Strong space weather storm hits Earth

The strongest space weather storm in five years struck Earth on Thursday, causing some airlines to reroute their flights, threatening power disruptions and sparking a show of the northern lights.

NASA and other agencies warned that the storm had the potential to disrupt global positioning systems, satellites and power grids, and had already caused some air carriers to change their planes' polar flight paths.

However, the Earth's magnetic field appeared to be absorbing the brunt of the shock and it was unlikely to reach the most severe levels, US experts said.

The leading edge of the coronal mass ejection -- a burst of hot plasma and charged particles -- that erupted from the Sun early Wednesday reached Earth on Thursday at 1045 GMT (5:45 am Eastern time in the United States), said an update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Predictions that the storm would reach a level three on a scale of five, or a "strong" level of solar radiation and geomagnetic storming, continue to "look justified," NOAA said.

"So far the orientation of the magnetic field has been opposite of what is needed to cause the strongest storming. As the event progresses, that field will continue to change."

NASA had forecast late Wednesday that the storm could reach "severe" levels, and its effects were expected to last through Friday.

The storm is likely "the strongest one since December 2006," NOAA scientist Joseph Kunches said on Wednesday.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were not expected to be affected by the radiation storm, NASA said.

A vivid display of the northern lights -- aurora borealis -- created when highly charged particles interact with the Earth's magnetic field, causing a colorful glow, was expected to be visible over central Asia at nightfall Thursday.

Geomagnetic and radiation storms are growing more frequent as the Sun leaves its solar minimum period and moves into a solar maximum over the coming years, but people are generally protected by Earth's magnetic field.

However, some experts are concerned that because the world is more reliant on GPS and satellite technology now than it was during the last solar maximum, more disruptions to modern life are likely.

The fuss began late Sunday at an active region on the Sun known as 1429, with a big solar flare that was associated with a coronal mass ejection that thrust toward the Earth at some four million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour).

A pair of solar flares and a CME followed overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, setting off a strong geomagnetic and solar radiation storm registering at level three on a five-step scale.

NASA said the first of the two flares on March 6-7 -- classified in the potent X class and facing directly at the Earth -- was the biggest this year and one of the largest of this cycle known as the solar minimum, which began in early 2007.

In fact, it was second only to a stronger one that erupted in August.

The solar flares alone caused brief high frequency radio blackouts that have already passed, according to NOAA.

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Strong storms hit Alabama, kill two (Reuters)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) – Search and rescue team combed through debris in Alabama after powerful thunderstorms pummeled the state early on Monday, killing at least two people and leaving heavy damage just hours after tornadoes struck portions of Arkansas.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency after the predawn storms hit the Birmingham area, with the towns of Center Point and Trussville just to the northeast of the city hit particularly hard.

Two people were confirmed dead, according to Pat Curry, Jefferson County's chief deputy coroner; one in Clay, a city of roughly 10,000 people, and another in the western part of the county.

Earlier, an emergency management official had reported three deaths.

"We have major, major damage," said Bob Ammons, a Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) official, referring to Center Point, Trussville and some unincorporated areas of the county.

About 100 people were treated for injuries, said Jefferson County EMA spokesman Mark Kelly.

Last April, massive tornadoes tore through Alabama killing more than 240 people, including 64 in the Jefferson and Tuscaloosa areas.

On Monday, in St. Clair County, Alabama, spokeswoman Katie Reese said a local fire department estimated some 36 homes had been damaged, and some of them destroyed.

The possibility for sporadic thunderstorms in the region lingered, according to AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Henry Margusity, but overall the severe weather was calming down.

THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

Clean-up and recovery efforts were under way across Alabama on Monday afternoon.

Food safety inspectors had been dispatched to assess damage and power outages at retail food establishments, state officials said, adding that any compromised products would be taken off shelves.

Search and rescue efforts were ongoing, according to Matt Angelo of the Center Point fire department. The injury count in that area northeast of Birmingham remained at about 12, he said.

At nearby Parkway Veterinary Clinic animals were being transported to a safe location after the structure sustained a direct hit during the storm, a spokeswoman said.

