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National Situation Update: Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

National Weather

Northeast
Bitterly cold winds will buffet the Northeast. Wind chill temperatures, mainly in the morning, will be dangerously low.
Wind chills in northern New York State and northern New England may tumble to 40 below zero by sunrise.
In eastern Massachusetts, including Boston, wind chill factors could plunge to 15 or 20 below. Even around NYC, wind chills are expected to fall below zero.
A few snow showers or flurries will fly in Upstate New York and northern New England, but no important accumulations are likely.

Midwest
A fast-moving clipper system will move into the Upper Midwest from the Canadian prairies tomorrow, depositing several inches of accumulating snow on northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and, by evening, northern Michigan.

West
The West will be mostly dry, although rain is forecast to push into western Washington and western Oregon later in the afternoon or evening.
Elsewhere, stray snow or rain showers may dot the Rocky Mountains.

South
Sunshine will be abundant in the South with temperatures generally near to above average. (NWS, media sources)

DHS Provides Search and Rescue Assistance to Georgia.

Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol Agents from the El Paso Sector traveled Friday to Georgia to provide search and rescue assistance for communities hit hard by the tornadoes.

A total of 12 Border Patrol Emergency Medical Team members from El Paso provided assistance near Americus, Ga. as part of a national effort to assist in recovery and clean-up in that community. The team will remain on-site until they are no longer needed. (DHS)

New Radar Tool Measures Changes In Storm Intensity

Hurricane forecasters will be trying out a tool this season that lets them see if a storm is revving up right before it hits land.

Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, California, developed the method that uses coastal radar to spot sudden shifts in hurricane intensity. They published their work in the most recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Unlike aircraft observations that scope out a storm every few hours, forecasters using the new method can take a reading each time Doppler radar scans a storm,  about once every six minutes when a hurricane is in range. The rapid readings tell forecasters whether a storm is getting stronger or losing strength.

Doppler was developed in the 1940s to judge the approach speed of aircraft. In the 1980s, it was adapted to scrutinize the internal structure of storm clouds. By the early 1990s, an array of units covered the United States, including areas just off the coast.

Doppler can see hurricane winds that are moving toward or away from a radar unit, and because of that, forecasters have needed two radar stations looking at the same storm to measure intensity. But the new program, a series of mathematical equations, lets forecasters accurately measure intensity of a storm with a single radar unit.

The program gives forecasters an accurate picture of a storm's winds. From those, they can derive its pressure, the most accurate measure of intensity. Forecasters warn that the method's usefulness depends on the storm's angle of approach and speed.

The program is now with the National Hurricane Center, where forecasters will test it during the 2007 season. and then likely make a decision whether to implement this new technique soon after the hurricane season ends.

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

Two strong earthquakes, magnitude 6.3 and 6.1, shook Indonesia's Sumatra Island at 10:49 pm EST Monday and 12:49 am EST on Tuesday. Both were at a depth of 18 miles. The quakes were felt in Singapore and Malaysia as well, causing the evacuation of several buildings over 400km away. No Tsunami threat was generated for the Pacific.

On Monday, March 6, 2007 at 7:12 pm EST a light earthquake (magnitude 3.3) was detected 30 miles northeast of Mammoth Lakes, California. The quake was 5.2 miles deep. No damage or injuries were reported.  (USGS, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Earthquake Information Center, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

FEMA-1678-DR-Oklahoma, Amendment #3.  The major disaster declaration has been amended to include Cleveland and McCain counties for Public Assistance.
FEMA-1673-DR-Missouri; Amendment #2.  The major disaster declaration has been amended to include Callaway, Camden, Marion, and Miller Counties for Public Assistance. (FEMA HQ)