This is how the Irazu Volcano National Park looks right now.

A sinkhole has drained a retention pond at Pimlico Executive Golf Course.

Sam Wartinbee of District Property Management confirmed Thursday morning that a sinkhole, about eight feet across, caused the pond to drain.

He said that work to fill in the sinkhole will be taking place but did not offer an immediate timeline.

Birds were making the most of the situation, feasting on fish left at the bottom of the pond.

A series of earthquakes were recorded under Mount Rainier Thursday morning.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network reports a "little swarm of quakes" shook under the mountain for about 20 minutes.

Yesterday morning, there was a little swarm of quakes under #MountRainier for 20 mins or so. https://t.co/IfDLt2iZye pic.twitter.com/vrxQgLLuwp — PNSN (@PNSN1) February 12, 2016

Don't read into the quakes too much. Earthquakes like that are fairly common, according to John Vidale of the Seismic Network. They don't signify much, he says.

"Those swarms probably appear several times a year," he added.

The stronger shaking occurred at 3:41 a.m. when a 1.45-magnitude quake was recorded.

Even as the El Nino weather phenomenon continues to impact global temperatures and crops, its counterpart La Nina is increasingly expected to emerge in the coming months for the first time in four years.

The return of La Nina, Spanish for "the girl" and characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures, is possible later this year, the U.S. government forecaster said Thursday. It joined other forecasters in projecting La Nina could follow on the heels of one of the strongest El Ninos on record.

Weather models indicate La Nina conditions, which tend to occur unpredictably every two to seven years, may emerge in the Northern Hemisphere fall, while El Nino - which means "the little boy" in Spanish - is expected to dissipate during the late spring or early summer, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in its monthly forecast.

The phenomenon can be less damaging than El Nino, but severe La Ninas are linked to floods, droughts and hurricanes.Even though CPC is not on official watch for La Nina, the probability is trending towards one, said Michelle L'Heureux, a CPC climate scientist and El Nino/La Nina expert.

When La Nina last appeared from August 2011 to March 2012, it hurt corn and soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil, brought the worst drought in a century to Texas and increased the number of storms that threatened U.S. coastal regions, like Hurricane Irene.

Energy and agricultural commodities have been roiled by the current and much-watched El Nino, which involves a pattern of warmer ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific every few years.

Over the last year, El Nino has parched fields in the Philippines and Indonesia, brought unseasonable rains to areas of South America, driven up global food prices, and caused flash floods in Somalia that destroyed thousands of homes.

El Nino is likely to keep affecting temperature and precipitation patterns across the United States in the upcoming months, CPC said in its forecast.
"As we get into the spring, we'd still expect to see some influence. Folks need to keep their eyes on El Nino," CPC's L'Heureux said.

Several people living near Howard City reported that they felt and heard a loud boom Thursday morning.

WZZM 13 received several messages on our Facebook page from people saying they felt a rumble similar to an earthquake or sonic boom.

"The whole ground was shaking, the house was shaking," said Sue Eastman of Coral. It was just before 10 a.m. Thursday when she heard the loud boom. As she was trying to figure out what was going on, so were several others.

Christine Rizor of Howard City thought it was an earthquake. "I was sitting in a chair and all the sudden, it was like a big shake. I was like, 'Whoa!'"

Kasey Field, also in Howard City, posted about it on social media. "I had people from all over the lake area. They felt it in Morley and Evart. In Sears, they heard it up there."

Widespread rain with thunderstorm and snowfall in northwestern upper parts of the country continued since Wednesday evening, crippling life in hilly areas, Samaa reported Thursday.

According to Met Office, heavy snowfall was recorded in hilly areas of Malakand Division, Hazara Division, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

Popular tourist destinations of Naran, Kaghan, Shogran and Murree also received heavy snowfall, with many roads blocked including Shahrah-e-Karakuram.

Scientists are investigating the mysterious die-off of dozens of monkeys in Central America, including the possibility that they have contracted Zika or another virus that could be passed to humans.

In recent months, around 40 howler monkeys have been found dead or dying in the tropical rainforests of Nicaragua. The animals have all had relatively full stomachs and no obvious signs of trauma. Experts fear there may be many more cases that have not been reported.

"Wild animals die off all the time, but it is really unusual to see this many deaths in such a short time with no apparent reason," said Kim Williams-Guillen, a conservation Ph.D. who has been researching in Nicaragua's jungles since 1999. "I have never seen anything like it."

"These deaths are worth investigating, not just from a conservation standpoint, but from a public health standpoint. It is very important we get to the bottom of this."

A powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia late Friday (Feb 12), but no tsunami warning was immediately issued, US seismologists said.

The earthquake hit at 5:02 pm local time (1002 GMT Friday), the US Geological Survey said, and was centred three kilometres (two miles) east-southeast of Andekanter in the Sumba region at a depth of 30 kilometres.

The Indonesian disaster mitigation agency said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

AFP/yt

A wild elephant rampaged through an east Indian town Wednesday, smashing cars and homes and sending panicked people running before the animal was tranquilized to be returned to the forest.

As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorcycles, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and rooftops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.

"The elephant was scared and was trying to go back to the jungle," said Papaiya Sarkar, a 40-year-old homemaker who watched the elephant amble down a street near her home.

A sinkhole that has forced the closure of a road in Chatham County for three weeks is growing, and state Department of Transportation officials said it could be another two-and-a-half months before the road is fixed.

According to DOT officials, old pipes underneath Lystra Road - which crosses Jordan Lake near Pittsboro - gave way on Jan. 18, at first creating a sinkhole that took up about half of one lane.

By Monday, the sinkhole had grown significantly, taking up much of the two-lane road.

Officials said the scope of the work is more complicated than DOT crews can handle, meaning a contractor will be hired to complete the road rebuild. The contractor will be forced to replace two old pipes under the road.

A contractor hasn't been hired yet, and a DOT spokesman said it could be late April before the road is open.