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LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
6.2 SUMBA REGION, INDONESIA
Yesterday, 2/11/16 -
5.4 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2/10/16 -
5.0 TONGA
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.2 TONGA
5.0 COQUIMBO, CHILE
5.0 COQUIMBO, CHILE
6.3 COQUIMBO, CHILE
2/9/16 -
5.1 KURIL ISLANDS
5.0 CARLSBERG RIDGE
5.3 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.0 NEAR COAST OF NICARAGUA
5.2 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.2 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 BISMARCK SEA
5.2 SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND
2/8/16 -
5.3 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.4 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.3 TONGA
5.0 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
6.5 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
2/7/16 -
5.1 ROTA REGION, N. MARIANA ISLANDS
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.8 TONGA
2/6/16 -
5.1 FIJI REGION
5.5 FIJI REGION
2/5/16 -
6.3 TAIWAN
5.0 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
5.3 XIZANG-NEPAL BORDER REGION
5.0 VANUATU
5.0 OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILE
5.2 OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILE
5.3 LUZON, PHILIPPINES
Canada - People in southwestern New Brunswick have been rattled by a 'swarm' of earthquakes over the past few days. The village of McAdam has been particularly hard-hit by the swarm, which intensified in early February. The strongest tremor has only been Magnitude 3.3, but the quakes are occurring at a very shallow depth of one or two kilometres, enough to knock plates off of cupboards and crack windows.
Earthquakes Canada lists a little more than 20 such quakes, but there have been many more that have not been strong enough to register on seismographs. Some estimates point to 20 to 30 small quakes on Monday night, with many of them not picked up by monitoring equipment located in another location 95 km away.
"Many people describe it like an explosion, almost, it's so quick." Monday night was particularly active, with more than a dozen quakes. "Most of the community did not sleep very well, and there was a lot of apprehension on Tuesday."
Officials from Earthquakes Canada were in the village Thursday, setting up more seismographic equipment to track the quakes. Even though there is a 95 per cent chance no major earthquake is looming, village officials have been circulating instructions on what to do in the event of one, and has an emergency plan on the books. Most of the small quakes have all been within 5 km of McAdam, and are a continuation of similar 'swarm' activity that happened in the area in 2012, and again for a brief period in late 2015. Carroll said the current spate has been stronger than past ones.
That kind of stop-start activity isn't unusual for earthquake swarms, which can last for days, weeks or months. They also aren't a reliable indicator of future quakes in the region. "Each swarm is unique and the future size and frequency of earthquake activity in the region cannot be predicted. The current earthquake swarm is a reminder that earthquakes can occur in this region, and a larger earthquake, while unlikely, cannot be ruled out. The best advice, as always, is to know what to do before, during and after an earthquake."
Canada's West Coast borders the seismically active Cascadia Subduction Zone, where a Magnitude 9.0 quake occurred off the coast of B.C. in 1700, devastating First Nations communities in the area. However, Canada's eastern half is far from the edge of continental plates, and earthquakes in that area are relatively rare. Nevertheless, the East Coast does get the occasional tremor. In 1929, a Magnitude 7.2 quake off the coast of Newfoundland triggered a tsunami that killed 28 people.
A strong 6.5 earthquake near an eastern Indonesian island knocked out telephone, radio communications and roads late on Friday, but there were no reported casualties. Roads suffered the most damage.
Big quake may be coming to Edmond, Oklahoma City area , experts say.
VOLCANOES -
A volcano in southwest Japan is showing increasing signs of activity - Officials say tremors are shaking Mount Ioyama on the border of Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures. They say that's a sign of magma and gas moving underground. They've also detected swelling on the peak's northwest side. Workers placed cameras to monitor changes in gas and heat and officials are warning an eruption could take place at any time.
Guatemala's Fire Volcano spews ash on nearby towns - A restive volcano near Guatemala's capital spewed ash on nearby towns Wednesday, 10 February, including on a colonial-era city popular with tourists. The overnight eruption of Fuego Volcano sent ash billowing up to five kilometers into the sky and rivers of lava up to two kilometers long.
Light tremors were also felt up to 25 kilometers away. Strong gusts of wind could carry the clouds of "fine ash particles" to Guatemala City, 45 kilometers distant. But thus far authorities were maintaining a yellow alert and were not ordering evacuations. However schools in the vicinity were ordered closed. The ash had so far fallen on three towns - including Antigua Guatemala, a small, UNESCO-listed city dating back nearly five centuries and which served as the capital until the 18th century.
While the Super Bowl Was Being Played, Three Different Volcanoes Erupted - all in different countries. Soputan in Indonesia provided the largest spectacle of the trio. Restless since the middle of 2015, Soputan produced a lava fountain that left ash hazards for residents near the vent. The blast plume reached heights of 8,200 feet, and exclusion zones reached as wide as 4 miles outside the volcano.
In Guatemala, Santiaguito produced several impressive explosions that blasted ash nearly 19,000 feet high. The ash from those eruptions prompted nearby areas to post both aviation and respiratory/water alerts. The eruptions could be heard from over 15 miles away.
