WEEKLY WATER NEWS

1-5 May 2006

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2006 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 28 August 2006. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Water in the News:

• Successful launch of satellites to study Earth's clouds -- Two new NASA satellites were launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA early last Friday that are designed to make observations of clouds in the Earth's atmosphere from orbits that will be 438 miles above the Earth's surface. The CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) satellite has a lidar system that can detect and distinguish between cloud and aerosol particles. The CloudSat satellite has a cloud-profiling radar that can detect and distinguish between clouds and precipitation. These new satellites are part of the "A-Train" that also includes NASA's Aqua and Aura satellites. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Monitoring flooding on the Blue Danube from space -- A recent image made by the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite shows the flooding that recently occurred along the Danube River in eastern Europe, the result of spring rain and snowmelt. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Detailed analysis used to see how a tropical system ticks -- Using a mechanical metaphor to describe the analysis and recreation of weather data surrounding Tropical Storm Gert that formed in the Gulf of Mexico during July 2005, NASA researchers found that the mountainous topography of Mexico appears to have helped in the formation of this tropical storm. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Satellites show conflicting temperature trends in Antarctica -- NASA scientists assembled an image of the trends in radiative skin temperatures over Antarctica made by NOAA polar orbiting satellites between 1982 and 2004 that shows warming along coastal sections of the continent, while cooling was detected in the interior near the South Pole. Disintegration of ice shelves and calving of icebergs appear to be related to the warming along the coast. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Looking ahead to new weather satellites -- Attendees at a recent conference were told by a high-ranking NOAA official of plans for a new series of geosynchronous satellites to be launched beginning in 2014. He also reported that the GOES-N satellite that is scheduled for launch in May should benefit forecasters during this upcoming hurricane season. [USA Today]
• Hurricane hunter aircraft to tour Gulf Coast and Florida -- In an attempt to increase public awareness of hurricane preparedness along the vulnerable coastal sections of the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Florida Peninsula, flight crews from NOAA's hurricane hunter aircraft, along with forecasters from the National Hurricane Center are about to make a five-day tour starting Monday in Brownsville, TX and ending Friday in Tampa, FL. [NOAA News]
• Critical milestone reached in the US tsunami warning system -- Last Friday, NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher announced that NOAA had reached a significant milestone that included expansion of the tsunami detection and warning program, along with the completion of new tsunami impact forecast models for specific coastal regions. [NOAA News]
• Validation experiment on ice sheet to provide ground-truth for satellite -- A team of European scientists and students from the Climate Change College (launched by ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's) is participating in the European Space Agency's CryoSat validation experiment on the Greenland ice sheet. This team will collect snow and ice samples on the ice sheet that will be used to improve the accuracy of the data that will be collected by the space agency's soon-to-be launched CryoSat-2 satellite. [ESA]
• A wet century in Pakistan could be due to human activity -- German and Swiss scientists recently reported that based upon their analysis of isotopes in the annual rings of millennium-old juniper trees, the 20th century was the wettest in more than 1000 years across northern Pakistan. They suspect that human activity may be responsible for this increase in precipitation. [EurekAlert!]
• 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.

Historical Events:

• 1 May 1986...Hailstones up to 11 pounds were reported in China, resulting in the deaths of 16 people and injuries to 125. (The Weather Doctor)
• 1 May 1854...After 66 hours of steady rain, the Connecticut River reached a level of nearly twenty-nine feet (28 feet 10.5 inches) at Hartford, CT (the highest level of record up until that time). The record height was reached in the midst of a great New England flood that followed sixty-six hours of steady rain. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 1 May 1883...At Cape Lookout, NC, a storm tide swept over the island drowning sheep and cattle. (Intellicast)
• 3 May 1761...Large tornadoes swept the Charleston, SC harbor when a British Fleet of 40 sails was at anchor. It raised a wave 12 feet high, leaving many vessels on their beam-ends. Four people drowned. (Intellicast)
• 5 May 1945...The U.S. Air Forces vainly attempted to break up an ice jam near Bishop Rock on the Yukon River in the Yukon Territory with 33 250-kg bombs and 44 50-kg bombs. (The Weather Doctor)
• 5 May 1981...Mobile, AL had its worst flash flooding ever as thunderstorms unloaded 8 to 16 in. of rain over the metropolitan area in a couple of hours. Damage was set at $36 million. (Intellicast)
• 5 May 1990...A strong Pacific cold front moving rapidly inland caused weather conditions at the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State to quickly change from sunny and calm to westerly winds of 60 mph and ten-foot waves. Three recreational fishing boats capsized in heavy seas off Port Angeles resulting in five deaths. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 5 May 1995...A supercell thunderstorm rapidly developed just ahead of a fast moving bow echo squall line and blasted Tarrant County, Texas. Large hail up to 5 in. in diameter, driven by 80-mph winds, caused a tremendous amount of damage. As many as 10,000 people were caught out in the open at Mayfest in Downtown Forth Worth, resulting in 109 injuries from the large hail. Torrential rains of up to 3 in. in 30 minutes and 5 in. in one hour across Dallas caused unprecedented flash flooding, resulting in 16 deaths. Total damage in Forth Worth alone was estimated at $2 billion, making this the costliest thunderstorm event in U.S. history. This was the third severe hailstorm to strike the area in only a little over a month. (Intellicast)
• 6 May 1937...The hydrogen-filled German dirigible Hindenburg crashed at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people were killed of the 97 onboard. Static electricity in the air from a nearby thunderstorm may have been a factor in the disaster.
• 7 May 1988...A powerful storm in the north central U.S. produced up to three feet of snow in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming and the mountains of south central Montana. Up to five inches of rain drenched central Montana in less than 24 hours, and flash flooding in Wyoming caused $1 million in damage. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2006, The American Meteorological Society.