Weekly Water News

DATASTREME WES WEEK TWO: 30 January-3 February 2006

Welcome to earth science educators and other attendees at the Annual American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA this week (29 Jan- 3 Feb 2006)

Water in the News

(Thurs.) NASA checking weather while you fly -- A small NASA-developed instrument package carried aboard commercial airliners can monitor weather and help forecasts for aviation. [NASA News]
(Tues.) New rating scheme for winter storms released -- NOAA scientists have unveiled a new numerical scale called the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale that rates winter storms affecting the Northeast in an easy-to- understand format, based upon snowfall amount and the population of the affected areas. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) 2005 may have been warmest year on record - NASA scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently announced that according to their data and analysis techniques, the recently- concluded calendar year of 2005 had the highest globally averaged annual surface temperature in more than 100 years of record. [NASA]
Scientists from the National Climatic Data Center have released a statement indicating that according to their current data sets and averaging techniques that the global annual average temperature for 2005 essentially tied that for 1998 as being the highest on record. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Alaskan ice surge gets attention -- A combination of strong winds and ocean currents have pushed up piles of sea ice along Alaska's Arctic coast near Barrow, resulting in some of the largest ice surges in more than 30 years. These surges can prove deadly to people unaware of the dangers. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Lake Erie is ice-free-- An unusually warm January has resulted in essentially no ice cover on Lake Erie, which is also unusual. While people who enjoy winter sports activity such as ice fishing may complain, others find that the continuation of the ferry service to Ohio's two islands in the Lake is less expensive than using airplanes. [USA Today]
List of billion dollar weather/climate disasters updated - Scientists at the National Climatic Data Center have updated their list of billion dollar weather and climate disasters that have occurred across the US between 1980 and 2005. New entries to this list include the four major hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 and the Midwestern drought that either destroyed or severely limited crops across five states. [NOAA News]
Heavy snow could have contributed to roof collapse - Rescue efforts were underway at trying to rescue people from a collapsed roof of an exhibition hall in southern Poland, on Sunday following the collapse that had killed as many as 66 people and injured 160. While the exact cause for the collapse was not clear on Sunday, heavy snow on the roof may had contributed to the collapse. [CNN]
East Coast city ready for a tsunami - NOAA officials recently announced that Norfolk, VA has become the first East Coast city to become a NOAA TsunamiReady community following the preparing and filing of an appropriate tsunami emergency response plan. [NOAA News]
Satellites help save lives at sea - NOAA satellites, along with their Russian counterparts, have been participating in the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System or COSPAS-SARSAT. During 2005, more than 220 people were rescued from life-threatening situations because of the NOAA satellites; most of those rescued were at sea before being rescued. [NOAA News]
Why did the whale head for the Thames - Marine biologists have begun a post-mortem exam of the bottle nosed whale that died after swimming up Britain’s River Thames to central London in an effort to understand why it made the ill-fated trip. [The New Scientist]
Mock hurricane exercise was too realistic - Documents released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week indicate that a mock exercise involving a mock Category 3 (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) Hurricane Pam conducted during the early summer 2005 indicated the potential for a catastrophe in New Orleans of proportions similar to those that occurred when the Category 3 Hurricane Katrina made landfall just to the east of the city in late August. [USA Today]
Why is Rita forgotten? Residents and local officials from southwestern Louisiana and east Texas that suffered considerable damage from last season’s Hurricane Rita have been wondering why the attention of federal officials has not included their plight, but focused primarily on those to the east that were struck by Hurricane Katrina. [USA Today]
A new hurricane found -- Post-storm analysis of Tropical Storm Cindy by scientists at the National Hurricane Center indicate that Cindy had intensified to become a short-lived Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale prior to landfall along the Gulf coast last July. With the upgrading of Cindy to hurricane status, the 2005 hurricane season in the North Atlantic now has a record high number of 15 hurricanes. [USA Today] A detailed final report on Cindy was issued by NHC in pdf format
If levees cannot be fixed, build floodgates - The US Army Corps of Engineers are planning to construct floodgates as a means for preventing a storm surge from building in the major drainage canals in New Orleans, where levees were breached by water from Hurricane Katrina last summer. [US Water News]
Nature as well as humans disrupted by Gulf hurricanes - Scientists from various disciplines who have been assessing the damage wrought by the four powerful hurricanes that swept across the Gulf of Mexico last summer disrupted more than human lives and livelihoods, but did immense damage to the marine plant and animal light along the coast and out of the Gulf. [USA Today]
Accelerated sea level rises noted - Using data from tidal gauges around the world, scientists from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have found that worldwide sea level has increased during the last 135 years, with largest rates of increase appearing during the last 50 years. [BBC News]
Flood of data from winter storms - Scientists from several groups within NOAA have been involved in a field study called Hydrometeorological Testbed-West in California’s American River Basin watershed that is intended to improve the ability to predict storms that can produce excessive rain events that ultimately lead to flooding. [NOAA News]
Lead data in drinking water questioned - Congressional investigators are beginning to investigate why data about lead in the nation’s drinking water are incomplete,, according to a recent study released by the Governmental Accountability Office. [ENN]
Cowboy State cloud seeding to begin -- Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and several universities and governmental agencies will start a five-year project that will evaluate the cloud seeding efforts of a private weather modification company in Wyoming. [UCAR/NCAR]
Benefits of rain gardens described -- Researchers at the University of Connecticut state that properly designed rain gardens could serve to trap and filter out essentially all the common pollutants in urban storm runoff. [EurekAlert!]
More lakes found under Antarctic ice -- Scientists from Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory have recently discovered and described the details of two additional subglacial lakes buried approximately two miles under the ice surface in Antarctica and which are close in size to the neighboring well-known Lake Vostok. [EurekAlert!]
Water vapor is culprit - Using temperature, humidity and long- wave radiation data from weather stations around Europe, scientists including those at the World Radiation Center point to increased atmospheric water vapor as being the main reason why temperatures in Europe have been increasing [BBC News]
Texas drought leads to big bucks - An economist with the Texas A&M University Extension claimed that the current drought plaguing the Lone Star State has cost the state at least $4.5 billion. [Texas A&M University Ag 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.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD --

A request: If you have some water-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme WES participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

Concept of the Week: Water Chill

The Titanic disaster dramatically portrayed how immersion in cold water can be deadly. After abandoning ship, passengers and crew who were floating in relatively calm seas perished within a short time. Residents of cold climates are warned of the dangers posed by a combination of low air temperature and strong winds (the wind-chill). Because of the special thermal properties of water, immersion in cold water can be even more hazardous. A boating accident or a plunge through thin ice on a lake can have deadly consequences.

One of the principal hazards of cold water immersion is a lowering of body temperature due to excess heat loss. (Perhaps half of all drowning victims actually die from this effect of cold water rather than water-filled lungs.) Heat is energy that is transferred between two objects at different temperatures, always flowing from the warmer to the colder object. The human body can regulate its core temperature so that it normally varies by no more than about 2 Celsius degrees (3.6 Fahrenheit degrees) above or below 37 °C (98.6 °F). Hence, heat usually flows from the human body to its cooler surroundings. Core temperature refers to the temperature of vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

When immersed in cold water, a body may lose heat at such a high rate that thermoregulatory processes cannot prevent a steady drop in core temperature and the victim may exhibit symptoms of hypothermia. These symptoms set in when a person's core temperature falls below 36 °C (96.8 °F). Shivering (a natural thermoregulatory process) becomes violent and uncontrollable and the victim has difficulty speaking and becomes lethargic. If the core temperature drops below 32 °C (90 °F), shivering ceases, muscles become rigid, and coordination deteriorates. At a core temperature of 30 °C (86 °F), a person may drift into unconsciousness and death may ensue at a core temperature below 24 °C (75 °F).

A person runs a greater risk of developing hypothermia when immersed in water than air at the same temperature. Water conducts heat at a rate that is more than 20 times greater than still air and water's specific heat is almost 6 times that of dry air. Whereas the risk of hypothermia due to low air temperature primarily occurs in winter, cold water immersion is possible any time of year in many locations. Ocean or lake temperatures may remain relatively low throughout the summer months because of water's relatively great thermal inertia.

For more information on hypothermia, including expected survival time for various water temperatures, got to: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/tourism/hypothermia.html.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Water is a [(much better)(poorer)] conductor of heat than still air.
Hypothermia is a potentially lethal [(rise)(fall)] in the temperature of the human body's vital organs.

