WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

2-6 July 2012

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2012 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2012. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Change in seasons -- The beginning of July marks the beginning of the new heating season. Traditionally, meteorologists and climatologists define the heating season to run from 1 July to 30 June of the following year. Heating degree day units are accumulated commencing on 1 July. Likewise, the snow season runs from 1 July through 30 June. Seasonal snowfall totals are also summed from Sunday.
Insertion of extra "leap" second explained -- By international agreement, one second was added to last Saturday (30 June 2012) at 23:59:00 UTC to account for the slowing of the Earth's rotation because of tidal forces between Earth and the Moon. A member of NASA's Space Geodesy Project at the Goddard Space Flight Center described the extremely precise technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) used daily by an international network of stations to conduct observations of the Earth's rotation rate at the same time. [NASA GSFC]
The half-way point -- Midpoint of calendar year 2012 will occur at midnight local standard time on Monday morning, 2 July 2012.
"Dog days" of summer begin -- The "Dog Days" traditionally begin on the third day of July of each year and continue through the eleventh day of August. The hot weather period received its name from Sirius, the brightest visible star in the sky and known as the Dog Star. Sirius rises in the east at the same time as the sun this time of the year. (The Weather Channel)
Way out there!...The earth reaches aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun late Wednesday night (officially at 04Z on Thursday, 5 July 2012, which is equivalent to midnight EDT or 11 PM CDT on Wednesday, the 4th). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,089,000 km, or 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year on the late evening of 2 January 2013.
This year's noctilucent cloud season begins -- Data obtained from sensors onboard NASA's AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) spacecraft indicate the return of noctilucent clouds for the spring over the polar cap in the Northern Hemisphere. These noctilucent clouds, or electric blue ice clouds, are found in the high mesosphere during the summer season at altitudes of approximately 85 km. [NASA GSFC]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

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]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Ancient warming helped greening of Antarctica -- Researchers from the University of Southern California, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Louisiana State University have found that the climate of ancient Antarctica during the middle Miocene (between 20 and 15 million years ago) was sufficiently warm and wet so as to support substantial vegetation that included stunted trees along the edges of the currently frozen continent. The scientists based their findings on sediment core samples retrieved from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. During this ancient time span, greenhouse gas concentrations may have been similar to levels projected for the end of the 21st century. [NASA Earth Mission]

CLIMATE FORCING

Rise in sea level accelerates along US East Coast -- A newly released US Geological Survey report indicates that since approximately 1990, the rates of sea level rise along sections of the US Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to New England are increasing three-to-four times faster than globally. The report also warns that if global temperatures increase as projected, rates of sea level rise for this section of the coast called a "hotspot" should also continue to increase. [USGS Newsroom]
Experimental watershed yields new insights into water and climate --An outdoor experimental watershed laboratory established six years ago by University of Delaware scientists at Fair Hill, MD to investigate water hydrology and biogeochemistry has produced data into how water and chemicals move through forest canopies, soils and watersheds. These studies could be used to understand how future climate change may impact or alter the response of water and the watersheds. [University of Delaware]
Solar tornadoes appear to power solar atmosphere -- Applied mathematicians from the United Kingdom's University of Sheffield, Norway's University of Oslo, Germany's Institute for Solar Physics of Freiburg and Sweden's Uppsala University have discovered "super solar tornadoes" in space could power the atmosphere of the Sun to temperatures that are on the order of millions of degrees Celsius. These solar tornadoes, which have a magnetic skeleton with a width of more than 1000 miles and spin at speed in excess of 6000 mph, carry the energy from the energy reservoir below the Sun's surface, called the convection zone, to the outer atmosphere in the form of magnetic waves. [The University of Sheffield News]
Aerosol structures revealed by X-rays -- Researchers at the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used X-rays from the Laboratory's Linac (Linear accelerator) Coherent Light Source to capture detailed images of airborne soot particles, a key contributor to global warming and a health hazard. [SLAC News Center]

