State of Emergency Declared in Minnesota

Extreme Weather Event Forces MN Gov to Declare State of Emergency across 8 Counties

The emergency declaration covers the worst affected areas: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Dakot, Goodhue, Lake and Rice St. Louis counties.

The Executive Emergency Order could be extended to include other areas .

High winds and flooding have forced dozens of neighborhoods in Duluth and surrounding areas to evacuate.

Rivers in half dozen counties have flooded causing severe damage to homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure, forcing several state parks, at least two university campuses, many schools and numerous highways to close.

• The Cities of Hermantown, Duluth, Superior, and Wrenshall have declared  states of emergency.

• Mayor of Duluth said that he intends to seek federal disaster to help “the city recover from what may be millions of dollars in damage to roads, bridges, culverts, sidewalks, parks and more.”

At least 1,000 residents have been evacuated from flooded areas through the affected counties.

Also, hundreds of campers were evacuated from Jay Cooke State Park, and the park is closed.

About 9 inches (~ 23 cm) of rain fell in Northeastern Minnesota Tuesday night and the soaking continued Wednesday.

NWS has issued FLOOD WARNINGS for  Carlton County in NE Minnesota, Douglas County in  NW Wisconsin and  St. Louis County in NE Minnesota.

Other location that will experience flooding include Carlton, Cloquet, Esko, Fond du Lac, New Duluth , Oliver, Proctor, Scanlon and Thomson, NWS said.

The stream flow at the Fond du Lac Dam rocketed from the usual 2,000 to 47,000 cfp, according to the local utilities.

Current conditions and events in Minnesota include [Source: NWS/NOAA]

•  Duluth police issued a Civil Emergency Message closing parts of I-35 and Minnesota Highways 23 and 61 because of flooding

• Residents of the Fond Du Lac neighborhood of Duluth have been asked to evacuate as flooding is expected to worsen with the release of water from Fond Du Lac Dam

• Numerous sinkholes, washed out roads and mudslides have been reported in Duluth

Flash Flood Warnings, Flood Watches and Flood Warnings are in effect throughout Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin today. Moderate flooding is expected to occur on three rivers in Minnesota:

• The Crow River at Delano, Minn., is expected to reach Moderate state of 17.5 fee the afternoon of June 22 and to crest at 17.7 feet early the morning of June 23

• The Mississippi River at Aitkin, Minn., is forecast to reach Moderate stage of 15 feet the morning of June 22 and to crest at 16.3 feet the morning of June 24

• The St. Louis River at Scanlon, Minn., was observed at Moderate stage of 11.72 feet at 5 a.m., CDT, this morning and is expected to crest at 15.5 fee later today, just shy of its record level

The front bringing the heavy rains is forecast to stretch from Oklahoma City to St. Louis and Chicago by Thursday morning.

Summer 2012 will officially arrive in the United States early this evening. Summertime temperatures are going to get a head start today in much of the country. National Weather Service forecasts call for temperatures to warm to the 95-100 degree level over the next two days in many parts of the country.

Very hot temperatures will continue today from Kansas to Michigan with high temperatures mostly in the 80s and 90s but with a possibility of nearing the 100-degree range from Missouri to southern Michigan and the Ohio Valley.

High temperatures will be 85-95 degrees for most of the South today and Thursday with highs expected to top the century mark today and Thursday in southwest Texas.

Northern areas of the West will see high temperatures mostly in the 65-80 degree mark with southern areas of Oregon reaching the upper 80s to lower 90s. High temperatures in southern parts of the West should be mostly in the 80s and 90s along the Coast with desert highs in the 105-110 degree range.

Along with all that, there is a Slight Threat of severe weather in the Upper Midwest, continued flooding and flash flooding in parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and critical fire weather conditions from the Desert Southwest to Colorado later this week.

Other Global Disasters, Significant Events

• Northern Hemisphere.  June 20 is the first day of summer 2012.
  • “The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5° latitude North, and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China. The sun will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 509 pm MDT [23:09 UTC] on June 20, 2012. For every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is at its highest point in the sky and this is the longest day of the year” [Source NOAA/SRH]

• Nova Scotia, Canada.  A fish farm in Nova Scotia has been quarantined after another infectious salmon anemia (ISA) outbreak was detected.

• North Carolina, USA. Some 179 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) have been reported in NC since December of which 122 occurred in Alamance County through children being exposed at various schools, a report said.

• California, USA.  Crop damage and losses caused by unusually high winds, excessive rain and extremes of temperature from March 1 to April 30 has forced the USDA to declare Kern County an agricultural disaster area.
  • The disaster declaration also includes 8 other counties of Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura because they’re contiguous.

• Oaxaca, Mexico.  State of disaster has been declared for 68 cities in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and five cities in the SW state of Guerrero affected by Hurricane CARLOTTA, the Mexican federal government have said.
  • The storm dumped heavy rains on western, central and southern Mexico, causing damage to roads, bridges, telephone lines, the power grid and crops, said a report.

• Delaware, USA.   Disaster emergency has been declared in Muncie/Delaware County.  Muncie Mayor and the Delaware County Commissioners have issued a disaster proclamation due to the  city and county being at “at risk of widespread fire hazards” because of drought, and have imposed a burning ban.

• Maharashtra, India.  A deadly outbreak of of hepatitis E in the western Indian state of Maharashtra has claimed at least 18 lives and sickened more than 4,000 others.

•  Most of the victims were from Ichalkaranji city (pop: 350,000; located 300 kilometers south of Mumbai), where officials suspect  the outbreak was caused by leaks from sewage pipes and industrial effluents contaminating the Panchganga river, the city’s main source of drinking water.

See also:

• The Resourceful Ganges River
• Encephalitis Kills 200 in Bihar, India
• Superbugs Invasion Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Summer Solstice occured 9 hours ago

It’s Summer!

The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurred about 9 hours ago  at 17:16UTC (1:16 PM EDT) on Tuesday, June 21st.

The summer solstice occurs when Earth’s obliquity or axial tilt is at a maximum inclination of 23° 26′ toward Sun. It’s the time of the year when the sun reaches its northern most position.

In the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice occurs in June north of the Tropic of Cancer (23°26’N);  in the Southern Hemisphere it occurs  in December south of the Tropic of Capricorn (23°26’S).

In the Southern Hemisphere this year’s summer solstice will occur on December 22 at 05:30UTC.

Seasons are caused by the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5°. The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5° North, and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China.  Because of the Earth’s tilt, the sun will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 1116 am MDT on June 21, 2011.  For every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is at its highest point in the sky and this is the longest day of the year. The winter solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5° south of the equator. The sun will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at  1030 pm on December 21, 2011. There are two times of the year when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in an equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes.  These events are referred to as equinoxes and occur near March 21 (Vernal Equinox) and near September 21 (Autumnal Equinox).  At the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon on the two equinoxes. The Vernal Equinox occurred at  521 pm MDT on March 21, 2011.  The Autumnal Equinox will occur at 304 am MDT on September 2, 2011. [Source of image and caption: NWS Albuquerque]

Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year, the days on either side of the solstice are only a few seconds shorter.  See diagram above for Albuquerque daylight. [Source: NWS Albuquerque]

Loss of Seasons?