It's a lucky man who gets out of it alive.**
W.C.Fields
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.5 EAST OF SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
5.7 EAST OF SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
Yesterday -
12/6/10 -
5.4 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.7 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 TAIWAN
5.1 TIMOR SEA
Earthquake risk spurs race for faster supercomputer - The rush to build more-powerful supercomputers is part of a larger race to solve some of mankind's biggest problems. Using a supercomputer, a team has been running simulations of how an earthquake might affect Southern California. Running at 1.75 petaflops, Jaguar is the world's second-fastest supercomputer. But now the team is preparing applications to run on Blue Waters, a 10-petaflop system that's being built by IBM for use late next year. An application with a runtime of 4,000 hours per processor on Jaguar could be completed in just 770 hours on Blue Waters. There is urgency to the need for more computing power: Experts estimate that there's a 99% chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake during the next 30 years in California. It could be years before that happens, but "I can tell you, all the seismologists are very nervous...We are very concerned about the current state of the faults in Southern California. Tthe San Andreas fault is "locked and loaded and ready to roll" with a sizable earthquake.
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
EUROPE - The cold weather that descended across the continent has continued to set records. In the UK, where it HAD NOT SNOWED SO EARLY IN THE YEAR FOR 17 YEARS, several areas were covered by 2-5 cm of snow, causing chaos for transport. In France, the mercury fell to -15.3 ° C in Orleans. Airports have been closed, Eurostar traffic disrupted, thousands of trucks stranded on impassable roads, and parts of Europe from Britain to Italy, paralyzed by the freezing conditions. Delays and cancellations affected Eurostar trains between London, Paris and Brussels. In the United Kingdom, the cold wave continued with a minimum temperature of -20 ° C recorded in the Highlands of Scotland. In Poland the cold wave that hit central Europe has resulted in thirty deaths last week. Four others died in the Czech Republic and four in Lithuania. In Russia, eleven people have died from cold in Moscow. In the Russian capital, temperatures have reached a low of -24 degrees Celsius in recent days.
Hundreds of drivers have been stuck for up to 10 hours on snow-hit UK roads and an elderly man found dead at a caravan park became the country's latest weather-related death. It comes after a man died trying to clear snow outside his home in Darlington, County Durham - with the number of recent weather-related deaths now at nine. The Scottish Government held an emergency meeting as police said they were doing their best to reach motorists stranded on major routes north of the border. The M8 westbound between Glasgow and Edinburgh was particularly badly hit, while it was estimated up to 500 vehicles were stuck on the M80 and A80. The whole of the UK is set to stay around or below zero for much of this week, with south east England at risk of snow showers on Thursday. The south west, most of Wales and the Midlands are expected to generally escape the snow.
FLORIDA - Miami saw a record broken Monday that had remained UNCHALLENGED SINCE 1897 - RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES of 63 degrees, two degrees lower than 113 years ago. The low temps are the result of a powerful Arctic front moved across South Florida on Sunday, behind it some of the coldest air of the season. A wind chill advisory is in effect for everyone from Monday night into Tuesday morning. A Freeze Watch is expected Tuesday night through Wednesday morning for western Miami-Dade and Broward. Most locations were cool and breezy with highs in the mid to upper 60s; average high this time of year is about 78 degrees. It's possible they may break a 169 year-old record in Ft. Lauderdale with a forecast low of 39 degrees; the old record of 42 degrees set back in 1841. By week's end an area of High Pressure will have moved to the North and East so temperatures will rebound a bit, but it will still be chilly at night and in the morning.
