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 26^th. 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)

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