Although Costa Rica has not been affected yet by Hurricane Matthew and is expected to only receive an indirect effect, Costa Rica's National Emergency Commission (CNE) declared green alert for the South Pacific and Caribbean, heavy rain is expected as of Saturday night and throughout the weekend specially in the counties of Corredores, Osa, Golfito, Coto Brus, Buenos Aires and Pérez Zeledón. If yo...

AUSTRALIA CLIMATE CHANGE Australia's oceans. Sydney, Sept. 27 — As climate change leads to the warming and acidification of water, the males of a marine crustacean species in Australia will become more attractive to the females of that species, according to a study published Tuesday. A group of researchers studied the behavior of the herbivorous amphipod, Cymadusa pemptos, that inhabit the...

By Wendy Anders Image of the Turrialba Volcano at night posted to the Ovsicori-UNA Facebook site by a reader this week. When Costa Ricans are tired of washing their cars, you know it's bad! After days of ash from the Turrialba Volcano settling over most of San José, Costa Rica's greater metropolitan area, one Facebook user said he was fed up, and was giving up trying to keep his car clea...

By Wendy Anders Nicaraguan school children evacuated after 5.5 quake. This morning at 10:48 local time, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck Nicaragua in La Paz, a small town in the province of León, north of Managua. Electricity was out in La Paz Centro, and schools in the surrounding region, including Managua were evacuated and closed after the quake, reported Nicaragua's El Nuevo Diario....

By Wendy Anders An eruption at 9:10 p.m. yesterday of Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano was still in progress before midnight when the Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute at the National University (Ovsicori-UNA) made their last update. Readers from throughout Heredia posted comments on the Ovsicori-UNA website about finding significant ash deposits on patios and rooftops this morning...

By Wendy Anders Sept. 22 early morning eruption of Turrialba Volcano. Starting at about 3:20 a.m. and lasting for a solid four hours this morning, researchers at Costa Rica's National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (Ovsicori-UNA), reported that the Turrialba's eruptive column reached 2,000 ms above the highly active volcano's crater. Winds have been carrying t...

By Wendy Anders Karina Córdoba posted this beautiful image of the Turrialba Volcano, taken from Alajuela, on the Ovsicori FB page. The feather of white color indicates the presence of water vapor and gases. After a brief end to a recent 25-hour eruption yesterday afternoon, Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano started spewing ash again. The National University's Volcanology and Seismology Rese...

By Wendy Anders 11:30 am eruption of Turrialba Volcano, Sept. 19, 2016. Ovsicori-UNA Cartago province’s Turrialba Volcano, which neighbors the densely populated San José, Costa Rica metropolitan area, had four intense eruptions yesterday, Monday, September 19, emitting abundant clouds of ash and spewing incandescent rocks. The eruption continued throughout the night and during all of today,...

By Wendy Anders Facebook photo of NatureAir plane at Pavas airport. Workers have been scrambling to clear ash from Costa Rica’s main international airport, the Juan Santamaría (SJO). Runways, landing strips and outdoor accesses to the boarding gates were cleared sufficiently by 12:05 p.m. today to allow for the airport to be opened, reported aviation officials to the press. Civil Aviatio...

By Wendy Anders 11:30 am eruption of Turrialba Volcano, Sept. 19, 2016. Ovsicori-UNA Costa Rica's main international airport near the capital city of San José is scheduled to reopen today, Tuesday, September 20, at 11:00 a.m., said Gabriela Hernández in the airport operations department. All passengers with flights this morning should contact their airline directly to find out details re...

By Wendy Anders Turrialba Volcano eruption on September 17, 2016, Ovsicori-UNA. This morning's 11:30 Turrialba Volcano eruption was estimated to have reached 4,000 ms above the volcano's crater, and another apparently similar eruption which is still underway hours later, began at around 3:34 this afternoon, reported the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (Ov...

Updated on Monday, September 19. By Wendy Anders Source: OVSICORI The Turrialba Volcano is in a new phase of eruptive activity, reported the National Costa Rican University’s Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (Ovsicori-UNA) today on their Facebook page. Starting last Tuesday, September 13 volcanic tremors have been recorded daily. These have caused plumes of 100 - 400 mete...

We all feel it, here in Costa Rica the days are hotter, hotter than a year ago and way hotter than five or ten years back. According to the National Meteorological Institute (IMN in Spanish) Costa Rica registered during 2015 between 1.1° and 2.3° C higher than the average registered temperatures; in December of 2015 San Jose registered a temperature of 30.8°C (87.44°F) breaking the record for this...

