Posted in arizona, earthquake, last days, seismic

Large earthquake hits Arizona, felt in NM, TX

Several earthquakes occurred overnight and yesterday. Here is a short report.

Moderate quake widely felt in Arizona, N. Mexico

A moderate earthquake struck in Arizona near the New Mexico line that was widely felt across the region, but no injuries or damages were immediately reported. County sheriffs’ offices on both sides of the state line reported receiving numerous phone calls after Saturday’s magnitude 5.2 quake shook the largely rural region. Arizona residents in Graham County, Safford, Tucson, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and other areas have reported feeling the tremor. It was felt as far away as Phoenix and El Paso, Texas, both about 175 miles from the epicenter, as well in parts of Mexico, which begins some 80 miles to the south.

As soon as I read of an earthquake in Arizona, I wondered how frequent or infrequent earthquakes there are. Not too frequent, though they do happen. The largest one similar to the one that occurred last night happened 50 years ago. But this one is bigger, making it one of the largest magnitude quakes in AZ history. Below is some context for you.

Earthquake History of Arizona, according to United States Geological Survey,

The earliest documents which describe Arizona earthquakes were those recorded at Fort Yuma, located in the 1800’s on the California side of the Colorado River. Shocks which probably centered in the Imperial Valley of California, or in Mexico, have been noted there since late 1852.

No earthquake in recorded history has caused deaths or injuries in Arizona. In the past century or more, 14 tremors of intensity V to VII have centered within its borders, of which 12 were reported after Arizona entered the Union in February 1912. All of these shocks, however, were moderate in intensity, with one intensity VII, one VI-VII, four VI, and eight V.

News station KPHO reports that Historical data kept by the USGS establishes this earthquake one of the most powerful in Arizona history. In July of 1959 a magnitude 5.6 quake struck along the Arizona-Utah border. A rockslide at Mather Point in the Grand Canyon was attributed to the shock, according to the USGS.

In other quake news,
Magnitude of quake off south Atlantic islands revised to 6.9; tsunami threat ‘does not exist’

A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the far south Atlantic ocean in the inhospitable South Sandwich Islands region, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Sunday. The USGS, which monitors quakes worldwide initially said the quake was of magnitude 7.1, but later revised its strength downwards. It also slightly revised the epicentre’s location. The quake, which struck at 7.52am, had an epicentre 154km north-west of the uninhabited Visokoi Island, and 1,975km east-south-east of Stanley, the main city on the Falkland Islands, the USGS reported. The epicentre was at a depth of 16.5km.

6.2-magnitude quake hits off Japan’s Iwo Jima

TOKYO: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the Japanese island of Iwo Jima on Sunday, said the US Geological Survey. The quake was situated 167km east-southeast of Iwo Jima, which is part of Japan’s Volcano Islands chain. Japanese broadcaster NHK there was no threat of a tsunami resulting from the earthquake.

Oklahoma continues to be seismically active, as does other parts of the United States where it seems that earthquakes don’t or shouldn’t be happening. This is the USGS 7-day earthquake map view.

Here is a closer-in view. My memory may well be flawed, but I don’t remember seeing so many “dots” sprinkled all over the US. This view is of the last week.

He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; (Job 9:5-6)

Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. (Psalm 18:7)

Posted in arizona, desert, mystery, purple spheres

From the weird files: ‘They’re out of this world!’: Mysterious purple spheres found in the desert spark speculation

The look like they simply landed in one spot, appearing out of nowhere. And they’re pretty. Of course the Daily Mail has the story, along with great pictures.

‘They’re out of this world!’: Mysterious purple spheres found in the desert spark speculation
“Tuscon locals are baffled by the appearance of thousands of tiny, purple sphere that have appeared in the middle of a desert. Geradine Vargas and her husband discovered the strange collection Sunday while on a walk. ‘We were taking photos around the area and we just…. I mean, how could you miss this?’ Geradine said. ‘It was just like glittering in the sun.’ ‘It’s just one of those things that you’ve never seen before.’

“It’s just one of those things that you’ve never seen before”? Really? Ho-hum, here is something weird and unprecedented and oh yah, it’s just one of those things?

That’s where we’re at. Weird things happen so often we say, oh well, here is another one. Like when the mysterious creatures washed up on a Hawaii beach and no one, even biologists, had ever seen them before. They were purple too, looked like pea-sized crabs. In that story about the Oahu mystery creatures, it was reported,

“The south shore of Oahu is being invaded by something strange from sea, that even has sand crabs running for cover. “It’s the first time I’ve seen this, I’ve never seen it before,” says beach goer Bruce Kuwana. “It’s really weird, it looks like you want to eat it like a little berry,” says beach goer Sonya Lake. “There are probably millions I’d say,” says beach goer Scott Paddock.”

