November & December 2006 Disasters

Sunday, December 31, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes -
12/31 -
5.1 EASTER ISLAND REGION
5.5 NEUQUEN, ARGENTINA
12/30 -
5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
6.3 GULF OF ADEN
5.0 GUAM REGION
12/29 -
5.1 SOUTH OF BALI, INDONESIA

TSUNAMI -
YEMEN issued a tsunami alert for areas located on its south-eastern coast after a powerful earthquake struck in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday. The alert was issued as a precautionary move and the possibility of a tsunami was small. An earthquake with magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the Gulf of Aden Saturday, off the coast of southeast Yemen. There were no reports of casualties or damage. Earthquakes are rarely felt in Yemen, however a temblor in 1982 caused serious damage.

INDONESIA - a list of some of the disasters, man-made and natural, to hit Indonesia since the Asian tsunami of 2004.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
None.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
TEXAS - Storms caused by the same weather system that was bringing another blizzard to Colorado pounded much of Texas on Friday as high winds, lightning and flash floods left a trail of damaged property, splintered trees and downed power lines across the eastern half of the state. Hardest hit appeared to be Limestone County, where one man was killed near Groesbeck when a tornado touched down. Between 25 and 50 buildings across Limestone County could be destroyed. "Many houses completely imploded." "This was a very, very powerful upper-level system. It was affecting weather all the way from Houston all the way to Denver." The storms were caused by a cold front interacting with a strong low-pressure system. That, coupled with plenty of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, produced an ideal recipe for severe weather. "It was a huge upper-level low." "Plus, the brunt of the storm is still yet to hit our areas."

GAZA, PALESTINE - The Gaza Strip, home to 1.2 million Palestinians, has faced an UNPRECEDENTED RAINFALL this week that has resulting in flooding in many places. With all major bridges having been obliterated by the Israeli bombing of infrastructure this summer, the floods have literally cut off the nothern half of the Gaza Strip from the South. Completely surrounded by Israeli military forces and electrified fences, the residents of Gaza have no other route by which to bypass the flood. Gaza residents had been using makeshift dirt roads through the canyon and the (normally) shallow river that runs from east to west across the middle of the Strip. But the rains have rendered those tracks impassable. Waters have been steadily rising in central Gaza since the winter rains, heavier than usual, began several days ago.

BRITAIN - A young woman has been killed after storms wreaked havoc across Britain on Friday night. The 18-year-old woman was inside a mobile home in Cheadle, Staffordshire, when a 60ft high tree crashed on to its roof. The gale force conditions have also delayed the investigation into a helicopter crash in Morecambe Bay. Six men died in the accident at a Centrica gas rig on Wednesday evening and another man is missing presumed dead. Rescuers called off the search for the missing man after forecasters predicted high winds over the next few days. Further stormy weather and 75mph winds are predicted to hit on New Year's Eve.

SNOW / COLD -
NEW ZEALAND - Wild, unseasonal weather is marking the final days of 2006 - an apt ending to ONE OF THE COLDEST YEARS ON RECORD. New Year's Eve is likely to be accompanied by rain, thunder and shivering southerlies around most areas. Wellington can expect rain, cold southerlies and a frigid high of 14 degrees. Westerlies and south-westerlies in January would bring a cooler than average summer for most of the country, except for the North Island's east coast, which is sheltered by mountain ranges. Auckland and Northland would be drier than normal, with average, warm temperatures as anti-cyclones came over the north of the country. The coldest spots would be on the South Island's west and south coast, with temperatures "just a shade lower than usual".

RUSSIA - The powerful snowy cyclone formed over Sakhalin two days ago is slowly leaving the island for Kamchatka and the Pacific Ocean. Only one serious incident was reported when the cyclone raged on Sakhalin. The fishing vessel Sofia was thrown on rocks on the island's western coast. All the crewmembers, 12 people, were rescued.

HEAT / DROUGHT -
MINNESOTA - Much of northeastern Minnesota will finish 2006 in the grip of extreme drought, as a combination of a decade-long moisture deficit and an acute dry spell that began last May have sent water levels across the region to near record lows. The drought conditions have dropped Lake Superior’s level to a degree NOT SEEN SINCE THE 1920s. And without an increase in precipitation soon, the lake could break even that 80-year old record. Climatologists in the state are beginning to watch water levels on inland lakes and streams as well, since many are also experiencing LEVELS NOT SEEN IN DECADES. The region’s acute dry spell began in May, at a time when the area typically receives the bulk of its rainfall. Climate watchers dubbed the dry spell a “flash drought,” a term that suggests its sudden and intense onset. The conditions are reminiscent of 1976, the last time the area was hit with extreme and extended drought. “If we continue with little or no snow, we’re going to really have to watch things.” Winters in Minnesota are typically very dry, with less than an inch of precipitation per month on average. And this winter has been particularly dry and warm so far, which hasn’t helped the situation.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
U.S. - This year of weather extremes, from incessant rain in the Northwest to chronic drought in the heartland and wildfires in the West, could go down as the second-warmest on record when it ends. The first 11 months of 2006 already were the second-warmest January-to-November since national record-keeping began in 1895. "The warmth has been incredible." Last January was so warm that North America had the second-lowest amount of snow on the ground for that month. Only January 1981 had less. Several major cities broke records this year: •Seattle had the most rainfall in a single month in November, topping its 73-year-old record with 15.63 inches — about three times the city's average for the month. •New York broke a 59-year-old record when 26.9 inches of snow blanketed the city Feb. 11-12. •Phoenix had a record 143 straight days without measurable rain before a March 11 downpour. The wet weather in Washington and Oregon is UNUSUAL because an El Niño climate pattern now in place normally would make it drier. "This El Niño we've got going right now is ONE OF THE WEIRDEST ONES THAT I'VE SEEN. We should not be having the weather we're having."

OREGON - the year truly belonged to Mother Nature, from the long, hot summer that saw a rash of drownings, to the late fall storms that claimed the lives of families, fishermen and mountain climbers alike. The year was punctuated by flooding and mudslides, and high snowpack levels across the Cascade mountains - trouble for low-lying valley and coastal counties where rivers spilled over their natural borders. As December arrived, so did the winter weather, whipping up ocean waves that killed four crabbers trying to cross the bar at Gold Beach. The same storms trapped a San Francisco family for days in the mountains of Southern Oregon, where they kept their two young daughters alive on berries, crackers and breast milk, and burned their tires for precious warmth. Days later, three adventurous climbers were stranded atop Mount Hood, setting off a rescue operation that made international headlines. Both those stories ended tragically. The dead zone reappeared off the Oregon Coast last summer, spreading over an area larger than Rhode Island, lasting 17 weeks and leaving the ocean bottom littered with dead crabs, sea stars and sea anemones. The commercial salmon season was drastically curtailed in order to protect shrinking returns of wild chinook to the Klamath River in Northern California.

WISCONSIN - Between mild temperatures and next to no snow, it hasn't seemed like a typical Wisconsin winter. There was the first - and only - snowfall on Dec. 1 that dropped about four inches in Monroe and more than a foot in southeastern Wisconsin, but that snow was nearly gone a week later. And with the sun shining brightly, even the area's plants are confused. "Some plants may be fooled into thinking it's spring because of the abnormally warm weather." Some flowering plants have already begun blooming, which could pose problems come spring. "The arctic cold remains far away to the north of our state. Following a short, dramatic cold period to start the month, we have returned to the warm patterns of this past November. The outlook is for a warming trend and likelihood of above normal temperatures for the season," which, in meteorological terms, begins in December and runs through February. "A slight tendency for less precipitation is also predicted." Wisconsin isn't alone in having an abnormally warm winter this year. "The Netherlands is having the same problem." Over 400 species of plants have flowered there during the month of December.

NETHERLANDS - Weather records tumbled all over the world in 2006, and the Netherlands was no exception. But the difference lies in the fact that the Dutch have been keeping records longer than most, since 1706. 'A very unusual year,' the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute summed up on Friday as the year drew to a close. The first 300-YEAR RECORD was surpassed in July, when the average daily temperature hit 22.3 degrees Celsius, by comparison with the 17.4 degrees regarded as normal. The measuring station Westdorpe recorded a scorching - for the Netherlands - maximum of 37.1 degrees on July 19, BREAKING ALL PREVIOUS RECORDS. July was also extremely sunny, with 310 hours of sun recorded nationally, against a long-term average for the month of 201 hours. At the De Bilt national measuring station in the province of Utrecht, it was the SUNNIEST JULY SINCE 1904. A RECORD AMOUNT OF RAIN fell in August - although this time it was only of around 100 years' standing, as accurate measurements do not reach as far back as with temperature. The average of 184 millimetres that fell in the month smashed the previous record of 152 millimetres set in 1969. Farmers were unable to get harvesting machinery into waterlogged fields. September saw ANOTHER 300-year TEMPERATURE RECORD fall by the wayside. The average daily temperature came in at 17.9 degrees, compared with the normal 14.2 degrees. The ensuing autumn was the warmest - or 'softest' as the Dutch like to say - since 1706. The average daily temperature for September, October and November came in at 13.6 degrees, SMASHING THE PREVIOUS RECORD by more than one degree. The last 10 days of November were the WARMEST EVER RECORDED for that period. The year as a whole had been the WARMEST IN 300 YEARS, with an average of 11.2 degrees. The record was particularly noteworthy, as the first three months of the year had been colder than usual. And it pointed to perhaps the most alarming record of all. On November 1, as the worst storm of the year passed, a water level of 4.83 metres above Normal Amsterdam Level, was measured at Delfzijl on the far northern coast. 'A water level as high as this HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN RECORDED."

Friday, December 29, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - Do not equate money with success. There are many successful moneymakers who are miserable failures as human beings.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/28 -
None 5.0 or over.

CHINA has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behaviour of snakes. Experts monitor snakes at local snake farms via video cameras linked to a broadband Internet connection. “Of all the creatures on Earth, snakes are perhaps the most sensitive to earthquakes and could sense an earthquake from 120km away, three to five days before it happens. They respond by behaving strangely. When an earthquake is about to occur, snakes will move out of their nests, even in the cold of winter. If the earthquake is a big one, the snakes will even smash into walls while trying to escape.”

