Sorry there was no update on Sunday - a timing glitch kept me from getting the webpage done.
**Use what talents you possess,
the woods would be very silent if no birds sang
except those that sang best.**
Henry van Dyke
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.4 TONGA REGION
5.4 KASHMIR-XINJIANG BORDER REGION
Yesterday, 10/20/13 -
5.3 BOHOL, PHILIPPINES
5.5 KASHMIR-XINJIANG BORDER REGION
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.4 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.3 NEGROS- CEBU REG, PHILIPPINES
10/19/13 -
5.2 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.0 LEYTE, PHILIPPINES
5.0 LEYTE, PHILIPPINES
6.5 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
10/18/13 -
5.3 PAKISTAN
Philippines - Phivolcs denies talk of imminent big quake in Central Visayas following the 7.1 that occurred on the 15th. “It would take another hundred years to generate a new quake of that magnitude in that same fault plane.” Aftershocks will continue for weeks but will eventually decline.
Fourth quake in as many days hits northern Israel - No reports of damage or injuries from 3.6-magnitude tremor. For the second time Sunday, a minor earthquake shook northern Israel around 4 p.m., the fourth of its kind since Thursday. Tiberias residents felt the 3.6-magnitude quake. The first quake Sunday also registered 3.6 on the Richter scale quake. Both epicenters were near Kibbutz Ginosar, on the Sea of Galilee. Similarly powerful quakes rattled the north early Saturday morning and Thursday.
Last Sunday, a 6.4-magnitude quake, centered in the Mediterranean Sea near Crete, was felt in Athens, Egypt and Israel. In September, an early-morning 3.5-magnitude quake was felt in the northern Dead Sea area, including in Jerusalem. A seismologist at the Geophysical Institute of Israel said that there was no cause for alarm and that the quakes were just “a bit stronger than usual.” Such tremblers, he said, “happen all the time.”
Seven earthquakes strong enough to be felt have rattled Israel in 2013. The most powerful one, centered near the Suez Canal on June 1, registered 5.0 on the Richter scale. Israel is situated along the Syrian-African rift, a tear in the earth’s crust running the length of the border separating Israel and Jordan, and is part of the Great Rift Valley, which extends from northern Syria to Mozambique.
Israel’s last major earthquake rattled the region in 1927 - a 6.2 magnitude quake that killed 500 and injured another 700. An earthquake in 1837 left as many as 5,000 people dead. Major earthquakes strike Israel once every 80 years or so, meaning the country may be due for a serious natural disaster.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the Western Pacific -
- Typhoon Francisco is located approximately 613 nm southeast of Kadena Air Base, Japan.
- Tropical storm Lekima is located 945 nm east of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
* In the Eastern Pacific -
- Hurricane Raymond is located about 165 mi (265 km) WSW of Acapulco, Mexico. The hurricane is expected to become nearly stationary late Monday and Tuesday as it approaches the coast of Mexico within the Hurricane Warning area. Additional strengthening is expected during the next day or so, and Raymond could become a major hurricane at any time.
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Super Typhoon Francisco Becomes Earth's 3rd Category 5 Storm of 2013 - Mighty Super Typhoon Francisco has intensified to become Earth's third Category 5 storm of 2013. The other two Cat 5s were Cyclone Phailin, which hit India earlier this month at Category 3 or 4 strength, killing 44 and causing at least $1 billion in damage, and Super Typhoon Usagi, which hit China just east of Hong Kong as a Category 2 storm on September 22, killing 50 and causing at least $3.8 billion in damage.
Francisco is a spectacular, well-organized storm with an impressive area of heavy thunderstorms and a prominent eye. With warm waters that extend to great depth and low wind shear, Francisco is likely to stay at Category 5 strength until an eyewall replacement cycle begins. Francisco is headed northwest towards Japan, and will likely stay at Category 4 or stronger intensity until Tuesday, when the storm will encounter higher wind shear and cooler waters.
By the time Franciso makes its closest approach to Japan on Thursday, weakening to Category 2 or lesser strength is likely. In their Saturday morning runs, both the European model and GFS model predicted that Francisco would turn northeastwards on Wednesday, and hit Japan on Thursday. There is very high uncertainty in the storm's track that far into the future, though, since the timing of Francisco's turn the northeast is difficult to predict.
Hurricane Raymond threatens soaked Mexico coast; Acapulco faces more rain. Tropical Storm Raymond steamed Sunday toward Mexico's southern Pacific coast, an area already devastated by rains and mudslides.
Extra-tropical Typhoon Wipha Affected Alaska - Powerful Typhoon Wipha never made landfall in the northwestern Pacific but affected several land areas there. By Oct. 18, extra-tropical storm Wipha moved into the Bering Sea and was bringing rains, warmer temperatures and gusty winds to Alaska.
Typhoon Wipha was born of the twenty-fifth tropical depression in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It developed far south of the Japanese Island of Iwo To, tracked northwest, then curved northeast passing and almost paralleling the coast of the big island of Japan while its center never made landfall. Wipha's center grazed Tokyo on Oct. 16 while remaining at sea and moving parallel to the Japanese east coast and swing into the northern Pacific.
The system continued to accelerate northward and had become more disorganized and elongated, especially along the northern edge. Then a tropical storm, Wipha continued moving northeastward ahead of a trough of low pressure where it began transitioning into an extra-tropical storm over cooler waters. Wipha crossed the Pacific Ocean and moved into the Bering Sea where it began lashing Alaska on Oct. 17 and 18 with strong winds, unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rainfall. On Oct. 18, ex-typhoon Wipha moved into the Southern Bering Sea and then northeast to Nunivak Island on Saturday, Oct. 19, drifting northwest and dissipating south of Saint Lawrence Island on Sunday, Oct. 20.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES -
Australia - Three top-level emergency warnings are in place across New South Wales with bushfires flaring up across the state as the feared hot and gusty conditions begin to materialise. Two major NSW bushfires have flared up again as firefighters brace for the worsening conditions and try to halt the formation of a "mega-fire" if the bushfires merge.
Photos
SPACE WEATHER -
On Oct. 20, 2013, the NASA All Sky Fireball Network reported 28 fireballs. (17 sporadics, 8 Orionids, 1 chi Taurid, 1 southern Taurid, 1 Leonis Minorid)
Asteroid coming close to earth in 2032 no concern - NASA says a big asteroid that whizzed by Earth last month unnoticed is probably nothing to worry about when it returns much closer in 19 years.
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