WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

23-27 February 2009

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Mardi Gras climatology -- With the observance of Ash Wednesday this week, the famous Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, LA will conclude the day before on "Fat Tuesday" or Shrove Tuesday (24 February 2008). The New Orleans/Baton Rouge WSFO has posted a "Mardi Gras climatology" that provides summary tables of the normals and the extremes that have been observed in New Orleans for the last 135 years during the last week of February [New Orleans/Baton Rouge WSFO]
A review of January 2009 weather and climate patterns across the globe -- Scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently reported that based upon preliminary data, the January 2009 combined globally averaged surface temperature that includes land and ocean surface observations was the seventh highest January reading since a sufficiently dense worldwide climate observing network was established in 1880. Although sections of Europe experienced the coldest January in 15 years, the land surface monthly average temperature was the eighth highest January average temperature. The global ocean surface temperature was the seventh highest January on record. The extent of Arctic sea ice was the sixth smallest for January since satellite surveillance began in 1979. [NOAA News]
State and city weather extremes for January 2009 -- The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has posted a listing of some of the notable extremes in temperature, precipitation and other weather elements across the nation for the recently completed month of January 2009 in "Selected U.S. City and State Extremes for January 2009." Note that this site may be updated during the following several weeks as more data are received and analyzed. Note that this site may be updated during the following several weeks as more data are received and analyzed.
Sea level rise associated with increased ocean temperatures monitored -- A researcher with the NOAA Ocean Climate Laboratory and the Director of the World Data Center for Oceanography recently reported on the thermosteric changes in global sea level over the last half century associated with thermal expansion accompanying increased ocean temperature. [EurekAlert!] [Note: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has steric sea level data on its GRACE Tellus site. EJH]
Report on monitoring climate change by satellite -- The Director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and the head of the new national climate service recently discussed the progress and challenges involved with assessing climate change from the collection and analysis of high quality global data obtained from nearly 50 years of environmental satellite observations. [EurekAlert!]
Features of NASA hurricane website highlighted -- Several features appearing on the NASA's Hurricane/Tropical Cyclone Web page make this a year-round resource. [NASA Hurricane Page]
Aircraft used to monitor atmospheric carbon -- NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory has developed an aircraft network that will be used to conduct bimonthly measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide from 16 sites around North America to create a monthly three-dimensional visualization of the carbon cycling process across the continent. [EurekAlert!]
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

Coastal erosion rates increase in northern Alaska -- A geologist with the US Geological Survey and colleagues have found that coastal erosion along Alaska's Beaufort Sea coast has dramatically increased between 2002 and 2007, threatening coastal towns and destroying native Alaskan cultural relics. The researchers propose that this historic increase in annual erosion rates could be attributed to a variety of conditions associated with declining sea ice extent, increasing summertime sea-surface temperature, rising sea level, and increases in storm intensity and corresponding wave action. [USGS Newsroom]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Biodiversity threatened in world's mediterranean-climate regions -- Scientists at the University of California, Davis and the Nature Conservancy warn that the biodiversity of the world's mediterranean-climate regions, such as in the Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, Chile, Australia, California and Mexico's Baja California, containing approximately one fifth of the world's plant species could be threatened by land use, population. [EurekAlert!]
Sea coral can change sex -- A researcher from Tel Aviv University has discovered that Japanese sea corals can change sex on the sea floor as a possible survival mechanism under increased stress associated with higher water temperatures due to global climate change. [EurekAlert!]
Survival of wildlife species in a changing climate may need "assisted colonization" -- Research conducted by biologists from the United Kingdom's Durham University, the University of York, the University of Leeds, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and Butterfly Conservation report that some species of wildlife such as butterflies are adapting slowly to changes in climate and would require "assisted colonization" to survive in a warmer climate. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Melt rates of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets remain uncertain -- A geoscientist from Penn State University cautioned that while the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are melting, the amounts that will melt and the time for melting to occur are still unknown, requiring improved interactive atmospheric and ocean models that better incorporate ice sheet behavior. [EurekAlert!]
Past hurricane trends studied for possible future climate signal -- A researcher at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory who has been analyzing the number of tropical cyclones that developed in the North Atlantic basin during the last 130 years cautions that attempting to conclude that human activity, primarily associated with increased global temperatures due to the release of greenhouse gases, would be premature. He points out that while model simulations suggest increased temperatures could result in greater numbers of intense Atlantic hurricanes, the fewer hurricanes resulted overall. [EurekAlert!]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Ancient microbes contributed to modern nitrogen cycle -- Paleontologists and astrobiologists from the University of Washington, Arizona State University and the University of Maryland who studied a core from northwest Australia suggest that billions of microbes that evolved by 2.5 billion years ago helped create the stage for the modern aerobic nitrogen cycle, which produces nitrates from the ammonia fixed from nitrogen by other organisms. [EurekAlert!]
Rapid decadal changes in climate before Holocene -- A team of geoscientists from Norway, Germany and Switzerland who studied lake sediments from a lake in Norway have determined that very rapid temperature fluctuations occurred between 12,150 and 11,700 years ago, just prior to the commencement of the Holocene. They suggest that the fluctuations in the meltwater runoff from the glaciers were associated with the intermittent advance of the North Atlantic's Gulf Stream and changes in the extent of the sea ice. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

