Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.9 Earthquake hits south of Australia.

5.3 Earthquake hits Halmahera, Indonesia.

5.2 Earthquake hits central California.

Environment

One of World's Driest Valleys About to Burst In Bloom

The typically barren landscape of California’s Death Valley could be about to emerge in a rare wildflower "super bloom" thanks to El NIño rainfall earlier this winter.

The U.S. National Park Service said in a statement that while wildflowers are emerging locally in parts of the park, they've just begun in other locations.

“To have a big bloom like this, which we hope will become a super bloom, which is beyond all your expectations, those are quite rare, maybe once a decade or so,” Park Ranger Alan Van Valkenburg explained in a YouTube video.

The last Death Valley super bloom occurred in 2005.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.2 Earthquake hits off the coast of Michoacan, Mexico.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Auckland Islands, New Zealand.

5.0 Earthquake hits central California.

5.0 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

5.0 Earthquake hits the southern east Pacific rise.

Wildlife

California Salmon Hit by Drought

A second disastrous drought year for endangered California salmon - Endangered native salmon suffered a second straight disastrous year in California's drought, with all but 3 percent of the latest generation dying in too-shallow, too-hot rivers, federal officials said Monday.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical cyclone 06p (Ula), is located approximately 240 nm west of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking west-northwestward at 02 knots.

The South Pacific island nation of Tonga was raked by winds of more than 90 mph from Category-2 Cyclone Ula. The storm caused widespread damage, with roofs ripped from homes and utility lines downed by strong winds. Ula later skirted Fiji, but spared that country significant damage. There were no reports of fatalities in either Tonga or Fiji. Tonga was hit a year ago by Cyclone Ian, which left one person dead, 4,000 homeless and destroyed crops on outlying islands.

Tropical Storm Pali is located about 1410 mi...2275 km SW of Honolulu Hawaii and about 760 mi...1225 km SSW of Johnston Island with maximum sustained winds...50 mph...85 km/h. Present movement...NW or 325 degrees at 8 mph...13 km/h.

NewsBytes:

California - The last in a powerful string of El Niño-driven storms lashed coastal areas of California on Thursday, stirring waves that flooded some low-lying streets and crept toward ocean-front homes in Malibu. The storm created waves that forecasters said could reach 16 feet while sending scattered thundershowers across inland areas.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical cyclone 06p (Ula), is located approximately 201 nm west-southwest of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking northwestward at 05 knots.

Invest 90C is an area of disturbed weather in the Central Pacific that has the potential for tropical development.

NewsBytes:

California - Heavy rains of up to an inch an hour brought flooding to Ojai and San Diego with road closures and homes inundated.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical cyclone 06p (Ula), is located approximately 178 nm southwest of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking northwestward at 05 knots.

Invest 90C is an area of disturbed weather in the Central Pacific that has the potential for tropical development.

NewsBytes:

Australia - Newcastle, New South Wales has faced its wettest January day in 154 years after torrential rain batters the east coast. "Newcastle experienced the most rainfall on a January day since records started back in 1862," The Daily Mail has written quoting the Bureau of Meteorology. Around 200.6 millimetres of rainfall has been recorded in Newcastle in last 24 hours.

California, USA - A series of storm systems impacting the West Coast has closed and flooded highways in California and iced over parts of Oregon and Washington, where a plane skidded off a runway in Spokane. While wet conditions are normal for the area this time of year, the amount of precipitation being received is unusual. Heavy rains have flooded numerous highways and at least one business in California. Highway 101 was closed southbound about 4 miles south of the Santa Barbara/Ventura County line, due to a mudflow. Cal Trans crews were on the scene Tuesday afternoon working to clear the debris and reopen the highway. Cal Trans reports partial flooding of numerous highways at various points Tuesday, including Interstate 10, the 405, the 110 and the 105.

Drought

Land Subsides in California

A canal that delivers vital water supplies from Northern California to Southern California is sinking in places. On farms, well casings pop up like mushrooms as the ground around them drops.

Four years of drought and heavy reliance on pumping of groundwater have made the land sink faster than ever up and down the Central Valley, requiring repairs to infrastructure that experts say are costing billions of dollars.

This slow-motion land subsidence — more than one foot a year in some places — is not expected to stop anytime soon, experts say, nor will the expensive repairs. Land subsidence is largely the result of pumping water from the ground. As aquifers are depleted, the ground sags.

The most severe examples today are in San Joaquin Valley, where the U.S. Geological Survey in 1975 said half of the land is prone to sinking. USGS researchers later called it one of the "single largest alterations of the land surface attributed to humankind."

A sparse mountain snowpack in California's driest four-year span on record has forced farmers in the Central Valley, the nation's most productive agricultural region, to rely on groundwater to irrigate their crops.

Drought has spawned a well-drilling boom with some tapping ancient aquifers 3,000 feet down.

In wet years, groundwater provides about 40 percent of water used in California, but in times of drought, groundwater can amount to 65 percent of the state's water supply.

