WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK THREE: 14-18 September 2015

ITEMS OF INTEREST

September is National Preparedness Month -- The month of September has been declared National Preparedness Month (NPM), which is aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters. NPM is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which has provided a toolkit of marketing materials to help promote the month, is the lead on this campaign that was originally launched in 2004. The theme for 2015 NPM is "Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today." During Week 3 (13-19 September), the weekly hazard-focused theme is "Hurricane." [FEMA's Ready.gov] NOAA's National Weather Service is working with FEMA to communicate the importance of emergency preparedness as a key component of its Weather-Ready Nation campaign. [NOAA Weather Ready Nation]
Participation in the National Climate Game Jam is invited -- The public is invited to participate in the "National Climate Game Jam" an event on the weekend of 2-4 October where they will assist educators, scientists and game designers develop climate game prototypes designed to help the nation's students and the general public with the best available science-based information about climate change. This "National Climate Game Jam" is part of the Climate Education and Literacy Initiative launched in December 2014 by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. Two pre-jam events are scheduled on 22 September and 30 September. [Climate Game Jam]
Monitoring degree-day units -- If you would like to monitor how this upcoming winter will affect the amount of energy that you will need for heating your home, please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth. You will see how heating degree-day units are computed, as well as the corresponding cooling-degree day units. This supplemental also provides links to tabulations of the cumulative heating and cooling degree-day units that are available on a monthly basis for selected cities across the country.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

