WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

23-27 June 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

Lightning Awareness Week -- The nation will celebrate its annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 22 through 28 June 2014, as declared by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS). On average, 55 people in the nation are killed annual by lightning and numerous more are injured. A cartoon character, Leon the Lightning Lion, is promoting the slogan "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!" NWS, in conjunction with other sponsors, has a "Lightning Safety" website, http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/, that has links to a variety of informational and teacher resource materials. As many as 30 states are also observing this week with statewide activities.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

New carbon observing satellite readied for launch -- Scientists and engineers are readying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft for a scheduled launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on 1 July 2014. This spacecraft is designed to measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere in order to obtain a more detailed and global depiction of the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Legacy of QuikScat to be extended to RapidScat -- The 15th anniversary of the launch of NASA's QuikSCAT satellite was observed during the last week. The scatterometer onboard this satellite has provided invaluable data on surface wind patterns over the global oceans, which helped provide improved weather forecasting around the world. Although this satellite has operated well beyond the intended three-year mission and following a partial instrument failure in 2009, it will now be used to help calibrate ISS-RapidScat, the successor that will maintain QuikScat's unbroken ocean wind data record from the International Space Station (ISS). [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 IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE

California fish hatcheries are evacuating due to drought and heat -- Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported early last week that two state fish hatcheries are evacuating their rainbow trout, salmon, and steelhead to save the fish from rising water temperatures created by the unseasonably warm weather and the prolonged drought in the Sacramento Valley. Anticipated low water flow into the hatcheries would bring such warm water later in the summer making conditions inhabitable for these fish species. [Los Angeles Times]

CLIMATE FORCING

Ground validation and hydrology campaign draws to a close -- During the last week the six-week field campaign called the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) concluded. This field campaign was a partnership between NASA, NOAA and Duke University that was designed to study precipitation over mountainous terrain of the Appalachians near the East Coast of the US. In addition, IPHEx represented a ground validation effort for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, an international satellite mission launched in February. Precipitation data were collected from conventional rain gauges and radar units across western North Carolina and from a NASA high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. These data were compared with data obtained from GPM's Core Observatory, which will provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours. [NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center]
Undergraduate college students participate in Earth Science research from airborne lab -- The eight-week NASA's 2014 Student Airborne Research Program began last week at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's facility in Palmdale, California with 32 undergraduate students majoring in science, mathematics and engineering at colleges and universities located from around the nation. These students will fly onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory and measure pollution, aerosols and air quality in the Los Angeles basin and California's central Valley. In addition, they will study forest ecology in the Sierra Nevada and ocean biology along the California coast using remote sensing instruments. [NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

New Seasonal Climate Outlooks for this summer issued -- Near the end of last week, forecasters at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released their new national Three-Month (Seasonal) Climate Outlooks new three-month seasonal national climate outlooks for July through September 2014, corresponding to the last two months of the meteorological summer season (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the first month of meteorological autumn. Specific details of their outlooks include:
- Temperature and precipitation outlooks -- According to their temperature outlook, states along the West Coast along with some sections of the Intermountain West should experience a high chance of above average temperatures for these three upcoming months. To the east, a wide area extending eastward from the southern Plains to the Southeast and northward into the Middle Atlantic Coast would also appear to have a good chance for having above average temperatures. On the other hand, sections of the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest could have a better than even chance of below average temperatures running through the end of September. Their outlook indicates that the remainder of the nation would have nearly equal chances of warmer or cooler than normal conditions.
  Their precipitation outlook calls for better than even chances of dry conditions for the summer and early autumn of 2014 along the western and central Gulf Coast, running from the lower Gulf Coast to the western Florida Panhandle. Conversely, the outlook would suggest a good chance of a wet summer across the Rockies, the western Plains and the Intermountain West, with the highest probability of precipitation centered on the Four Corners area of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The rest of the 48 contiguous states should have equal chances of below and above average summer precipitation.
  A summary of the prognostic discussion of the 3-month outlook for non-technical users is available from CPC. These forecasts were based in part that the current ENSO-neutral conditions (ENSO = El Niño/Southern Oscillation) with neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions should be replaced by an El Niño event by the end of summer. A description is also provided as how to read these 3-class, 3-month Outlook maps.
- Seasonal Drought Outlook released -- The forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center also released their US Seasonal Drought Outlook last week that would run from late-June through September 2014. Their outlook would call for persistence or development of drought conditions across the southern Plains, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, along with the West Coast that would include California and sections of Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Several areas across the West could experience some improvement in drought conditions, including sections of the southern and central Plains, the southern Rockies, the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. Some of these areas could have drought conditions removed. Note: a Seasonal Drought Outlook Discussion is included describing the forecasters' confidence.
Anticipated El Niño could result in more extreme weather across nation in 2014 -- A new monthly report recently issued by NOAA's National Weather Service and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University claims that the odds for the development of an El Niño event during this upcoming summer have risen from 65 to 70 percent and that the possibility for such an event during the fall and winter has reached 80 percent. (An El Niño event is an anomalous large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation pattern featuring warmer than average water in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.) Climate scientists claim that this anticipated El Niño event could result in extreme weather and climate events including drought in some areas of the nation and floods in other areas. [Scientific American] [NOAA Climate.gov]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

