t Coast
Sandy, an ordinary late summer hurricane from the tropics, moving north up the East Coast. Bring in a high pressure ridge of air centered around Greenland that blocks the hurricane's normal out-to-sea path and steers it west toward land.
Add a wintry cold front moving in from the west that helps pull Sandy inland and mix in a blast of Arctic air from the north for one big collision. Add a full moon and its usual effect, driving high tides. Factor in immense waves commonly thrashed up by a huge hurricane plus massive gale-force winds.
Do all that and you get a stitched-together weather monster expected to unleash its power over 800 miles, with predictions in some areas of 12 inches of rain, 2 feet of snow and sustained 40- to 50 mph winds.
"The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts" said Louis Uccellini, the environmental prediction chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists. "That is exactly what's going on here."
This storm is so dangerous and so unusual because it is coming at the tail end of hurricane season and beginning of winter storm season, "so it's kind of taking something from both — part hurricane, part nor'easter, all trouble," Jeff Masters, director of the private service Weather Underground, said Saturday. Read more.
Iceland Prepares for the Big One
Icelandic authorities warned people in the north of the island on Thursday to prepare for a possible big earthquake after the biggest tremors in the area for 20 years.
The north Atlantic island, where almost 320,000 people live, is a hotspot of volcanic and seismic activity as it straddles a fault in the earth's surface.
The Civil Protection Department said in a statement that recent small quakes in an area under the
sea about 20 km (12 miles) off the north of Iceland had prompted it to issue a warning to local
people. Read more.
Woolly Warm Predicts Cold and Snowy Winter
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- The word from a woolly worm named Lickety Split is that western North Carolina should break out the winter coats and invest in snow shovels.
Lickety Split beat seven other worms Saturday in the finals at the 35th annual Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk. The victory meant the worm would be the official forecaster for the upcoming winter. "It's going to be cold and snowy and a few other things," said Roy Kreger, known as Mr. Woolly Worm.
The caterpillars have black and brown bands, with one color sometimes dominating the other. Folklore says black is associated with snowy weather, while brown is an indicator of mild conditions. The bands called for snow and below average temperatures for the first five weeks of winter. The next six weeks will be average to below normal, with unusual cold in the 12th week and more snow predicted for the final week, according to Burleson's observation. Read more.
Military enforced H1N1 vaccination???
According to CNN, the Pentagon is “to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.”
The Pentagon is already planning on the number of troops to be deployed,.
with a view to supporting a mass vaccinaiton program. This decision to mobilise the Armed Forces in the vaccination campaign is taken in anticipation of a national emergency. Although no national emergency has been called, the presumption is that a national public health emergency will occur, using the WHO Level 6 Pandemic as a pretext and a justification.
Other countries, including Canada, the UK and France may follow suit, calling upon their Armed Forces to play a role in support of the H1N1 vaccination program. Read more.
Are Sinkholes and Seismic Activity related?
Starting around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, extra seismic activity occurred, according to two USGS monitors
in the area, monitors #LA03 BHZ GS and #LA09 BHZ GS, the same two monitors that have previously
recorded sharp seismic activity increases more than the others, according to the helicorder graphs.
At 6:40 a.m. Thursday, parish off