Earlier, rescue crews were dispatched to investigate reports of an overturned mobile home with people trapped inside, said Debbie Orange, city clerk for the city of Clanton, about midway between Birmingham and Montgomery. No injuries could be confirmed.

A preliminary report from the weather service's storm prediction center indicated a radio station in Clanton, Alabama was destroyed and a 302-foot (92-meter) transmission tower "toppled" due to the severe weather.

A tornado is suspected, but not yet confirmed, in the radio station destruction, according to the National Weather Service.

In Tennessee, the worst storm damage was in the middle of the state, with downed trees and power lines. In western Tennessee, structural damage resulted from winds whipping up to 65 mph, meteorologists said.

These were the latest in a series of powerful January storms to have torn through the Southeast.

On Sunday, twisters downed trees and powerlines in Arkansas leaving thousands without power.

A tornado ripped into an area outside of Fordyce, some 70 miles south of state capital Little Rock, damaging houses and felling trees and power lines as it moved, according to Accuweather.com.

The National Weather Service in Little Rock rated the Fordyce area tornado as an EF2, on a scale that ranges from EF0 to EF5, the most severe. The town of just under 5,000 people was one of the hardest hit areas in a series of storms that struck Arkansas on Sunday night.

Significant damage occurred to houses northwest of the small town, the city's country club and a set of transmission towers, it said in a statement.

The weather service has reported as many as eight possible tornadoes may have touched down on Sunday night in Arkansas, which was pelted by soft-ball sized hailstones and buffeted by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.

By Monday, almost 8,000 customers across Arkansas were still without power, according to utility provider Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Suzi Parker in Little Rock and Kelli Dugan in Mobile, Alabama; Writing by Dan Burns and Lauren Keiper; Editing by Greg McCune and Sandra Maler)

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Sun hurls strong geomagnetic storm toward Earth (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years was forecast to hit Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.

A coronal mass ejection - a big chunk of the Sun's atmosphere - was hurled toward Earth on Sunday, driving energized solar particles at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), about five times faster than solar particles normally travel, the center's Terry Onsager said.

"When it hits us, it's like a big battering ram that pushes into Earth's magnetic field," Onsager said from Boulder, Colorado. "That energy causes Earth's magnetic field to fluctuate."

This energy can interfere with high frequency radio communications used by airlines to navigate close to the North Pole in flights between North America, Europe and Asia, so some routes may need to be shifted, Onsager said.

It could also affect power grids and satellite operations, the center said in a statement. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may be advised to shield themselves in specific parts of the spacecraft to avoid a heightened dose of solar radiation, Onsager said.

The space weather center said the geomagnetic storm's intensity would probably be moderate or strong, levels two and three on a five-level scale, five being the most extreme.

(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Strong earthquake strikes Papua New Guinea (AP)

SYDNEY – A strong earthquake struck the South Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Wednesday. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert has been issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-7.3 quake struck on Wednesday 54 miles (87 kilometers) southwest of Lae, on the country's northern coast. The quake hit at a depth of 71 miles (115 kilometers).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami alert.

People inside the country's Parliament building in the capital of Port Moresby saw windows rattling during the quake, but there was no apparent damage.

Strong earthquakes are relatively common in Papua New Guinea. The country lies on the "Ring of Fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim.

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Strong quake hits PNG, no reports of damage (Reuters)

(Reuters) – A strong earthquake struck the Pacific state of Papua New Guinea Wednesday, but no tsunami warning was issued as the quake occurred inland, and there were no immediate reports of damage.

The 7.3 magnitude tremor was centered near Lae, the country's second-largest city, at a depth of around 115 km (71 miles) the U.S. Geological Survey said.

"It was very, very big," said Dolly Kinibo, a receptionist at the Lae International Hotel.

"It lasted for two to three minutes. The whole building moved. The Christmas tree moved, we all moved, people are very shaken. There are no reports of injuries or damage, but our managers are checking."

The quake sent goods flying from the shelves of Lae's Foodmart store but caused only minor damage and no injuries. "It wrecked some displays and caused some damage to the ceiling, but touch wood nothing serious," said store manager Albert Martinez.

Residents in the capital Port Moresby, 223 km (138 miles) from the epicenter, also reported feeling the quake.