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
None.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
CONGO - Weeks of flooding and landslides have left thousands of people homeless in Democratic Republic of Congo's Eastern Kasai province. Landslides are common in the region but this year's rainy season has been particularly heavy, with downpours almost every day since November. More than 6000 people have been made homeless following the latest wave of flooding and landslides this week.

SOUTH AFRICA - A heavy storm with hailstones “the size of eggs" pounded the town of Indwe in the Chris Hani district municipality in the Transkei this week, causing damage to property estimated at about R2-million. The storm, which lasted for only five minutes, felled telephone poles and street lights, smashed window panes, and damaged vehicles. Two houses in the town had their roofs blown away and about 700 others had all their window panes broken. “The extremely heavy downpour, accompanied by strong winds gusting at about 120km/h hit the area at about 2.05pm on Tuesday with hailstones the size of eggs." Such a storm had never happened in the area before. “This is VERY UNUSUAL – it was a FREAK."

SNOW / COLD -
TURKEY - One person was killed and another injured on in an avalanche in eastern Turkey on Wednesday as heavy snowfalls severely disrupted life across the country. The heavy snowfalls cut off some 2,500 villages across the country and traffic on the main highway between the capital Ankara and Turkey's biggest city Istanbul was moving at a snail's pace.

ISRAEL - Jerusalem and the West Bank saw RARE snowfalls on Wednesday night. The extreme weather caused road accidents and several Bedouin were injured as tents collapsed. The Holy Land has seen its first heavy snowfalls since 2004, causing widespread disruption, blocked roads and several injuries. Eight centimeters (3 to 4 inches) of snow fell in Jerusalem. The sudden heavy rainfall was "excellent" for the country. Israel needed the rain "badly," after parts of the country had gone 38 days without it and underground water reserves had become depleted.

HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT -
An enormous ice shelf snapped off in the Arctic 16 months ago - An ancient ice shelf has cracked off northern Ellesmere Island, creating an enormous, 66-square-kilometre ice island and leaving a trail of icy blocks in its wake. "It really is incredible. It's like a cruise missile has come down and hit the ice shelf." The breakup was so powerful, earthquake monitors 250 kilometres away picked up the tremors as the 3,000 to 4,500 year-old shelf tore away from its fjord on Ellesmere. The scientists say they are only now releasing details after piecing together what occurred using seismic monitors and Canadian and U.S. satellites. They say the ice shelf collapse is THE BIGGEST IN CANADA IN 30 YEARS and is indicative of the transformation underway on Ellesmere, Canada's most northern landmass. It took less than an hour for the ice shelf to calve off in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005. The ice island is about 37 metres thick and measures roughly 15 kilometres by five kilometres. That's the size of a small city, or larger than 11,000 football fields. The island is now stuck in the winter ice, but the researchers believe it is just a matter of time before it is freed and floats away. They say the ice island could become a potential hazard to navigation and oil and gas extraction if it sails south towards the Beaufort Sea."We're seeing incredible changes." In 2002, Ellesmere's Ward Hunt Ice Shelf had cracked in half. The researchers have also seen the sudden collapse of ice dams and the draining of 30-kilometre-long lakes into the sea.

MISSOURI - This year's shipping season on the Missouri River was the WEAKEST IN 55 YEARS as low water levels forced companies to find other avenues for freight. The corps this year ended the shipping season 48 days early, missing the fall harvest. "This has been discouraging. It has been several years since we had an eight-month season." For years, rain and snow have been scarce in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, depleting northern reservoirs along the Missouri and preventing the corps from releasing more water downstream. In Kansas City, the river has hit RECORD LOWS, barely covering the city's drinking water intakes.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
RUSSIA - This year Russia has registered the HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNFAVORABLE AND DANGEROUS NATURAL PHENOMENA IN THE HISTORY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION, a director of Russia's Hydrometeorology Center said Thursday. Between January and November, 371 dangerous natural phenomena - including extreme cold, heat waves, strong winds and driving rains - were registered throughout Russia. "The year also ends unusually with the abnormally warm weather in late November and early December, when plants even began to bloom in some areas." Extreme deviations in weather patterns were observed before, but over the past decade they have become more and more frequent. Following near-record low temperatures during last winter's cold spell, which saw the mercury plummet to -31°C (-23.8°F) January 19 - one degree above the all-time low for Moscow - European Russia experienced RECORD WARM temperatures this month. But they said this year's unusually warm start of winter in Russia should not be associated with global warming. Rather, the reason for this year's UNUSUAL weather was a strong anticyclone over Greenland, which 'orchestrated' the weather over European Russia.

CHINA - Typhoons, floods and droughts have claimed 2,704 lives and inflicted economic losses of 212 billion yuan this year. "The losses China suffered this year were second only to those inflicted in 1998 when an extremely severe flood ravaged the country." This year, seven typhoons and seven strong tropical storms have hit the Chinese mainland, including Typhoon Saomai, the strongest typhoon to hit China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, that claimed at least 460 lives. Both the intensity of the disaster weather and the damages caused were "RARE" in the country's history. This spring saw 18 sandstorms in northern China, a RECORD high since 2000 while in summer, the worst drought in a century ravaged Chongqing Municipality of northwestern China, leaving more than 17 million people with drinking water shortages. Sichuan Province was also stricken by its most severe drought since 1951. Northern China experienced its worst acid rain in 14 years this summer. In August, 80 percent of the rainy days in Beijing were "acid rain days". Since December, most parts of central and eastern China have been cloaked in thick fog which has triggered frequent road accidents and postponed flights.

CANADA - British Columbia suffered — and suffered and suffered — from the weather in 2006. "It was almost as if Nature had this area in its crosshairs." B.C. was very wet, excessively dry, battered by storms, snowed on and frozen, and in Vancouver, approached a record for the most consecutive rainy days. The consequences were dire, from a widespread and lengthy boil-water alert, to hundreds of thousands left without power, damage to hundreds of homes, trees down in Vancouver's Stanley Park, extensive wildfires and the depression that comes from 27 wet days in a row. In parts of the Prairies, hail events set a record, with 221 in total, compared to the 179 record set last year. Early November storms in B.C. brought so much rain, "every river in the Lower Mainland, the South Coast and the southern half of Vancouver Island rose close to or above flood stage." Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland residents suffered three storms in five days in mid-December, with violent winds leaving a record 250,000 without power.

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Thursday, December 28, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - Take care of yourself. Good health is everyone's major source of wealth. Without it, happiness is almost impossible.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/27 -
6.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.0 TONGA
5.6 TAIWAN

TAIWAN - Telecommunications across Asia have been severely disrupted because of damage to undersea cables caused by Tuesday's earthquake near Taiwan. Banks and businesses in Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan reported telephone and internet problems. Two people were killed and at least 42 injured in the 7.1 temblor, which shook buildings across the island. Repairs could take three weeks.

KYRGYZSTAN - At least 6,000 buildings in Kyrgyzstan were damaged by an earthquake in the northern regions of the country. Rescue officials said no injuries have been reported from the quake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale Wednesday. Rescuers said 10 buildings were destroyed by the tremor, 518 were somewhat damaged and the remaining buildings were only slightly damaged.

NEVADA - The biggest fault beneath Lake Tahoe could be due to rupture any time, according to an evaluation being prepared by researchers who probed Tahoe and nearby Fallen Leaf Lake earlier this year. Potentially tsunami-spawning faults lurk beneath the lake. A magnitude 7 or greater earthquake could trigger an underwater landslide that quickly displaces huge amounts of water, potentially sending giant waves surging into parks, campgrounds, homes and marinas along the lake's shore, and possibly overtopping a dam that regulates flow into the Truckee River. In addition, it appears from sediment layers that the last big earthquake on the West Tahoe fault was 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. That's significant, because the fault seems to produce a major quake every 5,000 to 7,000 years, or perhaps a little more often. "There are active faults near the lake, under the lake and to the east in Nevada at the base of the hills. We still don't know very much about all those faults." But they have the potential to spawn waves that could surge up to 30 feet and slosh from shore to shore for hours.

TSUNAMI -
INDONESIA - It has been two years since the tsunami washed over the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and destroyed the homes and livelihoods of its residents. Although the government made a lot of promises, and spent a lot of taxpayer’s money, very little actual relief and rehabilitation work has been done. Instead of ensuring that people are able to return to farming or fishing or trade, the islands’ economy is being parcelled out to vested interests from the mainland. The environmental degradation is reaching crisis proportions. As people struggle to survive in hot, subhuman tin sheds, with no food security, electricity, education, basic health or livelihood, the terrible question comes back: where have all the massive aid and big promises disappeared? For how long will the central government hide the suffering of the tsunami survivors in India from the rest of the world? The government of India repeatedly promised the people that they would be given permanent housing, but apart from the model houses constructed for display, not a single house has been built for the 10,000 tsunami survivors! Two years after the tsunami, in many of the islands, the boats have yet to come, nets are yet to be distributed, jetties remain destroyed, and cold storages do not exist. There is fish in the sea but not for the tribals of the islands. There is no work or meaningful employment. People are still drinking from stagnant water pools and streams. They suffer all kinds of diseases as a result. In the middle of all this confusion, it appears that the minister for tourism is pushing for these pristine islands to be opened up for “high value” tourism. Forty islands that have a fragile ecosystem, particularly after the tsunami, are to be opened up for tourism. It is craftily packaged as eco-tourism. But for the vulnerable islands - this means doom.

