WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

15-19 January 2018

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Free admission into the National Parks -- This Monday, 15 January 2018, has been designated by the National Park Service as a fee-free day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. This fee waiver will cover entrance and commercial tour fees in many of the national parks and monuments administered by the Park Service. [National Park Service Fee Free Days]
Approaching coldest time of the year -- This week is the third week of January, which for many locations across the nation typically marks the coldest week of the year, as indicated by the daily normal high and low temperatures. Usually, those stations located away from the moderating influences of the oceans reach their lowest temperatures during the third week of January, or a roughly one month after the winter solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere receives the fewest hours of daylight and the smallest amounts of solar radiation. During that month, temperatures continue to fall to their lowest typical values as cooling continues. However, the increased length of daylight and increased sunshine during this month begins to warm the ground and overlying atmosphere as normal daily temperatures begin to rise toward their highest levels in mid to late July.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Review of national weather and climate for December 2017 and for the 2017 calendar year -- Scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have released reports based upon their preliminary analysis of temperature and precipitation data collected through the end of December 2017 from across the nation. Based upon the data processed through late last week, they report:

December 2017 had above average temperatures and below average precipitation -- The nationwide average December temperature across the contiguous United States was 34.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century (1901-2000) average. This average December 2017 for the nation was the 31st highest in 123 years of record, extending back to 1895 when a a sufficiently dense national climate observing network was established across the country. States across Southwest as well as the Rockies and central Plains reported above to much above average temperatures. Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico reported statewide average temperatures that were in the ten highest December readings since 1895 for their respective states. Above average statewide temperatures were also reported across the Southeast. Conversely, the five states in the Great Lakes region and northern New England, extending from Michigan to Maine, had below average December temperatures. southern tier of states running from Arizona eastward to Florida, as well as northward along the Atlantic Coast from Florida to New Hampshire. The remainder of the 48 states had statewide temperatures that were near average.
The nationwide precipitation total for December 2017 across the "Lower 48 states" was 1.55 inches or 0.80 inches below the 20th century average, making the month the ninth driest December since 1895. As many as 33 of these states had below to much-below average precipitation totals. In terms of order of dryness rank, California, Kansas, Virginia, Iowa, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, New Mexico, Illinois, Oregon, West Virginia and Nevada had statewide December precipitation totals that ranked in the lowest 10 for that month. Only Arkansas and Montana had statewide precipitation totals that were above average. The remaining 13 states had near average December precipitation totals.
According to the Rutgers (University) Snow Lab, the snow cover across the 48 contiguous states in December was the 20th smallest in the 52-year satellite-based record. [NOAA/NCEI State of the Climate]
Calendar year of 2017 was third warmest across nation -- The preliminary average temperature for the coterminous United States during the recently concluded 2017 was 54.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 2.6 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th-century average. As a result, 2017 was the nation's third warmest year since 1895, following behind the warmest year of 2012, which had a national average annual temperature of 55.3 degrees, and 2016 with a 54.9-degree reading. With the exception of Washington state, all 48 states reported annual statewide temperatures that were within the top sixteen on record for each state; December 2017 ranked 41st warmest in Washington. Arizona and New Mexico in the Southwest reported their warmest year in 123 years, while the statewide temperatures in Georgia and the Carolinas also were the highest on record. While the average maximum (afternoon) temperature across the nation was the fifth highest on record, the average minimum (or predawn) national temperature was the fourth on record.
Alaska had its seventh warmest year on record.
The nationwide average precipitation across the 48 contiguous states for 2017 was 32.21 inches, or 2.27 inches above the 20th century average. Therefore, 2017 was the 20th wettest year on record since 1895. More than half of the states (25) reported above to much-above statewide annual precipitation totals. Michigan experienced its wettest year since 1895. On the other hand, four states had below to much below average annual precipitation. North Dakota experienced its eighth driest year in the last 123 years. [NOAA/NCEI State of the Climate]
NOTE: A description is provided of the climatological rankings employed by NCDC for their monthly, seasonal and annual maps. [NOAA/NCEI]

