A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) triggered a rapid surge in water levels along the Teesta River basin in Sikkim, India at approximately 01:30 LT on Wednesday, October 4, 2023. The water levels soared to heights of 5 – 6 m (15 – 20 feet), resulting in significant infrastructure damage, at least 8 fatalities, and more than 60 individuals reported missing.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by India’s National Center for Seismology as M6.2 hit Nepal at 09:21 UTC (15:06 local time) on October 3, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 5 km (3.1 miles). USGS and EMSC are reporting M5.7 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The quake was preceded by M4.6 and followed by M3.6, M3.1, M3.5, M4.3, M3.9 and M3.0 by 14:00 UTC.
An ash cloud from Shishaldin Volcano reaching 12 km (40 000 feet) above sea level was observed in satellite data at 13:50 UTC on October 3, 2023.
A strong earthquake registered by the JMA as M6.3 hit Izu Islands, Japan at 11:38 UTC on October 3, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 40 km (25 miles). The USGS is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 11.9 km (7.4 miles); EMSC M6.1 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
Major flooding occurred in Dominica and Guadeloupe on October 2 and 3, 2023, as Tropical Storm Philippe’s tail brought torrential rains to the northern Leeward Islands.
Japan experienced its warmest September on record in 2023, with a national monthly temperature that was 2.66 °C (4.79 °F) higher than the standard. The record-breaking temperatures were particularly pronounced in the eastern and western regions of the country.
PHIVOLCS maintains Alert Level 3 over the Mayon volcano, which means that it is currently in a relatively high level of unrest, and hazardous eruption within weeks or even days could still be possible.
A storm system exiting the West will trigger widespread severe thunderstorms across the Plains on Tuesday. These storms are expected to produce large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain, possible flooding and a couple of tornadoes across the region. Ahead of this sprawling system, a number of record high temperatures are possible from the Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes into the Northeast.
A recently published study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters has revealed that the Gulf Stream transport of water through the Florida Straits has weakened by approximately 4% over the past 40 years. Researchers state with 99% certainty that this is more than what would be expected from random variations, marking the first definitive evidence of significant change in the current.
Typhoon “Koinu” — known as Jenny in the Philippines — formed over the Pacific Ocean on September 27, 2023, as the 14th named storm of the 2023 Pacific typhoon season. The system is forecast to continue strengthening and make landfall over southern Taiwan on October 4.
