FEMA: National Situation Updates

Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED)

Significant National Weather:

West
A storm in the Pacific Northwest will bring more heavy precipitation today as it moves across the Cascades into the northern Rockies, leading to a continued high risk of river flooding for western Washington State. Look for the system to produce rain and higher elevation snow, heavy at times, over portions of the North & Central Rockies. Parts of the Cascades, Bitterroots and mountainous regions of Wyoming could see at least 12 inches of snow by this evening. Elsewhere will be sunny and hot, with highs ranging between 60-85 degrees in the lower elevations of California and the Desert Southwest.
Midwest
Temperatures will be 15 to 20 degrees above average for the central portion of the country today, with rain showers stretching across much of the Central Plains & Middle Mississippi Valley then turning to ice & snow farther north into the Upper Mississippi Valley & Great Lakes. Highs will range from the 30s in the Northern Plains up to the mid 70s in portions of the Central & Southern Plains.
South
Expect precipitation in much of the Southeastern U.S. with showers & thunderstorms developing from the Tennessee Valley across the Southern Appalachians into the Carolina coasts today through tomorrow morning. There is a slight risk of significant severe thunderstorms across parts of the lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys this evening and possibly continuing into Friday along the southern Atlantic coast.
Northeast
Another system moving from the Great Lakes into the Northeast will produce snow from the mountains of New York to central/northern Maine today into tomorrow. Elsewhere, the Mid-Atlantic should be warm and pleasant with temperatures 5 to 15 degrees above average and a chance of showers beginning later in the evening.

Western Washington River Flooding:

At 8:00 p.m. EST on February 21, 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Seattle District Commander, declared a USACE emergency in response to the ongoing western Washington river flooding event. The Snohomish River in western Washington State is forecasted to reach major damage stage tonight, February 22. The Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reports that the Union Slough Levee located along the Snohomish River at the City of Everett, WA is at risk of breaching from high flows anticipated from the Snohomish River. 

The levee has received significant riverward scour damage and significant loss of levee embankment material. Scour is now well into the prism of the levee in two locations affecting levee stability and reliability. The levee was damaged in the 2009 flood and received additional damage in 2011 flooding. USACE believes that it is unlikely that the Union Slough Levee will survive another significant flood event without repair. Residences, agricultural land and commercial structures (i.e. large lumber mill) and the City of Everett's wastewater treatment plant are found within the inundation area. Power transmission lines and an oil pipeline as well as Interstate 5, State Highway 539 and the BNSF RR also cross the protected region.

Snohomish County has requested assistance with temporary measures to protect business and residential structures from flooding. The USACE Seattle District Commander declared a [USACE] emergency in response to this event, and activated the USACE Seattle District EOC to Activation Level III (monitoring) on February 21, 2012 and will be operating at extended hours. Today, February 22, the Seattle District Office will deploy Snohomish Flood Team members to assist the Snohomish County Diking District #5 and community of Everett, WA. The Washington State EOC is not activated and has not requested FEMA assistance.

Space Weather:

No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours and no space weather storms are predicted for the next 24 hours.

Tropical Weather Outlook

No new activity (FEMA HQ)

Earthquake Activity

Southeastern Missouri
On Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 4:58 a.m. EST, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred approximately 9 miles east-southeast of Sikeston, MO, and 16 miles southwest of Cairo, IL, at a depth of 3.1 miles. Media reported minor damage, including falling items from shelves, broken windows, minor cracks in walls and sidewalks, but there were no reports of injuries. The earthquake was reportedly felt in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and as far away as North Carolina and Tennessee. The Region VII Regional Recovery Coordination Center and the Missouri State Emergency Operations Center were not activated; there has been no request for FEMA assistance and none is anticipated.

New Madrid Seismic Zone
This earthquake occurred along the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), a 150-mile stretch between Memphis and St. Louis that crosses parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. According to information from the last 40 years of instrumental recordings, the NMSZ is the most seismically active area of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. It experiences an average of 200 earthquakes (greater than M1.5) every year-most too small to be felt, however. Even a magnitude 4.0 quake is rare, occurring in the NMSZ on average about once a year. Yesterday's quake comes nearly 200 years to the day after a powerful earthquake in nearly the same spot that heavily damaged New Madrid, MO and St. Louis, MO. The third, and probably most widely felt of the three New Madrid earthquakes, which seismologists today guess was about 7.7 in magnitude, occurred on February 7, 1812. It was so powerful it reportedly cracked sidewalks in Washington, D.C., and caused church bells to ring as far away as Boston and Toronto.

Disaster Declaration Activity

No new activity (FEMA HQ)