WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

7-11 January 2013

DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems will return for Spring 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 14 January 2013. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Climate News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2013 Campaign is underway -- The first of a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2013 is currently underway, having commenced on 3 January and continuing through 12 January. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of a constellation (Orion or Leo in the northern hemisphere, and Orion and Crux in the southern hemisphere) with seven star charts of progressively fainter stars. In addition to the 3-12 January campaign, the other four GLOBE at Night campaigns in 2013 are 31 January-9 February; 3-12 March; 31 March-9 April and 29 April-8 May. [GLOBE at Night]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

High-quality maps of January temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University has prepared high-resolution maps depicting January's normal maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation totals across the 48 coterminous United States for the current 1981-2010 climate normals interval. These maps, with a 800-meter resolution, were produced using the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) climate mapping system.
United Kingdom recorded second wettest year in 2012 -- Recently, scientists at the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office reported that their analysis of preliminary data indicates that 2012 was the second wettest year across the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) since annual nationwide summaries commenced in 1910. The national precipitation for 2012 was 1330.7 mm, which was 6.6 mm below the record total set in 2000. [UK Met Office]

CLIMATE MONITORING

Studying permafrost soil from above and below ground -- Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been using ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistance tomography, electromagnetic data, and LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) airborne measurements to study permafrost soils from the Arctic basin. This approach provides a high resolution view of the permafrost soil from above as well as below the soil surface. [ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory News Center]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Updated national drought outlook issued -- Forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center recently released their updated Seasonal Drought Outlook covering the first three months of the 2013 calendar year, which includes the last two months of meteorological winter (January-February) and the first month of spring (March). These forecasters foresee a persistence of drought conditions across a large area of the nation extending from the Plains and the Rockies into the Great Basin and California. The forecasters feel that slight to modest improvement in the drought conditions could occur across scattered sections of the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center] Note: a Seasonal Drought Outlook Discussion is included describing the forecasters' confidence.

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Using fossil coral records to assess recent El Niño activity -- Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Minnesota have been examining 7000-year old fossil corals using oxygen isotope ratios and they have found that that they can detect a rhythmic El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signal in the tropical Pacific. Their analysis findings indicate 20th century ENSO climate cycles appear to be significantly stronger than ENSO variations captured in the fossil corals. However, they do not want to suggest that increased greenhouse emissions as the culprit for more El Niño events. The researchers hope that their findings will help assess the accuracy of current climate model projections concerning ENSO events. [Georgia Institute of Technology Research News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Bark beetle attack high-elevation forecasts as climate warms -- A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that with warmer climatic conditions across the northern Rockies, native mountain pine beetles are threatening the whitebark pine forests at higher elevations in these mountains across the western United States and Canada. These beetles are thriving now in locations that had been too cold earlier. Their presence can have adverse effects on the hydrology of the region, primarily involving snow cover and flow of meltwater. [University of Wisconsin News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Legal issues need to be considered for geo-engineering efforts to quell global warming -- A University of Iowa law professor cautions that the legal ramifications should be considered when attempting to manipulate the environment to suppress increasing temperatures in what is often called geo-engineering. He thinks that a global governance structure needs to be established quickly to oversee these efforts. [University of Iowa Now]
Space travel could be harmful to the brain -- A study produced by researchers at the University of Rochester and Harvard Medical School warns that astronauts on deep space missions would be bombarded by sufficient cosmic radiation from space that would accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Fortunately for earth dwellers, Earth's magnetic field generally protects the planet and people in low earth orbit from these particles. [University of Rochester Medical Center]
Website for human dimensions of climate change -- An interagency effort within the US federal government that included NOAA, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, has resulted in a website called HD.gov (for HumanDimensions.gov) that provides users, such as natural resource managers, with information on the human dimensions on a variety of topics of interest such as climate change. [HD.gov]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

