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Bizarro Earth

6.4 magnitude earthquake rattles Chile

Santiago Earthquake
© USGS
A 6.4 magnitude quake rattled Chile with an epicenter located close to its border with Argentina on Friday, according to earthquake monitors. Witnesses told Reuters that buildings were shaking in the city during the event.

The quake was a "major" event centered in the capital and central Chile, the country's emergency office Onemi is cited by Reuters as saying.

However, Chile's navy said the earthquake doesn't meet the criteria to pose a tsunami threat.

The epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude quake was located 175 kilometers south of Santiago at a depth of 80 kilometers, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.3, reporting that it hit 41 miles from Santiago at a depth of 116 kilometers.

Tornado2

Stunning waterspout filmed near Amalfi, Italy

Waterspout
Tourists and locals taking in the view near the picturesque town of Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast got a rare treat on Thursday.

A violent storm swept over the area, according to local media reports, and in its wake came a perfectly-formed waterspout. The term refers to small, weak tornadoes that form over water, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather phenomenon provided a dazzling sight before dissipating as it ran into land, causing no damages, according to local media.



Windsock

Unseasonably late haboob dust storm blows into Phoenix, Arizona

haboob dust storm hits Phoenix
© KTAR Photo/Aaron Farnham
The 2016 Arizona monsoon season may have already come to a close, but that didn't stop Mother Nature from sending a dust storm toward Phoenix on Thursday.

Reports began coming in about 2:30 p.m. of a cloud of rolling dust approaching the southern border of the Phoenix metro area.

The National Weather Service tweeted that the dust was being kicked up by a thunderstorm that could bring dust, heavy rain and small hail to some portions of the Valley. The weather was expected to stick around through rush hour and into the evening.


Arrow Up

Mysterious 'mud volcano' forms after recent earthquakes in Italy

Italy mud volcano in Santa Vittoria
A mysterious mud volcano formed out of nowhere and erupted in Santa Vittoria, Italy after the recent M6.6 earthquake that destroyed parts of Italy.

The rare geological phenomenon has unexpectedly emerged from the deep Earth interior.

The mud crater has suddenly appeared this week in a field in Santa Vittoria, Matenano, Italy, and has been bubbling mud since then.

The crater is spitting clay material out of the ground.

The mud volcano is now being surveyed by officials who study the possible threats of such a weird phenomenon on the nearby residents.


Snowflake Cold

Siberia already being clobbered with snow - portends harsh U.S. winter ahead

snowcover siberia
© The Weather Channel

A look at how snow in Siberia affects the U.S. and why it's looking like the eastern and central United States will have a cold, snowy winter.

Siberia is known to be one of the coldest places on the planet, but exactly how cold and snowy it gets each year has big ramifications elsewhere on the globe.

In North America, a more snow-covered Russia means that colder air will have an easier time harvesting in Siberia and departing for our continent's heartland. Early in the calendar year, the air coming from Siberia can be cold enough to bring snow to even more southern reaches of the United States if the pattern sets up correctly.

The Extent of Snow Cover

Snow is covering the ground across most of Russia, including all of Siberia - likely the greatest extent of snow cover since 1998. Below is the current snow cover in northern Asia as of Oct. 31.

Some locations, including Sakha in east-central Russia, are seeing their snowiest winter on record, with most of the snow season yet to come. Nearly 10 feet of snow fell in some places in Siberia in just three days, according to the Government of Sakha.

Bizarro Earth

Cause of sinkhole in Victoria, Australia still a mystery

Sinkhole
© Shepparton News
The mystery sinkhole that appeared in Shepparton last week.
Even after extensive excavation on the site of the mystery sinkhole that appeared in Shepparton last week, the council is stumped as to just what caused it.

Council workers got a closer look at the sinkhole that opened up in Lightfoot St last week to see if recent heavy rain could have been the cause of the mystery hole.

Shire infrastructure director Steve Bowmaker said the excavation created more questions than answers as it was too dry to have been caused by the wet winter.

''I have to say that despite our best efforts, we don't know what the problem is,'' he said.

