URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
404 PM EDT MON APR 9 2012

...A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
TUESDAY EVENING FOR DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR EASTERN
NORTH CAROLINA EXCEPT FOR THE OUTER BANKS...

.THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY HAS ISSUED
A RED FLAG WARNING FOR WARM TEMPERATURES...STRONG WINDS AND
VERY LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...WHICH WILL LEAD TO DANGEROUS FIRE
WEATHER CONDITIONS TUESDAY. THE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY
AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING.

NCZ029-044>047-079>081-090>095-098-100945-
/O.UPG.KMHX.FW.A.0001.120410T1600Z-120411T0000Z/
/O.NEW.KMHX.FW.W.0001.120410T1600Z-120411T0000Z/
MARTIN-PITT-WASHINGTON-TYRRELL-MAINLAND DARE-GREENE-BEAUFORT-
MAINLAND HYDE-DUPLIN-LENOIR-JONES-CRAVEN-PAMLICO-CARTERET-ONSLOW-
404 PM EDT MON APR 9 2012

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 8 PM EDT TUESDAY FOR
GUSTY WEST WINDS AND VERY LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR A LARGE
PORTION OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA WEST OF THE OUTER BANKS...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY HAS ISSUED
A RED FLAG WARNING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND VERY LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 8 PM EDT TUESDAY. THE
FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* AFFECTED AREA...AREAS WEST OF THE OUTER BANKS.

* WINDS...WEST 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.

* TIMING...TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AS LOW AS 19 PERCENT.

* TEMPERATURES...IN THE UPPER LOWER TO MIDDLE 70S.

* TREE LITTER AND OTHER FINE FUELS...TUESDAY WILL BE THE THIRD DAY
OF WARM DRY WEATHER WITH WINDS FORECAST TO INCREASE
SIGNIFICANTLY. FINE FUELS WILL BE DRY.

* IMPACTS...ANY FIRES THAT OCCUR TUESDAY AFTERNOON MAY QUICKLY
GROW OUT OF CONTROL IF THEY FIND FAVORABLE FUELS AND ARE
EXPOSED TO THE GUSTY WINDS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

&&

Tsunamis in North Carolina? Maybe you should be reading the Tsunami Awareness Week information from Newport! http://www.erh.noaa.gov/mhx/tsunami.php

NOUS41 KWBC 071835
PNSWSH

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
135 PM EST Wed Mar 7 2012

To: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners and NWS employees

From: Lora Mueller
NWS National Hydrologic Outreach Program Leader

Subject: 2012 Flood Safety Awareness Week March 12-16, 2012

NWS has designated March 12-16, 2012, as the annual Flood Safety Awareness Week.

It floods somewhere in the United States or its territories nearly every day of the year. In the past 30 years, floods have claimed an average of 94 lives a year and the economic impacts of floods are growing. The annual average inflation-adjusted direct damage costs due to flooding have risen each of the past three decades from $4.7 billion for 1981-1990, to $7.9 billion for 1991-2000, to $10.2 billion for 2001-2010. The goals of Flood Safety Awareness Week are to inform the public about NWS forecast and warning services and flood safety information, heighten public awareness to the risks associated with all types of floods including flash flooding, storm surge, and those related to dam or levee failures, and empower citizens to take actions necessary to protect their lives and property.

2011 was a devastating year for flooding impacts and provided a clear example of why Americans depend on multi-agency water resource services like flood forecasts and warnings issued by the NWS, water observations provided by the USGS, water control and management provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s efforts in flood preparedness and response. At any time, heavy rainfall or rapid snow melt can lead to flooding. Each geographic region of the United States has one or more times of the year with an increased risk of flooding. In the late fall and winter, powerful Pacific storms can strike the West Coast causing extensive flooding. From late winter into spring, people living across the northern third of the nation closely monitor NWS forecasts when snow and ice can melt quickly, potentially causing ice jams and extensive river flooding. In the spring and summer, the threat of a flash flood from a thunderstorm is always a possibility almost anywhere in the country. Each summer and fall, millions of people living near the Gulf and East coasts listen keenly to tropical weather reports to determine if flooding from a tropical storm or hurricane will impact their area. As our nation’s infrastructure ages, increased stresses on dams and levees due to the seasonal impacts described above can heighten flood threats. Regardless of the cause, the NWS is committed to improving the timeliness and accuracy of river and flood forecasts and warnings necessary to help protect lives and livelihoods.

