Earthquakes
EMSC Eastern New Guinea Reg., P.n.g.
Mar 18 23:55 PM
4.6 Mag 212.0 MAP
USGS Eastern New Guinea Region, Papua New Guinea Mar 18 23:55 PM
4.6 Mag 212.2 MAP
EMSC Azerbaijan
Mar 18 23:51 PM
3.1 Mag 15.0 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 23:15 PM
2.6 Mag 8.0 MAP
EMSC Azores Islands Region
Mar 18 23:11 PM
3.5 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 22:59 PM
2.5 Mag 16.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 22:52 PM
2.4 Mag 7.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 22:42 PM
2.6 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 22:38 PM
3.6 Mag 14.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 22:17 PM
3.0 Mag 7.0 MAP
EMSC Central Turkey
Mar 18 22:05 PM
2.6 Mag 2.0 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 21:55 PM
3.0 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 20:59 PM
2.7 Mag 9.0 MAP
USGS Central California
Mar 18 20:53 PM
2.7 Mag 12.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 19:47 PM
2.5 Mag 11.0 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 19:34 PM
3.0 Mag 15.0 MAP
USGS Dominican Republic
Mar 18 19:19 PM
3.4 Mag 117.5 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 18:57 PM
2.6 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Central Turkey
Mar 18 18:48 PM
2.7 Mag 7.0 MAP
USGS Washington
Mar 18 18:48 PM
3.3 Mag 42.3 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 18:47 PM
2.9 Mag 9.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 17:42 PM
2.7 Mag 7.0 MAP
EMSC Near The Coast Of Western Turkey
Mar 18 17:22 PM
2.7 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 16:32 PM
2.5 Mag 4.0 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 16:18 PM
2.4 Mag 6.0 MAP
EMSC Northern Italy
Mar 18 16:00 PM
3.1 Mag 2.0 MAP
EMSC Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia
Mar 18 15:13 PM
4.5 Mag 56.0 MAP
USGS Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia
Mar 18 15:13 PM
4.5 Mag 55.8 MAP
EMSC Poland
Mar 18 14:59 PM
2.5 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Greece
Mar 18 14:53 PM
3.5 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Greece
Mar 18 13:52 PM
3.0 Mag 1.0 MAP
EMSC Eastern Turkey
Mar 18 13:41 PM
3.5 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Romania
Mar 18 13:12 PM
2.7 Mag 106.0 MAP
EMSC Fiji Region
Mar 18 12:21 PM
4.5 Mag 571.0 MAP
USGS Fiji Region
Mar 18 12:21 PM
4.5 Mag 571.3 MAP
USGS Virgin Islands Region
Mar 18 12:05 PM
3.4 Mag 101.6 MAP
EMSC Greece
Mar 18 11:43 AM
3.1 Mag 5.0 MAP
USGS Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 11:16 AM
2.7 Mag 200.8 MAP
USGS Virgin Islands Region
Mar 18 11:05 AM
3.1 Mag 56.0 MAP
USGS New Mexico
Mar 18 10:57 AM
2.9 Mag 5.0 MAP
USGS Virgin Islands Region
Mar 18 10:52 AM
2.9 Mag 41.7 MAP
USGS Halmahera, Indonesia
Mar 18 10:43 AM
4.8 Mag 68.0 MAP
EMSC Halmahera, Indonesia
Mar 18 10:43 AM
4.8 Mag 52.0 MAP
GEOFON Halmahera, Indonesia
Mar 18 10:43 AM
4.6 Mag 10.0 MAP
USGS Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 10:37 AM
4.6 Mag 54.7 MAP
EMSC Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 10:37 AM
4.6 Mag 55.0 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 10:32 AM
2.4 Mag 9.0 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 10:22 AM
3.3 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Mar 18 09:21 AM
2.4 Mag 21.0 MAP
USGS Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 09:16 AM
3.0 Mag 91.7 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 08:35 AM
3.6 Mag 7.0 MAP
EMSC Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 07:56 AM
4.7 Mag 47.0 MAP
USGS Alaska Peninsula
Mar 18 07:56 AM
4.0 Mag 31.4 MAP
EMSC Central Turkey
Mar 18 07:41 AM
2.5 Mag 5.0 MAP
EMSC Georgia (sak’art’velo)
Mar 18 06:59 AM
