May & June 2008 Featured Disasters

Monday, June 30, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.
Steven Wright

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 6.7 quake in the SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/29/08 -
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.9 PRIMOR'YE, RUSSIA
5.1 OFF COAST OF OREGON
5.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.2 WESTERN XIZANG
5.6 OFFSHORE CHIAPAS, MEXICO

VOLCANOES -
NEW ZEALAND - Lake temperatures and gas levels remain high on Mt Ruapehu. The mountain last erupted in September last year. GNS Science says the temperatures and levels usually return to normal after an eruption but they are still high, nine months later. The agency says another eruption is unlikely anytime soon but skiers and snowboarders should be aware of exit strategies in place. It says emergency management agencies met last week, to brush up on their eruption response plans.

FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
DUBAI - FREAK weather could endanger the lives of anyone swimming in the sea or trekking in the desert, Dubai Police have warned. The Ports Police Station issued a “cautionary advisory” informing residents and visitors about potential weather changes and urged people to be careful when going to the beach or visiting the desert or hilly areas. They also warned people not to swim at night when the sea becomes rougher. People were advised not to go to remote, unsupervised beaches, which may have hidden dangers such as strong currents or whirlpools. Weather conditions are expected to change constantly over the coming days, meaning anyone going sailing should first inform the operations room at Dubai Police. “This will make it easier for the police to find them in case of any accident.”

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm BORIS was 660 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm CRISTINA was 1185 nmi WSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

PHILIPPINES - Fishing industry suffers after ferry tragedy - The government suspended all diving operations to recover bodies inside the passenger ferry which capsized during Typhoon Fengshen on June 21 with more than 850 people on board and banned fishing around the island on Friday after it was revealed the ferry was carrying a highly toxic pesticide. The crescent-shaped island has one of the country's most diverse marine eco systems. Should the chemicals leak into its pristine waters the impact on local marine life would be devastating. With their houses devastated by the typhoon and their livelihoods on the line, people are being forced to beg for food from relatives to feed their families. "We have no rice, no money. Now we can't even go out to sea to fish. That's all we have got. We are a poor people." Health officials are now conducting tests on samples taken from the area, and while initial results showed no contamination, experts are taking no chances. But in the meantime, already poor fishermen are wondering what will happen to them.

CHINA - The death toll in the last week's tropical storm Fengshen which struck south China's Guangdong province has mounted to 14 even as heavy rains continued to lash the city, triggering landslides and forcing cancellation of flights. At least 14 people have died till now and another nine are missing. Fengshen, which means "God of Wind", had brought downpours and caused the rivers to swell in most parts of the country's industrial powerhouse, Guangdong, after hitting the province's economic boom city of Shenzen on Wednesday last. Although the tropical storm had left Shenzen, strong rain continued to pound the city Saturday, triggering landslides and forcing cancellation of flights and stranding passengers. The rains affected 340,000 people, destroyed more than 1,200 houses and inundated more than 640,000 hectares of crops.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
PHILIPPINES - heavy rains have triggered a landslide that killed at least four people and injured 26 others in the central Philippines. The houses of six families were buried late Sunday in mountainous Samboan township, in Cebu province. Many of the people were sleeping when the earth crashed down. It had been raining heavily and villagers reported a squall that whipped up winds in the area before the landslide.

U.S. -
Well before record floods overwhelmed at least two dozen levees in the Mississippi River watershed, government officials at all levels have raised concern about the ability of such structures to protect property and lives. For millions of Americans living in flood-prone places, all that stands between the waters of mayhem and safety is a pile of dirt. Earthen berms, dikes and levees, identical to those overtopped and breached in dozens of places along swollen rivers in the Midwest during the past few weeks, make up the vast majority of flood protection efforts across the United States. A growing list of levees around the country are being found wanting as tougher scrutiny from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state regulators and private engineering firms reveals defects in design and maintenance. Even where levees are well-maintained, as those in the flood zone have been in most instances, officials note that the likelihood of flood levels rising higher than the tops of the berms seems to be increasing, because of a combination of more intense storms and changes in land use. Most of the levees that have been overtopped were built lower because they defend mostly farmland rather than cities. But places like Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Iowa City saw rivers crest more than 10 feet higher than levels reached in the then record-setting flood of 1993 — making it impossible to pile sand bags high enough or fast enough on their levees to keep the water out. No one at any level of government knows where all the levees are, much less the condition of thousands of the structures. By some estimates, there may be 20,000 to 30,000 levees scattered across the country, but no one is sure. Maintenance of levees, even those operated by the Corps itself, is years and billions of dollars behind schedule. "The levees are already bad and they are going to get worse. This is not a joke. We know this is going to happen." (photos)

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
U.S. floods may boost food prices for years - Levees on the cresting Mississippi River held today as the worst US Midwest flooding in 15 years began to ebb, but multibillion-dollar crop losses may boost world food prices for years.

In the Philippines, a "food shortage" looms in the next one to two months after the massive floods due to typhoon "Frank" (international codename: Fengshen) devastated farm lands and livestock in the Western Visayas. One of the affected provinces, Iloilo, is one of the top three rice-producing provinces in the country. The floods destroyed 22 hectares or rice lands, equivalent to 66,000 metric tons of rice, and "almost wiped out" livestock and fisheries in the region. In Cadiz town in Negros Occidental, the storm destroyed half a billion pesos worth of fishing boats. Water systems destroyed by the storm have not been repaired.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Sunday, June 29, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself;
he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/28/08 -
5.4 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
6.3 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 KEP. TANIMBAR REGION, INDONESIA
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.4 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
6/27/08 -
5.1 TONGA
5.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
6.7 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.0 OFFSHORE SUCRE, VENEZUELA

INDIA - The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were again jolted by three successive tremors on Saturday, just a day after three other quakes shook the islands. The latest was 6.3 at 6.26 p.m [there has been a 5.4 since then] with the epicentre of the quake located 132 km south-west of Port Blair, 35 km beneath the sea. Two earthquakes of moderate intensity measuring 5.1 and 5.3 on the Richter scale shook the islands earlier at 8.56 a.m. and 10 a.m. respectively. No damage to property or loss of life was reported. This was the 6th tremor felt since Friday after the islands were hit by three earthquakes measuring 6.7, 6.1 and 6.6 on the Richter scale. The successive quakes have triggered panic among the people on the islands which were ravaged by the December 26, 2004 killer tsunami. [Site note - the magnitudes of these quakes change as seismologists examine the data.]

IRAN - four consecutive tremors measuring 3.2, 4.4, 3.2 and 3.2 shook Kerman province, Southeastern Iran Friday night. The city of Jiroft on Friday was hit at 19:26 hours local time (1456 GMT) for the first time and it was struck on Saturday at 06:03 hours local time (0133 GMT) for the last. The Office for Natural Disasters had informed people of the likely quake, calling for preparations to deal with it. The four consecutive tremors scared the people of the province who stayed outdoors in the streets and parks overnight.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm BORIS was 566 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm CRISTINA was 1079 nmi WSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Tropical Storm Boris has formed off Mexico's Pacific coast, but is not threatening land. Tropical Storm Boris and a depression were out at sea far from Mexico in the east Pacific on Saturday and moving away from land. Boris had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was about 630 miles (1,015 kilometers) south-southwest of Baja California's southern tip. Tropical Depression Three-E had winds of 35 mph (56 kph) and was about 1,080 miles (1,740 kilometers) west-southwest of Baja California's southern tip. The depression became tropical storm Cristina later on Saturday.
Another broad area of disturbed weather is located several hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec (southeast of the two tropical storms). Slow development of this system is possible over the next couple of days as it moves West-Northwestward.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - Non-stop rain takes its toll in flood-hit south China - "It's been raining almost continuously for about two months, much longer than last year, and it's a lot of trouble." Inhabitants of the capital of Guangdong province - used to bad weather at this time of year - say they have had enough of the FREAK downpours that have caused deadly floods in nearby towns and hit business. They are the lucky ones, however, as the city was largely spared from the deadly floods that hit other towns in Guangdong this month. But the amount of rain, and the length of time the downpours have lasted, have taken their toll on locals here. The tropical storm that hit the city on Wednesday - the remainder of the typhoon that killed more than 1,000 people in the Philippines - sent yet more sheets of rain and caused chaos in the city. It forced the evacuation of more than 600 people from the southern district of Nansha, as landslides were reported in 14 different places and traffic slowed to a snail's pace. On Thursday, the rain had subsided from its tropical storm force, but was still pouring down on a sea of umbrellas in the city. The rain has also hit food prices. The bad weather could continue until the beginning of next week.

U.S. -
Iowa was one of 17 states whacked this year by an UNUSUALLY severe outbreak of storms, with financial, public safety, infrastructure and environmental repercussions that could take state officials years to resolve. Hurricane season started June 1, so more states could face disasters. But already 2008 has been UNUSUAL, meteorologists say, because of the frequency of fast-moving storms that have occurred at night in populated areas. About 60 people a year die in tornadoes, but this year 118 have been killed, the most in 10 years. The burst of violent weather began on Feb. 5 when 87 tornadoes swept across Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama, killing 56 people. Since then, tornadoes have struck Georgia, Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Multiple heavy thunderstorms have pelted Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, leading to flooding.
A new 182 page administration report on extreme weather warns that human-induced climate change is making heavy downpours more intense, with storms that used to occur every 20 years projected to occur every six by the end of the century. One of clearest trends in observed records is an increase in the number and intensity of heavy precipitation events. Over the last century, for example, days where it has rained more than four inches in the upper Midwest have jumped 50 percent. "That rise in global temperature has led to an increase in water vapor. That increase in water vapor is absolutely necessary for the production of heavy and extreme precipitation events." The report also says abnormally hot days and nights are likely to become more frequent, and there will be fewer colder days. "A day so hot that it is currently experienced only once every 20 years would occur every three years by the middle of the century over much of the continental U.S. and every five years over most of Canada." Droughts are likely to become more severe in the southwestern part of the U.S. as rainfall totals drop in winter. Warmer air also will help evaporate moisture from the ground, making droughts worse. "There is no safe haven. There is no place you can live that won't suffer the consequences of global warming."

COLD -
CANADA - unsettled weather conditions are prevailing throughout eastern Canada. That's because the jet stream is way below where it should be. It is south of New Brunswick, when it should be in northern Quebec. "It has been frustrating the last while because temperatures have been running about five degrees (Celsius) below normal and there have been showers or a chance of showers almost every day." Because of this unusual positioning of the jet stream, southeastern New Brunswick can expect showers and thunderstorms, along with below normal temperatures, from now to next Wednesday. The jet stream is expected to finally move north later in the week, resulting in sunny, mild, clear conditions on both Thursday and Friday. But the break in the weather pattern will be short-lived, because the jet stream is forecast to swing back south of New Brunswick again next Saturday, bringing a return next weekend to more dreary weather.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

Warming world sends plants uphill - Climate change has resulted in many plant species moving an average of 29 metres uphill every decade. Climate change has caused plants to seek cooler conditions at higher altitudes. Smaller species such as ferns, which have shorter reproduction cycles, were the quickest to relocate. This suggests that long living woody plant species, such as trees, are likely to be more threatened by climate change than herb species like grasses. "This may imply profound changes in the composition and structure of plant communities and animal species that depend upon them."

CALIFORNIA - An UNPRECEDENTED outbreak of lightning strikes ignited more than 800 wildfires in a single day across Northern California. A RECORD-DRY SPRING followed by early summer heat and FREAK electrical storms were responsible for ONE OF THE WORST DAYS FOR WILDFIRES IN THE STATE'S HISTORY. A pall of thick smoke obscured the sky and reduced visibility to less than 3 kilometres in San Francisco and other cities of Northern California. The huge clouds of smoke were THE WORST IN LIVING MEMORY. Even with out-of-state firefighters brought in, the sheer number of blazes mean that many of them are left to burn out of control. Smoke from the fires also are creating unhealthful air quality.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Salmonella source still a mystery as cases top 800 - no tomatoes have tested positive as the source of the outbreak.

Friday, June 27, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
When adversity knocks on your door, and you're in hot water up to your neck, how do you respond? Are you a carrot - you seem strong, but when things get hot and you're under pressure, you wilt and lose strength? Are you an egg - you appear not to change when the heat is turned up, but actually your heart becomes hardened? Are you a coffee bean - rather than succumbing to the heat, you change the water around you? If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, your very essence will change your environment for the better.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 6.7 quake in the ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/26/08 -
6.1 TONGA
5.2 CENTRAL PERU
5.0 KEP. TANIMBAR REGION, INDONESIA
5.2 CENTRAL PERU

VOLCANOES -
ARCTIC - Researchers from an expedition to the Gakkel Ridge discovered, with a specially developed camera, extensive layers of volcanic ash on the seafloor, which indicates a gigantic volcanic eruption. "Explosive volcanic eruptions on land are nothing unusual and pose a great threat for whole areas. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and buried thriving Pompeii under a layer of ash and pumice. Far away in the Arctic Ocean, at 85° N 85° E, a similarly violent volcanic eruption happened almost undetected in 1999 - in this case, however, under a water layer of 4,000 m thickness." Previously researchers had assumed that explosive volcanism cannot happen in water depths exceeding 3 kilometres because of high ambient pressure. "These are the first pyroclastic deposits we've ever found in such deep water, at oppressive pressures that inhibit the formation of steam, and many people thought this was not possible." The Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean spreads so slowly at 6-14 mm/year, that current theories considered volcanism unlikely - until a series of 300 strong earthquakes over a period of eight months indicated the eruption. It was the largest swarm of earthquakes ever to occur along the planet’s system of mid-ocean ridges.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

The death toll from Typhoon Fengshen, the storm that battered the Philippines last week, could go as high as 1300 if the missing passengers and crew of the capsized ferry are included. Rescue divers continued to search the overturned ferry Thursday but failed to retrieve any new survivors, raising the possibility that as many as 809 of the 865 passengers and crew had perished in the disaster. Since the ship capsized Saturday near Sibuyan Island, only 56 survivors have been found. The Philippine Coast Guard said 124 bodies had either washed ashore on nearby islands or had been found floating in the sea. Adding to the uncertainty of the situation was the way in which some of the recovered bodies were being handled. On some of the islands where bodies had washed up, television footage showed corpses being dumped from a truck into mass graves. Many of the bodies had not been examined by forensic experts for possible identification. Officials on Thursday raised the overall death toll from the storm to 498, excluding those still missing. The typhoon affected more than 2.4 million Filipinos in 42 of the country's 81 provinces. Estimated damage to property is at more than 5.5 billion pesos, or about $125 million.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
IRELAND - Limerick hit by torrential downpours - Commuters experienced monsoon-like conditions en route to work this Thursday morning as the heavens opened on top of them. The city streets were submerged during the downpour leaving pedestrians side-stepping large puddles which appeared suddenly on footpaths. The weather is in "a broken mood at the moment because of an Atlantic depression which can affect us at any time of the year, but it is dominating our weather pattern at the moment".

SWITZERLAND - On Wednesday night, hurricane-force winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph) and a massive major storm hit the region, power was lost. "This is not normal summer weather for central Europe. It was exceptional."

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

PORTUGAL - The National meteorological institute has revealed that this summer is expected to be ONE OF THE HOTTEST IN THE LAST 25 YEARS. Temperatures for June, July and August are expected to be 0.5 degrees above average, with the highest likely to be recorded in central and southern Portugal. “If the predictions are correct then we could have a very serious situation, similar to that of 2003 when 1,953 people died because of the heat.” As well as high temperatures, the meteorological institute also alerts to high levels of ultra violet (UV) radiation, which is measured on a scale from the lowest level of one to the highest level of 11. The UV levels for the Algarve are expected to remain at a minimum of Very High (between eight and 10) this summer.

CALIFORNIA - Expert says drought to continue 9 more years - From measurements of the height of the Pacific from space, it tells him the climate here is in trouble. The scientist has gone beyond the annual fluctuations of El Nino and La Nina. He measures the changing height of the ocean over a five- to 20-year range and sees what he calls a Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Over about a 10-year period, the elevation of vast tracts of the ocean will change and where it was higher and warmer becomes lower and cooler and vice versa. This oscillation has a powerful bearing on global warming and can dramatically reinforce the behavior of El Nino and La Nina, dampening or reinforcing their behavior. The last nine years are consecutively THE NINE DRIEST IN A CENTURY, and that can be traced to the oscillation. "We haven't had a big El Nino in a decade." He predicted temperatures will continue to rise in the region. Even in cooler years such as the one they are in now, temperatures will spike for a few days, resulting in dangerous triple-digit temperatures and heavy water use. He says a crisis is looming, and the only solution is for all of us to reduce water consumption by 50%. Golf courses are a major culprit. They absorb heat rather than reflect it back into space. Global warming has pushed the jet stream farther north, and there is less snow pack. He hopes we can control our thirst, but he has reservations. "The world is getting dumber."

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
A lack of suitable flowers may be forcing bumblebees to seek out aphids to feed on their sugary secretions. The secretions offer a substitute for nectar, but do not contain the protein the insects need to stay healthy. It is a behaviour that appears to be becoming increasingly common in the United Kingdom. Images captured by the BBC Scotland news website show the bees visiting tree leaves covered with aphids. There have been warnings that bumblebee and wild bee populations around the UK are experiencing "catastrophic declines". Bees are important pollinators of flowers and crops. The bumblebees' behaviour of feeding on secretions from aphids could be a further sign of the problems facing the insects. "Although the aphid secretions provide them with a sugary solution, a substitute for nectar, they provide no protein. Bumblebees can only get their protein from pollen, which they feed to their growing young, so it is essential for a healthy population." Flowers from the pea and mint families seem to be particularly beneficial.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
- Matterhorn Group Inc. Announces Voluntary Recall of Astro Pops and Missile Pops 3.5 oz Cherry Pineapple Frozen Novelty Pops in Arizona, Nevada and California due to Safety Hazard - they may contain pieces of hard plastic.
- Recall of the one-gallon Nestle Pure Life Purified Drinking Water sold ONLY in Shop-Rite stores in the five Northeast states of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Thursday, June 26, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Criminal: A person with predatory instincts
who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation.
Howard Scott

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/25/08 -
5.6 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.3 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.3 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
5.3 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA
5.3 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES

VOLCANOES -
NEW ZEALAND - Despite massive media coverage and a climber losing his leg, only a half of Ruapehu's visitors are aware of the mountain's eruption last year. And only 45 per cent were aware of the correct action to take in the event of an eruption or lahar. "Ruapehu is a fantastic place to climb, ski, hike and photograph but it's also a very active volcano where even small eruptions can be hazardous." The unpredictable nature of small eruptions mean anyone within the two-kilometre summit hazard zone near the crater is vulnerable. An estimated 100,000 people visit each winter.

HAWAII - A new vent that erupted to life in mid-March 2008 atop Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island shows no signs of shutting down. At times a billowing white steam plume has blasted thousands of feet into the air, so high it has been picked up on satellite imagery. Other times the vent has glowed a ghostly bright orange or shot out a sooty rusty cloud of ash, hurtled rocks out of its throat and several small explosive eruptions, THE FIRST OF THOSE TYPE IN OVER 80 YEARS, have occurred. (photo)
It's nature's one-two punch - Halemaumau crater's explosion and Kilauea's leaking of lava give the Big Island not one, but two outlets for venting sulfur dioxide. "Experts told a House vog task force that over time the toxic gas could wreak havoc with all sorts of things. One of the possibilities is prolonged activity at Halemaumau." The longer vog particulates are injected into the air, the greater the chance for less rainfall. "No individual droplet is able to accumulate enough mass to actually precipitate." That's bad news for Big Island farmers. They are already seeing crop damage from the toxic air. Less rainfall would be devastating. Another concern is breathing problems. Doctors at Kau Hospital are seeing more respiratory infections that may be linked to vog. On the south side of the Big Island you can't escape it. "One of the emergency room physicians told me he has come into the hospital on high vog days and actually seen a layer of vog down the hallway." "The eruption rate of lava is on the average of a half a million cubic meters per day. That's a lot of lava." And it's not going to stop anytime soon. With Halemaumau also venting toxic gas, scientists and medical experts say it's time to do more than watch and wonder.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression FENGSHEN was 65 nmi NW of Hong Kong.

BURMA - Nearly three quarters of those who survived Burma's devastating cyclone lack enough food to last more than a week and remain in desperate need of help, according to the United Nations.

CHINA - Tropical storm Fengshen hit the southeast coast of China early on Wednesday, bringing about heavy rains and strong winds. The storm made landfall in the coastal area of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, at 5:30 a.m. with winds of up to 83 kilometers per hour. One crewman was injured and another is missing after falling into the sea as their container ship made an emergency mooring off Shanwei City, Guangdong, at around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. More than 13,000 ships in Guangdong returned to harbor ahead of the storm's arrival. Heavy rains and gales have already hit central and southern parts of the province. The storm will continue to move north at a speed of 15 km per hour and lose strength. Within an hour of landfall, monitoring stations in Shenzhen had reported rainfall of up to 38 millimeters. The Shenzhen meteorological station forecast downpours of up to 200 mm would hit the city Wednesday and today. The storm was forecast to hit Ganzhou City, in Jiangxi, late on Wednesday and was expected to affect the province for 36 hours. A flood prevention emergency plan was activated on Wednesday in eastern Jiangxi Province. Heavy rains of 80 mm to 200 mm were forecast in the province's eastern and southern areas from Wednesday through to Saturday.

HONG KONG - Schools were closed, ferries tied up and dozens of flights cancelled or delayed Wednesday as Hong Kong was sideswiped by its first severe tropical storm of the year. Tropical storm Fengshen, downgraded from a typhoon after crossing from the Philippines where it caused heavy loss of life, brought Hong Kong to a virtual standstill early Wednesday. Heavy rains and gale-force winds lashed the territory and there were 23 reports of flooding but no serious injuries as a result of the storm. Hong Kong's typhoon season runs from June to September but it is RARE for a typhoon to score a direct hit on the wealthy high-rise city, with storms usually taking their greatest toll elsewhere in China.

PHILIPPINES - Egg prices were expected to increase as Typhoon “Frank” destroyed around 70% of poultry farms on Bantayan Island. Bantayan Island, the 'egg basket' of the Visayas and Mindanao, is the major supplier of eggs in Cebu, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Mindanao and even the National Capital Region.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
COLUMBIA - a landslide has killed at least 10 people from one family. Strong rains have triggered the landslide near the town of Hacari in northeastern Colombia. Colombia's rainy season began in the middle of March. The seasonal rains already have claimed at least 48 lives and injured another 68 people.

U.S. -
A new round of storms dumped a half foot (15 cm) or more of rain across parts of the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, dealing fresh trouble to a region already struggling with billions of dollars in flood damage. The bad news came as a key farm group estimated U.S. crop damage this year had hit $8 billion nationwide, most of it in the key Midwest growing areas of the world's biggest grain and food exporter amid the worst flooding in 15 years. The new storms that soaked Missouri on Wednesday closed roads and sent smaller streams out of their banks, pushing more water into the basin that feeds both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, just as the Mississippi was cresting, or about to, in areas upstream from St. Louis. A new flood warning was issued for parts of the Missouri River in parts of Missouri from Jefferson City east to St. Louis. Lack of flood waters on the Missouri has been one of the key reasons this month's flooding was rated not as bad yet as the record flooding levels seen in 1993. A railroad bridge near Columbus Junction, Iowa, collapsed late on Tuesday, injuring one rail worker. A locomotive and two rail cars fell into the still-flooded Iowa River. The cars had been placed on the bridge to stabilize it during flooding. Fears about the short supplies of basic food and feedstuffs have ignited more alarms about rising world food inflation even as oil and energy prices also set records. Since late May when heavy rains hit Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin, about three dozen levees have failed along the Mississippi River, covering rich and valuable bottom land and emerging crops with muddy water. More than 13 million sandbags have been handed out in the region, a quantity that if placed end-to-end would stretch from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
TIBET - At least six Sikh pilgrims were killed and 10 others injured when an avalanche struck Ghangharia area near Hemkund Sahib shrine in Chamoli district Tuesday evening. The avalanche washed away the road on which they were trekking to reach Hemkund Sahib, situated at the dizzying heights of the Garhwal Himalayas.

WASHINGTON - The bodies of three snowboarders who have been missing since early December were found Saturday northeast of Mount Ranier in Washington State by friends of the missing men. Friends of the snowboarders went to the area on an intermittent basis hoping to find them. With the snow beginning to melt last week, they decided to try again. That's when one of them spotted the top of a tent. Inside were the three bodies. They are believed to have died after being smothered by an avalanche. Last winter's avalanches hit particularly hard as heavy snow fall quickly accumulated. In avalanche deaths, 95 percent of those buried by avalanches die within two hours, with half perishing within the first 25 minutes. Three-quarters die from asphyxiation, caused by breathing their own carbon dioxide. Others die from trauma on the way down a mountain if they are swept away by the avalanche. Two percent die from hypothermia.

CANADA - Chilliwack, British Columbia - “It’s been so cold. Right from December it’s been ODD. And not getting above 12C in (early) June is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. I can’t remember a spring like this.” It’s been tough on berry farmers throughout the Fraser Valley. Not only has the abysmal weather delayed growth but honey bees, essential for pollination, have been equally devastated by the cold as well as succumbing to the varroa mite and the Nosema fungus. Over last winter, Fraser Valley beekeepers lost about 26 per cent of their beehive stock. This is one of the latest start dates for strawberry picking. The season will be correspondingly short. “We were delayed this spring. April was cold. May picked up and the flowering period for strawberries and blueberries was reasonably good. But June has been so cold and the delay in growth is huge.” Temperatures in early June were consistently 3C to 8C below what they should be. Sunshine was virtually absent. “In the first nine days of June you had 20 hours of sun compared to the normal 70 hours. Precipitation was 43 mm while the normal amount is 16 mm. That’s three times the (usual) amount of rain.” This year has been one of very stubborn, cool overhanging cloud, drizzle, and cold air. This stuff is expected to blow out with a high pressure from the south. Typically the weather turns around somewhere in the first week of July and the long range forecast is for a hot summer as the cooling influence of the cyclic La Nina current is dead. “La Nina was strong in February but the latest models show that it has now gone.”

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

BALKANS (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia) - Heatwave scorching the Balkans - Two people have died and hundreds have sought medical assistance as a summer heat wave grips the western Balkans. A period of extremely warm temperatures started as of this weekend and will last at least three weeks, meteorologists in the region said. They warned that temperatures – even above 40 degrees Celsius – may be set, creating TEMPERATURE HIGHS NOT SEEN IN THE LAST 100 YEARS. To make the situation even more difficult for the population, this period will also be marked by so-called “tropical nights” where temperatures will remain above 20 or even 30 degrees Celsius overnight. Medical workers warned the population to remain indoors between 11:00 and 17:00 and drink plenty of water. The heat wave in Macedonia has led the national Crisis Management Centre there to warn of possible wildfires due to the tinder dry conditions.

CALIFORNIA - In less than a day, an electrical storm unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes that set more than 800 wildfires across Northern California — a RARE example of "dry lightning" that brought little or no rain but plenty of sparks to the state's parched forests and grasslands. The weekend storm was UNUSUAL not only because it generated so many lightning strikes over a large geographical area, but also because it struck so early in the season and moved in from the Pacific Ocean. Such storms usually don't arrive until late July or August and typically from southeast of California. "You're looking at a pattern that's CLIMATOLOGICALLY RARE. We typically don't see this happen at this time of summer. To see 8,000, that's way up there on the scale." Despite the many lightning strikes that hit the ground on Saturday alone, the weekend thunderstorm brought little precipitation because the rain evaporated in hot, dry layers of the atmosphere before it hit the ground. The lightning storm struck California when the state was experiencing one of its driest years on record. From San Francisco to Los Angeles, cities have only seen a tiny fraction of the rainfall they normally receive in a typical year. In the Central Valley, the cities of Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton and Red Bluff have recorded their driest March-to-May periods since at least the 19th century. Even before the lightning struck, California had already seen an UNUSUALLY large number of wildfires, although the fire season typically does not start until July and does not peak until late summer or early fall. "This doesn't bode well for the fire season. We're not even into the meat of the fire season at this point, and the brush is extremely dry. It's not going to get any better, it's going to get worse." The weekend's lighting storm combined with extremely dry conditions to spark about 840 separate blazes. By contrast, 574 lightning-sparked fires blackened about 55,000 acres in Northern California in all of 2007. The weather service has said more dry thunderstorms could strike Northern California later this week. The weather pattern "could happen again across Central and Northern California."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Aids epidemic a 'global disaster' - The Aids epidemic is so severe that it should be classified as a disaster, the Red Cross and Red Crescent warns. The crisis fits the UN definition of a disaster as an event beyond the scope of any single society to cope with. The IFRC's annual report on world disasters usually focuses on specific natural disasters such as earthquakes. This year, it is departing from tradition with its world disasters report, to focus on what it says is one of the most long term and complex problems facing the world: the HIV/Aids epidemic. By any standard, the epidemic is a global disaster: 25 million deaths, 33 million people living with HIV/Aids, 7,000 new infections every day.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin Disraeli

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there have been several more quakes in Indonesia -
5.6 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.3 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.3 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/24/08 -
5.2 PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.3 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 EASTERN UZBEKISTAN

JAPAN - A rift extending for about 15 kilometers has appeared on the surface of the ground in five districts following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Japan's Tohoku region on June 14, it has emerged. In the Mochikorogashi district of Koromogawa-ku in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, a zigzag fault has appeared in the surface through two rice paddies, with the land on the west side about 45 centimeters higher. Across four of the five points, a rift extending for about 10 kilometers has appeared along an old fault on the border between Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. "There's a possibility that this fault caused the earthquake, but with an earthquake of this size it wouldn't be unusual for a step of about 2 meters to appear on the surface. There is also a possibility that another fault caused the earthquake and the effects of that caused this rift to appear on the surface." (photo)
The temperature of a hot spring near the epicenter of the Iwate and Miyagi earthquake sharply changed before the temblor struck. A similar phenomenon was observed with other earthquakes, including one that struck Hokkaido in 1993. Seismologists are paying close attention to the phenomenon as it could help predict earthquakes. The temperature of the hot spring water at the Kamikura Hot Spring Inn in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, which had been 42 degrees Celsius, began to rise in mid-May - about a month before the quake, its owner said. It reached 47 degrees one week before the temblor. The Kamikura inn is situated about five kilometers away from the epicenter of the earthquake that struck on Saturday last week. Furthermore, the temperature of hot spring water at an inn in the Akinomiya area of Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture, declined from 70 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees in mid-May. The hot spring area is located about 30 kilometers from the epicenter. The water temperature at five hot spa areas in southern Wakayama Prefecture declined 0.1 to 0.3 degrees Celsius about a month before a quake hit the area in 2004. Furthermore, the temperature of hot spring water on Okushiri Island, Hokkaido, rose 10 degrees about a month before a powerful quake jolted Hokkaido in 1993. Some scientists believe that underground rocks hit each other before a powerful earthquake, creating huge pressure. The pressure causes the level of subterranean water to rise, which changes the temperature of hot spring water.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
CANADA - a weekend drowning in southern Alberta occurred during a family camping trip to Payne Lake on Saturday evening when a FREAK wind storm that produced two- to three-foot waves that capsized a small boat, causing a 60-year-old man to fall overboard and drown. A sudden and powerful wind storm such as occurred Saturday is UNUSUAL for the area. “Two- to three-foot waves is not normal for this area at all. It was a real freaky thing he got caught out there at that time.”

BANGLADESH is set to disappear under the waves by the end of the century. There is spreading misery and destruction as the ocean reclaims the land on which 150 million people depend. Ten years ago, the village of Munshigonj began to die. First, many of the trees turned a strange brownish-yellow colour and rotted. Then the rice paddies stopped growing and festered in the water. Then the fish floated to the surface of the rivers, gasping. Then many of the animals began to die. Then many of the children began to die. The waters flowing through Munshigonj had turned salty and dead. Bangladesh is a flat, low-lying land made of silt, squeezed in between the melting mountains of the Himalayas and the rising seas of the Bay of Bengal. As the world warms, the sea is swelling – and wiping Bangladesh off the map. Deep below the ground of Munshigonj and thousands of villages like it, salt water is swelling up. This salt water will keep rising and rising, until everything here is ocean. "We are facing a catastrophe in this country. We are talking about an absolutely massive displacement of human beings." The seas are rising, so land is being claimed from the outside. (The largest island in the country, Bhola, has lost half its land in the past decade.) The rivers are super-charged, becoming wider and wider, so land is being claimed from within. (Erosion is up by 40 per cent). Cyclones are becoming more intense and more violent (2007 was the worst year on record for intense hurricanes here). And salt water is rendering the land barren. (The rate of saline inundation has trebled in the past 20 years.) "My best understanding of the evidence is that this will probably happen towards the end of the lifetime of babies born today."

KIRIBATI - After years of fruitless appeals for decisive action on climate change, the tiny South Pacific nation of Kiribati has concluded that it is doomed. It's President has requested international help to evacuate his country before it disappears. Water supplies are being contaminated by the encroaching salt water and crops destroyed. Beachside communities have been moved inland. But Kiribati – 33 coral atolls sprinkled across two million square miles of ocean – has limited scope to adapt. Its highest land is barely 6 feet above sea level. Along with other low-lying Pacific island nations such as Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu, it is regarded as one of the places most vulnerable to climate change. Even the coconut trees are dying – casualties of an UNPRECEDENTED drought. The country has had next to no rain for the past three years and meanwhile the freshwater table is being poisoned by salt. New Zealand already has a substantial population of Pacific Islanders, but absorbing another 97,000 would strain its generosity. New Zealand is already experiencing significantly increased levels of migration from affected countries. The worst case scenario suggests that Kiribati will become uninhabitable within 50 to 60 years.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm FENGSHEN was 45 nmi NW of Hong Kong.

Tropical storm Fengshen struck south China on Wednesday, after tearing through the Philippines last week, bringing driving rain, uprooting trees and closing schools, markets and businesses in Hong Kong.

PHILIPPINES - The number of fatalities from Typhoon Fengshen has reached 291 in the Philippines.
Philippine investigators opened an inquiry Wednesday into the ferry disaster believed to have killed 800, as rescuers ended slim hopes of finding survivors in the stricken vessel.

Tropical wave may bring more rain to Central Florida, more wet weather by midweek. The tropical wave was near the Dominican Republic on Tuesday. "It's going to get spun up into the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico, and with it comes the tropical moisture." The system is not expected to strengthen into a depression or storm, but forecasters said it should help Central Florida's ongoing drought. Orlando is about 3 inches above the yearly rainfall average, Daytona Beach reports a 9-inch rainfall deficit, and Melbourne is almost 5 inches below normal.

BURMA - After the fury of Cyclone Nargis, a new disaster looms in Burma: packs of rats that swarm through the hills once every 50 years have consumed everything in their path, reducing thousands of poor farmers to the verge of starvation. Burma's latest human disaster is unfolding almost unseen by the outside world in the jungle-covered mountains of Chin State, far to the north of the Irrawaddy Delta where 134,000 people died last month. The plague of rats happens twice a century when bamboo forests produce flowers and seeds, then wither and die for five years in a phenomenom locally known as mautam or bamboo death. Villagers believe the bamboo seeds are a kind of aphrodisiac for the rodents, whose numbers explode until all the seeds have been eaten. Then they turn on villagers' rice stocks, stripping ripening corn and paddy in the fields and even digging up seeds at night after farmers plant them. Villagers roast rats they catch on sticks, but that food source rapidly disappears when the rodents have eaten everything in the village and move on. In Mizoram State in India and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, similar rat plagues in the last few months have also stripped fields bare after the flowering of the Melocanna Baccifera bamboo.

BELIZE - Damage caused by torrential rainfall from tropical storm Arthur has prompted the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to issue a warning about travelling in Belize. The FCO advises holidaymakers to "exercise caution" when travelling in the south of Belize - particularly in the districts of Stann Creek and Toledo. A number of bridges have been washed-out and some places may only be accessible via temporary bridges. Flooding has led to villages being evacuated. Seven people have been reported dead and around 10,000 affected by the storm, which lashed the country in early June and saw up to ten inches of rain fall across Belize within a 36 hour period.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - Continuous rain is driving up the water level in East China's lakes posing a threat to the economic powerhouse in the Yangtze River Delta region. The water level in Taihu Lake in Jiangsu province reached 3.88 meters, 0.38 meters above the danger level, Tuesday. Water, however, is expected to rise slowly during the next couple of days because no heavy rain has been forecast till Friday and efforts to drain out the lake's excess water are on. It is feared, though, that a couple of heavy showers can raise the water level in Taihu, the country's third largest freshwater lake, very fast. More heavy rain could cause more misery to the millions of people in the region, which was hit by thunderstorms and heavy downpours only last week. The threat to dams cannot be ruled out either if the area between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers and Taihu get more heavy rain in the next few days. Water in Anhui province's Chaohu Lake has risen above the danger level too. The flood season is not over but the lakes and rivers are already full because of the heavy downpours. Fengshen, a severe tropical storm, has hit Zhejiang, bringing more rain to a province already threatened by rising waters.

SOUTH AFRICA - More than 5000 people have been left homeless or had to be given emergency assistance after heavy rain lashed their shacks in Cape Town.

CANADA - A lazy cold low system squatting over northern Ontario “spinning around like a roulette wheel” is spitting out UNUSUAL weather. Normally at this time of year, the system would have moved further north, making way for sunny, humid conditions. Instead, it continues churning out cool weather tinged with shafts of sunshine. “This one has been sitting out there. It's just been very persistent, it's just stuck. It's like summer re-runs all the time. It's spinning around there, bringing the same weather day-after-day-after-day.” Toronto had another taste of the unstable weather Monday, as a severe thunderstorm pelted the city with rain and pea- and nickel-sized hail early Monday afternoon. Several funnel clouds were reported in the Markham area, though there were no confirmed reports of touch down. A storm-gazing teenager was bowled over by the pressure wave from a bolt of lightening that struck the North York park where she and a friend took cover during the thunderstorm that swamped Toronto Monday afternoon. The day's sudden outburst was the latest in the mixed bag of weather. And experts are predicting even fickler than normal skies ahead. “It's frustrating. You can't plan your day based on the kind of weather we've had. On the same day it's the whole suite of rain, thunderstorm, some coolish temperatures, lots of sun, clean air. You throw a dart and anything can happen.” Already this June, Toronto has seen 11 rainy days – double the month's usual amount. But every day has had sunny bursts, too. Sunny skies were forecast for Tuesday, with temperatures expected to hit 26 degrees. But the tempestuous weather is expected to come back, with thunderstorms predicted for the rest of the week.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

NEVADA - Health officials declared the air quality “unhealthful” for the Reno-Sparks area on Tuesday due to thick smoke in the region from hundreds of wildfires.

CALIFORNIA - Wildfires raging across California are being blamed for unhealthy air quality throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Saturday, an UNUSUAL weather pattern sent dry lightning flashing to the ground - at least 8000 strikes hit the ground.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
Biofuel use 'increasing poverty' - The rush to use biofuels in rich countries has dragged more than 30 million people worldwide into poverty, an aid agency says.

Soaring steel costs will force consumers worldwide to pay higher prices for automobiles in the coming years, Nissan Motor Company's chief executive has warned.

