Great earthquake rocks Chile; NYC gets 4th greatest snow ever; Xynthia batters Europe
A great earthquake with magnitude 8.8 rocked the coast of Chile at 6:34 GMT this morning, generating a potentially dangerous tsunami that is racing across the Pacific Ocean. The great quake is the 7th most powerful tremor in world history (Figure 1). Preliminary tsunami wave heights for the California coast near Santa Barbara are 2 - 2.5 feet. The wave is expected to arrive between 12:15 - 12:35 pm PST. The tsunami is expected to arrive in Hawaii between 11:05 - 11:42am HST, with a wave 8.2 feet high expected in Hilo, on the Big Island. A tsunami from the 9.5 Magnitude 1960 earthquake in Chile killed 61 people in Hilo. Today's quake was so strong, that it triggered a seiche in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, over 4,500 miles (7,000 km) away. The lake sloshed back and forth, creating a wave 0.4 - 0.51 feet on either side of the lake.
Figure 1. Wikipedia's list of strongest earthquakes of all-time.
Preliminary tsunami amplitude forecasts:
La Jolla, CA 2.3 ft
Los Angeles, CA 2.0 ft
Malibu, CA 2.6 ft
Pt. San Luis, CA 2.3 ft
Half Moon Bay, CA 2.6 ft
Crescent City, CA 1.7 ft
Morro Bay, CA 2.2 ft
Santa Monica, CA 3.3 ft
San Francisco, CA 0.7 ft
Pismo Beach, CA 4.6 ft
Hilo, HI 8.2 feet 11:5am HST
Honolulu, HI 1.6 ft 11:37am HST
Kahului, HI 7.2 ft 11:26am HST
Nawiliwili, HI 3.0 ft 11:42am HST
Haleiwa 1.6 ft
Kawaihae 2.0 ft
Port Orford, OR 0.7 ft
Moclip, WA 1.3 ft
Seward, AK 1.3 ft
Stika, AK 1.3 ft
Kodiak, AK 2.3 ft
Tofino, British Columbia 1.7 ft
Today's great quake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates about 325 km southwest of the capital Santiago (population 5.3 million). The depth was estimated at 35 km. At least four aftershocks of magnitude 6 or higher have occurred, the largest being a 6.9 aftershock. Fortunately, the area close to the epicenter is relatively sparsely populated, but there may be heavy damage in Concepción (est. pop. 300,000) and Chillan (est. pop. 170,000), which lie 115 km and 100 km to the south of the epicenter, respectively.
Figure 2. NOAA's preliminary forecast of tsunami wave energy for today's earthquake. Image credit: NOAA Tsunami Warning Center.
New York City slammed with its 4th largest snowstorm on record
The snow from the fourth extreme snowstorm to wallop the Northeast U.S. this winter dumped a remarkable 20.9" of snow on New York City's Central Park yesterday and Thursday. This is the 4th largest snowstorm for the city in recorded history. According to the National Weather Service, the top ten snowstorms on record for New York City's Central Park are:
26.9" Feb 11-12, 2006
26.4" Dec 26-27, 1947
21.0" Mar 12-14, 1888
20.9" Feb 25-26, 2010
20.2" Jan 7-8, 1996
19.8" Feb 16-17, 2003
18.1" Mar 7-8, 1941
17.7" Feb 5-7, 1978
17.6" Feb 11-12, 1983
17.5" Feb 4-7, 1920
The storm also helped New York City set a new all-time snowfall record for the most snow ever recorded in a month--36.9". The old record was 30.5", set in March 1896. However, the old Lower Manhattan WB Station recorded 37.9" in February 1894. Yesterday's snowstorm puts New York City's snow for the 2009 - 2010 season at 51.4", making it the 11th snowiest winter since 1869. Chris Burt, author of Extreme Weather, lists the city's all-time seasonal snowfall record at 81.5", set in the winter of 1867 - 1868. This measurement came before official records began in Central Park, and were done be the NY Park Commissioners (see "Annual Report NY Park Commissioners", 1868, by John B. Marie). The second snowiest winter in NYC occurred during the winter of 1995 - 1996, when 75.6" fell.
Destructive Winter Storm Xynthia battering Portugal and Spain
A powerful 969 mb low pressure system named "Xynthia" is rapidly intensifying of the coast of Spain, and stands poised to deliver a devastating blow to Portugal, Spain, and France today and tomorrow as it powers through Europe. Sustained winds of 60 mph (96 km/hr) were reported today at a Personal Weather Station in Costa del Morte, Spain. The pressure fell to 969 mb as Xynthia passed overhead. For comparison, Winter Storm Klaus had a minimum pressure of 967 mb. Klaus, which hit northern Spain and southwest France January 23 - 25, was Earth's most costly natural disaster of 2009, causing $5.1 billion in damage and killing 26. Models predict that Xynthia will continue to intensify today, reaching 962 mb as it moves into the west coast of France Sunday morning. Sustained winds of 50 - 65 mph (80 - 105 km/hr) with hurricane-force gusts up to 100 mph (160 km/hr) are possible along the north coast of Spain tonight and the west coast of France on Sunday as Xynthia barrels through. The storm is also bringing an exceptionally moist plume of tropical moisture ashore, as seen in precipitable water imagery from NOAA (Figure 4). This moisture is likely to cause moderate to severe flooding in portions of Europe over the weekend.
