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National Situation Update: Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Wet Weather in the West

West: An unusually strong cold front in the Pacific Northwest will bring heavy rain (west of the Cascades), strong winds and blinding mountain snow. Winter storm watches are posted from the Cascades to the mountains of western Montana. A Hazardous Weather Advisory has been posted for central California. A High Wind Watch is in effect for eastern Washington and adjacent areas of Idaho. A deepening storm system over the Texas Panhandle will drop snow on the central and southern Rockies and adjacent plains of southern Wyoming and northeast Colorado. Several inches are expected in Denver where temperatures were in the spring-like 60s on Tuesday.

Midwest: A weak system will deliver a scattered, light mix of snow and rain to parts of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes. A stronger storm over the lower Midwest and southern portions of the Upper Midwest will bring locally heavy rain and thunderstorms. Late Wednesday or Wednesday evening eastern Kansas and far western Missouri will see thunderstorms with strong winds, large hail and possible tornadoes.

South: Most of the South will be warmer than usual for late winter tomorrow with only the coastal Carolinas and Florida Peninsula a little cooler than usual. By late afternoon or evening, scattered showers and thunderstorms, some severe, are expected over Oklahoma, western Arkansas and northern Texas. Wednesday night, a line of severe storms with strong, gusty winds, large hail and even a few tornadoes are likely through eastern Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. 

Northeast: Outside of a chance for an afternoon shower in West Virginia tomorrow, the Northeast will be dry with temperatures near early March means.

Hawaii: There is a 40 percent change of scattered showers in Hawaii. A storm at the end of the week is predicted to be weaker than last week's storm that brought flooding conditions. Even so, this is threatening to Windward residents because State officials warn that the land is saturated from last week's deluge and more flooding and landslides are possible if it rains this week. (National Weather Service, media sources)

Volcano Activity

Unrest continues at Augustine Volcano. During the past week, overall seismicity at the volcano has remained low but is still above background. The frequency of small volcano-tectonic earthquakes has increased slightly over the past several days and rockfall and avalanche events originating from the summit area continue to be recorded by the seismic network. The current Color Code for Augustine is ORANGE.  (United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Volcano Observatory)

Tropical Activity

There are no tropical disturbances in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. (National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

There was no significant earthquake activity during the previous 24 hours affecting the U.S. or U.S. interests.  (USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, NOAA West Coast and Pacific Tsunami Warning System )

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity to report.  (FEMA HQ)

Wildfire Update

The National Preparedness Level is 2. Initial attack activity was heavy nationally with 426 new fires reported. Twelve new large fires were reported in the Southern Area. Fourteen large fires were contained in the Southern Area. The Southern Area includes both Texas and Oklahoma.

There is an Extremely Critical Fire Weather Area in southeast New Mexico, far west Texas into the Texas Panhandle and extreme western Oklahoma. There is a Critical Fire Weather Area in the remainder of New Mexico, central and western Oklahoma, southern Kansas and west Texas into north central Texas.

Primary conditions will be sustained winds 20-35 mph and minimum relative humidity values below 15 percent. In addition to the threat of strong winds, the winds will also sharply change direction. Maximum temperatures are again expected to climb into the mid/upper 70s which is much above normal. (National Weather Service, National Interagency Fire Center)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity to report. (FEMA HQ)