21-25 February 2011

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Next year's NOAA budget is announced --
  At the start of last week, President Obama requested $5.5 billion for NOAA as part of the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2012. While this proposed budget is $56.8 million less than the 2011 budget, it includes investments to strengthen NOAA’s most critical programs and initiatives including improved predictability in weather and water forecasts; support of sustainable oceans and fisheries; and investments in satellites and other sensor systems. The administration’s goals are addressed including long-term economic growth, promoting innovation and American competitiveness and reducing government spending. [NOAA News]
• Monitoring the drought --
Read this week's Supplemental Information.. In Greater Depth for information concerning assessing current drought conditions across the nation.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

• Review of global weather and climate for January 2011 --
  Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center have determined that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for January 2011 was the seventeenth highest for any January since global climate records began in 1880. The average global ocean surface temperature for January was the eleventh highest on record, while the global land surface temperature for January 2011 was 29th highest. The scientists claim that the moderate-to-strong La Niña conditions were responsible for below average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial surface waters of the eastern and central Pacific.
  The areal coverage of Arctic sea ice was smallest January Arctic sea ice extent since satellite surveillance began in 1979. The extent of Antarctic sea ice was the eighth smallest January extent on record.
  The extent of the Northern Hemisphere snow cover during January was above the long-term average and marked the fourth consecutive January with above-average snow cover extent for the period of record that started in the late 1960s. [NOAA News]
• January drought report --
The National Climate Data Center has posted its January 2011 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately six percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of January, while 17 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Satellite captures last year's record melting of Greenland ice cap --
  An image generated from data collected by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) of the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program shows the number of days that snow melts during the 2010 summer melt season, described in terms of melt day anomaly (or the difference in the 2010 melt days and the average number of melt days for the long-term 1979-2009 span). Some sections along southern Greenland had a 50 more melt days than average in 2010, which set a new record. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Updated National Land Cover Database is available --
The US Geological Survey announced that the latest edition of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2006) is now available to the public. This database is a detailed land surface reference based upon data collected by NASA's Landsat satellite and has a myriad of applications, including the study indications of climate change and ecosystem status. Comparison with the previous 2001 edition may provide researchers with an indication of land cover changes over a recent six-year time span. [USGS Newsroom]
• An All-Hazards Monitor --
This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAAWatch]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes --
A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]

CLIMATE FORCING

• Future of ozone layer appears linked to changing climate --
  A report, with major contributions by NOAA scientists, was recently released by the Scientific Assessment Panel of the UN Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This report entitled "Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2010" presents strong evidence that links changes in the stratospheric ozone layer to changes in the global climate. [NOAA News]
• Watching the far side of the Sun --
A team of scientists with NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission have assembled an animation that provides a full view of the entire 360-degree solar sphere, including the side of the Sun opposite the Earth. This animation was made during early February from data collected by the twin STEREO satellites. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Global temperature rises could be accelerated by thawing permafrost --
After running multiple climate simulations, scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder claim that as global temperatures increase, the polar permafrost would melt and release carbon compounds, which would accelerate future increases in global temperature. [University of Colorado, Boulder News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

• New radar technologies develop with aeroecology --
  Researchers at the University of Oklahoma are applying new radar technologies to interdisciplinary collaborations in the new field of aeroecology, a discipline for studying how airborne organisms, such as microbes, arthropods, bats and birds, depend on the support of the lower atmosphere closest to the Earth's surface. This field integrates atmospheric science, earth science, geography, ecology, computer science, computational biology and engineering. [University of Oklahoma]
• Plant evolution could change as planet warms --
Researchers at the University of Michigan warn that increasing global temperatures could alter the course of plant evolution due to changes in the interactions between plants and the insects that eat them. [University of Michigan]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

• Spring flood outlook for Upper Midwest --
  Last week forecasters with the National Weather Service's Hydrologic Information Center issued their outlook of the spring flood risk for several of the major river basins across the upper Midwest and northern Plains that are prone to spring flooding. Based upon heavy rainfall across the region last autumn and an above average water content in the remaining extensive snow pack, they foresee an above an above average risk of flooding during this upcoming spring. A high risk of moderate and major flooding could occur along the Red River of the North in North Dakota and Minnesota, Devils Lake in North Dakota, the James River and Big Sioux River in South Dakota, and areas along the Upper Mississippi River including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. [NOAA News] [NWS Hydrologic Information Center]
• La Niña advisory continues --
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center continues to maintain a La Niña advisory since La Niña conditions or ENSO-neutral conditions were expected to persist through May and June 2011. A La Niña event is an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that is often associated with colder than normal waters across the eastern and central equatorial Pacific. An ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) -neutral event would have near normal surface temperatures. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
• New Seasonal Climate Outlooks released --
Forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center recently released their Seasonal Climate Outlooks for meteorological spring, the three-months running from March through May 2011. Their outlook indicates a high chance of above average spring temperatures across much of the southern half of the nation, especially across the Southwest and the western Gulf Coast Northwest. On the other hand, the Pacific Northwest, the northern Rockies and the northern Plains have a good chance for below average temperatures. Elsewhere, near equal chances of warmer or cooler than normal conditions were foreseen. The forecasters also indicated that the Southwest, the southern Rockies, the central Plains and the Gulf Coast States, especially across Florida, should have a better than even chance for drier than average conditions in the next three months. The rest of the coterminous states should have equal chances of below and above average spring precipitation. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center] Outlooks for March are also available.
• Seasonal Drought Outlook released --
The forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center also released their Seasonal Drought Outlook that would run from March through May 2011 in which improvement in the drought conditions were anticipated across sections of the Midwest and the Mid-South, primarily in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. However, drought should either persist or intensify across sections of the southern tier of states, extending from Arizona eastward to Florida and northward into western Nebraska in the Plains and to New Jersey along the Atlantic Seaboard.

