Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tropical Storm Ernesto expected in the northwest Caribbean


The depression was centered about 345 miles (555 kilometers) south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Forecasters said it was moving west at about 20 mph (32 kph).

A tropical depression formed in the eastern Caribbean on Thursday, scattering heavy rain squalls as it threatened to become the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

At 0900 GMT the depression, which formed Thursday, had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (56 kph), below tropical storm strength of 39 mph (63 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported. It was expected to become Tropical Storm Ernesto later Friday. "It's starting to have some of the signs of a tropical storm," said Eric Blake, hurricane specialist. "We have it passing pretty close to Jamaica in a couple of days and slowly intensifying. It could be a hurricane in the northwest Caribbean sea."

The depression was centered about 345 miles (555 kilometers) south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Forecasters said it was moving west at about 20 mph (32 kph).

Strong wind gusts downed trees in Barbados, where the government closed some offices early and issued radio advisories for residents to stay indoors. Floodwater disrupted traffic on the streets of the seaside capital, Bridgetown.

Tina Tuckerin, who manages an inn on Barbados' Atlantic coast, said she hadn't seen any damage on the eastern shore but the above average swells made for good surfing. "I'm a little timid as a beginner, but the real veterans have been out there catching great rides today,'' she said.

The system passed over the Windward Islands as a tropical wave Thursday, and was expected to drop up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain over the islands. In southern Trinidad, heavy winds on Wednesday damaged homes, forcing dozens of families to seek shelter, police said. Four employees of liquid natural gas exporter Atlantic LNG suffered minor injuries during an outdoor training session, company spokesman Billson Hainsley said. He did not say how they were injured.

The system will be named Ernesto if it strengthens into a tropical storm.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ernesto threatens to be season's 1st hurricane 
Too soon to know whether storm, headed toward Jamaica, will hit U.S.

Gathering strength over the central Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ernesto headed toward Jamaica on Saturday and threatened to enter the Gulf of Mexico within days as the first hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic season.

Ernesto, packing 50 mph winds, was projected to reach hurricane strength by Tuesday but it was too soon to predict whether it would hit the United States, said Michael Brennan, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“People should pay attention, especially people on the Gulf Coast,” Brennan said. “It’s a good time for people to update their hurricane plans.”

Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which both stood in the storm’s path, issued hurricane watches, meaning severe conditions including winds of at least 74 mph were possible over the next 48 hours. Tropical storm warnings also were in effect for Jamaica and Haiti’s southern coast.

Ernesto was on a course that would bring it over Jamaica by Sunday afternoon, dumping 4 to 8 inches of rain on the island with up to a foot possible in some areas, the hurricane center said. Fisherman were warned to return to shore — with tides up to 3 feet higher than normal expected. Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller met with disaster agencies to prepare.

Jamaica issued advisories by radio and television for residents in low-lying areas across the island to be prepared to evacuate if necessary. Ernesto could be near hurricane strength as it passes close to Jamaica, the hurricane center said.

Winds at 50 mph
At 2 p.m. Saturday, Ernesto had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph, with higher gusts. The fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered 245 miles southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and 370 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica.

The storm was moving west-northwest near 15 mph. It was expected to bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to Haiti and the Dominican Republic as it passed south of Hispaniola.

As heavy showers hit Kingston on Saturday afternoon, traffic jams formed as motorists tried to reach stores and people waited in long lines at supermarkets, filling grocery cars with canned goods, batteries and candles.

“We have been doing brisk business since late afternoon” Friday, said Cynthia Martin, a supermarket supervisor.

Taxi driver Patrick Wallace, 55, said he was hoping for the best as he left a supermarket laden with canned goods.

“It’s nature and we can’t stop it from taking its course,” he said. “I’m hoping if it hits, it will be in the morning so we can see what’s going on.”

People in the Caymans were advised to complete their weather preparations on Saturday.

Jacky Kennett, who moved to the Cayman Islands with her family from Britain a year ago, was preparing for what could be her first hurricane.

