WEEKLY WATER NEWS
19-23 June 2006
Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2006 with new Investigations
files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 28 August 2006. All the current
online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer
break period.
HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! The summer solstice will occur on the morning
of Wednesday, 21 June 2006 (officially, 1226 Z, or 8:26 AM EDT, 7:26 AM 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 Thursday, the length of darkness will begin to
increase as we head toward the winter solstice on 22 December 2006 at 0022 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 3
July 2006) and the apparent sun moving across the sky well to the north of the
celestial equator.
Water in the News:
- Let NASA help you track that next hurricane -- The Scientific
Visualization studio at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has created a webpage
that identified as the
Atlantic
Hurricane Storm Summary that will aid amateur hurricane trackers follow
each hurricane and estimate its strength this upcoming season. [NASA
Earth Observatory]
- Monitoring Alberto -- The first named tropical cyclone (to include
tropical storms and hurricanes) of the 2006 North Atlantic hurricane season,
Alberto, developed over the Caribbean, moved across the Gulf of Mexico early
last week, made landfall near Cedar Key on Florida's Gulf coast on Tuesday and
then moved northeastward across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Several
satellites provided a variety of images of Alberto:
- Image from time of landfall -- A visible image made from the
geosynchronous GOES 12 satellite shows Alberto in the northeast Gulf of Mexico
before it made landfall on the Florida coast. [OSEI]
- Getting a 3-D image of Alberto -- Radar instruments onboard NASA's
new CloudSat satellite were able to provide a three-dimensional image of the
clusters of thunderstorm cells encircling Tropical Storm Alberto as it traveled
across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. Comparisons were made with a
conventional NEXRAD radar image and an infrared image from the GOES-12
satellite. [NASA
JPL]
- Rainfall rates determined by TRMM -- Images from the TRMM
Precipitation and the TRMM Radar Microwave Imager onboard the Tropical Rainfall
Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite show that rainfall rates of at least 30 mm
per hour. [NASA
Earth Observatory]
- Alberto brings some relief to thirsty Florida -- While Florida
residents were uneasy as Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall along the
Sunshine State's Gulf Coast early last week, many welcomed the torrential rains
that accompanied the tropical storm. As much as eight inches of rain associated
with Alberto fell on parts of Florida, which had been experiencing drought
conditions and wildfires over the last several months. [USA
Today]
- Last year's hurricane floods are becoming a distant memory --
Sections of the central Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Louisiana and southeast
Texas that had been inundated by torrential rains from last year's Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita are now suffering from drought conditions. [USA
Today]
- Business is brisk for hurricane preparation -- With the start of
the hurricane season and the landfall of Tropical Storm Alberto on the Gulf
Coast of Florida last week, residents of the Southeast have been purchasing a
variety of items including food, back-up generators and shutters in record
quantities in anticipation of and preparation for future hurricanes. [USA
Today]
- Hurricane damage could be reduced -- Following onsite inspections
of the damage along the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a
report was issued by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards
and Technology that made 23 recommendations, claiming that a combination of
stricter adherence to building standards and codes along with good building
practices and greater recognition of storm surge risks could significantly
reduce structural damage from hurricanes. [EurekAlert!]
- World's largest marine conservancy area created -- Last week
President George W. Bush used his authority under the Antiquities Act to create
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, thereby protecting
coral reefs and unique marine species across a section of the central North
Pacific Ocean that encompasses the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, stretching
from Niihau to Midway Atoll. [NOAA News] This
newest national monument will not only offer protection to the reefs and marine
life, but also permit some access for research, education, native Hawaiian
practices, recreation activities and non-extractive special ocean uses. [NOAA Magazine]
- Lightning Safety Awareness Week -- The National Weather Service is
observing Lightning Awareness Week during this upcoming week of 18-24 June
2006. The theme for this year is "Lightning Kills, Play it Safe!" A
cartoon character, Leon the Lightning Lion, has been developed to promote the
slogan "When thunder roars, go indoors!" [NOAA News] For
more information, go to http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/,
a site that includes a variety of informational and teacher resource materials.
- Death toll due to floods rises in China -- Heavy rains across
southwestern China have produced some of the greatest flooding in several
decades. As of late last week, as many as 30 people were declared dead and
another 24 remained missing. [USA
Today]
- Monsoon rains in India result in death -- The summer monsoon
season, where winds from the southwest bring rain to India and other south Asia
countries, has recorded at least 123 deaths in India since early May due to
drowning and monsoon-triggered landslides. [USA
Today]
- Winter storm brings snow to New Zealand -- An image made from data
collected from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)
instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows the recent snow that fell across
the mountains on the South Island of New Zealand. The snow fell from a storm
that also generated 80-mph winds and heavy rain that produced landslides. [NASA
Earth Observatory]
- Chilean Harmful Algal Blooms are monitored from space -- The Chilean
Aquaculture Project (CAP), which includes members from Chile, Canada, France
and Italy, have been using Earth Observation data collected from European Space
Agency satellites to monitor the Harmful Algae Blooms that have been increasing
in frequency in the waters in and around Chile during the last three decades.
These blooms are causing significant financial loss to Chilean fish farms that
produce salmon and mussels. [ESA]
- Periodicities in Midwestern droughts found -- Researchers at the
University of Missouri have analyzed ancient tree rings in northern Missouri
and southern Iowa and, after assembling a 14,000 year sequence, have found that
the rings reveal a 18.6 year cyclic pattern of droughts across the region,
which correlates with the lunar nodal cycle. [University
of Missouri Extension]
- Melting of Arctic sea-ice could threaten polar bears -- A group of
30 climate scientists and other colleagues signed a letter ring the US Fish and
Wildlife Service to declare the polar bear as a threatened species since recent
climatic change has been melting the sea ice habit of the bears. The scientists
claim that the areal extent of the Arctic summer sea ice cover has diminished
between 10 to 20 percent during the last 30 years. [EurekAlert!]
- Unusual sulfur springs on an Arctic ice field to be studied -- A
team of researchers from the University of Calgary's Arctic Institute of North
America and the Geological Survey of Canada are conducting a scientific
expedition to an ice field on Canada's Ellesmere Island that has a
sulfur-spewing spring. This unusual spring could provide an environment similar
to the Jovian moon Europa. [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
26th. 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)
- 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)
Return to DataStreme WES Website
Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email
hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
©Copyright, 2006, The American Meteorological Society.