WEEKLY WATER NEWS

1-5 January 2007

DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) 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.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Sincerely,

Ed Hopkins and the AMS WES Central Staff

Water in the News:

• Hundreds die as storm sinks an Indonesian ferry -- Officials report that more than 500 people were missing and presumed dead following the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea off the coast of central Indonesia during a storm late last week. [CNN]
• Sumatra is hit by deadly flooding -- Torrential rain over the Indonesian island of Sumatra one week ago resulted in floods that claimed at least 87 lives and forced 110,000 people to flee. The UN was providing aid to survivors. [USA Today]
• Satellite images capture the unfolding El Niño event -- Scientists have determined that an El Niño episode has developed during the second half of 2006 based upon several indicators, including elevated sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, drought conditions across Oceania and Australia and stormy weather along the West Coast of North America. Some of these indicators can be seen in the following:
  • An image of sea surface temperature anomalies across the world's oceans during November 2006, as determined from differences between November temperatures obtained from the Japanese Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite and the long-term (1985-1997) average temperatures generated from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers on a series of NOAA satellites indicates anomalously warm water across a large section of the eastern equatorial Pacific. However, the western section of the equatorial Pacific had colder than average waters near Australia and Indonesia. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image of the precipitation differences (anomalies) between November 2006 and the long-term (1999-2005) precipitation across much of the tropical sections of the Eastern Hemisphere as obtained by data collected by NASA's TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite indicates significantly drier than average conditions across Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia and surrounding waters of the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. Farther to the west, above average November precipitation was found across eastern equatorial Africa and the western Indian Ocean. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image obtained from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite late last week shows major wildfires burning near Victoria, Australia, as indicated by the red dots associated with elevated temperatures in the fires, along with the smoke plume. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image of the land surface temperature anomalies (differences between observed and average temperatures) over Australia and neighboring islands for November 2006 generated from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite indicates that most of Australia experienced an abnormally warm month. Only some small and widely scattered areas in Western Australia and in southwestern Tasmania had below average temperatures. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Top ten list of achievers hailed on NOAA's 200th anniversary -- With 2007 marking the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (a predecessor to the current NOAA organization), a list has been prepared of ten distinguished individuals who made significant contributions to the scientific, service and stewardship missions of NOAA and its various predecessor agencies. Meteorologists, oceanographers, ecologists and marine scientists from the 19th and 20th Centuries help form this list. [NOAA Magazine]
• Western wildfires linked to surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean -- Paleontologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Argentina's University of Comahue who analyzed tree rings report that periodic wildfire outbreak episodes across the Western states appear to be linked with periods of relatively warm sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean associated with the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation. . [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A "heartbeat" in global climate found in Pacific -- An international team of researchers participating in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Project reported that their analysis of the carbonate shells from foraminifera collected from ocean cores in the central Pacific Ocean indicate that changes in the earth's climate corresponds with variations in the planetary orbital characteristics (Milankovitch cycles) and the carbon cycle during the Oligocene epoch (23 to 34 million years ago) [EurekAlert!]
• Cannons are employed to reduce hail damage -- Farmers in California and other agricultural states prone to hail damage are beginning to use cannon that generates a thunderous boom to shatter hailstones before they can do damage to crops. [USA Today]
• Saving the polar bears -- The Bush Administration has proposed that polar bears being listed as a "threatened" species, as the number of the bears continues to decline as their habitat, the ice on the Arctic Ocean continues to shrink. [USA Today]
• Ancient ice shelf breaks free in the Canadian Arctic -- Scientists recently confirmed that the Ayles Ice Shelf broke from the coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Archipelago in August 2005. They also claim that climate change appears to be the "major" reason for this event. [USA Today]
• A bigger "Snowzilla" returns -- A resident of Anchorage, AK recently built a 25-foot tall snowman that he called "Snowzilla", which is larger than the one he built last year. [USA Today]
• 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:

• 1 January 1934...Heavy rain, which began on 30 December 1933, led to flooding in the Los Angeles Basin area of California. Flooding claimed the lives of at least 45 persons. Walls of water and debris up to ten feet high were noted in some canyon areas. Rainfall totals ranged up to 16.29 inches at Azusa, with 8.26 inches reported in Downtown Los Angeles. (The Weather Channel)
• 1 January 1987...A winter storm brought rain, snow and high winds to the Southern and Middle Atlantic Coast Region. The storm, which occurred in a period of unusually high astronomical tides, produced a tide of 9.4 feet at Myrtle Beach, SC (their highest since Hurricane Hazel in 1954) which caused a total of 25 million dollars damage in South Carolina. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1-2 January 1992...Harsh winter weather raked the Middle East. At least 20 died when an avalanche crushed eight houses near Kuksekova, Turkey. Sixteen inches of snow fell on Jerusalem, in Israel, marking the most in 42 years. Rare flurries fell in Nicosia, Cyprus and Beirut, Lebanon.
• 1 January 1997...Two 12-foot waves generated by an intense Pacific storm swept 27 people into the Pacific Ocean from the King Harbor Breakwater at Redondo Beach, CA. All survived the ordeal. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 1 January 1999...An avalanche destroyed the wall of a school gymnasium where hundreds of people were celebrating the New Year in the Inuit village of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Quebec. Nine people were killed. The school had been built on a site known to be susceptible to avalanches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 January 1910...A great flood in Utah and Nevada washed out 100 miles of railroad between Salt Lake City, UT and Los Angeles, CA causing seven million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
• 2 January 1955...Hurricane Alice battered the Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 85 mph on this day. Alice was upgraded as a full tropical system on 31 December 1954, making Alice the latest and earliest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean. (Intellicast)
• 2 January 1987...A winter storm moving up the Atlantic coast brought heavy snow and high winds to the northeastern U.S. Total snowfall in the storm which began on the 1^st, by the morning of the 3^rd amounted to two feet at Salem, NH and Waterboro, ME, 22 inches at Lowell, MA, 14 inches at Worcester, MA, 22 inches at Nashua, NH, and 18 inches at Portland, ME. Wind gusts reached 82 mph at Trenton, NJ and Southwest Harbor in Maine. Significant coastal flooding occurred as the storm coincided with unusually high astronomical tides. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 2 January 1993...In the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, the Sugar Bowl ski patrol reported a snow depth of 90 inches at the 7000-foot level. A depth of 150 inches was measured at 7800 feet. Since 29 December 1992, a total of 72 inches had fallen at the 7000-foot elevation, with 93 inches at 8300 feet. (Intellicast)
  Cyclone Kina battered Fiji with wind gusts to 130 mph and heavy rain. Up to 21.65 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, resulting in the worst flooding in 60 years. Twenty-three people were killed and damage was estimated to be in excess of 547 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 January 1961...A three-day long ice storm was in progress over northern Idaho that produced an accumulation of ice eight inches thick, an U.S. record. Heavy fog, which blanketed much of northern Idaho from Grangeville to the Canadian border, deposited the ice on power and telephone lines causing widespread power outages. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 3 January 2006…The record 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season extended into the new year, as Tropical Storm Zeta reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph for the second time; the previous occurrence was on 1 January 2006. Never a threat to land as it traveled across the central North Atlantic, Tropical Storm Zeta was the 27th named tropical cyclone (including both tropical storms and hurricanes) of the season. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5 January 1982...A three-day rainstorm in the San Francisco area finally came to an end. Marin County and Cruz County were drenched with up to 25 inches of rain, and the Sierra Nevada Range was buried under four to eight feet of snow. The storm claimed at least 36 lives, and caused more than 300 million dollars damage. (Storm Data)
• 5 January 1988...Thunderstorms helped produce heavy lake-enhanced snow in the Lower Great Lakes Region. Snow fell at the rate of four to five inches per hour, and snowfall totals ranged up to 69 inches at Highmarket, NY, with most falling within 24 hours. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 5-6 January 1993...Winds to 100 mph toppled ice-laden power lines and transmission antennae on Mount Haleakala on Hawaii's Maui Island. Up to 18 inches of ice accumulated at the summit of the volcanic peak in this tropical paradise. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5-10 January 1998...An ice storm devastated Montreal, Quebec and the surrounding region. During this six day interval, freezing rain or drizzle was reported for more than 80 hours, along with deposits up to 2.4 to 3.1 inches of ice, leaving 4 million people in the dark. An estimated 130 major transmission towers and 30,000 wooden utility poles were brought down by the weight of the ice. (The Weather Doctor)
• 6 January 1928...An intense low pressure system over the North Sea created a storm surge that moved upstream along the Thames River to London in England. Water rose over embankments. The rapid rise of the river resulted in 14 deaths in basements. As many as 40,000 people were left homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 January 1988...One of the largest snowfall episodes this century for the southern U.S. was in full swing. The storm, occurring from the 5^th to the 8^th, produced heavy snow from the Oklahoma Panhandle to Virginia. . It was a bad day for chickens. Heavy snow in Arkansas, with totals ranging up to 16 inches at Heber Springs, claimed the lives of 3.5 million chickens, and snow and ice up to three inches thick claimed the lives of another 1.75 million chickens in north central Texas. This was the largest snowstorm this century for the state of Arkansas. Up to 20 inches was reported in Macon County in western North Carolina and up to 18 inches fell in central Oklahoma, with Oklahoma City reporting a record 12 inches of snow in 24 hours. Sleet and freezing rain paralyzed areas along the southern perimeter of the snowfall zone with one inch ice accumulations reported in northern Alabama (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 7 January 1996...The "blizzard of '96" clobbered a huge area from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast with record snows. The storm began over the mid-Atlantic on the 6^th, and ended over New England on the 8^th. Low pressure developed over the southeast on the 6^th, and eventually became a 983-millibar storm center off the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula. 42.5 inches of snow was recorded at Bayard, WV while 39 inches fell at Snowshoe, WV. A new snowfall record for New Jersey was set when 35 was measured at White House. All the big cities were buried: Washington/Dulles - 24.6 inches, Baltimore - 22.5 inches, Philadelphia - 30.7 inches (biggest snowfall ever), New York City - 27.5 inches, and Boston - 18.2 inches. Other snowfall totals included 38 inches at Upper Strasburg, PA, 37 inches at Shenandoah, VA, 36 inches at Standfordville, NY, 32 inches at Great Barrington, MA, 28 inches in the Pine Mountains in KY, 27 inches at Coventry, RI, and 26 inches at Milford, CT. Cincinnati, Ohio had 14.4 inches for its greatest single storm snowfall on record. This event was the second in an unrelenting, paralyzing "siege of snowstorms" along the East Coast during a ten-day period. (Intellicast)

Return to DataStreme WES Website

Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.