“I went and put fuel in the car, got some money out of the bank, and stopped at the grocery store yesterday to stock up,” said Kennett, 47. “I don’t want to overreact or anything, but I am worried.”

Haitians urged to go to shelters
In Haiti, emergency officials went on local radio to warn people living in flimsy shantytowns on the southern coast to seek shelter in schools and churches.

“These people could be in great danger,” said Adel Nazaire, a coordinator with Haiti’s civil protection agency. “Flooding is the biggest concern because a lot of residents live along the rivers and the sea.”

Elisabeth Verluyten, a disaster management official with the Pan-American Health Organization in Port-au-Prince, said raising awareness is vital as many people won’t leave their homes “because they’re afraid of losing the little they have.”

The impoverished Caribbean nation is 90 percent deforested, increasing vulnerability to deadly flooding and mudslides.

Fears that the storm could damage offshore energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico had oil and natural-gas prices higher. Oil producers operating in the Gulf said they were prepared to evacuate nonessential personnel if needed.

Max Mayfield, the National Hurricane Center director, said it was too early to say whether the storm would hit the Gulf Coast, which is still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Katrina.

“We’ve got some time. We don’t want people to get too excited about this, but they certainly need to be watching it,” Mayfield told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Meanwhile, former Tropical Storm Debby, now a depression, was expected to stay over the open Atlantic, posing only a threat to ships.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ernesto strengthens into hurricane 
Too soon to know whether storm, headed toward Haiti, will hit the U.S.


Tropical Storm Ernesto strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Sunday as it steamed through the central Caribbean toward Haiti, becoming the first hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic season.

The storm's maximum sustained winds increased to 75 mph, just above the threshold for a hurricane, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Ernesto could grow into a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday, menacing a broad swath of the Gulf Coast including hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, the hurricane center said earlier. Category 3 Hurricane Katrina struck the city a year ago Tuesday.

“It looks likely that it will hit (the U.S.), but it’s way too soon to say where” or how much impact it would have, said John Cangialosi, a meteorologist with the hurricane center. “At this point, keep a close eye, anyone in the Gulf Coast, and just keep monitoring this.”

The southern coast of Haiti issued a hurricane warning early Sunday. The storm could dump 6 to 12 inches of rain on the island, with up to 20 inches possible in some areas, the hurricane center said.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba, where 3 to 5 inches of rain were possible. Fisherman were warned to return to shore — with tides of up to 3 feet above normal expected.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller put the country’s security forces on alert and said at a press conference Saturday that all the island’s shelters were open.

“Ensure that the children are not left alone and make it easier for rescue workers,” she said.

Jamaica issued advisories by radio and television for residents in low-lying areas across the island to be prepared to evacuate if necessary.

At 5 a.m., the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 120 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and 255 miles southeast of Kingston. It was moving west-northwest at about 9 mph.

'It’s nature and we can’t stop it'
Heavy showers hit Kingston on Saturday afternoon, causing traffic jams as motorists tried to reach stores and people waited in long lines at supermarkets, filling grocery carts with canned goods, batteries and candles.

“It’s nature and we can’t stop it from taking its course,” said taxi driver Patrick Wallace, 55, as he left a supermarket laden with canned goods.

Christine Williams, a manager at a Kingston hardware store, said people were scooping up material to protect their homes.

“They are buying mainly tarpaulin, plywood and building material. We haven’t stopped cashing (ringing people up) from morning,” she said.

Despite sunny skies in the British territory of the Caymans, people packed gas stations, hardware stores and supermarkets, and formed big lines to withdraw money from cash machines. Businesses also boarded up.

Debbie Curigliano, of Bridgeville, Pa., said she and her husband would ride out the storm at their resort in Seven Mile Beach.

“I am sure they (the hotel) have been through this before, so I am going to put all my faith in the hotel and I am sure they will guide me right through it,” she said.

Warnings in Haiti
In Haiti, emergency officials went on local radio to warn people living in flimsy shantytowns on the southern coast to seek shelter in schools and churches. The hurricane center said Haiti and the Dominican Republic could get up to 20 inches of rain in some places — which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

“These people could be in great danger,” said Adel Nazaire, a coordinator with Haiti’s civil protection agency. “Flooding is the biggest concern because a lot of residents live along the rivers and the sea.”

