with colder temperatures in Detroit, leading to thunder and lightning.

SNOW / COLD -
ITALY - Dozens of people have been rescued after an avalanche struck during a skiing competition in northern Italy. The avalanche swept down a mountainside near Italy's border with France. Rescue workers said around 20 people were buried by tons of snow which swallowed competitors and officials taking part in a ski competition in Artesina near Cuneo. This winter looks set to be ONE OF THE WORST ON RECORD FOR THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED IN AVALANCHES ACROSS EUROPE. Already 39 people have died in the French Alps, while in the whole of last season the total was just 25. Last week 20 people died in France and Switzerland alone. The avalanche risk has grown because of sharp temperature fluctuations - which have made the snow very unstable - and greater numbers of inexperienced skiers venturing into powder snow.

BULGARIA - A mighty avalanche in the Rila Mountain has swept six Slovak tourists, who skipped warnings of local people on possible snow-downs. The 600m-long avalanche was caused by the mountain-trotters themselves, after they took on climbing a slope. Only one woman was injured, both her arms are broken. Two weeks ago a twenty-year-old man from Sofia died in an avalanche which went down on Vitosha Mountain. Days earlier a snowboarder, who spent the night buried in the snow near the Bulgarian winter resort of Bansko, had survived amid temperatures of -15 Celsius. With a continuously warming weather across the country, the threat of avalanches in the mountains become more and more real, rescuers said.

COLORADO - Two snowboarders triggered a wet slab avalanche within the city limits of Steamboat Springs. "It happened so quickly. It didn't hesitate, and it came in a big way. Right there in the middle of town." Warm temperatures this week "wreaked havoc on a fairly stable snowpack and produced a significant wet slide cycle."

Friday, March 3, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/2 -
5.4 LEEWARD ISLANDS
5.4 TONGA ISLANDS
5.4 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

AUSTRALIA - residents have been shaken by a 3.5 earthquake centred about 60km from the nation's capital. It was centred 8km southwest of the earthquake-prone town of Gunning. A tremor was felt in Canberra, but Gunning residents described a loud bang, and said the shaking lasted about six seconds. The Australian Seismological Centre chief said the earthquake-prone area might be "waking up" after 20 years of seismic inactivity. "This is actually the second earthquake the area has had in two weeks." This one was much bigger tha the first one. "We're not sure what's triggering the tremors, whether its changes in the ground water levels or just general tectonic tremors, but hopefully they don't keep growing in magnitude." Gunning was partially damaged in 1934 by an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale.

HAWAII - An earthquake of magnitude 4.0, the largest in the area of the Kilauea volcano since 2001, shook the southern region of the Big Island on Wednesday. No damage was reported. The earthquake occurred just before 9 a.m. and was followed by four aftershocks by 9:30. "These persistent earthquakes, located within the Ka'oiki fault zone of Mauna Loa, are possibly an adjustment to the continuing expansion of the Kilauea summit."

TSUNAMI -
NEW ZEALAND - There is a call for the earthquake and tsunami hazard in the Bay of Plenty to be re-evaluated. The recommendation follows new research revealing a sharp rise in known offshore earthquake sources in the region. Scientists have identified 166 under-sea folds capable of generating earthquakes, compared to only 14 folds identified six years ago. The results mean the earthquake hazard in the central and eastern Bay of Plenty coastal region is greater than previously thought.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE CARINA was 781 nmi SSE of Diego Garcia.

AUSTRALIA - A developing tropical low off the Northern Territory coast is expected to turn into a cyclone and track towards the massive oil and gas rigs in the resource-rich Timor Sea. Already some rigs are copping heavy rain and strong winds. The slowly-moving low is expected to move southwest along the coast of Timor and may turn for Western Australia by the middle of next week. If a cyclone hit Timor, high rainfall would be expected to cause flash flooding and landslides on the mountainous island's southern side. Any storm surge could also flood coastal towns and villages. Strong wind and high seas warnings have been issued for waters between Cape Fourcroy and Cape Don. Waves were rising to 3m and 30 knot winds were expected in the area. The low was pushed west by easterly winds that were likely to continue.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Several homes on Queensland's Gold Coast are under threat from a massive landslip caused by torrential rain. A low pressure system off the southern Queensland coast unleashed winds of up to 100km/h and heavy rain overnight, damaging homes and bringing down trees in Bundaberg and Redcliffe, north of Brisbane. The rough conditions forced the World Championship Tour surfing events on the Gold Coast to be postponed.
The Northern Rivers region in northern NSW is on high alert for severe weather and flooding. Local rivers are already at their peak. Widespread flooding is also expected across the mid-north coast this morning. Many roads and bridges are underwater and the town of Bellingen is already cut off by floodwaters. In some affected areas, records are expected to be set for rainfall. "I think those will go pretty close to all-time records."