Turrialba in Costa Rica produced an eruption that only lasted 10 minutes and reached 1,600 feet at the peak of its plume, but the ash it generated was exceptionally thick. Strong winds surrounding the volcano brought the ash into a widespread area. Turrialba's last eruption occurred in October of 2015.
TROPICAL STORMS -
* In the Southern Pacific -
- Tropical cyclone Winston was located approximately 446 nm southwest of Suva, Fiji.
- Tropical cyclone Tatiana was located approximately 362 nm west-northwest of Noumea, New Caledonia.
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Tropical Cyclone Tatiana intensifies, may bring dangerous swell to Queensland, Australia coast. Tropical Cyclone Tatiana may cause an increase in easterly swells on beaches south of Fraser Island on Sunday and Monday. Queensland's first cyclone of the season poses no immediate threat to the coast but may whip up dangerous swells for south-east beaches early next week.
Warnings as cyclone nears Vanuatu's south - Tropical cyclone Winson continues to pass through the Pacific and is expected to pass close to the Vanuatu islands of Tanna, Erromango and Aneityum.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Blizzard causes worst flooding in NYC since Hurricane Sandy - This week's blizzard caused the worst flooding to hit the Rockaways since Hurricane Sandy devastated the same area in 2012.
Flooding rain, damaging winds aim for western Europe into Saturday - Storms will take aim at western Europe into this weekend, returning the danger of flooding rain and damaging winds.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
Polar Vortex to Bring 'Coldest Air for More Than a Decade' - The U.S. Northeast is being warned to brace for what could be the coldest temperatures in 10 years.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES -
Severe drought to hit parts of Africa, Central America, Asia till 2017 - Central America, parts of Africa and Asia have been hit by a drought that is generating a severe food crisis.
Papua New Guinea's food bowl all but empty - Drought exacerbated by El Nino pushes already-poor communities in Papua New Guinea to edge of starvation.
10 Million Are Starving In Ethiopia, Facing Worst Drought In Decades. Ethiopia is facing a major food crisis, leaving 10 million hungry.
4 western Montana counties face extreme drought conditions in February.
Arizona - Wildflowers here “may bloom as much as two weeks earlier than they did before 1980,” one flower expert estimates. This week's warm temperatures are mimicking mid to late-April weather, and there were two days near-record highs.
Where did El Nino go? Winter has suddenly switched off the rain and flipped on heat up to 95 degrees in California, raising jitters that the strong El Nino might not be the drought-buster the crispy state had hoped. Heat records have fallen across the West in recent days, from Oregon to Phoenix to Los Angeles. Much of California marked its 10th straight day on Friday without measurable precipitation.
'GLOBAL WEIRDNESS' / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Boston - Wild temperature ride: from subzero to 50 and rain. Bitter weekend cold from the north will be followed by a storm coming up from the south next week. After the Boston area experiences the coldest temperatures in about a decade, a storm will arrive from the south later Monday. Eastern Massachusetts will likely climb toward 50 degrees on Tuesday.
Winters Are Becoming More Rainy Across the U.S. - In many locations across the country, the snow season is getting shorter.
Climate Change Causes Unpredictable Weather Because The Earth Has Tilted On Its Axis? - The words “climate change” makes most people think of global warming and what man has done to cause it. The Inuits live in the arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, and the United States. The Inuit elders claim the sun is higher than it used to be, and it is in a different position. One of the positive things about this change is that it gives the Inuit people longer daylight hours to hunt. The downside of this is that the sun shines at a more direct angle, and it warms the area up faster than it did before.
La Nina expected in next months for the first time since 2012 - Even as the El Nino weather phenomenon continues to impact global temperatures and crops, its counterpart La Nina is increasingly expected to emerge in the coming months for the first time in four years.
The return of La Nina, characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures, is possible later this year, the U.S. government forecaster said Thursday. It joined other forecasters in projecting La Nina could follow on the heels of one of the strongest El Ninos on record. When La Nina last appeared from August 2011 to March 2012, it hurt corn and soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil, brought the worst drought in a century to Texas and increased the number of storms that threatened U.S. coastal regions, like Hurricane Irene.
Energy and agricultural commodities have been roiled by the current and much-watched El Nino, which involves a pattern of warmer ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific every few years. Over the last year, El Nino has parched fields in the Philippines and Indonesia, brought unseasonable rains to areas of South America, driven up global food prices, and caused flash floods in Somalia that destroyed thousands of homes. El Nino is likely to keep affecting temperature and precipitation patterns across the United States in the upcoming months.
SPACE WEATHER -
Bright fireball over Southern California morning sky - More than 65 witnesses have reported a large blue-green fireball over southern california on Februray 11th around 6:35am PT (14:35 UT).
Medium-Sized Asteroid Hit Could Unleash Ice Age - It would be cold, it would be dry, it would be unpleasant.
HEALTH THREATS -
RECALLS & ALERTS
Creeping paralysis: Possible link to Zika virus - The Zika virus has moved north to Colombia where it is being linked by some doctors to cases of paralysis.
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