Featured Disasters - January & February 2006

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 -

QUAKES -
6.0 SOUTHERN IRAN today.
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/27 -
5.2 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - The clean-up has begun after category one tropical cyclone Emma crossed Western Australia's remote Pilbara coast today as a force-one storm. Six people were rescued after two cars were swept away by flood water dumped by the cyclone, oil and mining operations were shut down, Karratha, Tom Price and Pannawonica suffered localised flooding and three Pilbara schools had minor classroom and roof damage. Forecasters were keeping an eye on another developing tropical low that could impact WA over the weekend.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MALAYSIA - A two-hour downpour caused a major river to overflow, flooding a central Malaysian city and forcing thouands from their homes for a few hours. The UNUSUALLY INTENSE downpour - almost double the volume normally recorded for thunderstorms that last between two to four hours - disrupted trains, cut off highways and caused millions of ringgit (dollars; euros) in losses. Floodwaters reached 2.3 metres at some places in Shah Alam, about 30 kilometres west of Kuala Lumpur, submerging single-story houses while trapping other residents on the second floor of their homes.
Sunday's floods in Shah Alam are touted to be the WORST IN 10 YEARS, following unusually heavy rain for five hours. Plans must be drawn up to upgrade the irrigation system to absorb the excess water during heavy rain. "Given the unpredictable weather now, sometimes, rain pours in excess from the normal volume. This means, the capacity of the irrigation system must be upgraded." More than 9,000 people were evacuated, over 3,000 houses were damaged and about 1,000 vehicles were submerged in the floods.

WIND -
WASHINGTON - The residual effects of a FREAK weather pattern that brought gusty winds to areas along the Strait of Juan de Fuca early Monday were still being felt Monday night. Residents of Neah Bay and a few scattered areas surrounding Port Angeles remained without power late Monday after winds of 40 to 50 mph - and unconfirmed gusts of more than 70 mph - downed or tipped trees, signs, utility poles and power lines. The cause of the early Monday winds was not the typical reason for windy conditions along the North Olympic Peninsula. Early Monday's gusts were fueled when a small localized area of low pressure formed around the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and tapped into energy from surrounding weather systems. The barometric pressure, already below normal, dropped nearly a half-inch between 8 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday to create a localized low pressure cell. Air from surrounding weather systems was sucked into the low pressure, making for the strong winds as the system moved east.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - A powerful snow cyclone hit Sakhalin and Kurile Islands Monday night, closing airports and seaports in the Far Eastern Russian region. The storm in the Tatar Strait in the northern part of the Sea of Japan reached the force of seven.

CANADA - British Columbia - the avalanche danger continues to escalate in many parts of the province. Warmer temperatures and winds are making the snowpack unstable. The danger rating is now "high" in the alpine and "considerable" at the tree line in the Columbia Mountains and Central B.C. Conditions are even worse along the coast due to heavy snow and warm temperatures.

IDAHO - Some are saying this is the worst year for avalanches. There have already been two avalanche-related deaths and with a potentially record-breaking snow year in the Teton Mountain Range, more could be on the way. What the public doesn’t know is that most deadly avalanches are not natural avalanches, quite often they’re triggered by the victim they take.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
RUSSIA - warm cyclone waves that have affected the Sakhalin Island have helped local energy specialists to remove a major breakdown on the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city heat supply main on Monday. The repair had been started specially with the onset of the cyclone on Monday, because it brought warmer weather. The cyclone affected the Sakhalin Island for about a day and then moved on to the Kamchatka Peninsula.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASONS -
TASMANIA - a weather expert has labeled this past suumer season as "weird". There has definitely been "lots of weird stuff" happening during summer. December kicked off wet and windy, but with plenty of warm nights - Hobart's mean minimum overnight temperature was 12.8C, 2.1 degrees above normal and the HIGHEST FOR ANY DECEMBER IN 124 YEARS OF RECORDS. Much of Tasmania had more rain than normal during December, winds gusted in excess of 100km/h and Hobart reached 98km/h on Christmas Day - its SECOND-STRONGEST FESTIVE GUST ON RECORD. January wasn't much better, with wind gusts of up to 106km/h lashing the state over the new year. Late January brought scorching temperatures up to 40.6C - the SECOND-HIGHEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED in Tasmania. But, in a bizarre twist, by the first week of February snow fell to 900m. Then, in the final weeks of summer, hailstones the size of apples pelted Bruny Island during a wild storm. Overly humid summer weather triggered more disease at the Botanical Gardens than usual and caused some confused plants to change colour early.

MICHIGAN - the outlook for the week is for somewhat cooler than normal temperatures for the time of year but nothing exceptional in the way of weather. The mid-20s highs for most of the week is about five degrees below normal for late February-early March. On the other hand, the winter to date has been warmer than average. There was an absence of a February deep freeze with temperatures of minus 10 to minus 20 that normally make the month the coldest of the year. It is UNUSUAL not to have at least a few days of -10 to -20-degree temperatures in February. While the thermometer has dipped below zero on a few occasions, those colder nights have fallen some short of a “normal” February.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, February 27, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Cluster of small quakes today in SICILY and TURKEY.
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/26 -
5.4 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 SOUTH OF JAWA, INDONESIA
5.4 BANDA SEA
5.6 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
6.4 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.1 XIZANG
5.0 CENTRAL PERU
Cluster of small quakes in STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR.

CANADA - the magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook up many people on Friday. The quake's epicentre was located 7 km north of Thurso, Quebec, or 37 km from Gatineau. It was felt throughout the capital region and as far east as Montreal. "What was UNUSUAL, from our impression, was that it lasted a little longer," an earthquake expert said about the roughly 30-second quake. Other significant earthquakes in the region occurred in 2002 with a magnitude of 5.5, 1990 with a magnitude of 5.0, 1983 with a magnitude of 5.1, 1958 with a magnitude of 5.0 and 1944 with a magnitude of 5.6.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone CARINA was 593 nmi SE of Diego Garcia.

AUSTRALIA - A tropical low brewing off the West Australian coast is expected to turn into the third cyclone of the state's season. "Gales could occur later on Tuesday if the system continues to intensify and moves further south as expected." WA's cyclone season runs between November and April, with most activity in the latter half of the period. A typical season produces five cyclones off the northwest coast, with about two impacts, at least one being a severe tropical cyclone.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PAKISTAN - At least 15 people were killed after their coach was swept off by a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Pakistan's North West frontier province on Sunday. The coach fell down into a river. Many parts of the Oct. 8 quake-hit zone had been receiving heavy rains for the last two days, causing landslides in the hilly areas. The earthquake has also badly damaged roads and several are still covered by earth and rock from earlier landslides. Sunday's accident illustrates the continued threat to earthquake survivors, more than two million of whom have been living in tents or in simple shelters since the Oct. 8 disaster that killed more than 75,000 people.

PHILIPPINES - There's a renewed fear of more landslides in the Philippines, prompting authorities to order a quick survey of endangered communities. A small landslide hit Friday in the central Philippines where an earlier landslide wiped out an entire village. No one was hurt, but officials are worried about heavy rain causing more landslides.

CALIFORNIA - A winter storm brought rain and wind to many parts of Northern California Sunday. Officials say flooding is possible due to three storms set to hit Northern California in the coming week. The storms are expected to bring up to 5 inches of rain to the area. River levels are not expected to rise with Sunday's storm but may with two coming later in the week. Officials also warned residents living along the delta in the Sacramento region to watch for possible boils, leaks, or breaks along levees. The Governor recently named 5 levees in the Pocket Area of Sacramento a very high risk.

TEXAS - It rained and rained and rained some more, and by Saturday night enough precipitation had fallen to spur meteorologists' talk of dents in North Texas' drought conditions. Between noon Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday, 3.51 inches of rain was recorded at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. "As far as working on the drought, that's a really good start." The two-day soaker put rainfall totals for the month of February more than 1.7 inches above normal. It was the highest two-day rainfall total since at least October 2004. The rain also gave area reservoirs - many of which are still several feet below normal - a boost. Surprisingly, the weekend drenching failed to set any records. The weather service counts record rainfall according to calendar days, not 24-hour periods. The record rainfall for Saturday, 2.24 inches, was set in 1948. The record precipitation for Friday's date was 1.75, set in 1970. "Close to 3½ inches is a significant amount of rainfall any day."

SNOW / COLD -
FRANCE - The Pyrenees had escaped relatively unscathed from the carnage unleashed by avalanches this season. That was until Saturday. At around midday as two climbers approached the Arre-Sourins ridge close to the Anglas chairlift a slab avalanche was triggered beneath their feet causing two slides, one on the resort side of the ridge, the other towards the lac d’Angas. One climber was carried 200 vertical meters from the ridge. He was dug out in a state of cardiac arrest and later died. Like too many of the avalanche victims this season the man and his companion were described as experienced and prudent mountaineers who knew the area well. The avalanche risk was 3 (considerable) at the time of the accident. At les Arcs, a group of four ski instructors from nearby Bourg St Maurice were caught by an avalanche Saturday afternoon under the Aiguille Rouge while skiing off-piste. One member of the group, a 27 year old man, was buried. He was found rapidly using his avalanche beacon but died during his transfer to hospital by helicopter. Earlier in the day three skiers, also resident in Bourg St Maurice, triggered an avalanche in the Aiguille Grive sector, injuring two of the group.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, February 26, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/25 -
5.3 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
5.0 TONGA ISLANDS
5.3 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
5.0 SOUTH OF PANAMA

TSUNAMI -
PHILIPPINES - Thousands of residents from coastal towns fled their homes and sought the safety of higher ground Thursday over a rumor that a tsunami was going to hit southern Negros Oriental Thursday night. The tsunami rumor started from a text message that circulated like wildfire after the intensity 7.8 earthquake struck in Africa Thursday morning. Police had already declared the text message as a fraud Thursday night, but there was no time to stop the evacuation.

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - New data from Augustine Volcano, including satellite measurement of the island's swelling and subsiding, suggest that this winter's eruption is coming to an end. Magma in the Cook Inlet volcano could turn lively again with little notice, they say - but the likeliest course is that no more huge explosions are going to send plumes miles into the sky, triggering ash fall alerts and detouring airplanes like they did in January. Seismic tremors from the island now indicate rockfall from unstable parts of the new dome, not deep magma movement and these signals have decreased over the last few days. Augustine remains at alert-code color orange while the eruptive dome-building continues. Meanwhile this week, the observatory downgraded Spurr Volcano west of Anchorage from code yellow to code green, the lowest level for a dormant volcano. At the same time, the observatory upgraded Korovin Volcano in the remote Aleutians to code yellow. Sensors on the Atka Island mountain picked up four recent days of increased seismicity. (photo)

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone CARINA was 553 nmi SE of Diego Garcia, 1360 nmi ENE of Port Louis, Mauritius.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Storms have dumped rain and hail across Melbourne, causing flash flooding and bringing gale force winds of up to 80kph. The weather also caused havoc to boom gates and traffic lights in the area. The thunderstorms were caused by cold air moving above the surface after a couple of days of muggy, hot weather. Thunderstorms occurred across the state, but particularly in the Melbourne area. Hail battered the CBD, with stones about 1cm across and the rainfall in town was 33.2mm – three-quarters the monthly average of 46mm. "That's a fair fraction of what you'd expect for the entire month."

DUBAI AND THE NORTHERN EMIRATES - Moderate to heavy rain-showers lashed Dubai and the Northern Emirates Thursday, causing widespread chaos on the roads, damaging outdoor installations and property, due to flooding. Sharjah received around 8.6 millimetres of rainfall while Dubai recorded 14 mm, the highest in a day this winter. The overcast conditions were likely to persist till Saturday, and wind conditions were expected to be strong with gusts up to 35 knots.

CALIFORNIA - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for fragile Sacramento River and Delta levees, freeing up at least $75 million and suspending state environmental and contracting laws to speed repair at two dozen eroded sites. "We are literally one quake or one major storm away from a major Katrina-style disaster," the governor said. The declaration was announced late Friday afternoon before a weekend that was forecast to bring heavy rain and high winds to Northern California by late today. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and mounting warnings about the dire condition of California's levee system, there is a growing sense of urgency that something must be done to avert a disaster in the Delta. Scientists have predicted widespread levee failures are likely within the next 50 years, and that such failures pose severe risks to farmland, Delta residents and key infrastructure including highways, power and gas transmission lines and, perhaps most importantly, California's water supply.

ARKANSAS - In an average year, Arkansas has 21 confirmed tornadoes. Most of those tornadoes occur in March, April and May. However, 2005 was a MOST UNUSUAL YEAR. In 2005, only four tornadoes had been reported in the state through the end of May. But 40 more tornadoes were seen during the rest of the year, including 15 that were spawned in August by Hurricane Rita. The MOST TORNADOES EVER VERIFIED IN ONE DAY occurred on Nov. 27, 2005, when 31 tornadoes were spotted in Arkansas. Two of those storms were rated F3, which means they included winds of more than 150 mph. Two more tornadoes occurred in December. Also UNUSUAL was the path of the storms. Typically, tornadoes travel southwest to northeast, or diagonally, across the state. Last year, tornadoes struck areas that often don't see such storms, in Yell Conway, Cleburne, Fulton and Sharp counties. No one knows why that happened. "The National Weather Service has no explanation for it."

SNOW / COLD -
CHINA - Recent snow storms in Southwest China's Sichuan Province caused 30.5 million U.S. dollars of direct economic losses, latest official statistics show. The freak weather conditions, which lasted from Feb. 14 to 18, hit 20 counties, cities and prefectures in Sichuan, affecting 474,000 people. It snowed for 50 straight hours in the counties of Xuanhan, Dazhu and Daxian from the evening of Feb. 16 until the morning of Feb. 18. The snow was 60 cm deep in the mountainous areas. This amount has RARELY BEEN SEEN IN THE PAST TWO DECADES, experts said. The snow struck 5,533 hectares of cropland and destroyed another 800 hectares. In Shimian County, three consecutive days of snow left 500 livestock dead due to frigidity and lack of food. Parts of Shimian were also hit by strong gales, which damaged some transportation and communication facilities.
A thick blanket of snow covered northeast China's Liaoning Province Saturday and a weather report said most parts of the province would still expect heavy snowfall or blizzard. Due to a chilling front from Baikal, the RARE snowstorm started to hit Liaoning Province Friday, the first heavy snowfall since Feb. 4, the day that marks the start of spring in the Chinese lunar calendar. On Saturday morning, the fallen snow in downtown Shenyang measured at least 15 centimeters.

CANADA - A storm has shut down much of St. John's, forcing people to close businesses, cancel flights and abandon vehicles on roads blocked by snow. It was a fierce storm with winds gusting up to 130 kilometres an hour. A sustained wind of 120 km/h is hurricane force. It dropped as much as 15 centimetres over a single hour early Saturday morning. By mid-afternoon on Saturday, the city had received about 48 centimetres of snow, with no letup in sight. "They've had a good 10 hours of heavy snow." The forecast was calling for up to 60 centimetres. The storm was expected to let up Saturday night, moving west to hit Labrador and Iqaluit.

MORE MYSTERY BOOMS -
MAINE - People in Somerset County are seeking answers after feeling earthquake-like tremors this week. The Somerset County Communications Center got calls Thursday morning from at least a dozen residents who reported tremors in a 15-mile radius in Anson, Madison, Skowhegan and Norridgewock. But state officials said there weren't any earthquakes that were documented by the New England Seismic Network. People in Solon last week reported hearing an unexplained loud explosion that shook homes. "I'd like them to re-look at what they may have. This is the second occurrence in less than a week of such magnitude." Thursday's event sounded and felt like a Dumpster had fallen off a truck or a truck had hit the town office building, but that nothing could be found when employees went outside to see what happened. More than a mile away, another person felt the shaking in his office. But he, too, couldn't find the cause. "It felt like somebody with a delivery type of vehicle had backed into our building." Six miles away in Anson, the boom and shaking were so strong that an off-duty dispatcher called the county's dispatch center. He thought maybe his chimney collapsed or his furnace exploded, but he couldn't determine the cause either.
Reports continued to pour in Friday from residents who said they experienced what appeared to be earthquake tremors at about 10 a.m. Thursday morning. "The number and validity of reports received Thursday and Friday - in addition to similar reports last Friday in Solon - indicate Thursday's event was significant and not just a sonic boom."

Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.

Friday, February 24, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/23 -
5.1 MOZAMBIQUE
5.3 MOZAMBIQUE
5.4 MOZAMBIQUE
5.3 NORTHEASTERN INDIA
5.6 BHUTAN
5.2 EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA
5.5 BOUVET ISLAND REGION

MOZAMBIQUE - The rare 7.5 quake left at least two dead. It frightened residents who felt tremors as far away as Zimbabwe and South Africa. "For the moment we have at least two dead and 13 injured in Machaze but I believe that the situation is evolving." The quake was the SECOND-LARGEST TO HIT THE REGION SINCE 1900. "This earthquake occurred on the southernmost part of the east Africa rift system. The rift system extends from Eritrea, Ethiopia all the way down across Malawi into Mozambique. This is a system which splits Africa into two. There is the Africa plate on left, the Somalia plate on the right, and they are moving apart, it's opening up and it causes stress."

VOLCANOES -
PHILIPPINES - Two cities and three towns were told to be ready to evacuate as Mayon Volcano spewed ash 500m above its crater and more than 20 tremors jolted the area Wednesday. Advisories have been issued to the cities of Tabaco and Ligao and the towns of Malilipot, Daraga and Camalig amid increased seismic activity. 10 villages on the slope of the volcano would have to be moved once the volcano erupts.
Nine volcanic earthquakes were recorded on Thursday.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone CARINA was 571 nmi ESE of Diego Garcia.
Cyclone KATE was 336 nmi N of Cairns, Australia.

CYCLONE KATE - Queensland's second tropical cyclone of the season is expect to remain static for the next few days. "Over the weekend it won't pose any threat to the coast - come Monday we'll have a better idea. It's an unpredictable pattern ... the computer models are really struggling to handle it." Water levels on some islands in the Torres Strait could be an immediate concern as the second Coral Sea cyclone of the season intensifies. Water levels reached record heights during winter gales and a combination of strong winds and king tides in the Torres Strait next week is possible.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
YEMEN - Flooding claimed three lives as rescue teams attempt to save hundreds more trapped in homes and fields in Ma’abar, a small town in Dhamar province. Fifty houses were destroyed and the number of deaths is not yet known. A Dhamar governorate source said at least five died while 50 remain stranded in their homes due to flood water levels exceeding two meters. Two hundred residents were evacuated and taken to school lodging centers. Two-day rains caused immense agricultural damage and washed out the main road connecting Sana’a, Taiz and Aden. (photo)

TURKEY - An empty eight-storey building collapsed in the north-western Turkish city of Bursa. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties. The building, in the city centre, had been evacuated earlier after it was damaged by a landslide. It housed business offices.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - At least 56 people were killed and 32 injured when the snow-laden roof over an indoor market in Moscow collapsed. The collapse comes two years after the roof of a Moscow water park – built by the same architect – collapsed, killing 28 people. (photo)

WASHINGTON - An avalanche near Stevens Pass closed US Route 2 in both directions Thursday afternoon and trapped four cars.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
BRITAIN - must use less water or face rationing as the country suffered its WORST DROUGHT IN A CENTURY, the head of the country's Environment Agency said. In some parts of the southeast, reservoirs are at less than half their capacity at a time when they should be at or near full as the country emerges from the winter. "We are in a serious situation now, where both the environment and our water supplies are at risk. Groundwater levels in some areas are the LOWEST ON RECORD." Rainfall in the winter months has been the LOWEST SINCE THE DROUGHT OF 1920-21. Even if it returned to normal over coming months there would still be serious problems in some areas. The country has suffered seven big droughts in the past century, with the most recent 10 years ago.

AUSTRALIA - Dry weather has plunged Melbourne's water storages to 54.2 per cent capacity. The city's reservoirs dropped 0.6 per cent this week to 960,410 million litres, five per cent less than the same time last year. Melbourne's four major catchments recorded zero rainfall this week.

AFRICA - a seemingly endless procession of natural disasters is devastating Africa. The latest drought to hit Africa comes less than a year after poor rains brought hunger to the west and south. "There is nothing you can do but wait for death." Climate change may bring longer dry spells and unpredictable rains but societies should be able to cope better, experts say. "There are all sorts of things you could do to make sure less rain does not mean more dead." Environmentalists say African countries must also halt and reverse decades of deforestation to stop soil erosion. Forests cover less than two percent of Kenya compared with over 30 percent when it won independence from Britain in 1963. "There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees...It is among the stupid things we do, then when there's drought we cry and wonder why."

INDIA - The week has been unseasonably warm in Calcutta and its adjoining areas, and the weatherman has said that the spell is likely to continue for the next 48 hours. The maximum temperature in the city was pegged at 36.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, seven degrees above normal. “Normally, around this time, the maximum temperature is below 30 degrees and the minimum temperature hovers around 17 degrees, ensuring comfortable days and cool nights. But the sudden change in the wind direction has pushed up the temperature since mid-February.” Officers admitted it was difficult to predict the next change in wind pattern. "The unseasonal rise in temperature can cause dehydration, fever and flu.”
Unable to adjust to the fast changing weather conditions, a large number of children are falling victim to viral infection, abdominal pain and high fever. In the last 15 days, an alarming number of children suffering from viral infection, fever, jaundice and upper respiratory tract infection have been reported at city clinics and district hospitals. In the age group of two to 12 years many of them were also found suffering from vomiting, loss of appetite and abdominal pain. "Of the total cases getting reported daily at least 50-70 per cent children are suffering from jaundice, abdominal pain and high fever, which is QUITE RARE in February. At least 10 per cent children are also suffering from measles. Whereas in normal weather conditions, the measles cases are generally reported after Holi...With temperature getting as high as 35 degrees in February we are receiving a barrage of allergy, cough, cold and abdominal pain patients. A large number of people are also complaining of skin diseases, including rashes and dry skin. The people are also falling sick due to consumption of cold drinks, curd and ice creams. The body is yet to acclimatise to the fast changing weather conditions."
Weather officials are studying the unusually warm February weather in northern India and elsewhere in the country. "From Feb 1 till Feb 22 the temperature has been five to six degrees above normal at minimum and maximum levels. One day it went even nine degrees above normal in Delhi." Such a prolonged spell of above normal temperatures is not observed at this time of the year. The data of the last 50 years is being checked to look for similar weather patterns in the month. "We admit it is an UNUSUAL PHENOMENA and we are studying the reasons."

Thursday, February 23, 2006 -

PHILIPPINES - The metal foundations of a building under construction in Manila collapsed, reportedly following a tremor this morning. The street shifted around 4pm and the six-foot gap created by the shifting of the street virtually swallowed two parked vehicles by the roadside. Around 6 p.m., the construction site's tower crane collapsed. The metal beams of the structure gave way after the street collapse. Police were immediately dispatched to the area to prevent onlookers from straying into the road gap, which has continued to sink from ground level. (photo) [UPDATE - A water main break appears to be the actual cause, the water softened the ground causing the street and the building to collapse.]

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/22 -
7.5 MOZAMBIQUE

MOZAMBIQUE - Guests at the Tivoli Hotel in the port city of Beira, Mozambique were too scared to return to their rooms after a major 7.5 earthquake hit the country early on Thursday morning. A second 1.7 earthquake, presumably an aftershock, hit the area around 3am. "No-one is sleeping. The electricity is out, everything is in darkness, we are very scared." "It felt like being in a boat on heavy seas." Shortly after the earthquake, it started raining.
The quake comes on the heels of flooding in December that killed at least 21 people while tens of thousands of people were left homeless in the central Sofala province. The former Portuguese colony has also been hit by a lengthy drought that has left nearly one million people in need of food aid.
Major earthquakes are UNUSUAL in southern Africa. "It's a significant and unexpected earthquake in this region. We'll expect aftershocks from an earthquake this large." [5.3 and 5.4 this morning] Emergency services in the South African city of Durban, nearly 1,000km from the epicentre, received calls from frightened people in hotels and flats on the beachfront. Tremors were also felt in Johannesburg.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone 14S was 554 nmi ESE of Diego Garcia.
Cyclone KATE was 332 nmi N of Cairns, Australia.

AUSTRALIA - Queensland's second tropical cyclone of the season, Kate, is expected to intensify in waters off the state's far north. The cyclone was a category one – the least severe on a scale of one to five – but it had the potential to become destructive. "We think it will intensify – there is always the potential for these cyclones to be dangerous up in the warm waters." Kate was expected to be stationary for about three or four days but it was too early to tell if the cyclone would cross the coast.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
FIJI - a tropical depression lies about 800 kilometers North West of Fiji near Vanuatu and will result in heavy rain throughout the group for the whole week. The depression is a weak one which is moving away from the group and there is no possibility of it turning into a tropical cyclone. People living in low lying areas are being advised to take precautions as heavy rain over the next few days could result in flash flooding. A strong wind warning remains in force for all Fiji waters.

HAWAII - The National Weather Service placed Kauai, Oahu and Molokai under several weather alerts on Tuesday as heavy rains pounded the area. Heavy rains flooded homes and farms on Kauai on Monday and shut down the only road into and out of Hanalei. People who live in Hanalei said it's the WORST FLOODING THEY'VE SEEN THERE IN MORE THAN FIVE YEARS. The wettest spot on the island got about 18 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. "Driving through Kalihiwai was particularly treacherous. They have landslides and boulders on the road." A gushing waterfall occasionally brought down big pieces of debris just a few feet away from traffic. The floods will also stunt the taro crops, meaning a smaller harvest.

INDONESIA - Heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides in central Indonesia, killing at least 31 people in the past week. Most of the deaths occurred yesterday in Manado, the capital of north Sulawesi province, where 19 bodies were pulled from the mud following a landslide. At least 12 other people have died in nearby areas in recent days. Constant rain has caused several rivers to overflow. Damage to houses, livestock and rice fields was valued at USD 19 million.

PHILIPPINES - It was another day of frustration Wednesday with no sign of survivors as rescue workers tried to find an elementary school buried by a landslide under about 30 metres of mud. Heavy rain forced troops to call off work, and a two-tonne drill brought in by U.S. marines sat idle with its braces missing. The drill is capable of digging about 50 metres deep, and the school is believed to have been buried by up to 30 metres of mud and rock. Despite an intense search, no one has been able to find the school, uncertain whether it was still on its foundation or was swept away by a wall of earth, trees and boulders. Holes that had been dug in the unstable mud were collapsing.

CALIFORNIA - An unexpected thunderstorm struck San Diego's inland areas Tuesday, bringing hail to Mira Mesa and snow to Julian. The storm was the last gasp of a low-pressure system that produced rain over the weekend.

WIND -
ALASKA - Southwest wind gusts of almost 40 mph were recorded Tuesday morning at Fairbanks International Airport as winter blew back into the Interior after two weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures. Blowing snow caused blizzard-like conditions early Tuesday as residents made their way to work on roads dotted with snow drifts. The peak wind gust at the airport was 39 mph at about 7 a.m. "It's pretty RARE for that kind of wind to get down there." Tuesday's wind speeds were the highest recorded at the airport since January 2005. The wind that blew into Fairbanks on Tuesday morning was a result of a marriage between a strong low pressure system on the Arctic Ocean coast and a strong high pressure system over Bristol Bay.

SNOW / COLD -
COLORADO - A weather phenomenon that was responsible for turning snow pink and brown in Summit County may also create avalanches. Dust blowing in from Arizona got mixed up in a storm system over Colorado's mountains and it created a pinkish-brown layer in the snow. The crusty layer of the snow has avalanche experts concerned. "This layer right underneath can change into a granular substance, very grainy, very small structures that can break apart easily. So we can have a layer underneath the dust layer now that's subject to collapse and that can slip out of place." The Avalanche Center is urging everyone to be extremely cautious in the back country for the next few months.

YO-YO WEATHER -
TEXAS - The temperature plunges last week and in early December are the two largest swings recorded at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport since the winter of 1995-96. Back then, like this winter, the high temperatures fell more than 30 degrees over two days on two occasions. Those swings are also AMONG THE GREATEST WHEN COMPARING ONE DAY'S HIGH WITH THE NEXT DAY'S LOW. Bone-dry ground then and now is the most likely explanation for the temperature swings. Arid weather makes the parched ground absorb more heat from the air and release it faster. Without some luck, such topsy-turvy conditions could have happened more often. Without significant spring rain, something similar could happen this summer. The region could have more nights in the 60s - rare during North Texas summers - but also more 100-degree-plus days.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
INDIA - Summer has made an early appearance in Uttaranchal with the RARE sight of flowers in full bloom in February. The state's wheat farmers are far from happy, as the crop in the hills is dependent on rain for irrigation. Farmers say streams have dried up without rain and crops have failed. In the dry hills of Uttaranchal the out of season flowering and withering crops is a warning that WEATHER PATTERNS ARE INCREASINGLY ABNORMAL.

NEW YORK - This has been an atypical winter for Tompkins County. Maple syrup makers were tapping trees in January, almost a month earlier than usual. At Cornell Plantations, the lack of snow cover and temperature swings have left horticulturists fretting over the health of trees and shrubs. Around the county, casual observers and those who depend on the weather for their livelihood are all watching weather developments closely. But none can say with certainty what the unusual weather means for animals, plants or people. For reasons unbeknownst to forecasters, the jet stream, which serves as the dividing line between cold and warm weather, has settled further north than usual this year. With warmer weather occurring to the south of the jet stream, Ithaca and the surrounding area has been caught in weather patterns that are uncharacteristically warm for this time of year. Bare fields are putting area alfalfa crops at risk. The lack of snow has exposed fields, allowing for a cycle of thawing and freezing that can bring seeds up to the surface only to have them dry out. “This is just not the way things are supposed to happen. [Trees are] not biologically made to deal with this.”

LA NINA - not every La Nina is the same, so weather that may be considered typical for a La Nina doesn't always happen. This La Nina is already UNUSUAL because of its late start. "Typically, La Nina does have a tendency for producing some severe weather in the springtime conditions. There is a tendency with La Nina to have more tornadoes, more hurricanes."

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/21 -
5.1 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.4 CENTRAL PERU
5.0 SAVU SEA
5.0 XIZANG
5.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN
5.0 BANDA SEA
12 small quakes in Ethiopia, the largest 4.4.

BULGARIA - Two people ended up with broken legs due to panic after Monday evening's strong 4.2 earthquake that rocked Bulgaria. Many other people sought out medical assistance after complaining of high blood pressure after the tremor. The villages of Most and Chereshitsa in Kardzhali region were in the epicenter of the quake. In Kardzhali a house chimney and a massive block from a building in the center of the town collapsed. Several buildings have suffered material damages in the villages of Most, Zvinitsa, Chereshitsa and Miladinovo. Minutes after the first tremor another two lighter tremors were registered. The dams in the area have been checked and they have suffered no damages.

VOLCANOES -
PHILIPPINES - The Mayon volcano in Albay Tuesday spewed ash, noting an increased seismic activity in the area. Ash deposits from the explosion were limited to the upper slopes. Simultaneously, a small explosion-type earthquake shook nearby areas but its intensity was only recognizable by seismographs around the volcano. They expect similar ash explosions in the coming days with magma entering the summit area and releasing volcanic gases. Before the ash explosion, they recorded 147 low frequency volcanic earthquakes. The recurrence of earthquakes was unusual as the normal earthquake range is from zero to five tremors. "These low frequency volcanic earthquakes were relatively large in amplitude compared with previous seismicity and are interpreted to be caused by the shallow movement of magma within the summit crater."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
VIETNAM - Torrential rains hit the central provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue last week, causing floods in these localities, damaging close to 8,000ha of rice and cash crops. Many farmers said it was the BIGGEST TORRENTIAL RAIN THAT HAD FALLEN IN THE MID-DRY SEASON IN THE LAST 30 YEARS. A 100m-long dike collapsed when water rose by 1.36m in Kien Giang River even as the province was repairing damages from last year's floods. A landslide occurred in Tan Hiep Hamlet, Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province, on Saturday night, forcing evacuation of 122 households in the locality. The landslide seriously damaged 33 houses, three of which collapsed. The landslide resulted in 15 depressions in the affected area, covering 5ha, with each having a diameter of 2-4m and a depth of 5-10m.

BRAZIL - After historic drought, Amazon now faces RECORD FLOODING. In the capital of the state of Acre, Rio Branco, 861 families are presently housed in temporary shelters due to the rains that have fallen for the over ten consecutive days in the region. Last September, at the height of a historic drought, the Acre River was exactly 1.6 meters deep. At the moment it is 16.6 meters deep and rising. "Our alert level is 13.9 meters. At 14 meters the water escapes the riverbed and we get flooding." So far an estimated 7,800 structures have been flooded in the city, 90% of them residences.

PHILIPPINES - A landslide of the same magnitude as the one that hit St. Bernard in Southern Leyte is not likely to occur in Cebu, but geologists warned officials and residents of at least 25 landslide-prone barangays in the region about the hazards of soil movement. A team of geologists confirmed there are new cracks in rock formations in Sirao, which means the soil movement that was first detected in 1996 continues.

INDONESIA - A day-long torrential rain unleashed a landslide in the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi Tuesday, leaving worries that at least 17 people were killed in the disaster. The landslide hit the provincial capital of Manado, some 2,300 km northeast of Jakarta. Local authorities said six people were seriously injured and sent to the nearest hospitals.

SNOW / COLD -
ITALY - Two Hungarian cavers were killed by an avalanche in the Alps in north-eastern Italy, while another seven remained trapped in a mountain cave. The three had been the first in the group to leave the cave. They were hit first by a minor avalanche Monday morning on Mount Bila Pec, near Udine. They managed to free themselves from the snow, but were struck by another avalanche two hours later as they descended from the mountain. Heavy snowfall was complicating efforts to rescue the remaining seven,they do not appear to be in immediate danger as long as they remain inside the cave.

ITALY - An avalanche fell from Mount Faloria into the Franchetti gully just before midday, involving an off-piste skier. The man managed to free himself alone, he is in a state of shock but unhurt. Fog stopped the rescue helicopter from taking off: mountain rescue teams from Cortina d'Ampezzo and San Vito di Cadore are arriving from the base, also to check that there are no other skiers involved.

SWITZERLAND - Three German skiers were killed by an avalanche in eastern Switzerland on Monday and two others in the same group were rescued alive.

FRANCE - Multiple avalanches - A group of four skiers on a tour of the Tête de l'Oreac have been caught by an avalanche close to the ski resort of Puy Saint-Vincent in the Hautes-Alpes. The group included two children. One member of the group was killed by the slide. A group of 6 off-piste skiers were involved in an avalanche at les Deux-Alpes. One of the group was severely injured in the slide and was also suffering from hypothermia. At Arêches in the Savoie 5 off-piste skiers triggered an avalanche injuring two of the group. There was an avalanche in Arêches at the weekend in the col de la Grande Combe sector involving 3 skiers none of whom were injured. A snowboarder suffered a broken arm in an avalanche at Tignes. There was 20cm of fresh snow early on Sunday morning coupled with winds up to 150km/h. This has formed new accumulations and slabs and the risk of avalanche was high. Six people have been killed over the past couple of days by avalanches in the French Alps. This brings the number of deaths since the start of the season to 33.

MONTANA - Four people have been killed in Montana avalanches so far this winter. Nationwide, 12 people have died.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - Scientists and historians are only now coming to realise that in 1788 when Australia was settled, and for some time after that, they were in the middle of an unusual weather pattern, one that gave adequate rain and turned normally arid zones into useable land. Australia is one of the driest countries on earth. Much of Australia is desert, and most of the population clings to the narrow coastal zones. Weather patterns in Australia tend to show that out of every 10 years, they have 3 bad years, 3 good years and 4 average years. Many of their droughts are brought on by the El Nino effect. This usually only affects the eastern & northern areas of Australia. Brisbane is currently in the grip of a very severe drought, so severe that water restrictions have, for the first time in many years, been brought to bear in major cities. Their water supply is, at the time of writing, 34%. This gives them about 2 years of water – if they’re lucky. Queensland state government has made it mandatory for all houses built after 2005 to have a rainwater tank as part of the construction. The plan is that the water in these tanks will be used for flushing toilets, in the laundry and watering the garden.

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

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/20 -
5.2 NORTHERN MOLUCCA SEA
5.1 GUERRERO, MEXICO
5.6 HONDURAS

NEW MADRID - A Stanford University geophysicist has started to unravel a tectonic mystery - the cause of several powerful earthquakes in New Madrid, Mississippi, almost a century ago that could strike the region again. The New Madrid quake appears to have been caused by the after-effects of a massive glacier that reached down to what is now the middle of Illinois. As the climate warmed and the ice melted, the ground was freed of the pressure of the heavy glacier. This constant release of pressure caused the New Madrid quakes a century ago. Earthquakes could continue to hit the area, including large cities such as Memphis and St. Louis, for the next few thousand years. "It's one thing to know it was part of your past. It's another to be prepared for it to be part of your future."

CHINA - Over the past three months, aftershocks close to the November 26th earthquake’s epicentre have continued to affect Jiangxi. The 2005 quake affecting Jiangxi, Hubei and Anhui provinces left at least 16 people dead and more than 8,000 people injured. In Jiangxi, some 600,000 residents were evacuated because of the quake, which destroyed 150,000 houses. The earthquake came as an especially harsh blow for the residents who were also affected by severe floods and landslides in May and a destructive typhoon in September 2005. Some 13,000 people still remain housed in tents today.

JAPAN'S ancient 5-storey pagodas may hold the secret to higher earthquake resistance. "Some of them have collapsed due to fires or after they were hit by typhoons or lightning. But there is no record of one ever collapsing due to an earthquake."

TSUNAMI -
A film about the real-life threat of a tidal wave hitting London will begin shooting in the capital in the spring. The Flood tells the story of what would happen if the city's dam defences were breached and is based on research that suggests global warming could cause the Thames to rise to catastrophic levels. Last year, insurer Munich Re placed London at number nine in its top 10 of cities at serious risk from a natural disaster.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone 12S was 70 nmi NE of Port Louis, Mauritius.

