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Bizarro Earth

Off the East Coast of Honshu, Japan - Earthquake Magnitude 6.2

Honshu Quake2_160911
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Date-Time:
Friday, September 16, 2011 at 21:08:05 UTC

Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 07:08:05 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
40.221°N, 143.050°E

Depth:
20.2 km (12.6 miles)

Region:
OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
137 km (85 miles) ESE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan

172 km (106 miles) ENE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

205 km (127 miles) ESE of Aomori, Honshu, Japan

580 km (360 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan

Bizarro Earth

Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan - Earthquake Magnitude 6.6

Honshu Quake_160911
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Date-Time:
Friday, September 16, 2011 at 19:26:42 UTC

Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 04:26:42 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
40.288°N, 142.727°E

Depth:
36.3 km (22.6 miles)

Region:
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
108 km (67 miles) ESE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan

149 km (92 miles) ENE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

177 km (109 miles) ESE of Aomori, Honshu, Japan

574 km (356 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan

Butterfly

Cold UK Summer Hits Butterflies

Image
© Unknown
UK butterflies have suffered following the coldest summer for 18 years, the world's biggest butterfly count has revealed. More than 34,000 people took part in the Big Butterfly Count 2011, seeing 322,000 butterflies and day-flying moths. But the survey, by Butterfly Conservation, found that the average number of individual butterflies seen per count was down by 11% compared with last year's figures. The Common Blue butterfly was the biggest loser with numbers down by 61%.

The survey also revealed something of a North/South divide for one species with three times as many Small Tortoiseshells recorded per count in Scotland than in England. Hopes had been high for a bumper butterfly summer after parts of the UK basked in a record-breaking warm, dry spring. But the balmy conditions gave way to chilly temperatures and prolonged spells of rain as the summer of 2011 became the coldest since 1993.

Butterfly activity is impaired by low temperatures and heavy rain so they are unable to fly, feed, find mates or lay eggs during bad weather. Richard Fox, Butterfly Conservation Surveys Manager said: "The fantastic response of the UK public to Big Butterfly Count 2011 has given us a detailed snapshot of how butterflies fared this summer. Twice as many counts were carried out this year as in 2010.

Radar

Canada: 4.1 Earthquake hits off Vancouver Island

Image
© Times Colonist
4.1 Earthquake hits off Vancouver Island
Another earthquake has struck off the coast of Vancouver Island Thursday morning, the second to hit the region in a week.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the 4.1 magnitude quake struck about 25 kilometres off Nootka Sound in Northwestern Vancouver Island, roughly in the same area as a 6.3 earthquake that struck last Friday.

The quake happened roughly around 4 a.m. this morning, USGS indicates.

No tsunami warning has been issued, and there has been no reports of damage or injuries.

Meanwhile, a magnitude 6 earthquake occurred in the Caribbean Sea off the southern coast of Cuba on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of any damage on the island.

Snowman

Canada: Winter's officially over in Edmonton as last of city's snow melts

snow
© Getty Images
You know how sometimes as winter turns into spring and the thaw melts the season's snow, there are stubborn little piles of the stuff that just seem to defy the sun.

You usually see these holdouts in parking lots, where snow-clearing equipment has piled the snow into big, hard-banked islands through the winter. The remnants are black with dirt, crystalized, an unappetizing reminder of the previous winter, kind of like the frozen dog leavings you find in your back yard when the snow melts there.

Well, Edmonton has one of those piles, writ large. And it just melted.

According to the Edmonton Journal, the city has announced the final remains of last winter's snow pile at its west-end storage site officially melted at 4 p.m. last Saturday. You have to wonder who was assigned to watch and report that precise time.

Historically, Edmonton's snow pile usually disappears around July. The city said cooler-than-usual temperatures were responsible for the late melt this year.

Cloud Lightning

Canada: Maria becomes hurricane as it races toward Newfoundland

Image
© NASA
Tropical Storm Maria satellite image
Tropical storm Maria has become a Category 1 hurricane as it races towards Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre issued a statement late Thursday afternoon indicating Maria had now reached maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres an hour.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon says the increased winds make Maria a Category 1 hurricane. He said it was moving toward Newfoundland at almost 60 kilometres an hour by early evening.

"It is expected to be a tropical storm," said Snoddon, "but perhaps just less than a Category 1 hurricane when it does approach.

Snowman

US: Colorado Mountains Get 2 Inches of Snow

Denver Fisherman
© The Denver Post / Hyoung Chang
Manuel Rodriguez of Denver is fishing in the rain at George Town Lake on Wednesday.
Snow coated the mountain tops in western and southwest Colorado Wednesday night, but rain and warmer temperatures are expected to move in this afternoon.

Flakes flew above 10,000 feet, leaving 1 to 3 inches of snow on peaks and mountain pass summits, according to the National Weather Service.

In southwest Colorado, 2 inches of snow coated Wolf Creek Pass​, and on the Western Slope, 2 inches fell on Independence Pass near Aspen.

Bizarro Earth

Fiji Region: Earthquake Magnitude 7.3

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 19:30:59 UTC

Friday, September 16, 2011 at 07:30:59 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
21.559°S, 179.369°W

Depth:
626.1 km (389.1 miles)

Region:
FIJI REGION

Distances:
120 km (74 miles) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji

425 km (264 miles) W of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga

453 km (281 miles) SSE of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

1788 km (1111 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand

Attention

UK: Baffling behaviour of bottlenose dolphins recorded for the first time

Dolphin Behaviour_1
© Wales Online, UK
The bottlenose dolphin calf is tossed out of the water.
Scientists in West Wales have been left puzzled by aggressive behaviour displayed by female dolphins thought to be chastising her calf.

The team taking part in the Cetacean Survey Training Course in New Quay, Cardigan Bay, watched the newborn bottlenose dolphin calf being repeatedly tossed into the air by its mother.

The actions, never before recorded by the team, may have simply been some unusually rough play or possibly a means of disciplining or teaching a newborn, say the scientists.

Sea Watch research director Peter Evans said the demonstration may have been a lesson to stay away from male dolphins since they have, on occasion, been recorded attacking and even killing newborn calves.

"The phenomenon of aggressive behaviour against porpoises sometimes leading to death has in the past been attributed by some scientists to misdirected infanticide by male dolphins, since young dolphins have been observed being attacked by adults, generally presumed to be males," said Mr Evans.

Igloo

US: 'Nation's Icebox' Sets Record With Early Chill

Here Comes The Cold Again
© International Falls Chamber of Commerce/Pete Schultz.
No snow yet in the Nation's Icebox, but the town set a cold weather record today.

Out with the heat, in with the cold.

Just after Wichita Falls, Texas, tallied its 100th day of 100-degree Fahrenheit heat (38 degrees Celsius), temperatures have plummeted across the country's heartland, bringing a record-breaking early cold snap to the "Nation's Icebox," International Falls, Minn.

Also, known as "Frostbite Falls," the town of 6,400 just south of the Ontario, Canada, border recorded 19 F (minus 7 C) this morning (Sept. 15), a record for the town's lowest temperature this early in the year, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

"This is the first time [International Falls] had a temperature in the teens recorded in the month of September," said Kevin Kraujalis, a meteorologist with the NWS in nearby Duluth, Minn.

Fraser, Colo., also likes to call itself the Nation's Icebox, but they didn't get quite as cold, with temperatures only in the mid-30s F this morning.

The chilly weather is due to a massive cold front covering the entire state of Minnesota and extending down to Texas, Kraujalis said.