National Situation Update: Sunday, May 28, 2006
Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).
National Weather
Northeast: With high pressure finally in place, today will be a sunny and warm day across the Northeast. By the next two days, a backdoor cold front will sag southward from eastern Canada through eastern New York, New England and finally into northern New Jersey. Scattered, mainly p.m., thunderstorms will develop both days out ahead of the front from parts of New York and New England to eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. New England will turn cooler behind the front while the remainder of the region continues to heat up though the 80s each day.
Midwest: A cold front will edge eastward today and tomorrow, aligning itself from western Lake Superior to eastern Kansas by the evening of Memorial Day. Ahead of the front, high temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above average which means 80s and 90s and gusty southerly winds will accompany the heat from Kansas to the Upper Midwest. Scattered severe thunderstorms will precede the front both days and some thunderstorms will track across northern Illinois and Wisconsin into Michigan today. A few thunderstorms could come close to Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500.
West: While gusty winds and low humidity keeps the fire danger active from the Desert Southwest to Colorado and New Mexico, snow will continue to fly across Idaho, Montana and northwest Wyoming to elevations as low as 4000 feet. Some locations above 5500 feet could pick up close to 2 feet of heavy wet snow. A cold vigorous upper-level storm will continue to cross the West. Lower elevations from Washington and Oregon to the northern high Plains and western Colorado will see additional showers today. By tomorrow, the showers will start to diminish across the Northwest and temperatures will gradually return to average.
South: As a cold front gradually moves to the north in the coming week, 80s and 90s will dominate much of the South each day. Also, scattered, mainly p.m., thunderstorms will dot much of the region although most areas will miss out on any substantial rain. (NWS, Media Sources)
Winter Won't Let Go In Sierra As Storm Drops 5 Inches Of Snow
Summer may be just around the corner, but it still seems like winter in the Sierra.
A fast-moving storm dropped up to 5 inches of snow, and prompted chain controls on mountain highways early yesterday. Controls were lifted later in the day on two major highways linking Sacramento, Calif., to the Lake Tahoe area: Interstate 80 over Donner Summit and U.S. 50 over Echo Summit.
The storm brought 4-5 inches to Squaw Valley's upper mountain at 8,200 feet and 2-3 inches to its base at 6,200 feet. Elsewhere, the storm left 2 inches of snow at Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, 1 inch just north of Reno and in Gardnerville, and a trace in Reno.
Snow fell off and on throughout the day in the Lake Tahoe area, but was expected to taper off by today, according to the National Weather Service.
Most U.S. Forest Service campgrounds above 5,500 feet remained closed in the Lake Tahoe area because of lingering heavy snow. In late April, the Sierra snowpack averaged 180 percent of normal water content for the time of year. (Media Sources)
Firefighters Expect To Contain Durango Fire By Sunday Night
Firefighters expected to contain a 530-acre fire south of Durango by this evening. The Black Ridge fire was 65 percent contained yesterday morning, and firefighting costs have reached at least $395,000 fire spokeswoman Pamella Wilson said. Nearly 200 firefighters, an air tanker and three helicopters were supporting efforts to put out the flames. (Media Sources)
Tropical Storm Aletta Advisory Number 5
At 5:00 a.m. EDT, May 28, 2006, the center of Tropical Storm Aletta was located near latitude 15.4 north...longitude 101.0 west or about 125 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico.
Aletta has been meandering but is essentially stationary this morning and some erratic motion is possible. However, a slow northward or north-northeastward motion is expected to begin later this afternoon. The center may approach the coast of Mexico by Sunday night or early Monday morning if the northward motion develops.
Maximum sustained winds remain near 45 mph with higher gusts. Some slow strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours.
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 60 miles mainly east of the center.
The estimated minimum central pressure is 29.59 inches.
Although rain bands associated with Aletta have stopped moving onshore the Mexican coast this morning, additional rain bands may redevelop later today and produce rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches with locally higher amounts over mountainous terrain. (NWS National Hurricane Center)
Tropical Activity
Tropical Storm Aletta with sustained winds of 40 mph remains off the coast of Mexico, about 110 miles southwest of Acapulco. TS Aletta does not pose an immediate threat to the United States coast
There are no storms in the Atlantic or Indian Ocean that threaten the United States, or its territories and posessions. (USDOC/NOAA/NWS, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)
Earthquake Activity
An earthquake, with a magnitude of 4.5 on the Richter scale, occurred Saturday, May 27, 2006, at 2:04 p.m. EDT. The quake occurred approximately 61 miles W of Denali National Park and 125 miles SW of Fairbanks, Alaska at a depth of less than a mile. The quake was felt in Nenana and Fairbanks, Alaska. There have been no reports of damages or injuries and no requests for Federal assistance. The quake is such that a tsunami will not be generated.
An earthquake, with a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale, occurred Saturday, May 27, 2006 at 3:50 p.m. EDT. The quake occurred on the coast of Oregon 190 miles WNW (286°) from Bandon, OR at a depth of 6.2 miles. There are no reports of damages or injuries and no requests for Federal assistance. The quake is such that a tsunami will not be generated. (USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, NOAA West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center)
Preliminary Damage Assessments
No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Wildfire Update
(This information is reported as of 7:30 a.m. EDT.) Initial Attack activity was light yesterday with 54 new fires reported nationally. One new large fire was reported in Utah. Two large fires were contained in Texas.
An upper level trough will move over the northwest today creating strong winds combined with already dry and unstable conditions in place for portions of the Southwest Great Basin, and Rocky Mountain Areas. Isolated dry thunderstorms are possible for portions of Colorado and northwest Texas. (National Interagency Fire Center, NWS, Storm Prediction Center)
Disaster Declaration Activity
No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Last Modified: Tuesday, 30-May-2006 08:26:58 EDT