WEEKLY WATER NEWS
2-6 January 2006
DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES) will return for Spring 2006 with
new Water News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday,
16 January 2006. All the current online homepage products will continue to be
available throughout the break period.
Water in the News:
- Results from the Grace mission -- Measurements of the minute changes
in the earth's gravitational field made by the twin orbiting satellites in
NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
(Grace) have led to a variety of findings, including documentation of the
decrease in the mass of the Greenland Ice Cap, measurements of the seasonal
changes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and detection of the deformation
of the earth's crust associated with the Sumatra earthquake and ensuing tsunami
in December 2004. [NASA
Earth Observatory] and [NASA JPL
News]
- The tropical Atlantic continues to be busy -- As the calendar year
2005 closed, the 27th named tropical cyclone of the year in the North Atlantic
Basin formed last Friday southwest of the Azores Islands as Tropical Storm
Zeta. This new tropical storm not only is the 9th tropical system to form in
the month of December since 1886, but is one of the latest to form during a
year, tying Tropical Storm Alice, which formed on 30 December 1954 and became a
hurricane on the following day. [Editor's Note: in 1954, the name list
was recycled, so Alice was used twice. EJH] Tropical Storm Zeta
continued to drift to the west-southwest across the central Atlantic on Sunday.
Current forecasts indicated that Zeta should pose no threat to land and should
weaken by the early part of this week. [USA
Today]
- Water woes -- The past week brought more heavy precipitation to the
West Coast, while some sections of the southern Plains continued to experience
little precipitation, helping the spread of deadly wildfires.
- The second in the recent series of storms brought four to five inches of
rain to northern California, resulting in the flooding of several rivers,
including the Russian and Napa Rivers. [USA
Today]
- The lack of significant precipitation and unseasonably warm weather
conditions, along with strong winds, have helped spread major wildfires across
Texas and Oklahoma at the end of last week, resulting in at least four
fatalities. [USA
Today] Several factors have been responsible for maintaining these
wildfires. [NOAA
News]
- In Europe, another winter storm last week brought more heavy snow and cold
air that resulted in numerous deaths and major traffic congestion from France
and the Netherlands eastward to Poland and Slovakia. [USA
Today]
- Record precipitation erases drought worries in New England -- Winter
snow and autumn rain led to 2005 becoming the wettest year on record in
Portland, ME and Concord, NH. Groundwater levels have returned to above average
values following a four-year long drought. [USA
Today]
- New precipitation web page unveiled -- Officials with the National
Weather Service have unveiled a trial-version of a precipitation web page that
will provide high quality precipitation analyses based upon high resolution
radar imagery and more than 4000 rain gauges. This page, which can be used to
monitor droughts and floods, will remain on the Internet for the next six
months [NOAA
News]
- Las Vegas could outstrip its water supply -- An official with the
Southern Nevada Water Authority recently cautioned that the water demands by
Las Vegas and neighboring communities could exceed the region's authorized
share of the water from the Colorado River within the next year. [US Water
News Online]
- Saltwater threatens freshwater supplies -- With diminished river
flow because of an extended drought in southern China, a wedge of saltwater
from the South China Sea has been moving inland, threatening the freshwater
supplies north of Hong Kong. [ENN]
- Soil erosion seen as a serious threat in China -- The Chinese media
has reported that more than one-third of China's land has suffered soil
erosion, especially in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins, thereby threatening
the nation's water supplies. [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.
Historical Events:
- 2 January 1910...A great flood in Utah and Nevada washed out 100 miles of
railroad between Salt Lake City, UT and Los Angeles, CA causing seven million
dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
- 2 January 1955...Hurricane Alice battered the Leeward Islands with
sustained winds of 85 mph on this day. Alice was upgraded as a full tropical
system on 31 December 1954, making Alice the latest and earliest hurricane on
record in the Atlantic Ocean. (Intellicast)
- 2 January 1987...A winter storm moving up the Atlantic coast brought heavy
snow and high winds to the northeastern U.S. Total snowfall in the storm which
began on the 1st, by the morning of the 3rd amounted to
two feet at Salem, NH and Waterboro, ME, 22 inches at Lowell, MA, 14 inches at
Worcester, MA, 22 inches at Nashua, NH, and 18 inches at Portland, ME. Wind
gusts reached 82 mph at Trenton, NJ and Southwest Harbor in Maine. Significant
coastal flooding occurred as the storm coincided with unusually high
astronomical tides. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
- 2 January 1993...In the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, the Sugar
Bowl ski patrol reported a snow depth of 90 inches at the 7000-foot level. A
depth of 150 inches was measured at 7800 feet. Since 29 December 1992, a total
of 72 inches had fallen at the 7000-foot elevation, with 93 inches at 8300
feet. (Intellicast)
Cyclone Kina battered Fiji with wind gusts to 130 mph and heavy rain. Up to
21.65 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, resulting in the worst flooding in 60
years. Twenty-three people were killed and damage was estimated to be in excess
of 547 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
- 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 5th
to the 8th, 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 6th, and ended over New England
on the 8th. Low pressure developed over the southeast on the
6th, 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 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 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)
Return to DataStreme WES Homepage
Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email
hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2006, The American
Meteorological Society.