WISCONSIN - TART CHERRIES - Extreme weather has virtually wiped out Door County’s cherry crop for this year. This will reduce the total U.S. crop output by about 30%.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Poor people in the United States are increasingly at risk from tropical diseases such as dengue fever and Chagas disease, says a new report. Researchers blame climate change and increasing poverty for the increased spread of these infectious illnesses. The study warns that while these diseases are not always fatal, they are severely debilitating. Consequently, they perpetuate poverty, affecting child development and worker productivity. 36 million people in the US who live below the poverty line are most at risk from these parasitic and bacterial diseases. Most vulnerable are minority groups such as the African American community living along the delta of the Mississippi River, but also disadvantaged white people who live in the Appalachian mountains and immigrants who live along the US-Mexico border. While the US spends more than a billion dollars a year preparing for outbreaks of diseases that have yet to occur such as small pox, avian influenza and anthrax, these other diseases continue to affect millions with little or no attention paid to them.

Lifesaving equipment in hospitals may be switched off by radio-frequency devices used to track people and machines, Dutch scientists claim. Radio frequency identification devices are on the rise in healthcare, helping identify patients, and reveal the location of equipment. But they could interfere with machines. In some tests, RFIDs either switched off or changed the settings on mechanical ventilators, completely stopped the working of syringe pumps, caused external pacemakers to malfunction, and halted dialysis machines. The device did not have to be held right up to the machine to make this happen - some "hazardous" incidents happened when the RFID was more than 10 inches away.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/23/08 -
5.7 KURIL ISLANDS

CHINA - Pandas living in an earthquake-hit part of southwestern China have been evacuated to temporary shelters due to the continuing threat of landslides and other hazards. The area's annual rainy season starts in June, and rivers routinely overflow their banks. Landslides are a particular concern because the quake caused steep hillsides to shear away and crash into valleys below. Many of the slopes remain unstable and at risk of being washed away by rainstorms. It's not clear if all the pandas will eventually be relocated. Along with Wolong Nature Reserve, the quake damaged 48 other reserves created in the province to protect the pandas and other endangered species. Officials at Wolong have said they want to find a new home for the reserve but cannot do so until geologists have completely assessed the damage. It was not known how many wild pandas died in the quake.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm FENGSHEN was 137 nmi SSE of Hong Kong.

Tropical Storm ‘Frank’ (international codename: Fengshen) is expected to strike southeast China on Wednesday. Both southeastern China and Taiwan will see heavy rain and thunderstorms due to the tropical storm. Japan will experience some lighter rain as a result of this system.

PHILIPPINES - Typhoon “Frank” hit Metro Manila and the Central Luzon region by surprise early last Sunday morning. It was expected to smash into the Bicol region after slamming Samar Island on Saturday and exit to the Pacific. CNN’s early weather updates showed that Frank would not make a landfall there but move along their Pacific shores. But it suddenly cut across to Iloilo province from the Eastern Visayas region and then swerved upward to the islands of Romblon and Mindoro all the way to Central Luzon, exiting through the province of Pangasinan. A lot of blame is now being heaped on the Philippine Coast Guard and Sulpicio Lines for the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars off Romblon, but it’s clear that last Friday the ship was given the go-ahead by the PCG because only Signal No. 1 was hoisted over the Central Visayas region, for which a ship of that size was cleared. Nobody knew that Frank would be so unpredictable. The weather bureau chief on Monday noted Frank’s MOST UNUSUAL PATTERN. He said that normally upon hitting land a storm would weaken, but Frank gained strength. Moreover, typhoons don’t normally hit Luzon in June.
"The Philippines joins many places recently visited by natural calamities, such as the Mississippi area in the United States, Burma, many provinces of China, including the recent earthquake zone in Sichuan province, India, Australia and parts of Europe. Yet, in other parts of the world, such as California and New York, a heat wave was taking its toll. All these developments are part of a world climate gone berserk due to global warming. But what I really worry about are the terrible effects these disasters will wreak on the global food situation, which was already precarious even before these calamities struck."

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
UNITED KINGDOM - RECORD WINDS battered the Fylde coast - Unseasonal gale force winds swept in across much of the UK from the Atlantic Sunday bringing trees down and causing disruption to road and rail travellers. A gust of 63mph was recorded at Blackpool airport, with winds of up to 55mph on the Lleyn Peninsula in north Wales and gusts of 50mph in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. Trees were damaged in Shropshire and Derbyshire. The strongest winds - force 10 - have been reported on Irish Sea coasts. Weather forecasters say such strong winds are RARE in summer. The south of Scotland had been warned to expect bad weather but escaped the worst of the storms. However, in the north gusts of 54mph were recorded at Stornoway.

NIGERIA - No fewer than 300 families have been cut off from the rest of Amakor, Nanka community in Orumba North local government area of Anambra State following a landslide that occurred in the area at the weekend. The area is one of the communities that have been ravaged by gully erosion over the years in Anambra State, with several lives and property worth millions of naira already lost. Though no life was lost during the landslide that happened on the weekend, a Catholic priest escaped the disaster by whiskers as the incident occurred barely seconds after he drove pass the erosion site. An eyewitness said that seconds after the priest drove past the spot where there was a gully by the side of the road for over 20 years, he heard a loud noise and behold, the land behind him caved in creating a gully that was more than 20 feet deep. Bamboo and other economic trees in the area fell into the gully and families living on one side of the village have been cut off from the rest of the community. The traditional ruler of Nanka said the latest incident has led credence to his earlier statement that if serious attention was not paid to control the erosion menace, the entire community might be wiped out in no distant time. He called on the state and federal governments to do something urgently to save his people, adding that with the rainy season coming to its peak, the community is at a great risk of being submerged by gully erosion.

CANADA - More violent weather hits GTA - It is hard to remember a time when there have been so many violent thunderstorms in the GTA in such quick succession. But it happened again Sunday afternoon, as forked lightning and the sound of loud thunder mixed with a deluge that brought heavy rain and hail to some parts of the city. It's the latest in a long series of similar storms over the past few weeks. Last Monday, parts of the GTA were pelted by extreme conditions, including high winds, flooding rains and golf ball sized hail so fierce, it stopped traffic in some areas. In what's been a difficult and unsettled transition from spring to summer, there has been precious little real warmth and an UNUSUAL amount of precipitation. And it's not over yet.

U.S. -
FLORIDA - The Tampa Bay area received RECORD RAINFALL over the weekend, with some areas reporting as much as 7 inches of rain.

WISCONSIN - Waukesha county had another RECORD-BREAKING EVENT in the midst of the heavy rains when a RECORD hailstone fell just west of Pewaukee Lake on June 7. The National Weather Service initially reported it was the third largest in history, but another picture of the hailstone indicates it might be bigger than 5 inches in diameter and may be closer to 5.5 inches, rivaling those currently in first and second places. The state’s largest hailstone measured 5.7 inches in diameter and fell on May 21, 1921, on the north side of Wausau in Marathon County. The second-largest fell last year, also on June 7, in Port Edwards in Wood County and measured 5.5 inches. The National Weather Service is analyzing the hailstone pictures with other severe weather authorities to determine the exact measurement of this year’s hailstone.

IOWA - Recalling 1988's drought disaster, farmers say this year's deluge is not as bad - Five summers ago the worst drought in half a century left the fields around Iowa as dry as bleached bones, stunting corn, killing soybeans and driving farmers out of business. Farmers are recalling that dry summer with some measure of longing this week as the Middle West continues to be pelted by the heavy rain that has flooded the upper Mississippi River. But the fond memories stopped there. The 1988 drought destroyed 45% of the nation's corn crop, causing losses of more than $10 billion and forcing thousands of farmers out of business. No one is predicting those kinds of losses from this year's flood, despite weeks of heavy rains this spring and summer that have cut the production of corn and soybeans in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and northern Illinois by 10% to 20% from what had been expected. Moreover, experts say that while the flooding is pushing up the prices that farmers are paid for their commodities, it should not significantly increase consumer prices for food, if the agricultural damage does not grow worse.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

NORTHERN EUROPE - Heatwave - On the calendar, Scandinavian summer starts on June 21 in 2008, but summer temperatures had already settled over much of northern Europe by early June. The image at this link shows land surface temperatures — how hot the ground is to the touch, a measure that is different than the air temperatures reported in the news. The image compares the average temperature between June 2 and June 8, 2008, to average temperatures recorded during the same period in June 2000 through 2007. The heat that dominated the weather in northern Europe in early June is evident in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of Germany and Poland. Southern Europe experienced cooler than average temperatures during the period. The intense heat and dry weather led to dangerous fire conditions in Scandinavia. Both Norway and Sweden were plagued with several forest fires in early June. A fire that burned for several days in southern Norway was THE LARGEST IN THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY, causing an estimated ten million dollars worth of damage.

ITALY - A heat wave continues to roast Italy. Eight Italian cities are baking under temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius.

CYPRUS - New heat wave this week - Temperatures are forecast to rise again this week following a brief respite over the weekend.

CHINA - Scorching sun replaced pouring rain at the weekend, as a heat wave hit southern parts of the country.

CALIFORNIA - UNUSUAL lightning storm started series of wildfires Friday - Fire crews already spread thin fighting blazes across California were dealing with a flurry of new fires on the North Coast caused from an unusual and powerful lightning storm that struck on Friday. As of Saturday evening, CAL FIRE reported that approximately 37 lightning-caused fires were started during 24 hours in widely scattered areas of its Humboldt-Del Norte Unit. Meteorologists called Friday’s thunderstorm “a huge event and VERY UNCHARACTERISTIC for this area. These episodes usually occur in late July when the monsoon moisture arrives." The unusual North Coast’s lightning storm was a result of a combination of moisture funneled from the tropics and an upper-air disturbance of colder air. There were approximately 2,000 cloud-to-ground lighting strikes that were first recorded in the opening shots of the storm at 4:22 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday the California National Guard was ordered to assist in combating the wildfires burning in Northern California - an estimated 400 fires were sparked from lightning from Monterey and Fresno counties to the Oregon-California border. FREAK thunderstorm outbreaks like Friday's usually only occur in July and August - and then only because of their association with monsoon season.
Firefighters battled fires throughout Northern California on Tuesday, from Mendocino County south to the Big Sur area in Monterey County, after an "UNPRECEDENTED" lightning storm sparked more than 800 wildfires. Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that he was alarmed by the number of fires that kept erupting. "This is an unprecedented lightning storm in California, that it lasted as long as it did, 5,000 to 6,000 lightning strikes." The governor declared a state of emergency in Monterey and Trinity Counties on Monday.

NASA expert wants climate change liars tried - The heads of major fossil fuel companies who spread disinformation about global warming should be "tried for high crimes against humanity and nature," according to a leading climate scientist. He sounded the alarm about global warming in testimony before a US Senate subcommittee exactly 20 years ago. "Special interests have blocked the transition to our renewable energy future. Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming...In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature." He said urgent action was needed to cut carbon dioxide emissions that are warming the globe and are already causing arctic ice to melt. He said world leaders had only one or two years to act before the Earth reaches a "tipping point" with major consequences to the global climate and species survival. "We have reached an emergency situation." He said the US Government should not keep the proceeds from any carbon tax they may levy, but refund the money to taxpayers to help them pay for more fuel efficient technology.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
Fresca Italia is recalling Burrata, a type of cheese, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Monday, June 23, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott Adams

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/22/08 -
5.9 NORTHEASTERN SAKHA, RUSSIA
5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 CHIAPAS, MEXICO

GREECE - The Peloponnese was rocked by three quakes on Saturday, the strongest of which measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, striking at about 2.30 p.m. The epicenter of the quake was in the sea, south of Methoni. No injuries or damage were reported. The other two quakes measured 5.4 and 5 Richter. Two people were injured and dozens of homes destroyed when a 6.5-magnitude quake struck the northern Peloponnese on June 8.

CHINA - The number of people missing from China's massive earthquake has risen abruptly by more than 1,000. The overall toll reached 18,522 on Sunday, an increase of 1,125 from the day before. The reason for the steep rise was that migrant workers have started reporting their relatives missing to authorities, after gradually returning to their homes in Sichuan province from elsewhere in China. The latest confirmed death toll from the devastating May 12 earthquake was 69,181 on Sunday, unchanged from the day before.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm FENGSHEN was 265 nmi SSE of Hong Kong.

PHILIPPINES - 598 people are dead or missing after Typhoon Fengshen roared through the Philippines, the Red Cross and civil defence said today, dramatically raising the number unaccounted for. Landslides, severe flooding and the loss of dozens of fishing boats had left at least 224 dead and 374 missing, mostly in central areas which bore the brunt of the storm. The figures do not include passengers and crew from a ferry which sank carrying more than 800 people. So far, only 32 survivors have been found. More than 200 people were still missing in the central island of Negros, while 63,000 people are still in evacuation centres after flash floods and landslides forced them to flee their homes. Flooding had not yet receded in many parts of Bulacan province, just outside the capital of Manila. Power was restored in Manila but had not yet returned in some areas outside the capital where lines had been toppled. Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the central Philippines late on Saturday before changing course and moving north across much of the archipelago. It left through the northwest side of the main island of Luzon before dawn today, moving northwest at 15km/h towards southern China. As of 10am (midday AEST) today, the typhoon was charted 300km northwest of the country, packing maximum winds of 110km/h near the centre.
Hopes faded today that more survivors would be found in what could be one of the worst Philippine sea disasters as rescuers failed to find signs of life inside the capsized ferry. Rescue officials said only 38 people had been rescued, including 28 passengers and crew members who came ashore today after drifting at sea since Saturday. A total of 13 bodies believed to be from the ferry Princess of the Stars have been recovered, including 9 that washed ashore today. Divers who beat against the hull of ferry Monday in search of survivors heard nothing that indicated life. Elsewhere, officials tried to assess the losses from the typhoon. Iloilo, a central Philippine province, was the worst hit, with fatalities approaching 100 as of today. It was too early to determine damage to agriculture and infrastructure, but officials said it could run up to millions of dollars. Another concern was the welfare of the nearly 70,000 people throughout the country who were displaced by the typhoon and are now living in evacuation centers. Coast guard officials said that they had cleared the ferry to leave Manila for Cebu, a city in the central Philippines, on Friday night because the initial forecast for Fengshen showed that the storm would only hit the eastern part of the country, away from the ferry's route. But the typhoon changed direction Saturday, moving toward the center of the country, running right into the ferry's path. Coast guard officials said they had advised the ferry to seek shelter, but that the boat's engine had failed after the ship was battered by strong winds and waves, thus leaving it even more vulnerable to the intensifying storm.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CANADA - Officials in a remote Baffin Island community said Saturday conditions appear to have stabilized after a flash flood looked as though it might wash the community away from underneath. Core sampling done Friday showed water from the swollen Duvall River is no longer eroding away at the ground under homes near the town's edge. Heavy rain and UNUSUALLY WARM 13-degree temperatures produced rapid snow melt in the surrounding mountains and hills and led to a flood last weekend. So much water blasted down the Duvall that it carved a 10-metre channel through the permafrost, right down to bedrock. It damaged both of the town's bridges sufficiently that a majority of the community's 1,600 residents were cut off from the water reservoir, sewage lagoon and garbage dump. Fears of subterranean erosion were then raised as large cracks and sinkholes began to appear between the town and the river. "More large cracks (were) appearing, more sinkholes. We had a telephone pole that literally, before our eyes, dropped 15 feet into the ground." With more rain and warm temperatures forecast, Mongeau is unsure whether the current stability will last. The town administrator believes the root cause of this occurrence, and many other in the eastern Arctic, is global warming. He said ice patterns have been shifting and locals are noticing the arrival of new species to the area, like capeline - a small fish used to catch cod. "Fishermen have been fishing these waters for 40 years and they've never seen one. We're pulling them out in large numbers right now."

U.S. -
Floodwaters breed hidden health dangers - West Nile, E. coli among deadly concerns in swamped Midwest. Now that the waters are beginning to recede after this month’s devastating floods in the Midwest, state and federal officials are warning of a widespread secondary risk from dangerous bacteria and disease-bearing mosquitoes. They expect this season’s mosquito population to be especially big, nurtured by hot summer temperatures and large pools of standing water that make an ideal breeding ground. “We know we have mosquitoes right now in the state that are testing positive for the West Nile virus.” Stagnant water carries numerous other risks, health officials said. For any number of dangerous bacteria and parasites, hot, fetid pools left over by swamped septic systems are the perfect home. The raging waters also seeped into countless wells, affecting drinking water for thousands of homes and businesses across the region.
The worst of the flooding that has ravaged the midwestern United States is nearly over, but it will be weeks before the murky water recedes in many areas. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana due to the heavy rains and deadly storms which swept through the region in recent weeks. Early estimates place the damage in the billions as roads were washed out, rail and barge traffic shut down and millions of acres of crops were swamped. Scores of levees collapsed or were overtopped by the rushing waters which swallowed entire towns. The extreme weather which began May 25 and included a series of deadly tornadoes claimed the lives of 22 people, 17 of whom were in Iowa. More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states were affected by the flooding and extreme weather. All the tributary rivers of the Mississippi above St. Louis, Missouri have now crested, but it will take three more days before the towns down river know whether their levies will hold. The river is expected to rise by about another six inches (15 centimeters) in areas up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) downstream. "A lot of these rivers won't go back below flood stage until mid-July."

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

CALIFORNIA - Hundreds of wildfires have blazed across northern California, threatening thousands of homes as the region bakes under a ferocious heatwave.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Water may be suspect in salmonella tainted tomatoes. - Pick a tomato in the blazing sun and plunge it straight into cold water. If that happened on the way to market, it might be contaminated. Too big of a temperature difference can make a tomato literally suck water inside the fruit through the scar where its stem used to be. If salmonella happens to be lurking on the skin, that is one way it can penetrate and, if the tomato is not eaten right away, have time to multiply. This newest salmonella outbreak is the 14th blamed on tomatoes since 1990. There is a growing lists of nasty outbreaks in raw vegetables and fruit: E. coli in spinach and lettuce. Hepatitis A in green onions. Cyclospora in raspberries. Salmonella in cantaloupe. Shigella in parsley. Water sources, worker hygiene and wildlife or domestic animals near fields are frequent culprits because they involve points where safety systems can easily break down. The FDA wants the authority to set mandatory safe-handling rules, what it calls "preventive controls," for growers and suppliers of foods linked to repeated outbreaks of serious illness, such as tomatoes and leafy greens. Congress hasn't yet acted on that request. "We need them, we've asked for them, and we don't yet have them." Budget woes mean the FDA's inspections of food-producing facilities have plummeted by 56 percent between 2003 and last year. But the FDA "is not arguing that you can inspect your way out of these problems. The critical point is to build safety upfront, not load up inspection at the end."

Sunday, June 22, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Is everything spinning out of control? Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism. The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country's sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance...
Recent natural disasters around the world dwarf anything afflicting the U.S. Consider that more than 69,000 people died in the China earthquake, and that 78,000 were killed and 56,000 missing from the Myanmar cyclone. Americans need do no more than check the weather, look in their wallets or turn on the news for their daily reality check on a world gone haywire...Just ask the people of New Orleans who survived Hurricane Katrina. They are living in a city where, 1,000 days after the storm, entire neighborhoods remain abandoned, a national embarrassment that evokes disbelief from visitors.
Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale...The can-do solution to energy needs — turning corn into fuel — is sapping fields of plenty once devoted to crops that people need to eat. Shortages have sparked riots. In the U.S., rice prices tripled and some stores rationed the staple.
Residents of the nation's capital and its suburbs repeatedly lose power for extended periods as mere thunderstorms rumble through. In California, leaders warn people to use less water in the unrelenting drought...
Why the vulnerability? After all, this is the 21st century, not a more primitive past when little in life was assured. Surely people know how to fix problems now. Maybe. And maybe this is what the 21st century will be about — a great unraveling of some things long taken for granted.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/21/08 -
5.4 SOUTHERN GREECE
5.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
6/20/08 -
5.1 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 BISMARCK SEA
5.0 TONGA

JAPAN - Landslides occurred at 48 locations in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, after last week's earthquake, and quake lakes could form at 15 of these sites. The landslides measured between 100 and 300 meters high and 50 and 100 meters wide. Sensors to monitor possible landslides were being installed at those sites in the prefecture hit hardest by the June 14 Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake. In addition to 10 quake lakes already confirmed in the Yunokura Onsen district and other locations, such lakes could form at 15 other locations because "sediment shaken loose by the earthquake could flow into rivers and block them." Eighteen of the 48 landslides are blocking National Highway Route No. 398 and prefectural roads, cutting off some small communities. These areas were at risk of being engulfed by mud and dirt washed down by rain.

VOLCANOES -
NEW ZEALAND - scientists are continuing to monitor Ruapehu. Elevated gas output and high lake temperatures continue, while volcanic tremor has declined. Unrest continues at Ruapehu and it remains unclear if this is a sign of further eruptions. The volcano last erupted on September 25, 2007. The Alert Level remains at Level 1. The emission rates of both SO2 and CO2 gases have shown significant increases since April 2008, being about ten times above the typical background. The Crater Lake temperature has remained elevated and fluctuates between 34 and 37 °C. The latest measurement was 35.2 °C (June 12). Sustained heat from depth is required to keep the temperature this high for this length of time. It is believed that the source of this heat is magma within the volcano conduit. This magma is also producing the higher than normal gas flow and other chemical changes in the lake. The volcano remains in a state of unrest and the possibility of further activity remains at the volcano. If further eruptions occur, they may occur without warning.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Typhoon FENGSHEN was 14 nmi NNW of Manila, Philippines [will be heading for Taiwan next].

TYPHOON FENGSHEN has killed 155 people in the Philippines in a torrent of flash floods and landslides. Philippines ferry hit by typhoon - Fears are growing for more than 700 people on a ferry which capsized in the central Philippines after a typhoon. The ship has been out of radio contact for more than 24 hours and gale force winds are hampering rescue efforts. The upturned ferry could be seen from shore with its bow jutting out of the water. Officials on a nearby island have reported three survivors. They also said four bodies had been recovered. According to officials the ferry was carrying 626 passengers and 121 crew. However, local reports put the figure on board as high as 820.
Most of the victims of the typhoon on land were killed as a result of flooding caused by the storm. "Yesterday there was hardly any villages and communities which were not under water, and where the people were literally stranded on rooftops with no food and no water, and chilling in the cold. Right now the floodwaters have receded, and we are shifting our efforts to bringing food, water, medicine and clothing." At its peak, the storm was packing gusts of up to 93mph (150 km/h). It changed course on Sunday, hitting the capital Manila with heavy rainfall at dawn. Thousands of people across the country have been evacuated from their homes. Many roads are blocked and there are widespread power cuts. (photo)

TRINIDAD - A tropical wave in the Caribbean Friday led to showers and thundershowers in Trinidad and Tobago, and in one case gusty winds damaged two homes in Couva. It may take a billion dollar drainage plan to address the annual flooding which takes place in Port-of-Spain. Trinidad and Tobago experienced cloudiness and showery periods as a result of the tropical wave. So too did the Leeward Islands, especially, Dominica and Guadeloupe which experienced intense rainfall.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - The Emergency Operations Center issued an alert in 13 provinces for an approaching tropical wave that could reach the national territory early Saturday. The alert is from the provinces of La Vega in the country’s center to La Altagracia in the extreme east, on the wave detected near the Lesser Antilles, heading west at about 30 kilometers per hour. Meanwhile, the National Meteorology Office predicted the scattered showers will bring between 40 and 60 millimeters around the country through Saturday. Residents in the provinces under alert and those living in vulnerable zones are warned of mudslides, flooding and overflowing rivers, streams and gorges. (satellite photo)

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
BRITAIN - People across the UK are being warned to brace themselves for UNUSUALLY stormy weather as high winds and heavy rain are forecast for today. The storms - with winds which could reach 65mph across parts of Britain - are expected to peak at about midday. The worst affected areas are expected to be north Wales and northern England, but Northern Ireland and southern Scotland may also be affected. The weather was ABNORMAL for June. It is more likely to be the sort of weather that is seen in the autumn. "Although it's not unusual to have this kind of weather during the winter it's RARE to see this kind of gale this time of year. The vicious gusts of wind will not only be reserved to coastal districts but may happen further inland too. Cities such as Manchester and Leeds are in the path of the heavy weather. Irish Sea coasts will be affected with heavy waves." Strong gusts are also expected as far south as the Bristol channel, Wales, the Midlands and parts of East Anglia.

NEPAL - Two dead, hundreds displaced by flooding in Nepal. At least five districts in western and southern Nepal were hard hit by flooding following days of heavy rain.

INDIA - The death toll from monsoon flooding in eastern India climbed to 26 on Friday, with hundreds of villages cut off and an estimated four million people displaced. Bridges were washed away and roads and railway tracks submerged by the swirling waters in West and East Midnapore districts. "Telephone lines were snapped and electric poles uprooted. Nearly 2.5 million people were forced from their homes by flood in over 300 villages during the past four days." Thousands of people were taking shelter on rooftops and elevated areas but were running short of food and drinking water.

RUSSIA - 300 houses inundated in Astrakhan after heavy rain on Thursday. The rainstorm damaged roofs of some constructions, and the flood caused by the rain inundated houses and electric power stations.

U.S. -
KANSAS - The National Weather Service recorded 18.04 inches of rain for the three-month spring period that ended May 31, a total topped only by 1904's 19.01 inches.
IOWA - A Record Winter Becomes a Record Spring... What's Next? Snowfall and ice storms have turned into rainfall, tornados and flooding, leading many in East Iowa to wonder what is next? Could the weather get worse? Extreme weather has become so common that if people haven’t been affected themselves, almost everyone knows someone who has. There have been 16 storm-related deaths in the state since the tornado on May 25. It seems the 100-year floods are coming about every 10 years or so. What was thought to be the flood of the century in 1993, has been eclipsed beyond anyone’s imagination today. This was a 500 year flood. But not everyone has been surprised by recent events. In 1998, the United States Environmental Protection Agency published a report entitled, Climate Change and Iowa. In it, the EPA predicted a 20 percent increase in summertime precipitation - and also stated that an increase in the frequency and intensity of summer thunderstorms is possible. Based on the events of a decade later, that report seems ominously accurate. Over the past 30 years, summers in Iowa are less intense in terms of heat, the winters are warmer and, like the 1998 EPA report stated, overall precipitation has increased. “There is no question now that the climate is changing on a global scale. The evidence is so overwhelming.” In Cedar Rapids, people have shifted from speaking of a 100 year flood plain to a 500 year flood plain and, more recently, to a 3,000 year flood plain." According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there was only a 0.2 percent probability of flooding of the magnitude seen in Cedar Rapids. The National Weather Service described it as an HISTORIC EVENT WITH WATER LEVELS NEVER BEFORE SEEN. “If the climate is changing, you can’t stop it over the next 50 years. What’s coming is coming and we better be prepared to adjust to it.” For many in Cedar Rapids and other Iowa communities, there was simply no way to be prepared for what happened. Perhaps now there will be. So what’s next is anyone’s guess. In the end, however, it’s not the end of the world - it’s just weather. Our ancestors were often victimized by it and lately our technology appeared to have triumphed over it. But now nature has re-shuffled the deck. Since weather doesn’t have the capacity to respect us, we need to learn a newfound respect for it. What’s coming is coming. (photo)
The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting a warmer-than-normal summer across much of the nation, and an extremely active hurricane season. In addition to the blistering heat, the Farmers’ Almanac warns that sections of the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic could continue to see occasional bouts of very heavy rain, with heavier than normal precipitation also affecting portions of the Plains and Rockies. In contrast, the Pacific Coast is expected to be much drier than normal during the coming summer. The Farmers’ Almanac has predicted an active tropical storm season, with the Gulf Coast directly in the crosshairs for hurricanes in mid-July, mid-August, and mid-September. The associated tropical moisture from such systems is likely to flow northward, creating threat of excessive rainfall over many eastern locations. After accurately predicting a “two-faced winter,” consisting of colder-than-normal temperatures to the east of the Mississippi and warmer weather to the west, the Farmers’ Almanac advised loyal readers that spring would have only one face: a cold, rainy one. The Farmers’ Almanac also warned of an exceptionally active tornado season in the Midwest. Those predictions were borne out as a record-breaking number of deadly twisters – more than 700 in all – descended on the region between February and early May. Readers of the Farmers’ Almanac estimate that its annual weather forecast is accurate between 80 and 85 percent of the time.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
U.S. - it appears as if there might be yet another chilly, late-season storm system in the Pacific Northwest in about 5 days. Temperatures have been much cooler than normal so far in June, and there will be significant warming for a time before the storm in about 5 days. By then, though, temperatures will again be cooler than normal with showers - if the current long-range model is correct. By the way, this might not be the last storm - another storm might approach the coast around July 1; however, this storm might remain far enough to the west to not have much of an effect, allowing interior areas, at least, to turn warm. (forecast map)

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

CALIFORNIA - Lightning sparked as many as 400 fires around Northern California, as officials farther south were close to containing a blaze that had destroyed more than a dozen homes and forced thousands to evacuate.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Friday, June 20, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Bertrand Russell

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/19/08 -
5.0 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.0 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.0 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.3 VANUATU
5.3 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G
5.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.

VOLCANOES -
FIJI - scientists have discovered two mineral-rich, active volcanos more than a kilometre under the sea near Fiji, with mining companies already lining up to try to exploit the sites. Measuring 50 kilometres wide by almost 4,000 metres tall, the volcanoes are bubbling away at 1,100 metres and 1,500 metres below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in an area known as the North Lau Basin, between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. They are within the Pacific rim of fire, an area of high earthquake activity, and are spewing into the sea black smoke containing precious minerals. The volcanoes are quite remarkable - "Some of the features look like the volcanic blisters seen on the surface of Venus." The two volcanoes have been named Dugong and Lobster. Though they are in a seismologically unstable area, the volcanoes are not likely to trigger a Tsunami. The real danger is not eruption but rather collapse. Any eruption though would be a hazard for the neighbouring Pacific nations. The black smoke pouring out of the calderas leaves behind minerals containing lead, zinc, copper and gold.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
AUSTRALIA - A man from Fairbanks, Alaska, is the subject of an ocean search by Australian authorities off the coast of central New South Wales. The twenty-three-year-old on Monday was swept into the Pacific by a FREAK wild wave in the Munmorah State Conservation Area. He was sightseeing on his day off from Youth With A Mission. He and a co-worker were walking along rocks when a freak wave washed them into heavy seas. A helicopter pulled one to safety but the other has not been found.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Typhoon FENGSHEN was 109 nmi NE of Cebu City, Philippines.

The Philippines placed army units on alert on today as Typhoon Fengshen swept into the centre of the archipelago with gusts of up to 140 kph (87 mph). Fengshen, the sixth typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country this year, was expected to dump rains over the Philippines' eastern islands before heading back out into the Pacific Ocean south of Okinawa. Nine provinces were put on alert to stockpile medicines, food and fuel and to stop small ferries from leaving ports.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - On June 15, southern China suffered from the fourth round of heavy rainfall since the end of May. The flood, caused by repeated heavy rain, is worse than expected. Due to the nature of this storm - the wide coverage, intensity, duration, and magnitude - 130 hydrological stations in over 40 rivers nationwide have reported dangerous water levels. In the past three weeks, the rainfall volume in Guangdong province has doubled compared to the same period last year. The flood in neighboring province Guangxi killed 25 people and caused 830,000 people to evacuate. In east central China's Jiangxi province 100,000 people were evacuated. Because of a weather forecast indicating local showers for the next two days, the authorities have upgraded the flood warning from level two to level three. In Chongqing City, having recently recovered from the earthquake damage, heavy rainfall in 17 counties have affected 260,000 people. (photos)

INDIA - Flood victims in eastern India took refuge on treetops as monsoon rains swamped homes and continued to spread misery among millions. Swelling rivers continued to break through mud embankments in the country's east and northeast today, killing at least 50 people in the past 10 days and affecting more than three million. Air force helicopters dropped food packets in the eastern state of Orissa, as hundreds of villagers climbed trees, hoping to be rescued as their homes got washed away. Heavy monsoon rains also had an impact on coal mining in eastern Jharkhand state, with production at the state-run Central Coalfield Limited down by over 50 percent. In West Bengal, trains services came to a halt in many flood-hit areas and a bridge was destroyed in West Midnapore. Although the army has been called out to provide aid, people in many villages were angry at delays. "We have not got any relief so far, we are homeless and starving for the past three days." Prices of essential commodities have shot up across the region as flooding blocked many highways and trucks carrying food and medicine were stranded.

SOUTH AFRICA - A child died and three are missing, scores of homes were flooded and a plane skidded off the runway at Durban International Airport as heavy rain lashed the KaZulu Natal south coast yesterday. The downpour damaged scores of homes. At least 40 people in Umzinto and 60 in Ifafa were evacuated, some from rooftops. “There were a lot of washaways last night, rivers burst their banks, bridges were washed away and a lot of structural damage was done around the south coast. Right now water levels at all the rivers are extremely high.”

U.S. - The floodwater has gone down in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and people are beginning to get a look at just how bad things are.
Now Missouri is ground zero as flood waters move south along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and tributaries.
Three Mississippi River levees broke north of St. Louis in Missouri's Lincoln County, sending a wave of water toward the town of Foley and raising concern in nearby Winfield. The river was overflowing 90 percent of the levees in eastern Lincoln County, and at least four more breaks were expected early today. The breaks mean the Mississippi won't reach record crest levels downstream. Authorities predict the river will crest at 37.3 feet (11.4 meters) today in St. Louis, short of the 49.6 feet reached during flooding in 1993.
American meteorologists are citing an UNUSUAL late spring weather pattern for the spike in extreme weather. The jet stream, a narrow column of fast-moving winds in the mid-levels of the atmosphere which heavily influences temperature and precipitation, has been blamed for much of the widespread extreme weather across the United States. The jet stream has been stationary in an ABNORMAL position, dipping in the mountain west and rising in the east, with the heart of the stream flowing through the center of the country. The dip in the west has allowed cold weather to filter through and bring extreme cold and even snow to parts of Montana and Idaho, while the rise in the east has brought extreme heat from the Gulf of Mexico, and minimal precipitation has fallen over the southeastern US. From Miami to Seattle to Boston to Las Vegas, serious drought, historic flooding, sweltering heat and bitter cold have hit the country - and almost all of it during the months of May and June. But it's been the jet stream's flow through the center of the country that has produced the most damage.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

CALIFORNIA - A spring heat wave sent Southern California TEMPERATURES TO RECORD LEVELS Wednesday with 100 degrees plus readings in the worst areas. The mercury reached a record 107 degrees in Woodland Hills, beating a previous record of 106 degrees set in 1989. The Long Beach airport set a record with a 93 degree peak reading. Temperatures were expected to climb today as a strong high pressure system hovers over the region.
Southern California roasted again on Thursday in a RECORD-BREAKING, end-of-spring heat wave that sent temperatures soaring past 100 degrees in many areas.
Near-record heat scorched San Diego County on Wednesday, and it's about to get worse before it gets better.

ARIZONA - Yuma County will continue to bake as there appears to be no end to the current heat wave.

TEXAS - the high temperature climbed to 101 degrees Fahrenheit in Austin Thursday afternoon. It was the 15th day where temperatures have reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, in a 33-day heat wave. The average number of 100-degree days in Austin is 11, for an ENTIRE summer. RECORD-HIGH TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN REACHED ON 16 OF THE PAST 33 DAYS.

A massive dust cloud hovers over the Middle East, stretching from Iraq to India, and spreading south past the Arabian Peninsula. Some of the thickest dust is concentrated over the Arabian Sea. Besides the heavy band of dust south of Oman, the storm creates a faint dusty haze covering almost the entire region. The shamal — a northwesterly wind blowing over the floodplain of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq — had been active several days before a massive storm on June 18. The shamal caused a mild dust storm on June 16, but by June 18, the persistent wind had spread dust over southern Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and eastern Saudi Arabia. A June 18 report predicted that dust would linger over the Arabian Peninsula for another 48 hours, thanks to low wind speeds over the area. Winds were expected to pick up in a day or two, bringing warmer temperatures with them. (satellite photo)

GREENLAND - Extensive spruce forests used to cover the southern half of Greenland, according to a Canadian study that gives a remarkable glimpse of the icy island's green past and possible future. The work shows the impact of PAST CLIMATE WARMING ON THE MASSIVE ICE SHEET WAS MUCH GREATER than previously believed. And it "should increase concerns about its fate" as the global climate warms. The shifts happened so quickly it is "as if someone had pushed a button." There were two huge temperature spikes in the Northern Hemisphere at the end of last ice age - one 14,700 years ago associated with a 10-degree Celsius rise in temperatures over 50 years. Then icy conditions returned before another abrupt warming about 11,700 years ago. The ice core points to a "reorganization" of atmospheric circulation over one or two years in the Northern Hemisphere before each temperature spike, say the scientists. The abrupt transitions they see occurred at the end of the last ice age as the planet warmed up from extremely cold conditions. It is not clear if such sudden changes could occur in today's relatively warm climate. But the scientists say there is a "pressing" need to find out if such abrupt change could be triggered by the greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere today. If all of Greenland's ice were to melt it would raise the global sea level close to seven metres - "that's enough to submerge all of Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands and much of Florida." A second report shows how North America's climate suddenly flipped from a cold to a warm state at the end of the last ice age, with dramatic changes in atmospheric circulation in as little as a single year.

RUSSIA fears climate catastrophe in Arctic - Global warming could bring “terrible destruction” in the Russian North, the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations admits. He says global warming could bring “catastrophic destruction” in the northern parts of country by 2030. The melting of the permafrost could pose a major threat against northern airports, as well as underground reservoirs of oil and gas. A warming of only one-to-two degrees will reduce the firmness of the permafrost by as much as 50 percent. He adds that already today, the thickness of the permafrost is reduced by about four centimetres per year and that the permafrost zone over the next 20 years is expected to move 80 km north. The climate change will increase the chances of flooding and major amounts of methane might be released from the ground. (map)

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center located in Joliet, Illinois, pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court in Chicago.

Thursday, June 19, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
In a few minutes a computer can make a mistake so great
that it would have taken many men many months to equal it.
Unknown

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/18/08 -
5.0 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
5.4 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
5.6 TONGA
5.3 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.0 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.5 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.0 SOUTHERN GREECE

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm FENGSHEN was 426 nmi E of Cebu City, Philippines.

PHILIPPINES - A low pressure area east of Mindanao is expected to intensify into a tropical cyclone on Saturday. The low pressure area, a rain-inducing weather system, was swirling over the Philippine Sea some 830 kilometers east of Mindanao. "By Saturday, it will become a full-blown tropical cyclone." The cyclone, to be called “Frank” (Fengshen), will not hit land, but will bring rain over Visayas and Mindanao. So far, the low pressure area has not triggered rain. The weather bureau expected the weather disturbance, once it would intensify into a cyclone, to recurve and exit through the Philippine Sea, its point of entry. If it intensifies, this will be the first cyclone this month and the sixth this year. The bureau expects more than 20 cyclones to swirl into the Philippine area of responsibility this year. “In terms of number, this is above normal. But the strong typhoons will come toward the last quarter of the year.”

