Following Friday morning’s severe weather in Northern Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a state of emergency.

According to a release, the Governor has declared a state of emergency for 12 counties including one here in the Panhandle, Liberty County.

A state of emergency is a formal declaration that allows public officials to free up funding for recovery efforts.

The executive order expires in 60 days.

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Florida’s Emergency Management Director says Lee County’s recovery from Hurricane Ian is more than two years ahead of schedule.

Ahead of what is anticipated to be an active Hurricane Season, Director Kevin Guthrie of the Florida Division of Emergency Management met with several local emergency managers on Thursday to assess the needs of Southwest Florida.

“I would say (Lee County) is about two-and-a-half years ahead than we would be under comparable storms, like a Hurricane Michael or Hurricane Irma. So, we are moving faster. I know for some people it’s not fast enough,” said Guthrie, of the recovery since the storm.

HONOLULU — A powerful weather system is drenched the Hawaiian Islands on Friday, triggering flash flooding alerts across the state and even a Winter Storm Warning — yes, that’s not a typo — for the mountain summits along the Big Island.

A potent upper low-pressure center is swirling just to the north of the island, providing copious amounts of tropical moisture along with atmospheric instability that is producing strong thunderstorms that may even reach severe criteria with 50 mph wind gusts and large hail.

"Once a shower or thunderstorm develops, it'll be capable of producing strong wind gusts right along just before and right after that heavy shower," National Weather Service, Honolulu Meteorologist Derek Wroe told KHON-TV. "You can see wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour with a shower, which is concerning since we know we have a lot of graduation activities going on."

HOW OFTEN DO TROPICAL SYSTEMS IMPACT THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS?

The greatest threat for severe storms was on the smaller islands on Friday, spreading east into the Big Island Friday night, the NWS Honolulu said.

But aside from frequent lightning and gusty winds, torrential rains with some storms’ rain rates up to 3 inches per hour will present an islands-wide flash flood threat. Already 2-3 inches of rain fell across the windward sides of Oahu on Thursday night with more on the way as rain spreads across the rest of the state on Friday.

Puerto Rico's governor has declared a state of emergency following heavy rains, widespread flooding and landslides in the U.S. territory. One person has been reported missing.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi also activated the National Guard on Wednesday to help 22 of the island's 78 municipalities that were hardest hit by incessant rains.

More than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain were reported over two days in Puerto Rico's interior, with some streets turning into flowing rivers.

Police issued a statement Thursday noting that numerous rivers have broken their banks and that several roads are impassable. They said an unidentified man was swept away by a river in the northwest town of San Sebastián, where several people also were trapped by rising waters, waiting on a roof before they were rescued.

Flooding has also decimated crops across the island.

STRONGEST X-FLARE YET: Giant sunspot AR3664 unleashed another X-flare today (May 11th @ 0139 UT)--its strongest yet. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a bright ultravolet flash from the category X5.8 explosion:

Radiation from the flare caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. Ham radio operators and mariners may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 30 MHz for as much as an hour after the flare's peak.

We don't yet know if this flare hurled a CME into space. If it did, it could have a grazing Earth-directed component. Confirmation awaits fresh data from SOHO coronagraphs.

The Johnson City hail was so large that a meteorologist working at the NWS office in San Antonio was unsure of how to correctly input the storm report into a database because of its rarity.

Preliminarily, the Johnson City hail was the second largest ever witnessed in the state, but this ranking will likely change as meteorologists measure the ice and go back and look at radar returns.

Other large hailstones were reported outside of Fort Worth in the towns of Itasca and Granbury, which measured to be around the size of a grapefruit.

Hail forms when raindrops become suspended in powerful thunderstorm updrafts. The ice chunks typically start off as the size of peas and dimes but grow as they are suspended in the clouds. When the hailstone grows to a size that the updraft can no longer support, it falls towards the ground.

The FOX Forecast Center estimated that wind speeds in the updraft were well over 100 mph.

A number of Bay Area neighborhoods are dealing with the after-effects of winter storms. That's especially true for folks living along Mountain Charlie Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. D

About 10 people in Kasese District have died after their homes were swept by landslides.

The landslides were triggered by heavy rainfall that has been pounding the area for several days.

