Lorenzo Strengthens to Hurricane Off Mexico's Gulf Coast

VERACRUZ, Mexico — Lorenzo strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane off Mexico's Gulf Coast Thursday and was expected to make landfall early Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Officials issued a storm warning from Palma Sola to Cabo Rojo, canceled classes and set up shelters as steady rain drenched the coastline of Veracruz state. No evacuations were immediately planned, however.

At 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) Thursday, Lorenzo was centered about 75 miles (125 kilometers) east-southeast of Tuxpan in Veracruz and was moving westward at 6 mph (9 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. It had top sustained winds near 75 mph (120 kph). The storm was forecast to hit land near Tuxpan in six to 12 hours, the center said.

‘Super typhoon’ heads for China’s financial hub

SHANGHAI - A powerful typhoon targeted China’s booming eastern province of Zhejiang and financial hub Shanghai on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands of people as ships and boats were called back to port.

Typhoon Wipha was 270 miles southeast of the former foreign treaty port of Wenzhou in Zhejiang at 3 a.m. GMT. With gusts of up to 123 miles per hour, it was moving northwest at 12 miles per hour, Xinhua news agency said, putting it on a course to skirt Taiwan.

“East China, including the commercial hub of Shanghai, is preparing for what may be the most destructive typhoon in a decade,” the agency said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829511/

'Honk, Honk': Weatherman Pretends to Squeeze, Lick Digital Breast

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=5582

Tropical Storm Ingrid forms over Atlantic

MIAMI (AFP) — Tropical Storm Ingrid emerged over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, becoming the ninth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season, the US National Hurricane Center said. With winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, Ingrid was about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles, a chain of popular tourist islands, the center said.

Ingrid was moving west-northwest at about nine kilometers (six miles) per hour. "A small increase in strength is possible during the next 24 hours," the center said in a bulletin at 11 pm Thursday (0300 GMT Friday).

Several hours earlier, the third hurricane of the Atlantic season, Humberto, formed over the Gulf of Mexico before striking the southeast Texas coast with category one force, the lowest strength in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. At least one person died.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gx07s2WODe8etQx96VNQ1s0QSU2g

Humberto could bring more than 10 inches of rain

Tropical Storm Humberto rapidly spun into existence off the Texas coast Wednesday and forecasters said the system poses a dangerous flooding threat to the Greater Houston area as it moves inland Thursday.

The National Hurricane Center advised that once ashore, the slow-moving Humberto could drop 5 to 10 inches of rain across much of Southeast Texas, with isolated totals of 15 inches or more.

There was also concern about forecast models that suggested a lack of steering currents in the atmosphere might cause the system to stall, or even move northward and then loop back toward Houston, as happened with Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5128029.html

Second major earthquake, 7.8, hits Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The second powerful earthquake in as many days shook western Indonesia Thursday, collapsing buildings in a coastal city and triggering tsunami alerts around the region.

The latest quake was also felt in Malaysia and in Singapore where tall buildings swayed.

Rafael Abreu, a geologist with The U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado, said the magnitude-7.8 quake did not appear to be an aftershock to Wednesday's 8.4-magnitude temblor.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20737622/

Tropical Storm Warnings Issued for Texas, Louisiana Coasts

MIAMI — A tropical storm warning was issued Wednesday for parts of the Texas and Louisiana coasts as a tropical depression intensified in the Gulf of Mexico.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the ninth tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and its center was about 85 miles south-southwest of Galveston, Texas, forecasters said.

It was moving toward the north near 6 mph, and its center was expected to cross into Texas later Wednesday between Port O'Connor, Texas, and Cameron, La. Forecasters expected it to become a weak tropical storm with sustained winds of about 45 mph.

About 5 to 10 inches of rain was expected along the middle and upper Texas coast and in southwestern Louisiana, with some areas possibly getting as much as 15 inches, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm when its sustained winds reach 39 mph. The next name on the National Hurricane Center's list for the 2007 Atlantic storm season is Humberto, followed by Ingrid.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296555,00.html

Powerful earthquake rocks Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A massive earthquake shook Indonesia on Wednesday, killing seven people, injuring 100 and triggering a small tsunami that hit one city on the island of Sumatra, authorities said. Tsunami warnings were issued for much of the Indian Ocean region.

The 8.2-magnitude quake off Sumatra badly damaged buildings along the coast and could be felt in at least four countries, with tall buildings swaying as far as 1,200 miles away.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, the strongest of which registered at a magnitude of 6.6 and triggered a second tsunami alert for Indonesia, the meteorological agency reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20737622/

California Heat Wave Ends With a Death Toll Near 25

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 — A week of excessively high temperatures has ended in Southern California after causing more than 20 deaths and sporadic power failures.

State officials confirmed on Thursday that five people had died statewide from heat-related causes. Coroners’ reports placed the death toll closer to 25.

Last year, the state experienced one of its deadliest heat waves, with at least 140 deaths, the highest since 1955.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/us/07heat.html

Typhoon Fitow Kills Two; Weakens Over Northern Japan

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Fitow killed two people in Japan before weakening over the northern island of Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said today.

The storm still carries heavy rain and wind gusting to 82 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) as it moves toward the Sea of Okhotsk at 25 kilometers an hour, the agency said. As much as 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain may fall along Pacific Ocean coastal areas by midnight local time, triggering flash floods in some areas, the agency said.

Fitow was blamed for the death of a 50-year-old construction worker caught in a landslide at a dam site in Fukui Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, last night, Kyodo News reported. A 76-year-old man was killed by a falling tree soon after the storm made landfall Sept. 6. A 52-year-old man was missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, while at least 60 people had storm-related injuries, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its Web site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoSQdJ6EE.20&refer=home

Felix Strengthens to Category 2 Hurricane

ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Felix gathered strength and became a Category 2 hurricane early Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was forecast to pass just north of the Dutch Caribbean island.

Felix was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening, becoming the second Atlantic hurricane of the season. By early Sunday, it had sustained maximum winds of about 100 mph.

A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were in effect for the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

In Aruba, about 20 miles off the coast of Venezuela, a line of jittery residents and hotel employees snaked through a hardware store in the capital of Oranjestad to purchase supplies.

"This kind of weather doesn't usually make it to Aruba, so people are definitely worried," said store cashier Mark Werleman.

At 2 a.m. EDT, Felix was centered about 45 miles northeast of Bonaire and 145 miles east of Aruba and was moving westward at about 18 mph, the hurricane center said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295475,00.html