US national weather and climate reviewed for August and Summer 2015 -- Based upon preliminary data, scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Climatic Data Center) report that August 2015 was the 31st warmest August across the coterminous United States since sufficiently reliable climate records began in 1895, with a nationwide monthly average of 73.0 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature was 0.9 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th-century (1901-2000) average. Essentially all the states along the West Coast and the Southwest reported statewide temperatures that were in the top 10 on record. Similarly, temperatures for five of the New England States ranked in the top 10. At least a dozen states across the West, the South and the Northeast had above average August temperatures. Conversely, eleven states from the central Plains to the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys had statewide temperatures that were below the 20th -century average. In addition, the August 2015 average maximum (daytime) temperature across the lower 48 states was the 40th highest on record, while the monthly average minimum (nighttime) temperature was the 25th highest.
The recently concluded meteorological summer of 2015 (June, July and August) was the 12th warmest summer since 1895, with a three-month average temperature of 72.7 degrees, which was 1.3 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century average. Thirty of the 48 contiguous states experienced above to much above average summer temperatures. These states were located primarily along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Washington and Oregon reported their warmest summer since 1895, while California's temperature was the second highest on record. On the other hand, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa had below average summer temperatures.
The nationwide August 2015 average precipitation was approximately 0.26 inches above the 20th century (1901-2000) average with a nationwide average of 2.36 inches, while the nationwide summer (JJA) precipitation was 9.14 inches above the 1901-2000 average, making it the 16th wettest summer since 1895. Over 20 states across the nation reported much below average August precipitation. Louisiana had its tenth driest August since 1895, while Connecticut had its eleventh smallest precipitation . Conversely, only five states across the Southeast and north central sections of the nation had above to much above average August precipitation. Nineteen states in the "Lower 48" experienced a relatively wet summer as statewide average precipitation totals were above to much above average. Many of the states across the nation's midsection running from South Dakota eastward to Ohio had precipitation totals that were among the ten highest on record. Several states in the Northwest and in the Southeast experienced below average June through August statewide precipitation totals, with Washington having its ninth driest summer on record. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
Summer 100-degree temperatures across the nation -- The National Climatic Data Center has produced a plotted maps of the locations of stations where 100 degrees or higher temperatures have occurred across the continuous United States for this just concluded 2015 meteorological summer. last four summers. These plots indicate that the summer of 2014 had the fewest number of summer 100-degree days since 2011. [NOAA/NCDC National Overview] Comparison of the data for 2015 with a corresponding summary of 100-degree days for the previous four summers of 2011-2014 shows that the 2015 would rank in fourth out of five in terms of the total number of stations reporting 100-degree days and in third place in terms of the population numbers that would have been affected by 10 or more 100 degree days nationwide.
August national drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its August 2015 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately 15 percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of August, while 18 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Southern Ocean becomes more efficient in removing atmospheric carbon dioxide -- Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder, the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zurich have found that the Southern Ocean has become been removing more carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere since 2002 than during the last decade of the 20th century, when the amount of gas being absorbed in the ocean was decreasing. They based their findings on their compilation of a dense carbon data set that was collected from ship-based observations across waters of the Southern Hemisphere poleward of 35 degrees South latitude. [American Geophysical Union Press Release]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion & El Niño advisory -- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society recently released their El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion that showed a strong El Niño event was underway due to above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) across most of the equatorial Pacific during August 2015. SST values ranged from close to or greater than two Celsius degrees above normal from the central into the eastern equatorial Pacific. A map of the spatial pattern of SST across the eastern Pacific Ocean basin for the week of 31 August - 6 September is available. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory] Consequently, forecasters at CPC have continued their El Niño advisory that indicates the continuation and possible strengthening of an El Niño event that could peak in late fall in the Northern Hemisphere. These forecasters foresee a greater than 95 percent chance that this El Niño event would continue through the boreal winter of 2015-16, followed by a gradual weakening through spring 2016. A detailed El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
An ENSO blog written by CPC staff suggests that this current El Niño event is "pretty strong" as SST values for the three months of June, July and August 2015 were the third highest on record since 1950. El Niño episodes since 1950. This El Niño, which they expect to continue through winter 2015-16 (in the Northern Hemisphere), could have a major impact on a variety of weather events around the world, such as hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as upon the autumn and winter seasonal climate outlooks across the United States. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Nuisance flooding may be accelerated by El Niño -- NOAA scientists recently published a report entitled "2014 State of Nuisance Tidal Flooding" that warns many of the 27 mid-Atlantic and West Coast communities could experience an increase in the number of nuisance flooding days by between 33 to 125 percent through April due to higher sea levels and more frequent storm surge, compounded by the anticipated strengthening El Niño through the upcoming winter. Some communities could see the highest number of nuisance flooding days on record. Nuisance flooding causes such public inconveniences as frequent road closures, overwhelmed storm drains and compromised infrastructure. The report had analyzed the changes from 27 NOAA tide stations around the nation over a period extending from 1950 through 2013. [NOAA News]
Rising sea level threatening nation's space agency facilities -- Documented rises in global sea level over recent years have been creating a threat for NASA, as between half to two-thirds of the space agency's infrastructure and assets stand within 16 feet (5 meters) of sea level. Recent trends and projected sea level rises from climate models indicates that five NASA centers would be impacted by mid-century: Kennedy Space Center, the Langley Research Center and the Wallops Flight Facility on the Atlantic Coast, the Johnson Space Center on the Gulf Coast and the Ames Research Center on the Pacific Coast. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Effects of two types of wildfires in Southern California are contrasted -- Researchers from three campuses of the University of California system and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have determined that during the last 20 years, wildfires across Southern California driven by Santa Ana winds in autumn have been ten times more costly as summer wildfires that have not been fanned by Santa Ana winds, even though both wildfire types have consumed approximately the same total acreage. Data for this study were obtained from NASA satellites and from US Forest Service fire records. The researchers also predict that both types of wildfires would increase by 2050, especially in the number of non-Santa Ana fires. [NASA Feature Story]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Assessing the precipitation deficit in California -- As the end of the hydrologic water year (1 October-30 September) approaches, researchers were assessing how much precipitation would be needed to get the state of California out of its current precipitation deficit that has accumulated over the past several years. As of the end of August, California was running 5-year precipitation deficits (starting in October 2011) of eight inches in the dry southeast to almost 50 inches along the north coast. Statewide, four year rainfall amounts (2011-2014) have been between 54-75% of normal, while every region in the state is missing at least a year's worth of precipitation. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Assessing monetary losses in California from current drought -- A report prepared by the University of California Davis reveals the historic drought currently gripping California will cost the state $2.74 billion in 2015 and could result in the loss of more than 21,000 jobs. The study warns that if the drought would continue with similar intensity beyond 2015, agricultural production and employment in the Golden State would continue to erode. [Western Governors' Association News]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Concept of the Week: Developing a Quality Long-term Instrumental Climate Record

Systematic temperature and precipitation observations have been made at various locations across the nation for nearly two centuries. While only a handful of stations were available in the early 19th century, weather and climate observations currently are made from several hundred automatic weather sites operated by the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration as well as approximately 8000 stations in the Cooperative Observers Network administered by the National Weather Service. The weather data from these networks are also used to quantitatively assess changes of climate during the instrumental period of the past as well into the future. However, a variety of factors can affect the homogeneity of the record. For example, the locations of many of the stations have moved, from original downtown building roofs to current locations at airports. And the physical surroundings of the stations have changed, many becoming more urbanized.

In the late 1980s, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in conjunction with the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory created the United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) of 1218 stations across the 48 coterminous states having long-term records of both daily temperature and precipitation. This network was designed to provide an essential baseline data set for monitoring the nation's climate commencing in the late 19th century. These stations were created from a subset of the Cooperative Observers Network, chosen based upon long-term data quality that included length of record, percent of missing data, spatial distribution and number of station changes. Many of the selected USHCN stations were rural in an attempt to reduce the influence of urbanization. Using statistical analyses, data for these stations have been adjusted to account for movement of stations, or when a different thermometer type was installed. An urban warming correction was applied based upon population of the surrounding area.

