WEEKLY WATER NEWS

11-15 June 2007

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Water in the News:

• Current drought could be historic -- Climate scientists, water resources managers, farmers and other interested parties are becoming increasingly concerned that the drought currently covering more than one-third of the continental US may be expand and become more severe, rivaling some of the historic droughts in the last century, including the one that resulted in the 1930s Dust Bowl. [USA Today]
• Water conservation arrives in Los Angeles -- The mayor of Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Water District have been encouraging residents of southern California to conserve water by as much as 10 percent during this current record dry year that commenced last July. [LA Times]
• Trouble in Paradise -- Hawaii County officials on Hawaii's Big Island have placed that island under a state of emergency because of the continuing drought, citing that the island's reservoirs have only 18 days of water remaining. [KHON-2 News]
• Eye on the tropics -- Cyclone Gonu (the Indian Ocean's counterpart of a hurricane), which had formed over the previous weekend over the Arabian Sea, moved to the west and then northwest, making landfall along the coast of Oman and Iran late in the week. At one point, the system had been classified as a Category 5 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale as the winds gusted to over 170 mph, making it the strongest cyclone to hit this region in over 60 years. As of Sunday, the torrential rain that accompanied this cyclone had killed at least 70 people in Oman and southern Iran. [USA Today] A MODIS image obtained from one of the NASA satellites at the end of last week shows the clouds associated with the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Gonu as it made landfall. [NOAA OSEI] Earlier, MODIS images from NASA's satellite show Gonu as a very strong category 4 system. [NASA Earth Observatory] [NOAA OSEI]
• Storm off Australia is deadly -- A storm struck Australia's eastern coast at the end of last week, resulting in the deaths of at least five people and the beaching of a coal freighter. [USA Today]
• Shipwreck placed on National Register -- NOAA officials recently announced that the wreck of the early 20th century coal schooner Paul Palmer submerged in the coastal waters of Massachusetts in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [NOAA News]
• Beachgoers educated on rip currents -- Personnel from NOAA's National Weather Service and the National Park Service were partnering in their efforts for promoting public awareness and safety during last week's national Rip Current Awareness Week, which had a theme of "Break the Grip of the Rip®." [NOAA News]
• Report on the hurricane protection of New Orleans is released -- A panel of experts from the American Society of Civil Engineers recently released its report entitled "The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why" that conducted a risk analysis of the levees and floodwalls that surround New Orleans and recommends steps to reduce hurricane damage in the Big Easy. [University of Texas at Austin]
• Saltiness of oceans could portend climate change -- Several scientists, including a paleoclimatologist from Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona, report that their analysis of paleoclimatic data suggests monitoring of the saltiness of ocean water in certain critical locations, such as off South Africa and New Zealand, could serve as an early warning of large scale climatic change over the next one to two decades. [EurekAlert!]
• Dirty snow could be a significant factor in Arctic warming -- Scientists at the University of California, Irvine argue that one-third or more of the recent warming occurring across the Arctic could be attributed to dirty snow that reflects less solar radiation because of the soot from fossil fuel combustion and wildfires that has fallen on the snow surface. The scientists encourage the use of cleaner fuel to brighten the snow and lower temperatures. [University of California, Irvine]
• Glacial flow on Antarctic Peninsula is accelerating -- Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey who have studied radar images obtained from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 and -2 satellites conclude that the flow rate of many of the 300 glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased in the last decade. [British Antarctic Survey]
• Care needed in study of Antarctica's subglacial lakes -- An oceanography professor at Texas A&M University who is the leader of an international team of scientists cautions that proper procedures need to be developed before investigation is made of the series of more than 145 interconnected lakes recently discovered under Antarctica's ice sheets so as maintain the " the highest environmental stewardship principles." [EurekAlert!]
