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National Situation Update: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Snow and Rain Forecast for the Northern U.S.

Northeast
Snow showers and flurries will dot much of the Northeast today.

Temperatures will be seasonable with highs in the 20s in northern New York and New England to near 60 in Virginia

Midwest
Snow showers and flurries will extend from northeastern North Dakota to eastern Ohio today.

Rain or snow showers are possible today in western South Dakota and western Nebraska.

West
Rain and mountain snow will cover much of the West today. The heaviest precipitation will fall over and west of the Cascades and Sierras.

Heavy rain in northwestern California and heavy snow in Sierra Nevada. Strong winds across Southern California and the Southwest.

South
Showers and thunderstorms over southern Florida today.
(NOAA, National Weather Service, ,Media Sources)

Midwest Power Outage Update

According to DOE figures provided by the NICC, as of 1500 today 164,500 customers were with out power in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana. 

Iowa's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency reports that Governor Culver declared a state of emergency for 60 of the affected counties. 

Iowa is maintaining a number of shelters state wide. The Iowa State EOC is operating under 24 hour staffing. FEMA Region VII continues to monitor and has liaisons in place in the EOC. PDAs are scheduled to begin today for PA.
(FEMA Region VII,NICC,  media sources)

New England

The United Transportation Union in Canada has reached a tentative agreement with the Canadian National Railroads Saturday and union members were being encouraged to return to work. Many Canadian rail workers are still on strike, however many workers have returned to work, traffic is increasing but not up to full load

Trucking operations, as reported by the Maine Oil Dealers Association, is still inconsistent as to stocks and deliveries. The agreement, if ratified, will bring an end to the strike that has disrupted the flow of propane to the State of Maine and the rest of New England. However the weather is not currently a major issue. It is hoped that the weather will continue to cooperate which will mean less demand for propane and delivery of supplies from ocean tankers.

The State of Vermont continues to monitor the ice jams along the Winooski River. Vermont Emergency Management officials are concerned that the river basin has the potential to repeat the flood of March 11, 1992. A formal request has been submitted to the USGS to reposition their satellite in order to provide overhead imagery and photos to assist in monitoring the ice jam. (UTU, CNR and FEMA Region I, RRCC)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean/Eastern Pacific: No significant activity to report.
Western Pacific: No activity threatening U.S. Territories. (NOAA, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

Magnitude 5.0 earthquake approximately 63 miles ESE of San Juan, PR and 29 miles NW of Saint Croix, USVI at a depth of 20.5 miles.

Magnitude 5.4 earthquake approximately 32 miles W of Ferndale, CA at a depth of 1.2 miles, Monday at 7:19 AM  EST.
 
There were no reports of damages affecting US interests and no tsunami was generated in ether event.
(USGS, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Earthquake Information Center, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

Public Assistance PDAs are scheduled to start today in Iowa as a result of the recent sever winter weather.(FEMA Region VII)

Wildfire Update

National preparedness level is 1 (lowest on a 1-5 scale).

No new activity to report (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)