Earth Changes · Daily Report · October 13, 2026, 11:58 PM CDT
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 12 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, Panama at 5:56 p.m. UTC on Oct. 9, about 13 km (≈8 miles) below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey reports[1]. The USGS PAGER system rates the expected impact ORANGE. It is the strongest earthquake tracked by the USGS this week, with active aftershocks continuing across the region.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Simon is churning in the eastern Pacific with top winds near 110 mph and a central pressure of 965 millibars, moving west at 2 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.[2]
Elsewhere, GDACS, the UN-backed global disaster alert system, issued a Red alert: Red notification for tropical cyclone TRUDY-26. Population affected by Category 1 (120 km/h) wind speeds or higher is 0.823 million .[3]
Today at a Glance
- 21 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater, the largest M6.8
- 2 active tropical systems: Hurricane Simon, Tropical Storm Trudy
- 60 severe or extreme U.S. weather alerts
- 4 U.S. volcanoes above normal, including Great Sitkin, Kilauea
- 1 sinkhole report 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 Simon (eastern Pacific): top winds near 110 mph, moving west at 2 mph. Latest advisory.[2]
- Tropical Storm Trudy (eastern Pacific): top winds near 45 mph, moving northwest at 10 mph. Latest advisory.[2]
Across the United States, the National Weather Service has 60 alerts rated severe or extreme in effect.[4]
| Alert | Number | States |
|---|---|---|
| Flood Watch | 16 | AK, KS, MO, OK, TX |
| Flood Warning | 11 | FL, GA, KS, SC |
| Freeze Warning | 11 | AZ, CA, CO, ID, ND, NV and more |
| High Wind Watch | 8 | CA, NM, TX |
| Flash Flood Warning | 5 | OK, TX |
| Fire Weather Watch | 2 | CA |
| Red Flag Warning | 2 | CA |
| Storm Warning | 2 | PK |
| Freeze Watch | 1 | NM |
| Heavy Freezing Spray Warning | 1 | PK |
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 notification for tropical cyclone TRUDY-26. Population affected by Category 1 (120 km/h) wind speeds or higher is 0.823 million .[3]
- Orange: Volcanic eruption is on going for Kanlaon in Philippines[6]
Video: AccuWeather, October 13, 2026 — “Hurricane Simon Eye Path: Where It Hits Mexico Next”. Matched to this report by the storm, volcano or place name in its title.
2. Earthquakes
The USGS recorded 21 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past 24 hours.[7] The strongest:
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.8 | central Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Oct. 13, 12:23 p.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 6.7 | central Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Oct. 13, 5:44 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 6.0 | 126 km S of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea | Oct. 13, 6:45 p.m. UTC | 21 km | GREEN |
| 5.3 | 122 km S of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea | Oct. 13, 2:36 p.m. UTC | 19 km | — |
| 5.3 | southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Oct. 13, 8:38 a.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
| 5.1 | 93 km NNW of Coquimbo, Chile | Oct. 14, 12:30 a.m. UTC | 22 km | — |
| 5.1 | 119 km S of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea | Oct. 13, 4:28 p.m. UTC | 28 km | — |
| 5.0 | 98 km NW of Coquimbo, Chile | Oct. 14, 12:36 a.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
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:[8]
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.7 | 12 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, Panama | Oct. 9, 5:56 p.m. UTC | 13 km | ORANGE |
| 6.6 | 14 km W of Río Grande, Panama | Oct. 9, 8:25 p.m. UTC | 10 km | YELLOW |
| 6.0 | 7 km N of La Tronosa, Panama | Oct. 10, 4:14 a.m. UTC | 10 km | YELLOW |
| 5.8 | 1 km S of El Cacao, Panama | Oct. 9, 6:37 p.m. UTC | 10 km | YELLOW |
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 within the summit crater continues.[9] |
| Kilauea | Watch / Orange | Multiple overflows and low fountaining occurred from the north vent over the past 24 hours. Kīlauea’s summit remains at a high level of pressurization with changes in eruptive activity or location within the summit region possible.[10] |
| Ahyi Seamount | Advisory / Yellow | No plumes seen in satellite images; no significant geophysical signals.[11] |
| Shishaldin | Advisory / Yellow | Low-level unrest continues.[9] |
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:
- Chennai, India: The Cool Down reports, “A road collapse in Chennai, India thankfully ended without reported injuries after a car dropped into a sinkhole on Old Mahabalipuram Road near Tidel Park.”[12]
Also in the News
Other natural-hazard video from the past day, from news organizations:
Video: Al Jazeera English, October 14, 2026 — “Indonesia forest fires blanket Southeast Asia in toxic haze”. Also in the news. Picked because its title names a natural hazard; it may not be covered in the data above.