''It is possible there could have been that void in there for an extended period.''

He said residents in the street were not in any danger of cave-ins, despite the sinkhole extending to 4m deep and a few metres wide.

Stabilisation and resurfacing work will continue on the street next week, although much of the work was already scheduled before the sinkhole opened.

Just as to what caused the sinkhole, Mr Bowmaker said it was possible it was from a wash away many years ago.

''It is something that has developed over a period of years,'' he said.

However, he said residents should soon be driving on one of the best streets in the municipality when construction was finished.

Camera

Rare sun dog appears above Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

Sun dog in Lake of the Ozarks
© Tony Reahr
An uncommon atmospheric phenomenon shone next to the sun, above the Lake on Tuesday.

As the sun approached the horizon at the end of an uncommonly warm November day, a "sun dog" could be seen. The photo above was taken near Horseshoe Bend.

Sun dogs are also known as "mock suns" or "phantom suns" and are created when sunlight reflects off ice crystals in the atmosphere. They can appear on both sides of the sun, often when it is close to the horizon.

Snowflake Cold

Coldest October on record for Fort St. John, British Columbia

A photo of the record snowfall in Fort St. John on October 1st.
© Twitter @fsjchic
A photo of the record snowfall in Fort St. John on October 1st.
While the snow that fell on Monday night put a slight damper on Halloween across the Peace Region, it also completed the theme of what ended up being the coldest October on record in Fort St. John.

Environment Canada's Ross MacDonald says that starting at around 7:00 p.m. on Monday, and continuing until midday on November 1st, a total of seven centimetres fell at the North Peace Airport weather station. MacDonald says that though the accumulations were not enough to meet Environment Canada's Snowfall Warning of 10 centimetres of accumulation in a 12 hour timeframe, the snow was heavy enough to cause a number of headaches for motorists yesterday morning.

Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall brings indications of a cold winter to Eastern Europe

Cold air has been pushing southwards across Eastern Europe and much of northern Asia in recent days
© Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
Cold air has been pushing southwards across Eastern Europe and much of northern Asia in recent days
Signs that polar vortex may be heading south.

It has been an early and quite vicious start to the winter in parts of Eastern Europe. From the Baltic Sea states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the west; to Russia's Siberia in the east; and the Caucuses in the south; the end of October and early November have seen marked changes in weather patterns.

Cold air has been pushing southwards across Eastern Europe and much of northern Asia in recent days. Many climatologists believe this is a sign that changes in the polar vortex are likely to lead to a cold winter ahead.


The polar vortex is an area of low pressure, high up in the atmosphere. It is at its most intense during the winter months. There have been signs in recent years that it is beginning to weaken, and predictions for the coming winter suggest it will weaken significantly.

This weakening is likely to be the result of climate change, being linked to the decrease of Arctic sea ice in recent years.

Comment: See also: Animals slaughted due to record snowfall with five times the monthly normal precipitation in Yakutia, Russia

Heavy snowfall in northwestern Iran accompanied by lightning and thunder

Severe winter conditions strike eastern Turkey

Cold snap hits northern China, with some areas experiencing lowest October temperatures on record


Snowflake

Earliest start in 30 years for Sunshine Village ski resort in Alberta due to exceptional amounts of snow

The TeePee Town LX heated high speed chairlift at Sunshine Village
© Postmedia Archives
The TeePee Town LX heated high speed chairlift at Sunshine Village
Sunshine Village Ski and Snowboard Resort is opening for the season to skiers and snowboarders on Thursday, Nov. 3, the first to do so in Canada and the earliest its opened in more than 30 years.

The Wawa, Strawberry, Jackrabbit and Wolverine chairlifts, along with one magic carpet and one 8-passenger gondola will be operational beginning Thursday.

Families and kids can be part of the action as well, as the ski school will be running along with the Tiny Tiger and Kids Kampus programs as well as select on-mountain dining and retail venues.

Exceptional amounts of snow for this time of year has fallen in the alpine. Currently, Sunshine Village has a base of over 69 centimetres of natural snow.