Kasese Deputy Resident District Commissioner in-Charge of Bukonzo County East, Lt. Maate Magwara, says the situation in the district is dire.

People who live in landslide-prone areas have been advised to relocate to safer areas.

2 skiers dead in Utah avalanche, another rescued, police say
Two skiers were killed in an avalanche in Utah on Thursday morning, local authorities said.

Rescue crews responded to Lone Peak Canyon after a report that three skiers were "caught, carried, and buried in an avalanche" around 10:30 a.m., the Unified Police Department of Salt Lake said in a statement.

Several other agencies were contacted to assist due to the remote location and rough terrain.

About two hours later, one skier was located and airlifted to an area hospital. He had been able to dig himself out of the snow and was found in fair condition, officials told KUTV.

The two other skiers, both males ages 23 and 32, were later located by rescue teams.

Neither survived the avalanche, officials said. Their names have not been released.

At least 74 people, including 35 farmers, were killed by lightning strikes in the past 38 days across the country, according to a report by a voluntary organisation.

The research cell of the Save the Society and Thunderstorm Awareness Forum published the report on Thursday, according to a press release.

The report said that at least 31 people were killed by lightning strikes in April, of whom 20 were male and 11 were female.

It also said that at least 43 people were killed by lightning from May 1 to May 8. Of them, 34 were male and nine were female.

SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM--NOW!! The first of six CMEs hurled toward Earth by giant sunspot AR3664 just hit our planet's magnetic field. The impact on May 10th at 1645 UT jolted magnetometers around the world (e.g., 108 nT in Boulder CO) and sparked a severe (G4-class) geomagnetic storm. This storm is underway now. More CMEs are following close behind and their arrival could extend the storm into the weekend.

UPDATE--SIX CMEs HURLED TOWARD EARTH: The number of CMEs heading for Earth keeps increasing. The total is now six following this morning's X3.9-class flare from giant sunspot AR3664. All six storm clouds are captured in this time-lapse movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):

The two bright objects are Jupiter (left) and Venus (right). The CMEs will miss those planets and hit Earth instead.

According to a NOAA forecast model, the first three CMEs could merge to form a "Cannibal CME." Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake and gobble up slower CMEs in front of them. Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do a good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field.

Stay tuned.

The earth cow turned over! According to the Earthquake Forecasting Center of the Central Meteorological Administration, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred in the eastern waters of Taiwan at 15:45 today. The epicenter was 32.8 kilometers northeast of the Hualien County Government and the depth was 10 kilometers. It was an extremely shallow earthquake. The maximum earthquake magnitude was 4 in Yilan and Hualien.

Among them, the earthquake intensity in Taipei City reached level 2, and the Taipei MRT was also affected. At one time, all lines were running at a slow speed. Now, all lines are operating normally.

Significant Felt Earthquake Report No. 382

Earthquake time: 2024/05/10 15:45:17

Location: 24.22 degrees north latitude, 121.82 degrees east longitude

That is, 32.8 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Government and located in the eastern waters of Taiwan

Earthquake depth: 10 kilometers

Rich scale: 5.8

This report is the result of real-time earthquake data from the Central Meteorological Administration's Earthquake Observation Network.

Disaster prevention warning message:

This earthquake is expected to reach the transmission threshold of the Disaster Prevention and Warning System (PWS), and the warning range is: Yilan County and Hualien County .

This message is automatically released by the system. Due to time constraints, there may be inaccuracies and it is only provided as a contingency reference.

ARE WE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE A NEW CARRINGTON EVENT?

No.

AR3664 is indeed a 'Carrington-class' sunspot, but the CMEs it hurled toward Earth over the past few days are not as potent as the monster CME of Sept. 1, 1859. NOAA says we might experience a severe geomagnetic storm when the CMEs arrive this weekend. If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, 'severe' would be category 4. The Carrington Event was category 5 or greater. So this is no Carrington Event. Even so, category 4 is pretty intense--if it happens. Stay tuned for some great auroras!
FIVE CMEs ARE HEADING FOR EARTH: Great sunspot AR3664 has hurled an astonishing five CMEs toward Earth. They're all in this frenetic 2-day coronagraph movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):
The two bright objects are Jupiter (left) and Venus (right). The CMEs will miss those planets and hit Earth instead.
According to a NOAA forecast model, the first three CMEs could merge for form a "Cannibal CME." Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake and gobble up slower CMEs in front of them. Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do an good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field.
The Cannibal CME is expected to arrive on May 11th. It alone could spark a strong (G3) geomagnetic storm. With two more CMEs following close behind, storm levels could become extreme (G4), sparking auroras at mid- to low-latitudes across Europe and the USA.