23 June 1902...The temperature at Volcano Springs, CA soared to 129 degrees to set a June record high temperature for the U.S. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
23 June 1982...The temperature fell to all-time record low of 117 degrees below zero for Antarctica's South Pole Weather Station. (The Weather Doctor)
24 June 1946...Mellen, WI received 11.72 inches of rain, setting a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Badger State. (NCDC)
24 June 1972...Rainier Park Ranger Station in Washington State had 4.4 inches of snow on this day. This turned out to be the last snowfall for the 1971-72 season and brought the seasonal total to 1122 inches -- a new single season snowfall record for the U.S. (Intellicast)
24 June 1988...Forty-three cities reported record high temperatures for the date. Valentine, NE reported an all-time record high of 110 degrees, and highs of 102 degrees at Casper, WY, 103 degrees at Reno, NV, and 106 degrees at Winnemucca, NV were records for the month of June. Highs of 98 degrees at Logan, UT and 109 degrees at Rapid City, SD equaled June records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
25 June 1925...The mercury hit 101 degrees at Portland, OR, their earliest 100 degree reading of record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
25 June 1953...The temperature at Anchorage, AK soared to 86 degrees, their highest reading of record. (The Weather Channel)
25 June 1988...Fifty-two cities in the central and eastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Highs of 100 degrees at Erie, PA and 104 degrees at Cleveland, OH established all- time records for those two locations. Highs of 101 degrees at Flint, MI, 105 degrees at Chicago, IL, and 106 degrees at Fort Wayne, IN equaled all-time records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
Southwestern Ontario experienced a heat wave as the mercury soared to 104.4 degrees in Windsor and 100.8 degrees in London, the hottest day ever recorded in these cities. (The Weather Doctor)
26 June 1931...The temperature soared to 92 degrees at Anchorage, AK, the highest reading of record to date for that city. (The Weather Doctor)
27 June 1915...The temperature at Fort Yukon, AK soared to 100 degrees to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
27 June 1988...The afternoon high of 107 degrees at Bismarck, ND was a record for the month of June, and Pensacola, FL equaled their June record with a reading of 101 degrees. Temperatures in the Great Lakes Region and the Ohio Valley dipped into the 40s. (The National Weather Summary)
27 June 1994...The temperature reached 122 degrees at the Waste Isolation Treatment Plant east of Carlsbad, NM to set the state high temperature record for New Mexico. In Oklahoma, the temperature at the mesonet station near Tipton reached 120 degrees, setting an all-time record for the Sooner State. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 June 1892...The temperature at Orogrande, UT soared to 116 degrees to establish a record for the Beehive State. This record was broken by one degree in July 1985. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
28 June 1954...The temperature at Camden, SC reached 111 degrees to establish an all-time high temperature record for the Palmetto State. (NCDC)
28 June 1960...The maximum 24-hour precipitation record for the Bluegrass State was established at Dunmor, KY when 10.40 inches fell. (NCDC)
28 June 1976...Temperature reached 96 degrees in Southampton, England's Mayflower Park for the highest temperature ever in June in England. (The Weather Doctor)
28 June 1980...The temperature at Wichita Falls, TX soared to 117 degrees, their highest reading of record. Daily highs were 110 degrees or above between the 24^th of June and the 3^rd of July. (The Weather Channel)
28 June 1994...Laughlin, NV reached 125 degrees, the state's all-time record high temperature. (Intellicast) The temperature at Monahans, TX reached 120 degrees to set a new high temperature record for the Lone Star State. (NCDC)
29 June 1931...The temperature at Monticello, FL hit 109 degrees to establish an all-time record for the Sunshine State. (The Weather Channel)
29 June 1975...Litchville recorded 8.10 inches of rain for North Dakota's state 24-hour precipitation record. (NCDC)
29 June 1988...Jackson, MS equaled their record for the month of June with an afternoon high of 105 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
29 June 1994...The mercury hit a scorching 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City, AZ to set a new all-time record high temperature for the Grand Canyon State. This reading also tied the one at Death Valley, CA on the same day for the US June record. The previous state record for Arizona was 127 degrees set at Parker on 7 July 1905. The temperature at Laughlin, NV reached 125 degrees, which also set an all-time record high temperature for the Silver State. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Australia: was a 9.4 degree below zero reading at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, Australia. (The Weather Doctor)

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