WEEKLY WATER NEWS
8-12 January 2007
DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) 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:
Avalanche swept vehicles from highway in Colorado –
At
least two vehicles were swept of US Highway 40 by a massive avalanche near
Berthoud Pass west of Denver last Saturday. No fatalities were reported,
but as many as eight people were rescued. [CNN]
Locating the collapsed ice shelf -- Images from the MODIS
instrument on NASA's Terra satellite made on 13 August 2005 show sections of ice
that began to float away from the Ayles Ice Shelf on Canada's Ellesmere Island
after the collapse of the ice shelf. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Searching for the Nile's source goes high tech -- Explorers used GPS
(Global Positioning System) devices to help locate the source of the Nile River,
helping solve the age-old controversy as to the headwaters of the White Nile in
interior Africa. An image of the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda made
last summer by the the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite shows this inaccessible headwaters
region. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Tracking the flow of sediments in glacial meltwater -- A photograph
made by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows the sediments
being carried along by meltwater from off a glacier draining into Lake Morari in
Tibet. [NASA Earth Observatory]
A region with large contrasts -- An image of western Mauritania and the
adjoining Atlantic Ocean off the Banc d'Arguin National Park obtained from the
MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the contrast between the
environment of the Sahara Desert and the ocean. The park is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. -- [NASA Earth Observatory]
An astronaut's view of Alpine glaciers -- A photograph made by an
astronaut on the International Space Station offers an impressive oblique view
of several mountain peaks and large glaciers in Europe's Alps. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Closing the books on December -- The National Climate Data Center in Asheville, NC has posted a listing of some of the notable extremes in temperature, precipitation, snowfall and other weather elements across the nation for the just-concluded month of December 2006. This site may be updated when additional information becomes available. [NOAA NCDC]
Plains drought continues despite snow -- The heavy snow that fell
across sections of the western Plains at the beginning of last week helped
replenish some of the surface soil moisture but did little to put a dent in the
long term drought experienced across many areas of the Plains, especially in
South Dakota. [Sioux
Falls Argus Leader]
Where's winter? While the Rockies have received heavy snow,
many areas across the eastern half of the nation have seen very little snow and
have experienced well-above average temperatures for the first month of
meteorological winter. The warm winter weather across the East, which some blame
on an anomalous atmospheric circulation regime called El Niño, has caused
hardship for many who depend upon cold and snowy weather for a livelihood. [USA Today]
Crippling snowstorms in Colorado were not anticipated by long-range
forecast -- Three major snowstorms that crippled the Denver metropolitan
area and the Front Range of the Rockies with snowfalls of record proportions in
late December were not expected by a climatologist at the Climate Diagnostics
Center back in November. [San Francisco Chronicle]
Mercury contamination hotspots found in eastern North America -- A team of
US and Canadian researchers monitoring mercury contamination in birds and fish
across the Northeastern States and eastern Canada found five regions where the
mercury contamination exceeded levels established for human or wildlife health
and nine other areas that would be of concern. The researchers suspect the
high levels of mercury were due to the movement of atmospherically released
mercury into waterways and wetlands. [EurekAlert!]
Water management by trees is investigated -- A micrometeorologist at
Indiana University has been investigating how trees manage water in arid or
drought environments. [Indiana University]
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:
8 January 1953...A severe ice storm in the northeastern U.S. produced up to four inches of ice in Pennsylvania, and two to three inches in southeastern New York State. In southern New England, the ice coated a layer of snow up to 20 inches deep. The storm resulted in 31 deaths and 2.5 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
8 January 1973...A severe ice storm struck Atlanta, GA. The storm paralyzed the city closing schools and businesses, and damage from the storm was estimated at 25 million dollars. One to four inches of ice coated northern Georgia leaving 300,000 persons without electricity for up to a week. Between 7 PM and 9 PM on the 7th, 2.27 inches (liquid content) of freezing rain, sleet and snow coated Atlanta, as the temperature hovered at 32 degrees. (7th-8th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
8-11 January 1980...Winds, waves and rain pounded Hawaii, resulting in 27.5 million dollars in storm damage, which was the greatest amount to that date in the Aloha State's history. Four houses were destroyed and 40 others damaged by a possible tornado in Honolulu's Pacific Palisades area on the 8th. Ocean waves with heights to 20 feet entered beachfront hotels along the Kona Coast of the Big Island. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
8 January 1990..During a three-hour interval in the morning, snow fell at a rate of two inches per hour at Charleston, West VA. Snowflakes with diameters between two to three inches were common, and National Weather Service personnel reported some flakes up to four inches in diameter. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
8 January 1997...Thundersnow was reported at Kodiak, AK. Thunder is a rare, warm season occurrence at Kodiak, which averages only two thunderstorm days per year. Thundersnow was once again reported on 23 February 1997. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
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 Guide 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 15th, while four inches of snow also accumulated through the 13th at Fort Barrancas (Pensacola, FL). Snow reportedly fell on the 14th at Matamoros and as far south as Tampico on the Mexican Gulf Coast. (Accord's Weather Guide 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 Guide 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.
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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.