Wednesday, January 12, 2011

[FEMA]

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Significant National Weather

Northeast
Â*A strong winter storm will produce heavy snow over New England Wednesday morning tapering off to light snow and ending on Thursday morning.Â* Portions of Long Island and New England could see as much as one to two feet of snow. Lake effect snow will end by Thursday morning leaving behind clearing skies and gusty winds.
West
A new Pacific Northwest storm moved ashore overnight and will spread eastward to the Northern Plains by Thursday. Snow, heavy at times, will develop over the Northern Intermountain region and eastward to parts of the Northern Rockies and High Plains. Over the Cascades, snow will give way to rain, which will move into eastern Washington State by Thursday. Light to moderate rain is expected over parts of the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest.Â*
Midwest
As the Pacific Northwest storm moves into the Northern Plains, snow will develop over portions of the High Plains eastward to the Upper Great Lakes through Thursday evening. Some of the moisture wrapping around the storm will produce light snow today across parts of the Ohio Valley to the Northern and Central Appalachians.
South
High pressure over the Central Plains will move to the Ohio Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley by Thursday bringing 20 to 25 degree-below-average temperatures to the region. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will produce light rain showers over the southern tip of Texas through Thursday.Â*

Earthquake Activity

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred at 3:51 a.m. EST, today, January 12, 2011, in central California approximately 6 miles south- southeast of San Juan Bautista, Calif., and 45 miles south- southeast of San Jose, Calif. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 5.2 miles along the San Andreas Fault zone. Numerous smaller aftershocks have occurred including a magnitude 3.4 aftershock that occurred in the same vicinity approximately 10 minutes after the initial earthquake. No tsunami was generated. There has been no preliminary report of damage or injury.
Preliminary Damage Assessments

Joint Public Assistance preliminary damage assessments began January 3, 2011, for 15 counties in the State of New Jersey because of a snowstorm that occurred December 26 – 27, 2010. The PDAs for New Jersey were completed Tuesday, January 11, 2011. Joint PA PDAs are scheduled to begin today January 12, for one county in the state of Utah due to Winter Storm and Flooding that occurred December 20 – 25, 2010. PDAs are estimated to be completed January 14, 2011.
Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity.

Disaster Field Offices:
9 Open Field Offices are supporting 12 Major Disaster Declarations.Â*
Stay informed of FEMA's activities online: videos and podcasts available at www.fema.gov/medialibrary and www.youtube.com/fema; follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fema and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fema.


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