Managua, Sept. 15 - A 5.9-magnitude earthquake has hit the Pacific coast of Nicaragua close to three volcanoes, the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER) said Thursday. The temblor stuck at 23:57 p.m. local time on Wednesday (5:57 GMT) at a depth of one kilometer, three kms to the north of El Hoyo volcano, in Las Paz Centro municipality, León province, the institute said. So f...

Bogotá, Sept. 14 - At close to 9:00 pm last night in the northwest Colombian state of Antioquia, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck, reported the Spanish news agency EFE. No damages or casualties were reported in Antioquia’s populous capital city of Medellín nor in areas near the epicenter, according to Colombia’s Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management (DAGRD in Spanish). T...

By Wendy Anders Starting at about 2:00 a.m., Costa Rica's highly active Turrialba Volcano sent up a column that was mainly gas and vapor, with a minimal amount of ash, reported the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (Ovsicori-UNA). The colossus has been lying low for over a month after, after over the past year having had several strong eruptions that have co...

MIAMI, Sept. 7  -- At least two people have died due to Tropical Storm Newton, which is spreading heavy rains into Arizona and New Mexico on Wednesday after making landfall as a hurricane in Mexico's mainland. A shrimp boat capsized in the Gulf of California amid rough seas. At least two people died and three others were missing. BBC News reported that officials said the five people ignored war...

By Wendy Anders This morning at 7:02 am, 8 miles northwest of Pawnee in northern Oklahoma, U.S. near the Arkansas River, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake was registered by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program. Only one injury was reported by a man who was hit by bricks falling from a chimney inside his home, said The Oklahoman, Oklahoma’s daily. One building lost its brick facad...

By Wendy Anders  Coincidentally, as I sat down to report on this morning's 5.6 magnitude Oklahoma, U.S. quake, I was rocked by the 5.3 magnitude quake that was just registered 15 km north of Domincal, Quepos, in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Over 100 Facebook comments were posted on the Dominical quake in the first 10 minutes after it was posted on the Ovsicori site. It was felt str...

02/09/2016--18:36 GMT  Miami, Sep 2.- Residents of northern Florida could breathe a mild sigh of relief after reports that Hermine, which made landfall in that state early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane and is still a tropical storm threatening the rest of the U.S. Southeast, did not leave more victims or damage in its wake. In a brief statement to the media, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said a h...

An electrical storm has caused the deaths of 323 reindeer living in a national park in southern Norway, authorities announced Monday. The animals' corpses were found Friday night by a ranger at Hardangervidda National Park in a small area with a diameter of between 50 and 80 meters (164 and 262 feet). "It is something very unique. I've heard of cattle killed by lightning before, but never in...

Two weeks after eight people were rushed to the hospital due to lightning strikes at the main airport of Costa Rica, tourists visiting the Fraijanes lakes sector of Alajuela were also affected by a strong discharge of atmospheric electricity. The incident, which was reported on Saturday by Roger Soto of daily tabloid Diario Extra, took place in the early afternoon hours. A man and a woman were ...

PublicDomainPictures.net Hurricane Earl has so far caused 45 deaths in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla, making it the country's deadliest storm in three years as tropical storm Javier is expected to target Mexico's Baja California Sur on Tuesday, the authorities informed today. The national Civil Protection coordinator of the Ministry of the Interior, Luis Felipe Puente, said at a...

A river in Costa Rica Three tourists from the United States, including a little boy, were mortally caught in a flash river flood near Hacienda Guachipelín, one of the most luxurious and exclusive country resorts of Costa Rica. According to a news report recently filed by Manuel Estrada of daily tabloid Diario Extra, four relatives were enjoying a pristine swimming spot at the river located ...

By Wendy Anders Source: NOAA Recent stormy conditions will start to clear today as Hurricane Earl touches land in Belize and heads into the Yucatán Peninsula, reported the Costa Rican Meteorological Institute (IMN) today. The storm began weeks ago as a wave off the coast of Western Africa. The hurricane’s effects in Costa Rica were like those of a tropical storm, due to the storm’s indir...

The Turrialba on May 5. OVSICORI A series of powerful eruptions by the hyperactive Turrialba volcano have left the Central Valley of Costa Rica coated with ultra-fine ash, prompting savvy street merchants to offer surgical masks at busy pedestrian intersections in the capital city. Street sales of surgical masks have been brisk in San Jose ever since the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish i...