Figure 3. Visible satellite image at 12 GMT of Xynthia.
Figure 4. Satellite measurements show a region of extremely high atmospheric moisture is associated with Winter Storm Xynthia. This moisture will surge over Portugal and Spain today, potentially creating serious flooding. Image credit: Sheldon Kusselson, NOAA/NESDIS.
Links to follow:
Wundermap for Northwest Spain
Spanish radar
Meteo-France
Portugese radar
Jeff Masters
the BIG one
Taken in Manhattan
This cottage was no match for 65 mph wind and an old pine tree.
Reader Comments
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Come on now; you can't go from Soupy to McGoo to the Three Stooges without confusing all of us. Stay in character for just a little while longer.
goodnight.
This question was already answered in 997.
Stooges would be nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.
Good to know that someone recognizes Soupy though. He's one of my idols.
"Why is it that every time I write "F" you see ....?"
Hey, my old friend beel. How far is that supposed to go into the Gulf? I keep seeing conflicting reports. At least 3 different versions of that system.
Ok, i'm here.
Pretty good consensus that the surface low drags along the northern part of the gulf coast coming ashore in the big armpit area of FL.
Not as clear cut after an exit to the ATL. A close brush with OBX and then out to sea as a guess.
If so, how will that effect our weather patterns?
Masters like many meteorologists doesn't understand that the atmosphere is only the tail of the dog. The solid and liquid portions of the planet are the dog itself. The tail doesn't wag the dog. Unfortunately, the only thing most meteorologists understand is the atmosphere so they try to claim that the atmosphere is somehow in charge of everything. Many of them don't seem to understand that the atmosphere keeps the ground from getting as hot as it would if there were no atmosphere.
They talk about the atmosphere blocking radiation from the ground but what actually happens is that the atmosphere significantly reduces the amount of radiation the ground can produce by cooling it. The equation for the amount of radiation produced depends upon the temperature in degrees Kelvin raised to the fourth power. For example, the resulting number for 300 Kelvin (about 28 C) is over 100 million lower than the number for 301 K.
More volcanoes erupted than just Redoubt. There were a few in Russia as well. The SO2 released from these eruptions is an effective absorber of sunlight, and heated the upper atmosphere, which aided in the amazing blocking we have seen this winter. Joe Bastardi has commented on this as well.
No, this kind of El Nino starts cooling from the east to west, so we will see a cool tongue develop near South America and work its way west across the equatorial Pacific.
1. An earlier post gives several reasons why Chile is less likely to need huge outpourings of international aid, mainly due to geography (location and type of quake) and history (Chile's previous experience w/ quakes, Haiti's poor building standards quake-wise)
2. Setting: a weekend quake in the southern hemisphere isn't going to get into the news cycle in our neck of the woods as quickly.
I have a feeling we'll be hearing more about aid as the week progresses.
I wonder if this was the "big one" the western hemisphere has been building up to since January, or if there's more major earthquake activity to come.....
Morning all, It sure is amazing how long this cold weather has lasted.God be with Chile!!
Looking forward to when the actual presentations are published on the web.
47.5 F
Clear
Windchill: 47 F
Humidity: 97%
Dew Point: 47 F
Wind: 0.0 mphfrom the NW
Wind Gust: 1.0 mph
Wish we could bottle the cool air and release it when we need it.
Tomorrow shaping up to be quite a windy day across the FL Peninsula specially CFL and points north the low pressure intensifies rather quickly across the NE GOM.
If DWPT are able to recover later today enough to get into the mid 60's then we'll definitely be in quite a bit of SFC based TSTM development and rotation with them.
Nrt... I must agree with you. Definitely makes up for a quite informative reading.
3. Chile is an economic powerhouse int hat reason with a stong military and government. It would be comparable to Canada needing an outpouring of assistance after a quake.
Today is the 1st day of Autumn here.
Good Year for folks in the SE US to lay down sod/plant grass and plants this Spring if you need to with a healthy rain forecast....
They usually need to be a great earth quake to get the land moving enough to cause them. 8.0 and above. The 1960 quake in Chile which was 9.5 caused a 35 ft Tsunami in the Hawaiian Islands.
there can also be unstable undersea cliff/land area that can fall due to even a relatively small quake.
Very True
The Gulf Stream current feeds into the SE GOM, noting that is the warmest area of the GOM.
The GOM is fairly shallow, although temps right now appear to be cooler than normal, I don't see that lasting much longer, as Spring is right around the corner.
The Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Africa westward, into the Caribbean Sea has temps above normal, that is the biggest concern, as the El Nino will continue to weaken, setting the stage for an active Atlantic Hurricane season.
Chile Security Camera's
Yep, these can be the most dangerous because they're not immediately recognized. A small tremor could topple the undersea cliff. There's a big concern that one could happen just off the cost of some large cities that have small islands off the coast, like Los Angeles.
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