What if Westerners do not address climate change? -- An economic consulting firm, ECONorthwest, recently produced reports for the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative's Program on Climate Economics that detailed what the effects upon residents of three Western states if no action was taken to address future climate change, primarily through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The reports concluded that in Oregon the annual cost would be approximately $1930 per household by 2020 [EurekAlert!]; in Washington the annual coast would be $1250 per household [EurekAlert!] and in New Mexico the annual cost per household by 2020 would be $3430. [EurekAlert!]
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:

23 February 1998…Otis, OR recorded its 79 straight day of rain, the longest in the contiguous US. The streak began on 7 December 1997 (The Weather Doctor)
24 February 1905...The temperature at Valley Head, AL fell to 18 degrees below zero, which was the lowest temperature ever recorded in Alabama until January 1966. (Intellicast)
24-26 February 1910...Parts of Washington State were in the midst of a storm that produced 129 inches of snow at Laconia between the 24^th and the 26^th, a single storm record for the state. A series of storms, which began on the 23^rd, led to a deadly avalanche on the first of March. By late on the 28^th, the snow had changed to rain, setting the stage for disaster. (The Weather Channel)
24 February 1994...The Crystal Mountain ski resort in Washington State recorded 65 inches of snow in a 24 hour period, the state record for 24 hour snowfall. (Intellicast)
25 February 1914...South Carolina had its biggest snowstorm in modern history, as 18 inches fell at Society Hill. (Intellicast)
25 February 1922...The temperature at Los Angeles, CA soared to 92 degrees to establish a record for the month of February. (David Ludlum)
26 February 1969...Both Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME set new single storm snowfall records with 33.8 inches and 26.9 inches, respectively. (Intellicast)
27 February 1717...What was perhaps the greatest snow in New England history commenced on this date. During a ten-day period, a series of four snowstorms dumped three feet of snow upon Boston, and the city was snowbound for two weeks. Up to six feet of snow was reported farther to the north, and drifts covered many one-story homes. (David Ludlum)
27 February 1988...Rapid City, SD established a February record with an afternoon high of 75 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
28 February 1900...A massive storm spread record snows from Kansas to New York State. The 18.7 inches of snow measured at Topeka, KS in 24 hours was the city's greatest 24-hour snowfall on record. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
28-29 February 1964...A world 12-hour rainfall record was set at Belouve, La Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean when 52.76 inches of rain fell. World records for 9 hours and 18.5 hours were also set with 42.79 and 66.49 inches, respectively. (Accord's Weather Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
28 February 1972...Unseasonably mild weather prevailed throughout the central US. Temperatures soared to 83 degrees in Kansas City, MO, setting an all-time high record for the month of February. (Intellicast)
28 February 1988...Unseasonably mild weather prevailed in the northwestern U.S. The afternoon high of 71 degrees at Portland, OR was a February record. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
29 February 1964...Thompson Pass, AK finished the month with 346.1 inches of snow, a record monthly total for the state of Alaska. (The Weather Channel)
1 March 1910...The deadliest avalanche of record in the U.S. thundered down the mountains near Wellington Station, WA sweeping three huge locomotive train engines and some passenger cars off the tracks, over the side and into a canyon, burying them under tons of snow. This train was snowbound on the grade leading to Stevens Pass. The avalanche claimed the lives of more than 100 people. The station house at Wellington was also swept away. (The Weather Channel)
1 March 1993...4.5 inches of snow fell at Dodge City, KS on this date to raise its seasonal snowfall total to 58.8 inches. This set a new all-time seasonal snowfall record for the city. The old record was 57.5 inches set back in the winter of 1911-12. (Intellicast)

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