VOLCANOES -
MONTSERRAT - Montserrat was put on high alert this past weekend as large plumes of ash were seen leaving the Langs Soufriere volcano climbing at times to an estimated 10 thousand feet into the air. As a result scientists raised the alert level to category four. According to a report, ash venting began at around 10 a.m. and continued throughout Sunday on the western side of the dome. Category four is defined as “large unconfined dome actively growing towards the north or west; or, large dome with: high levels of pyroclastic flow activity in other directions and/or high rates of dome growth; or intense earthquake swarms or tremor; or with tropical storm imminent or already affecting the island.” At around 8 p.m. a swarm of low amplitude long-period earthquakes began and contined until around 12:30 a.m. – becoming most intense between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. – before seismicity again returned to backgound levels.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
None.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
FLORIDA - Tornadoes are RARE during a Florida winter. Even rarer are Florida tornadoes as powerful as those that hit both coasts Monday. Blame it on the El Nino dominating this winter's weather. During an El Nino, when water in the Pacific Ocean warms a few degrees above normal, winds shift high in the atmosphere and winter storms can bring rain, powerful thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes to Florida. The twisters that hit in Pasco, DeLand and Daytona Beach were potent tornadoes seldom seen in Florida. Winds topped 120 mph, the third most powerful category on a six-level scale that measures tornadoes. Most Florida tornadoes are small twisters that hit and run quickly during summer thunderstorms, their winds rarely topping 75 mph.

SNOW / COLD -
RUSSIA - Russia’s Sakhalin and Kurile islands have been affected by a powerful snow cyclone with strong winds and snowfalls that has caused a transport blockade. The cyclone, almost 2,000 kilometres in diameter, approached the Kamchatka peninsula from Japan. Sakhalin meteorologists have reported that the weather is the worst on the Kuriles chain. The wind force has reached 32 metres per second on the Iturup island and in Kurilsk city. Visibility is everywhere just 500-1,000 metres. All the islands are affected by snowstorms.

WILDFIRES / HEAT / DROUGHT-
Wildfires in California and other parts of the West may be linked to the surface temperature of the Atlantic Ocean, 3,000 or more miles to the east, according to a new tree-ring study. The conclusions indicate the wildfires may be getting worse. The new study links episodic fire outbreaks in the past five centuries with periods of warming sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. "If the trend continues for the next 60 years or so as it has in the past, the degree of fire occurrence in the West could be UNPRECEDENTED compared to anything in recent memory."

AUSTRALIA - Fish species on the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study has found.

SCOTLAND - Ski resorts have been forced to delay opening for the season after low snowfall and unseasonally high temperatures. Just as in Europe, many slopes in Scotland are still green, with mild temperatures set to continue into the new year. A decade ago, December was marked as the traditional start of the snow season for Highland skiers, but now it seems that mid-January, or even February, is set to be the new start date. "The winter season has essentially moved a month - autumn is going on a month longer than it was 10 years ago." "Many places in the Alps traditionally covered in snow at the moment are still green, with plants flowering."

AFGHANISTAN - While the eyes of the world are focused on the international military coalition's continuing struggle with the Taliban, Afghan children are dying because of a little reported drought which has hit huge areas of the country. The U.N. says 1.9 million people are at risk. Farmers lost between 80 and 100 percent of their crops in the worst affected areas and water sources in many villages had dried up. Not only is food scarce, but each day children as young as six are sent to collect water from taps or wells up to three hours away. Village elders say that droughts used to occur every 15 to 20 years, but the last drought finished just two years ago. They also say that winters are not as cold as they used to be and summers are hotter. Some experts attribute these changing weather patterns to climate change.

As much as half of Russia`s natural gas reserves are in danger because of climate change, experts say. Russia, the world`s largest natural gas exporter with some 30 percent of proven global reserves, handles the majority of imports to Europe. Russia`s gas fields lie below a several-hundred-feet deep layer of permanently frozen ground - permafrost. In western Siberia, entire pipeline systems are relying on the solidity of the year-round ice. Over the past 30 years, however, the mean temperature in western Siberia rose by 5.4 degrees, resulting in gradual melting of the ground. As that process is releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases (such as methane), the melting even speeds up climate change. The existing pipeline infrastructure would sink in the marsh, and even worse could happen: "The high-pressure oil and gas pipelines can explode. Roughly half of all Russian fields are affected."'

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Wednesday, December 27, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/26 -
5.2 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA
5.4 TAIWAN REGION
5.4 TAIWAN
7.0 TAIWAN
7.1 TAIWAN REGION
5.6 KURIL ISLANDS
5.0 SOUTHWEST OF AUSTRALIA

TAIWAN - A strong undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has struck off Taiwan, followed by a powerful 6.4 aftershock 10 minutes later. No damage or injuries were immediately reported, but correspondents say the quake could be felt across the island. The quake swayed buildings and knocked objects off the shelves in Taipei. The tremors come on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami, which claimed almost 250,000 lives. And it comes on the third anniversary of the Bam, Iran quake which killed over 26,000.
One person was killed and 24 others wounded in Hengchun in what is known as the LARGEST QUAKE IN A CENTURY. At least a dozen houses in Hengchun collapsed in the first hit. Half a dozen fires broke out in Hengchun and telephone communication was cut, while scores of people were reported trapped in hotel and department store elevators in nearby Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Seismologists in Taipei located the epicenter of the first quake some 21.9 kilometers off Hengchun.
The first aftershock shook Taiwan eight minutes after the earthquake and measured 7.0 on the Richter scale. Four minutes later came the third shock - at 5.2 on the Richter scale - and three hours later came the fourth aftershock, which was measured at a 5.5. The original earthquake and the first aftershock each lasted more than 1 minute.

PHILIPPINES - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Batanes province Tuesday night as the world commemorated the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. The earthquake took place between 8:28 p.m. and 8:34 p.m. Its epicenter was located 104 kilometers south of Basco.

SCOTLAND - Residents in a Scottish town reported their houses shaking violently and windows rattling yesterday after the MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN BRITAIN THIS YEAR was recorded in Dumfries. The 3.5-magnitude tremor struck the town just before 10.45am and lasted for about ten seconds. A seismologist said that while it was a “significant earthquake”, the survey would expect one or two of the same magnitude every year. Britain is struck by about 200 tremors every year, although most are not big enough to be felt by the public. The worst recorded earthquake was in June 1931. It measured 6.1 with an epicentre 60 miles offshore in the North Sea.

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - Second Volcano Erupts in Russia`s Far East in Two Days - a second volcano has erupted on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East, spewing out ash up to an altitude of 6 miles. A village 31 miles away from the Shiveluch volcano was covered with ash, and volcanic tremors were registered in the area. Officials have instructed local residents to avoid leaving their houses as particles of volcanic ash hanging in the air could cause poisoning and serious diseases. Shiveluch, the northernmost active volcano on Kamchatka, is the second to erupt on the Pacific peninsula in two days. The other volcano which has erupted recently is Bezymyanny, which is about 62 miles from Shiveluch. Experts said the outbursts are not linked as the volcanoes belong to different magma chambers and their almost simultaneous eruptions are a coincidence. About 450 minor quakes were registered daily near a third volcano, Karymsky. Experts from the Moscow International Institute for Earthquake Prediction and Computing Geophysics earlier said there was a 30% probability that an earthquake of more than 7.2 will hit Kamchatka in December.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
None.

Cyclone Bondo - Two people were killed when the cyclone hit the northern coast of Madagascar on Tuesday, before losing strength as it moved towards the south of the island. "For the moment, the risks are not too significant, but a new (tropical depression weather) system is forming in the north" of Madagascar.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
MALAYSIA's floods crisis worsened today with more downpours that forced five relief centres to reopen in southern Johor state. Nearly 63,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. The death toll from the worst floods in decades stands at eight. Electricity authorities shut down power to Kota Tinggi, one of the worst-affected districts in Johor, as floodwaters rose from 30cm to 60cm last night. Major roads in the state remain closed. Crocodiles were menacing flood victims and stealing chickens from backyard coops, and pythons and cobras had also been spotted in abandoned houses.

INDONESIA - Torrential rains caused mudslides and floods in Indonesia's Aceh and North Sumatra provinces on Monday, killing at least 87 people as tens of thousands of others fled for higher ground. Rescue crews reaching remote villages fear mass graves of villagers buried under dirt, following a week of torrential rains in the region. Aerial views showed families trapped on the roofs of their homes and many houses were completely submerged in flood-ravaged parts of Sumatra.
A landslide Sunday night hit the remote highland sub-district of Muara Sipongi in North Sumatra province, which was struck by an earthquake a week ago. 27 of those who had escaped the deadly earthquake but returned to their homes were killed, and six remained missing when the landslide buried dozens of houses on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. "We have to stop evacuation efforts because it rained very hard in the area. It is still raining now." Residents had visited their homes after last week's quake despite warnings that it was still dangerous. The landslide was triggered by floods that over the past week have killed at least 70 other people and displaced around 300,000 in Aceh and neighbouring North Sumatra. Four people were killed and hundreds of homes damaged when the earthquake hit Muara Sipongi on December 18. The quake damaged 860 homes.

SNOW / COLD -
TURKEY - UNUSUAL cold, snow and high winds caused havoc across Turkey on Tuesday, with shipping disrupted, flights cancelled and roads being closed. Turkey is being warned of a very cold winter season with the temperature notably dropping to four below zero Celsius.

AUSTRALIA - UNUSUALLY chilly weather in Queensland during the traditionally white-hot Christmas period has been BREAKING RECORDS. Virtually every location under a cloud band hovering over the state's southeast through to the central highlands had either stooped to a new low or was close to eclipsing records. Rainy, overcast weather has provided a welcome reprieve from the dreaded blistering heat revellers are usually forced to endure during festive celebrations. The maximum temperature at Brisbane's airport today plunged to 19.1C, dropping below the previous record low of 20.2C in 1960 and well below the average high 20s. Emerald, in central Queensland, broke a 100-year record, with the mercury reaching a maximum of only 16.7C, compared to 18.3C in 1907. Boxing Day temperatures also set records in parts of Queensland.