HAWAII - Rains drenched windward Oahu causing flooding and a landslide on Johnson Road between Kualoa and Waikane. The water on Kamehameha Highway was high enough to reach car doors near Kualoa. Forecasters said the water runoff from the rains is expected to cause flash flooding in streams and could trigger more mudslides. The Punaluu Pump rain gauge reported 5.65 inches of rain between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Nearly three and a half inches fell in the three hours between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. alone. A weather system west of Hawaii has produced the unsettled conditions. Kauai's weather will be affected by an area of heavy rain to the south of the Garden Isle. On Oahu, the windward side of the Koolau range will have the highest likelihood of flooding as clouds anchor themselves to the terrain, resulting slow-moving heavy showers over that area.

UTAH - One northern Utah town bore the brunt of flooding earlier this week as warm temperatures melted the heavy mountain snow pack. Flooding affected at least 20 homes in Morgan, a town of 2,600 people some 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. The unseasonably warm temperatures are melting a snow pack in the nearby mountains that is at 150% above normal. A recent heavy snowstorm also contributed to the flooding. More snow is predicted for the weekend, but officials are worried that more warm temperatures next week will only add to the flooding woes. Tthe ground is still frozen and the local waterways are unable to hold all the water produced by the melting snow. Temperatures are expected to creep back up into the 50s by Monday.

SNOW / COLD -
FRANCE - There were two further avalanche deaths yesterday in the French Alps and police have warned off-piste skiers and snowboarders as well as ski mountaineers to be extremely careful especially on north faces. There has been 40-60cm of fresh snow in the pre-Alps and the avalanche risk is considerable across the whole region. There have been 43 avalanche deaths in France so far this season.

IDAHO - An Idaho man who was snowmobiling is dead after being caught in an avalanche in Butte County. He was carried about 200 yards down the hill. His riding companion found him under about three feet of snow and tried to revive him, but was unable. The avalanche happened around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon in the Antelope Valley. Avalanche danger was considerable throughout the mountains of Idaho Wednesday. The danger level is expected to remain at 'considerable' throughout the weekend.

CANADA - British Columbia - The avalanche hazard in the Alpine is considerable - at treeline and below treeline. Extended periods of 100 kph winds and fluctuating freezing levels have loaded a variable mix of soft slabs, stiff upside down windslabs and scoured old snow in their wake. Slab avalanches up to 80 cm deep were releasing with the weight of a skier within the ski area over the past two days. A natural avalanche cycle occurred early in the storm and those start zones have reloaded since then. Within the ski area SLOPES RAN THAT HAVE NOT SLID IN 10 YEARS.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, March 2, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
3/1 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 CENTRAL BOLIVIA
5.3 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.7 MINDORO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.1 XIZANG

Regions of the Earth previously thought to be immune to giant earthquakes might actually be at high risk of experiencing them, according to a Caltech study released Wednesday. The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake had a magnitude of 9.15, making it the third-largest earthquake in the past 100 years. "This earthquake didn't just break all the records, it also broke some of the rules." The oceanic crust at the site of the 2004 earthquake is old and dense, and the relative motion between the plates is slow. "For all these reasons, received wisdom said that the giant 2004 earthquake should not have occurred." Other subduction zones that were not previously considered to be a risk, but may need to be reassessed, include the Ryukyu Islands between Taiwan and Japan and the Caribbean from Trinidad to Barbados and Puerto Rico.

