**Live life fully while you are here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go wild. Screw up. You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process.**
Anthony Robbins
LARGEST QUAKES so far today, 6.0 or larger -
None.
Earthquake swarm in New Brunswick community starting to settle down - The mayor of a small village in western New Brunswick says the earth - and residents' nerves - are calming down following a recent swarm of earthquakes. While the area is still experiencing tremors, they are nowhere near the strength of a 3.3 magnitude quake that shook homes and broke windows on Feb. 9.
"I think there's somewhat of a calming down over the last couple of weeks. It's almost like the unexpected doesn't happen when you have all the equipment here to monitor everything." Four seismic recording instruments were installed about 10 days ago and they have plotted about 30 minor tremors since then. "This gives us more data that we can work with to try and come up with some answers as to where the possible fault is that's generating the earthquakes and maybe provide some answers on a possible mechanism on what's causing these earthquakes to occur."
The equipment will remain in place for a few months, and scientists would like to get roughly 100 to 200 seismic events to have enough data. It's not possible to say if the tremors will continue. "Each swarm of activity is unique and these fluctuations in the size of the events and the frequency of the events, really it's not possible for us to come up with answers as to what's going to happen in the future."
An earthquake swarm occurs when numerous quakes happen in the same area over a short period of time. The McAdam area experienced a succession of earthquakes in the days before and since the 3.3 magnitude event, which broke windows and shook items off shelves.
This month's earthquakes were much stronger than those experienced in 2012 and again in 2015, but residents are somewhat reassured that the strongest quakes were centred northwest of the village. Asimilar earthquake swarm was recorded in neighbouring Maine about 10 years ago. Earthquake swarms may be occurring more often than we realize, but this one was felt because it was so close to homes in McAdam.
VOLCANOES -
Powerful volcano eruption in the Philippines - Footage has emerged from Philippines of the Bulusan Volcano eruption this week.
TROPICAL STORMS -
* In the Southern Pacific -
Tropical cyclone Winston is located approximately 404 nm southwest of Suva, Fiji.
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Cyclone Winston: Fears for isolated Fiji communities as death toll jumps - The death toll in Fiji has jumped to 42 amid fears for remote areas and islands yet to be reached by relief teams, days after a devastating cyclone. Cyclone Winston, thought to be one of the strongest storms to hit the Southern Hemisphere, left 8,500 sheltering in evacuation centres.
Teams are still being deployed. Officials said they met "grim images of devastation" on reaching Koro island. The Red Cross has warned that the toll could still rise further. The powerful cyclone, which struck last weekend, brought winds of over 320km/h (200mph), torrential rain and waves of up to 12m (40ft), flattening many buildings in parts of the main Viti Levu island and Koro islands.
It has been described by the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation as the worst to ever hit the country. The damage in remote outlying areas - so far seen only from the air - is reported to be especially bad. Pictures taken from Koro on Tuesday showed battered and demolished homes on the island Communication with many smaller and remote islands in the Pacific nation of 900,000 people have been down since the cyclone hit.
The death toll numbers "will continue to change as we have better access to information and establish communications". Officials are also warning of the threat of dengue and zika spreading, as both viruses are carried by mosquitoes which can breed in stagnant water left by the storm. The government has also advised families to bury or cremate the dead as soon as possible because of a lack of facilities for storing bodies.
Power is gradually being restored in the the main centres but mortuaries are still without electricity. Though the devastation has been described as "catastrophic", officials have also said the destruction could have been far worse had the storm not changed direction at the last minute, sparing the capital Suva its full impact.
Drone footage shows the extent of damage left by Cyclone Winston in Fiji over the weekend. Houses are seen to be destroyed and trees are strewn over the ladnscape after the storm brought power and communication lines down. Officials say at least 29 people have died as authorities and aid workers race to provide emergency supplies to survivors.