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - More levees face flood peril - this time in northern Missouri, western Illinois. As floodwaters slowly receded from much of Iowa on Wednesday, authorities focused their attention on a swollen Mississippi River that punched through at least two levees in western Illinois and increasingly threatened hamlets in Missouri. Federal officials said as many as 30 levees are in peril, mostly in rural stretches of northern Missouri and western Illinois. No large population centers are threatened. The concern now is the Mississippi River between the Quad Cities and St. Louis. The river is expected to crest Saturday in St. Louis, where flood risk is lessened because the Mississippi widens and meets several tributaries with lower-than-normal water levels. Up to two inches of rain is forecast for parts of Missouri today, and workers along the river were piling up sandbags. "We're anticipating the worst and preparing for the worst." On Wednesday, residents were still barred from Cedar Rapids and were only slowly being allowed to return to neighboring towns. (photos)

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

PAKISTAN - The third outburst of a glacier in Gulkin Gojal, upper Hunza, caused widespread panic among the inhabitants and they called for immediate measures to save them from loss. Huge boulders that blocked Karakuram Highway were cleared to restore traffic but the mudflow from the lake disrupted telecommunication and damaged water channels of the Gulkin village. “The residents are shifted to safe areas temporarily to save them as two houses were damaged partially due to mudflow." The mudflows from the glaciers badly affected the irrigation system of Gulkin village and people were concerned about their standing crops in the fields. They feared if measures for its repair were not undertaken on war-footing-basis they might suffer huge monetary losses as well. There were reports of damages in orchards and potato crops, and the villagers were frightened of another big catastrophe as the local population was expecting additional bursts in the upper glaciers.

Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter. The year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007. But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss. Scientists say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years. A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013. "I think we're going to beat last year's record melt, though I'd love to be wrong. If we do, then I don't think 2013 is far off anymore. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it'll be within a decade anyway." The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about seven metres (22ft) if it all melted.

Much of the north-western US wilderness is already a tinderbox, but thanks to global warming, wildfires will be scorching even more land every year by the end of the century. Warmer-than-average ocean temperatures in the North Pacific create more low-pressure weather systems than cooler waters do, pushing jet stream circulation north into Canada. This leaves room for high-pressure systems to move in from the south, bringing drier and hotter air to the north-west. Calculations show the amount of land burned annually in the north-west will grow from under a million hectares in 2002 to nearly 2 million hectares by 2080.

Insurers are rolling out new products in the wake of increasing scientific evidence that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are fueling an increased chance of global catastrophes. Underwriters are busy coming up with new insurance policies, and fine-tuning already existing products, to provide broader coverage to companies grappling with a wide range of emerging climate-related risks. One example is coverage to help firms plan for unexpected costs arising from using new technologies that have not been tried and tested over a long period of time. A driver for such insurance was the need for producers of corn-based ethanol - a fuel additive for cleaner vehicle combustion - to be able to build plants with technology that was largely untested, leading lenders to seek some kind of assurance that costs from delays would not spiral out of control, and result in missed debt payments. In a similar vein, another type of policy can protect firms from potentially higher costs if they have to offset their energy use by buying credits in a carbon market in order to meet federal regulations, such as those already in place in Europe.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 -

Again I am fighting power outages - twice the neighborhood electricity blew out while I was online. I hope my computer continues to hold up to these jolts. This could be an ominous sign of things to come, although it is surprisingly amusing to watch all the neighbors wandering around at night with their flashlights. And I did see some fireflies.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from
a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
Franklin P. Jones

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/17/08 -
5.7 SOUTH OF PANAMA

JAPAN - Japanese engineers will try to drain lakes, formed in the 6.8 earthquake, that may flood towns downstream if they burst their banks. Three of the lakes are in a dangerous state. They are among at least 11 formed when landslides filled valleys in the northern prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi. Rescuers continued to search for survivors or bodies in a hot spring resort that was all but buried by a mud flow near one of the lakes. The 6.8-magnitude quake on June 14 killed at least 10 people and left 12 missing.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression 07W was 535 nmi E of Cebu City, Philippines.

A tropical wave was near Yap and Palau islands of western Micronesia as of Tuesday night, local time. This wave seems to be a likely candidate to be the first western North Pacific tropical storm for awhile. It has been nearly one month since Typhoon Halong veered south and east of Japan. Satellite imagery already shows favorable outflow high above the tropical wave. Numerical forecast models area showing a well-marked low east of the Philippines within the next few days. Afterwards, scenarios show a slowly evolving storm -- likely a typhoon -- drifting slowly northward east of the Philippines. If true in essence, the forecast storm would last well into next week and could eventually approach southern Japan.

ATLANTIC OCEAN - Forecasters are closely watching a tropical wave today for signs of development. The wave is about 1,250 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic Ocean. "It's actually increased in intensity just a bit here in the overnight hours." The system is encountering quite a bit of dry air as it moves toward the west-northwest, so any development will be slow to occur. Otherwise, the tropics remain quiet. The next tropical storm will be named Bertha.

MYANMAR - doctors and aid workers who have gained access to remote areas of the Irrawaddy Delta are returning with a less pessimistic picture of the human cost of the delay in reaching survivors. They say there have been no signs of starvation or widespread outbreaks of disease, and the number of lives lost because of the military government's slow response to the disaster appears to have been very few. The storm that struck the night of May 2 and 3 killed great numbers of people, probably upward of 130,000, most of whom drowned in a tidal surge. But those who survived were not likely to need urgent medical attention, doctors say. "We saw very, very few serious injuries. You were dead or you were in O.K. shape." As they awaited aid, survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish. "The Burmese people are used to getting nothing." In a country that has not had a full census in decades, it is not even certain how many people lived in the area before the storm. Itinerant laborers who worked in the salt marshes and shrimp farms were probably not counted among the dead. Relief efforts also benefited from the foresight of agencies that had stockpiled supplies before the cyclone.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
INDIA - The monsoon depression in the Bay of Bengal has crossed over into Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh, and is expected to keep tracking to the northwest to preside over a productive wet session in east and central India. ‘Monsoon depressions’ are a class apart from normal tropical depressions in that they are much larger in size, have extended life over land, and produce copious rainfall over larger swathes of geography. They are basically lows forming within the monsoon trough. Upper winds in the Bay are too strong to allow a tropical storm or stronger cyclonic circulation to develop. So, the system is left with maximum strength above the surface, but beneath strong upper level wind shear that prohibits it from developing into a tropical storm. The large size and typical slow track toward the west or northwest lends the system the firepower to produce copious amounts of rain and cause widespread flooding. Isolated extremely heavy falls of up to 25 cm have been warned of over an already soaked Gangetic West Bengal during the next 24 hours.

BANGLADESH - Life became paralysed in Chittagong yesterday as major parts of the port city were submerged in knee-deep water following heavy rains throughout the day. Two walls collapsed at Lalkhan Bazar and Surson Road in the morning due to the downpour, but no one was hurt. Over 202 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in last 24 hours till 3:00pm yesterday. Many houses were flooded by the cloudburst. The traders at the traditional business hubs of Chaktai and Khatunganj suffered huge financial loss as the Chaktai canal, the backbone of the city's drainage system, overflowed and flooded several godowns and shops damaging goods and properties. The traders at the Chawk Bazar and Bohaddarhat kitchen markets experienced a bad day as the markets went under waist-deep water, disrupting business. Torrential rain also hampered the operations at the port to some extent. Almost all the flights to and from Chittagong airport were delayed due to the inclement weather. (photo)

CHINA - some areas had THE MOST RAIN IN 100 YEARS. Torrential rains continued to batter a huge swath of southern China on Tuesday near one of the biggest manufacturing zones in the country. The storms and floods killed at least 63 people over the past week, left 13 missing and affected more than 17 million people in nine southern provinces. The high waters have also inundated about 5.4 million acres of cropland, set off landslides and forced more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes in southern and central provinces. Some factories in coastal Guangdong Province — one of the biggest export centers in the country, producing everything from textiles to electronics — have been forced to suspend or curtail operations. The national meteorological service also warned of more danger in the coming days. The natural disasters this year have fed superstitions that this year is somehow cursed, even though many Chinese had hoped 2008 would be a year of Olympic glory, since the number eight is considered lucky.
Entire cities under several feet of water as monsoon rains continue - In many areas waters has reached rooftops and many roads have been cut off by rising flood waters or rain-induced landslides. Even in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, huge metropolitan areas with tens of million of people, are partly under water. Weather forecasts expect more torrential rain for the whole week in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan. The eastern provinces of Gansu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Yunnan and Fujian have also been affected. Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses and caused economic losses estimated at 27.7 billion yuan (US$ 4.2 billion). Now dams are at risk and the authorities have rushed hundreds of people to shore them up and more than 40 rivers are exceeding their warning levels as tens of thousands of people continue to be evacuated. In quake-devastated Sichuan, non-stop rains threaten to cause landslides. Again uncontrolled deforestation has been blamed for the flooding. In many areas entire hills are denuded of trees and left without protection against raging waters, a situation that easily triggers landslides.
Up to 3,000 schools in Guangxi have been damaged due to the flooding. Since the rainy season began in late May, rains have deluged large swathes of southern China, while the northeast of the country is experiencing the complete opposite in the form of an UNUSUAL heatwave. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province usually known as the "Ice City", reported an ABNORMALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE of 37.1 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) Tuesday - the SECOND HIGHEST IN THE CITY'S HISTORY. In quake-hit Sichuan province, where millions of refugees are living in tents and makeshift shelters, the evacuation of up to 110,000 quake refugees from dangerous mountainous areas threatened by rain-induced landslides in Aba prefecture was slated to finish today. In the south in Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi region, the rains have either swamped hundreds of roads or left them cut off by landslides. Thousands of transport trucks have been stranded in both provinces, cutting off food supplies to urban centres and fuelling price rises. (photos / map)

KENYA - Thousands of people have been displaced in the Tana Delta District on the Kenyan coast following heavy rain over the past few days. "The floods have also submerged crops and the situation could get worse if the River Tana bursts its banks." At least 2,000 families have been forced to abandon their homes and farms for higher ground to avoid being marooned by the flood waters.

U.S. - With floodwaters receding in much of Iowa, the destruction moved downstream Tuesday as emergency crews and residents raced to bolster the levees that protect dozens of Mississippi River towns. National Guardsmen joined hundreds of volunteers in filling sandbags and reinforcing earthen barriers in southeastern Iowa, eastern Missouri and western Illinois. The mood grew frantic when several major tributaries to the Mississippi spilled their banks and the river SURPASSED RECORD FLOOD LEVELS, swamping towns along the way. The advancing water swamped farmland and the community of Gulfport, Ill., leading officials to shut down the Great River Bridge, which connects that part of the state to Missouri. For more than a week, floodwaters have spread across the nation's Corn Belt, preventing farmers from planting soybeans and damaging a corn crop had just started to sprout. Analysts estimated that Iowa, Illinois and other corn-growing states might produce 15% less than last year. Some believe the shortfall will be larger. In areas that have been flooded for days, concerns about contamination were growing as sewage, farm chemicals and fuel have flowed along the waterways.
The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least nine more levees today as floodwaters swallowed up more US farmland, feeding inflation fears as CORN PRICES SOARED TO RECORD HIGHS. "The best news is that we're not getting any rain, that would be utterly devastating if we got heavy rain now." Thunderstorms may return to Iowa and Illinois tomorrow. 19 levees along the Mississippi have failed with the latest levee breaks near Meyer, Illinois, and north of St. Louis, Missouri. Estimates are that two million hectares across the Midwest have been ruined and will not produce a crop this year. Iowa and Illinois usually produce one-third of all US corn and soybeans. So expected smaller crops from the main sources of livestock feed, renewable fuels like ethanol, starch and edible oils has sent commodity prices to record highs.
MISSOURI - Thursday, June 12th, a NEW RAINFALL RECORD WAS SET, with 3.40 inches of rain falling on the weather station at Springfield/Branson National Airport. The previous record was 1.41 inches set on June 13, 1964. “So we demolished it." More than demolished the record, because a couple of hours after the statement was issued, the rain total had reached 3.81 inches.
WISCONSIN - June's not even half over - and Madison and Milwaukee have already experienced their RAINEST JUNES ON RECORD. Milwaukee has gotten 10.71 inches of rain. That tops the previous record of 10.03 inches, set in June 1917. That also was THE MOST RAIN OF ANY MONTH ON RECORD in Milwaukee. Madison also set a record for June, with 10.40 inches. The previous monthly high was 9.95 inches, set 30 years ago.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
CANADA - Southern Ontario shivers in UNUSUAL June cold - on Tuesday the endless up and down cycle of this late spring continued. Many people awoke to the horrifying reality of having to turn on their furnaces in the morning, despite the fact it's June 17th. Things didn't get much better when they got outside. A breeze from the northwest made it feel even colder all day, and a drenching afternoon rain in many areas only made it worse. Some people who refused to acknowledge the brief change of season were literally caught in the cold. The rest of the week promises to be overcast and cooler than usual, until a warm-up closer to the weekend. They made it to just 18C on Tuesday - and as the cold front moves in for a visit, it may only reach 17C today. They won't be back to the norm until Saturday - the first full day of summer - when the mercury should hit 26C. The GTA has already received 77 millimetres of precipitation so far. That's already well above the average of 74 for the entire month - and it's still only half over. Just ten days ago the city was under an extreme heat alert with humidex values in the 40s. In the last few weeks they've had heat, humidity, brilliant sunshine, drenching rain, unseasonable cold, forked lightning and golf ball-sized hail. About the only thing missing has been snow.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

TEXAS - In Midland, power company workers are repairing power poles and power lines that were knocked down by powerful winds that roared through the area shortly before midnight Monday night. An unexpected and violent "heat burst" brought a temperature spike to 97 degrees and a wind gust to 62 mph at 11:25 p.m. Monday, the same time power lines were whipped, utility lines snapped and traffic signal poles bent like paper clips in Northwest Midland. At the same time the temperature spiked at Midland International, the temperature at Midland Airpark, closer to the center of the damage, jumped to 91. "What happens with a heat burst is that a shower or thunderstorm decays very rapidly and when that happens you get rainfall that evaporates which increases the wind that come out of the storm. When that air goes from high levels to the surface very quickly it warms very quickly and that causes the rapid increase in temperature." The RARE weather event usual lasts 1-2 minutes; lingering higher temperatures can often remain. In fact the temps recorded at Midland Air Park continued to rise and reached 93 at midnight. The UNUSUAL weather event is most common during the summer months. "Those polls are 60-70 feet tall, and to replace them we have to dig around the existing infrastructure, water, sewer and fiber optic cable. We might have to hand dig wooden poles."

CYPRUS - A raging forest fire has forced the evacuation of six villages in south-west Cyprus today. Facing ONE OF THE WORST DROUGHTS ON RECORD, the island had to use scarce water reserves to battle a blaze which destroyed at least three holiday homes and burned orchards and farms. Authorities said it was difficult to calculate the extent of the fire as thick plumes of smoke covered the semi-mountainous region between the cities of Limassol and Larnaca. "It's an environmental disaster."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 -

Again I am fighting power outages - twice the neighborhood electricity blew out while I was online. I hope my computer continues to hold up to these jolts. This could be an ominous sign of things to come, although it is surprisingly amusing to watch all the neighbors wandering around at night with their flashlights. And I did see some fireflies.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from
a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
Franklin P. Jones

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/17/08 -
5.7 SOUTH OF PANAMA

JAPAN - Japanese engineers will try to drain lakes, formed in the 6.8 earthquake, that may flood towns downstream if they burst their banks. Three of the lakes are in a dangerous state. They are among at least 11 formed when landslides filled valleys in the northern prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi. Rescuers continued to search for survivors or bodies in a hot spring resort that was all but buried by a mud flow near one of the lakes. The 6.8-magnitude quake on June 14 killed at least 10 people and left 12 missing.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression 07W was 535 nmi E of Cebu City, Philippines.

A tropical wave was near Yap and Palau islands of western Micronesia as of Tuesday night, local time. This wave seems to be a likely candidate to be the first western North Pacific tropical storm for awhile. It has been nearly one month since Typhoon Halong veered south and east of Japan. Satellite imagery already shows favorable outflow high above the tropical wave. Numerical forecast models area showing a well-marked low east of the Philippines within the next few days. Afterwards, scenarios show a slowly evolving storm -- likely a typhoon -- drifting slowly northward east of the Philippines. If true in essence, the forecast storm would last well into next week and could eventually approach southern Japan.

ATLANTIC OCEAN - Forecasters are closely watching a tropical wave today for signs of development. The wave is about 1,250 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic Ocean. "It's actually increased in intensity just a bit here in the overnight hours." The system is encountering quite a bit of dry air as it moves toward the west-northwest, so any development will be slow to occur. Otherwise, the tropics remain quiet. The next tropical storm will be named Bertha.

MYANMAR - doctors and aid workers who have gained access to remote areas of the Irrawaddy Delta are returning with a less pessimistic picture of the human cost of the delay in reaching survivors. They say there have been no signs of starvation or widespread outbreaks of disease, and the number of lives lost because of the military government's slow response to the disaster appears to have been very few. The storm that struck the night of May 2 and 3 killed great numbers of people, probably upward of 130,000, most of whom drowned in a tidal surge. But those who survived were not likely to need urgent medical attention, doctors say. "We saw very, very few serious injuries. You were dead or you were in O.K. shape." As they awaited aid, survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish. "The Burmese people are used to getting nothing." In a country that has not had a full census in decades, it is not even certain how many people lived in the area before the storm. Itinerant laborers who worked in the salt marshes and shrimp farms were probably not counted among the dead. Relief efforts also benefited from the foresight of agencies that had stockpiled supplies before the cyclone.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
INDIA - The monsoon depression in the Bay of Bengal has crossed over into Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh, and is expected to keep tracking to the northwest to preside over a productive wet session in east and central India. ‘Monsoon depressions’ are a class apart from normal tropical depressions in that they are much larger in size, have extended life over land, and produce copious rainfall over larger swathes of geography. They are basically lows forming within the monsoon trough. Upper winds in the Bay are too strong to allow a tropical storm or stronger cyclonic circulation to develop. So, the system is left with maximum strength above the surface, but beneath strong upper level wind shear that prohibits it from developing into a tropical storm. The large size and typical slow track toward the west or northwest lends the system the firepower to produce copious amounts of rain and cause widespread flooding. Isolated extremely heavy falls of up to 25 cm have been warned of over an already soaked Gangetic West Bengal during the next 24 hours.

BANGLADESH - Life became paralysed in Chittagong yesterday as major parts of the port city were submerged in knee-deep water following heavy rains throughout the day. Two walls collapsed at Lalkhan Bazar and Surson Road in the morning due to the downpour, but no one was hurt. Over 202 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in last 24 hours till 3:00pm yesterday. Many houses were flooded by the cloudburst. The traders at the traditional business hubs of Chaktai and Khatunganj suffered huge financial loss as the Chaktai canal, the backbone of the city's drainage system, overflowed and flooded several godowns and shops damaging goods and properties. The traders at the Chawk Bazar and Bohaddarhat kitchen markets experienced a bad day as the markets went under waist-deep water, disrupting business. Torrential rain also hampered the operations at the port to some extent. Almost all the flights to and from Chittagong airport were delayed due to the inclement weather. (photo)

CHINA - some areas had THE MOST RAIN IN 100 YEARS. Torrential rains continued to batter a huge swath of southern China on Tuesday near one of the biggest manufacturing zones in the country. The storms and floods killed at least 63 people over the past week, left 13 missing and affected more than 17 million people in nine southern provinces. The high waters have also inundated about 5.4 million acres of cropland, set off landslides and forced more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes in southern and central provinces. Some factories in coastal Guangdong Province — one of the biggest export centers in the country, producing everything from textiles to electronics — have been forced to suspend or curtail operations. The national meteorological service also warned of more danger in the coming days. The natural disasters this year have fed superstitions that this year is somehow cursed, even though many Chinese had hoped 2008 would be a year of Olympic glory, since the number eight is considered lucky.
Entire cities under several feet of water as monsoon rains continue - In many areas waters has reached rooftops and many roads have been cut off by rising flood waters or rain-induced landslides. Even in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, huge metropolitan areas with tens of million of people, are partly under water. Weather forecasts expect more torrential rain for the whole week in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan. The eastern provinces of Gansu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Yunnan and Fujian have also been affected. Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses and caused economic losses estimated at 27.7 billion yuan (US$ 4.2 billion). Now dams are at risk and the authorities have rushed hundreds of people to shore them up and more than 40 rivers are exceeding their warning levels as tens of thousands of people continue to be evacuated. In quake-devastated Sichuan, non-stop rains threaten to cause landslides. Again uncontrolled deforestation has been blamed for the flooding. In many areas entire hills are denuded of trees and left without protection against raging waters, a situation that easily triggers landslides.
Up to 3,000 schools in Guangxi have been damaged due to the flooding. Since the rainy season began in late May, rains have deluged large swathes of southern China, while the northeast of the country is experiencing the complete opposite in the form of an UNUSUAL heatwave. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province usually known as the "Ice City", reported an ABNORMALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE of 37.1 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) Tuesday - the SECOND HIGHEST IN THE CITY'S HISTORY. In quake-hit Sichuan province, where millions of refugees are living in tents and makeshift shelters, the evacuation of up to 110,000 quake refugees from dangerous mountainous areas threatened by rain-induced landslides in Aba prefecture was slated to finish today. In the south in Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi region, the rains have either swamped hundreds of roads or left them cut off by landslides. Thousands of transport trucks have been stranded in both provinces, cutting off food supplies to urban centres and fuelling price rises. (photos / map)

KENYA - Thousands of people have been displaced in the Tana Delta District on the Kenyan coast following heavy rain over the past few days. "The floods have also submerged crops and the situation could get worse if the River Tana bursts its banks." At least 2,000 families have been forced to abandon their homes and farms for higher ground to avoid being marooned by the flood waters.

U.S. - With floodwaters receding in much of Iowa, the destruction moved downstream Tuesday as emergency crews and residents raced to bolster the levees that protect dozens of Mississippi River towns. National Guardsmen joined hundreds of volunteers in filling sandbags and reinforcing earthen barriers in southeastern Iowa, eastern Missouri and western Illinois. The mood grew frantic when several major tributaries to the Mississippi spilled their banks and the river SURPASSED RECORD FLOOD LEVELS, swamping towns along the way. The advancing water swamped farmland and the community of Gulfport, Ill., leading officials to shut down the Great River Bridge, which connects that part of the state to Missouri. For more than a week, floodwaters have spread across the nation's Corn Belt, preventing farmers from planting soybeans and damaging a corn crop had just started to sprout. Analysts estimated that Iowa, Illinois and other corn-growing states might produce 15% less than last year. Some believe the shortfall will be larger. In areas that have been flooded for days, concerns about contamination were growing as sewage, farm chemicals and fuel have flowed along the waterways.
The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least nine more levees today as floodwaters swallowed up more US farmland, feeding inflation fears as CORN PRICES SOARED TO RECORD HIGHS. "The best news is that we're not getting any rain, that would be utterly devastating if we got heavy rain now." Thunderstorms may return to Iowa and Illinois tomorrow. 19 levees along the Mississippi have failed with the latest levee breaks near Meyer, Illinois, and north of St. Louis, Missouri. Estimates are that two million hectares across the Midwest have been ruined and will not produce a crop this year. Iowa and Illinois usually produce one-third of all US corn and soybeans. So expected smaller crops from the main sources of livestock feed, renewable fuels like ethanol, starch and edible oils has sent commodity prices to record highs.
MISSOURI - Thursday, June 12th, a NEW RAINFALL RECORD WAS SET, with 3.40 inches of rain falling on the weather station at Springfield/Branson National Airport. The previous record was 1.41 inches set on June 13, 1964. “So we demolished it." More than demolished the record, because a couple of hours after the statement was issued, the rain total had reached 3.81 inches.
WISCONSIN - June's not even half over - and Madison and Milwaukee have already experienced their RAINEST JUNES ON RECORD. Milwaukee has gotten 10.71 inches of rain. That tops the previous record of 10.03 inches, set in June 1917. That also was THE MOST RAIN OF ANY MONTH ON RECORD in Milwaukee. Madison also set a record for June, with 10.40 inches. The previous monthly high was 9.95 inches, set 30 years ago.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
CANADA - Southern Ontario shivers in UNUSUAL June cold - on Tuesday the endless up and down cycle of this late spring continued. Many people awoke to the horrifying reality of having to turn on their furnaces in the morning, despite the fact it's June 17th. Things didn't get much better when they got outside. A breeze from the northwest made it feel even colder all day, and a drenching afternoon rain in many areas only made it worse. Some people who refused to acknowledge the brief change of season were literally caught in the cold. The rest of the week promises to be overcast and cooler than usual, until a warm-up closer to the weekend. They made it to just 18C on Tuesday - and as the cold front moves in for a visit, it may only reach 17C today. They won't be back to the norm until Saturday - the first full day of summer - when the mercury should hit 26C. The GTA has already received 77 millimetres of precipitation so far. That's already well above the average of 74 for the entire month - and it's still only half over. Just ten days ago the city was under an extreme heat alert with humidex values in the 40s. In the last few weeks they've had heat, humidity, brilliant sunshine, drenching rain, unseasonable cold, forked lightning and golf ball-sized hail. About the only thing missing has been snow.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

TEXAS - In Midland, power company workers are repairing power poles and power lines that were knocked down by powerful winds that roared through the area shortly before midnight Monday night. An unexpected and violent "heat burst" brought a temperature spike to 97 degrees and a wind gust to 62 mph at 11:25 p.m. Monday, the same time power lines were whipped, utility lines snapped and traffic signal poles bent like paper clips in Northwest Midland. At the same time the temperature spiked at Midland International, the temperature at Midland Airpark, closer to the center of the damage, jumped to 91. "What happens with a heat burst is that a shower or thunderstorm decays very rapidly and when that happens you get rainfall that evaporates which increases the wind that come out of the storm. When that air goes from high levels to the surface very quickly it warms very quickly and that causes the rapid increase in temperature." The RARE weather event usual lasts 1-2 minutes; lingering higher temperatures can often remain. In fact the temps recorded at Midland Air Park continued to rise and reached 93 at midnight. The UNUSUAL weather event is most common during the summer months. "Those polls are 60-70 feet tall, and to replace them we have to dig around the existing infrastructure, water, sewer and fiber optic cable. We might have to hand dig wooden poles."

CYPRUS - A raging forest fire has forced the evacuation of six villages in south-west Cyprus today. Facing ONE OF THE WORST DROUGHTS ON RECORD, the island had to use scarce water reserves to battle a blaze which destroyed at least three holiday homes and burned orchards and farms. Authorities said it was difficult to calculate the extent of the fire as thick plumes of smoke covered the semi-mountainous region between the cities of Limassol and Larnaca. "It's an environmental disaster."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act,
the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.
George Lois

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/16/08 -
5.0 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 WESTERN INDIAN-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.1 NORFOLK ISLAND, AUSTRALIA REGION

JAPAN - Quake lakes imperil rescue efforts / Landslides block rivers at 11 points - Eleven dams created by landslides that occurred when Saturday's Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake hit are threatening to collapse, seriously affecting rescue efforts downstream. Two quake dams have been confirmed on the Sanhasamagawa river and the Nihasamagawa river, five on the Hasamagawa river in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, and four on the Iwaigawa river in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture. Most of them stretch about 100 to 200 meters wide. Those rivers are feeders of the Kitakamigawa river. Once the water level rises and water spills out from a quake lake, its banks and the natural dam instantly collapse and a wave of mud could sweep into lowlands located downstream. "The danger of a collapse [of quake dams] changes all the time due to rain and aftershocks." A group of researchers studying active faults on Sunday found a vertical displacement of land at ground level caused by the powerful earthquake that struck the Tohoku region Saturday. The stress shear was indicative of a reverse fault which in this case pushes the ground to the west up and over the ground to the east leading to a vertical displacement of about 40 to 50 centimeters, stretching across roads and through paddy fields in the area. The fault is located in paddy fields by a river in a mountainous area. A small waterfall has been created by the displacement in the river. Part of the road surface had been split apart by about five meters horizontally with the ground on the west side jutting out about 50 centimeters above the ground on the east side. Displacement in paddy fields and lopsided trees apparently caused by the seismic fault could be seen along a stretch of several hundred meters in the Gembicho district of Ichinoseki in the prefecture, about six kilometers southwest of the discovered fault. (photo / map)
According to analysis, the tremor was at its most devastating when it reached an oscillation cycle of about two seconds. Tremors with an oscillation cycle of this length are known to have a great impact on large structures such as bridges and roads. This type of tremor also is likely to cause landslides. The extent of damage caused by Saturday's earthquake fits in with such a description. In Saturday's quake, a sharp tremor with an oscillation cycle of 0.2 second lasted for nearly 20 seconds in some areas. "It's RARE for such a strong, sharp tremor to last that long. If mountains standing on unstable ground can slide [as a result], roads and building structures built on such ground don't stand a chance." The earthquake had a shallow focus similar to the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and last month's quake that ravaged China's Sichuan Province. Saturday's quake shook extensive areas of eastern Japan, shifting mountains in the process. (photo / map)
Japanese citizens took comfort in the fact that the death toll was relatively limited given the magnitude of the disaster. The scale of damages other than human loss, however, is still staggering. A mountain collapsed and disappeared completely in the city of Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, in the vicinity of the epicenter. Many roads and bridges are ruptured and destroyed. Casualties were mostly those who were at a construction site and unable to flee the collapsing building, or those who were driving and were swept away by landslides. One victim was hit by a truck and killed after the tremor drove him out into the street. At a mountain of Kurihara City, a landslide left seven people buried under the rubble, including guests and employees of a hot spring inn. Three of them were found dead Sunday. A rescue mission is in progress for the rest. In Oshu City, a bus with 20 passengers fell tens of meters down the cliff in a landslide, but all of them were rescued safely by a Self-Defense Force helicopter immediately dispatched to the site. The cold and snowy climate of Tohoku City and surrounding areas helped limit damage. People in the region roof their houses with light iron plates to avoid snow pileups, and windows and doors are made small to keep the cold out.
The violent earthquake that struck the Tohoku region Saturday morning reportedly caused a violent up-and-down shaking that lasted about two minutes, triggering the landslides in mountainous areas. Some reports have been received of vehicles being swallowed up by landslides. The quake also damaged hotels and stores, injured children at a nursery school, blocked roads and jolted a bus carrying 27 people heading off on vacation. The bus was hit by the earthquake as it crossed a bridge, bouncing three or four times. It severely disrupted transport networks in many areas and sparked the automatic shutdown of the Tohoku Shinkansen line. A man was climbing a mountain in the area when the quake struck at 8:43 a.m. "I'd been climbing for about 30 minutes when water suddenly gushed out like a fountain from the middle of a swamp. I thought I was going to die, but I managed to get back to the bottom after an hour." With aftershocks continuing, the damage from the temblor seems to be worsening with the passage of time.
A huge landslide akin to a massive hole being punched in the side of a mountain was triggered by the Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake at an upstream section of the Aratozawa Dam in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, causing widespread damage and making roads impassable. The volume of collapsed earth near the dam is believed to be more than 10 million cubic meters. In such deep landslides, tremors that seem to thrust up from below cause the pressure of underground water to rise, making the ground above seem to float before abruptly collapsing. There is a complicated relationship between the landslide and the dam downstream of it. "Water is stored in the dam, and it seems that the underground water level rose and caused a high-speed landslide. Earth on the outside of the slope fell into the artificial lake behind the dam, bringing the danger of flooding." When a massive amount of earth fell into a dammed up lake at the Vajont Dam in Italy in 1963, it caused a massive wave more than 100 meters high that killed about 2,000 residents living downstream. Figures suggest that an earthquake with a magnitude of about 7 will cause about 100 landslides on average.
A massive landslide triggered by Saturday's earthquake in the Tohoku Region has pushed a road more than 300 meters (984 feet) away from its original location. An aerial photo found that an S-shaped road near Aratozawa Dam in Kurihara had moved over 300 meters horizontally away from its original location following the massive landslide. The height of a cliff that was newly created as a result of the quake measured up to 148 meters. The landslide extended about 1.2 kilometers long, 800 meters wide and about 50 meters deep. The sediment volume of the landslide was 60 million cubic meters.

VOLCANOES -
JAPAN - Hot gas plumes detected at Mt. Kurikoma - The plumes were found near Hanayama in Kurihara, close to the border between Akita and Miyagi prefectures, and near Yu no Hama hot-spring spa. One of the plumes was spotted by Self-Defense Forces personnel Monday morning when they were searching for missing people at the site of a landslide where three vehicles are thought to have been buried. Aerial inspection from a helicopter showed that the plumes were rising from several spots. The plumes might be volcanic gases rising to the Earth's surface. "There's a possibility that volcanic gases that had been confined below ground are gushing out through fissures in the mountain created by the earthquake." It was also possible that the plumes were steam coming from underground hot water channels that had their course diverted by the earthquake. But they ruled out the possibility of increased volcanic activity on Mt. Kurikoma, saying that the plumes were very far from the summit of the volcano.

NEW ZEALAND - White Island still rattled after quake - Vulcanologists are continuing to keep a close eye on White Island. Two or three hundred aftershocks continue to rattle it after a 5.4 magnitude earthquake centred just 10 kilometres south-west of the volcano on Friday. GNS Science is warning people to stay off the island for another day or so. The aftershocks may have made it a bit touchy, and it is best to err on the side of caution. Some of the aftershocks have been as strong as magnitude four, and have been felt in the Bay of Plenty. The volcano remained on 'Level One' alert on Sunday morning. This means that while the volcano is kicking up a bit of a fuss, it is not yet threatening to erupt. (photo)

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
AUSTRALIA - Huge seas wreak havoc - Huge swells were pounding the Sydney coastline for a second day on Monday, due to a deep low pressure system near Lord Howe Island. "With swells of up to three to four metres, there are some quite large waves out there. Most of it has been up and down the coast, up to the far north coastal waters, the mid-north coast and a little bit of the Illawarra." Swell of this magnitude is usually expected about three times a year, but in the last 12 months it had occurred up to five times. Swells the size of office blocks caused serious beach erosion and forced the cancellation of the Manly ferry service. Sydney Ferries suspended the service after the rough conditions were deemed unsafe. Commuters were diverted to buses after Coastalwatch reported a 5m swell pushing through the Heads. The temperature in Sydney peaked at a chilly 14.6C on Saturday, the coldest day since August 3 last year and reached only 15.1C Sunday. The mercury was expected to rise to a maximum of 17C Monday before fine conditions return.

PAKISTAN - Rough waves and a high tide continued Sunday in the Arabian Sea along the 1,050-kilometer long coast of Sindh and Balochistan. “The extension of the low-pressure area that formed last week has caused the high tide and rough waves but it is normal during these days. But this year UNEXPECTEDLY the Arabian Sea will stay rough to very rough till the end of August.” At many places along Sindh’s coast four to five meter high waves were recorded in the last three days. Due to climatic changes and increasing sea-surface temperatures, Pakistan and India received pre-monsoon rains before the usual time this year.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINESE forecasters have warned that the Yellow River, the nation's second longest, may suffer serious flooding next, as the south endures SOME OF ITS WORST STORMS AND FLOODS FOR DECADES. The Yellow River flowing through the north may see "quite large" floods this year due to unusually heavy rain in a catchment region. A fresh swathe of heavy rain likely in the next few days would "increase the destructiveness of flood hazards and make the flood prevention and relief situation nationwide even more serious. The national flood prevention and relief effort is entering a crucial phase." The Yellow River has experienced devastating floods in the past, but in recent decades has been more prone to water scarcity. This year's floods have been especially heavy in Guangdong, the far southern province that is home to much of the country's export businesses. The Pearl River was at its HIGHEST FOR 20 YEARS. Up to 70,000 people living in the epicentre of last month's earthquake, Wenchuan, began emergency evacuations Monday amid fears of rock and mud slides in the mountainous region.
Vegetable prices have risen by 70% in four cities in Guangdong including Guangzhou. Economic losses have reached 10.6 billion yuan (HK$11.99 billion) because of the floods. More than 45,000 houses collapsed and 140,000 have been damaged. Massive flooding across a broad stretch of southern China has killed 169 people and driven 1.27 million from their homes. The exodus occurred across nine provinces, including Sichuan which is still reeling from last month's devastating earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people. The same provinces were also badly hit by freak cold weather and ice storms in January and February. Streets and houses along Xijiang in Guangdong were submerged in THE WORST FLOODING IN 50 YEARS to hit the Pearl River Delta. (photo)

INDIA - The early arrival of the monsoon in Delhi, BREAKING A 108-YEAR-OLD RECORD, has puzzled weather officials. It punches a hole in the entrenched theory - the hotter it gets, the better the chances of the monsoon - as this year, the north has been cooler by almost 1.5 degrees centigrade. Yet, it took merely 12 days, instead of 30, for the monsoon to cover most of India. So is this freak weather? Is it climate change? "This early onset has really surprised us and we need to do some data analysis as to why it has happened and at present, we do not have much knowledge as to why it has happened. We need to do more studies on the monsoon, but it is very difficult to link this situation to climate change."
The situation in the worst flood-affected Lakhimpur district of Assam remains grim and has claimed five lives so far. Over seven lakh people in seven hundred villages of the district have been affected by the sudden floods. Most parts of the Bihpuria and North Lakhimpur towns have been submerged. Over four thousand marooned people are taking shelter in the relief camps set up by the district authorities. Some new areas of the district have been submerged Monday by the surging water of the rivers - Sessa , Durpang, Dikrong, Singra and Ranganadi. Direct road communication to the district has been cut off following massive erosion of National Highway Number 52 at North Lakhimpur. The low-lying areas of the Kaziranga National Park have been submerged by the rising water of the river Brahmaputra.

U.S. - Flood fears for Mississippi river - The massive river, which passes through 10 states in its 3734-kilometre journey from its source in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, defines the border between Iowa and Illinois. Parts of Illinois are already under water, and officials there are bracing for the same kind of misery heaped on homes and businesses in Iowa. Experts believe the Mississippi, the country's second longest river, could crest during the next two days. Floodwaters from the Iowa's Cedar, Iowa and Des Moines rivers are pouring into it. "It's likely we'll see major flooding in every city on the border, from New Boston on down. We're very concerned about that." More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states have been affected by the flooding and extreme weather of recent weeks. Iowa was by the far the hardest hit: 83 of its 99 counties have been declared disaster areas and more than 4.8 million sandbags were laid down to try to stem the tide. More than 38,000 residents in 26 communities throughout the state had been evacuated by Monday morning. Seventeen people have died as a result of the floods in Iowa since the start of the extreme weather on May 25, adding to another five deaths in neighbouring states. "It's some of the worst flooding I've seen since (Hurricane) Katrina." The losses will be staggering. "It's public infrastructure, it's personal homes, it's land, it's fields, it's livestock, it's public buildings." The agriculture sector is said to be particularly badly hit with initial estimates to crop damage of $US1 billion. 20% of Iowa's crops have been lost, and the damage could put further pressure on high global food prices. In addition to Iowa, the heavy-farming states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota have suffered an UNUSUAL level of flooding this year. Barge traffic ground to a halt on the swollen Mississippi and rail shipments were also hit as floodwaters washed out track and key bridges. Television crews allowed into the downtown area of Cedar Rapids showed images of massive debris littering the streets, smashed store windows, warped furniture and footpaths streaked with mud and sand. Cars and houseboats had floated downriver where they were trapped by a rail bridge, trees were torn from their roots, roads were washed out and bridges collapsed.
The federal government predicts that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the Mississippi River if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees. Officials are placing millions of sandbags on top of the levees along the river in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to prevent overflowing. There is no way to predict whether these levees will break. RECORD-BREAKING STORMS AND FLOODING ACROSS SIX STATES this month continue to force thousands of people to evacuate and seek shelter. Since June 6, there have been 22 deaths, 85 injuries and more than 26,000 power outages because of the storms and flooding, Six levees have already overflowed in the past three days: two in Iowa and four in Missouri. Because the current flooding is so RARE — many are calling it a ONE-IN-500-YEARS FLOOD — the entire levee system will be stressed. Some 251 miles of the Mississippi River have been closed. That doesn't officially shut down the river, but it effectively shuts down barge traffic.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Monday, June 16, 2008 -

Another day, another delay - this time the power was out due to strong winds which blew branches onto the power pole and blew out the transformer. Then the pole started on fire. The power has been off so that it could be fixed. Ahh, life - and going online - used to be so much easier! Full updates will resume tomorrow.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/15/08 -
5.3 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.0 NEW GUINEA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.7 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
5.6 FIJI REGION

Sunday, June 15, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/14/08 -
5.0 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.5 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
5.0 OFF COAST OF OREGON
6/13/08 -
5.0 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
7.0 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 BANDA SEA
5.0 BANDA SEA

JAPAN - Six people are known to have been killed and more than 200 injured in the 7.0 quake that struck the rural mountainous region of Iwate on Japan's main island of Honshu. Landslides followed the tremors across Akita prefecture - the epicentre of the quake. There have been more than 200 aftershocks. Those missing include seven people feared buried by a mudslide at a hot spring hotel in mountains outside the town of Kurihara, Miyagi region. With major roads buckled and unusable, search teams hiked through mountain trails to reach isolated towns. A small amount of radioactive water was leaked at a nuclear power station, but officials said there was no danger to the public from the minor spillage at the facility in Fukushima. Seismologists issued a warning of the earthquake moments before it struck around 0845 (2343 GMT) on Friday. Surveillance cameras in the city of Sendai showed it being shaken violently for about 30 seconds.
UPDATE - The quake death toll has risen to at least nine. Mountains were carved away by the force of the quake, trees crashed into newly slashed ravines, roads were cut off by landslides, and bridges buckled and broke. More than 260 aftershocks had jolted the area by this morning, and officials warned there could be strong quakes to come. Efforts to find seven people believed trapped in a hot spring resort swamped by a massive landslide resumed early this morning. Rescue workers picked their way through debris while scores of others, including soldiers, began carefully crossing a river of mud covered with makeshift wooden boards to get to the two-story inn, whose first floor had completely collapsed. Some 100 people were cut off in remote areas after roads were blocked by landslides. Experts said the scope of the quake was far smaller than the one that hit China a month ago and the region's sparse population and Japan's stricter building codes also limited the damage. ( 8 photos)

LEBANON - Seven earthquakes struck southern Lebanon and northern Israel during the past 24 hours, Lebanese seismologists said Friday. Two of the tremors struck on Friday morning, measuring 3.8 and 3.9 on the Richter Scale, respectively. The other five hit within the space of three hours on Thursday.

CHINA - The lives of nearly 90% of China's endangered pandas are in danger after last month's earthquake devastated their mountainous habitat, Chinese government experts have warned. The lives of about 1,400 wild pandas in quake-hit areas of Sichuan province are in jeopardy, and some may have already died. "Massive landslides and large scale damage to forests triggered by last month's earthquake are threatening the existence of wild pandas. Caves and tree hollows where giant pandas live may be damaged, water in the habitat is polluted, and some of the bamboo is buried or smashed. Their living environment is completely destroyed." The quake affected 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres), or 83% of the country's total panda habitat. But officials said the extent of the damage could be even worse because landslides have blocked roads, preventing officials from assessing some areas.

VOLCANOES -
CHILE - The Chaiten volcano in southern Chile has erupted with renewed strength, belching thick clouds of ash and hurling molten rocks into the air. The volcano first began to erupt in May after lying dormant for centuries. "There has been an increase in the volcano's activity." Witnesses reported seeing two new craters, and of seeing "significant gas emanations and volcanic material" coming from the volcano. The National Service of Geology and Mining said it registered 15 low-level earthquakes early Thursday in the volcano area. Since the volcano had calmed down in the past weeks officials were hoping to let evacuees return to recover their belongings - but that plan was put on hold "until we are certain that this increased activity is something temporary." (photo)

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

COLUMBIA - The Colombian National Army on the island of San Andres was been put on alert in anticipation of a tropical storm. Thursday the storm was headed toward Nicaragua, but San Andres island, in the Caribbean Sea, lies in its course. Small boats have been asked not to venture out to sea, and authorities have instructed island residents to take adequate safety precautions. Heavy rains have killed 29 people so far this year and left thousands homeless in Colombia.

First Hurricane of US season likely June 18-22? Piers Corbyn of WeatherAction Long range forecasters today (June 13) - in a dramatic move towards developing long range extreme weather forecasts for anywhere in the world - predicted that the first tropical storm of the US season will form (85% likely) around 18th June. "We expect it to start in the Caribbean / Gulf of Mexico region and soon develop into Hurricane strength and make landfall (75% likely) or near landfall by 21 or 22 June in Florida / Southern States or possibly Cuba or (less likley) the west side of the Gulf. This Tropical storm will be associated with severe tornado events in central / SouthEast parts of the USA while New York /NorthEast USA are likely to be unusually cold. After that we are 90% confident the storm will quickly die and the period 23 June to 5 July will be essentially storm free." There is at present no forecast for any US Tropical Storms on the USA official hurricane and weather service Service sites. This is the 5th of WeatherAction's trial forecasts of extreme weather events in the USA this year. They say their success rate (for three major blizzards and a spell of severe tornadoes) is 4/4 so far. These trial forecasts are created using WeatherAction's Solar Weather Technique which uses predictable aspects of particle and magnetic affects from the Sun to make forecasts of certain extreme events in various parts of the world.

MYANMAR - About 300 bloated and decaying corpses, apparently victims of Cyclone Nargis, washed up on a beach in eastern Myanmar more than one month after the cyclone struck the country.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - Flooding in southern China has killed at least 55 people and forced more than one million to flee their homes. Torrential downpours have affected nine provinces. More rain is expected in the coming days, forecasters warn. Among those provinces badly hit is Sichuan, which is still reeling from last month's massive earthquake. The flooding has submerged large areas of farm land and destroyed 6,600 homes in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces. Many roads throughout the affected areas have been covered by landslides. The flooding in the Pearl river delta is THE WORST FLOODING FOR 50 YEARS.

INDIA - With the early arrival of the south west monsoon at the end of May, Mumbai received the HEAVIEST RAINFALL FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS.

MYANMAR - At least 11 people died in central Myanmar when their homes collapsed from landslides caused by heavy rain. The deaths occurred Wednesday and Thursday in Mogok region, which has been battered by heavy monsoon rains. Several homes collapsed along Mogok's Yeni creek, where water levels rose as much as three feet. Heavy rains have battered other parts of the country, including southwestern Myanmar where Cyclone Nargis hit last month.

MEXICO - Many parts of southern and central Mexico have been flooded after more than a week’s worth of heavy rains. The southern Mexican state of Oaxaca has been worst affected. More than 7,000 people were evacuated from their homes as flood waters continued to rise. So far, at least five people have lost their lives in the floods. Heavy rain and floods have also affected the oil-producing state of Veracruz along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Since last Wednesday, the recent heavy rains have been particularly severe and persistent. Mexico’s rainy season starts around late May or early June and continues through into September and sometimes into October. During the rainy season, most of the rainfall occurs during sharp afternoon thunderstorms, but recently, persistent and torrential rain has moved off the near Gulf, leading to widespread flooding. Forecasters expected further heavy rain across much of central and southern Mexico over the weekend, but expect the rain to ease into the start of this week.

U.S. - At least 24,000 people have been forced from their homes in Iowa by flooding, which has also severely damaged crops in America's main corn state. Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders as Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and other Iowa cities were partly deluged. One of the worst affected areas is Cedar Rapids city, where 438 streets have been submerged and nearly 4,000 homes evacuated. Officials in the city - which is the state's second largest with a population of about 120,000 - warn its drinking water supply is under threat. The cost of flood damage in the state could be in the billions. The cost of the damage in Cedar Rapids alone has been estimated at $737 million. The Cedar river crested on Friday night at nearly 32ft (9.75m), 12 FEET (3.66m) HIGHER THAN THE PREVIOUS RECORD, set in 1929. "We've had heavy rain here now for three weeks. We haven't had more than two or three dry days before we get another downpour. We were warned that there was going to be heavy storms but no one imagined it would be as bad as this...Most of the country's food comes from here in the Midwest and this flood has destroyed most of the crops. As well as affecting us living in Iowa, this flood is going to affect a lot of people in the States." The disaster was triggered by storms blamed for at least nine deaths in the US Midwest this week. South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana have also been affected. The Illinois authorities are predicting record water levels there in the coming days. The floods have wrecked the Midwest's corn and soybean crops, helping push already high food prices to record levels this week.
KANSAS - A series of three storms swept through Salina late Wednesday. One UNUSUAL feature of the series of storms was that the second storm to hit Salina was more powerful than the first - it was the second storm that spawned tornadoes - and the third was nearly as strong as the first. Typically, once a storm passes through an area, it removes much of the energy from the atmosphere, making any later storms much less severe. But this wasn't typical. "This was unusual - even the third one still had some punch." Strong winds from the south, aided by the spacing between the storms, continued to feed the storms. "The space between gave them time to draw in more warm, moist air", essentially resetting the conditions under which severe storms form. "It is UNUSUAL." The tornado that ripped through southern Salina and parts east appears to have been on the ground for 14 miles. The tornado was notable for its time on the ground. In all, the storms damaged or destroyed nine homes and numerous outbuildings and businesses in the county.

UNITED KINGDOM - During the 2007 floods, England and Wales experienced the greatest volume of rainfall since records began in 1766. A series of UNPRECEDENTED floods affected tens of thousands of homes and caused Ł3bn worth of damage. In a number of cases, the flooding was not predicted by the Environment Agency's flood warning system because it was a result of rainwater overwhelming already saturated drains and surfaces and did not involve rivers or coastal flooding. The UK Meteorological Office says it has improved its ability to pinpoint where and when heavy rain will occur. Forecasts of severe downpours will now be issued up to 24 hours earlier, it says, giving local authorities more time to prepare flood control measures. The developments include: A system called STEPS, which models radar data to provide predictions of surface rainfall in order to pinpoint locations of extreme rainfall several hours before it occurs; software that creates multiple forecasts up to two days in advance, allowing forecasters to assess the degree of uncertainty surrounding possible extreme weather events; a computer model that forecasts how rainstorms will evolve, which will enable more precise predictions of rain intensity and location.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
SCOTLAND - Snow returned to the Cairngorms Friday as most of the rest of Scotland basked in warm weather. After some of the hottest weeks on record, the snow high on the peak shocked bosses at the resort. "It certainly came as a surprise. And it is certainly unseasonal... It is proving to be a talking point for visitors. They obviously weren't expecting to see snow at this time of the year." The snow is falling above 900 metres and can be seen from the funicular railway. "Although unseasonal, it is not unknown. But we haven't seen snow this late in the year for a while."

ODD-
BRITAIN - FREAK WEATHER on Friday delayed thousands of passengers at Heathrow. LACK OF A TAILWIND - OR JETSTREAM - over the Atlantic meant hundreds of transatlantic flights were delayed, stopping most others from arriving and departing on time. Just one out of nearly 300 flights from all terminals departed on time from 7:15am to mid-morning. Forecasters warned the UNUSUAL WEATHER is set to continue into Monday, threatening misery for many flying this weekend. "During the weekend most of the strong Atlantic winds are blowing north to south, that is what is causing most of the problems." Concerns have already been raised over delays and cancellations expected because of massive security for the arrival of President Bush and his fleet of planes today. The arrival of his planes - 747s Air Force One and Two, a smaller 757 and four helicopters - is expected to cut arrivals of other flights from 42 to 24 for an hour before he touches down.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-

AUSTRALIA - Major cropping regions of NSW are in "urgent need" of rain as a greater portion of the state slips into drought, the state government has warned. Seasonal conditions are continuing to deteriorate, and all cropping areas are in urgent need of good rainfall to consolidate crops that have been sown and enable remaining seed to be planted. The drought figures showed that just 13.6% of the state is classified as `satisfactory'. Above average temperatures and frosts have contributed to the drying of soil moisture. "These poor seasonal conditions also impact on the livestock industries, with reduced grazing production, especially in central and southern areas."

AUSTRALIA - Western Australia's gas crisis will hit hard this week as more businesses face the decision to shut down and lay off workers because of escalating energy costs. 14% of 83 companies surveyed recently may halt operations because of the energy squeeze. Apache Energy says it will be two months before gas supplies are partly resumed at its Varanus Island gas plant, where a June 3 explosion cut off one-third of the state's domestic gas supply. Several hundred workers have already been laid off at laundries, abattoirs, freight companies and in timber-related industries. The number forced out of work could soon hit the thousands as related industries and jobs are hit.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Friday, June 13, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do.
Dale Carnegie

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/12/08 -
5.1 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.2 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
5.3 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.3 GUAM REGION
5.0 GUAM REGION
5.4 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
5.3 CRETE, GREECE

INDIA - Recurrent tremors were felt in Gaya during the past fortnight. Four shocks were felt on May 30, June 6 (4.7) and June 9 (3.3) in Gaya. Experts in the Indian Meteorological Department say that there is little cause for anxiety, still the chief minister has invited the experts to study the phenomenon and submit findings.

A future network of satellites orbiting the earth may be able to detect an impending earthquake by monitoring our planet's ionosphere. The project is based on a controversial theory that may have gained support in light of new findings relating to last month's Sichuan province earthquake. The researchers hope to create a global network of roughly 20 satellites that would scan for telltale activity that some scientists say precedes large earthquakes. The goal is to create an early warning system that would give up to two weeks notice before a major earthquake occurs. The proposed dishwasher-sized satellites could be deployed in two year's time, and would monitor several distinct phenomena. The theory suggests that much of earth's rock has soaked up water, which has later been exposed to extreme heat and pressure inside the earth. Those conditions break apart the water and create the electrically conductive crystals that exist inside most rocks, as well as byproducts such as oxygen. As pressure builds before an earthquake, the oxygen molecules inside the rocks undergo chemical reactions, creating a positive electrical charge that radiates out toward the earth's surface. "It's similar to how an electrical charge radiates through a battery." The charge creates a subtle fluorescent, infrared glow and a magnetic field one to two weeks before a major earthquake. That light shines into space, the theory goes, where satellites can register the change. The positively charged magnet creates a dimple, up to 20 kilometres deep, in the earth's atmosphere by attracting negatively charged ions from as far away as 600 kilometres above the surface of the Earth. On 2 May 2008, a professor was looking for these same infrared light sources and found one over Sichuan province. On 12 May the magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the Chinese province. He and his colleagues are currently preparing a paper detailing the Sichuan event that may be published later this year.

VOLCANOES -
NEW ZEALAND - scientists warned people to stay away from the country's most active volcano after an earthquake rocked the region. An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale centred 10km from volcanic White Island was widely felt in the nearby Bay of Plenty region in the northeast of the North Island at 9:06am (7.06am AEST). The quake, which had a focus 5km deep, led to concerns there could be renewed volcanic activity on White Island, which lies 48km off the Bay of Plenty coast. "We would recommend no visits to the island for the next 48 to 72 hours. The potential for eruptive activity will be higher during that period." The volcano last erupted in 2000 and was particularly active between 1976 and 1993. [The seismic drum reading was continuing to be quite impressive last night with multiple red lines, which means the signals were still very large.]

CAMEROON - Uncertainty surrounds Mt. Cameroon's possible eruption - Against a backdrop of speculations, wild rumours and some panic that Mt. Cameroon is threatening to erupt, The Post set out recently on an expedition of inquiry. A geologist says that the mountain is not about to erupt. "They have tested the vent to find out if there is an increase in temperature but they discovered that the temperature has rather dropped and that there is no cause for alarm." Some of the Bakweri chiefs believe that Mt. Cameroon erupts whenever a chief dies. When a Bakweri chief is about to die, there is usually a sign on the mountain which is understood only by custodians of the tradition. The chiefs are supposed to offer sacrifices to appease Efasamoto (the god of the mountain). There is a place on the mountain where non-indigenes are not permitted to go. "There is a particular area on the mountain where no language apart from the Bakweri Bomboko vernacular must be spoken. If English or any other strange language is spoken there, it would cause an eruption." At Poto Poto quarter in Bokwaongo, where a 1999 eruption affected many people, the denizens said they have not sensed any sign of a possible eruption.

COSTA RICA - Arenal Volcano let molten boulders fly twice this week. The volcano puts on an incredible, natural light show almost every night. It’s a spectacular sight to see molten lava pour out and it is monitored carefully. On Tuesday (June 10), Volcán Arenal threw flaming rocks down its edges, causing a stir for the second time in five days. “It was something we had foreseen. There had been an accumulation of large rocks and materials at the summit, and it was going to collapse any minute.” The rock avalanche was very similar to Friday’s, and the falling rocks followed the same path as before. In addition to tumbling boulders, however, a spewing volcano also throws out noxious gases, which can be more dangerous to nearby park visitors than anything else. Aware of the impending activity, park rangers had already evacuated the areas closest to the volcano. This latest activity falls well within the volcano’s normal activity parameters, charted over the volcano’s last 40 years. Though the unstable material will continue to fall — creating ideal viewing conditions for visiting tourists — experts say that there is no danger of a major eruption/explosion.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
IOWA - Nearly 4000 homes were evacuated in Cedar Rapids Thursday and parts of the city's downtown were under 5 to 6 feet of water as flooding continued to ravage the state. The National Weather Service called flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a "HISTORIC HYDROLOGIC EVENT" Thursday as the swollen river poured over its banks at 500-YEAR FLOOD LEVELS. Residents should expect "UNPRECEDENTED river crests". One of the Cedar Rapids levees already has broken. "The rest of the levees in the city have not broken down but what the problem is is the water went way up over the top — well over a foot over the top of the levees." Officials estimated that 100 blocks in Cedar Rapids were under water. "People that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start." In downtown, flood waters neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gage was swept away by the swirling water. The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water. "We're in uncharted territory — THIS IS AN EVENT BEYOND WHAT ANYBODY COULD EVEN IMAGINE." Frantic sandbagging enabled the upstream cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo to narrowly avoid widespread flooding. Storms overnight into Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa. 55 of the state's 99 counties have been declared state disaster areas. Nine rivers are at or above historic flood levels. The City Council on Wednesday was told to prepare for a long flood — not just a record-setting one. (photos)
Four teenagers were killed and 48 people were injured when a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday night. At least 42 of those injured were still hospitalized on Thursday morning, suffering from everything from cuts and bruises to major head trauma. The tornado was one of 28 reported late Wednesday moving across eastern Kansas and into Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. Those tornadoes killed at least two people in northern Kansas, destroyed much of the small town of Chapman and caused extensive damage on the Kansas State University campus. ( YouTube video showing the tornado passing in front of a television tower cam. If you pause the video during the lightning strike near 2:34, you can see the funnel coming down from the cloud mid-screen.) In Cedar Rapids the level of flooding is expected to break records by a wide margin. “You hardly ever break a record, and if you do, you only break it by a little bit. In this case we are going to break it by four or five feet, and that is a lot of water.”


MINNESOTA - A man was killed after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters in southern Minnesota on Thursday in Freeborn County. (photo / video)

Flooding along the mid-Mississippi River will worsen in the next week as the flood waters from other rivers flow downstream. The Mississippi River at Clarksville, Missouri, had risen to 29.57 feet at 2 a.m. CDT. The river a week from today is expected to exceed 36 feet, A LEVEL THAT IS MET ON AVERAGE EVERY 200 YEARS. Record flooding is currently taking place across the mid-Mississippi Valley. The level of the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was 30.85 feet at 3 a.m. CDT. The river has GREATLY SURPASSED THE PREVIOUS CREST RECORD of 20.0 feet from March 18, 1929. The swollen river has led to the closure of Interstate 80 in both directions at milepost 266. The road is not expected to re-open for the next two to three days. Flooding forced officials to close a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 90/94 in south-central Wisconsin Thursday. Drier weather will dominate the entire mid-Mississippi Valley on Saturday. The dry spell for the mid-Mississippi Valley will be very brief. A new storm will return the threat of severe weather and flooding on Sunday.

CANADA - Incessant rain is beginning to take its toll on Calgary's river banks and flood budget, as a landslide and sink hole kept city crews busy. High stream-flow advisories dotted most of the southern half of Alberta. The city has already received 75.2 mm this June, while normal values for the entire month are 79.8 mm.

CHINA - Torrential rain persists in southern China - Since late May, there has been heavy rain in south China, which caused floods, collapses, landslides and mudflows, as well as heavy losses of life.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
MONTANA - RECORD STORM battered Great Falls area - Snow in June isn't all that unusual in Montana, but rarely does it come in the quantity that fell early Wednesday morning. A cold, wet system centered on Great Falls, shattering tree limbs with heavy snow and knocking out power across the city. By the time most people got to work, the National Weather Service had recorded 6.8 inches of snow at the airport on Gore Hill. That was 35 TIMES THE PREVIOUS SNOWFALL RECORD FOR JUNE 11 of .2 inches, recorded in 1969. The low temperature of 32 on Tuesday also BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD for the date of 34 degrees, also from 1969. The blast of snow wasn't quite enough to set Great Falls' all-time record for June snowfall — 8 inches fell on June 7, 1950 — but it was enough to immobilize a snowplow that was clearing roads for morning traffic. "That's PRETTY UNUSUAL this time of year — to get a snowplow stuck." With the exception of Great Falls, the storm dropped most of its snow in the mountains.

IDAHO - Tuesday's snow in Boise is the LATEST EVER RECORDED - on Wednesday morning officials with the National Weather Service recorded a rain/snow mix at the Boise Airport, which makes for a new record. The latest recorded snowfall in Boise was June 7 in 1914, making Tuesday's trace of snow a new record. It's the latest June snow ever recorded, since weather statistics began being collected in 1872. “This is a VERY UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERN we have been in."

WASHINGTON - Freak snowstorm creates perilous alpine conditions - Trails that usually are clear by Memorial Day are buried under feet of snow, making them unsafe and delaying the high-country hiking season by weeks. The past few days felt more like March than June in South Sound, and it is still raging winter in the high country of the Cascades and Olympics. One hiker died and two others suffered frostbite when they were caught in a harsh snowstorm Monday near Camp Muir in Mount Rainier National Park. Experts at Western Washington national parks and national forests say that trails that usually are clear in mid-June still are buried under several feet of snow above 3,000 feet in elevation. "A lot of old-timers are saying it's been years and years since they've seen weather like this in June." The new snow falling on the high country is just adding to the deep snowdrifts left over from the record snowfalls of last winter. The calendar says summer begins June 20, but the weather says it's still winter above 3,000 feet. One site sampled in late May had 12 feet of snow, which is 165% of normal.

Farmers Almanac says weather in years ending in 8 can be UNUSUAL - the Farmer's Almanac devoted some space to the subject in this year's edition, including the hurricane of '38, the blizzard of 1888, and the ice storms of 1998 that left people in the northeast and Canada without power for days. It's not so unscientific because weather moves in cycles, so it's plausible that severe weather in North America coincides with 8's.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

CALIFORNIA - a state of emergency was declared in the coastal county of Santa Cruz south of San Francisco as wildfires threatened thousands of homes in the state's rain-starved north. The Santa Cruz fire has already ravaged 280 hectares and an unspecified number of buildings. In Butte County, two brush and forest fires have scorched some 10,000 hectares and destroyed 21 homes and 26 other buildings. Another fire was burning in Monterey county just south of Santa Cruz. "For the areas in Northern California that supply most of our water, this March, April and May have been THE DRIEST EVER IN OUR RECORDED HISTORY." Over January 1 to June 30, 2007 Los Angeles, in the southern part of the state, experienced its DRIEST RAINY SEASON IN 130 YEARS, with one-fifth of normal rainfall. One consequence was a rise in devastating fires in the second half of the year.

U.S. EAST COAST - Deaths blamed on the East Coast's recent heat wave climbed past 30 Thursday. The UNUSUAL spring heat wave was blamed on “the Bermuda high” a semi-permanent air mass which shifts to the east or west over the mid-Atlantic.
The heat and humidity have split, but not before toppling trees - big ones - all across Maryland and Virginia. The list of incidents of downed trees, with associated structural damage and power outages, is impressive. (photo)

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Thursday, June 12, 2008 -

I have not be able to update today - storm, after storm, after storm last night kept me off-line. Tremendous rain, but thankfully no hail this time.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Lots of quakes already today -
5.1 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.2 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
5.3 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.3 GUAM REGION
5.0 GUAM REGION
5.4 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
5.3 CRETE, GREECE

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/11/08 -
5.2 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLAND
5.7 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
5.0 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
5.4 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Crime does not pay ... as well as politics.
Alfred E. Newman

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/10/08 -
5.4 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.0 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.4 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.4 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.2 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
5.8 VANUATU


NEVADA - Residents of Reno were on guard Monday for earthquake activity after a "swarm" of minor temblors shook the northern part of the state. The swarm, actually made up of thousands of minor quakes, has been going on for three months but picked up considerably Sunday, shaking shelves and causing tall buildings in downtown Reno to sway. There were no reports of significant property damage. Four quakes measuring at least magnitude 3.0 struck the area Sunday morning, capping off a 12-hour period that saw about 20 minor earthquakes. One seismologist said it was the strongest sequence of Nevada quakes in the last month and signaled a pickup in activity. The current swarm's strongest quake was a magnitude 4.7 temblor that struck Reno April 15.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
IOWA - The city of Cedar Falls is bracing for a RECORD FLOOD, expecting the downtown flood levee will hold back the raging Cedar River, while preparing for widespread flooding in North Cedar. As of Monday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected a crest of 100 feet for the Cedar River in Cedar Falls. That mark would be nearly 4 feet above the record flood in 1999 of 96.2 feet. As a comparison, the 1999 flood topped the previous record by only .1 foot, and all of the top 10 floods in Cedar Falls have been in the 94- to 96-foot range. The flood levee, which was completed just as the 1999 record flood happened, is expected to hold. With the expected crest the Cedar River will come within 3 feet of the top of the levee. A train with fully loaded cars was parked on the railroad bridge near downtown to provide additional support for the bridge. Cedar Falls has recommended people living in flood prone areas north of the river to evacuate.

NEBRASKA - A meteorologist says several aspects of the fierce thunderstorm that struck Omaha on the 8th made it difficult to predict. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning two minutes after the tornado had left the ground early Sunday morning. Officials estimate the tornado was on the ground from 2:17 a.m. to 2:24 a.m. The warning was issued at 2:26 a.m. It's EXTREMELY UNUSUAL for tornadoes to form in the early morning. The tornado also started rotating at ground level. Most tornadoes start rotating in the clouds and descend, giving weather radar a good chance to detect them early.

CHINA - Rain storms are forecast for southern China over the next two days after RECORD DOWNPOURS caused havoc in Hong Kong and nearby Guangdong, triggering landslides and halting traffic. At least seven cities, home to 1.5 million people, in the coastal province of Guangdong have been hit by continuous rains, with more than 1,500 houses destroyed and more than 150 factories having to suspend operations. "Guangdong's coastal cities will probably face typhoons or high tides this month, and flooding might be more severe than expected. Rainfall will diminish today in the Pearl and Yangtze river basins, where it has been heavy from Saturday to yesterday, before again becoming torrential." Heavy rains are also seen in southern Jiangxi and Guangxi where water was knee-deep or higher on main streets. Rainstorms brought havoc to Hong Kong on Saturday, bringing the heaviest downpour since records began and sparking widespread flooding and dozens of landslides, one of which killed two people.

MEXICO - Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in Eastern mexico as thousands of people flee landslides and mudflows triggered by the profuse deluge. Landslides have destroyed many homes in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz as authorities struggled to reach certain areas owing to blocked transportation routes and damaged communication lines. The intense rains in eastern Mexico have lasted several days, flooding numerous homes and roads in various parts of Veracruz.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
WASHINGTON - High winds knocked out power to at least 18,700 homes in Seattle and South King County late Monday as an unseasonably strong storm blew through the area. Across Western Washington, about 30,000 customers were without power late into the evening. Monday's storms came as Puget Sound-area residents had just begun to thaw out after the COLDEST JUNE WEEK ON RECORD. The average high temperature in Seattle last week was a less-than-balmy 57.3 degrees - nearly two degrees lower than the previous record, set in 1917. That's 10 degrees lower than the normal high for the week, 68 degrees. The National Weather Service issued a gale wind warning Monday evening. The statement cautioned that wind gusts up to 57 mph could drive 6-foot waves during the night. At higher elevations in the Cascade Range, the cold front was expected to bring 5 to 10 inches of snow to mountain passes. Forecasters predicted the snow level would drop to 2,500 feet overnight Monday. The cold, wet weather likely will mean a dusting at Snoqualmie Pass and snow accumulations up to 5 inches at the state's higher passes. "We have a cold front that's coming through, which is obviously UNUSUALLY STRONG. I can't remember a time when we've put out a heavy snow advisory in June." The snow warning for the Cascade and Olympic ranges has forced highway crews to delay mowing grass and return to the mountain passes with snowplows.
OREGON - A wintery storm within a week of summer is producing snow and ice. The southern Blue Mountains can expect 3-5 inches of snow, and the northern Blues could get 6-10 inches. The weather service also issued a hazardous weather outlook for most of Eastern Oregon, and there is a frost advisory in effect into Wednesday night for the Blue Mountains and much of Wallowa County. Baker County could get three to five inches at higher elevations and one to two inches in the valleys.
Cold Spells - Aspen, Colorado is actually re-opening this weekend to offer winter sports enthusiasts some rare June skiing in the area. The Aspen Skiing Company said Monday that it will open up Aspen Mountain from June 13 to 15 for skiers and snowboarders. The company says record winter snowfall has left the mountain covered with snow, leaving behind an average of more than 3 feet of snow on the upper slopes. UNUSUALLY COLD WATERS off of Nova Scotia are harming this year's lobster crop. Temperatures fell so low the lobsters were not crawling. In order for the lobsters to crawl into a trap the water has to be at least over the 40-degree mark and the spring season has had hardly any times when the conditions are right. “Our spring is just not viable. Global warming is having the opposite effect for us and we are seeing the temperatures of the water stay lower for longer.” The shrimp season has also been delayed in Mississippi as a result of colder than normal Gulf temperatures.

AUSTRALIA - the weather is becoming 'predictably unpredictable'. "The rainfall this year is already 1130mm ... and that's 90% of the entire year's rainfall - just in six months." Temperature is also a factor. "[This past] summer some places only hit about 25 days where the temperature was 30 degrees or above over the three months. That's half the number of days that hit 30 degrees or higher for the same time the year before. Then you take the months of April and May. In some places THE TEMPERATURE WAS THE COLDEST ON RECORD."

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

MEXICO - Bears have been spotted foraging for food and water on the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico's second largest city, as they struggle to survive a dry spell that has depleted their natural reserves of food and water.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
Hot weather extending from Quebec to Florida has caused a number of fruits and vegetables to ripen quickly and come to market at low prices.

U.S. rains take heavy toll on crops - Putnam County, Indiana has been deluged with nearly 13 inches of rain — about one-third of the state’s YEARLY average. The heavy rainfall and flooding are threatening farmers and crops across the state. Farmers throughout the rain-drenched Corn Belt are concerned that damage to recently planted crops will hurt yields, helping to drive up prices of everything from eggs to meat to bread. Last week’s rain-fed jump in corn prices was THE LARGEST ONE-WEEK RALLY IN HISTORY. In Indiana, the overabundance of rain began last month. The amount of rainfall in the state — 6.1 inches — was 37% more than normal in May. Before the deluge, Indiana farmers were en route to one of their best years

AUSTRALIA - The world's largest cattle ranch has been forced to sell off its livestock and mothball operations because of the severe drought.

THE UNITED KINGDOM has been hit by a worldwide shortage of lemons and Russia is snapping up what's left. Supplies of the tangy citrus fruit are running out with traders predicting empty shelves during the month of August if the situation continues. Prices have already shot up with a single lemon now selling for about double what it was this time last year. Prices are set to increase further as lemons run out due to a poor harvest following FREAK WEATHER conditions across the globe. The world markets were relying on bumper crops from the Southern Hemisphere following a terrible season in Europe from September 2007 to April 2008. But low temperatures and late frosts across the Southern Hemisphere have caused a drop in production and quality. Demand across the world now far outstrips supply.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
The tomato industry in Florida has collapsed and $US40 million worth of tomatoes will rot unless the source of a salmonella outbreak can be quickly traced.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things,
but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
Andy Rooney

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/9/08 -
5.0 VANUATU REGION
5.2 FIJI REGION

CHINA - Water is finally gushing out of a dangerous quake lake after China fired missiles and used dynamite and bulldozers to clear more diversion channels. Water was draining out nearly 60 times faster than it was flowing in after boulders were destroyed and other huge debris removed. The falling water levels have eased the immediate dangers posed by the Tangjiashan lake. Dealing with the millions of people left homeless will be an enormous problem for a long time after the quake lake is drained. More than 8500 people living in Beichuan, the county seat of Qunshan township, were killed in the earthquake, out of a population of 13,000. Qunshan was surrounded by enormous hills and landslides from the mountain sides buried entire buildings. A new county seat will be built at Bandengqiao, a much flatter area 35km from the original one that was destroyed.
The water level at the Tangjiashan quake lake, formed by China's most devastating earthquake in decades, dropped by 13 metres (43 ft) on Tuesday. Muddy lake water from the dangerously unstable "quake lake" rushed through the devastated Chinese town of Beichuan on Tuesday and quickly turned into a torrent, after soldiers used explosives to blow away rubble. Brown water, clumps of trees and occasional vehicles swamped low-lying areas of the town, washing away remains of corpses, family mementoes and valuables left under the rubble. Further downstream near Mianyang, the river had turned into a torrent several hundred metres across, bursting banks in places. Road blocks kept traffic away from nearby Jiangyou, but it was not clear if the whole town was cut off. Helicopters were evacuating remaining soldiers and experts from the top of the dam, which was no longer safe with cracks appearing as the flow of water accelerated by more than tenfold. (8 photos)

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
MEXICO - heavy rains and large waves have caused flooding in low-lying parts of the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. On Monday, teams were working to clear the roads of flooding that cut off Acapulco's airport and affected about 5,000 homes. The port was closed to small craft because of high surf. No deaths or injuries were reported.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

MYANMAR - Hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in Myanmar's Irrawaddy River Delta will probably need food aid for a year because of last month's storm. The United Nations estimates some one million people affected by the cyclone are still in need of aid.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - The US Midwest is braced for more bad weather after a weekend of storms that left eight people dead and forced hundreds from their homes. Meanwhile, the US east coast is suffering a heatwave, with temperatures forecast to hit 100F (38C).
Flood warnings remain in place for parts of Indiana, where rescuers have been using boats and helicopters to reach those stranded by rising waters. "This thing came on fast with such a radical deluge of water that people were describing going from a feeling of security to waist-deep water in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes."
Meanwhile, Wisconsin sought emergency aid for 29 counties, and a state of emergency has been declared in nearly a third of Iowa's 99 counties.
In Michigan, two delivery workers drowned when their vehicle became submerged in a creek swollen by heavy rains.
A tornado touched down in Omaha, Nebraska, causing damage to dozens of homes but no major injuries. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the region were left without electricity after storms took down power lines.
In Chicago, Illinois, residents are continuing to clear up after damage caused by high winds over the weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued heat warnings for eastern states including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina, as well as the nation's capital, Washington DC. (photo)
A stalled storm system poured heavy rain on parts of the Midwest on Monday, setting off severe flooding in Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, where already swollen rivers and lakes overflowed their banks, broke through dams and created havoc for thousands of residents. The stationary storm aggravated a dangerously soggy situation. Thunderstorms that began late last week had brought 6 to 10 inches of rain to parts of the region, leaving the ground saturated. There were no new fatalities reported as of late Monday.
In Wisconsin, at least 90 roads and highways were closed because of flooding, which also caused three dams to fail and four to have water spill over. At least three houses were swept away as gushing lake water cut a new path through Lake Delton, a small town north of Madison. Now there is hardly any water in the lake. The lake broke its boundaries and essentially flowed away. “Water’s coming in, but as fast as it flows in it goes out.” Thousands of residents evacuated flood-ravaged communities in 30 counties across the state.
In Iowa, some river levels were EXCEEDING RECORDS, and a concentration of heavy flooding hampered the northeastern and central part of the state.
In Indiana, residents tried to raise a mile of levee by three feet along the White River at Elnora, southwest of Indianapolis, where the river was expected to crest and flood.
While Tuesday is expected to offer some relief, meteorologists said there was a possibility of rain returning to the central Plains states on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the most significant rainfall that is expected will fall on the areas already experiencing flooding.”
After an especially wet winter and early spring, forecasters say the next few weeks may be a drier time for the Midwest. “The good news is that the climate predictions center is saying that a week from today, we should see a change in the overall weather pattern.” (photos)

INDIA - The first monsoon rains of the year which pounded Mumbai over the weekend killed at least five people, submerging roads, toppling trees and flooding offices. Walls and other bits of buildings collapsed and crushed two people in different parts of the city. Three other people were killed on Saturday, either crushed or electrocuted. There have been steady showers since Thursday, but the city's weather department officially declared the monsoon had rolled into town on Saturday, a few days earlier than usual. Since then, around 10cm of rain has fallen on the city each day. Although Mumbai is trying to build itself into a global financial centre, parts of it tend to crumble come the monsoon.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

NORTH CAROLINA's heat wave has been knocking down records across the state, including SIX STRAIGHT DAYS OF RECORD TEMPERATURES.
PENNSYLVANIA had 3 heat waves in 2007. The current heat wave of 2008 has come in about a month earlier than last year's first heat wave.

CANADA - On Friday, Toronto hit RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES as the mercury climbed to 40 C with the humidity. A possible tornado was spotted moving eastward over Middlesex County, Ontario, threatening areas between London and Toronto. The heat wave in Central Canada is blamed for the severe weather in parts of Ontario.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
SOUTH AFRICA - Desperate farmers in the central Karoo are cashing in their pension funds and moving to town as a lengthy drought lays waste their farms and livestock. Scores of farm workers now face uncertain futures and the region has seen a massive decline in job opportunities. The four-year drought is reaching critical proportions, with livestock and game dying at an alarming rate. The barren land is strewn with the carcasses of dead animals. It's also having a devastating social and economic impact, as the area is the central production region for export wool and meat. The "gradual deterioration" in the region has taken its toll on the land. There is virtually no grazing left for starved livestock. Very few farmers had lambs this season and some newborn lambs were dying just days after birth because ewes were not able to produce milk. "Even oryx, which are actually desert animals, are battling. It's come to the point that the feed actually has to be taken to the animal." Even if the rains start to relieve the arid land, much of the damage has been done.

