19-23 December 2011

DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems will return for Spring 2012 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 16 January 2012. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Climate News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Happy Holidays to you and yours from the AMS DS Earth's Climate Systems Central Staff!

• Happy Winter Solstice! The winter solstice will occur during the overnight hours of Wednesday (21 December 2011) and Thursday (the 22nd, or officially, on 22 December 2011 at 0530Z, or 12:30 AM EST, 11:30 PM CST on Wednesday, etc.). At that time, the earth's spin axis will be oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest south in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical winter, the British call that day the "Midwinter Day", as the apparent sun will begin its northward climb again. For essentially all locations in the Northern Hemisphere, Wednesday night will be the longest and the daylight on Thursday will be the shortest of the year. Starting Friday, the length of darkness will begin to shrink as we head toward the summer solstice on 20 June 2012 at 2309Z.
• Dreaming of a White Christmas -- Using data collected from 340 first order stations for the 1961-1990 standard 30-year climatological reference interval, the National Climatic Data Center produced a "White Christmas?" report. A national map in this report shows the ratio of the number of times that a particular station experienced a white Christmas during the interval as a probability. For example, Des Moines, IA had only 15 Christmases between 1961 and 1990 when an inch or more snow cover was observed, so the probability that residents of Iowa's capital city would have a white Christmas is 50%. Across the nation, some locations are almost certain to have a white Christmas. These places can be found along the Canadian border surrounding the Great Lakes, such as International Falls, MN and Marquette, MI (both with 100%) and in New England, such as at Caribou, ME (97%). Stations at higher elevations in the Rockies also have a higher probability, such as at Flagstaff, AZ with a 56%. Sites close to the oceans typically have a lower probability, as the oceans tend to be relatively warm at this time of year. Thus, some coastal Alaskan stations have less than a 50% probability. Santa typically finds tough sledding on his journey to that half of the country south of latitude 40 degrees that is not mountainous, where chances of a white Christmas fall from 50% to 20% or less. You can monitor the current snow cover across North America using a snow chart that is based upon satellite data.
• Extreme Weather 2011 unveiled -- In a kickoff effort leading to a "weather ready nation," NOAA's National Weather Service created a webpage entitled "Extreme Weather 2011" -- contains a variety of animated satellite images of the 12 most destructive weather events across the nation during the current year. [NOAA]

• A global review of November 2011 temperatures -- Preliminary analysis of temperature data by scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center indicates that the worldwide combined ocean and land surface temperature for November 2011 ranked as the twelfth highest global November surface temperature since a sufficiently dense and reliable network began in 1880. They also found that the global ocean surface temperature was the twelfth highest for November, while that month's globally averaged land surface temperature for November 2011 was the sixteenth highest on record. The scientists also reported that the combined land and ocean surface temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere autumn (September-November 2011) were the twelfth highest for all boreal autumn seasons going back to 1880. Furthermore, when averaged over the first ten months of 2011, the combined ocean and land surface temperature was the eleventh highest January through October average in 132 years of record. La Niña conditions continued during November and could extend through Northern Hemisphere winter (December 2011-February 2012), which could affect global ocean temperatures in the upcoming months.
  The average Arctic sea ice extent for November 2011 was the third lowest November sea ice extent since satellite surveillance began in 1979. The November sea ice extent around Antarctica was the eleventh smallest on record. [NOAA News]
  NOTE: The National Climatic Data Center has been using an upgraded data set of monthly mean temperatures in calculating global land surface temperature anomalies and trends for its Global Monthly State of the Climate Report.
• November drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its November 2011 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately 20 percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of November, while 21 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.

• Phase switch in the Arctic Oscillation yields different weather regimes -- Scientists with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) recently produced two graphics that show differences in the atmospheric pressure distribution across the Arctic basin between November 2010 and November 2011. These distributions can be associated with the Arctic Oscillation, a cyclic feature affecting seasonal weather patterns. In November 2010, the distribution led to what is called a "negative phase" of the Arctic Oscillation with high pressure situated over Greenland, resulting in cold arctic air masses being spread across northern Europe, Canada and the eastern US. However, in 2011, a "positive phase" was found in the Arctic Oscillation, with lower pressure over Greenland and warmer weather across much of the region. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
• A decade milestone of mapping the "middle atmosphere" reached --NASA recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of the launch of its TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) spacecraft from California's Vandenberg AFB into a 388-mile high circular orbit around the Earth that was designed to make observations of the planet's "middle atmosphere." This region, at altitudes between 40 to 110 miles above sea level, encompasses the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, together with a portion of the ionosphere. Data gathered from the TIMED satellite has helped provide new information on this poorly understood atmospheric layer that is subject to dramatic energy fluctuations from the Sun. [NASA GSFC]
• Curiosity rover begins monitoring space weather on its trip to Mars -- NASA's Curiosity rover that was launched nearly four weeks ago on an eight-month trip to Mars aboard the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft has begun monitoring space radiation. The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), an instrument mounted on the rover, is monitoring the potentially harmful radiation and high-energy atomic and subatomic particles emitted from the Sun and other sources. [NASA JPL] Concurrent to the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, a magnetic filament erupted from the Sun's surface and sent a coronal mass ejection (CME) out toward Mars. [NASA Science 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]
• 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]

• Three-month seasonal weather outlook released -- Late last week, forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released their three month outlook across the nation for January, February and March 2012, which includes the last two months of meteorological winter (the three months of December through February). They feel that the current La Niña conditions (an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that tends to favor lower than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific) should continue to affect the winter weather. In the temperature outlook, the forecasters foresee a better than equal chance for below average winter and early spring temperatures across the West Coast, especially in the Pacific Northwest and in southern California, along with sections of the northern Rockies and northern high Plains. On the other hand, they anticipate a better than even chance of above average winter temperatures across a large section of the nation, primarily in the south central region from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to the central Gulf Coast and the Tennessee Valley. Other areas that could see above average temperatures would be along the Eastern Seaboard north to the Middle Atlantic States and across sections of the Midwest and central Plains. Elsewhere, equal chances of either below or above average temperature were anticipated.
  The CPC three-month precipitation outlook calls for better than even chances that the southern tier of states, especially over Arizona and New Mexico, along with the Florida Peninsula and other sections of the Southeastern States could experience dry conditions during the first three months of 2012. On the other hand, the interior Northwest, the northern Rockies and the adjacent northern Plains, along with sections of the Midwest, extending from the lower Ohio Valley to the eastern Great Lakes, should have better than equal chances of above average January-March precipitation. A summary of the prognostic discussion of the outlook for non-technical users is available from CPC.
• National seasonal drought outlook issued -- The forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center also issued their US Seasonal Drought Outlook that would run from mid December 2011 through the end of March 2012, covering the rest of meteorological winter and the first month of meteorological spring. These forecasters foresee persistence in the current drought conditions across the southern tier of states, from Arizona eastward to coastal Georgia and South Carolina along with areas of the Upper Midwest from northern Minnesota through the eastern Dakotas into eastern Nebraska. In addition, new drought areas could develop across southern sections of California and across sections of the Southeast, including Florida and North Carolina. However, improvement in the current drought conditions were expected across sections of the southern Plains and the Ozark Plateau along with scattered area of the southern Appalachians. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]

• Paleoclimate record used to reveal future rapid changes in climate -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently compared the climate of the current Holocene interglacial epoch with several previous similar interglacial epochs such as during the Eemian period (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) to see how the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets would react to increases in global temperature. [NASA's Earth Science News Team]

• Acid rain poses a threat to sugar maples in the Great Lakes States -- Ecologists at the University of Michigan and their colleagues recently reported that the number of sugar maple trees in the forests of surrounding the Upper Great Lakes appears to be declining in the next several decades due to acid rain, which had not been recognized previously as a threat. The researchers claim that excess nitrogen from the acid rain slows decay of leaf litter in the forests and reduces the number of new seedlings. [University of Michigan News Service]
• Large changes in ecosystems could occur with changing climate -- Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology who have been using computer models to investigate potential changes in how plant life would change in the future due to changes in climate claim that by 2100, the human induced climate change would modify the plant communities on nearly half of the Earth's land surface. They also note that nearly 40 percent of the land-based ecosystems would shift from one major ecological community toward another. [NASA JPL]
• New biodegradable spray creates natural antifreeze -- Researchers at the University of Alabama and Miami University of Ohio have developed an all-natural eco-friendly foliar spray that provides plants with protection from cold damage and mortality by enhancing the plant's natural antifreeze properties. [EurekAlert!]

