Earth Changes · Daily Report · November 5, 2026, 6:30 AM CST
The National Weather Service has 52 severe or extreme alerts in effect, led by 30 flood warnings across AZ, CO, FL, IA and more.[1]
Meanwhile, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 19 km NNW of Masumbwe, Tanzania at 9:22 a.m. UTC on Nov. 5, about 10 km (≈6 miles) below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey reports[2]. It was one of 5 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past day.
Elsewhere, Great Sitkin volcano is at alert level WATCH (aviation color code ORANGE), the Alaska Volcano Observatory says. Its latest update: “Slow eruption of lava within the summit crater continues.”[3]
Today at a Glance
- 5 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater, the largest M5.1
- 52 severe or extreme U.S. weather alerts
- 3 U.S. volcanoes above normal, including Great Sitkin, Kilauea
- 3 sinkhole reports in the news
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
The National Hurricane Center is tracking no active tropical storms.[4]
Across the United States, the National Weather Service has 52 alerts rated severe or extreme in effect.[1]
| Alert | Number | States |
|---|---|---|
| Flood Warning | 30 | AZ, CO, FL, IA, LA, MO and more |
| Storm Warning | 13 | PK |
| Heavy Freezing Spray Warning | 4 | PK |
| Flash Flood Warning | 2 | GA, TN |
| High Wind Warning | 2 | AK |
| High Wind Watch | 1 | MT |
The Storm Prediction Center says no severe thunderstorm areas are forecast today.[5]
2. Earthquakes
The USGS recorded 5 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past 24 hours.[6] The strongest:
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 19 km NNW of Masumbwe, Tanzania | Nov. 5, 9:22 a.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
| 5.0 | 111 km W of Petrolia, CA | Nov. 5, 4:56 a.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 4.8 | Sea of Okhotsk | Nov. 5, 10:09 a.m. UTC | 554 km | — |
| 4.6 | south of the Fiji Islands | Nov. 4, 9:24 p.m. UTC | 502 km | — |
| 4.5 | 2 km W of Chinandega, Nicaragua | Nov. 4, 7:55 p.m. UTC | 159 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.
3. Volcanoes
In the United States, 3 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.[3] |
| Kilauea | Watch / Orange | Intermittent lava flows have continued from the north vent over the past day. High fountaining remains a possibility today or anytime within the next few days.[7] |
| Ahyi Seamount | Advisory / Yellow | No signs of unrest in satellite data; no significant geophysical signals.[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:
- King of Prussia, Pennsylvania: CBS News reports, “Route 202 in King of Prussia reopens after months of sinkhole repair work, PennDOT says Part of Route 202 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, has reopened following extensive roadwork that affected businesses and residents for months.”[9]
- Law360 reports, “Driver Sues Pittsburgh Over Truck-Swallowing Sinkhole A Texas truck driver whose vehicle was partly swallowed by a sinkhole in Pittsburgh has sued the city and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority in Pennsylvania state court over injuries…”[10]
- WVTM Channel 13 reports, “'A little bit homeless': Nicolas Cage says a sinkhole swallowed his home 'A little bit homeless': Nicolas Cage says a sinkhole swallowed his home Actor Nicolas Cage has said he's "currently a little bit homeless" due to a sinkhole that has opened up under part of his Malibu home.”[11]
Also in the News
Other natural-hazard video from the past day, from news organizations:
Video: ABC News, November 5, 2026 — “Possible shark spotted swimming in Florida floodwaters”. Also in the news. Picked because its title names a natural hazard; it may not be covered in the data above.
Video: Al Jazeera English, November 5, 2026 — “Brazilian airport torn apart by violent storm”. 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.
“Severe storms are unlikely today and tonight.”
— NOAA Storm Prediction Center[5]
“The East African Rift System (EARS) is a 3000 km long Cenozoic age continental rift extending from the Afar Triple Junction between the horn of Africa and the Middle East, to western Mozambique. Segments of active extension occur from the Indian Ocean west to Botswana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the only rift system in the world that is active on a continent-wide scale, providing geologists with a view of how continental rifts develop over time into oceanic spreading centers like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.”
— U.S. Geological Survey, “Seismotectonics of the East African Rift System,” on the region around the M5.1 quake[12]
“Lava likely continues to erupt slowly within the summit crater of Great Sitkin Volcano. A few small earthquakes were detected at the volcano over the last day. Clouds obscured other satellite and webcam views of the volcano.”
— Alaska Volcano Observatory, on Great Sitkin[3]
“Lava flows have occurred intermittently over the past day from the north vent. Summit inflation that continued through most of yesterday shifted to deflation around 3 a.m. this morning. Seismic tremor at the summit is elevated with fluctuations in tremor associated with the beginning and end of lava overflows.”
— Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, on Kilauea[7]
“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[13]
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.[14]
- 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.[15]
- Earthquakes: Drop, Cover and Hold On.[16]
- 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 Weather Service, active alerts API api.weather.gov. ↩
- USGS, M5.1 19 km NNW of Masumbwe, Tanzania event page earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- Alaska Volcano Observatory, Great Sitkin notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, active storms data nhc.noaa.gov. ↩
- NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Day 1 Convective Outlook spc.noaa.gov. ↩
- USGS, M4.5+ earthquakes, past day (real-time feed) earthquake.usgs.gov. ↩
- Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Kilauea notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- Northern Mariana Islands, Ahyi Seamount notice volcanoes.usgs.gov. ↩
- CBS News, Route 202 in King of Prussia reopens after months of sinkhole repair work, PennDOT says cbsnews.com. ↩
- Law360, Driver Sues Pittsburgh Over Truck-Swallowing Sinkhole law360.com. ↩
- WVTM Channel 13, 'A little bit homeless': Nicolas Cage says a sinkhole swallowed his home wvtm13.com. ↩
- 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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