Global Disaster Watch - daily natural disaster reports.
Major computer issues the last couple of days. I am going to change the update time and post a new update at noon everyday instead of midnight, until I get the internet issues sorted.
**We gain strength, and courage, and confidence
by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in
the face....we must do that which we think we cannot.**
Eleanor Roosevelt
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
Yesterday, 7/14/14 -
5.1 OFF COAST OF SOUTHERN PERU
6.3 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
5.5 EASTER ISLAND REGION
5.5 JAVA, INDONESIA
7/13/14 -
5.9 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 KEP. MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA
5.5 OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE
5.3 COQUIMBO, CHILE
7/12/14 -
5.0 VANUATU
5.4 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.5 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
7/11/14 -
6.5 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 NORTHEAST OF TAIWAN
5.4 NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN
Strong 6.4 quake hits off Philippines - no damage. The quake was detected 88 kilometres (55 miles) southeast from the coastal town of Don Marcelino but was barely noticed by residents.
6.8 magnitude Quake in East Japan tiggered a small tsunami. An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred on Saturday off the eastern coast of Japan, triggering a small tsunami with waves up to 20 inches near Fukushima's crippled nuclear power plant.
Seismologists said the earthquake was an aftershock of the huge tremor that hit Japan. Japan is braced for more aftershocks of the giant quake.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the Western Pacific -
- Typhoon Rammasun is located approximately 289 nm east-southeast of Manila, Philippines.
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The Philippines Islands are bracing for the impact of Typhoon Rammasun, the islands' first typhoon since the devastating strike by Category 5 Super Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. Haiyan was the deadliest and most expensive natural disaster in Philippines history.
Fortunately, Rammasun is much weaker - a mere Category 1 storm. Top winds were 85 mph (1-minute average from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center), and the central pressure was 975 mb at 8 am EDT on Monday morning - a far cry from the incredible 195 mph sustained winds and central pressure of 895 mb of Haiyan at its peak. Rammasun is intensifying, though. Satellite loops on Monday morning showed a steady increase in the intensity and areal coverage of the typhoon's heavy thunderstorms.
With wind shear a light 5 - 10 knots and Sea Surface Temperatures a very warm 30°C, further intensification is likely until landfall occurs. Philippines radar showed the outer spiral bands of Rammasun were already affecting Samar Island, where Haiyan initially made landfall. The core of Rammasun will pass north of Samar Island and strike the main Philippines island of Luzon, with the center passing very near the capital of Manila early Wednesday (local time).
The main concern will be flash flooding and mudslides over Luzon and Samar, but wind damage also has the potential to be considerable, since the typhoon is passing over the most heavily populated part of Luzon. After crossing Luzon, Rammasun will have the opportunity to re-strengthen over the South China Sea before making a second landfall in China near Hainan Island on Friday. Our two top track models, the GFS and European, predict a landfall in China between 03 - 12 UTC on Friday.
Quiet in the Atlantic - None of the reliable models for predicting genesis of Atlantic tropical cyclones is predicting development over the next five days. The tropical Atlantic is dominated by dry air and high wind shear, and SSTs are 0.2°C below average in the Hurricane Main Development region between the coast of Africa and Central America. If we get another tropical storm this month, the most likely area for formation would be off the Southeast U.S. coast or in the Gulf of Mexico.
Extreme heat in Western Canada, UNUSUAL COOLNESS in Midwest U.S.- The remnants of Super Typhoon Neoguri, which pushed northeastwards into Alaska after the storm hit Japan last week, set in motion a chain-reaction set of events that has dramatically altered the path of the jet stream and affected weather patterns across the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Neoguri caused an acceleration of the North Pacific jet stream, which amplified a trough low pressure over Alaska, causing a ripple effect in the jet stream over western North America, where a strong ridge of high pressure developed. The ridge helped push temperatures as high as 106°F (41.1°C) in British Columbia on Sunday.
A compensating strong trough of low pressure formed over the Midwest U.S., and that trough is now pumping cool, polar air southwards into the Upper Midwest. The high temperature in Minneapolis on Monday was in the low 60s, about 15°F below average, and SETTING A RECORD FOR COLDEST JULY 14 IN HISTORY. This jet stream pattern is similar to the nasty "Polar Vortex" pattern that set up during the winter of 2014 over North America, but calling it the polar vortex in this case is not technically correct.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Severe Storms, Flooding to Threaten DC, NYC, Roanoke - The Northeast and mid-Atlantic will be faced with severe thunderstorms and flooding downpours through at least Tuesday before the new week ends on a more refreshing note. Severe thunderstorms are the last thing those still cleaning up after last Tuesday's deadly severe weather want to hear.
A strong line of damaging storms moved through western and central Pennsylvania Sunday evening and damage was reported in the town of Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. Strong storms also moved through Reading Center, New York, and damage was reported, related to a possible tornado.
