**Knowledge is having the right answer.
Intelligence is asking the right question.**
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.6 MOLUCCA SEA
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
Yesterday, 3/28/15 -
6.0 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.5 FIJI REGION
5.7 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
3/27/15 -
5.4 CRETE, GREECE
5.3 ECUADOR
5.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.2 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.5 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 MOLUCCA SEA
3/26/15 -
5.0 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
3/25/15 -
5.1 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
5.0 KEPULAUAN BABAR, INDONESIA
3/24/15 -
5.0 OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE
5.2 SOUTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN
5.2 MOLUCCA SEA
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
3/23/15 -
5.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.8 TAIWAN
6.4 TARAPACA, CHILE
TROPICAL STORMS -
* In the Western Pacific -
Tropical storm Maysak is located approximately 768 nm east of Yap, Micronesia.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Flood torrents devastate Peru and Chile - (dramatic video). Heavy rains have brought torrential floods and mudslides to parts of Peru and Chile - including the Atacama desert, one of the driest regions of the world. Several people have been killed, and homes destroyed. Thousands are without electricity and clean water and the clean-up operation is being hampered by the scale of the destruction.
It should be snow falling in the mountains, but instead it is falling as rain because of unusually warm ocean temperatures. At the same time, other parts of Chile are suffering from severe drought.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES -
63.5°F in Antarctica: Possible Continental Record - 14 YEARS of rain in 1 day in Chile. The WARMEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED ON THE CONTINENT OF ANTARCTICA may have occurred on Tuesday, March 24, when the mercury shot up to 63.5°F (17.5°C) at Argentina's Esperanza Base on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The previous hottest temperature recorded in Antarctica was 63.3°F (17.4°C) set just one day previously at Argentina's Marambio Base, on a small islet just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Prior to this week's remarkable heat wave, the hottest known temperature in Antarctica was the 62.6°F (17.0°C) recorded at Esperanza Base in October 1976.
(The World Meteorological Organization has not yet certified that this week's temperatures are all-time weather records for Antarctica, though the Argentinian weather service has verified that the temperatures measured at Esperanza Base and Marambio Base were the highest ever measured at each site.) A new all-time temperature record for an entire continent is a RARE event.
The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming spots on Earth. While the Earth as a whole warmed up by 1.3°F between 1900 and 2011, the Antarctic Peninsula warmed by 5°, forcing massive ice shelves to disintegrate and penguin colonies to collapse. A 2012 paper in Nature found that the recent warming is faster than 99.7% of any other given 100-year period in the last 2000 years.
New all-time national and territorial heat records set or tied in 2015 - So far in 2015, five nations or territories have tied or set all-time records for their hottest temperature in recorded history. For comparison, only two nations or territories did so in 2014, and nine did in 2013.
The most all-time national heat records in a year was nineteen in 2010 (21 records at the time, but two have been broken since.) Since 2010, 46 nations or territories (out of a total of 235) have set or tied all-time heat records, and four have set all-time cold temperature records. Since each of those years ranked as one of the top twelve warmest years in Earth's recorded history, this sort of disparity in national heat and cold records is to be expected.
Here are the national heat and cold records set so far in 2015:
Antarctica set a new territorial heat record of 17.5°C (63.5°F) at Esperanza Base on March 24. Previous record: 17.4°C (63.3°F) at Marambio Base, set the previous day.
Equatorial Guinea set a new national heat record of 35.5°C (95.9°F) at Bata on March 17. Previous record: 35.3°C (95.5°F) at Malabo in February 1957.
Ghana tied the national record of highest temperature with 43.0°C (109.4°F) at Navrongo on February 12.
Wallis and Futuna Territory (France) set a new territorial heat record with 35.5°C (95.9°F) on January 19 at Futuna Airport.
Samoa tied its national heat record with 36.5°C (97.7°F) on January 20 at Asau. Previously record: same location, in December 1977.
Amazing rains in the Chilean desert - Unusually heavy thunderstorms and torrential rains that began on Tuesday have caused destructive flooding that has killed seven and left nineteen others missing. Unwelcome rains fell last week in Earth's driest place Chile's Atacama Desert.
Antofagasta, which averaged just 3.8 mm of precipitation per year between 1970 - 2000, and has a long-term average of 1.7 mm of precipitation per year, received a deluge of 24.4 mm (0.96 inches) during the 24 hour period ending at 8 am EDT March 26. That's over fourteen years of rain in one day!
The heavy rains were from a cold front that hit the Andes Mountains. Unusually warm ocean temperatures approximately 1°C (1.8°F) above average off of the coast meant that high amounts of water vapor were available to fuel the storm and generate exceptionally heavy rains. Heavy precipitation events are common in Chile during El Niño events, like we are experiencing now. El Niño brings warmer than average waters to the Pacific coast of South America where Chile lies.
March heat SHATTERS RECORDS in bone-dry Los Angeles. A series of heat waves this month - including a brief one one that ended Friday - brought a grim new distinction to hot, dry Los Angeles. This is the first March since record-keeping began in 1877 that has had six days with highs in the 90s or above in Los Angeles. That shattered the record set in 1977, when there were three days of highs in the 90s.
Overall, temperatures are warmer, and the trend is expected to continue for the next three months. “This type of weather is VERY UNUSUAL."
Almost every day this year temperatures have been on average 10 degrees above normal in California, while there has been little precipitation. “We are not only getting warmer, but we are also losing water." Downtown Los Angeles on Friday tied a record for the day, hitting 91 degrees.
A high-pressure system coupled with weak offshore flows caused temperatures to increase throughout the Southland. temperatures will return to normal by Sunday. Next week will also be warm with temperatures seven or eight degrees above normal.
Dry conditions have worsened in California, and mountain snowpacks have shrunk over the last few weeks, according to the latest U.S. drought report. Rainfall fell short of supplying any significant moisture to relieve the drought.
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