WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

2-6 February 2009

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Keeping tabs on La Niña conditions -- Earlier in January, scientists from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center reported that atmospheric and oceanic conditions appeared to point to a continuation through the next several months with possible strengthening of an anomalous circulation regime in both the atmosphere and oceans called a "La Niña" event, most often recognized by below average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Hurricane and climate researchers with NASA are also monitoring the sea surface temperatures and height of sea level from data collected from the NASA fleet of satellites, and they confirm this La Niña event, which can impact the weather and short term climate conditions around the planet. [NASA GSFC Hurricanes]
Global glaciers continue to melt -- The World Glacier Monitoring Service at Switzerland's University of Zurich has released a report of the mass of glaciers from around the world that indicates that in 2007, these glaciers continued to melt at high rates, with a worldwide loss of average ice thickness of roughly two feet in water equivalent. [EurekAlert!]
California experiencing its worst drought -- Officials with the California Department of Water Resources, along with specialists from other federal and state agencies recently reported that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was smaller than average and that the Golden State appears to be beginning the worst drought in state history. [USA Today]
Drought, heat and winds produce large wildfires Down Under -- A recent image from NASA's Aqua satellite shows a plume of smoke rising and being carried by the winds away from large wildfires across southeastern Australia, the result of a prolonged drought and aided by hot weather and strong winds. [NASA Earth Observatory]
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 FORCING

Monitoring sulfur emissions over Eastern Europe -- An image obtained from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite shows the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere over Bulgaria in mid January. Much of the atmospheric sulfur dioxide across this eastern European nation is due to the anthropogenic sources, such as large power plants. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Geoengineering seen as having climate cooling potential -- Researchers at the United Kingdom's University of East Anglia completed the first comprehensive assessment of the climate cooling potential of different geoengineering schemes and presented several key findings that show some potential and some risks or drawbacks. [EurekAlert!]
"Burial at sea" recommended for some of planet's climate troubles -- Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, Irvine claim that by using existing technology, a significant amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide could be sequestered for thousands of years as carbon in seafloor sediments by baling and sinking nearly one third of the global crop residues, which would thereby help reduce global temperatures. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Sleeping or hiding could reduce risk of climate-caused extinction -- Researchers at the University of Oslo and the University of Helsinki claim that mammal species that can hibernate or burrow appear to have survived longer during episodes of rapidly changing environments, such as those associated with climate change, than those who could not and ultimately suffered extinction. [EurekAlert!]
Changing climate could influence ecological restoration efforts across the West -- Researchers at Princeton University claim that global climate change may lead to the retreat of some invasive plant species in the western United States, which could create opportunities for unprecedented ecological restoration across large sections of the country. [EurekAlert!]
Grassland productivity seen to be enhanced by changing climate -- Researchers at several German research institutions have found that more frequent freeze-thaw cycles in winter appears to increase biomass production, meaning the possibility of increases in grassland productivity with projected increases in global temperatures and less insulating snow cover. [Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research]
Ocean "dead zones" expand dramatically -- A team of Danish researchers warn that projected increases in global temperature could lead to a dramatic expansion of the "dead zones" with low levels of oxygen in ocean waters by an order of magnitude or more, resulting in adverse effects upon fisheries and ocean systems for generations to come. [EurekAlert!]
Changing climate could cause extinction of emperor penguins -- Biologists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution warn that changes in climate and the resulting loss of sea ice surrounding Antarctica could cause emperor penguins to become extinct before 2100 as the penguin's range for survival shrinks with the sea ice. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
Climate change could affect spread of infectious diseases -- Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Australia's University of Melbourne have identified several key biological and environmental factors constraining a population of a type of mosquito species considered to be the dengue fever vector. They predict that climate changes in Australia during the next 40 years, together with the insect's ability to adapt to new conditions may allow the mosquitoes to expand into several populated regions of the continent, thereby increasing the risk of disease transmission. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Climate change appears to be irreversible -- A new scientific study led by NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory indicates that changes in surface temperature, precipitation and sea level appear to be irreversible for up to a millennium after carbon dioxide emissions cease. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Prehistoric climate changes tracked by charcoal evidence -- Researchers at the University of Oregon and their colleagues have collected charcoal particles from sediments from three dozen lake beds in North America and have concluded that wildfire activity and abrupt climate changes between the last Pleistocene glaciation and the beginning of the current warm interglacial period approximately 11,700 years ago, but their analysis did not support the theory that comet bombardment approximately 12,900 years ago initiated the cool Younger Dryas interval. [EurekAlert!] [EurekAlert!]

