Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 earthquake hits near the coast of Nicaragua.
5.1 earthquake hits Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical cyclone (tc) 05a (Maha), located approximately 469 nm south of Karachi, Pakistan, is tracking northwestward at 08 knots.
NewsBytes:
Vietnam – Tropical Storm Matmo has injured fourteen people and left one person missing in Vietnam. The storm has destroyed 179 houses and damaged 2,314 others in the provinces of Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Gia Lai and Thừa Thiên Huế.
Uganda – Three children died during a house collapse caused by a landslide in western Uganda. The landslide occurred in Kilembe valley of Kasese district.
Global Warming
Arctic Impacts
Alarming changes to the Arctic landscape from record warming this century threaten to unleash far more abrupt shifts in climate than models have predicted.
New research published in the journal Nature Climate Change says that the rapid melting of the permafrost is creating disruptive “feedback loops” between the atmosphere and land, resulting in previously unforeseen warming consequences.
Beyond the impacts on the environment, the report warns that roads, pipelines and mining facilities across the Arctic are also likely to suffer dramatic impacts from the warming.
Wildfires
Wildfires – California
As of late Friday, about 10,800 people were under mandatory evacuation orders in Ventura County after a wildfire began late Thursday before quickly spreading overnight. The Maria Fire is the latest addition to California’s busy 2019 fire season. The fire started on Thursday at 6:14 p.m. local time affecting 750 acres within an hour. It spread overnight to encompass more than 9,000 acres. About 1,300 firefighters are on hand.