The impoverished Caribbean nation is 90 percent deforested, increasing vulnerability to deadly flooding and mudslides.

Fears that the storm could damage offshore energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico sent oil and natural gas prices higher.

BP PLC had said it would evacuate some 800 of its 2,400 workers from the Gulf of Mexico by late Saturday due to the storm. The evacuated workers are not essential staff, most associated with long-term projects that have not begun producing, BP spokesman Hugh DePland told Dow Jones Newswires.

Meanwhile, former Tropical Storm Debby, now a depression with maximum winds of 30 mph, was expected to stay over the open Atlantic, posing only a threat to ships. At 5 a.m. EDT, the center of the storm was about 1,435 miles west-southwest of the Azores.

[Soldier4Christ]

Florida Keys visitors ordered to evacuate 
All travel trailers, RVs ordered off island chain immediately

 Visitors were ordered to leave the Florida Keys on Sunday because of the possibility that Hurricane Ernesto could threaten the island chain, emergency officials said.

The Monroe County Emergency Management office told tourists with immediate plans to travel to the Keys to postpone their trips and ordered those already in the island chain to leave.

All travel trailers and recreational vehicles also were ordered off the islands immediately.

Ernesto, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, was lashing Haiti on Sunday with sustained wind of 75 mph.

The storm was expected to move over Cuba, then bring rain and wind to southern Florida by early Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane centered urged residents of southern Florida, the Florida Keys and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to monitor the storm. It was projected to strengthen off western Florida on Wednesday but the location of any U.S. landfall was unclear.

Florida's emergency management center in Tallahassee was partially activated Sunday.

The low-lying Keys are connected to each other by just one highway, U.S. 1.

[Soldier4Christ]

Nervous New Orleanians watch Ernesto
City Homeland Security chief says evacuations would begin when storm 40 hours away

What was to have been a weekend of remembrance of Hurricane Katrina's death and destruction became a weekend of worry as Tropical Storm Ernesto gathered strength in the Caribbean.

A forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami cautioned that it was too soon to say whether Ernesto would hit the United States. Still, with projections that the storm could reach the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane by Tuesday, weary New Orleans residents kept one eye on the forecast.

Bari Landry, who lives in a New Orleans neighborhood heavily flooded by Katrina, said that after seeing the possible storm track she decided to make a reservation for a hotel room in Houston for Thursday through Saturday. She says they know the drill now.

New Orleans Homeland Security Chief Terry Ebbert says officials from the state, city and 14 parishes were to talk by conference call late today (Saturday). He says there is a solid plan for a hurricane now. Depending on the strength and track of the storm, New Orleans could begin evacuations when it is 54-hours from landfall.

Ebbert says mandatory evacuation in the parishes below New Orleans would kick in with the storm 50 hours out New Orleans would begin mandatory evacuation at the 40-hour mark. He says New Orleans has buses and trains under contract to evacuate people without the means to leave.

Governor Kathleen Blanco said state officials were keeping an eye on Hurricane Ernesto. And Lieutenant General Carl Strock says the Army Corps of Engineers is carefully tracking the storm's movement.

It was too early to tell whether the hurricane would provide an early test for the city's levee system. Strock concedes the levees may not yet be strong enough to withstand a large storm surge. Strock said he was confident the Corps had done all it could to repair and reinforce 220 miles of levee walls. But he says many variables would determine whether the levees could withstand a major hurricane striking near New Orleans.

[Soldier4Christ]

Levees could still fail in big storm, Corps warns
Despite repairs, barriers around New Orleans vulnerable to surge


Despite aggressive efforts to repair the New Orleans levee system following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, it isn’t clear yet whether it could withstand a hurricane with heavy storm surge this year, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers conceded Saturday.

Lt. Gen. Carl Strock said the agency was carefully tracking Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was in the Caribbean and projected to reach hurricane strength Tuesday. It was on track to enter the Gulf of Mexico, but it too early to tell whether it would strike the southern United States.

