Earth ChangesS


Radar

Magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Montreal area, no damage reported


CBC News
Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:03 UTC
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© Natural Resources CanadaThis Natural Resources Canada map shows the epicentre of the early-morning earthquake.
Serious damage highly unlikely, seismologist says.

A small earthquake was felt in and around the Montreal region early Wednesday morning.

Natural Resources Canada seismologist Allison Bent said it was a magnitude 4.5 quake and was centred southeast of Montreal.

"The epicentre is 21 kilometres west-northwest of Saint Hyacinthe and that's about 37 kilometres from Montreal," Bent said in an interview from Ottawa.

There were no reports of damage although the quake did create jitters that had some people scurrying briefly from their houses.

The temblor lasted just a few seconds, causing buildings to rumble.

Bent said any serious damage was highly unlikely.
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No Entry

Disaster zone declared after chemical leak in South Korea's Silicon Valley


RT.com
Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:15 UTC
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© Twitter user @foreverphoenix7Fruit in the disaster zone near Gumi.
South Korea declared an area southeast of the capital Seoul a 'special disaster' zone after a toxic chemical leak in late September. Around 3,000 people sought medical aid after the incident, and many criticized the government for its slow response.

­The prime minister's office said in a statement that "the government decided to designate the area affected by the leak of hydrofluoric acid as a special disaster zone."

About eight tons of hydrofluoric acid escaped from a facility owned by chemical manufacturer Hube Globe following an explosion that killed five workers and injured 18 others. Exposure to the acid can cause damage to lungs and bones and affect the nervous system.

The incident occurred on September 27 when workers of the Gumi National Industrial Complex were unloading the acid from a tanker in North Gyeongsang Province - the Korean Silicon Valley, 200 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Since then, more than 3,000 residents in the area requested medical treatment for eye, throat and lung irritation caused by toxic fumes from the spill. Around 300 people were moved from their homes to temporary shelters, with complaints ranging from nausea to chest pains.
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Question

St. Petersburg's largest fire in decade extinguished after all-night battle


RT.com
Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:18 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Vadim ZhernovFire in the Shushary industrial zone in St. Petersburg.
Firefighters successfully extinguished St. Petersburg's largest fire in decades after an all-night battle with the inferno. After a warehouse in the city's industrial zone caught fire, the blaze spread quickly to cover over 32,000 square feet.

The fire began Monday around 5:00pm GMT and was rated at level five - the highest in the Russian system.

Nearby workers noticed and reported the fire to authorities. Witnesses said that the city's entire southern region was cloaked in smoke, Vesti reported.
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Bomb

Methane explosion fears rise in sinkhole-ravaged Louisiana town

Stuart Smith
The Stuart Smith Blog
Mon, 08 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
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© batonrougetoday.com
The people of Bayou Corne have been through a lot. It started this summer when residents of the small bayou community about 70 miles west of New Orleans began feeling tremors and reporting foul odors. Then in August, a large sinkhole - near the site of a cavern that has long been mined by the Texas Brine Co. - threatened the town and forced evacuations. And the news keeps getting worse: Now officials are warning the residents of a powerful buildup of methane gas under Bayou Corne that could cause a massive explosion:
An as-yet undetermined amount of natural gas is trapped in the aquifer underneath the Bayou Corne community, state and parish officials have said.

The area has been rattled by earth tremors, has waterways with gas bubbling to the surface, and is in the vicinity of a 4-acre sinkhole south of La. 70 that has grown larger since its emergence Aug. 3. Bayou Corne's 150 households have been evacuated since the sinkhole appeared just off the edge of the Napoleonville Dome, a 1-mile-by-3-mile underground salt deposit.
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Telescope

Perfect magnetic storm brings spectacular Northern Lights show to UK, coupled with record low temperatures


The Telegraph
Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:46 UTC
Northern Lights
© CatersThe Northern Lights in Scotland
A seven-hour 'perfect magnetic storm' produced what was said to be the best Northern Lights show of the year last night.

