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4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4 King James Version God saved Portland from being decimated by one of the deadliest fires Oregon has ever seen. If not for the winds miraculously changing from easterly to westerly and soon bringing the rains it is very possible much of Portland would have burned to the ground. It is inconceivable why the Lord saved Portland other than he will not take the righteous with the wicked, but there is no other explanation than God for how this miracle happened. Oregon has over a half a million...

The curve where Amtrak Cascades 501 derailed Dec. 18, killing three people, was identified years ago as an obstacle to Washington state’s dream of creating high-speed rail. The corridor between Lakewood and Nisqually “includes unsuitable sharp curvature,” said the state’s long-range plan, written in 2006. “A new connection, largely on structure because of differences in elevation, with a speed limit of one hundred mph will be required.” Even with $800 million in Obama administration stimulus money, Washington state didn’t rebuild it. The state’s stimulus contracts, released through a public-records request, show the state made no promises to change the curve,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An initial review of the data recorders and cameras on board the Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont on Monday suggests the train was going 78 mph in the moments before impact -- nearly 50 miles over the speed limit at that location -- and that the crew realized the speed was too high moments before, the NTSB announced Friday. Among the preliminary review, investigators concluded that the crew was not observed to be using any electronic devices before the crash, and that six seconds before impact, the engineer made a comment about going too fast. Investigators...

The man, who provided a full name but chose to remain anonymous, told Cryptozoology News that the encounters have been happening since 2009 in a remote area in the North Cascades. “Sometimes it is just 5 to 10 minutes, other times they stay for hours,” he said. “I leave them food and they visit,” he continued. From apples to carrots, to beef jerky, cookies and candy bars, the ex-law enforcement officer claims the creatures eat it all and leave him alone. The man says he was looking for an old mine in the mountains the first time he came across...

I've been to the Pacific NW a few times, and Mount Adams has always fascinated me. It's very prominent from Mount Saint Helens, and the face of the mountain is dominated by a deep opening which harbors Adams Glacier. The funny thing is, very few pictures of the mountain give a good impression of the side with the glacier. Anyway, here's a couple views of it. I didn't realized that Mount Adams is the second-highest peak in Washington State after Rainier. Adams Glacier This one shows it, but it's lower resolution that I would like. This one is pretty good....

I was looking for some pictures of the dome collapse on Montserrat that happened on the 22nd, but there isn't much, apparently. What with Merapi and Montserrat, I've been doing too much with pyroclastic flows. For some reason, I remembered a picture of the Mauna Ulu eruption (the one before the 20-year long and still going Pu'u O'o eruption), of a big lava flow that looked like a waterfall. Below is a small version; click it and go to the page where you can download a TIFF version (if you have Quicktime installed, it will load for display in your...

If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it. Living on the west side of the Cascade mountains not far from Seattle I am accustomed to seeing Kerry/Edwards signs practically everywhere.My husband and I went to the Puyallup Fair which is one of the largest in the country and draws thousands. Under the grandstand there were the Democrat and Republicans booths handing out yard signs, stickers etc. After spending all day and night at the fair I can tell you that 8 out of 10 fair goers who were making a political statement were either wearing or...

At approximately 10 a.m. yesterday (Tuesday, March 23), an ongoing swarm of small earthquakes began in the Three Sisters volcanic center in the central Oregon Cascade Range. This activity poses no immediate threat to the public. As of this morning, the regional seismic network has detected approximately 100 earthquakes ranging in magnitude up to about 1.5. The rate of earthquakes peaked late yesterday and appears to be declining slowly. The earthquakes are occurring in the northeast part of an area centered 5 kilometers (3 miles) west of South Sister volcano in which the ground has been uplifted by as much...

A 100-square-mile area around the South Sister is being thrust upward by an inch or two each year - too slow a change to be noticed in the course of a human lifetime, and too minute a motion to seem like more than a curiosity. But the uplift is occurring, as The Register-Guard's Karen McCowan reported in an Oct. 26 article, and it provides yet another reminder that our landscape is in a state of dramatic and potentially dangerous flux. From a geologist's point of view, an upthrust of an inch or two a year is a big deal. Over...

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week Bonus: Hot Kilauea Action!

The ongoing Kilauea eruption has been relatively lacking in photogenic action for a few weeks, but over the weekend there was a diversion in the main lava flow that resulted in some striking images. My favorite is below; go to the source site for more.