WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

18-22 August 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

New all-time 24-hour rainfall record for New York State set -- On Wednesday, 13 August 2014, 13.57 inches of rain fell at Islip on New York's Long Island, which established a new 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the entire state of New York, breaking the previous record of 11.6 inches at Tannersville, NY in August 2011 during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. Flash floods created by this past week's excessive rain event caused damage to many homes, closed many roads and caused the formation of a huge sinkhole. [The Weather Channel] (Editor's note: This new 24-hour precipitation record for New York State will become official following approval by the State Climate Extremes Committee. EJH )
Climate resources for educators -- Experts in climate science education associated with NOAA, the NCAnet Education Affinity Group and the CLEAN Network recently published a series of guides designed to help educators use the regional chapters of the 2014 National Climate Assessment Report for teaching and learning. These guides aim to identify key messages for each of the 10 regions and point to high-quality teaching resources that support the messages. This new set of resources also shows how content in the National Climate Assessment is useful and relevant for integrating the Next Generation Science Standards and their emphasis on engineering design into science education; the overview on this topic gives specific examples for both Middle School and High School standards. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2014 Campaign continues -- The series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2014 will continue with a 10-night campaign through 24 August. 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 (Hercules in the Northern Hemisphere, and Sagittarius in the Southern Hemisphere) with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. [GLOBE at Night]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

July 2014 weather and climate for the nation reviewed -- Scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently reported on their analysis of preliminary weather data collected during the month of July 2014:

National weather and climate -- When averaged across the coterminous United States, the average temperature for the contiguous US during July was 73.3 degrees F, or 0.3 Fahrenheit degrees below the 20th century (1901-2000) average. Therefore, July 2014 was the 48th coldest July since comprehensive nationwide temperature records began in 1895. With the exception of Florida and coastal states in New England, many of the states lying to the east of the Rocky Mountains reported statewide temperatures that were below to much below July averages, especially across the Mississippi Valley. Arkansas and Indiana had their coldest Julys on record, while Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi reported their the second lowest July temperatures on record, followed by Iowa, Ohio and Tennessee with their third lowest statewide temperatures for July. On the other hand, the states from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast had above to much above July statewide temperatures. Oregon reported its second highest July statewide temperature in 120 years, while statewide temperatures in California, Idaho and Washington were fifth highest and Nevada and Utah had July 2014 temperatures that were seventh highest.
The nationally-averaged July precipitation total of 2.55 inches was 0.23 inches below the 20th century average, which made July 2014 the 26th driest July in the 120-year record for the contiguous United States. Many states across the northern Plains, the Ohio Valley and the Southeast had July 2014 statewide precipitation totals that were below to much below the 20th century average. South Dakota reported the sixth smallest July precipitation total on record, while Alabama had its ninth smallest. The Northeastern States had above to much above average precipitation in July, with Maine having its fifth wettest July since 1895. A few states scattered across the southern Plains and the West also had above average precipitation for the recently concluded month. [NOAA National Climatic Data Center]
July national drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its July 2014 drought report online. Based on the Palmer Drought Index, severe to extreme drought affected about 19 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of July 2014, a decrease of about two percent from the previous month. About nine percent of the contiguous U.S. fell in the severely to extremely wet categories.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Snow cover on Arctic sea ice has thinned substantially in last 50 years -- Researchers from NASA and several academic research institutions including the University of Washington recently reported that springtime snow on sea ice in the Arctic has thinned significantly in the last 50 years, by approximately 30 percent in the Western Hemisphere and by nearly 50 percent near Alaska. They base their conclusions on measurements of snow depth obtained from instrumented buoys and ice floes staffed by Soviet scientists from the 1950s through the 1990s along with more recent data obtained from NASA's Bromide, Ozone, and Mercury Experiment (BROMEX) field campaign, NASA's Operation IceBridge flights. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
NASA's new carbon monitoring satellite reaches final orbit and begins sending data -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) spacecraft that was launched in early July began sending data during the first week of August after reaching its final near polar orbit. Spectrometers onboard OCO-2 recorded spectral data that provides the chemical signature of molecular oxygen or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
Monitoring surface winds over oceans by watching surface waves from space -- Instruments called scatterometers that collect data used to describe the state of the sea surface and hence the near surface winds over the oceans are described. A time line shows the use of scatterometers on NASA's satellites beginning in the 1970s through the newest version called NASA's ISS-RapidScat that will be placed on the International Space Station this fall. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
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 FORCING