GLOBAL WARMING cannot be directly blamed for any significant tropical storm in the past two years, says an international group of meteorologists. Although 2004 and last year produced record hurricane seasons in the US, including the devastating Katrina, none could be put down to a long-term trend. In the same period - Brazil experienced its first cyclone ever, there were five in the Cook Islands in five weeks and 10 in Japan. "No single high-impact cyclone event of 2004 and 2005 can be directly attributed to global warming, though there may be an impact on the group as a whole." They said there was evidence that the power of tropical cyclones was increasing and that the proportion of intense cyclones was also increasing. Projected rises in sea levels "are a cause for concern" because "the primary cause of death (in a cyclone) is salt-water flooding associated with storm surge". The scientists say there is nothing to suggest that the extent of the regions in which cyclones are generated will increase significantly.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PHILIPPINES - High-tech equipment detected sounds on Monday at the site of an elementary school buried under mud on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte. Scratching and rhythmic tapping noises were picked up by American and Malaysian military seismic sensors and sound-detection gear. More than 250 children and teachers were inside the school on Friday morning when mud, rocks and trees roared down the mountain, wiping out the village of Guinsaugon. The devastation is overwhelming. "Everything is brown mud. You don't see any trees at all, just mud from the top of the mountain down to the river." Rain and the threat of another mudslide has made the rescue effort risky for emergency workers, who are digging with shovels and their hands because the unstable mud has made using heavy equipment difficult. Seventy-two bodies have been recovered from the farming village, and government officials estimate 1,350 people are missing.

KYRGYZSTAN - An early-season landslide on Sunday ripped through a road linking the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh with the Aravan district, blocking traffic and destroying electricity and telephone services to the area, with no casualties reported. The affected area is located in the low-lying eastern edge of the densely populated Ferghana Valley shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. "Landslides are VERY UNUSUAL for this place. They generally happen in mountainous areas." Heavy snow and rain followed by temperatures rising sharply over the past few weeks triggered the landslide. There may be worse to come, with more landslides likely in the area after the recent weeks of heavy rain, experts said. Normally, such natural hazards only begin at the end of March or beginning of April. There are some 2,500 landslide-prone areas in the mountainous Central Asian state, of which 40 percent pose a threat to settlements.

HAWAII - Heavy rain hammered parts of Windward O'ahu for most of Sunday, forcing police to close roads and prompting the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning Sunday night. The 'Ahuimanu Loop rain gauge was the wettest recorded spot on O'ahu, with 7.88 inches of rain in the 24-hour period ending at 8 p.m.

SNOW / COLD -
FRANCE - A snowboarder has been killed by an avalanche in the ski resort of le Corbier. Three others in her group escaped without injury. With a further 15-20cm of snow overnight accompanied by strong winds Meteo France had warned the avalanche risk was at high (4/5) in the area. This was the second avalanche at the resort this season.

CALIFORNIA - Shifting temperatures created FREAK WEATHER at sea, where cold winds brushing warmer water led to waterspouts. After more than a week of glorious warm weather that peaked at 90 degrees inland, a weekend winter storm brought temperatures crashing back down to the usual February chill. Yearly rainfall totals for downtown Los Angeles from July 1 were measured at just over 5 inches, nearly half the normal 9.5 inches and a fraction of the 26 inches that fell last year.

ODD -
TAIWAN - Weather factors have impacted the strawberry crop in the Hsinchu area this year, resulting in the fruit growing to sizes rarely seen. Many strawberry farms in the area have produced not only huge fruit, but fruit that has grown in forms not typical of strawberries. A farmer in the township of Kuanhsi began cultivating strawberry plants a while back that yielded fruit that was the size of one's fist. In recent days, people have come to notice that the plants grown in Kuanhsi, Chiunglin and other areas are producing fruit that has grown in strange forms. The weird-looking fruit is rarely seen anyplace else. Farmers said that only the second crop of the season exhibited the strange looking fruit. The fruit likely grew into strange forms due to the passage of weather frontal systems through the area, with seasonable winds impacting the fruit in its growth stage. The harvest of this year's strawberry crops has been delayed somewhat in comparison with the past. The blooming of the plants in the first and second crops was drawn out considerably longer this year than in the past. As a result, the strawberries likely had the opportunity to extract more nutrients from the soil and be exposed to fertilizer for a longer period. The relatively long period between the two crops is something that occurs only once every number of years.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, February 20, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/19 -
5.5 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

INDIA - Is a new bomb ticking in the northeastern part of the Himalayas? Tuesday’s earthquake, which struck the Himalayas in Sikkim and was felt in the entire northeastern belt, is a grim reminder to the country’s planners and policy-makers on the continuance of massive hydroelectric projects in the region. Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayas are part of the northeast belt, the seismic vulnerability of which cannot be understated, especially in the wake of the current isostatic adjustment of tectonic plates triggered by the December 26 quake. The region’s propensity to seismic convulsions has always kept seismographers and geomorphologists worried. Tuesday’s moderate quake, which recorded 5.3 on the Richter scale, has fuelled their apprehensions. The 12-second tremor had its epicentre 20.1 km below the earth’s surface at a place in Sikkim and 72.8 km north of Siliguri. As the ground shook, hundreds of residents rushed out of their homes. Two army jawans caught in a landslide triggered by the tremor were killed. “We cannot think of the extent of casualties in the thickly populated regions of Gangtok and neighbouring Darjeeling, had the quake been a little stronger and lasted a couple of moments more.”

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE 12S was 53 nmi NNE of Plaisance, Mauritius.

AUSTRALIA - A low-pressure system in the Gulf of Carpentaria could become north Queensland's second cyclone of the year. The weak low was near Gove on the Northern Territory coast and moving eastwards. Queensland's first cyclone of the season, tropical cyclone Jim, dumped widespread rain over northern Queensland last month before moving into the Coral Sea.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PHILIPPINES - At least 10 people were missing and feared dead in a new landslide Saturday night near a mining headquarters in the province of Zamboanga del Sur in southern Philippines. Two houses were buried by mudflows brought about by the heavy downpour that is being experienced across the region for the past days.
PHILIPPPINES - Almost two weeks after huge fissures snaked through the ground of two villages in Tarragona, Davao Oriental, officials there finally ordered the evacuation of the area for fear of experiencing a tragedy similar to what happened in Southern Leyte last week. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau had declared the area "highly unstable" and warned of a "major landslide" during a visit to the area on Valentine's Day last week. The situation in the two barangays is getting worse as more cracks are appearing on the ground. The number of houses destroyed in the area had also increased from 54 last week to 88 houses as of Saturday. Fears of greater damage to lives and property were fanned by an earthquake Sunday morning. They are still experiencing continuous rain in the area, prompting many residents there to voluntarily dismantle their houses and leave the area for their own safety.
PHILIPPINES - unless an early warning system is set up to advise people living in flood- and landslide-prone areas, a disaster similar to what took place in St. Bernard town in Southern Leyte province could hit the country's eastern seaboard again, the defense department warns. "Over the next four months, there is the danger that this flooding and landslide will happen again ... These flood-prone and landslide-prone areas could be hit." Once La Niña comes, these areas would be the hardest hit. Landslides, in fact, had already been reported in other areas of the country.

MALAYSIA - Several hundred padi acres went under water, a su suspension bridge was severely damaged and a concrete embankment collapsed when the Sungai Apin-Apin flooded its banks Friday night, following a recent deluge.

U.S. - Concentrated development in flood-prone parts of Missouri, California and other states has significantly raised the risk of New Orleans-style flooding as people snap up new homes even in areas recently deluged. Around St. Louis, where the Mississippi River lapped at the steps of the Gateway Arch during the 1993 flood, more than 14,000 acres of flood plain have been developed since then. That has reduced the region’s ability to store water during future floods and potentially put more people in harm’s way. Similar development has occurred around Dallas, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; and Los Angeles and Sacramento, California. As much as 85 percent of the Mississippi in St. Louis is confined behind levees, which have raised flood levels 10 feet to 12 feet higher than they were a century ago. That parallels the situation in New Orleans, which suffered catastrophic flooding when levees failed after Katrina. Yet bolstering levees might lure more people onto flood plains “You actually spur development. It’s a self-fulfilling process.”

SNOW / COLD -
U.S. - A deep freeze stretched from the Rockies to New England as workers tried to restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses left dark by fierce wind. At least four deaths were reported in the Northeast, while at least three people were killed in accidents on icy roads in Arkansas over the weekend. The fierce wind, including a 143 mph gust recorded on Vermont's Stratton Mountain on Friday, knocked out power and toppled trees, which were blamed for the four deaths in the Northeast. As far south as Texas, ice and freezing rain canceled dozens of flights. In the Upper Midwest, the 8 a.m. reading of 2 below zero at Duluth, Minn., combined with 17 mph wind for a wind chill of 23 below. A reading of 18 below was recorded in Allagash, Maine. Rochester, N.Y., registered a low of 10 degrees, and winds of up to 17 mph created a chill factor of almost 10 below zero.

CALIFORNIA - The weekend's sudden return to winter conditions continues a wacky month of weather which saw unseasonal temperatures in the 80s for several days in early- and mid-February. Santa Ynez Valley is expected to have freezing low temperatures until Wednesday night. Snow fell at elevations down to about 2,500 feet, with an estimated one to three inches falling throughout the day Saturday. Vehicles were covered in ice. “They had a thick coating of ice all over them. I can't remember that ever happening,” said a woman who has lived in the area 22 years.

BULGARIA - The Mountain Rescue Service at Bulgarian Red Cross are looking for a man buried under an avalanche on Vitosha mountain. The signal was received at the Mountain Rescue Service at 3.40 p.m. by a man who said the avalanche had dragged down two more men. “One of the men has already been found but he is seriously injured”.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CANADA - Lack of snow has forced organizers to change the route of the Yukon Quest sled dog race and end it in Dawson City for the first time in the 23-year-old competition's history.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, February 19, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/18 -
5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS
5.0 NORTHERN YUKON TERRITORY,CANADA
6.1 NEW BRITAIN
5.6 VANUATU ISLANDS
2/17 -
5.0 NORTH OF ASCENSION ISLAND
5.1 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN

Mindanao, Philippines was hit by a 4.8 quake yesterday and a 5.5 this morning.

TSUNAMI -
NEW ZEALAND - Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified files reveal. An Auckland University professor seconded to the Army set off a series of underwater explosions triggering mini-tidal waves at Whangaparaoa in 1944 and 1945. if the project had been completed before the end of the war it could have played a role as effective as that of the atom bomb. Papers stamped "top secret" show the U.S. and British military were eager for Seal to be developed in the post-war years too. The experiments involved laying a pattern of explosives underwater to create a tsunami. The bomb was never tested on a full scale.

VOLCANOES -
JAPAN - A volcano on Miyake Island had a minor eruption, the Meteorological Agency said Saturday, warning residents of volcanic gases and possible mudslides. Volcanic activity temporarily increased late Friday, triggering a minor temblor and releasing a small amount of ash. But the latest development does not pose an immediate danger to residents. The volcano's eruption in July 2000 forced all 4,000 islanders to evacuate the island. More than half of them returned a year ago after the evacuation order was lifted. The volcano continued to belch smoke and poisonous gas that officials say pose a potentially serious risk to residents.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PHILIPPINES - Friday's landslide - Only 83 people have been found alive, and 19 dead, between 1,500 and 2,500 may still be buried. The mudslide happened after heavy rains dumped about 200cm of rain on the area in the space of 10 days. "It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled." Boulders bigger than a house swept into the village amid the torrent of mud and earth. TV images showed only coconut trees and a few tin roofs emerging from the reddish soil. "Everything was buried. All the people are gone." Many residents had left last week, fearing landslides, but had begun to return as rains eased in the past few days. (PHOTOS)
Experts were surprised by such rainy weather in February. Severe storms normally run between June and December. "This sort of rainfall and landslide action in the Philippines at this time of year is QUITE UNUSUAL." The month of January in a typical year would normally see 60 landslide deaths worldwide, whereas January this year saw 283 landslide fatalities, many in Asia.
Some of the major landslides in the Philippines in recent years.

INDIANA - A tornado warning was issued Thursday afternoon as a violent storm touched down in Northwest Indiana, pushing 50 to 60 mph winds and thick hail over the region. “This is not the good setup for tornado activity. We didn’t have the warm, moist air on the surface that we need for the tornado storms.” The warning turned into a tornado watch, which was in effect until 10 p.m., even as the storm dwindled to a drizzle. Despite the lack of an actual tornado, meteorologists said they were amazed that something resembling a tornado could hit the region at this time of year. “This doesn’t happen in February often at all. We don’t know when it last happened - that’s how often it happens."

NEW JERSEY - A brief, heavy downpour on Friday morning followed by strong, gusty winds throughout the afternoon caused sporadic power outages, toppled trees and wires throughout the area, and blew off roofs in Morristown and Boonton. A quarter- to one-half inch of rain fell mid-morning, when the day's high reached 57, and then wind gusts up to 40 mph swept through with the temperature dropping.

WIND -
CHINA - At least 57 people are missing after two ships sank in high winds in the Taiwan Strait off southeast China.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - Powerful winds, freezing rain and snowstorms blasted a large part of the country Friday, causing at least four deaths near Ottawa and another in Quebec as slick roads turned treacherous for motorists. Southern Ontario and Quebec were battered Thursday night by high winds, freezing rain and thunderstorms. In Toronto, powerful winds of up to 90 km/h brought down trees and power lines, resulting in some blackouts. The wind also tore down traffic lights at about 20 different intersections throughout the city of Kingston. "The whole lexicon of weather misery was spread all over Southern Ontario in less than 12 hours." That included a random mix of freezing rain, snow and thunder and lighting - which is a RARE occurrence during winter. In Quebec, extremely strong winds and widely fluctuating temperatures were making for extremely difficult and dangerous driving conditions. At mid-afternoon Friday, dozens of people were trapped in their cars on Highway 40 near Joliette after a major car pileup involving between 50 and 60 cars. The storm is also expected to hit Atlantic Canada, starting with wind warnings for many parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia Friday evening. Freezing rain was also expected in some places. Environment Canada was warning of large waves and pounding surf along Newfoundland's west coast Saturday. Meanwhile western Canada has been hit by a cold snap. In British Columbia, overnight temperatures dropped down to –7 C, which is more like –14 C with the windchill. Albertans continue to face frigid weather, with temperatures of –23 C in Calgary and –20 C in Edmonton. Regina's has dipped to –27 C, with the wind chill making it feel like – 43 C. Winnipeg is recording temperatures of –32 C, or –45 C with the wind chill.

RUSSIA - An avalanche hit a road and a railway on southern Sakhalin on Friday and covered the engine of a cargo train with five meters of snow. The engineers were rescued. The avalanche was caused by heavy overnight snowfall in Nevelsk and Kholmsk districts of the island.

RUSSIA - A group of nine experienced climbers went into Nakhar’s canyon on January 27. The goal was to climb the peak of the Nakhar mount. On February 4, a heavy snowstorm began. The mountaineers decided to wait till the bad weather was over, but the snowfall did not stop. In a week, on February 11, an avalanche descended. It carried away several tents with part of the equipment. The group leader died. The climbers dug out the body of their dead friend. The snowfall continued. On February 13, a second avalanche descended. It buried three other group members, among them world champion Konstantin Dorro, under a 10m layer of snow. The survivers could not dig out their bodies, because the second avalanche carried away their equipment. By the evening of February 15, the group did not have any foodstuffs and fuel. In the same night, the snowfall stopped. On the morning of February 16, the surviving climbers were rescued by helicopter.


VERMONT - road crews throughout the Northeast Kingdom are trying to maintain roads during this year's unusual weather conditions. "It's just been a weird, weird winter." This year's freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing, has played havoc with the roads, creating numerous ruts and making roads harder to plow. The strange weather has created many frost heaves in places where there typically aren't any. It's not unusual to get a warm spell in the middle of winter, maybe once a year, but this week's warm spot was at least the fourth.

NEW YORK - Just as the last of the snow continues to melt from the past weekend's blizzard, Long Island and the New York metro area continues to experience some strange weather. "We're seeing conflicting air masses with mild weather behind us and a cold front moving in which will cause some high winds." They were expecting record high temperatures Friday before it began to drop into the 30s overnight. The shifts between cold and mild weather will probably continue as the pattern well into March.

MISSOURI - What started as a downright balmy February day with 70 degree temperatures changed quickly Thursday afternoon. As the rain began to fall, so did temperatures. That dramatic weather shift included stinging doses of hail. Many drivers were forced by the hail to stop in their tracks. The storm left piles of the hardened precipitation. Windows of apartment buildings were shattered and cars dented.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
U.S. - Even by the inflated standards of recent record-warm years, January was a freakish standout, steamrolling the record book with a national average temperature that was nearly 9 degrees above normal. All 48 mainland states, from Maine to California, had warmer-than-average weather, and 41 posted temperatures that were either much higher than average or broke records. “It wasn’t even close - it was the warmest by far. Pretty much the whole country shattered records.” The bizarre January weather is wreaking havoc on many economic indicators, making it a bit hard to tell how strongly the economy is bouncing back from a fourth quarter that was itself dragged down by Hurricane Katrina’s devastation.

OKLAHOMA - the 16th was another disasterous day of wildfires in Southern Oklahoma. Several highways are shut down, and many were forced to evacuate their homes.

Friday, February 17, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/16 -
5.8 TONGA ISLANDS
5.2 NEAR E. CST KAMCHATKA PEN
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION

VOLCANOES -
OREGON - Mount St Helens Volcano - the active part of the new lava dome continues to extrude and the extreme heat continues to produce steam emissions. (New photos).

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PHILIPPINES - At least 200 people are feared dead and 1,500 are missing after a mudslide buried an entire village on the Philippine island of Leyte at about 2:45am GMT, burying hundreds of houses and an elementary school. Heavy rains have been battering the area for about 10 days, and a mild earthquake, measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale, hit the region shortly before the disaster. People are missing in mud that is deep enough to cover the tops of trees. The village had a population of 3,000 to 4,000 and as many as 2,000 had been buried by the landslide. Reports from the scene said only 3 houses were still standing among the 300 hundred that were once there. "From what I saw, the whole mountain had flattened, become one plane." Though some villagers had been evacuated in anticipation of the flood threat, they had returned to participate in a village celebration. "Unfortunately, when they got back the mountain caved in on them." In all, a square kilometer of land has been buried. The area had been deluged with more than 20 inches of rain during February, FIVE TIMES THE MAXIMUM OF ANY PREVIOUS MONTH. Blocked roads and cut communications lines were hindering rescuers.
The Philippines government issued a press release just yesterday warning of the strange weather patterns. "The weather situation in the country has become unpredictable. The Philippines used to have predictable seasons – that of the sunny and rainy seasons occurring in the specific months of the year. The seasons for planting and harvesting were regular events similar to the dawning of day and the setting of the sun. Lately however, climatic changes have been occurring at inappropriate seasons of the year. Abnormal weather conditions brought about by the La Niña and El Niño phenomena have caused tragedies among residents of susceptible areas due to abrupt climatic changes. Casualties of mudslides brought about by heavy rains include: drowning to being buried alive...All government agencies are now tasked to prepare for the La Niña phenomenon even during summer. The onslaught of floods, typhoons and heavy rains at all times of the year should be anticipated..."
[SITE NOTE - On Wednesday I put on the report that another village is in danger of a massive mudslide.]

BOLIVIA - Thousands of Bolivian villagers living on the fringes of Lake Titicaca have lost homes and crops after weeks of heavy rains that led the Government to declare a state of emergency. Across Bolivia, tens of thousands of people have been hit by floods and landslides and more than 20 have been killed. Lake Titicaca has been rising about 2.5cm a day in recent weeks, devouring hundreds of metres of the fertile shoreline. Titicaca swelled to a height of 3810.03m earlier this week, just shy of the 3811.28m record set in 1986. It is estimated that for each 0.5 cm the waters rise, the lake advances two or three metres into shore.

BANGLADESH - Lightning killed nine people and injured 25 during a thunder storm in northeastern Bangladesh on Thursday. Several bolts of lightning struck the quarry over a period of 15 minutes.

IOWA - the Iowa City area Thursday morning experienced a weather occurrence typically reserved for warm weather: thunder and lightning. Known to meteorologists as “thunder snow,” the RARE event comes only with a very strong system with a lot of energy and warm air available to it. Records of “thunder snow” are incomplete but there are usually only one or two occurrences statewide each year. The last confirmed “thunder snow” in the area was in Cedar Rapids on March 12, 1991.

MALAYSIA - A FREAK thunderstorm uprooted hundreds of rubber trees and damaged five large barns killing more than 10,000 chickens in Pendang. The storm also partially damaged 20 houses in Kampung Bendang Raja, Kampung Perupok and Kampung Padang Petani in Pendang. The winds were recorded at 20km per hour in Alor Star when the storm started at about 6pm on Tuesday. A chicken farm owner who was among the 100 villagers affected said he saw a black cloud spiralling like tornado hitting his barns in Kampung Padang Petani.

SNOW / COLD -
OREGON - A cold air mass is sweeping in from Canada, despite weeks of relatively balmy temperatures and copious rainfall. The RARE frigid air mass is moving in from the east out of Canada all the way from the Great Lakes region. Typically, the Northwest receives weather from the west, or from the north out of western Canada. The UNUSUAL WEATHER SYSTEM could send temperatures into the teens in the Portland area overnight Thursday and into today. Temperatures in outlying and rural areas should be even lower. Since the system is coming towards the Northwest over land, it is not expected to be packing much moisture, meaning any snowfall in the Portland area should be light. However, forecasters say the real danger from the storm will come in the form of very low temperatures and wind, not just snow. The cold weather is a drastic change from almost two months of above-average temperatures that had the region's residents and some plants looking forward to an early spring.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
GREENLAND'S glaciers are dumping more than twice as much ice into the Atlantic Ocean now as 10 years ago because glaciers are sliding off the land more quickly. This could mean oceans will rise even faster than forecast, and rising surface air temperatures appear to be to blame. Experts agreed this could mean scientists have underestimated how much the sea level will rise in the future as the planet warms.

SOMALIA - communities in southern and central Somalia are living in searing 40C heat with only three glasses a day per person for drinking, washing and cooking. "The situation is as bad as I can remember. Some people are dying and children are drinking their own urine because there is simply no water available for them to drink." The tiny amount of water available, for which many families have to walk up to 70km to get, is one-twentieth of the daily supply recommended by minimum humanitarian standards.

FRANCE, SPAIN - Scarce rains are stirring fears of a repeat of 2005's severe drought in France and Spain this year, with water reserves already low and falling. The water deficit in much of France was more than 70 percent at the end of January, up from 50 percent at the start of the month. While drought mostly hit southwest France last year, it was now expected to extend to the centre and the north, where some of the largest grain producing regions are located. Spain has had rain in January and February, but not enough to raise water levels significantly. Reserves are at 48 percent of their total capacity. Portugal, by contrast, had heavy rains in the autumn. 83 percent of Portugal was in a state of "weak drought" and 9 percent in "moderate drought".

CALIFORNIA - Farmers are saying that the unseasonably high temperatures are causing a strawberry surplus in fields all over California. Workers are not due for a couple of weeks to pick all the strawberries popping up. Strawberries that arrived in markets this week were not cheap, and finding a ripe one was rare. But that's not going to be a problem anymore. The unusually warm Winter is causing berries to blossom earlier than expected, creating a surplus that is good for consumers, but bad for farmers. A surplus drives down prices, and makes it harder for farmers to sell during a time when strawberries are not in high demand. And too many berries in the stores mean that they are rotting at the packing plant. Only real Winter weather can stop the strawberry surplus. Farmers are hoping for rain and cold weather in the next couple weeks to extend the harvest. This season is a stark difference from last year's, when strawberries were stalled for a few weeks from heavy rain storms drenching the Central Coast.

Thursday, February 16, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/15 -
5.0 MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWESI
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 TIMOR, INDONESIA, REGION
5.6 KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA
5.6 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.2 XIZANG

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone VAIANU was 1009 nmi NE of Auckland, New Zealand.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BOLIVIA - Flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rain that fell for more than a week have killed 19 people in Bolivia and injured dozens. Some 100,000 people across the country have been affected by the natural disasters and electric power outages.

THAILAND - Unseasonal flash floods along the eastern coast of southern Thailand caused two deaths Tuesday in Nakhon Si Thammarat province and closed the Thai-Malaysia border crossing in Narathiwat's Sungai Golok district for the second day. Floods paralysed transport at the Thai-Malaysian border Sungai Golok checkpoint. Shipments of fresh produce were unable to be moved to Malaysia. In Sungai Golok district of of Narathiwat, floodwaters remained over one metre high.

SNOW / COLD -
PAPUA - Extreme temperatures, combined with cold-related viral diseases and illnesses have plagued remote villages in the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua and killed at least 95 people in recent weeks. The cold weather, which dipped as low as 5 degrees Celsius in a region where temperatures typically are well above 20 degrees, has plagued villages in the Illaga and Gome sub-districts of Papua's Puncak Jaya regency.

UNITED KINGDOM - A climber has said he thought he was going to die after being swept away by an avalanche near the summit of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak. But he and his friend walked away virtually unscathed despite plunging 900ft down the mountain face they had been scaling. They were just a few metres beneath the top of number two gully when the build-up of overhanging snow gave way. A second party of three climbers was also caught up in the avalanche which stopped just yards from sending the group into frozen water. All five managed to stay on the top of the cascading snow and were only partially buried.

RUSSIA - An avalanche hit a village in a Russian republic in the North Caucasus Wednesday. The avalanche in the republic of Karachai-Circassia occurred at about 12:40 p.m. Moscow time [9.40 GMT], damaging around 15 private houses; two of these had their roofs ripped off. No casualties have been reported so far. On Monday, an avalanche in the same area hit a mountaineers' camp, killing one. A heavier avalanche the following night killed three more members of the nine-strong group, and injured another. Meteorologists have warned that more avalanches may be forthcoming in the North Caucasus.

ALASKA - State Troopers are flying toward an avalanche site in Dalzell Gorge near Rohn to search for a man believed to be trapped Tuesday under the snow. The man was part of a snowmachine team that had just finished manning the Iron Dog Race checkpoint in Rohn. His team was reportedly driving behind the snowmachine racers to break trail for the upcoming Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race when the avalanche occurred.

JAPAN - An avalanche struck a group of students in northern Japan on Wednesday, killing one and leaving several missing. The avalanche occurred near the city of Ebetsu on the northern island of Hokkaido around 11 a.m. It was the latest in a string of avalanches in Japan over the last week as the country struggles through one of its snowiest winters on record.

INDIA - An avalanche threat looms on the entire tribal belt and other higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh which experienced moderate snowfall Tuesday. The avalanche threat was mainly because of UNUSUALLY HIGH temperatures in high altitude tribal areas which could hasten melting of the glaciers. People living in Keylong, Udaipur, Pangi and Pin valley have been asked to avoid outdoor movement to avert any mishap. Chamba town and its adjoining areas were hit by a hailstorm followed by widespread heavy rains, triggering landslides and disrupting vehicular traffic.

CANADA - There has been considerable and potentially dangerous avalanche activity in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks in the past week. For much of last Tuesday, the Trans-Canada Highway was closed between Field, B.C. and Lake Louise due to an avalanche that swept across the highway from Mount Bosworth on Monday evening. The avalanche last Monday was isolated, as opposed to being one in a series. “It was an ODDBALL EVENT in the sense that it wasn’t a widespread cycle. Normally when we start getting a peak in an avalanche cycle we start seeing sort of a pattern of a number of avalanches happening in a number of different areas. What’s a little bit different about it is that something happens there and it’s a fairly big event.” On Sunday, a big backcountry avalanche occurred near Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. No one was hurt. “(It) was a very big avalanche, which was a bit of surprise. The condition we have is deep instabilities in the snow pack so that when something does fail, it fails big. There are also small avalanches that are happening as well but some of the big events are all the winter snow pack failing.” On Saturday, Parks Canada closed the same part of the highway as it had last Tuesday. High winds and snowfall in the past several days contributed to the deteriorating conditions.

The 4 Scariest Predictions for Our Planet? -
Pole Shift, Meteor Strike, Yellowstone Super Volcano, Global Warming, that ironically results in another Ice Age.

The earth wobbles as it rotates on its axis. At least it used to. As of January 8, 2006, the wobbling has stopped, according to earth changes researcher Michael Mandeville. What will the effects be? No one knows. Maybe nothing. Or, based on previous periods of similar lack of wobble, it may portend major changes in tectonic activity during ensuing years, including a dramatic increase in volcanism during 2006/2007.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/14 -
6.3 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
5.7 SIKKIM, INDIA
5.2 NORTH OF SVALBARD

INDIA - An earthquake-triggered landslide claimed two lives and at least 500 buildings, including private houses and government and commercial establishments, were damaged by tremors that rocked Sikkim, parts of north Bengal and Assam shortly after dawn yesterday. Two soldiers were killed when their vehicle was crushed by falling boulders. The 5.7 quake also partially affected water supply and telecommunication networks throughout Sikkim.

LANDSLIDES -
PHILIPPINES - On February 9, major earth displacements in barangays Tubaon and Maganda damaged 54 houses and 21 buildings and infrastructures. Residents in landslide-affected areas have not evacuated despite the danger of an impending major landslide. Residents claim that as early as January they noticed cracks on the ground. By early February, they said they could hear rumbling sounds underneath. Authorities noted cracks on the ground as deep as two meters.

VOLCANOES -
MONTSERRAT - Soufriere HIlls volcano Monday shot trails of steam and ash into the air, just days after scientists noted an increase in activity on the northwest side of the mountain. Volcanic ash was sent trailing over the U.S. Virgin Islands and parts of Puerto Rico.

ETHIOPIA - Last week further eruptions of Ethiopia's Erta Ale Volcano were observed by orbiting satellites. An eruption in September 2005 displaced about 40,000 nomads.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone VAIANU was 949 nmi NE of Auckland, New Zealand.
TONGA - Tonga's capital was shut down for two days by Cyclone Vaianu, which brought damaging gale force winds and heavy rain, with flooding in many areas of southern Tonga. Heavy gale force winds battered Tongatapu on Monday night causing extensive damage to trees and bringing down breadfruit, avocados, mangos and other fruits, flattening bananas and damaging other food crops. Billboards were blown over near the Royal Palace and shops signs damaged with water damage to buildings.

THE COMING HURRICANE SEASON - The director of the National Hurricane Center is warning Americans that the 2005 hurricane season may end up being mild compared to 2006. The effects of an El Nino weather system in the Pacific that raises ocean temperatures could increase the intensity of hurricanes this year. He says far too many residents ignored hurricane evacuation requests in 2005.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
ALGERIA - Tens of thousands of people need urgent help after torrential rains have flooded their refugee camps in south-west Algeria, leaving them without shelter and short of food. At the Sahrawi refugee camps the rains had washed away many of the mud brick houses where some 158,000 refugees have been living since fleeing the disputed Western Sahara territory. "Heavy rains over the past few days destroyed 50 per cent of shelters."

FOG -
INDIA - A 'FREAK' blanket of fog enveloped the capital again Tuesday morning even as scorching weather conditions, that have brought the 'heat of summer' in Delhi earlier than the usual period in March, persisted. A similar blanket of fog had enveloped the capital on Friday morning. The mercury continued its upward rise, a trend witnessed since the beginning of February - while the minimum temperature shot up to 14.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal, the maximum temperature rose to 30.9 degrees Celsius, eight degree above normal - continuing Delhi's ''fast movement'' towards summer. In fact, there is expected to be no let-up from the scorching heat in the next few days. With the scorching weather coming ''too soon'', weathermen say it is THE WARMEST FEBRUARY IN THE LAST MANY YEARS. Such hot weather is QUITE UNUSUAL at this time of the year.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - Three people are feared to have been killed in an avalanche in southern Russia. The incident happened on Tuesday morning in the North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Circassia. A camp of climbers and a ministry rescuer were engulfed in the avalanche. The bodies of the victims have not been found so far. Emergency officials do not rule out other persons killed by the avalanche would be found under the snow.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 -

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - May love surround you -
love for life, love for nature, love for home, love for your fellow man (No exceptions).

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/13 -
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.2 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

INDIA - A moderate 5.7 earthquake centred in the Indian mountain state of Sikkim today sent people running from their homes in the region, witnesses said, and cracks were reported in some buildings. The earthquake's epicentre was 1,120 km (700 miles) north of the eastern city of Kolkata and occurred at 6:25 a.m (0055 GMT). In the state capital, Gangtok, big boulders had rolled down from the top of hills and blocked roads. "There are reports of two or three buildings having been damaged and cracks found in a number of buildings...The jerk was strong and sudden."

OHIO - Another small earthquake has been detected beneath Lake Erie, the third so far this year. According to initial data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the earthquake hit Friday morning about three miles northwest of Mentor-on-the-Lake in Lake County and measured 2.6 magnitude. No damage was reported. Ohio has recorded more than 185 earthquakes since 1776, but only 15 of them have caused damage. The most seismically active regions are along Lake Erie.

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - The activity on Augustine Volcano is far from over, and in fact, may only be beginning. In the past, Augustine has erupted in two phases, an explosive phase, much like the volcano's current fury, and a dome-building phase. Meanwhile, scientists are pouring over data to understand the volcano's current status, and to look for clues to its future. As the eruption continues, GPS instruments will continue to track the volcano's "breathing" as it shrinks and swells due to the movement of magma. The EarthScope GPS station located closest to Augustine's summit has been creeping away from its original location in response to the volcano's eruptions.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone VAIANU was 985 nmi NNE of Auckland, New Zealand.
Cyclone Vaianu strengthened overnight Sunday - it is still moving steadily and slowly south over open waters in southern Tonga, with winds of up to 150 kilometres an hour. It is predicted to bring damaging winds to all islands in the area, but its expected to swerve south-east around the western side of Tongatapu, which is home to the capital. Seas close to the eye are PHENOMENAL and flooding, including sea-flooding of low-lying coastal areas, is expected.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MALAYSIA - Severe flooding caused by UNSEASONAL RAINSTORMS has struck several districts of the violence-plagued southern border province of Narathiwat on Thailand's border with Malaysia. Four days of constant rainfall complicated by run-off from forest waters flowing down San Kala Kiri mountain has caused the Sungai Kolok River to overflow its banks and flooded local homes located along the riverbanks. At least 300 households in Sungai Kolok municipality are now inundated due to the floods.

IRAQ - Heavy flooding has displaced some 7,500 Iraqis in northern and south-eastern Iraq, while some 25,000 in northern Iraq have been forced to leave their homes since rainfall began on February 2. The situation is dire, "These people can't return, even after the water is drained." Food supplies are only expected to last for a few more days in some areas. The security and political situation in Iraq has seriously hampered efforts to provide many of the displaced flood victims with aid. Poor sanitation has also been the cause of widespread disease, especially amongst children.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Papua New Guinea’s Central Province disaster agency is distributing food and temporary shelter to hundreds of the people affected by the flooding over the past week. About 11,000 people in five villages have been affected and hundreds have been made homeless. Many houses have been damaged and a lot of food gardens have been destroyed.

NAMIBIA - A 38-year-old woman and her two children, aged 10 and 12, drowned when they were swept away by a flooding river on Saturday. The children's father, aged 39, managed to swim to safety. Like other parts of Namibia, the Naukluft area has been receiving good rains since December. The father heard a sound that he described as sounding like a helicopter flying overhead. While there were some clouds in the sky, it had not been raining in that area at the time. A few seconds after hearing that sound, a flash flood struck the family, sweeping all four of them away. Unknown to them, a heavy rain shower had fallen higher up in the mountain that afternoon, sending a lethal wall of water their way. Judging from driftwood and debris that remained behind in the ravine after the flood had flashed past, and from the swiftness of the event, it appears that a cloudburst may have taken place over the mountain.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - A 50-year-old man from Calgary has died after skiing into the path of an avalanche in Kananaskis Country, while his companion escaped without injury.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, February 13, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
None larger than 4.9

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone VAIANU was 1158 nmi NNE of Auckland, New Zealand.
Tropical Cyclone Vaianu is continuing to strengthen as it lies between Tonga and Fiji. It is moving slowly south west. There are warnings of gale force winds, very rough to high seas and damaging heavy swells. Strong wind warnings are still in force for Vava’u and the Niuas.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PHILIPPINES - At least 20 people were killed by landslide and flooding in central and southern Philippines during the weekend. 10 people traveling on two motorcycles were killed in a landslide Sunday morning in Southern Leyte in central Philippines. The landslide was caused by heavy rains which softened soil in the mountains. Flooding in Surigao del Sur and its neighboring provinces in southern Philippines killed 10 people over the weekend, while several million pesos worth of crops, livestock and fisheries were damaged. Five days of continuous rains inundated 18 towns in the Caraga region, affecting 200,000 residents.

SNOW / COLD -
U.S. EAST COAST - Three key airports were shut down and hundreds of flights were cancelled at other airports after a blizzard swept the region, leaving a blanket of deep snow from Boston to Washington.
The storm buried sections of the Northeast under more than 60 centimetres of snow Sunday, marooning thousands of travellers. The National Weather Service said 68 centimetres (26.9 inches) of snow had fallen in Central Park, New York, the MOST SINCE RECORD-KEEPING STARTED IN 1869. Wind gusting nearly 100 kilometres an hour blew the snow sideways and raised a risk of coastal flooding in New England. And in a RARE display, lightning lit up the falling snow before dawn in the New York and Philadelphia areas, producing muffled winter thunder. The storm is also causing trouble in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, where 20 centimetres of snow is expected to fall.