NEW ZEALAND faces power crisis amid drought - New Zealanders are to be urged to wash dishes by hand and turn off lights as the country teeters on the brink of a power crisis caused by drought. After two years of dry weather, the level of water in lakes that drive New Zealand's hydroelectric power plants is worryingly low. Households will be asked to cut electricity consumption by up to 15% during peak early evening periods unless there is "significant" rainfall soon. The last time there was a serious power shortage in New Zealand was in 1992 when businesses were forced to use liquid petroleum gas and diesel. Street lighting was rationed and households endured hot water restrictions. The public was also asked to save power in 2001, 2003 and 2006 but each time rain came soon enough to head off any serious problems. The chief executive of Business New Zealand, said poor decisions by successive governments had led to New Zealanders living with the threat of electricity shortages. "You just can't run an economy like this. If we get through to the end of winter without blackouts; it was all done by the skin of our teeth. I don't think that's a sensible proposition."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Monday, June 9, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
Mark Twain

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/8/08 -
5.0 WESTERN XIZANG
5.2 SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.0 POTOSI, BOLIVIA
5.0 GREECE
6.4 SOUTHERN GREECE

CHINA - The water level in the earthquake-formed lake in China is still rising, despite the creation of a drainage channel. By early Monday, the water level was more than 6 feet (2m) higher than the man-made channel created to ease the problem. Soldiers are using short-range missiles to blast away rocks and mud preventing the water from getting to the channel. The soldiers have managed to make the run-off channel wider and deeper, helping to reduce the water level in the lake, and are now working on a second drainage channel. But there is a long way to go, and despite their efforts the amount of water in the lake is still increasing. Experts warn that the lake could burst at any time, flooding the homes of more than one million people. Rainfall and further landslides caused by a 4.8 magnitude aftershock on Sunday afternoon have made the situation harder still, increasing pressure on the lake's banks. A further aftershock was felt at 11:00 am (0300 GMT) on Monday. (photos)

GREECE - Seismologists are warning today that a strong aftershock is expected in southwestern Greece, which was struck on Sunday by a powerful 6.5 earthquake that killed two people and injured nearly 150. "The next two to three 24-hour periods remain critical." The quake flattened about 70 houses in the provinces of Ahaia and Ilia, severely damaged another 30 and left 230 more with damage and cracks that need investigating by engineers to determine if they are safe. Dozens of aftershocks have rattled the area in the hours since the quake, but all have been relatively small. A strong aftershock of a magnitude of about 5 or 5.5 was still expected in the coming days, or possibly weeks. "An earthquake of 6.5 in western Greece has a rich post-seismic activity. An earthquake of 5 or 5.5 is expected. That is based on our experience of the region." (photo)

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
PAKISTAN - About 40 villages along the Hajmaro Creek and Keti Bandar have been flooded by tidal waves, forcing hundreds to leave their homes. The villages on the right side of the creek in Kharo Chhan and Keti Bandar talukas have been submerged by sea water. The situation is equally bad in Ghorabari and Jati talukas. Local administration officials said that the affected people were being moved to safer places. People in over a dozen villages are stranded and efforts are being made to rescue them.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
AUSTRALIA - At least one tornado smashed its way through southern Perth today, ripping roofs off houses and causing mass blackouts. Winds reached 104km/h at Ocean Reef in Perth's north, and they would have been much stronger in Rockingham. "We had at least one tornado confirmed in Rockingham, just on the damage trail from it." Many streets had turned into “wind tunnels” before the mini-tornado swept through. Many residents had just finished mopping up after a vicious storm last weekend as the mini-tornado hit today. Across Perth, 30 homes suffered major structural damage.

INDIA - Incessant downpour has wreaked havoc in Mumbai. The commercial capital of India is bursting at the seams. Life has come to a standstill. The monsoon was expected in Mumbai. The deluge wasn't. In Mumbai, the monsoon first drizzled on Friday (June 6), but continued with its usual relentlessness. It rained and rained all through the next morning and afternoon, on Saturday (June 7). The city received 161 mm of rains. The rains, on the very first day, began flooding the streets, roads and crucial transport lines. Life in Mumbai began snarling. By midnight of Saturday, many parts of the city were sunk under knee-deep water. People had a tough time attending to their offices, shops and other businesses. However, officials were fumbling for excuses. People are quite well aware that it is around this time that the rains visit. Certain road projects were not finished in time and the debris remained lying uncleared added to the woes of Mumbai. Choked manholes and clogged drains coinciding with high tide have inundated most parts of the metropolis. Even the railway authorities were caught napping. They did not expect the monsoon to hit before mid-June. They still had a lot of cleaning up to do. Garbage and waste lay scattered, which caused water logging on rail tracks after the two days' non-stop raining.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

NORTH CAROLINA - An early season heat wave has BROKEN HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS across much of North Carolina. At least four places set record highs Saturday.
The heat wave that has baked North Carolina since late last week is caused by an UNUSUALLY high altitude ridge of air that has stalled over the state. Not only is it extra hot, causing water on the ground to evaporate, but the weather system is dry, preventing rainfall. The heat is also expected to foster poor air quality in much of North Carolina. The temperature reached 101 degrees at the airport in Fayetteville on Sunday afternoon, a new record for June 8, and the oppressive heat is expected to continue at least two more days. The previous record high for June 8 in Fayetteville was 98, set in 1933. Raleigh-Durham International Airport reached 100 degrees on Saturday to set a record for the date. Normal temperatures for this time of the year fall in the mid-80s.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
INDIA - Climate change blamed as mango harvest goes sour in India - India's mangoes, revered for millennia for their succulence, are becoming fewer and less sweet as changes in weather patterns affect harvests. Official estimates suggest that three million tonnes of mangoes have been wiped out by a severe winter in India so far this year and the unseasonable deluges that have swept key growing regions in recent days may weigh further on production. Forecasts already say that this year's crop of ten million tonnes will be down by a fifth on last year's. The decline in sweetness is occurring because the hot, dry winds that sweep across northern and western India in the summer, and help to ripen crops, have failed to blow. In Uttar Pradesh in northern India, the second-largest state in terms of mango production, farmers estimate that as much as half of the harvest has been wiped out by storms in April and May. There are also claims that mango standards are slipping as sellers use more fertilizers and pesticides to boost yields. Some have been caught lacing mangoes with calcium carbide, which accelerates ripening but can cause dizziness and seizures in those exposed to the fruit.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Sunday, June 8, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind,
but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture.
Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.
Dee Hock

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 6.5 quake in GREECE. At least one person has been killed as the earthquake rocked southern Greece, collapsing buildings and causing panic. Some 20 injuries were reported from falling roofs as the tremor - which had an epicentre 200 kilometres (124 miles) west of Athens - struck near Patras in the Peloponnese region. Experts have warned that aftershocks are likely as the quake's epicentre was close to the ground's surface. "The earthquake was terrifying. The duration was about 60 seconds... Buildings have fallen or been damaged and roads have been destroyed." The earthquake was ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL TO HIT GREECE IN MODERN TIMES. A family of 10 is believed to be trapped in their collapsed home near the epicenter. The tremor was distinctly felt in Athens, hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre, while reports from the Ionian isles and Ileia prefecture on the mainland of western Peloponnese, stated that residents had fled their homes.
Aftershocks so far -
4.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.4, 3.0, 3.5, 3.5, 3.7, 4.0, 4.4, 3.7, 4.3, 4.2, 4.4, 3.9, 3.7, 3.0, 4.7, 5.0, 4.0

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/7/08 -
5.2 FLORES REGION, INDONESIA
5.2 TONGA REGION
5.1 NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL PERU
6/6/08 -
5.6 NORTHERN ALGERIA
6.0 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS

ALGERIA - An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck Friday in Algeria, injuring 11 people.

CHINA - Falling boulders struck a cargo train today in China's southwest Sichuan province, causing the train to derail and killing one railway worker and injuring another. The accident led to the closure of the rail line between Dazhou and Chengdu. The train driver was hospitalised with serious injuries. The accident happened about 2:40 a.m. in Jintang County, more than 80 kilometres northeast of Chengdu and east of the region that was hit by the devastating earthquake on May 12 that has been followed by thousands of aftershocks.
Chinese emergency crews say they have had some initial success in draining a swollen quake lake in the country's southwest, but water levels kept rising and senior officials warned the situation remains dangerous. Hundreds of soldiers have dug one drainage channel to contain Tangjiashan lake, and are working on a second one in hopes of reducing the risk that it might burst through its banks. The People's Liberation Army says the drainage projects is proceeding well, but the lake remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of people downstream. It says it will take several more days to eliminate the potential danger.
A strong aftershock this morning has rattled the area near the dangerously swollen "quake lake" in south-west China, triggering landslides on nearby mountains. The aftershock has caused "massive landslides", and the impact on the "quake lake" was being monitored. The US Geological Survey reported a 5.0-magnitude earthquake with its epicentre located 70 kilometres north-west of quake-hit Mianyang. Meanwhile, the water level in the "quake level" is still rising "dangerously", a day after the opening of a hastily-dug channel meant to drain it. "The water level of the Tangjiashan 'quake lake' in south-west China was continuing to rise dangerously ... despite the operation of a manmade drainage channel since Saturday morning." The inflow of water into the lake was nearly five times more than the amount leaving it via the channel and as a result of natural leakage. Officials hope the channel - and one currently being dug - will relieve the pressure on the landslide barrier, preventing it from bursting and releasing torrents of water downstream.

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA has raised the alert for a volcano on Sulawesi island to the highest level after it began spewing hot lava and clouds of smoke. Lava from Mount Soputan has been gliding down its slopes about 1.5km from the crater since Friday but has not reached the foot of the mountain. Residential areas near the volcano were not in any danger. In the past two years, at least three major volcanoes, including Anak Krakatau, have showed signs of increased activity, but there has been no serious eruption.
Mount Soputan is spewing sand and thick smoke. Ash was mixed with mud spewed by the volcano. "The tremors caused by the volcano`s activities are very strong. A total of 45 tremors have been recorded so far." A number of houses in Lobu, Silian and Tombatu villages were reported to have collapsed because of the tremor. Clouds of hot ashes affected a number of villages on the volcano`s slopes, causing panic among local residents.

GALAPAGOS ISLAND - eruption photos. Cerro Azul - one of five active volcanoes on one of the islands - erupted for four days.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
INDONESIA - The five European divers missing for two days in treacherous waters east of Bali have been found drifting south of remote Rinca island. They were apparently swept away in strong currents.
The divers said they spent two nights on a deserted Indonesian island eating shellfish and watching for komodo dragons as they awaited rescue. The group survived off mussels scavenged from the beach and had to fight off a komodo dragon during the 36 hours they were waiting to be spotted on tiny Rinca island in the Komodo National Park. They had struggled against the rip current for several hours but eventually stopped swimming and tied themselves together by their diving vests to preserve energy. When they eventually saw another island they decided to make one more effort to reach land before being swept out of the relative protection of the Nusa Tenggara island chain and into the open ocean.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

BELIZE - Tropical Storm Arthur and the subsequent floods caused almost $100 million in damages. The rain, winds and floods impacted 40 communities countrywide, an area including 7,000 households, 155 of which were directly impacted by the storm. 17 houses in the south were completely destroyed and in the north the number is 9. In agriculture, 5% of the citrus crop, about 1,500 acres was lost, and that’s because most of the crop had already been harvested. Still, losses to the citrus industry are estimated at $7.9 million. 913 acres of rice were lost in the Blue Creek area, amounting to $1.7 million. Sugar cane lost another 1,800 acres. All totalled, the loss to agriculture was $14.2 million. In aquaculture, Paradise Shrimp Farm in Mullins River had damages of $2.4 million. The lobster season which opens next week is also expected to be affected; a downturn of 25% in earnings is projected. And amidst all this, there was a tropical wave heading to Belize on Saturday with showers and thundershowers expected. (photo)

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - Strong storms smashed houses, deluged neighborhoods and left thousands without power across the Midwest on Friday in the latest round of fierce weather. Hot temperatures baked the region even as residents coped with the lack of electricity. A tornado raked a half-mile-wide path of destruction in northwestern Minnesota, where a house overlooking Pickerel Lake near Emmaville was destroyed, its contents spilling down the hill. Flooding forced the evacuation of about a dozen homes in the central Iowa town of Cambridge. Heavy rains that began Thursday night seeped into most basements and at least one foundation collapsed. In Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said a 72 mph wind gust was recorded near Lake Geneva in Walworth County. Funnel clouds were reported but damage was limited mainly to downed trees and power lines. Power outages and collapsed buildings due to high winds were reported late Friday in Michigan, and flash flooding forced highways closed in Missouri and Minnesota. Thousands of power outages caused by wind damage were also reported in Ohio, where temperatures Thursday reached the 90s. In Illinois, high winds and storms were causing delays and cancellations at airports. In Oklahoma, more than half of the town of Altus remained without power Friday after powerful storms the day before. In Indiana, the governor declared 41 counties disaster areas from recent severe storms and tornadoes. One person was killed earlier this week.
NEBRASKA - the past 28 days have been THE WETTEST 28 DAYS DURING THE LOCAL "RAINY SEASON" SINCE WEATHER RECORDS WERE FIRST OFFICIALLY TAKEN at Grand Island and Kearney. For Grand Island, 13.31 inches of rain fell during that period, beating the previous record of 10.65 inches in 1935. For Kearney, 10.30 inches fell during that time period this year, surpassing the record set in 1935 of 9.85 inches. And it isn't over yet, as the 30-day outlook for June indicates continued wet conditions for north-central into central and eastern Nebraska with above-normal precipitation expected.
ILLINOIS - A far-reaching storm system that produced multiple tornadoes swept through Cook, Will and Lake Counties Saturday evening, downing power lines, damaging homes and shutting down part of I-57, a section of the highway was shut down to allow authorities to clear trucks and vehicles that were damaged as the tornado passed over it. But by late Saturday night, only six injuries had been reported for a RARE occurrence that caught many suburban towns by surprise. The storm caused significant property damage. More severe weather is expected today in northeastern Illinois. (photos)
INDIANA - Emergency crews rescued residents from swamped homes in southern Indiana on Saturday after storms dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on the already soggy region.
MINNESOTA - Heavy rains created raging floodwaters that coursed down the hills overlooking Grand Marais and the Lake Superior shoreline early Friday, causing extensive damage.
IOWA - Flooding in Iowa City approaching '93 levels - The Coralville Reservoir is releasing high volumes of water, the Iowa River has covered a major street, and a University of Iowa residence hall has been evacuated. As the river sends more water to Coralville Lake, park rangers open the reservoir water control gates wider to release more back into the river. At 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, the gates began releasing 15,000 cubic feet of water per second, the HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE THE FLOOD ALMOST 15 YEARS AGO. The reservoir gates are scheduled to release 16,000 cubic water feet per second today, which will cause the river to rise even higher. If a forecast 1.8 inches of rain falls in areas that feed the Iowa River, the gates could release 20,000 by Tuesday. The peak level in 1993 was 25,000. Residents in four areas will be in danger if flood levels continue to rise. West Overlook Beach has been covered with water since April 22. "I'm not sure there's going to be a beach this summer." Signs on either end of the spillway mark the high-water point for the lake, 716.75 feet above sea level, set in July 1993. Water reached 710.37 feet Friday. Normal level for June is 683 feet.

HONG KONG - Two people have been killed in Hong Kong when their hut was crushed in a landslide triggered by SOME OF THE WORST RAINS IN THE CITY SINCE RECORDS BEGAN. The landslide sent a 20-tonne wall crashing onto the hut that the pair, a man and a woman, were sleeping in. Authorities in the southern Chinese territory warned people to beware of further landslides and opened emergency shelters for people in need of accomodation. The Hong Kong Observatory said more than 200mm of rain was dumped overnight on the city, which experienced winds of up to 70 km/h. Between 8am and 9am alone it recorded 145.5mm, the HIGHEST HOURLY RAINFALL SINCE RECORDS BEGAN. Accidents caused by the rain injured 16 people, two of whom were still in hospital. The city's schools and courts were shut and the downpour caused severe flooding across some streets of Hong Kong island. Water was almost up to the windows of parked cars. Hong Kong is regularly hit by severe rain and even typhoons during the summer months, but residents said today's downpour was particularly severe. "This is the heaviest rain I have seen in years." The rain caused several delays at Hong Kong's International Airport on Lantau Island, one of the worst-hit spots in the territory. The main road to the airport was closed because of flooding.

VIETNAM - A landslide covering 3,000sq.m near the bank of the Sai Gon River caused two large houses in HCM City’s Thu Duc District to sink into the river last Thursday. Two housekeepers were sleeping in the houses when the landslide occurred, but they escaped before the house slid into the river. They suffered only slight injuries. The land had been zoned for garden villas. Another 2,000sq.m of land is vulnerable. This was the third landslide since the beginning of the rainy season. Cracks can be seen on more than 10 houses in Binh Thanh District because of weakened foundations. The city has 36 locations at risk of landslides.

PHILIPPINES - A man was dead while two others, including a child, were missing when floods brought large parts of the town of Davao Del Sur under water Thursday. The flooding, which also destroyed a bridge, puzzled many in the town as it occurred in good weather. Some residents reported seeing a waterspout descend on the remote village of Managa. At least 500 families found their homes with water. At least 200 of the families, living near a river, were evacuated. The flood was THE WORST THE TOWN HAS SEEN IN YEARS. In Davao City, heavy rains flooded streets as the city’s flood control system became saturated with excess water.

CANADA - Experts warn Canadians to prepare for tornadoes - For much of this year, Canadians have looked on as tornado after tornado has hit the U.S. But now, weather experts say residents here may need to prepare for twisters as well. South of the border, the U.S. already appears to be on track to set an unwanted record. If current trends hold, an unprecedented number of tornados will have touched down in the country - 1,300 tornadoes this year alone and that's before the U.S. has even reached its peak season for twisters. The latest twister hit Friday in Minnesota, making its way through the Midwest. No deaths or injuries were reported. But the twister cut a nearly-kilometre-wide path of destruction in the northwestern part of the state, destroying homes, toppling trees, and cutting power to thousands of residents. While American residents appear to be getting the worst of this season's twister season, weather experts say Canadians may not necessarily escape unscathed. Tornadoes have already hit Manitoba five times this year. One barely swept past a small community near Winnipeg. "(The region is) tapping into the high humidity that fuels these storms, and the particular jet stream and wind pattern that causes the tornadoes." Part of the problem in the U.S. may have to do with what's happening in Canada. Experts say UNUSUAL cold fronts from north of the U.S. border are flowing southwards. There they disrupt masses of moist, warm air - and that sends clouds swirling and tornadoes on their furious paths.
Drivers in northwestern Ontario are being asked to stay off the roads following a near-record rainfall that caused flooding. The Ministry of Transportation issued the travel advisory Friday, asking people to delay or cancel their travel plans over the next couple of days after the area was hit with up to 80 millimetres of rain in a span of a few hours. The same storm system dumped heavy rain on Manitoba and spawned tornadoes in Minnesota. Several townships in the Thunder Bay area as well as the Fort William First Nation declared a state of emergency, and some residents of the village of Hymers, near Thunder Bay, were moved from their homes as a precaution. At least one major highway has been closed because of a washout, and several secondary roads have been damaged. Residents in Laird Township east of Sault Ste. Marie spent Saturday assessing the damage after being hit by what they believe was a tornado on Friday. Witnesses said the twister cut a path through a forest and the storm that accompanied it brought near golf ball-sized hail that sounded like gunfire when it hit cars and homes.
Rainy, windy weather that knocked down power lines and led to an unusual rescue attempt was expected to set a RECORD FOR RAINFALL Friday in Winnipeg. About 35 mm of rain fell in Winnipeg between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. - that amount matched the previous record for June 6, set back in 1982. A rainfall warning was later issued for Winnipeg with another 15 mm of rain anticipated, bringing the expected total for the day to about 50 mm. The rain caused the deaths of three peregrine falcon chicks believed to have drowned on the Radisson Hotel's 13th-storey ledge. An elite fire department team was dispatched to try to save the endangered falcons. "Unfortunately, the birds had drowned."

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME or UNUSUAL COLD -
WASHINGTON - Friday's rain, cloudy skies and chilly breezes capped a week of UNUSUALLY cold weather for the first week of June. The temperature got all the way to an October-like 54 degrees. In the mountains, snow was falling as if winter never left. The weather was so odd that carving Halloween pumpkins might have been more fitting, given the fall colors and cold-weather gear spotted on Seattle's streets. People in Seattle saw temperatures never get any higher than 62 degrees. And that was way back on Monday. Typically, early June in Seattle brings temperatures of 68 degrees. From Sunday through Friday afternoon, 1.18 inches of rain had fallen at Sea-Tac Airport - just 0.31 inches short of the average amount for the entire month. Forecasters downplayed La Nińa as the force behind the week's weather because this phenomenon typically occurs during winter. "All I can say is it's really cool, and there's an upper-level trough over British Columbia and Washington state." That trough can bring cooler air to a region, and overcast skies block the sun and drop temperatures. One resident questioned whether the unusual weather was part of a secret U.S. government project. She acknowledged that people might think she's a crackpot - but she insisted that the Internet has credible information about government efforts. And a year ago, during the first week of June, Seattle's temperatures peaked at 84 degrees. Forecasters expect up to 10 inches of snow in parts of the Olympics and Cascades by Saturday.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
The U.S. has no remaining grain reserves - "Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make 1/2 of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.” The CCC is a federal government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. CCC is also supposed to maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

Corn rises to RECORD with Midwest beset by rain - Corn futures extended their gains into a third session Friday, reaching a record as weather forecasts called for rains in the Midwest, which have already delayed crop development, to continue. Prices of soybeans and wheat also moved up. "Probably the biggest contributor to the rising prices is the scope of heavy rains that have fallen in the past couple of weeks." Rainfalls have left crop fields saturated, halting the planting of soybeans and delaying corn seeds' development. Weather reports predicted that excessive Midwestern rain will continue, likely pushing corn and soybeans prices higher. As of June 1, 74% of corn seeds had emerged in the top 18 producing states, compared with 92% a year ago. Soybeans were 69% planted, compared with 86% a year ago. And only 32% of seeds had emerged, compared with 64% a year ago. Destructive thunderstorms that swept across the Midwest on Thursday also threatened crop production.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR-
Sharks are hunting humans- Scientists fear packs of bull sharks are now ACTIVELY HUNTING HUMANS FOR THE FIRST TIME after a series of horrifying attacks in the waters off a popular resort in Mexico. The theory emerged after two surfers were killed and one badly injured in a month. A fourth swimmer is missing at the Mexican seaside town of Zihuantanejo. The beach at Zihuantanejo – near Acapulco and popular with international tourists – had not previously recorded a shark incident in more than 30 years. With an annual average of only four fatal shark attacks globally, the fact that two people have died along the same stretch of coast within weeks has astonished international experts. Scientists think the 3m fish could have developed a taste for human flesh after devouring hundreds of corpses dumped into the sea by mobsters.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
The Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these raw, red tomatoes.

Friday, June 6, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Elbert Hubbard

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 6.0 quake in KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/5/08 -
5.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.3 CENTRAL PERU
5.1 GUAM REGION
5.8 WEST CHILE RISE
6.0 WEST CHILE RISE
5.3 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.

Atmospheric disturbances can predict earthquakes - Nasa scientists say they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes. Researchers say they have found a close link between electrical disturbances on the edge of our atmosphere and impending quakes on the ground below. Just such a signal was spotted in the days leading up to the recent devastating event in China. They have teamed up with experts in the UK to investigate a possible space-based early warning system. On a significant number of occasions, satellites have picked up disturbances in the ionosphere, in the atmosphere 100-600km above areas that have later been hit by earthquakes. The ionosphere is distinguished from other layers of Earth's atmosphere because it is electrically charged through exposure to solar radiation. One of the most important of these disturbances is a fluctuation in the density of electrons and other electrically-charged particles in the ionosphere. One study looked at over 100 earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.0 or larger in Taiwan over several decades. The researchers found that almost all of the earthquakes down to a depth of about 35km were preceded by distinct electrical disturbances in the ionosphere. Though full details have yet to be released, the scientists also observed a "huge" signal in the ionosphere before the Magnitude 7.8 earthquake in China on 12 May. The team at Nasa has also been working to investigate the feasibility of a satellite-based early warning system. "The evidence suggests we're now crossing the boundary in terms of technology readiness... What we don't know is how big the effect is and how long-lasting it is before the earthquake." Other earthquake "precursors" could feed into this system. These include enhanced emission of infrared radiation from the earthquake epicentre, as well as anomalies in low-frequency electric and magnetic field data. It boils down to the idea that when rocks are compressed - as when tectonic plates shift - they act like batteries, producing electric currents.

China's longest fuel pipeline is at risk of damage from the earthquake lake that's threatening to burst its banks. The pipeline carries 70 percent of Sichuan's oil-product supplies, linking the provincial capital of Chengdu and Chongqing city to PetroChina's Lanzhou refinery in Gansu province. The lake is at a 'critical point' as officials warned it may overflow and inundate townships downstream. Any potential shutdown of the pipeline that lasted three days would cause oil-product shortages in the quake-affected areas and 'seriously' affect fuel supplies to the southern provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. Tangjiashan lake is becoming increasingly unstable, raising the risk it will flood towns. About 250,000 people have been ordered to leave the areas close to the river downstream and preparations have been made to evacuate as many as 1.3 million. The lake, which holds about 212 million cubic meters (56 billion gallons) of water, rose to 1.2 meters below a channel dug by engineers last week. Authorities are worried aftershocks or rain will trigger landslides and raise the water level on the lake too quickly or trigger waves. Two millimeters of rain may increase the water level by 1 meter.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
INDONESIA - Three British scuba divers have been reported missing off the coast of eastern Indonesia, along with two other divers thought to be French and Swedish. They had been in the waters of the Komodo National Park, about 500km (300 miles) east of Bali. The group - now missing for more than 24 hours - were swept away in a current. There have been unconfirmed reports of bad weather and strong currents in the area, and there have been high spring tides in Indonesia this week.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

Alma deemed THE FIRST COSTA RICA-BORN TROPICAL STORM EVER - The effects of tropical storm Alma, the first of the season, are still being felt in the southern zone of Costa Rica where a RECORD AMOUNT OF DESTRUCTION occurred along the Interamerican Highway and many families are still without shelter after watching their properties get washed away in the floods. The storm provoked at least 34 landslides that obstructed or destroyed large segments of road trapping some 1,500 people for two days and cutting off the south of the country and access to Panama. Alma, which is the first tropical depression ever to be born in Costa Rican territory, is said to have caused more damage than hurricanes in the past, including Hurricane Cesar that passed through in 1996 destroying sectors of the same road. In the past, hurricanes have affected the country indirectly because they were relatively close, but never before was a storm ever born in their waters. Low pressure and a heavy accumulation of clouds, with rain and lightning that somehow set off differently than was expected and high ocean temperatures helped in the formation of the storm. When the cloud formation hit the warm water, the speed of the wind increased dramatically, giving birth to what was categorized a tropical depression, soon becoming a tropical storm. This took place some 50 kms away from the coast of Guanacaste, SOMETHING NEVER EVER SEEN BEFORE! This occurred this year because of the rainy activity along the Pacific coast, which usually occurs in the Caribbean. Meteorologists pointed out that this had occurred previously in Mexico, but that never before had this phenomenon occurred in their waters. The IMN reckons that during this period, they received between 50 and 80 millimeters more water than usual in some regions of the country, and this is going to surpass the average rainfall that they get normally during this season in these sectors. In the mountains, the precipitation could easily reach 100 millimeters, and winds in the northern and central Pacific can be expected to reach 70 kms per hour. The rain that continues to fall in the region is making it hard for workers to begin the process of rebuilding some of the sectors of road that washed away. (photo)

'Surprise' Tropical Storm Arthur caused damage in Belize. The storm formed suddenly in the Caribbean and swept across Central America on June 1-2, following on the heels of Tropical Storm Alma and catching Belize's 300,000 residents by surprise. Heavy rains and strong winds have caused flash flooding that claimed at least four lives in Belize, although officials have not confirmed the death toll. Thousands have been driven from their homes by rising waters. Roads and bridges have been severely damaged, leaving parts of the country inaccessible. The storm also wiped out papaya plantations, shrimp farms, and the rice crops, devastating the nation's economy and food supply.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - At least four tornadoes struck in Kansas on Thursday as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic worked to restore power and clean out flooded homes after a rash of severe thunderstorms left three people dead. And in the Mid-Atlantic, work crews were trying to restore power to thousands of homes ahead of a sweltering weekend forecast. In West Virginia, residents were just starting to dry out Thursday night after storms on Wednesday dumped several inches of rain and knocked out power to 67,000 customers. All four gas stations and both grocery stores in Gilmer County, W.Va., were under water after the Little Kanawha River crested 9 feet above flood stage. (photo)

IOWA - Floodwaters have spread across Iowa, and it could get a lot worse. The National Weather Service predicts heavy rain and possible hail to fall across the state through this morning. Parts of southwest Iowa have been the hardest hit, with some areas getting isolated tornado damage from Wednesday followed by heavy rain and hail.
A RECORD AMOUNT OF RAINFALL inundated the Des Moines area last night, flooding streets and raising Walnut Creek to flood stage levels. The weather pattern causing the poor conditions in the state could stay active for the next week, and flare up every two to three days. (photos)

NEBRASKA - RECORD AMOUNT OF RAINFALL in Grand Island with 3.59 inches of rain Wednesday. And after midnight, another 0.65 of an inch had fallen. That brings the total rainfall of the two days as of 7 a.m. Thursday to 4.24 inches. So far this year, Grand Island has received 17.89 inches of precipitation, which is well above the 10.48 inches year-to-total average. Flooding and more rainfall were expected.

WASHINGTON D. C. - Once the numbers are finalized, June 4, 2008 may go down in the record books as ONE OF THE MORE ACTIVE SEVERE WEATHER DAYS IN RECENT HISTORY in the D.C. region. Following a widespread and destructive squall line in the mid-afternoon, several more rounds of severe weather afflicted the region, with storminess lasting well into the night. The National Weather Service in Sterling issued an astounding 70 severe thunderstorm, marine, and tornado warnings in the Baltimore/Washington region. The storms were caused by several ripples of enhanced energy moving along a near-stationary frontal boundary draped north of the region. On the south side of the front, temperatures rose into the mid to upper 80s across the area, with sticky dew points nearing 70 degrees under abundant sunshine that followed very early morning rain. This moist, unstable airmass at the surface set the stage for the severe storms. Thunderstorms that originated in the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley began to re-develop in West Virginia by late morning. This thunderstorm activity was embedded in strong upper level winds from the west. Strong updrafts and downdrafts (vertical motions of air) developed which generated intense wind gusts. At least one fatality was caused by the storms when a falling tree struck a moving car. Tornadoes were being reported by storm spotters near Fredericksburg, Virginia just before 8 pm. 2008 has been a remarkable year for severe weather in the U.S. Perhaps the only bit of good news is that June 4 was such a RARE event that it's unlikely to be repeated soon. (photos / map)

ILLINOIS - Tuesday's storms dropped more rain in twenty-four hours then some places have seen in ten years. The event was called A ONE-HUNDRED YEAR FLOOD. The last one Tuscola has seen was back in 1999. Rain totals varied from a quarter of an inch to over five inches. Springfield had just under five inches and BROKE A RECORD set back in 1919 of 2.23 inches.

MISSOURI - High water forced a Missouri family out of their home early Wednesday morning. Severe storms swept through western Missouri causing many area creeks and rivers to overflow their banks.

KENYA - More than 150 houses were destroyed by a landslide at Timboiywo village in Kabarnet Division, Baringo Central constituency after two days of rain. The Monday morning landslide caused a huge crack – almost three-and-a-half-kilometres – across the village and also destroyed part of Timboiywo trading centre. More than 750 households in Ngetmoi Location have moved out of the area. People could not sleep at night due to fear and the noise of the mud sliding downhill. The landslide also destroyed a section of Kabarnet-Tenges road. The situation was attributed to faulting in the Great Rift Valley. Those using the Kabarnet-Tenges road were warned to be careful as rocks and boulders were rolling downhill. The situation will get worse if the rains continue pounding the area. According to residents, the problem occurred first in 1987 and in 1997 again after the El Nino rains.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

U.S. EAST COAST - Early heatwave - Spring is expected to come to an abrupt end this weekend as temperatures top 90 degrees in Boston on Saturday, igniting what may be the year’s first three-day heat wave. In Western Massachusetts the mercury may creep up near triple digits. "Normally we don't see these temperatures until late July or early August. We will be just a touch away from real tropical, sultry, New Orleans-style weather." The unseasonable temperatures can be blamed on a pressure system that forecasters call the Bermuda High, which will suck humidity from the Gulf of Mexico and smother New England like a muggy blanket. It is expected to stay warm and humid for the next two weeks. "This is really an early taste of midsummer."
An UNUSUAL early June heat wave hit western North Carolina and the Southeast on Wednesday for what could be an extended stay of up to two weeks. Rainfall at the Hickory Regional Airport stood about 14 inches below normal last week.

TEXAS - The official wind speeds topped 49 mph in Northeast El Paso Wednesday. "You always think it is going to be over in March; as long as I have been here it is over in March. I find it kind of surprising this time of year that the wind is as strong as it is right now." “We are seeing prolonged wind events here because troughs have continued to dig and dig and dig over our area; this is UNUSUAL because we don't see those this late in the year this strong." Typically once the triple-digit heat hits, the wind disappears, but not this season. Deep, slow-moving troughs have made it to the border area making for multiple days of scenes like this, and even after this late-season storm, experts said it's not the area's last.

Natural disasters up more than 400% in two decades - The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to a report released by the British charity Oxfam. It found that the earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year, compared with 120 per year in the early 1980s. The number of weather-related disasters in 2006 was 240, compared with 60 in 1980. "We are talking about some VERY UNUSUAL floods in West Africa, VERY UNUSUAL floods in East Africa, EXTRAORDINARY floods in Mexico and parts of Central America, and heat waves in Greece [and] eastern Europe." At the same time, the number of geologically related natural disasters has held steady. Oxfam has attributed the increasing disaster rate to global warming. "This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people." Between 1985 and 1994, Oxfam found that 174 million people were affected by disasters each year. In the following decade, this figure increased by 70 percent to 254 million people per year.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
IOWA - The agricultural community in Dubuque and the surrounding counties has been gasping for air as relentless rains have ravaged the region for the past several weeks. Flooding of river bottoms, ponding in flat fields and soil runoff from, but not limited to, higher ground fields is only the beginning of the troubles and subsequent costs that farmers have been doused with. With portions of their crop still submerged and most other areas waterlogged beyond the point of retrieval, farmers' outlook of the crop damage remains muddy. Due to the excessively waterlogged fields, once ponding and stillwater has disappeared, it still might be weeks before the ground is stable enough for equipment to make its way onto the field. As much as 5 percent of the crop in Iowa will have to be replanted. Farmers aren't alone with unwanted repercussions. An increasing amount of field sediment is being washed to surrounding tributaries, and bodies of water are being choked with impurities. "People say these are FLOODS THAT COME AROUND EVERY 100 YEARS. In that case, I've lived about 900 years worth of floods. And I ain't old enough to quit yet."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Thursday, June 5, 2008 -
Quiet disaster news day.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/4/08 -
5.2 TONGA REGION
5.5 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
5.1 SULAWESI, INDONESIA

VOLCANOES -
WYOMING - New research suggests that several years of drought may have added a minute or two to the eruption cycle of Old Faithful geyser. The geyser used to erupt about every 61 minutes. That cycle lengthened to more than an hour and 15 minutes following earthquakes in 1959, 1975 and 1983. Now, the eruption cycle for Old Faithful is just over an hour and a half. A researcher speculates that the drought decreased Old Faithful's water supply and has lengthened the time between eruptions. About 25 Yellowstone geysers including Old Faithful have sensors in them that constantly record their temperature and log eruptions. "Coupled with this decrease in precipitation, we see an increase in eruption intervals with all the geysers we analyzed." A drier climate regionally should only slow the eruptions further. "Our grandchildren will have to wait longer for Old Faithful to erupt."

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - Tortoises safe as Galapagos volcano eruption ends - The lava from an erupting Galapagos volcano did not affect the islands' famed giant tortoises as first feared. The Cerro Azul volcano on Isabela Island erupted between Thursday and Sunday, unleashing a heavy flow of lava. The lava flowed some 10 kilometres from the crater without causing forest fires, and only burning local flora common to the island. Nor did the lava affect a small town located some 40 kilometres from the volcano crater. The lava followed the same path as the lava flows from the Cerro Azul volcano during eruptions in 1978 and 1998.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

BURMA - Fears for mental health of Myanmar cyclone survivors — Survivors of Myanmar's cyclone are plagued by visions of their lost loved ones and fears of further disaster as they try to summon the energy to rebuild their lives. Of the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone which hit May 2-3, many remain in need of food, shelter and clean water, but many are also losing the will to survive. About 40% of the people assessed by medical teams in Myanmar's disaster zone are showing signs of mental health problems. "There are a lot of people who are very sad, very anxious, people have difficulties sleeping at night, they wake up, afraid that something may happen. They're reliving the moments of the disaster, seeing the last images of their relatives coming back in their dreams." As the floodwaters recede from villages and the vital rice-planting season begins, now is the most critical time for rebuilding efforts. But many have lost the will to work. One woman whose family died in the storm said, "You know, we are all worried about rice, but we are also worried about people having the motivation to eat it. My life is not worth living. I have lost all my family members." Orphaned children and the elderly who have lost their families are particularly at risk, with children lacking the motivation to play. Cycone Nargis left more than 133,000 people dead or missing.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
CALIFORNIA - Governor declares drought in California and warns of rationing - Its reservoir levels receding and its grounds parched, California has fallen officially into drought. The state might be forced to ration water to cities and regions if conservation efforts do not improve. Drought conditions have hampered farming, increased water rates throughout California and created potentially dangerous conditions in areas prone to wildfires. The declaration comes after THE DRIEST CALIFORNIA SPRING IN 88 YEARS, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41% of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing. The state’s snowpack water content was 67 percent of average, and the Colorado River Basin, from which California draws some water, is coming off a record eight-year drought, contributing to the drop in reservoir storage.

MEXICO - tortilla prices will rise by about 18% in the next month because of rising costs of fuel and corn. If you live on $5 a day, that kind of increase is a big deal - and the government knows it. Last year, tens of thousands of people marched in protest at similar price rises for tortillas. People were angry and there were scuffles. Many blamed American corn farmers for diverting their crops away to produce bio-fuels. The government does not directly subsidise tortilla prices, but it offers help for transport and warehousing, which, in effect, helps keep the price at tolerable levels. But, with other forecasters predicting tortilla prices will shoot up by as much as 40%, the government's ability to deal with those market forces may not be so great. One bright note is that Mexico is on target for a record 2008 corn crop, which would mean two good harvests in a row. But it is starting from a low base. Even the president has admitted that the country's ability to produce more grain is limited, because so many farmers have abandoned their fields in recent years to find better paid work in the neighbouring US. "For many years, developing countries, in particular Mexico, faced the problem of very high subsidies in the United States and Europe, and this drove a lot of producers out of the competition." The irony is that this is happening in Mexico, the land where corn was first domesticated some 7,000 years ago. Countries like Mexico have to live with the daunting reality now, that prices of the core-of-life food so many millions rely on may soon start to rise beyond their reach. And that could cause problems that may make a country unstable.