More recently, NOAA began the US Climate Reference Network (USCRN), a project designed to collect and analyze climate data of the highest possible quality for the next 50 to 100 years. Each USCRN station would have electronic sensors that would make routine measurements of air temperature, precipitation, IR ground surface temperature, solar radiation and wind speed with a frequency of every five minutes and transmit these data to both NCDC and to National Weather Service offices via orbiting satellites on nearly a real-time basis. In addition to these measurements, additional sensors could be added to the USCRN stations that would measure soil temperature and soil moisture. Conscientious and detailed site selection was made for all stations so that they would not only be spatially representative, but that they would be in locations where the surrounding physical conditions would have a high likelihood of remaining the same over the next 50 to 100 years. Many of the sites were placed on federal or state owned lands, helping minimize the contamination of the climate record by urbanization or other changes in local ground cover.

These long-term, comparative, spatially representative values are vital to detect and verify the subtle changes in climatic conditions before they become overwhelmingly obvious.

Concept of the Week: Questions

(Place your responses on the Chapter Progress Response Form provided in the Study Guide.)

The majority of United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) stations were in [(rural), (urban)] settings.
The instruments in the US Climate Reference Network (USCRN) sample the atmosphere as frequently as [(5 minutes),(1 day),(1 month)].

Historical Events

14 September 1937...The mercury soared to 92 degrees at Seattle, WA, a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
14 September 1970...The temperature at Fremont, OR dipped to 2 degrees above zero to equal the state record for September set on the 24th in 1926. (The Weather Channel)
14 September 1987...Barrow, AK received 5.1 inches of snow, a record for September. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
14 September 1988...Pressure in the eye of Hurricane Gilbert moving across the Caribbean Sea fell to 885 millibars (26.17 inches of mercury), the lowest recorded barometric pressure in the Western Hemisphere. Ultimately, 318 died in seven countries across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
15 September 1939...The temperature at Detroit, MI soared to 100 degrees to establish a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
15 September 1982...A snowstorm over Wyoming produced 16.9 inches at Lander to establish a 24-hour record for September for that location. (13th-15th) (The Weather Channel)
16 September 1881...Iowa's earliest measurable snow of record fell over western sections of the state. Four to six inches was reported between Stuart and Avoca. (The Weather Channel)
16 September 1964...The temperature at Concord, NH dropped to 27 degrees ending the shortest growing season on record (100 days). (Intellicast)
16 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert made landfall 120 miles south of Brownsville, TX in Mexico during the early evening. During its life span, Gilbert established an all-time record for the Western Hemisphere with a sea-level barometric pressure reading of 26.13 inches. Winds approached 200 mph, with higher gusts. Gilbert devastated Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
16 September 2004, Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham, AL set two all-time records for the city as Hurricane Jeanne crossed the city: Lowest sea level pressure on record, 986.8 millibars (29.14 inches of mercury), and the greatest 24-hour rainfall event on record, 9.75 inches. (The Weather Doctor)
17 September 1829...The Siebold Typhoon, Japan's most catastrophic typhoon, inflicted widespread damage over much of Japan. On the southern island of Kyushu, the storm surge off the Ariake Sea kills 10,000. (The Weather Doctor)
17 September 1932...Westerly, RI received 12.13 inches of rain, which set a 24-hour precipitation record for the state. (NCDC)
17 September 1963...Nearly 2.5 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, the most intense rain for Yuma, AZ during the period between 1909 and 1977. (The Weather Doctor)
18 September 1991...2.4 inches of snow fell at Duluth, MN to set a new record for September. (Intellicast)
19 September 2004...The single-day rainfall record at Vancouver (British Columbia) International Airport was set 3.59 inches. The accumulation came in a month when rainfall is exceptional across the region. By mid-month, dozens of stations in British Columbia broke all-time September rainfall totals. (The Weather Doctor)
20-23 September 1942...A rainstorm deluged the Maritime Provinces. Four-day totals included 13.99 inches at Stellarton, Nova Scotia and 10.83 inches at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Halifax, Nova Scotia recorded 9.40 inches of rain on the 21 September climatological day. (The Weather Doctor)
20 September 1967...Hurricane Beulah moved into South Texas, spawning a record 115 tornadoes for a hurricane. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
20 September 1973...Britain's greatest September daily rainfall floods Kent with 7.51 inches of rain. (The Weather Doctor)

Return to DataStreme ECS RealTime Climate Portal