31 May-4 June 2004

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2004 with new Water News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2004. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• High tides anticipated -- The moon will reach full phase late Wednesday night and early Thursday (officially, 0420Z on 3 June or 12:20 AM EDT on Thursday, 11:20 PM CDT on Wednesday, etc.). Since perigee, when the moon is closest to the earth, and the full moon occur less than 9 hours apart, very high astronomical tides can be expected.
• Atlantic Hurricane Season begins -- The official 2004 hurricane season for the North Atlantic Basin begins on Tuesday, 1 June. South Carolina will conduct statewide Hurricane Awareness Week during this upcoming week (29 May-5 June). The National Hurricane Center maintains a hurricane awareness website that provides information and educational material for the various hurricane hazards to include storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding. (A Spanish version of this website is also available.) In the Eastern North Pacific basin, the hurricane season began on 15 May. The season will run until 30 November in both basins.
• Flood death toll continues to grow in Hispaniola -- Recent rains have continued to cause flooding on Hispaniola near the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As of the end of last week, at least 1100 people had lost their lives because of the flooding. [USA Today]
• Tropical cyclone brings death to Myanmar -- UN relief officials recently reported that the tropical cyclone that hit western Myanmar nearly two weeks ago (19 May) caused at least 140 deaths and left more than 18,000 people homeless. [USA Today]
• Barrier Islands disappearing -- The Grande Terre Islands, barrier islands off Louisiana's Gulf Coast, have been slowly disappearing in part because of the action of tropical weather systems, such as hurricanes. [USA Today]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes-- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including 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.

• 31 May 1889...The Johnstown, PA disaster occurred, the worst flood tragedy in U.S. history. Heavy rains 4 to 10 inches over the previous 36 hours collapsed the South Fork Dam sending a thirty-foot wall of water rushing down the already flooded Conemaugh Valley. The wall of water, traveling as fast as twenty-two feet per second, swept away all structures, objects and people, practically wiping out Johnstown. About 2100 persons perished in the flood. (David Ludlum)
• 31 May 1911...Violent Derby Day thunderstorms killed four horses on Epsom Downs in Southeastern England. Local flooding/landslides, lightning, and gusts inflicted damage across lowland England. Seventeen people were killed in the London area. (The Weather Doctor)
• 31 May-1 June 1941...Thunderstorms deluged Burlington, KS with 12.59 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour rainfall record for the Jayhawk State. (The Weather Channel)
• 1-17 June 2001...The deadliest and costliest tropical storm in US history, Tropical Storm Allison, wandered westward across the tropical Atlantic and crossed over into the Pacific before reversing and moving back into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. On 1 June the tropical wave, which eventually evolved into TS Allison, moved into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast of Mexico after moving westward across the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean after moving off the west coast of Africa on 21 May. On the 2^nd, a cyclonic (counterclockwise) circulation developed to the south-southeast of Salma Cruz, Mexico, but the low level circulation became ill-defined as the system moved inland on the 3^rd over southeastern Mexico and western Guatemala. This system intensified again and eventually moved northward to the Texas Gulf Coast and then eastward to the Atlantic before turning into an extratropical storm in mid-June. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 June 1889...A great flood on the Potomac River in Washington, DC took out a span of Long Bridge, and flooded streets near the river. The flood stage reached was not again equaled until 1936. (David Ludlum)
• 2-4 June 1986...A tropical disturbance brought flooding rains to parts of the Greater Antilles. The flooding caused 59 deaths in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. As many as 240,000 people lost their homes to this disturbance. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 June 1905...Seattle, WA received its heaviest ever 24-hour June rainstorm with 1.42 inches falling. (Intellicast)
• 3 June1921...A cloudburst near Pikes Peak, CO killed 120 people. A twenty-five foot crest of the Arkansas River flooded Pueblo, CO and killed 70 persons. Fourteen inches of rain was reported at Boggs Flat, where a hard surface road through nearly level country was washed out to a depth of seven feet. (The Weather Channel)
• 3 June 1959...Thunderstorms in northwestern Kansas produced up to eighteen inches of hail near Salden during the early evening. Crops were completely destroyed, and total damage from the storm was about half a million dollars. Hail fell for a record eighty-five minutes. The temperature dropped from near 80 degrees prior to the storm to 38 degrees at the height of the storm. (David Ludlum)
• 3 June 1987...Six days of flooding in South Texas culminated with five to six inch rains from Bexar County to Bandera County, and five to nine inches rains in Gonzalez and Wilson Counties. Total crop damage was estimated at 500 million dollars. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 4 June 1825...A hurricane struck Long Island, NY leveling trees and causing damage to ships. The early season hurricane, which originated around Cuba, caused major damage along the Atlantic coast from Charleston, SC to New York City. Many were lost at sea. (David Ludlum)
• 4 June 1976...Forty-foot waves from a tropical cyclone smashed Gogha (port), India. Excellent warnings limited the death toll to approximately 70. Dredging of the harbor at Bhavnnagar ceased for several years as storm runoff from the Kansa River washed away accumulated sand and silt. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 June 1982...A four-day storm began over New England which produced up to 14 inches of rain in southern Connecticut breaching twenty-three dams and breaking two others. Damage was estimated at more than 276 million dollars. (David Ludlum)
• 4 June 1991...Up to six feet of water raced through parts of Howells, NE as the result of nearly five inches of rain. An elderly man who ignored evacuation orders drowned when the water collapsed his basement wall after he had taken shelter because of a tornado warning. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5 June 1908...Helena, MT was deluged with 3.67 inches of rain to establish their all-time 24-hour rainfall record. (4th-5th) (The Weather Channel)
• 5 June 1993...A strong, late season spring storm moved into California. The 0.76 inches of rain at Los Angeles set a new daily rainfall record for June. Lake Gregory was deluged with 3.24 inches of rain in 24 hours and a foot of snow fell at the Mammoth Mountain ski area. (Intellicast)
• 6-10 June 1816...Late season snow fell across New England and eastern Canada. The editor of the Bangor (ME) Register observed that individual snowflakes that fell on Bangor during the afternoon of the 6^th covered areas up to two inches in diameter. Snow fell near Quebec City, Quebec over a 5-day period accumulating to 12 inches with "drifts reaching the axel trees of carriages" during this infamous Year Without a Summer. The Montreal Gazette reported that this "Extraordinary Season" gave snow squalls to the city on the 6^th and 8^th. On the 7^th, a famous June snow fell in the northeastern U.S. Danville, VT reported drifts of snow and sleet twenty inches deep. The Highlands were white all day, and snow flurries were observed as far south as Boston MA. Waltham, MA reported a low temperature of 33 degrees and New Haven, CT had a low of 35 degrees (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 June 1894...One of the greatest floods in U.S. history occurred as the Williamette River overflowed to inundate half of the business district of Portland, OR. (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, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.