ILLINOIS - More snow was expected after a FREAK BAND of widespread but heavy snow showers dumped as much as 7 inches in some areas of Central Illinois Saturday morning. "It's a VERY ODD STORM," a National Weather Service meteorologist said. "Some areas of Springfield got 6 inches while neighborhoods nearby got almost nothing." The system developed more strongly than models had predicted, and showers formed and repeatedly traveled over the same areas. The showers started around 4 a.m. and moved southeast. "It was VERY STRANGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR, but interesting to watch."

INDIANA - winter weather resulted in multiple wrecks on Interstate 65 Saturday, closing both lanes and backing up traffic for miles. UNPREDICTABLE SNOWFALLS affected areas of south central Indiana, depositing 3 inches in the Brown County area and 5 in Johnson, and no snow in other areas.
Why the peculiar weather? Cold temperatures about 10,000 to 15,000 feet in the air mixing with the warm ground temperatures created an unstable atmosphere, causing random snow squalls. "YOU DON'T SEE THIS TOO OFTEN. It's convective snow. Think of it as scattered showers in the springtime. Just so happens it came in the form of scattered snow showers."

FLORIDA - An arctic blast of cold air in Central Florida will likely drop temperatures to RECORD-BREAKING LOWS early today, and even present the chance for some snow flurries outside Orlando.

ALASKA - The Seward Highway was closed Saturday when a massive avalanche buried the roadway, nine metres deep in places. There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities. It occurred less than a day after the highway was reopened following bad weather and avalanches that forced its closure Thursday.

ODD -
AUSTRALIA - An UNUSUAL COMBINATION of light rain, humidity and dust was responsible for a loss of power to around 18,000 Sydney homes. EnergyAustralia blamed a combination of early morning dew and dust for causing insulators on high-voltage lines at Menai and Berowra to short out at about 9:45pm (AEDT) yesterday. The blackouts occurred when fail-safe mechanisms kicked in after electricity jumped over an insulator. "It's all about an unusual occurrence of light rain, humidity and dust combining to cause the electricity to arc over, jump over, an insulator."

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, February 12, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/11 -
5.5 TALAUD ISLANDS, INDONESIA
5.1 CARLSBERG RIDGE
5.0 EASTERN XIZANG-INDIA BDR REG.
2/10 -
5.1 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
5.2 GULF OF MEXICO

UZBEKISTAN - Rumors of an impending powerful earthquake (8.0 on the Richter scale) with an epicenter in the capital of Uzbekistan spread in Tashkent on Tuesday afternoon. References to different sources were made: alleged warnings from seismic stations, calls from relatives or acquaintances from "competent bodies", and "classified cables" the "top brass" were allegedly sending to municipal power structures. The rumors became even more specific by 4:30 p.m. and they scheduled the earthquake for 3 a.m. the following night. Calls to the Institute of Seismology were to no avail. Thousands of calls were coming in, and all lines were overloaded. Unusual weather phenomena are sometimes observed before earthquakes - sudden cold in summer or warmth in winter and on February 8, temperatures set a record for the last 40 years and reached +24 Celsius. Still remembering the devastating earthquakes of 1966 and 1980, in Tashkent residents of blocks of apartments both in the center and in the outskirts spent between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. that evening outdoors - with children and pets. Some took their most valuable items with them (TV sets). Tension abated after 8 p.m. when TV news programs ran an interview with the Director of the Institute of Seismology. Once he denounced the rumors and said that nothing indicated a forthcoming earthquake as far as seismologists were concerned, residents of Tashkent returned to their homes wondering who had let the rumors loose in the first place.

TSUNAMI -
What is the physical limit of the height of a tsunami? Just the right conditions to test the limit may have occurred on July 9, 1958, in Lituya Bay, within Glacier Bay National Park on Alaska's southeastern coast. The narrow bay was bounded on the east by a glacier and the steep face of a rock wall. When a magnitude 8 earthquake occurred, centered just 13 miles from the bay, not only was the floor of the bay lifted up about 3.5 feet and tilted, but a massive sheet of rock and ice also fell off the wall and into the water, creating a monstrous splash that initially reached a height of 1,720 feet - a third of a mile. Scientists who have studied the event liken the impact to that of an asteroid striking Earth. The tsunami continued on across the bay at a height of about 100 feet, swamping the few boats anchored in the bay and killing two people onboard. Miraculously, others survived, as the boats they were on rode out the wave.

VOLCANOES -
MONTSERRAT - The Soufriere Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat produced a plume of volcanic ash on February 9. This event was part of a continuing pattern of intermittent eruptions from the volcano. Volcanic ash is a recurring health hazard for Montserrat’s residents, irritating eyes and respiratory tracts.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone VAIANU - is expected to strengthen slowly this morning as it moves through central Tonga. The storm is expected to move south towards the main island of Tongatapu and the capital Nuku'alofa during today and tomorrow. At midday New Zealand time, it's expected to be 200km west of the Vava'u group of outer islands, bringing damaging gale force winds of up to 110kmh. Forecasters predict thunderstorms, heavy rain, high seas and heavy swells, leading to flooding of low-lying coastal areas. On its current path, Vaianu is moving towards Fiji, but is expected to change its path later. Vaianu is the fourth named tropical cyclone in the South Pacific in the current season.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
PAKISTAN - The survivors of the earthquake that devastated Pakistan last year face a new threat: flash floods from a giant lake forming rapidly behind a dam of material shaken loose during the event. Experts who visited the region last month say urgent action is needed to avert a second catastrophe, caused by the likely collapse of the dam under the rising water level. If the dam bursts, it would send millions of gallons of water rushing towards the city of Muzaffarabad, which bore the brunt of the October earthquake. Studies show that more than 70% of such landslide dams give way, most of them within 12 months. A drainage channel - known as a spillway - needs to be built to empty the lake before July, when the monsoon season starts. The lake started to form when a vast avalanche of rocks triggered by the earthquake blocked a river flowing through a valley near Hattian, in the north of the country. Already some 100 metres deep and 200 metres wide, the lake now stretches more than a mile up the valley, about 12 miles upstream of Muzaffarabad. The rocky dam is about 250 metres high. In the unlikely event that all the water was released at once, it would come down the valley as a 250-metre-high wave. Scientists have also identified other hazards in the region, which is still geologically unstable. One possibility is that the loose valley walls above the lake will give way. "We're very worried that in the rain a landslide will occur on one of those slopes and displace a wave over the top of the dam. Should that happen then very little could be done but there will be a chance to warn people and get them out of the way." Another concern is that several refugee camps in the affected region have been established on areas geologists call alluvial fans: spots where narrow drainage channels open up on to flatter, wider areas. In the event of seasonal heavy rain, these become inundated with a fast-moving mixture of water and rocky debris.

CALIFORNIA - Hundreds of houses are being built in north San Bernardino and Highland a few feet from the San Andreas Fault on unstable alluvial fans. Alluvial fans are broad, steep features at the base of mountains. Made up of loose sediments, they put residents on them in the cross-hairs of a Southern California triple-threat: wildfires, the floods and mudslides that follow, plus a devastating earthquake that's long overdue. President Bush's proposed budget released this week includes $2.18 million for a pilot project in Southern California to see how potential disasters relate to each other and to encourage communities to work with scientists to reduce dangers. The San Bernardino area is a perfect laboratory, being the poster child for multiple hazards where developers and officials have a penchant for building in dangerous areas. Thursday was the 35th anniversary of the magnitude-6.5 Sylmar earthquake in 1971 that killed 65 people, wrecked two hospitals and nearly caused a dam to fail. This southern section section of the San Andreas fault hasn't erupted since 1690, making it the segment most overdue for a catastrophic quake the likes of which the state has not seen in 100 years. One scientist calls it the section that's "10 months pregnant." Scientists are missing some basic information about the lower segment of the infamous 800-mile fault. "We don't even know the slip rate. ... It could be 30 millimeters a year. It could be 8 millimeters a year. It's just unconscionable we should have that level of unknowns on such a major risk in San Bernardino."

AUSTRALIA - A mini-hurricane smashed into Mudgee Thursday afternoon uprooting trees, damaging houses and cars and knocking power lines across roadways as it swept through the town for a few dramatically furious minutes. The freak storm, which approached from the north west at about 3:45pm, hit with such ferocity that trees came crashing down onto cars. According to emergency services personnel: "It was a miracle that no-one was badly injured."

FOG -
INDIA, NEW DELHI - Just when summer seemed to have announced its arrival loud and clear, the fog was back with a bang, bringing the city to a halt. Visibility dropped to zero at the airport even though temperatures remained higher than normal. Fog started engulfing the city at about 4:30 am when visibility dropped to 250 metres. After 7:30 am it dropped down to zero before becoming normal by about 10 am. The temperature, meanwhile, continued to remain unbearable at 27.2 degrees Celsius (four degrees above normal) while the minimum temperature was recorded at 11.8 degrees Celsius (two degrees above normal). The formation, according to Met officials, was 'sudden'. "The formation of fog was 50 per cent below normal this January and in February, all signs were indicating the onset of summer. What happened was the mixing of cold air coming in from Pakistan and Afghanistan with the warm and moist air coming in from the southwest."

SNOW / COLD -
JAPAN - The fourth avalanche in two days buried and injured four mountain climbers on a remote, icy peak Saturday amid one of the snowiest winters on record. The snow gave way on the slopes of 2,760-meter Mount Ioudake in Nagano Prefecture shortly before 10:30 a.m. Four climbers were buried but were later pulled from the snow. Two suffered broken bones and the other two suffered minor injuries. There was only one meter of snow on the ground on Saturday, but the conditions were perfect for an avalanche as about 70 centimeters of fresh snow had fallen up to Thursday, and the temperature on Saturday was relatively high. On Friday an avalanche buried an outdoor hot spring at a popular inn in Akita Prefecture, killing one person and injuring 16. A 20-year-old worker rescued almost six hours after the avalanche struck was confirmed dead on arrival at a hospital. An avalanche occurred earlier Friday near a different hot spring resort in Akita. A 65-year-old employee who colleagues feared had been buried in the snow was later found safe. Later in the day, a third avalanche in the region covered a railway track, forcing a high-speed bullet train to make an emergency stop after its first few cars smashed into the mound of snow. Record-breaking snowfalls have hit many parts of Japan in recent months, killing at least 123 people since December in snow-related accidents.

TURKEY - according to preliminary information, two mountaineers died and two more remained trapped in an avalanche in Aladaglar Mountain in central Anatolian city of Nigde on Saturday. The avalanche fell on 14 students, members of a mountaineering club.

GERMANY - Parts of Germany issued weather catastrophe warnings on Thursday as heavy snowfall was forecast before the weekend in the south and rivers began flooding in the east due to rising temperatures. German meteorologists in the south said they have seen the HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IN A DECADE. Up to 70 cm (27 inches) are expected by Saturday in parts of the southern state of Bavaria. "In four regions of lower Bavaria - Passau, Deggendorf, Freyung-Grafenau and Regen - the snowfall has created a catastrophic situation." Two roofs have already collapsed under heavy snow in Bavaria. In January, the roof of an ice rink in Bad Reichenhall collapsed, killing 15, and this week the roof of a supermarket collapsed in Toeging am Inn, east of Munich, lightly injuring employees and a shopper.

AUSTRALIA - Adelaide is experiencing an unseasonal cold patch. For the past week, Adelaide temperatures have dived with maximums about 4C below the average of 29.3C - just weeks after the worst heat wave in 60 years. "Spring is wetter, Autumn drier. Our seasons are changing. The last 10 years have been the hottest on record."

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CALIFORNIA - downtown Sacramento experienced RECORD-BREAKING TEMPERATURES of 72 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday and 73 degrees Thursday, burning past the old record of 70 degrees, set on those dates in 1987, 1988 and 1988 again. The warm weather is expected to continue at least into Wednesday. “This is very rare. I remember I was wearing a sweater and a thick jacket at this time last year. It's bizarre.” Plants started blooming ahead of schedule due to a lack of freezing temperatures this winter. Although it's impossible to predict, there are rarely any freezes after the second week of February. A strong high-pressure ridge over the West Coast, pushing storms to the north and “keeping us nice and dry.” A little offshore airflow (opposite of onshore flows like the summertime Delta breeze) is keeping away the fog that usually settles into the Central Valley this time of year. The annual rain total, tallied from July 1 to June 30, is 13.9 inches so far - 112 percent of normal in the Sacramento area. Although the rain total is above normal now, precipitation in the next month or so will determine whether that remains so.

CLIMATE CHANGE - A rebellion at NASA is highlighting a shift in the debate over climate change, "a shift which leaves the Bush administration looking like religious obscurantists and indigenous prophets looking like the best scientists". This debate has been running for at least a generation, and it might be the most important issue of the generation; but the latest round came to light at the end of January with charges that NASA officials had tried to silence their most prominent expert on climate change. This revelation has been followed by a flood of other NASA employees charging political interference with scientific information.

Friday, February 9, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/8 -
5.6 ARU ISLANDS, INDONESIA, REGION
5.5 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.4 FLORES SEA

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - About 300 local earthquakes were registered on the Karymsky volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula on Thursday. The giant volcano is spewing ash. There is no danger to nearby populated localities. The plume of ash from the crater has stretched for some 20 kilometres at the height of four kilometres above sea level. A 40-kilometre cloud containing volcanic dust has been observed some 40 kilometres east of the volcano. The volcano has been in a state of eruption for 10 years since January 1996.

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - Life is slowly getting back to normal in the townsite of Lake Grace, following RECORD RAINFALL which caused FLOODING UNPRECEDENTED IN RECENT HISTORY and damage in the millions of dollars. The State Government declared the stricken area a natural disaster zone following rainfall of 241mm on January 12/13, the aftermath of Cyclone Clare. Initially roads were cut from the east, west and south with limited access from the north, with no mail deliveries and fresh food scarce. While most essential services have been restored, the major headache for the Lake Grace Shire is the flooding of the cemetery lake, on the western outskirts of the town, which has cut the road and rail links. There are some positives, the lakes have become a water playground and the bird-life in the area is prolific.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
SOUTH AFRICA - two girls, aged nine and 10, were swept away by flash floods in Kwathema in Springs on Gauteng's East Rand. The police say they were going to school when the water swept them away. Meanwhile, more heavy downpours have been reported over parts of the Free State. Thaba Nchu recorded 81-millimetres, Verkeerdevlei 71, and Bultfontein 64. The SA Weather Service has warned of more rain for the flood-hit provinces of Gauteng and the Free State. It predicts heavy falls until Tuesday at least.
The heavy rain in the interior is taking it's toll. Johannesburg emergency workers are looking for the occupants of a car which was swept off a low-level bridge in Honeydew. It is not known how many people were inside the car. This comes as heavy rainfall continues to fall over most of the interior. Storm water drains are overflowing in Gauteng and there are sheets of water on the roads. In the Free State, at least two bridges and the road between Bloemfontein and Brandfort in the southern Free State are under water. A spate of bus accidents this week have mostly been caused by the bad weather. At least 16 people were killed in the bus accidents and over 100 injured.

PHILIPPINES - Even government meteorologists agree there exists an UNUSUAL WEATHER SITUATION in the Philippines, marked by UNSEASONAL monsoon rains and the onset of the phenomenon known as "La Niña." The country was affected last month by the northeast monsoon, the tailend of a cold front, an easterly wave and active low-pressure area that developed into a tropical depression — "Agaton" — which brought days of rains and caused flooding over some areas of Central and Eastern Luzon. This month, the northeast monsoon, the tailend of a cold front and an easterly wave will likely influence the weather although there is a slim chance of a tropical cyclone occurring in the Philippine area of responsibility. "This (prevailing weather system) is UNUSUAL in a sense that if this is the normal northeast monsoon, we should have a dry weather pattern." The persistent warmer than normal sea surface temperature around the Philippines may bring more rains in many parts of the country. The brewing La Niña condition may last up to the end of the first quarter 2006 when the sea surface temperature begins to normalize. Amid the La Niña and the puzzling climate within the region — above normal rainfall condition in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam - China, Japan and Russia are experiencing colder than normal winter.

OREGON - The Portland area has just slogged through ONE OF ITS RAINEST JANUARIES ON RECORD. In western Oregon, Portland averages approximately 40 to 45 inches of rainfall per year between October and May. Almost 10 inches of rain fell last month, making it Portland’s wettest January since 11.81 inches fell in 1970. January’s normal rainfall is 5.07 inches. Landslides caused trouble all over the greater Portland area in late January and early February.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - At least 12,000 people left homeless from severe flooding in the central province of Papua New Guinea are yet to receive help. People are reported to be starving, houses are sinking and coffins have been washed up by the flood waters which officials say have been up to two metres' deep.

NEW ZEALAND - A number of farmers between Waterton and Pendarves are reeling from a savage, isolated hailstorm that cut a swathe of destruction through crops over the weekend and could end up slicing millions of dollars off grower incomes. The hailstorm struck between 2am and 3am on Sunday, bringing strong winds and torrential rain. “The sky was lit up with lightning continuously for over half an hour. It was a like a bloody tornado. The hail was very intense.” Some farmers in the district had recorded 30mm to 60mmm of rain during the storm. One farmer estimated 50 per cent of his radish, green feed kale, clover crops and a similar proportion of a paddock of oats had been damaged. Others could be up to 100 per cent. The sound of the storm was deafening. “It was a like a train going through with the torrential rain and hailstones.” Although the hail did not last very long, damage was severe due to the force of the wind driving the hail down. The storm was particularly frustrating for farmers in the area who were already battling a very dry season.

SNOW / COLD -
COLORADO - The mountain snows that feed Denver Water's water supply are near record levels but there's so much RECORD SNOW that there's fear of flooding during the spring runoff. Snowpack in the Upper South Platte basin, which has been at average or below since 1998, is 117 percent of normal. In the Colorado River Basin, snowpack is 154 percent of normal, the highest it's been since 1996. This year's UNUSAL WEATHER PATTERNS - huge snowpack in the mountains and unseasonably dry conditions at lower elevations - suggest a continuation of recent years' widely varying weather conditions, prompting some to wonder whether there's a new definition of "normal" weather in Colorado. "An unusually wet year could easily be followed by one with dryness of epic proportions."

FLORIDA - A blast of Arctic air invades Northwest Florida this week, bringing rare freezing temperatures during one of the warmest winters on record. Freezing weather is forecast for Saturday with a low of 31 degrees. That will make it frosty for magnolias, azaleas and many other brilliant spring bloomers that have sprung flowers. Cold winter weather can be a needed respite for plants and can help control weeds and insect pests. "We need winter here. We really do."

RUSSIA - The Botanical Gardens on the premises of Moscow State University has suffered losses as a spell of very cold weather continues in Moscow for several weeks. Air temperatures dropping to around 30 degrees below zero have split a trunk of an old ash-tree, ruined a walnut tree that turned into an ice-bound log, and damaged several apricot trees despite desperate efforts made by the Gardens' attendants to save them.

MACEDONIA - A lion and a llama died of cold in a zoo in southern Macedonia this week as polar temperatures gripped the country. The 25-year-old lion and the baby llama were found dead in their cages after temperatures in the southern city of Bitola, near the border with Greece, fell to -28C. The country in recent days has been hit by what local media call a "polar winter", with temperatures plunging far below zero, especially in Bitola - the coldest city in the country with temperatures in the minus 20s.

AFGHANISTAN - Snow, avalanches and extreme cold conditions in northern Afghanistan have killed 19 people, many of them children, during the last week. Four people were killed by an avalanche, and 15 children died of cold after the avalanche buried their homes and left them exposed in Deh Murda, a village in Suri Pul province.

ALASKA - A Michigan man who was living in Alaska and was out snowshoeing with a companion was killed when an avalanche swept down from the slopes of a gully near a popular recreation area. The slide appeared to be about 200 yards wide.

ANOTHER REPORT OF A STRANGE SMELL -
SCOTLAND - Hundreds of people feared a huge gas blast on the 8th after a strange stink swept Edinburgh. Scotland Gas Networks took scores of calls from worried residents in the coastal district of Granton. Emergency services and radio stations also received reports from Leith, the city centre and the west end. But as police, gas, health and ports bosses launched an investigation, mystery still surrounds the source of the smell. A Scotland Gas Networks spokeswoman said they had taken hundreds of calls. "The problem is not coming from the supply network." "Inquiries with companies in the city and Firth of Forth area have also failed to establish a source for the smell." A weather expert said: "If the smell is being detected over a fairly large area of Edinburgh, I would think it came from quite a distance, possibly miles away."

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, February 9, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/8 -
5.4 BANDA SEA
5.9 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Sea levels would have risen higher and ocean temperatures would have been warmer in the 20th century if the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia had not erupted in 1883. The impact of the eruption that spewed molten rock and sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere was felt for decades - much longer than previously thought. The effect of Pinatubo's eruption on ocean temperatures was much smaller because of the impact of greenhouse gases which were much higher in 1991 than in 1883. "We can't rely on future volcanic eruptions slowing ocean warming and sea level rises."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
NEW ZEALAND - The MetService has issued a severe weather warning for central New Zealand. A band of heavy rain is moving east over northern and central New Zealand and some heavy falls are expected in the hilly country in Taranaki.

SNOW / COLD -
TAJIKISTAN - An avalanche swept down a mountainside in Tajikistan, killing three people. More than 20 people have been killed in avalanches in Tajikistan this year.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
Scientists have known for a very long time that moose are quite sensitive to temperature. The animal will actually pant when the temperature gets above 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Minnesota has two herds: the northeast and the northwest. The northwest herd is in serious trouble. "It used to be probably the largest, most productive herd in the state." But the population just "crashed." There were four-thousand moose here in the late eighties. Today there are 250. The rate of pregnancy here is low - half of what's normal. And moose are dying here - faster - than normal. Increased temperatures cause a lot of extra stress on the animal. Specifically, these moose are dying from parasites: brain worms and liver flukes. It appears the parasites "caused those individual moose to starve to death." That's "really contrary to what parasites are supposed to do." Parasites are not supposed to kill the animal. The moose are dying in greatest numbers within a year of a very hot summer. In Northwest Minnesota, where the moose are dying, the growing season has increased 39 days in the last 41 years. Record dew-points make it feel even hotter. "In the summer of 2005 we had dew points in the 80's. This is like Bombay, India. It's not like Minneapolis/St Paul!" Precipitation is up here 20 percent in the last century. Even Minnesota's great pine forest is at risk because of the kinds of trees scientists see coming up underneath it. They are the type of trees usually found growing much farther south. The mating season of the grouse is now earlier, and the range of wild turkeys, raccoons, opossums and skunks is expanding. They are animals that could not survive so far north before. Warmer water is causing larger walleye to grow more slowly. It is also believed to be impacting reproduction. Major scientific organizations around the world believe the planet will warm another 4-10 degrees by the end of the century. Minnesota would be at the high end of that range. Ten degrees would be stunning. Minnesota would "feel" more like Illinois in the wintertime with temperatures on average, 6-12 degrees warmer. And summer here would average about four to eight degrees warmer.

CALIFORNIA - global warming is likely to change river flows in ways that may result in both increased winter flood risk and summer water shortages — even within the same year.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/7 -
5.2 TONGA ISLANDS
5.4 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

GEORGIA - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7 hit a mountainous region of western Georgia Monday morning. The quake struck at 8:08 in the morning and its epicenter was in mountains dividing the regions of Racha and Imereti, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital. No serious injuries or deaths have been reported but tremors were felt throughout a wide swath of the country. Government seismologists report there were five main tremors over the span of a minute. Residents in the two largest cities in the immediate vicinity of the quake felt the tremors in 2-3 second bursts. Approximately 15 aftershocks followed. The seismology center cannot predict if further tremors are on their way or not. The quake's epicenter was approximately on the same spot as the 9.0 April 29, 1992 quake that damaged thousands of homes in western Georgia and left around 200 dead. The last major earthquake in Georgia struck Tbilisi on April 25, 2002 and had an intensity of around 6. That quake damaged over 5,000 buildings in Tbilisi and is estimated to have caused $187 million in damages.

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.

VOLCANOES -
JAPAN - The government has drafted a set of disaster-prevention measures, to be implemented if Mt. Fuji erupts, which provide detailed evacuation instructions and call for the creation of task forces to be set up by local governments to enable better coordination of efforts to prevent death and injury. Mt. Fuji has erupted 10 times since 794. The eruptions in 800, 864 and 1707 were the three largest. Although Mt. Fuji has not erupted for about 300 years, a recent increase in low-frequency earthquakes indicates magma is moving below the volcano. The number of quakes rose sharply from average levels in the autumn of 2000 and in the spring of 2001. In 2004, a government panel drew up a map showing the areas that could be affected by an eruption and the problems those areas might face.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MALAYSIA - A woman and two of her children were killed in a landslide, caused by heavy rains, which damaged 14 houses in a village of Sabah state in eastern Malaysia. The other occupants of the 14 damaged houses in this village managed to save themselves once they saw signs of an imminent landslide. Local authorities have required the occupants of almost 30 houses in the village to evacuate for fear of more landslides triggered by heavy rains.

SPAIN - Rescue services have finally located the two bodies of a farmer and his wife who were buried beneath a mountain of sand and rocks in a landslide on an isolated farm in Juncosa, in Lleida. (photo)

NEW YORK - Emergency responders and engineers continue to monitor the site at which a landslide into Claverack Creek last week created a dam that could threaten residents downstream. The collapse Thursday of a 60-foot-high, 300-yard-long section of embankment in the Columbia County town also caused high water near the bridge that takes Route 66 over the creek. Water levels there could reach four to five times the creek's normal level. About 25 homes have been identified as being in potential danger. So far, water levels at the dam site are not continuing to rise; the water found an outlet around a stand of trees and the earthen dam. Heavy rains could change that.

WIND -
TEXAS - Gusty winds on Sunday were blamed for a bizarre accident that killed the son of a TV weatherman who was parasailing behind a tractor. The wind proved so strong it picked the tractor up off the ground. That caused the rope holding the son to break, and he went free-flying into the air. Initially,he hit the ground but the wind picked up his parasail again, and he was thrown over a fence and into a tree about 500 feet away. According to the National Weather Service, the average wind speed Sunday was 14 mph, with gusts of up to 37 mph.

SNOW / COLD -
MALTA - Arctic weather has begun arriving in Malta, with temperatures plunging as low as 8.7C. This makes it THE COLDEST FEBRUARY DAY IN 44 YEARS since 1962 when on the 15th of February the maximum temperature that day reached only 7.2C. The coldest February day since the Meteorological Office started keeping records in 1922 was that of 1929 with a high of 6.7C. "This type of cold snap is RATHER UNUSUAL in the sense that such or lower temperatures occurred on only 12% of the occasions." A depression, or area of low atmospheric pressure, centred over Crete together with an Anticyclone, or high pressure area, over the Balkans generated a swift moving current of cold air passing first over the south of Italy onto Sicily and the Maltese Islands. Malta is also noticing that January and February have been getting colder in the last few years with more hail days being registered.

CHINA - The survival of rare wild animals is seriously threatened by the continuous snowfall and bitter cold in a nature reserve in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Bad weather and thick snow have caused great difficulties for wild animals like gazelles, argals (a species of wild sheep), and Asiatic wild asses, in looking for food. Since last December, heavy snow up to 50cm has hit the reserve; temperatures have plunged to minus 35 degrees Celsius.

KASHMIR - In Tangdhar, where villages were already damaged in the October 8 earthquake, the melting snow is triggering landslides and stones falling from mountains, posing a major threat to the lives and property of the 600 odd families living near the mountains. "Whatever was left is now destroyed. We are homeless and have now been shifted to a school." Several residential houses and Army barracks have already been damaged. Authorities have started shifting the families to safer places.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
VERMONT - Nature is topsy-turvy in Vermont after six weeks of springtime in the heart of winter. All the warm weather since late December has been disconcerting: Lake Champlain water is at a high level commonly seen during and after the spring thaw, but never before in February. Severe spring lake flooding is not likely because mountain snowpack is well below normal, limiting the amount of water that will flow into the lake. Day lilies are coming up; red-winged blackbirds and great blue herons patrol Vermont's wetlands; and the ground is mostly unfrozen, all typical of early April, not early February. A measure of how bizarre this winter has been was the report of a loon on Lake Willoughby in Vermont's cold Northeast Kingdom. "That blew me away." Loons are spotted from time to time on Lake Champlain during January, but not on inland lakes like Willoughby, which tend to freeze over. Loons need open water. Weather extremes, hot and cold, dry and wet, seem much more frequent. "The weather has always been weird, but look at the frequency of record setting events. Every species is going to get hammered if you keep getting this unpredictable series of weather extremes."

WESTERN U.S. - Wildfires are burning in Colorado, Arizona, California and South Dakota.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off - updated Wednesdays
Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays
Disease - updated Mondays
Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.
Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.
Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/6 -
5.4 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 ARU ISLANDS, INDONESIA, REGION
5.0 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 KOMANDORSKY ISLANDS
5.0 WESTERN CAUCASUS
5.5 NEW BRITAIN

SOUTH AFRICA - Two miners were killed and six injured when a 1.8 tremor caused a rock fall at one of AngloGold Ashanti's South African mines where three people died last month in a similar accident.

AUSTRALIA - Swiss Reinsurance Co. has launched Australia's first ever natural catastrophe bond as a way of insuring against major disasters. Sydney is the Australian capital city most at risk of an earthquake, while Brisbane and Townsville are the most likely to be hit by a cyclone, according to the global insurance company. Most of Australia's capital cities are at risk of an earthquake, some of them more than others."They are very remote occurrences, we expect maybe - in terms of frequency - that this 'cat' bond would not be exposed to loss more than twice in 100 years. They are very large events when they occur and they are very infrequent." The bond, titled Australis Ltd, has a three-year life span. If the event covered by the linked securities does not occur, investors receive their capital back with interest. If it does, investors may lose some of their interest and/or their principal in the investment.

TSUNAMI -
ALASKA - A tsunami warning was mistakenly sent to TV and radio stations across Alaska on Monday. At the time, technicians were working on a computer and showing a new intern how warnings are issued. "He says no one sent anything. You couldn't set it off without going through three of four steps. It might have been glitch in the machine. We're still trying to figure out why it went out."

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Cleveland volcano in the Aleutian Islands coughed up an ash cloud Monday. The eruption prompted the Alaska Volcano Observatory to raise Cleveland Volcano's threat level to code red. Code red, the highest threat level, means a significant eruption is occurring. Satellites detected the 22-thousand-foot high ash cloud after it detached from the summit of the volcano. Cleveland is located near the Aleutian chain's halfway point. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary flight restriction near the volcano.

WASHINGTON - Mount St. Helens isn't the only volcano in the Pacific Northwest that's showing signs of life. The crew of "Oregon Field Guide," a weekly outdoors show, has documented how a volcano is coming alive just outside of Bend. Land beneath the South Sister is being pushed up by mysterious volcanic forces miles beneath a popular hiking trail. New technology now is being used to measure the swelling of the ground in the newly awakened volcanic zone near Bend. It is rising at the rate of about 1 1/2 inches a year, and some scientists think this could be a preliminary indication of major volcanic activity.

WIND -
CANADA - VANCOUVER - A violent windstorm pummelled southern British Columbia on the weekend, knocking out power for 100,000 and prompting officials to ask residents of as many as 200 homes to evacuate because of heavy flooding. The mayor of Delta called it the WORST STORM TO HIT THE AREA IN 30 YEARS. The seawall failed to contain the stormy seas, causing extensive flooding and water damage.
About 50,000 homes in Ontario suffered through their second day without power Monday, after a fierce winter storm knocked out services to an estimated 100,000 people.

SNOW / COLD -
JAPAN - Heavy snowfalls over the weekend heaped misery upon mayhem for many snowbound areas along the Sea of Japan coast. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, accumulations had built to 416 centimeters in Tsunan, Niigata Prefecture - the FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS THE PREFECTURE RECORDED MORE THAN 400 CM OF SNOWFALL IN ONE WINTER. This winter's heavy snows have led to freak accidents, fatalities and countless injuries. Even hearty residents used to tough weather say this winter has been excruciating. The snow has become wet - and heavier - because of the rain that fell on the weekend of January 14. Yet, winter is far from over. Local governments are warning people to brace for more snow. The Meteorological Agency also predicts another cold wave. The projected snowfall for February is about average for the northern and eastern parts of Japan, and average or slightly below for western Japan. But the agency warns that sudden rises and drops in the temperature could occur. New snow falling on old snow that has melted and then frozen again can trigger avalanches.

ALASKA - Some of Alaska's rural communities are dealing with the after-affects of frigid temperatures. The temperatures late last week shut down water and sewer lines in at least two villages, and cut power in a third. On Saint George Island in the Bering Sea, frozen water mains cut water service to about 30 homes, several businesses and the clinic. In Nondalton, between Lake Clark and Iliamna Lake, cold was blamed for problems in the power distribution system. And in Northwest Alaska about 300 residents from Selawik went back to the old ways after their sewer and water pipes froze. They are using honey buckets instead of toilets and chopping ice from the nearby river.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - Hundreds of firefighters battling a large bushfire burning out of control in southern New South Wales are bracing for a wind change that will endanger a large number of properties. One of Australia's busiest interstate highways, the Hume running between Sydney and Melbourne, is expected to be cut all day. The fire has already destroyed 8500ha of bush and will threaten crops if the expected wind change arrives.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, February 6, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/5 -
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA, REG
5.3 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.0 CHILE-ARGENTINA BORDER REGION
5.0 NORTHERN ALASKA, UNITED STATES
5.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA
5.1 NORTHERN ALASKA, UNITED STATES

MONTANA - A minor 4.6 earthquake rattled parts of southwestern Montana Saturday evening. It was felt by residents around southwest Montana, as well as in Idaho and Wyoming. The quake was reported in an area that has been rumbling since a magnitude 5.6 earthquake was reported 13 miles northwest of Dillon on July 25 in 2005.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 713 nmi SSW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
IRAQ - Continuous rainfall over the past three days in the capital, Baghdad, as well as in Tikrit and Mosul in northern Iraq, has forced 600 people out of their homes. The government has said the situation could deteriorate if heavy rains continue, due mainly to the weak state of national infrastructure. The sewage system is cause for particular concern, as most sewage channels are leaking because of poor quality building materials. In the suburbs of the capital more than 80 percent of the system is totally degraded.

FIJI - A second round of floods in Fiji’s northern division in less than a week has devastated low lying areas in and around Labasa. Cane farms and food gardens are under water, roads are closed and hundreds of adults and children have been forced to seek shelter in emergency evacuation shelters. Police and fire services had to rescue people from their homes as rising waters threatened their lives.
A landslide near the Fiji town of Labasa following several days of heavy rain has killed a woman and her two young children.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
U.S. - This year, we saw January average temperatures of 5-16 degrees warmer than average over most of America. This is a RARE PATTERN INDEED. Usually when one part of the United States, such as the East Coast, experiences unusually warm weather, some other region, such as the Rocky Mountain states, encounters unusually cold temperatures. This has to do with the natural “wiggles” of the jet stream that change from one month to the next. The pattern we’re seeing so far this year, however, where the entire nation is unusually warm, occurs only when the entire jet stream has migrated far north from its usual position. The unusual temperature pattern we’ve seen this January is similar to the kind of pattern that models predict will be normal in just a few decades, given the current trend.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, February 5, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/4 -
5.3 NORTHERN MOLUCCA SEA
5.4 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR
5.5 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
2/3 -
5.6 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA, REG
5.0 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA, REG
5.7 TONGA ISLANDS
5.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.4 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU
5.0 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU
5.4 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU
5.0 NEPAL
5.0 LAKE BAYKAL, RUSSIA, REGION

OREGON - Some scientists say there is a one in 10 chance that Oregon will be hit with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the next 50 years. If that happens, they say a massive landslide could follow, one that could dam the Columbia River. The most recent giant landslide happened 550 years ago, filling a section of the Columbia River with earth. The resulting dam, a wall of earth, created a lake that stretched 88 miles. If an earthquake hit, scientists say basalt rocks from the top of the Gorge cliffs would be shaken loose for three minutes or more. That would dislodge giant rocks, which would fall into the river channel, completely plugging it. "You’re going to have to evacuate a lot of people in the Portland area." That would create the possibility for another disaster. The Army Corps of Engineers would have to figure out a way to breach the slide without sending torrents of water gushing toward Portland.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 654 nmi SW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
OREGON - The small town of Wheeler may have to spend big bucks after a landslide took out most of their water system. Heavy rains have saturated the town of in Tillamook County for the past couple of months. On Friday, wet earth slid down a hillside and snapped a water line. That caused half a million gallons of water to pour out of a reservoir.

WASHINGTON - A landslide along the BNSF Railway has halted Amtrak passenger rail service between Portland and Seattle for the 10th time since Christmas. Incessant heavy rain is to blame. "This is the longest period (of trouble) I can recall in the Pacific Northwest. Basically the bluffs are eroding, and the material has no place to go but down the slope."

FLORIDA - A violent stream of thunderstorms is pounding parts of central Pinellas County, causing a roof collapse at a St. Petersburg store and widespread flooding. The sudden flooding hit with up to 12 inches of rain reported in the Pinellas Park area.

WIND -
CANADA - Coastal communities in southwestern British Columbia went on the alert on the weekend, bracing for more floods after a windstorm knocked out power to more than 50,000 people and helped send sea water pouring into homes. Winds were up to 110 km/h on Saturday.
A state of local emergency has now been declared in Delta, because of this wind storm battering the south coast. Flooding and extremely high winds are being reported.

BELGIUM - LOW WIND - Alarming figures indicated on Thursday that more than 10,000 Belgians die prematurely each year due to fine particles in the air. The high level of pollution is being caused primarily by the current UNUSUAL WEATHER SITUATION, which is characterised by temperature inversions and low wind speeds. The weather pattern has led to a reduced dilution of air pollution at various locations across the country. This has resulted in high concentrations of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, benzene and fine particles. And although it is only the start of February, the acceptable level of fine particles in the air has already been breached 20 times this year. That is alarming because on average, there are just 35 breaches recorded each year. An academic said that up to 30 people would probably die on Thursday as a direct result of the current poor air quality.

