An unexpectedly early snow fell on Beijing and other cities in North China on Friday, causing traffic dilemmas for millions of people, and prompting the capital to start providing heating for residential complexes ahead of schedule.

According to the National Meteorological Center, the snowfall hit areas in Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces, and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The snow will continue until Sunday in most of the region.

The snowfall is the earliest in Beijing since a blizzard hit the capital on Nov 2, 2009. Meteorological experts said the snow will be helpful for growing wheat in North China and warned that residents should be careful to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning as the heating starts to work.

Citizens of Los Angeles are being told to prepare for an El Nino of 'Godzilla' proportions. The weather pattern is expected to bring harsh storms to an area that has been decimated by drought for the last few years.

Given the arid weather that has affected southern California an increase in rainfall would have to be logically welcomed. However, meteorologists say the consequences of El Nino won't lead to a few extra showers, but rather brutal storms.

Given that the ground is bone dry following four years of drought, it will be difficult for the water to precipitate into the ground, leading to floods and mudslides.

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake hit Davao City and its environs early Saturday with the intensity felt as far as Gen. Santos and Cotabato City, the state volcanology office on Saturday said.

The tremor which was tectonic in origin occurred at 1:33 a.m. and was traced 16 kilometers north of Davao City.

It has a depth of 14 kilometers, according to a news bulletin by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Nobody was hurt and no reported damages.

Phivolcs said Intensity 4 was felt in Davao City; Kidapawan City, Intensity 3 in Makilala, North Cotabato, Intensity 2 in Kabacan and Arakan, both in North Cotabato and Cotabato City and Intensity 1 in Gen. Santos City.

No aftershock is expected, Phivolcs said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Residents of the Bekaa Valley in northeast Lebanon have said that they felt a small earthquake late Friday evening, according to reports from the region.

The earthquake, measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale, hit the northern parts of the Lebanese city of Baalbek in northern Lebanon.

In a statement, the Lebanese Centre for Geophysics said that the quake hit an area to the north of Baalbek, between the city of Baalbek and Al-Fakehah city, but there have not been any reports on possible damage or losses.

Scientists claim we are in for a decade-long freeze as the sun slows down solar activity by up to 60 per cent.

A team of European researchers have unveiled a scientific model showing that the Earth is likely to experience a "mini ice age" from 2030 to 2040 as a result of decreased solar activity.

Their findings will infuriate environmental campaigners who argue by 2030 we could be facing increased sea levels and flooding due to glacial melt at the poles.

However, at the National Astronomy Meeting in Wales, Northumbria University professor Valentina Zharkova said fluctuations an 11-year cycle of solar activity the sun goes through would be responsible for a freeze, the like of which has not been experienced since the 1600s.

From 1645 to 1715 global temperatures dropped due to low solar activity so much that the planet experienced a 70-year ice age known as Maunder Minimum which saw the River Thames in London completely frozen.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake has struck 100 kilometers (62 miles) south-southwest of Coquimbo, Chile, the US Geological Survey is reporting.

The quake woke residents in the Chilean capital, Santiago, 300 kilometers away, Reuters reported.

There had at first been a warning of a small tsunami issued by Chile's navy, but it was quickly withdrawn.

Power outages have been reported on social media.

A dam from an open-pit mining complex burst on Thursday in southeastern Brazil flooding a nearby community and enveloping homes and cars in sludge. Rescue teams descending from helicopters scoured the site for survivors.

The authorities said Thursday night that they were trying to determine the number of casualties, with Brazilian news organizations reporting that at least one person had died. Union officials representing workers at the mine said they feared that as many as 15 people might have died after the dam burst.

Record-setting snow in the high country on Wednesday has made the roads slick, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

ADOT is warning drivers to watch for icy roads in northern Arizona. There have been a few reports of vehicles going off the sides of roads.

The eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 in Williams were closed for a short time Thursday morning to remove ice from a bridge at milepost 162. ADOT officials said Interstate 17 just south of Flagstaff is clear of snow, but drivers should expect a slick road surface. Temperatures in Flagstaff were in the 20s Thursday morning and it's expected to be in the teens Friday morning.

An overnight freeze warning is in effect for elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 feet. Schools in the Flagstaff Unified School District were on a two-hour delay Thursday. Flagstaff received nearly 9 inches of snow on Wednesday and more than 2 feet of snow fell at Arizona Snowbowl. Another round of snow could come next week. Snowbowl hopes to open Nov. 20.

Motorists heading up to the area should be sure to have blankets, warm clothes and a full tank of gas.

New activity/unrest was observed at 5 volcanoes from October 28 - November 3, 2015. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 18 volcanoes.

New activity/unrest:

Fuego, Guatemala | Heard, Kerguelen Plateau | Lascar, Chile | Rinjani, Lombok Island (Indonesia) | Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Ongoing activity:

Aira, Kyushu (Japan) | Bagana, Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) | Colima, Mexico | Colo, Sulawesi (Indonesia) | Cotopaxi, Ecuador | Dukono, Halmahera (Indonesia) | Karangetang, Siau Island (Indonesia) | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | Kilauea, Hawaiian Islands (USA) | Manam, Papua New Guinea | Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia | Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island (France) | Santa Maria, Guatemala | Sheveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia) | Shishaldin, Fox Islands (USA) | Sinabung, Indonesia | Tungurahua, Ecuador | Ubinas, Peru.

New activity/unrest:

Fuego, Guatemala
14.473°N, 90.88°W, Summit elev. 3763 m

INSIVUMEH reported that during 30 October-3 November explosions at Fuego generated ash plumes that rose 450-850 m above the crater and drifted as far as 10 km W and SW. Incandescent material was ejected 100 m high. Ashfall was reported in Panimache I and II (8 km SW), Morelia (9 km SW), Santa Sofía (12 km SW), and El Porvenir (8 km ENE) during 2-3 November.

Geologic summary: Volcán Fuego, one of Central America's most active volcanoes, is one of three large stratovolcanoes overlooking Guatemala's former capital, Antigua. The scarp of an older edifice, Meseta, lies between 3763-m-high Fuego and its twin volcano to the north, Acatenango. Construction of Meseta dates back to about 230,000 years and continued until the late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Collapse of Meseta may have produced the massive Escuintla debris-avalanche deposit, which extends about 50 km onto the Pacific coastal plain. Growth of the modern Fuego volcano followed, continuing the southward migration of volcanism that began at Acatenango. In contrast to the mostly andesitic Acatenango, eruptions at Fuego have become more mafic with time, and most historical activity has produced basaltic rocks. Frequent vigorous historical eruptions have been recorded since the onset of the Spanish era in 1524, and have produced major ashfalls, along with occasional pyroclastic flows and lava flows.

Heard, Kerguelen Plateau
53.106°S, 73.513°E, Summit elev. 2745 m

A plume from Heard was visible in a satellite image drifting SSW on 30 October.

A pod of 29 pilot whales have died after stranding on a remote Stewart Island beach, the Department of Conservation said today.

The dead and dying pilot whales were discovered by hikers on Tuesday night, but it was two days before they were able to raise the alarm with conservation rangers.

Ranger Phred Dobbins was one of two staff flown to the site at Doughboy Bay yesterday.