The extremely wet and windy Nor'easter that plowed across the northern tier of states has left moderate to major flooding in its wake over both the Midwest and Northeast. In the Northeast, the storm dropped more than five inches of rain in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and moderate to major flooding is occurring in these states. Flooding was particularly severe in Rhode Island on the Pawtuxet River in Cranston, where the river crested a record six feet over flood stage, forcing evacuations. Major flooding was also occurring in New Jersey, where the Passaic River at Little Falls is cresting at five feet over flood stage.
In the Midwest, snow melt and heavy rains have swollen the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota to near flood stage, and the river is expected to crest two feet above major flood stage by Sunday morning, and one foot above one of the permanent dikes on the river. In Fargo, ND, the Red River is expected to crest Saturday at 38 feet, three feet below the record of 41 feet set last year. Many rivers in Iowa are in flood and expected to crest above major flood stage on Thursday or Friday this week, including the Des Moines River in northern Iowa. In Des Moines, flooding on the Des Moines River is expected to be moderate, but a levee that failed in the floods of 1993 and 2008 is leaking, and residents of the area are evacuating, according to media reports.
Figure 1. Estimated precipitation for the seven day period ending at 8am EDT Monday March 15, 2010. Image credit: NOAA.
Tropical Cyclone Tomas roars through Fiji Islands
Tropical Cyclone Tomas roared through the eastern portion of the Fiji Islands as a major Category 3 storm with 130 mph winds yesterday. Tomas sideswiped the two largest islands in the chain, destroying 50 buildings, causing extensive power outages, and claiming one life. The cyclone made a direct hit on several of the smaller islands to the east of the main islands, and the extent of damage on these islands is unknown, but undoubtedly very heavy.
Tropical Cyclone Ului weakens, may threaten Australia
The first Category 5 tropical cyclone of the year, Tropical Cyclone Uliu, has weakened from its impressive peak as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds to a low-end Category 4 storm with 132 mph winds. Ului is over the open waters of the South Pacific, east of Australia, and is projected to significantly decay as the week progresses, due to high wind shear. Ului may be a threat to the Queensland coast of Australia by the end of the week, but should be at tropical storm strength by then.
Figure 2. Tropical Cyclone Ului (left) and Tropical Cyclone Tomas (right). Over the Solomon Islands, Tropical Cyclone Ului had maximum sustained winds of 130 knots (240 kilometers per hour, 150 miles per hour) and gusts up to 160 knots (300 km/hr, 180 mph). Over Fiji, Tropical Cyclone Tomas had maximum sustained winds of 115 knots (215 km/hr, 132 mph) and gusts up to 140 knots (260 km/hr, 160 mph). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites captured both storms in multiple passes over the South Pacific on March 15, 2010, local time. The majority of the image is from the morning of March 15 (late March 14, UTC time) as seen by MODIS on the Terra satellite, with the right portion of the image having been acquired earliest. The wedge-shaped area right of center is from Aqua MODIS, and it was taken in the early afternoon of March 15 (local time). Image credit: NASA.
Portlight looks to build permanent shelters in Haiti
On February 26th, torrential rains brought more than five feet (1.5 m) of flood water into the streets in the coastal city of Les Cayes, Haiti, an area unscathed by the massive January 2010 earthquake. Eleven people were killed during this storm, with the rainy season still two months away. This deadly flood serves as a reminder that the people of Haiti are highly vulnerable to disastrous flooding during this year's rainy season. A vast number of the survivors are living in "tent" cities where most of the "tents" are really nothing more than bed sheets draped over ropes and sticks; the potential for a second humanitarian disaster is significant. With this in mind, Portlight.org has been exploring fast, inexpensive methods of providing solid, permanent, safe shelter for survivors of the earthquake. They have found a number of groups looking at using shipping containers for this purpose. Shipping containers are steel-reinforced boxes used for shipping goods overseas. Portlight's on-site coordinator in Haiti, Richard Lumarque, has identified an engineer that has come up with a number of designs for converting these containers into dormitories, offices, medical facilities and individual homes; his plan for a dormitory container is below. Portlight is looking to help with this effort; please visit the Portlight.org web site to learn more and to donate to this worthy cause.
Figure 3. A proposed design for a simple dormitory that can accommodate twelve people, built from a shipping container.
I'll have a new post on Wednesday or Thursday.