VOLCANOES -
YELLOWSTONE - In the past decade, part of the volcano has risen nearly five inches, most likely due to a backup of flowing molten rock miles below the planet's crust. The activity may have cracked the crust in the park's famous Norris Geyser Basin, leading to the formation of new fumaroles — holes that vent smoke and gas — and the reawakening of some of the area's geysers. Radar observations from the European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite reveal that the jellybean-shaped Yellowstone caldera — a giant depression caused by past volcanic explosions — began to rise in 1995. Although the caldera floor started to sink in late 1997, part of the north rim, called the north rim uplift anomaly continued rising until 2003. After a nine year period of inactivity, Steamboat Geyser erupted in May, 2000, and has erupted five times since. Since 1989, Pork Chop geyser was active only as a hot spring, but in the summer of 2003 it reawakened as a geyser. Also that summer, several footpaths near the Norris Geyser Basin were closed because of near-boiling ground temperatures. "This is probably an ongoing feature in Yellowstone. We've only been able to study it like this for 10 years, so we're still not sure what's normal and what's not. But there's no evidence yet to suspect an eruption."

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone CARINA was 681 nmi SSE of Diego Garcia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, ECUADOR - Flooding imperils thousands. Continuous floods fed by heavy rains since early January have affected more than 250,000 people in several departments across Bolivia. Thousands of families in Brazil and Ecuador have also been displaced. The most damaged areas are located in the Bolivian departments of Santa Cruz, La Paz and Beni. Rains have lessened this week, but the rainy season is not over yet. More rains are forecast, which may cause the Rio Grande to overflow again, creating new floods. Thousands of families who have lost their homes are living in 24 overcrowded camps set up throughout the country. The Ecuadorian coast is almost under water, roads are flooded, and electricity and telephone services are out of service. Rivers in affected provinces are overflowing, and thousands of hectares of crops are under water; urban areas have been also affected. Weather forecasters warn that heavy rains will continue along the coast of Ecuador during March and April.

PERU - Torrential rainfall has inundated 3,700 hectares of rice and banana cultivation, as it caused rivers in Tumbes to overflow their banks. Tumbes is located in the north of Peru, near the border with Ecuador. From Sunday to Monday precipitation reached 107 mm.

SOUTH AFRICA - Johannesburg - Several roads in Kempton Park were closed after a four-hour downpour flooded many parts of the area on Wednesday afternoon. "At this stage, the water level is steadily climbing to above mid-leg level and there is a danger that cars using the road will be swept away."

CALIFORNIA - With strong winds, tornado warnings, power outages, hail and thunderstorms, the weather Tuesday was more scary than destructive in Solano County as storms pounded the region for the third consecutive day. "I'm totally freaked out about it. I got a little panicked when it hailed and then we had the power outage." UNUSUAL was the half-inch hail that fell in parts of Sacramento, and the Vallejo teacher injured by lightning. The teacher was touching her classroom's metal door when lightning struck the ground near her classroom. "California is very low, near 40th, among the states in terms of people being struck by lightning." The lightning strike came from a thunderstorm that passed through Solano and Yolo counties on its way to Sacramento, where it brought UNUSUALLY large hail stones. It produced large hail, up to a half-inch in size, and there was two to three inches of hail on the ground.
"The rivers are up to flood stage, but it's receding in between the storms. It's REALLY STRANGE WEATHER right now. It'll come down in huge downpours, but then it just stops and subsides as the sun comes out. We were worried that the rain would just continue straight on without stopping, but everything is holding up fine now. It's nothing like it was earlier this year." More rain is predicted for today and Friday, but the bigger concern is a major winter storm predicted to start last night in the Sierra Mountains. Forecasters are predicting between 14 and 20 inches of snow for some mountainous areas.

SNOW / COLD -
ALASKA - A 24-year-old snowboarder was buried in an avalanche Tuesday and presumed dead. Conditions were too severe to launch an immediate search. The avalanche fell from the 1,600-foot level of Marmot Mountain, cascading down over the snowboarder and into a ravine. The area, located 50 miles north of Anchorage, has been the site of previous avalanches.

INDIA - Four officials of the Border Roads Organisation were buried alive under a huge snow avalanche in Kargil Wednesday. Another similar incident occurred near the Line of Control at Lato, three porters working with the army were buried under a snow avalanche. However, two of them were rescued and admitted to hospital in an injured condition, search for the third is ongoing.

