The volcano, the highest mountain in the Kamchatka peninsula - Russia's Land of Fire and Ice - is active again after one year's relative calm.

'The crater is filling up with fresh lava and volcano's activity is steadily growing. There is a constant volcanic trembling, thermal anomaly and glow above the crater', said the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

There is a warning to aircraft flying at 6,000 metres altitude.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka, also known as Klyuchevskoi - which rises some 4,750 meters above the sea level - is one of the planet's most active volcanoes. Its last active phase was from August to December 2013. Increased seismic activity was noted from 19 December.

A snow-covered Grand Canyon is beautiful to behold. People in the U.S. began the New Year by digging out from winter storms. Typically, warm regions, like California, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, are all seeing snow. Record low temperatures across the U.S. southwest brought a rare winter storm to Arizona, blanketing the Grand Canyon with snow on New Year's Day.

This week a dangerously cold arctic air mass moved across the U.S. Just how cold will it get? In Chicago, the wind chill will make it feel as if its 23 degrees below zero. That is downright balmy compared to parts of the upper Midwest, where forecasters are predicting wind chills of 50 below zero. Sounds like all that hot Arctic air that is melting the icecap, in many people's imaginations, is actually cold after all and the ice is back big time to prove it.

It was actually easier to talk about cold climate change last summer, when winter came extremely early to the northern hemisphere. It was also easier to talk about the coming ice age in the fall when it was already winter. Now that its winter, when it is supposed to be, things should seem normal, but they are not. It is colder because we are living through cold climate change not global warming.

Parts of the Middle East were treated to an unusual sight on Tuesday as snow blanketed areas from Turkey to Israel.

Much colder-than-average air pushed into the region associated with an unusually sharp dip in the jet stream this week, bringing a storm with strong winds and in some locations, snowfall. For an area that doesn't often see widespread snowfall, the past two winters have seen significant storms blanket the Middle East.

In December 2013, a storm slammed parts of Syria, Jordan and Israel, dumping record snowfall on the area.

Mother Nature was apparently determined to see out 2014 with a bang, ramping up the extreme weather and Earth Changes in December. Snowstorms buried cities in Russia's Far east and Northeastern China, where a waterfall on the Yellow River partially froze. Japan was hit with record-breaking snowfall for the second time in a year, while a deep freeze in Northern India claimed at least 150 lives.

A week of non-stop electrical storms brought hail, flooding and widespread damage to Sydney, Australia, while a huge sinkhole swallowed three cars in Melbourne. Fish and whales continue to turn up dead in large numbers on coastlines and in freshwater lakes and rivers, thanks in part to increased volcanic activity, demonstrated above ground in December via eruptions in Indonesia, Mexico, Iceland, Cape Verde, Hawaii and Japan.

Drought-stricken Sao Paulo was inundated with rain, turning streets into rivers. Waterspouts appeared in Australia and the Mediterranean, a tornado hit downtown LA for the first time in decades, while another 'unseasonal' tornado outbreak in the U.S. South killed 5 and left dozens homeless. The "worst flooding in decades" hit Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Sri Lanka, where some quarter million people had to evacuate their homes.

A trail of storms pummelled the US West Coast, with landslides, mudslides, blizzards, and flash-flooding washing away homes and roads. Across the Atlantic, a so-called 'weather bomb' hit the UK and Ireland, bringing monster waves and hurricane-force winds. This was followed by a big freeze that brought blizzards to Western Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, where Malta received its first snow in over a half-century.

Spectacular meteor fireballs were filmed over Puerto Rico, Brazil, the US, Canada, Spain, and Japan. So-called 'mystery' booms shook homes in communities from the US to the UK. An incredible UFO sighting in Santiago, Chile, and the appearance of a bright glowing 'plasma light' over Lima, Peru rang in the New Year.

Buckle up for 2015; it's gonna be 'interesting'!

The snowstorm starting Tuesday - the strongest for many years - is forecast to hit all of Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, and will have consequences for Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other countries. The snowstorm is expected to continue until the end of the week.


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The continuous snowfall occurring here for two days has badly affected the life.The electricity supply is disrupted and air flights postponed. The 76-km long Beni-Jomsom roadway linking the district to the national highway has been fully blocked.

Although the snowfall decreased on Friday night, it is yet to be melted.

People are not able to go out of their homes. Similarly, the shops in the district headquarters are closed.

A local Kul Bahadur Thakali said, "The life is thrown out of gear here. All are dormant. Here is no light, no drinking water."

Technician at Nepal Electricity Authority in Mustang, Baburam Thapa, informed that more than half dozen electricity poles were crumbled thereby disrupting electricity supply.

Even the telephone wires are snapped. With the electricity cut off, mobile phone and internet are fully disturbed.

The Rohtang Pass at 13,050 ft in Himachal Pradesh, which acts as a key road link between Manali and Keylong, has been closed due to heavy snowfall in the area.

The pass has 5 foot snow due to heavy snowfall for the last two days due to which traffic has been closed on the Rohtang Pass, government officials informed.

Rohtang Pass is also used to transport supplies to the Indian Army posted along the China and Pakistan borders in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

GREF (General Reserve Engineering Force), a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) wing has removed its posts from the Pass.

The Pass will now open around May at the onset of summer.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.6 earthquake has struck off the Pacific coast of Panama. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The U.S.G.S. said the quake hit at 11:07 p.m. local time Tuesday with its epicenter 151 miles (245 kilometers) south of the coastal city of Punta de Burica, close to the border with Costa Rica. Its depth was measured at 20 miles (33 kilometers).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says no tsunami threat was issued for the area following the quake.

In early December, two earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.8 and 6.6 struck in the same region without causing damage or injuries.

The unusually cold weather over the last two days continued to break records in Hawaii, including a record for this date that goes back over 122 years in Honolulu.

The National Weather Service said Monday morning's low temperature of 57 degrees beat the low temperature for this date of 60 degrees of temperatures recorded at the Honolulu Airport.

It also beat a older low temperature record for Honolulu set in 1893 of 58 degrees.

On Kauai, the low of 57 degrees at the Lihue Airport beat tied a record of 57 degrees last seen in 1993.

It's the second day of record low temperatures.

Four low temperatures records were tied or broken Sunday morning.

The low of 54 degrees in Lihue and Kahului Sunday broke records for Kauai and Maui. The previous record of 59 degrees in Lihue was set in 2005. The low in Kahului broke a record of 55 set for this date in 1971.

In Hilo, the low temperature of 59 degrees broke the previous record of 60 set in 1999 on Sunday's date.

Honolulu tied a record low of 58 degrees set in 1979.

Temperatures should be a little warmer Monday night, ironically because of a weak cold front moving through the islands.

A coyote attacked at least two people outside their homes in a northern Massachusetts town on Monday night, sending one man to hospital with bite wounds, according to local police.

The Groveland police department issued a warning on Tuesday to residents of the town located about 35 miles north of Boston, saying the animal is on the loose and likely to have rabies.

"We are asking all residents to be watchful and when outside use extra care for your safety and the safety of your children and pets," said deputy chief Jeffrey Gillen.