Earth Changes · Daily Report · October 24, 2026, 4:31 AM CDT
Hurricane Vance is churning in the eastern Pacific with top winds near 110 mph and a central pressure of 965 millibars, moving north-northwest at 7 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.[1]
Meanwhile, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 223 km ENE of Nagqu, China at 8:39 a.m. UTC on Oct. 24, about 10 km (≈6 miles) below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey reports[2]. It was one of 46 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past day.
Elsewhere, GDACS, the UN-backed global disaster alert system, issued a Red alert: Red earthquake (Magnitude 7M, Depth:18km) in China.[3]
Today at a Glance
- 46 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater, the largest M6.9
- 1 active tropical system: Hurricane Vance
- 50 severe or extreme U.S. weather alerts
- 4 U.S. volcanoes above normal, including Great Sitkin
- 3 sinkhole reports in the news
Could not be reached for this edition: Smithsonian weekly volcano report.
Where It’s Happening
Numbered pins match the list under the map. Storm and quake pins are the agencies' reported centers; sinkhole pins mark the town named in the report. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
1. Extreme Weather
Tropical storms and hurricanes
- Hurricane Vance (eastern Pacific): top winds near 110 mph, moving north-northwest at 7 mph. Latest advisory.[1]
Across the United States, the National Weather Service has 50 alerts rated severe or extreme in effect.[4]
| Alert | Number | States |
|---|---|---|
| Blizzard Warning | 2 | AK |
| Flood Warning | 18 | AZ, CO, FL, GA, NM, UT |
| Coastal Flood Warning | 9 | CA, FL, GA |
| Flood Watch | 6 | CO, NM, TX, UT |
| Freeze Warning | 6 | CA, ID, NJ, OR, PA, WA |
| High Wind Warning | 4 | AK |
| Winter Storm Warning | 3 | AK |
| Storm Warning | 2 | PK |
Blizzard Warning issued October 23 at 9:32PM AKDT until October 24 at 7:00AM AKDT by NWS Fairbanks AK (Kivalina and Red Dog Dock; Lower Kobuk Valley; Baldwin Peninsula; Northern Seward Peninsula): “* WHAT…Blizzard conditions. Additional snow accumulations up to 3 inches.”
Blizzard Warning issued October 23 at 12:44PM AKDT until October 24 at 7:00AM AKDT by NWS Fairbanks AK (Western Arctic Coast): “* WHAT…Blizzard conditions expected. Total snow accumulations up to three inches.”
The Storm Prediction Center says its highest risk level for severe thunderstorms today is slight, on a scale that runs marginal, slight, enhanced, moderate, high.[5]
Around the world, GDACS, the global disaster alert system run by the United Nations and the European Commission, lists these Orange or Red alerts from the past two days:
- Red: Red earthquake (Magnitude 7M, Depth:18km) in China 22/10/2026 14:33 UTC, 10 thousand (in MMI>=VII).[3]
2. Earthquakes
The USGS recorded 46 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past 24 hours.[6] The strongest:
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9 | 197 km WNW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 2:31 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 6.3 | 170 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 2:35 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.9 | 196 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 8:56 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.8 | 182 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 5:23 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.8 | 203 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 4:12 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.7 | 205 km NW of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 4:05 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.7 | 61 km WNW of Leni, Italy | Oct. 23, 10:19 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.5 | 55 km NNE of Port-Olry, Vanuatu | Oct. 24, 6:43 a.m. UTC | 195 km | GREEN |
PAGER is the USGS estimate of likely deaths and damage: GREEN means little or none expected, RED means extensive. A dash means none was issued.
Earlier this week: The USGS is also continuing to monitor ongoing aftershocks and impacts from significant earthquakes recorded over the past seven days:[7]
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0 | 191 km ENE of Nagqu, China | Oct. 22, 2:33 p.m. UTC | 18 km | ORANGE |
3. Volcanoes
In the United States, 4 volcanoes are above normal background activity, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s observatories:
| Volcano | Alert / aviation code | Latest word from scientists |
|---|---|---|
| Great Sitkin | Watch / Orange | Slow eruption of lava continues within the summit crater associated with low-level seismicity.[8] |
| Ahyi Seamount | Advisory / Yellow | Plumes of discolored water seen in satellite imagery; no significant geophysical signals.[9] |
| Kilauea | Advisory / Yellow | The Halema'uma'u eruption of Kīlauea is currently paused after episode 55 fountaining ended on October 17. Summit reinflation continues today and the preliminary forecast for episode 56 fountaining is between October 29 and November 5, 2026.[10] |
| Shishaldin | Advisory / Yellow | Unrest continues with small earthquakes, tremor, and gas emissions.[8] |
Alert levels run Normal, Advisory, Watch, Warning. Aviation codes run Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.
