© YNN
It was the mystery boom heard 'round the world - or at least Niagara County that caused the Niagara County Sheriff's Office to field dozens of calls similar to this exchange from concerned residents:
Earth Changes
It was the mystery boom heard 'round the world - or at least Niagara County that caused the Niagara County Sheriff's Office to field dozens of calls similar to this exchange from concerned residents:
© Google Maps
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Benito Ramos said the fatalities included an 88-year-old woman who allegedly died of hypothermia and 77-year-old man hit by a falling tree, both in the central Philippines.
NDRRMC reported three persons drowned in separate incidents, two children killed by a falling tree and a girl buried in a landslide in separate incidents in the central and southern Philippines.
© National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center
The expected path of the typhoon
The expected path of the typhoon
With a speed ofn about 25 km, Son Tinh is the fastest storm that has affected Vietnam in the past 10 years, said agriculture minister Cao Duc Phat who is also head of the Central Steering Board for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control.
The storm is expected to be 160 km east of the coast of Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue, with winds of 103-132 kph and gusts of over 132 kph this evening, the center reported.
© Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
More than 40 whales stranded on a beach in North Andamans, in this photo released by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands department of environment and forests on Oct. 25.
More than 40 whales stranded on a beach in North Andamans, in this photo released by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands department of environment and forests on Oct. 25.
Scientists are still trying to figure out why.
Individual whales have occasionally beached themselves in the Andamans, but never before in these numbers, said Samir Acharya, president of Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, a nongovernmental organization based in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. "This happens once in a while, every year or every second year," he said, but "the numbers this time are really large."
A group of 41 short-finned pilot whales were found near Elizabeth Bay, on the west coast of North Andaman Island, by local fisherman on Oct 21, said Ajai Saxena, additional chief conservator of wildlife in Port Blair, in a telephone interview on Friday. The whales are four to six meters (about 12 to 18 feet) long each and as heavy as four tons, he said.
Officials who conducted a post-mortem investigation on one of the whales did not find any unnatural cause of death, Mr. Saxena said. The 41 whales are being buried in pits on the beach.
Whales migrate in a group, called a pod, to the cold waters of Antarctica because of an abundance of food, Mr. Acharya said, and migrate back to warmer waters during winter to mate and give birth. They use sonar for direction, emitting sounds and using their echos to judge the depth of the water and the direction they are traveling.
© NIWA/GNS Science
A multibeam echosounder image showing the undersea volcano called Havre Seamount, including a new cone that formed during the July 2012 eruption.
A multibeam echosounder image showing the undersea volcano called Havre Seamount, including a new cone that formed during the July 2012 eruption.
New Zealand scientists aboard the research vessel Tangaroa recently mapped the underwater volcano, Havre Seamount, which erupted on July 19 and was thought to have sent pumice rocks floating over a stretch of ocean 8,500 square miles (22,000 square kilometers). Now, the scientists say they detected a new volcanic cone - a feature built during an eruption - at Havre Seamount, reaching within 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) of the surface.
(Pumice forms when volcanic lava cools quickly. Gas gets trapped inside as the lava hardens, resulting in porous lightweight rocks that can float.)
© The RSPB
Fisherman have been stunned by the number of birds landing on their vessels
Fisherman have been stunned by the number of birds landing on their vessels
An appalling combination of fog and winds around England's coast this week have created terrible conditions for migrating birds, with some fishermen reporting to the RSPB the deaths of many exhausted and disorientated 'garden' birds plunging into the sea around their vessels.
England's east coast, from Northumberland to Kent, has seen the arrival of many birds, including redwings, fieldfares, bramblings and blackbirds, perhaps numbering in their millions this week. The RSPB believes these birds may be the lucky survivors which have managed to cross the North Sea, but the Society concedes many others may have perished before making landfall.
New York has just been declared a state of emergency in advance of Hurricane Sandy which is expected to hit the East Coast late on Sunday, with the possibility it will halt subways and ground planes. Governor Cuomo said the declaration allows the 62 counties to help localities better prepare for the storm with access to federal funding and the national guard.
Hurricane Sandy is looking more and more ominous as it makes its way towards the East Coast, and local authorities are preparing for the worst, predicting at least $1billion in damage and the possibility and up to 375,000 New Yorkers could be evacuated. Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe even snow on higher ground beginning early on Sunday.
Hurricane Sandy is looking more and more ominous as it makes its way towards the East Coast, and local authorities are preparing for the worst, predicting at least $1billion in damage and the possibility and up to 375,000 New Yorkers could be evacuated. Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe even snow on higher ground beginning early on Sunday.
© AFP/Getty Images
This NASA TV frame grab shows Hurricane Sandy from the International Space Station as it barrels up the Atlantic Coast of the United States
This NASA TV frame grab shows Hurricane Sandy from the International Space Station as it barrels up the Atlantic Coast of the United States
© AP Photo/Franklin Reyes
Resident Antonio Garces tries to recover his belongings from his house destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in Aguacate, Cuba, Thursday Oct. 25, 2012. Hurricane Sandy blasted across eastern Cuba on Thursday as a potent Category 2 storm and headed for the Bahamas after causing at least two deaths in the Caribbean.
Resident Antonio Garces tries to recover his belongings from his house destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in Aguacate, Cuba, Thursday Oct. 25, 2012. Hurricane Sandy blasted across eastern Cuba on Thursday as a potent Category 2 storm and headed for the Bahamas after causing at least two deaths in the Caribbean.
Sandy knocked out power, flooded roads and cut off islands in the storm-hardened Bahamas as it swirled past Cat Island and Eleuthera, but authorities reported no deaths in the scattered archipelago.
"Generally people are realizing it is serious," said Caroline Turnquest, head of the Red Cross in the Bahamas, who said 20 shelters were opened on the main island of New Providence.
© USGS
We received word from viewers early this morning who heard the loud sound they say felt like an explosion around 1 a.m. Friday in Barker, Somerset, Olcott, and Newfane. There were even reports of some residents in Canada hearing and feeling it. Some thought that it may have been caused by a plane at the Niagara Falls Air Base, but the Base tells us that they don't own any planes or equipment capable of creating a sonic boom. The FAA also confirms that there were no aircraft in the area around that time.
© USGS
2012-10-25 23:05:26 UTC
Location:
39.855°N 16.044°E depth=3.8km (2.4mi)
Nearby Cities:
6km (4mi) SE of Mormanno, Italy
14km (9mi) WNW of Castrovillari, Italy
21km (13mi) ENE of Scalea, Italy
24km (15mi) WNW of Cassano al Ionio, Italy
358km (222mi) WSW of Tirana, Albania
Comment: Sure, 2.5-magnitude earthquakes produce explosions so loud that the sound shakes homes -- everybody knows that!