7 January 1913...Tucson, AZ set its all-time record low temperature with a frigid six degrees above zero. (NWS)
7 January 1971...The temperature at Hawley Lake, located southeast of McNary, AZ, plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record low temperature for the Grand Canyon State. (The Weather Channel)
7 January 1989...Fargo, ND was in the middle of a 3-day snowstorm over which time 24.4 inches of snow fell on the city -- the greatest single storm total ever for the location. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
7 January 1992...A rare January thunderstorm rumbled over Sioux Falls, SD. This was the first January thunderstorm recorded in the city since 1939. Meanwhile, thunderstorms produced six tornadoes (one F2 and five F1) near Grand Island, NE -- the first tornadoes ever recorded in Nebraska during January. (Intellicast)
7 January 1996...The "blizzard of '96" clobbered a huge area from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast with record snows. A new snowfall record for New Jersey was set when 35 inches were measured at White House. (Intellicast)
7-8 January 1966...Torrential rain fell at Foc Foc on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, with 45 inches falling in 12 hours and 72 inches falling in 24 hours, both world precipitation records.
8 January 1859...This is the only day New York City's temperature stayed below zero the entire day. (Intellicast)
8 January 1923...The all-time January record high temperature reading was reached at Los Angeles when the mercury climbed to 90 degrees. (Intellicast)
8 January 1937...The record low temperature for the state of Nevada was set at San Jacinto when the temperature dropped to 50 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
9 January 1875...The temperature at Cheyenne, WY dipped to an all-time record low reading of 38 degrees below zero. (The Weather Channel)
9 January 1899...The temperature at Norway House, Manitoba: 1899 plummeted to 63 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), marking the coldest day ever recorded in Manitoba. (The Weather Doctor)
9 January 1954...The temperature reading taken during the British North Greenland Expedition at near Northice, Greenland was 87 degrees below zero, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Greenland. (The Weather Doctor)
9 January 1992...An unbelievable 14 consecutive days of cloudy skies finally ended at Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Every single weather observation during this time period showed overcast conditions -- 350 consecutive hours of cloudy skies! There was not even a "mostly cloudy" -- all observations were completely cloudy. During this cloudy period, it was very mild. The average temperature from 26 December to 8 January was 19 degrees above normal. (Intellicast)
10 January 1800...Savannah, GA received a foot and a half of snow, and ten inches blanketed Charleston, SC. It was the heaviest snowfall of record for the immediate Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. (David Ludlum)
10 January 1949...Snow was reported at San Diego, CA for the first and only time since 1882. Snow was noted even on some of the beaches in parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
10 January 1800...Savannah, GA received a foot and a half of snow, and ten inches blanketed Charleston, SC. It was the heaviest snowfall of record for the immediate Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. (David Ludlum)
10 January 1949...Snow was reported at San Diego, CA for the first and only time since 1882. Snow was noted even on some of the beaches in parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
11 January 1911...The temperature at Fort Vermilion, Alberta fell to 78 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), which is Alberta's lowest temperature on record. (Weather Doctor).
11 January 1942...Rhode Island's record low temperature of 23 degrees below zero was set at Kingston. (Intellicast)
11 January 2002...The temperature at the Russian research Vostok Station (elevation 11,444 feet above sea level) reached 10 degrees, the all-time high temperature record for this station that is the site of the world's all-time record low temperature of 129 degrees below zero set on 21 July 1983. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 January 1912...The morning low temperature of 47 degrees below zero at Washta, IA established a state record for the Hawkeye State. (The Weather Channel) (This record was tied in February 1996 at Elkader).
12 January 1981...The temperature fell to 35 degrees below zero at Chester, MA, setting an all-time record low temperature for the Bay State. (NCDC)
12 January 1985...A record "snowstorm of the century" struck portions of western and south central Texas. The palm trees of San Antonio were blanketed with up to thirteen and a half inches of snow, more snow than was ever previously received in an entire winter season. Del Rio measured 5.5 inches, which was also their most snow ever in 24 hours as well as for any season. (Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
13 January 1862...The "Noachian flood of California" created a vast sea in the Sacramento Valley. San Francisco had a January rainfall total of 24.36 inches. (Intellicast)
13 January 1871...The mercury plunged to 41 degrees Fahrenheit at Key West, FL, the lowest reading ever at this farthest south location in the contiguous US. The mark was tied on 12 January 1993. (The Weather Doctor)
13 January 1888...The mercury plunged to 65 degrees below zero at Fort Keogh, located near Miles City, MT. The reading stood as the all-time lowest temperature record for the continental U.S. for sixty-six years. (David Ludlum)
13 January.1912...The temperature at Oakland, MD plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
14 January 1863...The greatest snowstorm of record for Cincinnati, OH commenced, and a day later twenty inches of snow covered the ground. That total has remained far above the modern day record for Cincinnati of eleven inches of snow in one storm. (David Ludlum)

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