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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Thank you for gettting up a new blog quickly.
take care,
Gams
(bad link)
Just heard from an expert on Fox News that statistically it would not be unexpected to see an aftershock as high as magnitude 7.8 before it's all over.
Here's the arrival times again..
TSUNAMI ADVISORIES MEAN THAT A TSUNAMI CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
STRONG CURRENTS OR WAVES DANGEROUS TO PERSONS IN OR VERY NEAR
WATER IS IMMINENT OF EXPECTED. SIGNIFICANT WIDESPREAD INUNDATION
IS NOT EXPECTED FOR AREAS IN AN ADVISORY. TSUNAMIS ARE A SERIES OF
WAVES POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SEVERAL HOURS AFTER INITIAL ARRIVAL
TIME. ESTIMATED TIMES OF INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL FOR SELECTED
SITES IN THE ADVISORY ARE PROVIDED BELOW.
LA JOLLA-CA 1202 PST FEB 27 YAKUTAT-AK 1619 AKST FEB 27
SANTA BARBARA-CA 1231 PST FEB 27 KODIAK-AK 1628 AKST FEB 27
SAN FRANCISCO-CA 1326 PST FEB 27 SAND PT.-AK 1629 AKST FEB 27
CRESCENT CITY-CA 1346 PST FEB 27 JUNEAU-AK 1635 AKST FEB 27
CHARLESTON-OR 1402 PST FEB 27 DUTCH HARBOR-AK 1638 AKST FEB 27
SEASIDE-OR 1446 PST FEB 27 SEWARD-AK 1639 AKST FEB 27
WESTPORT-WA 1457 PST FEB 27 ADAK-AK 1642 AKST FEB 27
NEAH BAY-WA 1507 PST FEB 27 VALDEZ-AK 1657 AKST FEB 27
TOFINO-BC 1515 PST FEB 27 CORDOVA-AK 1706 AKST FEB 27
LANGARA-BC 1551 PST FEB 27 COLD BAY-AK 1709 AKST FEB 27
SITKA-AK 1529 AKST FEB 27 SHEMYA-AK 1721 AKST FEB 27
KETCHIKAN-AK 1549 AKST FEB 27 HOMER-AK 1739 AKST FEB 27
FOR ARRIVAL TIMES AT ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS SEE
WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV
Earthquakes have a negligible effect on the weather, so no.
You can get these kind of messages by looking up any coastal city on Wunderground. I got the same warning message by going to my town's wunderground forecast. So if anyone can't get into the tsunami warning center website, try looking up the WU page for the city you're interested in.
You can't surf a tsunami because it doesn’t have a face. Many people have the misconception that a tsunami wave will resemble the 25-foot waves at Jaws, Waimea or Maverick's, but this is incorrect: those waves look nothing like a tsunami. On the contrary, a tsunami wave approaching land is more like a wall of whitewater. It doesn’t stack up cleanly into a breaking wave; only a portion of the wave is able to stack up tall. Since the wave is 100 miles long and the tail end of the wave is still traveling at 500 mph, the shore end of the wave becomes extremely thick, and is forced to run far inland, over streets and trees and houses.
If you're a surfer, you know how little control you have if your board is in whitewater. On a tsunami, there's no face, so there's nothing for a surfboard to grip. And remember, the water isn't clean, but filled with everything dredged up from the sea floor and the land the wave runs over--garbage, parking meters, pieces of buildings, dead animals. This is not what you want to be caught paddling around in. You can't duck-dive because the entire water column is in motion, not just the top few feet. You can't exit the wave, either, because the trough behind is 100 miles away, and all that water is moving towards you.
http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nat_haz/tsunamis/surfing.php
Well, actually...Link Link
Also, I noticed that strong earthquakes occured before the huricane seasons that produced devastating hurricanes such as Betsey, Audrey, and Fox. But again it might be just a coincidence.
Yikes, it's travelling FASTER?!
Thanks Taco :0)
Coincidence....and the theories in the links you posted are widely rejected by the Geological Community. I seriously doubt there is any connection.
When we're talking about 6700 miles, adjustments of a few minutes are to be expected. This is only 14 minutes earlier than the previous estimated time, and times will vary depending on which Hawaiian island you are on.
I am of course familiar with surge graphs/charts/pics from hurricanes...
Are there similar guess-timate tools for tsunamis?
that is, can someone tell me how far inland water damage could go on Hawaiian Islands... and/or all the warning areas? In weather-for-dummy-worried-Mom-speak, please. And again, thanks for putting up with and helping AIM, today.
Most notable is Tsunami Height,..angle of approach,coastal shape,etc..
What is going to be interesting is that we will see the arrival Live on TV later.
Stay tuned
I can't get into the main tsunami site so I don't know if there are any better graphics than the ones already posted, but how high the waves are and how far inland they penetrate varies greatly depending on where you are on the coastline of Hawaii. Each island is expecting different wave heights varying from 1 foot to 8 feet high. The terrain and shape of the coastline determines how high the waves are and how far inland they penetrate.
THANKS to H-HGal, on last blog; U gave about 8 windows open with all your links.
Re surge...thanks, but OY VEY!!!
diamondhead
-By the way it is LIVE!
This camera shows a live video stream of Hilo Bay from the rooftop of the Pacific Tsunami Museum. In my opinion, considering history, this is a perfect use and place for a webcam.
Shoreline, Chile.
They work. I'm watching live right now.
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