Featured Disasters from July to December 2003
January through June 2003
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
*Authorities in California are warning people living in the San
Bernardino mountains to brace for more rain and possible
flooding and more mudslides.
*Three people have been killed and another three injured in an
avalanche on New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki-Mt Cook.
*British Columbia's disastrous year of fire, flood and drought
topped a list of Canada's worst weather events of 2003.
*In Victoria, Australia they can breathe easier after sweltering
through one of the hottest Decembers on record.
*The death toll in the Iranian quake may top 50,000. Rescue
workers are pleading for help for the living amid fear that disease
could spread among survivors living in tents.
*A year after the anomalous wave caused by the detachment of lava
material along the Sciara del fuoco, the crater of Stromboli volcano
has intensified its activity, launching scoriae and lapilli. Technicians
and volcano experts, who are constantly monitoring Stromboli,
have said that the situation is not alarming.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
*Relief teams in Iran are focusing on caring for those made
homeless by last week's earthquake, as hopes fade of
finding more survivors.
*A baby girl cradled in her dead mother's arms was rescued
from the rubble of a collapsed building in Bam - a rare moment
of joy amid the devastation of Iran's earthquake.
It was the world's most lethal quake in at least 10 years.
*The number killed in mudslides which hit two California holiday
camps rose to 14 after rescuers found five more bodies.
*Beagle 2 may have fallen down a crater near its landing site
on Mars, scientists on the project claim.
*Ships' logs from two centuries ago are helping researchers
to understand how today's climate is changing.
*In Australia, a break in the drought and good late season rains
have created perfect conditions for another farming
problem - swarms of locusts.
Monday, December 29, 2003
*Widespread looting is hampering international efforts to deliver
aid to the south-east Iranian city of Bam and to prevent disease
spreading after the massive earthquake.
Three people were killed when an Iranian navy helicopter crashed
just outside Bam after delivering aid to the south-eastern city.
Some 600 prisoners are on the run in the southeastern Iranian
city of Bam after their jail crumbled in the massive earthquake.
The quake death toll currently stands at 22,000.
*On September 19th landslides caused by a freak rainstorm
devastated the area of Erris in Ireland. They rank among the worst
natural disasters ever to befall a west of Ireland community.
Residents remain displaced or in danger as tracts of earth could
rip away from the rock above them and careen towards their
homes at any minute.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
* Tropical storm Zigzag threatens to hit parts of the Philippines
that are still recovering from landslides and floods that have left
an estimated 200 people dead or missing.
*The fault system that caused this week's deadly earthquake in
central California is still active. Aftershocks could continue for
months and maybe even up to a year, according to experts.
There is also a good chance that more severe aftershocks could
come in the next week. Tuesday's quake was the state's first
deadly quake since 1994.
*A magnitude 5.0 earthquake off the coast of Oregon has
occurred 370 km (230 miles) WSW of Salem, Oregon.
* 3.9 & 3.4 quakes have occurred in Colorado.
*In Iran entire blocks of buildings lay crushed and survivors lined
up blanket-wrapped bodies in the street after the devastating
earthquake leveled nearly three-quarters of the town of Bam.
Survivors were panicked throughout the day by aftershocks,
including one that registered a magnitude of 5.3.
*Iran fears that the quake death toll could top 40,000.
*Major earthquakes since 1923.
*A 7.0-magnitude quake struck off the east coast of the French
island of New Caledonia yesterday. There were no immediate reports
of damage or casualties on the Pacific Ocean island, located
1,240 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. Other strong
quakes ( 6.5, 6.0, 6.7 & 6.1 ) hit the same sea area on Thursday
and Friday without causing any damage. The 7.0 quake has been
followed by a 6.8 quake.
*Two women who died in a bushfire in Western Australia's
south-west after abandoning their vehicle were just 150 metres
away from a dam full of water. The women, who became
disoriented in the intense heat and smoke, left their dog behind
in the car yesterday. It survived the bushfire.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
*At least 25,000 people perished in the earthquake that devastated
southeast Iran, including 5000 who have already been buried
and 20,000 still under the rubble. More than 50,000 injured.
* Help is being offered from around the world for the quake victims.
*The death toll in catastrophic mudslides in southern California
rose to seven, with nine more missing in the debris. The
mudslides swept over a Greek Orthodox youth camp, trapping
24 people as heavy rains triggered flooding in areas ravaged by
deadly wildfires last month.
*An avalanche has swept at least five snowboarders down a
northern Utah canyon hit by a heavy snowstorm - 3 are feared dead.
*In California, Yosemite National Park officials are assessing the
damage done by an early-morning rockslide that injured four people.
At least six structures were damaged when the rocks slid from a cliff
below Glacier Point, one of valley's most popular scenic spots.
*Canada's cold weather headed south to Texas this Christmas,
leaving the large land mass virtually snowfree and unseasonably wet.
Friday, December 26, 2003
*A major 6.7 earthquake hit southeast Iran early today killing
"very many" people and destroying the historic quarter
of the city of Bam. Damage is widespread. Since 1991
nearly 1000 tremors have claimed some 17,600 lives and
injured 53,000 people in Iran.
*A strong 6.3 earthquake shook the border of Costa Rica and
Panama early Thursday, killing an infant and leaving dozens of
others with mainly minor injuries.
*While Paso Robles felt the brunt of the 6.5 San Simeon
earthquake, other communities throughout the county experienced
damage as well.
* On December 23rd in 1972, a two-hour earthquake measuring 6.5
ripped through the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Whole communities
were wiped out as an estimated 80% of buildings were flattened.
Ten thousand people died and the earthquake sparked huge fires
causing fears that those who survived the initial quake might not
escape the flames.
*A mission to study the effects of the Sun on the Earth's
environment will blast-off on December 27.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
*The U.S. Geological Survey warns that the California area
might yet be hit by an even stronger aftershock. In a statement
they said: "At this time, the probability of a strong and possibly
damaging 5.0+ aftershock in the next seven days is greater than
90 per cent. Most likely, the recent mainshock will be the largest
in the sequence. However, there is a small chance - approximately
5 to 10 per cent - of an earthquake equal to or larger than this
mainshock in the next seven days. In addition, approximately
120 to 200 small aftershocks are expected in the
same seven-day period." Within an hour of the initial earthquake,
30 aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 or greater were recorded in
the region, including one at 4.7.
* Heavy rain threatened to trigger more mudslides in the
Philippines yesterday, compounding a disaster that has buried
several villages and left at least 127 people dead and 80 missing.
*More than 2,500 people are likely to have died in the past week
in England and Wales as a direct result of cold weather.
*Soot has a greater effect on climate than we realise, and
cutting levels could slow climate change, a study says.
Soot blocks snow and ice from reflecting sunlight, contributing
to up to a quarter of observed global warming over the
past 100 years.
*A parasitic disease that is deadly if left untreated is sweeping
through parts of south Sudan, doctors fear.
*A moderate 5.5 magnitude earthquake rattled El Salvador
Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of
injuries or damages.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
*Buildings from San Francisco to Los Angeles swayed in the
6.5 quake in California. Two women were crushed to death
by falling debris in the wine-making town of Paso Robles.
The quake struck in a known fault zone on a series of faults
that run parallel to the San Andreas Fault. It was the most
powerful quake to strike California since a 7.1 quake rocked
the desert near Joshua Tree more than four years ago in 1999.
The last one of a similar size in this coastal area was in 1952.
A similar-sized earthquake located under a city such as Los
Angeles could have done billions of dollars worth of damage.
There is nothing to suggest a bigger quake is immediately
expected, but the chances of the region experiencing a
bigger earthquake in the future are now higher than before
the latest earthquake struck.
*Largest of the 80+ aftershocks in California:
4.7, 4.4, 4.0, 4.6, 4.0, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.3, 4.1, 4.2,
4.1, 4.3, 4.2 (most recent).
* Snow blizzards wreaked havoc yesterday in Denmark, Finland
and Sweden, leaving at least two dead, 100,000 households
without power and causing major delays in air, road and rail traffic.
*A strong Atlantic cold front and an area of low pressure combined
to produce days of heavy rains that led to flood damage, mudslides
and two fatalities along the Caribbean coastline of Costa Rica.
*Western Australia's Kimberley region has been put on flood alert,
with ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie expected to dump up to
200mm of rain within 48 hours.
*Rescuers in the Philippines are searching for a ferry caught in
rough seas, days after mudslides caused by rain killed
up to 200 people.
Monday, December 22, 2003
*At least two are dead in the 6.5 earthquake that has rocked
California's central coast and which shook the state from
Los Angeles to San Francisco, collapsing old downtown
buildings in the small town of Paso Robles.
*At least one person is killed as a strong 6.5 earthquake shakes
coastal cities in central and southern California.
*A two-story building in the California town of Paso Robles
collapsed when an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter
scale shook the area, trapping two people.
*At least 50 aftershocks so far between
San Francisco and Los Angeles.
*The Philippines has asked the U.S. to send helicopters to
help rescue those still missing after Friday's landslides.
*The San Andreas and neighboring faults near Los Angeles
interact in surprising, and, in some cases, potentially dangerous
ways, according to an article by U.S. Geological Survey scientists.
A total of 75 million Americans in 39 states are at risk from
damaging earthquakes.
*An earthquake with an estimated 5.2 magnitude shook the centre
of New Zealand's North Island but caused no injuries
or reported damage.
*An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale jolted
Taiwan Sunday, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
The quake follows a 6.6-Richter scale earthquake on December 10
which was the most powerful to have hit the island this year but
which caused only minor damage and injuries in southern Taiwan.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
*At least 200 people now have been killed or are feared dead
in the series of landslides that hit the central and southern
Philippines over the weekend.
*Almost exactly 29 years after cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin,
Australia, the Top End capital was on cyclone watch in the wake
of the category-three Debbie.
*Quakes in California:
12/18 San Francisco 3.1 & 2.8
12/19 Los Angeles 3.0
Northern 3.3
12/20 Central 4.1
*California-sized cracks in our planet's magnetic field can remain
open for hours, allowing the solar wind to gush through and power
stormy space weather - according to new observations from
Earth-orbiting satellites.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
*As many as 96 people were killed or are feared dead after
landslides hit the central Philippine island of Leyte.
*In Australia the Northern Territory communities are bracing
for 220kph winds and flooding from tropical cyclone Debbie,
which has been upgraded to category three.
Friday, December 19, 2003
*The whole north coast of the Northern Territory of Australia
is now on tropical cyclone watch. While Cyclone Debbie
is only category one, with wind gusts of about 100 km/h, gales
may develop within 24 hours.
*This winter it may not seem true, but research shows that
snow has become a rare sight during the December holidays.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
*Reduced solar activity in the 17th Century may be the
reason for the perfect sound of Stradivarius violins.
The Sun's declining output resulted in colder winters and cooler
summers. This produced slower tree growth which in turn led to
denser wood with superior acoustical properties - circumstances
not repeated since.
*Every winter for the last few years there have been reports of
blocks of ice mysteriously falling from the sky. Many of them are
large enough to crash through the roofs of houses. Many weigh 25
to 35 pounds, but one found in Brazil weighed 440 pounds. Last
year an ice block "half the size of a car" crashed through the roof
of an automobile dealership in Lawrenceville, Georgia. If formation
is linked to global warming, as is suspected, then it is fair to assume
that these events may increase in the future.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
*50 people have now been reported dead in the cyclone
in southern India.
*A scientist has linked the famous `Scream' painting to a
devastating volcano. Norwegian artist Edvard Munch painted
the blood-red skies of "The Scream" long after seeing a twilight
tinged by the erupting Krakatau volcano.
*Despite the summer's widespread heatwaves, 2003 looks likely
to have been only the fifth warmest year in the UK, and the
third warmest globally since records began in 1861.
The summer over much of central Europe was the warmest
ever recorded, since 1500. The best estimated forecast for
2004 is a global temperature increase between 0.38 and 0.62 C,
which would make next year the second warmest recorded.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
*A powerful cyclone hit India's southern coast early today,
killing at least 11 people.
*A U.S. Nasa satellite launched early this year and designed
to measure the world's ice sheets, is showing novel maps of
Antarctica and Greenland in remarkable detail. The
Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets cover 10% of Earth's land
area. Even a small variation in their average thickness affects sea
level, but glaciologists do not even know whether these massive
blocks of ice are expanding or shrinking.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
*The Hawaiian Islands are home to the largest documented shoreline
collapse in history, an ancient seaward landslide that sent rocks
from the island of Oahu to sites more than 100 miles offshore.
The avalanche of debris from the northeast shore of Oahu probably
occurred between 1.5 and 3 million years ago, and it undoubtedly
created one of the largest tsunamis in Earth's history, a wave large
enough to inundate every coastline of the northern Pacific Ocean.
*Three houses were destroyed and hundreds of people were
evacuated from their homes today after brush fires swept through
a rural area about 25km west of Christchurch, New Zealand's
largest South Island city.
*Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is holding its breath
as Mount Nyiragango volcano is releasing massive gas emissions.
International scientists warn that the feisty volcano could blow
at any time. When the volcano blows, the lava could gush from
underneath the city's rutted streets, giving residents practically
no time to flee. "It will be a catastrophe - no possibility of escape."
Saturday, December 13, 2003
*The annual Geminid meteor shower is underway, and forecasters
expect it to peak this weekend. Go outside tonight around 9:30 p.m.
local time and watch the sky until midnight or so. During those hours
the moon won't be too high or glaring, and you could see
dozens of meteors.
*Tiny ground movements that occur too gradually to be
seen by the human eye can nevertheless be detected by
ESA satellites looking down to Earth from 800 km away.
At a workshop in Italy last week, researchers explained how
they are using this ability to monitor volcanoes and earthquake
zones, observe urban subsidence and measure the slow flow
of glaciers. Data collected on Mt. Etna shows that the volcano
appears to alternately inflate and deflate depending on the
pressure of its underground magma chamber, and a gravity-driven
spreading movement has also been observed. Using the data in
animation, the volcano appears as if breathing.
*On Tuesday double earthquakes registering magnitudes of 4.5 hit
central Virginia, rumbling their way from Maryland to North
Carolina. It was the state's strongest earthquake in more than a
century. The state's strongest earthquake was recorded in 1897.
With a magnitude of between 5 and 6, the earthquake rippled
from Pennsylvania to Georgia, knocking down chimneys and
damaging houses.
Friday, December 12, 2003
*The health of millions will be damaged if temperatures continue
to rise globally over the next 20 years, say experts. Global
climate change killed about 150,000 people in 2000 and deaths
could double in the next 30 years if warming trends continue.
*Russia must wait years for a full weather monitoring service
to be restored as its last weather satellite fails.
*A powerful earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck
Taiwan on Wednesday. Five quakes with a magnitude of at
least 5.0, as well as some 400 other aftershocks - most of them
unfelt - followed in the seven hours. It was the most powerful
quake to hit the Taitung area of Taiwan in over the past 30 years.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
*A U.N. conference on climate change is told global warming
is already having a dramatic impact on mankind. Natural disasters,
mostly caused by extreme weather, cost more than $60 billion
this year alone. Europe's extreme summer heat wave was the
biggest single event this year - costing more than $10 billion in
agricultural losses alone and killing some 20,000 people.
*Scientists tell the United Nations serious winter storms in
Britain have doubled over the last 50 years.
*Bacteria and viruses that appear to pose little threat to humans
may be on the verge of causing major epidemics, say researchers.
*A strain of bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics has
infected 112 people in French hospitals since this summer
and killed 18 people.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
*Virginia was rattled by a 4.5 earthquake Tuesday that sent
office workers out of their trembling towers but apparently
caused no damage, officials said.
*A sudden storm has lashed the Queensland, Australia city of
Gladstone with large hailstones and flash flooding causing
widespread damage to property.
*The bill for Melbourne's worst thunderstorm in 100 years could
reach the $100 million mark, insurers said today.
*Scientists are flying into the heart of clouds so forecasters can
predict more accurately where and how much rain will fall.
*A microbe found in a vent in the side of Antarctica's only active
volcano, Mount Erebus, could improve the speed of DNA testing.
*Lapland saw one of its hottest summers this year
with temperatures as high as 30 Celsius. Its weather has
become increasingly unpredictable, with 1999 the coldest
winter in the last century when the mercury plummeted to -51 C.
There is hardly any snow so far this winter.
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
*An air search was mounted Monday in Maine for 10 high school
students and two adults on a camping trip who were missing
after the weekend snowstorm that dumped up to 30 inches of
snow on the area. Searchers also were looking for three college
students who went camping for the weekend.
* Global warming could submerge three of India's biggest
cities beneath the sea by 2020 unless the crisis was brought
under control, an Indian scientist warns.
*Climate changes are likely to result in larger and more intense
bushfires in Australia, a bushfire expert has predicted.
*Western Europe may actually get colder as a result of global
warming, because the melting Arctic ice cap is cooling off the
warm ocean current that is largely responsible for Europe's
mild weather, scientists and environmentalists said.
*An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Taiwan
but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
Monday, December 8, 2003
*More than 10,000 people fled their homes as Tropical Storm
Odette hit the Caribbean nation of Dominican Republic.
Two people have been reported to have died.
*Almost two years ago Mount Nyiragongo dramatically erupted,
slicing through Goma in the Congo. Neighbourhoods burned,
petrol stations exploded and the town cathedral was gutted.
Incredibly, only about 100 people died. But the danger has
not gone away, and international scientists have warned that
Nyiragongo could blow again at any time and the next time
the lava could burst from under the town itself, taking thousands
of lives with it. Another, even greater, catastrophe is also possible.
A lava eruption on the bed of Lake Kivu could cause the lake to
"overturn", triggering the release of a lethal gas cloud currently
trapped under water. Potentially 4.5 million lakeside residents
could be smothered by the blanket of methane and carbon dioxide.
*The idea that Yellowstone is "overdue" for a giant eruption is a
"gross overstatement," according to the Web site of the
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. They see no sort of indication
of any sort of impending eruption. A more likely event would
be a magma flow, events which happen all the time around the
world. If the big one does come, it will give warnings and modern
instruments likely will detect it.
Sunday, December 7, 2003
*Thousands of Italian families who live under the shadow of Mount
Vesuvius volcano will soon abandon their homes and relocate to
safer areas. The abandoned homes will be converted into small
hotels and guest houses to accommodate tourists, whose
movements would be easier to manage in case of danger.
Squashed between the volcano and the sea, the danger zone is
home to 600,000 people living in 18 towns within a 4-mile
radius of Vesuvius.
*At least eight people have died in traffic accidents during the
first big winter storm in America's north-east.
* Floods have now driven at least 6000 people from their
homes in north-west Venezuela.
*Eleven people were injured and thousands of people abandoned
their homes Saturday as Tropical Storm Odette lashed the
Dominican Republic with torrential rains. Odette formed Thursday,
four days after the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Saturday, December 6, 2003
* Tropical Storm Odette bore down on Haiti's south coast Friday,
threatening to unleash mudslides and flash floods that often
prove fatal in the impoverished country. Odette is the first
recorded tropical storm to brew in the Caribbean Sea in
December. (Hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30.) It is
also expected to carry torrential rain to the Dominican Republic.
* Flooding caused by 3 days of torrential rain forced the evacuation
of at least 4,000 people in northwest Venezuela.
*More than 27,000 people, including 193 prison inmates, were
evacuated during flooding in southern France in which seven
people died this week, officials in Marseille said today.
*An ambitious project by scientists to drill into California's San
Andreas fault will go ahead thanks to a $20 million grant.
Friday, December 5, 2003
*A major 6.7 earthquake occurred at 21:26:15 (UTC)
today in the Komandorskiye Ostrova, Russian region.
*An increase in the seismic activity of the Koryaksky volcano
was registered in Kamchatka (Russia's Far East). For the first
time in many years a 3.6-strong earthquake was registered
yesterday in the volcano crater. Within the next 2 hours a
series of 6-km deep tremors occurred.
*Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday marked the anniversary
of the last major earthquake that shook the city in 1809, as
authorities warned it should prepare for a repeat.
*The freak storm that hit Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday
caused an estimated $75 million in flood damage.
*Storm warnings have been lifted for regions in southern
France which have endured days of high winds and floods.
Thursday, December 4, 2003
*According to the United Kingdom meteorological office, 2003
has been one of the driest years on record. Fall crops have
failed to emerge across the U.K.
*France's second-biggest city, Marseille, and its surrounding area
was declared a disaster zone yesterday as lashing rain caused
floods that have claimed at least five lives and forced
mass evacuations. More rain is forecast.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
*France shut two nuclear reactors and four people died as
storms swept across the south of the country.
*In Australia:
-Boats rescued people stranded on car roofs, homes and
businesses were flooded and roads closed after Melbourne
was hit by its worst thunderstorm in 100 years overnight.
-A taxi-driver feared he was going to drown when water levels
rose above his neck while he was trapped inside a vehicle
during fierce thunderstorms in Melbourne.
- Heavy rain that inundated Melbourne last night will make the
coming bushfire season more dangerous by increasing the
amount of flammable material on the ground, fire service chiefs said.
-Residents in Melbourne's outer northern and eastern suburbs
were being urged to batten down the hatches for another
round of storms later today.
*In the space of just three years, water levels in Lake Mead have
fallen more than sixty feet due to sustained drought. Landsat
images show the extent of the change to the lake's shoreline.
* A violent earthquake measuring up to 6.5 on the open-ended
Richter scale has rocked the Russian region of Buryatia
in southern Siberia. It was the second such earthquake in
Buryatia over the past week, with a tremor measuring 5.9
on the Richter scale registered in the region early Thursday.
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
*Rescue squads battled thick snow, treacherous roads and
numerous aftershocks as they struggled to help the victims of
a powerful earthquake that killed at least 11 people in
northwestern China. 700 homes have collapsed. This area
was the site of the most lethal quake in China this year - a
magnitude 6.8 temblor on Feb. 24 that killed 268 people. Though
China's western regions are known for earthquakes, the number
of fatal quakes (at least 6) in recent months has been unusual.
*Mix heavy snowfall, lightning and thunder and what do you get?
A rare event known as a 'thundersnow.' Scientists are hoping
to learn more about these strange storms.
Monday, December 1, 2003
*An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed at least eight people in
the Xinjiang region of north-west China.
*At least seven people died in heavy flooding that is expected
to continue in Brazil.
*Thousands of people could be without power for as long as
a week after a landslide knocked out the natural gas supply to
parts of British Columbia's north coast.
*Tens of thousands of Ontarians spent much of the weekend
without electricity after a fierce storm cut power lines in
several communities.
*The Canadian Avalanche Association is warning travellers that
heavy snow and rising temperatures have increased the danger
of avalanches in parts of British Columbia and Alberta.
Sunday, November 30, 2003
* Typhoon Lupit grew into a super typhoon as it continued
across the Northern Pacific.
*Many countries are not sufficiently prepared in the event
of a global flu pandemic, say researchers.
*Firefighters in Australia hope to contain two bushfires that have
burnt more than 200 hectares near Anglesea on
Victoria's south-west coast.
Saturday, November 29, 2003
*So far this year, a strain of influenza has killed four children in
the United States and four in Britain. Researchers warn the
worst is yet to come. A flu pandemic is 'knocking at the door'
and it could affect millions of people worldwide.
*A famous Chinese coal-mining town has started sinking because
of over-mining, affecting nearly 90,000 residents whose houses
are on increasingly shaky ground. 88,000 residents have seen
their homes starting to crumble, while 41 schools and 27 hospitals
have been damaged to various extents.
*Nasa says one of the instruments on its Mars Odyssey craft
in orbit around the Red Planet has been damaged and
shut down by a solar flare. The same solar storm
caused a blackout in Sweden, damaged two Japanese satellites
and interfered with navigation and radio systems for aircraft and ships.
*Scientists say old Japanese documents show a huge magnitude
nine earthquake struck north-western America 300 years ago.
The fault can produce earthquakes of magnitude eight or larger
at irregular intervals, averaging about 500 years.
Friday, November 28, 2003
*An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale rocked
parts of Western Visayas in the Philippines Thursday night.
*The earthquake that measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and
jolted Ludian County in Southwest China's Yunnan Province
on Wednesday left four people injured.
*New research in the USA, published Thursday in the journal Nature,
has revealed the way in which bubbles grow and burst in a
volcano's reservoir of molten lava.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
*Thousands of houses have collapsed or were seriously damaged
when the fourth earthquake in five months hit the poor southwest
Chinese province of Yunnan. (5.1 magnitude)
*Largest aftershocks in Alaska in last 24 hours:
5.0, 5.3, 5.3, 4.4, 4.1, 5.3
*Much of England and Wales could face drought and water
shortages next year, the Environment Agency warns.
*Weekly volcano report.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
*Typhoon Lupit is churning through the Northern Pacific.
*A powerful 6.2 earthquake rocked a remote region of the Pacific
nation of Papua New Guinea. There were no reports
of injuries or major damage.
*Despite tremendous technological advances in earthquake
seismology, many fundamental mysteries remain. The critical
question of whether earthquakes will ever be predictable
continues to plague seismologists – in part because there is no
way to directly observe what goes on miles below the surface
where earthquakes occur. All of that is about to change, however,
as a team of scientists finally begins construction of the
long-awaited San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth – a
2.4-mile-deep observatory that, for the first time, will give researchers
the tools they need to conduct around-the-clock monitoring from
inside an active earthquake zone.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
*Hard-pressed researchers in Tajikistan may have discovered a
method for predicting earthquakes, but much of their equipment
has been destroyed. There are upwards of 4,000 tremors here
in the average year and soon, in fact any day now, the country is
expecting the next big one. Lake Sarez was formed in 1911, when
the side of a mountain fell into a valley during an earthquake. Its
water now sits poised above the homes of 5 million people. A
team of five people works shifts to keep a watch on the dam wall.
Their task is to warn those in the most immediate danger -
the 45,000 people who live in 150 villages in the valley below -
if the water looks like it might burst through. The water will crash
downhill at 1.6km a minute, which will give the population
around 16 minutes to run for it.
*Two additional Mt. Etna volcano webcams.
Monday, November 24, 2003
* Landslides and floods triggered by hours of heavy rain have
killed three people and forced more than 3,000 people to flee
their homes in Indonesia's densely-populated East Java province.
*A magnitude 4.5 earthquake in Nevada has occurred 55 km
(35 miles) ESE of Elko, Nevada (pop 16,000).
*Both of the two largest earthquakes in the past 50 years in Hawaii
occurred in November. On November 29, 1975, a magnitude-7.2
earthquake beneath the south flank of Kilauea Volcano violently
shook Big Island and was felt as far away as Oahu. Eight years later,
on November 16, 1983, a magnitude-6.6 earthquake beneath
the southeast flank of Mauna Loa Volcano caused considerable
damage on the same island.
* Send your name to a comet - In December 2004, NASA
plans to launch the Deep Impact spacecraft and send it to Comet
Tempel 1. Once it arrives on July 4, 2005, it will shoot a
370-kilogram (816-pound) impactor into the dirty snowball,
making a crater some 7-15 stories deep. NASA is offering the
public a chance to have their names written to a CD that will be
placed on the impactor, thereby leaving their mark on a comet.
Saturday, November 22, 2003
*A wall of water from a rain-swollen American creek broke
through a culvert and swept away five mobile homes, killing two
young children who were torn from their parents' arms.
*The immense sunspot group that on November 4th ejected the
largest solar flare ever recorded has rotated around the Sun
and is coming around for a second pass toward Earth. Region
10486 in particular remains active. It spouted another M-class
flare on November 18, prompting an aurora on November 20th.
*Astronomers have discovered a key fact required to
understand the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity - the sun
sheds its skin like a snake. The Sun's outer layers are bubbling,
and the Sun rotates faster at the equator than the poles, and
faster on the inside than on the surface, which results in a solar
dynamo that, over 11 years, becomes increasingly wound up.
Expelled gas takes away the Sun's old magnetic skin allowing
a new one to emerge to start a new cycle. More than a thousand
coronal mass ejections, each carrying billions of tons of gas from
the polar regions, are needed to clear the old magnetism away.
Friday, November 21, 2003
*In Australia severe thunderstorms left a trail of destruction
through communities in Victoria's north-east overnight.
*About 250 million years ago, something unknown wiped out
most of the life on the planet in the greatest extinction in Earth's
history. It was far more devastating than the impact that ended
the rule of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. New geological
evidence suggests that the "great dying" was caused by a
space rock slamming into the Earth.
*Weekly volcano report.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
*A storm system plowed through the central Appalachians and
drenched the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, causing flooding that killed
at least two people, left dozens stranded and forced others
to flee their homes.
*A tornado that ripped through a tiny Australian farming
community in Victoria's north-west has left a $1 million
trail of destruction.
* Tropical volcano eruptions may double the chances of El Nino
climate fluctuations the following winter, a new study suggests.
El Nino can trigger global effects, such as snowfall in the Andes,
a weak hurricane season in the Atlantic and drought in southern Africa.
*Taipei prosecutors indicted three former First Commercial Bank
employees and two construction workers for manslaughter for
carrying out negligent construction work at a bank building
that resulted in the death of 87 people in the Sept. 11, 1999
earthquake. Two months before the earthquake, the bank
employees hired the two workers to remodel the building's
arcade and to take out four central supporting pillars.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
* A strong 6.6 earthquake jolted the central Philippines early
today, and one child was killed. Several small buildings collapsed
and residents in one town reported several people were
hit by falling debris from damaged houses.
*The 7.8 quake in the North Pacific near Alaska caused a
tiny tsunami but no damage. It was the second-biggest
quake in the world so far in 2003.
Continuing aftershocks from the Alaskan quake:
5.8, 4.9, 4.8, 5.4, 4.5, 4.4
*Some scientists think the midwest could actually be prone to
more earthquake damage than other parts of the country. Their
findings, so far, indicate parts of the midwest have very loose soil,
which could have unimaginable consequences - buildings will
sink, pipes will break.
*How to prepare your family for an earthquake.
* Typhoon Nepartak looms just off the coast of Vietnam.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
*The earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that hit
the Aleutian islands region off the coast of Alaska was the
strongest to hit the region since 2000.
Aftershocks:
5.2, 4.9, 5.3, 4.8, 5.0, 5.2, 4.4, 5.0, 5.1,
4.6, 4.9, 5.0, 4.8, 4.6, 4.8, 4.8, 5.4, 5.5, 5.2
*The giant sunspots that produced the largest explosion
ever seen on the surface of our star are set to return. They
are moving back into view of the Earth after being carried to
the Sun's far side by its 27-day rotation period. Although still
very active, they are not expected to give out another
X28-class solar fare.
