New York and New Jersey hit with 4.8 magnitude earthquake

New York and New Jersey felt the earth shake less than an hour ago at 10:30 AM. The quake registered 4.8 on the Richter Scale. Reports of shaking have already been reported from Maine to Maryland.

Location of the 4.8 magnitude quake, map courtesy USGS

Early reports have not mentioned any severe damage. Several agencies in the area have ordered stops to services until inspections can be performed on infrastructure. Earthquakes are rare in the U.S. Northeast.

 

 

Indiana prepares for the total solar eclipse

Central Indiana is fortunate to be directly on the route of the long awaited total solar eclipse. Small town Shelbyville is pulling out all the stops in preparation for this exciting event.

On the town square

Announcing the eclipse

Downtown store front decorations

Statewide excitement about the eclipse

Shelbyville is directly in the perfect viewing path of the eclipse. Hopefully the skies will be clear on April 8th. If not, you will have to wait until 2044 for the next eclipse viewing!

Maple tree whirligigs

Maple seeds beginning to develop

It won’t be long until there will be hundreds (if not thousands) of those twirling, spinning  maple tree seeds flying to Earth. The technical term for this winged seed is samara, but you probably refer to them as helicopters or whirligigs.