Oregon Coast Sees 33-Foot Surf as Peru Seizes 3,000 Tarantulas

Oregon Coast Braces for 33-Foot Surf as Portland Enters Wet Pattern

Forecasters with the National Weather Service have issued High Surf Warnings along the Oregon coast through 10 p.m. as a powerful westerly swell with a dominant period of 15 to 16 seconds generates waves of 20 to 27 feet and coastal breakers reaching 28 to 33 feet along the north and central coast and 25 to 33 feet along the south coast, according to Hoodline.

Coastal officials cautioned visitors to stay clear of jetties, exposed rocks, sneaker waves, and beach driftwood logs mobilized by the surging tide. Inland in Portland, following a mostly cloudy Sunday with temperatures reaching 59 degrees and lingering showers before 1 p.m., rain is forecast to develop after 11 a.m. Monday with a 90% chance of precipitation, a daytime high near 58 degrees, an overnight low around 51 degrees, and between one-tenth and one-quarter inch of accumulation before 10 p.m. Unsettled showers continue Tuesday with a high near 63 before a drier Veterans Day Wednesday near 65, followed by light rain chances after 4 p.m. Thursday and highs of 59 Friday and 58 Saturday, when forecasters project a 30% to 40% probability of at least 1.5 inches of rain in 48 hours along the Interstate 5 corridor and a 50% to 60% probability along the coast.

South Texas Mobilizes Flood Response Amid 7-to-9-Inch Rainfall Totals

Across South Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to deploy additional state response resources as slow-moving storms bring a level 2 of 4 flash-flood threat and hourly rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches across saturated ground in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Brownsville, and Kerrville, ABC7 News reported. Forecasters expect widespread totals of 2 to 5 inches and isolated accumulations of 7 to 9 inches after areas between Laredo and Kingsville recorded more than 5 inches of rain since Sunday morning, days after 6 to 9 inches of rain along the Tennessee-Georgia line pushed the Ocoee River to a record 18.05-foot crest, surpassing its February 16, 1990, mark of 17.8 feet.

Peruvian Authorities Intercept 3,000 Tarantulas in Suitcases at Lima Airport

At Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru's National Forest and Wildlife Service and the Peruvian National Police environmental unit detained 2 German citizens and 1 Polish citizen—including a specialist cited in scientific literature—after discovering more than 3,000 live tarantulas (eggs, hatchlings, and adults) taped inside dingy white socks across 3 suitcases bound for Germany, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Agency technician Cora Suárez noted that the specimens—collected from Cajamarca, Cusco, Junín, La Libertad, and Loreto—included undescribed species from the genera Antikuna and Avicularia (highlighted in a 2012 Frontiers in Microbiology study), Thrixopelma lagunas (Peruvian Blue Zebra), and the threatened Pamphobeteus antinous (Bolivian blue leg birdeater), among more than 1,000 known tarantula species that reach up to a 4.75-inch body and 11-inch leg span in the Goliath bird-eating spider.