Spectators across northern England and Scotland captured photos of the dancing green Aurora Borealis lights, some with pink tinges.

The British Geological Survey said Britain's most visible Northern Lights event of 2012 lasted from 9pm to 4am.

According to NASA, the show was caused by the sun spitting out a giant mass of solar particles - known as a 'coronal mass ejection' - which smashed into the earth's magnetic field at 24,000mph.

The Northern Lights are usually only spotted in the UK on a few nights each year.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Balleny Islands Region


US Geological Survey
Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:49 UTC
Balleny Quake_091012
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-09 12:32:04 UTC
2012-10-09 22:32:04 UTC+10:00 at epicenter

Location
61.033°S 153.960°E depth=10.2km (6.4mi)

Nearby Cities
729km (453mi) NW of Young Island
1876km (1166mi) SSW of Invercargill, New Zealand
1925km (1196mi) SSW of Gore, New Zealand
2000km (1243mi) SSW of Dunedin, New Zealand
2068km (1285mi) S of Hobart, Australia

Technical Details
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Evil Rays

Strange sounds from the Earth: Mysterious hum reported in Mt Victoria, New Zealand

Shabnam Dastgheib
The Dominion Post
Tue, 09 Oct 2012 04:27 UTC
A mysterious low-pitched humming sound has been troubling some Wellington residents for the last few days and it seems no-one has any idea what it might be.

The Wellington City Council has had several calls over the past few days with the most recent being about 5am today.

Have you heard the noise or know what it could be?

Spokesman Richard MacLean said the complaints had been coming in from Mt Victoria, Newtown and Mt Cook residents. "We are interested to hear if this starts to become a constant thing. We are keeping our ear to the ground."
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Cloud Lightning

Southern California storm will bring severe weather outbreak


TheWeatherSpace.com
Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:19 UTC
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A storm system will hit Southern California on Wednesday and Thursday, ejecting into the plains by Friday and Saturday with widespread severe thunderstorms expected out there.

Over at the Southern California Weather Authority we name the Pacific Storms that come into the region, a novelty since 1998-1999. This is Pacific Storm Adam, a category three system for Wednesday into Thursday.

Pacific Storm Adam will hit the Point Conception areas on Wednesday, and Los Angeles overnight Wednesday into Thursday, bringing locally heavy rain in spots under the thunderstorms that form.

Hail, funnel clouds, and waterspouts will also be a concern along with resort level snows for any cells that pass those areas.

After the system moves out on Thursday night, it will quickly eject into the plains where severe thunderstorms will be likely between then and Saturday across a large area.

These storms will contain large hail, damaging winds, and even tornadoes.
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Snowflake Cold

Winter Forecast: Not mild, but wild for eastern U.S.

Meghan Evans,
AccuWeather.com
Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:24 UTC
Every year, AccuWeather.com issues a U.S. winter forecast, highlighting predictions of temperature and precipitation trends. Last year, winter was unusually warm for much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Big snow events may return to a portion of the I-95 corridor of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic as well as the central and southern Appalachians this winter, while wet weather is predicted for the Gulf Coast and Southeast.
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Parts of the Midwest could fall short of normal snowfall again this year with the main storm track to the south. Farther west, dry conditions are forecast to persist in the Northwest, leading to growing drought concerns. A breakdown of the Winter 2012-2013 forecast can be found below.
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Cloud Lightning

Shhhh, the Media doesn't want us to see this - "Some spots were 25-30 below normal, breaking record-cold lows. Some records over 100 years old!"


IceAgeNow.info
Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:31 UTC
100-year-old cold records broken, but nary a word. "An incredible departure from normal happened with yesterday's lows out there," says reader Ralph Fato. "Some spots were 25-30 below normal, breaking record-cold lows. Some records over 100 years old!"
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