NEW ZEALAND - The unpredictable rain and cold snaps New Zealand has felt in December will continue right through to January 2007.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
NEW ZEALAND - There's no doubt the crazy weather patterns had an impact on most New Zealanders in 2006. While the South Island's massive mid-winter snowstorm left a legacy, a seemingly relentless cycle of downpours, landslides and gales battered the rest of the country. This year it rained, and then it rained some more. Summer for some brought wind and rain in January and thunder in February. Then came the autumn, and more storms. Rainfall was at least 150% of normal in the far north and in the east. Winter in the Wairarapa saw roads turned into rivers and paddocks became ponds. In July, over 300 millimetres of rain fell there in 24 hours, closing more than 50 local roads. It kept on falling further north as well, as a winter of rain meant a season for slips. While houses fell off hillsides in the Hutt Valley, millions of tonnes of earth plunged into the valleys of Rangitikai, Manawatu, southern Taranaki. Bridges were out and communities cut off. Auckland and Christchurch had slips too, and so did the East Coast. In Wellington, big winds meant big swells in Cook Strait where some ferry crossings were rough and a couple atrocious. The summer has been a long time coming. For the first half of December, temperatures across the country were two degrees below average - and in Wellington, three degrees lower. And that makes it the COLDEST START TO CHRISTMAS IN THE CAPITAL SINCE RECORDS BEGAN.

CANADA - 2006 was a comfortable, although UNUSUAL weather year for Greater Sudbury. January was the warmest January on record, going back to 1952-53, a full 6 Celsius above the normals, especially when you look at night time lows. “Greater Sudbury got double its normal snow load in February but got only 10 centimetres of snow in March." Summer was hotter with nine days with above 30 C temperatures versus the normal six days. A devastating windstorm hit on Monday, July 17 and there were RECORD-SETTING warm temperatures this December.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - Be happy. It's one way of being wise.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/25 -
5.7 KYRGYZSTAN
12/24 -
5.7 NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.1 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
5.2 NEW GUINEA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.5 NEW IRELAND REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.2 BALI SEA
12/23 -
5.7 SUNDA STRAIT, INDONESIA
5.2 NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
12/22 -
6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA
5.2 FIJI REGION

JAPAN - A major earthquake striking the Tokyo metropolitan area could result in major congestion on roads, with some areas blocked for as long as six hours as people make their way home on foot, calculations by a research institute have shown. On the day the earthquake struck, if people went to the toilet twice and took food and water once, about 6 million meals and 6 million liters of water would be required, along with toilets that would be used 15 million times. However, among the places that could provide services for people, convenience stores would only be able to provide toilets for use about 1.95 million times.

CALIFORNIA - A third small earthquake in four days rattled the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, but there were no reports of injury or damage. The latest earthquake was similar in magnitude (3.5) and location to those that struck Wednesday and Friday. They erupted along the Hayward Fault, which geologists believe is due for a quake in the potentially lethal 6.7 to 7.0 range. But the minor earthquakes should not be interpreted as omens of a more destructive one to come. "It could mean there's something coming, it could mean there's nothing coming. It just means the area is active, more active than it's been." Also Saturday, a small 4.1 earthquake rattled the desert in Southern California.
The series of minor earthquakes last week along the East Bay's Hayward Fault, though UNUSUAL, are not necessarily a precursor to a larger quake in the area. After last week's earthquakes, there is a slight increase in the probability of a larger quake on the way. Earthquake records going back to the 1970s show that there is usually about one magnitude 3 or 4 quake every year in this vicinity. Since 1970, within a 6-mile radius of these earthquakes, there have been 37 magnitude-3 seismic events, "none of which have been foreshocks to the magnitude 7 we've been worried about." Scientists think that a phenomenon called 'creep', a slow, continuous movement of one side of the fault with respect to the other that has been observed on the surface of the Hayward fault, may also be occurring deeper within the earth.
The fourth small earthquake (2.6) in six days rattled the San Francisco Bay area on Monday, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. Experts have said there is a 27 percent chance of a potentially lethal earthquake of a magnitude 6.7 or greater on the Hayward Fault by 2031.

TSUNAMI -
The biggest tsunami ever measured occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska, on July 9, 1958. It was 1,720 feet high — that’s taller than any building in the world, almost 300 feet taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago, and about 350 feet taller than the World Trade Center in New York City was. The trigger was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, but the tsunami itself was created by a landslide that followed the earthquake. “Big chunks of ice were falling off the face of (the glacier) and falling into the water,” said an observer who watched from a fishing boat. “They came off the glacier like a big load of rocks spilling out of a dump truck.” About 10 percent of tsunamis are created by landslides, often triggered by earthquakes but much harder to detect.

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - A village on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East is under ash fallout, as the Bezymyanny volcano, which is 25 miles from the village, is continuing spewing ashes up to an altitude of 15 kilometers (9 miles). The Bezymyanny volcano erupted Sunday. Official have instructed local residents to avoid leaving their homes, because particles of volcanic ash, spread in the air, could cause poisoning and serious diseases. There are more that 150 volcanoes on Kamchatka, 29 of them are active. Volcano activity has recently increased on the Kamchatka peninsula. Experts registered up to 450 minor quakes daily near Karymsky, Kamchatka's most active volcano, in the southeast. This year more than 1,200 people were evacuated from the north of the Kamchatka peninsula after a series of earthquakes. The largest, a 7.8-magnitude quake, was the strongest since 1900 in the Koryak Autonomous Area, and occurred on April 21.

PHILIPPINES - Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon continued to release a high volume of sulfuric gas and white ash clouds on Friday indicating that the volcano had sustained its abnormal behavior with sulphur dioxide emissions remaining at high levels and with voluminous steaming white ash clouds.

Eruptions of supervolcanoes capable of causing planetary climate disruptions and mass extinctions can be worse than previously thought according researchers from Auckland University in New Zealand. One of the largest supervolcano eruptions on record was at Taupo, New Zealand some 250,000 years ago. They found that the eruption was twice as large as previously believed, ejecting massive amounts of sulphur dioxide and ash into the atmosphere. The Taupo eruption actually consisted of two supervolcanoes some 18 miles (30 kilometers) apart which erupted within days or weeks of each other.

Supersize eruption - scientists are finding that climate could have an impact on huge volcanic eruptions. A bone-dry climate, which occurs in periods between ice ages, could make conditions just right for building up enough underground magma to fuel a giant volcanic eruption. Such a catastrophic eruption could blanket the state of Texas with soot two feet deep. 74,000 years ago during a dry period Mount Toba in Indonesia blew its top, making history as the largest eruption in the last 2 million years.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone BONDO was 586 nmi WNW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.

On Monday,Tropical Cyclone Bondo was picking up a bit of speed as its center heads southward towards northern Madagascar's coast. Winds were sustained at around 85 mph. Bondo is forecast to weaken and move a bit faster as it closes in onshore. The center of Bondo could make landfall by Wednesday, near the northwestern town of Mahajanga. The storm will bring heavy rain and gusty winds as it moves ashore, in many cases to areas which have already seen more than 5 inches of rain since Friday. There is another area of low pressure northeast of Madagascar which has the potential to develop into a tropical system in the next 24-48 hours.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
INDONESIA - A big rescue operation is under way in Indonesia to help survivors of flash floods in northern Sumatra. At least 80 people have died following heavy rains in recent days and hundreds more are still missing. In the worst-affected districts of Aceh and North Sumatra, whole villages have been inundated, with residents left stranded on higher ground. More than 100,000 people have been forced from their homes across northern Sumatra. Tens of thousands are now living in government shelters. Rain has now stopped falling over the affected regions.

MALAYSIA - THE WORST FLOODS IN 37 YEARS have displaced nearly 100,000 people amid food shortages, looting and criticism of the government's handling of the crisis. Malaysian weathermen warned the floods, which hit the southern states, could spread to the central and northeastern parts of the country if the UNUSUALLY heavy monsoon rains persisted. The floods, which followed this week's HEAVIEST RAINFALL IN A CENTURY, submerged buildings and cut off roads.

FLORIDA - A string of twisters swept through Florida on Christmas Day, leaving behind a path of damage and destruction. A tornado west of Lake City touched down shortly after eight am, cutting about a 500-yard wide path for about seven miles in a north-northeast direction. So far there's only one report of a minor injury, but 3-5 million in damages. A separate twister with winds as high as 120 miles an hour flipped over 50 planes at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. The winds even tore the wings right off some of the planes. Gusts also tossed campers around and destroyed homes in DeLand, in West Volusia County. Near Tampa, more than two dozen homes are damaged and at least one is a complete loss from yet another tornado touchdown. Several people were hospitalized with minor injuries across the counties. (photos)

SNOW / COLD -
NEW ZEALAND - The thermometer should have hit the 20s around much of Canterbury on Christmas Day but this is still shaping up as THE COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. This month 96mm of rain has fallen in the city of Christchurch, compared with the long-term average of 49mm. But it is the cold that has been most noticeable. Christchurch's mean temperature this month has been 12 degrees, 4 degrees below the average. "That could be a record-breaker." In Australia on the other hand, Melbourne, which reached 36deg on Thursday, had ITS HOTTEST NIGHT IN 45 YEARS, with temperatures staying around 29deg.

NEW YORK - The weather has been so unseasonably warm experts are wondering if this month will be the first December without snow in Central Park since 1891. There was about 0% chance of snow for Christmas. Although four Decembers in the past 10 years have produced less than 1/10th of an inch of snow each in Central Park, the lack of even a single flurry is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
CANADA - Ottawa's winters are becoming more unpredictable and dangerous, with warmer weather and more rain creating increasingly icy conditions in which "all hell can break loose." "Often it's not just rain or snow anymore. One single storm can bring it all - start as rain move to freezing rain, then ice pellets and then follow with snow. This creates difficult situations and dangerous conditions." "We're experiencing more and more ice storms as the years go by - trees falling, flooding, hydro wires falling." Between 2000 and 2006, the city has received an average of 173 millimetres of rain versus 204 centimetres of snow from Nov. 1 to March 31. Overall, that marks a nine-per-cent increase in rainfall and a 19-per-cent decrease in snowfall since the 1970s.

