Hurricane Paloma is currently a Category 1 storm moving past the Cayman Islands towards Cuba. The National Hurricane Center expects Paloma to strengthen to a Category 2 and possibly a Category 3 storm before it reaches Cuba on Saturday morning.
A series of earthquakes rocked the island of Nevis and some immediately pointed at the geothermal drilling project. Investigators from the University of the West Indies found no link between the drilling and the earthquakes.
Cubapetroleo, the state-owned oil company of Cuba, expects to start drilling the 20 billion barrels of oil in the North Cuba Basin, located off the northern shore of the island. This will move Cuba from a minor oil producer into the top twenty.
A Magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico area at about 6:40 local time this morning. There were no reports of damage or injury.
Associated Press Video of Hurricane Ike hitting the Caribbean. They report that 3/4 of the homes in Turks and Caicos were damaged and give a forecast of what the US might expect.
On Saturday evening, Hurricane Ike is a category four storm approaching the Turks and Caicos Islands. On Sunday it is expected to hit the northeast coast of Cuba and rake over the island on Monday. The predicted track for the rest of the week has it moving directly towards Louisiana.
The National Hurricane Center says that “Ike is an extremely dangerous category four hurricane” with maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. Some weakening is forcast over the next 24 to 48 hours as it moves towards the Bahamas and south Florida.
Hurricane Ike is in the Atlantic Ocean moving slowly west. It is expected to track north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic late this week. The National Hurricane Center publishes update track maps for this storm. Oil traders are worried that it could enter the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Gustav hit the eastern tip of Jamaica today. Windspeeds were right at the threshold of Gustav being considered a hurricane instead of a tropical storm. Gustav is expected to rake across Jamaica today, hit the Cayman Islands on Friday afternoon, Cuba on Saturday and Louisiana early next week.
The National Hurricane Center predicts that Tropical Storm Gustav will have developed into a full hurricane with their next aircraft monitoring. It will probably be a hurricane by the time it reaches Haiti.
Tropical Storm Gustav, the seventh this year, formed in the Caribbean and is moving towards southwest Haiti where hurricane warnings have already been issued. The National Hurricane Center says that “strengthening is likely given the apparently favorable meteorological and oceanic conditions. The predicted track has it raking the length of Cuba where interactions with terrain might weaken it.
Someone in Jamaica stole 500 truckloads of sand from a prime property near Coral Spring. The Mines and Geology Department was asked to characterize sand samples to assist in the investigation. It is possible that the minerals or fossils in this sand are unique and can be matched to sand that was recently placed as fill.
Tropical Storm Fay is moving south of Cuba on Sunday morning. If it follows the expected track it will pass over the Florida Keys late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Visitors have been asked to leave the Florida Keys. It could build to hurricane strength before hitting the Keys.
West Indies Power Dominica Limited is researching the possibilities of developing a geothermal plant to generate electricity on the southern portion of the island.
View a photo slideshow of some of the world’s most destructive storms since 1970. Included are: Cyclone Nargis, Cyclone Sidr, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Mitch, Tropical Storm Thelma, Super Typhoon Nina, and the Bhola Cyclone, among others.
Philip Klotzbach and William Gray of Colorado State University: “We foresee a well above-average Atlantic basin tropical cyclone season in 2008….. We anticipate an above-average probability of United States major hurricane landfall.”
NASA satellites collect images and data to monitor worldwide volcanoes. In addition to satellite images, they have sensors to detect heat, sulfur dioxide and small changes in the shape of earth’s surface. Here’s a collection of images that show different types of volcano monitoring.
The 2007 hurricane season officially ended on November 30, however, Tropical Storm Olga has formed and just finished hitting the Caribbean with heavy rains and strong winds. Now it is moving between Cuba and Yucatan as it enters the Gulf of Mexico.
The 1995 eruption of Soufrière Hills volcano brought tourism on Montserrat to a halt and chased most of the island’s residents to homes in other countries. Slowly redevelopment is happening and slowly tourists are coming back. However, worries about the volcano could continue to hurt the island’s economy.
A strong earthquake occured in the Windward Islands area of the eastern Caribbean near Martinique. So far, no casualties have been reported and a tsunami was not generated.
Tropical Storm Noel dropped heavy rain, triggered landslides, caused floods and killed 81 people on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Now it moves out over the Atlantic and towards the Bahamas, possibly skirting Florida.
Tropical Storm Noel has dumped up to twenty inches of rain on Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This has resulted in widespread flooding. The storm lost strength while passing over Hispaniola but forecasters say that it could build into a hurricane when it tracks back over the warm Atlantic Ocean waters today.
A 30-million-year-old piece of amber from the Dominican Republic contains what might be the oldest known vertebrate eggshell. It is believed th be the shell of a hummingbird egg and if this is confirmed it will also be the oldest evidence of the bird in the Americas.
Hurricane Felix is just north of South America and is headed towards Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. According to the current predicted path it will pass by the northern coast of Honduras on Tuesday, hit Yucatan on Wednesday morning and back over the warm waters of the Gulf on Thursday.
A team from St Andrews University has been awarded 400,000 pounds to develop a system to monitor Soufriere Hills Volcano on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat. Most of the island was rendered uninhabitable by a 1995 eruption. This new monitoring system will be put in place to provide advance eruption warning to remaining residents.
Twelve years ago Montserrat was a jewel of an island with most of its income coming from tourism. Then, after a 100-year silence, Soufriere Hills Volcano erupted. Today about 1/2 of the original population struggles to make a living amid the dust and debris of the eruption’s aftermath.
Gold and copper prospecting companies are working in Haiti, some returning to prospects that they started a decade ago. Political violence and social problems still discourage exploration but reports of promising properties are rekindling interest.
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