Profiles of six families around the world to see how their shopping list and their eating habits have changed with the global increase in food prices.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.
Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough,
to pay attention to the story.
Linda Hogan

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/3/08 -
5.4 KEP. MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA
5.9 FLORES REGION, INDONESIA
5.7 FLORES REGION, INDONESIA
5.9 FLORES REGION, INDONESIA
5.2 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
6.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO REGION
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
INDONESIA - Parts of Indonesian capital swamped by tidal wave - A 2.2-meter (7-feet) high tidal wave inundated parts of Jakarta overnight as the city government and citizens tried to hold the water back with emergency embankments. The height of the water was FAR GREATER THAN EARLIER PREDICTIONS. The World Bank, which has been monitoring flooding and tidal waves in Jakarta, warned last week of a 1.2 meter tidal surge in parts of the city. Authorities in the capital, home to more than 10 million people, had been bracing for high tides with sand bags and wire netting filled with stones. The tidal wave swamped areas near the coast for a few hours, leaving hundreds of people stranded in their homes, but the main highway leading to the airport was not affected. Jakarta is often flooded in the rainy season and it can also be inundated by high tides in areas near the coast and in low-lying districts. Flooding caused by heavy rains also frequently cuts off a stretch of the airport highway, leading to massive traffic jams and flight delays. Some experts say flooding in Jakarta, which killed 50 people during the wet season in 2007 and triggered more chaos in February this year, is caused by reclamation of swamp areas. The city public works agency is raising the height of seven embankments to help reduce the flooding.

AUSTRALIA - A series of EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH tides this week – along with the current low pressure system off the east coast – is putting more pressure on several beachfront properties at Old Bar. Yesterday a vigil was being kept on three homes which stood perilously close to a sand bank several metres high, being further eaten away with every incoming wave. A high tide at around 10 o’clock last night was the first of four this week peaking at over two metres. At 2.04 metres (last night), 2.08 metres tonight, 2.07 metres tomorrow night and 2.01 metres about midnight on Friday, they are by astronomical measures the highest this year and in tonight’s case, THE HIGHEST IN 16 YEARS. Weather experts are warning, however, that the effect of the king tides will be felt even more because of the sea’s current turbulence. Yesterday’s weather warnings included three to four metre waves for the Mid North Coast, the huge seas forced up by the wind and rain event.

GHANA - 'Freak wave' killed aid worker - A young Irish aid worker drowned in Ghana died after a freak wave took her out to sea. She was paddling with two friends at the water's edge in the south of the country moments before she lost her life. She had only travelled to Ghana 10 days earlier to spend six months working at an orphanage on behalf of a British-based charity when she lost her life. Along with two other volunteer workers from the charity, she was washing the sand from her feet when a freak wave crashed onto the shore, pulling all three into the sea at the Gulf of Guinea. A frantic rescue effort was mounted, but while her two friends were pulled from the current, she disappeared under the water and her body was recovered some time later.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

Meteorologists were monitoring two tropical waves moving west across the southern North Atlantic on Tuesday. The first tropical wave was near the Cape Verde Islands. This tropical wave was moving westward at 10 to 15 knots. A second tropical wave was located east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, also moving westward at 10 to 15 knots. Satellite images, however, showed no organized thunderstorms with that system. In the western Caribbean, satellite images showed disorganized showers and thunderstorms. AccuWeather.com did not see any organized feature at this time and said it does not expect any development from for at least the next two days. The forecaster, however, pointed out, "The longer this area of disturbed weather persists, the greater the chance for tropical development in the northwestern Caribbean."

Tropical storm Arthur weakened Tuesday after bringing floods to Central America that killed four in Belize while a new low pressure area started forming over the region. The four fatalities in Belize were swept away by flash floods on Monday. Heavy rains and floodwaters also stranded people on rooftops and destroyed a bridge in the southernmost region of the country. As Arthur dissipates, AccuWeather.com forecast additional rain and thunderstorms over Guatemala, southeastern Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Meanwhile, low pressure over the Gulf of Tehuantepec could develop into a tropical depression within 24 hours (as of Tuesday) and bring rain to Guatemala, El Salvador and southeastern Mexico.
Torrential rainfall produced by tropical storm Arthur has affected all districts of Belize, affecting approximately 10,000 people. Heavy rain across Belize caused rivers in southern and northern Belize to overflow. Tropical Storm Arthur formed on Saturday 31 May and made landfall in northern Belize on the Yucatan Peninsula. The rains from Tropical Storm Arthur compounded the effects of Tropical Storm Alma which had developed in the Eastern Pacific on 27 May. Together, Alma and Arthur brought approximately 10 inches of rain across Belize within 36 hours, causing flash floods in low lying areas. This affected the infrastructure of the country, with several bridges underwater. One village has already been evacuated. The electrical supply is being turned off in rural areas for safety reasons due to flooding and submersion of the electricity meters. Belize River Valley communities are being flooded and face possible isolation as roads become impassable.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
OHIO - A fresh round of thunderstorms socked the region this morning, downing tree limbs and power lines, sparking fires and causing traffic problems and possible flooding. “We are far from being done. We are still monitoring very large areas of thunderstorms that we need to keep an eye on for potential severe weather.” Trees and wires are down across Hamilton County and Cincinnati. In Newtown, police are investigating after residents reported a possible tornado with trees downed. Such a weather system is RARE for this part of the country. Storms such as Tuesday’s are more common in areas such as Oklahoma, where moisture, heat and wind more commonly come together. This latest batch of storms follows waves of severe thunderstorms that ripped through Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on Tuesday. Cincinnati saw 1.64 inches of rain Tuesday, SETTING A RECORD FOR RAINFALL on that date. The previous record was 1.39 inches in 1941.

BRITAIN - Flash floods brought chaos to roads and shut schools Monday as the summer deluge brought more misery. Prolonged downpours hit much of the south and east of England with some areas receiving the month of JUNE'S AVERAGE RAINFALL IN ONLY 24 HOURS. The average rainfall for June is about two inches. This soaking followed May’s deluge which drenched the region with one and a half times its normal rainfall. The Met Office warned that Britain could be in line for a second consecutive washout summer – though not as devastating as last year’s which was the wettest on record.

VIETNAM - Heavy rain occurred in many areas throughout the country Monday. Floods are reported to have submerged hundreds of houses in Ba Ria Province and caused severe congestion on Highway 51. The monsoon affected many provinces in the North and Central regions. A low pressure trough, which remains in the region, caused heavy rain in many areas. Rainfall in many provinces was between 25-45mm. (photo)

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
This past avalanche season was particularly deadly — THE DEADLIEST ON RECORD, in fact: 36 people died in avalanche slides this winter in the U.S., and another 15 died in Canada. That's 30% more than the average for the last decade. Washington and Colorado tied for the highest mortality rate in the U.S. with 5 deaths each, but that pales in comparison to British Columbia, where nine people lost their lives in slides. The combination of above-average winter and spring snowpack and increasing numbers of backcountry and off-piste skiers probably converged to make this winter especially tragic.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

ALBANIA - At least two Albanians died from heart attacks blamed on a pre-summer heat wave, news reports said Tuesday. Temperatures in the Mediterranean nation reached 34 degrees Celsius last weekend and Monday.

NORWAY - A period of UNUSUALLY WARM warm weather has settled over southeastern Norway, with temperatures due to exceed 30C (nearly 90F) for the next week. No rain was in sight. Even the temperture of the water in the Oslo Fjord was rapidly rising. It's often still below 10C (50F) in early June, but water temperatures at some Oslo-area beaches were 18C (nearly 70F) on Tuesday morning. It's been warm, bordering on downright hot, since late last week. Few are complaining, but Norwegians quickly notice the lack of air conditioning in most homes. Nighttime temperatures have stayed relatively warm as well, with morning breezes dying down in the afternoon and evening in the Oslo area. The lack of rainfall in recent weeks has sharply increased the danger of forest fires.

PAKISTAN - The sizzling heat upset routine life as the mercury level increased in most parts of the country including Lahore on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature reached 40 C while the minimum was recorded as 25 C. The ongoing merciless load shedding has added to the miseries of the heat-stricken Lahorites who almost spend eight hours a day without electricity as well as water. Increase in the heat wave also doubled the demand of water and the situation became even worse when people found that there was no water in the taps.

Thin Arctic ice showing signs of an early breakup - Sea ice extent is below the long-term average and is very close to the low levels seen in May 2007. The average decline rate this May was 3000 sq. miles per day faster than May 2007. The average Arctic Ocean surface air temperatures in May were 1 to 3 degrees celsius (2 to 5 degrees F) above normal. There is a distinct lack of thick, resilient multi-year ice, but the thin ice is farther north than normal, which may make it less vunerable than if it was in its normal position. (map)

Decline at biggest UK puffin site - Numbers are down at least 30%. Researchers believe the decline is linked to changes in the North Sea food web, perhaps related to climate change. Birds are also arriving underweight, which is "worrying", because puffins are generally able to feed on a range of creatures in winter. "So whatever the problem is, it's got to be a widespread one." The suspicion is that climate change is altering the distribution of plankton across the North Sea. This disrupts the entire food web, including predators such as puffin. "This fits in with other evidence that North Sea birds have been desperately short of food over several seasons. But those have been birds such as the Arctic tern and kittiwake which only feed in the top part of the sea. This is probably the best adapted seabird that the UK has; they're deep divers, they're specialists in going down deep into the water column to find fish, so it's troubling to find that they're encountering a shortage of food."

Sun, not man, is causing Climate Change - Dr. Bruce West, with the Army Research Office, argues that "changes in the earth’s average surface temperature are directly linked to ... the short-term statistical fluctuations in the Sun’s irradiance and the longer-term solar cycles..."the Sun’s turbulent dynamics" are linked with the Earth's complex ecosystem. These connections are what is heating up the planet. "The Sun could account for as much as 69 percent of the increase in Earth’s average temperature." It's a position that puts West at odds with nearly every major scientific organization, who say that climate change is man-made.

CALIFORNIA - in the past three months, San Jose got only 0.18 inches of rain, BREAKING THE OLD SPRING RECORD of 0.39 inches set in 1875.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
Health authorities are blaming raw tomatoes for an outbreak of salmonella in nine U.S. states. There have been 57 cases of salmonellosis since late April in New Mexico and Texas. Moreover, about 30 more people have been sickened in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Utah. The bad news is that no single source, farm, or grocery store has been found to be responsible for the outbreak.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident.
That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents.
Nathaniel Borenstein

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/2/08 -
5.3 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.0 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.5 TONGA

CHINA - In the 24 hours ending Tuesday noon local time, 171 aftershocks were monitored in southwest China's quake zone. Only one of the tremors measured above 4.0 on the Richter scale while all the others measured below 3.9 in magnitude. A total of 10,068 aftershocks have been detected in the quake areas since May 12 when the 8.0-magnitude quake struck.
Relief workers in China are facing a daunting task to get food and shelter to the five million left homeless by Sichuan's earthquake. Doctors are also struggling to treat the tens of thousands of people still in hospital, while engineers begin the momentous task of rebuilding the ravaged infrastructure. Tent cities and rows of pre-fabricated houses are going up all over the area, but the Health Ministry said it can guarantee there will be no epidemics. Meanwhile, China's largest "quake lake", Tangjiashan, is not expected to start draining until Thursday due to a lack of rain. Some 210,000 residents downstream on the Jianjiang River have been evacuated to higher ground according to a contingency plan that foresees one third of the dam bursting.

PHILIPPINES - Two moderate earthquakes shook the southern city of Butuan Monday afternoon, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury. At 2:56 p.m. (0655 GMT), a 4.9 magnitude quake struck 20 kilometers northeast of Butuan. It was followed after eight minutes by another inland quake with a magnitude of 4.7 that struck 70 kilometers from Hinatuan town in Surigao del Sur.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
NEW ZEALAND - Gisborne residents were right to have evacuated coastal areas after the earthquake that rocked the city in December, despite reports that a tsunami was unlikely, says the district's civil defence spokesman. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake, centred 50 kilometres southeast of the city at 8.55pm on December 20, had the potential to cause an undersea landslide, triggering a tsunami that would have overwhelmed the city's low-lying areas. "Initial messages from GNS [the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences] that there was no likelihood of a tsunami are now generally agreed as wrong. While technically saying the earthquake by itself could not have caused a tsunami is correct, it could have triggered an undersea landslide which, in turn, could have caused a tsunami." Domestic and commercial insurance bills from the earthquake were about $100 million.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm NAKRI was 254 nmi SSE of Tokyo, Japan.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Damages caused by a tropical wave in Santiago de los Caballeros on Sunday are a prelude to an intense hurricane season for Caribbean nations. Constant rainfall and strong gusts of wind tore up trees, electricity and telephone posts, leaving the city of one million inhabitants without energy. Authorities estimated that the climate disturbance could be an off-shoot of tropical storm Alma that hours before had lashed two Central American countries, causing loss of human lives and considerable economic damages. Early this year regions of Santiago suffered enormous human and economic damages during the passing of a tropical storm. The passing of this phenomenon promoted emergency measures, specially for residents along river shores, cliffs and slopes with landslides. For this year's hurricane season, specialized institutions predict up to 13 meteorological phenomena of this kind, seven of which can develop into hurricanes.

A new tropical low off Mexico's southern coast became much better organized Monday in the Gulf of Tehuantepec and has a good chance of becoming a depression and even a tropical storm in the next day or two. Satellite pictures taken Monday afternoon show the rather well developed circulation, even with a center, just off the coast, with showers and thunderstorms over much of the southern semi-circle. All it will take for this to become Tropical Storm Boris is for showers and thunderstorms to become better organized on the north side of the storm. In the near-term, locally heavy rain will be occurring over El Salvador, Guatemala, and far southeast Mexico.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - KANSAS - The National Weather Service in Topeka says it has received numerous reports of baseball- to softball-sized hail in north-central and northeast Kansas. Many of the areas hit hardest by hail were rural, but some larger communities also reported significant damage. The reports of hail started in the early morning hours Monday and continued into late morning. "It's fairly RARE to get so many baseball- to softball-sized hail reports. Usually, you'll get one storm that will fire up and create this size hail. But this has been several storms that are doing this, so it is UNUSUAL in that aspect." Manhattan was the largest community affected by the storm, which was moving east toward Missouri. Baseball-sized hail damaged cars and buildings downtown and at Manhattan Regional Airport. "You would be hard-pressed to find a vehicle that doesn't have damage. Ninety-eight percent of the vehicles received broken windshields. All the vehicles received surface damage." Baseball-sized hail also was reported southeast of Manhattan near Alma. The weather service also got reports of golf ball- to baseball-sized hail in the Melvern Lake area, and baseball-sized hail in Reading. Forecasters say the severe thunderstorms in northern Kansas moved through the same general area of the state damaged by a tornado and powerful winds last week. Such weather has been common so far this year. Nearly 90 twisters were reported in Kansas over a period of several days.

U.S. - Yuma, Arizona dipped to its LOWEST PRESSURE EVER on May 22. The Southwest is known for high pressure, and the 29.33" Hg experienced by Yuma on May 22nd shattered their all-time record of 29.37" in 1937. On the same day, in nearby Las Vegas, they recorded their LOWEST MAY PRESSURE ON RECORD. In Las Vegas, the pressure was 29.27 inches which broke the previous record of 29.28 set in 1975. "This was the result of an UNSEASONABLY STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM which dropped down out of the Pacific NW and settled over NW Arizona and southern Nevada." In Sacramento, an UNUSUALLY DEEP LOW PRESSURE AREA over California created pressure of 29.36 inches at 5am on May 23, which BROKE THE PREVIOUS MONTH OF MAY RECORD LOW PRESSURE READING of 29.50 set in 1949.

AUSTRALIA - More than 165 millimetres of rain has fallen on the Sunshine Coast in the last 24 hours, causing flash flooding and landslides. Up to 140 millimetres of rain has fallen on some parts of the coast in just three hours. Authorities were locked in an emergency meeting on Monday after six people were rescued from floodwaters. Two teenage girls who were stuck in a tree near Cooroy, west of Noosa, are safe and well after being rescued. Earlier, four people were pulled to safety from the top of their car. "For the first time ever, road crews in the northern region have run out of 'road closed' signs." There has been up to three metres of erosion on some beaches at the northern end of the Gold Coast and it is likely to get worse. "We've got some very high tides, king tides coming up tonight (Monday), tomorrow night and Wednesday night in the Noosa River that may well cause some local flooding and inundation out of the river."

COLUMBIA - Rescue teams have found 24 bodies in the rubble left by a weekend landslide which engulfed about 20 houses in a poor mountainside district of the Colombian city of Medellin. Two people are still missing. Sixteen people were also injured in the landslide triggered by heavy rains which have swamped the area since mid-April.

SRI LANKA - Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 16 and forced more than 150,000 thousand people from their homes in Sri Lanka.

SIERRA LEONE - After a long dry spell which was UNUSUAL for the Western Area in May, Nature fired the first volley, the warning shot of what they might expect in the weather pattern this year. The ferocity of a storm on Wednesday evening was frightening. The storm left in its wake a trail of destruction in the city of Freetown. In some places whole roofs of buildings were removed by the storm and deposited far away. The total amount of damage is incalculable. If the trees in and around Freetown and its environs were left standing instead of having being cut down, they would have provided a break mechanism which would have controlled the force of the storm. They haven't entered the rainy season proper, but every little downpour leaves a trail of environmental degradation in its wake. What is happening to the Western area peninsular forests is happening all over the country to the extent that the weather pattern has altered over the years and added to the global phenomenon of Climate Change.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
INDIA - With an UNUSUAL dip in temperature, particularly during evening hours, forcing people to reopen their winter closets, the metrological department has said the average recorded temperature during few days has been four degrees below the normal temperature. “This is an unusual climate we are witnessing from the past few days particularly during the late hours when high velocity winds are accompanied by rain. We should have been receiving bright sunlight and living in hot weather conditions.” Meteorologists attributed the temperature change to the western system. “Not only Kashmir, the rest of North-West and Northern India is under the grip of the system due to which moisture laden winds are flowing from the west.” The weatherman predicted that the intermittent rains will continue to lash in most parts of the valley for the next two days. The UNUSUAL weather condition can cause extensive damage to the paddy crops if it continues. “The fluctuating temperature is favourable for multiplication of paddy blast germs which can increase the chances of paddy blast. The prevailing weather condition can also cause considerable damage to the seed production."

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
The global food crisis looms as a humanitarian catastrophe that could dwarf even the 2004 Asian tsunami, posing an immediate threat to 290 million people, according to estimates released overnight by aid group Oxfam International. This is in addition to the 854 million people who already endured persistent hunger before food prices skyrocketed to a 30-year high - rising 83% in three years. As world leaders gather in Rome today for a three-day food summit, Oxfam warned of an UNPRECEDENTED threat to more than a billion people. "This crisis represents an enormous challenge - but also a genuine opportunity to deliver long-overdue reforms to the food and agriculture system."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Monday, June 2, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time,
and a courageous person afterward.
Jean Paul Richter

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
6/1/08 -
5.1 SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA
5.4 BANDA SEA
5.1 LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.4 TAIWAN
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.4 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
5.8 BANDA SEA
5.5 BANDA SEA
5.7 CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN
6.4 BATAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES
5.2 BOUVET ISLAND REGION

CHINA - Almost 200,000 people have now been evacuated to higher ground from an area at risk of flooding from a lake formed after the Sichuan earthquake. Residents around the city of Mianyang are being moved as troops dig diversion channels to relieve pressure on the lake, made by landslide-blocked rivers. But there are fears that the dam could burst before they finish. China has emergency plans to move a further one million people. Water would reach major urban areas within 4 hours. Tangjiashan lake is the largest of more than 30 similar lakes formed by the earthquake two weeks ago. (photos)

'Earthquake Clouds' - linear cloud formations appeared in China prior to the Sichuan earthquake, and these types of clouds have been reported recently in Northern California and Seattle. Now a truly extraordinary series of these clouds has been photographed by pilots in Japan. These formations may suggest that more earthquakes are coming - such sightings have previously taken place prior to big quakes.
Video of strange cloud 'rivers' filmed by Japanese pilots.
Strange 'northern lights' - 30 minutes before the Sichuan earthquake in China. Bizarre colorful (luminous/glowing) cloud phenomenon in the sky was observed about 30 mins before the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake took place. This was recorded in Tianshui, Gansu province ~450km northeast of epicenter, by someone using a cell phone.
Glowing clouds 10 minutes before the quake - This was recorded in Meixian, Shaanxi province ~550km northeast of epicenter. The phenomenon was said to last for about 1 min.
[There are also many China quake damage video links.]

PHILIPPINES - A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the northern Philippines and southern Taiwan. No injuries, deaths or damage were immediately reported.

SOUTH KOREA - A 4.2-magnitude earthquake occurred near Jeju Island Saturday evening, causing startled people to evacuate their homes. It was ONE OF THE STRONGEST QUAKES EXPERIENCED IN 30 YEARS in Jeju. With the number of earthquakes in the area growing recently, this latest incident is causing people to worry about their safety. The quake caused high-rise apartments in some regions to shake for about five seconds, and some people walking on streets to stagger. A report by the Geological Society of Korea in 2005 said that the Korean Peninsula has frequent quakes every 400 to 500 years and that the country was currently in one of those periods.

ICELAND - A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 hit southern Iceland, 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Reykjavik on Thursday. In the town of Selfoss, near the epicentre, buildings were damaged and up to 20 people needed treatment for minor injuries. Residents in the capital felt buildings shake and aftershocks were felt in the south-west of the country. "It was quite a lot of shaking... It was quite a big one." The earthquake lasted about eight seconds: "It was fairly noisy. It sounded like thunder coming from the ground." The road between Reykjavik and Selfoss has been closed due to damage. Authorities have advised residents in the area to leave their homes because of the possibility of aftershocks. Iceland, which has a population of about 300,000, is a geologically unstable volcanic island in the north Atlantic. The country had been expecting further quakes after a series of tremors in the same area in 2000.

VOLCANOES -
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - A volcano in the Galapagos islands spewed molten lava, threatening 100-year-old giant tortoises. Officials say they may have to airlift the tortoises away from the volcano. The Cerro Azul mountain started erupting on Thursday after 10 years of inactivity. In the last eruption in 1998, several rare tortoises were burned by lava flows.

MONTSERRAT - Last Saturday morning, May 20, at about 6.00 a.m., vulcanologists noticed signs of increased activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano, and at about 7.20 a.m. the lava dome that had been growing from the main peak collapsed, triggering a pyroclastic flow to the east and emitting a big cloud of ash. Regularly scheduled flights to airports in the vicinity had been cancelled or diverted because of the huge ash cloud above the central Leeward Islands. The rear window of one resident's car was shattered by a rock ejected during the eruption. Nearly eleven years ago, Montserrat’s long-dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano began erupting for the first time in the island's recorded history. A series of pyroclastic flows and sometimes violent eruptions of ash and gases covered much of the southern part of Montserrat, including the capital, Plymouth, rendering it uninhabitable. The volcano is still very much active, though in recent years it's been relatively quiet, with small ash eruptions and pyroclastic flows every six or nine months. (photos)

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
INDONESIA - tidal flood may hit Jakarta - The World Bank warned Thursday that an exceptionally high tide could inundate the Indonesian capital this week, forcing thousands of people to flee homes and cutting off the highway to the international airport. The situation - exasperated by global warming and the fact that Jakarta is sinking up to 2 inches a year - could mean flooding will exceed last November's roof-high levels in the hardest-hit areas. "This is just the beginning." Homes a mile inland will likely be affected Tuesday and Wednesday by the 18-year semiannual tide cycle. "It's getting worse and worse." Indonesia is one of the world's largest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to the rapid pace of deforestation. Experts say the country is also at risk of becoming one of the biggest victims of climate change. Rising sea waters especially pose a threat to coastal cities like Jakarta, which has sunk at least 7 feet in the last three decades because of excessive ground water extraction. Eventually, the government should consider building a Dutch-styled dike to protect the Jakarta Bay, "but that will cost billions of U.S. dollars." The 18-year high tide cycles occur when the sun and moon are in direct alignment and making their closest approach to the Earth. Other factors, such as global warming or El Nino and La Nina, have made the sea swells even larger in recent years.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression ARTHUR was 153 nmi SSW of Campeche, Mexico.
Typhoon NAKRI was 442 nmi SSE of Kagoshima, Japan,

Tropical Storm Alma buffeted Nicaragua's Pacific coast, where some 25,000 people were ordered to evacuate low-lying areas amid fears of flooding. The storm - the first of the eastern Pacific hurricane season - reached land near the city of Leon on Thursday night. It knocked out power and telephone lines, with torrential rain and high winds also damaging homes. Thousands of people were also ordered from their homes in coastal areas of neighbouring Honduras. In Costa Rica, rain dumped by the storm left the town of Parrita flooded and shrouded the capital, San Jose, in a thick fog. Alma was expected to weaken to a tropical depression before reaching Guatemala or Belize late on Friday or early Saturday.

Tropical Storm Arthur formed Saturday afternoon — one day before the official start of the season June 1 — and quickly made landfall at the Belize-Mexico border before heading west. Arthur weakened to a dissipating depression Sunday after soaking the Yucatan Peninsula. But heavy rains still threatened to cause dangerous flooding and mudslides in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that remnants of the first named storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season could rain a total of 5 inches to 10 inches (12 to 25 centimeters) across portions of Belize, Guatemala and southeastern Mexico, with isolated rainfall up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) possible. Forecasters predicted it would stay inland and well away from the U.S. Gulf Coast. [The remnants of Arthur are embedded within a larger and nearly stationary area of cyclonic flow, so heavy rains could persist over portion of S.E. Mexico and N. Central America for the next couple of days and perhaps longer.]

Typhoon Nakri strengthened into a Category Four storm Friday with winds of 232 kilometers (145 miles) per hour as it moved across the Pacific Ocean in the direction of Japan. Nakri is the sixth storm of the northwestern Pacific cyclone season. The storm was moving west at 7.4 kilometers per hour and waves in the vicinity of its eye were 10 meters (32 feet) high. Nakri's winds were gusting to 279 kilometers an hour. The typhoon is forecast to turn north and pass to the south of Tokyo early on June 3.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - Farmers and homeowners along the Platte and Missouri Rivers in eastern Nebraska could see some of the WORST FLOODING IN MORE THAN A DECADE The Platte River already was running high before thunderstorms moved across the state Thursday, dumping 2, 4, even 8 inches of rain in parts of Nebraska. Now forecasters and emergency responders are bracing for the Platte to spill out of its banks from about Columbus to Ashland. From there, floodwaters will move into the Missouri. At Brownville, the Missouri is expected to crest at 39 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. The Omaha metro area will escape flooding because it is protected by dams upstream on the Missouri. The flood risk runs through today. The good news: No major rains are forecast during this period. Much of the area expected to flood is low-lying cropland. Farmers could be dealing with water-related problems for at least a week.
INDIANA - Residents cleaned up Saturday after a tornado plowed a trail of destruction through the east side of Indianapolis, but they gave thanks that nobody was killed and that the only injuries were minor. The storm blew through late Friday, ripping roofs off several apartment buildings, snapping trees and toppling power lines. Eighteen people were treated for "very minor" injuries. "It is a miracle that we didn't have serious injuries or death." Winds snapped trees, wrapped metal sheeting around a telephone pole and left a four-block-wide trail of debris about a mile long. Gas station pumps were knocked over, roof shingles shredded, and power lines and tree branches scattered. The tornado was part of a system that swept through the Midwest with heavy rain, high winds, thunder and lightning. Damage was also reported in Illinois, as well as in northwest Ohio, where two tornadoes destroyed homes near Arcadia, Forstoria, and Glandorf. Near Washington, D.C., firefighters reported a possible tornado, but no injuries or damage were reported. (photos)

Most storms are just weather. But tornadoes have personalities. Hurricanes, floods and blizzards sweep like mighty arms across entire cities. But only tornadoes have fingers small enough to reach into a cupboard and smash a single glass — leaving the others untouched. In a bathroom in Hugo, Minnesota, a tornado unwound a roll of toilet paper. Without ripping it, it unspooled the paper across the countertop, then neatly rewound it in a sink — like a poltergeist making a soft white nest. To some victims, tornadoes seem almost artistic. In one yard, the tornado stuck four steak knives into the shape of a square. All landed perfectly, blades down, about three inches into the dirt, like a mini-Stonehenge. Across the street, a tree looked like a Dr. Seuss illustration, stripped of leaves and bearing pink wads of insulation like cartoony fruit. In room after ruined room, one man marveled at how the tornado destroyed some things but spared others. A 150-pound stove was pulled from a kitchen wall — while pictures weighing a few ounces remained on a wall a few feet away. In a living room where winds overturned sofas and ripped away the roof, dishes of cat food and water were untouched. The kibble was still in the bowl.

SOUTH DAKOTA - The rain that fell Monday and Tuesday was enough to make this THE WETTEST MAY ON RECORD in Rapid City and at Fort Meade.

NEVADA - a RECORD SET IN RENO on Wednesday: seven days of measureable rainfall in May; the previous record was in 1961 with six days. The weather they're having is out of the ordinary. "We're getting a lot of rain in May which is typically the start of the dry season for us."

ALASKA - Strange weather has hit Fairbanks all month long. Fairbanks residents have been experiencing some UNUSUAL weather lately. Throughout most of the month of May pellet sized hail has been falling from the skies over Fairbanks, a phenomenon officials said was VERY STRANGE. A combination of cumulus clouds and cold temperatures are responsible for producing many of the hail events. The BIZARRE WEATHER is the result of UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERNS whereby extreme cold mixed with moisture from low hanging clouds to form the hail. Temperatures were reported to have dropped below freezing at 3,200 feet on Thursday. Cloud cover topped out at 10,000 feet. The result of this weather system is the formation of snow pellets as moisture in the clouds freezes and remains frozen by the time it hits the ground. Thus hail falls instead of rain. (photo)

CANADA - You know those 100-year floods like the one in 2005 in Calgary? Somebody forgot to send Mother Nature the timetable. The banks of the Elbow, located deep beneath the murky brown depths of the surging river, weren't supposed to disappear like this for another 97 years. Though the river is slowly receding again, Alberta Environment said the water depth and flow were "very close" to the levels recorded during the disaster of 2005, when 2,000 Calgarians were evacuated from their inner-city homes. It wasn't supposed to happen like this for another lifetime - that's what residents near the meandering Elbow were told in 2005, after the placid brook turned into a raging python of flood water, swallowing up apartments, basements, yards and paths. That "once-in-a-century" flood crested the Glenmore Dam and forced Calgary to declare a state of emergency. And for a few tense hours this past weekend, it looked like it might happen all over again.

BRITAIN - A major clean-up operation is under way across south-west England today after torrential rain caused flash flooding. Firefighters evacuated homes in the worst-hit areas of south Somerset after a sudden and heavy burst of rain between 6.30pm and 7pm yesterday. By late last night, the flooding was subsiding almost as quickly as it had begun, but hundreds of homes have been damaged. "This was literally that a tremendous amount of water came down with very little warning and the surface water drainage couldn't handle it."

ITALY has declared a state of emergency in the country's north after flooding and mudslides left at least four people, including an infant, dead in heavy rains that have also hit BELGIUM, BRITAIN, FRANCE and GERMANY. In Piedmont, four people were killed in landslides, including a three-year-old child whose body was found yesterday. Schools were closed in the town of Saviglano because of mudslides and 30 people were evacuated from their homes in Demonte. A mudslide at Villar Pelice, near Turin, swept away a house, killing an elderly man inside it. A second person was found dead in a car also caught up in the mudslide. Road tunnels linking France and Italy were closed to trucks for several hours after parts were affected by a mudslide. Several highways were blocked or closed for safety in the Alpine districts of Savoie and Isere. Mudslides and flooding also hit villages and cut secondary roads in eastern France, while other routes were blocked by fallen trees. Streets were turned to rivers of mud in the eastern Belgian city of Liege after a violent storm. Belgian television showed cars swept along in the mud and flooded houses. In Germany, heavy rain and hail caused extensive damage. (photo)
The HEAVIEST RAINFALL IN NEARLY 60 YEARS caused flooding and mudslides on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica.

COLUMBIA - At least 16 people have died in Colombia after two of the country's main rivers overflowed due to days of heavy rains, flooding nearby communities. Floods caused by the Cauca and the Magdalena rivers have affected 27 of the country's 32 provinces, or departments. The flood waters have affected more than 100,000 people, damaged more than 10,000 houses and destroyed crops in much of the nation's agricultural heartland. "The crops are all gone because the papaya dies immediately and it takes time for the banana plantations to produce again." In the northern city of Baranquilla, residents tied their cars to lampposts and trees to avoid them being swept away by flood waters. Residents were warned that the rainy season would continue until mid-June. Forecasters on Wednesday also predicted that the rains would intensify over the next few days.

ETHIOPIA - 25 people were killed by flash floods in Ethiopia this week. "The force of the flash flood that hit Jijiga town on Thursday night swept away 200 houses, killing 25 people of whom 19 were children." The flood occurred without warning after heavy rain around Chinaksen, 50 kilometres north of Jijiga, and there had been no rain in the town itself on the day.

MEXICO - Cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures due to the La Nina phenomenon may be partly responsible for a spate of fatal shark attacks off Mexico's Pacific coast.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

A group of 1,700 leading scientists called on the U.S. government Friday to take the lead in fighting global warming. Citing the "UNPRECEDENTED and unanticipated" effects of global warming, the scientists presented a letter calling for an immediate reduction in U.S. carbon emissions. The statement came as the Senate prepares to debate a bill next week that would impose economy-wide limits on greenhouse emissions to avert what it describes as "catastrophic climate change". The White House joined in the chorus of gloom when it issued a long-delayed report bringing together research into global warming. The report was issued after environmental groups won a court order last year enforcing a statute that obliges the government to produce an assessment of global warming every four years. Described as a "litany of bad news in store for the U.S.", the report catalogues threats from drought, natural disaster, insect infestation and energy shortages. The scientists call on the government to "put our nation on to a path today to reduce emissions on the order of 80% below 2000 levels by 2050...There is no time to waste. The most risky thing we can do is nothing." Another group of climate scientists warned that a "false optimism" has infused international climate talks. The scientists said the world has lost 10 years talking about climate change when it should have acted. The scientists say that even the most politically feasible target, of a 50% global reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 from the levels of 1990, would still entail "major global impacts".

A record number of tornadoes has ripped through the Midwest this year. In recent years we have already witnessed a greater number of high-intensity hurricanes. Water levels in the reservoirs of the West are so low that water managers are trying to figure how to keep water flowing to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles. Forest fires and insect outbreaks are more frequent. A warmer climate speeds the maturation of crops, such as grain and oil seeds, and the crops are more susceptible to failure. 800 scientific studies have examined the effects of global warming on 1,598 animal species and nearly 60% have already been affected. Climate change is not something happening in the future. It is happening now. Even the Bush administration, which did its best to delay action, now admits as much.

ONE OF THE WORST DROUGHTS IN THE PAST DECADE settled heavily over the Fertile Crescent region of Iraq and Syria in the winter of 2007-2008. Under normal conditions, winter rain and rivers flowing from the mountains of Turkey sustain the rich agricultural land that has fed humanity from the dawn of civilization. But little to no rain fell between October and December during the crucial planting period, and sparse rain has fallen in the months that followed. Even irrigated crops suffered from a lack of water, since the drought limited the amount of well and river water available for irrigation. The winter’s drought was followed by a hot, dry spring that further damaged crops. As a result, Iraqi farmers are anticipating a harvest as much as 51% smaller than the harvest of 2007. Syrian farmers faired a little better, though the Syrian wheat harvest will be 38% lower than in 2007. The drought also crept east into Iran’s wheat-growing region, where farmers are anticipating their smallest harvest in six years. (satellite image)

CHINA - Summer in the city of Shanghai will be a scorcher, say forecasters. Shanghai will have more scorching-hot days and more typhoons, but less rain, from June to September. Three typhoons are expected to affect the city, and there will be more than 30 days when maximum temperatures will be above 35 degrees Celsius. The plum rain season is expected to begin during the middle of June and end in early July, both earlier than normal. The La Nina phenomenon, which began last August and is expected to conclude by the end of June, will cause the rain belt to be mainly located in north China this summer. "The La Nina will also cause an increase in typhoons. According to our statistics, the year when La Nina phenomenon is active, the typhoons affecting Shanghai will be more than usual. Only two typhoons have landed on Shanghai since 1949, both happened in the years of La Nina, in 1977 and 1989." As this year is the year when La Nina will be transformed to El Nino, more extreme weather than usual is expected. "The city is easily affected by short-term but strong disastrous weather, such as thunderstorm and ice hail."

INDIA's only cold desert could be on the brink as a result of weather shifts. Heavy rains are only the beginning of the problem in Ladakh. The summers have been getting hotter. There are now locusts 15,000 feet above sea level. "If you take a look at the past 15 to 20 years, every year the temperature in this region is increasing especially during the summer months. And because these insects are finding very suitable climate here, so they have invaded and are just wiping out whole of the pasture lands." But here's the irony: this year, the region also saw its severest winter in 20 years. Scientists say one of the first signs of global warming is a trend of freak weather. As a result of the unexpected and excess water, heat and snow, people have lost their homes, their crop and their cattle.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
RECALLED - Fresca Italia of Brisbane, CA is recalling Burrata because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
RECALLED - Supreme Cuts LLC has announced that it is voluntarily recalling 87 cases of Off the Cob Fresh Kernel Corn in 12 oz bags. The product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
RECALLED - Orval Kent Foods is voluntarily recalling approximately 23,000 pounds of Amish Macaroni Salad that may pose a health risk.

Sunday, June 1, 2008 -

No update today, sorry - we got hit with a severe hailstorm last night and clean-up took a good part of the day. We got 10 solid minutes of quarter-sized hail that covered the ground 2 inches deep! I had to get out the snow shovels to clear the driveway and steps. The hail came from every direction and sheared bunches of leaves and small branches off the trees - every inch of the sidewalks, rooftops, gutters, decks, lawns, streets, are covered in inches deep green. It is 19 hours later and 65 degrees outside and there are still piles of unmelted hail in the gutters and in corners. Most of my vegetable seedlings were still unplanted because of the cool weather this spring, but my corn, rhubarb, hostas, poppies and other flowers are decimated, shredded to pieces. I am missing large spots of paint on the east side of the house! It sounded like the house was under attack during the storm, but the hail was just small enough not to break any of the windows and the roof seems to be undamaged (hard to see under all the branches). This is the craziest thing I've seen - and I feel realy lucky that it wasn't worse. Stay safe, and if climate change comes your way - duck!

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/31/08 -
5.4 EASTER ISLAND REGION
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.0 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
5/30/08 -
5.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.5 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.2 BOUVET ISLAND REGION (south of Africa)
5/29/08 -
6.2 ICELAND
5.0 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA

Saturday, May 31, 2008 -

Sorry no update Friday, another day a bit under the weather.

