National Situation Update: Monday, March 13, 2006
Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).
Significant Weather Across The Nation
West: Snow showers will linger in the northern and central Rockies and northern portions of the Great Basin, A front moving in off the Pacific will push rain and mountain snow into southwest Oregon and northern California. Snow levels will start the day at 1500 feet or less but gradually increase to near 3000 feet.
Midwest: A cold front will stretch from the Great Lakes to the Texas Gulf Coast. Combined with the warm moist air moving off the Gulf of Mexico it will produce widespread thunderstorm activity. This cold front will shift eastward across the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, with severe thunderstorms expected over Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Blizzards are forecast for Upper Midwest, especially northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where over a foot will accumulate in some areas.
South: The cold front moving eastward across the region will produce severe thunderstorms over Tennessee, western North Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and northwest Georgia.
Northeast: Showers and thunderstorms are forecast for much of the Northeast today with a few severe thunderstorms expected in Upstate New York, western/central Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Temperatures ahead the cold front will be well above seasonal averages due to southerly winds. (NWS, media sources)
Midwest Hit By Severe Weather
Powerful tornadoes moved across southern Missouri and southern Illinois Saturday night, destroying homes along a path of more than 20 miles and killing a couple whose pickup truck was blown off a rural road about 80 miles south of St. Louis.
A twister up to one-half mile wide killed a woman seeking shelter in her mobile home and displaced about 150 residents in western Missouri on Sunday night. Six people were injured and two were missing after the tornado cut a path more than 16 miles wide through the town of Sedalia, Missouri.
Tornadoes also touched down Sunday in Arkansas and in central Illinois. There were no immediate reports of injuries in either state.
Storms rolled through northeastern Kansas on Sunday with fierce winds that lifted a cargo container off the airfield at the Kansas City International Airport. At the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, some private airplanes tied down on the airfield were spun around.
The University of Kansas in Lawrence has canceled classes for Monday after 60 percent of its buildings were damaged by the storm. The roof of the Danforth Chapel was torn off almost completely.
It was not immediately clear how many tornadoes struck the area. They were part of a long line of severe weather that stretched from the southern Plains up the Ohio Valley.
Local and State officials are responding. There has been no request for Federal assistance.(Various Media Reports, FEMA Regions V and VII)
Volcano Activity
The current Color Code for Alaska's Augustine volcano is ORANGE.
Low-level eruptive activity continues at Augustine Volcano. The overall level of seismicity has decreased slightly from the levels observed during Wednesday through Friday last week. There continue to be periods of prolonged volcanic tremor and small volcano-tectonic earthquakes. Block-and-ash-flows, rock avalanches and rock fall originating from the summit lava dome continue to be recorded by the seismic network, particularly at the east flank station. (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
No significant activity during the last 24 hours. (USGS Earthquake Hazards Program)
Preliminary Damage Assessments
No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Disaster Declaration Activity
No new activity (FEMA HQ)
Last Modified: Wednesday, 29-Mar-2006 14:58:05 EST