Strock was confident the Corps had done all it could to repair and reinforce 220 miles of levee walls, but he said many variables would determine whether the levees could withstand a major hurricane striking near New Orleans, as Katrina did Aug. 29, 2005.

“To pinpoint it to one thing and say ‘yes’ or ’no’ is very difficult,” said Strock.

Much would depend on where the hurricane made landfall, wind speed, rainfall and other factors, he said. The biggest concern would be water levels so high that they could cascade over the levee walls, weakening them to the point of breaching.

Ernesto attracted the public’s attention during a weekend of events marking the anniversary of Katrina. Driving rain soaked people gathered outside the Superdome for one observance, but the storms were not related to Ernesto.

‘We know the drill’
Bari Landry, who lives in a New Orleans neighborhood heavily flooded by Katrina, said that after seeing Ernesto’s possible storm track she decided to reserve a hotel room in Houston for Thursday through Saturday.

“There may be panic, but we know the drill,” she said.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said state officials were keeping an eye on Ernesto.

“It’s critical we make the right call for the right reason,” she said, cautioning that they want to ward off the chance of unnecessary evacuations.

Officials of the state, city and 14 parishes planned to talk by conference call, New Orleans Homeland Security chief Terry Ebbert said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ernesto downgraded to tropical storm
Storm had been battering Haiti, heading for gulf with winds of 75 mph

The National Hurricane Center has downgraded Ernesto back to a tropical storm.

Ernesto had briefly become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday, lashing Haiti’s southern coast with heavy rain and threatening to strengthen as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it could menace a wide swath of coastline including New Orleans.

Before the downgrade, the hurricane Center in Miami said the storm, which was packing winds of up to 75 mph, could grow by Thursday into a hurricane as strong as Katrina, which struck the city a year ago Tuesday.

“It’s on a track toward the Florida peninsula early this week, and all of Florida is in the area that’s being threatened, from the Keys all the way up to the panhandle,” said Michael Brennan, a meteorologist at the center in Miami.

The storm was moving northwest at 9 mph on a path that would bring it near the tip of Haiti’s southwestern peninsula by Sunday night. Forecasters said as much as 20 inches of rain could fall in some mountainous areas, raising fears of life-threatening flash floods in the heavily deforested country.

A storm surge of 5 feet to 6 feet sent waves crashing into cinderblock homes on the shoreline of Les Cayes, a town 95 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Residents tied goats and cows under thatched huts and fishermen pulled their nets ashore as the wind bent palm trees.

Low-lying areas evacuated
Emergency officials in Haiti had evacuated some residents low-lying areas in the northwest city of Gonaives, which was devastated by Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004.

Ernesto was expected to weaken as it crosses west-central Cuba on Tuesday night but emerge in the Gulf of Mexico with winds up to 110 mph, just below the threshold for a Category 3 storm, Brennan said.

The storm was expected to bring rain and wind to southern Florida by early Tuesday, and the hurricane center encouraged people in southern Florida, the Florida Keys island chain and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to monitor the storm. It was projected to strengthen off western Florida on Wednesday but the location of any U.S. landfall was uncertain.

Tourists were ordered to evacuate the Florida Keys immediately because of the storm threat.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller put the country’s security forces on alert Saturday, but a northward shift in the storm’s course kept the strongest winds from affecting the island.

Preparations in Cuba
In Cuba, NBC's Mary Murray reported that Cuban civil defense authorities had started the evacuation of thousands of people from low-lying areas.

The Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde warned Cubans of heavy rain, winds and potential flooding on the southeast coast starting Sunday night. Cattle were moved to higher ground, and workers cleaned gutters and picked rubble off the streets ahead of the storm.

Tourists were evacuated from hotels in the southeastern province of Granma, and baseball games Sunday in Havana were being played earlier than scheduled in the Americas qualifying tournament for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 105 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, and 165 miles southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba.

The Royal Caribbean cruise line said it was diverting three ships scheduled to depart the United States on Sunday and Monday, sending them to alternative Caribbean ports to avoid the storm.