AUSTRALIA - Parts of Australia are in the grip of the worst drought in memory. Rainfall in many eastern and southern regions has been at near record lows. On top of that, the weather has been exceptionally warm. The parched conditions have sparked an emotional debate about global warming. Conservationists insist the "big dry" is almost certainly the result of climate change and warn that Australia is on the brink of environmental disaster. Other experts believe such hysteria is wildly misplaced and that the country shouldn't panic. The drought in Australia has lasted for more than five years. The worry for some is that this could be the start of a protracted period of low rainfall that could go on for decades. "The really scary thing is, last time we had a drought of this intensity that lasted about five years - it continued for about 50 years." "The politicians truly believe this is a five-year or six-year drought that will break sometime in 2007 or 2008. But it might not break until 2050." "We're in a state of emergency. We need to treat this as a war-like scenario. The people are really worried that we are going to run out of water. I can imagine Australia being a desert in a few decades' time in some of these agricultural areas. The soil is blowing away, the rivers are drying up. I think there will be plots of land abandoned and perhaps whole agricultural practices abandoned."

SOLAR WEATHER -
Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one. Solar cycle 24, due to peak in 2010 or 2011 "looks like its going to be ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE CYCLES SINCE RECORD-KEEPING BEGAN ALMOST 400 YEARS AGO." The next Solar Maximum should peak around 2010 with a sunspot number of 160 plus or minus 25. This would make it one of the strongest solar cycles of the past fifty years — which is to say, one of the strongest in recorded history. It's going to be intense. Curiously, four of the five biggest cycles on record have come in the past 50 years.

There will be no updates until Tuesday the 26th,
unless we get another of those big Christmas quakes or something else huge happens.
Have a safe and happy holiday!

INDONESIA ACTIVITY ON FRIDAY 12/22 -
Quakes -
6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck India's Andaman Islands, prompting residents to flee their homes, fearful of a repeat of the deadly 2004 tsunami. The earthquake occurred at 1:20 am (0650 AEDT), some 115 kilometres south-southwest of the local capital Port Blair.

FLOODS - Twelve people were reported missing and up to 30,000 have fled their homes as floods swept the Indonesian province of Aceh after three days of rain. Up to two metres of water inundated at least six villages in Langkat district on the eastern coast of the island of Sumatra. "We're still unable to contact Sekoci village... 15 kilometres from the main road." The floods have cut off the main road connecting the provincial capitals of Aceh and North Sumatra.

ELSEWHERE -
EL SALVADOR - About 90 people were evacuated from the town of Atiquizaya, about 50 miles west of San Salvador, after the town's residents felt about 100 earthquakes. No injuries have been reported, but about 300 homes were damaged and, in some cases, completely destroyed. The earthquakes ranged between a magnitude of 2.3 and 4.3. Atiquizaya is located near the Ilamatepec volcano, which damaged coffee plantations last year when it erupted.

-----------------------

Friday, December 22, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - The whole earth becomes a host to the caring person and pays homage to his presence because it brings peace. All of nature longs, yearns, and waits for such a person. That person is you.

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/21 -
5.0 AEGEAN SEA

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - Now Bezymyannuy Volcano has woken up at Kamchatka - Scientists have detected a rise of seismic activity at Kamchatka's Bezymyannuy volcano and report about 5 local earthquakes. Geophysicists have also detected thermal anomaly, but they claim there's no danger for any settlements. However, ash plumes during eruptions are dangerous for aviation. Scientists are monitoring the volcano online and will report about any possible changes. Bezymyannuy volcano is one of 28 active volcanoes of the Kamchatka peninsula. It usually erupts once or twice a year. Kluchevskaya sopka volcano also shows signs of activity. The neighbouring area showed 180 local earthquakes in 24 hours. Scientists say an eruption is possible. As for Shiveluch volcano, which began its eruption December 5 after one year of silence, it has emitted ash plumes 3 km high.

NEW ZEALAND - One of the largest volcanic eruptions on record just got bigger. The Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand appears to have had twin eruptions only 20 miles apart within days of each other a quarter-million years ago. Each eruption belched out more than 25 cubic miles (100 cubic kilometers) of rock and volcanic ash. This is the first evidence of twin supervolcanic eruptions.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone BONDO was 714 nmi NW of Port Louis, Mauritius.

BONO - Seychelles authorities evacuated 35 people from a remote atoll ahead of the RARE tropical cyclone due to strike there on Thursday. The move left just eight residents of Farquhar sheltering in a concrete bunker waiting for cyclone Bondo, which was expected to whip in with winds touching 190 kph (120 mph). "We expect major damage to the infrastructure there." Cyclones are EXTREMELY RARE in the 115-isle Seychelles archipelago because of its proximity to the equator.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
AUSTRALIA - about 1000 homes and other property were damaged in a FREAK hailstorm that lashed the northern New South Wales city of Armidale. A state of emergency has been declared for the city following the storm that hammered its eastern quarter for about 20 minutes yesterday afternoon. The storm left a trail of destruction in its wake, with homes unroofed, windows smashed, cars damaged, trees stripped of foliage and glass from broken windows strewn about the streets. The sheer weight of the hail collapsed the roof of a large agricultural exhibition centre.

SWEDEN - The recent torrential rain in southwestern Sweden almost caused a large loss of life on Wednesday night after a stretch of one of the country’s major roads collapsed , taking cars and trucks with it. It happened on one of Sweden’s busiest highways Wednesday night at around 7 o’clock, when a newly built stretch, around 400 metres long, collapsed. Dozens of cars and trucks fell in a pile of mud and rocks. A rescue worker at the scene said that it was a miracle that noone was killed. Police say that more than 30 people were injured. The collapse was caused by the recent downpours in the area. The road is next to the Taske River and thousands of Telia sonera telephone subscribers were cut off as fibre optic cables flew into the river. It’s expected to be some time before the road can be open again with the 15,000 vehicles that use the road diverted 50 to 60 kilometres along smaller roads. The landslide also hit a nearby railway line and a 300 metre section of track fell into the Taske river just minutes after a train had passed the spot.

PHILIPPINES - Bacolod and Talisay cities were placed under states of calamity Wednesday after flooding caused 2,167 families to evacuate, destroyed 112 houses, and damaged 3,356 others when heavy rains that poured after midnight were exacerbated by high tide. In Bacolod City, residents in several barangays were rescued from rising waters, flooded streets caused many cars to stall and in Barangay Mandalagan, where water was estimated to be as high as 5 feet at one point, a house floated down a road hitting a vehicle stuck in the water. The heavy rains were brought on by tropical depression Tomas and lasted for about three hours from midnight to past 3 a.m. It was not just a massive drainage problem that caused the flooding. "It was an UNUSUAL weather condition exacerbated by high tide and environmental changes."

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - Heavy rain swamped New Orleans' streets Thursday, backing up traffic as pumping stations struggled to keep up. Pumping stations, closely watched since the catastrophic flooding after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, were working, officials said. But the rain lasted so long, they couldn't keep up. The same storm that dumped snow across the West brought about 6.6 inches of rain to the New Orleans area through midday Thursday. The community of Larose, about 60 miles south of New Orleans, got an estimated 10 to 12 inches of rain. (photo)

FOG -
BRITAIN - Thick fog caused the cancellation of flights at London's Heathrow Airport for a fourth successive day Friday, forcing thousands of frustrated passengers to scrap or delay their Christmas travel plans. Hundreds of flights have been canceled since the fog rolled in Tuesday, affecting an estimated 40,000 people. About 160,000 people transit through Heathrow on a typical day, but nearly 200,000 are expected to travel through the airport Friday. At Heathrow the fog was expected to continue through the weekend, causing more potential delays for passengers making connecting flights. Visibility on Thursday had reached a low of 115 meters (377 feet), well below the 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) generally considered disruptive for flights. Heathrow - built on flat, grassy land and surrounded by reservoirs and canals - is particularly vulnerable to fog. Long, cool nights and calm winds have led forecasters to warn that the fog could linger into the weekend. The awful airline delays are the result of severe weather conditions. Since that is not the airline’s fault, they cannot be held liable for most of the problems that follow. But whether any of their procedures to deal with extraordinary events have exacerbated travellers’ misery is another question. The duration of the heavy fog is certainly UNUSUAL.

WIND -
CANADA - About 25,000 homes and businesses on B.C.'s South Coast lost power in the wake of another windstorm that blew through the area overnight and early Thursday morning. Gusts of up to 90 km/h did the most damage on Vancouver Island. Much of the South Coast, including Greater Vancouver, was spared the worst of the storm. "That low pressure area that was approaching the coast overnight moved northward. It's actually moved well up near the Queen Charlotte Islands now. The strongest winds are up there, and over north Vancouver Island." Meanwhile, there's more to come. While the immediate forecast in southwestern B.C. is for sunshine, a series of storms are lined up in the Pacific.

SNOW -
COLORADO - A storm that began Wednesday and continued into Thursday afternoon dumped more than half a metre of snow on Colorado, bringing much of the state to a halt.

HEAT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
CANADA - Thursday marked the official beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, at precisely 7:22 p.m. ET. But for much of the country, it feels like spring, not winter. No big storm fronts are in sight, so if they don't have snow now, they're not going to get a white Christmas. Places like Quebec City and Thunder Bay, Ontario, "are going to see, for THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, a green Christmas." So will most of British Columbia, most of Central Canada and the Atlantic region. Montreal, which used to have a white Christmas four out of five years (80 per cent of the time), now gets snow two out of three years (65 per cent).

It’s the same story all across Europe - lack of snow. Many countries much more accustomed to snow at Christmas are basking in unseasonal temperatures. Terrified villagers in Chukotka, Russia, have reported worrying invasions of polar bears. The warm temperatures have moved ice drifts too far from the coast, preventing the animals from migrating further north. Even Siberia is milder than usual. Belarus has also started the Christmas season with unusually warm weather. Children are still able to pick daisies there. Lapland has only had rain and light snow this year. Iceland is struggling to live up to its name. The capital, Reykjavik, is forecast to be 10°C (50°F) over Christmas. And the ski slopes of Austria, Germany & Sweden are green. Skiing is off and snowboarders have become grassboarders in Sondrio, northern Italy, and it’s the same story at Chamrousse in France. You wouldn’t normally expect snow in Nice - but it is unusual to see bikini-clad locals on the beach. The sea water is warm at 17°C (62°F). Even across the Atlantic in New York, temperatures are expected to climb to 14°C (57°F) on Saturday — that’s ten degrees above the average. Bookies are so sceptical that a single snowflake will fall on London's weather centre on December 25 that they were offering odds at a whopping 16-1, the LONGEST THEY HAVE EVER OFFERED.

