Comparing New England's floods to the floods of Hurricanes Connie and Diane (1955)
The flood waters have receded in Rhode Island and surrounding regions of New England, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, but no flood-related deaths. The floods were caused by the third in a series of three extraordinarily wet Nor'easters that drenched the region with record rains over the past month. It was the wettest March on record over most of coastal New England from New York City to Boston, and the wettest month of any kind for several stations, including Providence, Rhode Island, and Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts. The rainfall amounts and resulting flooding in many cases exceeded the records set 55 years ago, during the notorious double-punch hurricanes of August 1955, when hurricanes Connie and Diane hit New England within five days of each other. However, this year's flooding event pales in comparison to the 1955 event, when considering damage and death toll. Hurricane Connie killed 25 people, and Hurricane Diane killed nearly 200 people when its record rains drenched regions already in flood because of Hurricane Connie. The single deadliest event occurred when a creek near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania overflowed, killing fifty people unable to escape the rising water. Diane was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, until it was surpassed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Accounting for inflation, Diane was the 16th costliest hurricane in U.S. history, with total damages of $7 billion (2004 USD.)
Figure 1. Total rainfall from hurricanes Connie and Diane in 1995. Image credit: NOAA.
Figure 2. Observed precipitation for the month of March 2010. Image credit: NOAA.
Severe weather today for Texas, Arkansas, and surrounding states
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has designated portions of Texas and surrounding states as being at "slight" risk of severe weather today, as a strong springtime storm sweeps through the region. Check out the blog of our severe weather expert, Dr. Rob Carver, to get the details of this potential severe weather episode, which may bring damaging winds, hail, and possible tornadoes to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex this afternoon.
Portlight shipping 30,000 pounds of rice to Haiti
Portlight.org continues to work hard to get food and medical supplies into the earthquake zone in Haiti. Their latest effort is a shipment of 30,000 pounds of rice and 20,000 pounds of other supplies, mostly medical equipment, that has been loaded onto the schooner Halie and Mathew. The schooner is laying in Miami, fully loaded, waiting for a decrease in the easterly trade winds. These trade winds will blow at 10 - 20 knots over the next few days, thanks to the clockwise circulation of air around a high pressure system located just east of the Florida coast. According to the latest run of the GFS model, as visualized using our wundermap with the model map layer turned on, the high will slowly move eastward over the next week, and the easterly trade winds will finally die down by Thursday, allowing the Halie and Mathew to set sail for Hispaniola. Please visit the Portlight.org web site to learn more and to donate to this worthy cause.
Figure 3. Some of the 30,000 pounds of rice that has been loaded onto the schooner Halie and Mathew.
Jeff Masters
Rhode Island Flooding@ Newport # 9 (
RIWXPhoto)
Reader Comments
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welcome, It was about 3mins infront of the NASA Tv stream.
Ok, see the two red branches at the top of the Laguna Salada Fault? Extend them on out. They would attach to the San Jacinto Fault, and the Elsinore Fault. Those are the two faults that I've been fussing about- just ask EmmyRose.
What's the chance this quake could set off the San Andreas Fault
Very high chance........IMO!
and that could be a small or large quake similar to the 1 today
Here's the latest strong quake, M5.1:
Sorry, I don't see the San Andreas being a factor in my lifetime...which is really just a milisecond, tectonically speaking.
San Andreas seems packed pretty tight. Look at the different land types, to the east and west of it. IF it were to go, that'd be an end to a good stretch of the California coast.
San Jacinto and Elsinore, on the other hand, are to the west of San Andreas. Not packed quite so tightly. Like I showed in the map, and if you look where the aftershocks are headed, those two faults seem to be more likely to be problematic.
Think of a glass crack in a windshield. The crack will head out towards weaker areas.
This is JUST my opinion!!! All you tectonic brainiacs, don't slam me!
TampaS has been predicting a strong earthquake near Juan de Fuca for about a month now. Probably not going to occur, but then again I predicted a strong earthquake in Chile to occur around February - March 2010 since about six weeks before the event so there's a possibility...
Fault map of southern California quake:
Compare with USGS shakemap of the M7.2 earthquake:
USGS map of fault lines of California, with the one that triggered the Mexicali earthquake in red:
I certainly expect to see a 5 or higher, in the next 72-96 hours, still to the northwest of the epicenter.
Hmm, my forecast just says rain, but this GFS run for late-evening tomorrow looks rather ominous...
1.25 inches of rain (about 32 mm) in six hours!
And April isn't early for the first thunderstorm: we usually get them by early April. In 2008 the first thunderstorm here occurred in early February.
M3+ aftershocks are spreading up into all three main SE California faults.
TodayCloudy. 40 percent chance of showers this morning. Clearing near noon. Wind becoming west 30 km/h late this morning. High 23. UV index 6 or high. TonightClear. Wind west 30 km/h becoming light this evening. Low 8. TuesdayIncreasing cloudiness. Showers beginning in the morning and ending late in the day then 40 percent chance of showers early in the evening. Risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 18. WednesdayPeriods of rain. Low 14. High 16. ThursdayA mix of sun and cloud with 30 percent chance of showers. Low 9. High 12. FridayCloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Low zero. High 7.
Looks like tornado alley is moving into S. Ontario. We usually see 15 tornadoes in Ontario every year. Last year during August we saw 18 tornadoes in one day (I was away at the time) and we've had three tornadoes within 6 km (4 mi) from my house in the past five years!
I'm assuming that's Celsius
2005
2010
-Striking similarities.
-Very concerning indeed.
Yes, and it's been unusually warm for the past week. Temperatures reached 26C here on Friday which broke some records across the region.
2005 still a bit warmer though esp over the GOM and along the east coast on N America.
I was driving and didn't look up to see the launch... :-(
I'm looking forward to posts of the pictures.
Was interested to read that the Gulf Stream isn't slowing but more variable that previously thought. It still amazes me, what tiny satellite elevation measurements over time, can tell people.
Thankee much for posting the pics [whenever u get done with that...lol]. I totally missed the launch; when I finally DID turn over, it was well after 9:30 a.m..... so I'm glad somebody actually got up.
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