M6.2 - 34km SSE of Palmerston North, New Zealand

2014-01-20 02:52:45 UTC

Depth. 28km

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000m4i4#summary

Map shows location of Christ Church where a 7.1 was experienced about 3 yrs ago. 185 lives lost and a great deal of damage. Some geologists state that a new Faultline is tearing the island connecting from Christ Church to the faults in the image below.

The next couple of days look interesting with a weak clipper moving across the area and some Lake Enhancement to go along with it. After the synoptic snows pass to the east a rather favorable LES snow event will set up for NE IL and NW Indiana. The 12Z NAM shows the band develop in Lake County, IL and slowly move SE and into NW Indiana. Eastern Cook/Will may be in line for a Lake Effect Snow Warning for 6 plus inches of pure Lake Effect. Even Lake County, IL may get in the band for a while and may need at least an Advisory.

Mars is turning out to be a mystery after all. Although to my eyes it appears it pushed up from below. The circle in the first picture may be a clue to that.

http://www.universetoday.com/108225/the-rock-that-appeared-out-of-nowhere-on-mars/

During last night’s celebration at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of ten years of the Mars Exploration Rovers, mission principal investigator Steve Squyres shared several stories about the exploration and discoveries made by the rovers Spirit and Opportunity since they landed on Mars in 2004. An intriguing recent mystery is a strange rock that suddenly appeared in photos from the Opportunity rover in a spot where photos taken just 12 sols earlier showed no rock.

“One of the things I like to say is that Mars keeps throwing new things at us,” Squyres deadpanned.