12-16 July 2004

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2004 with new Ocean News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2004. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Hurricane Awareness -- As the 2004 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Basin approaches its peak, the New England States of Maine and New Hampshire will observe this coming week (12-16 July) as Hurricane Awareness Week. Other coastal states from Texas to New York State had participated in hurricane awareness activities earlier in the season. Additional hurricane awareness information can be found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hurricane/index.shtml.
• Track hurricanes back through the years -- NOAA officials are inviting anyone to their updated NOAA "Historical Hurricane Tracks" Web database. The tracks of tropical cyclones (to include hurricanes and tropical storms) that moved across the Atlantic basin during the last 150 years, along with those tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific basins during the last 50 years can be accessed. [NOAA News]
• A deadly anniversary noted -- NOAA officials recently noted the 10th anniversary of the landfall of Tropical Storm Alberto on the Florida Panhandle on 3 July 1994. While minimal damage was associated with the winds which only reached 65 mph, the inland flooding from more than 24 inches of rain that fell as this tropical system remained stalled for four days resulted in 33 deaths in Georgia and Alabama. [NOAA News]
• Improved forecasts of dangerous surf conditions foreseen -- Forecasters with the National Weather Service now have an improved numerical ocean-wave prediction computer model called WAVEWATCH III that should allow them to alert the public about possible unsafe surf conditions along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. [NOAA News]
• Searching for lost warbirds in Lake Michigan -- NOAA recently helped the US Navy locate historic World War II aircraft in southern Lake Michigan that sunk during training exercises that included taking off and landing on one of two "inland" aircraft carriers. Side-scan sonar is being used to locate the planes. [NOAA News]
• An injured seal returned to the wild -- An endangered Hawaiian monk seal was returned to its natural habitat in waters off the Aloha State after veterinarians removed a large fish hook caught in its esophagus. [NOAA News]
• 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]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 12 July 1993...A magnitude 7.8 earthquake that was situated offshore of Hokkaido, Japan produced a tsunami that killed 202 people on the island of Okushiri. (Wikipedia)
• 15-16 July 1916...A dying South Atlantic Coast storm produced torrential rains in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Altapass, NC was drenched with 22.22 inches of rain, a 24-hour rainfall record for the Tarheel State, and at the time, a 24-hour record for the U.S. (The current 24-hour rainfall record for the US is 43 inches set 25-25 July 1979 at Alvin, TX). Flooding resulted in considerable damage, particularly to railroads. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
• 17 July 1858...The U.S. sloop Niagara departed Queenstown, Ireland to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. (Naval Historical Center)
• 17 July 1994...The Polar Sea departed from Victoria, BC on operation Arctic Ocean Section 1994 and became the first U.S. surface vessel to reach the North Pole. She then transited the Arctic Ocean back to her homeport in Seattle, WA. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 17 July 1998...A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroyed 10 villages in Papua, New Guinea killing an estimated 1500 people, leaving 2000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless. (Wikipedia)
• 18-19 July 1979...A 30-foot high tsunami wave leveled four Indonesian villages on the Sunda Islands during the night. The wave swept 1500 feet inland, causing 589 deaths among the sleeping villagers. A landslide from Mount Werung (Lomblen Island) caused the tsunami. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18-22 July 1997...Hurricane Danny, the only hurricane that made landfall in the continental US in 1997, moved inland into coastal Alabama at a snails pace. Radar storm total estimates of 43 inches over Mobile Bay. A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell on 19-20 July at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category 5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)

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Prepared by AMS DSOcean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.