CANADA - Most Canadians will have to endure a very slow start to spring, according to Environment Canada's latest three-month forecast. Most of the country will experience cooler than normal temperatures during the spring. The prediction is for cooler than normal temperatures from the west coast clear through to Quebec over the next 90 days. Atlantic Canada and eastern regions of Canada's North will enjoy warmer than average temperatures in the next three months, however. "A late arctic vortex" that moved in on northern parts of Hudson Bay last month is to blame for the cold temperatures in southern Ontario and Western Canada. "It's doing some very strange things. It's pulling the cool air down across the Prairies and into Ontario, but on the other side it's pulling very warm air off the Atlantic. And actually, places like Iqaluit and Baffin Island are setting record warm temperatures lately." "And my gosh, if you wanted it to be warm a few days ago, you had to go north. It was warmer in the north than in the south. Talk about weather upside down." The forecast suggests that most of southern Ontario and central Manitoba and Saskatchewan will have a wetter spring than usual, while Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and most of the North will be drier than usual.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
The global scientific body on climate change will report soon that only greenhouse gas emissions can explain the current freak weather patterns. Simultaneous changes in sea ice, glaciers, droughts, floods, ecosystems, ocean acidification and wildlife migration are taking place. The panel had previously said gases such as CO2 were "probably" to blame. "The measurements from the natural world on all parts of the globe have been anomalous over the past decade. If a few were out of kilter we wouldn't be too worried, because the Earth changes naturally. But the fact that they are virtually all out of kilter makes us very concerned." The report will forecast that a doubling of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere would bring a temperature rise of 2 - 4.5C, or maybe higher.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
FRANCE - It has been a very strange winter around Paris, with long stretches of frost alternating with unseasonably pleasant temperatures. "We used to have four seasons. Now we have four seasons in one day." For race horses, it has been a struggle to adapt: They grow a winter coat, start to lose it, then grow it again.

"Five minutes of research on Google reveals more data about calamitous shifts in climate than you can possibly absorb... Two clicks in and you can find out that the world's polar ice caps are melting twice as fast as scientists thought just a few years ago. You learn that, in the past 30 years, nearly half a million miles of sea ice have melted - an unprecedented pace. You discover that 2005 was the hottest year on record, and that by 2030, Glacier National Park in northern Montana will be entirely devoid of glaciers. You also find a plethora of maps of the world, each with little symbols stuck all over them... of environmental nasties: record droughts, epic floods, dire storms of all shapes and sizes, unusual animal migrations, ecosystem breakdowns, unprecedented heat waves, malaria outbreaks in regions previously immune. There are disappearing lakes, coral reefs bleaching (from algae die-offs), massive snowfalls and huge fires. And that's just the warm-up. So to speak."

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/28 -
6.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.2 SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN
5.4 TONGA ISLANDS REGION

IRAN - More than 1,000 homes in an isolated region of southern Iran were seriously damaged on Tuesday when a powerful earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale hit the area. The quake hit an area around the town of Arzuieh in Kerman province, 750km southeast of the capital Tehran.

VOLCANOES -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Hundreds of people have been told to leave a remote Papua New Guinea island after its volcano re-erupted throwing up huge black ash clouds and spewing out rock flows. The volcano on tiny Manam island last erupted in October 2004, prompting the evacuation the following month of more than 9,000 people after heavy ash falls destroyed houses and food crops and contaminated water sources. A strong eruption was reported from Manam's southern crater on Monday evening. Eruptions continued into the night with black ash clouds rising up to 2km along with the ejection of glowing lava fragments and small rock and lava flows down the mountain.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone CARINA was 681 nmi SSE of Diego Garcia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Severe flooding last month in the Western Highlands Province has killed six people, destroyed dozens of houses and food gardens and put about 5000 people at risk of disease. The flooding in the Dei district had devastated five villages, forcing people to flee to higher ground. Hundreds of people were stricken with malaria, there was a high risk of typhoid, medical supplies were short and there was an urgent need for clean drinking water.