• Landmark deal approved at UN climate conference -- Agreement was reached one week ago at the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa on a complex program designed to set a new course for the global fight against future climate change. Negotiations were started on a new accord that would place all nations under the same legal regime enforcing commitments to control greenhouse gases. [USA Today]
• 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.

• 19 December 1911...A 24-hour snowfall record occurred in Oklahoma with 22 inches at Beaver. (Intellicast)
• 19 December 1924...The Riverside Ranger Station in Yellowstone Park, WY reported a low of 59 degrees below zero, a December record for the contiguous U.S. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 19 December 1967...The second heavy snow in a week brought a total of 86 inches of snow to Flagstaff, AZ with a record snow depth of 83 inches. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum)
• 20 December 1989... Squalls produced more heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Erie, PA received 21 inches of snow, including four inches in one hour, to bring their total snow cover to 39 inches, an all-time record for that location. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 20 December 1990...Snow fell at Santa Maria, CA for the first time since records were kept. (Intellicast)
• 21 December 1892...Portland, OR was buried under an all-time record 27.5 inches of snow. (21^st-24^th) (The Weather Channel)
• 21 December 1989...Forty cities in the north central U.S., including thirteen in Iowa, reported record low temperatures for the date. The high for the date of 16 degrees below zero at Sioux Falls, SD was December record for that location. (The National Weather Summary)
• 23 December 1955...The barometric pressure dipped to 28.97 inches (981 millibars) at Boise, ID, an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
• 23 December 1983...The temperature plunged to 50 degrees below zero at Williston, ND to equal their all-time record. Minneapolis, MN reported an afternoon high of 17 degrees below zero, and that evening strong northerly winds produced wind chill readings of 100 degrees below zero in North Dakota. (The National Weather Summary)
• 24 December 1872...Extreme cold gripped the Upper Midwest on Christmas Eve. Downtown Chicago reported an all-time record low of 23 degrees below zero, which stood until January 1982, and Minneapolis, MN reached 38 degrees below zero. The afternoon high at Minneapolis was 17 degrees below zero. (David Ludlum)
• 24 December 1963...Memphis, TN set its all-time record low temperature with 13 degrees below zero, two days after a heavy 14.3-inch snowstorm. (Intellicast)
• 24 December 1982...The "Blizzard of 1982" hit eastern Colorado. Denver recorded 23.6 inches of snow in 24 hours, setting a new 24-hour record. Winds of 60 mph whipped the snow into 4 to 8 foot drifts. Stapleton Airport was closed for 33 hours and most roads were impassable. (Intellicast)
• 24 December 1983...The barometric pressure reached 31.42 inches at Miles City, MT to establish a high barometric pressure record for the U.S. It was the coldest Christmas Eve of modern record. More than 125 cities reported record low temperatures for the date, and all-time record lows for December were reported at seventeen cities, including Chicago with a low of 25 degrees below zero, and Havre, MT with a reading of 50 below zero. Sioux Falls, SD stayed below zero for eight consecutive days. Great Falls, MT dropped to a frigid 42 degrees below zero. Dayton, OH reached 13 degrees below zero. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 24 December 1989... Christmas Eve 1989 became one of the coldest on record. Fifty-seven cities in the south central and eastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Elkins, WV with a reading of 22 degrees below zero. Key West, FL equaled their record for December with a morning low of 44 degrees. Huntsville, AL hit one degree above zero. The high of just 45 degrees at Miami, FL was an all-time record for that location after a morning low of 33 degrees. It smashed their previous record for the date by twenty degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 25 December 1988...A massive winter storm made for a very white Christmas in the western U.S. Las Vegas, NV reported snow on the ground for the first time of record. Periods of snow over a five-day period left several feet of new snow on the ground of ski areas in Colorado, with 68 inches reported at Wolf Creek Pass. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 25 December 1989...It was a record cold Christmas Day for parts of the southeastern U.S. Morning lows of zero degrees at Wilmington, NC and five degrees below zero at Jacksonville, NC established all-time records for those two locations. Miami Beach, FL equaled a December record established the previous morning with a low of 33 degrees. Erie, PA set an all-time snowfall record for the month as light snow brought the total to 60.3 inches. Tallahassee, FL had a trace of snow, the first ever for Christmas Day. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.