• Series of destructive earthquakes hit Italy, over 220 aftershocks

    Two strong earthquakes which rattled central Italy on October 26, 2016, were not aftershocks of the devastating M6.2 August tremor, but rather the product of a new earthquake, Italian experts announced. EMSC registered more than 220 aftershocks over the next 48…

  • Explosion triggers massive landslide in Medellin, Colombia

    A massive landslide buried a stretch of the Medellin-Bogota highway on October 26, 2016, claiming lives of at least 6 people, authorities reported. At least 12 are still missing. "The landslide was apparently caused by an explosion in a quarry in the…

  • Strong and shallow M6.1 earthquake hits central Italy

    A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the EMSC as M6.1 (downgraded from M6.3) hit central Italy at 19:18 UTC on October 26, 2016. The agency is reporting a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles). USGS is reporting the same magnitude and a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles)….

  • Huge toxic plume spreading through the Middle East

    A fire at a sulfur mine and processing facility near Mosul, Iraq is emitting tremendous quantities of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere for the sixth day in a row. If this fire was a volcano, it would already be among the largest eruptions of 2016. NASA’s…

  • Geomagnetic storm in progress, CH HSS influence expected until October 27

    ​Earth is passing through a stream of high speed solar wind produced by a recurrent, polar connected, positive polarity coronal hole. This is causing isolated periods of G1 class geomagnetic storming. G2 – Moderate geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for October…

  • Explosion at Cleveland volcano, alert levels raised

    Mount Cleveland stratovolcano in Alaska erupted at 21:10 UTC on October 24, 2016, forcing the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) to raise the color code/alert level from Yellow/Advisory to Orange/Watch. The explosion was detected in both infrasound (air pressure) and…

  • Intense storms expected in western US

    A series of intense storm systems are expected to bring abundant rainfall and strong winds to the western US this week. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), several inches of precipitation will fall across parts of Washington, Oregon, and California, in…