During the afternoon hours of May 15, 2017, residents of Okinawa, Japan were surprised to see a funnel cloud looming just off the coast. The waterspout never touched ground and there are no reports of damage or injuries. The phenomenon was associated with a…
A powerful explosive eruption started at Bogoslof volcano, Alaska at 06:32 UTC on May 17, 2017, and lasted approximately 73 minutes. The Aviation Color Code was raised from Orange to Red. This is the first major eruption at Bogoslof volcano since March 8, 2017. A…
If you could travel back in time 41 000 years to the last ice age, your compass would point south instead of north. That’s because for a period of a few hundred years, the Earth’s magnetic field was reversed. Magnetic reversals have happened repeatedly…
At least 4 people have been killed and thousands evacuated after heavy rain caused severe floods in southeast China over the past couple of days. Last week, record-breaking rain caused major flooding in parts of Guangdong Province, affecting nearly 9 000 people….
NWS SPC warns that severe thunderstorms are expected Tuesday, May 16, into Tuesday night from portions of the southern Great Plains to the upper Mississippi Valley, with the greatest severe weather risk from southwest Kansas into western Oklahoma and the eastern…
Yet another powerful eruption occurred at Russia's Sheveluch volcano at 07:05 UTC on May 16, 2017. The eruption sent ash up to 10 km (33 000) above sea level, according to the Tokyo VAAC. KVERT reported the eruption was accompanied by pyroclastic flows,…
According to new research by UCL and the Vesuvius Observatory in Naples, the Campi Flegrei volcano in southern Italy may be closer to an eruption than previously thought. An eruption today would affect the 360 000 people living across the caldera and Naples'…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit near the coast of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea at 13:22 UTC on May 15, 2017. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The epicenter was located 40.2 km (25.0 miles) ENE of Rabaul…
Nearly 1.3 million people in Peru remain severely affected or affected throughout the country as a result of the extreme rainfall and country's most devastating floods in decades. Of these, more than 400 000 are children and adolescents. At the same time, total…
Heavy rains affecting Atacama and Coquimbo regions of Chile since May 12, 2017, have caused widespread floods, left at least 2 people dead and forced 3 000 people to evacuate. Both Coquimbo and Atacama are on Red Alert. La Serena, the capital of Coquimbo region…
