**Strength does not come from physical capacity.
It comes from an indomitable will.**
Mahatma Gandhi
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.3 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.4 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 SERAM, INDONESIA
Yesterday, 3/13/14 -
5.5 OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
5.1 EAST OF SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
6.3 KYUSHU, JAPAN
5.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
5.1 GUERRERO, MEXICO
5.2 TONGA REGION
5.0 TONGA REGION
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
No current tropical storms.
Ex-tropical Cyclone Gillian coming back to life over the Top End. Ex-tropical Cyclone Gillian is roaring back to life, the low pressure system expected to reform this afternoon and cross the Northern Territory coast of Australia. Ex-Tropical Cyclone Gillian had weakened to a remnant low pressure area after making landfall in the Western Cape York Peninsula of Queensland.
Remnants of Tropical Cyclone Lusi are likely to pass by Wellington and the lower North Island of New Zealand on Sunday. The storm may make weekend driving dangerous.
Christchurch braces for 'mean and ugly' storm - What remains of severe Tropical Cyclone Lusi has an already saturated Christchurch putting emergency precautions in place ahead of this weekend's storm.
'GLOBAL WEIRDNESS' / CLIMATE CHANGE -
SNOWIEST WINTER ON RECORD in Portions of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. The relentless winter of 2013 - 2014 continues to add to its extraordinary resume over the Eastern U.S., where yet another near-record cold blast was underway this week. Temperatures on Thursday weere 10 - 25° below normal over the eastern 1/3 of the country, and it was a serious case of weather whiplash in places like New York City, where the temperature peaked at 65°F at JFK Airport on Tuesday, a record high for the date.
Temperatures will struggle to reach the upper-20s on Thursday - a spectacular 40° swing, and one of the coldest high temperatures so late in the year. The weather pattern that brought this winter's persistent cold to the Midwest and Eastern U.S., and record warmth and drought to the West Coast, is going to remain in place through most of the remainder of March.
The latest 16-day forecast from the GFS model predicts a continuation of the dominant ridge over the Western U.S. and trough over the Midwest and Eastern U.S. that we've all grown very, very, very tired of. 90.7 inches have fallen in the Detroit area this winter - second only to the 93.6" that fell in the winter of 1880 - 1881. Detroit has now had over 1" of snow on the ground for 72 consecutive days, and will easily break the record of 74 straight days, set during the notorious winter of 1978.
Just to the south, in Toledo, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday's dumping of 6.7 - 7" of snow from Winter Storm Vulcan made the winter of 2013 - 2014 the snowiest on record at both cities. Chicago's 3.2" brought the winter total to 79.1", making it the Windy City's 3rd snowiest winter (the record was 89.7" in 1978 - 1979.)
WARMEST WINTER ON RECORD in California. The winter of 2013 - 2014 will go down in the history books in the Midwest U.S. as a top-ten coldest winter on record, but ranked as the warmest winter on record in California.
Temperatures averaged over December 2013 - February 2014 in the contiguous U.S. made it the 34th coolest winter since records began in 1895. The winter of 2012 - 2013 was the 20th warmest, and the "non-winter" of 2011 - 2012 was the 4th warmest.
Seven states had a top-ten coldest winter on record in 2013 - 2014: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Three states had a top-ten warmest winter on record: California, Arizona, and Alaska. The Southwest had an unusually dry winter, with California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas all recording top-ten dryness. For the nation as a whole, it was the 9th driest winter on record. The winter average snow cover extent for the contiguous U.S. was the 10th largest since record keeping began in 1966.
The U.S. winter of 2013 - 2014 had the 25th highest level of extremes observed since 1910. For the Western U.S. (California and Nevada), it was THE MOST EXTREME WINTER ON RECORD, primarily because 84% of the region experienced top-10% dryness. Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin each had a top-ten cold February, and Arizona, California, and Utah each had a top-ten warmest February. There were 1.75 times as many record cold daily highs (2,205) and lows (1,276), compared to record warm daily highs (945) and lows (1,043.) [Charts and maps at link]
*****
Global Disaster Watch is on Facebook - with breaking news during the day.