Thursday, May 29, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
Harold Wilson

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/28/08 -
5.2 CENTRAL PERU
5.2 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
5.4 GUAM REGION
5.0 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS

A major quake such as the one that left at least 60,000 dead in southwestern China this month can trigger other earthquakes half way around the world, according to a study released Sunday. A team of geologists found that 12 out of 15 major quakes - registering a magnitude of 7.0 or higher, since 1990 - generated surface waves that set off smaller seismic events in fault systems on distant continents. The terrible December 2004 mega-quake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, for example, provoked seismic events as far away as Alaska, California and Ecuador. "It was known that these surface waves could travel. But most scientists thought these so-called dynamically-triggered earthquakes were a special case. In fact they happen all the time, everywhere, and that was something of a surprise." While the seismic movements triggered by far away quakes were generally smaller - in the three-to-five magnitude range - there is no reason they could not be as big or bigger than the first quake.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression 01E was 83 nmi SSW of Managua, Nicaragua.
Typhoon NAKRI was 547 nmi WNW of Agana, Guam.

TROPICAL DEPRESSION ONE-E is gradually becoming better organized. The forecast calls for the center to make landfall as a tropical storm at 11pm tonight in western Nicaragua. Tropical Depression 1-E could become Tropical Storm Alma. The primary threat with this system will be life-threatening flash floods and mud slides, with heavy rains of up to 20 inches in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
[Coincidentally (or not), this morning there has been a 4.7 quake in the Panama-Costa Rica border region, Tuesday there was a 5.5 quake in Guatemala, Monday there were 4.6, 4.7, 4.9, 4.9 & 5.5 quakes in the Panama-Costa Rica border region and a 4.7 in El Salvador and on Sunday there was a 4.6 south of Panama and a 5.0 in Guatemala.]
Several models show the Central American low pressure area could move northward towards the Gulf of Mexico, and wind shear could fall enough to allow a tropical depression to form there should the low's center emerge over water. A large area of high pressure will prevent the depression from eventually reaching Texas.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - Heavy flooding has killed 53 people. The southwestern Guizhou Province was the worst hit, with 36 people killed by flash floods and 14 missing, followed by Hunan with seven deaths.

BRITAIN - London was set for more heavy rain this week following a sodden bank holiday during which MORE THAN A MONTH'S WORTH OF RAIN FELL IN TWO DAYS. Meteorologists recorded more than 56mm of rainfall over the course of Sunday and Monday - 7mm more than the average for the whole of May. Emergency services were called to flooded homes and businesses in Tilbury and Billericay, Essex. High winds blew trees onto cables in Surrey. A 13-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree in Huddersfield Tuesday.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
INDIANA - A RARE meteorological phenomenon called a "pneumonia front" dropped across Lake Michigan late Sunday, ushering in rapidly dropping temperatures and strong shifting winds that helped to increase the risk of rip currents along the shoreline. National Weather Service warnings because of the high waves were posted for LaPorte County in Indiana and Berrien County in Michigan. A frost advisory was in effect for Tuesday night, primarily in southwest Michigan. The pneumonia front is a term used when a system moves down the western Lake Michigan shoreline during the warm months. And it's an unusual term. "It's basically like a normal cold front, but it comes off the lake." As the front moves south across cooler water, it brings temperatures that fall more than 15 degrees in a single hour. Lake temperatures were about 50 degrees. But along with the chill come the gusts. "The wind shifts from the southwest to almost due north, once that front passes." With the winds come the waves, prompting Tuesday's warning about the currents.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

Global warming brings rare bird to Machu Picchu, Peru - The Mountain Caracara, a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family, has shown changes in its behavior pattern which indicate it is being affected by Peru's change of climate in the highlands. The caracara, a bird that usually lives between 3,500 - 5,000 meters (11,482 - 16,404 feet) above sea level, was venerated by the Incas. The Mountain Caracara has recently been found living at much lower altitudes and specialists are asking themselves what has brought the high-Andes bird closer to humans. According to biologists in Peru, the majestic bird is relocating because of weather alterations and abrupt changes in the climate. Specialists have noted that more of these birds can be seen at the Inca Citadel atop Machu Picchu, which is 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. "These are visible consequence of climate change. Many speak of this phenomenon as if it were something distant. This is a concrete case of the changes that are taking place."

EASTERN EUROPE sweltered in a pre-summer heat wave Wednesday that pushed temperatures to A 121-YEAR HIGH in Belgrade and halted a Hungarian train after the tracks bent. In Bulgaria, temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius in the western part of the country, the highest in a century for the end of May. Belgrade, Serbia's capital, had 39 degrees, the highest May heat since 1887. Neighbouring Macedonia recorded 38 degrees in the south and 35 degrees in the capital Skopje. Szeged, a Hungarian city near the Romanian and Serbian borders, reported 34 degrees, the HIGHEST FOR THE DAY SINCE RECORD-KEEPING BEGAN. Unseasonably high temperatures were forecast throughout Greece. Italy is also in the throes of a heatwave .
The first heat wave of the year was set to hit Germany this week, with temperatures poised to crack 30 degrees Celsius in the southwestern part of the country.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things
if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't.
They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.
Philip Adams

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/27/08 -
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.6 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.3 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.3 VANUATU
5.5 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
5.7 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

CHINA - Aftershocks are continuing to rock the region, and on Tuesday 63 people were injured, including six critically, in Qingchuan county. The aftershocks, coupled with heavy rain, are hampering relief efforts. A total of 158,000 people (in about 30 towns) have now been evacuated from potentially vulnerable areas downstream from Tangjiashan lake. The lake's water level is rising by more than one metre pre day. It now holds as much water as 50,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. If the water bursts through the natural barrier of rock and earth, more than one million people may have to be relocated. (photos)
Two further aftershocks have destroyed more than 420,000 houses in the Chinese region hit by a massive earthquake two weeks ago. Many of the homes appear to have been empty, but six people are said to have been critically injured in the tremors. One of the aftershocks measured magnitude 5.7. The same county was strongly shaken on Sunday, wrecking 300,000 more homes, killing eight people and injuring hundreds.
The 8.0 earthquake devastated the key agricultural province of Sichuan. In the towns and villages around Mianzhu, everything speaks of collapse. Crushed pigs poke out from the remains of pulverised buildings. Terraced farms have been overrun by landslides. Irrigation trenches are either split and leaking or blocked and dry. Factories and mines are silent - their operations wrecked and their labour forces dead or evacuated. But the earthquake will barely register on global energy and commodity prices: the province produces 20% of China's natural gas, 3% of its aluminium and 3% of its coal, but the quake will not reduce those contributions significantly. Analysts are most worried about the longer-term impact on agriculture. With Sichuan being China's biggest producer of pigs and a leading grower of rice and vegetables, damage to agriculture could trigger surges in inflation, with food prices already extremely sensitive. A serious concern is what could unfold over the summer, particularly as the July rains pour down on crippled infrastructure. River blockages could starve large parts of the region of the water they depend on for irrigation.

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA - Two years after it oozed into life, Indonesia's "mud volcano" is still spewing toxic sludge across the Javanese countryside at the rate of 60 Olympic swimming pools a day. And the more homes and farms that disappear beneath its stinking grey goo, the louder the calls for justice from hundreds of displaced families who are awaiting compensation. "There is always a fear that even where we are staying we will be flooded with mud. Recently the dyke at Renokenongo subsided two metres, new gas leaks are everywhere. When the wind blows westward we can smell the strong odour from here. It seems like there's no end." While the authorities argue over who, if anyone, is to blame, the mud marches on, burying villages and making people ill with foul plumes of highly concentrated methane gas. Worried locals have said it gets so bad they are afraid to cook in case the flammable cloud explodes. "The latest data from March this year shows around 640 hectares (1580 acres) of land is flooded by the mud."
The Indonesian "mud volcano" is collapsing under its own weight, worsening the environmental disaster. Sudden collapses of up to three metres (9.8 feet) have been recorded at the centre of the volcano in East Java. "Such sudden collapses could be the beginning of a caldera - a large basin-shaped volcanic depression." The caldera could be as much as 146 metres deep. "(Scientists) propose the subsidence is due to the weight of mud and collapse of rock strata due to the excavation of mud from beneath the surface." The mud volcano, known as "Lusi", has already been an environmental and economic disaster for local people, and things will get worse as the mud continues to flow and the centre collapses. "Sidoarjo is a populated region and is collapsing as a result of the birth and growth of Lusi. This could continue to have a significant environmental impact on the surrounding area for years to come." (photo and map)

BURMA (MYANMAR) - A mud volcano erupted on an island in Manaung Township in Arakan twice on the night of Sunday, May 25, but there are no reports on any damaged caused by the eruption. The volcano, situated on Nantha Kyunt Island along the Arakan Coast, erupted first at 12:30 am and a second time at 4 am. Molten lava spewed from the mouth of the volcano, reaching estimated heights of 120 feet into the sky. After the lava erupted, the area surrounding the volcano was inundated with mud that came from the volcano. In Arakan State, there are a few mud volcanoes that occasionally erupt. On 5 January, 2008, Nagar Gri (Dragon) Volcano on Rambree Island also erupted and flooded nearby areas with lava.(photo of the January eruption)

Mini earthquakes observed at volcanoes might be caused by flowing lava, which can fracture and crack even though it is a liquid. It is a really big challenge to predict when the onset of eruptive behaviour in volcanoes will occur. The best clues we have are the pattern of extremely small earthquakes that take place directly under the lava dome. Lava reaching the surface is fracturing and causing the small quakes, with magnitudes of less than 3, in much the same way that larger tectonic rifts cause huge earthquakes. Although on a long timescale lava behaves as one would expect from a fluid, on a short timescale it can behave like a brittle solid. The fractures in the flowing magma would be a few metres long and would form quickly.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm NAKRI was 476 nmi WNW of Agana, Guam.

PHILIPPINES - A week after typhoon Cosme battered Pangasinan, damage continued to pile up, hitting at least P4.3 billion in public and private property, crops and infrastructure. It will take at least a month to restore power in some areas. Tens of thousands of victims lost their homes and sources of livelihood. Luzon’s biggest province tallied 39 dead and 61 injured. As of the latest count, 29,095 houses were destroyed while 75,393 units were partially damaged or a total of 104,488 houses damaged. Damage to agriculture and the aquaculture industry was at P3.55 billion. The province’s most extensive cash crop, mango, was hardest hit with destroyed trees valued at P1.9 billion. All other sub-segments of the farm and fishery sector that include rice and corn, vegetables, other fruit trees besides mango, livestocks and poultry incurred heavy losses.

As the hurricane season takes off in the US so too will drone planes which will fly into the eye of the storms. It is part of an ongoing project funded by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor the Earth's atmosphere. Two to five flights will be launched during the six month hurricane season and will send back a continuous stream of information. The planes can fly into the eye of a storm at just 300 feet above sea level. As well as predicting the intensity of hurricanes, researchers will also use the planes to track how fast Arctic summer ice will melt and whether Pacific storms will flood the west coast of America. In late 2008, large unmanned aircraft will observe sea ice conditions in the Arctic and track the locations of seal populations as the climate warms. In spring 2009, low and high altitude unmanned vehicles will fly over the Pacific to study atmospheric rivers. Future missions will monitor fisheries, track Greenland glaciers, preserve natural resources and examine murky plumes of volcanic emissions.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
MONTANA - After seven days of rain and an accumulation of almost four inches of precipitation, rivers and streams in the area are still high but haven't gone over their banks. In the last seven days 3.88 inches of rain fell in Billings and outlying areas saw similar amounts. The rainfall from Wednesday through Saturday SET RECORDS for the longest and heaviest stretch of rain in the Billings area. All four days brought at least .7 of an inch of rain, and the last time that amount was recorded for longer than a day was in March 2006, when heavy rainfall was recorded for two consecutive days. Precipitation fell as snow in the high country, and 19 inches of snow was reported at Mystic Lake in Stillwater County during the four-day dump.

CHINA - A flash flood has killed at least nine people in the south-western Chinese province of Guizhou. Eleven others are said to be missing. The flood has also destroyed dozens of houses, cut roads and disrupted power supplies to thousands of people in nine townships. The news comes as more bad weather is expected to hit Sichuan province.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
SHEEP numbers in Australia have dropped to their LOWEST LEVEL IN MORE THAN 80 YEARS because of the drought.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Before insulting someone you should walk a mile in their shoes.
Then when you insult them you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 5.9 quake in GUATEMALA and
there have been quakes of 5.6 and 5.3 in the SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/26/08 -
5.2 COSTA RICA
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5/25/08 -
6.0 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
6.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 GUATEMALA

CHINA - On Sunday six people died from the effects of a strong 6.0 aftershock. Nearly 300,000 homes were wrecked in the aftershock, and more than 1,000 people injured. The official death toll from the May 12 earthquake rose to 65,080 on Monday, with another 23,150 missing. There have been more than 8,000 aftershocks; the biggest was this 6.0. Troops in China are trying to clear a river blocked during the recent earthquake, amid fears millions could be at risk of flooding. Dozens of lakes were formed when landslides triggered by the massive 12 May earthquake blocked rivers. Heavy rain forecast for the next few days could cause the barriers blocking the lakes to burst and flood nearby areas. (photos)
The latest figures show more than 45 million people have now been affected by the Wenchuan earthquake. The death toll has risen to 67,183. Over 20,000 people are missing and nearly 362,000 have been injured. More than 15 million people have been evacuated or relocated from the quake zone. The China Seismological Bureau reported no aftershocks measuring above magnitude 4 from noon on Monday to noon on Tuesday. But there were 226 tremors measuring less than 3.9 on the Richter Scale. [site note - since this article was published there have been quakes of 5.6 and 5.3 in the SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA.]
China will be rocked by powerful earthquake aftershocks for two or three months, a senior expert warned today, as two more tremors struck a half hour apart. There were no immediate reports of major damage from the latest two aftershocks.

PANAMA - COSTA RICA - a moderate earthquake of 5.2 magnitude struck on the Pacific coast side of the Panama-Costa Rican border overnight, but only minor structural damage was reported.

COLUMBIA - The toll in Colombia's earthquake has risen to 11, even as the rescue work continues. The quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, rocked the eastern and central regions of the country on Saturday. Some 54 people were injured and around 430 families have been evacuated from the quake-hit towns such as Quetame and Puente Quetame. The earthquake also jolted Bogota, damaging seven power plants and a number of buildings. Authorities said more than 400 houses, a church and several schools were damaged or destroyed in the areas adjoining the epicentre. It also caused landslides and blocked roads. At least 10 landslides that occurred on the highway between Bogota and the central Meta provincial capital of Villavicencio buried cars and left six dead. The epicentre of the earthquake was in El Calvario town in Meta province and was followed by a series of aftershocks.

VOLCANOES -
ECUADOR recorded 125 moderate explosions of the Tungurahua volcano in center of the Andes Sunday. "The volcanic activities continue with a high seismic level, mainly characterized by moderate explosions." There are also 32 earthquakes inside the mountain and continuous shocks 17 times. The ash emissions have caused an ash rain in Pillate and Guadalupe near the volcano. At the same time, those emissions have formed 3-km-high clouds. The volcano began its current eruptive process in November 1999 and since then has alternated between frequent activity and calmness.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression 06W was 385 nmi W of Agana, Guam.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - Tornadoes and storms swept through the US, killing at least eight people and destroying many homes. The worst-hit areas were in Iowa. Seven people died when a tornado hit two towns north-east of Des Moines. In Minnesota, a storm flattened several homes near St Paul, killing a child. The severe weather was caused by a slow-moving storm system that brought high winds and hail from Texas to Minnesota. The US tornado season - which peaks in the spring and early summer and affects many mid-Western states - has been particularly deadly this year. More than 100 people have been killed by tornadoes so far this year - the worst toll in a decade.

PAKISTAN - The Hasni Glacier ruptured on Sunday in a remote mountainous village and swept away parts of the Karakoram Highway, suspending the traffic between Pakistan and China. A large number of orchards and farms in the Hasni village were also flattened by the avalanche which has struck twice in four days. Flashfloods caused by the avalanches have submerged nearby farms and orchards, including the Karakoram Highway, besides sweeping away several poles of electricity and telephone. It wasn't immediately clear as to what had caused the glacier to rupture. However, sources said that intermittent rains might have been a factor behind the avalanche. An immediate rescue operation was joined by Chinese engineers and labourers to divert the direction of the impending floods. Heavy machinery, including bulldozers, was moved to the spot where people had been waiting for the opening of the highway. Heavy boulders and mud were impeding the pace of work.

INDIA - Dust storms and heavy rains lashed huge swaths of northern India, killing at least 22 overnight. An additional 89 people died in unseasonal rain and dust storms in Uttar Pradesh state last week. Bad weather caused "havoc" on Monday as strong winds of more than 70 miles per hour (113 kph) and heavy rains swept through the state, uprooting trees and electricity poles and destroying mud-brick houses. The state has lost property and crops worth one billion rupees (US$25 million) because of two weeks of bad weather.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Four people have been buried alive by a landslide in a remote village in Finschhafen district in Morobe. “Rescuers worked through the mud and debris all day and retrieve three bodies. One is still missing. The reports are sketchy. Our disaster and emergency people are flying into the area tomorrow to assess the situation. The deaths prompted Gamato to warn residents in the province to look out for landslide and flooding because the wet season has started.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
CALIFORNIA - Visalia hit a RECORD-BREAKING LOW TEMPERATURE Sunday as a steady drizzle fell most of the day. Visalia's high temperature of 55 degrees was the lowest high temperature for May 25 on record, beating the previous record, 68 degrees, in 1980. Typically, Sunday's average temperature would be about 85 degrees.
A low-pressure weather trough is swirling throughout the West Coast, driving regional temperatures to record lows. Temperatures in the Sacramento region are usually in the low to mid-80s this time of the year. At Sacramento Executive Airport, the mercury stalled at 64 degrees – two degrees cooler than the previous record of 66 degrees in 1953. On Saturday, RECORD COOLNESS – 60 degrees – was recorded as the high temperature in Stockton; Modesto posted a new mark as well, at 63 degrees. "It's a tricky weather pattern. It is an UNUSUAL SYSTEM. In fact, THE WHOLE WEATHER PATTERN IS QUITE UNUSUAL now."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Some strains of bird flu are coming ever closer to developing the traits they need to cause a human pandemic, a study released Monday said. Researchers who analysed samples of recent avian flu viruses found that a few H7 strains of the virus that have caused minor, untransmissible infections in people in North America between 2002 and 2004 have increased their affinity for the sugars found on human tracheal cells. Investigators said the evidence suggests that the virus could be evolving toward the same strong sugar-binding properties of the three worldwide viral pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968. The authors said that if the viruses continue to evolve in this direction, the avian flu viruses could travel more easily between other animals and humans. They called for strict surveillance of avian flu viruses and continuing federal preparations for a possible future pandemic.

Sunday, May 25, 2008 -

No update Monday - Memorial Day.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

This morning there has been a 6.0 aftershock in SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA. It was THE MOST POWERFUL AFTERSHOCK to hit quake-ravaged central China and it leveled many more homes and killed one person, leaving 260 injured.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/24/08 -
5.9 COLOMBIA
5.8 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.4 AZORES ISLANDS REGION
5.1 VANUATU
5.2 TIMOR REGION
5.3 RIO NEGRO, ARGENTINA
5/23/08 -
5.7 KEPULAUAN BABAR, INDONESIA
5.1 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
6.5 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.3 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

COLUMBIA - A 5.9 earthquake has killed at least six people in central Colombia, causing landslides and shaking buildings. Its epicentre was located about 55km (34 miles) from the capital Bogota, near the town of Villavicencio. Bogota residents ran outside fearing buildings would fall, then stood around dazed in the rain. The victims are reported to have been killed when rocks from a landslide hit the cars they were travelling in. At least 15 houses and a church were reported to have been damaged. In 1999, a earthquake measuring six struck Colombia's coffee-growing region, killing about 1,000 people. The last comparable death toll from a Colombian quake prior to that was in 1875 when about 1,000 people died near Cucuta.

CHINA to blast 'quake lake' - Hundreds of troops carrying explosives trekked through a quake-devastated area in southwest China on Sunday, attempting to reach a "quake lake" that threatens a secondary disaster. Concerned by a steep rise in the water level of a giant lake at Tangjiashan, authorities want to blast a hole in the barrier before it bursts and causes a flashflood. Thousands have been evacuated below the lake as a precaution. The lake is just 3.2 km upstream from Beichuan, a town so badly hit that it will be rebuilt in a new location and the ruins of collapsed buildings left as a quake memorial. Workers also plan to dig tunnels to drain water from dozens of other unstable lakes that built up after landslides blocked rivers in the Sichuan province. The government fears that as water levels rise they could burst, drowning survivors and rescue workers downstream. Troops said on Sunday that any controlled release of water would not present any danger for locals, but nonetheless farmers said they were worried. "At night-time you can hear the rumbling from the landslides around here and sometimes the earth shakes." An 80-year-old partially paralysed man has been pulled alive from rubble, 266 hours after the 7.9 magnitude quake hit. Almost two weeks after the quake, the chance of finding anyone else alive is tiny, although officials say they have not given up the search for survivors, especially a handful believed still trapped in coal mines. The flattened town of Yingxiu lost an estimated two-thirds of its inhabitants in the 7.9 magnitude quake and has almost no safe buildings left standing. The main concerns are now secondary disasters like flooding and landslides, epidemics and providing shelter for nearly 5 million displaced. As of Saturday noon, 178 aftershocks measuring above 4 on the Richter scale had been monitored in southwest China.
Nearly 70 dams are in danger of bursting, rattled again today by one of the strongest aftershocks since the initial disaster. The aftershock caused office towers to sway in Beijing, 800 miles away. The aftershock lasted about 20 seconds in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. Parts of Sichuan will suffer "heavy and even in some areas torrential rains" later today and Monday, with warning of possible mudslides. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 62,664, with another 23,775 people missing. The overall death toll from the May 12 earthquake could exceed 80,000.
(slideshow - over 100 photos)

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHILE - Heavy rains and flooding that have killed five people and displaced thousands in south-central Chile also have collapsed road and rail bridges and left many in the capital without drinking water. Many schools remained closed in Santiago and elsewhere on Friday after flood waters churned up sediment at water treatment plants, while several rivers burst their banks farther south deluging thousands of homes. "More than seven rivers have overflowed. We had a very complex situation overnight, and Route 5 (Chile's main north-south highway) has been cut in three places." Television footage showed a collapsed railway bridge in the region of Maule, about 125 miles (200 km) south of Santiago, which forced the suspension of rail services to the south. The government said 8,000 homes had been affected and that 316 people were stranded across the country. About 500 people were in shelters while 14,000 forced from their homes were living with friends and family. Of the five people killed earlier in the weeklong deluge, two died in landslides, one was struck by a boulder and another was hit by a falling tree. One man died of hypothermia. Streets turned into rivers in some areas. In Santiago alone, 1.4 inches (35.7 millimeters) of rain fell in the space of 24 hours - the amount that NORMALLY FALLS DURING THE ENTIRE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTER. There were no immediate details of any impact on crops, which had been hurt by ONE OF THE WORST DROUGHTS IN DECADES. Maule is a major wine producing region. Rains eased on Friday, giving way to sunshine, but further rainfall was expected next week. The upside is that the rains have refilled hydroelectric dam reservoirs drained in recent months.

U.S. - Supercell storms ploughed across northern Oklahoma state yesterday spawning several tornadoes that crushed structures and sent debris flying kilometres away.
Crews surveying damage after two nights of vicious tornadoes in Kansas and Oklahoma found two people dead in a car in a field Saturday morning. At least 17 tornadoes hit parts of the state on Friday, destroying several buildings and leaving at least four people injured, one in serious condition. Since Thursday, twisters have struck in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Oklahoma. "We had two consecutive days of major tornadoes. Unfortunately, we had towns in there that were hit on both days, which is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL." One man died Thursday at a campground in Greeley, Colorado. Nearly 600 homes in Windsor, Colorado - about 110 kilometres north of Denver - got damaged on Thursday. About 100 people were treated for injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones and three were hospitalized for stress. Many people had to stay out of their homes on Friday due to fears of gas leaks. Those who chose to return on Saturday will be without electricity for the time being. About 100 people in the United States have died so far this year in tornado-related incidents. (photo)
COLORADO - The tornado that carved a path through Weld County on Thursday marked a deadly, if ABNORMAL, introduction to the tornado season in Colorado. Every year, dozens of twisters touch down across the state, but few wield the intensity of the one that sawed through Windsor and hit three other communities in north-central Colorado, peeling rooftops, cutting power and leaving one person dead. "It's kind of a wake-up call that, yes, tornadoes can occur, they can be big, they can be fatal and they can be near the Front Range, so don't take them for granted." Last year, on March 28, a tornado packing winds up to 165 mph swept through the southeastern Colorado town of Holly, killing a mother of two. Before that, the last time a fatal tornado struck Colorado was in 1960, in Sedgwick County. Conditions in Colorado are favorable for small, short-lived tornadoes. Part of the reason, experts say, is that the Rocky Mountains help interrupt the weather patterns needed to trigger and sustain violent storms. Another is that Colorado receives less of the warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico that can fuel catastrophic tornadoes in parts of Texas and the Midwest.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
MONTANA - Heavy rain is expected across much of Northwest Montana and from 30 to 50 inches of snow along the Continental Divide into Glacier National Park. National Weather Service forecasters said Thursday that an UNUSUAL WEATHER FRONT, delivering moisture from the Plains states, also will bring lower temperatures. Snow above 6,000 feet is expected to effectively “shut off the runoff.” Area rivers, which have been approaching or exceeding flood stage in recent days, are expected to gradually drop off during the next few days. “It’s VERY UNUSUAL to have this magnitude of deep moisture coming from the Plains like this.” Over the Flathead Valley on Thursday, cloud cover ODDLY drifted to the west, the direction it typically comes from. Weather Service satellite imagery shows moisture moving from the east over the Continental Divide into the valley. The overall weather event was expected to begin Thursday afternoon and gradually taper off by early today.

SWEDEN - FREAK snowfall - A cold snap has caused confusion in Sweden, as heavy snow fell on northern parts of the country on Saturday. Residents, geared up for spring, were not expecting the large amount of snow, which caused large-scale power cuts. The meteorological agency of Sweden reported 14 to 15 centimetres of snowfall in Leksand, Malung and Rattvik in Dalarna. “It has snowed quite a lot, as far south as parts of Varmland. Further south than that the snow turns into slush.” (photo)

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

WASHINGTON - warm and sunny weather intensified Saturday BREAKING A 52-YEAR-OLD RECORD when the soaring temperatures reached 88 degrees at Sea-Tac Airport, beating the old record of 85 degrees. Friday hit 84, tying the record for the date set in 1985. The National Weather Service said the record-breaking temperatures make this weekend's weather UNUSUAL and definitely above normal.

Climate change is "an underwriter's worst nightmare" as its unpredictable effects make assessing risk an increasingly difficult task. More organisations are being sued in global warming-related cases, as big greenhouse gas producers are blamed for rising temperatures and rising sea levels. "Climate change is the new asbestos for insurers." They highlighted the case of Kivalina, an Alaskan peninsula whose population of 377 people are having to be relocated at a cost of $400 million, because of coastal erosion. The people of Kivalina have responded by filing a lawsuit against 24 oil, gas and electric companies, including giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Duke Energy, whom they hold responsible for causing a public nuisance. The Kivalina suit alleges that energy companies conspired to create a false sense of doubt about effects of global warming. "Professional liability claims could arise from, say, when architects fail to factor in climate change, and the impact of storm surge and rising sea levels, in coastal development. In D&O (directors and officers) lines, there could also be claims related to risk management. after all, Goldman Sachs has said it's now a fiduciary duty for company boards to consider climate change." There is also the question of whether authorities could be sued for inadequate flood defences. The coastal flood zone has been extended further inland in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina, as homes outside the former flood zone were inundated. "They extended it in Louisiana, but if they did that for the whole of the US, a lot of people in coastal areas in places like Florida would freak out, but really, FEMA should do it."

Sunscreens damage coral reefs - Sunscreen lotions used by beach-going tourists worldwide are a major cause of coral bleaching, according to a new study commissioned by the European Commission.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Friday, May 23, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
When you are right you cannot be too radical;
when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
Martin Luther King Jr.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/22/08 -
None 5.0 or higher.

CHINA - The death toll from the massive earthquake in south-west China rose again, 55,239 people are now known to have died in the 12 May quake. 24,949 people remain missing and 281,006 were injured. More than 5.47 million people are homeless and more than five million buildings have collapsed. Concern is growing over a number of new lakes formed by the force of the earthquake. Thirty-four lakes were created in the province when landslides blocked rivers. Eight hold more than 3 million cubic metres of water and one lake, less than 3km ( two miles) from Beichuan town, has doubled in size in four days. Forecasters predict heavy rain in the region next week, which could further raise the water levels in the lakes. (9 photos)
The onset of the rainy season threatens to swell dangerous "quake lakes" and compound the difficulties of reconstruction. The 7.9 magnitude tremor of May 12 and thousands of aftershocks changed the landscape of northern Sichuan province forever, blocking rivers, weakening mountain walls and creating unstable lakes where there was once dry land. Fears are growing that disease, rain and aftershocks could bring yet more disaster to the southwestern province. This is a "peak period for outbreaks of diseases"; the situation is very grim. A landslide triggered by an aftershock in Wenchuan county, at the epicenter, on Thursday crushed a house, killing two people. In Chengdu, some volunteer relief convoys reported being held up by hungry residents, one at gunpoint. There were reports of two people being beheaded by helicopter blades, one at the Wolong panda reserve. In Hongguang, in northeastern Sichuan, the earthquake caused both sides of a valley to slide, burying three villages and 900 people. The Qingzhu River is trapped behind. "The mountains merged." The Qingzhu landslides have formed five lakes, the biggest of which is almost 30 meters (100 feet) deep. ( dramatic photo & link to slideshow, videos )

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical storms.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CALIFORNIA - Two tornadoes barreled across Interstate 215 south of March Air Reserve Base on Thursday afternoon, knocking over a tractor trailer and several box cars in a FREAK STORM that also dumped snow in the mountains, triggered lightning, hail storms and mudslides, and flooded Inland roadways and homes. Cold, unstable ocean air collided with warm Southern California air, creating a volatile and UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERN that could continue to produce thunderstorms and chilly weather through Saturday. "It's not just unusual, it's EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. You would expect this in January, February or March, but not in May." The wild weather system unleashed its fury throughout Southern California. It sparked 14 power pole and palm tree fires and triggered 20 weather-related traffic accidents in Riverside County. Mud flows swept down fire-scarred canyons in Orange County and thunderstorms broke out from Los Angeles to San Diego counties. Evacuation orders were issued to about 1,500 people. A column of dust and debris - more than 300 feet wide - swirled around the funnel cloud in a counter-clockwise motion, creating a funnel within a funnel. "I'm thinking, 'Tornadoes in California? No way." Motorists elsewhere in Riverside County encountered violent rain and hail the size of marbles. Some roads were flooded waist-deep. Snow fell overnight Wednesday in the mountains, coating some peaks but melting quickly at lower elevations. "It's bizarre. It's very late in the spring for this to be happening. I don't ever remember it snowing this late in the season." "This is the last gasp of Canadian air making the big break into Southern California. It's very cold, it's very unstable and when you get it in the late afternoon, you're getting the exact conditions that you get in the Midwest." But what made Thursday's events more unique was "the full menu" of weather - thunder, lightning, mudslides, hail and tornadoes. "This is a 10-courser." (photos)

INDIA - Delhi recorded 36.9 mm of rain till 8.30 am on Wednesday morning, the HIGHEST EVER WITHIN A SINGLE 24-HOUR DURATION in May in the last five years. The last time the city experienced such heavy rainfall in a day in May was on May 26, 2002, when the total rainfall recorded was 46.2 mm. The total rainfall in May 2008 now stands at 68.6 mm, way past the average 17.5 mm that Delhi should ideally record in May. And more rain is expected over the next few days. On Wednesday, New Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 25.2 degrees Celsius, 16 degrees below normal. The last time the Capital recorded such low mercury levels in May was 26 years ago on May 13, 1982, when the maximum temperature in the Capital stood at 24.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature on Wednesday was 20.3 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal. The mean maximum temperature for the month of May this year is 39.6 degrees Celsius.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

AUSTRALIA - Victoria has experienced a 40% decrease in autumn rainfall since 1950 and climate change is a key factor. There were also seasonal rainfall declines in Western Australia's southwest and southern Queensland. A reduction in the number of La Nina events and changes in weather systems from the Indian Ocean were also partly responsible for late rainfall across Victoria. During the past 58 years, a decrease in alternating high and low pressure systems over Victoria has led to rising sea level atmospheric pressure. "This weakening is reinforced by a warming of the Indian Ocean which is, at least in part, due to global warming." Through April and May, large increases in sea surface temperatures in the region were usually associated with a transition from an El Nino to a La Nina event, as part of cycle of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. But in the past few decades there have been more El Nino events than La Ninas, meaning less rainfall for southeast Australia.

Turbulent storms may be sign of global climate change...on Jupiter - The first images of Jupiter since it came out from behind the sun show that the turbulence and storms that have plagued the planet for the past two years continue. Whether or not this is a sign of global warming, the turbulence does seem to be spawning new spots. As Red Spot Jr. and the Great Red Spot approach a June conjunction, a new third spot may merge with the GRS in August. This "major upheaval" on Jupiter involves stunning changes in the planet's atmosphere. The new images may show that Jupiter indeed is undergoing a major climate change, as predicted four years ago. "One of the most notable changes we observe in both the Hubble and Keck images is the change from a rather bland, quiescent band surrounding the Great Red Spot just over a year ago to one that is incredibly turbulent at both sides of the spot." The color of several bands on the planet has been changing since the upheaval began. "Whether or not Jupiter's climate has changed due to a predicted warming, the cloud activity over the last two and a half years shows dramatically that something UNUSUAL has happened." Astronomers have found that one of the solar system's largest and newest storms - Jupiter's Little Red Spot - has some of the highest wind speeds ever detected on any planet.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

A virus that typically causes a mild infection killed at least five babies in the United States last year. The virus was involved in an unusually high number of severe infections in newborns last year, but the CDC said it was not certain of the reason. Coxsackievirus B1, or CVB1, is part of a group of viruses called enteroviruses. It usually does not cause serious infections but can cause more severe and potentially life-threatening illness in newborns. Tens of thousands of children are infected with this virus annually. People should probably not be very concerned about the virus as there is no sign it has mutated into a more dangerous form. The virus killed two babies in California and one in Illinois, Colorado and New Mexico. There may have been more deaths that that the CDC did not know about.

Thursday, May 22, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The world tolerates conceit from those who are successful, but not from anybody else.
John Blake

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/21/08 -
5.3 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.4 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.3 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.1 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
5.2 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION

CHINA - Quake aftermath - a landslide investigation report shows that a landslide in Puling was threatening more than five thousand lives, and it should be treated as soon as possible. The landslide is 390m wide, 250m long and 18m thick on average, covering an area of 70,000 square meters and a volume of 1,300,000 cubic meters. It is an over-sized bedrock slide. At front of it are 2 High Schools, and at the back of it are residential dwellings.

VOLCANOES -
INDONESIA raised the alert level on the tallest volcano on Java island Wednesoday after it spewed heat clouds down its slopes. The alert level of Mount Semeru was lifted to "be prepared," two levels below eruption, when observers reported seeing the massive heat clouds on Wednesday. "It happened six times and the longest was 3000 metres long." The activity was not considered dangerous as only one volcanic earthquake had been registered and the nearest village is 10 kilometres away.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical storms.

OMAN - There are currently no unusual weather occurrences over the Arabian Sea that warrants an alert to be issued, the Met Office said, advising the media to obtain the correct information from the right sources before reporting on weather conditions. "Currently there is no any significant weather event occurring over the Arabian Sea, and therefore, it is too early to issue any track forecast about a weather event that does not exist.” Numerical weather charts for the medium range forecast indicated that there was a chance of a low pressure development over the Arabian Sea during the end of this month, adding: “But it is known in the science of meteorology that the medium range forecast (3-10 days) and long range forecast (more than 10 days) are not accurate and changeable with time.”

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
COLORADO - A large, mile-wide tornado caused heavy damage in two northern Colorado towns today, flipping over tractor-trailers and ripping roofs off buildings.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

Alps hit by two-decade decline in snowfall - A "dramatic step-like drop" in the amount of snow falling in the western European mountain chain occurred in the late 1980s and since then snowfall has never recovered. Previous data have suggested that Alpine snowfall has been affected by rising temperatures, particularly at lower-altitude resorts where snow-making machines are now widely deployed by the ski industry. The average number of snow days over the last 20 winters is LOWER THAN AT ANY TIME SINCE RECORDS BEGAN MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO, and in some years the amount that fell was 60 percent lower than was typical in the early 1980s. The future of winter tourism in this region looks grim. "It doesn't look too good. There is a very, very small chance of a return" to previous snow levels. This last winter was relatively good, for places above 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) above sea level, but for other places it was poor." (map)

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
CHINA - There will be no spring grain and oilseed harvest this year in Sichuan province as the quake damaged 33,333 hectares of farmland, including more than 10,000 hectares of wheat and rapeseed and more than 20,000 hectares of vegetables in 13 worst-hit cities and counties. As the country's leading agricultural province, Sichuan normally provides 6% of the nation's total grain output, including 5% of the national total summer grains, 8% of the total oil crops and 5% of the total vegetable production.