On Thursday, May 9, 2024, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch. At least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed and expected to arrive as early as midday Friday, May 10, 2024, and persist through Sunday, May 12, 2024. Several strong flares have been observed over the past few days and were associated with a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster (NOAA region 3664), which is 16 times the diameter of Earth.
GET READY FOR A 'CANNIBAL CME': Multiple CMEs are heading for Earth (see the movie below). A new NOAA forecast model suggests that three of them could merge to form a potent "Cannibal CME." Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake slower CMEs in front of them. Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do an good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field. Indeed, NOAA is now predicting a severe storm on May 11th when the Cannibal arrives

BOX ELDER COUNTY — Have you felt shaking in Box Elder County? In the past three days, 75 small earthquakes have been measured by University of Utah Seismograph Stations southwest of Tremonton.

“This is what we call an energetic earthquake sequence, this is a lot of earthquakes,” Katherine Whidden, a Research Seismologist at the University of Utah, said.

The cluster of earthquakes in Box Elder County started Saturday around 2:30 pm, and they’ve shaken the earth in that area consistently ever since. The largest quake was a 4.4 magnitude about 16 miles southwest of Tremonton in an unpopulated area. However, three others above a 3.0 have been measured in the area as well.

“I know that for the 4.4 magnitude earthquake we had 200 reports on ‘Did You Feel it?’,” Whidden said, speaking about the earthquake reporting tool on the United States Geological Survey’s website.

Whidden says the recent earthquakes in Box Elder County are happening in an area that was active in the 80’s and 90’s. They are just a valley over from where Utah’s largest recorded earthquake occurred in 1934, which was a 6.6 magnitude.

She said these earthquakes are directly related to the Wasatch fault system and will be closely monitored and studied to see if they can tell us anything about the fault.

“We live in a seismically active area, and this is the kind of thing that happens. There is some stress in the crust, and it’s being relieved by these earthquakes,” Whidden said.

When asked if this is a sign of a bigger earthquake coming soon, Whidden said it’s difficult to know.

“Anytime there is an earthquake there is a potential for a larger one later, about a one in 20 chance there could be a larger one later,” Whidden said. “So I won’t say that it can’t happen, but usually it doesn’t happen.”

Whidden said it’s important to make the community aware of these smaller earthquakes so they can take the steps necessary to prepare for a bigger one. She recommends three days of food, water, and medication.

According to the national weather service the U-S had at least three-hundred tornadoes in April.

Sunspot AR3664 has grown so large, it now rivals the great Carrington sunspot of 1859. To illustrate their similarity, we've added Carrington's famous sketch (to scale) to a NASA photo of today's sun:

Sprawling almost 200,000 km from end to end, AR3664 is 15 times wider than Earth. You can see it through ordinary eclipse glasses with no magnification at all. Moreover, it is easy to project an image of this sunspot onto the sidewalk or a white screen just as Carrington did in the 19th century.

Carrington's sunspot is famous because in August and Sept. 1859 it emitted a series of intense solar flares and CMEs. The resulting geomagnetic storms set fire to telegraph offices and sparked auroras from Cuba to Hawaii. The "Carrington Event" has since become a touchstone of space weather in pop culture, with recent headlines stoking fears of an "internet apocalypse" if it repeats.

Indeed, it could repeat. Studies suggest that Carrington-class storms occur once every 40 to 60 years, so we're overdue. CMEs currently en route to Earth will not cause a new Carrington Event; they are puny compared to the CMEs of 1859. Nevertheless, it would be wise to keep an eye on this growing active region while Earth is in its strike zone.

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. —

Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the shooting happened on May 3.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.

According to Crump, the woman, whom Crump didn’t identify, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock at the door. He asked who was there but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

The woman said Fortson was concerned and went to retrieve his gun, which Crump said was legally owned.

