20 - 24 December 2004

DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) will return for Spring 2005 with new Water News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 17 January 2005. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the break period.

• 2004 was wet and warm -- Climatologists at the National Climatic Data Center issued their initial assessments of the nearly-concluded year of 2004. They indicate that this year could be one of the ten wettest years in the 110-year long period of extensive climate records. Despite continued drought across the West, tropical weather systems brought heavy rain to the South and East. Above average temperatures were reported across much of the nation, with the exception of the Northeast and the Gulf Coast States. [NOAA News]
• How will El Niño affect the Northwest? Based upon the current weak El Niño pattern, climatologists are offering differing views as to the effects of this anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime will have upon the weather patterns during the upcoming winter across the Pacific Northwest. [USA Today]
• Ice cores reveal past climate history -- Glaciologists and other scientists at Ohio State University reported on various findings from their analyses of ice cores:
• A record of the snowfall on the Greenland ice sheet that could provide an extended record of the North Atlantic Oscillation. [Ohio State University]
• The need to reassess the geological history of volcanoes in southeast Alaska. [Ohio State University]
• A major climatic event occurred 5200 years ago that may have been associated with a rapid oscillatory change in solar output. [Ohio State University]
• Detailed mapping of sea-surface temperatures in the Mediterranean displayed -- The European Space Agency unveiled a high-resolution map of the sea-surface temperatures across the Mediterranean that is updated daily based upon data received from multiple satellites as part of its Medspiration Project. [ESA]
• Assessing the 2004 hurricane season-- Hurricane experts and other scientists are currently assessing the data collected during the recently-concluded and very active 2004 hurricane season in the North Atlantic. Teams of NOAA scientists along with colleagues from other federal agencies have been conducting hurricane research projects that have involved the testing of new equipment and techniques that monitored the hurricanes and provided data for forecast models. [NOAA Magazine] At Louisiana State University, researchers are examining a variety of hurricane issues pertaining to the Gulf Coast, to include the design of hurricane shelters, the effect of beach erosion on barrier islands and the methodology of hurricane evacuation. [LSU News]
• Colorado River water deal approved -- The Colorado River Commission of Nevada has approved a $330 million water-sharing project with Arizona that would purchase 1.25 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River. [ENN]
• A dam upgrade is proposed -- The US Army Corps of Engineers is proposing a $3.8 billion build seven new locks and upgrade dams along the Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers [ENN]
• Danube remains endangered -- An official from the United Nations Development Program warned that while fragile ecosystems along the Danube River have shown signs of recovery from high pollution levels found in the river between 20 and 30 years ago, the river basin continues to be threatened by the eastern expansion of the European Union. [ENN]
• Acid dust formation studied -- A team of scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and several universities has been studying how air pollutants and water vapor react with dry dust particles to form moist airborne particles that scatter sunlight and affect the cloud. [EurekAlert!]
• Flooding from ancient glacial lake suspected in onset of cold period -- A scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reported that analysis of sediment cores indicates that once the dam holding the huge Glacial Lake Iroquois broke and caused catastrophic flooding of the Hudson River Valley approximately 13,400 years ago, with the meltwater entering the North Atlantic and changing the course of the Gulf Stream, which may have helped trigger the Intra-Allerød Cold Period. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
• Ice dams caused huge lakes and floods in past -- A geologist at the University of Washington recently described how ice dams along the Tsangpo River in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet created at least three large lakes that finally broke between 600 and 900 AD, resulting in major flooding that stretched into India. [EurekAlert!]
• Waste heat could be used in desalination -- Researchers from the University of Florida report that they have developed a process where waste heat from electrical power plants could be used in desalination plants. [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.

• 19 December 1967...The second heavy snow in a week brought a total of 86 inches of snow to Flagstaff, AZ with a record snow depth of 83 inches. Many homes, farm buildings and business structures collapsed from the weight of the snow. The snows inflicted great hardship on the Indian reservations. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum)
• 20 December 1990...Snow fell at Santa Maria, CA for the first time since records were kept. (Intellicast)
• 21 December 1892...Portland, OR was buried under an all-time record 27.5 inches of snow. (21^st-24^th) (The Weather Channel)
• 23 December 1811...A cold storm hit Long Island Sound with a foot of snow, gale force winds, and temperatures near zero. During the storm many ships were wrecked, and in some cases, entire crews perished. (David Ludlum)
• 25 December 1974...Tropical Cyclone Tracy (a hurricane in the waters surrounding Australia) made landfall near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Excellent warnings kept the death toll to between 50 and 60, with more than 20,000 people were evacuated in the week following the storm. Some areas were totally devastated. Peak wind speeds reached exceeded 174 mph. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 25 December 1988...A massive winter storm made for a very white Christmas in the western U.S. Las Vegas, NV reported snow on the ground for the first time of record. Periods of snow over a five-day period left several feet of new snow on the ground of ski areas in Colorado, with 68 inches reported at Wolf Creek Pass. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 25-26 December 1927...The worst Christmas blizzard in a century buried the United Kingdom. While most of the country experienced snow, the south bore the brunt of the storm with drifts in places to 15 feet or more. Many roads were blocked with stranded vehicles. (The Weather Doctor)
• 26 December 1836...A snow cornice built out from a chalk cliff at Lewes, England, the result of heavy snow and high wind that began on the 24th. This cornice, which overhung a row of houses, collapsed in the day's sunshine on the 26^th, with eight people dying in the crushed homes. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 26-31 December 1993...The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race off Australia was plagued by hurricane-force wind gusts in excess of 74 mph and 33 foot high seas. Of 104 starters, only 37 yachts finished the race. On the 28^th, one yacht owner spent five hours in the water after being swept overboard. (Accord's Weather Calendar)

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URL: WES/news.html

Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.