Weather, Natural Disaster | featured news

A 1-meter tsunami was confirmed by instruments near the Solomon Islands after an 8.0-magnitude quake, said a Pacific Tsunami Warning Center geophysicist.

The U.S. Agriculture Department cited drought and heat on Wednesday in designating 597 counties in 14 states as primary natural disaster areas.

An enormous storm system that dumped snow and sleet on the nation's midsection and unleashed damaging tornadoes around the Deep South has begun punching its way toward the Northeast, slowing holiday travel.

The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year pounded the southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday and about 40 people were dead or missing, media said, after the storm destroyed homes and brought down power and communication lines.

The 2012 hurricane season has come to an end and it's another one for the record books, above and beyond the destruction of Sandy. There were 19 named storms in what meteorologists consider an above-average year that tied as being the third most-active season since 1851. The season runs from June 1st to November 30th, although tropical storms can and do sometimes develop outside those dates.

A strong earthquake struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Sunday, collapsing a bridge and a gold mine, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving as many as 12 people feared dead.

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake struck eight miles west of Whitesburg, Ky., early Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. There were no immediate reports of damage.

A strong earthquake off the coast of Guatemala on Wednesday shook buildings in Guatemala City and San Salvador and was felt as far away as Mexico City, Reuters witnesses said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Residents in New York and New Jersey on Wednesday braced for the arrival of a nor’easter expected to pelt the region with more rain, high winds and coastal flooding even as the Superstorm Sandy recovery is underway.

Tens of thousands of people in New York state whose homes were damaged by storm Sandy could soon need housing as cold weather arrives, politicians warn.