As the front sinks southward early this week, the severe weather danger will focus on southwestern New England and more of the mid-Atlantic, as well as southern Kentucky, Tennessee and southeastern Missouri. As is typical, the afternoon and evening hours will likely prove to be more active than the morning. Monday's threat zone encompassed New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Roanoke, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee.
Farther to the west, a couple of gusty thunderstorms will also fire Monday afternoon within a separate zone from St. Louis to Indianapolis to Detroit. An end to the severe weather threat will not come with the close of Monday. Instead, a stronger cold front that marks the leading edge of SEPTEMBER-LIKE COOL AIR plunging into the Midwest will spark more heavy thunderstorms throughout the East and South on Tuesday.
Tuesday's thunderstorms will cross some of the same areas in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic being threatened by severe weather through Monday. Additional flash flooding problems may unfold, especially where thunderstorms are slow moving, repeat over the same area and/or track over areas that first become soaked by the storms on Sunday or Monday.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists are also concerned for some of the thunderstorms to turn severe from South Carolina to New Hampshire. Within this zone lies the cities of Augusta, Georgia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. The magnitude of the severe weather will be dependent on morning cloud cover and thunderstorms.
For places that do see enough sunshine, similar threats as to those with the violent thunderstorms through Monday will unfold and pose dangers to lives and property. AccuWeather.com meteorologists feel the greatest severe weather threat lies from the Carolinas to the southern Delmarva Peninsula. There is a chance that torrential downpours linger along the beaches of the East Coast through Wednesday.
Less humid and quieter weather will return later in the week. While summertime heat will be absent, the core of the September-like cool air overspreading the Midwest will lose its punch before reaching the I-95 corridor.
Canada - Manitoba flood: Rain, flood waters shut down oil industry. Oil workers go weeks without work, pay in Manitoba's soggy oilfields. Wet weather and flooding in Manitoba is hitting the oil industry hard. Much of the province's oil patch is in the same area, inundated with water from heavy rain and overland flooding that hit during the Canada Day weekend.
The ground is too wet to drill. The majority of wells were shut down during the flooding and roads are still too damaged for trucks transporting oil and equipment. "It's pretty sad. It's really sad because a lot of us in the area depend on it." In the Waskada-Pierson area, 75 to 85 per cent of the wells were impacted by flooding. Tundra Oil and Gas had 90 per cent of their production shut down over the flood period and Corex Resources had 40 per cent.
"It's going to be some time before activity resumes to normal." Some in the oil business estimate the losses could be as much as $5 million per day for the province. "Over the last few days, we've discovered some spills that have happened during the flood event that nobody was able to find because the operators have been so cut off from lots of the wells and were unable to see what things were like underneath the water."
Small spills aren't uncommon and teams typically respond within two hours, but high water and road closures meant it was days before teams could reach the spills. "What happened was really a result of how quickly [the water] came. It is really important that our infrastructure is maintained and that the roads are maintained and we can safely get where we need to get and we can get equipment where we need to get equipment to look after these sites."
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES -
Canada - RECORD-BREAKING HEAT WAVE, wildfires grip B.C. with Vancouverites cautioned against afternoon exercise. With a heatwave forcing Vancouverites to halt their oceanside jogs and pummelling south-central B.C. with RECORD-BREAKING HIGHS, efforts to combat 63 wildfires were complicated by dry and windy weather throughout the province Monday.
In Metro Vancouver, temperatures were expected to stay as high as 30 degrees Celsius until later in the week. Environment Canada says temperatures in northern B.C. are 8 to 10 degrees Celsius above normal, and more heat records are expected to be broken this week. Record-high temperatures were measured in four communities on the weekend — Lytton, Pemberton, Lillooet and Kamloops — with the average high around 40.5C.
Close to two dozen support staff from Ontario were sent to Kamloops Monday to help manage the logistics of fighting fires in the coming days, as B.C. families were told to stay away from their homes. With lightning expected in many areas of the province, crews in all six B.C. fire centres remain on high alert. Nearly 70 people have been forced to leave as an uncontained wildfire rages in the Cariboo region west of Quesnel, B.C., but the Euchiniko Lakes blaze is not threatening any homes.
The fire, caused by lightning, grew significantly Sunday night and has scorched 20-square-kilometres of woodland 120 km west of Quesnel, since it was discovered last Tuesday. Although homes are not in immediate danger, an evacuation order was issued Sunday for two people at the Euchiniko Lake Ranch Lodge, while 66 members of the Kluskus Indian Reserve agreed to evacuate to Quesnel because of fears the flames could cut roads to the remote region.
Meanwhile, the eight-day-old Red Deer Creek fire, 61 km southeast of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is now estimated to cover 38-square-kilometres and is uncontained, keeping three evacuated oil-and-gas camps shut down. Twenty-three of the province’s 63 fires are considered notable for their size, location or potential danger, and four, including the 62-square-kilometre Chelaslie River blaze in central B.C., are listed as interface fires threatening homes or properties.
California Braces as Drought Sparks Early Fire Season.
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