Historic year of extreme weather/climate events in US during 2017 -- Last week NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reported that according to preliminary data, 16 separate weather and climate disaster events occurred during 2017 across the nation that each produced at least $1 billion in losses. These events included three land-falling tropical cyclones, eight severe convective (thunderstorm) events, two inland flooding events, a crop freeze, a drought event and a wildfire event. These 16 events in 2017 tied 2011 for the record number of billion-dollar disasters for an entire calendar year (since 1980). The events in 2017 have caused 362 deaths across the nation, less than the record number of 16 events in one year (since 1980) that was set in 2011 when 764 people were killed by these events. Furthermore, the estimated cumulative cost of these events in 2017 exceeds $300 billion, which represents a new national annual record, exceeding the previous annual record of $214.8 billion in 2005, due to the impacts of Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Further updates to this tentative list for 2017 will be made in the next several months. [NOAA NCEI News] or [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Dry Southwest awaits winter precipitation -- A blog written for the "Event Tracker" feature in the ClimateWatch Magazine by a meteorologist with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center describes the lack of meaningful precipitation across the Four Corners area of the Southwest (where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico meet). Moderate to severe drought conditions have expanded rapidly across this region as of the first week of January 2018. In addition to a general lack of fall rains, Flagstaff, AZ has not received measurable snow this winter season; by the end of the first week of January, Flagstaff typically has received at least 34 inches of snow. If no measurable snow falls as of Monday, 15 January, a new record for the latest occurrence of first measurable snowfall for a winter season will be established. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Snow dusts the Atlas Mountain entrance to the Sahara Desert -- Natural-color satellite images were made of the several inches of snow that fell early last week over the higher terrain of the Atlas Mountains of northern Algeria near the entrance to the Sahara Desert. These satellite images were generated from data collected by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) onboard NASA's Landsat 8 satellite. Snow in the Sahara is not unprecedented. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Seismic sensors can record hurricane intensity -- Researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Princeton University and Italy's University of Bologna have discovered a nearly persistent signature of tropical cyclones in "ambient seismic noise" being recorded on seismic sensors. The team analyzed 13 years of tropical cyclones in the northwest Pacific Ocean, using data obtained from seven seismometers stationed in eastern Asia and on islands in the Pacific. The researchers found that these signatures in the ambient noise, which originate in the ocean waves generated by tropical cyclones, can be used to estimate the strength of hurricanes and typhoons. Ultimately, long-term seismic records could be used to estimate the strength of past hurricanes and to reveal possible long-term changes in the severity and frequency of these storms. [NOAA Climate Program Office News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Global ocean and coastal waters are experiencing a decline in oxygen -- An international team of 22 scientists from the United States and ten other countries have reported that oxygen concentrations in both the open ocean and coastal waters around the globe have been declining since at least the 1950s. Analyses of direct oxygen measurements at sites around the world indicate that oxygen-minimum zones in the open ocean have expanded by several million square kilometers and that hundreds of coastal sites now have sufficiently low oxygen concentrations to limit the distribution and abundance of animal populations and alter the cycling of important nutrients. This oxygen loss (or deoxygenation) appears to be one of the most important changes occurring in an ocean increasingly modified by human activities that have raised air and water temperatures, carbon dioxide levels and nutrient inputs. The decline of oxygen can cause major changes in ocean productivity, biodiversity, and biogeochemical cycles. [NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction of changes in North Atlantic jet stream over last 290 years made from tree-ring analysis -- Dendrochronologists from the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdor have analyzed tree ring data collected from trees in the British Isles and the northeastern Mediterranean to reconstruct historical changes in the North Atlantic jet stream to ascertain the regions' late-summer weather extending back 290 years to 1725. When the North Atlantic jet is displaced poleward, the British Isles and western Europe have a summer heat wave while southeastern Europe has heavy rains and flooding, but when the jet is located in a southern position, western Europe has heavy rains and flooding while southeastern Europe has extreme high temperatures, drought and wildfires. The researchers also found that increased fluctuations in the path of the North Atlantic jet stream since the 1960s coincide with more extreme weather events in Europe such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires and flooding, [University of Arizona News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Updated El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion & El Niño advisory outlook released -- Late last week forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) released their monthly El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion. As of early January, La Niña conditions had continued, with below-average sea surface temperatures (SST) found across the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean during the previous month. Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies values across these sections of the equatorial Pacific ranged between 0.5 and one Celsius degree below normal. In addition to the pattern of sea surface temperature anomalies, the atmosphere patterns were also consistent with a La Niña event in terms of the location of atmospheric convection and the low-level winds. Nearly all the prediction models used by IRI/CPC suggest La Niña conditions will persist for the next several months. Consequently, the forecasters maintained their La Niña advisory, since the current La Niña conditions had a high likelihood (approximately 85 to 95%) of continuing through Northern Hemisphere winter, with a possible transition to ENSO-neutral conditions in spring. (ENSO-neutral means that neither El Niño or La Niña conditions would be anticipated.)
[NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
A blog written by a contractor scientist from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center describing the La Niña conditions that have been found across the tropical Pacific over the last month. Attention was also paid to winter (December-February) temperature patterns across the nation for strong, moderate and weak La Niña events since 1950. The maps for the 21 selected winters were displayed as temperature anomalies (or differences between observed and 1981-2010 average temperatures). [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

