By: Volcanodiscovery.com, 12/18/2013

Several ash plumes up to altitudes of 27,000 ft (8 km) altitude were spotted by VAAC Tokyo during the past 24 hours, indicating that activity at the growing lava dome in form of explosions and/or avalanches/pyroclastic flows remains elevated.

For more on this story visit www.volcanodiscovery.com

By: Wunderground.com, 12/18/2013

BIG SUR, Calif. — Firefighters were expected to get some help Wednesday from the weather as they battle an unusual late fall wildfire that has destroyed more than a dozen homes and forced about 100 people to flee the scenic Big Sur region overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Winds were expected to be calm during the day, and there's a minimal chance of rain.

The slow-moving fire in Los Padres National Forest near state Highway 1 had consumed 769 acres, or a little over a square mile, by Tuesday night and was 20 percent contained. Full containment was expected by late Friday. It has destroyed 22 buildings, Los Padres National Forest spokesman Lynn Olson said. About 14 of those structures were homes, she said. No injuries have been reported. Mark Nunez, the incident commander of the team fighting the fire, said 829 firefighters had deployed to the area, and thus far, weather has been working in their favor.

For more on this story visit www.wunderground.com

ABC, By: Jacob Kagi, 12/18/2013

The sweltering conditions experienced by much of the southern Wheatbelt and south-east coast has broken several records, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Newdegate, Lake Grace, Ravensthorpe and Esperance are among the towns to have broken records during the heatwave over recent days, while the Wheatbelt town of Hyden has been one of the worst affected, suffering four straight days of 41 degrees or higher.

Esperance set the most notable record yesterday, breaking its previous mark for the hottest ever December day. It recorded a top of 45.3 degrees at 1.23pm, beating the previous mark of 44.9 degrees set on December 29, 2009. It was an astonishing 24.8 degrees above the town's maximum temperature just five days earlier. Newdegate and Lake Grace both recorded three consecutive December days with maximum temperatures above 40 degrees from Saturday to Monday, for the first time.

For more on this story visit www.weatherzone.com.au

Exopermaculture, By: Ann Kreilkamp, 12/17/2013

If ever there is a more natural time to go within for meditation, it is now, during the darkening of the light, leaning towards the hallowed day when the Sun appears to stop, turn, and then move forward again, to gift us in the northern hemisphere with more and more light and warmth in the days, weeks, months ahead.

And if ever there is a more exquisitely timed need for meditation it is now, at the end of 2013, fully one year past the time when we were to have completed the Mayan Calendar and started over again. And perhaps we have. Only, with cycles so long, the beginning, yes, does seem endlessly prolonged, and still confusedly intermingling with the dragging out of the old end . . .

ABC, By: Lucy Barbour, 12/17/2013

An early childhood school in Canberra is giving drought-affected farmers a big Christmas present this year. It raised more than $500 to buy hay bales for graziers in far west New South Wales and in Queensland. About 350 children from the Southern Cross Early Childhood School have dressed up as farmers for the day and brought along a gold coin donation as part of the 'buy a bale' initiative.

The school's principal, Jennie Bailey, says the idea came about after a colleague showed her photographs of bare paddocks in Roma, in Queensland. "They were just absolutely barren, with no feed for the cattle or the horses," she said. "And then we saw this 'buy a bale' day come up and we thought, 'What a fantastic way to support our Aussie, Australian fellows'." Ms Bailey says the response from the school community has been "overwhelming".