*The Leonid meteors will be visible this week as Earth
ploughs through the dust stream left by Comet
Tempel-Tuttle. Experts say up to 100 shooting stars could be
seen streaking across the sky every hour during the peak period.
This year's event is unlikely to match the 3,000 meteors per hour
seen over parts of Europe in 2002.
*Half a billion people worldwide live within 60 miles of
historically active volcanoes. There is currently a world-wide
effort to understand what makes volcanoes erupt.
*A major 7.3 earthquake occurred early this morning
located in the Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
Monday, November 17, 2003
*A violent earthquake measuring up to 5.9 on the Richter scale
rocked the Russian region of Buryatia in southern Siberia early
today. It was the second such earthquake in Buryatia in 24 hours.
Tremors measuring up to 4.9 on the Richter scale hit the region
early Sunday.
*The death toll in a 5.1 earthquake that jolted southwestern
China's Yunnan province Saturday has been revised to four
dead, as the number of injured rose to 65. Over 600 homes
collapsed in the tremblor, and another 98,700 were damaged.
14 of the injured are in critical condition.
*An undersea earthquake with an intensity of 5.3 points on the
Richter scale occurred off the western Greek island of
Cephallonia early on Sunday.
*Weekly volcanic activity report.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
* Tropical storm Nepartak pounded the central Philippines
yesterday, killing four people, leaving millions without electricity
and about 2000 ferry passengers stranded. About 19 storms
and typhoons hit the Philippines every year, killing an average
of 500 people annually since 1970.
*Thousands of Puerto Ricans were ordered from their homes
as relentless rains unleashed floods across the Caribbean island,
sending rivers surging over their banks and setting off landslides.
Two men were swept away by floodwaters and were missing. A
flash flood warning is in effect for the entire country of 4 million
people. A clash of weather systems caused heavy rains over the
past five days as a tropical wave merged with a broad area of
low pressure, setting off torrential rains. An offical said it's like
a hurricane but without the hurricane.
*Heavy rains triggered deadly landslides and floods in central
Vietnam for the second time in two months. The death toll is
now at least 47 people. More rain is expected over the weekend.
*A third person died today and nearly 500 others who ate at a
Chi Chi's restaurant near Pittsburgh have fallen ill in the biggest
known outbreak of hepatitis A in U.S. history.
*Changes have been detected in Atlantic Ocean currents which
could herald much harsher winters in Britain - and all because
the global climate is warming. Dr Terry Joyce, an oceanographer
from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, believes there is a
50% chance of a sudden climate change happening
in the next 100 years.
*Some of the most precious wetlands could dry up
unless more water supplies are made available, an
environmental group warns.
Friday, November 14, 2003
*A moderate 5.2 earthquake hit a remote swath of
northwestern China on Thursday, shaking the same province
as two lethal tremors last month. This quake killed one,
injured at least eight people and toppled houses. Thousands
of people in the area were earlier this month still without
electricity and water supplies as temperatures
plunged below freezing.
*At least 16 people were killed and another four missing after
severe floods hit central Vietnam, cutting off several villages.
*A landslide at a quarry in central China killed 12 workers when
earth and rocks rained down on their temporary shelters.
*A week before massive fires began scorching California, scientists
from around the world gathered to talk about an entirely different
kind of danger that might be lurking beneath the Golden State - a
little-known volcano near the town of Mammoth Lakes. 760,000 years
ago ash deposits piled to thicknesses well over 100 m (330 ft) near
the caldera and reached as far east as Nebraska.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
* Thunderstorms swept across Argentina on Wednesday, causing
widespread damage and at least 12 deaths from accidents,
falling trees and electrocutions. Hundreds of people were
evacuated from flooded areas after the storms unleashed heavy
rain, hail and high winds across a wide swath of central Argentina.
Parts of Uruguay also were under alert from the storms.
*Recent research has found five major active earthquake faults
beneath the Puget Sound area of Washington state, each capable
of unleashing a major quake in the region. A new model suggests
that a massive slab of the Earth's crust is being thrust northward
through the Puget Sound region, like a wedge driven into a log.
*Utah structural engineers, along with the state's Seismic Safety
Commission, are about to undertake an aggressive campaign to
upgrade thousands of aging buildings -buildings which could
crumble in an earthquake.
*Scientists have simulated a solar flare in the lab, recreating the
explosions seen on the Sun's surface.
*A deep offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude
of 6.5 shook parts of northeastern Japan and the Tokyo region
today, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.
*A 5.7 earthquake shook parts of Sulawesi and Maluku islands
in Indonesia today, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
*A magnitude 5.5 earthquake in the Gulf of California has
occurred 160 km (100 miles) NE of Guerrero Negro, Baja Calif.
Sur, Mexico. (population 10,000)
*A magnitude 5.5 earthquake off the coast of central Chile has
occurred 130 km (80 miles) W of Valdivia, Chile (pop 122,000)
*An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted
northern Taiwan, seismologists said, but there were no
immediate reports of damage or casualties.
*A magnitude 6.1 earthquake in the Volcano Islands, Japan region
has occurred 335 km (210 miles) SE of Iwo-jima.
*A magnitude 5.9 earthquake in the Molucca Sea has occurred
1560 km (960 miles) SSE of MANILA, Philippines.
*A magnitude 5.8 and a 5.9 earthquake in the Kermadec Islands
Region have occurred 900 km (560 miles) NE of Auckland,
New Zealand.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
*Monarch butterflies may lose their winter habitat within
50 years because of global warming, say researchers.
*A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Central Mid-Atlantic Ridge
occurred on Sunday, 1170 km (730 miles) SW of Bonthe,
Sierra Leone.
Sunday, November 9, 2003
*Scientists have long recognized that the emergence of a large
mountain range can produce climate change. New work indicates
that the converse is also true. In a report published in the journal
Nature, researchers propose that chilly waters and dry weather
helped push the Andes skyward.
*In Yellowstone, a subterranean volcano is exerting
its influence. In a few days in July, acidic ground water
dissolved parts of the unpaved trails in the Norris Geyser Basin,
and the ground temperature of the trails shot up to 200 degrees
from the usual maximum of 80. Park officials closed nearly half
of the basin's trails, and they remain shut. Over last 630,000
years, Yellowstone has experienced 29 eruptions the size of the
one on Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. The average
interval here has been 20,000 years, and 70,000 have passed
since its last eruption. The whole of the Yellowstone Plateau
is going up and down from the magma, averaging one and
a half centimeters a year. In light of the new activity, safety is
a growing concern, and officials are writing a hazard plan in
case the region grows more active.
Saturday, November 8, 2003
* Typhoon Melor brought heavy rains to Northern Luzon,
the Phillipines, leaving floods in its wake.
* Satellite image of the massive solar flare that erupted
from the surface of the Sun on October 28 and again on
November 4. Associated with each flare was an ejection of a
billion tons or more of gas from the Sun's tenuous
outer atmosphere.
* Total eclipse of the full Moon tonight.
Friday, November 7, 2003
*The confirmed death toll from a flash flood blamed on illegal
logging in Indonesia's North Sumatra province stands at 113
as the search continues for 147 people still missing and feared dead.
* Tajikistan's earthquake warning system, destroyed in the
civil war, is too expensive for the country to replace.
Thursday, November 6, 2003
*Residents in Australia have been evacuated and firefighters
are battling to save houses from a bushfire in the New South
Wales mid-north coast town of Sawtell.
*The deadly fire ant, described as the greatest ecological threat
to Australia since the rabbit, appears to have been bottled up
in the south-east corner of Queensland.
*Scientists worldwide are laying plans to knit together existing
observatories and build new ones in an unprecedented effort
to uncover the intricate facets of one of the solar system's
least understood realms - Earth's oceans.
The potential payoffs are significant: much improved weather and
climate forecasts, more effective ways to manage coastal ecosystems,
sustainable fisheries, and volcano and earthquake data that
could mitigate related disasters.
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
* Sunspot activity is the highest in 1,000 years, scientists say.
The sun has been acting unusual lately, with more sunspots
recorded since the 1940s than in the previous millennium.
**After 10 days of dramatic activity, the most powerful solar
flare ever seen has exploded on the Sun's surface. It
was so energetic that it overloaded the detectors on satellites
monitoring the Sun's surface. Powerful solar flares are given an
"X" designation. Last week there were X7 and X10 events that
took place back-to-back. There was an X8 and an X3 event on
Sunday. On Monday, there was an X3 flare followed by smaller
ones. Tuesday's flare went off the scale, researchers say it was
well above X20. The major flares have come from sunspot region
486, now officially the most active solar region in recorded
solar observational history.
*Illegal logging has been blamed for the devastating flood in
Indonesia that left more than 200 people dead or missing.
*More than 220 people have been killed by two mosquito-borne
viruses in India's largest state in the last three months.
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
*Rescue workers are searching for survivors of a flash
flood on the Indonesian island of Sumatra which has
so far left at least 75 people dead.
*Queensland, Australia is headed into possibly the worst summer
ever for bushfire danger.
Residents of a parched outback Queensland town
have been forced to steal water as drought and heat reduce
the drinking supply to a trickle.
*In Australia the cyclone season has begun and Queensland's
weather bureau is forecasting between three and six cyclones
off northern Australia, with a good chance one or two will
cross the coast. January, February and March are the most
active months. Failure to prepare for cyclones is putting
lives at risk, a study warns.
*The Sun fired at least three more salvos of highly charged particles
toward Earth on Sunday and yesterday, and scientists said more
explosions from the Sun's surface were likely.
*Fires tend to follow well-known rules. Still, models based on
decades of research are often unable to predict a fire's path
when weather conditions get in the way. Battling the
California fires has been costing the state more than $5 million a day -
heading toward a total that could reach $100 million.
Monday, November 3, 2003
*With the Southern California wildfires nearly contained, a wave
of residents returned to the San Bernardino Mountains to see
if their homes survived one of the most destructive infernos.
Some of the smoke being generated by the wildfires in southern
California is now spreading as far east as the U.S.
Great Lakes region.
* Tropical storm Melor swirled toward eastern Taiwan today
after dumping heavy rain in the south that flooded streets and
left one person drowned and three others missing in raging rivers.
*Satellite image of Typhoons Parma and Ketsana churning
in the western Pacific Ocean.
*Eleven people have died in the past two weeks in central
Sudan after a swarm of grasshoppers caused an asthma
epidemic. More than 1,600 people have been taken to hospitals.
Outbreaks of locusts have also been reported in Mauritania and
Niger and observers fear they could spread across the northern
half of the continent. Desert locusts are normally solitary insects
but when climatic conditions are favourable they can
rapidly increase in number. A full-fledged desert locust plague
has the potential of damaging the livelihood of a tenth of
the world's population.
* A growing water scarcity means African crop yields may
fall by almost a quarter by 2025 causing a food crisis, researchers say.
Saturday, November 1, 2003
*Chilly temperatures and dense fog today helped stall the deadly
wildfires that raced across Southern California as a few hardy
residents waited nervously to see if flames would claim the
last sizable town still threatened.
*Emergency services are mopping up after wild winds tore down
trees and powerlines across Sydney.
* Longer Arctic summers are causing sea ice to melt, threatening
the habitat of polar bears, say scientists.
Satellite image of the dwindling Arctic Sea ice.
*Scientists warn that the spurt of solar activity which caused
spectacular polar lights may continue.
Friday, October 31, 2003
*An earthquake measuring 6.8 has hit northeastern Japan,
causing tremors as far away as the capital Tokyo. Residents
in Hokkaido are told to remain alert after the big quake,
as aftershocks are felt. Shortly after the quake, a tsunami
of about 12 inches was recorded.
*Cooler weather overnight gave firefighters some relief in their
10-day-old war against blazes that have swallowed up vast
swathes of parched California, destroying towns and killing
at least 22 people.
Firefighters welcomed the cooler weather but fear fresh winds may
hamper efforts to tame California's blazes.
*The effects of a second powerful solar flare in just three days
have hit the Earth, even as the planet was recovering from a
similar, earlier geomagnetic storm that snarled telecommunications
and sparked a burst of the Northern Lights. Scientists say the
disruption was severe but short-lived.
*At least three Sydney schools were among properties damaged
by gale-force winds today in Australia.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
* Firefighters struggled desperately to save emptied-out resort
towns in Southern California's San Bernardino Mountains as
60m walls of flame engulfed dead and dried-out trees.
At least 20 people including a fireman have been killed in the
wildfires that have scorched more than 2470 square kilometres
of California.
Satellite image.
*A fast-moving wildfire forced the evacuation of thousands of
homes south of Denver as fierce wind fanned a handful of
devastating blazes along the eastern Rockies.
* Another major class X10 solar flare has occurred. It has been
confirmed to be associated with another strongly Earthward-directed
coronal mass ejection. It has also thrown out another batch of
energetic protons, which will make a mess of the SOHO
spacecraft cameras, spacecraft star trackers and loads of other
electronic gadgets floating in space. The time when this next
disturbance will produce its impact has not yet been determined.
(Overwhelming internet traffic may make this link hard to access.)
*The massive solar flare that erupted from the surface of the Sun
on October 28th was accompanied by an ejection of a billion
tons or more of gas from the Sun's tenuous outer atmosphere.
The flare was over 1,700 times more powerful than your regular
every-day run-of-the-mill C-class x-ray flares and it was over 34
times more powerful than the lowest-category major solar flare.
Satellite image.
*The newest residents of the international space station took
temporary refuge several times on Tuesday from the radiation
unleashed by the intense solar storm.
*A dam being built by Kazakhstan to try to save a small part
of the shrinking Aral Sea will mean the rest is virtually written off.
* Flood waters are again threatening two communities in
northwestern British Columbia.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
*At least 18 people have died in the wave of wildfires that has
destroyed 2000 homes in southern California and spread into
neighbouring Mexico.
Another 35,000 southern California residents were ordered to
flee their homes as some of 14 infernos roaring through the
region threatened entire towns.
Emergency services evacuated the lakeside resort of Big Bear
as wildfires rage on across the south.
There seems to be no end in sight for weary firefighters as they
continue to battle raging California wildfires. Authorities are
searching for two men they believed set some of the fires.
The catastrophic wave of wildfires ravaging southern California
would be the most expensive disaster in the state's history,
officials warned.
*Firefighters have brought all but two of the 30 wildfires burning
in Mexico under control, and hundreds of people evacuated
near Ensenada have been allowed to return home.
*Wild weather continued its onslaught on Queensland, Australia
with searing heat and a dust storm blanketing
the state's south-east corner.
*U.S. scientists have again warned that communications on Earth
could be disrupted this week by another spectacular eruption on
the surface of the Sun and that it might even hamper
firefighting efforts in California.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
* 10 California wildfires are threatening 30,000 more homes;
15 have been killed as 483,000 acres and 1,134 homes were
consumed. A 90,000-acre wildfire that straddles the Los Angeles-
Ventura county line began moving slowly toward million-dollar
mansions in a gated community in Los Angeles. In a "worst-case
scenario," the blaze could spread all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
The San Diego Fire Chief said he was worried that three fires
that have incinerated 585 homes in San Diego County would
merge into a super fire.
*Ash fell on the beach like snow as California's deadliest outbreak
of fires in more than a decade destroyed more than 1100 homes,
killed at least 13 people and consumed land from the Mexican
border to the suburbs north of Los Angeles.
