3-7 January 2005

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.

• NOAA studying the Indonesian tsunami-- A recent NOAA press release describes how various groups within NOAA, such as the Pacific Tsunami Center and the Pacific Region of the National Weather Service responded to the devastating tsunami that traveled across the Indian Ocean at the beginning of last week. [NOAA News]
• Tsunami could pose threat to marine biodiversity -- Thai fishers have expressed concern that the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean has caused damage to coral reefs, changed sand layers and decreased nutrients for marine life, resulting in reduced biodiversity. [ENN]
• Pacific Northwest is no stranger to strong tsunamis -- A geoscientist at the University of Oregon cautioned that the Pacific Northwest is not immune from tsunamis of the magnitude that traveled across the Indian Ocean last week, since a tsunami generated by a magnitude 9 earthquake in 1700 appears to have destroyed tribal villages in Oregon. [EurekAlert!] Scientists at Oregon State University claim that major tsunami-generating earthquakes could develop along the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Pacific Northwest Coast, a region that has experienced as many as five clusters of earthquakes in the last 10,000 years, with major earthquakes in 1500 and 1700. [EurekAlert!] While major tsunamis could hit coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest, experts at Oregon State University believe that the loss of life would be less because of better warning systems that have been in place. [EurekAlert!]
• Antarctic glaciation theory challenged -- Scientists at Purdue University are challenging a long-standing theory that the Antarctic ice sheet developed because of a change in ocean currents, suggesting that changes in the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide were responsible for the glaciation. [Purdue University]
• A whale of an entanglement -- A rescue team from NOAA Fisheries, the US Coast Guard and a variety of university and state agencies are searching waters off the South Carolina coast for a young rare and endangered right whale that had become entangled in ropes and buoys in an effort to remove the ropes. [NOAA News]
• Snow in an unlikely region -- For the first time on record, snow fell across the mountains of the United Arab Emirates, a desert country located at the southern end of the Persian Gulf. [USA Today]
• Alaskan fisheries closed due to grounded freighter -- Officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have banned commercial fishing in the Bering Sea because of the fuel oil that has spilled from a freighter that grounded along the Aleutian Islands earlier this month. [ENN]
• 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.

• 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)
• 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 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 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)
• 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 7^th, 2.27 inches (liquid content) of freezing rain, sleet and snow coated Atlanta, as the temperature hovered at 32 degrees. (7^th-8^th) (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 8^th. Ocean waves with heights to 20 feet entered beachfront hotels along the Kona Coast of the Big Island. (Accord's Weather 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 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 Calendar)
• 9 January 1976...Lake-effect snow squalls buried the town of Adams, NY under 68 inches of snow. (David Ludlum)

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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, 2005, The American Meteorological Society.