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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

April 2008 Volume 14 - Number 3

Disaster Updates...

2007-2008 Domestic Winter Season

By Greg Carnevale

The 2007 and 2008 winter months brought an unusual collection of severe winter storms, flooding and tornados. A quick review of FEMA’s website listed below for 2007 and 2008 winter seasons revealed seven major disaster declarations for six states in the category of “severe winter storms”. Further review uncovers 14 major disasters and emergency declarations for 2008 and six major disasters in 2007 for the month of December – this included all disaster types. No winter related events in the late part of the year were reported by FEMA as a disaster or emergency declaration prior to December 08, 2007.

The most severe winter storm in December of 2007 covered Oklahoma and Missouri with over an inch of ice. This storm was responsible for more that 13 deaths and 600,000 homes and business loosing power. Conditions of this storm brought blizzard like gusts of wind that exceeded 35 mph. Both Oklahoma and Missouri were declared disasters by the U.S. President.

February of 2008 brought a series of large winter storms that started on February 5th and impacted Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. The following week a sever winter storm brought several inches of snow from central Oklahoma and Missouri paving its way through to New England. By the end of the month new February records for total precipitation were being recorded for the Northeast.

With all the winter storm activity and precipitation making its way through much of the Unites States, it is curiously noted that the no major disaster declarations were recorded for these areas in February 2008. The only areas recording disaster declarations for winter storms in 2008 were before and after the series of storms in February. Prior to start of the February 5^th storm, Kansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, and Iowa all experienced sever winter storms that resulted in disaster declarations.

In an effort to make sense of the winter storm activity for late 2007 and early 2008, I looked to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for any anomalies. NOAA is charged with planning for, and responding to climate variability and change. From December 2007 to February 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the coolest temperatures since 2001 in the United States. Highlights from NOAA’s research shows the average winter temperature in the continental United States at 33.2°F, yet winter temperatures in Texas and the Southeast were warmer than normal.

The cool temperatures with unusual weather patterns gave the 2007/2008 winter storm season some notable precipitation. NOAA reported winter precipitation to be significantly above average in the Midwest. During the month of January, parts of Utah recorded upwards of 170 inches of snow, more than double than average in some of the ski resort areas. Looking to the Northeast, we can credit the cool temperatures and bizarre weather patterns leading to increased precipitation with making February the fifth wettest month on record for the region. Parts of the Northeast region, like Concord, New Hampshire, reported record snowfalls of 100 inches – 22 inches above the previous record from 1887.

Sources for this news article include:

http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema?year=2007#sev1

http://www.fema.gov/news/disasters.fema?year=2008#sev1

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080313_coolest.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7144719.stm

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/snow0708.html