SPAIN - Bears in Spain have stopped hibernating for the winter — and the cause could be climate change. Many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern mountains who usually sleep through the cold season are still active because milder weather means they have enough nuts and berries to survive. "It's an indication of what's to come. Climate change is impacting on the natural world. Hitherto the warming seemed to be happening fastest at the Poles — now we're getting examples of it happening further south."
Animals that hibernate in winter are abandoning hibernation in yet another signal that something momentous is happening to the rhythms of the natural world. Hibernation has evolved for the same reason most animal behaviour has evolved - as a strategy to maximise survival. Some creatures that need a lot of energy to get around have learned to shut themselves down in winter, when the food to provide that energy is simply not available, or too much energy would be expended in searching for it. European brown bears in northern Spain are abandoning a survival strategy that has been successful. What if they give up hibernation because of rising winter temperatures, but then when they are active in winter, are unable to find enough food?

BRITAIN - They could hardly believe it when the first lamb of the season arrived this week. It was not what farmers expect in the middle of December. Usually the lambing season does not kick off until spring and the owner, who owns a farm near Hambledon, is convinced the climate is responsible for playing havoc with her sheep's hormones. 'Last year we had one on New Year's Eve but WE'VE NEVER HAD ONE AS EARLY AS THIS BEFORE. We've called her Tinsel...I think it's all to do with the climate changing. So much happened that we noticed was different last year. All the animals are confused.' She said her geese and turkeys have started laying eggs – whereas usually they start laying at Easter.

Thursday, December 21, 2006 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - "Whenever you decline to act on your convictions, you leave it up to time and fate and other people to act on them for you. And you can't assume that time and fate and other people won't steer your life into a tree. Take the reins."

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
12/20 -
5.6 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION

PAKISTAN - structures in the northern parts of Pakistan are raising seismic potential to a higher level that could trigger quakes of high intensity, close to the range of the October 8 catastrophe, in the future, says a new geological research. The profile of the October 8, 2005 7.5-magnitude quake has surpassed the 'seismic jigging' from others. The first jolt on October 8 was followed by 46 5-magnitude aftershocks and two massive ones of magnitude 6 and 6.4. These most critical shocks occurred within 48 hours of the main jolt and the subsequent aftershocks continued for the next two months till the end of December 2005. “This scenario is more than sufficient to adjudge the Oct 8, 2005 tragedy as a massive seismic episode which with 46 aftershocks, each equivalent to a major earthquake, struck successively in Hazara-Kashmir, resulting in devastation of an immeasurable scale. The high risk-borne seismic factors which will confront this terrain in the future evolve around the tectonic behaviour of the earthquake-prone surficial and deep crustal mega shears." In the current sismotectonic scenario of the earthquake-prone structures of northern Pakistan, the Hazara-Kashmir belt appears to be under stress, while the six surficial and the three deep crustal seismically active mega structures in this terrain raise its seismic potential to a higher level. The Main Mantle Thrust has a very turbulent tectonic history in the Himalayan region, the earthquakes generated in this region are shallow and the events emanated from this depth are hazardous with vast seismic coverage. The Oct 8, 2005 earthquake is the product of this thrust zone. The Triple Seismic Junction, according to the research, located in the vicinity of Balakot in an area of about 500 sq km, is continually being energised by the three active converging faults. After the main shock of October 8, 2005, the epicentres had started moving towards the north-west and a major part of the epicentres' over 1,800 aftershocks were concentrated in the Triple Junction, indicating an enhancement in its storage capacity.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone BONDO was 678 nmi NNW of Port Louis, Mauritius.

As of early Wednesday powerful Tropical Cyclone Bondo was located about 800 miles northeast of Antananarivo, Madagascar. Maximum sustained winds were at 155 mph with gusts to near 200 mph. Bondo will continue on a track just south of west at around 14 mph. This track will bring the cyclone just north of the northern tip of Madagascar, which will experience deteriorating conditions over the next 24 hours. Fluctuations in intensity, due to changes in the eyewall of Bondo, are likely through today. Bondo has already brought over 11 inches of rain to the island of Agalega, and the north coast of Madagascar will similarly experience very strong winds, flooding rain and battering surf.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
MALAYSIA - More than 21,000 people have been evacuated in Malaysia's southern Johor state after continuous rains, causing what officials say are the WORST FLOODS IN YEARS & THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL IN A CENTURY. Officials said Wednesday the situation remained critical. Heavy rain since Sunday caused rivers to overflow into villages and towns and much of the state has been brought to a standstill. “We always prepare ourselves to face the worst scenario during the monsoon season, but this year it is really bad, the worst in my experience.” A total of 126 villages with 4767 families were affected by the northeastern monsoon rains, which had inundated villages, highways and residential areas in eight of Johor's nine districts.
The flood havoc seen in Johor and other states is the result of a new weather phenomenon. And while people in Johor can look forward to improving conditions by tomorrow, those in Pahang, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and the Klang Valley should remain on the lookout, possibly up to Sunday. The heavy rainfall was brought by strong winds from the South China Sea and the western part of the Pacific Ocean, the after-effect of Typhoon Utor which hit the Philippines recently. “This is certainly not your traditional monsoon rains. This is a new phenomenon.” The station at Senai recorded 623mm of rainfall since December 1.

IRELAND - A senior Council Engineer has warned that the flooding problem is escalating in Mayo and could potentially result in the closure of the county’s main arteries. Stating that the level of rainfall in recent weeks was ABNORMAL by any standards, he cautioned that the county is now in a “touch and go situation”. Should the bad weather continue, “there is a chance that high tides could hit Westport and Ballina." The level of rainfall in the first two weeks of December was far greater than the entire month of December 2005 and , if severe weather conditions continue, the county could be virtually marooned.

RUSSIA - Four Russian geologists were killed in a massive rock slide in the Russian Far East and one body trapped under rubble and ice had not yet been recovered. The workers died in a region near the Chinese border when several tonnes of rock slid down. Three bodies were pulled out, but the body of the fourth worker remained under the rubble. "The rescuers can see his legs sticking out from under the rubble. But he is frozen solid with ice," as the local temperature had dipped to -20C.

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - Communities in Gippsland and Victoria's northeast are preparing for horror bushfire conditions tomorrow as a massive fire front rages towards them.

10 days left - SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Thanks so much to everyone who has cast their vote! If you have a moment, please vote for my entry in the Nutrisoda T-shirt design contest, click here and click 'Rate Design' (5 stars). It's quick - you don't supply any personal information or fill out any forms. Thank you!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 -

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - "Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house upon it."

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
12/19 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.2 TONGA
5.0 PAGAN REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

MAINE - Another quake reported on Mount Desert Island - The rumblings that began in September are continuing in Bar Harbor. The latest tremor Monday had a magnitude of 2.3. There were no reports of damage or injury. The quakes began in September and continued for weeks afterward. The biggest was a 4.2 magnitude quake on October 3. It was powerful enough to send boulders tumbling onto the Park Loop Road at Acadia National Park.

VOLCANOES -
RUSSIA - Seismic activity has intensified on the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. About 200 seismic events have been registered in the area since Monday. Earthquakes were registered at a depth of 30 kilometres under the central crater. Thermal anomaly has also been observed on the volcano. According to scientists, there is no reason to say that the volcano will intensify activity in the coming weeks, but it is not ruled out that it will grow. The giant mount erupts once in five or six years. The most recent eruption was observed in winter-spring 2005.
SHIVELUCH VOLCANO - A series of ash spews has been registered from the crater of the Shiveluch volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. One of the spews reached an altitude of 10 kilometres above the summit. Increased seismic activity has been observed on the volcano. The giant mount presents no danger for nearby settlements. Shiveluch became active on December 5 after a relatively calm period since autumn 2005. The volcano's eruptions in 1864 and 1964 were classified by scientists as catastrophic.

INDONESIA - Jakarta authorities raised the Cebeles Isles to red code, top-alert Monday, due to possible eruption of the Soputan Volcano, which has spewed hot volcanic ash. Experts believe Soputan may be about to erupt in the next two weeks after it expelled volcanic dust for nearly two miles down its eastern slope. When it last erupted in December 2004, Soputan spewed streams of lava 24 miles.

PHILIPPINES - restive Bulusan volcano spewed ash onto several villages along its slopes early today, but scientists said a major eruption was unlikely. Breaking two months of silence, Mount Bulusan, one of the country's 22 active volcanos, belched ash for about 20 minutes accompanied by rumbles and lightning flashes. Scientists said they found ash deposits of up to 4 millimeters (0.16 inches) in several villages on Bulusan's foothills. The latest activity may signal another bout of ash explosions in the coming days and weeks, the institute said in a statement, adding it was maintaining the lowest alert level for the volcano. A dangerous combination of rains and mud that could trigger landslides have put authorities on alert.

WASHINGTON - Like a giant smokestack, percolating Mount St. Helens let loose a billowing steam plume easily seen Tuesday in downtown Portland, Ore., about 80 kilometres away. Cold weather combined with the volcano's release of water vapour to make the display particularly impressive. Mount St. Helens has been experiencing a low-key eruption since September 2004.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone BONDO was 570 nmi N of Port Louis, Mauritius.

Tropical Storm Trami looked set to spare the typhoon-battered eastern Philippines and head toward southern Japan or dissipate over the open sea, forecasters said on Tuesday. The storm, with winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) and gusts of up to 80 kph (50 mph), was 880 kilometers (550 miles) east of the northern Philippine island of Luzon but no longer posed a direct threat.

