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National Situation Update: Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Significant National Weather:

 West:                                                 
In the Pacific Northwest, another storm is getting ready to move onshore. The system is accompanied by a decent amount of moisture. Moderate to heavy rain in the coastal sections along with mountain snow can be expected across much of Washington, Oregon and into Northern California today and Wednesday. Another storm over the Desert Southwest will move southeastward to the western Gulf Coast by Wednesday.  The system will produce snow and lower elevation rain over portions of the Great Basin and Central and Southern Rockies ending over the Central and Southern Rockies by this evening. 

Midwest:
Snow is forecast to linger over the eastern Great Lakes as a cold front sweeps across the region.
An area of high pressure dominates the remaining parts of the region, but rain returns to portions of the Central Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley this evening

South:
A surface low pressure system is developing near the U.S.-Mexican Border. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will be pulled into the system as the low approaches the East Coast of Mexico. As a result, showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop in Texas today ahead of a warm front. Precipitation should become heavier and more widespread on Wednesday as the low strengthens. A slight risk of severe thunderstorms is forecast over parts Texas today.  By Wednesday night, thunderstorms should be spreading eastward into the Lower Mississippi Valley with rain to the Southern Appalachians.

Northeast:
As a deep low pressure system moves northeastward into Southeastern Canada, a cold front is expected to sweep across the eastern seaboard. High pressure will build in behind the cold front bringing mostly sunny skies and mild temperatures over much of the Eastern U.S. However, some light snow will linger in northern New England as a reinforcing cold front sweeps across the regions.  (NOAA, National Weather Service and media sources) 

Severe Weather – Southeast U.S.

Severe weather began across much of the Southeastern U.S. on Sunday, January 22, and continued through Monday, January 23, causing widespread damage, flash-flooding, and power outages across the region. The system produced a line of rapidly moving thunderstorms in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. The National Weather Service received more than 20 reports of tornadoes across the mid- Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys.

Alabama
NOAA survey teams confirmed one EF-3 tornado touchdown occurred in the town of Clay in located in Jefferson County, Alabama. Wind speeds from this tornado were estimated at 150 mph.  In Tuscaloosa, St. Clair and Calhoun counties, a supercell thunderstorm formed during the early morning hours and produced damage over the northern portions of the counties. FEMA Region IV Regional Response Coordination Center is at Activation Level III (Incident Monitoring). The pre-designated Federal Coordinating Officer is at the Alabama State Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The Region IV Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) is deployed to Clanton, AL, with staff reporting to the State EOC. The remaining members are located at the Initial Operating Facility (IOF) in Clanton, AL.

The governor of Alabama declared a State of Emergency for all 67 counties as a result of severe weather. The hardest hit area was Jefferson County with 211 individual homes destroyed, 218 homes with major damages and 13 homes with minor damages.  As of 8:00 p.m. EST January 23, 17,000 (from a peak of 62,000) customers were without power and crews continue power restoration work. Alabama Power reported that power has been restored to more than 55,000 AP customers. 6,300 remain company-wide; 4,900 in Birmingham; 1,300 to the south. There were no reports of critical facilities without power. Three shelters were opened – two in Jefferson County and one in St. Clair County. The Alabama Red Cross reported a total of 14 residents for all three shelters. Three counties reported school closures. There have been reports of some state and county roads being closed due to downed trees and power lines in Jefferson, Chilton, Marshall and Tuscaloosa counties. Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) are scheduled to begin at Noon today for Individual Assistance (IA) in Chilton and Jefferson Counties. Public Assistance PDAs are on standby. The Alabama State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated at Level III (Partial Activation).

Tennessee
The Tennessee State EOC has returned to Activation Level 5 (Normal Operations) as of the close of business, January 23. No extensive severe weather damage was reported for the state of Tennessee.  As of January 24 at 2:24 a.m. EST, Memphis Light, Gas and Water reported 534 customers without power. 

Kentucky
The Kentucky State EOC is at Level I (Watch Steady State). Counties report no more than 100 customers are without power. 

Mississippi
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency received preliminary report of damage from three counties. In Bolivar, Coahoma and Quitman counties, damages were reported to several homes and farm buildings as well as numerous reports of downed power lines and trees. The Mississippi State EOC is at Level 4 (Normal Operations).  No state assistance has been requested at this time. Additional State-conducted damage assessments are underway.

Arkansas
The Arkansas State EOC is at Level IV (Normal Operations). As of January 24 at 2:45 a.m., Entergy Arkansas Incorporated reported less than 300 customers without power statewide (down from approximately 14,000 at peak of storm).

Major Western Storm Continues

 

A series of severe western storms that began January 17 impacted the region.  Another Pacific storm is expected to return to western Washington and Oregon today. 

Washington
The Governor declared a statewide State of Emergency on January 19. The State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) resumed Phase II (Enhanced Operations) as of 5:00 p.m. PST Monday evening, January 23, 2012, due to reduced operational requirements. The Pierce and Thurston counties EOCs are open (day operations only). All other local EOCs are closed or on call. As of 3:48 a.m. EST, Puget Sound Energy reports 27,403 customers without power.  Over 282,000 customers reported outages at the peak of storm.  The hardest hit counties were Thurston, Pierce and King.  Power restoration continues.  Since early Wednesday, PSE crews have restored power to more than 381,000 customers in Western Washington. Approximately 90 percent of PSE’s customer-outages from the past week are now on line. The work to restore power to the remaining 10 percent of the customers proceeds more slowly as crews are now going from neighborhood to neighborhood and home to home where electric service will get restored in much smaller numbers, bringing power back to one, 10 or 20 customers at a time. Warming & overnight shelters that remain open are located in King and Thurston counties. The number of shelter occupants continues to decrease and no firm occupant count is available. Portions of several state roads remain closed due to downed trees and power lines. A mudslide in Bellevue, WA closed the Westlake-Sammamish Parkway and 4 homes evacuated.  No injuries were reported as a result of the mudslide.

Oregon
The SEOC continues to maintain virtual operations.  Six counties have declared local State of Emergencies. January 19, the Governor declared a State of Emergency for 4 counties (Marion, Coos, Benton and Lincoln) with other counties to be added at a later time. Power restoration is nearing full completion. As of 3:00 a.m. EST, Pacific Power reports less than 50 customers are without power in the Hood River & Mosier areas. No other outages reported statewide.  Statewide, most shelter were closed or placed on standby. No major road closures reported. Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments are scheduled to begin this week.

Region X
The Regional Response Coordination Center is at Watch/Steady State and the Bothell Mobile Operations Center is maintains 24/7 operations. FEMA liaisons remain deployed to OR & WA EOCs monitoring the new Pacific storm that will be affecting Washington and Oregon beginning later today. There are no shortfalls or additional requests for FEMA assistance.

Space Weather:

 

Space weather for the past 24 hours has been strong. A solar radiation storm reaching the S3 level has occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be strong. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are expected with solar radiation storms reaching the S3 level and radio blackouts reaching the R1 level. The ongoing S3 (strong) level Solar Radiation Storm has continued to rise slowly throughout the day today, January 23, 2012.   Strongest Solar Radiation Storm since January 2005.  Should be at or near its peak and is expected to begin to decrease soon. An earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that accompanied this solar flare is potentially the fastest CME of the current 11-year solar cycle. The CME is forecast to arrive at 9:00 a.m. EST today, Tuesday, January 24. The G3 storm could pose a threat to power grids, where voltage corrections may be required along with false alarms. Intermittent satellite navigation and low-frequency radio navigation problems may also occur. Some airlines have reported they are avoiding polar routes. Some reports of other flights at high latitudes flying at lower than usual altitude. 

Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Earthquake Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Last Modified: Tuesday, 24-Jan-2012 09:08:37 EST