Pixabay Commons Caracas, May 1 (EFE).- The Venezuelan government on Sunday moved local time up 30 minutes, to four hours behind UTC, with an eye toward dealing with the emergency caused by the ongoing severe drought. The time change will enter into effect as of May 1 and brings Venezuela back to the time schedule that prevailed until 2007, when the government shifted the nation's clocks bac...

Panama Canal Panama City, Mar 22 (EFE).- The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, said it would impose new draft restrictions on ships starting April 18 due to a severe drought affecting two artificial lakes that feed the interoceanic waterway. "The maximum allowable draft will be 11.89 meters (39 feet)," the canal's administrator said in a statement Monday. The "temporary and preventative" m...

Wikimedia Commons The current drought conditions experienced in various regions of Costa Rica may extend well into May and early June; however, substantial rainfall may cause floods and landslides once the green season takes hold. According to a recent press conference conducted by the National Meteorology Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: IMN), the 2016 green season will feature h...

East Africa Drought of 2011. Wikimedia Commons By Maria M. Mur Los Santos, Panama, Jan 28 (EFE).- A stretch of the Mensabe River near the village of Peñablanca was a popular swimming spot for Panamanian families just one year ago, but a devastating drought has changed the situation dramatically and transformed that waterway into a rocky path to nowhere. Like the Guarare and the Perales, ...

New York, Dec 24 (EFE).- The temperature in New York soared to more than 70 F (21 C) on Thursday, the warmest Christmas Eve on record in the Big Apple, and is expected to climb even higher later in the day, U.S. media reported. The previous mark was set in 1996, when the mercury rose to 63 F (17 C), according to American broadcast TV network NBC. Record-high temperatures also are expected on...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Santa’s going to have more help delivering packages this year than just Rudolph’s very shiny nose. The universe is giving us all a gift that we don’t even need to unwrap: a full moon on Christmas Eve. This phenomena is called the Yule Moon, or the Full Cold Moon, and it’s the first time since 1977 that this has happened, 38 years ago. NASA predicts...

Wikimedia Commons La Paz, Dec 18 (EFE).- The government of the western Bolivian province of Oruro issued a declaration of natural disaster Saturday after learning that Lake Poopo, the second largest in the country after Titicaca and which once covered more than 4,600 sq. kilometers (1,780 sq. miles), has almost dried up. Oruro Gov. Victor Hugo Vasquez enacted a law that declared it a natura...

Paris, Dec 12 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Representatives at a U.N. climate summit outside Paris on Saturday approved the first-ever universal agreement to combat global warming, a deal that commits nearly 200 developed and developing nations to jointly transition to a low-carbon economy. At 7:26 p.m. local time, the president of the COP21 climate conference, French For...

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs At the Paris Climate Conference (COP21), Costa Rica has taken on a leadership role, which has not gone unnoticed by attendees and the international press. The presence of delegates from Costa Rica is lead by Chancellor Manuel Gonzalez, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affair, and by Chief United Nations Climate Affairs Negotiator Christiana Figueres. L...

The final week of November welcomes the formal arrival of the dry season to Jaco Beach, one of the premier leisure and relaxation destinations of Costa Rica. According to a recent press conference held by the National Institute of Meteorology (Spanish initials: IMN), the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica is no longer transitioning out of the green (rainy) season, and residents of Jaco Beach shou...

Wikimedia Commons Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct 24 (EFE). - Patricia, which weakened quickly after making landfall in Mexico as a fearsome Category 5 hurricane, caused no casualties and only minor damage, authorities said Saturday in a preliminary report. "There were some regrettable accidents ... a road accident, a fallen tree, but no major incidents," Communications and Transportation Secretar...

Source: NOAA Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct 23 (EFE). - Thousands of residents and tourists on the Pacific coasts of the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit were evacuated as landfall approached for Hurricane Patricia, described as the most powerful tropical system in history. National emergency management office chief Luis Felipe Puente told media that since Thursday the evacuation of ...

Hurricane Joaquin. Source: NOAA Miami, Oct 5 (EFE).- The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday that the cargo ship El Faro most certainly sank after it sailed from Florida last week with 33 people aboard, then suddenly disappeared east of the Bahamas when it entered the area struck by Hurricane Joaquin. At a press conference in the Miami suburb of Opa-locka, Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said that "w...

Guatemala City, Oct 4 (EFE).- Rescue teams resumed searching on Sunday for victims of the mudslide in a community outside Guatemala City that killed at least 87 people and left 350 others missing, emergency management officials said. The search resumed at 6:00 a.m., Sergio Cabañas, the national emergency management office's coordinator on the scene, told EFE. The national emergency managemen...