Cyclone Winston: Frustration grows as help fails to reach devastated communities in Fiji - There is growing frustration among Fijians who say they are yet to receive any help after a devastating cyclone struck the country on the weekend. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed in Rakiraki, a major town on the north coast of Fiji's main island Viti Levu, and 500 have been partially damaged. The town looks like a bomb had gone off, with barely a building left unscathed. Despite the devastation, the only sign of any aid relief is coming from the business community, which has handed out free cartons of water along Viti Levu's north coast. Authorities are yet to make contact with smaller islands impacted by the cyclone.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Three dead as tornadoes hit southern US - At least 7 tornadoes lashed Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida Tuesday, destroying homes and businesses. The deaths occurred when mobile homes were destroyed in Louisiana and Mississippi, officials said. Meteorologists said the storm system could hit Alabama and Georgia later on Wednesday.
Two people died at a trailer park in Convent, southern Louisiana, where 90% of the homes were destroyed. "These travel trailers were picked up, thrown a considerable distance and just mangled." The governor said it was a "minor miracle" that more people had not been killed because most of the trailers were occupied when the storm hit.
At least 30 people were taken to hospital in the state, most of them from the trailer park. The other death occurred near the southern Mississippi town of Purvis. A tornado was also reported in the northern Florida town of Pensacola. Local media reported that three buildings in an apartment complex had been badly damaged and thousands of people in the region were without power.
'GLOBAL WEIRDNESS' / CLIMATE CHANGE -
There are very few periods in New England weather when the line “the weather’s been anything but typical” doesn’t apply. Even by this region's standards, the recent temperature changes have been extremely extreme. Researchers would need to do a statistical analysis of the most recent fluctuations to see just how out of the ordinary they are, but some research shows the temperature extremes, especially on the warmer side, are becoming more frequent.
Ten days ago, temperatures in Boston reached record cold levels we haven’t seen in half a century. This was followed a few days later by readings in the 50s. This past weekend, temperatures were averaging 10 to 15 degrees outside the typical range. Over half of the days this month have seen temperatures over 10 degrees above or below average: in other words, more evidence of wild swings. Much of New England has seen a similar pattern this winter.
In 2013, a study published looked at recent trends in winter temperature extremes in Eastern China and their relationship with the Arctic Oscillation, or AO, and El Nino/Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. The study found that, since the mid 1980s, parts of China were seeing more extremes during the winter, some of which may be connected to both oscillations. This year, both ENSO and the AO have been at the more extreme ends of the scale. There is likely a connection between what we have observed this winter and those atmospheric players.
This Incredible 'Boiling River' Is A Scientific Enigma - Hidden deep in the Amazon, this river "is a reminder that there are still great wonders to be discovered."
Located in a forest region called Mayantuyacu, the sacred boiling river, which is guarded by a shaman, flows hot - between 120 and 196 degrees Fahrenheit - for almost 4 miles and is about as wide as a two-lane road. While boiling rivers do exist in the world, they are usually found close to active volcanos. This river is especially remarkable because it runs more than 400 miles from the nearest active volcano - the only non-volcanic river known to boil on Earth.
SPACE WEATHER -
Large space rock burns up over Atlantic - The biggest fireball since the Chelyabinsk explosion has plunged through the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean. The event, which has only just come to light, occurred off the coast of Brazil at 13:55 GMT on 6 February. As it burned up, the space rock released the equivalent of 13,000 tonnes of TNT.
This makes it the most powerful event of its kind since an object exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013. That blast was much bigger, releasing the equivalent of 500,000 tonnes of TNT. More than 1,000 people were injured in that incident on 15 February three years ago, most from flying glass from shattered windows.
But the fireball over the Atlantic probably went unnoticed; it burnt up about 30km above the ocean surface, 1,000km off the Brazilian coast. Measurements suggest that about 30 small asteroids (between 1m and 20m in size) burn up in the Earth's atmosphere every year. Because most of the Earth's surface is covered by water, most of these fall over the ocean and do not affect populated areas.
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