Earth Changes · Daily Report · November 8, 2026, 6:30 AM CST
The National Weather Service has 77 severe or extreme alerts in effect, led by 27 storm warnings across PK.[1]
Meanwhile, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck central Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 11:17 p.m. UTC on Nov. 7, about 10 km (≈6 miles) below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey reports[2]. The USGS PAGER system rates the expected impact GREEN. It was one of 14 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past day.
Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Pena is churning in the central Pacific with top winds near 45 mph and a central pressure of 1002 millibars, moving west at 7 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.[3]
Today at a Glance
- 14 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater, the largest M5.8
- 1 active tropical system: Tropical Storm Pena
- 77 severe or extreme U.S. weather alerts
- 3 U.S. volcanoes above normal, including Great Sitkin
- 0 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
Tropical storms and hurricanes
- Tropical Storm Pena (central Pacific): top winds near 45 mph, moving west at 7 mph. Latest advisory.[3]
Across the United States, the National Weather Service has 77 alerts rated severe or extreme in effect.[1]
| Alert | Number | States |
|---|---|---|
| Storm Warning | 27 | PK |
| Heavy Freezing Spray Warning | 21 | PK |
| Flood Warning | 12 | AZ, FL, IA |
| Freeze Warning | 6 | IL, IN, KY, MO, OH, VA and more |
| Winter Storm Watch | 4 | AK |
| Flash Flood Warning | 2 | TX |
| Flood Watch | 2 | TX |
| High Wind Warning | 2 | MT |
| High Wind Watch | 1 | AK |
The Storm Prediction Center says no severe thunderstorm areas are forecast today.[4]
2. Earthquakes
The USGS recorded 14 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater in the past 24 hours.[5] The strongest:
| Mag. | Where | When | Depth | PAGER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.8 | central Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Nov. 7, 11:17 p.m. UTC | 10 km | GREEN |
| 5.5 | 10 km NW of Hamakita, Japan | Nov. 7, 4:04 p.m. UTC | 38 km | GREEN |
| 5.1 | 91 km ENE of Hihifo, Tonga | Nov. 7, 11:27 p.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
| 4.9 | 41 km WSW of Gadung, Philippines | Nov. 7, 11:25 p.m. UTC | 607 km | — |
| 4.9 | 77 km NNW of Khorixas, Namibia | Nov. 7, 3:22 p.m. UTC | 8 km | — |
| 4.7 | 46 km NW of Huara, Chile | Nov. 8, 11:58 a.m. UTC | 69 km | — |
| 4.7 | 137 km E of Miyako, Japan | Nov. 8, 9:23 a.m. UTC | 10 km | — |
| 4.7 | 43 km ESE of Ambon, Indonesia | Nov. 7, 8:55 p.m. UTC | 137 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.
Video: Associated Press, November 8, 2026 — “Earthquake in Japan breaks windows and injures at least 22 people”. Matched to this report by the storm, volcano or place name in its title.
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.[6] |
| Ahyi Seamount | Advisory / Yellow | No signs of unrest in satellite data; no significant geophysical signals.[7] |
| Kilauea | Advisory / Yellow | The Halema'uma'u eruption of Kīlauea is currently paused after episode 56 fountaining ended on November 5. The summit is reinflating and the next episode of lava fountaining is likely several weeks away.[8] |
Alert levels run Normal, Advisory, Watch, Warning. Aviation codes run Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.
4. Sinkholes
We found no new news reports of sinkholes opening in the past 24 hours.
Also in the News
Other natural-hazard video from the past day, from news organizations:
Video: NBC News, November 8, 2026 — “Flood and fire threats in multiple states”. Also in the news. Picked because its title names a natural hazard; it may not be covered in the data above.
5. What the Experts Say
These are the words of the scientists and forecasters who watch these hazards for a living, quoted exactly.
“This evening, Pena's vertical coherence appears to be unraveling. On GOES-18 satellite, its structure is looking increasingly fragile, with the earlier deep convection weakening near the center, with a more recent burst primarily east of the center. A 04 UTC WSFM microwave pass suggested that Pena has become more vertically tilted, with the low-level cloud features on the 37-GHz channel indicating the surface circulation running out ahead of the mid-level vortex seen on the 89-GHz channel. This was recently confirmed by a 0644 UTC ASCAT-B pass, which showed an elongated low-level circulation centered east of the deepest convection. The peak wind retrieval from the instrument was only 31 kt, though an ASCAT-C pass just received had some higher winds. The 06 UTC subjective Dvorak estimates from PHFO and PGTW still supported 45-55 kt, but objective estimates from UW-CIMSS have decreased to 36-43 kt. Given the rather anemic scatterometer data, the initial intensity is lowered to 40 kt this advisory.”
— Forecaster Papin, National Hurricane Center, on Tropical Storm Pena[9]
“Severe storms appear unlikely across the U.S. Sunday through Sunday night.”
— Forecaster Mead, NOAA Storm Prediction Center[4]
“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[6]
“Clear satellite images over the last week did not show any sign of underwater plumes from Ahyi Seamount. No notable activity was detected in distal geophysical monitoring data.”
— Northern Mariana Islands, on Ahyi Seamount[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[10]
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.[11]
- 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.[12]
- Earthquakes: Drop, Cover and Hold On.[13]
- 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, M5.8 central Mid-Atlantic Ridge event page earthquake.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. ↩
- 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. ↩
- National Hurricane Center, Pena 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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