7/28/2024
WT Staff
 July 28, 2024 1019 am EDT
HAPPENING NOW
Sunday, July 28 2024
Harlem Meer HAB confirmed
Extreme low flows are recorded in two locations in the state network of streamflow monitors Sunday, a Lower Hudson tributary and an Oswego River tributary flowing at 1st percentile. Much above normal flows continue in the northeast maintaining Lake Champlain at higher than seasonal normal water levels.
The latest uploads of Lake Champlain captured July 26 and 27th show the Baie Missisquoi HAB breaking up and reduced in concentration. As of Friday, the widespread HAB in the northeast water had begun to break apart with clear water showing through in the US side of the bay, and concentration dropped down from 1 million to 600 thousand cells per 100 ml. In the snapshot from Saturday, the HAB is seen breaking up through the Canadian water, also at the reduced concentration. The hot spot is gone, no part of this HAB stands out for higher concentration. The southward extent is back to to Alburg-Swanton bridge, all parts of the HAB matching the same concentration, around 600 thousand cells per 100 ml. A Vermont pond is shows up in both images Friday and Saturday filled shore to shore with an extreme high concentration bloom, this could be Shelburne Pond, the HAB is around 2 million cells per 100 ml.
From the NYS DEC HABs reporting center, ninety HABs are on the ticket Sunday morning, up from eighty-seven this time yesterday. Back on the actively impacted list is Harlem Meer, a widespread HAB there, this puts Harlem Meer back on the HAB radar. New HABs have been confirmed for Tonawanda and Ellicott Creeks and Canandaigua Lake since our last report. Furnace Pond in Dutchess County has popped up on the list with a report made July 16, this HAB has been added to our map. HABs reported before July 15 have been archived over the weekend. 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 captured Saturday July 27 offers a clear view of the HAB occupying the south half of Lake Erie's west basin. The HAB has expanded east over 24 hours since the previous image, now reaching past the Toussaint River outlet. The HAB main block runs from Maumee Bay to Monroe Michigan and approximately 15 nautical miles into open water at the northeast edge, the south edge runs along Maumee State Park and now closer to 20 nm east, a large mass off shore from Toussaint River outlet added to the main body. North Maumee Bay remains the hot spot of this mass, around 1 to 1.5 million cells per 100 ml.
Sandusky Bay HAB fills inner and outer bay area west and east of OH269 bridge at a concentration matching the majority of the Lake Erie HAB, around 600 thousand cells per 100 ml. This HAB is seen extending into Lake Erie from the mouth of Sandusky Bay, lake side of Cedar Point in a band approximately 2 miles wide running as far east as Huron shore. The concentration is lower for this part of the HAB, 100 to 200 thousand cells per 100 ml. This HAB is encroaching in the area of the raw water intake for approximately 90 thousand people served by Sandusky City water. Sandusky City has not so far detected toxins above the minimum reporting level. See our latest Ohio HAB report here.
Louisiana: A clear snapshot of southeast Louisiana at last! The latest upload from the NCCOS July 27 is partially cloud obscured showing the hot spot south of Lake Palourde, the water between Bayou Shaffer and Avoca Island Cutoff glows out of this image at 2 million cells per 100 ml. Lakes Verret HAB is partially visible, Lac des Allemands and Bayou Fortier HABs are visible around that 700 thousand cells per 100 ml as these have been showing up consistently for weeks. Black Bay and Chandeleur Sound HABs are partially visible. See our last report here.
California: The weekly update from California Water Boards came out Friday afternoon with twenty-one DANGER-level alerts and seven HAB WARNING postings. Clear Lake, Lake Elsinore, Lake Anza, Contra Loma Reservoir are posted with Danger alerts on one or more locations. HAB WARNINGS apply to multiple locations in Clear Lake, one posting each for Pyramid Lake, Santee Lake #7 and a pond in Heritage Park, San Diego County. These advisories warn to avoid all contact with this water.
HAB DANGER and WARNING advisories can be found on the map with bluegreen tags 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.
Hazardous Weather Outlook issued 310 am July 28 by NWS Binghamton
Scattered showers and thunderstorms developing this week Wednesday afternoon and evening 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.
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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