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE

Role of urban greenery in carbon exchange demonstrated -- After taking continuous measurements of the net carbon dioxide exchange in urban vegetation and soils for more than one year, scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Minnesota have concluded that vegetation is important in the uptake of the greenhouse gas, but also that different types of vegetation play different roles in the urban landscape. [University of California, Santa Barbara]
Shrews evolve rapidly due to changing climate -- Scientists from the US Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center and their colleagues from the University of New Mexico and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science report that shrews, or small mammals residing in the Arctic, appear to have rapidly evolved in response to climate change. They base their conclusions on historical climate data and modern molecular evidence from multiple genes that show some shrew species expand geographic ranges and increased population sizes during warmer and wetter climate intervals, while other shrew species respond the same way during colder and drier climate episodes. [USGS Newsroom]

CLIMATE AND IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH

"Beat the Heat, Check the Backseat" slogan to serve as a reminder --The National Weather Service is using the slogan "Beat the Heat, Check the Backseat" to remind people to check for small children in a car seat and to never leave children unattended in a vehicle. In research conducted by Jan Null, Certified Consulting Meteorologist, 534 children have died nationwide from heat stroke suffered while in a vehicle since 1998. [Golden Gate Weather Services]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Agreement reached to improve climate services across the West -- A Memorandum of Agreement was signed last week between the Western Governors Association (WGA) and NOAA that would improve the development and delivery of climate science and services to Western states and the US Pacific islands. [Western Governors' Association News] As part of this initiative, the first Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook was released that is aimed at assisting policy makers as they prepare for drought and other extreme weather events during the summer of 2012. [Western Governors' Association]
Advances in computing claimed to be vital to sustainability efforts -- A new report from the National Research Council claims that advances in computing allowing for the understanding of complex systems and the accounting for uncertainty will be essential to finding solutions to sustainability challenges in such areas as electricity production and delivery, global food production, and climate change. [National Academies News]
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:

2 July 1908...The temperature at Dumfries, Scotland reached 91 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland. (The Weather Doctor)
2 July 1942...The temperature at Portland, OR hit 107 degrees, an all-time record for the city. This record was subsequently reached on three other occasions. (ThreadEx) (Intellicast)
2 July 1989...Midland, TX reported an all-time record high of 112 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
2 July 1998...Italy's highest recorded temperature was 108.5 degrees, set at Catania, Italy: (The Weather Doctor)
2-6 July 1994...Heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Alberto produced major flooding across northern and central Georgia. Three-day rains exceeded 15 inches at Atlanta. An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA on the 6^th to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. Numerous road closures and bridge washouts. Thirty people were killed and 50,000 were forced from their homes, as 800,000 acres were flooded. Total damage exceeded $750 million... (NCDC) (Intellicast)
3 July 1975...Shangdi, Nei Monggol, China received 401 mm (15.78 inches) of rain, the greatest 1-hour rainfall ever recorded on Earth: (The Weather Doctor)
3 July 1966...The northeastern U.S. was in the midst of a sweltering heat wave. The temperature at Philadelphia reached 104 degrees for a second day. Afternoon highs of 102 degrees at Hartford, CT, 105 degrees at Allentown, PA, and 107 degrees at La Guardia Airport in New York City established all-time records for those two locations. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
3 July 1995...The lowest temperature ever recorded in New Zealand was 6.9 degrees below zero at Ophir, New Zealand. (The Weather Doctor)
4 July 1911...The northeastern U.S. experienced sweltering 100-degree heat. The temperature soared to 105 degrees at Vernon, VT and North Bridgton, ME, and to 106 degrees at Nashua, NH, to establish all-time records for those three states. Afternoon highs of 104 degrees at Boston, MA, 104 at Albany, NY, and 103 at Portland, ME, were all-time records for those three cities. (The Weather Channel)
4 July 1956...A world record for the most rain in one minute was set at Unionville, MD with a downpour of 1.23 inches. (The Weather Channel) (The National Severe Storms Forecast Center)
4 July 1989...Independence Day was "hot as a firecracker" across parts of the country. Nineteen cities, mostly in the north central U.S., reported record high temperatures for the date, including Williston, ND with a reading of 107 degrees. In the southwestern U.S., highs of 93 at Alamosa, CO, 114 at Tucson, AZ, and 118 at Phoenix, AZ, equaled all-time records for those locations. (The National Weather Summary)
4 July 2007...The temperature at St. George, UT hit an unofficial temperature reading of 118 degrees, which would have topped the state's all-time record of 117 degrees, set in St. George in 1985. (The Weather Doctor)
5 July 1925...An immense hailstone weighing 227 grams (0.5 lb) fell at Plumstead in London, England, the heaviest hailstone ever recorded in the United Kingdom. (The Weather Doctor)
5 July 1936...The all-time state record high of 120 degrees was set at Gann Valley, SD. (Intellicast)
5 July 1937...The temperature at Medicine Lake, MT soared to 117 degrees to establish a state record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
Midale and Yellow Grass in Saskatchewan hit 113 degrees to establish an all-time record high for Canada that same day. (The Weather Channel)
5 July 1985...The temperature at St. George, UT reached 117 degrees, setting a record high temperature for the Beehive State. (NCDC)
5 July 1986...The low temperature at Boise, ID dropped to a crisp 35 degrees, the coldest ever for the month. (Intellicast)
5 July 1988...Afternoon and evening thunderstorms spawned eleven tornadoes in Montana and three in North Dakota. Baseball size hail was reported at Shonkin, MT, and wind gusts to 85 mph were reported south of Fordville, ND. Twenty cities in the north central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Fargo, ND with a reading of 106 degrees. Muskegon, MI equaled their July record with a high of 95 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
5 July 1989...Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Middle Atlantic Coast Region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to ten inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in seventy years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain. Alamosa, CO reported an all-time record high of 94 degrees, and Pierre, SD hit 113 degrees. Denver, CO reached 101 degrees, topping 100 for the second straight day, only happened once before in 1972 (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
5 July 1993...Heavy rains deluged the Central Plains as one of the greatest floods in U.S. history began to unfold. Twenty-four hour totals included 5.90 inches at Columbia, IA, 5.15 inches at Centralia, KS and 4.80 inches at Haddam, KS. (Intellicast)
6 July 1928...A hailstorm at Potter, NE produced a stone that was 5.5 inches in diameter, and seventeen inches in circumference, weighing a pound and a half. At the time, it was the world's largest hailstone. (David Ludlum) (Wikipedia)
6 July 1921...The mercury hit 104 degrees at Ville Marie, Quebec, marking Quebec's highest temperature on record. (The Weather Doctor)
6 July 1936...Steele, ND reached 121 degrees, the state record. Moorhead, MN reached 114 degrees to set a record high temperature for the Gopher State. (Intellicast) (NCDC).
6 July 1988...Thirty-six cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 98 degrees at International Falls, MN and 101 degrees at Flint, MI equaled all-time records. Highs of 96 degrees at Muskegon, MI and 97 degrees at Buffalo, NY were records for July. (The National Weather Summary)
6 July 1994...An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. (NCDC)
7 July 1889...The greatest 20-minute rainfall ever recorded on Earth occurred when 8.1 inches of rain fell on Curtea-de-Arges, Romania. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1905...The mercury soared to 127 degrees at Parker, AZ to tie the state record established at Fort Mohave on 15 June 1896. (The Weather Channel)
7 July 1982...France's hottest day on record occurred at Le Luc near St. Tropez when the high reached 108.9 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1988...Thirty-eight cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Youngstown, OH hit 100 degrees, and for the second day in a row, Flint, MI reached 101 degrees, equaling all-time records for those two cities. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 1936...The temperature hit an all-time record high of 106 degrees at the Central Park Observatory in New York City, a record that lasted until La Guardia Airport hit 107 degrees on 3 July 1966. (The Weather Channel)
8 July 1989...Sixteen cities in the central and western U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The high of 103 degrees at Denver, CO equaled their record for July, and a 110-degree reading at Rapid City, SD equaled their all-time record high. Denver reported a record five straight days of 100 degree heat, and Scottsbluff, NE reported a record eight days in a row of 100 degree weather. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 2003...Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf, recorded a dewpoint of 95 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)

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