PNG, a country where the majority of people live subsistence lives despite its abundant mineral wealth, sits on the geographically active Pacific Ring of Fire.

(Reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

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Strong winds leave 7 dead in southern Sri Lanka (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Strong winds have killed seven people along Sri Lanka's southern coast.

Pradeep Kodippili, the spokesman for the government's disaster management center, says three people were killed by fallen trees Friday in the southern coastal town of Matara.

Also on Friday, the bodies of four fishermen who had ventured out to sea from Matara were recovered. Kodippili says it was possible that their boats had been damaged by the bad weather.

He says the winds damaged about 1,000 homes in the area.

The strong winds subsided by Friday evening.

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Strong earthquake strikes off Papua New Guinea (AP)

SYDNEY – A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert has been issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-6.7 quake struck Friday about 62 miles (100 kilometers) east of Lae, on the country's northern coast. The quake struck at a depth of 28 miles (45 kilometers).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami alert.

Papua New Guinea lies on the "Ring of Fire." The region is an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur.

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Strong winds whip up waves, down trees in Midwest (Reuters)

James Kelleher

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A gusty cold front sweeping into the Midwest from Canada triggered gale, rip current and shoreline flood warnings along Lake Michigan on Friday and whipped up waves as high a 23 feet, the National Weather Service said.

Areas of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and adjoining parts of Canada - were buffeted by winds as high a 70 miles an hour and downed trees, knocked out power and prompted the closure of waterfront parks in several states.

In Wisconsin's Door County, a picturesque peninsula that juts out into northern Lake Michigan popular this time of year with tourists seeking fall color, all state parks and trails were closed until next week. The state's Department of Natural Resources said this was because of closed roads, downed trees and unsafe conditions.

No injuries were reported.

"We have all available local crews at work clearing roads and more help is on the way," said Dan Schuller, director of the DNR's Wisconsin State Parks and Trails system.

"We are concentrating on damage assessment and clearing of roads to campgrounds and other high use areas. Campers currently in the parks are being asked to leave ... We will reopen all properties as soon as they can be declared safe for visitors."

Chicago lived up to its nickname as the "Windy City" on Friday as huge swells forced the closure of the city's 18.5 mile lakefront bike and running path.

Mark Bardou, a meteorologist with in the Chicago bureau of the NWS, said some of the strongest winds associated with the storm were measured over the Great Lakes, where gusts neared 65 knots an hour, about 75 miles an hour, and buoys in the middle of the lake measured swells as high as 23 feet.

(Editing by Greg McCune)

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Strong quake rocks northeast Japan (AP)

TOKYO – A strong earthquake has rocked northeastern Japan, which is still recovering from the devastating tsunami six months ago.

The quake Thursday had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6. There were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

The earthquake was centered off Fukushima, which was severely hit by the quake and tsunami in March that left more than 21,000 people dead or missing. Fukushima is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

The March disaster touched off the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, generating meltdowns, fires and explosions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility.

The plant's operator said there were no signs of abnormalities at the plant from the quake on Thursday.

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Strong quake rattles west Indonesia; 1 boy killed (AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake jolted western Indonesia early Tuesday, killing a boy and sending panicked residents fleeing from homes, hotels and even a hospital.

The magnitude-6.6 quake hit about 1 a.m. (1800 GMT Monday), waking people in towns and villages across Sumatra island's northern tip.

It was centered 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of the city of Medan and 62 miles (110 kilometers) beneath the earth's crust, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was too far inland to generate a tsunami.

Maura Sakti, a mayor in Subulussalam, told local station TVOne a 12-year-old boy had been killed. At least one other person was injured.

Hundreds of people were evacuated to temporary shelters as authorities surveyed the damage, said Lt. Col. Helmy Kesuma, police chief in the hard-hit town of Singkil.

Some electricity poles were knocked down there, crashing into homes and causing blackouts.

"My wife was screaming, my children crying," said Burhan Mardiansyah, 37, a Singkil resident. "We saw our walls start to crack and everything inside the house was falling. Thank God we're all safe."

