I ended dropping out of a three-day snow training course at Lake Tahoe over spring break but Mary went. It turned out that the heavy work load I had in the beginning of the semester had tapered off by early March. I could have gone afterall, but the California Sierras got a big four-day storm that would have made my drive back to southern Arizona treacherous with flooding in the PHX area.
Mary loved the training although that last day the group she was with had to hunker in their tents to stay warm; there were white outs and below zero temps.
Another thing I am noticing is the increase in seismic activity in the Hawthorne, NV area. Although most temblors are registering around 3 on the Richter scale, there have been a few 4s and today even a 4.4 temblor. Even the UNR Seismology Laboratory is making note of the quakes; that area started quaking gently in January but now the tension seems to be building up gradually. When I asked on the yahoo! JMT forum if quakes were ever an issue on the JMT (I'm thinking large boulder slides, passes crumbling or avalances) hikers on the forum seemed to just blow me off as an alarmist non Californian and I let the subject drop. Apparently the hikers on that forum prefer to talk about what wheat brand makes the best tortilla...
http://www.seismo.unr.edu/
Mag Date y/m/d Local Time h:m:s Latitude deg Longitude deg Depth km Location
3.1 2011/04/14 05:05:56 38.381N 118.748W 13.5 19 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.0 2011/04/14 04:58:08 38.380N 118.746W 13.9 19 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.1 2011/04/13 15:59:19 38.382N 118.737W 16.6 19 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
4.2 2011/04/13 15:16:08 38.386N 118.742W 15.4 19 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.6 2011/04/13 15:15:20 38.379N 118.752W 12.0 20 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
4.4 2011/04/13 15:10:08 38.371N 118.748W 13.1 20 km (13 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
3.3 2011/04/12 18:57:03 38.294N 116.426W 4.0 13 km ( 8 mi) NNW of Warm Springs, NV
3.3 2011/04/10 18:05:00 38.375N 118.739W 6.0 20 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
3.0 2011/04/10 17:31:09 38.384N 118.745W 12.4 19 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
4.2 2011/04/10 17:22:21 38.379N 118.735W 13.8 19 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
4.0 2011/04/10 17:21:16 38.374N 118.739W 15.3 20 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
3.5 2011/04/10 17:20:17 38.363N 118.741W 9.4 20 km (12 mi) WNW of Qualeys Camp, NV
3.3 2011/04/10 17:13:11 38.337N 118.746W 10.2 19 km (12 mi) W of Qualeys Camp, NV
3.5 2011/04/10 16:06:00 38.374N 118.741W 9.7 20 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
3.0 2011/04/10 16:02:16 38.373N 118.738W 10.1 20 km (12 mi) SSW of Hawthorne, NV
4.1 2011/04/16 02:46:32 38.286N 118.221W 10.6 11 km ( 7 mi) WNW of Tonopah Junction, NV
ReplyDelete4.0 2011/04/15 11:21:31 38.391N 118.753W 10.0 19 km (12 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
4.0 2011/04/15 10:24:25 38.395N 118.742W 15.9 18 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.9 2011/04/15 10:06:38 38.400N 118.734W 15.6 17 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
4.3 2011/04/15 06:33:55 38.395N 118.735W 12.8 17 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.2 2011/04/15 06:17:57 38.399N 118.732W 15.3 17 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
3.4 2011/04/15 00:41:23 38.403N 118.730W 15.5 16 km (10 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
I had mentioned these recent quakes to my husband. He told me that these new quakes have seismologists worried in the Nevada area as allegedly they are along a newly-noted faultline. I haven't been able to find a link that talks more about this faultline, though. The increase in 4-level quakes has me concerned, and an increase in even stronger ones would have me very worried.
ReplyDeleteApparently there was a similar swarm of such quakes two years ago in the same area. Seismologists then were also warning residents of Reno to be prepared for "the big one" after a 4.6 quake hit. As I write this another quake registering 4.6 occured near Hawthorne at 5:45pm local time.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24321836/ns/us_news-life/
3.3 2011/04/16 18:19:25 38.343N 118.850W 0.0 20 km (13 mi) NE of Bodie, CA
3.6 2011/04/16 17:57:50 38.362N 118.740W 14.6 20 km (12 mi) WNW of Qualeys Camp, NV
4.1 2011/04/16 17:55:46 38.369N 118.728W 13.2 19 km (12 mi) WNW of Qualeys Camp, NV
4.6 2011/04/16 17:45:37 38.394N 118.735W 15.4 18 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV
Things seem to have quieted down in the last few days. Although it's still shaking around Hawthorne, NV, most of them now are registering below 3 on the Richter scale. The following in the lone exception since the 16th:
ReplyDelete3.3 2011/04/17 21:43:02 38.418N 118.755W 2.7 17 km (10 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV