WEEKLY WATER NEWS

14-18 May 2007

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Water in the News:

• Flooding rain across nation's midsection monitored from space -- An image generated from data collected by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite shows the rainfall totals accumulated during the first week of May 2007. The region that had near record rainfall totals across the southern and central Plains can be easily discerned. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Dry conditions appear in Southwest -- An image of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index generated by data collected by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite during the 22 March-6 April 2007 period shows the unusually dry conditions that continued across the Southwest, extending from central and southern California eastward across southern Nevada into western sections of Utah and Arizona. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A joint celebration -- During the celebration of its 200th Anniversary, NOAA has recognized that May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. The NOAA Administrator notes the contributions made by Americans of Asian and Pacific descent to the fields of meteorology and oceanography. [NWSFO Milwaukee/Sullivan]
• First subtropical storm of season -- A vigorous low-pressure system that had properties of both tropical and extratropical systems developed over the western North Atlantic early last week and moved to the west toward the coast of the Southeastern US. Forecasters at the NOAA's National Hurricane Center named this low pressure system Subtropical Storm Andrea. An image from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite shows Andrea when it was first forming. [NASA Earth Observatory] An image from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite with a superimposed plot of wind gusts obtained at the start of last week shows the development of the subtropical cyclone that was named Andrea. [NOAA OSEI]
• Hurricane season begins in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2007 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin begins Tuesday, 15 May 2007. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin in two weeks on 1 June. The official hurricane seasons in both basins end on 30 November 2007. NOAA has declared next week (20-26 May 2007) to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.
• Evaluating potential damage from hurricane size -- Hurricane researchers with NOAA have been investigating the development of a new Hurricane Destructive Potential classification scheme that would evaluate the destructive potential of a land-falling hurricane due to wind, storm surge and waves from the system's overall size and the area affected by its winds. [NOAA News]
• A modern "smart buoy" deployed at a historic site -- NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District deployed the first of three "smart buoys" on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail just off Jamestown, VA prior to last week's America's 400th anniversary weekend. These buoys will be part of the sensor-to-user information delivery system called Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System, which will make chemical, optical and physical observations of the atmosphere and estuarine water that will be transmitted to the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office and then made available online to the public. [NOAA News]
• A new online tool for hazardous materials responders unveiled -- The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration has recently unveiled a website called CAMEO Chemicals that will be a component of NOAA's CAMEO (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations) software suite designed to assist the first responders to accidents involving hazardous chemicals. [NOAA News]
• North American Safe Boating Week -- Commencing this coming Saturday, the week of 19-25 May has been declared 2007 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2007 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• Australia's shrinking lake -- Two images made from data collected approximately 21 months apart by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite dramatically indicates how Lake Eucumbene of southeast Australia, has shrunk due to a major drought. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Hot and dry summers foreseen for the Northeast -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently claimed their models show average summer temperatures across the eastern United States could increase by nearly 10 Fahrenheit degrees by 2080, while precipitation amounts decrease, the result of increased levels of anthropogenically generated greenhouse gases. [NASA Earth Observatory] Images are available [NASA GSFC]
• Lingering effects of the last Ice Age felt -- Researchers with the University of Toronto and their colleagues at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have found that their analysis of four years of data collected from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission indicates continued changes in the gravity field across North America that they attribute to continued rebound from the Laurentide ice sheet that disappeared from the continent within the last 10,000 years. [EurekAlert!]
• Ice cap melt could affect climate change -- Scientists at Spain's Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona who are involved with two research studies of the last Ice Age using deep sea sediments from the North Atlantic Ocean report that melting of the North American and Scandinavian ice sheets near the end of the last glaciation played a significant role in the change in climate by affecting the oceanic circulation patterns. They warn that the melting of the Greenland ice cap could cause major future changes in the ocean circulation and ultimately, the climate of the planet. [EurekAlert!]
• Searching for the ancient "bathtub ring" of fossils -- Geologists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory geologists are asking for help in locating fossilized remnants of extinct mammoths that were killed by a succession of floods from Ice Age lakes in southeastern Washington State. The bone deposits are helping the scientists decipher the depths of the periglacial lakes, including Lake Missoula whose ice dam broke and caused flooding approximately 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean circulation found to have a "short-circuit" -- Researchers from the University of East Anglia, the University of Southampton and the University of Bremen tracing the path of helium from underwater volcanoes report finding a "short-circuit" in the large scale circulation of the world ocean, especially in the Southern Ocean. This "short-circuit" process allows cold water that initially sinks to return to the surface more rapidly than previously thought, with the rapid recycling of the water appearing to affect large-scale climate change, including the transport of heat and carbon compounds. [University of East Anglia]
• Tropical plants could adapt to climate change -- A team of scientists from the Carnegie Institution, Princeton University and the University of Florida reports that tropical plants appear to be able to adapt to environmental change, such as changes in rainfall, by extracting nitrogen from a variety of sources, thereby providing some optimism to those concerned with the ability of tropical forests to withstand shifts in nutritional cycles caused by global climate change. [EurekAlert!] [EurekAlert!]
• Ancient deep-sea "burps" and possible impacts on climate -- A team of researchers from Kent State University, Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Colorado-Boulder have identified two occurrences of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide at 18,000 and 13,000 years ago from sediment cores obtained off Baja California. These ancient "burps" near the end of the last Ice Age occurred when large quantities of this dissolved gas were emitted from the deeps of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, triggered in part by abrupt changes in deep ocean circulation. [Kent State University]
• Insights into the global carbon budget -- An expert on the planetary carbon cycle, Dr. R. A. Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center, has authored a synthesis paper on the global carbon budget and how it and the associated carbon cycle are influenced by, as well as exert an influence, upon the global climate and climatic change. [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:

• 15-24 May 1951...Hurricane Able did a "loop-the-loop" north of the Bahamas and reached Category 3 strength off Cape Hatteras, NC. (The Weather Doctor)
• 15 May 1972...The worst ice jam flooding of memory for long-time residents took place along the Kuskokwim River and Yukon River in Alaska, marking the first time since 1890 that the two rivers "flowed as one". The towns of Oscarville and Napaskiak were completely inundated. (15th-31st) (The Weather Channel)
• 16 May 1874...The Mill Creek disaster occurred west of Northhampton, MA. Dam slippage after a rain resulted in a flash flood that claimed 143 lives, and caused a million dollars in property damage. (David Ludlum)
• 16 May 1883...A three-day flood was in progress throughout the Black Hills of South Dakota that resulted in damages of over one million dollars in the Rapid City area. (Intellicast)
• 16 May 1917...Marquette, MI had its latest opening of navigation on Lake Superior in history. (Intellicast)
• 17-21 May 1887...An early season tropical storm raked Cuba and The Bahamas. (The Weather Doctor)
• 17 May 1980...Thunderstorms dumped 16 inches of rain in a 24-hour period at Lake Charles, LA. (Intellicast)
• 17 May 1983...A golfer playing the Fox Meadows Course in Memphis, TN was struck by a bolt of lightning that went through his neck, down his spine, came out a pocket containing his keys, and went into a nearby tree. Miraculously, he survived! (The Weather Channel)
• 17 May 1988...Thunderstorms produced large hail and damaging winds over the Carolinas during the afternoon and evening. A "thunderstorm of a lifetime" in northern Spartanburg County, SC produced hail for forty-five minutes, leaving some places knee-deep in hail. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 17 May 1997...Two inches of snow fell at Herman, MI, marking the last measurable snow for the 1996-1997 snow season. The 384.0 inches for this just concluded snow season broke a state snowfall record that was set the previous 1995-1996 season of 347.0 inches. The average snowfall at Herman is 239.7 inches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 May 1950...As many as 100,000 people were evacuated in Winnipeg, MB as the Red River crested at 30.3 feet above normal water level. Floodwaters damaged 5,000 homes and buildings. (The Weather Doctor)
• 18 May 1980... Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, ejecting smoke and ash to a height of 63,000 feet. The smoke plume rose to a height of 80,000 feet. The ground was covered with heavy ash to the immediate northeast and visibility was reduced to less than one mile for a downwind distance of 400 miles. Five deaths were caused and over 2000 people were evacuated due to mudslides and flooding when the snowpack melted. Small particles in the cloud reached the East Coast in 3 days and circled the world in 19 days. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 18 May 1990...Thunderstorms deluged Sioux City, IA with up to eight inches of rain, resulting in a record flood crest on Perry Creek and at least 4.5 million dollars damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 19 May 1257...On St. Dunstan's Day, a tornado traveled from Windsor to St. Albans in England and was described as a "marvellous sore tempest of weather, the air being darkened on every side from the four corners thereof, and withal chanced such a thunder as few the like had been heard." (The Weather Doctor)
• 19 May 1955...Lake Maloya, NM received 11.28 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 19 May 1984...Texas received heavy rain from thunderstorms, with 4.22 inches falling on Beaumont in 6 hours and Port Arthur receiving over 6 inches of rain in about 8 hours. (Intellicast)
• 19 May 1987...Thunderstorms in Texas produced thirteen inches of rain northwest of Lavernia. The heavy rain, along with golfball-size hail, destroyed eighty percent of the crops in the area, while high winds toppled trees. Golf ball size hail was also reported south of Dallas and around San Antonio. Up to eight inches of rain drenched Guadalupe County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 19 May 1988...Severe thunderstorms in southwest Texas produced hail as large as tennis balls around Midland, with the hail accumulating up to a foot deep. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 19 May 1990...Thunderstorms deluged Hot Springs, AR with thirteen inches of rain in nine hours resulting in a devastating flood. Two waves of water, four to six feet deep, swept down Central Avenue flooding stores and the famous bathhouses on Bathhouse Row. Water released from Lake Hamilton devastated the area between it and Remmel Dam. The 500-foot Carpenter Dam Bridge across Lake Catherine was completely washed away, as were cabins and mobile homes near the lake, many of which flowed right over the top of Remmel Dam. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 20 May 1729...A waterspout moved on land at Bexhill, Sussex, England to become a tornado. The tornado leveled many buildings along its path of destruction, 12 miles long and on average 380 yards wide. (The Weather Doctor)
• 20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)
• 20 May 1990...Nearly 13 inches of rain fell in just 9 hours at Hot Springs, AR. A wall of water 4 to 6 feet high roared though the city. Cars, many occupied, were seen floating down Central Avenue. As many as 85 people had to be rescued from flooded cars and buildings. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary) (Intellicast)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.