15 January 1952...A six-day snowstorm was in progress in the western U.S. The storm produced 44 inches of snow at Marlette Lake, NV, 52 inches at Sun Valley, ID and 149 inches at Tahoe CA, establishing single storm records for each of those three states. In addition, 24-hour snowfall totals of 22 inches at the University of Nevada and 26 inches at Arco, ID established records for those two states. The streamliner, City of San Francisco was snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Range, near Donner Summit. (David Ludlum)
15 January 1988...A small storm over the Atlantic Ocean produced heavy snow along the coast of North Carolina. The five inch total at Wilmington, NC was their third highest for any storm in January in 117 years of records. (National Weather Summary)
16 January 1881...The temperature at Markree Castle (County Sligo) fell to 2 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), Ireland's lowest temperature of record. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
16 January 1889...The temperature at Cloncurry, Queensland reached 128 degrees F, the highest ever reported in Australia. (The Weather Doctor)
16 January 1881...The temperature at Markree Castle (County Sligo) fell to 2 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), Ireland's lowest temperature of record. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
16 January 1889...The temperature at Cloncurry, Queensland reached 128 degrees F, the highest ever reported in Australia. (The Weather Doctor)
17 January 1893...The mercury dipped to 17 degrees below zero at Millsboro, DE to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
17 January 1972...A single storm unloaded 77.5 inches of snow at Summit, MT to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
17 January 1988...A Pacific storm battered the southern coast of California. Los Angeles reported an all-time record low barometric pressure reading of 29.25 inches. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
18 January 1930...The record low temperature for the state of Oregon was set at Seneca when the thermometer dipped to 54 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
18 January 1943...The record low temperature for the state of Oklahoma was set at Watts when the mercury dipped to 27 degrees below zero. The record low temperature for the state of Idaho was set at Island Park Dam when the temperature fell to 60 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
18 January 1957...The record low temperature for the state of Massachusetts was set at Birch Hill Dam when the mercury fell to 35 degrees below zero. This record was tied in January 1981. (Intellicast)
18 January 1977...The record low temperature for the state of South Carolina was set near Long Creek when the mercury plunged to 20 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
18-22 January 1978...The Atlantic's first-ever January subtropical storm with tropical characteristics since records began in 1871 organized 1500 miles east-northeast of Puerto Rico. The storm finally dissipated on the 22nd approximately 200 miles north of Puerto Rico. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18-27 January 1980...Tropical Cyclone Hyacinthe produced 223.5 inches of rainfall over the 10-day period at Cratère Commerson, on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean to set the global mark for rainfall from a tropical cyclone during a 10-day period. The same storm dumped 127.6 inches of rain in just 72 hours at Grand-Ilet, La Reunion Island. (The Weather Doctor) (National Weather Service files)
19 January 1786...The temperature at Hartford, CT fell to 24 degrees below zero. Up to this time, it was the lowest ever known on a thermometer.
19 January 1925...The record low temperature for the state of Maine was set at Van Buren when the temperature fell to 48 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
19 January 1933...Giant Forest, CA received 60 inches of snow in just 24 hours, a state record, and the second highest 24-hour total of record for the U.S. (David Ludlum)
19 January 1994...An extremely cold arctic airmass set 67 new record temperature lows from Minnesota to Virginia, including 10 cities that recorded their lowest temperatures ever. The following cities set all-time record lows: Indianapolis, IN (27 degrees below zero), Akron, OH, Clarksburg, WV, and Zanesville, OH (25 below), Pittsburgh, PA, Louisville, KY, Columbus, OH and Youngstown, OH (22 below), Cleveland, OH (20 below), and Erie, PA (18 below). The mercury plunged to 36 below zero at New Whiteland, IN to set a new record low temperature for the Hoosier State. In Kentucky, a statewide record low temperature was set at Shelbyville with a reading of 37 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
19 January 1995...Columbia, MO was buried under 19.7 inches of snow in 24 hours for its greatest 24-hour snowfall and snowstorm ever. Wind gusts up to 45 mph produced blizzard conditions and thunderstorms occurred several times during the heavy snow. Interstates 70, US 63, and US 54 were closed down. The same storm produced 15 inches of snow at Moline, IL and 14 inches at Blue Jacket, OK. (Intellicast)
20 January 1937...The record low temperature for the state of California was set at Boca when the thermometer dropped to 45 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
20 January 1954...The temperature at Rogers Pass, MT plunged to 69.7 degrees below zero to establish a new low temperature record for the continental U.S. (David Ludlum)
20 January 1977...The barometric pressure at St. Anthony, Newfoundland dropped to 940.2 millibars (27.76 inches of mercury), the lowest sea level pressure ever recorded in Canada. (The Weather Doctor)
21 January 1985...An all-time record low temperature of 7 degrees was set on this day at Jacksonville, FL. The coldest day ever recorded at Macon, GA was recorded on this day when the mercury dropped to 6 degrees below zero. Records began at Macon in 1899. (Intellicast) The all-time record low temperature for North Carolina was set at Mt. Mitchell with a 34-degree below zero reading, while a 19 degree below zero reading at Caesars Head in South Carolina set that state's record low temperature. (National Climatic Data Center)

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