NAMIBIA - one of Africa's driest countries, has been ravaged by floods following UNPRECEDENTED heavy rains that have fallen countrywide since the beginning of the year. Since the beginning of 2006, the country has recorded a rainfall average that is higher than the annual rainfall average. Flooding has also been reported in the Namib Desert. At the weekend the town of Mariental was evacuated after it was engulfed by floods. Damage to the town's infrastructure is estimated at R50-million. The main road linking Namibia and South Africa was also closed to traffic at the weekend due to the flooding. Namibia imports over 85 percent of its goods from South Africa. The Caprivi Region, which borders on Zambia, has also been flooded for weeks. At least five people were reportedly swept away.

SNOW / COLD -
BRITAIN - was bracing itself last night for further Arctic weather after forecasters predicted more snow. Despite today heralding the meteorological start of Spring, Britain will remain in the grip of some of the coldest weather of the winter. Icy blasts, which brought an overnight deluge of snow to northern parts of Scotland and eastern England, are expected to last for the rest of the week. Blizzards have already caused disruption with roads and schools forced to close. Worst-hit was northern Scotland, with high winds and blizzards. The Thames Barrier was shut as bitterly cold northerly winds swept down the east coast and combined with high spring tides to create a half metre surge on the incoming tide. “There is no doubt that we are experiencing a change in climate around the world and with only six weeks to go, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we will be rolling our [Easter] eggs in the snow this year.”

FRANCE - An American has been killed in the Plane sector in the Vallon de la Doire by an avalanche Monday. The man was with two other Americans off-piste skiing close to the resort of Montgenèvre when they triggered a slab avalanche at around 2500 meters altitude. One of the other men was seriously injured. At nearby Risoul two teenage snowboarders triggered an avalanche at 2200 meters altitude while riding off piste, seriously injuring one. The avalanche risk was at High (4/5) over much of the Hautes-Alpes.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
INDIA - The HIGHEST EVER MAXIMUM DAY TEMPERATURE IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY of 38.4 degree celsius was recorded on Monday, the 27th. On Tuesday they expected the heat to continue for the next 48 hours. “The rise is due to the sudden flow pattern change. January and February are generally considered winter months, where the temperature is usually governed by western disturbances. However, this year the number of active western disturbances affecting Gangetic West Bengal is remarkably low. This is resulting in less number of moisture disturbances like rain and thunder showers.” Consequently, the cool air has stopped flowing over the Gangetic West Bengal.

ARIZONA - The Valley’s RECORDBREAKING DRY SPELL may soon come to an end, as forecasts call for a 30-40 percent chance of rain into this morning. If rain fell at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport yesterday, it will snap a run of precipitation-free days at 132 - 31 days longer than the previous record. While this rain won’t do much to alleviate the drought’s fire hazards and fill shrinking reservoirs, the precipitation would tamp down the billowing dust plaguing the Valley.

IOWA - on the last day of February parts of Iowa may have seen high temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s. For some areas, that's 30-degrees above normal, and is capping off ONE OF THE WARMEST WINTERS ON RECORD FOR THE REGION. While it's unusual, it's not unheard-of, especially as March approaches and 60s become more common in the forecast.

WATER WARS? - Climate change may spark conflict between nations. Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan rely on the River Jordan but Israel controls it and has cut supplies during times of scarcity. The Brahmaputra River has caused tension between India and China and could be a flashpoint for two of the world's biggest armies. Floods in the Ganges caused by melting glaciers in the Himalayas are wreaking havoc in Bangladesh leading to a rise in illegal migration to India. Tensions have flared between Botswana, Namibia and Angola around the vast Okavango basin. Population growth in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia is threatening conflict along the world's longest river, The Nile.
On Monday Britain's Defence Secretary issued a bleak forecast that violence and political conflict would become more likely in the next 20 to 30 years as climate change turned land into desert, melted ice fields and poisoned water supplies. Military planners have already started considering the potential impact of global warming for Britain's armed forces over the next 20 to 30 years. They accept some climate change is inevitable, and warn Britain must be prepared for humanitarian disaster relief, peacekeeping and warfare to deal with the dramatic social and political consequences of climate change. "As we look beyond the next decade, we see uncertainty growing; uncertainty about the geopolitical and human consequences of climate change."