Dry brush and houses were practically waiting to burn in California,
after warm Santa Ana winds helped turn forest fires into
a statewide inferno.
Satellite images
Two are now dead as the wave of fires has spilled across the
California border and into Mexico; about 15 homes
there have been destroyed.
* Strong winds caused problems across Adelaide, Australia overnight,
bringing down power lines and trees.
* Huge sunspots are continuing to rumble. Billions of tons of
charged particles ejected from the Sun may give Earth's
magnetic defenses a glancing blow.
* Their schools damaged or destroyed, more than 37,000
students in northwestern China missed classes Monday as
families tried to clean up after two lethal earthquakes.
360 aftershocks have continued to rumble through the region.
Preliminary damage estimates are $37.4 million, which includes
damage to more than 46,000 households in 175 villages.
14,322 houses were flattened and more than 16,000 head
of livestock were killed or injured.
Sunday, October 26, 2003
*In China four people are reported killed and 25 injured when two
earthquakes hit northwest Gansu province on Saturday. The latest
report said 90 per cent of buildings in the village of Yaozhaizi
in Minle County had collapsed from the quakes.
*A 13,000-acre (5,200-hectare) wildfire in the San Bernardino
National Forest in California jumped down a hillside into an
area of million-dollar homes Saturday, burning homes
and forcing hundreds of people to flee. Californian authorities
are now battling six separate fires. Over 200 homes have been destroyed.
*The Earth has been buffeted by a cloud of superhot gas
thrown off the Sun a few days ago. Scientists report it
caused a moderate geomagnetic storm. Charged particles
affected electric utilities, airline communications and satellite
navigation systems, but no serious problems were reported.
As the storm continues, it is predicted to be followed by others
for the next two weeks or so, and further disruption is predicted
for satellites, power systems and even mobile phones.
*Emergency workers were cleaning up today after a storm
that pelted parts of Sydney with golf-ball sized hail stones,
blacked out thousands of homes and killed one man.
Saturday, October 25, 2003
*Thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes
as a raging wildfire threatened hundreds of homes northeast
of the U.S. city of Los Angeles.
*A spectacular composite image of the United States on October 22nd
shows high concentrations of fires in four different regions.
*A malaria epidemic is sweeping Ethiopia.
*Snow fell throughout Austria overnight, causing one death,
disruptions on the major highways and knocking out power to
thousands. In Vienna, it was the earliest snowfall in
more than 60 years.
*How does a solar storm affect you?
Friday, October 24, 2003
*A strong geomagnetic storm is expected to hit Earth today - An
ejection of gas and charged particles from the sun's outer
layer is heading toward Earth and may disrupt electrical
grids and communications.
* Fire activity has been increasing across Australia's Cape
York Peninsula since late September.
*An iceberg that calved in 2002 may have had a devastating
effect on wildlife, especially rare penguin colonies.
*The first satellite to study the Earth's wind patterns from space
is to be built in the United Kingdom.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
*The Tajikistan Government belatedly starts to warn inhabitants
of the capital, Dushanbe, about a major typhoid outbreak which
has filled every available hospital bed.
*With sustained winds of 144 mph (231 km per hour),
Typhoon Ketsana in the Western Pacific now appears to be
veering away from the Asian mainland and moving slowly
toward Japan's southeastern coast.
*Sunspot 484, which first appeared this past weekend, has
grown into one of the biggest sunspots in years. Now it is
about the size of the planet Jupiter. Major eruptions are possible
from two active regions as they rotate across the face of the sun
over the next two weeks.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
* Swarms of locusts are gathering across northern Africa,
warns the U.N. food agency.
* Comet Encke will be making its closest approach to Earth
since November 1838. On the 25th, Northern Hemisphere
observers will see the comet come close to the northern
edge of M31, the Great Andromeda Galaxy.
*Along the Namibian coastline, hydrogen sulfide gas given
off by bacteria at the bottom of the ocean bubbled up to the
surface and formed a turquoise plume of pure sulfur.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
*The Canadian ski resort due to host the 2010 Winter Olympics
has been cut off by storms that left two dead and two
other people missing.
More rain is forecast for the flooded British Columbia communities -
three towns remain in a state of emergency due to heavy flooding.
Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton have been deluged with
rain for the past five days.
*A new and powerful sunspot complex has materialized over
the last 2 days capable of producing significant solar flare activity.
The sunspot complex increased its size by more than 5 times
over the last 48 hours.
*This image shows fires across the Deep South in the U.S.
*Largest earthquakes in California on Monday:
Central 3.1
San Francisco 3.4
Baja 3.2
Monday, October 20, 2003
* Heavy rains in Canada set off floods that washed out bridges
and roads, killing two motorists and leaving two more missing.
*A freakish summer of record heat and little rain could bring a
famous harvest for some of Iberia's best-known wines. At
many vineyards, the harvest began weeks early.
*An X-class solar flare erupted Sunday near sunspot 484 -
a remarkably fast-growing active region near the sun's
northeastern limb. The blast was probably not Earth-directed,
however, the sunspot is moving into position where it could
aim solar flares and coronal mass ejections our way later this
week - if solar activity continues high.
*Largest earthquakes the last two days in California:
Central 3.4, 3.4, 2.9
San Francisco 3.5
Sunday, October 19, 2003
*At least 22 people have died during a week of torrential rains
that have battered central Vietnam and forced the evacuation
of 40,000 people.
*A magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the Molucca Sea has occurred
150 km (95 miles) WSW of Ternate, Moluccas, Indonesia
(population 83,000).
*More people left their homes in communities north of Vancouver,
Canada on Saturday, after flood waters spilled across roads
and officials declared a state of emergency.
*While autumn in Japan is famed for its beautiful autumnal foliage
it also means Japan's second rainy season of the year - the
other comes in the spring. This autumn has been a particularly
wet one with torrential rains flooding some Tokyo's subways
and city streets. General Japan news.
Saturday, October 18, 2003
*The death toll in the 6.1 earthquake in a remote part of China
has risen to three. Ten people were seriously injured and 21
others suffered minor injuries.
*The Patagonia ice fields of Chile and Argentina are the fastest
area of glacial retreat on Earth, report scientists. The glaciers
are melting so fast they are making a significant
contribution to sea-level rise.
Friday, October 17, 2003
*A strong 6.1 earthquake killed at least two people Thursday
night in a remote area of China's mountainous southwest and
collapsed at least 50 houses.
*The Nueces River south of San Antonio, Texas is overflowing
after days of heavy rain.
*A magnitude 6.4 earthquake in the Bougainville region of Papua
New Guinea has occurred.
* Astronomers have rediscovered a large asteroid that
they first found 66 years ago and then lost in the depths
of space. It is called Hermes and it entered the record books
by making a close approach to the Earth, just beyond the Moon.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
*Get real-time meteorological, oceanographic, river, and air/water
quality information and forecasts for major estuaries, seaports,
and adjacent coastal regions as well as the Great Lakes.
* Fires are burning in the steppes of central Asia.
*Rivers and reservoirs in Southern Mexico overflowed in the
wake of Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Larry.
*With a fat crescent Moon high in the sky during the predawn
hours of the 21st, this is a so-so year for observing the annual
Orionid meteor shower.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
*An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude 5.0 has shaken
buildings in central Tokyo. There was no immediate word
of damage or injuries.
*A magnitude 5.8 earthquake in the Fiji region has
occurred this morning. A 6.0 occurred there on Monday.
*The Hawaiian Islands interrupt the trade winds that blow across
the Pacific Ocean, with far-reaching effects on ocean currents
and atmospheric circulation.
*The ozone hole over Antarctica is likely changing wind patterns
and creating stronger ocean currents in the southern hemisphere,
a Canadian scientist has shown.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
*A 5.0 earthquake on Monday shook a region in southern
Siberia that has been hit by a series of powerful tremors since
the end of last month. No damage or casualties were
immediately reported.
*Fly along with hurricane hunters, virtually - Cyberflight
into the Eye plus hurricane photos and tracking.
* Disaster safety tips for your home.
Monday, October 13, 2003
*Mindy was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical
depression Sunday as it spun off into the Atlantic Ocean.
Bermuda should still monitor the storm, which was expected
to pass just south of the mid-Atlantic British territory next week
if it does not dissipate first, according to the National Hurricane
Center in Miami.
*Incredibly, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Juan touched
down in Nova Scotia, power crews and clean-up workers
are still trying to get Halifax back to normal, and it may take many
more months.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
*A magnitude 5.5 earthquake rocked northern Japan early today,
a day after a stronger 6.1 quake hit the same area, 43 miles beneath
the earth's surface off the southeastern coast of Japan's
northernmost main island, Hokkaido. There were no
immediate reports of damage or injuries. Some experts have
warned that a major fault line in the area still has pent-up
energy to release.
* Tropical Storm Mindy weakened Saturday as it spun
away from the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas,
turning into the open Atlantic away from inhabited islands.
The rains battered Puerto Rico on Friday, leaving 30,000 homes
without electricity, damaging roads and washing out small bridges.
No injuries were reported.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
* Working five days a week can change the climate, a new
study finds. Is this five-days-on, two-days-off climate
fluctuation a sign that global warming is for real?
Friday, October 10, 2003
*An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale
rocked the Philippines capital late yesterday, but there were
no reports of damage or casualties.
The quake was measured at 6.1 in the U.S.G.S. bulletin.
*Another quake in the Hokkaido, Japan region has occurred -
this one a magnitude 5.5.
*A major sandstorm in the Sahara is blowing dust off the West
African coast over the Atlantic Ocean.
*Fires in the Pacific Northwest through the summer of 2003 have
littered the landscape of Oregon, Washington, and British
Columbia with burn scars.
Thursday, October 9, 2003
* Earthquakes measuring 5.8 and 5.9 struck Hokkaido, Japan
following an earlier 6.7 quake Wednesday. There have now been
6 large quakes in the region in the last three days.
*Northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia
have a higher than normal chance of severe wind and hail storms
during spring and summer this year, a climate expert says.
*Pack your ruby slippers. A Kansas City developer has proposed
a giant tornado monument as a send-up to the twister that set
The Wizard of Oz's plot in motion.
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
*Hokkaido, Japan has been hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake.
No reports yet of major damage. It is the fourth large tremor to
jolt the region in two days.
*Mount Etna Volcano has been active all night. Webcam
*A strong 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the northern Japanese
island of Hokkaido early today, the third quake to rattle the
region in two days. A new warning was previously issued that a
major fault line in the area still has pent up energy to release. A
researcher at the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center
predicted the region could be hit again by a quake similar to
the 8.0-magnitude one that slammed Hokkaido on Sept. 27.
* Tropical Storm Olaf weakened to a depression Tuesday
as it drifted north after dumping heavy rain but doing little
damage to resort cities along Mexico's Pacific coast.
Tropical Depression Nora also diminished as it headed east
toward the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
Two people were hospitalized after their car was buried by
a mudslide caused by heavy rains. Hundreds of homes have
been damaged from weeks of heavy rain.
*Latest California quakes:
10/3 3.0
3.6
4.3
3.4
10/4 3.4
3.0
10/5 3.0
10/6 3.8
10/7 3.6
10/8 4.3
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
* Two strong earthquakes, one with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6
and the other 4.8, rattled northern Japan early Tuesday. There
were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quakes
follow a series of quakes that have struck the region since
a magnitude-8.0 temblor hit late last month injuring more than
700 people and triggering tsunami waves, which were believed
to have carried away two fishermen.
*At least 11 people were dead and 15 others missing today
after a violent storm swept through Port-au-Prince,
Haiti. The victims were found in the debris of homes destroyed
by landslides caused by the heavy rains.
*A greatly weakened Hurricane Olaf was downgraded to a
tropical storm Monday, but forecasters warned it could still
could cause serious flooding along the Pacific coast. Tropical
Storm Nora is likely to dissipate before reaching land later in
the week, the hurricane center said.
Monday, October 6, 2003
* Two hurricanes threatening to collide - Hurricane Nora and
Hurricane Olaf both churned today toward the tip of the Baja
California peninsula, a region still recovering from two hurricanes
that hit in recent weeks.
* Tropical Storm Larry flooded homes and dumped heavy
rains on Mexico's southern Gulf coast Sunday even as it
slowed and weakened. Heavy rains from Larry still could cause
life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the
hurricane center warned.
*Japan has detected a possible eighth case of mad cow disease,
underlining concerns about how widespread the illness
might be in Japan.
Sunday, October 5, 2003
*-Mexico rushed relief supplies to the coast and put thousands
of relief personnel on alert Saturday as Tropical Storm Larry
churned toward land. Residents braced for high tides, punishing
rains and heavy floods.
-Hurricane Nora was becoming more defined Saturday, with
winds clocked at 105 mph. Nora was located more than 400
miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. It
was expected to move slowly northward over cooler waters
and weaken by early next week.
-Tropical Storm Olaf, which developed Friday, was centered 185
miles off the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. Forecasters
predicted Olaf would strengthen to hurricane strength by Monday.
-Hurricane Kate, a major Category 3 storm, swirled in the Atlantic
about 695 miles southeast of Bermuda. Kate was forecast to
weaken significantly before hitting Newfoundland in eastern
Canada sometime Tuesday.
*Frustration is growing in Nova Scotia: more than 14,000 homes
are still without power and the cleanup after Hurricane Juan is
far from over.
*One person was dead and two were missing today as severe
storms lashed New Zealand's North Island, cutting off main
arteries to the capital, Wellington, with floods and mudslides.
*State and territory governments were today criticised for not
properly maintaining national parks and contributing to
Australia's bushfire threat.
Saturday, October 4, 2003
* Residents in the Mexican coast state of Veracruz braced for
floods, high tides and punishing rains Friday as a strengthened
Tropical Storm Larry edged closer to land.
Tropical Storm Nora, hovering far south of Mexico's Baja
California peninsula, was predicted to strengthen to a
hurricane by Saturday as it moved slowly out to sea.
A third tropical storm, Olaf, developed well south of Mexico's
Pacific coastline.
*Hundreds of families who live on the slopes of the volcano
Mount Vesuvius have decided to accept the government's offer
of $35,000 to move outside the eruption danger zone. Vesuvius
had its last major eruption in 1944, but many geologists believe
that it is only a matter of time before another major eruption.
*Tortoises living on the slopes of Galapagos' Alcedo Volcano have
the signature of an ancient eruption written in their DNA,
scientists say.
* August's heatwave may have prompted more than 2,000 United
Kingdom deaths, official statistics suggest.
Friday, October 3, 2003
*Mexico braced for heavy rain and howling winds Thursday as
Tropical Storm Larry strengthened and moved toward the
southern Gulf coast, threatening more flooding in the
already-soaked area.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Nora developed early Thursday
off Mexico's western Pacific coast and Hurricane Kate swirled
in the Atlantic far from land.
*Last week a small asteroid became the closest natural
celestial object to pass by the Earth. The 4-8 metre rock
passed just 88,000 kilometres from the Earth on September 27.
It was detected 11 hours after its closest approach.
Thursday, October 2, 2003
*The meteorite that crashed in eastern India was part of
the most spectacular meteor shower in the country's
recent history.