• What causes rain? -- A major three-month experiment is currently being conducted in Germany's Black Forest to learn more about what processes are involved that cause rain. Investigators from several nations involved in this experiment will be collecting data from aircraft, an airship, satellites and ground-based observatories. [Delft University of Technology]
• Aqua-blue waters off the Emerald Isle -- An image made last week from data collected from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the large expanse of phytoplankton that were blooming over the North Atlantic Ocean offshore of the western coast of Ireland. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A rise noted in Lake Superior nitrates -- Researchers at the University of Minnesota report that nitrate levels in Lake Superior water has been increasing steadily since measurements in 1906 and they are concerned that over time, the water could become unhealthy for human consumption. The nitrates in the lake water could come from various sources including runoff of nitrate fertilizers, burning of fossil fuels and the decay of other forms of nitrogen. [EurekAlert!]
• Dutch seaport seen from space -- A photograph taken by one of the astronauts on the International Space Station shows the North Sea port and harbor of Den Helder in the northern coastal section of the Netherlands along with nearby tidal mudflats, dune fields and farm fields. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A grim future for European seas foreseen -- An international group of scientists warned that the state of the four regional seas surrounding Europe (Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North-East Atlantic) is declining and could result in a grim future unless urgent action is undertaken by European countries to prevent further damage. [EurekAlert!]
• Cleanup goals not necessarily attained by sediment dredging -- A report from the National Research Council notes that many projects where contaminated sediments are dredged from US rivers and other large water bodies have fallen short in achieving the desired goals of cleaning up contaminated sites. [EurekAlert!]
• Coping with salty ground -- A scientist at the University of California, San Diego and colleagues have discovered a gene in plants that allows the plants to grow better in low nutrient conditions and high sodium levels, such as found in soils made salty by irrigation practices in arid countries. [EurekAlert!]
• The value of environmental monitoring -- Researchers from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the US Geological Survey, Syracuse University, the University of Vermont, SUNY Syracuse, and the US Environmental Protection Agency prepared a review entitled "Who needs environmental monitoring" arguing that environmental monitoring is a crucial part of science and help the public understand a myriad of environmental issues. [EurekAlert!]
• The Bush administration considers cheaper environmental monitoring systems -- The White House science advisor recently reported that the administration of President George W. Bush is considering cheaper ways to monitor the planetary environment, including paring the number of satellites in the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System from six to four. [ENN]
• Trawlers leave muddy tracks in the Gulf of Mexico -- Images made by instruments on NASA's Landsat satellite show the trails of mud that have been stirred from off the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico by bottom trawling across this body of water. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A view of the Channel Islands from space -- An image obtained from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands, two of the islands in the Channel Islands National Park off the coast of southern California. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• An interesting cloud formation over the Persian Gulf -- The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite last month captured an image of an unusual cloud formation over the Persian Gulf that may be associated with an "undular bore", which may have been formed as cool, dry air circulating around a low-pressure system located over the Arabian Peninsula interacted with a stable layer of warm, humid air situated over the Arabian Sea. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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:

• 11 June 1965...Heavy rains fell on unusually deep snowpack in the high Uinta Mountains of Utah. After local midnight, a flash flood roared down Sheep Creek Canyon, destroying three recreational areas, seven bridges and five miles of newly paved roads. Seven people were swept away while sleeping at Palisades Campground. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 11 June 1972...Heavy showers brought 1.64 in. of rain to Phoenix, AZ, a record for the month of June. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 June 1983...The state of Utah was besieged by floods and mudslides. Streets in downtown Salt Lake City were sandbagged and turned into rivers. The town of Thistle was completely inundated as a mudslide made a natural dam. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 June 1991...On the same day that Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines awakened from its 635-year slumber, Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon province. Mudslides and flooding caused many deaths and when added to the impacts of Pinatubo left more than a million homeless. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12-13 June 2000...With 15 to 20 in. of rain falling on parts of Grand Forks County in North Dakota, flooding waters washed out a gravel road to a depth of 30 ft west of Larimore. Two men in a vehicle were killed when they drove into this newly-formed canyon. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 June 1977...A tropical cyclone crossed the Arabian Sea from near the Laccadive Islands off southwest India and slammed into the island of Masirah, sultanate of Oman. Winds reached at least 104 mph and the 24-hour rainfall total was 16.95 inches. About 99% of buildings were damaged. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 June 1996...Thunderstorms dropped 5 to 8 inches of rain on Leverett and Montague, MA in 4 hours. Thirty miles of roadway were ruined, with all but one road in Leverett destroyed. Flash flooding destroyed a 200-foot long bridge, which was replaced by a 50-foot deep canyon. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 June 1903...The "Heppner Disaster" occurred in Oregon. A cloudburst in the hills sent a flood down Willow Creek, and a twenty foot wall of water swept away a third of the town in minutes, killing 236 residents and causing $100 million damage. (David Ludlum)
• 14 June 1990...Four inches of rain in about 75 minutes on the saturated headwaters of Pipe and Wegee Creeks and the Cumberland Run in southeastern Ohio created a wall of water 10 to 30 ft high that devastated the community of Shadyside. Twenty-four people were killed. One person reported ankle-deep water running down the side of a hill when he was seeking higher ground. Some bodies were found in the Ohio River 30 miles downstream. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 June 1998...Flooding from 13.18 inches of rain falling in 24 hours at Atlantic, IA destroyed 21 homes. Saturated soil around Lake Panorama began sliding into the lake in the evening. Three homes "cracked" beyond repair as the ground sank 12 to 18 inches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 15 June 1662...A fast was held at Salem, MA with prayers for rain, and the Lord gave a speedy answer. (David Ludlum)
• 15 June 1879...McKinney, ND received 7.7 inches of rain in 24 hours, a state record. This 24-hour state precipitation record has since been broken in June 1975 with an 8.10-inch reading. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 June 1957...East Saint Louis, IL was deluged with 16.54 inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the state of Illinois. In July 1996, this record was broken when 16.91 inches fell. (The Weather Channel)
• 16 June 1965...Thunderstorms dumped torrential rains along the east slopes and on the plains east of Denver, CO. Up to 14 in. fell at both Palmer Lake and Larkspur and 12 in. at Castle Rock, resulting in a wall of water down the west and east branches of Plum Creek. Damage to roads and bridges in Larkspur, Castle Rock, and Sedalia was extensive. The flood then reached the South Platte River near Littleton and proceeded through Denver. Flood waters spread to 1/2 mile or more in width and destroyed homes, trailer courts, and businesses. The flood caused $230 million damage and eight deaths along the entire South Platte River basin. (Intellicast)
• 16-18 June 1972...The greatest three-day rainfall in Hong Kong since 1889 produced 25.68 inches and resulted in disastrous landslides and building collapses. More than 100 people died, while thousands were made homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 June 1972...The largest single-site hydroelectric power project in North America (5,248 MW installed, expandable to 9,252 MW) was started at Churchill Falls, Labrador. (Wikipedia)
• 16 June 1984...Sixty-four cars parked near Westby, WI were swept 0.25 miles by a flash flood. Some people just "hung on" as they climbed on top of cars caught in trees. One person said "I had no idea anything like that ever happening around here." No deaths were reported. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 17 June 1965...Holly, CO was deluged with 11.08 inches of rain to establish a state 24-hour rainfall record. (The Weather Channel)
• 17 June 1987...Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the south central U.S. The Edwards Aquifer, which supplies water to San Antonio TX, reached a record level of 699.2 feet following a record 18.43 inches of rain in thirty days. Torrential rains between the mid May and mid June sent 8.8 million acre feet of water down the rivers of southern Texas, the largest volume in 100 years of records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 17-18 June 2002...Deadly floods ravaged parts of southern Russia between the Caspian and Black Seas. Chechnya, Krasnodar and Stavropol were particularly hard hit, with more than 40,000 homes flooded and at least 200 bridges damaged or destroyed. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 June 1875...A severe coastal storm (or possible hurricane) struck the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Eastport, ME reported wind gusts to 57 mph. (David Ludlum)
• 18 June 1991...Atlanta, GA set a new record for the amount of the rain in one hour as 3.47 inches fell between 6:52 and 7:52 PM EDT. (Intellicast)
• Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84ºF. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.