NOAA

Weather Warnings

Governor Beebe Declares Seven Counties Disaster Areas Due To Tornado And Thunderstorm Damage
Friday, May 2, 2008

LITTLE ROCK – Governor Mike Beebe has declared Benton, Cleburne, Conway, Grant, Pulaski, Saline and Van Buren Counties state disaster areas due to the damage caused by powerful tornadoes and violent thunderstorms on Friday, May 2. More counties will be added to this list as preliminary damage assessments are done in other counties.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management will work in the coming days to establish locations for Disaster Recovery Centers in the declared counties. Early this evening, Governor Beebe spoke with President George W. Bush about the storms and ADEM Director David Maxwell has spoken with Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison. Both conversations indicated there would be continued swift federal response to Arkansas's latest round of natural disasters.

Governor Beebe previously declared 59 Arkansas counties disaster areas following storms and floods in the late winter and early spring. While federal assistance continues for those disasters, most of those state declarations have expired. The seven counties declared tonight begin a new set of declarations.

Myanmar Typhoon May 1, 2008

Myanmar Typhoon disaster -thousands of people missing as cities and properties are destroyed. Little hope of outside countries ability to help as country has been run by their repressive military for years. In video clips men were cuting large trees with matchettes, not the best tool for such a big job.

IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD... AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

Groud Level Ozone Daily Forecasts

Ground-level ozone forecasts, for years a key predictor of air quality in major U.S. cities, are now available throughout the contiguous United States. NOAA’s National Weather Service, in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has extended its operational ozone forecast guidance to 11 western states and expanded the service in six other states, ensuring that the most populous cities throughout the country will have access to the information on a daily basis.

"Poor air quality is a silent killer, responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths each year in the continental United States," said Jack Hayes, Ph.D., director of NOAA's National Weather Service. "Weather and air quality are strongly linked. Temperature and lack of wind can create and trap harmful ozone where we work and play. Our ozone forecasts will enable city and state air quality managers to look ahead, see trouble brewing, and issue next-day alerts for poor air quality."
Hour-by-hour ozone forecasts, through midnight of the following day, are available online, providing information for the onset, severity and duration of poor air quality for more than 290 million people from coast to coast.

NOAA’s expanded forecasting guidance gives state and local agencies another important tool for bringing air quality information directly to citizens,” said Bob Meyers, EPA’s principal deputy assistant administrator for air and radiation. “Air quality forecasts help Americans across the country reduce their exposure to pollution and lead healthier lives."

States added to the expanded ozone forecast area are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and the western portions of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.

Established in 2004 in several northeastern states, the program to predict air quality has been built by a team of NOAA and EPA scientists who develop, test and implement improvements in the science of air quality forecasting for real-time predictions. National Weather Service’s weather forecast models drive simulations of atmospheric chemical conditions using pollutant emissions and monitoring data provided by EPA. Twice daily, supercomputers operated by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction produce ground-level ozone forecasts, which are available on National Weather Service and EPA data servers.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Harmful Algal Blooms Increasing in U.S.

"Harmful algal blooms are very complex phenomena that cause serious economic harm. This report provides an important overview of the current status of efforts to respond to harmful algal blooms in our coastal and inland waters and is the first step in developing a national plan to improve those efforts," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

The report, National Assessment of Efforts to Predict and Respond to Harmful Algal Blooms in U.S. Waters, also known as the Prediction and Response Report, assesses the harmful algal bloom problem in U.S. waters and identifies progress made since 2000 by federal agencies in prevention, control, and mitigation of harmful algal blooms in the U.S.

The study reports that the frequency of harmful algal bloom events is increasing and their geographical distribution now impacts all the coastal states. Freshwater harmful algal blooms are an increasing problem in inland states as well. Human activities such as nutrient pollution are thought to contribute to some of these increases.
The economic effects of harmful algal blooms in the U.S. is estimated to reach at least $82 million per year in lost income for fisheries, lost recreational opportunities, decreased tourism, public health costs of illness, and expense of monitoring and management.