The panic extended to Medan, the sprawling provincial capital of North Sumatra, where hundreds of patients from at least one hospital had to be evacuated, some in wheelchairs or with IVs attached to their arms.

Hotels emptied and residents ran into the streets or the balconies of their rented homes, clutching babies to their chests.

Fearing aftershocks, many refused to go back inside for hours.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.

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10 dead after strong typhoon hits Philippines (AP)

MANILA, Philippines – Typhoon Nanmadol began blowing toward Taiwan on Sunday after leaving at least 10 people dead and scuttling a visit by a U.S. Navy carrier group in the Philippines, officials said.

Taiwan issued sea and land warnings and planned to evacuate about 6,000 people in its eastern and southern regions as it braced for the typhoon. Troops and rescue equipment were deployed, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said.

With its enormous cloud band, the typhoon drenched the northern Philippines with rain for days before pummeling the area with fierce wind, setting off landslides and floods and toppling walls that left at least 10 people dead and six others missing. About 20 were injured by landslides and toppled trees, said Benito Ramos, who heads the Office of Civil Defense.

Strong winds knocked down a concrete wall which hit a small eatery in the capital's suburban Quezon City on Sunday, killing a man and injuring two others, police said.

In the northern mountain resort city of Baguio, a garbage dump's concrete wall collapsed and buried three shanties under tons of garbage Saturday, killing two children. Their grandmother remained missing, Ramos said.

Seven others perished in landslides or drowned, including a fisherman whose body was found floating Saturday off eastern Catanduanes province. A decision by many villagers to flee to safety before the typhoon struck and vigilance helped reduce the number of casualties, Ramos said.

In northern Benguet province, bus driver Reynaldo Carlos ordered his passengers to flee Saturday after seeing mud, debris and boulders surging down a mountainside toward the vehicle, which was stuck on a muddy road.

The bus, its engine still running, was swept down a 200-foot (60-meter) ravine after everyone escaped, officials said.

"I was trembling with fear after I realized how close we were to death," Carlos told The Associated Press by telephone.

About 20 landslides blocked roads in Benguet, a gold-mining region about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Manila. More than 57,000 villagers fled their homes there and in 10 other northern provinces at the height of the typhoon, officials said.

U.S. officials postponed a Manila visit by the U.S. Navy's John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group originally scheduled for this weekend because of the bad weather.

The U.S. Embassy said all tours of the aircraft carrier, as well as a reception on board, had been canceled.

Domestic airlines also canceled more than a dozen flights to areas affected by the typhoon in the northern and central Philippines.

Nanmadol had sustained wind of 121 miles (195 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 143 mph (230 kph) Friday, becoming the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines so far this year. It weakened after grazing northern Cagayan province Saturday. It blew by the northernmost Batanes islands with 75 mph (120 kph) winds Sunday and then began moving away from the country, Philippine government forecasters said.

Nanmadol was expected to hit Taiwan as early as Monday, Taiwan's central weather bureau said. It urged residents to prepare for strong winds and torrential rain, and warned there could be landslides in mountainous regions and flooding in low-lying areas.

On Sunday, TV footage showed parts of eastern and southern Taiwan drenched with rain. Strong winds blew a van across a road in the eastern Taiwanese county of Taitung.

Ferries connecting Taiwan's mainland to islets and some domestic flights were canceled. Train service in southern and eastern Taiwan was to be suspended, and two major roads in eastern and central Taiwan were to be closed starting late Sunday afternoon.

Two eastern Taiwanese counties said people did not have to go to school or work on Monday.

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Associated Press writers Oliver Teves in Manila and Debby Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

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Strong quake hits eastern Japan, no tsunami threat (AP)

TOKYO – Officials say a strong earthquake has hit near Japan's eastern coast, but there is no danger of a tsunami.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says the quake struck Monday evening and registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.0. It was centered off the coast of Ibaraki, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) east of Tokyo, at a depth of 20 miles (30 kilometers).

The agency says there is no danger of a tsunami. No injuries or damage have been reported.

Some 20,000 people died or were left missing across Japan's northeastern coast after a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The disaster damaged a nuclear power plant, forcing another 100,000 people to leave their homes because of a radiation threat.

