A floating island of debris at least three times the size of Great Britain is aimed for the California coastline.
The debris, all from the 2011 tsunami in Japan, is composed of destroyed homes and businesses, cars and boats. While some pieces of debris have washed up on the California shore starting in 2012, scientists expect this giant wave of debris to hit the coastline at the same time.
In addition to the debris, the giant island is bringing potentially destructive non-native ocean life and radioactive water.
Oceanographers say that marine life non-native to the U.S. west coast usually dies as it crosses the Pacific Ocean because of most shipping routes. However, the path of the debris has kept to water temperatures that would allow some species to survive. If the marine life is able to adapt to the California coast, scientists are concerned it could be devastating to the native life.
NOAA says that so far 1,600 debris reports have been conclusively linked to the tsunami.
Mexico’s Baja California is preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Octave.
The storm is expected to approach the peninsula’s western coast on Tuesday according to the National Hurricane Center. Octave has sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, which has decreased from Sunday night.
The Mexican government has issued a tropical storm warning for the southwestern Baja California coast.
Forecasters are expecting up to 8 inches of rain along the coastline and are predicting a storm surge that will be “large and destructive.”
The storm comes on the heels of two major storms last month that triggered mudslides and other storm damage that left about 150 people dead.
The USDA has issued a public health alert for raw chicken packed at three California based Foster Farms locations after 278 people have been sickened with salmonella. Continue reading →
Most of the University of California Berkeley campus has regained power after an overnight explosion blacked out campus buildings. Continue reading →
An explosion tore through a building on the UC Berkeley campus Monday evening, injuring some people and forcing a campuswide evacuation, officials said.
The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California, now the 6th largest in state history, has firefighters using a new method to help fight the flames: a National Guard Predator drone.
The drone will fly over the fire 22 hours a day and provide real time photos to fire commanders about the fire’s progress and possible hot spots. Continue reading →
A Democratic California Assemblywoman’s bill would allow nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants to kill babies via abortion if signed by California’s Democratic governor Jerry Brown. Continue reading →
An uncontained wildfire in Riverside County is burning toward the desert as officials say their efforts have been hampered by overnight winds.
The fast-moving fire has burned more than 6,000 acres of land and destroyed 15 structures near Banning, California. Three people have been injured by the flames and hundreds have been forced to flee. Continue reading →
High temperature records continue to fall in California’s Death Valley as a massive heat wave continues to make the western part of the U.S.
The National Park Service confirmed a high temperature of 129.9 on Sunday, a new record for the hottest day anywhere in the U.S. in June. Continue reading →
In Furnace Creek, California, the temperature was 122 in the shade.
According to weather forecasters, that’s not even close to a high temperature.
Forecasters are predicting a world-record high temperature coming to Death Valley, California of 130 degrees a deadly heat wave is raving the western part of the U.S. Continue reading →