19-23 July 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.

• Impacts of carbon dioxide on the world's oceans -- An international group of scientists recently released their findings from a decade-long survey of the global distribution of carbon compounds in the oceans, especially those associated with anthropogenic-generated CO₂. [NOAA News]
• International collaboration is beneficial -- NOAA officials recently announced that Taiwanese forecasters have been using new technologies developed by NOAA scientists in providing improved forecasts of the recent Typhoon Mindulle that brought flooding rains to Taiwan. The support provided by the Taiwanese weather service has helped NOAA meteorologists improve their system of estimating and displaying rainfall intensity. [NOAA News]
• 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.

• 19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 19 July 1974...A severe thunderstorm with winds to 80 mph and up to two inches of rain washed out four to five foot deep sections of roadway in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Three persons in a station wagon died as it was carried 3000 feet down a wash by a ten foot wall of water. (The Weather Channel)
• 19 July 1977...Thunderstorms produced torrential rains over parts of southwestern Pennsylvania. Some places in the Johnstown area received more than twelve inches in a seven-hour period. The heavy rains cause flash flooding along streams resulting in widespread severe damage, representing the "second Johnstown flood", second to the more disastrous flood in May 1889. The cloudburst flooded Johnstown with up to ten feet of water resulting in 76 deaths, countless injuries, and 424 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category-5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)
• 18-21 July 1996...Between six and twelve inches of rain fell on an already saturated Saguenay River Valley of Quebec, producing Canada's first billion-dollar disaster ($1.5 billion). Flooding destroyed or damaged 1718 houses and 900 cottages. Ten people were killed and 16,000 were evacuated. Roads and bridges disappeared. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
• 20 July 1965...The 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Show-Me State was set at Edgarton, MO as 18.18 inches of rain fell. (NCDC)
• 20 July 1989...Showers and thunderstorms in the Middle Atlantic Coast Region soaked Wilmington, DE with 2.28 inches of rain, pushing their total for the period May through July past the previous record of 22.43 inches. Heavy rain over that three-month period virtually wiped out a 16.82-inch deficit that had been building since drought conditions began in 1985. Thunderstorms in central Indiana deluged Lebanon with 6.50 inches of rain in twelve hours. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 21 July 1964...The runoff from a torrential three-inch rainfall in a relatively short time span caused a storm sewer to break under Tallmadge Parkway in Akron, OH. A 40-foot deep hole resulted. One person died when she drove her car into the unexpected hole. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 21 July 1970...The massive Aswan High Dam was across the Nile River in Egypt was completed after 11 years of construction. This dam, costing $1 billion, was designed to end the annual cycle of flood along the Nile and produce electric power to Egypt. A giant reservoir, named Lake Nasser, formed behind the dam and measured 300 miles in length and 10 miles in width. (The History Channel)
• 21 July 1997... A $100 million hailstorm ripped through the orchards of the OkanaganValley in British Columbia. Nearly 40% of the fruit crop was deemed unsuitable for fresh market. Winds gusting to 62 mph, accompanying the rain and hail, capsized boats in the interior lakes and caused power outages and traffic accidents. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 July 1972...Fort Ripley, MN received 10.84 inches of rain, to establish a new 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Gopher State. (NCDC)
• 22 July 1986...Hurricane Estelle passed 120 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands creating a ten to twenty-foot surf. The large swells resulted from a combination of high tides, a full moon, and 50-mph winds. The hurricane also deluged Oahu Island with as much as 6.86 inches of rain on the 24th and 25th of the month. (Storm Data)
• 22 July 1987...Barrow, AK received 1.38 inches in 24 hours on the 21^st and 22^nd, an all-time record for that location. The previous record was the 1.00 inch water equivalent in a 15 inch all-time record snowfall of 26 October 1926. The average annual precipitation for Barrow is just 4.75 inches. Thunderstorms in Montana produced 4 to 6 inches of rain in Glacier County causing extensive flooding along Divide Creek. Missoula, MT received 1.71 inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the month of July. (The National Weather Summary) (The Weather Channel) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 22-23 July 1996...A strong storm system centered south of Tahiti in the South Pacific was responsible for eight-foot surf along the south shores of Hawaii's Oahu Island. Water safety personnel rescued 95 people from the high surf. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 23 July 1788...A weather diary kept by George Washington recorded that the center of a hurricane passed directly over his Mount Vernon home. The hurricane crossed eastern North Carolina and Virginia before moving into the Central Appalachians. Norfolk, VA reported houses destroyed, trees uprooted, and crops leveled to the ground. (David Ludlum)
