30 May-3 June 2005

DataStreme Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2005 with new Water News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 29 August 2005. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Atlantic Hurricane Season begins -- The official 2005 hurricane season for the North Atlantic Basin begins on Wednesday, 1 June. The National Hurricane Center maintains a hurricane preparedness website that provides information and educational material for the various hurricane hazards including storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding. (A Spanish version of this website is also available.) In the Eastern North Pacific basin, the hurricane season began on 15 May. The season will run until 30 November in both basins.
• New tide and water level station established -- The University of Southern Mississippi and NOAA have recently inaugurated a new tide and water level station at the university's research laboratory so as to provide measurements of land subsidence and to monitor storm surges during the hurricane season. [NOAA News]
• An anniversary of NOAA satellites noted -- The 45th anniversary of the launching of the first weather satellite, TIROS, was recently celebrated. Since then, a variety of satellites has been launched that have been designed to monitor the earth's atmospheric and oceanic environment. [NOAA News]
• Large red tide affects the New England coast -- Scientists with the University of Maine have blamed the massive toxic red tide bloom along the New England coast on three storms that have traveled across the Gulf of Maine, along with unusual ocean currents. Officials in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts have banned the harvesting a variety of shellfish from beds along their coasts. [USA Today] Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are studying the algae responsible for these red tides and are providing information to coastal managers. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
• New underwater volcano discovered in the Pacific -- Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Oregon and University of Sydney have discovered an active underwater volcano near the Samoan Island chain in the western Pacific Ocean. This volcano formed within the last four years. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• New technique for tsunami alert developed -- Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California, Los Angeles who have studying the colossal earthquake that produced the disastrous Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 have developed a method for imaging the earthquakes, which could provide sufficient time for warning the public of an impending tsunami. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• Water woes in the Southwest -- The recent heat wave across the West has caused a rapid snowmelt that has caused rivers in the Southwest to flood.
• In southwestern Colorado, floods caused the evacuation of residents from their homes. At least one fatality due to the flooding was reported in neighboring Utah. [USA Today]
• In New Mexico, the melting snow has helped fill some of the reservoirs that had been depleted because of the drought that continues elsewhere across the West. [USA Today]
• Wildfire risk continues to increase -- Wildfire forecasters with the National Weather Service and the National Interagency Fire Center are concerned that the growth of grasses and other vegetation because of the precipitation during this past winter and spring could result in an above average wildfire season. [USA Today]
• Viewing drought effects in the Black Hills from space -- A set of maps from a spectral radiometer onboard one of NASA's orbiting satellites shows how the appearance of South Dakota's Black Hills has changed over the last 4 years because of the extensive severe drought. [NASA Earth Observatory News]
• Wet and dry conditions foreseen in Africa -- Researchers with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NOAA recently reported that warming of the Indian Ocean could affect the African monsoons, resulting in wetter monsoons for the Sahel region of Africa, which had endured several decades of drought, while southern Africa could see development of a major and extended drought. [UCAR News]
• Road salt affects wetlands -- A biologist at Penn State Erie has been monitoring the salinity of the wetlands along a highway because of the use of road salt for ice control in an effort to assess how the salt affects animals and insects. [EurekAlert!]
• Hurricane-force winds could strike Florida and North Carolina this season -- Using historical statistics and forecasts of ocean and atmospheric conditions for 2005, researchers from the University of Central Florida and a Georgia company predict that several coastal cities in Florida (Miami Beach and Naples) and North Carolina (Cape Hatteras) could experience hurricane force winds this hurricane season. [University of Central Florida]
• 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.