Historical Events

30 January 1996...A snowfall of 6.4 inches on this day pushed the seasonal snowfall to 180 inches at Sault Ste Marie, MI. This set a new seasonal snowfall record for the city. The old record was 178.6 inches set in 1976-77. (Intellicast)
30 January 1997...Surf up to 12 feet, with sets to 15 feet, pounded the north and west shores of Hawaii. A wave swept 8 people into the ocean at Keane Point on Maui. Four tourists who were taking pictures of the waves drowned. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
31 January to 4 February 1814...Floes of ice in England's Thames River backed ice up behind the London Bridge, then froze together. The ice was sufficiently strong to support refreshment and entertainment stands for 5 days. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
31 January 1911...Tamarack, CA was without snow the first eight days of the month, but by the end of January had been buried under 390 inches of snow, a record monthly snowfall total for the U.S. (The Weather Channel)
31 January to 9 February 1947...A memorable blizzard crippled Saskatchewan. All highways into Regina were blocked. Railway officials declared this blizzard as producing the worst conditions in Canadian rail history. A train was buried in a snowdrift 0.6 mile long and 37 feet deep. (The Weather Doctor)
31 January 1963...Heavy rains fell across the Sierra. The Mt. Rose Highway Station near Reno, NV reported 7.13 inches of precipitation, which set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Nevada. This rain, combined with snowmelt, produced 3 to 4 feet of water that covered 30 blocks of downtown Reno. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1936...A rainfall of three inches in several minutes was followed by a hailstorm of jagged pieces of ice that killed 19 people in the Northern Transvaal area of South Africa. Hail was reported to accumulate to a depth of 3 feet. Some of those killed had to be dug out of the hail. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1953...An intense low-pressure system 966 millibars (29.52 inches of mercury) swept across the North Sea. Wind speeds at Aberdeen, Scotland exceeded 125 mph. A storm surge of 13 feet, aided by a high spring tide, breached the dams in as many as 100 places along the Zuider Zee in The Netherlands, flooding 3.95 million acres or one-sixth of the country. More than 1800 deaths were attributed to drowning and 50,000 people were evacuated. In addition, this storm was responsible for the loss of 100,000 poultry, 25,00 pigs and 35,000 cattle. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Florida. It produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1976...Groundhog Day Storm, one of the fiercest Maritimes storms ever battered Bay of Fundy region around Saint John, New Brunswick with winds clocked at 118 mph, generating 39 foot waves with swells of 32.5 feet. (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1997...Portions of the Thames River in England froze over for the first time since World War II. (The Weather Doctor)
5 February 1887...San Francisco, CA experienced its greatest snowstorm of record. Nearly four (3.7) inches were reported in downtown San Francisco, and the western hills of the city received seven inches. Excited crowds went on a snowball-throwing rampage. (David Ludlum)
5 February 1987...Thunderstorms in the Southern Plains Region caused flooding in parts of south central Texas. Del Rio, TX was soaked with two inches of rain in two hours prior to sunrise. (The National Weather Summary)
5 February 1997...High winds pushed mountains of ice against the northern shore of Lake Erie crushing several houses and cottages in Colchester, Ontario. (The Weather Doctor)
6 February 1856...A lee shore snowburst at Oswego, NY on Lake Ontario dropped an estimated 6 feet of snow. (Intellicast)
6-8 February 1885...A severe blizzard buried parts of Nova Scotia under 16 inches of snow. Train traffic was disrupted as only trains with snowplows attached were able to push through. (The Weather Doctor)
6 February 1933...The highest reliably observed ocean wave was seen by crew of the US Navy oiler, USS Ramapo, in the North Pacific during the night on its way from Manila to San Diego. The wave was estimated (by triangulation) to have a height of 112 feet. Average winds at the time were 78 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (See additional discussion on highest ocean waves)
6 February 1985...The French mineral water company, Perrier, debuted its first new product in 123 years. The new items were water with a twist of lemon, lime, or orange.
6 February 1987...Brownsville, TX was deluged with seven inches of rain in just two hours, and flooding in some parts of the city was worse than that caused by Hurricane Beulah in 1967. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)