*New Zealand scientists have won approval to drill up to two
kilometres under Antarctica to study ice sheet movement to
help improve predictions on ice sheet behaviour over the next
two centuries. Antarctica is a major driver of oceanic and
atmospheric conditions worldwide, but the mechanisms by
which it does this are poorly understood.
*The Earth Simulator is delighting scientists - the first results
from the world's most powerful supercomputer show the way
to better climate predictions.
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
*A series of violent tremors have rocked Russia's southwest
Siberia region, reaching up to 8.0 on the Richter scale. Some
houses have been damaged. The latest quake follows violent tremors
that hit the same region on the weekend.
*Weary Nova Scotians wondered Tuesday where power crews
and hundreds of promised military personnel were as they tried
to clean up from Hurricane Juan's destructive wake.
*Three "cheap" disaster-monitoring satellites have been
launched successfully from Plesetsk in northern Russia.
Each satellite can map a 600-kilometre (roughly 400-mile) -wide
swathe of the Earth's surface at any given point in time.
The system will have the ability to send up-to-date mapping
information to hand-held devices used by aid workers in the field.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
*Part of a four-story apartment building collapsed in Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia early Monday as Hurricane Juan smashed into the
most densely populated area. Juan also knocked out power
on Prince Edward Island.
*An earthquake of 4.9 magnitude woke people in central
South Island, New Zealand, just after dawn today, rattling
houses and delivering a short, sharp jolt, residents reported.
*The heat wave that scorched Europe in August killed more
than 19,000 people, making it one of the deadliest hot-weather
disasters in a century.
*There was a remarkable spot on the sun this weekend. The
active region, called sunspot 464, is about as wide as fifteen
planet Earths lined up in a row. Never look directly at the sun
without suitable eye protection. Visit spaceweather.com
for observing tips and pictures.
Monday, September 29, 2003
*At least 20 people are reportedly injured after burning fragments
of a meteorite fell on Orissa, India. Reports say hundreds of people
panicked when the fireball streamed across the sky. Burning
fragments were said to have fallen over a wide area,
destroying several houses.
* Hurricane Juan headed for landfall in Nova Scotia on Sunday
and hundreds of people were evacuated from low-lying areas,
even as the storm was downgraded to a category 1 hurricane.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kate swirled in the Atlantic far
from land, a day after forming.
*A second earthquake rocked southern Siberia Sunday, causing
heavy damage in parts of the Altai republic and prompting officials
to declare a state of emergency. Saturday's quake was measured
at 8.5, but was deep, causing less damage.
*A storage tank caught fire at an oil refinery in northern Japan
on Sunday as aftershocks jolted the region.
*Dozens of people were injured Sunday when a German riverboat
carrying 349 passengers down the scenic Rhine River ran onto
rocks due to low water levels. Water levels on German rivers
are dramatically low this year, following an unusually hot summer
and a severe lack of rain.
Sunday, September 28, 2003
*Residents in Hokkaido, Japan, are told to remain alert after
Friday's big quake, as 53 aftershocks are felt. There is a
10% possibility that a big magnitude 7 aftershockwill occur in
three days; a 20% possibility in seven days. There is a 70% chance
that aftershocks with magnitude of six or higher could hit the region
in the next three days. Two people are still missing and more
than 500 are reported injured. Divers searched the Tokachi port
in Hiroo, the town closest to the epicentre, to look for missing
cars thought to have been pulled into the sea by tidal waves.
*A series of earthquakes struck southwestern Siberia, Russia
on Saturday:
7.3
5.7
5.0
4.7
6.3
5.2
(most recent)
* Hurricane Juan picked up strength in the Atlantic on Saturday
on a course expected to put it over Canada by late today,
forecasters said.
* Hurricane Isabel will be Virginia's most expensive natural disaster
officials say. In North Carolina, about 7,800 customers remained
without power Saturday, nine days after the storm pummeled
the region. Virginia had put 87 percent of the record 1.8 million
customers who lost power back online by Saturday. But it still
must replace 1,000 miles of wire and 10,705 broken poles.
*A bushfire threatened 300 homes on the New South Wales,
Australia coast and forced the evacuation of 90 people.
Saturday, September 27, 2003
*Warner Bros has called off the filming of Helen of Troy after
its sets in Mexico's Baja California peninsula were destroyed
by Hurricane Marty.
*An earthquake measuring six on the Richter scale jolted the
northern Japanese island of Hokkaido this morning in a series
of aftershocks following the previous day's massive quake.
Firefighters have extinguished a major blaze at a northern Japanese
oil refinery caused by the huge earthquake.
*Five bushfires continued to burn out of control in eastern
Victoria, Australia, as firefighters braced for a predicted
strengthening of wind.
*Malaria, the ancient mosquito-borne disease that was rolled
back by medical advances in the mid-20th century, is making a
deadly comeback. Strains of the disease are becoming increasingly
resistant to treatment, infecting and killing more people than ever
before and sickening as many as 900 million last year. More than
1 million people, and as many as 2.7 million, died. Only AIDS kills
more people worldwide.
Friday, September 26, 2003
*The strong 8.0 earthquake that rocked the northern Japan
island of Hokkaido early this morning reportedly injured at
least 230 people, derailed a train and touched off an industrial
fire. It was the most powerful quake in the world this year, and
was followed by two slightly smaller aftershocks. A number of
roads were blocked by landslides, and Kushiro airport was
temporarily closed after the ceiling of the control tower fell in.
Japanese authorities have warned local residents to avoid
coastal areas due to the possibility of tsunami, a risk which
could continue for several days.
* Japan's earthquake rattled Russia too, with an earth tremor
measuring 4 on the Richter scale which jolted Russia's Pacific
island of Sakhalin this morning. There were no casualties. People
living on the eastern coast of Kamchatka have started to evacuate
their homes and move inland in case a tsunami occurs.
*A moderate 4.9 earthquake shook northeastern Taiwan today,
but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.
*List of major earthquakes since 1923.
*Nigeria's first satellite is due to blast off from Russia as part of a
network which will monitor natural disasters. NigeriaSat-1 is one
of five satellites which will - when they have all been launched -
make up a network called the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.
*A strong quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 on
the Richter scale rocked the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido
early this morning, and government authorities warned local
residents to avoid coastal areas due to the possibility of tsunami.
*The quake, which hit at about 0450 local time on Friday
(1950GMT Thursday), has reportedly derailed a train and set
off a fire at an oil refinery. The tremor was apparently shallow,
that makes it more likely to be a tsunami, and there's most likely
to be a great amount of damage. Hokkaido is Japan's northernmost
island, with a population of more than five million and is home
to a nuclear reactor and active volcanoes.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
*The bodies of 12 members of the same extended family were
recovered after an overnight landslide in north-west China's
Shaanxi province.
*Tasmanian emergency services were inundated with calls for
help overnight as strong winds and heavy rains wreaked havoc
in the island's north.
*Two U.S. scientists say the pH of the world's oceans is falling,
potentially threatening marine life if it continues unabated.
*A small rock about five metres across flew past the Earth
undetected a few days ago. Only four other such celestial
bodies have come closer since monitoring began. Had it
entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would have fragmented in a
spectacular meteor display, but would have caused no damage.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
*There was resuspended volcanic ash over Kodiak Island,
Alaska, on Sept. 21st. Such plumes can present a serious
hazard to unsuspecting airliners flying through them.
* Tropical Storm Marty sideswiped Mexico's western mainland
Tuesday before weakening into a tropical depression as it moved
northward, dumping rain on portions of the southwestern
United States. It was expected to dissipate within 24 hours, warnings
continue for flash floods and mudslides because of heavy rainfall.
* Europe this year experienced its hottest summer for at least
500 years, providing further evidence of man-made
global warming, Swiss university researchers said.
*In Alaska, permafrost is becoming soggy, temperatures are
increasing, icebergs are thinning, roads are collapsing and
entire villages are being forced to move as the ground beneath
homes melts and erodes away. Scientists say the changes in
Alaska may be a sign of what's coming in the lower
48 and elsewhere in the world. Nearly 98 percent of glaciers
and sea ice at Alaska's coast are in a state of melting. That has
contributed to a sea level rise of nearly a foot over the last 100 years.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
* Hurricane Marty weakened slightly as it headed toward
the Mexican mainland after knocking out power, flooding streets
and flattening trees on the southern Baja California peninsula.
Two deaths were reported.
*A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck the New Zealand capital
of Wellington yesterday.
*Warming conditions pushing average temperatures above freezing
are being blamed for the breakup of an ice shelf at Ellesmere
Island in northern Canada.
* Global warming could finish off coral reefs within 20 years in
parts of the Indian Ocean, says a scientist.
Monday, September 22, 2003
*The Mexican government issued a warning for the southern tip
of Baja California on Sunday as Hurricane Marty churned
closer to land. Longer-term forecasts show the hurricane
weakening after moving across the peninsula later in the week,
but continuing to move north toward the U.S. border
around Arizona.
*Utility crews have restored power to more than two-thirds of
the 6 million people who had been without since Hurricane Isabel
struck, but isolated price gouging and a general lack of information
is starting to wear down residents in the hardest-hit areas.
*A large 6.5 earthquake rocked Myanmar and Thailand early
today. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
*A strong 5.5 earthquake rocked the Tokyo area yesterday
afternoon, with reports of seven people with injuries
and buildings swaying in the capital.
*On Monday a Japanese researcher caused a stir in Tokyo with
a prediction based on his study of radio waves that a major
destructive magnitude 7 earthquake was highly likely to hit the
city on Tuesday the 16th or Wednesday the 17th. Forecasting
quakes is generally considered to be impossible with current
technology, and his method of using anomalies in the VHF
range of radio waves to predict the timing and intensity of tremors
had not gained many believers in the scientific community.
*Nine Himalayan trekkers were reported missing after being
trapped in an avalanche in northern India.
*Almost three million Americans were still without power
Saturday night as utility crews struggled with downed lines
and streets chocked with debris in the wake of Hurricane Isabel.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
* Hurricane Isabel raced from Virginia to the Canadian border,
delivering far less rain than expected but leaving 17 dead, millions
without power, smashing homes and causing tidal surges that
trapped even some city dwellers in their homes.
*Hurricane Isabel has left at least $1 billion in damage across six
states, and the ripple effects of the storm are still being tallied.
* Storm-chasing - when most people flee storms such
as Hurricane Isabel, some meteorologists flock to be in
the thick of the action.
*In Australia:
* Hurricane force winds lashed Victoria, injuring several people
as trees were felled, houses unroofed and debris scattered.
*Firefighters battling a bushfire on North Stradbroke
Island off Brisbane have expressed fears that nearby homes
could come under threat if predicted wind changes occur.
Friday, September 19, 2003
*A weakened Hurricane Isabel barreled into North Carolina's
Outer Banks and made its way up the Eastern Seaboard,
leaving nearly 2 million residents without power.
*Officials blamed Hurricane Isabel for at least two traffic
deaths and the electrocution of a utility employee.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
*The outer bands of Hurricane Isabel were beginning
to move onto shore at 11pm Eastern time Wednesday.
*Government forecasters believe Hurricane Isabel will cause
even more damage than past storms because of its unusual path
- it's heading straight for the coastline.
Track the storm.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
*Vehicles streamed inland from North Carolina's Outer Banks
on Tuesday as up to 90,000 people were urged to get out
of the way of Hurricane Isabel, the most powerful storm in
four years to menace the mid-Atlantic coast.
*Experts worry that the weakened Hurricane Isabel will still
bring a damaging deluge to the already waterlogged East Coast.
*Maemi, the most powerful typhoon on record to hit South
Korea, has left 127 people dead or missing and caused damage
worth $4.4 billion, nearly three times the original estimate.
*More than 60 bushfires were burning out of control in remote
areas of northern NSW, destroying 30,000ha of bushland
in Australia.
* Merapi Volcano is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes,
and it has been almost continuously active for nearly ten years,
including periodic pyroclastic flows (hot ash and rock debris)
and avalanches. More than 50,000 people live adjacent to the
treacherous southwestern slope.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
*East Coast residents are bracing for Hurricane Isabel, which
could hit anywhere from North Carolina to New Jersey on
late Thursday or early Friday.
*The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite has provided
some remarkable images of Super Typhoon Maemi in the western
Pacific from its organization into a minimal typhoon well east of
the Philippines, to its height as a super typhoon with winds over
155 mph as it was approaching the southern Ryuku Islands.
*In Australia:
*Strong winds and high temperatures today escalated the fire
danger across south-east Queensland.
*A bushfire that damaged seven homes on North Stradbroke
Island off Brisbane yesterday has been controlled, but another
blaze near the island airstrip was still to be contained.
Monday, September 15, 2003
* Parts of China's largest city, Shanghai, are now sinking at a
rate of one-and-a-half centimetres a year, largely as a result of a
massive building boom there over the last 10 years. It is a city
that is, in effect, built on a drained swamp and it is gradually
sinking below the level of the Huang Pu river. Construction of
new skyscrapers is to be cut, but with so many already built
or under construction it may not be enough.
*In Australia:
*Fires in remote areas of northern NSW could burn for weeks.
*to traffic as trees weakened by bushfires threaten to fall
on to the road.
*NSW State Emergency Service volunteers are cleaning up
after winds of up to 90kph buffeted Sydney, the Blue
Mountains and the north coast overnight.
Sunday, September 14, 2003
* Hurricane Isabel churned across the Atlantic with winds of 160
mph on Saturday, morphing into the most dangerous kind of
hurricane as it swirled ominously closer to the East Coast.
Computer models predict it would turn toward the Carolinas
over the next five days, but hurricanes can be unpredictable,
and it could still strike anywhere on the Atlantic coast.
*At least two people were confirmed dead after about 20
people were trapped in an underground karaoke bar when
tidal waves pushed by Typhoon Maemi hit South Korea's
south-eastern city of Masan. All are feared to be drowned.
Typhoon Maemi has left 110 people dead or missing.
*Queensland, Australia firefighters are on alert as temperatures
soar across the state again today and more strong dry
winds are predicted.
*The gaping, man-made hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica
has hit record proportions for this time of year and could
get bigger still within the next few days, a leading scientist says.
The hole is a fraction under the absolute record of 11 million, but
it has historically peaked in the second week in September and
therefore could theoretically grow further.
Saturday, September 13, 2003
*Gale winds and heavy rain from Typhoon Maemi lashed
South Korea overnight, killing at least 19 people and forcing
thousands of others to seek emergency shelter. At least 10
people are missing.
*Four Indonesian farmers were struck and killed by lightning
and three others were injured as they walked home during
a rainstorm in North Sumatra.
*Portugal requested two water-bombing aircraft from France
today to help fight a new wave of bushfires which forced the
evacuation of dozens of people from their homes
and claimed another life.
*More than 30 bushfires are burning out of control in northern
New South Wales, Australia, and have the potential to
threaten homes.
Friday, September 12, 2003
*Hundreds of firefighters were battling four blazes which were
burning out of control in the center and south of Portugal as
scorching weather returned.
*The heat wave that scorched Europe this summer may be
to blame in the deaths of more than 4,000 elderly Italians.
*Five huge underground explosions rattled the magma dome
below Mount Fuji on Thursday as PART OF AN EXPERIMENT to
glean insights into when Japan's most famous volcano
might erupt again. Roughly 10 percent of Japan's population
live near the mountain. It last erupted in 1707, sprinkling
Tokyo with ash.