Looks like the 2006 Hurricane Season was slightly less dull than we all thought: Our quiet nine-storm hurricane season was really a quiet 10-storm season, the National Hurricane Center announced yesterday: "As part of its routine post-season review, the Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center occasionally identifies a previously undesignated tropical or subtropical cyclone based on new data or meteorological interpretation. The reanalysis of 2006 has re-classified a short-lived system as a tropical storm. The storm remained offshore of the northeastern United States and Nova Scotia and dissipated as a tropical cyclone before moving across Newfoundland." This new bundle of tropical joy, known as "Unnamed Tropical Storm" and "AL022006," blipped into existence July 17 and bleeped out a day later. Its sustained winds peaked at a shade under 52 mph. The center added an unnamed subtropical storm to the 2005 season count in April, boosting that year's total to 28 storms.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
SINGAPORE - Singapore on Tuesday was hit by the THIRD HIGHEST RAINFALL RECORDED IN 75 YEARS. Although heavy rainfall is expected during this period, Tuesday's rainfall was exceptionally high. The 24-hour rainfall recorded was 366 mm. This amount of rainfall recorded in one day exceeds even the average amount of 284 mm recorded for the whole month of December in previous years. The highest amount of rainfall recorded over 24 hours in Singapore was 512 mm, in 1978. The second highest rainfall recorded was 467 mm, in 1969.

TEXAS - last week three weather ingredients started to merge. As expected, a cold front dipped into North Texas on Monday, bringing cool air near the surface. Topping that is a layer of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. A third ingredient - an upper-level disturbance from Arizona and New Mexico - is topping the other two layers with cold air aloft. This UNUSUAL CONFLUENCE of three systems will trigger widespread showers and thunderstorms through today.

FLORIDA - A downpour on the 14th deluged Palm Beach with 7.63 inches of rain. It was DOUBLE THE PREVIOUS RAINFALL RECORD of 3.75 inches in 1955.

WIND-
MONTANA - Montana's WIND RECORD was blown away last week. A wind gauge on Snowslip Mountain, just east of the Continental Divide along Highway 2, clocked a gust of 164 mph Wednesday, the 13th. That's akin to a hurricane. A category 5 storm carries sustained winds of more than 155 mph. And it blew away the old state record of 143 mph set in 2002.

WASHINGTON, OREGON - Floods, landslides, winds, downed trees - the storm on the 14th was one for the record books. It was fierce and fatal: Evergreens snapped like twigs. Roadways turned into rivers. Four people died and a million and a half others were left in the cold and dark. Forecasters saw it coming, even predicted aspects of it days in advance, yet some byproducts of it were so surreal - flash floods and sinkholes, landslides and gale-force gusts - that no Doppler radar or wind gauge or statistic on a TV screen could ever fully explain it. After a wild, wind-driven tempest blasted in off the Pacific to pummel Puget Sound overnight Thursday, about 1.5 million homes and businesses in the region remained without power. Locals called it ONE OF THE WORST STORMS IN MEMORY, politicians declared it a disaster and meteorologists confirmed it was a blast for the record books. "This (kind of storm) is generally considered one in every 10 years." Winds gusted to a RECORD 69 mph about 1 a.m. at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Winds were clocked at 90 mph near Westport on the coast, while in the mountains, Chinook Pass clocked winds of 113 mph.
More than two inches of rain- 2.17 inches - was recorded at the National Weather Service office in Seattle. That BROKE THE RECORD of about an inch-and-a-quarter (1.24 inches) set on December 14th in 2002.

CANADA - Wind gusts at Race Rocks, off the Island's southwest tip, reached a RECORD 158 kilometres an hour as the third intense wind storm in a week plowed a trail of destruction through southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland on the 15th. Friday morning's storm knocked out power to thousands of residents, toppled trees, and damaged buildings and cars. In the last three storms the wind has gathered over the North Pacific, whooshed across the ocean, gathered speed in the funnel of Juan de Fuca Strait and then whacked Vancouver Island with its full force. "There are tremendous wind speeds and three in one week is UNUSUAL." The wind is coming straight across the cold North Pacific and hitting land, rather than taking the more common route of dipping south and picking up tropical moisture. The storms are cutting a swath straight across Vancouver Island instead of the more usual pattern of tracking to the north coast around Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlottes. "The fact we got three blasts in a row is pretty annoying and UNUSUAL."

SNOW / COLD -
CALIFORNIA - Southern California remains in the grip of a cold spell with near-record breaking low temperatures. RECORDS WERE BROKEN in many areas early yesterday. The city of Lancaster shivered at 16 degrees, two degrees below the record low set in 1965. Nearby Palmdale was an icy 18. The old mark was 22 set in 1992. Along the coast, early morning lows were 28 at Santa Barbara airport, 31 in Camarillo and 36 in Long Beach. The temperature at Los Angeles International Airport fell to 39 degrees, tying the 1924 mark.

HEAT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
RUSSIA - is having its WARMEST DECEMBER IN 136 YEARS, since 1870, raising fears of serious economic consequences. At the end of last week, the mercury hovered just below nine degrees — 14 degrees above average for December. The weather has led to predictions of a dearth of grain, and psychiatrists are worried about people's fragile emotional states. "The current phenomenon we are experiencing is VERY RARE."

CANADA - Quebec City, for the FIRST TIME IN RECORDED WEATHER HISTORY, will not have any snow on the ground for Christmas. Overall winter in general is getting warmer with fewer snow-filled days. Average temperatures are breaking all the time. This week in Kenora the first day of winter is looking as though it might break a warm weather record. The warmest past temperature was recorded Dec. 21, 2003 with an average of 1.7C. This Thursday, the forecast is calling for a high of 3C, which will make it almost double that record, if what’s predicted comes through Kenora. Temperatures have been fairly normal to just above normal until this heat wave prediction, but said it’s a little UNUSUAL to jump almost 20C in a few days during normally chilly weather.

DELAWARE - RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES hit Downstate Monday. The National Weather Service reported record high temperatures of 71 degrees in Georgetown and 70 in Wilmington. The previous records for the date were 64 in Georgetown in 1992 and 66 in Wilmington in 1990. Experts attributed the recent unseasonably warm temperatures to warm, moist air from the Southeast. “That usually isn’t the case this time of year.”

SPAIN - This year is on track to be the WARMEST ON RECORD in Spain, a country which was already hot before global warming set in. So far this year, temperatures have been 1.46 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average as a searing summer gave way to mild autumn and winter. Experts warn global warming will be especially painful for Spain, and some have even forecast its southern beaches could become too hot for tourists later this century. Last year the country logged its driest year since records began and this December started with a few hardy daisies still to be found growing in Madrid parks where many trees have still to lose their leaves.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
SCOTLAND - Buckets of rain, floods, landslides, tornadoes, hail, lightning - it's like the end of the world has arrived. Scotland has not had a dry day now for more than 40 days. It was the WETTEST NOVEMBER ON RECORD - and this month continued with even more rain. We are only halfway through December and already the west of Scotland has had more than its average rainfall for the entire month. But the whole of 2006 has been a bizarre year for weather. July was the hottest month ever recorded and it was the warmest September. Autumn was also the warmest for that season on record. The whole of this year was the warmest on record - amazing when January to April was actually colder than normal. But the skies have been behaving in stranger ways than usual. In January an EXTREMELY RARE and beautiful "blue flash" was photographed near Glenrothes, Fife. A beam of intense blue light appeared for just a few seconds from the setting sun when extremely warm and cold air bent the rays. The coast of Aberdeenshire was rocked by a mystery huge bang on the sixth, shaking windows. There were no aircraft or blasts and the cause of the noise left experts baffled. In February a mysterious foul gas-like pong spread across Edinburgh and led to some schools, businesses and homes being evacuated. The source of the unearthly stink was unknown. In April spring flowers made their latest appearance for 40 years in some places. In May arctic winds saw some parts experience one of the coldest nights on record. In June a strange dark band appeared across a sunny sky near Glasgow on the sixth. A RARE "lunar standstill" was seen at the prehistoric stones of Callanish on Lewis. This event only happens every 18 years, when the Moon rises and sets at the most extreme stretch across the horizon. In July record-breaking heat brought unusually large numbers of whales and dolphins, including some rare species, off the eastern coast of Scotland. In August on the 23rd an UNUSUAL rainbow was seen in Midlothian, with white streamers seeming to hang from it. In September a fireball was seen shooting over woodlands at 10pm on the 6th outside Fort William. In October leaves refused to change colour and fall off trees in what was the warmest autumn on record. In November UNUSUALLY WARM seas around Scotland brought masses of phytoplankton, which gave other creatures a bonanza feed. Torrential rainfall broke records for the month. In December temperatures have been so warm that grass is still growing, ski slopes are bare and a farm on the Moray Firth is still growing raspberries. A waterspout was seen last week off Shetlands, a RARE event so far north and late in the year.

CHINA - people are already starting to feel the effects of a changing climate. Chinese coastlines experienced some of the WORST TYPHOONS AND FLOODS ON RECORD this summer, while the western provinces suffered severe drought. Between January and September, natural disasters forced the evacuation and relocation of 13.2 million people and killed more than 2,300, causing direct economic losses of US$24 billion. Extreme weather now hampers China’s economic growth by between 3 to 6 percent of GDP, or US$70–130 billion, per year. In the region of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain outside Lijiang, Yunnan province, many locals lament the changes of recent decades. “When I was a little girl I used to wear extremely thick sweaters in winter. My arms and legs could hardly bend in them. Now, at the coldest time of year, I’m just wearing a thin windbreaker, and it’s enough. In the past, Snow Mountain would be completely white year-round, and all of the lakes in the area would freeze over. Now there’s hardly any snow on it, even in the middle of winter, and we can fish in the lakes year-round. It snowed once two years ago but hasn’t snowed since.” These changes have occurred rapidly, and cannot be ignored. “In the last 20 years, we have seen 200-years-worth of changes in climate,” noting that the winter season is several months shorter, the snow cover on Snow Mountain has declined 60 percent, and animals and plants seen as children are now gone or extremely rare. “They say that Yunnan is the land of ‘four seasons of spring,’ but in the last three years we’ve really seen what happens when we lose our seasons. Compared to when I first moved here 20 years ago, it is much warmer all year round now. Especially these past three years, the sun feels hotter and it has hardly rained at all.” Loss of glacial water is one of the most pressing concerns posed by climate change in China, where 23 percent of the population depends on glacial water. It is estimated that China will lose two-thirds of its glaciers by 2050, putting at least 300 million people at risk.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 -

QUAKES -
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - "To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest." - Gandhi

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
12/18 -
5.3 GUAM REGION

INDONESIAN relief workers struggled today to reach parts of a remote area in Sumatra island after earthquakes destroyed 680 homes and killed at least four people. A road connecting two villages in the Muarasipongi area remained impassable after yesterday's quakes triggered landslides. 230 families had fled their homes amid heavy rain and continuing aftershocks. People from 11 villages affected by the quake had sought shelter on soccer fields, or in local government offices and police buildings. The quakes, which struck early yesterday and were up to a magnitude of 5.8, were felt in Singapore, just across the Strait of Malacca on the other side of Sumatra island.
The moderate 5.5 earthquake that hit just before dawn may have killed seven people and it injured 100 early Monday, spreading panic across a large swath of the Indonesian island worst hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami.