Decades of over-pumping have destroyed thousands of well casings and buckled canal linings. To keep water flowing through low spots, irrigation districts raise the sides of sagging canals so they can increase the water level and maintain a gravitational flow.

Parts of the California Aqueduct, a massive canal that delivers water 400 miles to Southern California, also sank by nearly 13 inches.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Australia

Lives and homes continue to be threatened by separate out-of-control bushfires burning in Western Australia.

A watch and act alert remains for people on Morgan Road, Bentley Road, Gavins Road and at Meldene Estate on Marginata Drive, west of Donnybrook, in the state's South West region.

The same alert has been issued for people in the vicinity of Hay Road and South Western Highway in North Greenbushes in the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes.

An earlier alert for the Sawyers Valley townsite and Beelu National Park in the Shire of Mundaring has been downgraded.

Wildfires - California

The fire that scorched about 1,230 acres north of Ventura was 75 percent contained, with full containment expected Tuesday. The blaze erupted Friday night when high winds caused power lines on an oil field to arc. At its peak, the fire closed a 15-mile stretch of an adjacent, six-lane freeway, U.S. 101, and another major north-south route, the Pacific Coast Highway.

Hundreds of firefighters on Sunday mopped up the remnants of a wind-whipped wildfire that threatened dozens of Southern California coastal homes. Authorities said their new worry is a landslide if rain pounds the charred hills.

Wildfires - Spain

Amid unseasonably warm weather, firefighters battled more than 130 wind-fuelled wildfires in northern Spain on Monday which officials suspect were deliberately set.

Nearly 400 firefighters and soldiers struggled against 82 wildfires in Cantabria, a sparsely populated region whose terrain is sliced up by deep mountain valleys, the regional government said.

At least 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of "extraordinary ecological value" has burned in the region over the past week, much of it located in two natural parks, it added in a statement.

Cantabria has since September received scant rainfall with average high temperatures of 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), he said.

Strong winds, with gusts of up to 110 kilometres (70 miles) an hour were fanning the flames and preventing the use of water-dropping planes.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California

Fire crews have stopped the spread of a wind-whipped wildfire along the Southern California coast, reopened a scenic highway and lifted an evacuation order for dozens of homes.

The 1,238-acre blaze in the steep foothills northwest of Ventura was 60 percent contained by nightfall Saturday and no homes burned, fire officials said at a news conference.

About 600 firefighters from various agencies, aided by water-dropping helicopters, fought the blaze during the day. About 400 were expected remain on the line overnight.

The fire began late Friday night and winds gusting to 50 mph pushed the flames down hills and over roads and railroad tracks, showering sparks on homes in coastal communities, fire officials said. About 50 homes in the Solimar Beach community were placed under mandatory evacuation orders and about 30 nearby homes were placed under voluntary evacuation.

Wildlife

Drought pushes endangered California salmon to the brink

Chinook salmon were already endangered in California's Sacramento River, but the record drought parching the western United States has brought the iconic fish even closer to extinction. Chinook, also known as king salmon, need very cold water for their eggs to develop.

If everything goes right, the young salmon hatch and eventually make their way downstream toward the ocean, before later returning to the rivers to spawn and die. But the migration has dropped off in recent years.

There were 4.4 million juvenile Chinook in 2009 – half the number of four years earlier.

Last year, the number of juveniles passing by the dam in Red Bluff, at the northern end of California's Central Valley, was just 411,000.

To date, only 217,000 juveniles have been counted passing through Red Bluff in 2015, versus 280,000 over the same period last year.

The Sacramento Chinook, designated an endangered species in 1994, have been struggling for years, for a number of reasons, but the drought has only exacerbated the problems. Access to the historical spawning habitat of winter-run Chinook salmon on the Sacramento is cut off by the Shasta and Keswick dams, built in the 1940s.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.4 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

5.3 Earthquake hits Pakistan.

5.2 Earthquake hits El Salvador.

5.2 Earthquake hits off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

Record-Breaking 408 Earthquakes Hit Bay Area City

A whopping 408 earthquakes have hit San Ramon, California, in the past two weeks, including 11 in one 24-hour stretch.

This record-breaking earthquake swarm is nothing to fear, however, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Periods of tectonic unrest are common in the area and probably don't presage a larger quake, the USGS said.

Most of the quakes affecting this Bay Area city are tiny. The one that kicked off the swarm at 8:50 a.m. Pacific Time on Oct. 13 was a mere magnitude 0.8. People don't usually feel earthquakes until they reach a magnitude of 2.5; quakes between magnitude 2.5 and 5.4 can be felt but rarely cause much damage.

The quakes are hitting on the north end of the Pleasanton Fault in the Calaveras Fault zone, according to the USGS. Swarms of small earthquakes are common in this fault system. In fact, in 1990, a swarm of 351 earthquakes struck over a 42-day period. The largest quake in that swarm was a magnitude 4.2, a level unlikely to cause serious damage.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Cyclone Two is located approximately 309 nm north-northwest of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking south-southwestward at 10 knots.

Tropical Storm Koppu is located approximately 335 nm east of Manila, Philippines, and is tracking westward at 08 knots.

