WEEKLY WATER NEWS

23-27 June 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:

Lightning Awareness Week -- The Nation will celebrate its fourth annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 22 June through 28 June 2008, as declared by the National Weather Service. On average, 66 people in the nation are killed annual by lightning and numerous more are injured. A cartoon character, Leon the Lightning Lion, is promoting the slogan "Don't be lame! End the game!" The National Weather Service, in conjunction with other sponsors, has a "Lightning Safety" website, http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/, that has links to a variety of informational and teacher resource materials. As many as 20 states are also observing this week with statewide activities.
Eye on the tropics -- In the western Pacific, Typhoon Fengshen developed last week east of the Philippines and moved westward, strengthening to a category 2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it approached Manila. Strong winds and torrential rain were reported as the typhoon crossed Luzon. By Monday (local time), this typhoon had curved to the northwest was moving across the South China Sea. As of Sunday, at least 137 Filipinos had been killed by the typhoon. In addition, more than 740 passengers and crew on a ferry remained missing after the typhoon capsized the ferry after it ran aground off central Sibuyan island on Saturday. [ABC News] A visible image from Japan's MTSAT satellite shows clouds surrounding Fengshen was it was a tropical storm east of the Philippines. [NOAA OSEI] Additional information and satellite images from NASA's Aqua satellite of Typhoon Fengshen appear on the NASA Hurricane Page.
New ocean satellite will also study weather and climate -- The Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 satellite was launched late last week from California. While the mission of this new NASA-French space agency oceanography satellite is to continue monitoring the global sea level on a nearly continuous basis, it was also expected to provide enormous amounts of data that could also improving weather and climate forecasting. [NASA Missions] [CSIRO]
More rapid response to navigation hazards is a goal -- NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has identified a goal in which its Navigational Response Teams would respond more rapidly to detecting dangerous navigation hazards in those affected ports and surrounding coastal areas following storm's passage. This response would be part of the emergency services support provided by the US Coast Guard, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). [NOAA News]
World Hydrography Day celebrated -- Last Saturday (21 June 2008), the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) celebrated the third annual World Hydrography Day. The theme for the 2008 celebrations was Capacity Building, a vital tool to assist the IHO in achieving its mission and objectives. [IHO] [Note: This link is to a pdf file that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - see below.]
Ohio agrees to Great Lakes Compact -- The Ohio State Legislature recently approved the Great Lakes Compact, a framework whereby the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes would prevent most diversions of lake water out of the basin. As of mid June, only Michigan and Pennsylvania have not approved this agreement. [US Water News Online]
Midwest flooding remains a major problem -- Heavy rain that ranged from four to five times normal June rainfall totals fell across sections of the Upper Midwest during early June. Flooding resulted, with many levers being breached across the region. An image obtained from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite shows some of the flooded rivers across Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. [NOAA OSEI] A hydrogeologist at Washington University at St. Louis has been monitoring the near record flood wave that has traveled down the Mississippi River and tributaries across the Midwest during the last week. [Washington University at St. Louis]
Record "dead zone" in Gulf is forecast -- Researchers from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium predict that a zone of oxygen-depleted waters in the Gulf of Mexico called a "dead zone" would develop to record size off the coast of Louisiana and Texas because of the large amounts of excess nutrients being washed down the Mississippi River system due to the recent heavy rain in that watershed that has then flowed to the Gulf. [US Water News Online]
Simple latrine may be better than fancy commode -- Researchers at Michigan Technological University claim that simple latrines would be a far better solution for the sanitary problems across the developing world than sophisticated indoor toilets that may consume too much valuable water. [Michigan Tech News]
Sediment scrubbing technology tested on coastal waterways -- Scientists at the University of New Hampshire have been testing the effectiveness of a method that utilized textile mats with a mixture of reactive materials to cap and stabilize the polluted sediment in the Cocheco River, a waterway along the coast of New Hampshire. [University of New Hampshire]
Earth science exhibits at museums get help -- NOAA’s Office of Education recently announced that it will provide over $1 million in funding to eight science education institutions around the nation for exhibits incorporating NOAA’s Science On a Sphere® or Magic Planet® and new Earth System Science information. [NOAA News]
Ocean temperatures and sea level have increased more than previously estimated -- Using observational data and output from climate computer models, an international team of scientists including those from the US and Australia have discovered that the increases in ocean temperatures and sea level between 1961 and 2003 were 50 percent larger than what had been estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory] [CSIRO]
Changing climate could influence North American extreme weather events -- The U.S. Climate Change Science Program released a report entitled "Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate" that represents a comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes across North America. This report marks a more detailed continental assessment than the previously prepared Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that evaluated extreme weather and climate events on a global basis. Some of the findings from this new report indicates that heat waves would become more common, with hot days and nights, fewer cold nights, less frequent, but more intense precipitation and increased frequency of severe droughts for some areas. [NOAA News]
Report on impact of climate change upon ecosystems released -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report entitled "Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources" that examines the potential impact of climate change upon the nation's estuaries, forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other sensitive ecosystems. This report also identifies strategies designed to protect the environment as these changes in climate occur. [EurekAlert!]
Major extinction events could be driven by sea level changes -- A geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison claims that a primary cause of periodic mass extinction events since the beginning of the Ordovician (starting approximately 500 million years ago) has been major changes of sea level and the marine environment such as sediment. [EurekAlert!]
Climate information obtained from ice cores -- An international team of scientists who have been analyzing an ice core from the Greenland Ice Sheet have found that two large spikes in the Northern Hemisphere temperature record at the close of the last Ice Age appear to be associated with major shifts in the atmospheric circulation pattern approximately 11,500 years ago. [EurekAlert!] In addition, these changes in climate appear to be very sudden. [EurekAlert!]
Shampoo ingredient used to monitor ocean's oxygen levels -- Scientists at the United Kingdom's University of Leicester and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have used selenium, an ingredient found in common dandruff shampoos, to monitor the concentration of dissolved oxygen in ocean water. [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:

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)
25 June 1749...A general fast was called on account of drought in Massachusetts. It was the year of the famous dry spring in which fields and villages burned. (David Ludlum)
26 June 1933...A hailstorm swept a path of destruction 12 mi wide and 40 mi long across eastern Saskatchewan. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
26 June 1954...Eight fishermen were swept off the breakwater of the Montrose Harbor in Chicago, IL by a seiche on Lake Michigan. At the time, this killer wave rose suddenly from a serene Lake Michigan; sunny skies and calm wind conditions were reported. The seiche, produced by an earlier squall on the lake, caused the lake water to rise ten feet. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
26 June 1985...A spectacular early morning waterspout developed at 5:20 AM (MST) from a stationary thunderstorm over the south end of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was visible 20 mi away, and lasted four minutes. (The Weather Channel)
26 June 1986...Hurricane Bonnie made landfall on the upper Texas coast. A wind gust to 98 mph occurred at Sea Rim State Park. The town of Ace recorded 13 inches of rain. (Intellicast)
26 June-7 July 1989...Tropical Storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico from remnants of Hurricane Cosme in the eastern North Pacific. Periods of heavy rain caused flooding across parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. Winnfield, LA reported a six-day total of 29.52 inches of rain. This system was responsible for eleven deaths and approximately $500 million in damage. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
27-29 June 1954...Excessive rains from remnants of Hurricane Alice led to the Rio Grande River's worst flood. Up to 27.1 inches of rain fell at Pandale, TX. As many as 55 people died from the flooding. The river crest at Laredo, TX broke the previous highest record by 12.6 feet. The roadway on the US Highway 90 bridge over the Pecos River was covered by 30 feet of water on the 27^th. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (David Ludlum)
27 June 1957...Hurricane Audrey smashed ashore at Cameron, LA drowning 381 persons in the storm tide, and causing 150 million dollars damage in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Audrey left only a brick courthouse and a cement-block icehouse standing at Cameron, and when the waters settled in the town of Crede, only four buildings remained. The powerful winds of Audrey tossed a fishing trawler weighing 78 tons onto an offshore drilling platform. Winds along the coast gusted to 105 mph, and oilrigs off the Louisiana coast reported wind gusts to 180 mph. A storm surge greater than twelve feet inundated the Louisiana coast as much as 25 miles inland. It was the deadliest June hurricane of record for the U.S. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
27-29 June 1997...Although thousands of miles away, a strong low pressure system southeast of New Zealand produced surf up to seven feet, with occasional sets to ten feet, along Hawaii's south-facing coasts. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 June 1960...The maximum 24-hour precipitation record for the Bluegrass State was established at Dunmor, KY when 10.40 inches fell. (NCDC)
28 June 1983...A waterspout was sighted over Hazin Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coast of Alaska. Satellites detected thunderstorms in the area. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 June 1992...A slow moving tropical depression produced excessive rains across southwest Florida. Four-day totals ending on the 28^th, ranged up to 25 inches in the Venice area, with a general 8 to 14 inches over Sarasota and Manatee counties. Two deaths resulted from the flooding. (Intellicast)
29 June 1966...Seventy people were given medical attention at the Summerfest celebration at Milwaukee, WI as temperatures reached 95 degrees and dewpoints in the mid-70s produced heat indices to 110 degrees. Water misters probably prevented more heat-related injuries. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
29 June 1975...Litchville recorded 8.10 inches of rain for North Dakota's state 24-hour precipitation record. (NCDC)

Return to DataStreme WES Website