WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

28 April- 2 May 2014

DataStreme Earth Climate System will return for Fall 2014 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2014. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

"True color" portrait of planet on Earth Day 2014 -- Two true color images were made of planet Earth from data collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite on Earth Day (Tuesday, 22 April 2014). One of the images (left) shows North and South America along with the North Atlantic Ocean in the Western Hemisphere, while the other image shows Eurasia, Australia and the Indian Ocean. A true color image uses several wavelength bands to closely approximate what the human eye would see. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
Postage stamp celebrates Earth Day 2014 -- As part of last week's celebration of Earth Day 2014, the US Postal Service issued The Global: Sea Surface Temperatures Forever Stamp that depicts sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic basins generated by a numerical climate model run at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. [US Postal Service News] A YouTube video shows how the NOAA climate model used sea surface temperature data obtained from satellites to produce the final image for the stamp. [NOAA Research]
NOAA Administrator honored as one of Time's 100 most influential people -- NOAA's Administrator and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Kathryn Sullivan, was recently recognized by Time magazine as being one of its 100 Most Influential People that include leaders, pioneers, icons and artists. She was a former astronaut, having flown on three Space Shuttle missions. Senator John Glenn, one of the nation's original astronauts, called Dr. Sullivan "the world's weatherwoman." [Time.com]
"Be Air Aware" -- National Weather Service and the US Environmental Protection Agency have announced that this upcoming week (29 April-3 May 2013) is Air Quality Awareness Week and they are urging Americans to "Be Air Aware." [NOAA Air Quality] Individual states and localities will have specific Air Quality Awareness Week activities. Air quality curriculum resources, activities and materials are available in Tools for Teachers.
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2014 Campaign is underway -- The fourth of a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2014, which began at the start of last week, will run through Tuesday (29 April). 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 20-29 April campaign, the one remaining GLOBE at Night campaigns during the first five months of 2014 will be on 19-28 May. [GLOBE at Night]
Kentucky Derby climatology -- With the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby set for next Saturday (3 May 2014), the National Weather Service's Louisville (KY) Forecast Office has posted a climatology for Derby Day, including the historical weather extremes. [Louisville NWSFO]
Between equinox and solstice -- Next Thursday (1 May 2014) will be May Day, which had its origins as a great Celtic festival Beltane. This date is close to the traditional "cross quarter" day, roughly halfway between the vernal equinox (20 March 2014) and the summer solstice (21 June 2014). (Note that Sunday 5 May 2014 is closer to the halfway point between the equinox and solstice. EJH)
High-quality maps of May temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University's website has prepared high-resolution maps depicting the normal maximum, minimum and precipitation totals for May and other months 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.
May weather calendar for a city near you -- The Midwestern Regional Climate Center maintains an interactive website that permits the public to produce a ready to print weather calendar for any given month of the year, such as May, at any of approximately 270 weather stations around the nation. (These stations are NOAA's ThreadEx stations.) The entries for each day of the month includes: Normal maximum temperature, normal minimum temperature, normal daily heating and cooling degree days, normal daily precipitation, record maximum temperature, record minimum temperature, and record daily precipitation; the current normals for 1981-2010.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Ice cover persists on Lake Superior -- A natural-image made at the start of last week by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite showed that 63.5 percent of Lake Superior remained covered by ice as of 20 April 2014. According to a researcher at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the extent of the ice cover is significantly more than average and that the ice remains abnormally thick. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Review of global weather and climate for March 2014 -- 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 March 2014 was the fourth highest for any March since sufficiently detailed global climate records began in 1880. The global temperature for March 2014 was 1.28 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) average. When considered separately, the average land temperature was the fifth highest for any March since 1880, while the temperature over the oceans tied 2004 for the fifth highest for March. ENSO-neutral conditions (ENSO = El Niño/Southern Oscillation), which began in early 2012, continued through March, with slightly below average sea surface temperatures across the eastern equatorial Pacific. These ENSO-neutral conditions should continue through the remainder of boreal spring, with a 50 percent chance of the development of an El Niño event by June.
The researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center noted the areal extent of the Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent near the end of the third week of March. The areal extent of this sea ice for March 2014 was the fifth smallest since satellite surveillance began in 1979. Conversely, the extent of the Antarctic sea ice was the third largest in the 36-season record. According to data from the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent for March was the sixth smallest in the 48-year period of record. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate] A global map of Selected Significant Climate Anomalies and Events for March 2013 is available from NCDC.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