Jeff Masters
2010 NorEaster Flood in Manville, NJ
Small bridge in Haddonfield flooded at Cooper River along Kings Highway on 3/13/10
Lower Berkshire Valley Rd.
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True as a Saints Super Bowl WIn Jeff.
Thus the Need for Large relief Systems Like the Bonnet Carre Spillway 25 Miles upriver from NOLA.
It will Likely have to be opened to allow the River to Flow into Lake Pontchartrain to relive the Pressure on the River Levee's.
Share Recommend this image
Lake Pontchartrain, immediately north of New Orleans, occupies the upper part of this astronaut photograph from April 29, 2008, with the winding course of the muddy Mississippi River snaking across the bottom of the view (flow is eastward, from left to right). The city of New Orleans is sandwiched between the lake and the river.
Heavy rain in March and April 2008 in the Mississippi’s catchment area raised water levels in the river enough that the Army Corps of Engineers had to take action to prevent flooding. To reduce the volume of the river through New Orleans, the Corps opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway (lower left), which diverts some of the river’s flow into Lake Pontchartrain. Located about 18 kilometers (about 11 miles) upriver from New Orleans, the Bonnet Carre Spillway is a 1.6-kilometer-wide (1-mile) gap in the developments along the Mississippi River levees. The spillway control structure itself is visible as a thin, discontinuous, white line along the river’s edge in this image.
The spillway has only been opened eight times since 1937. News of the opening in April 2008 was transmitted to astronauts aboard the International Space Station who managed to capture the immediate effect of muddy water flowing down the spillway and into Lake Pontchartrain. The flood plume forms great brown lobes in the otherwise green water. These lobes moved slowly east along the New Orleans shoreline. The line of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest bridge in the United States, is visible cutting across the lake.
As the southernmost spillway in the Corps of Engineers flood control infrastructure for the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Bonnet Carre plays a major role in protecting New Orleans from flooding. Opening the spillway protects the city in various ways. First, it lowers water levels and reduces both the speed of flow and cross currents in the river, which can interfere with vessels navigating the river—or even cause collisions with levees. It also reduces pressure on downstream levees, some of which famously collapsed during the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Astronaut photograph ISS017-E-5763 was acquired on April 29, 2008, with a Kodak 760C digital camera fitted with an 180 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 17 crew, and is provided by the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, NASA-JSC.
Not to mention a good number of headaches.
Thanks JFV.
I don't think there's anyone on the US coast I could say has a free ride this year (not that anyone ever does). I think the entire coast will be threatened, and we'll know more in May, but oddly enough, Florida seems to split right between the two major congregations of major hurricane tracks in the analog years, and doesn't get many hits. It's an interesting pattern that I'll be keeping an eye on this year.
LOL YUP
Loop
Very true. Another major issue is a mistake in priorities in regards to what should be protected.
Farmland should be one of the lowest priorities for protection, and as a matter of fact, farmland should be used as an emergency relief measure to protect residential areas. Putting levees up around farmland seems completely pointless considering the geography and history of the area.
Non of that here. The two dams are automated. Water hits a certain flow velocity and wham gates open. We have been trying for years to get the ACOE or the state to mandate manual controls in times of severe possible flooding to limit the down stream damage and allow folks to get out without assistance. Amazingly above the dam is a string of wildlife and state parks. I really dont think the animals would mind the rising water but I KNOW the thousands of homeowners evacuated and the hundreds of emergency service personal downstream do care.
Everyone is always in danger, every year. We'll have more of an idea what the Bermuda High will do in May, but if this negative NAO continues through the summer like some models are showing, then there is concern for storm tracks being directed more westward towards the Caribbean and United States.
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Back later.
Hopefully the Cycle will be in the Down Pulse mode,side of the Cycle when she makes landfall.
Stay Tuned,..this one has a ways to go.
Just checked the numbers river flood forecast and the rivers are above the crested height for later today already and looks like friday or saturday before going below flood stage then on Sun night we ahve another round of rain =(
Time to build an ark LOL
Also interesting tutorial on Lake Pontchartrain MS River water management.
have a nice day everyone. :)
Also the weaker it get the less upwelling will occur giving the storm a better chance at warm waters. Especially with the eye-wall thunderstorms weakening the upwelling shouldn't be a problem if it can get out of the cooler waters it has already brought to the surface. Takes a nice solid eye-wall to really pull up the cooler waters.
