WEEKLY WATER NEWS

9-13 January 2006

DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) will return for Spring 2006 with new Water News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 16 January 2006. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the break period.

Water in the News:

• Zeta finally dissipates -- The 27th named tropical cyclone (tropical storm or hurricane) of the 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Zeta, finally dissipated over the Atlantic last Friday. In addition to increasing the already record number of systems, Zeta has the distinction of tying Hurricane Alice (the second such named hurricane in 1954) as being the latest tropical storm to form in December. However, Zeta became the longest-lived tropical storm to develop in December and continue into the following January, extending the record setting hurricane season. It also marks the longest-lasting January tropical cyclone on record. [USA Today] The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard NASA's polar-orbiting Aqua satellite captured a historic image of this record setting tropical system. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• TOPEX/Poseidon Mission finally ends -- After making almost 62,000 orbits of planet Earth, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite that was used to continuously monitor the topography of the world's oceans finally lost its ability to maneuver last week, bringing to a close 13-year mission, well beyond the anticipated 5-year lifetime. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Too much rain causes problems in California -- A series of storms brought torrential rain to northern and central California over the New Years weekend and produced flooding. The flooding resulted in at least two deaths and property damage that exceeded $200 million. As of last Tuesday, 23 California counties had been declared disaster areas. [USA Today] The extent of the flooding on the Sacramento River can be seen from satellite images taken 25 days apart by the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's polar-orbiting Aqua satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Above normal snowpack is found in the Sierras -- The late-December winter storms that battered California brought snow to the high Sierra, resulting in a snowpack that was above normal. [USA Today]
• A lack of water results in:
  • Fire weather -- Wildfires continue to be a major problem across the southern Plains, including Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas. [USA Today]
  • Dusty conditions -- A dust storm that swept from New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle on New Years Day can be seen on an image produced by the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's polar-orbiting Aqua satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Rains result in deadly landslides -- Torrential rains fell across Indonesia during the last week and resulted in landslides that buried numerous villages, leaving more than 200 people dead or missing. [USA Today]
• Space-age portrait of Alaskan glaciers -- NASA recently posted an infrared-enhanced satellite image of Harvard and Yale Glaciers along with College Glacier in south central Alaska made by the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) instrument onboard the Terra satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Global Water News Watch -- Other water news sources can be obtained through the SAHRA Project at the University of Arizona [SAHRA Project]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

• 9 January 1976...Lake-effect snow squalls buried the town of Adams, NY under 68 inches of snow. (David Ludlum)
• 10 January 1800...Savannah, GA received a foot and a half of snow, and ten inches blanketed Charleston, SC. It was the heaviest snowfall of record for the immediate Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. (David Ludlum)
• 10 January 1949...Snow was reported at San Diego, CA for the first and only time since 1882. Snow was noted even on some of the beaches in parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Burbank reported 4.7 inches, and Long Beach and Laguna Beach received one inch of snow. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 10 January 1962...An ice avalanche, mixed with rock, mud and debris, swept down from the north peak of Peru's highest mountain, Nevado de Huascarán. The avalanche, which moved 11 miles in 15 minutes, destroyed seven villages and one town in western Peru, leaving over 3,500 dead. The final dimensions of this avalanche were one mile wide and 15 feet deep. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 12 January 1852...Four inches of snow fell during the evening at New Orleans Barracks in Louisiana and remained on the ground until the 15^th, while four inches of snow also accumulated through the 13^th at Fort Barrancas (Pensacola, FL). Snow reportedly fell on the 14^th at Matamoros and as far south as Tampico on the Mexican Gulf Coast. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 12 January 1985...A record "snowstorm of the century" struck portions of western and south central Texas. The palm trees of San Antonio were blanketed with up to thirteen and a half inches of snow, more snow than was ever previously received in an entire winter season. Del Rio measured 5.5 inches, which was also their most snow ever in 24 hours as well as for any season. (Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 12 January 1991...A major Atlantic storm intensified over the ocean waters off Newfoundland. Winds reached 105 mph at coastal Bonavista and ocean waves reached heights of 66 feet. A cargo ship sank 250 miles off the southeast Newfoundland coast. This storm was responsible for 33 deaths. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 13 January 1886...A great blizzard struck the state of Kansas without warning. The storm claimed 50 to 100 lives, and eighty percent of the cattle in the state. (David Ludlum)
• 13 January 1990...A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. produced more than a twelve inches of snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. In northern California, Huntington Lake was buried under 40 inches of snow, and up to 20 inches was reported in northeastern Nevada. Heavy rain soaked some of the lower elevations of California. Gibraltar Dam CA was drenched with 5.33 inches of rain in two days. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 14 January 1863...The greatest snowstorm of record for Cincinnati OH commenced, and a day later twenty inches of snow covered the ground. That total has remained far above the modern day record for Cincinnati of eleven inches of snow in one storm. (David Ludlum)
• 14 January 1882...Southern California's greatest snow occurred on this date. Fifteen inches blanketed San Bernardino and even San Diego reported a trace of snow. (David Ludlum)
• 14 January 1979...Chicago IL was in the midst of their second heaviest snow of record as, in thirty hours, the city was buried under 20.7 inches of snow. The twenty-nine inch snow cover following the storm was an all-time record for Chicago. (David Ludlum)
• 14 January 1989...A winter storm spread snow and sleet and freezing rain from the Middle Mississippi Valley to the northeastern U.S. Freezing rain in West Virginia caused fifteen traffic accidents in just a few minutes west of Charleston. Tennessee was deluged with up to 7.5 inches of rain. Two inches of rain near Clarksville TN left water in the streets as high as car doors.
• 15 January 1932...Up to two inches of snow whitened the Los Angeles basin of California. The Los Angeles Civic Center reported an inch of snow, and even the beaches of Santa Monica were whitened with snow, in what proved to be a record snowstorm for Los Angeles. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 15 January 1952...A six-day snowstorm was in progress in the western U.S. The storm produced 44 inches of snow at Marlette Lake NV, 52 inches at Sun Valley ID, and 149 inches at Tahoe CA, establishing single storm records for each of those three states. In addition, 24-hour snowfall totals of 22 inches at the University of Nevada, and 26 inches at Arco ID, established records for those two states. The streamliner, 'City of San Francisco' was snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Range, near Donner Summit. (David Ludlum)
• 15 January 1988...A small storm over the Atlantic Ocean produced heavy snow along the coast of North Carolina. The five inch total at Wilmington NC was their third highest for any storm in January in 117 years of records. (National Weather Summary)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2006, The American Meteorological Society.