By: Associated Press, 12/26/2013

LITCHFIELD, Maine — Some homes and businesses from Maine to Michigan and into Canada that have been without electricity since last weekend's Winter Storm Gemini may not get their power back for another day — or longer. Bangor Hydro Electric in Maine is advising people it will be the end of the day Friday before its more than 11,000 customers are back on line. The number has fluctuated as some people get power back while others lose it. The utility said downed trees are the biggest problem facing line crews. "We've had two beautiful, sunny days in Maine and the ice isn't going anyplace," said Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency. "They're very concerned about more weight coming down on trees that are already compromised by ice."

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By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

51 earthquakes

    2.9 8km SSW of Purcell, Oklahoma 2013-12-25 15:55:49 UTC-05:00 5.0 km

    4.1 43km NNW of Kaktovik, Alaska 2013-12-25 15:44:59 UTC-05:00 9.9 km

    2.9 100km NW of The Valley, Anguilla 2013-12-25 13:29:57 UTC-05:00 35.0 km

    2.9 1km SW of San Juan, Puerto Rico 2013-12-25 13:26:43 UTC-05:00 112.0 km

    4.5 5km NE of Serik, Turkey 2013-12-25 13:11:35 UTC-05:00 123.2 km

    4.8 139km NNW of Farallon de Pajaros, Northern Mariana Islands 2013-12-25 11:38:58 UTC-05:00 98.9 km

    4.1 138km SW of Amatignak Island, Alaska 2013-12-25 10:26:21 UTC-05:00 34.9 km

    2.9 81km WSW of Cantwell, Alaska 2013-12-25 09:48:26 UTC-05:00 100.0 km

    2.9 40km SSW of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska 2013-12-25 08:41:11 UTC-05:00 2.4 km

By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

33 earthquakes

    3.3 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 13:56:01 UTC-05:00 0.0 km

    5.3 179km ENE of Tokar, Sudan 2013-12-23 13:44:22 UTC-05:00 10.0 km

    3.0 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 13:36:32 UTC-05:00 1.0 km

    2.7 2km SSW of Coarsegold, California 2013-12-23 13:25:52 UTC-05:00 3.7 km

    3.0 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 13:24:47 UTC-05:00 0.8 km

    3.1 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 13:03:50 UTC-05:00 1.1 km

    5.5 North Atlantic Ocean 2013-12-23 11:45:49 UTC-05:00 3.0 km

    2.5 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 09:18:35 UTC-05:00 2.5 km

    2.6 51km S of Lone Pine, California 2013-12-23 09:03:35 UTC-05:00 0.4 km

By: Tim Radford, 12/23/2013

Photo Credit: Louis Vest/flickr

LONDON – It was only a single, withered conifer needle, but it told a dramatic story of climate change. Glaciologists found it in a set of ice cores drilled through a glacier on top of Mount Ortles, in the Italian Alps. It lay about 80 meters (262 feet) below the glacial surface, encased in solid ice, and carbon dating confirmed that it had blown from the branches of Larix decidua, the European larch, 2,600 years earlier. It was found about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from a far more dramatic exposure: the body of Ötzi the Iceman, a mummified Bronze Age corpse revealed by a melting glacier in 1991. Both finds deliver the same uncompromising message: for at least 5,000 years – because Ötzi perished around that time – the Italian Alps had continued to stay frozen throughout the year. And now they are melting.

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By: Associated Press, 12/23/2013

TORONTO -- A storm system is bringing freezing rain across much of Eastern Canada, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people and wreaking havoc on holiday plans at one of the busiest travel times of the year. "Winter Storm Gemini carried with it an exceptional amount of warmth and moisture by December standards, and where this air mass slid over a shallow cold layer near the ground, a major ice storm broke out over a long swath from Oklahoma to Ontario to New England," said weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. Utility companies said power outages hit more than 400,000 customers in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick as crews struggled to restore service. Roads and sidewalks turned into skating rinks. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is calling it one of the worst storms in the city's history.

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