The hurricane center said the storm’s 75 mph winds pushed it just above the threshold for a Category 1, the weakest category of hurricane. To reach Category 3, Katrina’s strength, the winds would have to reach at least 111 mph.

Heavy rain in Kingston
Heavy showers hit Kingston on Saturday afternoon, causing traffic jams as motorists tried to reach stores. People waited in long lines at supermarkets, filling grocery carts with canned goods, batteries and candles.

“It’s nature and we can’t stop it from taking its course,” said taxi driver Patrick Wallace, 55, as he left a supermarket after stocking up on canned goods.

In Haiti, emergency officials went on local radio to warn people living in flimsy shantytowns on the southern coast to seek shelter in schools and churches. The hurricane center said Haiti and the Dominican Republic could get up to 20 inches of rain in some places — which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

“These people could be in great danger,” said Adel Nazaire, a coordinator with Haiti’s civil protection agency. “Flooding is the biggest concern because a lot of residents live along the rivers and the sea.”

[Shammu]

Geyser, inactive since '98, erupts
Variety of changes observed throughout Norris Geyser Basin

By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff
Lee Whittlesey and Betsy Watry heard it before they saw it. "It was like a jet plane," Whittlesey said.

The two were hiking near the edge of Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park on Saturday, looking for remnants of an old hotel.

Around 5 p.m. they heard the roar, turned around and saw Ledge geyser, the second-largest at Norris and dormant since 1998, erupting full-bore, sending a plume of steam about 100 feet in the air.

'Now I can check that one off'
"I've been in the park 30 years and this was the first time I'd seen Ledge erupt," said Whittlesey, who is Yellowstone's historian. "Now I can check that one off."
Watry, who works for the Yellowstone Association, said they were shocked at the show that unfolded about a quarter-mile away.

"We just stood there stunned and watched it for a while," she said.

The eruption coincided with other out-of-the-ordinary activity at Norris over the weekend, including the eruption of other sporadic geysers and changes in the water at the surface.

Henry Heasler, Yellowstone's lead geologist, said the changes appear to be part of a "thermal disturbance" at Norris, an infrequent and often-sudden shift at the geyser basin that usually comes on quickly and then fades away.

There was a similar, though smaller, disturbance in February but none in 2005, he said.

Sudden influx
The disturbance, as Heasler describes it, is a sort of "subterranean geyser eruption" with a sudden influx of underground thermal fluid that briefly affects everything on the surface.

"Imagine if there was a big kind of geyser burp under most of Norris," Heasler said.

The latest disturbance was picked up Sunday as visitors and staffers noticed changes elsewhere in Norris besides the still-steaming Ledge. Heasler said the usually quiet Vixen geyser has been erupting,

Pearl geyser's water has changed from clear to opalescent, and water elsewhere in the basin has turned murky.

And although the geothermal features at Norris became more active than usual, Echinus geyser, which is typically somewhat predictable, has remained quiet since its last eruption in December.

Duration difficult to predict
The onset of a thermal disturbance is usually easy to see but its duration, which can be two days or two weeks, is more difficult to predict. Heasler compares the phenomenon to the ringing of a bell.

"Some bells quiet down very quickly and others can ring for a long time," he said.

Although the cause of the disturbances is still the matter of scientific debate, the results have geyser enthusiasts buzzing.

Scott Bryan, author of "The Geysers of Yellowstone," said Ledge was active in the early 1970s until a thermal disturbance in 1974. After that, eruptions were less frequent until 1979, when it quieted down completely.

The geyser came back to life in 1993 with eruptions roughly every nine to 14 days, and fell silent again in 1998.

Ledge is considered the largest geyser in Porcelain Basin at Norris, capable of shooting water 125 feet into the air from its five vents. Because the geyser is situated on a slope, it erupts at an angle and can spray more than 200 feet away.

Geyser, inactive since '98, erupts

[Shammu]

Early signs of mega volcano in Sumatra very close to where the Tsunami happened - it can be devastating to the human civilization
Staff Reporter
Apr. 18, 2005

 

Volcanic ashes have made thousands of people in Sumatra flea the active volcanic regions that are experiencing harmonic tremor and some solid signs of an eminent mega volcano in that region soon. The recent volcanic activities with the accompanying harmonic tremor since last week is alarming and is making many geologists run towards their computer model for finding clues and validation of facts.