3.6 Mag 2.0 MAP
EMSC North Of Ascension Island
Mar 18 06:00 AM
4.9 Mag 10.0 MAP
USGS North Of Ascension Island
Mar 18 06:00 AM
4.9 Mag 9.8 MAP
GEOFON North Of Ascension Island
Mar 18 06:00 AM
4.8 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Near The Coast Of Western Turkey
Mar 18 05:49 AM
2.8 Mag 26.0 MAP
EMSC Southwestern Siberia, Russia
Mar 18 05:00 AM
4.5 Mag 10.0 MAP
EMSC Southern Italy
Mar 18 04:47 AM
2.6 Mag 9.0 MAP
EMSC Western Iran
Mar 18 04:38 AM
3.6 Mag 4.0 MAP
EMSC Santa Cruz Islands
Mar 18 04:33 AM
4.4 Mag 50.0 MAP
USGS Santa Cruz Islands
Mar 18 04:33 AM
4.4 Mag 50.2 MAP
EMSC Western Turkey
Mar 18 03:51 AM
3.6 Mag 6.0 MAP
USGS Virgin Islands Region
Mar 18 03:47 AM
3.0 Mag 122.0 MAP
EMSC Bangladesh
Mar 18 02:56 AM
4.7 Mag 80.0 MAP
USGS Bangladesh
Mar 18 02:56 AM
4.6 Mag 15.7 MAP
Light tremor jolts parts of Bangladesh
Dhaka, Mar 18 (bdnews24.com) – A Meteorological Department official said a light earthquake jolted parts of Bangladesh on Sunday morning.
Assistant director of Bangladesh Meteorological Department Shamsuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com that the 4.6-maginitude tremor shook buildings in the capital Dhaka at 8:56 am and lasted 10 seconds.
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=220520&cid=2
3 mild quakes jolt Northern Luzon
SINAIT, Ilocos Sur, Mar. 18 (PIA) — Three mild quakes rocked some areas in Northern Luzon on Saturday afternoon and this morning but no damage to properties was reported, the PhilippineInstitute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) satellite office here said.
http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=381332046084
Volcanic Activity
Italy’s Mount Enta erupts
Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna erupted on Sunday sending a four mile-long plume of smoke and ash into the sky.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9151662/Italys-Mount-Enta-erupts.html
Storms and Flooding
Flooding in Southeastern Australia
Rising waters flooded parts of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, in March 2012, forcing some residents to evacuate their homes. On March 15, evacuation orders were lifted for the northern Victoria town of Nathalia, which had faced possible inundation. Although allowed to return home, residents were warned to stay vigilant for rapidly rising waters, news reports said.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77447&src=nha
Dust Storm in Southwest Asia
An intense dust storm spanned hundreds of kilometers over Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan on March 19, 2012. The dust spread southward over the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and swept northeastward along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77450&src=nha
Extreme Temperatures
U.S.
While it was unseasonably warm across most of the United States Sunday, a late winter storm dropped upward of 5 feet of snow on Arizona’s mountains with more expected Sunday night.
The snow forced the closure of numerous roads and there were reports of many vehicles skidding into ditches and other accidents. A winter storm warning was in effect from the Mexican border to the northern outskirts of Utah Sunday, at the same time the East and Midwest was experiencing temperatures in the 70s — 76 in Bangor, Maine. Phoenix was experiencing the storm in the form of its first rain since December. An inch of rain fell in the region Sunday. “Phoenix is known for its dry climate, but this is normally a wet time of the year. Phoenix typically receives nearly 3 inches of rain from late December through mid-March.”
The winter of 2011-12 might well earn the title of “the winter that wasn’t” in many parts of the United States.
