StormTrack Blog

For the year 2011, Oklahoma has been breaking records left and right. This year the state has recorded its coldest temperature, the most snowfall within a 24 hour period, the highest wind speed, an EF5 tornado, some of the warmest summer time temperatures on record, the largest hail and now, the strongest earthquake.

Saturday evening, following a weaker 4.7 magnitude earthquake, a 5.6 rattled the state, and went in the record books as the strongest earthquake for Oklahoma. Centered in Pague, OK, this 5.6 earthquake broke a nearly 60 year old record of a  5.5 magnitude quake in 1952.

(Source: The Guardian, Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty)

Sending a handful of people to the hospital and damaging several roadways and structures, this historical earthquake was felt by people within a 300 mile radius, including residents of Kansas City, Wichita, and as far south as Dallas! Two large aftershocks sent tremors through a more immediate region following the large quake. Seismologists say there were at least 40 aftershocks recorded after the initial event.

This is from the New York Times.  It features multiple hires images of Japan, with a slider bar…allowing you to switch to before and after.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html

3/15/11 update:  upon further review, the earthquake has now been reclassified as a 9.0 magnitude

previous post:

The strongest earthquake to ever impact Japan struck just before 1 AM our local time Friday morning. This early afternoon earthquake just off the coast of Japan measured 8.9 on the Richter scale and is the 5th storngest earthquake to ever be recorded in the history of records.

The earthquake triggered a massive Tsunami with reports of a wall of water 33 feet high completely destroying many communities in the path. Details continue to come in at this point, but additional Tsunami warnings are in effect for Hawaii and the entire Pacific coast of the United States.

An earthquake was recorded at 5:13 p.m. Thursday in Seneca county between Fostoria and Bettsville. It measured a magnitude of 2.5 .  Quakes of this magnitude are recorded by seismographs, but are not always felt by people.

Fostoria police and the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office say they received calls from residents who reported hearing a boom and rumbling sound in Fostoria and as far south as Tiffin around 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

(info above courtesy of Mike Hansen–Ohio Seismic Network, wtol.com and the Findlay Courier)

While not a very common occurrence,  earthquakes are not extremely rare here.  In fact, about 12 have happened in the past 2 years in Ohio.   A lot of earthquakes have been centered in NE Ohio and offshore.

Here is a link for more info:  Ohio Seismic Network

As our tranquil weather pattern continues, it is anything but calm elsewhere.

Hurricane Jimena has diminished (it has moved over colder water, and has dropped from a near category 5 hurricane to a category 2 as of Wednesday morning), but will hang around Baja the next few days.  The minimal movement will cause prolonged torrential rainfall. 

A new tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic.  Erika (pronounced air-ree-kuh) formed Tuesday and is located east of the Caribbean.  The track will move it north of Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba towards the Bahamas…and possibly towards Florida by early next week.  Erika is not well-organized, and doesn’t show any big signs of strengthening the next few days.

You can follow the systems with our Hurricane Tracker, as well as the National Hurricane Center.

A major earthquake hit southern Indonesia early today.  A 7.3 magnitude quake hit Java, Indonesia, at around 3:55 am EDT (2:55 pm there), with a second quake of 4.9 magnitude at 5:28 am EDT (4:28 pm local time).

A tsunami warning was issued, but cancelled shortly thereafter.  As of this writing, 7 people were reported killed in the initial earthquake. 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) listed the depth of the first earthquake at 30 miles into the earth.  The USGS listed the magnitude as 7.0, but a local Indonesian geological agency estimates it was a little stronger at 7.3.