*Few things in nature can compare to the destructive force of
a hurricane. Called the greatest storm on Earth, a hurricane is
capable of annihilating coastal areas with sustained winds of
155 mph or higher and intense areas of rainfall and a storm
surge. In fact, during its life cycle a hurricane can expend as
much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
* Mount Etna volcano webcams are active (12:10am CST)
*Powerful typhoon Maemi swept across Japan's southern islands
early today, flipping over cars, toppling telephone poles and causing
at least 63 injuries, two of them serious. It was the strongest
typhoon to hit the Okinawan islands in southern Japan in
more than 30 years and one of the 10 strongest to hit anywhere
in Japan. The typhoon was moving slowly and was expected
to continue to lash the area with high windsand downpours
before heading off toward the Korean Peninsula.
*An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale
shook northern Japan today, the meteorological agency said.
*An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale rocked
Taiwan today. There were no early reports of damage or casualties.
* Hurricane Isabel strengthened Wednesday as it churned
westward in the Atlantic, and forecasters said its dangerous winds
could threaten islands in the northeastern Caribbean by
the end of the week. It is too early to say whether the storm
will directly threaten other islands or, eventually, the United States.
*The government should have closed Bermuda's airport causeway
when Hurricane Fabian swept through last week, killing four
people on the roadway, the premier said.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
*Heavy rains in Mali have destroyed almost 200 old mud buildings
in the ancient desert city of Timbuktu amid fears of more flooding.
*The death toll in Haitian flooding is now 24.
* France's heatwave death toll is now at 15,000.
*A number of large fires continue to burn in the northwestern U.S.
and Canada, sending a vast pall of smoke eastward over the
Great Plains and Great Lakes regions.
*The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite took
this image of Typhoon Maemi organizing in the western
Pacific about 900 miles east of the northern Philippines.
*The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite
captured this bird's-eye view of Hurricane Isabel churning
away in the tropcial Atlantic ocean.
Tuesday, September 9, 2003
* Torrential rains in the West African nation of Mali have killed
scores and caused heavy property damage - authorities are
warning of worse to come if the Niger River spills its banks.
* Nigerian floods have displaced 100,000 people. Officials
in Kaduna set up a camp for the homeless but many are at the
river trying to salvage property swept away.
*Cresting river waters menaced a swath of northern China on
Monday, threatening to send more people fleeing from the
worst flooding in 20 years, a problem that has already forced
a half-million evacuations. More than 100 small villages
have been submerged.
*Days after pounding Bermuda, Hurricane Fabian claimed
the lives of three men in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland
after their motorized boat capsized in rough seas.
*Poor communication and a seasonal shortage of doctors led
to France's heatwave tragedy, says an official report.
*Routine screening in Singapore turned up a possible case of
the deadly disease Sars, sparking the first alert in five months.
Monday, September 8, 2003
*High winds fanned forest fires raging in western Canada,
forcing the evacuation yesterday of more than 1000
people from the town of Kelowna, bringing to more than
4000 the residents evacuated since last week.
About 750 people were also evacuated from a housing estate
north-east of the town of Kamloops.
*Four women and three children died when two boats sank in
the monsoon-swollen rivers of the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
*There are encouraging signs that the New South Wales,
Australia, drought could be coming to an end.
* Hurricane Fabian is heading north after pummeling Bermuda
- Atlantic Canada will be spared any major damage.
*The rapid melting of glaciers in parts of Kazakhstan in central
Asia will affect the livelihoods of millions of people, scientists say.
Sunday, September 7, 2003
*Four people are feared dead after the most powerful hurricane
to hit Bermuda in 50 years unleashed deadly winds that split trees
in half and swept trucks off roads. 25,000 homes are without power.
* Ever wonder how much a cloud weighs? What about a
hurricane? The water in one hurricane weighs more than all the
elephants on the planet. Perhaps even more than all the elephants
that have ever lived on the planet.
*All over the globe there are relationships between the conditions
of the atmosphere and oceans that affect weather and climate
at great distances. The North Atlantic Oscillation is one of these
teleconnections, linking the temperature of the North Atlantic
Ocean with winter weather in North America and Europe.
Saturday, September 6, 2003
*The most powerful hurricane to hit Bermuda in 50 years
slammed into the island chain Friday, unleashing winds that
snapped off palm trees, knocked out power and tested the
wealthy British territory's vaunted ability to
withstand a fierce storm.
Also Friday, slow-moving Tropical Storm Henri drenched an
already soaked Florida, pushing heavy rains into areas where
lakes and rivers were full to overflowing.
* Costa Rica is on alert for volcano eruption - the Arenal
Volcano spewed lava, rocks and ash Friday in its strongest
eruption in more than two years, panicking nearby residents.
*British Columbia grappled on Friday with a wildfire that has
forced the evacuation of 3,200 people and put thousands
more on alert. The Okanagan Mountain fire has burned
out-of-control near Kelowna since mid-August, and
officials warn the long battle against the flames was taking
an emotional toll on both residents and firefighters.
*The drought is not letting up in the western U.S. - farmers
are suffering poor crops thanks to drought. And next year's
harvest isn't looking to be much better.
*Astronomers have issued the 'all-clear' about asteroid
2003 QQ47, suspected by some to be on a possible
collision course with the Earth in just 11 years.
Friday, September 5, 2003
* Hurricane Fabian is picking up speed and is expected to slam
into Bermuda late today. Residents are making frenzied
preparations for what could be the worst storm to
hit the islands in years. Islands could lose power for days
or weeks. Bermuda hasn't seen a Category 3 hurricane since
1963.
*A medium-sized 4.1 earthquake has sent a sharp jolt through
the San Francisco Bay area. There were no immediate
reports of injuries, but items crashed from shelves.
*Panicked residents in the capital of Indonesia's troubled Aceh
province fled buildings this morning when a two-minute long
tremor struck.
*Two big wildfires jumped containment lines Thursday in
central Oregon, again forcing the evacuation of about 300
residents of a mountain community. The fires are threatening to
merge. In northern California, firefighters reported progress
Thursday against scores of wildfires sparked by lightning.
Thursday, September 4, 2003
* Floods, landslides and the strongest typhoon to hit in a quarter
of a century have killed at least 86 people in China with many
others still missing. 1000 are injured. 30 percent of trees along
the coast in the path of the storm have been ripped up by the roots.
The direct economic losses caused by the typhoon are set at more
than $242 million. Reports blame shoddy construction for
many of the casualties.
* Flood waters tore a 100-metre hole in an embankment in
northern China, forcing the emergency nighttime evacuation
of more than 100,000 people.
*More than a million Russians have been left without drinking
water in Russia's Pacific Far East, devastated by the worst
drought in 40 years.
* Scientists say glaciers are melting at an alarming rate -
some 7,000 years after glaciers sculpted the landscape at Glacier
National Park, they've all but disappeared.
Wednesday, September 3, 2003
*U.S. astronomers are warning of a potentially continent-crushing
asteroid in 2014, but U.K. analysts say it will sail past us.
Previously this year, we have had several asteroids which have
had much higher probabilities of colliding with the Earth in the
next 100 years, and they have almost all been ruled out.
* Typhoon Dujuan swept into southern China Tuesday after
uprooting trees and causing minor landslides in Hong Kong.
The storm injured 22 people in the territory, disrupted air traffic
and forced the closure of businesses and schools.
*Three more people have died in heavy floods in the east Indian
coastal state of Orissa, taking the toll to 17, with almost three
million made homeless.
* Gale-force winds lashed southern Tasmania overnight,
downing trees and cutting power to about 2,000 homes.
*A 5.8 earthquake shook the small South Pacific island of
Tonga yesterday. No damage was expected.
Tuesday, September 2, 2003
*A strong 5.9 earthquake jolted a sparsely populated region of
China's northwest early today near its border with Tajikistan.
No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
*Hong Kong was bracing for a direct hit from powerful Typhoon Dujuan,
preparing to cancel flights and close schools and businesses as
the storm barrelled towards the territory. It is the strongest
typhoon so far this year.
*Fast-moving Typhoon Dujuan swept over southern Taiwan,
ripping up trees, flooding streets and blacking out thousands of homes.
*Three firemen have been killed on the French Riviera as nearly
1000 firefighters battled fierce brush fires fanned by wind gusts
on the scorched Mediterranean coast.
*In the last two decades the Earth's average temperature has
been the highest for about two thousand years, climatologists say.
The Earth appears to have been warmer since 1980 than
at any time in the last 18 centuries.
Monday, September 1, 2003
* Hurricane Jimena plowed across the Pacific with 137 kph
wind Sunday, heading for a glancing blow on Hawaii's largest
island with high wind, strong surf and heavy rain.
*A month after deadly fires ravaged large swathes of the Riviera's
picturesque back woods, firefighters battled new blazes today
that destroyed several homes and forced evacuations.
* Flash flooding from a torrential rain storm swept cars off
a section of a Kansas highway, killing at least four children, and
authorities were searching for others still missing.
*A moderate earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 struck the western
coast of the northern Philippines, but there were no reports of
injuries or damage.
*A magnitude 5.7 earthquake south of MARIANA ISLANDS
has occurred 370 km (230 miles) SSE of Hagatna, Guam.
*A magnitude 6.1 earthquake in PRIMOR'YE, RUSSIA
has occurred 40 km (25 miles) SSE of Ussuriysk, Russia
(population 158,000) and 1080 km (670 miles) NW
of Tokyo, Japan.
Sunday, August 31, 2003
*The Karthala volcano on the Indian Ocean Comoros
archipelago erupted Saturday, sending a stream of lava towards
a nearby village where troops were heading to
evacuate residents, witnesses said.
* Torrential rains for 5 hours burst river banks, sweeping
away at least eight people and destroying 200 homes in Haiti's
west-coast city of St. Marc. There are no estimates on the
number of people missing.
*France's health minister said in an interview that people have
not stopped dying from the August heat wave that seared France
and he predicted the death toll will climb toward 12,000.
Saturday, August 30, 2003
*At least 13 people have been killed and twenty-five thousand
evacuated in northwestern China after landslides and floods
destroyed homes. More rain is forecast for the area.
*Fabian, the third hurricane of the season, took shape on
Friday in the mid-Atlantic, heading westerly on a course
toward the Bahamas and possibly to the United States
some time next week.
* Storms and strong winds lashed eastern France and
Switzerland overnight, provoking blackouts and property
damage but no serious injuries.
*Experts meeting in Central Asia this weekend are debating
water issues amid controversy over the possibility of
catastrophic flooding from a huge mountain lake located
high in the Pamir mountains.
Friday, August 29, 2003
*The death toll in France from the heatwave at the beginning
of August is now figured to be 11,435.
*The long hot summer, along with recent droughts, makes
some scientists think global warming may be here with
a vengeance. But the real sign of climate change will be
when Europe gets colder, because the ocean current that
warms it stops flowing up from the south. Now scientists
are reporting that the Atlantic ocean has become
unseasonably cold— is this a signal that sudden
climate change has begun?
Thursday, August 28, 2003
*A high school student was killed and seven other people
injured in the Vietnamese capital after being struck by trees
uprooted in a violent storm.
*Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka peninsula, has become active
again, firing plumes of ash and debris into the air. This activity,
which was observed for the first time since 1993, suggests
that a volcanic eruption could soon follow.
*For days before eruption in 1985 the Nevado del Ruiz volcano
had been screaming 'I'm about to explode' . Scientist Bernard
Chouet has found a way to use earthquakes to predict
when volcanoes will erupt.
*The volcano on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands
off North Africa, was discovered to be in great danger of someday
collapsing into the Atlantic Ocean. The ensuing tidal wave would
hit Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and North Africa, but the
main wave would travel west, storming across the Atlantic in
hours. By the time it reached the East Coast it could sweep up
to 20 miles in land, destroying everything in its path. Boston,
New York and Miami could virtually be wiped off the map.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
* Hurricane Ignacio drenched fishermen and tourists Monday
and forced 3000 to evacuate as it moved closer to the Baja
California Peninsula, but forecasters said it appeared to
be weakening.
* Typhoon Krovanh roared into China on Monday, flooding
a provincial capital with knee-deep water and causing a lot
of injuries and damage. Hours earlier, the storm injured
at least five people in Hong Kong.
*Up to 400 unidentified or abandoned bodies, some in refrigerated
trucks, await temporary burial in and around Paris as authorities
struggled to cope with the fallout of France's deadly heat wave.
* Glaciers smeared with dirt may not look as pretty, but
scientists say there's a clear explanation for the dirt. The current
issue of Geology also shows that a glacier clung to the slopes
of San Gorgonio Mountain, only 75 miles east of Los Angeles,
just 12,000 years ago. It might have even been there as recently
as 5,000 years ago, but not everyone agrees with that date.
*The Vulcano Volcano webcam is back online.
Monday, August 25, 2003
* Hurricane Ignacio sideswiped the southern tip of the Baja
California peninsula Sunday, threatening to batter the region
with winds topping 105 mph. Evacuations have been started,
harbors and airports closed. The National Hurricane Center
in Miami said rainfall of up to 16 inches could cause
life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides. The center
predicted no change in Ignacio's strength for the next day or two.
*A van of eight firefighters on their way home from a wildfire
in the U.S. collided with a tractor-trailer and exploded in flames,
killing all eight inside and injuring the two people in the truck.
*At least five people were injured and some schools were closed
as a typhoon brought heavy rain and strong winds to Hong Kong
and slowly moved toward the Chinese island of Hainan.
*The New South Wales, Australian government today declared
parts of the state a natural disaster area after windstorms
yesterday caused widespread damage and one death.
A massive clean-up was under way in Victoria, Australia,
today after gale force winds lashed that state overnight. The dams
there are either full or overflowing.
Heavy rain and high winds littered flooded roads with debris
in Tasmania's north and north-west overnight.
Sunday, August 24, 2003
*In Kelowna, British Columbia, a wildfire burned through
orchards and vineyards Saturday, advancing to the edge of
the city and forcing 30,000 to flee their homes ahead
of flames that towered up to 400 feet.
*Forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Mexico
as Tropical Storm Ignacio gained strength and approached
the tip of the Baja California peninsula.
*The Popocatépetl volcano has increased its number of exhalations
compared to the activity shown in the last weeks. This activity
could be related to the intense rains in the last days. The other
monitored parameters remain without important changes.
*Shifting harvests in Europe this year, triggered by extreme but
local bouts of rain, heat and drought, eerily foreshadow
predictions made last year that warn global warming will
reshape European agriculture, New Scientist says. The forecast,
however, was based on a computer modelling of likely CO2
levels in 2050 and was not intended as a prediction for the
immediate future.
Saturday, August 23, 2003
*Seismologists in the Comoros warned Friday that Karthala
volcano, situated on the Indian Ocean archipelago's
biggest island, could erupt soon, after slumbering for 12 years.
The number of earth tremors on and around the mountain has
increased "exponentially" over the past three months,
indicating an imminent eruption.
*A wildfire that has driven up to 10,000 people out of
Kelowna, British Columbia, raged closer to the prosperous
vacation city on Friday, placing thousands more residents
on alert to flee at a moment's notice. The fire, about 185 miles
east of Vancouver, began on Aug. 16 with a lightning strike
in the mountains. The province is Canada's third largest and
roughly the size of France and Germany combined.
Friday, August 22, 2003
*A massive 7.1 earthquake has hit a sparsely populated
part of New Zealand's South Island. There are no reports of
any serious injuries from the earthquake, but 60 school children
staying at a remote hostel were stranded by a landslide
which blocked a road. A quake of magnitude seven or greater
hits New Zealand about once every 10 years. This tremor was
one of three to hit the area over the past two days and
aftershocks, one measuring 6.2, were continuing to shake the region.
*The world's largest river-island, Majuli, in north-eastern India,
is rapidly disappearing. Located in the Brahmaputra river in
northeastern India, Majuli is rapidly eroding away, threatening
the lives of the 150,000 islanders. The Brahmaputra, infamous
for floods, and for frequently changing its course, undercuts
Majuli's sandy soil, undermining its foundations. An earthquake
in 1950 added to the problem. Majuli has been rapidly
eroding away ever since.
*Between 500 and 1,000 residents were told to leave their
homes as a complex of wildfires burned toward the central
Oregon community of Camp Sherman.
*The dangerous Okanagan Mountain Park fire near Kelowna,
in Canada, has jumped its guards and more than 1,000 homes
have been ordered evacuated.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
* One of the largest earthquakes in history could strike Seattle
- new research on the coastal waters off Vancouver reveals that
the area where the Juan de Fuca and North America plates
overlap is almost twice the size seismologists thought it was,
and the greater the overlap, the more friction that's built up,
resulting in a more powerful earthquake. The earthquake zone
also extends farther towards the mainland than they realized,
creating an additional hazard for coastal communities.
*The French president has asked his ministers for reports on
the recent heatwave, now with 10,000 estimated fatalities.
*The heatwave has caused 1300 deaths in Portugal.
*Croatia is gripped by its worst drought in 50 years and the
receding waters of the River Danube are revealing relics of
World War II.
*British Columbia has been under a state of emergency since
Aug. 2 in the worst fire season in 50 years. A wildfire near the city
of Kelowna yesterday grew five-fold in 24 hours, aided by
tinder-dry conditions and gusting winds.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
*The U.S. Geologic Survey warns that Mount Rainier near
Seattle is getting ready to spew out another ton of mud,
and that could be only the beginning of an eruptive period.
USGS volcano monitor William E. Scott says it's
"a monumental threat."
* Giant gerbils have infested China - eagles are being bred
to eat the explosion of giant rodents destroying prairies in China's
north-western Xinjiang region. Unless they succeed, the damage
the rodents are doing could add to the steady encroachment of
the desert, already occupying a vast part of the region.
*Officials in northern China say rescue teams are attempting to
provide makeshift housing for thousands of people left homeless
by the earthquake in Inner Mongolia.
*The worst Portuguese fires in history will cause massive
soil erosion, say green campaigners.
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
*The death toll from a 5.9 earthquake that jolted northern China
on Saturday night rose to three and the number of hurt climbed
to 1,100, 42 seriously hurt, as officials worked to shelter thousands people
displaced by the tremor. Seventy-eight aftershocks have been
recorded since the initial quake. More than 7,900 houses collapsed
and 83,000 more were damaged. In China's far southwest,
a 5.7-magnitude quake hit a mountainous area of eastern
Tibet on Monday. Minimal damage was expected.
*A moderate 4.7 earthquake shook the Tokyo region Monday
evening, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
* Forest fires raised new havoc in the parched mountains of
British Columbia on Monday with hundreds of residents forced
out of their homes or on alert for potential evacuation. More
than 800 wildfires were burning in British Columbia on Monday,
most of them small.
*Thick smog and endless rain continued to cover most of Atlantic
Canada on Sunday, bringing added worry to farmers faced
with rotting crops.
Monday, August 18, 2003
*Just two days after seeing off a heatwave that killed up to 3000
people, France's emergency services were back on call, this
time to deal with violent storms that ripped up trees, cut
power lines and left one person dead.
*Scientists think global warming will melt the Alps over the next
twenty years, causing the mountains to collapse into piles of rubble.
The mountain range is made up of rocks, with an icy crust of
permafrost holding them together. This ice is melting fast, and
the rocks are falling in great avalanches.
*A plague of silkworms threatens a forest in Siberia that has
been spared by raging fires.
*Speculation over the origins of Italy's catastrophic fires is
rife, with few putting the blame down to nature. A growing role
is believed to be played by the so-called Eco-Mafia, which has
an interest in starting forest fires because it aims to win public
contracts for the reforestation of the affected areas and it also
creates new space for their illegal dumps.
*At least 15 soldiers were killed after a landslide swept through
their army base in northern Nepal.
Saturday, August 16, 2003
* Hurricane warnings were posted along parts of the Texas coast
Friday as Tropical Storm Erika moved quickly across the Gulf
of Mexico. It could hit Texas by today.
*Morgues and cemeteries in France have been overwhelmed
in the heat wave, which the health minister called "a true epidemic."
*A minor 3.5 earthquake this morning centred near Eketahuna,
New Zealand - in the lower North Island - was the latest in a string
of recent North Island tremors.
*A magnitude 5.1 earthquake off the coast of Northern California
occurred yesterday.
Friday, August 15, 2003
* A powerful 6.4 earthquake Thursday injured more than 50 people
in Greece and turned a peak summer holiday into an exodus of
frightened tourists from the Ionian Sea island of Lefkada. At
least two strong aftershocks followed with preliminary
magnitudes of 5.3.
* The blistering heat wave across Europe has caused as many
as 3,000 deaths in France alone, and overburdened funeral homes
and morgues struggled to manage an overflow of incoming bodies.
* Heavy rains in Sudan flooded the White Nile between
August 3-11, displacing thousands of people.
* Coral is reaching its crisis point and the Earth's coral reefs
will not survive much longer without protection against human
onslaughts, scientists say.
Thursday, August 14, 2003
*A fireman became the latest victim of the wildfires which have
ravaged large parts of Portugal since the end of July, taking the
death toll from the nation's worst ever fires to 16.
*Some Europeans breathed easier as temperatures began abating
Wednesday, although French health authorities faced renewed
accusations that people died unnecessarily from the heat wave.
* Flammable ping-pong balls can help fight fires in
hard-to-reach places in the forest — and they're cheaper and safer.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
* Devastating forest fires in southern Portugal are raging out
of control and threaten to reach tourist areas on the Algarve
coast, one of Europe's top vacation spots.
*Ministers are being blamed for lack of leadership as doctors
say heat-related deaths across France have reached 100.
*More than 1,000 people in Western Canada were forced to
evacuate their homes for a second time on Tuesday, just days
after returning to them, as one of the biggest of the wildfires in
the region quickly expanded. West of Alberta, 860 fires were
burning in British Columbia on Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
*The heatwave scorching much of Europe entered into its second
week, fuelling forest fires, concerns about power supplies and
fears in France of a looming health crisis. Forest fires killed five
people in Spain, and the relentless heat killed three others in Spain,
two in Italy and one in France, bringing the confirmed death toll
from baking sun and forest blazes across southern Europe to
at least 51 in just two weeks.
*Scientists think they've found a better way to predict tornadoes
and thunderstorms by using satellite technology to check the skies.
Monday, August 11, 2003
*The worst heat wave to cover Southern and Eastern Europe
in 150 years has disrupted summer living for millions of residents
and tourists. Germany is expected to swelter until midweek;
France is counting on at least another week of abnormally
high temperatures; and weather experts in Italy expect the
country to be roasting until September.
*The United Kingdom recorded its hottest day ever.
*At least 50 people died in the past four days from the heatwave
in the French capital.
*Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in
north-eastern Spain and southern Portugal yesterday
as forest fires raged.
'*In New South Wales, Australia, the next bushfire season could be
worse than last year since so much of the state is still crippled
by drought.
Sunday, August 10, 2003
*A landslide in a village in southwestern China left one
person dead and 10 missing.
*Eleven people were missing, after a tropical storm that has
killed at least four, pummelled its way through northern Japan.
*Powerful typhoon Etau roared over Japan's main island
leaving at least six people dead or missing and 57 others
injured while snarling airline and rail traffic.
*A three-year-old girl died of dehydration after climbing into her
family's car parked in northern France. She was the latest victim
of the country's continuing heatwave.
Saturday, August 9, 2003
*A tropical storm rumbled up Japan's most populated island,
dumping heavy rain, stranding thousands of travellers and
raising fears of flooding and mudslides.
*Around 3% of Portugal's forests have been destroyed by fires
in the past two weeks. Meteorologists predict that the heatwave,
with temperatures of around 35-40C, will continue throughout
Europe into the weekend.
*Thousands of evacuees who fled raging forest fires in Western
Canada were allowed to return home on Friday as officials calculated
$5.8 million of the first damage estimates from the blazes.
* Mongolia's changing climate is bearing down hard
on the country's nomadic population, who are being forced
to reconsider a way of life that has been with them for
generations. Mongolians expect Zuds (a long dry summer
followed by an extremely cold winter) and know how to survive
them, but never before have they been so bad and so often. Three
years in a row winter temperatures have plunged dramatically low.
*Polar bears are known as king of the Arctic, but scientists say
they're facing threats from at least two fronts: melting ice and
chemical contaminants.
Friday, August 8, 2003
*A typhoon packing winds of up to 144kph battered
mainland Japan yesterday, snarling traffic, cutting electricity
and swelling rivers.
*An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale jolted
northern Japan yesterday.
* Torrential rain and landslides have destroyed the homes
of about 1,000 people on the west coast of New Ireland,
a tropical island in Papua New Guinea.
*There is no let-up in the heatwave which has claimed 37
lives and sent records tumbling across Europe. Rivers are
drying up, rail tracks buckling and forest fires blazing.
*A fierce thunderstorm near a Himalayan resort washed away
the tents of workers building a mountain tunnel, killing at least
15 people, and injuring at least 20.
Thursday, August 7, 2003
*The sweltering heat suffocating much of Europe showed no
signs of abating, after several areas set new temperature records
and firefighters continued to battled deadly forest fires across
the southern part of the continent. The heat has been caused by
an anticyclone which has anchored itself over the west European
land mass, holding off rain-bearing depressions over the Atlantic
and funnelling hot air north from Africa. The stifling weather stands
in sharp contrast to the summer of 2002, when at least 100 people
were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes
in floods that swept from the Balkans to the Baltics.
*Swiss authorities said there were signs that mountain ice caps
were melting at 4,000 metres' altitude, in what a Zurich university
professor called a "really exceptional situation".
*Portuguese firefighters gained the upper hand overnight over
the deadly forest fires which have swept the country over the
past week, but remained on high alert as temperatures rose
and the death toll from the blazes climbed to 14.
*Thousands of firefighters yesterday wrestled with major forest
fires in western Canada, as new blazes cropped up in both
Alberta and British Columbia, with lightening storms looming.
*Scientists have discovered a "smoking" volcano 3,000
metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean.
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
*Rumors are sweeping the internet that the western U.S. is
about to experience an upsurge in volcanic activity. There is
very little evidence of any general increase in volcanism on
the scale being claimed, but U.S. Geological Survey geologist
Lisa Morgan reports that there is a 100 foot high bulge in the
bottom of Yellowstone Lake that has appeared in the past year.
Scientists believe that the bulge could result in a hydrothermal
explosion, but not that it could become a volcano. Morgan
and her team are studying the lake now and plan to prepare a
danger assessment in the fall.
*British Columbia, Canada still is unable to contain even 50%
of their forest fires.
*Europe continued to swelter under a punishing heat wave as
Portugal called in NATO to help combat deadly forest fires
and France recorded its highest temperatures in more
than half a century. Five more people died in Portuguese
fires and Spanish heat. Forecasters say there is no immediate
end in sight to the heatwave.
*China has shut down 830 fireworks factories in a southern
province for fear that a summer heat wave could set off explosions.
Small chemical plants and factories making cigarette lighters
also were ordered to close.
*A badly hurt Czech climber and 16 members of his party
are trapped on the slopes of a volcano in Russia's far east.
Klyuchevskaya volcano, on the remote Kamchatka peninsula, is
active and suffers rockfalls, earthquakes and gas escapes, but the
4,750-metre (15,700-foot) peak remains a popular destination
for climbers, who try to reach the top to peer into the crater.
Tuesday, August 5, 2003
*There are renewed fears that a mountain lake in Tajikistan
could flood large parts of Central Asia. An earthquake in nearby
Afghanistan could rupture the natural barrier holding back the lake,
unleashing a torrent of water in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and
also in neighbouring Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It could result
in the largest flood ever seen and make 5 million people homeless.
*At least one million people in southern Pakistan have been left
marooned, homeless and facing disease or snakebites as a result
of floods caused by the worst monsoon rains in a decade.
* Fires in western Canada which have led to the evacuation of
10,000 people have picked up strength.
* Forest fires continue to burn across vast swathes of Portugal,
despite the efforts of thousands of firefighters. "We are standing
before a tragedy which is unprecedented in Portugal
in terms of fires."
*The United Kingdom's hottest recorded temperature is 37.1C
(99F), recorded on August 3, 1990. The record could be beaten
this week by Wednesday or Thursday, say forecasters.
Temperatures are around 10 degrees above average for
this time of year.
Monday, August 4, 2003
* Forest fires raging out of control in western Canada's British
Colombia have already ravaged 54,000ha and destroyed
dozens of homes, prompting a government-declared
state of emergency. This is the driest their forests have ever been
since they started recording those sorts of statistics in British Columbia.
*Nine people have died in forest fires that raged through Portugal
in the past week and destroyed thousands of hectares of forests
and dozens of homes. Fierce blazes sweeping across two-thirds
of Portugal's mainland regions are said to be the worst in living memory.
* Fires that ripped through Canberra, Australia on January 18,
killing 4 people and destroying 506 homes, could have been
contained within the first 24 hours if they had been fought
correctly, an inquiry found.
* Lightning struck a hut in southern Vietnam and electrocuted
four people who were sheltering there.
Saturday, August 2, 2003
* Lightning has killed 11 people in the north-east Chinese
province of Heilongjiang in the past three months.
* Pakistan floods spark food crisis - Tens of thousands of
Pakistanis in the flood-hit southern Sindh Province are
facing food shortages.
*The return of drought conditions to parts of the Canadian
Prairies isn't the only concern for farmers, who say an
influx of grasshoppers is also killing their crops.
*The Fawn Peak Complex Fire in Washington turned in on itself,
and as of July 30 had begun burning previously unburned
sections within the fire's perimeter.
* Fires in Eastern Russia and on Sakhalin Island have been
producing a thick, widespread pall of smoke over much of
northeast Asia in recent weeks.
Friday, August 1, 2003
*At least 58 people have been killed in Nepal and more than
30 were missing after huge landslides engulfed homes following
heavy rains throughout the country this week.
*Firefighters gained control of two devastating blazes in southern
France - but say the lull could be short-lived.
*The toughest water restrictions in Melbourne, Australia for
20 years came into effect this morning.
* The ozone layer is being restored due to the success of
a global ban on damaging chemicals, researchers say.
Thursday, July 31, 2003
*Pakistani authorities raced against time Wednesday to rescue
tens of thousands of people stranded after the worst floods in
a decade hit the south of the country, killing at least 100 people.
Some people have been marooned without food and shelter
for up to six days.
*At least 119 people have died due to floods and landslides in
eastern India since the monsoons arrived in the region in early
June. The death toll was about 400 last year through the entire
monsoon season from June to September.
