WEEKLY WATER NEWS

18-22 June 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.

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! The summer solstice will occur early Thursday afternoon (officially, 1806 Z, or 2:06 PM EDT, 1:06 PM CDT, etc.) as the Earth's spin axis is oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest north in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical summer, the British call the day the "Midsummer Day", as the apparent sun will begin its southward descent again. For essentially all locations in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight today will be the longest and the night will be the shortest of the year. Starting Friday, the length of darkness will begin to increase as we head toward the winter solstice on 22 December 2007 at 0608 Z. However, because the sun is not as perfect a time-keeper as a clock, the latest sunsets of the year at many mid-latitude locations will continue through about the first week of July -- a consequence of the earth being near aphelion (on 4 July 2007) and the apparent sun moving across the sky well to the north of the celestial equator.

Water in the News:

Spring 2007 reviewed -- Scientists with the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently concluded that the three-month meteorological spring season (March through May) was the fifth warmest across the coterminous US since sufficiently dense climate records began in 1895. In addition, the month of May was the eleventh warmest according to preliminary data. Much of the nation experienced above average temperatures for May as well as for the entire spring season, with many states from the mid-Mississippi and lower Ohio Valleys westward to the Rockies and the Southwest reporting much above average temperatures. While the Plains states experienced above average precipitation totals for March through May, the Southeast and the Pacific coast experienced much below average precipitation for those three months, helping to cause an expansion and worsening of the drought conditions. Georgia experienced its driest May in 113 years, as well as the driest spring on record. Neighboring Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee also reported their driest May. [NOAA News]
Drought intensifying across the Southeast -- Drought specialists who assemble the weekly US Drought Monitor have noted that the extreme drought that had been centered over Alabama has expanded into Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. Farmers in the states are experiencing major losses in crop production. [USA Today]
Southeastern drought could impact national whiskey supply -- While whiskey drinkers around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about a potential shortage in the famous Jack Daniels whiskey, company officials at the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee are monitoring the water conditions and conserving water as the drought becomes more severe across the Southeast. [WLWT-5 Cincinnati]
Watching construction of a giant dam from space -- Images from NASA's Landsat satellites collected over the last 13 years show the progress in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam along China's Yangtze River, which should become the world's largest hydroelectric power generators when completed in two years. In addition to hydroelectric power generation, the dam is designed to improve flood control on the flood-prone Yangtze, the world's third largest river. Some scientists have found that the development of the reservoir behind the dam due to the impoundment of the river could result in a "lake effect" weather situation with reduced daytime air temperatures and increased precipitation near the reservoir. [NASA Earth Observatory]. Several Landsat images of this giant dam project are available. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Recent views from space -- Images obtained from the MODIS instrument onboard one of NASA's satellites last week show several noteworthy features in the lower atmosphere:
- Smoke from wildfires in eastern Canada [NOAA OSEI]
- Dust from Sudan being carried out over the Red Sea. [NOAA OSEI]
- Clouds from the summer Indian monsoon regime that produced torrential rain and the deaths of over 100 people due to the flooding. [NOAA OSEI]
The Big Apple needs to prepare for a big hurricane -- Early last week, the Homeland Security Secretary warned that New York City must prepare for the possibility of a sufficiently powerful hurricane that could cause serious flooding in lower Manhattan and other low-lying areas of the nation's largest city. Some experts believe that the city is due for a major hurricane. [USA Today]
New environmental satellite center is opened -- The NOAA Satellite Operations Facility was recently opened in Suitland, MD to serve as home to NOAA's environmental satellite operations that provide atmospheric and oceanic data needed for weather and climate prediction. [NOAA News]
Great Lakes research is expanded -- NOAA officials recently announced that a new Great Lakes Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research has been established in Ann Arbor, MI representing a consortium of universities and institutions in seven states surrounding the Great Lakes that will be responsible for conducting collaborative research on Great Lakes issues. [NOAA News]
"Green ships" in NOAA's fleet win a White House Award -- The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive announced that the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI, has won a White House Closing-the-Circle Award in the green purchasing category due to conversion of three NOAA Great Lakes research vessels from petroleum-based fuels and lubricants to bio-based products. [NOAA News]
New type buoy is deployed -- Oceanographers from the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the University of Washington, along with their Canadian colleagues from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, BC recently deployed a new type of buoy in the Gulf of Alaska that not only monitors traditional climate elements in the lower atmosphere and upper ocean, but also ocean chemistry. Specifically, instruments will measure the air-sea exchange of various gases as well as the pH, or acidity, of the surface waters so as to monitor suspected ocean acidification due to absorption of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by the ocean. [NOAA News]
Keels laid for two new NOAA ships -- The keels were laid last Friday at a shipyard along the Mississippi Gulf Coast for two new ships that will join the NOAA fleet. The names of these vessels were selected by student teams in NOAA ship-naming contests and are the Ferdinand R. Hassler for a coastal mapping vessel and the Bell M. Shimadafor a fisheries survey ship. [NOAA News]
Lake levels are a concern on the Great Lakes -- The level of Lake Superior has dropped to its lowest level in 81 years and the levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron are also down, leading many residents and others whose lives depend on the Great Lakes concerned. [WZZM-13 Grand Rapids]
What to do with water for Wyoming coal-beds -- The Wyoming State Engineer is asking companies that manufacture methane in the state's coal beds to prove that the production of groundwater used in the gas generation process is reasonable, with the ultimate goal of water volume limits being imposed. [US Water News Online]
Reduction in water flow to help endangered fish -- Officials with the US Bureau of Reclamation have cut the amount of water that is pumped to farmers from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in an effort to save the endangered delta smelt. [US Water News Online]
Ruling in Arizona snowmaking case appealed -- Owners of the Arizona Snowbowl and several federal agencies are appealing a decision made in a federal appeals court against the ski resort's use of treated wastewater to make snow because it had viewed the practice as being offensive to the Navajo Nation. [US Water News Online]
Zebra mussels invade Missouri and Kansas -- State conservation officials in Missouri and Kansas are concerned that zebra mussels are invading many of the lakes across these two states. [US Water News Online]
Pioneer tidal energy generator installed -- The world's first tidal energy generator that will create electricity on a commercial basis is being installed at the mouth of Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough. [BBC News]
Polar explorers on thin sea ice guided by satellite -- Two Belgian explorers participating in the Arctic Arc expedition by collecting snow depth data for the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 mission are being aided in their 2000-km trek across disintegrating sea ice covering the Arctic by data collected on the Agency's Envisat satellite. [ESA]
Dwindling snows of Kilimanjaro caused by more than "global warming" -- Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Innsbruck report that the dwindling ice field on Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, like similar tropical mountain glaciers, is due to a reduction in snowfall and other complex processes that have been occurring for more than one century and not simply to the oft-suggested "global warming." [EurekAlert!]
Some could benefit from "global warming" -- While many studies point to major problems associated with projected global temperature increases during the next century, some groups in northern latitudes could see benefits, ranging from reduced heating costs, bumper crops and changes in tourism. For example, cities around the Great Lakes look to the forecasted 11 Fahrenheit degree increase as being beneficial to their economies as they would become year round tourist attractions with milder winters. [USA Today]
A different perspective of Florida's Everglades -- A photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows the mangrove, marsh and prairie in southern sections of the Everglades National Park, the near shore waters of Florida Bay and US Highway 1 as it beginnings it journey along the Florida Keys toward Key West. [NASA Earth Observatory]
More evidence presented for Martian oceans -- A team of researchers from the Carnegie Institution, Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto have found that the variations in the topography of features on the surface of Mars that look like shoreline could have been caused by the periodic variations of the Martian spin axis and the poles over the last three billion years in a way that would suggest the presence of large oceans on that planet's surface. [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:

19 June 1932...A hailstorm in Honan Province, China, killed two hundred and injured thousands of people. The hail fell for two hours and damaged four hundred villages. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
19 June 1938...A cloudburst near Custer Creek, MT (near Miles City) caused a train wreck killing forty-eight persons. An estimated four to seven inches of rain deluged the head of the creek that evening, and water flowing through the creek weakened the bridge. As a result, a locomotive and seven passenger cars of the Milwaukee Road's The Olympian plunged into the swollen creek. One car, a tourist sleeper, was completely submerged. (David Ludlum) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19 June 1969...Flash floods resulted as a rainstorm dropped 1.65 inches in 40 minutes over the mountainous terrain approximately 6 miles west-northwest of Castleford, ID. The flood cut a 40 foot deep gap at the Salmon Falls Creek road crossing. A two-foot high wall of water swept down another road. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19-26 June 1972...Hurricane Agnes (a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale) moved onshore along the Florida Panhandle near Cape San Blas and Apalachicola with wind gusts to 80 mph, and then exited Maine on the 26^th. This hurricane moved northeast and joined with an upper level disturbance, producing from 10 to 20 inches of rain along its path along the Eastern Seaboard. In the Middle Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, 24 hour rainfall amounts were generally 8 to 12 inches, with up to 19 inches in extreme southwestern Schuylkill County. At Wilkes-Barre, PA, the dike was breached destroying much of the town. Agnes was responsible for 125 deaths, mainly due to flooding from North Carolina to New York State, and total damage was estimated at more than $3 billion. Torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes resulted in one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. Agnes caused more damage than all other tropical cyclones in the previous six years combined (which included Celia and Camille). (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
20 June 1874...Intense thunderstorm brought 8 hours of heavy rain and incredible lightning to southern Manitoba. Lightning stampeded a herd of 250 police horses. (The Weather Doctor)
20 June 1921...Circle, MT received 11.50 inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the state. The town of Circle received a total of 16.79 inches of rain that month to establish a rainfall record for any town in Montana for any month of the year. (The Weather Channel)
21 June 1791...A hurricane, called El Temporal de Barreto - the storm of Barreto, generated a monster ocean wave that carried off the coffin of a rich, but hated, count as he lay in state in his mansion near Havana, Cuba. (The Weather Doctor)
21 June 1886...A destructive hurricane hit the Apalachicola-Tallahassee area of Florida on the summer solstice. Extensive damage was done in Florida and throughout the southeast by this storm, which was the first hurricane of the year. Damage was due mainly to extremely high tides. (Intellicast)
22 June 1915...A hailstorm struck the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The hailstones were pear-shaped and occasionally contained small pebbles. (Flora, Hailstorms of the United States, 1956)
22 June 1947...Twelve inches of rain fell in forty-two minutes at Holt, MO establishing a world rainfall intensity record. That record was tied on 24-25 January 1956, at the Kilauea Sugar Plantation in Hawaii, as their state record was established with 38.00 in. of rain in 24 hrs. (The Weather Channel)
22 June 1997...Thunderstorms caused flash flooding in parts of Michigan's Allegan and Ottawa Counties. Unofficially, 12 inches of rain fell on Zeeland, where 20 percent of the streets were flooded. More than 200 roads either were partially or totally washed out, with some washouts up to 8 feet deep. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
22 June 2003...The largest recorded hailstone in the United States fell on Aurora, NE. The diameter of this hailstone was 7 inches, and its circumference was 18.75 inches. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
23 June 1969...More than nine inches of rain soaked Salt Lick Creek watershed in the morning. In Red Boiling Springs, TN, a wall of water as much as seven feet high tumbled, swirled and crushed houses, vehicles, street pavement and small buildings as though they were "children's toys in a drainage ditch." (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
23 June 1983...Excessive rainfall from the wetter than normal previous fall and winter, followed by a record wet March, led the DMAD Dam near Delta, UT to fill to twice its capacity before failing. Oasis and Deseret were flooded by water 3 to 5 feet deep. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24 June 1897...Hailstones six inches in diameter fractured a boy's skull in Topeka, Kansas. (Flora, Hailstorms of the United States, 1956)
24 June 1946...Mellen, WI received 11.72 inches of rain, setting a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Badger State. (NCDC)
24 June 1972...Rainier Park Ranger Station in Washington State had 4.4 inches of snow on this day. This turned out to be the last snowfall for the 1971-72 season and brought the seasonal total to 1122 inches -- a new single season snowfall record for the U.S. (Intellicast)

Return to DataStreme WES Website