WEEKLY WATER NEWS

11-15 December 2006

DataStreme Water in the Earth System will return for Spring 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 15 January 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Water in the News:

• Current El Niño event strengthens --
  • Scientists at the Climate Prediction Center report that sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific indicate that an El Niño event has been strengthening. They anticipate that the El Niño event could continue to intensify during the next three months, remaining significantly weaker than the very strong event during the 1997-1998 winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. The current outlook for the winter season across the US issued by the Climate Prediction Center calling for warmer than average weather across the northern section of the nation and stormy weather across the southern sections is predicated on the assumption of the El Niño event peaking in the during the three winter months of December 2006 through February 2007. [NOAA News]
  • NASA scientists have posted an image of the sea surface height anomalies (differences between actual and long-term average values) obtained from the NASA/French Jason-1 satellite that shows higher than average sea surfaces across the equatorial Pacific, signifying above average water temperatures for the near surface layers of the Pacific. The scientists identify the wavelike eastward progression of this region of higher heights and warm water as a "Kelvin wave". [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Upgraded tide stations to help detect tsunamis -- The National Ocean Service recently announced that 33 NOAA tide stations have been upgraded to allow them to send one-minute averaged tide data via the NOAA GOES satellites to the detect tsunamis and transmit this information more quickly to Pacific and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers. These tide data will supplement the data collected by the NOAA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis, or DART, network of buoys, thereby enhancing NOAA's tsunami detection and warning efforts. [NOAA News]
• Best yet evidence for water on Mars -- Photos of a crater over the past six years taken from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows evidence for the creation of a new gully most likely formed by water or slurry flows. [CNN]
• Eye on the tropics --
  • In the western North Pacific, Typhoon Utor, a Category 1 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity scale, was traveling to the west-northwest across the South China Sea toward Viet Nam on Monday (local time). This typhoon had briefly become a major Category 3 typhoon as it passed across the Philippines over the weekend. At least four deaths in the Philippines were attributed to the typhoon, while thousands were made homeless. [USA Today] A visible image obtained by Japan's MTSAT satellite shows Tropical Storm Utor moving west across the western Pacific toward the Philippines at the end of last week. [NOAA OSEI]
  • Early last week, Typhoon Durian made landfall along the coast of Viet Nam, causing the deaths of at least 47 people and injuring 300 others. Earlier, this typhoon was responsible for the deaths of at least 1000 people in the Philippines. [USA Today]
• A change in command at the National Hurricane Center -- Top officials with the Department of Commerce and NOAA recently appointed Xavier William (Bill) Proenza to replace Max Mayfield as the director of the National Hurricane Center and the Tropical Prediction Center. [NOAA News] The retiring director of the National Hurricane Center is featured in a NOAA Magazine article. [NOAA Magazine]
• An Atlantic hurricane forecast for next season -- Late last week, Professor Bill Gray, his protégé, Philip J. Klotzbach, and other colleagues at Colorado State University released their first forecast for the 2007 North Atlantic hurricane season. They predict that next season will be active, with 14 named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes), seven hurricanes, three intense hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity scale). They also anticipate an above-average probability that a major hurricane would make landfall along the coast of the continental US. Subsequent forecast updates will be issued beginning in April 2007. [USA Today] Details of their forecast appear in the report issued by the Tropical Meteorology Project. [Colo. State Report]
• Extreme November weather -- The National Climate Data Center in Asheville, NC has posted a listing of some of the notable extremes in temperature, precipitation and other weather elements across the nation for the recently-concluded month of November 2006. This site may be updated when additional information becomes available. [NCDC]
• Drought reduces river traffic on the "Big Mo" -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has warned that a continuation of the prolonged drought across the Plains and Rockies could result in the cancellation of the 2008 navigation season for barge traffic on the lower Missouri River through the Show-Me State. [Missourian News]
• Lake Superior approaches record low levels -- A drought across the Upper Midwest appears to be primarily responsible for Lake Superior to fall to near record low level, which causes numerous problems involving shipping, fish populations and development along lakeshores. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
• Southern Ocean could slow global warming trend -- A geoscientist at the University of Arizona and colleagues report that they have found that the Southern Ocean appears to reduce the upward trend in global temperatures by absorbing significant amounts of heat and carbon dioxide, based upon their realistic computer simulation of the atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes in the Southern Hemisphere. [EurekAlert!]
• Flood could be tragic -- A researcher from Delft University of Technology reports that more than 4000 casualties could result if seawalls were breached and seawater from the North Sea flooded southern Randstad in the Netherlands. Roughly 600 people could be rescued. [Delft University of Technology]
• Alps is the warmest in 1300 years -- A climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics recently noted that based upon research conducted at a group of institutes, the European Alps currently are the warmest in over 1300 years. The region also has not received significant snow this fall, which is unusual. [USA Today]
• Another major tsunami could occur shortly -- Scientists at the University of Southern California and Caltech warn that Sumatra is in a seismically active region and could be subject to another major tsunami like the one that caused much devastation in December 2004. [EurekAlert!]
• 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:

