**Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving someone deeply gives you courage.**
Lao Tzu
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.3 MOLUCCA SEA
Yesterday -
1/17/12 -
5.6 COQUIMBO, CHILE
5.7 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES
5.1 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
Small quake shakes Southern Illinois - Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey confirm a small earthquake rattled an ares of Southern Illinois early Tuesday morning. A magnitude-2.2 tremor was recorded at 5:10 a.m. No damage was reported. Researchers said the quake's epicenter was about four miles east of Troy, Illinois, or around 25 miles east of St. Louis. The quake originated from an estimated depth of 1.8 miles. The quake was believed to have related to a series of faults associated with the New Madrid Fault Zone. The last major earthquake recorded in Southern Illinois was a 5.2 tremor recorded on April 18, 2008 and was centered near Bellmont, Ill. A 2.7 tremor was noted on September 13, 2011 east of Cisne, Ill.
VOLCANOES -
Ash closes Argentina airport days after its re-opening - A cloud of ash caused by a volcano in Chile has closed an airport in neighbouring Argentina just days after it had re-opened. The closure of the airport in Bariloche comes three days after flights had resumed following a seven-month suspension due to ash.
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
U.S. north-west braces for record snowfall - A potentially historic winter storm is forecast to dump heavy snow across the Pacific Northwest today, probably wreaking travel havoc in areas not used to so much of the white stuff. States in the US Pacific Northwest are bracing for ONE OF THE WORST SNOWSTORMS THE REGION HAS SEEN IN A GENERATION. A westerly storm is expected to engulf the state of Washington, bringing up to 2ft (61cm) of snow. Mountainous areas already hit by a weekend storm will be hardest hit, with areas of Oregon also seeing deep snow. Seattle officials fear the storm could bring the heaviest snow at the city's airport since 1985.
Travel could become dangerous or impossible in the region.
The NWS described the upcoming snow storm as a "classic overrunning scenario" seeing an approaching warm front drawing cool air down from British Columbia, across the border in Canada. Most of the Washington lowlands will receive 5-10in (13-25cm) of snow overnight on Tuesday and into today - equivalent to the city's ANNUAL SNOWFALL IN ONE DAY. Other forecasters suggested the snow levels could be even higher.
Weather officials in Canada were keeping their eye on the storm front. Vancouver has already seen snow and ice, with concerns that Wednesday's heavy snow could head over the border and into British Columbia.
INDIA - Cold wave in the North. After keeping its date with the Sun for a few days, Bangalore's weather has swung to extreme cold conditions. Monday saw THE COLDEST MORNING IN THE STATE IN DECADES. The harsh cold weather broke records in many places, with Madikeri registering its LOWEST IN 132 YEARS at 4.8 degrees Celsius, Mysore's coldest day in 120 years at 7.7 degrees Celsius and Bangalore's coldest day of January in the past 19 years with minimum temperature touching 12 degrees Celsius. The outskirts of Bangalore like HAL airport area touched below 10 degrees Celsius and GKVK was freezing at 8.4 degrees Celsius. Maximum temperature across the state remained around 26 degrees Celsius. Bijapur recorded THE LOWEST EVER MINIMUM TEMPERATURE at 8.4 degrees Celsius.
"The severe cold wave from the North and North-East, combined with clear skies, has appreciably brought down the minimum temperatures across the state. Also the shorter day time and longer nights have reduced the radiation on Earth's surface." "The severity of cold also depends on the air-moss strip passing through the co-ordinates of Karnataka. This strip keeps shifting and the area which falls under this strip gets affected by the cold wave. Also the prolonged north-east monsoon has contributed to the cold spell.''
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -
China report spells out "grim" climate change risks - More chaotic weather could cut China's grain production. More provinces to face severe water shortages. Extra steps needed to protect cities from rising seas. Global warming threatens China's march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods, says the government's latest assessment of climate change, projecting big shifts in how the nation feeds itself.
The warnings are carried in the government's "Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change," which sums up advancing scientific knowledge about the consequences and costs of global warming for China - the world's second biggest economy and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gas pollution. With China's economy likely to rival the United States' in size in coming decades, that will trigger wider consequences. "China faces extremely grim ecological and environmental conditions under the impact of continued global warming and changes to China's regional environment."
HEALTH THREATS -
Tuberculosis which appears to be totally resistant to antibiotic treatment has been reported for the first time by Indian doctors. Concern over drug-resistant strains of TB is growing, with similar 'incurable' TB emerging in Italy and Iran. Doctors in Mumbai said 12 patients had a "totally drug resistant" form of the infection, and three have died. TB is one of the world's biggest killers, second only to HIV among infectious diseases. Normally a patient with TB is given a six to nine month course of antibiotics to eradicate it. However, new strains of the bacterium have developed which are increasingly resistant to the antibiotics most commonly used to treat it. Partially drug-resistant TB can now found in countries across the world, and "multi-drug resistant" strains affect countries such as Russia and China.
The Indian reports will fuel concerns over the ability of doctors to contain the disease in years to come. The new cases represent a "serious threat" to global efforts to control TB. "What we're seeing is probably just the tip of the iceberg. We don't know how widespread this is because so few people are tested for drug resistance." The high prevalence of TB in India, coupled with high population density within its cities, means that the new type of TB could be a bigger problem than previous "totally resistant" strains. "It's going to take a massive effort and change in political will to get to grips with this - not just from the Indian government but from everyone else. This is a global problem, not just an Indian one."