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Strong quake hits off NE Japan; no reported damage (AP)

TOKYO – A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast Friday, triggering a tsunami advisory that was later lifted. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the temblor, which rattled the area devastated earlier this year by a massive quake and tsunami.

The 2:36 p.m. (0536 GMT) quake was centered about 185 miles (300 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo and at a depth of 12 miles (20 kilometers), slightly south of where the magnitude-9.0 temblor struck March 11, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

The agency issued a tsunami advisory, predicting waves of 20 inches (50 centimeters) along the coast of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where a nuclear plant crippled by March's quake-spawned tsunami is located. The agency lifted the advisory about 30 minutes later.

There were no abnormalities in key equipment at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Chie Hosoda, an official with Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator. She said some of the plant's workers assigned to the coastal side of the facility temporarily retreated inside the building.

This was the first sizeable quake in the area in over a month. In the weeks following the huge March quake, Japan was frequently rocked by aftershocks, including several stronger than magnitude 7.0. Their frequency and size have declined considerably.

In Onagawa, about 210 miles (340 kilometers) north of Tokyo, town official Hironori Suzuki said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. There was no visible swelling of the ocean, he said.

"It was a rather big one, perhaps it was because we are still in a makeshift office," Suzuki told public broadcaster NHK. Suzuki said the town has urged all residents via community broadcast to stay away from the coast and evacuate to higher ground.

The quake caused buildings in Tokyo to sway. Bullet trains and several other local train services in the region were temporarily suspended for safety checks.

Just over 20,000 people died or disappeared across Japan's northeastern coastline after the March earthquake and tsunami. Some 100,000 others were forced to evacuate their homes because of the threat of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

March's tsunami destroyed cooling systems at that plant, sending its reactors to core meltdowns that caused massive amount of radiation to leak out of the complex. The radiation leaking has since dramatically declined.

The government has since ordered nuclear plant operators to take additional safety measures in case of a major quake and tsunami.

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No tsunami for coastal Alaska after strong quake (AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook a large swath of Alaska's Aleutian Islands on Thursday evening, sending residents of small coastal towns to higher ground as officials issued a tsunami warning in the temblor's wake.

The quake was centered about 122 miles east of Atka, about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. It was recorded at a depth of 26 miles, the Alaska Earthquake Information Center said.

The quake was felt through the central Aleutians and as far east as Dutch Harbor and Unalaska, but no damage was reported, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman with the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

"It was shaking, it was just a little rumbly" and lasted about 20 seconds, said Atka resident Rodney Jones.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center posted a tsunami warning for some coastal areas of Alaska, but canceled the warning about an hour after the quake. The warning covered an area from 80 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor to about 125 miles west of Adak.

Jones said it appeared all of the town's 61 residents took to higher ground when they heard the tsunami warning, which he heard issued over CB radio. The townspeople gathered on a high hill for about an hour, near the city's new water tank.

During their wait for the all-clear signal, he said a priest with the town's Russian Orthodox Church recited prayers.

In Dutch Harbor, longshoreman Jim Paulin said warning sirens caused also caused hundreds of people to begin climbing up a nearby hill.

"Right now there's hundreds of people up on the hilltop," he told The Associated Press before the all-clear was given. "I can look across the bay and see people on another hilltop."

After the tsunami warning was canceled, he said everybody was "calm. It seems like everybody's kind of enjoying it. It's good weather."

Paulin said no one seemed panicked because the city has been evacuated in the past. But, he said, "It's better to be safe than sorry."

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Associated Press writers Kathy McCarthy in Seattle and Michelle Price in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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Strong earthquake strikes off Papua New Guinea (AP)

SYDNEY – A strong earthquake struck early Thursday off an island in the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. No tsunami warning was issued, but the shaking was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.

Chris McKee of the country's Geohazards Program said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.6 quake struck just off the island of New Britain. It was at a depth of 13 miles (22 kilometers).

McKee said strong shaking was felt in Rabaul, a New Britain town about 250 miles (400 kilometers) away.

The area is along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines that stretches around the Pacific Rim.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a widespread tsunami. McKee said there had been no reports of any destructive waves.

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