‘Worst Drought in 30 Years’ Paralyzing Nicaragua

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC HAZARDS
RISING TEMPERATURES
EXTREME DROUGHT
SCENARIOS 900,  555, 444, 111, 100, 03, 02
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Nicaragua Facing Worst Drought in Decades

Nicaragua is experiencing its worst drought in 3 decades, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INET).

The agency predicts that the drought will continue through October, with the losses estimated at 1.1 billion bushels of corn, 100,000 bushels of peanuts and more than one million tons of rice during the 2014 – 2015 crop year.

Nicaragua has received very little rain during the the current rainy season which began in May, according to a report.

In July, both local rain gauges and satellite estimated rainfall anomalies show fairly large moisture deficits ranging between 5 to 50 percent of normal across central Guatemala, southern Honduras, El Salvador, and western Nicaragua. Much of this dryness is in addition to the drought conditions that developed over west-central Nicaragua, and has already resulted in failed and wilted crops over many local areas. Long-term vegetation indices also reflect poor moisture conditions over much Nicaragua, with recently declining vegetation conditions over the past several weeks in parts of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The continued suppression of late-season Primera rainfall will likely result in reduced seasonal crop yields over many local areas of Central America. —CPC/NOAA

Strong Quake Strikes NE Honshu Coast, Japan

HIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
JAPAN EARTHQUAKES
SCENARIOS 09, 08, 07
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M6.1 Earthquake Strikes OFF the Coast of AOMORI, JAPAN

Centered at 41.163°N, 142.176°E the quake struck at a depth of 41.0km (25.5mi), according to USGS/EHP.

The quake rattled the entire northern half of Honshu, Japan’s main island, and nearly all of Hokkaido, the country’s second largest island, registering a high of 5- on the local seismicity scale of 1 to 7.

Tsunami Evaluation

There was no threat of a major tsunami associated with this event.

EQ Details
Magnitude: 6.0Mw  [M6.1 according to the local weather agency]
Event Time: 2014-08-10 @ 03:43:17 UTC
Location: 41.163°N 142.176°E depth=41.0km (25.5mi)
Nearby Cities

• 81km (50mi) E of Mutsu, Japan
• 86km (53mi) NE of Misawa, Japa
• 126km (78mi) ENE of Aomori-shi, Japan
• 645km (401mi) NNE of Tokyo, Japan

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for Japan

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on Japan seismicity, California ditto.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecasts

For detailed earthquake forecasts tune into FIRE-EARTH Reports daily @ 06:32UTC.

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Typhoon HALONG Hammers Japan

Deadly Typhoon Dumps 100cm of Rain on Western Japan

HALONG made landfall on Shikoku, one of Japan’s 4 main islands, early Sunday, hitting the region with strong winds and buffeting rain, and moving NNE at 20 km/h.

HALONG had dumped more than 100cm (40 inch) of rain on parts of the island and surrounding regions, as of posting. Authorities have warned that the extreme rain event may cause  severe flooding and major mudslides .

At least one person had died and more than two dozen others injured, as of early Sunday, said a local news agency.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for about 1 million people (more than 240,000 households), with up to two million others placed on evacuation alerts.

The storm has also disrupted transportation services throughout western Japan, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations.