Skip to content

National Situation Update: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).

Significant Weather

Midwest:  
A blizzard warning remains in effect until 6:00 p.m. MDT Tuesday for portions of South Dakota and North Dakota. The snow combined with northwest winds of 30 to 50 mph will produce blizzard conditions and drifting snow. Up to a foot or more of snow is possible.

A blizzard warning remains in effect until 6:00 p.m. MDT Tuesday for portions of Nebraska .The heaviest snowfall will be over the Nebraska panhandle into portions of northwest Nebraska.

More rain over the Red River Basin in northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. The Red River at Fargo may approach a record high crest later in the week.  As the weather system moves eastward, rain and strong thunderstorms move on today from the Missouri Valley to the Mississippi Valley. The rain will spread across the Great Lakes and into the Ohio Valley by Tuesday night.

Thunderstorms may be severe in parts of Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota. Damaging winds, hail and a few tornadoes will be possible.

Rain and wind will continue in parts of the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes on Wednesday with snow showers and wind in the Upper Midwest.

Temperatures over the region vary with highs ranging from the 20s and 30s in the Northern Plains to the 60s and 70s in portions of the Mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.
 
South
Thunderstorms will move eastward from Oklahoma and Texas to the lower-Mississippi Valley today. A few storms may be severe with damaging winds, hail and isolated tornadoes possible.

Much of the Southeast will remain dry. An easterly wind flow will produce a few showers over parts of the Southeast coast.

Rain will begin Wednesday across the South that will last into the upcoming weekend resulting in several inches of rain and possibly producing severe thunderstorms on Friday.

An upper-level disturbance will develop low pressure bringing rain and thunderstorms to portions of Oklahoma and Texas. (NWS,  Media Sources)

Red River Flood Preparations

State Responses
Minnesota (Region V)

  • EOC partially activated - 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT, anticipates full activation on March 24, 2009.
  • The Governor declared a State of Emergency March 20 for seven counties.
  • 200 National Guard deployed for patrolling levees and security; number of troops expected to increase.
  • Clay County and the City of Moorhead are at 24/7 operations; permanent dike installed and local personnel are adding temporary dikes and sandbags. 
  • Minnesota Dept of Agriculture activated its internal incident command team. Minnesota Housing Flood Team on alert.
  • Sandbagging requests are being fulfilled by USACE
  • Two sandbagging machines are in use.
  • Flood fighting advance measures involve temporary levees, emergency closures and public work protection.
  • Concerns are; current weather, failure of dikes and overland flooding (Reg V DSAR, FEMA VTC Mar 23)

 North Dakota (Region VIII)

  • EOC remains at Level II (Partially Activated); operating hours are 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. CDT; activation level will change to 24/7 on March 24 at 6:30 a.m. CDT.
  • The ERT-A arrived at State EOC March 23 and will be supported by a MERS support team deploying on March 24.
  • Several communities have ordered evacuations
  • The communities of Mott and Linton have ordered mandatory evacuations.
  • Two shelters are open in Lynton and Beulah, no occupants reported.
  • Advance planning is being done in the event of dike failure and overland flooding.
  • State has requested three additional sandbagging machines through EMAC.
  • The Governor declared statewide flood emergency March 13. 16 cities and 13 counties have declared local states of emergencies.
  • 26 counties supporting current flood fight operations.
  • Approximately 300 National Guard troops assisting with sandbagging, patrolling of dikes and Traffic Control Points.
  • National Guard Bureau Joint Enabling Team (JET) - leaving for ND March 24.
  • Unmet needs include sandbags and Shelter Management Teams.
  • The NWS has forecast the river in Fargo will continue rising to between 39 and 41 feet by March 28.(Region VIII DSAR, FEMA VTC Mar 23)

Mount Redoubt Volcano

Mt. Redoubt started erupting on March 23, 2009. The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the aviation color code to "RED" and the alert level to "Warning."

The FAA has issued the following flight restrictions; only relief aircraft operations under the direct control of ARTCC at and below 60,000 MSL and 20 nautical miles. No other air craft are authorized until further notice by the FAA.

Presently, the initial height of the eruption cloud was estimated at 50,000 feet above sea level. Lahars (mudflows) are possible on Drift and Crescent Rivers. Preliminary indications are that the ashfall will be less than one millimeter.

The eruption of Mt Redoubt continues with another eruption at 11:41 p.m. EDT, March 23.  The top of the ash cloud is estimated to be at least 50,000 ft above sea level based on NWS radar. Winds in the vicinity of the volcano vary with altitude and are expected to carry the ash cloud primarily to the west and north.

The national weather service in anchorage has issued an ashfall advisory which is in effect until 9:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday.  (AVO, NWS)

Alaska Volcano Mount Redoubt Erupts

Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted several times overnight, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles into the air in the volcano's first emissions in nearly 20 years. Residents in the state's largest city were spared from falling ash, though fine gray dust fell Monday morning on small communities north of Anchorage.

Ash from Alaska's volcanoes is like a rock fragment with jagged edges and has been used as an industrial abrasive. It can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. The young, the elderly and people with respiratory problems are especially susceptible to ash-related health problems. Ash can also cause damage engines in planes, cars and other vehicles.
Alaska Airlines on Monday canceled 19 flights because of the ash.

The first eruption, in a sparsely populated area across Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula, occurred at 10:38 p.m. Sunday according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.  The wind took the ash cloud away from Anchorage, toward Willow and Talkeetna, near Mount McKinley, North America's largest mountain. 

A hydrometeorogical technician with the National Weather Service expected very fine ash.  "Just kind of a light dusting," he said.  He said the significant amount of ash probably dropped immediately, right down the side of the volcano.  "The heavier stuff drops out very quickly, and then the other stuff filters out. There's going to be a very fine amount that's going to be suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time," he said.  The finer ash is going to travel farther, and any ash can affect aviation safety."

The 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano, roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, last erupted during a four-month period from 1989-90.  In its last eruption, Redoubt sent ash 150 miles away.  The volcano became restless earlier this year. The observatory had warned in late January that an eruption could occur at any time.  Increased earthquake activity over the past 48 hours prompted scientists to raise the alert level for Mount Redoubt on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, 40 to 50 earthquakes were being recorded every hour.  A steam plume rising about 1,000 feet above the mountain peak was observed Saturday.  Three seismometers on the mountain were damaged in the eruption but seven others remained in place, said an observatory geophysicist.  The observatory planned a helicopter flight to the mountain Monday afternoon to sample ash, repair equipment and monitor flooding along the Drift River, which flows from a glacier of the same name.  (Media Sources)

Iowa Severe Weather

Region VII reported a tornado touched down in Harrison County, Iowa near I-29 and Hwy 30 near Missouri Valley on March 23.  There are no reported deaths or injuries from these storms.

One home was destroyed; occupants were not at home at the time of the event.  Numerous agricultural buildings (barns, pole barn and grain structures) were reported damaged during the event.

Local Emergency Manager is reporting power lines are down in this area. The state has not received any reports of any large population being without power. The area affected by the outages is primarily rural.

Union Pacific Railroad reported 54 rail cars were derailed because of high winds at railroad marker 335 just west of Missouri Valley in Iowa near the city of Modale. The rail cars were empty grain hoppers with no toxins spilled.  (FEMA Region VII)

Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Wyoming, South Dakota

A blizzard shut down major highways Monday in Wyoming and South Dakota, and meteorologists said one mountainous area might get as much as 40 inches of snow.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial closed because of the icy, blinding weather in South Dakota's rugged Black Hills. Temperature plummeted as the storm moved eastward and wind gusted to more than 60 mph.

The National Weather Service posted a blizzard warning for eastern Wyoming and western sections of South Dakota and Nebraska, with a winter storm warning for much of central Wyoming and mountain sections of Colorado.  Wyoming shut down a 290-mile stretch of Interstate 25 from Cheyenne to Buffalo and a 165-mile section of Interstate 90 between Sheridan and the Wyoming state line. South Dakota closed the gates on a 250-mile stretch of I-90 from the Wyoming state line to Chamberlain. Parts of I-80 in southeast Wyoming also were closed.

Poor visibility and heavy drifting forced the South Dakota Department of Transportation to pull its snowplows off the roads Monday afternoon in several counties. The department said its plows would be back out Tuesday morning if conditions allow.

No-travel advisories were issued for parts of central and northeast Wyoming and northwest South Dakota. Colorado closed about 30 miles of state highway in that state's northeast corner.

The weather service said accumulations of up to 20 inches were possible in parts of Wyoming and northwest South Dakota, but 30 to 40 inches was possible in the northern Black Hills, where Rapid City, S.D., recorded a gust to 63 mph.  In Wyoming, about 10 inches of snow fell in Gillette and about 8 inches in Casper by Monday afternoon. Casper Mountain, just outside Casper, had 19 inches. Winds gusting to 50 mph built 4-foot drifts.
The storm was fueled by moist air flowing in from the south and much colder air from the north, the weather service said.

"To give you an idea of the storm's intensity, its 28 degrees at the Rapid City airport and 64 at Winner (S.D.). That's a distance of 170 miles," a representative of the weather service said at mid-afternoon in Rapid City. Just 24 hours earlier, Rapid City had measured a record high of 77 degrees.  (Media Sources)

Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG)

No activity. (FEMA HQ)

Tropical Weather Outlook

Atlantic/Caribbean:
No current tropical cyclone warnings. (NOAA, HPC, National Hurricane Center, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center)

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

Western Pacific:
No tropical cyclone activity affecting U.S territories in the Western Pacific. (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 16:26:42 EDT