SNOW / COLD -
TURKEY - About 30 people were trapped in their houses in the southeastern city of Hakkari due to an avalanche which fell on four houses and a stable early on Saturday. Around 30 people who were trapped in their houses were rescued by other people living in the neighborhood. On the other hand, Canakkale Strait has been closed to traffic since last night due to heavy fog.

AUSTRALIA - Victoria faces a wetter, colder winter due to the return of the La Nina weather system in the western Pacific Ocean. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Centre confirmed the existence of a La Nina after a large mass of cool water that started forming along the equator was detected in the second half of last year. Typically, La Nina, the opposite of drought-inducing El Nino, also heralds unseasonal rain in much of Queensland and New South Wales.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
Scientists said on Monday the world had to halt greenhouse gas emissions and reverse them within two decades or watch the planet spiralling towards destruction. Even a rise of three degrees in average global temperature could result in cataclysmic species loss, melting polar icecaps raising sea levels by many meters, and wholesale famine and disease. Two major glaciers in Greenland have recently begun to flow and break up more quickly under the onslaught of global warming, according to a new study which has raised the spectre of millions drowning from rising sea levels. The glaciers have doubled their rate of flow to the ocean over the past two years after steady movement during the 1990s. This spurt meant that current environmental models of the rate of retreat of Greenland's giant ice sheet – which could add seven metres to the height of the world's oceans if it disappears – had underestimated the problem. "It seems likely that other Greenland outlets will undergo similar changes, which would impact the mass balance of the ice sheet more rapidly than predicted." The fact that the two major outflow glaciers have shown the same sudden acceleration despite being more than 300km apart suggested the cause was not local but more likely climatic or oceanic in origin. Greenland is only part of the picture, and there is also evidence of local warming and melting on the giant Western Antarctic ice sheet.

Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.

Friday, February 3, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Japan was shaking this morning -
5.4 / 5.0 / 4.9 / 5.8 / 4.8 NEAR E.CST EASTERN HONSHU.

Largest quakes yesterday -
2/2 -
5.0 SERAM, INDONESIA
5.1 BANDA SEA
5.5 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
6.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

OREGON - Scientists say the energy released by the earthquake that jarred the Portland area Saturday was roughly three times higher than initial estimates. The quake's magnitude was raised from a 2.8 to a 3.1 after analyzing data from instruments. The higher magnitude gives only a partial explanation why the small quake was felt across such a wide area. "This produced much stronger ground motion than similar quakes centered at Swan Island or Kelley Point in North Portland."

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 909 nmi W of Saint Pierre, Reunion.
"Boloetse", currently off the coast of central Mozambique, has been upgraded from "moderate" to "severe". On Thursday morning at 08:00 the storm was off the coast of Sofala province, where it was causing "tempestuous" seas. The storm was generating winds of 55 knots, with gusts of up to 77 knots. "Boloetse" is heading slowly southeast - thus away from the Mozambican coast and towards Madagascar. It remains a danger to shipping in the centre of the Mozambique Channel, where the weather system will cause thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rains.

LA NINA -
The NOAA Climate Prediction Center announced yesterday the official return of La Niña. Agency forecasters predicted La Niña was forming nearly three weeks ago. Oceanic sea surface temperatures have met the operational definition of La Niña for the November through January period. La Niña is the periodic cooling of ocean waters in the east-central equatorial Pacific, which can impact the typical alignment of weather patterns around the globe. NOAA predicts this La Niña event will likely remain into late spring, and possibly into summer. In the U.S. "this pattern will favor continued drought in parts of the South and Southwest from Arizona to Arkansas and Louisiana, and above normal precipitation in the Northwest and the Tennessee Valley area." Periodic precipitation in the drought areas and dryness in the stormy areas also are typical within the larger scale climate pattern described above. Internationally, La Niña impacts during the Northern Hemisphere winter typically include enhanced rainfall across Indonesia and northern Australia, as well as in the Amazon Basin and in southeastern Africa and below-average rainfall across the eastern half of the equatorial Pacific and eastern equatorial Africa. Typically, La Niña events favor increased Atlantic hurricane activity. La Niña events recur approximately every three to five years. The last La Niña occurred in 2000-2001 and was a relatively weak event compared to the 1998-2000 event.

WIND -
WASHINGTON - In the past six weeks or so, they've had dozens of storms roll through the Northwest, but Mother Nature might have saved her strongest for last. A pretty potent system is forming out in the Pacific Ocean, and forecasting models have that storm coming into the area late tonight and into the day Saturday, bring the potential for strong winds all across western Washington. The Thursday afternoon models kept the most consistent landfall bulls-eye in central Vancouver Island. Wind gusts to 70 mph are possible along the coast. Aside from the wind, this storm will also bring another round of heavy rain. Long range forecasts show once they get past this storm, that's it for a while, as they head into what appears to be at least a week-long dry streak.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
U.S. - Buttercups have been blooming in Montana. In Ohio, an ice-free Lake Erie allowed an early start to seasonal ferry service. And the sap started running early in Vermont. The current warmth is caused by the UNUSUAL POSITION of the jet stream, the high-altitude river of air that flows west-to-east across North America. It divides warm air from cold, with colder temperatures to its north and warmer temperatures to its south. Usually in the winter, it follows a lazy zigzag across the United States and Canada, allowing cold air into the U.S. where it dips south. But for the past month or so, it has instead flowed east in almost a straight line across the northern part of the country, basically forming a fence that has kept cold air out and allowed in milder air masses from the Pacific Ocean instead. Over the coming week the jet stream is expected to return to its usual wavy pattern, bringing cold air to the eastern U.S. once again.

INDIA - Barring extreme south peninsular India, most parts have been experiencing warmer than normal day and night temperatures. The sheer scale and extent of the warming anomaly is UNPRECEDENTED FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. The daytime maximums have been above normal by one to six degrees Celsius. Both day and night temperatures have risen in tandem. The anomaly is being attributed to the strange behaviour of the extra-tropical westerly systems (western disturbances) heading into northwest India. The last such system impacted the region around January 27 but was followed by a large westerly trough that has refused to leave the scene till date. This, in association with the seasonal anti-cyclone, has since affected the prevailing wind pattern in north and central India. Dry west-southwesterly winds from Rajasthan have been sweeping Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, while warm winds from the east and the northeast have been walloping central and north peninsular India. The trend may start changing today as a northwesterly wind flow will bring down both day and night temperatures by three to five degrees Celsius over northwest and central India. A fresh western disturbance may start affecting the northwest by Tuesday.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, February 2, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
2/1 -
5.0 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.2 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.0 NEAR S.CST OF EASTERN HONSHU
5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone JIM was 385 nmi N of Auckland, New Zealand.
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 970 nmi W of Saint Pierre, Reunion and is forecast to strike Mozambique at about 00:00 GMT today. Tropical Storm Boloetse churned towards Mozambique on Wednesday, bringing heavy rains that experts said could add to the country’s already heightened risk of flooding. The Zambezi has risen to “precariously high” levels in some places. “Luckily the main part of the storm will stay out at sea.” The government and aid agencies have already made emergency plans for massive flooding.
Boloetse is then expected to double back and is forecast to strike Madagascar at about 19:00 GMT on February 4 as a category 2 storm at landfall.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
JAVA, INDONESIA - Floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains on Indonesia's Java island have killed at least 19 people and displaced more than 10,000 in the past week. The floods have also destroyed more than 13,000 hectares of rice fields in a district in West Java province. "There's been endless disaster over the past month." Water as deep as 150cm had inundated about 20,000 homes in several districts in Java in the past few days, but there were no reports of deaths in those areas. Monsoon rains typically hit a peak in January.

MICHIGAN - sheets of rain pelted Mid Michigan this past weekend. Rivers have risen to levels not usually seen this time of year. If you didn't have a calendar handy, you could argue it's the end of March and not the end of January. Up to an inch of rain fell across parts of Mid Michigan over the weekend as an unseasonably mild weather pattern limited snow and winter activities. Partially frozen ground assists the runoff into local rivers and streams, bringing them near or even above flood levels - a condition not common until the onset of spring.

A BIT OF EVERYTHING -
WESTERN WASHINGTON - Every single weather element that can possibly happen around there - wind, rain, flooding, lowland snow, mountain snow, thunderstorms, hail, and (maybe) funnel clouds - did happen over a span of about 12 hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Strong winds of 25-35 mph, were gusting to 50-60 mph in some places. The winds knocked out power and downed trees across the area. Heavy rains also fell across the area for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Anywhere from 1/3 to a full inch of rain was measured across the Puget Sound area. Another 1-2 feet of snow was falling in the Cascade Mountains. Snowpack numbers are roughly 40-45 percent above normal, with areas of 181%. The crazy pattern also brought some lowland snow to the eastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains. Just to make sure she had all her bases covered, Mother Nature then pushed a strong line of thunderstorms across the northern third of the area around midnight that brought vivid lightning and hail. The National Weather Service said they even detected rotation in the clouds via radar, and said had it been daylight, they would not have been surprised to hear reports of funnel clouds across the area.

SNOW / COLD -
TAJIKISTAN - an avalanche killed 18 people in their sleep when it engulfed an apartment block in the mountainous Central Asian state overnight. The Emergency Situations Ministry said it had rescued 20 out of 38 people who were caught in the avalanche, which came after a week of heavy snowfall in the Jirgital region, 250km northeast of the capital Dushanbe. Avalanches frequently kill small groups of people during the winter and spring in Tajikistan but it was the WORST DEATH TOLL FROM A SINGLE INCIDENT IN SEVERAL YEARS.

CANADA - A storm in Atlantic Canada that's expected to dump at least 50 centimetres of snow is wreaking havoc with travel, triggering power outages, and shutting schools and businesses. Nova Scotia appeared to bear the brunt of the fierce nor'easter on Wednesday, with blizzard, wind and storm-surge warnings issued for communities along the Atlantic coast and southeastern Cape Breton. Prince Edward Islanders were to receive up to 15 cm, with high wind gusts of more than 90 kilometres an hour. Together with the highest tides of the year, strong winds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence could result in some coastal erosion in the tiny province.

HEAT -
PENNSYLVANIA - Philadelphia basked in its ninth warmest January, with temperatures averaging 40.7, about eight degrees above normal. Some private forecasters see signs of winter returning to exact its price before the end of February. But the federal government and history argue otherwise. None of the other Januaries in the hot top 10 was followed by an unusually cold February. Last month's warmth was surprising, given the cold that characterized most of December. Only seven times in the 135-year record has an unusually warm January followed an abnormally cold December. Bismarck, N.D., set a January record with temperatures 17 degrees above average. Not once did the temperature there dip to 0, which "HAS NEVER HAPPENED" BEFORE IN JANUARY. The planet's average temperature remains nearly constant. So if it is unusually warm in one part of the world, it has to be unusually cold somewhere else. It has been - as nearby as Canada and as far away as New Delhi, which had its first frost in 70 years. In China, a snowstorm killed thousands of livestock. Snows of 13 feet were reported in Japan. And in Moscow, the winter has been brutal, even by Russian standards. "Moscow looks very strange these days. The sun shines brightly, and just a handful of passers-by and cars can be seen in the streets." Some forecasters say it's just a matter of time before cold air in Siberia and Canada breaks loose and ices the Northeast. That could happen within two weeks. A cold spell could last up to five weeks. All last month, mild winds from the Pacific blew across the country. Theories are that those west-to-east winds have been tied to a lull in sunspots and an equatorial wind pattern high in the atmosphere known as the quasi-biennial oscillation. The winds change direction in roughly 26-month cycles. They have been in the easterly phase, and still are. That phase, in turn, is correlated with a sudden warming of the stratosphere over the Arctic that took hold in mid-January.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/31 -
5.9 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.5 BORNEO
5.2 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano continued to erupt Tuesday, with the volcano producing a continuous crescent-shaped plume of steam, and ash and gas speeding down the flanks of the island mount and into the sea. The volcano's constant release of gas, rock and ash, rather than a quiet buildup beneath the mountain, may be averting a more powerful eruption, said scientists. "This current material shows the vent is staying open and letting off pressure continuously."

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE BOLOETSE was 940 nmi W of Saint Pierre, Reunion.
CYCLONE JIM was 683 nmi N of Auckland, New Zealand.
JIM is now in open ocean and losing intensity after battering parts of New Caledonia and Vanuatu. But the lead forecaster at the Fiji Meteorological Service is warning mariners that there are still high seas associated with the cyclone for at least 130 to 140 nautical miles from its center. Jim is now moving southeast into the open sea between Vanuatu and Fiji and is expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CANADA - Vancouver endured 29 days of rain over the 31 days in January, the MOST FOR THE MONTH SINCE WEATHER WATCHERS BEGAN KEEPING RECORDS IN 1937. The previous record was 27, and that was reached in both 1953 and 1964.

SOUTH AFRICA - A cloudburst wrecked havoc in Pretoria. The city had about 100mm of rain in an hour. Two city motorists narrowly escaped drowning on Monday night when they managed to clamber out of their car moments before it was swept away by the raging Apies River. Emergency workers on Monday night were searching for three other motorists whose vehicle was washed off a low-level bridge near Mountain View during the heavy downpour. Major disruptions had been caused to roads throughout the city, with debris blocking several major routes into and out of the city. Most of the city's low-water bridges were flooded. Some said they had never seen the Apies River in such flood before. "I have never witnessed anything as bad as this."
SOUTH AFRICA - The Pienaars River swept through shacks, taking food, school books and clothes along with it during a storm which started at about 6pm on Monday. Some said the water had just swept their food right off the table. Several hundred people, residents of Lusaka section and the neighbouring Mamelodi East extension 11A, spent Monday night on a bridge in knee-deep water with their children tied to their backs. They said it was a fearful night, standing above the ever-rising river, while streams of water gushed down the road. By noon water still flowed down Mamelodi's tarred streets.

KASHMIR - A landslide on Tuesday swept away 14 houses in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir. "We left our houses immediately after we saw the heap of mud coming down on us and that saved us." The local administration evacuated another 30 houses in Sama Bandi village on fears of more mudslides in the area.

AUSTRALIA - Most of the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory was several metres underwater Tuesday morning and the weather bureau is forecasting more rain. The Territory's main road to Western Australia between Katherine and Kununurra was seven metres underwater. Highway towns Timber Creek and Victoria River are cut off. Even by wet season standards there has been a lot of rain associated with a low pressure system over the district. "Some heavy falls down there at Lajamanu had 171 millimetres to 9:00am and then since then it's had 47 millimetres - so above 200 mils there in two days. And bearing in mind their average for January is 134.2 millimetres."

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - At least 15,000 people are completely cut off from any road links to the Lae-Bulolo/Wau Highway since heavy rains and landslide buried 13 people alive. The people from 12 villages are unable to get out by road. A landslide on the night of Jan 20 washed away the road and in its place now is a 40m gorge. Heavy rains had caused floodwater to swell at the head Pindeng Creek. It then burst its banks making its way down the mountains, carrying with it huge boulders, rocks, earth and mud that buried 13 people alive at the Bapa hamlet. Four others were hospitalised and food gardens and many houses were destroyed.

BOLIVIA has declared a national emergency following flooding last week that killed five people, damaged major roads and destroyed bridges. Over 1,000 families in the southern region of Potosi have been affected, and farmers there have lost 80 percent of their crops. Almost 20,000 people across the country have been affected in what may be THE COUNTRY'S WORST RAINY SEASON IN FIVE YEARS. Heavy precipitation swelled the country's major rivers, triggering landslides and road blockages that isolated some rural communities. Valleys and traditionally dry areas have been hardest hit with THE HIGHEST RAINFALL IN BOLIVIA IN A DECADE.

FOG / CLOUDS -
Scientists have shown an unambiguous link between cosmic rays and clouds. "The odds of a cloudy day increase by around 20 per cent when the cosmic ray flux is high." When cosmic rays hit the atmosphere they produce charged particles which seem encourage the growth of cloud droplets. Compared with greenhouse gases the effect of cosmic rays on climate is small. But it could help explain some of the more mysterious changes in climate that Earth has experienced in the past.

SNOW / COLD -
AFGHANISTAN - Severe winter weather in Afghanistan has killed at least 18 people in the northeastern province of Badakhshan. "Heavy snowstorms have hit five villages in the Kuhistan-e-Ragh district of Badakhshan, killing 15 people." At least three more people are reported dead in the Ragh district of Badakhshan due to the bad weather. The death toll is expected to climb as relief teams reach the isolated province. Officials and local people are still evacuating dead bodies from under the snow. Meanwhile, a landslide triggered by heavy snow has killed at least one person in the eastern province of Noristan along with 20 domestic animals."
An avalanche struck a mountain village in Afghanistan on Tuesday killing 18 people. The avalanche also blocked roads to the devastated village in Badakhshan province near the border with China, Pakistan and Tajikistan "Apart from the 18 human lives lost, more than 1,000 animals were also killed." The avalanche followed days of heavy snow and rain, and the weather over the area is still bad.

KYRGYZSTAN - An avalanche killed four people in southern Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, while heavy snow is disrupting life in the area and causing extensive damage. "There was no warning of the disaster and actually we did not expect an avalanche in that area." The avalanche ripped through the village of Sary-Bee in the mountainous Kara-Kulja district of the southern Kyrgyz province of Osh. On Monday two more avalanches struck the Kara-Suu and Alai districts of the province, but no casualties have been reported. Avalanches could strike parts of the Bishkek-Osh road - the only route linking the north and south - the Kyrgyz Akipress news agency warned on the same day. Heavy snow, up to 1.7 metres deep in higher areas, has been disrupting life in southern Kyrgyzstan since Friday. Two months' normal precipitation hit the area in just two days. The heavy snow damaged 170 houses, 10 schools, and several government buildings and blocked several rural roads. Local residents had not seen such heavy snow since the 1980s. "Our roof has collapsed and smashed the car parked close to the house." The unusually heavy snow is also disrupting energy supply networks, with power lines buckling under the snow or unable to meet increasing energy demands. Some neighborhoods and entire villages have been without electricity under freezing temperatures for three days.

FRANCE - Three soliders out of a group of seven have been killed in an avalanche in the Hautes-Alpes. There had been up to 50cm of fresh snow in the area acompanied by strong winds.

CANADA - A stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway along the B.C.-Alberta border reopened Tuesday afternoon, nearly a day after an avalanche roared across the pavement and trapped a transport truck. A wall of snow churned down Mount Bosworth in Yoho National Park on Monday night. Many travellers were stranded for hours. Travellers in other mountainous areas of Alberta and B.C. have also been plagued by road closures due to heavy snow and the threat of avalanches. Additional road closures were expected in the B.C. Interior as forecasters predicted more snow across much of the province for the rest of the week.

MINNESOTA - people in western Minnesota have been given a rare treat few people ever see in the Upper Midwest - a snowstorm that swept in from the Dakotas a week ago caused a weather phenomenon called "snow rollers." Meteorologists say conditions have to be just right for snow rollers to form. On Jan. 23 and 24 strong winds and wet snow rolled up snow like hay bales. An inch or more of fresh, wet snow is necessary, whipped up by strong winds. That means temperatures need to be at or near freezing as well so the snow will easily stick together like snowballs. That's exactly the weather conditions that came with the storm from the Dakotas. Temperatures were just a degree below the freezing mark, and winds gusted between 25 and 40 miles per hour. Ice crystals start the ball rolling. Snow attaches to the sleet-like ice crystal and starts to roll up the fresh snow like a carpet, leaving snowballs and snow "bales" in clusters around fields and on lawns. In the city some were about eight inches wide and a good six inches high. That's not nearly as large as some of the rollers out in the country. Central Illinois recorded a good collection of rollers on Feb 11 and 12, 2004, when wild gusts of from 40 to 60 miles per hour sailed across the idle farm fields. Most were about 10 to 12 inches in diameter, but some rolled up to the size of a 30-gallon drum. The "self-rolling" snowballs occurred in Kansas in 2000. Others have recorded snow rollers in recent years in Ohio, Connecticut, New York State, Indiana, Alaska and various patches of bare land in Canada.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CANADA - Several islands off Nova Scotia are being inundated by thousands of pregnant seals forced to give birth on shore by unusually mild weather that has prevented the Gulf of St. Lawrence from freezing. The warm weather has persisted across the Maritimes for months, reflecting a trend that has left a string of broken weather records across the country. "From time to time we see seals coming onshore to give birth, but the ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are EXTREMELY UNUSUAL this year. There's been no cold weather and no ice formed in the gulf." Officials say they haven't seen so many seals onshore since the early 1980s, when mild weather also hindered the formation of the floes. There have been weather anomalies across the country, with ice roads not forming in northern Saskatchewan, Winnipeg getting rain in January, ski hills being idled by a lack of snow and rain drenching Vancouver. "No question about it, this is ONE OF THE WARMEST JANUARYS ON RECORD." "When you have this incredibly anomalous weather conditions, there are winners and losers. It's unnatural in a way - nature is confused and there are probably some tragedies unfolding because of that."
TORONTO - this has been the WARMEST JANUARY in Toronto since record-keeping began in 1937.

NEW YORK - January 30th the temperature zoomed to a springlike high of 64 degrees, ECLIPSING A 59-YEAR-OLD RECORD for the day, as one of the warmest Januarys on record winds down. New Yorkers may like the wacky weather, but elsewhere in the country, the strange climate is causing serious problems. Phoenix has gone 103 consecutive days without rain, Seattle has had rain daily for weeks on end, and the South is still recovering from four deadly hurricanes. The warm stretch has local meteorologists baffled, especially after three winters of more than 40 inches of snow. "Most of the storm tracks have been staying north and most of the cold air is staying in Canada." The New York area finished the month with an average temperature of 40 degrees and change, the fourth warmest January on record.

DISASTER PREPARATIONS -
Despite the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the spate of disasters that affected the Nation in 2005, Americans - across all demographic groups - are no more prepared for a national emergency than they were in 2003. Only 17% of all Americans have both an emergency plan that includes a meeting place that has been discussed with family members and a basic emergency kit. Nearly a third of all Americans say that one reason they have not taken steps to become more prepared is because they think that, in a disaster, events will overtake any preparations they have made. "All Americans need to know how to prepare for emergencies, whether they simply disrupt everyday life, or cause catastrophic destruction. They should know what steps to take for the national welfare, as well as for their own safety and security. Most importantly, all Americans should be equally aware and equally prepared."

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

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/30 -
5.4 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.3 SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA
5.1 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano continued to erupt almost continuously Monday with an ash cloud wafting toward the southern Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island. The volcano was producing continuous pyroclastic flows and ash emissions, with a larger eruption early in the morning resulting in an ash cloud reaching about 25,000 feet.
The new steady-state activity marks a shift in behavior for Southcentral Alaska's most active volcano. Augustine's January eruption started with a sequence of periodic explosions, with quiet trembling in between. "It's opened a new phase of continuous ash production, along with some explosions." A likely explanation for the new pattern is that the volcano's vent has been cleared by past explosions, allowing for the continuous ash eruption now. The continuous billowing of ash was accompanied by pyroclastic flows of gas and rock down the sides of the mountain. Scientists said it's impossible to predict precisely what the mountain will do next.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone JIM was 1106 nmi NNW of Auckland, New Zealand.
CYCLONE JIM - The category-three tropical cyclone in New Caledonia has passed through Surprise Island and is travelling south east towards the Loyalty Islands. There have been no reports of major damage. Wind gusts of up to 150 kilometres an hour are expected over the Loyalty Islands, with wave swells up to five metres in some areas. Meanwhile, widespread flooding was reported in Fiji from heavy rain generated by Cyclone Jim.

PHILIPPINES - UNUSUAL 3-day incessant rains brought by tropical storm Agaton that hit Luzon on Wednesday triggered landslides and floods in many areas in Aurora and other Luzon provinces. Low-lying villages were swamped with floodwaters, which buried communities under 10 feet of water. Rainfall in Aurora reached about 1,000 millimeter per day. Many other towns have also been submerged under floodwaters during the less strong, yet heavy, rain-spawned tropical depression. Agaton was the first tropical disturbance that hit the country this year.

Hurricanes can completely re-structure themselves inside, and that presents forecasters with great uncertainty when predicting their effects on the general population. "The temperature structure of a tropical cyclone is directly related to a storm's wind speed and rainfall, which indirectly affects the storm surge." Many tropical cyclones transform into what are called "extra-tropical storms" as they move northward out of the tropics and into the mid-latitudes. During this stage, the storm's cloud structure and high winds spread out over a wide area. As a result, the potential for heavy rainfall and large storm surge increases far from the center, potentially affecting life and property of more areas in the hurricane's path.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - Rio Claro suffered severe flooding for the second time in two weeks, and the main roads are impassable. Nearby Mayaro was also severely hit. Villagers lost thousands of dollars in furniture, clothing and appliances. It was THE WORST FLOOD SINCE 1972, with water measuring five feet in some areas. Scores of farmers lost produce, totalling thousands of dollars.

NORWAY - Parts of Trøndelag in north-central Norway were being pounded by a downpour on Monday that threatened to set off the WORST FLOODING IN 50 YEARS. The Namsen River was quickly approaching flood stage on Monday. Around 40 millimeters of rain has fallen since Sunday and another 70 to 110 millimeters were expected. Roads were already flooded by midday on Monday, and rising temperatures were melting the local snow. Officials were also warning about increased danger of landslides set off by saturated hillsides.

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - Freezing weather continued to take its toll across Europe, with the number of dead in Poland rising to 214 since the start of winter, more than the 190 who died of cold during the entire winter last year. Temperatures fell as low as minus 35 Celsius in parts of Poland last week. While they have become milder this week, temperatures are still below freezing at night in most of the country. In Germany the toll in the cold spell gripping the country rose to 10. Even Lisbon, Spain, was hit, experiencing its FIRST HEAVY SNOWFALL IN 52 YEARS, and icy conditions forced the closure of many motorways and main roads in the north and centre of the country. In southern France conditions eased but traffic was still restricted on roads into Andorra because of avalanche fears, and some 20,000 households remained without electricity because snow had brought down power lines. In the Aude department a number of villages were threatened with a repeat of flooding which claimed 34 lives in 1999. Residents were warned to move to an upper floor of their houses or leave their homes altogether as three days of rain had swollen the Aude river to a dangerous level.
FRANCE - Multiple avalanches swept away skiers and at least one hiker in the French Alps, killing five people over the weekend. Two hikers are missing near the Mont Blanc tunnel linking France and Italy.
PORTUGAL & SPAIN - Heavy snow is blocking motorways and several major roads in Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese seaside town of Figueira da Foz saw its FIRST SNOWFALL IN 50 YEARS. Lisbon, which was under heavy rainfall since dawn, saw a hint of rare snow flurries for about 30 minutes during the afternoon. It HADN'T SNOWED INTHE CAPITAL SINCE 1954. Temperatures dipped to an unusually low minus 6C (21F) in northern districts. In Spain, the stormy weather covered much of the country, including the southern region of Andalusia, which rarely sees snow. In the southern city of Ecija, which is called the frying pan of Andalucia because summer temperatures rise above 40C (104F), locals had NOT SEEN SNOW FOR 30 YEARS.

RUSSIA - More than 300 Russian fishermen were rescued from an ice floe that broke away from the island of Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. Rescuers used boats, a hovercraft and a helicopter to take people off the ice floe that was pushed out to sea by high winds in southeast Sakhalin's Mordvinova bay.

KASHMIR - A two-year-old was killed and his cousins sustained injuries when their house in Chuniwari village of Machil sector in north Kashmir Kupwara was hit by a snow avalanche on Saturday. The avalanche, caused by the fresh snowfall in the higher reaches, destroyed the house completely.

BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA - In an astounding irony, a woman was swept by an avalanche on a ski trail at Blackcomb Mountain even as the resort observed Avalanche Awareness Days. The woman suffered a broken leg after being carried nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) in what was described as a Class 1 avalanche. Class 1 avalanches are described as being minor, like sloughing of snow, and relatively harmless to humans. A Class 2 avalanche could bury or injure or person, while a Class 3 avalanche could bury a car and destroy a small building. Whistler-Blackcomb does avalanche control on more terrain than any other resort in North America.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
The huge west Antarctic ice sheet may be starting to disintegrate according to a new report by the British Antarctica Survey. If that is the case, sea levels could go up by several metres. The government-commissioned report warns that over the next century, global warming may raise ocean levels, intensify storms, and spread disease. The report comes as most parts of Canada are experiencing ONE OF THE WARMEST WINTERS ON RECORD, with average temperatures above seasonal norms, in some cases by as much as 10 degrees.

UNITED KINGDOM - BRITAIN is facing its WORST DROUGHT FOR 75 YEARS after ONE OF THE DRIEST JANUARIES ON RECORD. Scientists say that it will be worse than the great drought of 1976. Most of England and Wales has had less than half the normal rainfall so far this month, after 15 months of meagre rains in southern and eastern regions. Several rivers are approaching their LOWEST EVER FLOWS and groundwater levels in Southeast England are so low that several boreholes are near or at THEIR LOWEST RECORDED LEVEL. In the South East, rivers in the region are running below half their normal levels for January, and reservoir levels are below 40 per cent of capacity.

NORTH DAKOTA & MINNESOTA - WARMEST JANUARY EVER RECORDED IN 115 YEARS. January will go down in the record books as the WARMEST in the Fargo-Moorhead area SINCE RECORD-KEEPING BEGAN IN 1881. The same goes for Grand Forks and Bismarck in North Dakota and St. Cloud and the Twin Cities in Minnesota. As of Monday, January’s average daily temperature in Fargo was 23.3 degrees – 16.6 degrees above the 30-year average and nearly two degrees above the record 21.8 degrees set in 1990. During the entire month of January, North Dakota’s Lisbon never saw the temperature fall below zero, and that hasn’t happened in the history of record keeping there. And yet the month was extremely cloudy.

PORTUGAL will be one of the hardest hit by global warming in Europe in coming decades. Portugal's south risks turning into a desert as temperatures rise, its coasts will erode and droughts will become more frequent. Freak weather has already hit west Europe's poorest country. Last year Portugal recorded its WORST DROUGHT SINCE 1931 while this weekend snow fell in Lisbon for the FIRST TIME IN DECADES. Last year's forest fires destroyed 325,226 hectares (803,600 acres), the SECOND WORST IN HISTORY. Rainfall could decrease between 20 and 40 percent over the next 100 years, mostly because of increased concentration of rainfall during the winter months, which could cause floods. Predictions are of an increase in storms, including the possibility of storm surges of up to one meter at some points along Portugal's coast. That could raise the rate of coastal erosion by between 15 and 25 percent by the end of the century. Apart from increased risk of forest fires, forests in dry areas such as the central Alentejo region could disappear altogether.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, January 30, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/29 -
5.2 NEAR WEST COAST OF COLOMBIA
5.2 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano remains in a state of near continuous ash emissions. An ashfall advisory has been extended until 5am today.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone JIM was 785 nmi E of Townsville, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Queensland's first cyclone of the season has picked up speed and moved out to the Coral Sea and is starting to threaten New Caledonia. It could reach a category 3 by this morning. "It'll pose a rather large threat for New Caledonia."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
NEBRASKA - Lincoln got its first dose of spring weather in the middle of winter with thunder, lighting and small hail. “I don’t recall in the last 20 years or so having any severe thunderstorms in January in Nebraska. It’s a VERY UNUSUAL EVENT.” “Usually they don’t make it this far north,” - this type of low pressure in January usually means a snowstorm. A weather pattern expected to roll in between Feb. 7 and 12 could bring snow and cold to the area.

HAWAII - A hiker in his mid-20s was killed on Maui Saturday after being trapped beneath a boulder during a landslide. The landslide sent a boulder careening downhill, trapping the man beneath it.

FOG -
AUSTRALIA - unseasonal conditions were responsible for a thick fog over Melbourne airport yesterday, with visibility down to 50m at 6am. "It's VERY UNUSUAL. In January and February there is a much lower chance of getting fog, and visibility of 50m is very low." Muggy Melbourne weather is being blamed on humid air from the northern states. "And there hasn't been a front to drive the humidity away." It has been ONE OF THE MOST HUMID JANUARYS IN 10 YEARS. The monsoonal conditions in the Northern Territory were also to blame. "It increases the moisture everywhere. There's a big low pressure system in the Northern Territory dragging the moisture through the rest of the country."

WIND -
KANSAS - An UNUSUAL TYPE OF STORM hit Kansas this weekend. A "landspout" apparently hit a car lot in Newton, and witnesses described it as a mini-tornado. It was about 50 degrees and the sun was out right before miniature funnel clouds started shattering windows on at least 100 cars and knocked over a light pole. A TV weather forecaster says the storm was essentially a waterspout that occurred over land. It was likened to "huge dust devils" that normally cause minimal damage. Landspouts are usually found near the Rocky Mountains.

SNOW / COLD -
SWEDEN - Two people have died and a third is in critical condition after a group of skiers fell through broken ice over a frozen lake near the town of Mariefred west of Swedish capital Stockholm. Police said a group of 16 skiers fell through the ice on the edge of the lake, which was being used at the time by hundreds of ice skaters and skiers.

DISASTER INSURANCE [They appear to be expecting the worst.] -
Even if city-destroying hurricanes become the Atlantic norm, thus wiping out most of the built up areas of the East Coast of the United States - and seas swollen by melting polar ice encroach on low-lying coastal regions - new financial products are being developed to ease the financial pain. The traditional reinsurance industry will not provide cover against all of the possible inundation. Understandably, they do not want to be too exposed to one particular (and enormous) event. So they are parcelling up these catastrophic risks and selling them on securities markets under the catchy brand of "catastrophe bonds" or cat bonds. And the mighty Swiss Re, the second biggest reinsurer in the world, had the foresight to sell two tranches of securities, called Vita 1 and Vita 2 and worth $762 million in total, called mortality bonds. The repayment on them is reduced in step amounts if the mortality rate rises by 25 per cent or by 50 per cent above trend - which is precisely what would happen in a lethal avian-flu pandemic.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, January 29, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/28 -
None of 5.0 or over.
1/27 -
7.6 BANDA SEA
5.0 NEAR COAST OF PERU

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano is erupting again after 10 days of relative calm. The first eruption in the series started Friday night and continued into Saturday and shot a cloud of ash almost six miles into the air. Several other blowups through the night rained specks of ash more than 100 miles away. The National Weather Service issued an ash advisory for Kodiak Island to the southeast and a warning for pilots in the area.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE BOLOETSE was 404 nmi W of Saint Pierre, Reunion.
CYCLONE JIM was 454 nmi ENE of Townsville, Australia.
Cyclone Jim is taking shape in the Coral Sea off the eastern coast of Queensland and is expected to gather strength and move north-east into the Coral Sea over the next few days. The third cyclone of the season in the Pacific Islands region has clockwise winds of 74 kilometres an hour, increasing to up to 130 kilometres an hour early tomorrow with seas becoming very high. The cyclone poses no immediate threat to the coast of Queensland. On its current track it passes over the scattered reefs and islets of Australia's Coral Sea Islands Territory and could strike New Caledonia.

Last year's Atlantic season just got ANOTHER hurricane. Forecasters studying data from July's Tropical Storm Cindy found a pocket of wind hit 75 miles-per-hour, making it a hurricane. That pushes the 2005 Atlantic hurricane count to 15. Cindy hit land July fifth, causing an estimated $160 million in insured damage along the Gulf Coast.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BRAZIL - A sudden flood caused by heavy rains killed at least six people in the underground parking garage of a shopping mall in Rio de Janeiro. Officals speculated that runoff from heavy rains collapsed part of a garage wall. It also was possible that the water overloaded pipes inside the mall, causing them to burst. The flash flood swept several cars down the street and smashed them into fences. Rescue workers were searching for other victims as authorities pumped water out of the garage. It was likely that more shoppers were caught in the flood, authorities said. Heavy rains created havoc elsewhere in the Rio de Janeiro region Friday. Two hours of intense downpour on Friday night also killed at least three other people in Brazil's second-largest city. Authorities blamed the storms for the electrocution death of a man in the nearby city of Duque de Caxias, and said a girl was missing after being swept away by a flash flood. The downpour closed both of Rio's airports and two hospitals. Trains stopped running and traffic was snarled citywide. Water poured into some homes in western neighbourhoods, rising as high as two metres.

MOZAMBIQUE'S disaster contingency plans could be put to the test as continued heavy rains threaten serious flooding in the central regions of the country. The water level in Mozambique's largest river, the Zambezi, is precariously high. "We are still worried about the rest of the country because it is the rainy season and more heavy rains are forecast."

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - Above average rains are causing flooding. The floods have been caused by UNUSUAL weather patterns and an extension of the hurricane season. The 30-year average rainfall is 71mm. Last year there was 234mm of rainfall, which is significantly above average. On January 24th this year there was 95mm of rain in Trinidad and Tobago. In one day there was more rainfall than the 30-years average.

INDONESIA - A landslide struck Rembang district in Central Java province on Saturday, killing at least six people and damaging a number of houses. In addition, an elderly resident of Ngadem village was also found dead after being dragged by water currents at the Karanggeneng river. In related developments, floods triggered by four days of torrential rains inundated around 500 houses and thousands of hectares of rice fields in Indramayu district, West Java. The floods also inundated hundreds of hectares of fish ponds.

PHILIPPINES - A man drowned while thousands of others were evacuated as flashfloods swept through several provinces in the northern Philippines. Three people are missing. Electricity has been cut in many villages. Crops, roads and bridges have been damaged by the heavy rains, flooding and landslides. The monsoon rains are expected to continue in the coming days.

