a thousand 'no's'.**
Richard Childress
LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)
This morning -
5.6 SERAM, INDONESIA
Continuing cluster of moderate quakes in DODECANESE ISLANDS, GREECE
Yesterday -
11/26/12 -
5.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.3 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.5 SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
5.5 CENTRAL EAST PACIFIC RISE
Continuing cluster of moderate quakes in DODECANESE ISLANDS, GREECE
Western China - No casualties reported after 5.5-magnitude quake jolts Xinjiang. The quake, which struck Ruoqiang County in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin at 1:33 p.m., damaged some houses in the county's Lop Nur Township. The quake struck at early Monday afternoon near the town of Ruoqiang in the vast but lightly populated region.
TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Western Pacific -
- Tropical storm Bopha was located approximately 295 nm southeast of Chuuk, Micronesia.
Hurricane Sandy worse than Hurricane Katrina - Gov. Cuomo acknowledged that far more people died as a result of Katrina’s fury, than Sandy’s. But he said last month’s superstorm caused more property damage, and affected a greater number of people. The state will seek a whopping $42 billion in federal disaster aid.
“Hurricane Katrina, in many ways, was not as impactful as Hurricane Sandy, believe it or not. Because of the density of New York, the number of people affected, the number of properties affected was much larger in Hurricane Sandy than Hurricane Katrina. That puts the entire conversation, I believe, into focus.” The cost estimate issued by Cuomo - $41.9 billion, about $10 billion more the number he floated a few weeks ago - represents the most detailed accounting yet of Sandy’s financial toll on the city, the surrounding counties and the state.
A total of $32.8 billion will be needed to cover “repairs and restoration” — and $9.1 billion to safeguard New York’s electrical grid, highway and subway tunnels, and cell phone networks ahead of future superstorms. Asking New Yorkers to foot the bill alone “would incapacitate the state." The largest chunk of the money sought for repairs and restoration, $9.7 billion, would pay for housing. Other elements of the request include $7.3 billion for transit, roads and bridges; $6 billion to cover business losses, and $1.6 billion to cover government expenses.
“This is probably the worst economic crisis IN NEW YORK HISTORY, CERTAINLY THE WORST NATURAL DISASTER."
“Make no mistake, this will not be an easy task, particularly given the impending fiscal cliff, and a Congress that has been much less friendly to disaster relief than in the past." A “spending bill of this size always faces significant hurdles, even more so in this Congress.”
Comparing Sandy with Hurricanes Katrina, and Rita, which struck a month after Katrina in 2005 - Louisiana lost 214,700 homes as a result of the two storms; Sandy wrecked 305,000 homes just in New York. There were 800,000 power outages in Louisiana, compared with more than 2 million in New York. And while 18,700 businesses were lost to the hurricanes in Louisiana, Sandy affected more than 265,300 businesses across the Empire State. “This storm affected many, many more people and places than Katrina. Katrina had a human toll that thankfully we have not paid in this region. And Katrina was a different story of government involvement and government action. But, just in terms of impact, at the end of the day I think you have a very strong case just in terms of the numbers.” Sandy is blamed for 135 deaths in the U.S., including 60 in New York. Katrina was responsible for 1,833 deaths.
Hawaii hasn't been threatened by a major tropical cyclone since 2009 - and with the 2012 hurricane season officially wrapped up Friday, it's safe to say it was another quiet year. "We thought it might be a little bit of a below-normal season, but it ended up being even weaker than that."
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
UK Floods, Worst Flooding Since 2007 - The UK looks set to experience its worst series of floods since at least the great floods of 2007 when areas that had never flooded in living memory experienced what would turn out to be their worst floods in over 150 years.
The latest of a series of heavy rain fall induced flooding is being experienced by the south and south west areas of England and Wales, with over 500 flood warnings in place nation wide, as one of the wettest summers on record had left the ground saturated, unable to soak up additional heavy rain fall that is resulting in the failure of drainage systems. The current wave of flooding follows on from highly damaging flooding earlier in the year (September) that literally resulted in roads and foundations of buildings being washed away that were subsequently demolished.
Increasing volatility in the extremes of weather that the UK is facing - a drought during the first 3 months of the year gave way extraordinarily heavy rainfall from April onwards, continuing in June, and July with rainfall of as much as 225% of the annual average. The above-average rainfall has continued into this month which looks set to turn out to be another record month for rainfall. In 2007 the high rainfall was mainly concentrated during the 3 summer months of May, June, and July. There is a continuing risk of severe flooding going into the final month of this year which means that this year could turn out to be far more costly in terms of flood damage than was 2007, as any further heavy rainfall will have nowhere to run off to. And there is the likelihood of a continuation of the trend into early 2013.
Global Weirding? The melting of the sea ice at the north and south poles effects atmospheric air current circulations such as diverting the Jet Stream which means instead of warm air flowing form the Gulf of Mexico they get cold air blowing in from the North East polar region, and hence whilst on average the planet warms, in the UK the weather becomes far more erratic as the Jet Stream literally twists and turns and develops random kinks which means one day they can experience far warmer than average temperatures for the year and the next day theycould be an for an arctic freeze.
The consequence of global warming / weirding for the people of Britain this winter is to expect very erratic temperature changes, which means be prepared for surprise deep freezes that are likely to even catch the weather forecasters off guard over the coming winter months and well into the new year. This will likely result in further severe risk for flooding due to quick thawing of deep snowfall. (charts, graphs and photos)
HEALTH THREATS -
Latest coronavirus cases prompt WHO call for vigilance - The reporting of four more novel coronavirus infections in recent weeks, raising the total to six, has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to suggest that governments consider a major escalation of testing for the virus, a potentially burdensome undertaking.
Cases of Marburg, Ebola climb in Uganda - An outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever has grown to 20 cases in western Uganda, and 10 people in two of Uganda's central districts have contracted Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
Traffic pollution tied to autism risk - Babies who are exposed to lots of traffic-related air pollution in the womb and during their first year of life are more likely to become autistic, suggests a new study.