VOLCANOES -
HAWAII - Collapse of massive lava shelf appears imminent - Newly formed volcanic land could collapse at any time. The 55 acre, thin shelf of new land, known to geologists as a "bench" or "delta," is the largest piece of unstable ground ready to collapse into the ocean since current Kilauea eruptions began in 1983. Built on sloping volcanic rubble, the bench could go more or less at once. That happened in the largest previous collapse on Nov. 28, 2005, when 44 acres crumbled into the ocean over 4 1/2 hours. The 44 acres consisted of 34 acres of bench plus 10 acres of former cliff. The bench could instead continue doing what it has done since it began rebuilding in 2005, cracking off just a few acres from time to time. In a big collapse, lava will gush, steam will blast, and boulders will fly in every direction.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone BONDO was 576 nmi NNE of Port Louis, Mauritius.
Tropical depression TRAMI was 613 nmi WNW of Agana, Guam.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
SOUTH AFRICA - The pilot of a light aircraft was killed when he flew into a block of flats in Yeoville, central Johannesburg, during a storm on Monday night. Lightning struck, there was a sound of low rumbling and the aircraft flew into the ground floor of the building, said two men who watched in horror from an outside corridor on the second floor of the block. Most of the wreckage was inside the basement parking garage, with a wing and part of the aircraft body sticking out. Residents were asleep in the building when the plane crashed into it. The pilot, who was believed to be the only person in the plane, was killed on impact. Nobody on the ground was injured although the occupants of a flat which was hit were shaken. Police suspect the heavy storm caused the crash.

AZORES - A small tornado hit the village of Lagoa on the Atlantic island of Sao Miguel, Azores on Monday, causing damage to several buildings. No injuries were reported. "The damage is quite extensive, the roof of a factory was blown off, the windows of schools were broken and many houses and cars were seriously damaged. There was severe weather instability which caused extremely strong winds.This is a RARE PHENOMENON." Poor weather was forecast for the rest of Monday and this morning. The Azores islands lie about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) off Portugal.

BAHRAIN - FREAK rains lashed Bahrain Sunday bringing the country to a virtual standstill over 48 hours. A total of 113.6mm of rain have fallen since the beginning of the month until noon Sunday and met-men predict more of the same until Wednesday. Many Bahraini families were trapped in their flooded homes. Hundreds of homes have flooded all across the country. Saturday and Sunday were unstable - with heavy rains all around the country and wind speeds of 35 knots. "Those winds have caused a sharp drop in Bahrain's temperature from 22.5C to 10 degrees. Near record rainfall has been recorded this month, with the highest being 96.2mm in December 1974. This month's average is 13.9mm."

FIJI - The Weather Bureau is predicting more heavy rain and storms today following an overnight deluge that caused flash flooding in the central division. A report on property damage was being compiled.

WIND -
AUSTRALIA - Wind gusts recorded during the violent storms that swept through the northern end of the Sunshine Coast on Saturday were equivalent to the destructive gales of a category three cyclone, according to weather experts. A storm cell which passed over Double Island Point recorded gusts just a whisker below 200km/h. The sky was so black it was like midnight. Cyclone Tracy, which levelled Darwin 30 years ago, packed winds of up to 250km/h, while Cyclone Larry devastated Innisfail in March with gusts of up to 290km/h. “We’ve had fewer thunderstorms this season with less humidity around, but boy, it sure came together on Saturday."

HEAT / WILDFIRES -
AUSTRALIA - There has been an upsurge in the number of animals killed wandering central Victoria roads looking for food and water. The RSPCA says road kill is spiralling out of control in the drought. Some wildlife hit by vehicles stay on the roadside for weeks and other animals are drawn to feed on the carcasses.
A blaze is on the doorstep of towns in Victoria's Gippsland region, while residents in the state's north-east are also on fire alert. The Gippsland bushfire is within one kilometre of properties in Walhalla and Maidentown, after slowly moving towards Maidentown over the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been brought in as back-up to crews on the ground. Embers are also falling at Rawson, to the south-west, but the fire is yet to cross the Thompson River. In north-east Victoria, fire is closing in on the Mount Buller area from the south, north and east. There is no end in sight to Victoria's fire crisis. "We don't anticipate getting a lot of rain in the change that comes through later this week, so we've got to continue putting in the containment lines to put this fire out and that may take us weeks." The fires have already burnt more than 688,000 hectares.
Fire photo gallery.

CANADA - 'This weather isn't normal'- Mercury hits 10C - again. That was the temperature recorded at 1 p.m. Sunday - about 13 degrees above normal for this time of year. Environment Canada meteorologists were poring over data to determine if the temperature in Montreal had, at some point, topped 10.5C - the record for a Dec. 17, which was set in 1984. On Thursday and Friday, TWO RECORDS WERE BROKEN when the temperature reached 10C and 11.8C, respectively. "It is UNUSUAL. Since the beginning of December, we've only had four or five days with temperatures below freezing." Weather conditions are more suited to Easter than Christmas.

SOLAR WEATHER -
An energetic storm which erupted on the Sun has caused disruption to satellites and may have caused a glitch on the International Space Station. The solar flare interrupted signals in space and forced mission controllers to shut systems down to avoid damage to spacecraft orbiting Earth. The flare set off a fast-moving stream of atomic particles towards Earth. It may also have caused a fault in the system controlling the space station's orientation in space. The UNUSUAL solar activity caused the density of Earth's atmosphere to increase. On December 14, China's People's Daily reported widespread disruption of shortwave radio communications in China.

Monday, December 18, 2006 -

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - "Live in each season as it passes, breathe the air, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each." - Henry David Thoreau.

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
12/17 -
5.5 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.8 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.7 TONGA
5.0 TONGA
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA

INDONESIA - Three moderate earthquakes struck Indonesia's Sumatra island, with four people reported killed in one area and causing a string of aftershocks. The first earthquake struck at 4.10am (0810 AEDT) with a magnitude of 5.8. Its epicentre was 128km under the sea southwest of the city of Banda Aceh. The second quake, which had a magnitude of 5.7, came about 30 minutes later on land at depth of 53km in an area northwest of the city of Padang in Sumatra. A third quake, of 5.5 magnitude, hit at 8.24am (12:24 AEDT) in North Sumatra.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical depression TRAMI was 363 nmi NNW of Yap, Caroline Islands. The storm's current path shows it heading towards Taiwan, but there are fears it could change direction over the Pacific Ocean and hit the northern part of the Philippines later this week.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES -
AUSTRALIA - Fruit and vegetable crops have been wiped out in wild storms that lashed south-east Queensland at the weekend. Small crop growers in the Cooroy district and areas near Childers were assessing millions of dollars worth of the damage to their farms after severe hail storms struck on Saturday. Heavy rain and wind gusts up to 200km/h brought down trees and power lines, damaged buildings and ripped roofs from homes. Initial reports indicated that mango, lychee, pineapple, avocado, pumpkin, ginger, passionfruit and stonefruit crops were among those affected by the hail and wind. Golf ball-sized hailstones caused "incredible destruction" not only to crops, but to infrastructure such as sheds, farm equipment, netting and sprinkler systems. "This is a considerable setback as lychee trees, to take one example, take four years to mature enough to fruit again."

QATAR - there are all indications that Qatar has received its HIGHEST-EVER RAINFALL during the current season. Long time residents told the newspaper that they had never witnessed such a heavy rain in Qatar during the last four decades. The season's RECORD RAIN rain has virtually thrown the life out-of-gear in the Industrial area. With the minimum temperature dipping to a RECORD 10 degree Celsius and rain continuing to lash across the area, workers at several camps fell sick. The roads leading to many labour camps have gone under water. Many streets are still lying under water, making vehicular traffic extremely difficult.

NEW ZEALAND - Two South African families who immigrated to New Zealand lost three of their children in a freak landslide as they played in a river at a popular picnic spot, it was reported on Sunday. The parents watched helplessly on Friday evening as two children were hit by tonnes of rock in the Pohangina River, near Palmerston North. "The kids were not actually buried under all the gravel. It seemed like it was more like a shockwave; it must have come down very close to the kids. Maybe [the shockwave threw] them away, the pressure of the air ... A lot of stuff came down, so it might have been a few rocks hitting here and there."

U.S. WEST COAST - After weeks of relentless, record rain, hurricane-force winds, floods and heavy mountain snows, scientists are starting to wonder when El Nino will show up and provide a break in the ugly weather that's been pummeling the Pacific Northwest. A week ago, the National Weather Service said that this winter's El Nino was intensifying, and it predicted that it would last longer than expected next spring. So far, however, there's been no sign of the weather phenomenon, which usually brings milder and drier conditions to the Northwest, wetter and cooler ones to the Southwest and warmer and drier winter weather to the nation's northern tier. The nasty weather in the Pacific Northwest has left climate experts hesitant to predict that the worst is over and quie