The Big Wobble - look at the pictures

Photo Peru This Week
The new floods and mudslides over the past three days followed a series of other storms, and officials said a total of 62 people have died and 12,000 homes have been destroyed so far this year.
Authorities said they expected the intense rains - caused by the warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean - to continue for another two weeks.
Schools nationwide are suspending classes and in Lima the swelling Huaycoloro river swept away two trucks and threatens to destroy a bridge.
President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said late on Wednesday that authorities were prepared to provide shelter and relief to those left homeless.
So far 2017, has been a bad year for Peru, weather-wise.
Landslides and heavy rains have occurred all over the country, leaving behind many victims.
Over the past few days, heavy rains have hit Peru’s northern area of Lambayeque, causing floods and human losses.

Photo Peru This Week
Fortunately, a brave group of Peruvian army members are now flying over the damaged areas to help citizens.
The Army’s intervention was seen when a soldier rescued minors that were trapped by floods at La Leche River.
Over 210 citizens were also rescued and were taken to safety.
Jorge Nieto, the Peruvian Defense Minister, reports to Andina that Armed Forces and National Police will remain in the area to rescue people, who might have been isolated by the weather event.
Due to an increase in the incidence of natural disasters in Peru, it is a good option to have the Armed Forces playing a larger role in this crisis situation.
Heavy rain and floods have caused devastating problems in many areas of the country, especially in the northern parts of Peru.
The distressing situation that Peru is going through at the moment is bringing economic consequences to the government. According to Peru Reports, so far, the government has allocated over $150 million for national disaster prevention in places like Piura

Stunned residents watched and filmed on mobile phone cameras as Evangelina Chamorro escaped after being swept into an avalanche of mud, wood debris and farm animals, about 53 kilometres south of downtown Lima.
Ms Chamorro, 32, had just dropped her two daughters at school and was feeding her pigs alongside her husband when they were pulled into a landslide.
Armando Rivera, Ms Chamorro's husband, told RPP radio they climbed a tree but the trunk broke. They held on to each other's hands but Ms Chamorro eventually lost her grip and got separated.
She emerged near a bridge, lifting herself from a current of wooden planks and walking toward the shore covered head to toe in mud.
"There's a person there!" an onlooker cried out.
Ms Chamorro collapsed as she reached land and was quickly carried by several men to an ambulance. She sustained only minor injuries.



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A suspected meteor lit up the skies in Gilgit-Baltistan late on Wednesday, leaving residents puzzled and terrified.
Bright light trails could be seen over G-B's skies only for only a few seconds, but the sonic boom that followed some five seconds later was more widely heard.
The 'blasts' could be heard in areas such as Gilgit, Ghizer, Diamer and Skardu at roughly 9:15 am.
"I was near my house when suddenly I saw a bright light in the sky," said Jehangir Naji, a Gilgit-based journalist.
"The light was followed by huge explosions," Naji added.
Shabuddin Ghori, another journalist in Chilas town of Diamer district posted online that the valley heard mysterious explosions after it was seemingly lit up by a star.
Jabir Ali, another resident, said that he saw a light heading towards Gilgit.
The Gilgit Information Department released a statement saying that a large meteorite has passed over Gilgit and Ghizer.
Further, the statement said, the object was travelling very low and illuminated the surrounding areas in the process.
"It broke the sound barrier, causing the 'explosions' heard in all villages from Gilgit to Shandur Top," the statement read. Meteors are pieces of comet or asteroid from outer space that create a fireball as they hit the Earth's atmosphere.
Those that survive the intense heat and friction and reach the surface without breaking up are known as meteorites, and are sought after by scientists for the information they can give information about the early solar system.
It was not clear if the meteor crashed or broke up in the sky.
The terrain between the city of Gilgit and the Wakhan Corridor is extremely remote and home to some of the highest mountains in the world.
There were no immediate reports of any meteor in Afghanistan.
The military released no official statement on the incident, and authorities from Pakistan's space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, could not immediately comment.



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Photo Strangesounds.org
A BBC team and a number of tourists have suffered minor injuries after being caught up in an incident on the erupting volcano Mount Etna in Sicily.
"Many injured - some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises," tweeted BBC science reporter Rebecca Morelle.
Lava flow mixed with steam had caused a huge explosion, which pelted the group with boiling rocks and steam, she said.
About eight people had been injured, with some evacuated from the mountain by rescue teams, she added.
The Catania operation centre of Italy's volcanology institute confirmed that three of its volcanologists had been on the mountain when the explosion took place, and said some had suffered injuries, but gave no detail.
Mount Etna, which is Europe's tallest active volcano, spewed lava up into the sky in the early hours of Thursday morning, for the third time in three weeks.


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The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

LONG RANGE FORECAST from Spaceweather.com are warning of a large coronal hole in the sun's atmosphere and  will swing into geoeffective position during the last week of March. Solar wind flowing from the hole is expected to strike our planet's magnetic field and spark G1- to G2-class geomagnetic storms on March 28-29.
Regular visitors to The Big Wobble will be aware coronal holes are the main earthquake factor.
The dark patches sometimes covering more than half the entire face of the Sun indicate that the interplanetary magnetic field connecting Earth to our Sun will be experiencing huge fluctuations of energy, these huge fluctuations increase then decrease pressure on our planet causing major quakes and often volcanic activity.
The speed of these fluctuations or solar wind is incredible sometimes reaching speeds of almost 1,000 km/second


There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: NASA/SDO. Our Sun is very quiet at the moment; the Sun has been blank from sun spots for 9 straight days. The last time our Sun released an X-class flair was way back on 5/5/2015 as we head towards the Solar Minimum expected to arrive 2019/20, resulting in a period of relative calm on our Sun

However, the absence of sunspots doesn’t mean no space weather to report as the new coronal hole will show.

http://www.spaceweather.com/


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