Hurricane Raymond has been upgraded to a Category 3 storm in the Pacific Ocean, as it drifts slowly northward toward Mexico's southwest coast. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center say it could gain more strength in the next day or so before it begins to weaken.

As of Monday morning, the Hurricane Center said that Raymond had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, with stronger gusts recorded. The storm at a 2-mph pace from its current location about 165 miles west-southwest of Acapulco. As of this morning, it was some 100 miles from the coast.

The storm is threatening an area that is still recovering from Tropical Storm Manuel, which that were blamed for dozens of deaths one month ago.

More on: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/21/239047083/hurricane-raymond-strengthens-as-it-moves-toward-mexico-in-pacific?ft=1&f=103943429&utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprnews&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=twitter

By: USGS

www.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

43 earthquakes

    5.4 113km NNE of Thang, India 2013-10-20 15:45:05 UTC-04:00 75.3 km

    4.6 27km S of Inarajan Village, Guam 2013-10-20 15:30:05 UTC-04:00 51.7 km

    4.8 25km NNW of Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea 2013-10-20 15:24:18 UTC-04:00 77.8 km

    5.1 55km WSW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea 2013-10-20 14:48:08 UTC-04:00 71.6 km

    3.7 98km SW of Anchor Point, Alaska 2013-10-20 14:44:32 UTC-04:00 36.2 km

    2.6 15km SSW of Guanica, Puerto Rico 2013-10-20 14:32:58 UTC-04:00 4.0 km

    3.4 42km SSE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic 2013-10-20 13:50:10 UTC-04:00 76.0 km

    2.7 32km WNW of Valdez, Alaska 2013-10-20 12:17:17 UTC-04:00 3.6 km

    4.2 9km E of San Pedro Amuzgos, Mexico 2013-10-20 09:17:57 UTC-04:00 34.8 km

Earthsky.org - 10/20/13

The Orionid meteors are expected to produce the greatest number of meteors tonight, especially in the dark hours before dawn tomorrow morning (Monday, October 21).

The meteors look like streaks of light in the night sky. They’re sometimes called shooting stars. Unfortunately, in 2013, the waning gibbous moon will drown out all but the brightest Orionid meteors.

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Theextinctionprotocol, 10/19/13

October 17, 2013 – MONTANA – All across the U.S., moose are dying – and scientists yet don’t know how to save them. Moose populations across swaths of the U.S. – from the West Coast to the East Coast, from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River – are declining at an unprecedented rate, imperiling fragile ecosystems and putting the moose tourism industry on edge, the New York Times reported. But though scientists have a long list of culprits – disease; climate change; over-hunting – it’s not clear just what is causing moose to die in droves. And that means that scientists are at the moment unsure how to save America’s moose. Once, moose made headlines for doing a bit too well in the U.S. As the largest members of the deer family, Cervidae, blooming moose populations meant more accidents on rural, mountain roads, and more reports of moose attacks against humans. But the news has changed. In New Hampshire, the moose population has dropped from some 7,000 moose to around just 4,600 animals.

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Volcano Discovery Saturday Oct 19, 2013 09:05 AM | BY: T

The large ash plume from Klyuchevskoy drifting east over Kamchatka this morning (Terra satellite image)

Erupting Klyuchevskoy this morning (KVERT webcam)