Each hurricane season brings a what is known as a wave train of tropical depressions generally forming in the south Atlantic off the African coast. This season south Atlantic waters are exceptionally warm, with the result that the wave train is unusually active. Right now, Irma and Jose are active and a tropical storm behind Jose is expected to become Hurricane Lee next week.
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At 9:22 local time last night, an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale struck southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. At least 30 people have been killed and many structures leveled. The quake was felt as far north as Mexico City where skyscrapers swayed. The quake was centered off Mexico’s southern coast. The epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean, some 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) southeast of the capital and 74 miles (120 kilometers) from the Pacific coast. 23 people have been killed in the state of Oaxaca, 2 in Chiapas and one in Tabasco.
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Automotive and spaceflight entrepreneur Elon Musk issued a series of tweets on September 4th that downplayed the threat posed by the nuclear ambitions of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying that the race to develop more powerful artificial intelligence is more likely to trigger World War III instead.
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An X-9.3 solar flare exploded from sunspot AR 2673 at 1202 UT today, blacking out shortwave over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean as X-rays and UV radiation ionized Earth’s upper atmosphere. The explosion also generated a coronal mass ejection. It is still being modeled by NOAA to determine whether or not it is Earth-directed. According to SpaceWeather.com, this flare ranks as the #14th strongest since 1976.
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