WEEKLY WATER NEWS

2-6 July 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:

• WELCOME to the weather and ocean educators attending the 2007 DataStreme LIT Leader Workshop that is being held at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA from 1 to 4 July 2007.
• Way out there!...The earth reaches aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun early Friday evening (officially at 00Z on Saturday, 7 July 2007, which is equivalent to 8 PM EDT or 7 PM CDT). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,089,000 km, or 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year on the morning of 3 January.
• Satellite detects very high clouds -- Instruments onboard NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite have provided the first images of iridescent noctilucent clouds in the polar mesosphere at altitudes of approximately 50 miles above the earth. The satellite observations of these unusual Polar Mesospheric Clouds were more than one week earlier than ground-based observations. [NASA]
• New research vessel will be very quiet -- Underwater acoustic tests performed by the US Navy on the new NOAA fishery survey vessel Henry B. Bigelow indicates that this ship is quiet, exceeding international standards as an acoustically quiet vessel. [NOAA News]
• New hurricane model unveiled -- A new and advanced coupled ocean-atmosphere model, identified as the "Hurricane Weather and Research Forecast Model" (HWRF) will be used by forecasters with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the National Hurricane Center during the current hurricane season to predict the track and strength of tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms). [NOAA News]
• Global policy concerning desertification needs overhaul -- Experts with the United Nations University recently warned that increases in desertification, the expansion or intensification of deserts, associated with large-scale changes in climate would result in mass migrations of people and international instability within a generation in regions where soil productivity has been seriously degraded unless global policy is changed to address the problem. [EurekAlert!]
• Early annual mountain snow loss blamed on desert drought -- Researchers associated with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder report that dust blown from the regions of the Southwest currently experiencing drought has fallen on the snowpack across the mountains of Colorado, resulting a shortening of the duration of the snowpack by as much as one month. [EurekAlert!]
• Conservation group warns against a plan to combat climate change -- The World Wildlife Fund recently denounced the proposed plan by a for-profit eco-restoration company based in San Francisco that would spread up to 100 tons of iron dust across the open waters of the Pacific Ocean in an effort to stimulate phytoplankton blooms, which would ultimately absorb carbon dioxide and reduce the global-scale increase in air temperature. The conservationists warn of several unwanted impacts associated with this plan. [EurekAlert!]
• Are parking garages a safe haven? A professor at Kent State University has recently studied the safety of using parking garages as "refuges of last resort" during hurricanes. [EurekAlert!]
• Deserts expand in China with far-reaching consequences -- Intense farming in northwest China has caused the water table to drop and deserts to expand across the region, forcing farms to relocate, increasing the frequency of sandstorms and sending windborne dust out over the Pacific Ocean. [US Water News Online]
• New ideas advanced concerning the Antarctic Ice Sheet -- Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara and other institutions have been studying echo-sounding images that they have made under the Antarctic Ice Sheet on the Ross Sea off the West Antarctica subcontinent in order to make a map of this region below the ocean floor. They have found that the subcontinent was involved in the widespread growth of the Antarctic Ice Sheet approximately 35 million years ago, earlier than previously thought. [University of California, Santa Barbara]
• A tool developed to determine tropical landslide risk -- Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a simple method for determining the landslide risk of an area in mountainous tropical regions often hit by typhoons or hurricanes that could aid planners improve zoning and building codes that would decrease property loss. [MIT News]
• Fire scars region formerly covered by lake -- An image taken by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite shows a large area north of Florida's Lake Okeechobee that had been underwater until recently, but with record low lake levels had become exposed and burned in a rapidly moving wildfire during late May 2007. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Monitoring a Chilean glacier -- A comparison of a photograph taken recently by an astronaut on the International Space Station and an image made in 1986 by the Thematic Mapper on NASA's Landsat satellite shows the retreat of several lobes of glaciers that form part of the Southern Patagonian Icefield located in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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:

• Month of July 1861...The greatest one-month of precipitation ever measured globally (366 inches) was recorded at Cherrapunji, India. Total rainfall for the period 1 August 1860 to 31 July 1861 was the greatest rainfall in one year ever recorded (1,041.78 inches). (The Weather Doctor)
• Month of July 1931...The July- August 1931 flood in the Yangtze basin of China affected over 51 million people or one-quarter of China's population. As many as 3.7 million people perished from this great 20^th century disaster due to disease, starvation or drowning. (The Weather Doctor)
• 2-6 July 1994...Heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Alberto produced major flooding across northern and central Georgia. Three-day rains exceeded 15 inches at Atlanta. An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA on the 6^th to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. Numerous road closures and bridge washouts. Thirty people were killed and 50,000 were forced from their homes, as 800,000 acres were flooded. Total damage exceeded $750 million... (NCDC) (Intellicast)
• 3 July 1992...At 11 PM EDT, several waves to heights of 18 feet crashed ashore at Daytona Beach, FL. Sailboats were tossed onto cars, 200 vehicles damaged and 75 minor injuries reported. While the exact cause was unknown, morning storms were moving parallel to the coast approximately 430 miles to the east. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 July 1876...Severe thunderstorms hit the Midwest and a dam failed at Rockdale, IL. Flood destroyed a railroad bridge and swept through the town. Forty-two people perished. (Intellicast)
• 4 July 1956...A world record for the most rain in one minute was set at Unionville, MD with a downpour of 1.23 inches. (The Weather Channel) (The National Severe Storms Forecast Center)
• 4 July 1969...Severe thunderstorms produced winds to over 100 mph and very heavy rains across northern Ohio. From 4 to 15 inches of rain fell from late evening into the next morning producing major flash flooding. Forty-one were killed, 559 injuries and damage exceeded $66 million. (Intellicast)
• 5 July 1916...An early season hurricane produced 82 mph winds, an 11.6 foot tide, and a barometric pressure of 28.92 inches at Mobile, AL. (David Ludlum)
• 5 July 1989...Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Middle Atlantic Coast Region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to ten inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in seventy years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 5 July 1993...Heavy rains deluged the Central Plains as one of the greatest floods in U.S. history began to unfold. Twenty-four hour totals included 5.90 inches at Columbia, IA, 5.15 inches at Centralia, KS and 4.80 inches at Haddam, KS. (Intellicast)
• 6 July 1986...Thunderstorm rains during the mid morning hours, and again during the evening, produced major flash flooding at Leavenworth, KS. The official rainfall total was 10.37 inches, but unofficial totals exceeded twelve inches. At nearby Kansas City, the rainfall total of 5.08 inches was a daily record for July. (Storm Data)
• 7 July 2001...Six people were injured by lightning in Rogaland, Norway, disproving the myth that polar latitudes have few lightning hazards. (NWS and 45th Weather Squadron, USAF).
• 8 July 1788...Hail fell at Canterbury, CT to a depth of 34 inches. Serious flooding resulted when it melted. (Intellicast)
• 8 July 1935...Ten inches of rain at Cortland, NY in 48 hours caused damaging floods on the Susquehanna and Hudson River Valleys. (Intellicast)
• 8 July 2001...Flash flooding produced 5 to 9-foot deep water that eventually wiped out most of downtown Mullens, WV. People trapped in their homes by the flooding saw caskets from the local funeral home floating down various streets. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

Return to DataStreme WES website

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