Water resources decision makers require new and more integrated information and services to adapt to the uncertainty of future climate, land-use changes, an aging water delivery infrastructure,
and an increasing demand on limited resources. Dr. Thomas Graziano, Chief of the NWS Hydrologic Services Division, stated; To address these growing challenges and to mitigate the death and destruction caused by floods, NOAA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Geological Survey, with complementary missions in water science, observation, prediction and management, have formed a partnership entitled Integrated Water Resources Science and Services (IWRSS) to address the nation’s water resources information and management needs. In May 2011, this partnership was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the three agencies.

On February 21, 2012, NOAA commenced the official groundbreaking of the new National Water Center (NWC) on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Gary Carter, Director of the NWS Office of Hydrologic Development, stated, The NWC will create a first-of-its-kind national center for water forecast operations, research and interagency coordination and serve as a catalyst for IWRSS. It will support the routine generation of enhanced water resources forecasts and information to more effectively manage the Nation’s increasingly limited water supply and facilitate adaptive planning and management. The NWC will be ready for initial occupation in late fiscal year 2013 and will be staffed by multiple federal partner water agencies to ensure strong coordination and collaboration.

Extensive information about flooding and flood safety, including educational materials, videos, brochures and news articles can be found online at:

http://www.weather.gov/floodsafety/

Detailed information can be found on this Web page about important topics covered in the following paragraphs.

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service

The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) is the NWS frontline solution for providing improved river and flood forecasting and water information across America. AHPS provides a
suite of graphical and numeric products over the Internet to assist the public, community leaders and emergency managers in making better life- and cost-saving decisions about evacuations and
movement of property before flooding occurs. The broad reach of AHPS extends the range of forecasts from short-term (up to 6 hours) to long-term (out to weeks and months). AHPS provides the public with more detailed and accurate answers to the following questions: How high will the river rise? When will the river reach its peak? Where will the flooding occur? How long will the flood last? How long will the drought continue? How certain is the forecast?

Your gateway to Web resources provided through AHPS begins here:

http://water.weather.gov

Turn Around Don’t DrownTM

Most flood-related deaths occur in motor vehicles when people attempt to drive through flooded roadways. Don’t underestimate the power of flowing water across a road. It only takes 12 to 18 inches of water to cause a vehicle, even large SUVs, to float. Unknown to the driver, the road may even be washed away under the surface of the water, allowing the vehicle to be swept away with the flood current. The NWS has developed the flood safety slogan: Turn Around Don’t DrownTM and hopes you will remember these words when you’re faced with a flooded roadway and have an important decision to make. Be especially cautious when driving at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers.

Floods, Droughts, and Other Related Phenomena.

Hydrologic extremes have always plagued our vast nation. In 2011 the nation experienced severe drought in Texas and Oklahoma, snowmelt flooding in the northern tier states, heavy rainfall flooding over the Ohio and Middle Mississippi River Valleys that lead to flooding along the Lower Mississippi River and inland flooding from tropical systems along the east coast states and into New England. Each of these phenomena has its own unique set of risks and associated safety protocols. For more information on these and other hydrologic extremes, refer to:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/floodsafety/index.shtml

Flood Insurance

Flood losses typically are not covered in homeowner insurance policies; however, flood insurance is available in communities taking part in FEMA National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA’s FloodSmart campaign promotes the idea that all Americans should know their flood risk and choose the appropriate flood insurance. For more information on flood insurance, refer to:
http://www.floodsmart.gov

Flood Safety and a Weather Ready Nation

In partnership with other government agencies, researchers, and the private sector, NWS is charting a path to a Weather-Ready Nation by:

- Improving the precision of weather and water forecasts and effective communication of risk to local authorities
- Improving weather decision support services with new Initiatives, such as the development of mobile-ready emergency response specialist teams
- Providing innovative science and technological solutions, such as the nationwide implementation of Dual Pol radar technology, Integrated Water Resources Science and Services, and the Joint
Polar Satellite System
- Strengthening joint partnerships to enhance community preparedness
- Working with weather enterprise partners and the emergency management community to enhance safety and economic output and effectively manage environmental resources

The ultimate goal of the Weather Ready Nation vision is to save more lives and protect livelihoods and the economy as communities across the country become increasingly vulnerable to
extreme weather events. For up-to-date weather and flood information and more on NWS, visit:
http://www.weather.gov

For more on the Weather Ready Nation initiative and projects, visit:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine
resources. Visit NOAA at:

http://www.noaa.gov

For more information, contact:

Lora Mueller
NWS Hydrologic Services Branch
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Lora.Mueller@noaa.gov

National Public Information Statements are online at:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm

$$
NNNN

Do you ever wonder how much rainfall you received from a recent thunderstorm? How about snowfall during a winter storm? If so, then a new volunteer weather observing program needs your help! The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network, or CoCoRaHS, is looking for new volunteers across Eastern North Carolina. The grassroots effort is part of a growing national network of home-based and amateur rain spotters with a goal of providing a high density precipitation network that will supplement existing observations.