Harmful algal blooms may produce toxins and/ or develop excess biomass that negatively impact humans and ecosystems. Humans, domestic animals, and wildlife can be exposed to algal toxins through their food, drinking water, the water in which they swim, and the air near the water, resulting in fish kills, mortality of protected species, and human illness and potentially even death. High biomass blooms can discolor the water, impart foul odors and tastes to drinking water, accumulate in large quantities on beaches, overgrow coral reefs, shade aquatic plants, and upon death, deplete the water of oxygen.

Newly developed technologies can be used for rapid toxin detection in the field and others can be deployed for automated, real-time detection of events. Some have potential for use as official methods for regulatory purposes and others can be used to assess toxin exposure in humans and in marine mammals and birds. Satellite and automated underwater vehicle tracking of bloom events coupled with transport models has helped coastal managers predict bloom movement for more effective management. Federal response to events has also improved significantly.

 

Tell the people in your life how much you love them every day. All weather information is from NOAA information, and CBC.ca

911 Salmon

Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez today declared a commercial fishery failure for the West Coast salmon fishery due to historically low salmon returns. Also today, NOAA’s Fisheries Service issued regulations to close or severely limit recreational and commercial salmon fishing in the area.
“The unprecedented collapse of the salmon population will hit fishermen, their families, and fishing communities hard, and that is why we have moved quickly to declare a fishery disaster,” Gutierrez said. “Our scientists are working to better understand the effects that ocean changes have on salmon populations. We are also working closely with fishing communities to improve salmon habitat in river systems to support sustainable fishing.”

Hundreds of thousands of fall Chinook salmon typically return to the Sacramento River every year to spawn. This year, scientists estimate that fewer than 60,000 adult Chinook will make it back to the Sacramento River.

This is far below what is needed to sustain the population and we have decided to shut down the commercial ocean salmon fishery for all of California and most of Oregon to aid their recovery,” said Jim Balsiger, NOAA’s Fisheries Service acting assistant administrator. “It’s a tough decision, but the condition of the salmon fishery forces us to close most of it to ensure healthy runs of this valuable fish in the future.”

Although the reasons for the sudden decline of the fishery are not completely understood, NOAA scientists suggest that changes in ocean conditions, including unfavorable shifts in ocean temperature and food sources for juvenile salmon, likely caused poor survival of salmon that would have comprised this year’s fishery. Loss of freshwater habitat for salmon spawning, rearing, and migration to the ocean is a chronic problem that has made salmon populations more susceptible to the occasional poor ocean conditions. NOAA will undertake a thorough examination of the causes.

Coho salmon stocks off Washington and northern Oregon, while in slightly better shape, are still far below normal, and there will be substantially curtailed commercial fishing off those areas as well. A small recreational fishery off Oregon’s northern coast and targeted on hatchery-produced coho salmon will be allowed.

The disaster declaration opens the door for Congress to appropriate money towards alleviating the financial hardship caused by the fishery disaster.

Under Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Commerce Secretary can declare a commercial fishery failure if requested to do so by a governor, or at the Secretary's discretion. The Secretary must determine that the commercial fishery failure resulted from a fishery resource disaster due to natural causes, man-made causes beyond the control of fishery managers, or undetermined causes.

NOAA and Awards for Low oxygen Study

NOAA has awarded first-year funding of $284,000 to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) as part of a three-year $781,000 project to develop a better understanding of how nutrient pollution from the Mississippi River affects the large area of low oxygen water called the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. The project will also look at how the dead zone affects commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish.

Funds were awarded through NOAA’s Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia and Ecosystems Research Program.
“A better understanding of the underlying causes of the dead zone is essential for predicting its effect on the Gulf fisheries and the region,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The goal of this research is to help develop a range of options that coastal and upriver resource managers can use to prevent and reduce nutrient pollution that contributes to the dead zone.”