First instrument readied for nation's next polar orbiting environmental satellite -- During the past week the first of five instruments that will be used onboard NOAA's next polar orbiting environmental satellite successfully completed a pre-shipment review. This instrument, called the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), will measure reflected sunlight and infrared radiation emitted by the Earth from the NOAA/NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 satellite scheduled for launch in early 2017. Data from CERES would be used to monitor the Earth's energy balance and improve monitoring of large-scale events such as El Niño and La Niña. Weather and climate forecasts should also be improved by the CERES data. [NOAA News]
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]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Satellites reveal toll taken on Congo rainforest by drought -- An international team of researchers using vegetative "greenness" data derived by NASA satellites claim that Africa's Congo rainforest has undergone a large-scale decline in greenness between 2000 and 2012. This decline has expanded across a larger area of forest and has intensified. The researchers attribute the decline in part to a persistent drought in the Congo region since 2000. [NASA Headquarters]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Krypton used to accurately date ancient Antarctic ice -- An international team of scientists have employed a new radiometric dating technique that uses krypton to identify the age of 120,000-year old Antarctic ice. Ultimately, this technique should be able to date ice that would be more than one million years old. [Oregon State University News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

NOAA's Arctic Action Plan released -- During the last week, NOAA officials released the agency's "Arctic Action Plan," a document designed as a road map to NOAA scientists and colleagues for monitoring, understanding and protecting the Arctic environment, especially as a changing climate is impacting the region. An integrated overview of NOAA's diverse Arctic programs is also provided that details how the goals set forth in the President's National Strategy for the Arctic Region are supported. [NOAA Arctic Theme Page]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

28 April 1973...The all-time record crest of the Mississippi River at St. Louis, MO was recorded at 43.3 ft, exceeding the former 1884 mark by 1.9 ft. (Intellicast) This record has since been exceeded by a record flood level of 49.6 feet on 1 August 1993. (National Weather Service)
29 April 1910...The temperature at Kansas City, MO soared to 95 degrees to establish a record for the month of April. Four days earlier the afternoon high in Kansas City was 44 degrees, following a record cold morning low of 34 degrees. (The Weather Channel) (The Kansas City Weather Almanac)
North America's deadliest rockslide was caused by snowmelt followed by temperatures near zero degrees Fahrenheit that caused water in the rock joints under Turtle Mountain in the Canadian Rockies to freeze and expand. Ninety million tons of limestone fell some 3000 ft onto Frank, AB. As many as 70 people died as the result of the rockslide. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
29 April 1912...The highest temperature ever recorded in Oceania was 108 degrees that occurred on this date at Tuguegarao, Philippines. (The Weather Doctor)
29 April 1973...The Mississippi River reached a crest of 43.4 ft at St. Louis, MO, breaking the previous record of 42 ft established in 1785. (David Ludlum)
30 April 1888...World's deadliest hailstorm occurred at Moradabad, India as enormous hailstones killed 230 persons and many livestock. An additional 16 people died in another town. (The Weather Doctor)
30 April 1991...Memphis, TN set a new monthly rainfall record for April with 17.13 inches of rain. The old record was 13.90 inches set back in 1877. (Intellicast)
30 April 1994...The rain finally stopped on the Kaneohe Ranch on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, ending a streak of 247 consecutive days of rain that began 27 August 1993. (The Weather Doctor)
1 May 1854...After 66 hours of steady rain, the Connecticut River reached a level of nearly twenty-nine feet (28 feet 10.5 inches) at Hartford, CT (the highest level of record until that time). The record height was reached in the midst of a great New England flood that followed sixty-six hours of steady rain. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
1 May 1935...Snow, ice and sleet brought winter back to parts of southeast Minnesota. Minneapolis received three inches of snow to tie their May record that was established in 1892. (1^st-2^nd) (The Weather Channel)
1 May 1954...The temperature at Polebridge, MT dipped to 5 degrees below zero to establish a state record for the month of May. (The Weather Channel)
2 May 1899...A storm buried Havre, MT under 24.8 inches of snow, an all-time record for that location. The water equivalent of 2.48 inches was a record 24-hour total for the month of May. (The Weather Channel)

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