In the Tuscon Arizona purple spheres mystery, the mound was completely isolated from the rest of the terrain.

Here is the Arizona media’s reporting on the purple desert spheres if you want to read the local angle on it.

Weird and interesting! I think the earth is so complex and beautiful. Who knows what there is left to be discovered. I know that Marine biologist Bob Ballard was surprised to have discovered the underwater vents deep in the ocean that sustained life- not by photosynthesis but by chemistry. There is so much we don’t know, but when we are glorified and in New Jerusalem with Jesus, perhaps we will know so much more about the earth and all that is in it!

Posted in apocalypse, arizona

UPDATED–Arizona haboob dust storms: rare, or regular?

UPDATE: Saturday July 21 there was a dust storm (AKA haboob) in the Phoenix Arizona area. There is another one going on in Phoenix now, July 23, 2012. It was a quickly developing storm that took weather forecasters by surprise. The photo immediately below does not depict the July 21 storm.

Monday aft. dust storm

In learning that the average amount of these dust storms are two to three for any given summer season, the tally as of this moment is currently five. Just 12 hours ago it was four. Freak weather happening faster and faster. Today’s storm: (source)

 ————————–end update—————————-

On July 21, 2012, a massive dust storm hit Arizona. There are dramatic photos and videos of this storm event making the rounds on the internet. The July 21 storm was particularly harsh, and it knocked out power to thousands. These storms are called haboobs, from an Arabic word that means ‘blown.’ Winds can reach up to 50 miles an hour, and can obscure visibility to nothing in a matter of seconds. They can last a few minutes or up to three hours. The photos that are posted after the storm hits are often dramatic and eye-catching. Like this one at Huffington Post via AP from July 2011–

I’ve seen these photos for a couple years now. I got to wondering if haboobs are usual or unusual. (Usual). They happen in the summer, during what Arizona strangely calls their monsoon season, from June to September. They occur because there is a huge valley and air gets pushed down and thunder…well, you can read the explanation from a certified meteorologist here if you want.

I wrote about the July 2011 storm, here, in hopefully a straightforward, unspeculative manner. However, that storm, while occurring in normal manner at a normal time of year for haboobs, was especially ferocious. There were elements of that storm that seasoned weather forecasters had never seen before. One meteorologist is quoted in that article,

“But yesterday’s haboob was more like something you’d see in the Middle East or other arid regions around the world, said Ken Waters, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix. It was mind-boggling, just absolutely amazing,” Waters told OurAmazingPlanet. “I’ve been a meteorologist for years and I’ve not seen a wall of dust like that.””

We see prophetic events coming on us faster and faster now. We see the many earthquakes happen and we ask if they are happening more frequently now. (Yes). We see so many volcanoes erupting and we ask if there are more volcanoes erupting now. (Yes). So we always need to place an event in context and look at it from all angles before declaring that a single dust storm may be an omen of the Apocalypse. Are the events being described rare, or regular? Even if the event is common, were there elements of it that were unusual? What do people with knowledge say about the event?

We should do this so that we can share reasonable information with people. And the more reasonable we are the more credibility we’ll have. The more credibility we have, the more (perhaps) a lost person will listen. That is the goal.

Let’s take a look at haboobs of Arizona to see whether there is anything special to remark about.

We have established that haboobs are a regular feature of summer season in Arizona. The next question is, how many haboobs usually occur during the season? The Weather Channel’s Sean Breslin answers the question “Summer Arizona Haboobs: Rare or Regular?” saying that each season the area will see “a couple.” He noted that last year’s July 5, July 18 and August 18 storms were par for the course.

This article says that there are on average about three dust storms per year. OK, so a couple to three.

2012 has already produced four.

May 9, June 26, June 27, and July 21

That is one thing I look at, sheer numbers. Secondly, the haboob season is usually June to September and the first one this year already occurred outside the normal boundaries of the season. Then, look at a particular event to determine if there were unusual things about it. Last year’s July storm was particularly nasty, containing elements that meteorologists have not seen before, such as the height of the dust stretching into the atmosphere. Also the speed of the wind. And third, that storm produced more damage than usual.

This season there have been four already and the season is only half over. Also, there was an unusual event in that two of the haboobs occurred a day apart, back to back. As we go on with summer monsoon season in Arizona, now you have some background to let us know if more haboobs occur, it will be above the norm. It already is.