Tropical Storm Champi is located approximately 127 nm north of Andersen AFB, and is tracking westward at 17 knots.

Tropical Depression Nineteen-E is located about 1260 mi...2030 km SW of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds...30 mph...45 km/h. Present movement...W or 270 degrees at 14 mph...22 km/h.

NewsBytes:

California, USA - Southern California authorities scrambled to rescue motorists stranded on roadways as flash floods and large hail pounded areas north of Los Angeles.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.6 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia.

5.3 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

5.2 Earthquake hits the Celebes Sea.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Chagos Archipelago.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Pacific-Antarctic ridge.

5.0 Earthquake hits Tonga.

5.0 Earthquake hits Hokkaido, Japan.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Gulf of California.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA - Update

The Valley Fire in Lake County has killed four people, destroyed more than 2 000 structures -- many of those are homes -- and charred more than 76,067 acres. It is 87 percent contained as of Friday morning and has caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

In Calaveras and Amador counties, the Butte Fire has destroyed 70,868 acres and 820 structures. The wildfire, which is 93 percent contained, is responsible for two deaths.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said both fires will likely be controlled by "early next week."

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA - Update

California fire officials said Sunday the wildfire north of San Francisco destroyed another 162 homes, raising the number of homes destroyed to 1,050 and making it the fourth worst wildfire in the state’s history.

The tally brought the total number of homes destroyed in two wildfires burning in Northern California the past two weeks to nearly 1,600, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Those fires killed five people, and on Sunday authorities announced that a body was found near the source of a new wildfire in Monterey County that destroyed or damaged 10 homes.

Farther north, the two massive wildfires (Valley and Butte wildfires) continue to threaten at least 6 500 more homes.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA

The two California wildfires prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency last week are still raging. Together, they have killed five people and destroyed more than 1,100 homes, according to multiple reports.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, aka Cal Fire, the so-called Butte Fire, spread out across Calaveras and Amador counties, burned 70,760 acres, destroyed 503 homes and killed two people between its beginning 10 days ago and Saturday morning, when it was 65 percent contained. A Cal Fire representative, Lynette Round, said the fire’s two fatalities rejected orders to evacuate their homes.

A separate blaze, the so-called Valley Fire, centered in southern Lake County, scorched 74,500 acres, destroyed 585 homes and killed three people between its start seven days ago and Saturday morning, when it was 48 percent contained, Cal Fire reported. According to the Associated Press, it is unclear whether those who perished in the Valley Fire received evacuation notices, but two of the three declined requests by friends and relatives to vacate their residences.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA

A second fatality was confirmed on Wednesday in the massive California wildfires that have also destroyed more than 800 homes and forced the evacuation of 20,000 people, but crews appeared to turn a corner against the blazes as rain fell over the region.

The so-called Valley and Butte fires are the two most destructive blazes in an intense wildfire season in California that is already shaping up as one of the fiercest on record with much of September and October - historically the worst two months of the year - still ahead.

The more ferocious of the two latest blazes, the so-called Valley Fire, erupted on Saturday and raced through several communities north of Napa County's wine-producing region, destroying 585 homes and hundreds of other structures.

But a cooling trend, higher moisture levels and diminished winds have helped firefighters gain ground against the blaze in recent days, according to officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Sporadic drizzle fell Wednesday over the county seat of Lakeport, site of the fire command post.

Containment of the fire - a measure of how much of its perimeter has been enclosed within buffer lines carved through vegetation by ground crews - had grown to 30 percent by Wednesday morning, Cal Fire said.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA

The catastrophic wildfires burning in California, which killed at least one person over the weekend and injured several others, are being fuelled by high temperatures, strong winds and years of withering drought influenced by climate change.

The Valley Fire ignited in drought-stricken Northern California early Saturday afternoon, destroying more than 400 homes and scorching 50,000 acres — an area more than twice the size of Manhattan — within about 12 hours.

The wildfires storming California have been four years in the making, as the drought, thought to be heavily influenced by climate change, has been starving California’s forests and mountains of water and snow, turning once-lush woods into crackling tinder that has ignited in explosive and unexpected ways.

The trend in wildfire destruction in California and throughout the West bends toward bigger, more destructive and drought-driven blazes. On average, wildfires burn six times the acreage they did 40 years ago, while the annual number of wildfires over 1,000 acres has doubled from 50 during an average year in the 1970s to more than 100 each year since 2002.

That scenario is playing out in California this week as just two of the state’s 13 most active and catastrophic wildfires — the Valley Fire and the Butte Fire — have burned more than 130,000 acres since Wednesday, leaving behind “mass destruction” and leading to numerous evacuations in the region.

Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA

Thousands of people rushed to escape a massive wildfire charging across the tinder-dry Sierra Nevada foothills and another out-of-control fire that broke out in Northern California on Saturday, sending four firefighters to the hospital with second-degree burns.

The fire began in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, and grew to about 15 square miles (or 10,000 acres) in just a few hours, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The fire forced the evacuation of two towns as well as residents along a 35-mile stretch of State Route 29.