WASHINGTON - Rocks, mud and trees came crashing down between the small towns of Oso and Darrington on Wednesday in a slide so powerful it moved a river. Ten homes are in jeopardy after the massive landslide plunged into the north fork of the Stillaguamish River. The Stilliguamish suddenly came to a dead end after the massive landslide completely blocked The North Fork. Now the river is carving its own path around the landslide, into back yards and neighborhoods. The main concern is water is building up behind the slide, threatening homes up river. The Army Corp of Engineers will try to cut a channel through the debris of the landslide. If the forecasted rains arrive, county engineers say the plugged river could increase in flow by five times. The land that gave way has been a problem since the 1940's. As the river cut under it, the potential size of a landslide kept getting bigger (about 50 acres), until recent heavy rains brought it down.

SNOW / COLD -
POLAND - The snow-covered roof of a convention hall in southern Poland collapsed Saturday with as many as 500 people inside for a racing pigeon exhibition, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 141. "People tried to break windows in order to get out. People were hitting the panes with chairs, but the windows were unbreakable. One of the panes finally broke, and they started to get out by the window." Rescue crews and search dogs worked frantically through the night in subfreezing temperatures to save those trapped inside. Witnesses said people beneath the wreckage were calling family or emergency services on their cell phones for help. "There are still a lot of people trapped in there, some half-frozen." Officials speculate that accumulated snow on the roof caused the accident. An attorney for the building management said the structure, built in 2000, could not have collapsed from the snow because excess snow was regularly cleared from the roof. "The snow was last removed two weeks ago, and since then there hasn't been much snow." On Friday, snow caused a town hall's roof to collapse in the southern Austrian town of Mariazell, though no injuries were reported. On Jan. 2, the snow-covered roof of a skating rink collapsed, killing 15 people.

SPAIN - Five women were killed in a bus crash on a snow-covered road in eastern Spain as a severe winter storm caused traffic chaos across the country.

ALASKA - If the next four days are as unrelentingly cold as the past week, January 2006 may become the THIRD COLDEST MONTH ON RECORD SINCE 1971. As of the 25th of this month, the average temperature has been 19.2 degrees below zero. With no relief in sight, January 2006 will rate at least the fifth coldest month in the past 35 years.
Huge ridges of sea ice brimmed over the Arctic Ocean and crashed onto a Barrow roadway earlier this week, threatening to cut off traffic and knock out power poles in the state's northernmost town. The two massive ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, were the city's LARGEST IN MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY and stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore. Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They've killed hunters in the past and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena. Strong winds from Russia and eastward currents began pushing pack ice toward Barrow last Saturday. (PHOTO)

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
WISCONSIN - Appleton - Friday temperatures soared to a RECORD 51 DEGREES for Jan. 27, a full 27 degrees higher than normal. The previous record for the day was 43 degrees set in 1947. "We tied that by 8 a.m." The balmy conditions were because of weather patterns coming off the Pacific Ocean. "We normally have weather patterns from the northwest or north. The harder question is, 'Why this is happening?' and I don't have an answer. I feel comfortable saying it will go down as the WARMEST JANUARY EVER. But it's not for sure that we'll have this right on into an early spring. What worries me is the record cold in Moscow. If weather patterns shift, that cold could come over the North Pole and Arctic Circle."

Space Weather / Solar Storms / Meteors - updated Sundays.

Friday, January 27, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/26 -
5.4 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
5.2 OFF SE.CST OF HOKKAIDO,JAPAN
5.2 SOUTHEASTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND

TSUNAMI -
INDIA - The Indian government is hampering efforts to understand the earthquake that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and prepare for future disasters. India's ban on foreign boats in its territorial waters for 'reasons of national security' means that research vessels are unable to survey the northern section of the 1,300-kilometre-long rupture zone created by the earthquake.

VOLCANOES -
YELLOWSTONE - WYOMING - The probability of a super eruption within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low. More likely is a large lava flow, which could occur within a human lifetime. These flows, the last of which covered 125,000 acres, take place about every 10,000 years. The character of that flow could range from the relatively slow-moving lava flows of the Hawaiian Islands to an explosive release like Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Still more common are large hydrothermal explosions, of which there have been about 10 in the last 14,000 years or once in a thousand years. Mary Bay, on the northern edge of Yellowstone, is the world’s largest hydrothermal-explosion crater. Earthquakes are constantly occurring in Yellowstone, with large quakes and resultant landslides about once a century. An average year can see 1,000 to 3,000 quakes, most too small to be felt. Most common of all, aside from minor earthquakes, are the small hydrothermal explosions. Hot rock and water find ways to interact, creating hot springs and geysers, but when the connections change thanks to quakes or the movement of rock, new features can emerge slowly or explosively. Volcanic activity deep below Yellowstone can cause the rock above to rise, fall or shift horizontally. “We got a 3.5-inch uplift within one year, but there wasn’t any seismic activity associated with it,” giving geologists yet another mystery to ponder. All the data is posted by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory on the Internet at http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo , including fascinating seismograms. “We’re hoping some brilliant 8-year-old will see a pattern and tell us.” As it is, they gets excited phone calls from scientists all over the world, because the really interesting events often happen in the middle of the night.

ALASKA - As of late Tuesday, Augustine was still listed at Code Orange. Seismicity was above background levels, but lower compared to last week. Phases of eruptions with low-level activity could continue for months. Augustine will send up plumes that drop ash in depths no more than 1/100th of an inch. “About as much as it ever puts out.” The current level of activity could have started as early as October 2004. Since then, seismicity — the number of small earthquakes on Augustine Island — has increased dramatically. Since last June, scientists have logged almost 1,300 small quakes. That increase in seismicity is what got scientists’ attention, and caused AVO to raise the level of concern to Code Yellow in late November. Other signs included steaming from fumaroles, venting of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gas and increased heat on the volcano. The probability of a landslide from Augustine causing a tsunami is very remote.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 275 nmi WSW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.

AUSTRALIA - A potential cyclone is brewing off the coast of North Queensland. A small low pressure system has formed near Palm Island, about 80kms north east of Townsville and, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, "This low is expected to drift north-eastwards over the next 2 to 3 days. There is a moderate potential that the low may develop into a tropical cyclone about Sunday." There have been days of torrential rain on Magnetic Island and surrounding areas. Gale force winds are expected to develop over the next few days.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
SOUTH AFRICA - Hail stones as big as tennis balls wreaked havoc in the Eastern Cape town of Elliott on Wednesday afternoon "There's hardly a house, business or vehicle left with intact windows." The hail storm started at about 5pm, with very small hail stones. About half an hour later the stones became as large as tennis balls. The storm continued for a further 30 minutes. The roofs of houses and other buildings caved in under the weight of the hail, while other roofs were blown off. The power supply and telecommunications lines have been cut off in the small town. There has been extensive damage to buildings, homes and vehicles. However, there are no reports of deaths at this stage. But the farmers have been hit hard as crops have been badly damaged.

NEW JERSEY - Throughout the seasons, the borough of Glen Ridge has seen its share of strange and unpredictable weather. But the ice storm of the weekend before last marked the beginning of a strange occurrence: a spate of falling trees throughout the town. There were 12 separate instances of trees falling during the days of Jan. 14 and 18. There was a culmination of several factors which led to the falling trees in the greater area. First, the warm weather and the rain kept the ground around the healthy trees soft and spongy. Then, the strong bursts of wind just toppled the trees through brute force. “It’s just one of those weird events.” There was a similar occurrence in May 1997 in the area. “Those big trees can be like sails up in the air.” The wind’s force can hit the branches just right to send them plummeting to the ground. There was also a TRULY STRANGE ASPECT TO THE PHENOMENON. If the fallen trees are plotted on a map of the borough, they make a single straight line, with all of them falling in one direction. Officials speculated that a single hard burst, or even a recurring, drawn-out gust, could have been responsible for knocking down so many trees in a single path and direction. The effects could have been from a “microburst,” or an intensely powerful concentration of wind – not something which can be prevented or readily accounted for.

WIND -
NORTH CAROLINA - Wind gusts set new records in North Carolina early Wednesday and caused some damage to the visitor's center at Grandfather Mountain. Winds gusted to at least 200 mph early Wednesday morning at the U.S. Weather Service reporting station atop Grandfather Mountain, BREAKING THE RECORD FOR THE HIGHEST WIND EVER AT THE MOUNTAIN of 195.5 mph set on April 18, 1997. The highest wind speed ever recorded in the Eastern U.S. was 231 mph at Mount Washington, N.H. on April 12, 1934. Grandfather Mountain's summit visitors center suffered extensive damage when the wind blew out three double-strength, steel-wire-reinforced windows, ripped up floor tiles, blew open a locked door; tore a wooden mantel off a wall and upended a 300-pound boulder that was cemented into the parking area. Metal frames from two of the windows were also ripped from the wall and found more than 200 yards away.

BERMUDA - “The Bermuda Weather Service has advised that there will be intermittent heavy rain, high winds and low temperatures from now until the end of the week. In some cases, winds may reach gusts of 50 miles per hour, particularly during thunder showers.” Gusts of storm force are expected to persist until Saturday. “A secondary trough will bring a deeper low pressure and conditions will be very unstable.” Harbour Radio warned mariners last night to watch out for extremely high seas. Yesterday, seas inside the reef were expected to increase to seven to ten feet and 15 to 20 feet outside the reef – increasing to 25 feet today.

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - Bitterly cold weather affecting much of Central and Eastern Europe has claimed the lives at least 60 more people. Hundreds have died in Ukraine, Poland and several other countries during a week of record sub-zero temperatures. Georgia's president said his country had effectively run out of fuel. "We have RECORD FREEZING TEMPERATURES. We have NEVER HAD SUCH COLD AT LEAST FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS and exactly at this moment the country is without heating and without electricity, without lights." There were reports of cold-weather deaths as far south as Italy.

PENNSYLVANIA - was hit by a very common storm - for July. An intense line of storms swept across southcentral Pennsylvania Tuesday night, dumping up to an inch or 2 of snow in about 15 minutes, then quickly moving on. They've seen lightning in January a few times before, but never with such intense snow. Lightning and thunder are caused by a massive uplift of air into the atmosphere, which happens much more frequently when the air is warm. However, the difference between the cold blast of air from Canada and the above-average temperatures in the area Tuesday night was enough of a contrast. The result was a storm with July-like speed and moisture, minus about 60 degrees. Weather patterns are the reason for the FREAK STORM, bringing constant storms from the Pacific Ocean that keep pushing cold air north. Parts of Europe and Asia are having some of the coldest January days on record. "There's cold air floating around the northern hemisphere. It just hasn't crossed to our side of the pole."

ARIZONA - Freezing rain - a result of cold surface temperatures combined with moisture - is a RARE PHENOMENON in northern Arizona, but it showed its devastating effects Wednesday in the area from east of Winslow to south of Holbrook. The freezing rain hit Winslow without warning Wednesday morning, causing the death of three people. There were two other fatalities on Highway 61 where a car slipped off the road. The 41/2 hours of freezing rain were enough to spark chaos on I-40, which was closed briefly several times during the day because of the accidents. "The rain came down all the sudden and people were sliding off the road everywhere."

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
SOUTH AFRICA - An elderly woman has been killed in South Africa in a bush fire raging out of control on Cape Town's landmark Table Mountain. The flames are being fanned by strong winds. Thick smoke has engulfed the centre of the city as the fire spreads rapidly across the lower slopes. Firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze and a number of hikers are trapped on nearby Signal Hill. Helicopters dropping water are hampered by the winds and poor visibility. People living nearby have been fleeing their homes as the flames advance. This is the latest in a series of bush fires caused by dry conditions in the Cape Town area in recent weeks. More photos.

AUSTRALIA - Lightning strikes are blamed for two spot fires burning alongside the massive Grampians bushfire, which has now claimed more than 125,000 hectares in Victoria's west. The blaze continues to burn out of control despite intense efforts. "Thunderstorms in the area have made weather conditions unpredictable as well as increasing the likelihood of new fires through lightning strikes." The perimeter of the fire spans 350km, and has claimed 24 homes while 67 farms have lost stock including more than 60,000 sheep and 500 cattle. Meanwhile, in Victoria's east, the Erica-Moondarra fire is also entering into an unpredictable phase. "If thunderstorms develop then erratic wind behaviour is also likely." The fire has blacked out more than 14,500 hectares of bushland and it continues to threaten eight communities.

CANADA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - Wednesday's temperature has set a RECORD HIGH, climbing to 8 degrees Celsius. That breaks the record of 6.9 degrees set 13 years ago in 1996. The record low for January 25th in Prince George was -45.6 degrees Celsius, recorded back in 1950.
ALBERTA was Canada's hot spot for Jan. 25. The thermometer climbed past the forecast temperature to BREAK THE 1938 RECORD HIGH of 7.7 degrees C.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, January 26, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/25 -
5.2 TONGA ISLANDS REGION
5.1 LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.3 VANUATU ISLANDS

ARKANSAS - Stresses in the New Madrid Seismic Zone may or may not be building. Recent research showing a build-up of strain in the New Madrid Seismic Zone is inconclusive because the tension can't be seen well enough to determine any earthquake hazard. "There may be some deformation going on in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, but if there is, it's close to or below the level of detectability." Earthquakes in the New Madrid Zone occur differently than those along other fault lines. "This whole thing is a big enigma. As far as we know, the reason we get earthquakes is because of applied stress related to the motion of plates." But that reason doesn't apply along the New Madrid Fault. No theory has fully explained why large earthquakes may have occurred there, either. Additionally, the Mississippi River basin complicates earthquake study because shifting sand and mud make it difficult to isolate movements.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone BOLOETSE was 291 nmi W of Saint Pierre, Reunion and 392 nmi WSW of Port Louis, Mauritius.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
JAVA, INDONESIA - Flash floods and mudslides triggered by incessant rains have destroyed three bridges and hundreds of houses in Jombang district, East Java Province. A number of villages in three sub-districts, namely Tebel, Bareng and Wonosalam, in Jombang district, were badly hit by the floods and mudslides on Tuesday evening. Hectares of rice fields were also damaged by the floods, which claimed no lives so far. Hundreds of residents in the affected villages have moved to safer areas. "There were heavy rains in Wonosalam area on Tuesday afternoon and the floods came so fast and so sudden that local residents did not have a chance to save their belongings." The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency has warned that adverse weather conditions in January and February this year would likely trigger floods and landslides in many parts of Java Island. In the current rainy season, rainfalls in many parts of Java have exceeded a normal level of 300 to 400 millimeters per month. Floods and landslides hit Jember district, East Java, recently, killing around 80 people.

NIGERIA - The people of Agwagune in Biase council area of Cross River have resolved to relocate after being hit by three devastating landslides since 1970. The latest hit the area on January 6th, burying 11 homes. The people had “agreed to disregard their sentimental attachment and ancestral affinity to move to a new resettlement area. The reality of the predictions by the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies that before 15 years the whole area will be washed off, is now unfolding.”

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - Freezing weather has killed scores more people in eastern Europe and snowstorms have forced the closure of the Acropolis in Athens and blanketed parts of Sicily as the bitterly cold air pushed south. The bitter cold has now spread to the far south of Europe, regions which normally enjoy milder winters. In Greece, more than 400 villages and towns were cut off after 36 hours of continuous snowfall and hundreds of snow-clearing vehicles struggled to keep main routes open. Ports across the country stayed shut as icy gale-force winds swept across the Aegean sea, dropping a carpet of snow over the islands. Italy is also suffering from the cold snap, with the thermometer falling to -35 C in mountains in the north-east. At the other end of the country, heavy snow swept parts of the Mediterranean island of Sicily on Wednesday morning.

ALASKA - Ocean currents pushed "mammoth" chunks of sea ice ashore in Barrow early Tuesday, creating a wall of ice 20 to 40 feet high in some places for miles along the coast. While no structures or utilities were damaged, the phenomenon - called "ivu" in the Inupiaq language - caught residents and Barrow officials by surprise after ice began rolling ashore around 5:30 a.m. The ice simply tore through 6- to 8-foot-tall gravel berms meant to protect Stevenson Street, which was blocked in two places. "It went right over those easy. It just knocked them all down. The berms became just like a ramp for the ice and it went over the road. And the road is about 150 feet, 250 feet from the sea. It's quite a ways." The ivu is the first since 1978 when ice pushed more than 450 feet inland. Ivus happen every 30 to 40 years. There was another in 1976 and elders remember more in the 1950s. Much of the ice pushed ashore was first- or second-year ice - 3 feet thick at most. "As soon as (young ice) hits land, it breaks into small pieces. If it was 8- to 12-foot thick like we used to have before global warming, it would have been a problem." The winds at Barrow have died down, but they continue to blow from the west. That's an ODD PATTERN that's lasted for about 10 days now. Usually, the wind comes from the east with very temporary shifts from the west. That isn't the only STRANGE SHIFT in the weather pattern. Satellite images show that multiyear ice has been spotted south of Point Hope for the FIRST TIME SINCE 1981. A persistent north wind has helped push that ice south from the Chukchi Sea, through the Bering Strait and into the Bering Sea for the last 45 days or two months. "Something interesting is going on with the winds or currents or both."

AUSTRIA - A ski instructor was buried in an avalanche while trying to demonstrate the risks of skiing off-piste in Austria. Avalanche warnings and poor visibility led him to take his ski group in Vorarlberg to the edge of the slope to explain the dangers of crossing into the off-piste area. "Suddenly there was a loud rumbling and he disappeared in a cloud of snow." He was picked up by the avalanche and dumped into a 200-foot deep ravine before being buried under 60 feet of snow. His students called the mountain rescue team who were able to dig the ski teacher out in time. He is now being treated for shock and hypothermia.

CZECH REPUBLIC - An avalanche slipped down the slope of Smrk, the second highest summit of the Beskydy mountains, before 11:00 a.m. yesterday killing a skier. The victim, along with his friend, was going down a slope where skiing is banned.

YO-YO WEATHER -
VIRGINIA - February looks to be a month when wintry cold finally re-enters the battle against the mild Pacific-driven weather they've had all of January. Deep arctic chill continues to bank from Siberia into Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to pour down. Meanwhile, there are increasing indications that high pressure in the north Atlantic near Greenland may start blocking the jet stream, forcing it farther south over the United States. However, there are no signs that the strong Pacific jet that has been roaring from the west will slow down. So this could lead to an epic battle between mild and cold in February, with considerable turbulence and variability. The opportunity will be there both for big storms - rain, snow or ice - and sharp shifts between warm and cold. Either the mild or the cold will probably win out by the end of the month, meaning either an early spring or a cold March.

MASSACHUSETTS - the winter of 2006 has already been a season of extremes. After getting off to a frigid start in December - which featured earlier than expected snowfalls, the January thaw has stretched out for nearly the entire month with several days soaring into the upper 50s. But while the majority of the month has been mild, it’s featured some wild weather as well, including last week’s rain storm which packed damaging, gusty winds followed by this week’s snow and rain event.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/26 -
In 1531 - a quake of unmeasured intensity struck Lisbon, Portugal. 30,000 deaths.
In 1700 - a 9+ quake struck the Cascadia Subduction Zone (North American West Coast) This earthquake, the largest known to have occurred in the "lower 48" United States, created a tsunami that destroyed Japanese coastal villages.
In 1985 - a 6.0 quake struck Mendoza Province, Argentina. Six people killed.
In 1987 - a 4.9 quake struck Algeria. One person killed.
In 1993 - a 5.6 quake struck Yunnan, China 5.6. At least 66 people injured.
In 2001 - a 7.7 quake struck India. At least 20,005 people killed.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/24 -
5.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.4 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
5.5 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.4 NEAR WEST COAST OF COLOMBIA
5.2 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN, REGION

VOLCANOES -
WASHINGTON - With snow and fog obscuring the crater at Mt. St. Helens for more than a month and keeping researchers away, U.S. Geological Survey scientists can't see what's happening up there firsthand. GPS receivers are moving apart at about one centimeter per day and probably are being shouldered aside by extruding lava. Tiltmeters - so named because they measure changes in incline or tilt - are tipping very slowly, giving more signs that the lava is still coming out and deforming the inside of St. Helens' crater. As lava oozes into Mount St. Helens' crater, it's squeezing past underground clogs in the volcano's pipes, causing earthquakes every few minutes. Seismometers there record small earthquakes once every two to five minutes. Based on all these measurements, scientists believe the eruption has continued pretty much unchanged while the volcano is shrouded in clouds and snow.

HAWAII - Geologists at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say the Big Island volcano Kilauea has the potential to be more explosive than previously thought. Experts have believed the volcano to be generally peaceful, even when it erupts. But they say Kilauea appears to have explosive eruptions about as often as Washington state's Mount Saint Helens - even though Kilauea's blasts are generally smaller.

ICELAND - Katla, one of Iceland's most notorious volcanoes, has erupted five times since 1721, at intervals ranging from 34 to 78 years. The last one was in 1918, so an eruption may be overdue. Katla has been showing signs of unrest over the last few years. Katla is situated precariously behind the village of Vik, roughly 16 miles away. In the last few years, the volcano grew more seismically active, began inflating in the magma chamber and showed increased geothermal activity. At the end of 2004, it became quieter again.

TROPICAL STORMS -
The passing of hurricanes cools the entire Gulf of Mexico - It is well known that a warm ocean favors the development of hurricanes. Less well known is the fact that the passage of a hurricane over the ocean can cause the upper ocean to cool substantially, which can influence subsequent hurricane development. In late summer 2005, the extremely warm sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico fueled two powerful Hurricanes: Katrina and Rita. Each of these storms cooled water temperatures more than 4 degrees Celsius in places along their paths, and cooled the entire Gulf by about 1 degree. The Gulf was so warm, however, that water temperatures quickly rebounded, and remained high enough to support hurricanes until well into the middle of October.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
BELIZE - between nine Sunday night and nine Monday morning, much of the country was trapped in a deluge of water. Rainfall gauges on the Hummingbird Highway recorded 5.17 inches, while Belize City was flooded by some 3.8 inches. The trough crossing the country is VERY UNUSUAL for this time of year as the system travelled east to west rather than north to south. A tropical disturbance formed in the western Caribbean late Sunday and moved ashore over Belize Monday. Although there were earlier concerns about the intense system, it did not become a tropical depression. The disturbance developed in an area of low wind shear (5-10 knots) caused by a temporary split in the flow of upper-level winds over the Caribbean. This split was closing up again on Tuesday, and shear values were quickly rising to the very high values weather experts are used to seeing in the tropics during winter. Heavy rains of 4-8 inches and more flooding were expected in Belize on Tuesday in association with the intense thunderstorms of the disturbance. Computer forecast models were also predicting that wind shear will remain high over the tropics the remainder of January, and no further tropical disturbances are expected this month.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Thirteen people were reported killed after a landslide provoked by torrential rains wiped out a remote village in Papua New Guinea's highlands province of Morobe. Mud, gravel and boulders crashed down steep slopes into the village of Bapa late on Friday night after a rain-swollen creek burst its banks. More than a dozen homes were swept away by the torrent. Roads into the area were also blocked by landslides.

NEW ZEALAND - On Tuesday the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Auckland areas were whipped by gusty winds and heavy rain that pulled trees and power lines down and caused surface flooding. In the Coromandel near Thames 260 millimetres of rain was recorded in just 14 hours, but winds gusting over 100 kilometres an hour caused the most damage. The unseasonal weather also caused chaos on the roads with dozens of crashes reported on Auckland roads. High humidity is expected to linger in the north for the next few days, so that further bursts of locally heavy rain are likely over the northern and eastern parts of the North Island later this week.

FOG -
LOUISIANA - Dense fog blanketed the Ark-La-Tex yesterday morning, making driving hazardous and forcing flight delays at Shreveport Regional Airport. Outbound flights were delayed indefinitely. Visibility at the airport is 1/16 of a mile, according to The National Weather Service. At 7 a.m. officials reported zero visibility. Fog is UNUSUAL in January. “It’s UNUSUAL to reach zero, quite uncommon. But we obviously received rain over the weekend, and the winds are calm, which allowed the fog to develop overnight and into the early morning.”

WIND -
Atlantic Rowing Race - The boat 'Spirit of Cornwall' capsized Monday, but crew members were rescued safe and sound from their lifecraft. The Cornish crew are reported to be uninjured, but devastated to have had their race taken away from them only 180 miles from the finish. This now makes a total of 10 capsizes, with only 3 self-righting – almost half the fleet. NEVER BEFORE HAS THIS BEEN known in previous editions of the race, but NEVER BEFORE HAS THE RACE SEEN SUCH UNUSUAL WEATHER. Were they lucky in past races, or is this race the freak exception? Rescue teams have done impressive round-the-clock work to get to all the teams on to dry land and so far, have been lucky not to find any seriously injured crews. Over the weekend the fleet has been fighting in 30 knots of wind and yet again, unable to actually row. “It is crazy how little we are now rowing in this race, we just can’t in this weather. Anything over 25 knots is unrowable. The waves are still huge, the winds still fast and apparently are stronger than normal trade conditions...The weather has gone mental, we’ve had 25-30 knots for a while now and it is difficult...We are still getting waves thrown over the boat."

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE'S relentless deep freeze, with sub-zero temperatures as far south as Sicily, claimed several dozen more victims yesterday, while closing schools and disrupting air, road and sea traffic. Temperatures as low as -36C crippled power grids, burst frozen water pipes and caused thousands of road accidents in a swath of eastern Europe from the Baltic states in the north to Turkey, Greece and Italy. In Greece rescuers struggled to save the 16-man crew of a cargo ship stranded in heavy seas in the Aegean Sea. The Arctic weather conditions are expected to affect much of central Europe at least for the rest of this week.

RUSSIA - Rescuers on Kamchatka have finally reached a convoy of trucks, which was stranded by a blizzard near Gorely Volcano, 70 kilometers from the region’s capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, on Jan. 19. All 18 people are safe and well, although they have spent four days without food. Rescuers had been trying to reach the convoy for two days, spending one of the nights in a snow cave, where their satellite phone did not work, sparking fears that even the rescue team might need help. Helicopters could not be used in the rescue operation because of a severe snowstorm and high winds.

HAWAII - Officials closed the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano to the public after a snowstorm shut down access for the first time this winter season. The RARE event caused concern and surprise. Clouds blanketed Hawaii's tallest peak this weekend. A blanket of snow forced everyone to evacuate, including park rangers. The heavy snowfall was a RARE sight, even for those who are up there almost every day. "The snow began to accumulate very quickly and we had to evacuate to prevent being trapped on the summit." Bad weather was expected for the rest of the week.

ARGENTINA - an Australian man was 'blown off' a volcano. An Australian man who disappeared while climbing a snow-covered volcano in Argentina ten days ago probably died the first day on the mountain. "It looks like he was blown off the mountain on the first day and died." After reaching the 2,500 metre mark on the 11th, two hikers are believed to have encountered snow, fog and strong winds. One fell down a crevasse after losing his footing and was rescued the next day. The other's body was eventually found close to the track he was hiking on.

YO-YO WEATHER -
INDIA - north-westerlies swept across northern India, making the days nippy and the nights decidedly chilly again. The minimum temperature recorded on Monday was 4.8 degrees Celsius (three degrees below normal) and the maximum temperature 19.5 degrees Celsius. The cold wave will persist for at least another two days. "Because of dry north-westerly winds over the plains of northwest India, temperatures have dropped across north India." With temperatures fluctuating like a yo-yo throughout January, many scientists feel global warming may be causing this UNUSUAL weather pattern. Mercury had dropped to 0.2 degrees Celsius on January 8 — the second lowest in Delhi's history — before rising to an usually high minimum of 14.4 degrees Celsius on January 18.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - Firefighters are trying to secure several Victorian towns from raging bushfires before extreme weather grips the state again later this week. North-westerly winds are expected today with temperatures reaching 40C by Thursday. "We're very worried about it when the wind comes in from the north on Thursday, we're worried about the [water] catchments. If the Melbourne catchments burn, Melbourne will have a water shortage problem." Mud and silt left by a fire would clog water filtration systems.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
In 1348 - an earthquake struck Austria, 5,000 deaths.
In 1939 - an 8.3 earthquake struck Chillan, Chile. 28,000 deaths.
In 1975 - a 7.0 and a 7.5 quake struck Taiwan.
In 1999 - a 6.4 quake struck Colombia 6.4. At least 1,185 people killed, 250,000 homeless.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/23 -
6.2 NEAR WEST COAST OF COLOMBIA
5.2 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.5 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
6.2 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.1 TAIWAN REGION

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
MOZAMBIQUE - The flood on the Zambezi river in central Mozambique worsened over the weekend, and the authorities have continued to urge people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher ground. At Caia, on the lower Zambezi, the height of the river on Sunday reached 5.76 metres, which is 76 centimetres above flood alert level. The flood has swallowed the small islands of Nhanhe and Ruzenda. 36 families living on Nhanhe voluntarily evacuated before they were overwhelmed. Parts of Caia town are now under water as is the administrative post of Murassa. Further downstream the authorities' main concern at the moment is with the island of Salia, where 2,000 people live. The Zambezi flood is being fed by increased discharges from the Cahora Bassa dam, and by water pouring down the main tributaries from neighbouring countries. Heavy rains in Zimbabwe have swollen one of those tributaries, the Luenha, which was measured at a peak of 10.9 metres on Thursday. Meanwhile several of the poor neighbourhoods in Beira awoke to flooding on Saturday. Persistent overnight rain inundated whole areas of the city. People driven from their homes took refuge in schools. A nine month old child who had been sleeping with her mother on top of a table was reported drowned when she fell into the waters that had invaded the house.

INDONESIA - Landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least nine people at three locations in Indonesia, including the tourist islands of Bali and Lombok. "From east Lombok we have reports of two deaths, five missing and more than 2,300 people forced to seek refuge. From north Bali, a mother and her child died when landslides hit a village." Another landslide hit a remote area on Flores island on Sunday with reports that five people were killed there. Heavy rains have pounded large swathes of Indonesia in recent days.

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - The cold weather is still persisting and a hail storm hit various areas of Malta last evening. It has been reported by the Meteorological Office that the cold weather will continue over the next week whilst more hail storms are to be expected. Other European countries are also suffering the excessive cold. Ukraine reported 45 dead due to the cold temperatures that reached -38 degrees Celsius. In Romania six were reported dead as the temperature reached -25 degrees. In Germany six lost their lives with temperatures ranging from -33 degrees to -20 degrees Celsius. Other countries including Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Estonia and Poland reported deaths due to the cold weather. According to the Meteorological Office, a depression over the East and central Mediterranean will be almost stationary over the next couple of days as an anticyclone persists over the Balkans. The rest of the week is expected to have temperatures ranging between highs of 11 degrees Celsius and lows of six degrees Celsius.
GREECE - The cold front of weather from Siberia is expected to send temperatures in Athens as well as other parts of Greece plummeting. The cold is expected to hit Greece in a milder form. Nevertheless, the temperature began dropping from Sunday and reached -6 degrees Celsius in the northern city of Florina. Weathermen have forecast that it would snow in most parts of Greece over the next two days, including Attica, accompanied by gale force winds. Police cars will patrol national roads 24 hours a day and 13 stations have been set up along the Athens-Thessaloniki highway, from which assistance can be dispatched.

FOG -
UNITED KINGDOM - Two flights had to be re-routed and hundreds of passengers on other flights were delayed as heavy fog disrupted Liverpool John Lennon airport. Forecasters said more fog was likely to descend on the city in the early part this week. Fog is "QUITE RARE" at Liverpool, because it lies on the coast.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
INDIANA - Although the unusually warm weather has been pleasant this winter, the reason for its cause is unknown to most scientists. Despite the weather's unusual and unpredictable patterns, a graduate teaching assistant for the Indiana State University's science department, has a theory on why this strange weather has been occurring. "Since around Dec. 20, we've had an atypical wind pattern. Most of the time, the wind comes from the northwest in Canada. Now the wind is coming from the Southwest, causing a big difference in temperature." The wind patterns are unique this season. "We sit at the bottom of a trough in the atmosphere. Pressure goes south, and cold air is pulled down with it. "Waves from the atmosphere bring cold weather down to the trough, but this year waves have flattened, flowing parallel to lines of latitude. Therefore, no cold air was pulled down, keeping the air about 10-15 degrees above average." Although scientists know HOW the wind patterns are affecting the weather, there are many theories on WHY it is being affected. "The Pacific Ocean could be influencing wave patterns through persistent high pressure which alters waves in the upper atmosphere affecting the whole world's weather." The whole world is affected by the same weather causing different effects in many parts of the world, despite the connection. Although the weather has been almost spring-like this month, it may not last much longer. "The rest of January's weather won't change. It will stay 10-15 degrees above average. However, February is unpredictable." Despite the constantly changing weather patterns, spring may have a clear outlook. "Just because you have an abnormal season, doesn't mean it will affect other seasons." According to the National Weather Service, the spring and summer forecasts have an equal chance, meaning the weather could be equally above or below average temperatures. [SITE NOTE: The Southwest Wind has historically been known as the 'Plague Wind'. Pazuzu, the demon of the southwest wind is also the Sumero-Assyrian Demon of epidemics.]

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/24 -
In 1948 - an 8.2 quake struck the Philippine Islands, 72 killed.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, January 23, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/22 -
5.3 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.3 TAIWAN REGION

TENNESSEE - Today is the 194th anniversary of a disaster so large in scope that, if repeated, could make the effects of Hurricane Katrina pale in comparison. It was Jan. 23, 1812, when the second of three gigantic earthquakes changed the face of the Mississippi River Valley. Nearly 200 years later, with thousands more people and buildings in the region, a similar quake would send casualty numbers soaring and leave thousands homeless. "Based on history, we better be paying attention, because there is pressure on the plates now. Look at all the events that are happening around the world. Sooner or later, it's going to come our time."

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone DARYL was 511 nmi WSW of Broome, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - the North-west has had a 'lucky escape' as cyclone Daryl weakens as it moves down the Western Australian coast.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
CONNECTICUTT - The back-to-back storms that last week levied hurricane-like DAMAGE NOT SEEN HERE IN TWO DECADES may cost town taxpayers as much as $1 million. Described by utility officials and a weatherman as an anomaly, the pair of expensive storms that hit late last Saturday night and then again Wednesday morning were compared to Hurricane Gloria, which in 1985 crippled parts of the town and left some residents without power for a week and longer. Part of what was unexpected about the two back-to-back storms are that they are part of an overall stretch of unpredictable weather that began with a stretch of snow storms followed by unseasonably warm temperatures. "For us to see this kind of wind is VERY UNUSUAL." A polar jet stream retreated farther up north than typical, allowing a subtropical jet stream to easily sweep warm air through the area, which mixed with cold air. "That's why we're seeing such volatile weather. I was very surprised. You had one storm and then you had another storm right behind it. That's VERY ODD to see in our area." While the area has seen unusually warm temperatures, they expects pent up cold air from Greenland and Iceland to blast through the Northeast in the coming month, bringing with it plenty of snow and potentially more outages. "We're definitely going to see a rough February, there's no doubt about it."

SNOW / COLD -
EUROPE - At least 16 more people died from the cold as an Arctic freeze continued to chill central and eastern Europe overnight, claiming victims from Turkey to Lithuania. In Estonia, where temperatures fell to -26C in the south-eastern part of the Baltic nation, several fires were caused by overheating, killing two people. Two more people died from cold in Lithuania over the weekend, bringing the total to eight. Three elderly people also died in Ukraine, raising the total to 21 deaths since temperatures dropped at the start of last week. Meanwhile, five deaths from hypothermia were reported in neighbouring Poland where rail and road traffic was seriously disrupted. In Turkey, a man died of exposure after walking in snow-covered mountains in the north of the country. Moscow's death toll due to Siberian temperatures jumped to at least 79 after three more people froze to death overnight. In addition to the dead, 20 people were taken to hospital with hypothermia. Temperatures in the Russian capital eased slightly to about -18C after reaching as low as -23C overnight. As the mercury dropped to record lows, cash machines have frozen solid and trolleybus cables have snapped.
RECORD COLD, with growing pressure on energy supplies, and power shortages as Russia cuts deliveries to fight the freeze at home. In Latvia, temperatures of -27C were recorded, the LOWEST IN 100 YEARS. In Russia, the weather is the COLDEST TO AFFECT THE COUNTRY IN MORE THAN 25 YEARS.
Frigid temps have created a Dutch ozone hole. Frigid temperatures in Europe and very cold air in the stratosphere have created a mini hole in the ozone layer above the Netherlands. The Dutch National Weather service says the hole will last a few days, and that it is a different phenomenon than the large hole over Antarctica, which lasts several months. A weather balloon reported a NEW RECORD LOW ABOVE THE NETHERLANDS of -86.8 Celsius. The extreme cold affects the chemical balance of the air currents. If low-lying clouds allow, Polar Stratospheric Clouds will be visible - a RARE sight in the Netherlands.
After days of heavy snow and freezing winds, weather across Northern Europe began returning to normal on Sunday, although more winter storms were forecast to blow through in the week to come. The heavy snow, followed by warmer weather and possibly rain was also expected to increase the danger of avalanches in the mountains. In Norway some 700 buildings were damaged by the recent storms as strong winds ripped off roofs and smashed entire buildings. In Sweden, where at least 500 car accidents were reported due to difficult driving conditions in recent days, a number of roads remained closed in the north because of snow and avalanches. Driving was especially difficult in central-eastern Sweden, which was covered in more than one meter (3.3 feet) of snow in less than 24 hours, and where snow drifts in some places towered as high as three meters on Saturday.

BOSNIA - An avalanche has killed a Lithuanian businessman snow-boarding in an area closed for skiers at Mount Jahorina near the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

JAPAN - A rare snowfall in Tokyo left nearly 10,000 passengers stranded overnight at Narita airport after about 50 international flights were cancelled. The season's first snowfall in the greater Tokyo region measured 9cm in the center of the capital yesterday, the HEAVIEST ACCUMULATION IN EIGHT YEARS.