• 30 May 1948...The Columbia River swollen from snowmelt reached its highest stage since 1894. A railroad bed acting as a dam gave way during a flood along the Columbia River destroying the city of Vanport, which had been Oregon's second largest city during World War II. The nearly 18,700 residents escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs, as the river put the city under 15 feet of water in two hours. Damage was estimated at 101 million dollars and 75 people lost their lives. The city died that day. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 30 May 1961...Thunderstorms dropped over 10 inches of rain in less than an hour at Buffalo Gap, Saskatchewan, breaking a long drought. (The Weather Doctor)
• 30 May 1983...Unusually high temperatures throughout the western United States caused great runoff from snowpack in Rocky Mountains. The flooding washed out bridges and caused mudslides in Nevada. (Intellicast)
• 30 May 1991...Three thunderstorms produced 5.65 inches of rain in a 3-hour period across New Marlboro and Sheffield, MA resulting in severe flooding. Many roads and several bridges were washed out eventually isolating the two towns. About 89 miles of road were damaged. Typical washouts ranged up to 8 feet deep and roads that were 25 feet wide were reduced to only 10 feet. Power outages were widespread and a state of emergency was declared. The flooding was the worst since 1955 for the area and total damage was estimated near $10 million. (Intellicast)
• 30-31 May 1997...As many as 140 people had to be rescued from rip currents off Dayton Beach Shores, FL. One man died in a rip current while trying to save his wife. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 31 May 1889...The Johnstown, PA disaster occurred, the worst flood tragedy in U.S. history. Heavy rains totaling 4 to 10 inches over the previous 36 hours collapsed the South Fork Dam sending a thirty-foot wall of water rushing down the already flooded Conemaugh Valley. The wall of water, traveling as fast as twenty-two feet per second, swept away all structures, objects, and people, practically wiping out Johnstown. About 2100 persons perished in the flood. (David Ludlum)
• 31 May 1911...Violent Derby Day thunderstorms killed four horses on Epsom Downs in Southeastern England. Local flooding/landslides, lightning, and wind gusts inflicted damage across lowland England. Seventeen people were killed in the London area. (The Weather Doctor)
• 31 May-1 June 1941...Thunderstorms deluged Burlington, KS with 12.59 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour rainfall record for the Jayhawk State. (The Weather Channel)
• 1-17 June 2001...The deadliest and costliest tropical storm in US history, Tropical Storm Allison, wandered westward across the tropical Atlantic and crossed over into the Pacific before reversing and moving back into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. On 1 June the tropical wave, which eventually evolved into TS Allison, moved into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast of Mexico after moving westward across the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean from the west coast of Africa on 21 May. On the 2^nd, a cyclonic (counterclockwise) circulation developed to the south-southeast of Salma Cruz, Mexico, but the low level circulation became ill-defined as the system moved inland on the 3^rd over southeastern Mexico and western Guatemala. This system intensified again and eventually moved northward to the Texas Gulf Coast and then eastward to the Atlantic before turning into an extratropical storm in mid-June. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 June 1889...A great flood on the Potomac River in Washington, DC took out a span of Long Bridge, and flooded streets near the river. The flood stage was not again equaled until 1936. (David Ludlum)
• 2-4 June 1986...A tropical disturbance brought flooding rains to parts of the Greater Antilles. The flooding caused 59 deaths in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. As many as 240,000 people lost their homes to this disturbance. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 June 1905...Seattle, WA received its heaviest ever 24-hour June rainstorm with 1.42 inches falling. (Intellicast)
• 3 June1921...A cloudburst near Pikes Peak, CO killed 120 people. A twenty-five foot crest of the Arkansas River flooded Pueblo, CO and killed 70 persons. Fourteen inches of rain was reported at Boggs Flat, where a hard surface road through nearly level country was washed out to a depth of seven feet. (The Weather Channel)
• 3 June 1959...Thunderstorms in northwestern Kansas produced up to eighteen inches of hail near Salden during the early evening. Crops were completely destroyed, and total damage from the storm was about half a million dollars. Hail fell for a record eighty-five minutes. The temperature dropped from near 80 degrees prior to the storm to 38 degrees at the height of the storm. (David Ludlum)
• 3 June 1987...Six days of flooding in South Texas culminated with five to six inch rains from Bexar County to Bandera County, and five to nine inches of rain in Gonzalez and Wilson Counties. Total crop damage was estimated at $500 million. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 4 June 1825...A hurricane struck Long Island, NY leveling trees and causing damage to ships. The early season hurricane, which originated near Cuba, caused major damage along the Atlantic coast from Charleston, SC to New York City. Many were lost at sea. (David Ludlum)
• 4 June 1976...Forty-foot waves from a tropical cyclone smashed Gogha (port), India. Excellent warnings limited the death toll to approximately 70. Dredging of the harbor at Bhavnnagar ceased for several years as storm runoff from the Kansa River washed away accumulated sand and silt. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 June 1982...A four-day storm began over New England which produced up to 14 inches of rain in southern Connecticut breaching twenty-three dams and breaking two others. Damage was estimated at more than $276 million. (David Ludlum)
• 4 June 1991...Up to six feet of water raced through parts of Howells, NE as the result of nearly five inches of rain. An elderly man who ignored evacuation orders drowned when the water collapsed his basement wall after he had taken shelter because of a tornado warning. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5 June 1908...Helena, MT was deluged with 3.67 inches of rain to establish their all-time 24-hour rainfall record. (4th-5th) (The Weather Channel)
• 5 June 1993...A strong, late season spring storm moved into California. The 0.76 inches of rain at Los Angeles set a new daily rainfall record for June. Lake Gregory was deluged with 3.24 inches of rain in 24 hours and a foot of snow fell at the Mammoth Mountain ski area. (Intellicast)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2005, The American Meteorological Society.