Toba in Sumatra experienced the massive volcano of VEI 8.0 – super volcano 74,000 years back. The deep Java trench marks the line where the Indo-Australian plate subducts, i.e. slips under, the section of the Eurasian plate on which Indonesia sits. While sinking, the Indo-Australian plate heats up and its water content turns to superheated steam under enormous pressure. Prodigious energies are generated and the volcanoes on the fault line release a part of these energies. The speed of that push is 70 mm (2.75 in.) per year, adding up to more than 5 km (3.1 miles) in the 73,000 years since the last major Toba eruption.

According to computer models, somewhere near Toba, along the fault line there may be another super volcano getting ready for eruption. 3.1 mile sinking of Indo-Australian plate under the Eurasian Plate in the last 74,000 years has created enough magma for a super volcano.

The recent series of volcanoes in that area have increased the level of alarm. Some of the quakes mistaken as aftershocks were harmonic tremors signifying lava movements. If Toba or along Toba the volcanic eruption take place, it can bring the human civilization to its knees. This has the potential 3000 cubic Kilometer of eruption. That can be so devastating that earth may experience a drop in temperature of 30degrees Fahrenheit for many years. It can actually larger than the one Toba experienced 74,000 years back.

The volcanic activities in the regions in the past week may be signaling an eminent mega volcano a sort of repeat of what happened 74,000 years back. One interesting fact is that this area is just on the opposite side in the globe from the “Yellow Stone Hot Spot” in America.

If a mega volcano happens in Sumatra of VEI 8.0. it can be catastrophic to our civilization. The ashes will engulf the whole world with serious reparation on livelihood, agriculture and weather. Last time it wiped out almost 75% of all living beings on the land surface on the earth.

Early signs of mega volcano in Sumatra very close to where the Tsunami happened - it can be devastating to the human civilization

[Shammu]

Weather: Topsy Turvy
02:35 Aug 28, '06 / 4 Elul 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Temperatures are expected to climb again Monday and early Tuesday but will sharply reverse direction and bring cooler than usual weather to Israel by Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The weather is expected to return to normal on Wednesday, but long-range forecasts indicate the possible of much cooler weather on the Sabbath, with the possibility of showers.

Weather: Topsy Turvy

[Soldier4Christ]

 Super typhoon Ioke is barreling towards Wake Island

It's big and packing quite a punch.  Super typhoon Ioke is barreling towards Wake Island.

The massive storm is churning around in the central pacific. It's packing winds of more than 160 miles per hour, a category five storm.

Roy Matsuda from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center says, "it is projected to go along this track toward wake island as you can see and to reach Wake Island approximately Wednesday afternoon our time within 13 nautical miles."

And because of that a team from Hawaii will head to Wake Island to help evacuate about 200 people before super typhoon Ioke hits.

Military and civilian personnel on Wake Island support US pacific command operations. The base also serves as an emergency airfield.

Two c-17 planes are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning to pick up the evacuees.

We'll have a videographer heading with the team to Wake Island, and will bring you a full report when they return to Hawaii.

[Soldier4Christ]

What's the almanac say? Hard winter ahead


Americans shouldn't expect the weather to help with their heating bills this winter because it's going to be nippy, according to the venerable Farmers' Almanac.

After one of the warmest winters on record, the winter ahead will be much colder than normal from coast to coast, the almanac predicts.

"Shivery is not dead!" declared editor Peter Geiger as the latest edition of the 190-year-old publication hits the newsstands.


The almanac, which claims that its forecasts are accurate 80 percent to 85 percent of the time, correctly predicted a "polar coaster" of dramatic swings for last winter, Geiger said. For example, New York City collected 40 inches of snow even though it was one of the warmest winters in the city's history.

This year, predicts the almanac's reclusive forecaster, Caleb Weatherbee, it will be frigid from the Gulf Coast all the way up the East Coast.