Dust veil across Red Sea seen from space -- A natural color image obtained during the first week of August from the MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite shows a widespread cloud of airborne dust being transported across the Red Sea from sections of interior Africa. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Ocean sediments reveal a climate surprise -- Geochemists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and colleagues from other academic institutions have found that projected warmer future climates may not degrade oxygen supplies in some parts of the oceans as previously thought. Analyzing sediment cores collected in the eastern North Pacific, these researchers found that despite warming of ocean waters during the 20th century, dissolved oxygen has increased along the coasts, especially off southern California and northern Mexico. Apparently the warming has weakened the trade winds, which stirred fewer nutrients from deep waters up toward the surface and reduced the growth of oxygen-consuming algae. [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Exploring why some La Niña events linger -- Researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Hawaii have been conducting a modeling study with the NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM4) designed to identify the process that apparently determines why La Niña events may often last twice as long as typical El Niño events. Apparently, the depth of the thermocline in the central Pacific appears related to the duration of a subsequent La Niña event. Their research may have major implications for seasonal predictions with lead times extending more than a year into the future. [NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Determining highest temperatures in Earth's history -- Earth scientists have been using a variety of proxy indicators to determine how warm planet Earth has been during its 4.54-billion-year life. Apparently, temperatures on the early Earth history as the planet was forming were approximately 3680 degrees Fahrenheit. Later, one of the warmest times was near the end of the Neoproterozoic (between 600 and 800 million years ago) when global average temperatures may have reached at least 90 degrees. Another warm period occurred during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (about 56 million years ago) when the global average temperature was approximately 73 degrees, which is still above the present global average of almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

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

Historical Events:

18 August 1924...A record August rainfall for the United Kingdom occurred when 9.4 inches deluged Cannington (Somerset) England. (The Weather Doctor)
18 August 1927...Pressure in unnamed tropical storm fell to 887 millibars (26.18 inches of mercury) over the Pacific Ocean east of Luzon in the Philippines, one of the lowest surface measurements on record. (The Weather Doctor)
18-19 August 1935...The temperature soared to record high levels in each of the Maritime Provinces, with a 98 degree reading at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, 101 degrees in Collegeville, Nova Scotia and 103 degrees in Rexton, New Brunswick. (The Weather Doctor)
18 August 1936...Iowa had its hottest ever August day with the average high temperature for 113 stations being 106.5 degrees Fahrenheit. (Intellicast)
18-19 August 2007...A cooperative observer near Hokah in southeastern Minnesota recorded 15.10 inches of rain, establishing a new 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Gopher State. (NCDC)
19 August 1939...Tuckerton, NJ received 14.81 inches of rain, which established a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Garden State. (NCDC)
19 August 1955...Rains from tropical Storm Diane fell on ground saturated from Tropical Storm Connie a week before. Westfield, MA recorded 18.15 inches in 24 hours, to set a statewide record for the Bay State, while the 24-hour precipitation record for the Nutmeg State was set at Burlington, CT with 12.77 inches. Extreme flooding occurred in all of New England. (Intellicast)
19 August 1960...The heaviest recorded 24-hour precipitation accumulation to date for the Arctic drenched Mould Bay, Northwest Territories with 1.88 inches of rain. (The Weather Doctor)
19 August 1969..."Never say die" Camille let loose a cloudburst in Virginia resulting in flash floods and landslides that killed 151 persons and cause 140 million dollars damage. Massies Hill in Nelson County, Virginia received an estimated 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. This amount is an unofficial record for the state, while the official 24-hour maximum precipitation record is 14.28 inches at Williamsburg on 16 September 1999. (David Ludlum) (NCDC)
19 August 1986...The temperature at San Antonio, TX soared to an all-time record high of 108 degrees. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders 1987)
21 August 1983...The temperature at Fayetteville, NC soared to 110 degrees to establish a state high temperature record. (The Weather Channel)
21 August 1992...The earliest recorded snowfall in Edmonton, Alberta since record keeping began in 1884. (The Weather Doctor)
21 August 2007...Hail with diameters of up to 5.25 inches fell in southeastern South Dakota, resulting in considerable damage to roofs of buildings. The largest hailstone had a circumference of 18.00 inches and weighed 1.0 pound, which represents the largest documented hailstone in South Dakota since records began in 1950. (NCDC)
22 August 1816...The growing season for corn was cut short as damaging frosts were reported from North Carolina to interior New England in the "Year-without-a-Summer". (David Ludlum)
22 August 1976...The temperature soared to record high for Newfoundland: with a 98.1-degree reading at Botwood. (The Weather Doctor)
24 August 1992...Hurricane Andrew slammed into south Florida, devastating the community of Homestead with 181-mph winds. With a central pressure at landfall of 922 millibars (27.22 inches of mercury), which at the time was the third lowest ever recorded in a hurricane at landfall in the United States. Camille (1969) and the Labor Day Hurricane (1935) were more intense. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the third most intense landfalling hurricane with a 920-millibar pressure reading (or 27.17 in Hg) when it reached the Louisiana Gulf Coast. (The Weather Doctor)

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