LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.
Yesterday -
7/20/10 -
5.3 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
5.6 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G
5.8 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 NEAR S. COAST OF WESTERN HONSHU
5.0 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.2 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.8 SOUTHERN IRAN
5.5 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical storm CHANTHU was 262 nmi SSW of Hong Kong.
Caribbean System Becomes More Likely to Develop Into Cyclone - An area of thunderstorms and clouds is becoming more likely to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next two days. The weather system over the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic has a 40 percent chance of becoming a cyclone, the Center said Tuesday in an advisory posted on its website. That’s up from a 30 percent chance six hours earlier.
The tropical wave is moving west-northwest at 5 miles (8 kilometers) to 10 miles an hour. That puts the system on a track of heading toward the Gulf of Mexico, where BP Plc is trying to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The June 1-Nov. 30 Atlantic hurricane season is typically most active in August and September. This year, one named storm has formed, Hurricane Alex, which made landfall in northeastern Mexico on June 30.
HEAVY RAINS, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
CHINA - The Three Gorges dam on China's longest river, the Yangtze, is standing up to its biggest flood control test since completion last year. Floodwaters in the giant reservoir rose 4m (13ft) overnight, and are now just 20m below the dam's maximum capacity. The authorities are using the dam to limit the amount of water flowing further downstream to try to minimise the impact of devastating floods. Hundreds of people have died in central and southern China in the country's worst floods in more than a decade. The Three Gorges dam, the largest in the world, was a controversial project as it forced the relocation of 1.4 million people. It is situated in Hubei province.
The flow of the water overnight was THE FASTEST EVER RECORDED, at 70,000 cubic metres per second. 40,000 cubic metres/second were released, with 30,000 cubic metres/second of water held back in the reservoir. "Without the Three Gorges this kind of discharge would bring disaster to the downstream areas." Upstream in Guang'an, Sichuan province, shops are submerged, and people are waiting to ferry supplies by boat to relatives trapped in their homes.
At least 11 people were missing after a landslide caused by torrential rains hit a village in Mianning country in Sichuan province. Sichuan and neighbouring Shaanxi province have been hard hit by a series of landslides in recent days, that have killed 37 people and left nearly 100 missing. More than 35 million people across China have been affected by the poor weather and 1.2 million have been relocated. China is facing its worst floods since 1998, when more than 4,000 people died, and 18 million people were displaced.
SPACE WEATHER -
SUN-EARTH CONNECTION - The Earth and sun are 93 million miles apart, but they are hardly separated. Magnetic lines of force connect our planet's poles directly to the stellar surface, forming a "sun-Earth system" that researchers are only beginning to understand. Ultimately, the accuracy of space weather forecasts hinges on their progress, and it may require an international effort to succeed. "The problem is solar storms - figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects. We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013."
HEALTH THREATS -
WHO committee may meet to decide to end pandemic - The Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization may meet next week to review infection data from the Southern Hemisphere and recommend that the agency announce an end to the pandemic, sources "familiar with the matter" said.