*Firefighters seem to be gaining control of devastating blazes
in France, as a Portuguese fire claims one life.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
*Western and southern Afghanistan are suffering through two
months of the worst sandstorms in living memory. Satellite image
*Entering its fifth year of drought in July, Utah is the driest state
in the U.S. Satellite image shows a dust storm blowing over
the Great Salt Lake.
*Fires in Glacier National Park in northwest Montana forced
thousands of tourists and park staff to evacuate. This satellite
image shows the fires on July 28th.
* Forest fires swept through parts of the ritzy French Riviera
for a second day Tuesday, devastating scenic woods and
forcing thousands to be evacuated. At least four people
have been killed.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
*A forest fire killed three people, two of them British hikers,
in south-eastern France yesterday, the first victims of brush
fires which have swept across wide swathes of French
forest land this year. 15,000 people have been evacuated.
A serious fire also broke out yesterday on the French
Mediterranean island of Corsica.
*Australia suffered its worst-recorded environmental disaster
when brushfires fueled by a severe drought blackened almost
10 percent of the country during the summer of 2002/03.
The smoke from the fires was equivalent to all Australian
vehicle emissions for a 12-month period.
*Warmer temperatures are melting the permafrost and
altering the wildlife, an Inuit community in northern Canada says.
*Climate change is changing the face of the British coastline,
eroding beaches and marshes. Conservationists warn that if
nothing is done, beaches may be lost within 100 years
along with habitat that shelters wildlife.
Monday, July 28, 2003
*At least 175 fishermen are still missing after storms off
the coast of Bangladesh, while 300 houses were destroyed
in an earthquake which rocked the Chittagong region.
* Another strong quake (5.0) jolted northern Japan, where three
powerful earthquakes and about 1000 aftershocks during the
weekend have left 560 people injured.
*Homeowners draped rooftops with tarps and soldiers used
jackhammers to clear rubble-strewn roads as a rural Japanese
community started to bounce back from a battering by
the powerful earthquake.
*Countless Americans live in areas prone to hurricanes,
wildfires, mudslides and avalanches. Why live in harm's way?
*If you stand outside for 10 minutes or so, you're likely to spot
a few delta Aquarids: shooting stars. The meteor shower peaks
this year on July 28th and 29th. Between midnight and dawn
it produces 10 to 20 meteors each hour.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
*A string of earthquakes shook southwestern Turkey on Saturday
(the strongest was 5.6) collapsing a mud-brick house and
damaging dozens of other homes.
*Officials from Canada and the United States are working
together to control a pair of forest fires approaching the
Canadian border.
*More than 200 fishermen are missing and feared drowned after
nearly 60 Bangladeshi fishing boats sank in the Bay of Bengal
during a storm. The Bay is still rough with the weather office issuing a
medium-strong storm signal for another 24 hours.
*Far-eastern Russia is experiencing one of the most severe
forest fire seasons on record. This satellite image shows fires
and smoke over the region.
*Thirteen young Iranians, who went for a swim in a reservoir,
drowned late yesterday after being swept away by strong
currents whipped up by a storm.
* More than 400 aftershocks, including one measuring magnitude
5.4, were felt into the afternoon in Japan, raising fears about
more mudslides in a region pelted by heavy rains. At least
268 people have been hurt, suffering mostly minor injuries,
and several hundred people were evacuated. Tremors
continue to rattle the region.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
*A strong 6.2 earthquake shook northern Japan yesterday, injuring
at least 246 people, sending homes slipping down hills
and halting trains. A less powerful 5.5 earthquake earlier
in the same area injured at least 17 people. The area continues
to be rocked by minor tremblers in its aftermath. In the town
of Nango, 50 homes were damaged. Officals said there was
no danger of tsunami, but warned of possible mudslides.
* One of the most powerful typhoons in years ripped into
southern China killing at least eight people and injuring
around 24. More than 3.5 million people were affected by the
storm, the seventh typhoon to hit coastal areas in China this year.
* Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano shot glowing rock and
ash high into the air Friday night, triggering a thunderous
explosion that panicked some residents in nearby communities.
Friday, July 25, 2003
*Scientists have drilled through the central Greenland ice cap to obtain
120,000 years of climate information. They reached bedrock
on July 17, after seven years, and 3,000 metres, of drilling.
Meltwater obtained from beneath the ice cap may contain
microbes that have been isolated from the outside world for
hundreds of thousands of years. Warm periods between ice
ages typically last about 10,000 years. As it has been about
12,000 years since the end of the last glacial period,
identifying the signs of a forthcoming ice age is important.
*Orbiting twin satellites have produced the most detailed
gravity map of the Earth ever obtained. The map
and the others that will follow it are going to give
extraordinary new insights into how the oceans move
and influence the climate.
*A marked increase in the mosquito-borne disease, Ross River
fever, has been recorded in Queensland, Australia, with figures
so far this year on track to be the worst in seven years.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
*Thousands of people have been evacuated, and water supplies
and electricity cut as powerful winds whipped southern China
ahead of the expected landfall later today of deadly
Typhoon Imbudo.
* Water-logged hillsides gave way after a week of heavy rain in
southwest Cameroon, killing at least 21 people.
*Victoria, Australia bush user groups had warned that the
state's Alpine region was a catastrophe waiting to happen
three years before last summer's devastating fires.
*Italy faces the risk of power cuts as a heat wave causes a
surge in demand for air conditioners.
*Hundreds of people with houses near Montserrat's volcano
now have limited daytime access to their homes for the first
time since they were ordered to evacuate nine months ago. The
volcano is considered less dangerous following the collapse
of its lava dome last weekend.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
* China's 6.2 earthquake death toll is climbing - currently 16 are
reported dead and over 300 injured. Thousands of mud-brick
houses collapsed while people slept. Rwsue efforts are being
hampered by more than 20 aftershocks and continuous rainfall.
Landslides have cut off some roads.
*Hong Kong went on alert for what could be the biggest storm
in years to lash the city after Typhoon Imbudo swept
across the northern Philippines then set a course for
southern China. At least six people were killed when Imbudo
battered the Philippines. In northern Vietnam, Tropical Storm
Koni lashed the region after engulfing southern China's Hainan
island on Monday night. In northern India hundreds are suffering
from malaria and water-borne diseases after the worst floods
in 50 years and an epidemic alert has been issued.
*Eight mountain climbers from Europe, Israel and Argentina died
in the Peruvian Andes after an ice wall apparently collapsed.
*Some of the current satellite images:
Fawn Peak Complex Fire in northern Washington.
In eastern Montana, the Missouri Breaks Complex Fire went
from four smaller fires into one large complex that has grown
to more than 80,000 acres.
Super Typhoon Imbudo engulfing the Philippines.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
* A 6.2 earthquake shook southwestern China, killing at
least one person and causing several buildings to collapse.
*European farmers so hard hit by the double perils of drought
and extreme heat that they are describing it as a natural
disaster, are pleading for emergency aid as forest fires
break out across Europe.
* A wildfire destroyed a California house and
four outbuildings and forced about 250 people to flee as it
roared across rolling, oak-studded hills.
*The death toll from the weekend landslides and flash floods
in south-western Japan climbed to 16 as the search resumed
for six missing people.
*An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale
hit Papua New Guinea.
Monday, July 21, 2003
* Millions flee flooding in South Asia - Swollen rivers
and broken dams have turned large sections of South Asia
into lakes, and officials are worried that the water level
and death toll will continue to rise.
*At least nine people now reported killed by landslides and
flash floods triggered by heavy rain in southern Japan and
rescue workers search for 13 missing people.
*An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale jolted
northern Taiwan yesterday.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
*An earthquake measuring 6.25 on the Richter scale rocked
the southern coast of Indonesia's East Java province yesterday
causing some cracks in buildings but no casualties.
*At least four people were killed by mudslides and thousands
were ordered to evacuate as heavy rains pelted
southern Japan.
*More than 100 police officers, firefighters and volunteers
searched Saturday for victims of heavy rain storms that hit
southeastern Poland overnight, killing at least three people,
including two children.
Friday, July 18, 2003
*A landslide triggered by heavy rains in southern Mexico
swept away two houses and killed nine people Thursday.
*Poor people hit by disasters around the world are paying the
cost of the fight against terror, a report says.
*Scientists have identified a region of the sea floor with
a depth that rivals the Challenger Deep, part of the
Pacific Mariana Trench which, at about 11,000 metres
(36,000 feet), is the lowest spot on Earth. The location is
so deep that Mt. Everest could be placed within it and still have
1.6 km (1 mile) of water above it.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
*At least four people died and dozens were hurt in French storms,
as other parts of Europe stay in the grip of heat waves.
*Rescuers digging through mud in northern India on Wednesday
recovered the bodies of 19 people killed by a flash flood at
a construction site, police said. About 80 other people were
missing and feared dead.
* Hail the size of baseballs pummeled Altona, Manitoba and
funnel clouds were spotted around southern Manitoba Monday
afternoon as severe storms swept across the province in Canada.
*For decades, Canada's tufted puffins have failed to reproduce
chicks. Now scientists think warmer ocean temperatures
may be to blame.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
*The death toll from extreme cold temperatures in Peru's
southeast has risen to at least 60, all of them children. 60,000
people have become ill with lung infections because of the
extreme cold and forecasters are predicting no relief from the
bitter cold in the coming days.
*A woman died when her vehicle was blown into a tree by
strong storms that rocked Venezuela yesterday.
*A state of emergency may have to be declared in parts of
northern Italy, hit by drought and heat. Other parts of
southern Europe are also sweltering in high summer temperatures.
*Residents along a 200-mile stretch of Texas coastline braced
for hurricane-force winds, torrential rain and pounding tides as
Tropical Storm Claudette plodded toward land, heading
north of where forecasters had anticipated.
Monday, July 14, 2003
* Montserrat's volcano has spewed thick clouds of ash
into the air, delaying flights across the Caribbean and plunging
surrounding islands into a gritty haze.
*A hurricane watch was posted Sunday along the South Texas
coast as Tropical Storm Claudette crawled across
the Gulf of Mexico. The projected path would bring the storm
across Padre Island with landfall Tuesday afternoon north
of Brownsville.
* Sinking Louisiana faces land loss and storm danger -
Southern Louisiana locals will tell you: land that they played
on as children quickly is disappearing. The delta is sinking fast.
*The bushfires that ripped through Australia last summer were
the nation's worst environmental disaster.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
*More than 40 people were missing in southwestern China on
Saturday after a massive mudslide, which blocked a river and
threatened to wreak havoc on villages along the river's lower
reaches. 90 people are stranded as water levels rise.
*For more than a week, dust has been sweeping over the
Red Sea from east Africa. Dust storm image.
*Flooding along the Zambezi River - Image
*Rainfall totals from Tropical Storm Bill
*A distinguished group of Americans joined together to send a
unique request to Congressional leaders Wednesday - a request
that preparations be made to deal with the prospect of Earth
being slammed by an asteroid or comet.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
* The worst flooding China has seen in years has so far killed
569 people and forced the emergency evacuation of over 2 million.
*A new assessment of the frequency of tornadoes over Europe,
with the United Kingdom and Holland topping the list,
has been published by atmospheric scientists.
*A weakened, disorganized Tropical Storm Claudette entered
the Gulf of Mexico on Friday and started on a path that could
lead it slowly toward southern Texas, after crossing over the
Yucatan Peninsula and dumping heavy rain on
the resort of Cancun.
Friday, July 11, 2003
*Several villagers were killed in southern Iran by two successive
earthquakes measuring 5.6 and 5.8 on the Richter scale.
* Flash floods in western China killed seven people and authorities
destroyed river dikes in the country's sodden east to divert rising
waters that threatened cities. With more heavy rain forecast,
more than 600,000 people in the east have been evacuated.
*Mexican authorities issued hurricane warnings and evacuated
tourists from beach-side cabanas on Thursday as a strengthening
Tropical Storm Claudette churned toward Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula.
* Algeria hit by plague outbreak - U.N. health experts have
moved in as at least 10 cases are reported and France tightened
controls at ports serving Algeria.
Thursday, July 10, 2003
*Pollution in New York City is having an unexpected effect
on trees, making them taller than their country cousins.
*Nearly 20 people were killed by landslides that have followed
torrential rain in India and Pakistan.
*Residents braced for battering waves and violent winds
Wednesday as Tropical Storm Claudette raged off Jamaica's
south coast. Claudette could grow to a hurricane as it
advances toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, forecasters said.
Claudette was projected to arrive there by Thursday
afternoon or early Friday.
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
*A landslide swept an American motorcyclist off a road in
northern Vietnam and his body was later found in a stream.
* Tropical Storm Claudette swiftly formed over the Caribbean
Sea on Tuesday and forecasters said it could become a hurricane
within 48 hours as it churned toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Claudette is the third tropical storm to form this year in the Atlantic
basin, including the Caribbean. Experts have said this hurricane
season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30, will be very busy.
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
*Thirteen people have died, thousands of villages are besieged
and more than a million residents stranded in the worst floods
since 1991 in China's Huai River valley.
*Hundreds of skiers and motorists in New Zealand spent a
freezing night in makeshift shelters and mountain huts after the
worst blizzard in years trapped them overnight.
North Island's east coast reported the worst snowfalls in 40 years.
*Researchers hope a gigantic dust storm on Mars will
have settled by the time the planet makes its closest
approach to Earth in 60,000 years.
Sunday, July 6, 2003
* Floods caused by pounding monsoon rains have left 77 people
dead in Bangladesh and India and marooned almost 2 million.
*Taiwan is declared clear of SARS, leading the World Health
Organization to conclude the global outbreak is over.
Saturday, July 5, 2003
*Anecdotal evidence that the world's weather is getting wilder
now has a solid scientific basis in fact following a dramatic
global assessment from the World Meteorological Organization.
The world is experiencing record numbers of extreme weather
events, such as droughts and tornadoes, with global
warming the cause.
*A strong 5.2 earthquake shook towns and villages in northeast
Iran, damaging about 150 houses but causing no injuries.
*The sole scientific instrument on a U.S. space agency mission
to map the world's ice sheets is not working.
Friday, July 4, 2003
* Mice can foretell earthquakes - Lab mice become agitated
when exposed to electric and magnetic fields similar to those
sometimes detected before earthquakes.
*The drought situation in New South Wales, Australia has
improved only marginally despite recent widespread rain.
*A small town in northwestern Alberta, Canada, is a shattered
mess after a suspected tornado ripped through it Monday.
Wednesday, July 2, 2003
*A strong 6.0 earthquake struck early today off the
Philippines' central island of Samar, but there were no
immediate reports of injuries or damage.
*More than a million people are stranded by floods in Bangladesh
and India that left several people dead.
* Tracking of tropical storms is improving.
*In the last 24 hours, Popocatepetl volcano showed an increase in
its activity. There were recorded 120 small exhalations, mainly
accompanied by steam and gas. It is possible that in the next
hours or days, ash emissions may occur. A loud explosion
from the volcano yesterday alarmed nearby communities and
probably sent ash and lava into the air,
according to emergency officials.
Tuesday, July 1, 2003
* Torrential rains and landslides in southern China have killed
at least 148 people, affected 45 million and led to almost
$1.1 billion in economic losses.
* Tropical storm Bill hammered the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
*The end of the El Nino weather pattern would not guarantee
drought-breaking rain for Australia, an expert warns.
* Flu could be a far more dangerous bioterror weapon than
smallpox or anthrax, scientists warn.