June 2008
Afternoon chicklit,..I give the Corps of Engineers a Shout out when they deserve it,and they mange the Spillway fairly well.
But they have a Long way to go in Hurricane Education here still.after 45 years.
Note:Their Headquarters are on top the Mississippi River Levee about 2 miles from me here Uptown near Audubon Bend.
About 1 million Tons of Building sitting on top a Major Levee above NOLA by 5 miles.
And they wonder why the Levee Seeps water at the Toe of it there at River Road...?
Note the Street Addy name as well..one cant make dis stuff up,LOL
7400 Leake Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118-3651
(504) 862-1184
Note their Location here.
You will not find a Pic of it On-line either,sitting up there Squishing da Levee either..Go figure.
Snicker,Boo,Hizz
Your tax dollars at work!
I have to admit that considering their location and role, I find their street address amusing...
"7400 Leake Avenue"
Oh, there's more to it than that...
1. Nitrates from fertilizer use up river causes big algal blooms in the Lake when the spillway is open, lowering the oxygen content of the water...fishing is horrible for months after it is opened.
2. Lake P is a brackish body of water. It is well-populated by numerous salt-water species of flora and fauna. Introducing large quantities of fresh water at one end tends to kill salt-water marsh grasses and such (especially close to the spillway), which allows for accelerated erosion and breaks in the food cycle.
Not saying that the spillway gates shouldn't be opened to keep river levees in NOLA from being tested, but it comes at an ecological price.
Built in the 30s...no way would environmental approval be given today. Not even close.
Yeah,,read more here about the WUnderful COE and how the screwed da pooch here.
They dont circulate this stuff much.
And all those Nitrates cause low Oxygen DEAD ZONES in the GOM that well..dont get the Pixie and Fairy scrubbing from those wand waving Atmosphere Cleaners neither we hear about so often that are cleaning the Planet while we sleep.
(Don't get me wrong, concerning my previous post). They are well aware of what the effects of opening it and do it only when absolutely needed.
I concur...if nothing else, they have well managed the river levee system.
Biofuel Production Could Undercut Efforts to Shrink Gulf Dead Zone
This is a map showing the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone." Low-oxygen areas appear in red. (NASA; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
This is a map showing the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone." Low-oxygen areas appear in red. (NASA; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Biofuel Production Could Undercut Efforts to Shrink Gulf Dead Zone
Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region. Their study is scheduled for the Oct. 1 issue of ACS semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Christine Costello and W. Michael Griffin and colleagues explain that the zone forms when fertilizers wash off farm fields throughout the Mississippi River basin and into the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizers cause the growth of algae, which eventually depletes oxygen in the water and kills marine life. Government officials hope to reduce fertilizer runoff and shrink the zone to the size of Delaware by 2015. But that goal could be more difficult to reach due to federally-mandated efforts to increase annual biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022, the study says.
The scientists studied the potential effects of increased biofuel production on the dead zone, with a life-cycle analysis of nitrate fertilizer use on biofuel crops such as corn, soy, switch grass and stover (corn stems and leaves). They conclude that meeting the biofuel production goals will likely increase the depletion of oxygen compared to current levels in the Gulf due to more nutrient runoff.
Download full text article Impact of Biofuel Crop Production on the Formation of Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico:http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/es9011433
Yep. That's the west gate.
oh ok, compliments of google maps street view
how is the weather in sunny warm Florida?
This loop is great for monitoring the environment around Ului as she approaches Australia, and it illustrates quite strikingly the decrease in Ului's deep convection over the last 24 hours.
NOLA.com will web-cast live from the St. Patrick's Day capitol of New Orleans, Parasol's Block Party from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 17, 2010.
Please, don't say his name...
As for a cooling trend, hardly...figure for fits and starts, but the trend will be upward, overall
Your not going to see that much change in one day, Week to week you would see a difference.
Catch something good, mister!
Glad to hear it, Storm! How are you doing?
No they're not going to noticeably warm every single day. The only real thing that could cool them during the normal spring warming period is if trade winds become strong, which they haven't been all winter. Although the Azores High is a little stronger since the NAO has been rising, it is still generally weaker than normal with below-normal pressures across the north Atlantic:
Good afternoon Storm, good to hear everything is in order for you to go :)
Glad to hear that.
nutrient is not the only driver of hypoxic zones. instruct yourself. the relationship is not linear.
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