• Emergency Managers and Personnel
• Situation Reports
• National Incident Management System
• Grants & Assistance Programs
• Training
• Contacts
• Planning
• Best Practices

National Situation Update: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

West:
Under high pressure, the Region will be generally quiet today with showers and mountain snows in the Northern Rockies.  A frontal system moving in off the Pacific will produce widespread precipitation from northern California to Washington spreading inland to the northern Great Basin tonight.  High temperatures will rang from the upper 20s in Yellowstone National Park to the 90s in the lower Colorado River Valley.

Midwest:
A frontal system and associated upper level disturbance will produce a wintery mix of precipitation in the eastern Dakotas, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes.  A few inches of snow is forecast for northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan other areas will have sleet or freezing rain in the morning.  High temperatures will range from the 30s along the Canadian Border to the 70s will in southern Kansas and southwest Missouri.

South:
Under high pressure the region will be dry except for showers across the Florida Peninsula.  Highs are expected to reach the 70s in the Deep South.

Northeast:
A cold front and associated upper level disturbance will produce light snow and snow showers over much of the Region.  Accumulation will range from a light dusting to a few inches from northwest Pennsylvania across Upstate New York into northern New England.  High temperatures will be near to a little below average for mid-March. Highs will range from the upper 20s in northern Maine to the 60s in eastern Virginia.  (NWS, Media Sources)

Final Buoys Complete U.S. Tsunami Warning System

NOAA deployed the final two tsunami detection buoys in the South Pacific this week, completing the buoy network and bolstering the U.S. Tsunami Warning System. This vast network of 39 stations provides coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico with faster and more accurate tsunami warnings.

These final two Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) stations, deployed off the Solomon Islands, will give NOAA forecasters real-time data about tsunamis that could potentially impact the U.S. Pacific coast, Hawaii and U.S. Pacific territories. Tsunami sensors are now positioned between Hawaii and every seismic zone that could generate a tsunami that would impact the state and beyond, including the U.S. West Coast. Buoys already in the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean have been keeping watch over the U.S East and Gulf coasts.

DART stations consist of a bottom pressure sensor anchored to the seafloor and a companion moored surface buoy. An acoustic link transmits data from the bottom pressure sensor to the surface buoy, and then satellite links relay the data to NOAA tsunami warning centers. The DART network serves as the cornerstone to the U.S. tsunami warning system.

Other components of the tsunami warning system include NOAA's tsunami warning centers, a network of tide and seismic stations, forecast models for at-risk communities, and TsunamiReady™, a public preparedness and education program.
Since the Indonesian tsunami of December 2004, NOAA has made significant upgrades to the U.S. tsunami warning system, including:

• Installing 49 new or upgraded tide gages
• Installing or upgrading eight seismic stations
• Expanding the network of DART buoys from six (exclusively in the eastern Pacific) to 39 (from the western Pacific to the Atlantic)
• Growing the number of TsunamiReady communities from 16 to more than 50 today
• Developing 26 inundation forecast models and implementing a new Tsunami Warning System
• Extending the operations of the Pacific and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers to 24 hours a day
• Assisting Australia and Indonesia with installing tsunami warning systems off their coasts. Excerpt from http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080310_buoy.html

Flooding Update

Midwest
Illinois:
The Rock River is at moderate flood stage and should fall to minor flood levels by Wednesday; however, the NWS is forecasting the river to return to near major flood stage by Monday 17, March 2008.  The Illinois River at Havana is at moderate flood stage and is expected to fall to Minor Flood Stage by Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Indiana:
Minor flooding is occurring on the Muscatatuck River at Wheeler Hollow and is expected to continue.

Northeast
The rivers and streams in southern New England have crested or are near cresting with the exception of the lower Connecticut River which is in flood stage and is continuing to rise.  Dry weather is forecast over the next few days allowing the rivers to recover from the weekend rains.  Flood Warnings have been extended for the Connecticut counties of Hartford, Hampden and Middlesex and for the Massachusetts counties of Middlesex, Worcester, and Norfolk.(NWS)

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No activity to report. (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Earthquake Activity

• On March 11, 2008 at 6:37 am AKDT, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands about 43 miles southwest from Nikolski, AK at a depth of 27 miles.  There were no reports of damage or injuries, and there was no Tsunami generated.
• On March 11, 2008 at 11:42 am AKDT, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck 68 miles southeast from Prudhoe Bay, AK at a depth of 12 miles.  There were no reports of damage or injuries, and no Tsunami was generated.(USGS/NEIC/WDC)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)