But it'll be especially nippy on the northern Plains - up to 20 degrees below seasonal norms in much of Montana, the Dakotas and part of Wyoming, he writes.

And, he says, it'll be especially snowy across the nation's midsection, much of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains of the Southwest and parts of eastern New England.

Weatherbee makes his forecasts two years in advance using a secret formula based on sunspots, the position of the planets and the tidal action of the moon.

Ken Reeves, director of forecasting operations for Accuweather Inc., said there's a "thread of scientific logic" behind the almanac's secret formula.

"The concept or technique is different from what is done by the scientific meteorological community, but that doesn't mean it's without any merit," Reeves said from State College, Pa. "It's not like someone throwing a dart at the dart board."

The Farmers' Almanac, not to be confused with the New Hampshire-based Old Farmer's Almanac, claims a circulation of 4 million.

[Shammu]

Hard winter ahead

I can believe that, the leaves on the trees have been turning since the first week of august.  Normally the leaves start turning the first week in september.  Well I have my winter supply of wood, already.   I normally use 5 cords of wood, for winter.  But I always have at least 8 cords on hand.  Just for the simple reason if we do have a hard, or colder then normal winter. 

[Soldier4Christ]

I noticed that here, too. And when the leaves turned they went straight to brown instead of the usual yellow and oranges. Some of the trees here are already bare. The locusts came out early this year, too along with a number of other such bugs. The wooly worm normally doesn't come out until mid to late October. They have already come and gone.

[Soldier4Christ]

Supervolcano' could cover globe with ash 
TV special discusses what could be largest natural disaster ever

What could cover the globe in ash, plunge Earth into an ice age and end life as we know it?

The answer is found in what lies beneath: supervolcanoes. Supervolcanoes are very rare. There is no need to run out and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting for this one. The last known supervolcano was about 74,000 years ago. But they are real, and one potential supervolcano lies right here in the United States, in one of America's most profound areas of natural beauty.

 Just 20 miles beneath the earth's surface lies a pressurized ocean of molten rock looking for a way out. And a massive release of that molten rock would create a supervolcano — arguably the largest natural disaster humanity would ever face.

Unlike regular volcanoes, which are shaped like mammoth cones, supervolcanoes spring from massive canyons — calderas — that measure hundreds of miles across. Underneath their surface is a vast lake of lava. When the underground liquid rock — magma — bursts forth to the surface, a series of violent, massive explosions could occur in a wide-ranging eruption that could last several days. It would incinerate anyone within a hundred miles, and layers of ash would blanket much of the earth.

"These eruptions are so big that you couldn't really see them, because you couldn't be close enough to the volcano, watching it and survive. You could watch it from a satellite and you could see the volcano erupt and see the ash cloud begin to spread," said Michael Rampino, geologist and professor of earth sciences at New York University.

The ash cloud would become so thick it could cover the sun, causing global temperatures to plummet.

Scientists say such an event wiped out almost the world's entire population 74,000 years ago, when a supervolcano erupted in Toba, near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Only a few thousand people survived.

Supervolcanoes are little understood by scientists. Their underground canyons of molten rock are immensely vast, making their potential starting points hard to identify. It has been only in the last decade that scientists have started uncovering these deadly hot spots around the world, but they still don't know where they all are.

So far, scientists have identified nearly 40 possible supervolcano hot spots, including one right in our own backyard, underneath Yellowstone National Park. Scientists estimate that the Yellowstone area will experience a supervolcano eruption approximately once every 600,000 years. The last one occurred more than 630,000 years ago.

So how would we know a supervolcano is coming? And is there anything people could do to stop it or limit its destruction?

"We haven't seen a supervolcanic eruption, so we're not sure about what we will see," said John Grattan, a volcanologist at the Institute of Geography Earth Sciences at the University of Wales. "But one of the things that we would expect would be increased earthquake activity, an increase in the small geyser eruptions that you get in Yellowstone."

"The bottom line is that when one of these eruptions occurs, it's going to be a global disaster," said NYU's Rampino. "The only question is when and where."

______________________

An end time event??