Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sorry for late, short update - connection troubles.
Hurricane Takes Down Big Websites - The biggest casualty? Datagram, the Internet service provider based in New York City that powers news sites like Gawker.com, Huffingtonpost.com, and Buzzfeed.com. When its servers went down on Monday night due to flooding, the sites it powered went down with it. "Unfortunately, within a couple hours of the storm hitting Manhattan's shores, the building's entire basement, which houses the building's fuel tank pumps and sump pumps, was completely filled with water and a few feet into the lobby."
The latest Sandy images and videos

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


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

This morning -
None 5.0 or larger.

Yesterday -
10/30/12 -
5.2 OFF E. COAST OF N. ISLAND, New Zealand
5.1 TONGA
5.2 NEW BRITAIN REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS REGION
5.1 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS REGION
6.2 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS

Another earthquake rattles British Columbia coast - The 6.2 tremor came as questions are being raised about the B.C. government's response to the weekend earthquake off the northwest coast, after officials took more than half an hour to issue a tsunami warning.

BC earthquake causing concern in Washington - At the Seismology Lab at the University of Washington, there is concern that the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred on the British Columbia coast over the weekend could affect Washington. “Earthquakes trigger more earthquakes."

TROPICAL STORMS -
In the East Pacific -
- Tropical storm Rosa was located about 795 mi. [1285 km] SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In the Western Pacific -
- Typhoon Son-Tinh was located approximately 35 nm south-southwest of Chennai, India. The final warning has been issued on this system. The system would be closely monitored for signs of regeneration.

The mayor says the NYC Marathon will go on as planned on Sunday despite Superstorm Sandy's devastation.
There has been a post-hurricane run on Manhattan banks - by people desperate to withdraw electricity, not cash. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and thousands of tourists trapped in the great Sandy blackout are all desperate to get power to charge up mobile phones and laptops.
Any spare plug in bank lobbies, pharmacies, 24 hour delis and bars has come under assault from the masses who have been starved of power since superstorm Sandy hit the city on Monday night. There was a power grab at bank lobbies across Manhattan where the queues are normally for automatic cash dispensers. People sat on suitcases tapping on their computers. Bank lobbies have been packed through the night every night since the storm. "But we don't mind. People are suffering, a lot of our own staff are suffering. Since the storm a lot of people have been coming here at night because there is light and warmth. It is really cold outside."
More than 230,000 homes are without power in Manhattan. Most of the lower part of the island has been blacked out since Monday night and the crisis for these people is likely to last until the end of the week. "It is a lifeline. I have no candles left and it is pretty grim in the southern part after dark." One deli looked like a camp site. Suitcases, handbags, laptops brought by the storm's refugees were scattered across the 10 tables. Its owner said, "I would not normally allow this kind of mess, but this has been an extraordinary week."
New York commuters walk, bike and fume amid post-Sandy snarls - New York City commuters endured hours-long bus trips and bumper-to-bumper traffic on Wednesday as the city struggled to fix a crippled subway system and get back to business in the wake of mega-storm Sandy.
New Jersey's barrier islands are scenes of devastation - New Jersey's delicate barrier islands, long and slender strips of land cherished by generations of sunbathing vacationers and full-time residents alike, are a hazardous wasteland of badly eroded shore, ruined beachfront homes.

AMAZING ICE HALO DISPLAY - Yesterday, sky watchers around the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, witnessed something amazing: A complex network of luminous arcs and rings surrounded the afternoon sun. "I've never seen anything quite like it," says the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. The apparition is almost certainly connected to hurricane Sandy. The core of the storm swept well north of Alabama, but Sandy's outer bands did pass over the area, leaving behind a thin haze of ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Sunlight shining through the crystals produced an UNUSUALLY rich variety of ice halos.
"By my count, there are two sun dogs, a 22o halo, a parahelic circle, an upper tangent arc, and a parry arc. It was amazing." "Very impressive. This was a ONCE-IN-A-DECADE EVENT for our area." If the display really was a result of Sandy, sky watchers might not have to wait a decade for the next show. Some researchers believe that superstorms will become more common in the years ahead as a result of climate change, creating new things both terrible and beautiful to see overhead. Sky watchers in the storm zone should remain alert for the unusual. [ Photo]