ALASKA - Extreme cold delayed the start of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race until Sunday. Twenty-seven mushers and their dog teams were set to start Friday, but officials decided to hold off until Sunday at the earliest, citing dismal weather conditions. The delay is only the second time in the past 18 years that the race has been stalled by cold. Wind chills plunged temperatures to about 50 below zero on Friday and 45 below zero on Saturday. The dogs running today tend to be leaner and with thinner coats than they had 15 years ago, an adaptation that improves their performance in the warmer winters that have become the norm in Alaska. Thinner coats, however, mean mushers must be prepared to protect the animals with dog coats and blankets. In extremely cold winds there are concerns about dogs freezing their bellies and flanks.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - Firefighters are battling bushfires across four states this morning, with at least seven homes lost in Victoria as flames razed thousands of hectares in 40C conditions over the weekend. Police have found two bodies in a burnt-out area of the Grampians. A wind drop and cooler temperatures will aid firefighting efforts today.
MORE than 4,000 homes across South Australia were without power yesterday as the state's electricity supply struggles to cope with soaring temperatures.
EXTREME WEATHER is playing havoc with sporting events around Australia. Horse races in Victoria were cancelled following a RECORD HEATWAVE – and the Gold Coast races were called off because it was too wet. Play was also suspended on the outer courts of the Australian Open. Adelaide races were cancelled as the city endured a HEATWAVE NOT EXPERIENCED IN ALMOST 100 YEARS. The city has recorded four continuous days of temperatures over 40. A similar phenomenon was last experienced in 1908.

MINNESOTA - “It’s been 18 to 20 degrees above average for much of Minnesota.” It has been MINNESOTA'S WARMEST JANUARY SINCE 1944. “This feels like a Kansas January. It’s UTTERLY BIZARRE.” “It’s crazy; there just hasn’t been any precipitation.” Last January, Winona received 12 inches of snow compared with the 0.1 inch received so far this month. The weather is more like what one would expect during late March or early April.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/23 -
In 1556 - a quake struck Shansi, China. It caused the worst quake death toll in history: 830,000.
In 1812 - a 7.6 quake struck the New Madrid Area, U.S.
In 1855 - an 8.2 quake struck Wellington, New Zealand.
In 1909 - a 7.3 quake struck Iran, 5500 dead.
In 1966 - a 5.1 quake struck near Dulce, New Mexico.
In 1981 - a 6.8 quake struck Sichuan Province, China. One hundred fifty people killed.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, January 22, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/21 -
5.9 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA, REG
5.2 EASTERN NEW GUINEA
5.3 FLORES, INDONESIA, REGION
5.6 VANUATU ISLANDS
1/20 -
5.1 JAWA, INDONESIA
5.1 MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWESI
5.4 SE.OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.6 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.8 XIZANG

TSUNAMI -
JAPAN - A major quake striking northeastern Japan could set off a 22-meter tsunami, kill nearly 3,000 people, destroy nearly 9,400 buildings and cause more than a trillion yen in damage, according to a worst-case government scenario.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone DARYL was 511 nmi WSW of Broome, Australia.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
OREGON - The forecast across much of Oregon has been pretty much the same the past few weeks: Rain, rain and more rain. Areas of Oregon have been inundated as storm after storm rolls over the Coast Range and Cascades, dropping water by the inch. Rivers are swollen, hillsides are turning into mudslides, and the coast is enduring high winds and heavy surf each time a new storm arrives, typically every 18 to 36 hours. In fact, there has been only one day since the weekend before Christmas without rain in most of Western Oregon and southwest Washington state. The Govenor has already declared disasters in 24 of 36 Oregon counties where flooding and other weather damage has been mounting. Records are being set all over the state like the one set Tuesday in Roseburg, the WETTEST JANUARY 17 IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS. It rained 2.21 inches, almost an inch more than the previous record for Jan. 17 set in 1954. This year may actually be more of a return to normal. “This isn't really all that unusual. We've had a string of dry winters and we actually seem to be getting back to the kind of winters I remember as a kid growing up where it would rain days on end.” Forecasters are divided on what conditions are to blame for the perpetual precipitation.

WASHINGTON - As the sun began to rise over the Kalama River watershed on Jan. 13, thousands of tons of saturated earth cut loose from its steep hillside, plummeting into the river. The massive 200-yard-wide by 150-yard-high slide toppled trees, logs and anything in its path. The mud, rock and debris crashed across the Kalama River. The momentum slammed the reddish-brown mixture into the opposite bank, snapping trees like toothpicks for about 100 yards. Little, localized slides are what rivers like the Kalama count on for a fresh infusion of gravel, but large events can be catastrophic. The slide's estimated size pales in comparison to a slide on the North Fork of the Kalama River about seven years ago when a 250-yard wide slide demolished everything in its path for about 1.5 miles. This slide is the first big event in Southwest Washington this season. "But with all the rain, the stage is definitely set for more."

PAKISTAN - First it was the harsh winter. Now authorities are worrying about even more destruction to Pakistan's earthquake zone - this time from the spring thaw. UN officials say warmer weather in the icy highlands will unleash landslides and floods that will only add to the suffering. It will take up to five years to restore roads to remote areas, and landslides triggered by melting snow could cut off even more villages struggling to survive. To avert flooding, relief workers are setting up pumping stations in areas where rivers already have been jammed by landslides.

SNOW / COLD -
TURKEY - Eight people, including a two-year-old girl, were killed and at least 15 people were injured when a bus was buried in an avalanche in eastern Turkey Saturday. The bus, carrying 29 passengers, got stuck in snow before being swept 20 metres into an abyss by an avalanche while passengers were attempting to free it. 'We could not get get to some of the injured,' said one of the survivors. 'They froze on the bus.'

FRANCE - A missing ski mountaineer has been found beneath an avalanche in the Bauges. This brings to seven the number of people killed in avalanches since last Thursday in the French Alps.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
NORTH DAKOTA - "I think we're being lulled in to a false sense of warmer-than-usual weather security. If you haven't had a conversation about the strange weather we've been having this winter, you either don't get out much or you aren't from around here. This is crazy, and for paranoid people like me, a little scary. I keep thinking that we're being lulled into a false sense of warm-winter-weather security and that Mother Nature is going to give us a firm reminder that we still live in the frigid north. And when she does, chances are we won't be prepared."

UNITED KINGDOM - Spring looks set to arrive early in Greater Manchester as Mother Nature gets confused by the changing weather. Daffodils are starting to peep through in some parks and groundsmen in Oldham have already begun mowing the grass. The news comes as experts in phenology, the study of the natural phenomena and climate change, say there have been unseasonal sightings of seven-spot ladybirds across the country. Ladybirds are now waking-up from winter up to two weeks earlier than they did 20 years ago. "Nature's calendar is rapidly changing. With ladybirds emerging already, they are vulnerable to a cold snap that could decimate them and have a knock-on effect on other species later on in the year." There have also been nearly 50 sightings of frogspawn, another indicator of the arrival of spring. Staff had had to cut the grass for the first time ever in the first week of January. " I never would have believed it. It shows how much the climate has changed in 30 years." Temperatures reached an unseasonal 11.9 degrees centigrade in Manchester this week instead of the usual seven degrees.

Friday, January 20 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/19 -
5.2 TONGA ISLANDS

HAWAII - A magnitude 4.7 earthquake originating near Loihi seamount off the southern coast of the Big Island shook East Hawaii Wednesday at around 4 p.m. but caused no damage. The quake originated 15 miles northwest of Loihi at a depth of 25 miles. Loihi is an active volcano, but such a depth would rule out any connection to an eruption. Loihi was the site of about 100 quakes Dec. 6-7 in 2005. In July 1996, instruments recorded more than a thousand quakes in a two-day period. A submersible later determined that the swarm was caused by the collapse of Loihi's summit and an eruption.

PAKISTAN - Quake survivors have been given food that expired 20 yrs ago. The Iranian Red Crescent Society has distributed tin food that expired twenty years ago among the earthquake survivors of Balakot, the use of which is causing itching and skin allergies and stomach problems to those who consume it. The tins, containing tuna fish and baked beans, were produced in the year 1983 and were to be used within two years. Earlier, a quarter-million doses of flu vaccine donated to the quake victims, bought by the U.S. from the UK, were found to have expired in 2004. The US Food and Drug Administration had barred the vaccine’s import to Illinois, saying it could not guarantee its safety.

NEW ZEALAND - The Manawatu and Wanganui regions are sinking. At the plate boundary far below the earth's surface, the region is about 350mm lower than it was two years ago. The slip at surface level is between 10mm and 30mm. The land around Ashhurst, Wanganui and Dannevirke slipped very gradually between January 2004 and June 2005 as a result of "silent quakes". It would require an earthquake of magnitude 7 to cause the slip in a few seconds.

TSUNAMI -
AMERICAN SAMOA - A United States research scientist is warning that two new undersea volcanoes near Manu’a in American Samoa may pose a future tsunami threat. In four years, the Nafanua volcano has grown 1,000 feet. Seismic activity may cause undersea landslides, resulting in a tsunami.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical Cyclone Daryl is continuing to move down the Kimberley coast of Western Australia and is steadily intensifying. Destructive winds from the Category 2 cyclone battered the coastline around Beagle Bay, north of Broome, overnight.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Lightning storms and a "mini-tornado" have caused havoc across western Victoria overnight and the weather bureau is warning of more to come today. The storms brought strong gusts of wind and a series of lightning strikes that sparked several fires. "The atmosphere is absolutely set up for thunderstorms, they can crackle up anywhere once the sun comes up and warms things up." The storms brought little rain in most areas. The temperature in Melbourne is expected to reach 35C.
SYDNEY'S wet weather has brought a plague of funnel-web spiders in unprecedented numbers, prompting warnings for families to take care. More than 50 funnel-webs, usually RARELY SEEN in January, have been caught by residents in Sydney and the Central Coast since the wet, humid weather set in this week. "We've never seen funnel-webs in masses coming to the reptile park at this time of year, it's BIZARRE. We're concerned there will be bites. They come in thick and fast in March and late February, but never in January which coincides with school holidays."
RECORD RAINFALL has physically isolated the town of Lake Grace from surrounding communities. In the direct path of the remnants of tropical cyclone Clare, Lake Grace received non-stop steady rain for twenty-seven hours which produced a record fall of 216.4mm over last Thursday and Friday. The previous record was in 1955 when Lake Grace received 214.3mm for the month of February. Never before has the train line been under water. Farmers are counting their losses with the death of recently shorn sheep and lambs, kilometres of fencing having been swept away, top soil lost and dam banks burst.

GUYANA - After weeks of deluge, flooding has reached "a serious crisis level."

CONNECTICUTT - between 0.6 and 1.1 inches of rain fell throughout Berkshire County Wednesday causing flooding. Throughout the day, the weather turned from rain to sleet to snow. The precipitation drove up river levels throughout the county, and road flooding was commonplace throughout the Berkshires. In addition, winds of up to 55 miles per hour slashed through the county. "It's odd weather, it's a little weird."

NEW JERSEY - 6,000 homes in northern New Jersey were left without power Wednesday as a rainstorm with gale-force winds blew down utility poles and wires, causing traffic jams and school closures. No deaths or serious injuries were reported in New Jersey, but elsewhere the storm was blamed for two deaths, one in New York and one in Massachusetts, when trees fell on cars. Winds in the morning were clocked at 63 mph while evening winds were between 30 and 40 mph. Winds are considered gale force when they are more than 45 mph. The temperature, meanwhile, reached 62 degrees, a single degree short of the record of 63 set in 1990. The UNUSUAL weather pattern is coming from the Pacific. "A lot of it has to do with the Pacific storms that entered into the weather picture in the middle of December." Because of these storms, rain has fallen or been forecast to fall on Seattle for 30 consecutive days. The storms move across the U.S., losing some strength, but then re-energize when they hit the Northeast. Looking in the record books for a similar weather pattern - rainstorms with warm temperatures followed by cold - they found that one had hit the area in 1999. That weather pattern indicates the current one will be around for a while. "We don't see a change at this point in the next 15 days." In the immediate future, a high pressure is coming in from the southwest so temperatures will be in the 40s and may reach 55 to 60 today,

MASSACHUSETTS - Thousands of families were still without electricity today after a freak storm brought hurricane-force wind gusts to the South Shore. The storm blew down trees, knocked out power lines and ripped off roofs. The Blue Hill Observatory in Milton recorded a southeast wind of 92 mph, the STRONGEST GUST IN 15 YEARS. "It’s wreaking havoc." Hull High School lost part of its gym roof and withstood a double-whammy of wicked winds and rising tide. "The ocean was spraying. ... I saw pieces (of the roof) flying through the air. It was crazy down here. I’ve never seen the bay like that before." The high inland winds were UNUSUAL. "Usually, heavy winds are only reported on Cape Cod and near the coast. Today, we had strong inland winds all the way to Worcester."

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - At least 31 people have died during a four-day cold snap in Russia, where temperatures have plunged to below -30 C.
Moscow remained in the grips of extremely low temperatures Thursday, with the temperature in the Russian capital grazing the -32°C (-25.6°F) record for January 19, registered in 1927. The all-time record low for Moscow was set January 17, 1940 when the temperature fell to -42°C (-43.6°F).

CANADA - Blowing snow and winds gusting to 108 km/h have brought business in most of Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut, to a standstill. A low-pressure system is moving north, causing very strong winds across southern Baffin Island. The blizzard was expected to move toward southern Greenland next.

INDIANA - Right now, the region is transitioning from a warm- to cold-weather pattern, marking about a two-week period in which they could experience significant swings in temperatures. Thursday's high was expected to reach 49 degrees. Wednesday's high did not reach above the freezing point. Before month's end, "we're going to tank in terms of it getting cold." Temperatures in February will be as cold as in late 2005, a span of time from late November through much of December in which area high temperatures did not reach above 32 degrees. An unseasonably warm start to January, with temperatures frequently reaching the 50s over the past two weeks, has lulled many residents into the false belief that winter's harshness will remain at bay. The early start to winter, when averaged with recent warm temps, so far has created a statistically average winter. The current transition from warm- to cold-weather patterns creates conditions for storms. "It's possible we could see about four potential winter storms before this cold period sets in at the beginning of February."

ILLINOIS - UNUSUAL weather bringing sulfur smell into village. The strong sulfur odor irritating the lungs, noses and eyes of some in the village for more than a month now is nothing more than normal emissions from the ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery, officials at the plant say. The problem is the emissions are wafting horizontally to the northwest, instead of directly up into the atmosphere, where they would go unnoticed. The refinery’s first report of odor in Channahon was on Dec. 13. If the drifting odors are due to a combination of low temperatures, low hanging clouds, and low wind levels, as ExxonMobil suspects, the meteorologist could help the plant predict when such weather patterns might occur. The plant could then proactively cut back production and slip in filters on those days to prevent odors from drifting into residential neighborhoods.

Unusually High Tides / Freak Waves - updated Fridays.

Thursday, January 19, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/18 -
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.1 SOUTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN
5.8 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 FLORES SEA
5.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
5.0 XIZANG

INDIA - NEW DELHI: A two-story building in east Delhi that had developed cracks in the recent tremors collapsed on Tuesday morning, burying an elderly woman and seriously injuring three others.

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - scientists have downgraded the threat level for Augustine Volcano from code red to code orange. The advisory comes a day after the volcano's ninth eruption in a week. Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists say they made the decision because earthquake activity at the volcano has fallen significantly since yesterday's eruption.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone DARYL was 112 nmi N of Broome, Australia.
AUSTRALIA - Tropical cyclone Daryl, strengthening off Western Australia's coast, has been upgraded to a category-two storm, with forecasters saying it could double in intensity by the weekend. The State Emergency Service issued a yellow alert – indicant of a significant risk of destructive winds – for residents in coastal communities. The latest alert comes just a week after Cyclone Clare battered the Pilbara and caused widespread flooding.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - A number of small communities in the far north of NSW have been isolated by floodwaters after a night of heavy rain. Up to 85mm of rain was recorded in the Tweed Valley in 12 hours. "Heavy rain is forecast to continue until Saturday morning, so residents should be prepared for further possible flooding."

IDAHO - An active weather pattern is bringing moisture from a system north of Hawaii and sending waves of wet stuff over the coastal range and into Idaho's valleys. The combination of above-average precipitation and seasonal temperature changes is causing Magic Valley's seemingly random weather patterns. "Most of our mountain bases are reporting more than 100 percent of the average snowpack."

SNOW / COLD -
NORWAY - The storm that lashed the northern county of Finnmark was just the beginning of grim winter weather battering Norway, and warnings of extreme conditions from the coast of North Trøndelag to West Finnmark are in effect. The worst hit areas can expect hurricane conditions, and residents were working to hinder roofs from being blown off and boats blasted up onto land. Traffic by sea, air and land is expected to grind to a halt in several areas. Meteorologists warn that temperatures will drop to -10C (14F) to -25C (-13F), and in concert with the winds will mean bitter cold for northern Norway. A warning of extreme weather for such a large stretch of the coast was VERY RARE. Recent weather in the northern counties has been mild, and with little snow on the ground the looming storm can take hold of gravel, with resulting injuries and damage to cars and property. On Tuesday over 50 vehicles had their windows smashed in the city of Hammerfest. The storm expected to hit the northern region has now been dubbed "Narve".
Two elementary schools in the northern city of Hammerfest were evacuated on Tuesday, after a severe storm smashed windows and sent rocks flying through the air. An UNUSUAL lack of snow and ice has made the storm more dangerous, because sand, gravel and rocks aren't pinned down. Hammerfest's population was being urged to stay indoors. Meanwhile, down south in Oslo, meteorologists were predicting as much as 15 centimeters of snow would fall during the night and on Wednesday. Forecasters were unsure whether temperatures would rise or fall later in the week, depending on the movement of a severe coldfront over Russia.

ESTONIA - Estonian weather forecasters have warned that temperatures will drop quickly over the next few days - as low as negative 35 degrees Centigrade. The freezing weather could last more than five days.

RUSSIA - The European part of Russia, the Urals and parts of West Siberia are in the grips of severe frosts. In Moscow, the air temperature sank to –30 degrees Celsius in the small hours Wednesday. Forecasts indicated that even the southern territories of the country had colder than usual weather. In area of famous North Caucasus spas, the frosts were as strong as –15 degrees, and the major Black Sea resort of Sochi had the temperature of about –5, also QUITE BIZARRE for the place. Russian energy systems withstood peak loads Tuesday night, as consumption of power reached 146,000 MW – something unseen over the past 15 years.
Extreme wintry weather is taking its toll on energy supplies with Russia unable to meet the needs of several European countries. Hungary and Romania are among those reporting a drop in gas deliveries. Italy says it has had to dip into its reserves. Temperatures have dipped below minus 50 in Siberia. In central Russia, meanwhile, the Arctic conditions have proved tragic. A minibus fell through ice in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Six passengers are feared dead. The current cold snap is something experts say normally HAPPENS ONLY ONCE IN A GENERATION. In Moscow, it is the COLDEST JANUARY FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS. Since the start of the winter, the extreme weather has claimed over 100 lives in the capital.

CANADA - Ice jams in New Brunswick are threatening to destroy the world's longest covered bridge and have caused floods that stranded people in their homes for at least four days.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA - Wild windy weather made its way across the Delaware Valley early Wednesday. The powerful gusts knocked down dozens of trees and powerlines throughout the tri-state area. The blustery weather also brought an UNUSUAL rise in temperatures, with a temperatures as high as 64 degrees recorded early Wednesday.

Global warming - A three-week experiment to resolve the biggest riddle in climate science begins in Australia today. Scientists will use radar, aeroplanes, weather balloons and a ship to study the life cycle of tropical clouds. They are searching for details of how clouds form and carry heat high in the atmosphere. A better understanding of these crucial processes should lead to computer models which can predict the extent of global climate warming more accurately.

LA NINA? -
The Climate Prediction Center declared last week: "Developing La Niña conditions are expected to continue during the next 3-6 months." The late onset of La Niña creates "considerable uncertainty" about impacts on the Western U.S., but La Niñas generally bring them dry conditions – like they've had most of this winter. In the near term a major atmospheric pattern shift could break them out of their season-long dry pattern for at least a couple of weeks. Last weekend's weak storm could be the beginning of that shift. As the jet stream moves across the Northern Hemisphere from west to east, there are generally four or five "long-wave troughs," or dips in the jet to the south. Where those troughs fall affects which areas get rain, because the jet stream is a kind of conveyor belt of storms. When the jet stream travels around the globe, it tends to stay in certain wave patterns until something happens in the atmosphere, perhaps a typhoon or a separate, large-scale oscillation, to jostle the jet stream out of that pattern. The pattern for most of last fall and this winter has kept the jet stream away from them. But last week, forecasters noted that the jet stream appeared to shift from a four-wave pattern into a five-wave pattern. "It looks like we may see a large-scale pattern shift as a large, deep, cold trough develops over the western U.S." That shift would potentially bring colder temperatures and significant rainfall through the rest of January, if not longer. "It's hard to say with 100 percent certainty that we're totally out of it (the dry pattern), and it's going to shift." Shifts in the jet stream to, or from, a five-or four-wave pattern tend to last a few weeks. The shifts normally occur two, three or four times a winter. Sometimes, however, a pattern gets stuck in place.

The US is predicting the above-average rainfall from the La Nina phenomenon, and while Australian forecasters say the call is premature, they concede the heavy rain of the past few weeks indicates we're not headed for the drought-producing El Nino, either. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting for this autumn a weak La Nina, which occurs when an area of the Pacific Ocean cools, affecting the atmosphere. El Nino occurs when the ocean warms. The conditions for LaNina - which last occurred in 2000 - are debatable and the American threshold for La Nina is lower than Australia's.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/19 -
In 1975 - a 6.8 quake struck the Kashmir-Tibet Border Region, 42 died.
In 1981 - a 6.8 quake struck Irian Jaya, Indonesia. 305 people killed.
In 1995 - a 6.6 quake struck Colombia, 5 died.

Unusual Animal Behavior - updated Thursdays.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes THIS MORNING -
1/18 -
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
5.0 XIZANG
No quakes over 4.6 yesterday.

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano erupted yesterday morning, sending an ash plume 8 1/2 miles into the air. The eruption lasted for five minutes, and started just before 8 a.m. The eruption was likely similar in style to the six significant eruptions last week, "but a little more energetic." The eruption was preceded by increased seismic activity at the volcano that prompted observatory officials to raise the volcano's threat level to red, meaning an eruption was imminent.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
AUSTRALIA - Heavy rainfall across much of New South Wales, which has swelled dam levels and prompted flood warnings, is set to continue for at least another two days. Rains would begin to ease on Thursday and taper off completely by Friday. At least one home was destroyed in violent weather that accompanied the rain. A house near Goulburn was ripped off its foundations by a flash storm which swept through the area. The home was destroyed within two minutes, with the water tanks beside it smashing through the walls and roof. "It felt like an earthquake. The floor split in half and we were lifted up in the air. When the floor lifted I slipped out the front and ended up in the front yard."

GUYANA - Heavy rains since mid-December are forcing the authorities to release water from a swollen reservoir into the Mahaica river, in a bid to save the dam overflowing and flooding the capital and other areas. But that could mean subjecting already devastated farmers in another area to more flooding of their fields and homes. Monday authorities said they were planning to release water through the Maduni sluice after flood waters threatened to cause even more havoc to rice communities along the eastern section of the country. There was intense and continuous rainfall for over 48 hours as of Monday.

INDIA - only days after the one-year anniversary of the December 2004 tsunami, the HEAVIEST RAINS IN HALF A CENTURY forced hundreds of thousands of people in India out of their homes. The current downpour is virtually unprecedented and Chennai, the capital of India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, received nine inches of rain in one night. "There's not supposed to be this kind of rain, nonstop rain, but it just kept on coming." The floods are a "huge tragedy of unbelievable magnitude," which has resulted in more than 16,000 villages being hit and some 283,000 homes being destroyed. Meanwhile, Mumbai (Bombay) and other parts of western India have experienced flooding that has killed at least 1,500 people, and the latest forecasts indicate the rains will continue. Government authorities in Mumbai have warned residents not to venture out of their homes for the next 24 hours because of the predicted additional rain.

IRAQ - Hundreds of people have been displaced by severe floods in the southern city of Safwan, some 45 km southwest of Basra. "A torrential rainstorm saw five inches of rainfall in three hours." The rain occurred for two continuous days on January 11 and 12. Approximately 70 homes were destroyed by rising floodwaters that reached up to 1.5 metres in height. In some cases, families' vital stores of food were also swept away. While the municipal council has worked with the Basra governorate to drain the streets of the city, several neighbourhoods are still reportedly flooded.

LANDSLIDES - pose an increasing risk to all corners of the increasingly stormy and congested world, according to a report Tuesday at a U.N. meeting in Tokyo. Landslides are considered the seventh-deadliest natural disaster in recent times, claiming an average of 800 to 1,000 lives in each of the last 20 years. "Increasing rainfall intensities and frequencies, coupled with population growth, can drastically increase landslide-associated casualties, especially in developing countries." Cimate change may promote landslides in other ways. A December landslide that killed 60 people in Yemen was blamed on mountain boulders that shifted because of changes in temperature. Landslides can also come during earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and as a result of mining activity or poorly planned development and construction. Large-scale landslides in oceans or on coastlines can cause tsunamis. Developing nations, particularly in Asia and Latin America, suffer most from landslides, but even highly advanced countries face significant risks. Japan experienced landslides every year between 1967 and 2002, with nearly 3,300 people killed. At the top of the list of precious world cultural sites most at risk from landslides are the mountaintop city of Machu Picchu, Peru, one of the most magnificent relics of the lost Inca civilization, and the Valley of Kings near Luxor, Egypt, where a myriad of Egyptian pharaohs are buried.

SNOW / COLD -
MONTANA - An avalanche that swept down Red Meadow Peak on Saturday afternoon was so powerful it blew water and fish out of Red Meadow Lake below. It killed two of three snowmobilers who were buried in it. The avalanche happened on the south side of Red Meadow Lake in an event that was so swift and violent it left the bowl below looking “more like a bomb crater.” The weather leading up to the avalanche was a week of heavy, dense snowfall, unseasonably warm weather and strong west winds. The avalanche and its accompanying air blast was carried full-force onto the lake. “The shock wave crushed the snow and ice surface across the entire lake and caused a tidal wave” on the north shore. The focus of that “tsunami of water, snow and ice” was the northeastern corner where the victims stood. The avalanche knocked down trees and the lake-saturated snow created balls of ice the size of cars and trucks. Searchers using probing poles in snow as deep as 20 feet hit ice and trees under the surface. The avalanche had compressed snow “like concrete” around the items buried below and stretched out for a half mile. “An avalanche the size of Saturday’s release had never been observed” in the area before.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CANADA - the recent warm weather has been atypical because it has spanned the country, with weather patterns flowing west to east. "It's almost like it's a national chinook." The weather's rapid see-saw motion in recent days has made even more apparent how irregular this winter has seemed. It started with spring-like temperatures late last week, before the mercury quickly plunged to a more Nordic winter cold on Saturday. Early Monday morning the low in Brockville was -20 C, while the normal value for this time of year is -14 C. There have been no record highs or lows set in this area, but the consistency of the colder and warmer temperatures has been UNUSUAL. The first three weeks of December were colder than usual in southern and eastern Ontario. "People were really beside themselves. We had just come through the warmest fall on record (in Ontario), the warmest summer on record." The irony is that, with the actual start of winter, that Arctic air gave way to warmer weather. Since December 21, temperatures in southern and eastern Ontario have generally been four or five degrees warmer than normal. The Arctic air was "penned up" in the north, spinning around and hitting Europe. A northern weather system known as the Aleutian Low, has been more intense and extensive this year and has helped to keep the Arctic weather up north. Meanwhile, the jet stream that normally occurs south of here has been more or less in their latitude. Environment Canada is now calling for warmer than normal weather in southern and eastern Ontario for the next 30 days. The experts aren't predicting any more of the sustained warm weather, but rather, on the whole, more milder days than cold days.
WINNIPEG - The recent three-week spell of balmy weather has SHATTERED WINNIPEG RECORDS, with night temperatures averaging 16.9 C warmer than usual for this time of winter. The 21 days of warm weather since Dec. 22 are the WARMEST SUCH INTERVAL RECORDED FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR SINCE RECORDS BEGAN 134 years ago. "I was quite amazed at the level of warmth in the last three weeks. It’s really remarkable. What we’ve seen is EXCEPTIONALLY UNUSUAL.”

COLORADO - Colorado weather has been locked into a storm track for three weeks now. The same system that has led to 23 straight days of rain in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has dropped down to the northern Colorado mountains, where it has dumped snow. But instead of continuing south, as such storms normally progress, these have taken an eastward track. "The southern mountains are very below average for snow." In the northern mountains, snow has been falling steadily, piling up into an above-average snowpack. But to the south, it's been nothing but "blow winds blow" over a tinder dry landscape that has resulted in an UNUSUAL SERIES of winter wildfires. January has also been a bit windier than usual. The average wind speed has been 11 to 12 miles per hour, compared to the usual average of 9 mph.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/18 -
In 1982 - a 7.0 quake struck the Aegean Sea. Felt strongly throughout Greece. Felt in Bulgaria, southeastern Italy, southeastern Yugoslavia and western Turkey.

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

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/16 -
5.3 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 SAMOA ISLANDS REGION

CANADA - VICTORIA, British Columbia - An earthquake described as "a miniature version" of the Nisqually quake that rocked Seattle nearly five years ago was a wakeup call in more ways than one, a scientist said. Many residents in and around the British Columbia provincial capital and the Gulf Islands and a few on the mainland were jolted awake by the 3.9 magnitude quake at 4:29 a.m. PST Sunday. "It's been fairly quiet in terms of felt earthquakes for a couple of years here in Victoria, and that's a bit UNUSUAL. We generally have one or two small earthquakes a year that are felt on southern Vancouver Island."

NEPAL - a devastating earthquake might hit Nepal anytime. A major earthquake similar to that of 1934 hits the country every 80 years, but there have not been adequate preparations to cope with such challenges. A major earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale shook the country on January 15th in 1934, leaving over 5,000 people dead, some 25,000 injured and around 60,000 houses destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of other houses were partially damaged. In the case of a quake measuring 6.5 or over on the Richter scale in the country, Kathmandu Valley would suffer the most. More than half the bridges would be heavily damaged and six in 10 buildings would cave in. The situation could turn worse if the entire water, sewage, telephone and electric power systems come to a halt. As many as 1,000 earthquakes, ranging from 2 to 5-magnitude on the Richter scale are recorded in Nepal each year.

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - A low pressure system in the south of the Northern Territory is likely to develop into a cyclone once it reaches the coast of Western Australia. The low, which formed last week in the Gulf of Carpentaria, is giving Territorians their first big rains plus strong winds. The low pressure system is set to hit the coast near Broome on Thursday and the probability of a cyclone forming on that day is high. Last week, Cyclone Clare tore through communities in the Pilbara. Territorians can expect rainy days and monsoon conditions until Friday. The Northern Territory has been hit by a potential cyclone, storms and an earthquake in the past few days.

AUSTRALIA - Cyclone Clare - one person's account of riding out the storm. (photos)

INDONESIA - A typhoon destroyed at least 75 permanent and semi-permanent houses and a mosque in three remote villages in Gowa district, South Sulawesi province, Sunday afternoon, injuring three people.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
COSTA RICA - Flooding from heavy rains has forced at least 350 people from their homes and left at least one missing along Costa Rica's northern Caribbean coast. The Caribbean coast community of Matina was cut off by floodwaters. Meteorologists warned that a second cold front may dump more rain over the country in coming days.

PAKISTAN - At least two Kashmiri men were feared dead after being swept off a cliff by a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Pakistan's earthquake zone on Monday. A Reuters Television cameraman had been filming a party of villagers, including women and children, trying to traverse a stretch of mountain road covered by earth and rock from an earlier landslide when the next one struck. At least three other people were injured in the accident.
Even as Kashmir valley remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second consecutive day, a man was killed in a landslide at Magarkote near Ramban. The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only road link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, was closed yesterday due to snowfall and landslides at several places. Though the road clearance operation was on, rains triggered fresh landslides at five to six places this morning. A man got out of a stranded vehicle in an attempt to cover the blocked stretch of the road at Magarkote on foot when he was hit by a landslide, resulting in his instant death. The Batote-Doda road was also closed to vehicular traffic due to landslides at two to three places. The Bani-Loang road in Kathua district was also closed to traffic in the morning due to snow and landslides. Official sources said Loang had recorded about 1 foot of snow by the afternoon.

CHINA - The ice on the Ili River may cause more flooding, authorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said. The flood has damaged the houses of more than 1,430 residents and about 134 hectares of crops. The authority has rushed 100 tons of coal and 10 tons of flour to the flooded area. Ice blocking the river caused water to overflow in Qapqal since January 12 when a snowstorm hit and temperature plunged.

AUSTRALIA - A man and woman have suffered minor injuries after being caught in what has been described as a 'mini-tornado' in the New South Wales' southern highlands overnight. Heavy rain and strong winds hit Goulburn and surrounding regional areas yesterday afternoon, causing creeks to break their banks and the main street to flood. Their home "was hit by a tornado or a mini-tornado, it was actually picked up ... slid downhill five to 10 metres, but unfortunately there was a man and woman inside the house at the time and they were tipped out the back door."

VERMONT - A dose of rain, warm weather and wind this past weekend spurred power outages and high-water problems throughout the area. The region experienced a two-part storm event that was responsible for the outages and high water. "We had a rather large storm that formed to our west. The temps were high enough to support a pretty good snow melt." The storm began with warm temperatures and over a half-inch of rain. Snowmelt and rain combined to swell the rivers and cause some high-water problems. Even at 3,000 feet, the temperature was around 40 degrees. On Saturday afternoon, the weather changed as winds shifted to the west and temperatures began to drop. Though heavy snowfall was predicted, the area saw very little accumulation because of the cold air. Most of the snow evaporated before it hit the ground because of the cold weather. Such a weather event is RARE in Vermont, though it is more common in the deep southern United States.

SNOW / COLD -
CANADA - Schools, businesses and roads are closed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay as people struggle to cope with more than one metre of snow. The snowfall in Labrador started on Saturday with 30 centimetres blanketing the area. About 60 cm fell on Sunday, and another 20 to 30 cm were expected through Monday. The Trans-Labrador Highway is blocked and only essential personnel are working at the town's military base. In western Labrador, about 40 cm of snow fell over the weekend. The snow is hampering a search for eight snowmobilers missing since Friday. Meanwhile, in southern New Brunswick, heavy rain and mild temperatures have caused flooding and ice jams. The province's Emergency Measures Organization is warning that the water is still rising along the Nashwaak and Miramichi Rivers.

NEVADA - It can be said that Saturday's storm that brought 16 inches of snow to South Lake Tahoe exceeded all expectations. Some could go as far as to call Saturday's event a freak of nature or an anomaly. Whatever it was, it wasn't on the National Weather Service radar as being significant enough to issue a winter storm warning. Slivers of the weather system - considered weak by weather service standards - turned into thunderstorms on the West Slope that strengthened as they made their way into the Sierra. There were three such bands of the main storm that hit a swath of South Shore before they traversed into Carson Valley and Carson City, dumping about four inches of snow on the valley floor. South Shore ski areas got anywhere from 24 to 30 inches. Another storm is expected to make its way into the Sierra tonight, with the possibility of "significant snowfall" on Wednesday.

PENNSYLVANIA - Forge woke up windy and cold Sunday morning. Tabernacle was windy and cold - and buried under nearly 8 inches of snow. And just think: Saturday afternoon had been a pleasant 60 degrees. Slick roads caused traffic accidents throughout the region, and wind gusts up to 65 m.p.h. knocked down trees and power lines in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The storm also produced a LOW TIDE WATER LEVEL RECORD. Strong winds caused blowout tides on the Delaware River. At Philadelphia, the lowest water level was 3.1 feet below what is known as mean lower low water - a reference point used for determining low tide - at 9:18 a.m. The previous record was 2.9 feet below, on Jan. 17, 2000, and Nov. 14, 2003.

WIND -
NEW MEXICO - A wind advisory went into affect for most of Monday in the region causing dangerous conditions for fire fighters. It took five units and almost two hours to control a brush fire at Ascarate Park. Fire officials say wind conditions made it very difficult and dangerous for firefighters. The winds were so strong in Canutillo, you could barely see the emergency lights from an ambulance. In some parts of town the strong winds caused low visibility for drivers. In far West El Paso winds kicked up to about 41 mph. "This winter is very strange, earlier today the weather was nice and it drastically changed. I think this winter is going to be very different from what we're used to."

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
OKLAHOMA - Extremely dry and windy conditions have the the entire state under a red flag fire warning. Since Nov. 1, more than 363,000 acres, 220 structures and four deaths in Oklahoma have been attributed to wildfires.

ARKANSAS - the low lake levels for the Twin Lakes Area are a matter of concern. Areas generally threatened by rising lake levels this time of year and in early spring now are yards from the shoreline. At Robinson Point on Norfork Lake, you almost can wade to the island out from the swim area, which now has much more beach than it's ever had. In fact, there are other islands — or sandbars, if you prefer — popping up as these former hilltops rise above the lake for the first time in years. There are a few spots where it's now not hard to imagine lake points joining together to form a barrier across the lake. Today, what used to be several feet under water is now the shoreline. The lakes have fallen before, but for most people living here now these are THE LOWEST LEVELS THEY'VE EVER SEEN, and naturally there are questions. "Is this a more extreme part of a regular cycle in which the lakes rise and fall? Remember, a few years ago the lakes inundated many of the parks along their shores for most of the year. Is this just a year when we've gotten the opposite side of the coin? Or is this a preview of things to come, maybe a new, harsher cycle? Could this be part of a climatic change? It's enough to make one wonder if this is an indication of the effects of global warming. Notice all the unusual weather across the country, the warmer-than-usual temperatures, and the drier conditions through much of America while other areas have been soaked more than normal."

