WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

29 April -3 May 2013

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 2 September 2013. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

High-quality maps of May temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University has prepared high-resolution maps depicting the normal maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation totals for May 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 April, 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.
"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.
Participate in fifth campaign of Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2013 -- The fifth and final GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2013 will begin next Sunday (29 April) and continue into the following week, running through 8 May. 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 this campaign and the four previously held during the early weeks of January, February, March and April. Check the GLOBE at Night website for additional information on this week's activities plus a Teacher Information Page and activity packet.
Kentucky Derby climatology -- With the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby set for next Saturday (4 May 2013), 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 Wednesday (1 May 2013) 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 2013) and the summer solstice (21 June 2013). (Note that Sunday 5 May 2013 is closer to the halfway point between the equinox and solstice. EJH)

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Sea surface temperatures on Northeast Continental Shelf reaches record high levels -- NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center recently announced that sea surface temperatures in the waters of the western North Atlantic off the New England and Middle Atlantic States during 2012 were the highest recorded in 150 years. The region, identified as the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, extends from the Gulf of Maine southward to North Carolina's Outer Banks. In 2012, the sea surface temperature in this region reached a record high of 14 degrees Celsius (57.2 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record high in 1951. Currently SST observations are supplemented by satellite-based observations, extending the 150-year record that originally started with ship-board measurements. Additional information can be obtained from the Center's Spring 2013 Ecosystem Advisory, which covers the fall of 2012 with supporting information. [NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Global climate zone shifts at faster pace due to warmer climate -- Researchers at the NOAA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology warn that as global temperatures increase, the planet's climate zones will continue to shift an accelerating pace, which would mean that plant and animal species inhabiting each zone would have less time to adapt to the climatic changes. In their study, the scientists used the famous Koppen-Geiger a climate zone classification system, which identifies more than 30 different climate zones around the globe based on annual and seasonal cycles of temperature and precipitation, as well as temperature and precipitation thresholds of plant species. [NOAA Research]
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 FORECASTS

Improvement made in Asian monsoon predictions -- Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA have found a crucial connection between the summer monsoon over Asia and the El Niño climate pattern preceding it that could significantly improve the ability of forecasters to reliably predict the monsoon several months in advance. [University of California, San Diego News Center]

CLIMATE FORCING

Daily "Keeling Curve" update to be launched -- Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego has begun posting daily updates of the famous "Keeling Curve," which is a time series of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels obtained from measurements made at Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory and named for the late Charles David (Dave) Keeling, a world-leading authority on atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation and Scripps climate science pioneer. A daily Twitter feed is also available. Currently, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are approaching 400 parts per million across the Northern Hemisphere. [University of California, San Diego News Center]
Sunlight snow appears to help clean air and reduce ozone in Arctic -- Researchers from Purdue University who participated in NASA's Bromine, Ozone and Mercury Experiment (BROMEX) in 2012 have discovered that sunlit surface snowpack over the Arctic sea ice appears to be a major source of atmospheric bromine gas, a halogen gas derived from sea salt. This bromine source represents a key to unique chemical reactions that remove atmospheric pollutants and destroy low level ozone. They also found that the loss of sea ice at increasing rates during recent years could have exceedingly disruptive effects in the atmospheric chemistry across the polar cap. [NSF News]
Biological processes affect ability of sea spray particles to seed clouds -- Scientists at the University of California, San Diego and their colleagues report that biological activity in oceans alters the chemical composition of sea spray in was that ultimately affect the ability of airborne particles produced from sea spray to seed clouds over the ocean. These aerosols derived from sea spray could influence climate by either absorbing or reflecting incident sunlight and by seeding clouds. [University of California, San Diego News Center]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Two-millennia long global cooling trend ended in 19th century -- A international consortium of 78 researchers from 24 nations recently completed a reconstruction of temperature changes on the Earth's continents over the last 2000 years based upon collected proxy climate data. This project was called the "2K Network" of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The researchers found that the long-term cooling trend during these 2000 years, which were caused by fluctuations in the amount and distribution of incoming solar radiation and from increases in volcanic activity, ended in the late 19th century. They also found that the 20th century was the warmest on all the continents except for Antarctica and Africa. [NSF News]
Links between terrestrial climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide found by new geochemical method -- Researchers from the University of Connecticut and other research institutions in the US and the United Kingdom have used a new chemical technique to measure changes in terrestrial temperature associated with changes in the global concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This group was studying the transformation in the warm carbon dioxide-rich "greenhouse" climate to a more variable modern "icehouse" climate with lower amounts of the gas approximately 34 million years ago at the transition between the Late Eocene and the Oligocene epochs. [UConn Today]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Role that trees play in smog production identified -- Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have pinpointed the role in which trees help create air pollutants. They indicate that trees produce and emit isoprene that is intended to protect trees leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations. In addition, the isoprene appears to be involved with photochemical reactions that occur with humanly produced nitrogen oxides to produce aerosols or tiny airborne particles that can adversely affect human health and degrade the environment. [University of North Carolina News]

CLIMATE AND HUMANS

"State of the Air 2013" report released -- Just before the start of Air Quality Awareness Week, the American Lung Association released its 14th annual "State of the Air Report" for the United States, a compilation of analyzed data obtained from air quality monitors around the nation. The current report indicates a long-term trend to much healthier air over the last 14 years. Although the greatest progress came in lower levels of year-round particle pollution across much of the nation, many cities that ranked among the most polluted had more unhealthy days of high ozone and short-term particle pollution than in the 2012 report. An interactive website permits the public to view the "Report Card: What's the Grade for Your Air?" by entering either a postal zip code or a state's name. [American Lung Association]

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.

Historical Events:

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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