Saturday, November 12, 2011
 

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Significant National Weather

West
A strong winter storm continues with blizzard conditions forecast over portions of the Northern and Central Rockies through the weekend. Some high elevation locations will experience 10 to 20 inches of new snow by midnight on Sunday. Winds with gusts up to 35 mph will begin this morning, reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile in some areas. Snow drifts of 3 to 4 feet are also possible. Scattered rain and higher elevation snow is expected for parts of the Pacific Northwest and portions of the California Coast today through Sunday morning.
Northeast
Light rain and snow showers are forecast for northern New York and Southern New England. The Great Lakes region will experience light to moderate rain on Sunday.
South
Freeze Warnings and Frost Advisories are in effect for much of the Southeast; lows will drop into the high 20s through this morning. The remainder of the region will be dry and pleasant.
Midwest
No significant weather is expected for the region; however, temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees above average for most of the Plains and the Upper Midwest.Â*Â*(NOAA, National Weather Service and media sources)

Severe Storms in Western Alaska

Coastal flooding continued for many communities in west and northwest Alaska as the severe coastal storm moved through the Bering Strait earlier this week. Additional beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible for the entire Kuskokwim Delta due to an incoming storm along the western coast of Alaska. This system, associated with traditional weather patterns, has the potential to exacerbate damage in areas previously impacted by storm surge and wind.
State/Local Response:
The AK Homeland Security and Emergency Management Coordination Center and the AK State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) are activated at Level 3 (24/7). The SEOC has received reports of scattered power outages, telephone service interruption, coastal property loss, flooding and wind damage. A few communities have moved residents from low-lying areas or areas without power to shelters. One such community, Point Hope (450 residents), was expected to have minor power outages restored by Friday. Less than 4,000 customers are reported to be without power. American Red Cross reports two shelters open Friday with 518 occupants; this number does not include community shelters. Local damage assessments and clean-up continues. No preliminary damage assessments have been requested; however, preparation for Joint PDAs continues with coordination between the Region and the State. There is no request for FEMA assistance.
Federal Response:
The National Response Coordination Center transitioned operations to the National Watch Center (NWC) Thursday, November 10th and is not activated. The NWC is at Enhanced Watch during the day. Region X Regional Response Coordination Center deactivated and returned to Watch/Steady State. A Region X Logistics Team continues to operate over the weekend to outfit personnel for deployment to Alaska. Region X IMAT is deployed to the AK EOC and the FEMA Alaska Area Office, and two LNOs are deployed to AK.Â* The Region is deploying Community Relations personnel and PDA teams to Alaska beginning Monday, November 14th. Ten Region X generators are available in Anchorage.

NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth

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NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, CA has captured new radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55. The asteroid safely flew past our planet slightly closer than the moon’s orbit on November 8. The next known approach of an asteroid this size will be in 2028. The image of the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid was taken on Nov. 7 at 11:45 a.m. PST, when the asteroid was approximately 860,000 miles away from Earth. NASA detects, tracks, and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth as part of the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called “Spaceguard,” at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it was no closer than 201,700 miles as measured from the center of Earth, or about 0.85 times the distance from the moon to Earth. The gravitational influence of the asteroid had no detectable effect on Earth, including tides and tectonic plates. Although the asteroid is in an orbit that regularly brings it into the vicinity of Earth, Venus and Mars, the 2011 encounter with Earth is the closest it has come for at least the last 200 years. For more information see www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch.

Space Weather

No space weather storms were observed during the past 24 hours and none are predicted.
Tropical Activity

Atlantic / Caribbean / Gulf of Mexico
Post-Tropical Cyclone Sean
At 10:00 p.m. EST Friday, the National Hurricane Center released the final public advisory on Post-Tropical Cyclone Sean. The system has merged with a cold front and is expected to dissipate today. Sean was located about 505 miles northeast of Bermuda last night, moving east-northeast at 35 mph. Maximum sustained winds are 40 mph. Winds extend outward up to 175 miles.Â*

Eastern, Central and Western Pacific
No tropical cyclone activity is occurring or forecast.Â*Â*

Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)


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