Video: NBC News, October 13, 2026 — “Why Kimberly Guilfoyle Resigned; Food Pantries Struggle with ‘A Perfect Storm’ of Hunger – Oct. 13”. 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.
“After holding steady for the past 18-24 hours, Simon is re-intensifying. The eye of the hurricane has become distinct, and deep convection is more intense and symmetric around the eye. The initial intensity has been increased to 95 kt near a Dvorak classification from TAFB. Although Simon’s peak winds appear to have increased significantly, the hurricane remains tiny. The hurricane- and tropical-storm-force winds are estimated to only extend up to 10 and 30 n mi from the center, respectively.”
— Forecaster Cangialosi, National Hurricane Center, on Hurricane Simon[13]
“The track forecast is difficult and uncertain, with higher than normal spread in the guidance from 72 h onward. The initial motion of Trudy is northwestward (320/9 kt), and a general northwestward to west-northwestward motion is forecast through 72 hr as the cyclone is steered by a mid-level ridge over the southern United States. As previously stated, the track forecast is more uncertain than usual by 72 h as Trudy arrives into a region with weak steering flow between the retreating mid-level ridge and an approaching trough over the western United States. The deterministic global models are significantly slower than the HFIP Corrected Consensus Aid (HCCA), Google DeepMind (GDMI), the European Centre’s AIFS, and the AI-GFS. The new track forecast closely follows HCCA and GDMI, which have been the best-performing track forecast aids this season. Compared to the previous forecast, the new NHC track is faster and nudged east of the previous one, especially at and beyond 72 h. This brings Trudy inland over western Mexico later this weekend with the cyclone emerging in the southern Gulf of California by early next week. If Trudy tracks farther inland over western Mexico, the circulation may not survive and rapidly dissipate inland. Regardless of the exact track, Trudy is expected to approach the coast of Mexico as a major hurricane later this week.”
— Forecaster Mahoney, National Hurricane Center, on Tropical Storm Trudy[14]
“Scattered severe storms capable of large hail and severe gusts are expected this evening into tonight over parts of the central and southern Plains into the Lower Missouri Valley. Isolated large hail may also occur in the southern Great Lakes.”
— Forecaster Broyles, NOAA Storm Prediction Center[5]
“Lava continues to erupt slowly within the summit crater of Great Sitkin Volcano. A few small earthquakes were detected in the past day. No activity was observed in mostly cloudy webcam and satellite images over the past day.”
— Alaska Volcano Observatory, on Great Sitkin[9]
“Just before 11:30 a.m. HST, the north vent began to vigorously dome fountain for nearly an hour feeding a flow that extended almost a kilometer from the vent. This was the longest and most vigorous dome fountain since September 30.”
— Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, on Kilauea[10]
“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[15]
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.[16]
- 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.[17]
- Earthquakes: Drop, Cover and Hold On.[18]
- 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; tropics: nhc.noaa.gov
- Worldwide disasters: gdacs.org
References
- USGS, M7.7 12 km WSW of Pitaloza Arriba, Panama event page earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, active storms data nhc.noaa.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. ↩
- GDACS event page gdacs.org. ↩
- 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. ↩
- Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Kilauea notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Northern Mariana Islands, Ahyi Seamount notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- The Cool Down, In India, a car plunges into a sinkhole after a busy road caves in, and 2 people escape thecooldown.com. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, Simon forecast discussion nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, Trudy forecast discussion nhc.noaa.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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