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

National Situation Update: Sunday, April 27, 2008

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

National Weather Forecast

Midwest
Rain and snow showers in the Upper Midwest will occur across the Mississippi Valley today and tonight, April 27, 2008, as a strong cold upper-level system traverses the area.
By Monday morning, April 28, 2008, low pressure will move northeastward through Kentucky, bringing rain to the Ohio Valley and Michigan.

Behind the low-pressure center that will shift away into the Northeast, tomorrow into Tuesday, April 29, 2008, the cold upper-level system will move across the Ohio Valley, sparking showers and perhaps a little small hail.

South
A frontal boundary across Alabama, Georgia and Carolinas will focus scattered thunderstorms across the Southeast today while the next storm advances eastward. After severe thunderstorms and heavy rains across Texas, the front and low pressure area will move from Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley into Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama today.

Some severe thunderstorms with hail and damaging wind gusts will precede the front.  Downpours could locally produce three-or-four-inches of rain in a short time across Mississippi and Alabama.  The showers and thunderstorms will shift toward the Southeast Coast and then out to sea tomorrow, as the storm system moves into the Northeast and the cold front sweeps into the Atlantic.

Northeast
The cold front will weaken and stall as it runs up against high pressure over New England.  The showers will end over the eastern part of the region this morning.
The next cold front will arrive tomorrow, moving from the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys to the Hudson Valley.

Locally one-to-three-inch rain will rapidly overspread the region from Virginia to New York and New England.  Thunderstorms in the Mid-Atlantic could produce some damaging wind gusts. (NWS, Media Sources)

Nevada Earthquake Swarm

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurred near Mogul, Nevada, in the west Reno area at 11:38 PM PDT Friday April 25, 2008.  The earthquake was strongly felt in west Reno and felt throughout the Reno metropolitan area. It was immediately preceded by a magnitude 3.3 aftershock, and has been followed by numerous additional aftershocks, the largest of which was a magnitude of 3.6.  Many aftershocks are being felt by the residents of Mogul and Somersett in west Reno.  It cannot be determined if the April 25, 2008 evening's magnitude 4.7 earthquake will be the largest earthquake of the 2008 Mogul-Somersett earthquake sequence.

A seismologist at the University of Nevada's (Reno) lab said the recent activity around Reno is unusual, because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. 
The normal pattern is for a main quake, followed by smaller aftershocks.  "If the pattern continues, we may be looking at a larger event" in the Reno area, the seismologist said Friday.  "We wouldn't be surprised to see it (swarm) end at any time, and it also wouldn't be surprising to see a large earthquake.(University of Nevada Reno Seismological Laboratory, Media Sources)

Reno Urged To Prepare For Worse As Earthquakes Continue

Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada's largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors.  More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake occured Friday night, the strongest quake around Reno since one measuring 5.2 in 1953.

The latest quake swept store shelves clean, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides, but there were no reports of injuries or major damage.  Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.  Reno's last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif., said a research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.

A rockslide triggered by Friday night's quake was blamed for causing a 125-foot breach in a wooden flume that carries water to one of two water treatment plants in Reno, a city of about 210,000.  A backup pump was used to divert water to the plant, and the breach was not expected to cause any water shortages, said the Washoe County emergency management officer.

Hundreds of mostly minor quakes have occurred along one or possibly more faults since the sequence began Feb. 28, said a seismologist at the Reno laboratory. The quakes have occurred along an area about 2 miles long and a half-mile wide.

The quakes around Reno began a week after a magnitude 6 temblor in the northern Nevada town of Wells, near the Utah border. The Feb. 21 quake caused an estimated $778,000 in damage to homes, schools and historic downtown buildings. Scientists said they're unsure whether the seismic activity at opposite sides of Nevada is related.

Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the U.S. behind California and Alaska. The Wells quake was the 15th of at least magnitude 6 in the state's 143-year history.  A magnitude-7.4 quake south of Winnemucca in 1915 is the most powerful in state history.   (Media Sources)

Mississippi Valley Flooding

Severe Weather/Midwest Flooding
Regional Offices and NRCC are monitoring current flooding in the Mississippi Valley with no reported State or Regional issues.

Flood Warnings and Watches continue in the Mississippi River Valley from Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri to Arkansas and Louisiana. (Region IV RRCC, Region VI RRCC, National Weather Service)

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No FMAG requested or issued.  (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

National Preparedness Level:  1
National Fire Activity as of Saturday, April 26, 2008:
Initial attack activity: Light (154 new fires)
New large fires: 0
Large fires contained: 2
Uncontained large fires: 10
Weather Discussion:  Strong surface high pressure, building southward along the front range of the Rockies, will result in strengthening winds across much of southeast Arizona today, April 27, 2008.

Sustained winds of 15-to-25-mph, with higher gusts, are expected to develop early this morning and continue through the afternoon hours today.

These winds, combined with low relative humidities and a very high-to-extreme fire danger rating, will result in potential fire weather concerns today.  (National Interagency Fire Center, National Incident Information Center, InciWeb, NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)