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

• Marine fossils may reveal history of oxygen in an ancient ocean --
  Scientists at Virginia Tech and colleagues from China have analyzed fossils of seaweed and worm-like marine animals that flourished in the sea in what is now present-day south China nearly 600 million years ago. The researchers believe that these fossils could provide information as to the amount of oxygen in the ancient sea just prior to the Cambrian explosion when numerous marine life forms appeared. [Virginia Tech News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• 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.

Concept of the Week: Keeping your cool!

In order to survive, humans need to maintain a nearly constant internal core temperature that is within several degrees of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Your internal temperature depends upon an energy balance involving the gain and loss of energy from radiation (incoming solar versus incoming and outgoing infrared radiation), sensible heat transfer (conduction and convection), latent heat of evaporation (respiration and perspiration) and the body's metabolic rate. This heat transfer depends upon the differences between skin temperature and the ambient air temperature of the surroundings. In addition, wind and atmospheric humidity can affect the rate of sensible and latent heat transfer. Problems arise when either too much or too little heat flows to or from the body, yielding hypothermia and hyperthermia (heat stress) conditions, respectively.

When the air temperature increases, heat flow from the body is often reduced. Heat flow can be increased to maintain stable temperatures involuntarily by thermoregulatory processes such as increased perspiration (sweating) and dilation of the blood vessels. Humans can also act to prevent hyperthermia by selecting lightweight and light colored clothes, as well as seeking of shade and well ventilated locations. Unfortunately, high atmospheric humidity that often accompanies high summer temperatures also reduces body heat loss since evaporative cooling by perspiration is suppressed. During the summer, the National Weather Service alerts the public of potentially dangerous combinations of high air temperature and atmospheric humidity levels by calculating the Heat Index.

Statistics kept by the National Weather Service reveals that heat (along with high humidity) is responsible for the greatest number of weather-related deaths across the nation during the 10-year period (2000-2009), with 117 fatalities occurring per year. By comparison, 116 fatalities per annum are caused by tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms), 56 deaths per year are associated from tornadoes and 24 deaths annually caused by the cold (low temperatures). (Note: The large number of fatalities associated with the hurricanes of 2005, which totaled 1016 deaths in the US due primarily to Hurricane Katrina, has inflated the annual averages associated with tropical cyclones.) Furthermore, concern has been raised that during this century, more frequent and more severe heat waves due to global climate change could become more common, leading to a greater risk of hyperthermia and, ultimately, to higher morbidity rates.

Concept of the Week: Questions

(Each week you will be asked to respond to two questions relating to that week's Concept of the Week topic. Place your responses on the Chapter Progress Response Form provided in the Study Guide.)

1. The heat index is a function of air temperature and [(atmospheric humidity),(wind speed),(sunshine levels)].
2. The annual number of fatalities across the nation in the last ten years due to heat stress is approximately [(15),(60),(120)].

Historical Events:

• 21 February 1918...A spectacular chinook wind at Granville, ND caused the temperature to spurt from a morning low of 33 degrees below zero to an afternoon high of 50 degrees above zero, representing a rise of 83 Fahrenheit degrees. (David Ludlum)
• 21 February 1971...Elk City, OK was buried under 36 inches of snow to establish a 24-hour snowfall record for the Sooner State. (David Ludlum)
• 21 February 1996...Very hot weather for the time of year prevailed across South Texas. All-time February high temperatures were set at Del Rio (103 degrees), San Antonio (100 degrees), Austin and College Station (99 degrees), and Waco (96 degrees). (Intellicast)
• 22 February 1936...Although heat and dust prevailed in the spring and summer, early 1936 brought record cold to parts of the U.S. Sioux Center, IA reported 42 inches of snow on the ground, a state record. (20^th-22^nd) (The Weather Channel)
• 22 February 1996...Record heat continued over the south-central states. All-time February high temperatures were set at San Angelo, TX (97 degrees), Wichita Falls, TX (93 degrees), Oklahoma City, OK (92 degrees), and Wichita, KS (87 degrees). (Intellicast)
• 23 February 1998...Otis, OR recorded its 79 straight day of rain, the longest in the contiguous US. The streak began on 7 December 1997 (The Weather Doctor)
• 24 February 1905...The temperature at Valley Head, AL fell to 18 degrees below zero, which was the lowest temperature ever recorded in Alabama until January 1966. (Intellicast)
• 24-26 February 1910...Parts of Washington State were in the midst of a storm that produced 129 inches of snow at Laconia between the 24^th and the 26^th, a single storm record for the state. A series of storms, which began on the 23^rd, led to a deadly avalanche on the first of March. By late on the 28^th, the snow had changed to rain, setting the stage for disaster. (The Weather Channel)
• 24 February 1994...The Crystal Mountain ski resort in Washington State recorded 65 inches of snow in a 24 hour period, the state record for 24 hour snowfall. (Intellicast)
• 25 February 1914...South Carolina had its biggest snowstorm in modern history, as 18 inches fell at Society Hill. (Intellicast)
• 25 February 1922...The temperature at Los Angeles, CA soared to 92 degrees to establish a record for the month of February. (David Ludlum)
• 26 February 1969...Both Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME set new single storm snowfall records with 33.8 inches and 26.9 inches, respectively. (Intellicast)
• 27 February 1717...What was perhaps the greatest snow in New England history commenced on this date. During a ten-day period, a series of four snowstorms dumped three feet of snow upon Boston, and the city was snowbound for two weeks. Up to six feet of snow was reported farther to the north, and drifts covered many one-story homes. (David Ludlum)
• 27 February 1988...Rapid City, SD established a February record with an afternoon high of 75 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

Return to DataStreme ECS website

Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.