CoCoRaHS came about as a result of a devastating flash flood that hit Fort Collins, Colorado, in July 1997. A local severe thunderstorm dumped over a foot of rain in several hours while other portions of the city had only modest rainfall. The ensuing flood caught many by surprise and caused $200 million in damages. CoCoRaHS was born in 1998 with the intent of doing a better job of mapping and reporting intense storms. As more volunteers participated, rain, hail, and snow maps were produced for every storm showing fascinating local patterns that were of great interest to scientists and the public.

North Carolina became the twenty-first state to establish the CoCoRaHS program in 2007, and by 2010, the CoCoRaHS network had reached all 50 states with eight to ten thousand observations being reported each day. Through CoCoRaHS, thousands of volunteers, young and old, document the size, intensity, duration and patterns of rain, hail and snow by taking simple measurements in their own backyards.

Volunteers may obtain an official rain gauge through the CoCoRaHS website (http://www.cocorahs.org ) for about $27 plus shipping. Besides the need for an official 4 inch plastic rain gauge, volunteers are required to take a simple training module online and use the CoCoRaHS website to submit their reports. Observations are immediately available on maps and reports for the public to view. The process takes only five minutes a day, but the impact to the community is tenfold: By providing high quality, accurate measurements, the observers are able to supplement existing networks and provide useful results to scientists, resource managers, decision makers and other users.

“North Carolina has the most complex climate in the eastern U.S.,” said Ryan Boyles, state climatologist and director of the State Climate Office, based at North Carolina State University. “Data gathered from CoCoRaHS volunteers are very important in better understanding local weather and climate patterns.”

“An additional benefit of the program to the National Weather Service is the ability to receive timely reports of significant weather (hail, intense rainfall, localized flooding) from CoCoRaHS observers that can assist forecasters in issuing and verifying warnings for severe thunderstorms,” says David Glenn, CoCoRaHS State Coordinator and meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City.

How does one become a CoCoRaHS observer? Go to the CoCoRaHS website above and click on the “Join CoCoRaHS” emblem on the upper right side of the main website. After registering, take the simple online training, order your 4 inch rain gauge and start reporting!

“We are in need of new observers across the entire state. We would like to emphasize rural locations and areas near the coast, especially on barrier islands,” added Glenn.

The Doppler weather radar (WSR-88D) at the National Weather Service in Newport will get a significant upgrade to new technology in mid-June. It's called dual-polarization. What is it and what does it do? Go to this link on the NWS Newport site and find out:

www.erh.noaa.gov/mhx/DualPol.php

At the bottom of the page you'll find links where you can learn more about this exciting technology. There's a link where you can go and train yourself on how to interpret the new data. Check it out today!

If you are on identi.ca or Twitter please check us out! The Newport District SKYWARN has established a presence on both using @mhxskywarn as its name.

You may have noticed a new web design for the Newport District SKYWARN. The new design has many benefits over the previous webpage design including:

• RSS feeds that viewers can subscribe to with their favorite RSS feed reader to keep up to date on what's happening.
• Increased flexiblity to post information of interest including photos and other types of files.
• The ability for users to contribute their own ideas to the website

There are many other benefits to this web design that we haven't even leveraged yet. I hope to start handing out accounts to others soon so they can start contributing information. In the mean time feel free to click the "Login" button at the top right of your screen and create an account! Please use your amateur radio callsign, if you have one, for your account name to make it easier for everyone know who you are.

Take a look around the site and if you see anything that needs to be updated or fixed feel free to contact me using the "Contact Us" link on the left.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington has released a presentation on the threat of tsunamis to the east coast of the United States. The presentation explains how a tsunami could be generated in the Atlantic Ocean and from where they might originate. The presentation is an excellent education opportunity for all.

For additional information on tsunamis and how to prepare yourself please visit the National Weather Service's TsunamiReady