7/30/2024
WT Staff
 July 30, 2024 updated 131 pm EDT
HAPPENING NOW
NWS: Heavy downpours expected to produce urban flooding upstate
Hazardous Weather Outlook issued 327 am July 30 by NWS Binghamton
Scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and tonight may produce heavy downpours with the potential for localized small stream and urban flooding.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms Wednesday, Friday and Saturday may produce heavy downpours that lead to localized small stream and
urban flooding.
Impacting Northern Oneida-Yates-Seneca-Southern Cayuga-Onondaga-Steuben-
Schuyler-Chemung-Tompkins-Madison-Southern Oneida-Cortland-Chenango-
Otsego-Tioga-Broome-Delaware-Sullivan Counties.
The latest satellite image from NCCOS was captured July 29 with heavy cloud cover obscuring all of Lake Champlain. The Vermont water body east of Shelburne Bay, presumed to be Shelburne Pond is visible with a lakewide HAB rocking 3 to 4 million cells per 100 ml. A clear image snapped July 28 shows the Baie Missisquoi HAB has moved off shore into open water, breaking up into dispersed mats at a lower concentration than observed so far this season. The HAB also seems to have pulled back from its southward expansion, now seen no further south than Alburg-Swanton bridge. The concentration is consistent, around 600 thousand cells per 100 ml with no hot spots.
From the NYS DEC HABs reporting center, eighty-three features appear on the notifications dashboard Tuesday morning, down from eighty-nine yesterday. As yet there are no new reports confirmed, a number of reports made prior to July 16 have been moved to the archives including Georgica Pond, Maratooka Lake, Cross Lake, Brooks Lake. See bluegreen tags on the map to the right for the impacted water bodies with at least one active HAB, the full list of HABs is found here.
WT HAB Tracker from state sources and where available, the satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
Lake Erie west basin: Ohio, Michigan
The latest satellite view from NCCOS was captured Monday July 29 at surface wind speed 11 mph, completely cloud obscured. The previous image of July 28 revealed most of the Lake Erie west basin and the HAB occupying the south half of this water. The east edge of the HAB is cloud obscured, the previous image showed the east extent in line with the Toussaint River outlet. The southwest extent of this HAB is squeezing inland into Maumee Bay at 600 thousand cells per 100 ml, the concentration up in North Maumee Bay remains the hot spot at 1 to 1.5 million cells per 100 ml. Maumee Bay State Park still posted with algal toxin advisory has HAB visible up to the shoreline, the concentration is up to 600 thousand cells per 100 ml. Sandusky Bay HAB Aphanizomenon appears to be filling in density and increased in concentration to 800 thousand cells per 100 ml west and east of the OH-269 bridge. Clouds obscure the extent of this HAB on the open water side of Cedar Point. See the last Ohio HAB report here.
Louisiana: The latest upload from the NCCOS was captured July 29 at wind speed 3.2 mph. This image is mostly clear, showing some or all of the southeast water bodies. A reliable assessment at this wind speed, no HAB activity is observed in Lake Pontchartrain, it is possible that there are HABs of a concentration too low to observe. The hot spot for Louisiana is Wetland Watchers Park, the water body south of Lake Pontchartrain lakewide HAB runs 2 to 3 million cells per 100 ml. Lake Boeuf and the water between Bayou Shaffer and Avoca Island Cutoff show up around that 1 million cells per 100 ml concentration as reported yesterday from the previous image. Lake Verret, Lake Palourde, Lac des Allemands, Bayou des Allemands, Bayou Fortier and the Pen HABs are visible around the 600 to 800 thousand mark. Black Bay HAB is below 200 thousand cells per 100 ml, Chandeleur Sound shows dispersed HABs of low concentration, below 50 thousand cells per 100 ml. See our last report here.
California: Clear Lake is the HAB hot spot in California this week with ten DANGER level postings and three HAB WARNINGS. Lake Elsinore, Lake Anza, Contra Loma Reservoir are also posted with Danger alerts on one or more locations. HAB WARNINGS apply to Pyramid Lake, Santee Lake #7 and a pond in Heritage Park, San Diego County. These advisories warn to avoid all contact with this water. Thirty six HAB caution advisories are posted this week, see the California HAB tracker report with advisories by watershed region, HAB DANGER and WARNING advisories are pinned to the map with bluegreen tags, the full list is here.
Georgia:
Georgia Healthy Beaches program of Coastal Public Health tests beaches, posting permanent and temporary advisories about bacteria levels. Jekyll Island has two permanent advisories in place, both beaches tested clear for bacteria in the last quarterly water sample. As of this report, all St Simons Island and Jekyll Island beaches are marked with the green light signal, no temporary advisories are issued for elevated bacteria. No new information has been found on the presence of HABs in Georgia since our last update. Georgia Environmental Protection Division does accept reports from the public of suspicious algal blooms. As we receive updates from EPD, the results will be found here. The latest Georgia beach advisories are available here.
See the North American drainage basin map here, scroll all the way down to see how surface water moves across the continent into the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Oceans. WT Media Group tells the story of water in three countries, Canada, USA and Mexico. See the drinking water advisories, hazardous spills, floods, drought and harmful algal blooms plotted on the maps, as the water flows. Check out the CrimeBox for historic prosecutions under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act box for details on public drinking water facilities, interviews with the scientists and tech developers on the leading edge of clean water technology here.
As many drinking water facilities are supplied from surface water reservoirs, the streamflow situation is pertinent to both drinking water supply and quality. High flows can stir up sediment and cause turbidity in the reservoirs, requiring additional treatments to render the water potable. Low flow volume is linked to warmer temperatures in the reservoir and can be an issue for water quality where HABs are present. WT tracks streamflow trends with an eye to the impacts on drinking water supply and quality in each of the state's watersheds. Check the watershed layer on the map to see the direction of flow and streamflows that may be impacting drinking water today.
USGS Provisional Data Statement
Data are provisional and subject to revision until they have been thoroughly reviewed and received final approval. Current condition data relayed by satellite or other telemetry are automatically screened to not display improbable values until they can be verified.
Provisional data may be inaccurate due to instrument malfunctions or physical changes at the measurement site. Subsequent review based on field inspections and measurements may result in significant revisions to the data.
Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves substantial monetary or operational consequences. Information concerning the accuracy and appropriate uses of these data or concerning other hydrologic data may be obtained from the USGS.
Harmful Algal Blooms: WT follows the movement and growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs) as provided by the satellite monitoring program of the NCCOS for New York's Lake Champlain, Ohio's Lake Erie and Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding area. Interpretation of satellite images is best in clear conditions at wind speed less than 4 mph, where the appearance and extent of HABs is reliably matched to a color scale for concentration. HABs are known to produce algal toxins of concern for raw drinking water sources and recreational water bodies. Plan beach access to avoid HABs and consider carrying a rapid test kit to detect the toxin microcystins.
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