PHILIPPINES - Preliminary reports from the Department of Agriculture Rice Action Center showed that typhoon "Cosme" damaged only 65 hectares of land out of the 254,122 hectares of harvest area for the dry season. "We just finished summer harvests and these [rains] may even be good in preparing the lands for planting for the wet season." The Agriculture Secretary assured the public on Monday of sufficient rice stocks, noting strong summer harvests and negligible impact of tropical storm Cosme (international codename: Halong) on Pangasinan. He likewise assured the public that despite the typhoon, there has been ample supply of vegetables and for this reason, prices of farm goods should not spike unnaturally. Northern Luzon, which was directly hit, supplies 60 percent of Metro Manila's vegetable needs. "There was only a supply disruption in the last few days." Pangasinan is one of the top three provinces expected to deliver the bulk of the projected higher palay harvests between now and 2010. Cosme made landfall in Pangasinan province on Saturday afternoon, and traversed northeastern Luzon on Sunday. It also enhanced the southwest monsoon and brought rains to Luzon and the Western Visayas.
OR
Pangasinan suffers heavy losses from onslaught of typhoon "Cosme" - Cosme was THE WORST TYPHOON DISASTER EVER TO HIT PANGASIANAN IN YEARS. Damage to agriculture was heavy with fruit bearing trees suffering the brunt followed by palay and corn. Fisheries also took a beating. The figures for both fatalities and total damages are still rising as more reports are coming in. Partial estimates on the damages in agriculture include 51 hectares of rice, 93 hectares of corn, 181.7 hectares of vegetables and 247,300 fruit-bearing trees. In fisheries, 55,000 stocks, 15 motorized banca and 1 commercial fishing vessel. Hitting central and western Pangasinan intensely, the typhoon left 19,538 totally-damage houses and 40,902 partially damaged ones. Damage to government infrastructures, roads, bridges and other facilities was placed at more the P60 million.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery.
But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine,
is somehow ennobled and no-one dares criticize it.
Pierre Gallois

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/20/08 -
5.7 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
5.4 CENTRAL PERU
5.2 LAKE BAYKAL REGION, RUSSIA
6.0 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

CHINA - the toll of dead or missing from the devastating earthquake rose to more than 70,000, as rescuers found more survivors eight days after the huge tremor hit. Rescuers have reached all the 1044 quake-hit villages. An estimated 5 million people have been left homeless. China has been hit by more than 150 aftershocks measuring 4.0 or higher on the Richter scale since the initial tremor.
The quake should not have as much of an impact as the huge snow and ice storms that hit much of the country early this year, according to US investment banks Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. Only a small part of quake losses would be covered by Chinese insurers.
Terrified giant pandas have been rescued after China's earthquake devastated their breeding grounds. Pandas clinging to tree branches had to be coaxed down. The quake uprooted forests and sent huge boulders crashing down from nearby mountains at the world-famous Wolong Reserve. The quake reportedly killed five staff members and destroyed 14 panda houses. Despite a major search operation, some of the 1600 wild pandas in the Sichuan district are missing, two of them from Wolong reserve, 32km from the earthquake's epicentre. The others were "very likely to be alive". "Both pandas were adults and they are more capable to escape from dangers than younger ones." The quake destroyed or damaged all 32 panda houses. (photo)
Chinese engineers are working round the clock to try to stop thousands of people from being flooded out by water in a dam that was created by landslides during the earthquake. The swelling lake that has risen to 70m (230ft) would threaten, if it burst, the five million residents of Mianyang county, home to the second-biggest city in southwestern Sichuan province. It is expected that the water will be released to avert a collapse. One plan is to build up earth barriers halfway across the Beichuan river, at several points downstream from the reservoir. These barriers would divert the water, slowing its flow and reducing the danger to communities in its path. Once these were ready, some or all of the water could be released over the next day or two, possibly by blasting away part of the landslide. More than 2,000 people were moved at the weekend from a village in Hongyuang township after the blocked Qingzhu river burst its banks and began flooding their homes. At one dam in Fuxing Township, a team of engineers from northeastern Liaoning Province was using lorries and diggers to shore up a small reservoir that had sprung a leak during the tremor. Officials have already helped the farmers downstream to bring in their crops — just in case. Several dams weakened by the earthquake are under 24-hour observation for signs of collapse and may not be able to withstand strong aftershocks or flooding. “The earthquake this time has caused damage at various levels to reservoirs and dams." More than a thousand dams of different sizes lie in the area hit by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake. Right after the earthquake, the Chinese army was trying to reach people to rescue them, but the roads were blocked. If there weren't so many dams, more soldiers could have gone by boat. But the dams were in the way. (photo)

Scientists record another slow slip quake under Washington - over the past few weeks, in an area from south Puget Sound to northern Vancouver Island, the tremor slowly released energy that would be equivalent to a 6.7 magnitude earthquake if it had occurred all at once. This is the fourth slow slip tremor that has been recorded. These slow slip quakes tend to occur every 14 months as pressure that pushes an inch or two to the east slips partially back to the west.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

PHILIPPINES - ‘Cosme’ ("Halong") toll in Pangasinan now 28 - The death toll from the onslaught of storm “Cosme” almost doubled after more reports of typhoon-related deaths were received from different towns and cities of Pangasinan. Three typhoon-related deaths were earlier reported in nearby La Union, increasing the total typhoon-related fatalities in Northern Luzon to 31. Candles have become a prime commodity in the province as power had yet to be restored in most towns and cities on Tuesday, three days since “Cosme” toppled electric posts and damaged transmission lines. An official of the National Transmission Corp. said it would take at least two weeks before electricity is fully restored in towns and cities hit by the typhoon. Cosme’s strong winds toppled at least 194 electric poles in Pangasinan on Saturday night. In Calasiao town, 14 villages were flooded after the Sinocalan River overflowed on Monday. The number of disaster victims would likely increase because of the flooding.

INDIA - Waterlogged roads, traffic backed up for miles and stalled cars robbed Delhiites of the joy of the unexpected overnight rain Wednesday. The midsummer rain also brought to the fore concerns about whether it was one of the effects of climate change. The India Meteorological Department said the FREAKY WEATHER was due to two mini-cyclones, one over Rajasthan and adjoining areas of Pakistan, and the other over Himachal Pradesh and northern Haryana. Asked about the effect of the current weather on the all-important monsoon wind that largely determines India’s annual farm output, an expert said the mini-cyclones were still too local and too small to have any long-term effect. But he was worried about the effect a newly-developing low-pressure area in the southern Arabian Sea may have on the monsoon wind. That weather system may develop into a cyclone and move northwest towards the Arabian peninsula. In Delhi, the maximum temperature Tuesday fell to 29 degrees Celsius, a full 12 degrees below average. The met office has predicted that the current spell of wet and windy weather will continue till Friday. The prediction includes the possibility of hailstorms, which may be ruinous for the mango crop that has already been affected by the wet weather.

OMAN - A tropical storm could hit Oman and Yemen at the end of this month, an international weather bureau predicted this week. The cyclone itself was not forecast to hit the country, although “there clearly is still some potential for this to happen”. “The system is forecast to develop in the west central Arabian Sea and is expected to make a landfall over the Yemen/Oman coast around May 29.” Its onward movement would echo that of Cyclone Gonu, which devastated the coast of Oman in June last year, battering its coast for three days and killing around 50 people. It halted oil and gas exports, damaged main roads and bridges and caused floods and landslides across the country, costing the economy almost $4 billion.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
MARYLAND - The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport reported 1.49 inches of rain Sunday, BREAKING AN 84-YEAR-OLD RECORD. For the month of May they are at 7.52 inches so far, making this the second-wettest May on record for Baltimore. The record is 8.71 inches.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
PERU - Extreme cold kills over a dozen in Peru's highlands - Temperatures have begun to drop dramatically in Peru's highland regions. Temperatures in the highlands of Puno, Tacna, Arequipa, Moquegua and Apurimac have dropped as low as -15°C (5°F). The climatic phenomenon could be a consequence of a lack of clouds. The average temperature in the region would be -12°C (10°F). It was also reported that 54,859 cases of respiratory infections had been registered, 700 of which were pneumonia.

HAWAII - A cold front moving in from the northwest is expected to revive the Kona wind conditions that carried a blanket of vog over the islands last week. “It will be a mirror reflection of last week. Last week the front drove down over Kauai and brought showers to Kauai and Oahu and then stalled. This one is going to be stalling before it gets to Kauai, but the net effect will be the same. It will push the high-pressure ridge right over the islands, and that will knock down our trades and we likely will see the wind pattern shifting from trades to a southeasterly wind flow. The southeasterly wind flow is the pattern that brings the vog.” The underlying causes of the recurring southeasterly winds and increased haziness are the frontal systems that are continuing to slide across the North Pacific, forcing out of position the high-pressure system that normally sits midocean northeast of Hawaii. “Last week, I was calling the cold front VERY UNUSUAL for the time of year. . . . I was calling it the last cold front of the season. After you say something is very unusual, what can you say about the next one? We can call it FREAKY. It’s UNUSUAL to have cold fronts digging down into the tropics less than a month away from the summer solstice.” There is no simple explanation for the UNUSUAL CONDITIONS. “It has to do with cold fronts, the way the jet stream airflow is patterned in the middle latitudes and pushing the cold fronts toward us.”

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

COSTA RICA - At least 257 cows have been confirmed dead as a months-old drought tightens its grip on Costa Rica's barren Northern Zone.

OREGON - Portland HIT A RECORD Saturday with a high of 95 degrees, 6 degrees warmer than the previous high for the date, set in 1958. The scorch turned mountaintops mushy, boosting the avalanche danger in much of the Northwest, with slides closing at least one highway and injuring a man on Mount Hood. While ice caps loosened in the hot May sun, frigid oceans and rivers fed by melting mountain snow caused problems elsewhere.

ARCTIC - A team of scientists have discovered that the largest ice shelf in the Northern Hemisphere has fractured into three main pieces. During their patrol across the northernmost parts of Canada over the last two weeks, they visited a new 10-mile long network of cracks running from the southern edge of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf to the Arctic Ocean. This accompanies a large central fracture that was first detected in 2002, and raises the concern that the remaining ice shelf will disintegrate within the next few years. The patrol scientists also found that the nearby Petersen Ice Shelf lost over a third of its surface area in the past three years. This ice shelf calved huge icebergs in the summers of 2005 and 2007 following the break-up of sea ice that had protected it from the open ocean. Only five large ice shelves remain in Arctic Canada, covering less than a tenth of the area than they did a century ago. It looks like the Northwest Passage will become a reality very soon.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
UNITED NATIONS - “A rolling tsunami of social unrest is underway as we speak — hungry people are desperate people capable of taking desperate actions. This tsunami is rapidly enveloping the global South, and it won’t take much longer before it knocks at the door of the global North.” Over 800 million people are now at risk of starvation, while 100 million have joined the ranks of the extremely poor in just the last few months and are now living on less than a dollar a day. The food price index of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation rose by 9 percent in 2006 and 23 percent in 2007. As of March this year, wheat and maize prices were 130 and 30 percent higher than a year earlier. Rice prices have more than doubled since late January. The poor, especially in urban areas, but also the rural landless and small farmers who are net food buyers, have been most vulnerable to food price hikes, as a very high proportion of their household income is spent on food. However, “even within rich countries, increasingly large portions of the population are having real problems bringing food to the table and paying for other basic necessities.” The peace and security challenges presented by the hunger crisis and climate change must be understood as global challenges, calling for global solutions that address the concerns of all nations and peoples. “Governments must not fall prey to the temptation to seek unilateral solutions based on defensive or militaristic non-solutions. It would be extremely dangerous to look at the current crisis strictly from a national perspective. A knee-jerk resort to a ‘fortress America’ or a ‘fortress Europe’ type of mentality would only exacerbate the risks of social and political chaos and will not work." “The capacity of the food aid system is being severely tested as the world tries to cope with this crisis, the recent disasters in Myanmar and China and ongoing humanitarian efforts.”

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
"New ideas, fragile as spring flowers, easily bruised by the tread of the multitude,
may yet be cherished by the solitary wanderer."
Fred Hoyle

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/19/08 -
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.8 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.2 KEP. TANIMBAR REGION, INDONESIA
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.3 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.6 E. RUSSIA-N.E. CHINA BORDER REG.
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.2 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG., P.N.G.
5.5 SOUTH OF AFRICA
5.8 SOUTH OF AFRICA

Warning panics China quake zone - Tens of thousands of people in China's quake-hit Sichuan province have rushed from their homes after a government warning of a possible major aftershock. People slept on the streets or drove to open ground and hospitals evacuated patients in towns and cities after the warning was broadcast on TV.
The popular tourist Yinchangguo region, close to the epicentre, was devastated first by the earthquake and then by massive landslides that swept away villages and buried hotels, guest houses and farmers' homes. An unknown number of villagers and tourists lie under the rocks and mud. Persistent rain is compounding the misery for the homeless. And the weather may deteriorate, with rains turning torrential later in the week, potentially triggering more landslides.
Massive landslides resulting from the strong earthquake on May 12 in southwest China, have led to the formation of at least 21 lakes in various cities. Expert teams, comprising at least two water conservancy specialists and 10 People's Liberation Army personnel, have been deployed at each of these newly formed lakes to monitor the situation and evacuate the residents in case of any danger. The landslide blockages have been reported in Beichuan and Anxian counties in the city of Mianyang, Qingchuan county of Guangyuan, Mianzhu and Shifang cities of Deyang, and Pengzhou city near the provincial capital Chengdu. The three lakes had more than 10 million cubic meters of water, and more than 20 million cubic meters of rocks slid into rivers after the quake and formed the lakes. Water has been flowing over some of these blockages in Qingchuan county, but posed no danger. Seven more landslide blockages were found in Beichuan county, about 160 km from the epicenter, Wenchuan.

VOLCANOES -
ITALY - The latest eruptions of Etna started on 10 May 2008 around 16:00 CEST. The first eruption lasted for about 4 hours and was dominated by heavy activity of the south-eastern crater. High amounts of lava have been emitted, a lava fountain could be seen at the crater and several lava flows travelling down into the eastern flank of the volcano into the Valle del Bove depression were visible on one of the webcams installed to monitor the volcano. Cloudy conditions and poor visibility obstructed the monitoring of the eruption activity, but it seems that this is one of the heaviest eruptions of the south-eastern crater since 2001. A second eruption occurred on the evening of 13 May from a fissure that opened NE of the SE crater, about 800m long. Catania airport had to be closed because of ash emission from Etna. Apart from the emission of lava, the eruption at Etna emitted large amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a colourless and toxic trace gas, into the atmosphere. It plays an important role in climate change if it finds its way to high atmospheric regions through volcanic eruptions, where it can lead to temporary cooling. (photos)

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm HALONG was 394 nmi SE of Kagoshima, Japan.

Tropical Storm Halong is expected to skirt past mainland Japan to the east tonight, bringing significant rain following a windy morning caused by a separate cold front. The storm kept Okinawa in a Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 4 as it blew past the island on Monday. The storm was expected to pass Tokyo well out to sea around 8 p.m. A separate cold front was expected to move in earlier in the day, traveling from west to east across Japan, dumping rain and generating winds between 34 to 40 mph. "It’s a pretty significant cold front for this time of year."

PHILIPPINES - The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration on Sunday continued to remind small sea vessels to be cautious as western parts of the country, including the islands of Panay, Negros and Palawan, will continue to experience moderate to strong winds brought about by the southwest monsoon, which would cause rough seas. “They shouldn’t go into the deep because it’s an unpredictable time." While they understood that fisherfolk need to go out to sea to earn a living, they urged them not to venture far from shore. The southwest monsoon is expected to continue until October. Northern and Central Luzon experienced moderate rains and wind on Saturday afternoon as tropical storm Cosme (Halong) hovered over these regions. But by Saturday night through Sunday, Cosme’s wrath was felt in Zambales, Pangasinan, Benguet, La Union and the Ilocos provinces. Seven people reportedly died in Pangasinan, Dagupan City and La Union during Cosme’s onslaught on Saturday night, while two other children swept away by floods in Dagupan City were still missing as of Sunday. Power was cut off in several areas in Central and Northern Luzon on Saturday as trees fell on power lines. Thousands of families were left homeless in Pangasinan and Zambales as strong winds and waves battered coastal communities. As Cosme leaves the country, Cebu may be affected by clouds circulating the storm, which may cause scattered rainshowers and cloudy skies. The Batanes Group of Islands and Northern Cagayan may experience stormy weather, while the rest of Northern Luzon may have rains and gusty winds with moderate to rough seas.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
KASHMIR - People in the Kashmir valley are experiencing unpredictable weather conditions for the past one week. This is not an aberration, a weather office spokesman said when asked about the changing weather. He said due to above normal temperature during the day, the Western Disturbances (WD) gets fully developed in the afternoon causing rainfall in the evening. Several areas in the city experienced light rains, followed by lightning and strong winds. There was no immediate report about the damage caused by the winds. The night was hot after the minimum temperature was recorded at 13.6 degrees Celsius, about three degrees above normal. The maximum was also about three degrees above normal.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

The awful truth is that some amount of climate change is a foregone conclusion. Even if the US, Europe, and Japan turned off every power plant and mothballed every car today, atmospheric CO2 would still climb from the current 380 parts per million to a perilous 450 ppm by 2070, thanks to contributions from China and India. (Do nothing and we'll get there by 2040.) In short, we're already at least lightly browned toast. It's time to think about adapting to a warmer planet. Our ability to cope with global warming is far greater than our chances of stopping it entirely. Technology lets us build carbon-neutral houses 7,000 feet up in the Colorado Rockies. Monsanto and friends are engineering crops to withstand drought. For the hapless birds and bees, wildlife scientists are plotting what they call assisted migrations. Geo-engineering - invasive surgery on a planetary scale - is getting attention from serious scientists. Proposals include everything from costly, low-risk efforts (lofting a giant mirror into orbit) to cheap desperation moves (adulterating the stratosphere with reflective dust).

Climate plan could change sky color - Climate change is happening so quickly that mankind may need to pump sulphur into the atmosphere to survive. A scientist has proposed this radical solution to climate change which may change the colour of the sky. He says it may be necessary, as the "last barrier to climate collapse...We need to be ready to start doing it in perhaps five years time if we fail to achieve what we're trying to achieve." The gas sulphur would be inserted into the earth's stratosphere to keep out the sun's rays and slow global warming, a process called global dimming. The sulphur could be dispersed above the earth's surface by adding it to jet fuel. He conceded there were risks to global dimming via sulphur. "The consequences of doing that are unknown." Australia's best-known expert on global warming, he has updated his climate forecast for the world - and it's much worse than he thought just three years ago. He has called for a radical suite of emergency measures to be put in place. New science shows the world is much more susceptible to greenhouse gas emissions that had been thought eight years ago. Regardless of what happens to emissions in the future, there is already far too much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Cutting emissions is not enough. Mankind now has to take greenhouse gases out of the air. "The current burden of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is in fact more than sufficient to cause catastrophic climate change. Everything's going in the wrong direction at the moment, timelines are getting shorter, the amount of pollution in the atmosphere is growing. It's extremely urgent."

Consumers are calling on brands to take responsibility for reducing the impact of climate change as governments fail to make progress on the critical issue, according to a major global study. In two-thirds of the markets researched (UK, US, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and France) people felt more strongly that companies and their brands should be finding solutions compared to the government. The research paints a picture of a world that has given up on its elected leaders' abilities to combat the problem, with only 11% of all respondents agreeing strongly that their governments are doing enough to arrest climate change. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of who is credibly making changes and who is not, despite green stereotypes associated with different sectors. Brazil, China and India are among those who claim to be most alarmed by climate change, while respondents in the US, UK and Germany demonstrate far lower levels of concern. Respondents in the US simultaneously have the greatest understanding of the climate change issue and the lowest level of concern. "In the developed markets, where we see a strong resistance to giving up an established standard of living, brands that can lead the market by finding solutions to this perceived trade-off can enjoy sustained premium pricing, increased loyalty and market share."

IDAHO - Forecasters registered 94 degree heat in Boise on Saturday, BREAKING THE RECORD of 92 set in 2006.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
JAPAN - climate change is threatening a major japanese industry - Nori seaweed. Nori is traditionally known for wrapping around sushi. To harvest seaweed, fishermen traditionally used to go out to sea together between late September and early October to stretch nets attached with spores of seaweed on the surface of the water. These spores would mature within 40 days and the fishermen would then harvest the nori until spring. With seawater staying warm longer, the fishermen are now having to wait until the seawater reaches the ideal 23 degrees prior to spreading their nets. This means that October is now when this can occur. Other parts of Japan are also suffering a similar phenomenon. In northwest Kyushu, the harvest season has shortened which is of course reducing the yield. Climate change seems to be also changing the ecology of some of the marine creatures. Various types of mullet and opaleye use to move out to open waters during winter. The species are now staying in the warmer waters and in turn feeding on the nori. Migratory ducks flying into Japan for winter are also arriving at the same time as the Fishermen would be laying their nori nets. These ducks are causing millions of pounds in damage. Combining weather, climate change, peak oil and dwindling stocks and human changes to the environment will Nori supplies continue to be available from Japan? With these factors, the supply of Japanese Nori is dwindling and hence sources of nori will need to be supplied from elsewhere.

NEW ZEALAND's lamb flock may drop to a 50-YEAR LOW next season after drought cut breeding stock.

AUSTRALIAN agricultural output will double over the next 40 years, with climate change predicted to increase, rather than hinder, the level of production. A recent spate of reports forecasting the decline of Australian agriculture because of climate change have greatly exaggerated, and even completely misreported the threat of global warming, according to senior rural industry figures. Agricultural output is projected to improve strongly through to 2050, with a growing global population and increased economic wealth boosting demand for Australian produce. Some areas such as southeast Queensland will receive more rain, and as a result will greatly benefit. "The reporting claimed that agriculture would be absolutely devastated, when that is not what the research showed at all." "Farmers want to move forward armed with the right information. The experts can't agree. Many farmers aren't convinced. We have to have the right information and the right tools. We need to make sure the information is correct."
OR
AUSTRALIA - There is no end in sight to the drought afflicting the Murray-Darling Basin, the nation's major food bowl, and the big dry could become a permanent feature of eastern Australia, experts warn. The latest Murray System Drought Update contains nothing but bad news for farmers and communities struggling to cope. Even grimmer news is that it could become worse next year. Meteorologists have warned that another dreaded El Nino weather pattern - which brings dry weather to eastern Australia - could be on the way. "The prognosis for the future's not good." The basin covers much of eastern Australia, stretching from southern Queensland through NSW and Victoria and into South Australia. For the FIRST TIME IN RECORDED HISTORY, the water level of some inland lakes has plunged below sea levels. South Australia's lower lakes are deteriorating particularly quickly. The drought is so bad in some parts of the basin that it has surpassed the worst climate change predictions for 2055. "It's come across us a lot more quickly than we anticipated." There could be zero or very low water allocations for irrigators this year. There had been an average 30mm in rain across the basin so far this autumn and it would probably be one of the driest on record. Predictions are for average rainfall for the rest of this year, but that is not enough to turn around the situation.

UZBEKISTAN - Concern grows about irrigation problems which could adversely effect Uzbekistan’s cotton crop. Cotton now accounts for one-fifth of Uzbekistan’s hard currency revenues. Uzbekistan’s water reservoirs for crop irrigation were nearly depleted during last summer’s UNUSUALLY HOT growing season, and have not been replenished this spring. Local hydrologists have said that the Syrdarja River is running at one-tenth its usual flow while the Naryn River is also too shallow to provide the type of irrigation required by farmers. Irrigation concerns have also been reported due to the UNUSUALLY COLD winter in the Central Asian countries. Late frosts, coupled with cold weather, threatened the region with floods when spring arrived later than usual. Uzbekistan avoided flooding, in part, because of water supply management that gradually released water from reservoirs beginning in mid-February. Reducing water in reservoirs, in part, prevented fast flowing waters from harming planted crops. However, the weather continued to cause problems for Uzbekistan’s farmers. Though there was less snow than usual this past winter, strong frosts enabled snow on the plains, and specifically in Tashkent, to linger. Then, in March, summer-like heat caused snows to evaporate, rather than replenish reservoirs. Farmers became increasingly worried as this early heat adversely affected young crops, while reservoirs lacked the necessary water to counter some of the problems brought on by the heat. Seasonal mid-April thunderstorms failed to materialize this year. Optimistic elders claim that snow and glaciers high up in the mountains will thaw in June and July, and that is when water is to be expected. However, the Tien Shan mountain tops already appear to be free of ice caps. The Tujabuguz Reservoir (it irrigates all cotton plantations and rice fields in the Tashkent region) is UNUSUALLY SHALLOW. All Uzbekistan still remembers the catastrophic drought of the summer of 2000 when water levels fell 60 to 80 percent below average in all rivers and reservoirs. Cotton, rice, and vegetable crops perished and this catastrophe helped bankrupt thousands of farms. The prospect of starvation and epidemics caused a wave of migration from affected areas to other Uzbek regions and nearby countries. The partial thawing of the Pamirs and Tien Shan glaciers, along with global warming, provided temporary relief from an inevitable water shortage. The situation is predicted to become more serious by 2020 when the glaciers feeding the Amudarja and Syrdarja will have lost their critical mass.

ETHIOPIA - Six million children in Ethiopia are at risk of acute malnutrition following the failure of rains. More than 60,000 children in two Ethiopian regions require immediate specialist feeding just to survive, Unicef says. The situation is expected to worsen in the next few months as crops fail. "This is absolutely alarming, we need a massive effort. We have drought - a really poor rainy season - and, of course, we have high food prices worldwide." Money just is not arriving, with donors concentrating on the disasters in Burma and China. The UN estimates it currently has a shortfall of 180,000 tonnes of food - and presently has no promises to meet this target.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Monday, May 19, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session
as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
Will Rogers

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/18/08 -
5.6 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
5.0 OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILE

CHINA's national meteorological centre today predicted torrential rains later this week in the quake disaster zone, warning they could trigger landslides that would hinder the relief operation.
CHINA has revised upwards the magnitude of last Monday's devastating earthquake to 8.0 on the Richter scale.
The military was still struggling to reach areas cut off by the earthquake, with more than 10,000 discovered stranded in Yinxiui valley near the epicenter Sunday. There was no information on casualties there, and 600 soldiers were hiking into the area. In an indication of the massive challenge China faces in housing the millions made homeless by the earthquake, the Foreign Ministry made an international appeal for tents. In the disaster area, more than 200 relief workers were reported buried in a mudslide in Sichuan province, where the quake was centered. There were no more details in the report.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm HALONG was 396 nmi SSW of Kadena AB, Okinawa.

'Fewer hurricanes' as world warms - Hurricanes and tropical storms will become less frequent by the end of the century as a result of climate change, US researchers have suggested. But the scientists added their data also showed that there would be a "modest increase" in the intensity of these extreme weather events. The findings are at odds with some other studies, which forecast a greater number of hurricanes in a warmer world. The team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory said its findings did not support the notion that human-induced climate change was causing an increase in the number of hurricanes and tropical storms. "Rather, we actually simulate a reduction in hurricane frequency in the Atlantic...The model is simulating increased intensity of the hurricanes that do occur, and also increased rainfall rates." A previous study by NOAA scientists showed a 4% increase in storm intensity for every 1C (1.8F) increase in sea surface temperature. This study suggested only a 1-2% increase. A sea surface temperature above 26.5C (79.7F) is one of the key factors in the formation and feeding of a hurricane. "The main point that we want to emphasise is that there is no evidence in this study that we are seeing large greenhouse-gas-driven increases in Atlantic hurricane or tropical storm frequencies."

Rogue whirl seen rearing it's head in Arabian Sea - A rogue circulation is forecast to spin up in the west-central Arabian Sea about the same time as the westerly winds are predicted to accelerate in the run-up to monsoon. The circulation is shown to move in a west-northwest direction, away from the Indian coast, during the two days from May 27 for which forecasts are available. This is more or less the track pursued by super cyclone Gonu last year, disrupting monsoon flows in the onset phase. But the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction begs to differ, and goes on to posit a cyclonic whirl in the Lakshadweep region around May 24. This would act as the final checkpost for incoming monsoon flows as they brace to hit the Kerala coast. NCEP sees the westerlies blowing into Sri Lankan coast two days from now, leading up to the onset of the seasonal rains in due course. The onset over Kerala should normally follow within a week’s time. The Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Centre of US Navy is more or less in agreement with this outlook, and predicts a wave of rains reaching the Sri Lanka and Kerala coasts within the next few days. Meanwhile, Philippines saw Tropical Storm Halong take birth in the South China Sea and cross the archipelago only to race up to typhoon strength in the West Pacific. It has since weakened, and according to ECMWF, would be the last in the series to be yanked off to the north-northeast by a passing westerly system. In fact, the West Pacific is forecast to throw up another ‘low’ around May 27 and this would head west-northwest in the opposite direction, which is a helpful for the Indian monsoon. The system is seen crossing Philippines and getting strengthened in the South China Sea by May 28.

PHILIPPINES - Tropical Storm "COSME" (Halong) has maintained its strength and slightly accelerated. At 4:00 PM Sunday, Cosme was estimated at 180 kms East of Aparri, Caagayan. It has a maximum sustained winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph. Its movement was northeast at 22 kph and by Tuesday afternoon, it will be at 1,360 kms northeast of Basco Batanes or at 690 kms east of Okinawa, Japan or outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility. It will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring occasional rains over southern Luzon and western Visayas. The surge of strong winds associated with Tropical Storm Cosme is expected to affect the western seaboards of central and southern Luzon and the western seaboard of Visayas. The wind force is from 40-68 kph with wave heights from 2.5 to 5.5 meters and the sea condition is rough to very rough.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
SERBIA - The streets of Belgrade looked more like rivers after a massive hailstorm hit the Serbian capital on Sunday. (video)

THAILAND - An overflowing tributary of the Lam Takong canal has caused widespread flooding in Muang district, leaving tambon Muen Wai severely inundated. Many communities in the tambon were badly flooded after Boriboon, a tributary of the Lam Takong canal, burst its banks and overflowed into at least four villages. Floodwaters were one-metre deep in most areas of the villages, making roads impassable. Lam Takong canal drains into the Lam Takong reservoir. Officials are keeping a close eye on the UNUSUALLY high water level in the reservoir. The Meteorology Department has forecast more heavy showers in many areas of the country in the next few days. At least 300 downstream villages face a serious flood threat from the Srinakarin and Vajiralongkorn dams. If the dams are damaged in an earthquake, weathermen say the villages could be flooded in less than two hours. The province has reported stronger seismic activity in the area this year, drawing concern from those looking after the reservoirs. Local environment groups have criticised government officials for their inaction and refusal to install an early warning system and for not improving the drills for disaster preparedness.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

SOMALIA - Villagers in Somalia say spiking food costs, coupled with a drought that is killing vital livestock, are producing a famine that has killed hundreds so far. Cattle are lying dead in the sand and prices for commodities are out of control. The combination of civil war, a refugee crisis and foreign aid jeopardized by the fighting means the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa is becoming desperate. The only thing standing between many Somalis and starvation is "a thin gruel made from mashed thorn-tree branches." At least 2.6 million Somalis - more than one-third of the country's population - need assistance. That represents a 40% increase since January. 600,000 more people in urban areas "either do not have enough food to sustain their households, or have been forced to sell assets to buy food, leaving them vulnerable to further deterioration."

RUSSIA - Wildfires continue spreading in the Republic of Tuva, a constituent region of Russia located in southern Siberia. Since Friday morning, the blaze engulfed another 2,300 hectares of woodland areas in the region, thus bringing to total of hectares affected to 10,858. Friday afternoon, 25 hotbeds were blazing in the western and central parts of the region. Hot and arid weather that has been staying in Tuva for more than a week aggravates the situation with wildfires. In an UNUSUAL spate of warmth, the air temperatures climb to 26 degrees Celsius in some parts of the region.

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Sunday, May 18, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/17/08 -
5.9 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.2 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
5.2 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
5/16/08 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.4 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
5.3 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.

CHINA - More than 4.8 million people have been left homeless in China's southwestern Sichuan province by this week's earthquake. A total of 4,807,200 people have been forced into "temporary shelter" in the province. More than 50,000 people are estimated to have died in Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake, China's DEADLIEST NATURAL DISASTER IN A GENERATION.
At least three people were killed today in a strong early-morning aftershock in quake-hit southwestern China. More than 50 people were also injured in the 6.0-magnitude aftershock in the township of Jiangyou in Sichuan province. "They went back to their damaged homes to pick up their things when the aftershock hit unexpectedly." It was the first report of deaths from Sunday's aftershock, one of the strongest to rattle the region since last Monday's tremor.
Landslide-clogged rivers and lakes threatened to flood towns shattered by China's massive earthquake, sending thousands of survivors fleeing Saturday. The greatest danger came from a lake in the far north of Sichuan province that had already begun to overflow because of a blockage in the Qingzhu River. Heavy rains pounded large swaths of Sichuan on Saturday night, adding to the threat. Landslides continue to pose one of the greatest threats across the rugged mountainous terrain. Daily aftershocks and tremors – at least 168 significant ones since Monday – set off new slides, further damaging fragile settlements and blocking crucial roads.
The devastating earthquake in southwest China was so powerful that its seismic waves travelled around the globe - twice. Usually only surface waves from a quake of about magnitude 8.0 or stronger go around the globe more than once. The Matsushiro Seismological Observatory, north of Tokyo, detected surface quake waves at 3.41pm Japanese time (1641 AEST) on Monday, some 13 minutes after the 7.9-magnitude quake struck in China's Sichuan province. Seismological equipment in an underground tunnel showed the same kind of low-frequency waves 90 minutes later at 6.10pm and again at 8.40pm. This shows the waves from the quake went round the globe twice, travelling eastward from the epicentre to Japan, crossing the Pacific to the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean to Africa before coming back to Asia. Westbound waves were also observed. "The circling of waves was observed as the quake was so intense." Surface waves, which cannot be felt by humans, travel more slowly and last longer than waves that go through the interior of the Earth.
The fault line that caused this week's devastating earthquake in China probably buckled in two stages, and the hardness of the terrain contributed to the wide reach of the damage, Japanese scientists said Thursday. The 7.9-magnitude quake on Monday struck in Sichuan province but rattled buildings as far away as Beijing, Shanghai and Thailand, affecting 10 million people. Data show the 155-mile Longmenshan Fault tore in two sections, the first one ripping about seven yards, followed by a second one that sheared four yards. Despite the two-stage quake, which is estimated to have lasted for about two minutes, it was the shallowness of the epicenter — only 6 miles — that contributed most to the temblor's destructive power. The other distinguishing factor to the quake was the firmness of the terrain in central China, which allowed seismic waves to travel large distances without losing their power. The hardness of the land in China contrasts with Japan, where patches of soft terrain can often blunt the reach of earthquakes.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm HALONG was 191 nmi NE of Baguio City, Philippines.

PHILIPPINES - Four people were killed as tropical storm Halong battered the northern Philippines today, with powerful winds triggering floods and landslides. Huge waves known as storm surges destroyed more than 20 houses and a dozen fishing boats and forced 845 people from their homes in the towns of Iba and Botolan. The northwestern coast of Luzon and the northern mountain resort of Baguio were without electricity, while the coastguard barred small ferries from taking to sea. More than 5,000 other people were displaced by flooding and landslides in the central island of Panay when the storm brushed past the region last week. The storm struck the country's northwest coast yesterday at wind speeds of 95 kilometres an hour before weakening slightly as it moved northeast across the Cordillera mountain range. Its eye hovered above the town of Gonzaga on Luzon's northeast coast at 0600 GMT (1600 AEST) and was forecast to cross over the northern tip of the Sierra Madre Range overnight on its way to the Philippine Sea. Floods cut off key roads in Panay and on the neighbouring island of Mindoro and northern Luzon while landslides shut down roads to Baguio and nearby areas in the Cordillera. The storm uprooted trees and even a school building in Iba. Luzon's west coast and the islands on the western half of the central Philippines could be hit by big waves.

BURMA - the toll of dead and missing from Cyclone Nargis soared above 133,000 people, making it ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING CYCLONES EVER TO HIT ASIA.
Burma is "tottering on a precipice" - Cyclone Nargis, which hit two weeks ago, has left nearly 78,000 people dead and another 56,000 are still missing. After a week and a half, in the capital Rangoon, which was virtually unscathed by the hurricane, there are tens of thousands of people who have yet to receive even the most basic aid. "It (the cyclone) is going to knock the rice belt of Burma around for years." The ruling Burmese military junta, insisting it can manage the catastrophe alone, is ignoring international pleas to open up their doors to avert a second wave of death among desperate victims without food, water, shelter and medical care. The United Nations World Food program believes up to 30% or 40% of people have not yet been reached with either rice or water. Eyewitnesses say there are villages of 20 people with not even a cupful of rice between them. "This is going to have a bigger impact (on Burma) than the tsunami did on Indonesia and Thailand."

MALAYSIA - A freak storm that left a trail of destruction in northern Sarawak on Tuesday was caused by the “tail” of Typhoon Rammasun that raged near the Philippines. The effects of the typhoon’s “tail” was expected to linger in the northern Borneo region, especially Miri and Limbang, until Saturday. “The typhoon carries strong winds of more than 50kph and creates high waves of at least 4.5m in the South China Sea." The storm that hit the coast from Miri to Brunei between 8pm and 9pm on Tuesday uprooted giant trees, blew off roofs and bent metal signboards. Homes were literally torn apart by winds that were reportedly THE MOST FEROCIOUS WINDS IN MIRI IN 20 YEARS. “The winds came very suddenly. They lasted for one hour. The sound was frightening. They came through the open windows and blasted apart the walls and windows."

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
MISSOURI - All those booming waves of rain have made this THE WETTEST START OF ANY YEAR ON RECORD in St. Louis.

VIETNAM - Abnormal weather patterns, including heavy downpours, storms and floods, are expected to occur in Viet Nam for the rest of the year, according to a weather official. More tropical low-pressure systems and storms will take place this year than in the past few years because of the La Nina phenomenon, in which important temperature fluctuations occur in surface waters of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Viet Nam is expected to be hit by seven to eight major storms this year as compared with five to six in the past several years. Similar forecasts have been announced for other Asian regions. Hong Kong, for example, will face about 10 storms this year, of which six to eight are expected to also strike the Vietnamese coast. It was difficult to assess the scale of the storms, and Viet Nam has never been hit by a major natural disaster, such as the devastating Nargis cyclone that occurred last week in Myanmar. Such a storm could occur in Viet Nam, given the complicated weather picture for this year, said local forecasters. The Government has told local authorities to remain highly vigilant and prepare for major storms. Torrential rains could also trigger major floods in rivers in the north, central and southern provinces. The flood levels in northern provinces are expected to be higher than last year.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
CANADA - Avalanche experts are warning people to stay out of the mountains in British Columbia this weekend unless they are experts at reading snow conditions. "The message is for people who want to get out and experience the back country is that they need to be extremely experienced." Although avalanche season is generally over by the second week of April, unseasonal cold weather has prevented the danger from dissipating. The usual cycle of warming and cooling that welds snow layers together hasn't happened, and this weekend's expected warm weather could make the situation even worse. "The sudden hot weather we are expecting will melt the surface layers and will trigger some larger avalanches." There have been 16 avalanche deaths in Canada this season, up slightly from the average of 14. Eleven of this year's fatalities were in B.C.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

OREGON - Central Oregon's spring of yo-yo temperatures continued with a second day of RECORD HEAT Saturday. But true to form, it'll drop at least 30 degrees, if not more by late in the coming week. Redmond sizzled to 97 degrees around 2:30 Saturday afternoon, smashing the old May 17 record of 93, set just two years ago. Bend Airport also got to 90 and a weather spotter in Madras reported a 100-degree reading - in the shade. Pendleton also set a record at 97, while The Dalles and Yakima reached 98, also setting records. In the Willamette Valley, Portland Airport's 95-degree high SMASHED THE OLD RECORD for the day of 89, set 50 years ago. Several other spots had record highs in the 90s as a strong upper ridge, clear skies and lack of a cooling onshore flow caused the second day of records.

CALIFORNIA - Southern California's three recent RECORD-BREAKING HOT WEATHER SPELLS have all hit on weekends, an UNUSUAL coincidence.

NEVADA - Temperatures for Northern Nevada running about 20 degrees above average. "Sunday's temperature will be the highest with the ridge of high pressure building in from the West Coast. It is UNUSUAL for this time of year."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday directed Hope Food Supply Inc., a Pasadena, Texas, food processing company, to shut down and immediately recall all products manufactured from its Texas facility SINCE 2007. The company, under a different name, had manufactured dried smoked catfish steaks and other smoked seafood products. The company's products have been distributed nationwide. The FDA is advising consumers who bought smoked seafood products to check with the place of purchase to determine if the products came from Hope Foods. If so, consumers should throw the products out.

Friday, May 16, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/15/08 -
5.2 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.8 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.1 TONGA

CHINA - Pandas sensed the quake before it happened. If eyewitness accounts are to be believed, pandas had sensed the massive earthquake that shook central China on May 12, with the animals behaving strangely just minutes before the quake struck. Several British tourists, who survived the disaster, said that captive pandas at the Wolong National Nature Reserve, which is near the epicenter, began acting strangely in the minutes before the devastating earthquake. Several tourists told how the animals stopped eating bamboo and became eerily agitated moments before the quake struck. The