Currently in Boston — February 8th, 2023
The weather, currently.
A very weak frontal system will bring a quick shot of light precipitation this evening. This will be in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and even some snow grains. This is not a big deal, but there may be some slick travel on untreated surfaces for a while overnight. During tomorrow the sun will return and temperatures will warm into the 40s. Another weather system approaches for Thursday with clouds returning, and it continues mild in the 40s again. Rain arrives Thursday evening, but it will exit the area on Friday. That day looks particularly mild with highs well into the 50s along with sunshine. Cooler and blustery conditions return for the weekend.
What you need to know, currently.
An intense 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria early Monday morning.
Another quake with a magnitude of 7.7 shook the region a few hours later. Both seismic events killed more than 5,000 people and destroyed more than 6,600 buildings in the region. Survivors are left unhoused amid freezing weather, as more than 100 aftershocks have struck the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was his country’s worst disaster in decades.
Unfortunately, Turkey is no stranger to earthquakes, as it sits along tectonic plate boundaries. Two tectonic plates, the Arabian and the Eurasian, meet underneath the country’s southeastern provinces. Sometimes, when plates are touching, they slide sideways all of a sudden, which is referred to as a “strike slip.”
Climate change might also have a small effect on earthquakes. As the average temperatures rise, huge ice sheets melt, shifting billions of tons of water from exposed land into the ocean. This makes land masses rebound, which could have seismic consequences, though signals and evidence have yet to emerge.
Some earthquakes are also man-made, as people quickly drawing water from underground reservoirs has been shown to cause quakes in cities like Jakarta.
—Aarohi Sheth
What you can do, currently.
Climate change is making wildfires worse, damaging our communities and the environment. Not only do wildfires hurt our forests and put people in danger — burn scars can result in harsher floods — like we’ve seen in recent weeks across California.
Our partner Wren supports efforts to prevent wildfires by removing flammable, dead wood and turning it into biochar — removing carbon in the process. Join Wren to start funding climate solutions today, new users get 20 native trees planted for free on us.