The season has entered the books as the fourth warmest on record for the Lower 48 states. Despite several powerful snowstorms that crossed the continent during the season, the extent of the country blanketed with snow was the third smallest since satellites began keeping track 46 years ago. The amount of rain was also below normal.
What a contrast with the winter before. Who could forget the seemingly endless conga line of storms that traversed the country? That winter also was somewhat colder than normal, which meant the snow didn’t melt significantly between storms. “This year was dramatically different.” Yet both winters began the same way – with La Niña reigning in the tropical Pacific. La Niña is the cooler half of what’s called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. El Niño brings warmer-than-normal waters to the equatorial eastern Pacific, where it piles up against the coasts of Central and South America. La Niña brings colder-than-normal waters to the same region. Both alter atmospheric-circulation patterns in ways that are felt far beyond the tropics.
Typically, La Niña pushes the eastward-flowing jet stream – which serves as a kind of superhighway for storms – farther north than usual. That pattern appeared last year in a relatively stark boundary between a very wet northern half of the country and a parched southern tier, stretching from Arizona to northern Florida and up into the Carolinas. This year, even with a somewhat weaker La Niña, the average path of the jet stream has moved farther north still, leaving the northern US drier than normal. Without extensive snow cover to help keep a lid on winter temperatures, the stage was set for a warmer-than-normal winter.
The back-to-back La Niñas have a marked effect on rivers in the Southwest and Southeast. “We’ve had 10 cases in the last century of double-dip La Niña events.” If the initial event is strong – last year was one of the Top 3 La Niñas in the past 50 years – the second, weaker one tends to bring drier conditions to the Southwest and southern tier. The difference shows up strikingly in river flows. They tend to be even lower coming out of the second event than they were at the end of the first event. “That’s what we’re looking at now for the Colorado River, and it’s also what we’re looking at for parts of the Southeast – Florida, Georgia, places like that.” One glaring exception this winter was Texas, where several storms helped moderate the state’s severe drought.
Elsewhere, the reduced blanket of snow is likely to give areas ravaged by last year’s floods along the Mississippi River a much-needed break. A year ago, runoff from heavy snows, combined with intense spring storms, brought record floods in many parts of the Midwest.
Historic March heat wave continues in Chicago; headed towards another record breaking day.
Coming off their warmest St. Patricks Day in 141 years of records, the historic March heat wave continues. Sunday was expected to become their 5th straight record breaking day and 5th consecutive 80+ degree day across the Chicagoland area. This RECORD-BREAKING STREAK HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE SO EARLY IN THE SEASON in Chicago. Over the past week, more than 1,200 RECORDS HAVE BEEN SET and for the month of March, more than 2,000 RECORDS HAVE BEEN SET.
This UNPRECEDENTED March heat wave is as a result of a weather pattern known as a “blocking pattern” where a stubborn high pressure has just been stuck over the eastern two-thirds of the nation. This pattern has been responsible for pumping in heat and Gulf moisture into the Great Plains, Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast regions. This historic March heat wave is expected to continue into the middle of next week before a cooler airmass moves into the region late next week. Until then, there will be the likelihood of more records broken.
Misc
2MIN News Mar18: Fukushima, Earthquakes, Solar Update
Dead Russian Satellite to Fall From Space
This time, the satellite will be guided into a controlled descent.
http://news.discovery.com/space/russian-satellite-controlled-descent-120217.html
U.K. adds solar storms, volcanoes to national threat list
LONDON — Britain has added volcanoes and solar storms to floods, flu and terrorism on a list of threats to national security.
The highest-priority risks to Britain are pandemic influenza, coastal flooding, terrorist attacks and – a new addition – volcanic eruptions in countries like Iceland, according to the recently published 2012 edition of the government’s National Risk Register for Civil Emergencies.
“Severe space weather” poses a threat to communications systems, electronic circuits and power grids, the list said. Solar storms – eruptions of magnetic energy and charged particles – are part of the sun’s normal 11-year cycle, which is expected to reach a peak next year.
http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20120318/britain-volcanoes-solar-storms-20120318.html
