Landslide season commences...

in the Seattle area: What homeowners can do to prevent problems. While the primary natural trigger is water-saturated soils, here's a revealing fact from the linked article:

"A city landslide study found that 86 percent of landslides were caused by human activity such as excavation, fill placed on steep slopes, broken pipes and uncontrolled stormwater."

Recent years haven't been as bad as the winter of 1996-1997 which this on-line report details: Landslides Triggered by the Winter 1996-97 Storms in the Puget Lowland, Washington.

Alaska Way Viaduct earthquake simulation...

Early morning jolt in Seattle...

was not due to Starbucks.

A weak M4.5 earthquake shook the Seattle-Tacoma area this morning around 5:25 am. The minor temblor did no damage (but woke many up) according to news reports. Yep, we did pick this event up on our own seismometer.

Teachable moment: Link to Seattle Urban Seismic Hazard Maps