By Steve Newman - October 16, 1998 - Click on any icon

 

	High Temperature Extreme
	Low Temperature Extreme
	Blazes Threaten Tigers
	Mysterious Bird Deaths
	Earthquakes
	Tropical Storms
	Monserrat Ash Cloud
	Middle East Blazes
	Colombia Ant Attacks

High Temperature Extreme
Atabara, Sudan: 113 degrees Farenheit

Low Temperature Extreme
Vostok (Russia), Antarctica: -102 degrees Farenheit

Blazes Threaten Tigers
Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported that two forest fires raging in the country’s Far East threaten the region’s endangered Siberian tigers.

The fires were racing through the Sikhote-Alin wildlife reserve, about 4,000 miles east of Moscow. The sanctuary is the main breeding ground for the big cats. Only about 450 of the animals exist, down from 1,000 at the turn of the century, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. A fire official in the region said that wind was pushing the fires up the mountains and driving tigers out of their habitat.

Mysterious Bird Deaths
Environmental officials in Mexico are trying to determine why hundreds of migratory birds have died around a lake in the center of the country.

Environment ministry workers have collected about 300 dead birds at Lake Yurria in Queretaro state, according to a report in the daily La Jornada. Boating and fishing have been banned on the lake, located about 125 miles northwest of Mexico City, until the reasons for the large number of deaths is determined. Antonio Muñoz Mosqueda, a state environmental official, said the deaths may have been caused by reduced oxygen in the lake’s water. A drought earlier this year allowed weeds to spread across the lake bed, depleting the oxygen when the organic material decomposed.

Earthquakes
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit the eastern Indonesian province of central Sulawesi, destroying a market and two houses and leaving the walls of scores of homes cracked.

Earth movements were also felt in eastern Taiwan, western Iran, southern Nicaragua and around the Chilean capital of Santiago.

Tropical Storms
Typhoon Zeb lashed Luzon Island in the northern Philippines before taking aim on Taiwan and southern Japan.

The storm cut power in parts of Luzon and caused flash flooding that forced thousands from their homes. Three people died in southern Taiwan when they were swept out to sea by heavy surf generated by Zeb. Tropical storm Alex was weakened just to the east of Zeb as outflowing winds from the typhoon caused the storm to sheer apart.

Montserrat Ash Cloud
A huge mushroom cloud of ash darkened the sky over the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat as the volcano's interior partially collapsed, sending hot rocks and gas down its flanks.

The collapse was caused by the natural cooling of material that had built up inside the volcano rather than increased volcanic activity.

Authorities had recently allowed residents to return to devastated communities on the island to clean up the massive deposits of ash left from the last two years of eruptions and rebuild. It is still believed that the Soufriere Hills Volcano is entering an extended period of dormancy.

Middle East Blazes
Ongoing summertime heat and drought across the Middle East sparked the worst wildfires in the region’s history, but some of the blazes were intentionally set.

Fires which began around the Israeli port of Haifa spread northward into Lebanon, burning near 85 percent of that country’s pine forest and destroying several homes. Some of the fires caused mines to explode in abandoned mine fields in Israel, as well as in areas where they were buried during Lebanon’s civil war. Five Arab youths confessed to starting some of the forest fires in northern Israel to avenge police aggression against Arab demonstrators during a recent land dispute.

Colombian Ant Attacks
A particularly tough and aggressive strain of red ants has destroyed nearly 10,000 acres of crops in Colombia.

Called “crazy ants” by farmers in Santander and Boyaca provinces, the ants are especially hard to kill because they make their nests under stones and branches and beneath the tiles of farmhouse roofing. Beyond the crops already destroyed, the ants threaten to consume another 100,000 acres of farmland. Many of the region’s farmers, powerless to protect their land from the insect invasion, have abandoned their properties. The ants also attack animals, clinging to their nostril hairs and often causing death by asphyxiation.

Additional Sources: Japan Meteorological Agency, U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.