The Fuego volcano, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of this capital, on Sunday spewed a column of ash up to a kilometer (about 3,300 feet) high, a government agency reported.

The National Vulcanology Institute said in a communique that the volcano, which rises 3,763 meters (12,230 feet) above sea level, on Sunday erupted effusively, according to seismic recordings and the images received from a camera at the observatory at Panimache.

The volcano's activity presently consists of emissions of red hot lava being hurled from the crater to a height of some 500 meters (1,625 feet), the agency said.

The institute went on to say that three rivers of lava were emerging from the crater and moving down the sides of the mountain.

In addition, two emissions of ash rising from 800 to 1,000 meters (about 2,600 feet to 3,300 feet) were blowing southeast.

The vulcanology institute warned that although the eruption presently consists of an effusion of lava, the possibility exists that in the coming hours the volcano's activity will increase to a pyroclastic flow of the kind experienced on May 19 and May 25.

The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 60 in the Spring of 2013. We are currently over three years into Cycle 24. The current predicted size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle in about 100 years.

The prediction method has been slightly revised. The previous method found a fit for both the amplitude and the starting time of the cycle along with a weighted estimate of the amplitude from precursor predictions (polar fields and geomagnetic activity near cycle minimum). Recent work [see Hathaway Solar Physics; 273, 221 (2011)] indicates that the equatorward drift of the sunspot latitudes as seen in the Butterfly Diagram follows a standard path for all cycles provided the dates are taken relative to a starting time determined by fitting the full cycle. Using data for the current sunspot cycle indicates a starting date of May of 2008. Fixing this date and then finding the cycle amplitude that best fits the sunspot number data yields the current (revised) prediction.

Predicting the behavior of a sunspot cycle is fairly reliable once the cycle is well underway (about 3 years after the minimum in sunspot number occurs [see Hathaway, Wilson, and Reichmann Solar Physics; 151, 177 (1994)]). Prior to that time the predictions are less reliable but nonetheless equally as important. Planning for satellite orbits and space missions often require knowledge of solar activity levels years in advance.

A number of techniques are used to predict the amplitude of a cycle during the time near and before sunspot minimum. Relationships have been found between the size of the next cycle maximum and the length of the previous cycle, the level of activity at sunspot minimum, and the size of the previous cycle.

Among the most reliable techniques are those that use the measurements of changes in the Earth's magnetic field at, and before, sunspot minimum. These changes in the Earth's magnetic field are known to be caused by solar storms but the precise connections between them and future solar activity levels is still uncertain.

Kelly Slater was victorious Monday in the Volcom Fiji Pro at Tavarua, but the bigger story was the massive swell that slammed the remote island earlier during the ASP World Championship Tour competition. The waves became so large and dangerous on Friday that the contest was called off after two heats, but that did not stop a handful of event surfers and some of the world's premier big-wave riders from participating in the most epic free-surfing session ever held at Tavarua.

A freak hailstone storm caught Durban off guard on Friday night with unconfirmed reports of damage to roof tiles, gardens and uprooted trees.

Chris Hoare, in Durban North, said hail got caught in verges and gardens, and was as much as "six inches thick". His son and friends took pictures of themselves playing in the hail. However, some suburbs like Glenmore and Westville escaped the storm.

Western Florida is forecast to receive more rain on Monday. About 15 inches of rain fell in Pensacola over the weekend, driving people from their homes and flooding roads.

More than a month's rain fell in just 12 hours and flood alerts remain in place with forecasters warning more wet weather is on the way.
The heavy rain continues to hit parts of England and Wales with 44 flood alerts in place and flood warnings issued for two West Sussex locations and another in Surrey

Yesterday the Met Office warned homeowners to brace themselves ahead of the the deluge, which began in earnest about 6pm last night and brought nearly three inches of rain by tea-time.

Earlier today it raised its warning level for London and the South East of England, including Bournemouth, to amber, the second highest level and in Shoreham 2.6ins fell in just 12 hours.

The atrocious conditions hit London, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex, Buckinghamshire, West Berkshire and the Isle of Wight. Forecasters have also said that the weather is unlikely to get much better over the next couple of weeks with more rain expected over the weekend. (Additional pictures here.)

While millions of English intellectual and emotional zombies shuffled along to the beat of the English Queen's recent 'Jubilee' celebrations, a real zombie apocalypse (of the flesh-eating kind) was taking place in the USA.

Over the course of the past two months, there have been no less (and probably more) than 18 cases of people eating, or otherwise misusing, their own flesh or that of others. Most of these bizarre events have, for some reason, taken place in the USA. The most prominent case was that of Rudy Eugene and Ronald Poppo in Miami, Florida. The basics of that case, which took place on May 26th, as described by a witness, were:

"He [Eugene] was ripping into his [Poppo's] face with his teeth," said a witness to the ghoulish attack.

"He was ripping his skin, his neck. He had him held down. The guy couldn't move really, and he was just tearing into his flesh," Vega told WSVN TV in Miami.

The witness flagged down a police officer, who repeatedly ordered the assailant to stop and move away.

"The guy just stood his head up like that, with a piece of flesh in his mouth, and growled."

When Eugene did not comply with the officer's demands, he shot him once. Eugene, however, appeared unfazed, at which point the officer shot him four more times.

Scores of people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.

Details of the destruction were slow to emerge from the remote district.

Rescuers have so far pulled two women's bodies from the rubble of the landslide in Baghlan province and expect many others were buried, said provincial Gov. Abdul Majid. The U.N. confirmed one other death and said houses were destroyed across five districts.

An earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region Monday morning, followed by a 5.7 quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Both were felt as far away as the Afghan capital, Kabul, where buildings shook.

[Editor's note: USGS data]

Larimer County, Colorado -The High Park Fire is now at 20,000 acres and growing, with zero percent containment.

Just after 8 p.m. Sunday night 325 evacuation order notifications were issued for the area south of County Road 38E from Gindler Ranch Road west to Milner Ranch Road. The High Park Fire is moving rapidly in this direction. 325 were sent out.

Photo: Slide Show

Photo Gallery: Photos: High Park Fire outline

I'm not sure how often this happens, but I've never seen it before: crepuscular rays on both the west and east horizon at the same time - or crepuscular and anti-crepuscular rays occurring simultaneously. I'm staying out in the wilds of Minnesota this summer, with great views of both horizons and captured these images last evening, June 9, 2012. The word crepuscular means "relating to twilight," and these rays occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the Sun's rays, usually when the Sun is low on the horizon. These rays are visible only when the atmosphere contains enough haze or dust particles so that sunlight in unshadowed areas can be scattered toward the observer.

Then occasionally, light rays scattered by dust and haze sometimes appear on "antisolar" point, (the horizon opposite to the setting sun). These rays, called anti-crepuscular rays, originate at the Sun, cross over the sky to the opposite horizon, and appear to converge toward the antisolar point.

Anyone else ever seen this before?

For both crepuscular and anti-crepsucular, the light rays are actually parallel, but appear to converge to the horizon due to "perspective," the same visual effect that makes parallel railroad tracks appear to converge in the distance. One of the astronauts on the International Space Station actually captured crepuscular rays from orbit, showing how the rays are actually parallel. You can see that image and the description here.