"STRANGE GOINGS ON METEOROLOGICALLY SPEAKING" - Amongst these strange happenings: unseasonably warm temperatures in New York (the trees are so confused they have already started budding), record rainfall in the Northwest, the extreme heat and drought that has led to hundreds of wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, and freak ocean tornados forming off the Florida Coast. Not to mention the extreme snowfalls in Japan and China. An NBC weather expert offered this head-scratching assessment: "I wouldn't say that this is a long-term pattern that we're stuck in. It's just - it's Mother Nature, and it's just how it's working in the beginning of January."

By as early as the mid-21st Century, the tourism industry could be changed forever by global warming. The World Tourism Organisation has issued a wake-up call to the tourism industry to start long-term planning, and in the meantime travel exhibitions are staging debates on recovering from disasters and starting to look at the wider picture.

YIKES! -
Climate change will kill billions of people this century as the Earth warms, passing into a "fever" phase from which it may take 100,000 years to recover. James Lovelock's Gaia theory, advanced in the 1970s, sees the Earth behaving like a self-sustaining organism, with a control system that keeps the environment fit for life. "We but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences...Before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable."

DISASTER PLANNING -
The guidelines of the Mormon religion advocates storing enough food for a year in case of a natural disaster or other emergency. This idea has gained in popularity around the U.S. as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis make people realize the importance of emergency supplies. The Mormon church's Web site shows that an adult needs one 10-pound can each of oats, macaroni, pinto beans, powdered milk, white flour, sugar and shortening for one month. You'll also need three cans of wheat, two cans of rice and some salt. Planning for an entire year is obviously much more difficult. One adult needs 400 pounds of grains, 60 pounds of legumes and 10 quarts of cooking oil — plus much more. "If you try to do a full year's supply for your family all at once, that seems overwhelming and intimidating. We encourage people to take it a step at a time and piece by piece." A good example is to start with a 72-hour kit for each member of the family.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/17 -
In 1903 - a 7.0 quake struck the Andreanof Islands, Alaska.
In 1994 - a 6.7 quake struck Northridge, California, killing 61 and injuring over 10,000.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires - updated Tuesdays

Monday, January 16, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/15 -
6.1 FLORES SEA
5.0 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS

U.S.G.S. Staff is now on-site night and day to locate and report worldwide quakes. On January 12th, the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colorado announced the implementation of a new 24/7 operation center and seismic event processing system, HYDRA. When combined, the round-the-clock on-site personnel and new technology are expected to cut in half the amount of time required to report information about earthquakes around the globe. The state-of-the-art system is working in a provisional mode and will become fully operational in March, 2006. One of the enhancements, Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response or PAGER, is designed to predict damage from major earthquakes worldwide based on estimates of people and property exposed to potentially damaging levels of ground motion. The USGS will also debut a new website and notification service for earthquake information at the end of January. The URL will remain: http://earthquake.usgs.gov .

TSUNAMI -
NORTH CAROLINA - While it's true that North Carolina's chances of getting a tsunami are small, it's not out of the question. Long before recorded history, a tsunami hit North Carolina and created the Sandhills. "That's where all the sand came from." East Coast tsunamis are possible but rare - a roughly one in 100 year event. To date, no tsunamis have been recorded in the mid-Atlantic. The only tsunami ever recorded on the East Coast was in 1929 resulting from an earthquake in Newfoundland. "Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and Hawaii have the greatest chance to get a tsunami, and they are likely to be about once in 25 to 35 years." There are several possible sources for a tsunami to hit North Carolina. One is the earthquake fault line near Puerto Rico, which would send a wave north up the Atlantic Ocean. Another potential source is the collapse of a volcano in the Azores in the north Atlantic. "In the best case, we would have five hours notice. In the worst case, (there's) no notice." The scenario that could cause the biggest tsunami would occur if a large meteorite struck the Atlantic. A big meteorite is the reason for the Gulf of Mexico, scientists say. If this scenario plays out, it would be devastating. "Nobody's going to survive, and there's not a lot we can do."

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - On Sunday the color code at Augustine volcano was lowered to ORANGE. The level of earthquake activity at the volcano has declined since the last explosive event on Saturday. The level of seismic activity at the volcano remains above background. It is likely, but not certain, that further explosive activity will occur.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING -
OREGON - Portland is running at more than 200 percent of normal rainfall for early January with no letup in sight. And all this rain has made travel unpredictable and more risky than normal. There are flood warnings for coastal rivers, mudslides halting Amtrak service in Washington, and an advisory issued against driving to Crater Lake National Park. Last winter, the Pacific Northwest was worrying about a drought. This year, it's been a deluge.

CALIFORNIA - A massive storm pounded parts of the Valley Saturday, drenching the foothills with heavy rain and hail. Dark clouds were lingering for just a short time before each system hit. The weather over the past few months has been almost summer-like. Many people coming back from Sierra Summit also reported heavy snow.

Atlantic Rowing Race - "It’s another grey day with torrential rain again! I'm starting to think our compass is fitted backwards and when we set off from La Gomera instead of heading south west to Antigua we headed north east and can currently be found somewhere off the west coast of Ireland!? That would certainly explain the lack of trade winds for the first half of the journey and appalling weather in the second half!"

UNITED KINGDOM - A section of the Dorset coast has been closed off after a huge landslide near Charmouth on Saturday. Seventeen people were lead to safety after they became trapped by rising tides following the cliff fall. A boy also had to be rescued after he was stuck in mud up to his chest, but luckily no one was hurt. Landslides happen here when land near the sea breaks off in chunks because over a long period of time it's been weakened by waves crashing against it. This landslide was described as the WORST ONE IN THE AREA FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS.

SNOW / COLD -
KASHMIR - Snow and rain that began two days ago in northern Pakistan is disrupting aid supplies to survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake living in the Kashmir region. "All quake hit areas are in the grip of a strong westerly wave" causing heavy snow and rain. Rain and snow is forecast for next three days, which may cut off villages at high altitude because of landslides and avalanches. Snow has already triggered several landslides in Pakistan's earthquake zone Sunday, cutting off some remote villages and towns.

MONTANA - Rescuers recovered the bodies Sunday of two snowmobilers who disappeared a day earlier in an avalanche west of Glacier National Park. A third snowmobiler was rescued by other snowmobilers in the area after being buried under a few feet of snow. There was "extreme avalanche danger" overnight.

JAPAN - Japan's Meteorological Agency renewed avalanche warnings Sunday as temperatures increased and a man slipped to his death, bringing the toll from recent heavy snowfall to 90 - the highest in 20 years. The agency predicted that the temperature will rise to as high as 15 degrees Celsius in snowy areas in central Japan, and 8 C in the northeast - much warmer than normal for the season. Rain and higher temperature triggered several avalanches Saturday and early Sunday.

CANADA - Unseasonably warm weather is being blamed for an avalanche that killed a ski guide in remote southeastern British Columbia. The guide was swept away while checking a weather station near a ski lodge. The avalanche had come down, travelled around a corner and gone UPHILL into the weather station site.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CANADA - Folklore may record 2006 as the year spring arrived in January in Nova Scotia. Just don’t count on it lasting into April. For days now, people have been choosing sneakers over boots and raincoats over parkas. Umbrellas, rather than scarves and gloves, are the key accessory as temperatures pass the normal high of 0C and keep going. The unseasonal-like season has people talking. "Something’s going on." The Arctic air is staying firmly north and mild air spreading east, from British Columbia - where 29 consecutive days of rain is reaching record-breaking levels — to Newfoundland. "This is going from coast to coast. What you’re seeing out there is not Atlantic air, it’s Pacific air." The temperatures are not record-breaking, just RARE. Some are wondering whether there’s a price to pay for these mild days. "It’s great, but it makes me wonder what July’s going to bring. It could snow."

TEXAS - the drought conditions that have led to the wildfires aren't likely to go away at least until spring. And there's little hope of a dramatic change anytime soon. "I think the weather you're seeing in Texas is VERY UNUSUAL. You would have to go back to the '50s to see the kind of dryness you're seeing. I don't think we've seen anything like this in a generation." The dry weather that has fueled wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma stretches all the way to Southern California, but Texas and Oklahoma have got the winds that can really make these fires go. Forecasters can't predict how long these conditions will continue or even say why they're happening. "This is just the way Mother Nature works. Right now, we're just stuck in this pattern." The unusual weather has prompted some strange events in other states too. Wildfires have been reported as far east as Mississippi and as far north as Colorado. "Once we get into mid-February, the problem will probably widen into southern New Mexico and Arizona, but until then the focus will be concentrated on almost all of Oklahoma and most of Texas."

ARIZONA - A year after storm-swollen rivers filled reservoirs and sent water gushing down the lower Salt and Gila rivers for the first time in decades, Arizona is drying up again. The state's mountains are virtually bare, with snowpack conditions worse than they were at the same time in 2002, a year that set records as one of the driest in five centuries. There is no snow at most measuring stations. "It's pretty significant. We're usually building snowpack by Thanksgiving, and now here we are in January." So far, snowpack on the Salt and Verde watersheds is the SMALLEST SINCE 1966. Warm weather is sucking moisture from forests and ranges, ratcheting up the risk of wildfire. Rural areas are bracing for water shortages by early summer if rains don't come. What the experts don't know yet is if winter is just late - very, very late - or if last year was a wet blip on a long-term drought entering its 11th year. But if winter is late, it will have a lot of catching up to do: January and February typically bring much of the snow needed to refill reservoirs and keep rivers and forests healthy. The culprit so far is a stubborn weather pattern that steers every storm north of Arizona. Some experts are already predicting one of the worst wildfire seasons in years, fearing a lethal combination of drying trees and dried-out grass and shrubs. The warm weather is actually stimulating some trees to start the photosynthesis process during a time they should be dormant. Forecasters are predicting warm, dry conditions for the next two or three months, but climate experts admit they can't explain what's causing the dry-up. Cooler ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific suggest a La Niña pattern, which almost always means less rain and snow in Arizona. Other climatologists are looking at temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, which has emerged in some studies as a new influence on weather in the West. "This winter is a bit of a puzzle. What's happening so far is pretty astonishing. We're watching this movie to see how it turns out like everyone else."

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/16 -
In 1889 – Cloncurry, Queensland, recorded a temperature of 53.1 celsius, highest known in Australia.
In 1979 - a 6.7 quake struck Iran. At least 200 people reported killed, many injured and considerable damage in Bonzonabad and surrounding areas.
In 1994 - a 4.6 quake struck Pennsylvania. The largest historical earthquake in Pennsylvania.
In 1995 - a 6.9 quake struck Kobe, Japan. Five thousand five hundred two people confirmed killed, 36,896 injured and extensive damage.

Disease - updated Mondays

Sunday, January 15, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/14 -
5.3 MARIANA ISLANDS
5.2 OFF E. CST KAMCHATKA PEN.
1/13 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.3 SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
5.2 TONGA ISLANDS
5.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

CHINA - At least one person has been injured and 20,000 people evacuated following Thursday's 4.7-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Yunnan province. The quake affected nearly 100,000 people and caused an economic loss of about $6.9 million. A number of buildings in nine villages and townships collapsed or sustained damage in the quake. Eight minor aftershocks occurred in the 24 hours following the quake, and China's seismological bureau predicted more were likely

There were fewer deaths worldwide in 2005 due to earthquakes, but almost 90,000 casualties were reported. Nearly all of the fatalities - 87,351 - occurred when the magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit Pakistan Oct. 8. The magnitude 8.7 earthquake which struck Sumatra on March 28, 2005, killed 1,313 people and was the strongest temblor for 2005. In 2004 - the third-deadliest earthquake year on record - more than 283,000 people perished in the Dec. 26 magnitude 9.0 Sumatra quake, and related tsunami.

VOLCANO -
ALASKA - Augustine Volcano in Alaska has erupted five times over the past two days. The eruptions were big enough to force the cancellation of flights into Anchorage and Fairbanks on Friday. Officials also closed schools on the southern Kenai Peninsula. Heavy clouds of ash have been left hanging in the air. There could be more eruptions in the next few days, with little or no warning. The volcano has been erupting since Wednesday.

INDONESIA - at least 10 volcanoes in Indonesia have been declared to be in alert status. The ten volcanoes in second level alertness status are Mount Merapi and Mount Talang in West Sumatra, Mount Anak Krakatau in Lampung, Mount Semeru in East Java, Mount Kerinci in Jambi, Mount Egon in Flores, Mount Lokon Soputan in North Sulawesi and Mount Dukono in Halmahera. In the meantime, a volcano in third level alertness is Mount Karang Etang in North Sulawesi. Many hectares of tomato, chilli and cabbage in some areas of Lumajang district and Malang have been totally destroyed by rains of dust from Mount Semeru in the past few days, causing many farmers to harvest their crops earlier.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Cyclone 01A was 685 nmi S of Bombay, India.
Cyclone URMIL was 1018 nmi NE of Auckland, New Zealand.
Cyclone Urmil - Meteorologists had issued storm alerts and weather warnings for Samoa, Tuvalu and American Samoa. Now the storm is heading out to sea and is weakening in waters to the northeast of the Chatham Islands. It is now becoming less of a threat, but any boats should be prepared for worsening conditions.

AUSTRALIA - Stranded motorists searched for alternative routes out of Lake Grace as floodwaters cut the highway linking Perth with Esperance in the south of Western Australia. The sting in the tail of Cyclone Clare has been some 200mm of unseasonal rain over a 24-hour period in the area. Tropical Cyclone Clare crossed the Pilbara coast near Karratha and Dampier in the state's north earlier in the week, with winds in excess of 200kph bringing down power lines on January 9.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
AUSTRALIA - A severe thunderstorm has passed rapidly over Brisbane, downing trees and tearing the roof from a block of units. The FREAK STORM battered Brisbane around 3pm (AEST) and brought gale force winds, before it moved just as quickly out to sea off Queensland's southeast coast.

AFGHANISTAN - Heavy rain in Afghanistan triggered a landslide that killed 13 people in a remote village.

CANADA - New Brunswick officials are warning people to watch out for flooding along the St. John River, amid unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rains. The province's Emergency Measures Organization issued an ice-movement alert on Saturday. Environment Canada was predicting as much as 45 millimetres of rain in some areas between Saturday night and this morning. Ice jams form yearly along the river, but they usually do not cause problems until late March or early April.

WASHINGTON - a state of emergency was declared on Friday after nearly a month of rainy days has left millions of dollars of destruction from flooding, mudflows and landslides. The rain has caused more than $7.3 million of damage to transportation infrastructure. If Seattle's wet streak — which stood at 26 days Friday — exceeds the previous record of 33 consecutive days, set in 1953, it won't even be a blip in the national weather record books. No place compares with the achievement of Hawaii, where Kaneohe Ranch on the island of Oahu recorded 247 consecutive days of rain from Aug. 27, 1993, through April 30, 1994. Centralia, Washington, which is about halfway between Seattle and Portland, set the Washington record for consecutive days of precipitation with 55 between late 1996 and early 1997. Rivers around the Seattle area were still at or near flood conditions on Friday. No new mudslides have been reported, but officials have said ground saturation levels continue to make more slides possible.

ALABAMA - A few hours after a tornado struck Belleville, residents still were amazed at how quickly the storm ripped through the area. One person was killed and several homes and buildings were damaged when the tornado touched down along U.S. 84 just after 10 a.m. Residents said the tornado ran through the neighborhood in the less than a minute.

NEVADA - Western Nevada has experienced their worst flooding since their historic deluge of 1997. Reno has had a little over six inches of precipitation since July 1st, which is the beginning of the water year for them. They usually average seven and a half for a whole year. And the wettest part of the year historically is still ahead.

SNOW / COLD -
JAPAN - Japan faces the threat of avalanches this weekend as winter weather eases to bring a thaw to one of the HEAVIEST SNOWFALLS ON RECORD. Warnings of landslides, avalanches and floods are in place across the country. Rain is forecast in many areas, likely to increase the risk as snow drifts almost 4m (13ft) deep in places start to melt. The snow-related death toll has risen to at least 89, thought to be the HIGHEST SINCE 1980. About 1,800 points across the Niigata prefecture have been identified as posing a risk of avalanche, including hundreds of sites with more than 3m (9ft) of snow.

CANADA - RECORD SNOWFALL forced the cancellation of 200 flights at Montreal airport, school closures and caused havoc on roads. More than 41 centimetres of snow fell on Friday. The storm will go down in history as ONE OF THE BIGGEST SNOWFALLS IN A SINGLE DAY in Montreal in December, beating a record of 37.8 centimetres (15 inches) on December 27, 1969. About 2.14 metres of snow usually falls on the city each winter.

PAKISTAN - The United Nations has suspended relief flights to victims of last October's earthquake in Pakistan because of heavy rain and snow. The UN halted the flights to the Kashmir region and surrounding territories today and was monitoring the situation on an hour-by-hour basis. Flights are expected to resume later today if there is a break in the weather. Pakistan's Meteorological Department warned of heavy snow throughout the weekend and the threat of avalanches.

WILDFIRES / HEAT -
TEXAS - Even though it is January, drought conditions contributed to several wildfires attacking North Texas fields late Friday afternoon. The fires this season have been SO EXTREME that firefighters from all over the country are saying they’ve NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS.

PENNSYLVANIA - Western Pennsylvania natives were treated to extremely unseasonal weather on Friday as temperatures soared into the 60s.

NEBRASKA - Friday was the 25th-straight day of above-normal temperatures in Omaha. The last time Nebraska experienced a longer streak was in November 2000. In December 1999, there was a 42-day streak of warmer-than-normal weather. The unseasonable weather isn't concentrated in Nebraska and Iowa. Nearly the entire nation is seeing weather that is odd for January. New Yorkers stripped down to shirtsleeves Friday as temperatures flirted with 50 degrees. Northern Colorado is receiving massive snowfall, while the southern portion of the state has wildfires due to dry conditions. Arizona is also worried about wildfires. Phoenix hasn't had a single drop of rain since Oct. 18.

INDIANA - Thursday, the high temperatures recorded in Marion was 54 degrees, far above typical January temperatures, which usually top out in the 30s. The unusual weather pattern is attributed to the fact that the low-pressure system that in December allowed cold Canadian air to dip south into Indiana has since moved out of the area. "There's been a strong westerly flow that's developed across North America, and what that does is it keeps the cold (air) up in Canada and allows the Pacific air to flow across the country."
Weeks into winter, storms more typical of spring and near record daytime highs have replaced the typical signs of the season. Across parts of Central Indiana, Friday got underway with heavy rain, thunder, lightning and pea-sized hail. "It's unusual that we get thunderstorms in January, but not that unusual. What's a little bit unusual is how long this warm temperature pattern has lasted." Forecasters say it's the subtropical jet stream pushing the polar jet stream to the north that's responsible. So far this season January has come in at some 15 degrees above normal.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/15 -
In 1900 – Bubonic plague was reported in Adelaide, Australia after spreading from China to India and Noumea; on January 19, the first case was reported in Sydney: 103 died.
In 1934 - an 8.4 quake struck Bihar-Nepal, India. 10,700 deaths.
In 1944 - a 7.8 quake struck Argentina. 5,000 dead.
In 1968 - a 6.0 quake struck Sicily. 216 killed.
In 1993 - a 7.6 quake struck the Hokkaido, Japan Region. Two people killed.

Friday, January 13, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/12 -
5.2 OFF W. CST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
5.4 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN, REGION

VOLCANO -
ALASKA - As of the 12th of January, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), has reported that an earthquake swarm was detected at Mt. Martin volcano on January 8-10. In the past two days 300 earthquakes have been detected. This compares with the normal background rate of 25 per month. Satellite images do not show any unusual activity.

ALASKA - The pair of small eruptions that blew ash six miles high above Augustine Island Wednesday were probably just the warm up for bigger explosions to come, scientists say. Scientists with the Alaska Volcano Observatory expect the climax of the eruption cycle is still ahead. They say Augustine Volcano is behaving similarly to its eruptions in 1976 and 1986, which peaked with explosions that belched ash steadily for hours. The pattern of seismic swarms in recent weeks suggests a large magma body that would probably not be finished with its work after those two small bursts. New mudflows streaked the snow on the mountain's lower flanks. When magma, steam and ash bubbled up inside Augustine Volcano, they expanded and lifted the Cook Inlet island by 2 inches. The movement is a matter of the magma finding room for itself inside the island before steam and ash finally break free through the top of the volcano.

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE TAM was 1371 nmi NNE of Auckland, New Zealand.
TONGA - Forecasters are tracking the movement and intensification of Cyclone Tam over the Niuas and Vava'u island groups of Tonga. Tam is lying west of Niuatoputapu, with wind speeds of up to 1-hundred kilometres an hour expected this morning. The cyclone is moving south-east towards Ha'apai and there are warnings of rough seas, and flooding including sea flooding of low-lying areas.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
CANADA - As many as 1,000 people in North Vancouver are on standby to evacuate their homes amid a growing threat of landslides caused by days of heavy, steady rain.

SOUTH AFRICA - A massive hail storm has ripped through the rural Sitheba village near Umtata leaving one person dead. The Sitheba tribal authority, where traditional matters are discussed, has been totally destroyed. Four people have been injured and admitted to the Umtata General hospital. A large number of homes have been flattened and hundreds of people are homeless. Livestock has also been killed in the storm.

Thursday, January 12, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/11 -
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.6 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.1 WESTERN CAROLINE IS.
5.6 OFF COAST OREGON
5.1 PAKISTAN

TSUNAMI -
INDONESIA - Long after tsunami killer waves receded from the Andaman coastlines, authorities are baffled by the discovery of vast tracts of land which have emerged from the sea to the north of the archipelago. The administration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is consulting experts about the new topographical features. As a result of the powerful seismic turmoil, about 140 hectares of land have been added to the area of the Union Territory. In the north of the islands, the land came to the surface of the sea because of a significant rise in land level.

VOLCANO -
ALASKA - Augustine volcano on an uninhabited Alaskan island erupted early yesterday, spewing an ash plume about five miles into the sky. The ash was expected to steer clear of Anchorage, the state’s most populous city nearly 200 miles to the north-east. Two explosions indicated an eruption at the volcano. Satellite images and radar later confirmed the eruption.

JAPAN - Mount Fuji, one of Japan's most endearing symbols, looks like it's about to blow its top, according to Shukan Post. Perhaps the biggest indication that Fuji-san's lid is loose comes because it's currently bereft of snow on its distinctive cap despite it being mid-winter and unprecedented snowfalls being dumped on the Sea of Japan coastline. "You can't say that it always has a coating of snow at this time of the year, but considering all the snow that's fallen right throughout the country, everybody thinks it's a bit weird that there's no snow on Mount Fuji." The Meteorological Agency says that shortage of snow is a simple situation. "It won't snow on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan unless a cold front approaches the coastline off the Izu Peninsula. The same case applies for Tokyo. If it's not snowing in Tokyo, it's not likely that there's going to be much snow on top of Mount Fuji." Others in villages at the foot of Fuji said "... about the start of December...I've felt this uncomfortable kind of stress all the way along. After a while, this develops into a kind of nausea, sort of like the feeling you get with car sickness. When I'd felt like this for a couple of weeks, I mentioned it to some neighbors, and discovered that there were a number of people feeling the same way. One person said they felt like they were permanently car sick, while another said they thought their ailment was like being plagued by a speaker constantly emitting a deep, unending tone." Some experts say that it would not be surprising for Mount Fuji to erupt at any moment. "It's my personal belief that magma build-up inside Mount Fuji has already reached a critical stage." Since the start of 2004, frogs and stinkbugs once prominent in the area have virtually disappeared. Some see this as a sign that they've sensed something untoward is about to happen and they're avoiding the place like the plague. Observers have noticed this phenomenon, too. "The most recent change has probably been the sudden disappearance of sparrows around the mountain since about the middle of October. Normally, sparrows flock to this place, even in the middle of winter."

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
AUSTRALIA - Towns in Western Australia's north-west are bracing for flash flooding as torrential downpours buffet the coast. A number of towns that bore the brunt of Cyclone Clare over the past two days have received hundreds of millimetres of rain. Rising flood waters will be a major risk for the rest of the week.

INDONESIA - Thousands of houses in 12 villages in the West Java regency of Indramayu have been inundated by floodwaters, and residents fear the flooding will lead to crop failures in the rice-producing region. No casualties have been reported in the flooding, which began on Sunday, but material losses are estimated at billions of rupiah. The regency's three main rivers have all overflown their banks, swamping houses, roads, government offices and schools.
97 districts in 27 of Central Java's 35 regencies and cities are at risk for landslides.

OREGON AND WASHINGTON - Rivers and streams continued to rise as more than an inch of rain fell in most areas across the Northwest Tuesday and into Wednesday. The continuing deluge compounded problems throughout Oregon and Washington as trees fell across roads, hillsides slid down onto highways and swollen rivers turned coastal roads into waterways. Another warm, wet winter storm expected to come ashore today. Heavy rain is also expected for Friday and into the weekend.

SNOW / COLD -
ASIA - is reeling under the HARSHEST WINTER FOR YEARS - Ten feet of snow has fallen in Japan. In China, temperatures have plunged as low as minus 43C and 100,000 people had to be evacuated when houses collapsed under the snow. A quarter of a million people have been snowed in. And in India, a frost that made headlines may also prove fatal. It reached the lowest temperature in Delhi for 70 years - and the SECOND LOWEST EVER RECORDED - but it has only dipped below zero by the narrowest of margins: minus 0.2C. Most South Asians are simply unable to cope with even these comparatively mild temperatures. They do not possess blankets or warm clothes. In this part of the world, even those with a roof over their heads rarely have heating. But for the homeless, the situation is even worse.

WESTERN U.S. - RECORD-BREAKING SNOWFALLS hit much of the West, but missed New Mexico and Arizona. From Mammoth in the southern Sierra and Whistler-Blackcomb in Britsh Columbia's Coast Range, to say nothing of Jackson Hole and Vail and Kirkwood and Park City, it was an incredible two weeks of storms for most of the West. At Jackson Hole, the snow depths at mid-mountain are the DEEPEST IN THE 40-YEAR HISTORY of the resort. The recent storm dropped 10 inches a day for nine straight days. Park City Mountain Resort got nearly 100 inches since Christmas and nearly 60 since New Year's Day. Colorado resorts are boasting that they have the best snow in 20 years.

FOG / OVERCAST SKIES -
WISCONSIN - Madison went 14 consecutive days - two entire weeks - without a ray of sunlight, according to the National Weather Service. That TIES THE CITY RECORD FOR MOST CLOUDY DAYS IN A ROW, set in 1992. The winter of 1978-79 was the last 'real winter' this city has had.

MINNESOTA - Saturday the sun shone through in the morning hours after more than two straight weeks of cloudy, often foggy, weather. Each cloudy day brought close to (or above) 30-degree temperatures. Perfectly blue skies with strong sun often means subzero weather in Minnesota in January, but not this week. (On Jan. 17, 1982, Tower, Minn., recorded 52 degrees below zero. Chicago recorded 25 below and subzero temperatures even reached into Mississippi and Alabama.)

MICHIGAN - As of January 6th, two weeks had passed since Grand Rapids recorded any sunshine. Since the beginning of December, they reported fair skies on a grand total of zero days. Three days were partly cloudy and 33 were cloudy. The average month of December brings 23 percent of possible sunshine to the weather station in Grand Rapids. For December 2005, the figure was 9 percent. The forecast sees no imminent change in the general weather pattern. "Basically, what's going on right now is we're not seeing a lot of winds aloft and not a lot of dry air." Or, in layman's terms: "We're kind of in a lull."

IOWA - After a solid two weeks with nary a glimpse of winter sun in central Iowa, weather forecasters said a break from the clouds was possible on the 6th. When it comes to completely clear skies, a longer wait is in store. "There's no clear sun in the foreseeable future." On the plus side, temperatures have remained mild, with highs in the 30s and 40s, slightly above normal for this time of year, when temperatures generally run from the mid- to upper 20s, with lows in the upper single digits to low teens. Although November, December and January are typically the cloudiest months of the year, two solid weeks of overcast skies is an UNUSUAL EVENT. The culprit is low-level moist air that has, in essence, kept clouds trapped over the area. Mild temperatures have contributed, melting snow and adding moisture to the air, which creates more clouds and fog. A high-pressure dry area is needed to push the clouds away, but none is in sight.

WILDFIRES -
TEXAS - the Director of the Texas Forest Service says this winter's fire season is the worst he's seen in nearly 10 years since he became state forester in 1996. In the first five days of 2006, 191,806 acres have burned in Texas, which are more acres than all of 2005. “Current fire threat conditions are so extreme that almost any wildfire has the potential to exceed local control at this point.”

DISASTER PLANNING -
NORWAY - has revealed a plan to build a "doomsday vault" hewn out of an Arctic mountain to store two million crop seeds in the event of a global disaster. The store is designed to hold all the seeds representing the world's crops and is being built to safeguard future food supplies in the event of widespread environmental collapse. "If the worst came to the worst, this would allow the world to reconstruct agriculture on this planet." The Norwegian government is planning to start work on the seed vault next year when construction engineers will drill into a sandstone mountain on the island of Spitsbergen, part of the Svalbard archipelago, about 600 miles from the North Pole. Permafrost will keep the vault below freezing point and the seeds will be further protected by metre-thick walls of reinforced concrete, two airlocks and high-security, blast-proof doors.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/12 -
In 1896 – this was the start of 13-day heat wave in Bourke, New South Wales, Australia, with daily average temperatures of 47C; a total of 47 people died.
In 1945 - a 7.1 quake struck Mikawa, Japan. 1,900 deaths.
In 1982 - a 6.2 quake struck Honduras. Two people injured.
In 1993 - a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, killing 196 people.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/10 -
5.0 NORTHERN COLOMBIA
5.4 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

SOUTH AFRICA - A rock fall caused by a tremor killed three people and injured four at one of AngloGold Ashanti's South African mines on Tuesday. A tremor of 2.4 on the Richter scale caused the fall some 3 km underground at the TauTona mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, the world's second biggest gold mine.

VOLCANO -
SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS - Mount Belinda on Montagu Island in the South Sandwich Islands is erupting. The Royal Air Force plans to fly a maritime patrol to the remote island from the Falkland Islands, as soon as the weather allows, to investigate the scale of the eruption and to see first hand the effects of the volcano, including changes to the coastline in the areas in which seabirds normally breed. From the satellite images it seems that the major colonies are unaffected as they lie on the far side of the island. Satellite imaging four years ago showed low level activity, with ash staining the snow-covered mountaintop. For the past two years the volcano has been erupting more forcefully, and a recent satellite image shows a large, fast moving lava flow, 90 meters wide, which is reported to be adding 50 acres a month to the island.

TROPICAL STORMS -
AUSTRALIA - Rising floodwaters from rain dumped by CYCLONE CLARE cut roads to isolated communities along Western Australia's northwest coast yesterday as authorities battled to restore telecommunications. Roofs were ripped from several homes and powerlines brought down as wind gusts of up to 200km/h lashed the towns of Dampier, Karratha, Roebourne and Wickham when the category-three cyclone crossed the coast about 1am. It was estimated that more than 200mm of rain fell in the worst-affected areas overnight and flooding was expected to continue in the region as the weakening system moved inland.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
MOZAMBIQUE - At least 22 people have been swept to their death in Mozambique and thousands more have fled heavy rains there and in neighbouring South Africa and Malawi. Government officials in Mozambique said the death toll had risen sharply from the initial eight reported on January 3, and heavy rains were expected to continue until March, forcing the government to put the country on a cyclone alert. Rains have fuelled the spread of disease, with 114 cases of cholera reported in the central Sofala region.
SOUTH AFRICA - Reports say huge volumes of water released from the Grootdraai Dam in Mpumalanga, caused severe flooding at Rooikoppen outside Standerton. About 2500 households were cut off from the town after heavy flooding. Standerton's emergency services are trying to find ways to help the community. Meanwhile, in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, heavy rains accelerated by thunderstorms wreaked havoc on communities. Scores of families have been left destitute after their houses were severely damaged. More rain is forecast.

CANADA - Vancouver has had 23 consecutive days of rain and is on track to set a 53-YEAR RECORD amid renewed fears of mudslides.

WASHINGTON - "Our consecutive rainy day streak now stands at 23 with no end in sight. This is now THE LONGEST STREAK SINCE THE EARLY 60S and the FOURTH LONGEST EVER RECORDED."

SNOW / COLD -
JAPAN - Soldiers battled through snow on Tuesday to reach nearly 200 households cut off for two days in the mountains of central Japan in a RECORD COLD SNAP that has left 71 people dead. Authorities worried they were running short of fuel and students missed classes as towns were buried by roof-high snowfall UNUSUAL even for Japan's frigid winters. Soldiers failed to cut through the blizzard on Monday because of avalanche warnings. In Tsunanmachi, around 160km north of Tokyo, 199 people were cut off by 323cm of snow. The Japan Meteorological Agency expects 40 to 60cm more snowfall in the area facing the Sea of Japan during the next 24 hours. Fifteen locations across Japan have been hit by RECORD SNOWFALL since last month.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
In 1945 - a 7.1 quake struck Mikawa, Japan. 1,900 deaths.
In 1962 – an avalanche buried a village in the Peruvian Andes, and 3,000 people were killed.
In 1982 - a 6.2 quake struck Honduras. Two people injured.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 -

Sorry for the lack of recent updates - I have been sick with the flu.

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/9 -
5.2 LAKE TANGANYIKA REGION
5.3 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
5.1 MINDORO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
1/8 -
5.0 LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
6.7 SOUTHERN GREECE
5.1 YELLOW SEA
1/7 -
5.4 ALASKA PENINSULA
5.0 LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS REGION
5.6 NEAR ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
1/6 -
5.6 ANDAMAN ISLANDS,INDIA, REG
5.2 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.0 MARIANA ISLANDS
5.0 QINGHAI, CHINA
5.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
6.0 SOUTH OF PANAMA

GREECE - A powerful 6.9 earthquake shook Greece on Sunday and was felt as far away as the Middle East and Italy. Minor damage was reported in southern Greece, and authorities on the island of Crete said three people were slightly injured. The quake was beneath the seabed about 125 miles south of Athens. "It was a very powerful quake which shook all of Greece. There have been dozens of aftershocks. The quake occurred deep undersea and that's what saved us."
The epicenter of the earthquake was detected as being Kythira Island where major destruction was witnessed. The airport and about 50 buildings were damaged. "Roads were damaged, churches were damaged and even newly constructed buildings were damaged." The Kythira centered earthquake was also felt in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Jordan. Scientists project that as many as 6 million people may have felt the earthquake. Severe aftershocks are not expected to take place.

CANADA / NEW YORK AREA - An earthquake shook homes south of Montreal on Monday morning with enough force to make one man think a truck had slammed into his house. The quake, which hit at about 10:30 a.m. EST, measured magnitude 4.2. Small earthquakes commonly occur in a corridor running from south of Montreal to the Ottawa Valley. "This region is what we think of as an 'old risk region.' This is where two continental plates were interacting millions and millions of years ago. It is not an active interplate region currently, but it is more a zone of weakness."

TROPICAL STORMS -
CYCLONE CLARE was 156 nmi SW of Port Hedland, Australia
AUSTRALIA - Hundreds of residents in north-western Australia have abandoned their homes as tropical cyclone Clare approaches land. Weather forecasters are warning that some coastal communities could be battered by "very destructive winds and severe thunderstorms". Residents have been told to expect dangerously high waves and flooding if the cyclone crosses the coast. The production of oil and gas on rigs off the Western Australian coast has been suspended. Ports have also been closed as a precaution. This isolated region experiences around half-a-dozen cyclones every year between November and April.

Three of the most powerful hurricanes of 2005 were filled with mysterious lightning. Hurricanes are notoriously lacking in lightning. Hurricanes blow, they rain, they flood, but seldom do they crackle. Surprise: During the record-setting hurricane season of 2005 three of the most powerful storms - Rita, Katrina, and Emily - did have lightning, lots of it. And researchers would like to know why. The electric fields above Emily were AMONG THE STRONGEST EVER MEASURED by the aircraft’s sensors over any storm. "We observed steady fields in excess of 8 kilovolts per meter. That is huge - comparable to the strongest fields we would expect to find over a large land-based 'mesoscale' thunderstorm." The reason most hurricanes don't have lightning is that "they're missing a key ingredient: vertical winds." A hurricane's winds are mostly horizontal, not vertical. So the vertical churning that leads to lightning doesn't normally happen. "Hurricanes are most likely to produce lightning when they're making landfall." But there were no mountains beneath the "electric hurricanes" of 2005 — only flat water.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
MALAYSIA - more than 1000 people have been evacuated from villages in Malaysia's southern Johor state after heavy rain caused flooding in five districts. Heavy rain in December caused the evacuation of over 20,000 people across five states in northern Malaysia.

AUSTRALIA - more than 100,000 homes and business were left without power after severe storms hit southeast Queensland. Heavy rain, hail, wind gusts and lightning affected the area, while localised flooding delayed repairs to the power network. About 17,000 lightning strikes were recorded between 6pm and 10pm across southeast Queensland.

SNOW / COLD -
INDIA - People in Delhi woke up to another cold morning with the minimum temperature at 1.6 degrees Celsius. The city recorded near-freezing temperatures on Sunday FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 70 YEARS. There are more than 1.5 lakh homeless people in Delhi who are the worst hit. The cold wave is sweeping across most of northern India. The Dal Lake in Srinagar has frozen FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS and frost was found on crops in Punjab and on top of cars in Delhi. Srinagar is recording temperatures below freezing point, and the city is covered with a blanket of snow with icicles forming on trees. Weather all around the world has deviated from normal conditions. Heavy snowfall broke all records in Japan and China with the temperature dipping to minus 43 degrees Celsius. Experts indicate the changes may not be just anomalies, as the world is increasingly moving towards extreme weather conditions. "The extreme weather conditions will set in further all over the world. Worst days lie ahead."
The northern hills of India have been experiencing heavy snowfall since the last week of December, making it one of the LONGEST AND COLDEST SPELLS IN SEVERAL DECADES.

