Monday, July 26, 2010

[FEMA]

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Significant National Weather

West:
The region will be dry except for thunderstorms across higher elevations. Red Flag warnings are in effect for northern California, much of Nevada, southeastern Oregon, western Idaho and western UtahÂ*Â* due to dry thunderstorms and gusty outflow winds. High temperatures will reach 100 in central Washington and as much as 118 in the Desert Southwest.
Midwest:Â*
High pressure over the Great Lakes will keep most of the region dry with partly cloudy skies. The front stretching from the Carolinas to Kansas will produce showers and thunderstorms across the southern part of the region. This evening, North Dakota and northern Minnesota will see a few severe thunderstorms.
South:Â*
The front discussed above, combined with warm moist air off the Gulf of Mexico will produce widespread showers and thunderstorms across the region. Precipitation will be heavy at times and some areas will see an inch or more. Areas south of the front will be humid with temperatures ranging from 85 to 95 producing heat indices of 100 to 110. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the region again tomorrow.Â*Â*
Northeast:
The high pressure over the Great Lakes will produce gusty northwest winds over New England.Â* Precipitation will be limited to showers across northern Maine and thunderstorms in southern Virginia and West Virginia. With the front south of the region, humidity will be greatly reduced and temperatures will be near seasonal averages (upper 60s in northern Maine to 90s in the Mid-Atlantic).Â*Â*
(NOAA and media sources)
Mid Atlantic â Severe Thunderstorms

Severe thunderstorms passed through the region Sunday evening. Numerous trees fell knocking out power to thousands of customers. Widespread power outages were reported in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Approximately 280,000 customers in the D.C. metropolitan area, 4,000 customers in Pennsylvania and 10,000 customers in West Virginia are without power.Â*(FEMA Region III and media sources)

Possible Record Hail Recorded in South Dakota

On July 23, a super cell thunderstorm developed in western South Dakota and produced very large hail near the town of Vivian.
While conducting damage surveys the following day, a meteorologist from the NOAA National Weather Service in Aberdeen, South Dakota came in contact with a man that had saved several large hail stones.Â* The observer reported the largest hailstone he found had a diameter of 11 inches but melted partially in the freezer when the power went out.Â* The largest stone the Weather Service staff saw measured 8 inches in diameter with a circumference of 18.5 inches. The current U.S. record for the largest hailstone is 7 inches in diameter with a circumference of 18.75 inches, which fell in Aurora, Nebraska, on June 22, 2003. Extensive structure damage occurred in the town of Vivian from the storm including broken windows and holes in roofs due to the large hail.Â*Â*(NOAA, NWS Kansas City, Mo.)

Flooding on the Rio Grande River, Texas

Flood Warnings continue for the Rio Grande River. The controlled release of water from the Falcon and Amistad reservoirs will keep the Rio Grande River at Rio Grande City, Texas at major flood stage through the week.Â*(FEMA Region VI)

Midwest Storms and Flooding

In Illinois, up to seven inches of rain fell across metropolitan and suburban Chicago on July 24. Flood cleanup continues across northern Illinois. In Wisconsin, local damage surveys and flood clean up are ongoing across central and southern Wisconsin from thunderstorms that occurred on July 22 â 23. In Iowa, a cluster of severe storms swept across south-central Iowa Friday evening through Saturday morning. Record flooding on the Maquoketa River caused a 100 percent failure of the Hartwick Dam on Lake Delhi. The Hopkinton, Iowa sewer plant flooded but the city drinking water has not been contaminated. There are no requests for Federal assistance at this time.Â*(FEMA Regions V, VII)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico:Â*
No tropical cyclone activity expected in the next 48 hours
Eastern, Central, Western Pacific
No tropical cyclone activity expected in the next 48 hours.
(NOAA, JTWC)

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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