try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.**
- E. Joseph Cossman
LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)
This morning -
None 5.0 or higher.
Yesterday -
8/27/12 -
5.4 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.0 CENTRAL ALASKA
5.2 OFF THE COAST OF EL SALVADOR
5.4 OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR
California earthquake swarm entered third day; hundreds of temblors. Hundreds of earthquakes have rattled Imperial County since Sunday morning as an earthquake swarm continued. But experts say the swarm does not necessarily indicates a larger temblor is on the way. The series of small to moderate earthquakes seems to be slowing down and getting smaller in magnitude.
El Salvador Quake Waves Destroyed 45,000 Rare Turtle Eggs - The director of the turtle conservation program for the El Salvador Zoological Foundation says the 7.4-magnitude undersea quake sent at least three waves at least 30 feet high up the beach and destroyed thousands of nests and just-hatched turtles.
VOLCANOES -
Volcano Webcams
Alaska's governor says a major earthquake or volcanic eruption could leave the state's 720,000 residents cut off from supply lines, and he's taking steps to ensure there's adequate food.
TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Atlantic -
- Category 1 Hurricane Isaac was located about 75 mi [120 km] SSE of New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Tropical storm Kirk was located about 1230 mi [1980 km] ENE of the northern Leeward Islands. No threat to land.
In the Eastern Pacific -
- Tropical storm Ileana was located about 415 mi [670 km] S of the southern tip of Baja California. No threat to land.
In the Western Pacific -
- Tropical storm Tembin was located approximately 600 nm south-southwest of Seoul, South Korea.
- Tropical storm Bolaven was located approximately 350 nm north of Seoul, South Korea. The final warning has been issued on this system by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The system will be closely monitored for signs of regeneration.
North Korea - Powerful typhoon Bolaven which killed at least 10 people in South Korea has hit the North, knocking down hundreds of trees, destroying power cables and causing blackouts in a country already struggling to rebuild from earlier flooding. Big rainstorms often mean catastrophe in North Korea because of poor drainage, deforestation and decrepit infrastructure, but the extent of wind and rain damage in the country wasn't immediately clear after the typhoon struck on Wednesday.
Pyongyang, the capital, saw strong winds but little apparent damage. Cars splashed through slightly flooded streets, spraying people on crowded sidewalks. Typhoon Bolaven began pummeling the North late on Tuesday. Weather officials had warned it would be the strongest typhoon to hit the region in several years, but its gusts in other parts of Asia were not as powerful as predicted.
In South Korea, the typhoon left hundreds of thousands without power, disrupted flights and temporarily halted joint war games by U.S. and South Korean military forces. The storm also churned up rough seas that smashed two fishing ships into rocks off southern Jeju island, killing five people and leaving 10 missing. The storm killed at least five other people across South Korea. About 1.9 million South Korean homes and businesses lost power, though all but about 34,000 had electricity restored by Wednesday morning. Nearly 100 families were left homeless on Wednesday because of floods or storm damage. Nearly 200 flights were canceled on Tuesday, but airports were running as normal on Wednesday. There were 860 hectares of farmland flooded and 32 ships damaged.
The storm came as North Korea tries to help people with food, shelter, health care and clean water after heavy flooding in July. Many flood victims still live in tents with limited access to water and other basic facilities. Video
Hurricane Isaac has made landfall in southeast Louisiana with top winds of more than 120km/h. Isaac turned into a full-blown Category 1 hurricane as it rolled over the US Gulf Coast, where residents in four states left boarded-up homes and New Orleans waited nervously behind flood-defense levees strengthened after the devastating Katrina struck exactly seven years ago.
The US National Hurricane Center said the storm, with 28km/h winds, had gained strength as it moved over the warm, open waters of the gulf. It was approaching the swampy coast of southeast Louisiana, where it's expected to soon hit land near the Mississippi River. The focus has been on New Orleans as the slow-moving storm takes aim at the city, but the impact will be felt well beyond it, especially in expected storm surges of up to 3.6m in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The storm's winds could be felt more than 300km from the storm's center.
Isaac offers one of the first tests of a New Orleans levee system bolstered after the catastrophic failures during Hurricane Katrina. But calm prevailed in the city as residents sized up the threat. Although Isaac's approach on the eve of the Katrina anniversary invited obvious comparisons, the storm is nowhere near as powerful as Katrina was when it struck on August 29, 2005. Katrina at one point reached Category 5 status, with winds of more than 252km/h, and made landfall as a Category 3 storm.
Many residents along the Gulf Coast opted to ride it out in shelters or at home. Officials, while sounding alarm about the dangers of the powerful storm, decided not to call for the mass evacuations like those that preceded Katrina. But anxiety was high, especially in the city's Lower 9th Ward, wiped out by Katrina after floodwalls burst and let the waters rush in.
78 per cent of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been halted in preparation for the storm as companies have evacuated 346 offshore oil and gas production platforms. That's 17 per cent of daily US oil production. One question haunting locals was how much oil left over from the massive Gulf oil spill in 2010 might wind up on the beaches because of the storm. Experts believe large tar mats lie submerged just off the coast, but no one knows where they are or how many there might be. Isaac left 24 dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic but left little damage in the Florida Keys as it blew past. (photos) Video
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Video - Balkans wildfires continue to rage.
Critical ice in the Arctic Ocean melted to record low levels this sweltering summer, and that can make weather more extreme far away from the poles, scientists say.
HEALTH THREATS -
Mangoes from Mexico suspected in 101 US Salmonella infections. Tainted mangoes from Mexico implicated in a Salmonella Braenderup outbreak that has sickened several people in Canada are likely linked to about 101 illnesses so far in the United States, according to federal investigators.
