WEEKLY WATER NEWS

12-16 May 2008

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2008 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2008. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Water in the News:

• Eye on the Tropics -- The western North Pacific was active last week with the development of three tropical cyclones. Typhoons Kadena and Misawa formed early in the week but both were short-lived. Typhoon Rammasun developed at midweek over the Philippine Sea and was moving northward, intensifying to become a category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. As of early Monday (local time), this typhoon was traveling to the north-northeast across the western North Pacific, passing approximately 400 miles to the southeast of Okinawa. An image obtained from the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows the clouds surrounding Tropical Storm Rammasun soon after it formed late last week, as it was a tropical storm [NOAA OSEI]
  The world has become aware of the suffering that is occurring in Myanmar (Burma) following the landfall of Tropical Cyclone Nargis; as of this past weekend, UN estimates that between 63,000 and 100,000 people lost their lives because of the flooding due to the cyclone's storm surge and torrential rain. [CNN] A variety of images from satellites that show the precipitation across the affected area is available from NASA. [NASA Hurricane Page] Additional satellite imagery is available from the European Space Agency. [ESA]
• Hurricane season begins in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2008 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin begins Thursday, 15 May 2008. 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 2008. NOAA has declared the week of 25-31 May 2008 to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.
• North American Safe Boating Week -- Commencing this coming Saturday, the week of 17-23 May has been declared 2008 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2008 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• Plans issued for protecting Northwest Salmon -- Early last week, NOAA’s Fisheries Service released a package of three opinions designed to provide comprehensive protection of the salmon species in the Pacific Northwest, that includes the Columbia River and its tributaries. [NOAA News]
• Spring comes to Alaska -- The ice on the Tanana River officially went out last Tuesday night (6 May 2008 at 10:53 PM, Alaska Standard Time). The jackpot for the famous 92nd annual Nenana Ice Classic was $303,895.00. The median date for ice-breakup is 5 May. [Nenana Ice Classic] As of last Thursday, Ice Classic officials were determining if more than one person won the prize. The winner(s) will be announced at the start of this week. [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]
• Campaign to gain ground truth -- Scientists from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada are on a three-week CryoSat Validation Experiment (CryoVEx) 2008 field experiment that is meant to provide surface data on the Arctic snow and ice cover for the European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite, which is designed to provide information on the planet's cryosphere. [ESA]
• Antarctic data is used to scrutinize global climate models -- Researchers at Ohio State University have found that while the projections generated by global climate models tend to follow the observed Antarctic temperature and snowfall during the last 50 years, the projections for the entire 20th century have departed from the observed totals by as much as 500 percent, resulting in what appears as an "overheating" of the continent. The researchers believe that the models overestimate the amount of water vapor over Antarctica. [Ohio State University] [UCAR/NCAR]
• Water data collections suffer from a "hole in the bucket" -- Researchers at the University of California, San Diego claim that they are creating a universally accepted and standardized data management process called the Hydrologic Information System (HIS) designed to reduce the loss of data from current water data collections. [University of California-San Diego]
• Water conservation calls grow louder -- State and local officials in California are increasing their calls for the residents of the Golden State to conserve water because the snowpack in the Sierra, which is a major source of state water, was less than 70 percent of normal levels. [US Water News Online]
• Vermont groundwater protection bill awaits governor's decision -- The governor of Vermont needs to decide whether to sign a bill from the state legislature that would designate the state's groundwater aquifers to be a public trust. [US Water News Online]
• Australian government set to buy water -- Governmental officials in Australia have promised to buy river water from farmers at the cost of approximately $2.9 billion to help ease the impact of the worst drought seen in that country in approximately 100 years. [US Water News Online]
• Precipitation and river networks accurately gauge fish biodiversity -- Researchers from Princeton University have developed a mathematical method that uses rainfall and riverine runoff data from traditional networks to make accurate assessments of the biodiversity of fish in the river basin. [EurekAlert!]
• Low-input farming systems seen to benefit farmers and water quality -- Researchers at Iowa State University who have been conducting a multiyear field experiment in central Iowa on diversified, low-external-input (LEI) farming systems report that the crop yield, profits and water quality have high. [EurekAlert!]
• Farm ponds also sequester atmospheric carbon -- An Iowa State University limnologist recently reported that the aquatic ecosystems in farm ponds and small lakes around the world could absorb as much carbon from the world's ocean at rates that are higher than larger lakes. [Iowa State University]
• Cleaner air seen as threat to Amazon rainforest -- Climate scientists from the United Kingdom and Brazil report that reducing sulfur dioxide emissions from coal burning to clean the air has resulted in increased sea surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic, resulting an increased risk of drought across the Amazon rainforest. [EurekAlert!]
• Seaweed could affect coastal clouds -- Scientists from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States claim that large colonies of brown seaweed release large quantities of inorganic iodine into the coastal atmosphere when the seaweed is under stress, resulting in increased cloud formation because of an increase in condensation nuclei. [EurekAlert!]
• Great Britain could get soggier -- Researchers at the United Kingdom's Durham University predict that Great Britain could experience more floods, basing their forecast on their analysis of 250 years of rainfall and river flow patterns. [EurekAlert!]
• Unmanned aircraft used to study smog -- Researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography are using autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (AUAVs) to collect meteorological data from clouds and smog in the skies over southern California's Edwards AFB in an attempt to assess the climate impact of the smog. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• Oceanic carbon cycle research aided by satellites -- The European Space Agency's GlobColour project is using collecting and merging ocean color data collected by sensors onboard the Agency's Envisat satellite and NASA's satellites to produce a 10-year data set of marine phytoplankton that can be used to study the marine portion of the global carbon cycle. [ESA]
• 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:

• 12 May 1916...Plumb Point, Jamaica reported 17.80 inches of rain in 15 minutes, which set a world record. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12 May 1972...In Texas, a cloudburst dumped sixteen inches of rain north of New Braunfels sending a thirty foot wall of water down Blueders Creek into the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers washing away people, houses and automobiles. The flood claimed 18 lives and caused more than twenty million dollars damage. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 May 1989...Showers and thunderstorms associated with a low-pressure system stalled over New York State drenched Portland, ME with 4.50 inches of rain in 24 hours. Rains of 5 to 7 inches soaked the state of Maine over a four-day period causing 1.3 million dollars damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 May 1930...A man was killed when caught in an open field during a hailstorm 36 miles northwest of Lubbock, TX, the first, and perhaps the only, authentic death by hail in U.S. weather records. (David Ludlum)
• 13-14 May 1989...Heavy rain and snow fell along Colorado's Front Range and the north central mountains, with 20 inches of snow recorded at Echo Lake. A 30-ton boulder, loosened by the wet weather, tumbled onto Interstate 70 east of the Eisenhower Tunnel. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 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)

Return to DataStreme WES website

Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2008, The American Meteorological Society.