As Fortson walked back through his living room, deputies burst through the door, saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times, according to Crump’s statement. The woman said Fortson was on the ground, saying, “I can’t breathe,” after he was shot, Crump said.

Fortson died at a hospital, officials said. The deputy involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

A large sinkhole in the front yard of a Las Cruces house swallowed two vehicles and forced the temporary evacuation of occupants from three homes Monday evening.

At about 9:30 p.m., Las Cruces firefighters were called to a report of a sinkhole on the 1700 block of Regal Ridge Street.

It was hurled into space earlier today by a roiling series of explosions in the magnetic canopy of giant sunspot AR3664.

THIS SUNSPOT IS HUGE: Sunspot AR3664 has grown so large, it is now rivals the great Carrington sunspot of 1859 in size and visual appearance. To illustrate their similarity, Carrington's famous sketch (to scale) has been added to a NASA picture of today's sun:

How big is AR3664? Sprawling almost 200,000 km from end to end, it is 15 times wider than Earth. You can see AR3664 through ordinary eclipse glasses with no magnification at all. Moreover, it is easy to project an image of this sunspot onto the sidewalk or a white screen just as Carrington did in the 19th century.

Carrington's sunspot is famous because in August and Sept. 1859 it emitted a series of intense solar flares and CMEs. The resulting geomagnetic storms set fire to telegraph offices and sparked auroras from Cuba to Hawaii. The "Carrington Event" has since become a touchstone of space weather in pop culture, with headlines stoking fears of an "internet apocalypse" if it repeats. Recent studies suggest that Carrington-class storms occur once every 40 to 60 years, so we're overdue.

Does this mean we're about to get hit by another Carrington Event? Probably not. Big sunspots don't always produce big CMEs. Indeed, the CME AR3664 hurled toward us earlier today is puny compared to the CMEs of 1859. It won't cause much trouble when it arrives this weekend. Nevertheless, it would be wise to keep an eye on this growing active region while Earth is in its strike zone.

Super-Kamiokande, located in the Kamioka #Observatory in Hida, Japan, is a massive underground detector designed to study neutrinos, elusive particles that interact very weakly with matter. The detector is situated about 1,000 meters underground to shield it from cosmic rays, which could interfere with its measurements.

The heart of Super-Kamiokande is a cylindrical tank measuring 39.3 meters in height and 41.4 meters in diameter, filled with 50,000 tons of ultra-pure water. The tank is lined with approximately 11,146 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), which are sensitive light detectors that can detect extremely faint flashes of light.

When a neutrino interacts with the water in the tank, it produces secondary particles, such as #electrons, #muons, and #hadrons, through processes like charged-current and neutral-current interactions. These secondary particles move faster than the #speed of light in #water, emitting a cone of light known as Cherenkov radiation, which is the optical equivalent of a #sonic boom.

The PMTs detect these faint flashes of Cherenkov light, allowing scientists to reconstruct the direction and energy of the incoming neutrinos. By studying the properties of neutrinos, such as their oscillation patterns and interactions, researchers can gain insights into fundamental physics, such as the nature of neutrino mass and the behavior of matter at the smallest scales.

Super-Kamiokande has been instrumental in several groundbreaking discoveries, including the first evidence of neutrino oscillations, which showed that neutrinos can change from one flavor to another as they travel through space. This discovery revolutionized our understanding of neutrino physics and earned the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, who led the Super-Kamiokande and SNO experiments, respectively.

41,000 Years Ago Earth’s Shield Went Down

Earth is naked without its protective barrier. The planet’s magnetic shield surrounds Earth and shelters it from the natural onslaught of cosmic rays. But sometimes, the shield weakens and wavers, allowing cosmic rays to strike the atmosphere, creating a shower of particles that scientists think could wreak havoc on the biosphere.

This has happened many times in our planet’s history, including 41,000 years ago in an event called the Laschamps excursion.

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles, usually protons or atomic nuclei, that travel through space at relativistic speeds. Normally, they’re deflected into space and away from Earth by the planet’s magnetic shield. But the shield is a natural phenomenon and its strength fluctuates, as does its orientation. When that happens, cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere.