Monday, June 11, 2012

No update on Tuesday this week.

**Try to purchase all the tickets in the lottery,
and you lose for certain;
and the greater the number of your tickets
the nearer your approach to this certainty.**
Adam Smith


LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)

This morning -
5.7 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
5.4 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN

Yesterday -
6/10/12 -
5.0 PAGAN REG., N. MARIANA ISLANDS
6.0 DODECANESE ISLANDS, GREECE
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

5.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Greek islands - A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Dodecanese Islands in Greece Sunday. The earthquake hit at 3.44pm local time, at a depth of 12.7 miles (20.4km).
Six injured as the quake shook southwest Turkey Sunday - The quake struck off the coast of the Mediterranean province of Mugla, a popular destination for foreign tourists. A few buildings were damaged. The 6.0-magnitude quake was registered at 15.45 pm local time. The tremor lasted about 30 seconds.

Taiwan - Biggest quake in two years. Taiwan's two major science parks have emerged unscathed from a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that shook eastern Taiwan at about 5 am Sunday about 50 kilometers east of the town of Su-ao. On Wednesday a quake of 5.7 magnitude hit Taiwan.

VOLCANOES -
Volcano Webcams

Guatemala - Fuego volcano erupts. The volcano on Sunday erupted effusively, according to seismic recordings and the images received from a camera at the observatory.

Underwater volcano gave off warning ahead of deep-sea eruption - An underwater volcano gave off clear signals well before its outburst last year that it would erupt, findings that could help forecast such eruptions in the future, researchers say. Submarine eruptions account for about three-quarters of all of Earth's volcanic eruptions. The undersea volcano located some 250 miles off the Oregon coast gave off clear signals just hours before its 2011 eruption. The team of scientists last year created waves by correctly forecasting the 2011 eruption of Axial Seamount years in advance.

TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Western Pacific -
Tropical depression 05w (five) was located approximately 330 nm south-southeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

93E still organizing in Eastern Pacific - The incipient tropical disturbance, Invest 93E, is still organizing as it is expected to become a tropical cyclone in the coming days. The disturbance is located several hundred miles southwest of Mexico's Pacific coast.

SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -

RECORD RAINFALL inundates U.S. central Gulf coast - Flooding is just part of the story across the country, where spreading wildfires and extreme heat ini the West are adding to a weekend of wild weather. Torrential rains could help firefighting efforts. But the rain is falling somewhere else, in the South, as much as a foot in some places, triggering states of emergency along the Florida Panhandle. Roads are washed out, and power lines knocked down, all the way to Mobile, Alabama. Meteorologists say there is more to come. Another foot-and-a-half of rain was expected Sunday night.

Australia - The storms that battered Western Australia have caused UNPRECEDENTED damage to the electricity network and some homes could be without power for a week. Early this morning 110,000 customers remained without power, while 50,000 were brought back on line overnight. "We now think that this is the most extensive and widespread damage the network has ever experienced from one single storm. We have about 1500 jobs on the system that need attending to - several hundred power lines ... (and) individual customer home wires that have been brought down."
Wind gusts consistent with a category-two cyclone, winds reaching 140km/h, lashed Perth and the South West of the state, with the Busselton Jetty recording gusts in excess of 135km/h late yesterday. Bunbury recorded winds in excess of 110km/h. About 30 sets of traffic lights are out.
Damaging winds and flash flooding are expected to continue to hit parts of the northern New South Wales coast, while heavy rains are forcing delays in the state's major transport corridors. Sydney and other coastal regions were drenched following some of the heaviest rain in months. A total of 73mm of rain fell in the 24 hours to 9am, making it the wettest June day in five years. That was followed by even more rain over the rest of the public holiday. "With the heavy rainfall expected to continue for the next few days it is important for all motorists to take extreme caution when driving to ensure they return home safely."
"Thankfully, we've had no flood rescues as it appears people are heeding warnings." However, the worst of the conditions are expected to move north, with a high pressure system moving towards northwestern NSW expected to deliver heavy showers and thunderstorms over the Northern Rivers, and peak gusts of up to 90km/h over Lord Howe Island. The Bureau has issued flash flooding warnings between Cape Byron and Grafton and forecasted swells to continue.

Flood and storm warnings in England and Wales - Severe weather warnings of heavy rain, and flood alerts, are in place across parts of England and Wales. The Environment Agency has issued alerts warning of possible flooding in 31 areas - 21 in south-east England, three in Wales and others in the Midlands and parts of northern England. The Met Office warned of heavy rain in London and south and east England.
On Saturday about 1,000 people were moved to safety from flooding in mid Wales, with an estimated 150 rescued. BBC Weather said rain would affect many southern, central and south-eastern parts of England overnight and become persistent and very heavy in places, particularly in the South East. It said further outbreaks of rain would affect parts of Scotland.
The flood alerts only mean that floods are possible and there are no flood warnings in place at the moment. In West Sussex, about 40 properties as well as the basement of Worthing Hospital were flooded. Most of the water had been pumped out of the basement by Monday morning. The latest warnings follows a weekend of heavy rain and flooding, mainly focused on Wales. However, flash flooding also caused the closure of the M1 in West Yorkshire on Sunday night, although the sections affected later reopened. At the height of the flooding in mid Wales on Saturday about 1,000 people were moved to safety, many of them from caravan parks, as flood waters swept in. Householders started to return to properties to survey the damage on Sunday, although they have been warned to be careful when returning to their homes.
Elsewhere on Sunday, villagers at Pennal, Gwynedd, were evacuated because of the risk of flooding from a reservoir, after a slight breach in its dam, before being told it was safe to return. Police said a controlled release of water from a disused quarry had eased pressure on a wall.

EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT -

New Mexico, Colorado fires spread; hundreds evacuated. New Mexico's Governor has deployed the National Guard to fight the massive Little Bear fire. Officials there evacuated residents from rapidly approaching firefronts, even using helicopters to airlift them to safety. The blaze consumed at least a dozen structures, and burnt telephone poles to the ground, making it harder for firefighters to coordinate. "We are really in a black kind of communications hole right now." Officials set up emergency shelters for those who might lose everything. The worst may still be ahead. Forecasters are calling for more dry and windy weather. The favorable fire conditions are also worrying residents in northern Colorado, where a huge wildfire has caused several dozen evacuation orders.