LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
5.1 SOUTHEAST INDIAN RIDGE
5.6 SOUTHEAST INDIAN RIDGE
Yesterday, 12/21/13 -
5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
5.0 SOUTHWESTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA
5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
5.1 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
5.2 WEST CHILE RISE
5.6 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.5 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
12/20/13 -
5.2 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.2 MOLUCCA SEA
5.0 STATE OF YAP, MICRONESIA
5.4 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
MYSTERY BOOMS / SKYQUAKES -
+ Mystery booms video (9 1/2 minutes) - starts with recent Arizona news footage and continues with all the booms reported this year and the possible sources, including the breakup of Comet Ison, and the possible connection to recent volcanic eruptions and news reports on super volcanoes.
VOLCANOES -
+ New volcanic Japanese island isn't disappearing — it's growing. Niijima, as it's called, is now 19.8 acres or five times its initial size. The island sprouted out of the Pacific thanks to an undersea volcanic eruption some 600 miles south of Tokyo last month and might just be here to stay.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the South Indian Ocean -
- Tropical cyclone Amara.
- Tropical cyclone Bruce.
SNOW -
+ U.S. - A large storm system moved into the Midwest on Friday for the start of one of the busiest travel periods of the year, but things didn't really get messy until Saturday, when it delivered a bit of everything — freezing rain, snow, ice, flooding and even tornadoes — to an area that stretched from the Louisiana Gulf Coast to eastern Canada.
The system's strange swirl of winter and spring-like conditions produced starkly different weather at times in areas separated by a couple hundred miles. While drivers in Oklahoma and eastern Missouri were navigating ice-slicked streets Saturday, residents in Memphis, Tennessee, were strolling around in T-shirt temperatures that topped out above 70 degrees.
By Saturday night, a line of thunderstorms stretching from southern Louisiana to Indiana began wreaking havoc, causing rivers and creeks to swell, flooding roads and spawning winds strong enough to force cars and trucks off of highways. At least two suspected tornadoes touched down in Arkansas, injuring a total of five people and damaging nearly two-dozen homes in or near the towns of Dermott and Hughes. And a man in Rena Lara, Mississippi, was killed Saturday when wind flipped his mobile home.
"This is a particularly strong storm with very warm, near record-breaking temperatures in the East and very cold air in the Midwest, and that contrast is the sort of conditions that are favorable for not only winter weather but also tornadoes."
The worst of the storm wasn't supposed to hit Chicago until late Saturday or early Sunday. By midnight EST, nearly 500 flights had been canceled Saturday and more than 7,000 had been delayed. Many affected flights were in or out of major hubs, including Chicago's O'Hare Airport, Houston's Bush International, Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver International.
Freezing rain coated parts of northern New England Saturday night, as officials warned people to stay off the roads and utilities prepared for the possibility of widespread power outages. Burlington, Vermont, had received a quarter-inch of ice by late Saturday, and the city's airport was forced to rely briefly on generators after losing power briefly.
Many Midwest cities that spent Saturday dealing with rain and ice were expected to get significant snowfall overnight, with up to 6 inches forecast for the Kansas City area by Sunday and up to 8 inches for southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois.
Authorities in several states, including Indiana and Ohio, warned drivers to be especially vigilant about flooded roads. In Indiana, the weather service had posted flood warnings along southern and central Indiana streams and predicted the highest flood crests along the East Fork of the White River since April 2011.
In addition to the Mississippi weather-related death, authorities in Oklahoma were blaming two traffic deaths on the rain and ice. A 16-year-old boy died early Saturday after his car crashed and overturned on U.S. 64 near Tulsa. And a woman was killed Friday night in a collision on a slick roadway.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT -
The band of severe weather that left at least three people dead in tornadoes and heavy storms in the southeastern United States pushed up the East Coast on Sunday, bringing RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES to Philadelphia and New York City and ice storms to parts of New England.
"This storm is bringing a little bit of everything, from rain, flooding and wind, to ice and snow in some areas. what is really extraordinary about this system, though, is the warm air."The system is expected to linger over the East Coast until Monday, snarling road and airline travel for millions of people during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The UNUSUAL STORM SYSTEM brought a brief winter heatwave to northeastern cities, with Philadelphia and New York City logging record high temperatures on Saturday. The temperature in New York's Central Park topped out at 65 degrees, breaking a 2011 record of 62 degrees, while temperatures in Philadelphia reached 67 degrees. In Washington D.C., the temperature was hovering "about 40 degrees warmer than normal." Sunday was expected to be even warmer across the region.
Farther north, New York state, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were pummeled by an ice storm after the warm air hit an arctic layer. Thousands of people across New England were without power on Sunday and motorists were urged to use caution after up to two inches of ice coated roads and power lines.
The powerful storm system tore through the southeast on Saturday, spawning at least one confirmed tornado and leaving at least three people dead. A tornado touched down in the city of Redfield, Arkansas, damaging several homes and downing tree limbs and power lines. Tornado sirens rang in Nashville Saturday evening and a car lot in Louisville, Kentucky, caught fire after nearby power lines were toppled. Widespread damage from the storm system was also reported near Dermott, Arkansas, in the southeast corner of the state, where five homes were badly damaged, 15 suffered minor damage and four trucks were blown off a highway. "We are thinking it was a tornado. We had quite a bit of rotation and quite a bit of damage." The storm hit at about 5 p.m. local time.