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:

2 February 1951...The record low temperature for the state of Indiana was set at Greensburg when the mercury fell to 35 degrees below zero; this record was broken in January, 1994. (Intellicast)
2 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and a cross southern Florida. It produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1996...Extremely cold air covered the north-central U.S. Tower, MN dropped to 60 degrees below zero to set a new state low temperature record. International Falls, MN and Glasgow, MT both set records for the month of February with 45 and 38 below zero, respectively. Rochester, MN dipped to 34 below zero for its lowest temperature in 45 years. Green Bay, WI only reached 16 degrees below zero for the high temperature for the day, which is its lowest high temperature on record in February. Meanwhile, farther to the east, heavy snow fell across the mid-Atlantic region. Eighteen inches of snow was recorded at Rehoboth Beach, DE and 17 inches fell at Solomons, MD. Charleston, WV recorded 6.8 inches of snow for the day to bring its seasonal snowfall to 80.7 inches, the city's snowiest winter ever -- and still two months of winter to go! (Intellicast)
3 February 1917...Downtown Miami, FL reported an all-time record low of 27 degrees. Miami weather records date to 1911. (David Ludlum)
3 February 1947...The temperature at Tanacross, AK plunged to a record 75 degrees below zero. (David Ludlum) At Snag, Yukon Territory, the temperature fell to 81 degrees below zero, North America's lowest recorded official temperature (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1996...Extremely cold weather persisted. Des Moines, IA dipped to 26 degrees below zero to tie its February low and broke its record for most consecutive hours below zero, which ended up being 132 hours. Milwaukee, WI also tied its record for lowest February temperature with 26 degrees below zero. The temperature at Tower, MN fell to 60 degrees below zero to set a new all-time state minimum temperature record for the Gopher State. The state record low was also tied in Iowa with Elkader reporting a frigid 47 below zero. Elizabeth, IL recorded 35 degrees below to tie the state lowest temperature record; this record has since been broken in January 1999. (Intellicast) (NCDC)
3 February 1997…Centralia, WA set the state record for consecutive days of measurable precipitation at 55 between 10 November 1996 and 3 February 1997. (The Weather Doctor)
4 February 1996...Frigid temperatures continued over the northern US and spread southward to the Gulf Coast. A cooperative observer near Couderay, WI reported a temperature of 55 degrees below zero, which set a new record low for the Badger State. This reading is also the lowest temperature ever recorded east of the Mississippi River. Amasa, MI checked in with 51 degrees below zero, which tied the record low for Michigan. Tulsa, OK had a morning low of 11 degrees below zero for its lowest temperature in 66 years. Muskegon, MI recorded an all-time low of 19 degrees below zero. La Crosse, WI completed it longest stretch of subzero temperatures ever (144 hours). The center of the frigid arctic high-pressure system moved over Louisiana, setting an all-time record high barometric pressure of 30.82 inches (1043.6 millibars) at Baton Rouge. (Intellicast)
5 February 1887...San Francisco, CA experienced its greatest snowstorm of record. Nearly four (3.7) inches were reported in downtown San Francisco, and the western hills of the city received seven inches. Excited crowds went on a snowball-throwing rampage. (David Ludlum)
5 February 1996...The "great arctic outbreak of '96" began to wind down, but not before one more frigid morning. Greene, RI reported a state record low temperature of 25 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
6 February 1933…The temperature at Oimekon, Russia fell to 90 degrees (Fahrenheit), tying the previous lowest recorded temperature in Asia set in 1892. (The Weather Doctor)
6 February 1933...The highest reliably observed ocean wave was seen by crew of the US Navy oiler, USS Ramapo, in the North Pacific during the night on its way from Manila to San Diego. The wave was estimated (by triangulation) to have a height of 112 feet. Average winds at the time were 78 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
6 February 1978...A massive nor'easter buried the cities of the northeastern U.S. The Boston, MA area received 25 to 30 inches in "The Great New England Blizzard of '78" By the time the storm ended late on the 7^th, Boston had 27.1 inches of new snow to set an all-time single storm snowfall record. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
7 February 1892…The lowest temperature ever recorded to that time in Asia was reported from Verkhoyansk, Russia with a 90-degree below zero reading. This record was subsequently tied in 1933. (The Weather Doctor)
7 February 1989...The low of 43 degrees below zero at Boca, CA was a state record for the month of February. In Utah, lows of -32 degrees at Bryce Canyon, -27 degrees at Delta, -29 degrees at Dugway, and -38 degrees at Vernal were all-time records for those locations. (The National Weather Summary)
8 February 1933...The record low temperature for the state of Texas was set at Seminole when the mercury dropped to 23 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
8 February 1936...The temperature at Denver, CO plunged to its all-time record low temperature of 30 degrees below zero. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)

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