This project will provide data to verify water quality models and help resource managers determine the quantitative relationships between nutrient pollution and development, magnitude, longevity, and distribution of the dead zone. Findings will also support the development of more accurate predictive models of hypoxia development on the Louisiana continental shelf.

The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters. It is caused by a seasonal change where algal growth, stimulated by input of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, settles and decays in the bottom waters. The decaying algae consume oxygen faster than it can be replenished from the surface, leading to decreased levels of dissolved oxygen.

This past summer off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, an area of deep water covering 7,900 square miles was declared hypoxic. It is the third largest Gulf of Mexico dead zone on record since measurements began in 1985, and represents an area approximately the size of the state of New Jersey. Also, it is more than one and a half times the average annual dead zone area measured since 1990, 4,800 square miles. The largest dead zone ever recorded covered 8,494 square miles in 2002.

The research program, managed by NOAA’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, seeks to provide resource managers with new tools, techniques, and information to make informed decisions, and assess alternative management strategies regarding hypoxia. Supported projects are leading to the development of a fundamental understanding of the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, with a focus on the causes and effects of the hypoxic zone, and the prediction of its future extent and impacts on ecologically and commercially important living resources.

In fiscal year 2007, the NOAA National Ocean Service, through the center, provided approximately $10 million in competitive grants to institutions of higher education, state, local and tribal governments, and other non-profit research institutions to assist NOAA in fulfilling its mission to study our coastal oceans.
In 2007 NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation.

NOAA COAST SURVEY CONTINUES SEA FLOOR MAPPING EXPEDITION IN THE ARCTIC —

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, in partnership with the University of New Hampshire’s Joint Hydrographic Center and the National Science Foundation, will embark on a four-week cruise to map a portion of the Arctic sea floor starting Aug. 17. This is the third expedition in a series of cruises aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter HEALY designed to map the sea floor on the northern Chukchi Cap.

Scientists will explore this poorly known region to better understand its morphology and the potential for including this area within the United States’ extended continental shelf under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The data collected during this cruise will also provide valuable information for better understanding sea floor processes and fisheries habitat, as well as provide input into climate and circulation models that will help scientists predict future conditions in the Arctic.

Previous mapping cruises in this series were conducted in 2003 and 2004.
The HEALY is equipped with more than 4,200 square feet of scientific laboratory space and a multibeam echo sounder, the primary tool that is used to map the sea floor. The research has been funded through a NOAA grant award to the University of New Hampshire and will be headed by cruise chief scientist Larry Mayer at UNH with NOAA's Andy Armstrong serving as co-chief scientist.

Flood Dangers

Be cautious at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers.
Determining Flood Risk
and Flood Insurance

Q: What is flood insurance?
In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in response to the rising cost of taxpayer funded disaster relief for flood victims and the increasing amount of damage caused by floods.

Q: Why do I need flood insurance?
Flood losses aren't covered by your homeowners insurance policy. Local flooding can happen in all parts of the country at almost any time of the year. Flooding causes more damage in the United States than any other weather related event, an average of $4.6 billion a year in the past 20 years (1984-2003).

Q: How do I obtain a flood insurance policy?
You can purchase National Flood Insurance from private insurance companies and agents. In fact, you may be able to purchase it with a credit card. Currently, there are over 100 insurance companies that sell National Flood Insurance coverage, in addition to some 60,000 independent insurance agents.
If the seller of the property has flood insurance coverage on the building, that policy can be assigned to the buyer at the time of closing. If the mortgage company requires flood insurance as a condition of the loan, the lender may escrow flood insurance premiums - making it easy to ensure that you will not get caught without flood insurance when a flood threatens your home.

Q: Who can purchase flood insurance?
Anyone in a community that participates in the NFIP can purchase building and/or contents coverage, with a few exceptions. Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS) areas.