• 12 December 1882...Portland OR was drenched with 7.66 inches of rain, a record 24-hour total for that location. (12th-13th) (The Weather Channel)
• 12 December 1960...The first of three Middle Atlantic snowstorms produced a foot of snow at Baltimore MD. A pre-winter blizzard struck the northeastern U.S. producing wind gusts as high as 51 mph, along with 16 inches of snow at Nantucket MA, and 20 inches at Newark NJ. (David Ludlum)
• 13 December 1915...A heavy snowstorm kicked off the snowiest winter in modern records for western New England. (The Weather Channel)
• 13 December 1916...Avalanche killed 10,000 Austrian and Italian troops in 24 hours in Tyrol.
• 13 December 1987...A major winter storm produced high winds and heavy snow in the Southern Rockies and the Southern High Plains. Snowfall totals in New Mexico ranged up to 25 inches at Cedar Crest, with up to three feet of snow reported in the higher elevations. Winds of 75 mph, with gusts to 124 mph, were reported northeast of Albuquerque NM. El Paso TX was buried under 22.4 inches of snow, including a single storm record of 16.8 inches in 24 hours. The snowfall total surpassed their previous record for an entire winter season of 18.4 inches. Record cold was experienced the next three nights as readings dipped into the single numbers. High winds ushering unseasonably cold air into the southwestern U.S. gusted to 100 mph at Grapevine CA. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 December 1988...Low pressure off the Atlantic coast produced up to a foot of snow in eastern Nassau County and western Suffolk County of southeastern New York State. Mild weather prevailed across the western half of the country. Nine cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including Goodland KS with a reading of 74 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 December 1989...Strong northwesterly winds, ushering bitterly cold arctic air into the central U.S., produced squalls with heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Snowfall totals in Upper Michigan ranged up to 24 inches at Manistique. Nine cities in Arkansas and Texas reported record low temperatures for the date, including Calico Rock AR with a reading of 4 degrees above zero. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 14 December 1287...Zuider Zee seawall in the Netherlands collapsed with the loss of 50,000 lives.
• 14 December 1991...A ferry, carrying 569 passengers, sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Safaga, Egypt, after hitting a coral reef. Over 460 people were believed drowned.
• 15 December 1965...The third cyclone of the year killed another 10,000 people at the mouth of the Ganges River, Bangladesh.
• 16 December 1917...An ice jam closed the Ohio River between Warsaw, KY and Rising Sun, IN. The thirty-foot high ice jam held for 58 days, and backed up the river a distance of 100 miles. (David Ludlum)
• 16-20 December 1978...Heavy rain that began on the evening of the 16^th eventually led to major flooding on a majority of Arizona's rivers. Up to 8.52 inches of rain fell over these five days at Palisades Ranger Station. The floods were responsible for 13 deaths, 10,0000 homeless and more than $55 million in damage. Bridges on I-17 over Agua Fria River at Black Canyon City collapsed, resulting in six deaths. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 16-17 December 1997...Torrential rain from Super Typhoon Paka fell on Guam with nearly 21 inches of rain observed at Tiyan before instrumentation failed two hours before Paka's eye passed to the south. Winds gusted to 171 mph before wind instruments failed. However, unofficial sources at Andersen Air Force Base believed that wind gusts may have reached 236.7 mph during the height of the storm. This super typhoon left major damage to 60 percent of the homes on Guam and caused $500 million in damage. Fortunately, no one was killed and only two injuries were reported. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 16 December 1999...Days of torrential rains and mudslides in Caracas and surrounding states in Venezuela left tens of thousands of people dead, missing or homeless and forced at least 120,000 to leave their homes.
• 17 December 1884...A three-week blockade of snow began at Portland, OR. A record December total of 34 inches was received. (David Ludlum)

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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.