• 23 July 1898...A two-hour thunderstorm deluged Atlanta, GA with 4.32 inches of rain. More than a foot of water flooded Union Depot. Many streetcar motors burned out while trying to run through flooded streets. It grew so dark before the afternoon storm that gaslights were needed. (The Weather Channel)
• 23 July 1923...Sheridan, WY was drenched with 4.41 inches of rain, an all-time 24-hour record for that location. Associated flooding washed out 20 miles of railroad track. (22^nd-23^rd) (The Weather Channel)
• 23 July 1987...Thunderstorms produced a record ten inches of rain in six and a half-hours at Minneapolis, MN, including 5.26 inches in two hours. Flash flooding claimed two lives and caused 21.3 million dollars damage. Streets in Minneapolis became rushing rivers, parking lots became lakes, and storm sewers spouted like geysers. A tornado hit Maple Grove, MN causing five million dollars damage. Baseball size hail was reported at Olivia, MN. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 23 July 1997...Thunderstorms over Nevada's Shoshone Mountains produced flash flooding in washes under Nevada Highway 844. Sixteen miles northeast of Ione, a culvert and adjacent roadway that washed out earlier in the day were again washed out as repairs were being made. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 July 1609...A fleet of ships carrying colonists to the New World met with a hurricane near Bermuda, resulting in much loss of property but little loss of life. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
• 24 July 1886...Rain fell at Lawrence, KS for the first time in four weeks. Rain fell over much of the state of Kansas that day relieving a severe drought that began in May. The very dry weather ruined crops in Kansas. (David Ludlum)
• 24 July 1964...An eight to ten-foot wall of water roared through a picnic site six miles south of Buena Vista, CO. A car was washed into the Arkansas River, as mud and debris covered other vehicles. A downpour of rain in an unusually dry upper gulch caused the flash flood. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24-25 July 1979...Claudette, a weak tropical storm, deluged southeastern Texas with torrential rains. The Houston suburb of Alvin received 43.00 inches, a 24-hour precipitation record for not only the Lone Star State, but for the U.S. Freeport reported a total of 30 inches. Total damage from flooding was over $400 million. On the 27^th, a van loaded with people on their way to a church camp stopped on Texas Highway 7 due to a flooded bridge just west of Centerville. A truck rammed the van, pushing it into the flooded creek, resulting in five people drowning. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum) (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 July 1989...Afternoon thunderstorms produced some flash flooding in New Mexico. Albuquerque was deluged with an inch and a half of rain in forty minutes. Evening thunderstorms soaked White Pine, PA with two inches of rain in one hour. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 24-26 July 1996...Although thousands of miles from southern California, an intense South Pacific storm south of Tahiti produced seven to ten foot surf with some sets up to 12 feet along the southern California coast. Lifeguards participated in more than 500 rescues along the beaches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 25 July 1956...The Italian ship Andrea Doria sank in dense fog near Nantucket Lightship, MA. Ten hours earlier, the ship was rammed by the Swedish-American liner, Stockholm, forty-five miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Fifty-two persons drowned, or were killed by the impact. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 25 July 1986...Tremendous hailstones pounded parts of South Dakota damaging crops, buildings and vehicles. Hail piled two feet deep at Black Hawk and northern Rapid City. Hail an inch and a quarter in diameter fell for 85 minutes near Miller and Huron, piling up to depths of two feet. (The Weather Channel)
• 25 July 1994...Hurricane Gilma, like Emilia a week earlier, reached Category 5 strength in the Central Pacific. (Intellicast)
• June-August 1998...Flooding that occurred along the Yangtze River basin of south central China, the Gulf of Tonkin area and far northern China along the Russian border killed more than 3656 people, destroyed five million homes and left 14 million homeless. Up to 66.28 inches of rain fell in June and July at Quinzhou. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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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.