Earthquake and volcanic eruption predictions

As predicted in my book "Weather and Bible Prophecy," I see increasing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on a global scale between now and 2025 as the sun goes into a 200-year cycle of "dimming" with far less sunspots than normal.

The last such "dimming" occurred in the early 1800s. It was called the 'Dalton Minimum.' Two hundred years before that, in the 1600s, there was the 'Maunder Minimum' of sunspot activity, when it was so cold in England that annual fairs were held on the frozen Thames River dividing the city of London.

Remember, by the end of this decade, I still see ALL-TIME RECORD WINTER SNOWFALLS across the northern portions of the country, including the Inland Empire. Stay tuned.

Within the past several months, we've heard about many earthquakes occurring in areas that normally do not report them. States like Michigan, Oregon, Washington and Texas have reported small tremors this year. North-central Oklahoma has been reporting small quakes on a daily basis, which may be due to the oil and gas industries' drilling and disposal of billions of barrels of water underground.

In the Inland Northwest, there have been a number of very small earthquakes, including four in North Idaho on April 24 that were less than 4.0 magnitude.

Nepal's massive 7.8 earthquake on April 25 was the largest this year. More than 8,500 people have died from the massive jolt and subsequent aftershocks. This disaster is now the deadliest in that country's history. There was another 7.8 earthquake near Japan on May 30.

Scientists are watching Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island as a series of earthquakes may signal a new lava eruption or explosion. There have been as many as 20 to 25 quakes per hour from this volcano that has been continuously erupting for many years.

Scientists are also monitoring a large blob of warm water off the West Coast that may be, in least in part, the result of underwater volcanic eruptions or thermal vents. For example, three hundred miles off the Oregon coast, the Axial Seamount Volcano was likely erupting. It's the most active submarine volcano in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The volcano previously erupted in 2011 and in 1998, the time of the largest El Nino in history. By the way, we now have at least a 'moderate' El Nino event which could reduce next year's snowfall totals. More on that in the coming weeks.

Based on long-term averages, there are an estimated 1.3 to 1.4 million earthquakes across the globe each year. The vast majority are so small that they are not felt.

Earthquakes registering 4.0 to 4.9, there have been a little less than 5,000, compared to an annual normal of 13,000. For quakes measuring 5.0 to 5.9, there are normally 1,319 and only 585 have been reported this year. For a magnitude 6.0 to 6.9, the average for each year is 134. Up to June 5, there have been 55 earthquakes in that range. For a 7.0 to 7.9, the USGS normally reports about 15 major earthquakes per year. In 2015, there have been 8. For a magnitude 8, there is an average of 1 per year. We have yet to see one that high for 2015. It was originally thought that the Japan earthquake in late May was over an 8, but the magnitude was reduced to a 7.8.

Despite the fact that the overall earthquake numbers are currently near to below normal for 2015, we've seen a big increase in activity in recent weeks. We'll just have to wait and see what happens for the rest of this year. As usual, only time will tell.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

One of the strongest June storms in at least 120 years pounded the Coeur d'Alene area late Monday evening and early Tuesday morning.

More than two inches of rain fell in an eight-hour period ending at 4 a.m. on Tuesday at my weather station on Player Drive in northwestern Coeur d'Alene. The Coeur d'Alene Airport in Hayden gauged a whopping 2.19 inches of precipitation.

The heaviest downpour, accompanied by a brief power outage and gusty winds, occurred between 8:45 and 9:05 p.m. on Monday when a record .67 inches of rain fell in just 20 minutes at my station.

Many basements were flooded including one in Hayden owned by the "Paint Man," Dennis Williams. There were lowland floods throughout the region. Roads flowed like rivers. One could have taken a canoe down my street around 9 p.m. on Monday evening when the deluge was peaking. For many local residents, it brought back memories of late May deadly flooding in Houston. But our flooding was minor. There were no deaths and only limited amounts of property damage across North Idaho.

The 'good news' from this tremendous thunderstorm was that it ended a moderate drought situation that had been building up locally after a particularly warm and dry spring of 2015. In fact, we received more rain in just eight hours late Monday and early Tuesday than normally falls during an entire month of June, 1.92 inches.

Our annual precipitation since Jan. 1, as of this Friday, June 5 writing, stood at 14.10 inches, nearly two inches above the normal year-to-date rainfall total since 1895 of 12.30 inches. Last year's total precipitation as of June 5, 2014, was a far above normal 17.94 inches.

Looking down the meteorological roadway, I see more thunderstorms developing on the back side of each 90-degree plus heat wave. But, they should be of short duration of a 'hit and run' nature.

In other words, folks, it looks like another mostly dry and warm-to-hot summer season ahead under a stationary ridge of high pressure camped over the so-called Inland Empire for weeks on end.

I'll have more details on the fast-approaching summer of 2015 in next week's 'Gems' column.

We had our first 90-degree day of the season on Sunday, when the temperature hit 90 at 3:04 p.m.

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com