4. Sinkholes
No government agency publishes a live national sinkhole feed, so these come from today’s local news:
- LebTown reports, “A sinkhole will close a section of Colebrook Road, state Route 241, in North Cornwall Township for about a week starting Monday, Oct. 26, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Friday.”[11]
- nationalenquirer.com reports, “Nicolas Cage‘s wife Riko Shibata is trying to keep the actor calm as a giant sinkhole threatens to swallow up his $10.5 million Malibu mansion, a source tells the National Enquirer.”[12]
- Lancashire Telegraph reports, “A large 'sinkhole' has appeared in the middle of a road in Bacup, Images and videos show a large and deep hole in Stubbylee Lane, prompting safety concerns from residents.”[13]
Also in the News
Other natural-hazard video from the past day, from news organizations:
Video: NBC News, October 24, 2026 — “Severe flooding hits Colorado after heavy rain”. Also in the news. Picked because its title names a natural hazard; it may not be covered in the data above.
Video: ABC News, October 24, 2026 — “Destructive storms in Southwest trigger urgent rescues”. Also in the news.
5. What the Experts Say
These are the words of the scientists and forecasters who watch these hazards for a living, quoted exactly.
“Satellite imagery indicates that Vance's convective structure has changed little during the past several hours. The eye remains ragged and intermittently obscured by clouds, surrounded by deep convection within the eyewall where cloud-top temperatures are around -75 C. Recent microwave imagery revealed a slight northward tilt of the vortex, reflecting the persistent moderate southerly vertical wind shear. A 0353 UTC Metop-C scatterometer pass helped refine the analyzed wind radii. Subjective Dvorak and objective intensity estimates remain in the 90 to 100 kt range. Given these estimates and the relatively steady satellite presentation, the initial intensity is held at 95 kt.”
— Forecaster Gibbs, National Hurricane Center, on Hurricane Vance[14]
“Severe wind/hail and a tornado are possible across portions of New Mexico and far west Texas today.”
— NOAA Storm Prediction Center[5]
“The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.”
— U.S. Geological Survey, “Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate,” on the region around the M6.9 quake[15]
“Minor growth of the active lava dome within the summit crater was observed in satellite imagery over the past week. The southeast lava lobe is not advancing but lava continues to flow into it. The south flank of the dome is moving slowly southward and generating occasional small rockfalls.”
— Alaska Volcano Observatory, on Great Sitkin[8]
“Small plumes of discolored water were seen in the ocean above Ahyi on October 16 and 21 this past week. Discolored greenish water was visible drifting several hundred meters from the summit of Ahyi. These plumes are likely associated with degassing and hydrothermal activity at the summit of the underwater volcano.”
— Northern Mariana Islands, on Ahyi Seamount[9]
“Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or other rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big.”
— U.S. Geological Survey Water Science School, on why sinkholes form[16]
How to Prepare
- Keep a basic kit: water (one gallon per person per day for several days), food, a battery or hand-crank radio, a whistle, a dust mask and phone chargers.[17]
- Get alerts: Wireless Emergency Alerts need no sign-up; the FEMA app, NOAA Weather Radio, the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and the USGS Volcano Notification Service are free.
- Floods: Turn Around, Don’t Drown. Six inches of moving water can knock you down, and one foot can sweep a car away.[18]
- Earthquakes: Drop, Cover and Hold On.[19]
- Download the checklist: Be Ready: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Extreme Weather and Sinkholes (PDF), with today’s active hazards first.
How to Verify This Yourself
- Earthquakes: USGS Latest Earthquakes map
- U.S. volcanoes: USGS Volcano Hazards Program; world: Smithsonian weekly report
- Weather alerts: weather.gov/alerts; tropics: nhc.noaa.gov
- Worldwide disasters: gdacs.org
References
- National Hurricane Center, active storms data nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- USGS, M5.3 223 km ENE of Nagqu, China event page earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- GDACS event page gdacs.org. ↩
- National Weather Service, active alerts API api.weather.gov. ↩
- NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Day 1 Convective Outlook spc.noaa.gov. ↩
- USGS, M4.5+ earthquakes, past day (real-time feed) earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- USGS, Significant earthquakes past week (real-time feed) earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- Alaska Volcano Observatory, Great Sitkin notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Northern Mariana Islands, Ahyi Seamount notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Kilauea notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- LebTown, Sinkhole to close Route 241 near Rocherty Road roundabout for about a week lebtown.com. ↩
- nationalenquirer.com, Nicolas Cage Is ‘So Stressed’ as Massive Sinkhole Threatens to Swallow $10.5 Million Malibu Mansion nationalenquirer.com. ↩
- Lancashire Telegraph, Large, deep 'sinkhole' appears on Lancs lane prompting safety concerns lancashiretelegraph.co.uk. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, Vance forecast discussion nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- USGS Geoserve, tectonic summary earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- USGS Water Science School, Sinkholes usgs.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Build a Kit ready.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Floods ready.gov. ↩
- Ready.gov (FEMA), Earthquakes ready.gov. ↩
Methodology: this report is assembled automatically each morning from the live data feeds of the USGS, the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, the Storm Prediction Center and GDACS, plus same-day news reports for sinkholes. No AI writes it: the sentences are fixed templates filled with that data, and every quote is copied exactly from the source it is credited to. Data can change after publication; follow the links for the latest.
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