JAPAN - The number of dead from Japan's HEAVIEST SNOWFALL ON RECORD has risen to nearly 70 people.

MONTANA - Avalanche danger in southwestern Montana remains high, with two snowmobilers already killed in separate slides since the first of the year.

CANADA - A snowboarder was found dead in an avalanche near Golden, British Columbia, on Sunday, just hours before four skiers were dug out of an avalanche 300 kilometres south in Fernie. B.C.'s recent warm and wet weather caused havoc with skiers at Fernie Alpine Resort when the avalanche hit about 3:30 p.m.

HEAT -
CANADA - Manitoba weather has been nowhere near normal for late December and early January. It's as if southern Manitoba has shifted across the country to either the British Columbia coast or to Toronto. Where normally there are sunny, clear, blue skies over the province, for weeks they have been replaced with cloudy and grey skies. Albeit, the changes have also seen their normally frigid winter weather tossed out in favour of above normal, unseasonal temperatures for close to a month. On Friday, Winnipeg's temperature reached a balmy high of 1.2 C and a low of -6.6 C, well above the normal high of -13 C and low of -23 C. Last month was the 15th warmest December on record in the province since statistics began being kept in 1872. The weather has turned snowmobile trails to mush and left community clubs unable to keep their outdoor rinks frozen."It's because we're getting a westerly flow instead of getting a really strong push from the north." Across the country, Canadians are shaking their heads at the weather. Vancouverites are used to pulling out their umbrellas, but not for 21 straight days of rain. While November to February is that area's rainy season, that many days is not normal. "Day after day after day of rain for three weeks in a row is UNUSUAL, even for here. It's an UNUSUAL STRETCH and it looks like it's going to continue." In the mountains "the freezing level is usually around 1,000 metres, but now it's as high as 1,800 to 2,000 metres." That means the water runs right down, instead of contributing to the snow pack that's important for maintaining high water levels throughout the summer. In Alberta, at a time when many areas should be under snow, officials are already worrying about grass and forest fires before summer. Some rural municipalities are banning burning on farms and acreages in parts of southern Alberta. Ontario and Quebec are getting unusual weather too - residents in those two provinces will be shovelling snow this week in temperatures between -12 C and -5 C.

DISEASE -
Five new human cases of bird flu have been confirmed in several Turkish provinces, pushing the number of people infected up to 14. The cases, identified as being of the deadly H5N1 strain, mean the virus is now present in the east, north and centre of the country. At least two Turkish children have died, and correspondents say fear is spreading rapidly across the country. Health experts say there is no sign the virus is passing from human to human. "There's no disease in urban areas, the only human cases are from people who've been in direct contact with poultry."

The number of cases of bird flu in humans may have been hugely under-reported, a study says. Swedish researchers interviewed nearly 46,000 people from Vietnam, where there have been 87 cases of bird flu. They found that more than 8,000 had had flu-like symptoms and up to 750 cases could have been down to sick birds.

Friday, January 6, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/5 -
5.1 SOUTHERN PERU
5.3 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
5.8 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.1 KURIL ISLANDS, RUSSIA

KASHMIR - One of the world's leading seismologists has warned of the possibility of more earthquakes in the Kashmir region over the next 50 years. Kashmir could experience quakes more severe than the one which killed more than 73,000 people in October. Research, using data stretching back 500 years, has shown that huge amounts of energy had been stored in the faultline but it was unevenly distributed. "This meant that when (the tectonic plates) do go, they are very likely to go with a very large earthquake. Our study basically showed that there were four places that could have a magnitude 8.2 earthquake or more." The 8 October earthquake occurred at the very end of the Himalayan tectonics. It ruptured a 100km length of the Kashmir region, diagonally from the north-west to the south-east. Also, it ruptured from very close to the surface down to a depth of 30-40km. The Himalayas slipped about three to four metres within about 15 seconds. The mountains behind Muzaffarabad, around the epicentre, actually rose by about a metre, releasing an energy equivalent of a 30 megaton nuclear explosion. The last major series of earthquakes recorded in Kashmir started in 1501, culminating in a major jolt in 1555. "From what we know of Kashmir's history, there may well be a sequence of earthquakes spread over the next 50 years." Another serious issue is the nature of the aftershocks experienced in October. The north-west tip of the rupture which extends to "the mountains behind Muzaffarabad" has recorded the expected number of aftershocks. But the south-eastern tip of the rupture, which extends to the plains below the Himalayas, has shown "a surprising and worrying calm". "This means that pressure is building up around the south-eastern tip." In other words, it means that should the faultline slip in the south-east, the shockwave is very likely to travel towards the plains of Punjab - possibly extending down to the historic city of Lahore.

VOLCANO -
ALASKA - "Do you have goggles and a dust mask? How about a three-day supply of food and water? With the recent rumblings coming from the Augustine Volcano near Homer, the American Red Cross is urging Alaskans to prepare in case it erupts." Indications are that magma has risen 1,000 feet above sea level inside Augustine. Ash can cause widespread problems, turning daylight into complete darkness. And you don’t want to get ash on your skin or in your lungs, as it consists of tiny jagged pieces of rock and glass that’s abrasive, mildly corrosive, conducts electricity when wet and does not dissolve in water.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Tropical storm ZETA was 847 nmi NE of Fort de France, Martinique - becoming less organized and forecast to weaken.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
AFRICA - Warning of more storms after flooding - Storms and flooding across parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have left at least 15 people dead and tens of thousands homeless with a tropical storm heading towards Inhambane, about 500km north of Maputo. Further heavy rains are predicted. The National Meteorology Institute in Mozambique warned of a tropical storm in the Mozambique Channel that is heading towards the country. Radio Mozambique gave a death toll of 13 thus far. In Malawi more than 3,700ha of crops were destroyed, mud and thatch houses flattened and livestock was swept away. In Zimbabwe, torrential rains swept contaminated sewage and drain water into drinking sources, triggering a cholera outbreak that has killed at least seven people. The continuous rainfall had been caused by a strong influx of moist tropical air from the north.

SNOW / COLD -
CHINA - Almost 250,000 people in north-western China have been trapped by heavy snowfall, as the country faces its worst winter in 20 years. Temperatures have plummeted to -43C, and snow is blanketing parts of Xinjiang province. Almost 100,000 people have been evacuated after their homes collapsed under heavy snow. More than 5,000 people are being treated for frostbite, four of whom had to have limbs amputated. Forecasters are warning this is just the beginning of a cold freeze. This wraps up a year of extreme weather conditions following the HOTTEST SUMMER IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS. Now China's government is appealing to private companies and millionaires to give more money to those in need, saying 18 million people affected by natural disasters are still waiting for aid.

JAPAN - was bracing for more snow today after SOME OF THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL ON RECORD that has left at least 28 people dead and paralysed transport. Almost 4m of snow has piled up in the worst-hit areas of Niigata near the Japan Sea coast, though the snowiest season of the year is yet to come. Japan's Meteorological Agency said cold weather and heavier-than-usual snowfall would likely continue through January, caused by cold air flowing over the country from the North Pole. This was a phenomenon that occurs on a regular basis, but has lasted LONGER THAN USUAL.

HEAT -
AUSTRALIA - the recent Queensland hot spell has been blamed for the mass death of fish on the Gold Coast. Thousands of dead fish were discovered in Robina Lakes and a Clear Island waterway on the 5th. It is believed that UNUSUALLY HIGH WATER TEMPERATURES caused by hot weather during the past few days led to the death of eels, mullet, bream and bass. Many of the dead fish have washed ashore and more fish deaths are expected this weekend.
LANDOWNERS are on high alert as a large bushfire continues to burn out of control in a rugged national park in New South Wale's central-west. Firefighters were preparing for possible flare-ups as gusty winds looked set to fan the blaze in the Weddin Mountains National Park.

RUSSIA - A powerful cyclone that has been affecting southern areas of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula has brought a SUDDEN WARMING there. Air temperatures have risen by 10-15 degrees Celsius on average in the region. In some areas and the central part of the peninsula the temperatures have risen by 30 degrees from 28 below zero to two above zero Celsius. Squally winds with force up to 24 metres per second are raging in the coastal areas in the east of Kamchatka. The wind speed is reaching 30 metres per second in the Pacific near the peninsula's coast. Flights of passenger planes of all local air carriers have been cancelled for the second day running due to the bad weather.

ODD -
MORE BOULDERS FALLING DUE TO 'RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS' -
TANZANIA - three American tourists were killed when rocks tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro and smashed into climbers preparing to scale the peak of Africa's highest mountain. Five others, three Americans and two Tanzanians, were injured. U.S. scientists have predicted that Mount Kilimanjaro's glaciers are melting so fast they will be disappear in less than 20 years. It is thought that the shrinking glaciers have loosened rocks they once held in place. {Other articles said "a SUDDEN CHANGE IN WEATHER at Kibo peak dislodged the rocks."}

ILLINOIS - a strange rust-colored dust is being found on cars this week. "All day long we were noticing cars coming in with this rust-colored sediment on them." "It's a rust-colored powder, and rubbing fingers together, it almost feels like a baby powder, or kind of like, if you ever work with corn starch, or even a woman's cosmetic. The rouge that they put on, or what have you." One place has seen about 30 cars come in over the past couple of days, all carrying the strange sediment. Cars from the Far South Side, from Humboldt Park, from Crystal Lake. "It's pretty weird." The Illinois EPA says it's not sure what's going on. Accu-Weather says the rusty powder could be dirt from the dry Southwest, blown by the winds and dropped by the rain.

CONSTANT FOG -
CANADA - Alberta - UNUSUAL WEATHER has created a life-threatening situation for the 1,200 residents in Fort Chipewyan, one of the most remote communities in the region. A weather system over the hamlet has created reduced visibility, grounding flights sporadically for the last month, including three days this week. The doctor who is scheduled to travel to the hamlet every Tuesday hasn’t been able to see his patients in more than four weeks. The weather conditions could keep necessary help away in a trauma situation, he said. The mix of warm and moist air has created a low ceiling - reducing visibility over the hamlet and SETTING A NEW WEATHER PRECEDENT. “We have this problem for a day here and there throughout early spring, maybe in the fall but I’ve never seen a system like this sustain.” The winter road to the south is yet to be opened due to the warm weather, so residents must rely purely on airplanes for supplies, mail and transportation. "Alberta and the Arctic have been ABNORMALLY WARM warm this winter. The real cold stuff is more over Nunavut and in (Russian) Siberia."

Thursday, January 5, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/4 -
6.8 GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
5.2 VANUATU ISLANDS

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical depression ZETA was 896 nmi NE of Bridgetown, Barbados.

AT SEA rowing across the Atlantic towards Antigua. Having set out on an expedition, the Row4Life team expected and hoped for a 40-50 day crossing of the Atlantic, in consistent, gentle trade winds pushing them to the west. That is what traditionally happens at this time of the year in the Atlantic. No such luck this year. Instead in the last month they have met 3 low-pressure systems, 2 tropical storms and 1 hurricane. The latest Tropical Storm Zeta has been with the fleet for the last week, sustaining winds of about 50 miles per hour and making life very uncomfortable onboard with waves the size of houses at times. Had the fleet known what FREAK WEATHER conditions were going to hit them, perhaps no one would have set out in the first place. “It has been tough, I have to admit it. I don’t want to whine, but we haven’t had one day where the weather actually helped us!...we are trying to row against 12-foot waves as they fall into our boat! A few days ago everything got wet in our cabin, today it is sunny and 102 degrees on deck, so every day is different.” On Day 35 they are not even halfway yet, they have now rowed 1,351 miles and still have 1,580 to go. As they near the half way point in miles, they now pray for elusive easterly trade winds to help them towards their goal. Some teams are already worrying about running out of food and are eating only when absolutely necessary. The energy cost of 12 hours of rowing per day means they need approximately 8,000-10,000 kcals per day, which is 5x more than the average person.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
(Sign-up required to view article) CALIFORNIA - December deluge might persist through January. The weather pattern that created December's deluge could keep wet weather going through mid-January at least, long-range forecasts show.

SNOW / COLD -
CHINA - Violent blizzards have forced the evacuation of 97,000 people in a largely Muslim region of western desert China, as the nation braced for its WORST WINTER IN 20 YEARS. The nearly 100,000 evacuees had been moved mostly because their homes had collapsed under the heavy blanket of snow. The crisis was far from over: "It's still snowing." Winds blowing in from Siberia had caused the temperature to drop precipitously to -36C in some spots. While no people were reported dead or injured in Xinjiang, mass starvation among the region's livestock is a possibility. 300,000 head of cattle and sheep were unable to graze because of the thick snow cover. The snowstorms in Xinjiang were just the most dramatic result of a cold front descending over China this week. Most provinces in the north of China were affected, and heavy fog caused a series of cancellations and delays at major airports, including in Beijing. Three more "winter freezes" were expected to affect China during January. The Central Meteorological Office recently predicted that China would experience its coldest winter since 1986. This was based partly on the fact that temperatures in December were 1.5C below the historical average. China saw relatively severe natural disasters in 2005. "We had floods, typhoons, droughts, hail storms, earthquakes, blizzards and mudslides."

CANADA - Winnipeg - Bad driving conditions created by a "FREAK" snowstorm are likely to blame for a crash that led to the death of an elderly man Monday night. The collision took place during a STRANGE SWING in the weather. "It was an EXTREME FREAK snowstorm just in that area. Only two kilometres of highway were involved in the snowstorm...each direction you'd be having a nice drive, and then all of a sudden you'd hit a wall of snow." Such freak snowstorms cause highways to be icy. "If it seems something is out of the norm weather-wise, you should try and decrease your speed until you know what you're on."

RUSSIA - An avalanche warning has been issued in Russia’s Sakhalin, after a powerful snow cyclone triggered five avalanches in the southern part of the island. Three of them have sealed off the highway between the city of Nevelsk and the settlement of Shebunino. The powerful cyclone paralysed transport on many roads. A double monthly norm of snow has fallen in different parts of Sakhalin over the past two days. Now the cyclone is leaving Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands to the Pacific Ocean, also hitting Kamchatka. This winter Sakhalin has seen several cyclones. About 30 avalanches were registered in mid-December, when a cyclone was hovering over the island for two days.

ODD -
TEXAS - UNUSUAL weather confusing north Texas plants. The warm weather may be causing some confusion in North Texas yards. Four weeks of warm weather following the last freeze is fooling some plants into thinking that spring has arrived. Some plants, like azaleas, are beginning to bloom 10 weeks before they should.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/5 -
In 1843 - a 4.8 quake struck Northeast Arkansas.
In 1953 - a 7.1 quake struck Near Islands, Alaska.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006 -

QUAKES -
A 6.7 quake hit the Gulf of California off the Mexican coast this morning but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Largest quakes yesterday -
1/3 -
5.0 LAKE MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA
5.1 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN, REGION
5.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 MARIANA ISLANDS
5.6 FIJI ISLANDS REGION

VOLCANO -
HAWAII - Mauna Loa's rumblings are quieting down. The rate of earthquake activity below the mountain, which last erupted in 1984, dropped off dramatically in 2005 from the previous year. "Last December, most people were predicting an eruption soon. The story 12 months later is completely different." Meanwhile, no end is in sight to Kilauea's Pu'u 'O'o eruption, which began Jan. 3, 1983. The volcano continues to spew out an average of 500,000 cubic yards of lava per day. This event has continued for more than two decades, while the volcano's 10 previous eruptions lasted no longer than a month. The Pu'u 'O'o eruption is the longest rift-zone eruption in at least 600 years.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical storm ZETA was 1086 nmi ENE of Bridgetown, Barbados.

THUNDERSTORMS / HEAVY RAINS -
INDONESIA - A landslide triggered by heavy rains crashed into a village in Indonesia's Central Java province today, killing at least 16 people and possibly trapping 90 more under debris. The disaster followed landslides in neighbouring East Java province earlier this week that killed at least 77 people. Today's pre-dawn landslide smashed into hundreds of houses in the mountainous village of Sijeruk, home to around 700 people. "People are still in a panic. They screamed earlier today when there was another landslide, but it was not too big." Around the East Java village of Kemiri, hundreds of rescue workers and soldiers have been trying to reach a handful of villages still cut off by floods and landslides that swept through the area late on Sunday. In the nearby town of Jember 800 km (500 miles) east of Jakarta, rescuers were trying to reach the cut-off areas.

MALAWI - Flash floods have displaced more than 40,000 people and killed one person, hampering efforts to combat the worst drought in a decade. Houses, livestock and crops of farming families have been swept away in the Lower Shire Valley. More flooding is likely because heavy rains will continue to fall in the coming weeks. Mozambican media has reported that flooding has killed at least 13 people in central Sofala Province since torrential rains hit there last week.

ILLINOIS - In Springfield on Monday a "microburst," or strong surge of straight-line winds, toppled utility lines and trees, knocked out power and damaged homes and vehicles from west of Auburn through Chatham. A microburst is a strong downdraft that includes brief, though potentially damaging, winds on or near the ground. Microbursts can produce winds of 50 to 100 mph. "This is so HIGHLY UNUSUAL." Monday's spring-like microburst affected an area about eight miles long. It began shortly before 7:30 a.m. when five utility poles were snapped along Illinois 104. This gust of straight-line winds resulted from one of two severe storm cells that originated in Missouri early Monday. The first cell lost strength as it moved into Illinois and passed over Jacksonville without incident. The second started over St. Louis and decreased in intensity as it moved north into western Sangamon County. "A microburst is sometimes a characteristic of the last gasp of a dying storm."

FLORIDA - Ping-ponging weather in Gainsville - On Monday, the area saw RECORD RAINFALL, near-record temperatures and a foundation-shaking thunderstorm. Residents were greeted Tuesday with blue skies, ideal temperatures and calm conditions. Gainesville's 2.48 inches of rainfall Monday more than doubled the old record on that date. The area also saw 81 degree temperatures, just one degree short of the record high. A cold front is expected to arrive Thursday, dropping highs to the 50s and lows around freezing for the weekend. Monday's storm was caused by a cold front hitting unusually warm and moist weather. Gainesville Regional Airport recorded 1.69 inches in an hour. At least one location reported hail up to half an inch in diameter falling briefly.

MICHIGAN - Rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightning and rain showers on the second day of 2006 may have had residents of the Kalamazoo area wondering whether someone was playing games with the calendar. What's really going on is a weather pattern that has been keeping cold temperatures well to the north of southwestern Michigan. This has created low-pressure systems and plenty of instability, which created favorable conditions for thunderstorms on Monday. The National Weather Service describes the thunderstorms as "RARE" and "UNUSUAL" for this time of year. There were numerous reports of small hail, and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. "The weather pattern shifted in early December...It's STRANGE to have the temperature remain so constant. This last week-and-a-half has been about as UNUSUAL as the first three weeks in December, when temperatures were in the 20s." This past December was the SECOND CLOUDIEST EVER, only December 1972 was cloudier. "We had a total of 10 percent sunshine last month, so we're way below normal, and we're starting January off pretty cloudy, too."

CALIFORNIA - Has been hit by four back-to-back storms which originated in China on Dec. 24 and crossed the Philippines to pick up subtropical moisture before letting the rain and wind wallop most of Northern California. The RARE quadruple storm combination comes once every dozen years. In Los Angeles rain drenched the route of the Rose Bowl parade for the FIRST TIME IN A HALF CENTURY.

SNOW / COLD -
INDIA - Unpredictable weather held sway over north India claiming two lives in Punjab to raise the death count to 103 and snowfall wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh by cutting off all major passes even as road and air services were restored in Jammu and Kashmir. Foggy conditions too increased owing to high humidity, which disrupted road and rail traffic. Icy cold winds swept Chandigarh, as the maximum here dipped by a RECORD NINE DEGREES BELOW NORMAL at 11.4 C.

GERMANY - The Ice Rink disaster came amid FREAK SNOW. Long and dense snowfalls have brought havoc to southern Germany and Austria, triggering avalanches, felling trees, blocking roads and rail and cutting electricity to thousands of homes. Experts said an UNUSUAL mix of warmer weather - with temperatures just above freezing - and downfalls lasting for up to 30 hours had led to the chaos in an area used to snowy winters. Some 30 cm (12 inches) has fallen since Monday morning. "What was untypical is that it was first cold last week and snowed a lot and then became mild but continued snowing. This has raised the snow's density enormously and hence its weight." The snowfall was slowly moving northeast, towards the Czech Republic.

JAPAN - An avalanche buried 12 skiers and resort workers, badly injuring at least one. Niigata, about 155 miles northwest of Tokyo, has recently been hit with heavy snowfall. The weather agency warned that snow clouds could dump another 31 inches of snow in the region through late today.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/4 -
In 1970 - a 7.5 quake strucdk Yunnan Province, China, 10,000 killed.

Crop Failures, Food Shortages, Fish Die-Off

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/2 -
5.5 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
7.1 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.7 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
5.3 NEW BRITAIN
5.6 VANUATU ISLANDS
5.0 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
7.3 SOUTHWESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN
5.7 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS

A strong 7.3 earthquake struck Monday off the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, but there were no reports of injuries or a tsunami. "This particular area is not known to have tsunamis." Still, news of the quake prompted thousands of residents along the coast of Sri Lanka - thousands of miles away - to flee inland.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Tropical storm ZETA was 1164 nmi SW of Lajes, Azores.
"ZETA STRENGTHENED AGAINST ALL ODDS AND FORECASTS... IT APPEARS THAT EVERY PULSE OF STRONG UPPER-LEVEL WINDS THAT HAS TRIED TO APPROACH ZETA BECOMES DIVERTED AWAY FROM THE CYCLONE. CONSEQUENTLY, THE CYCLONE HAS NOT BECOME SHEARED. IN ADDITION, THE LATEST SSMI IMAGE SHOW A RING OF DEEP CONVECTION RESEMBLING AN EYEWALL...BUT NOT QUITE. THE LATEST RUN OF THE GFDL MODEL MAKES IT A 79-KNOT HURRICANE AS A SHARP UPPER-TROUGH APPROACHES THE HURRICANE. I WAS TEMPTED TO FOLLOW THE GFDL TREND BUT I HESITATED SINCE I AM NOT READY FOR SUCH AN AGGRESSIVE FORECAST YET GIVEN THE APPROACHING HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT FORECAST BY EVERY OTHER MODEL." Satellite image

HEAVY RAIN / FLOODING -
CALIFORNIA - Northern Californians focused Monday on cleaning up a mess of mud and debris swept into city streets and over roadways by two powerful winter storms as the heavy rain moved into Southern California, prompting flash flood watches for areas left blackened by recent wildfires. Estimates put the damage throughout Northern California at more than $100 million. Heavy snow fell across the Sierra Nevada on Monday, from Lake Tahoe south to Mammoth Mountain ski resort, where several avalanches shut down Highway 395, the main north-south route along the eastern Sierra. Mammoth reported 3 feet of new snow overnight, with several more feet expected to fall throughout the day.

MISSOURI - New Year's Day's 60-degree warmth was followed early Monday by severe storms - and perhaps a tornado or two. No one was hurt, but a few mobile homes were rolled over, trees knocked down, and strong hail pelted parts of the St. Louis area. The unseasonably warm weather was ominous for weather-watchers. "It's a bad sign when it's that warm. The humidity was very high as well. The combination of warm, moist air - things were very unstable. Sometimes when you get this unusually warm, humid air, and you get a low-pressure system moving through, it's definitely a good possibility of thunderstorms and severe weather."
GEORGIA - Summer-style thunderstorms raked Georgia on the second day of the new year, spinning off high winds, hail and tornadoes, downing trees and power lines and drenching most of the state with heavy rain. As an oncoming cold front clashed with moist air and temperatures unseasonally in the 60s and 70s, the National Weather Service reported almost 6 inches of rain in Alma.
SOUTH CAROLINA - Hail, rain and strong winds marked the thunderstorms that blew through the state Monday. It was an UNUSUAL weather event because it's so early in the year, and severe weather doesn't typically begin until late March. There have been January tornadoes in several of the last few years (1995, 1998, 2005), but the events are RARE. Of the 778 tornadoes recorded in the state since 1950, only 19 of them have touched down in January.

INDONESIA - Flashflood accompanied by a huge landslide in Indonesia's East Java Province has killed at least 29 people and swept away hundreds of houses leaving more than 9,000 homeless and over 100 missing. Two days of torrential rains have triggered the flood and unleashed a massive landslide in the town of Jember, some 800 km east of Jakarta. "The rain has triggered a huge landslide that later clogged up a river. As the rain continued for several days, the river suddenly unleashed a flash flood and massive landslide to the three areas."

ITALY - Inconveniences and train delays on the Roma-Cassino railway are due to a landslide, shortly after five thirty, near the small town of Labico, twenty kilometres from Rome. A mass of land and trees fell on top both tracks, blocking the line entirely.
Sinalunga is trying, slowly, to return to normal, after yesterday's flood, caused by the breaking of a bank of the Foenna stream, due to recent heavy rain.
Seven houses were evacuated in Forli' del Sannio, in the Isernia province, due to a landslide. The measure was taken due to safety reasons after that fireguards discovered the crumbling of a support wall over the houses. The landslide was due to the heavy rains of these days.

YEMEN - The death toll from last week's landslide in Yemen mounted to 63 on Monday after rescue teams pulled out nine more bodies. About 100 people are missing.

SNOW / COLD -
PAKISTAN - At least 70 people were injured when heavy snowfall destroyed a tent village set up for quake survivors in Pakistan's northern Hattia Bala area.
Avalanche risk in Pakistan's earthquake-torn areas - Significant snow has fallen in earthquake affected areas over the last two days. Officials say that this week's avalanche killed at least 24 people, who were in the area to dig for gemstones. The Kohistan area had been "hit by several aftershocks in the past week and there was one on the day of the avalanche".

GERMANY - Ten persons were killed in the collapse of the roof of an ice skating rink in the southern part of Germany yesterday following heavy snowfall.
Three mountaineers were reported missing after they were hit by an avalanche in the German Alps. Seven others had been able to struggle free of the avalanche.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/3 -
In 1911 - an 8.2 quake struck Kyrgyzstan, Chong-Kemin (Russia, Turkestan, Bol'shoy Kemin). Over 450 killed.

Drought, Heat, Water Shortages, Wildfires

Monday, January 2, 2006 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
1/1 -
5.8 NORTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
5.3 BANDA SEA
5.3 NEAR COAST OF VENEZUELA
5.4 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

VOLCANOES -
WASHINGTON - Fifteen months after Mount St. Helens reawakened, the volcano is continuing to release massive amounts of lava in an UNUSUAL geologic display that in some respects confounds scientists. With the sticky molten rock comes a steady drumfire of small earthquakes. The unremitting, monthslong pace is not common. Experts say it is unclear what the activity signifies or how long it will continue. It’s not entirely clear where the lava is coming from. If it were being generated by the mountain, scientists would expect to see changes in the mountain’s shape, its sides compressing as lava is spewed out. But at the current rate of extrusion, “three or four months would have been enough time to exhaust what was standing in the conduit.” That suggests resupply from greater depths, which normally would generate certain gases and deep earthquakes. Neither is being detected.
Scientists now believe the new lava dome at Mount St. Helens has, in all probability, exceeded the volume of the dome that took six years to emerge in a series of eruptions between 1980 and 1986. The eruption began with a flurry of tiny earthquakes on Sept. 23, 2004, and has officially moved into its third calendar year. It's possible this eruption is simply the tail end of the eruption that actually began with a flurry of earthquakes detected in March 1980.

ALASKA - Experts say expect eruption of the Augustine Volcano within weeks. Scientists say it's likely the volcano's magma has already risen above sea level, and is continuing to rise in the 41-hundred-foot island volcano in Cook Inlet. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says tremors diminished this past week. But they say that does not mean the danger has lessened. Scientists say in 1986 the island blew off steam and then trembled for eight weeks, before finally erupting. Scientists say instruments picked up a few minor steam bursts this week.

TROPICAL STORMS -

Tropical storm ZETA was 1029 nmi SW of Lajes, Azores. Zeta is moving toward the SW. Some weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours. "THIS IS LIKE PREVIOUS TROPICAL CYCLONE EPSILON ALL OVER AGAIN. MOST OF THE CONVENTIONAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED THAT ZETA SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISSIPATED BY NOW...WELL IT IS NOT INDEED...ACCORDING TO THE SHIPS MODEL WHICH DISSIPATES ZETA BY 48 HOURS, THE COOLER THAN NORMAL 200 MB TEMPERATURE IS THE ONLY PARAMETER CONTRIBUTING TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE CYCLONE. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE GFDL INSISTS ON MAKING ZETA A HURRICANE IN A COUPLE OF DAYS AND IT IS HARD TO GO AGAINST IT. HOWEVER, WITH STRONG WESTERLIES ALOFT AND DRY AIR HEADING FOR ZETA, I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FORECAST WEAKENING AGAIN AND AGAIN."

HEAVY RAIN / FLOODING -
CALIFORNIA - One man was killed, scores were forced from their homes and stranded on roadways, and thousands were left to clean up after torrential rains unleashed their fury on Solano County on the last day of 2005. The storm reportedly dumped more than 5 inches of rain on Solano County between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of homes had been touched by floodwaters. "We're totally saturated throughout the county, but we're nowhere nearly as bad off as Sonoma or Mendocino counties. Rio Vista is one of our primary concerns with the high tide and wind on the levees. if the situation in Rio Vista turns sour, it's going to be a real fight." The thought had been that, when high tide hit at 3 p.m., it - combined with high winds - could break the levee apart. Thankfully, that never occurred.

INDIA - The cold wave which gripped the North West region, finally subsided on the first day of the New Year as temperatures dipped at most places in Punjab and Haryana. The overcast skies registered a sharp increase settling at one to four degrees above normal. However, icy cold continued to sweep across Himachal Pradesh from the snow capped mountains of the tribal districts. The Met office here has sounded a warning for the farmers of Punjab as certain parts of the state was likely to be lashed by a hail storm accompanied by light to moderate rain in the next 35 hours. Winds at the speed of 45 km per hour are also likely to sweep across the border state that could renew the cold wave conditions.

AUSTRALIA - Hundreds of passengers were stranded after flash floods cut the main rail link between Western Australia and the eastern states, forcing the cancellation of freight and passenger services.

SNOW / COLD -
CHINA - already enduring its COLDEST WINTER IN 20 YEARS, is preparing for a cold snap that will see temperatures drop by as much as 16C. Northern China, where temperatures are already as low as minus 15-20C, will feel the strongest effects of the cold front, which is sweeping in from Mongolia and western Siberia. Three more successive "winter freezes" were expected to affect China during January, usually the coldest month of the year.

COLORADO - Two snowmobilers were killed in an avalanche near Cameroon Pass in the Rocky Mountains on Sunday.

UTAH - One missing, one rescued after Utah avalanche. A man who was caught in an avalanche while snowshoeing with a friend high in the mountains of Provo Canyon was presumed trapped. One man was able to ride out the avalanche, but his friend could not be found.

Extreme weather hits US states, Europe - In France and across much of Europe, brutally cold weather, which has seen lows of -26 C, is being blamed in dozens of deaths. Twenty-five centimetres of snow has fallen on Florence, Italy - the MOST IN 10 YEARS. In Poland, police said 23 people have frozen to death in recent days. An airport in the Netherlands was also snowed in, Germany was slammed with heavy snow and Britain experienced frigid temperatures down to -12 C, causing at least one death.

WILDFIRES / HEAT -
AUSTRALIA - Dozens of residents were forced to flee their homes as wildfires raged out of control in sweltering Australia on Sunday. Bushfires have destroyed more than a dozen homes in south-eastern Australia, and threaten hundreds more. Strong winds and very high temperatures have conspired to push giant walls of flames towards some communities. An ambulance worker died after helping residents escape to an evacuation centre, as temperatures soared to 47C. Many roads became impassable, and for some families the only means of escape was by boat. A cold front has brought relief from the scorching conditions, and, with it, some much needed rain. But fires continue to burn across Australia's south-eastern corner - one of the world's most fire-prone regions. Forecasters have predicted that more hot and windy weather is likely in the days ahead.

OKLAHOMA - is still under a threat of more wildfires and officials are asking for more help.

An Alaskan permafrost expert is casting doubt on predictions from a new computer climate model, which foresees rapid melting in the north over the next century. "Because permafrost is a very inertial system and it will keep lots of cold which has to be removed before it starts to thaw." He says that the scenarios of climate change the researchers used are too extreme. His own research indicates permafrost changes will not be that dramatic.

SPACE -
Meteor shower Tuesday - The Quadrantid meteor shower will treat viewers who escape city lights to as many as 100 meteors an hour.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
In 1999 - a 4.5 quake struck Sichuan, China 4.5. Two people injured and some livestock killed.

Sunday, January 1, 2005 -

QUAKES -
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/31 -
5.1 IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
5.1 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
5.3 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
12/30 -
5.2 SOUTHEAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.8 SOUTH OF PANAMA
5.0 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS

TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical Storm Zeta was 972 nmi SW of Lajes, Azores. The storm was not considered likely to threaten land.
The FREAK tropical storm began swirling through the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, defying predictions and capping a wild hurricane season. Zeta formed off the coast of Africa, adding to the total numbers of the already RECORD HURRICANE SEASON. Zeta is the 27th tropical cyclone of the year, and has TIED A RECORD FOR THE LASTEST DEVELOPING NAMED STORM in recorded history. It ties with 1954's Hurricane Alice. On Dec. 30, 1954, a late tropical depression formed farther south in the Atlantic Ocean, reached tropical storm strength later that day and on Dec. 31 became the second hurricane to be named Alice that year.
Earlier this month, Hurricane Epsilon became only the fifth hurricane to form in December in 154 years of record-keeping. Normally, hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. A December storm like Zeta is VERY UNUSUAL. But even a January storm is possible. If there is one, it would be the first of the 2006 season and its name would be Alberto.

HEAVY RAIN / FLOODING -
CALIFORNIA - warnings of possible flooding and landslides were issued in Northern California as the latest of a series of storms hit the state. Four homes were destroyed in landslides during rains earlier in the week and cities have been vexed by flooded streets during downpours. A boulder tumbled from famed Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, causing temporary evacuation of some homes there. A combination of wind, high tide and heavy rain had officials worried about erosion to levees in the California Delta, a vast network of waterways near the city of Sacramento. The storm was expected to stretch inland to the Sierra mountains and separate storms are forecast to douse Southern California. Mountain areas in Los Angeles County recently hit by brush fires were particularly vulnerable.

NEVADA - Reno hit by WORST FLOODING SINCE 1997, Mudslide Shuts Down I-80. Rain and melting snow swamped Nevada, causing the worst flooding in the Reno area since a January 1997 flood that caused $1 billion in damages. High water and mudslides closed major roads.

SNOW / COLD -
SLOVAKIA - Seven Czech climbers were killed on Saturday when an avalanche overwhelmed their camp in the Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia.

FRANCE - An off-piste skier has been killed by an avalanche in the ski resort of La Toussuire in the Sybelles ski domain.

EUROPE - The forecast is for warmer temperatures over the weekend, but until then, many parts of Britain will remain in the grip of ONE OF THE WORST SNOW AND ICE STORMS it has seen in many years. Right across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a cold snap caused transportation chaos. In one instance 200 vehicles were stranded on a highway. The weather has also led to cancelled trains and airline flights. By Saturday, the temperature was expected to rise above freezing, which had local authorities warning of the possibility of flooding.

CONNECTICUTT - In Danbury, three to five inches of snow will fall on the region. The storm is one of a series that have come east out of the center of the country "They form in the Midwest, come here, die out, then re-form off the East Coast. It's a little UNUSUAL. We don't usually seem to be getting storms moving along a conveyor belt." Because of the relatively warm weather they've had for the past week or so, these storms have shown up as rain. But colder air moved into the region late Friday, making the New Year's Eve storm all snow. Another, albeit smaller, storm will hit the state Monday night into Tuesday, then a third on Thursday night into Friday. This last storm will be the worst.

HOT / DRY -
AUSTRALIA - Melbourne topped off its WARMEST EVER DECEMBER with a RECORD HOT NEW YEAR'S EVE. The temperature peaked at a scorching 42.9 degrees in Melbourne at 5.15pm (AEDT) yesterday, the city's previous hottest December 31 was back in 1862 when the mercury topped 41.7 degrees. Ballarat and Ararat both recorded their highest December temperatures of 41 and 42 degrees respectively. Victoria also set a new RECORD AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER of 27.7 degrees. The previous record was 27.3 in 1873. "It was in fact the WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD."
MELBOURNE'S WEATHER left forecasters in a spin with unexpected northerly winds counteracting a cool southerly change and sending temperatures soaring. The Melbourne weather bureau had predicted a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius but downgraded the forecast earlier to 33 degrees when a southerly sea breeze hit the city shortly after 10am. But conditions changed rapidly in the afternoon when the winds swung 180 degrees and the temperatures soared to 43.5 degrees by 4.55pm (AEDT). "It's relatively UNUSUAL to be as complicated as this around the Melbourne area."

CANADA - Yellowknife is basking in their WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. Warmer than usual temperatures have created road closures, ferry delays and flooding dangers throughout the Northwest Territories.

LOUISIANA - Is it irony or simply an interesting coincidence that in a year when two hurricanes washed away much of south Louisiana, northwest Louisiana is logging its 14th driest year ever? The National Weather Service expects low rainfall to continue through the first quarter of 2006.

Previous Disasters - On this day -
1/1 -
In 1902 - a 7.0 quake struck the Fox Islands, Alaska.
In 1980 - a 7.2 quake struck the Azores Islands. At least 56 people killed, 400 or more injured and extensive damage.
In 1996 - a 7.9 quake struck the Minahassa Peninsula, Sulawesi. At least eight people killed.
12/31 -
In 1901 - a 7.1 quake struck Cook Inlet, Alaska.