Skip to content

National Situation Update: Saturday, February 21, 2009

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant National Weather

Midwest:  A fast-moving clipper storm will move through the southern Great Lakes today with Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana receiving snow accumulations between 3 and 8 inches with lesser amounts mixing with rain toward the Ohio River.

Snowfall rates could be 2 inches per hour during the most intense part of the storm. The highest accumulations are forecast from the Wisconsin-Illinois border to Saginaw Bay.

Northeast:  The Canadian Maritime storm will funnel gusty northwest winds back over Maine today, though the lake-effect snow will end temporarily off of Lakes Erie and Ontario. A few snow showers will continue over far northern sections of New England.

Meanwhile, the Midwestern clipper storm will approach the region, spreading snow into western Upstate New York and western Pennsylvania plus showers into West Virginia later in the day.

Tonight and tomorrow, some snow will move through the Northeast north of the Mason-Dixon Line with light rain for Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.  The snow will mix with or change to rain from southeast Pennsylvania and New Jersey into southern New England.

South:  Showers will develop from Arkansas and Tennessee to the northwest Gulf Coast today and a cold front associated with the Midwest clipper will move down over the South today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the cold front will move rapidly through the remainder of the Southeast. Any showers over the Carolinas and snow showers in the southern Appalachians will quickly end tomorrow morning.  The colder air arriving behind the front will be accompanied by gusty winds.

West:  A multi-faceted Pacific storm still sits off the West Coast where the first of 3 parts whirling around the big storm will increasingly move rain and mountain snow into California, Oregon and Washington.

By tomorrow, showers will affect central California and will move east of the Cascades.
The heaviest rain will impact northern and central California across the windward mountain slopes of the coastal range and the Sierra.   (NOAA, National Weather Service, Various Media Sources)

Volcanic Activity – Redoubt Volcano, Alaska

Although no eruption has occurred, unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues with variable amplitudes of volcanic tremors.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is staffed 24 hours a day and continues to closely monitor Redoubt.

The Aviation Color Code remains at ORANGE (second highest level) and the Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH (second highest level).

A gas-measurement flight is scheduled for Feb 21.   (USGS, Alaska Volcano Observatory, R-X)

Fire Management Assistance Grant

No activity (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Western Pacific:
There are no current tropical cyclone warnings.  (NOAA, HPC, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Preliminary Damage Assessments

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 16:27:20 EDT