WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

PREVIEW WEEK: 14-18 January 2013

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Approaching coldest time of the year -- This upcoming week is the third full week of January, which for many locations across the nation typically marks the coldest week of the year, as indicated by the daily normal high and low temperatures. Usually, those stations located away from the moderating influences of the oceans reach their lowest temperatures during the third week of January, or a roughly one month after the winter solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere receives the fewest hours of daylight and the smallest amounts of solar radiation. During that month, temperatures continue to fall to their lowest typical values as cooling continues. However, the increased length of daylight and increased sunshine during this month begins to warm the ground and overlying atmosphere as normal daily temperatures begin to rise toward their highest levels in mid to late July.
• Accessing and interpreting climate data -- If you would like to obtain a variety of climate data for your home town or state that are available from the National Weather Service, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth. This Supplemental not only identifies some of the sites to find the data, but also provides you with a brief explanation of the terminology used to identify the climate data.
• Enter NASA's "Let it Snow" Photo Contest -- NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is inviting the public to enter its GPM "Let it Snow" Photo Contest by submitting up to ten digital photographs (in JPEG format) of winter weather. The entry deadline is 4 February 2013. [NASA GPM]

• Regional historical climate trends and future scenarios released -- Early last week, NOAA scientists released a technical report entitled "Regional Climate Trends and Scenarios for the U.S. National Climate Assessment" that outlines historical climate trends and future climate scenarios for each of eight regions around the nation. The future climate scenarios depend on future emission scenarios. The goal is to provide plausible future environmental conditions for policy makers to consider in planning for climate adaptation and looking at mitigation strategies by region. [NOAA's National Climatic Data Center]
• Australia experiences heat and fire -- A major record-breaking heat wave persisted across Australia during the last week. The nationwide average temperature, which is based upon daily temperatures from several hundred stations around the nation) reached 40.3 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) last Monday, which was the highest national temperature ever recorded. [ABC News] Sydney reported daytime highs up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit, while in Leonora in Western Australia the thermometer hit 120 degrees last Wednesday. The heat wave was expected to continue. [Australian Bureau of Meteorology] The record heat and dry weather conditions have resulted in wildfires. Images made in early January from data collected by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensors onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites show the numerous bushfires and smoke from these fires across Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Review of national weather indicates 2012 was warmest in the US -- Scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center recently announced that the preliminary average temperature for the coterminous United States during the recently concluded 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes 2012 the warmest calendar year since relatively reliable climate records began in 1895. [NOAA ClimateWatch]
  Additional preliminary information concerning significant weather and climate events during 2012 are also available. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate-National Overview]
• Review of Canadian national weather and climate for Autumn 2012 -- Climate scientists with Environment Canada recently reported that the nationwide average temperature during meteorological autumn 2012 (September through November) was approximately 1.2 Celsius degrees above the 1961-1990 normal, which placed this past fall as the seventeenth warmest autumn since nationwide records began in 1948. Sections of the Canada's Arctic Archipelago, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut had autumnal temperatures that were as much as 4 Celsius degrees above normal, while sections of the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and the Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) experienced below average fall temperatures. Nationwide, autumnal precipitation across Canada was near normal, with most of Nunavut and the northern Northwest Territories and scattered sections of the Yukon Territory, British Columbia and the western Prairie Provinces drier than normal. On the other hand, this past fall was wetter than averaged across Manitoba and northern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. [Environment Canada]
  
• Decline in Arctic snow cover extent documented -- A set of 16 maps made at three-year intervals between 1967 and 2012 show the change in June snow cover anomalies (difference between observed and the 1971-2000 average) across the Arctic basin. These maps, along with a bar graph for this 45-year span, were prepared from data archived at the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab. During this time, the June snow cover has decreased in areal extent. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Efforts made to improve air quality knowledge -- The first part of a NASA-funded scientific field campaign called DISCOVER-AQ, (Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality) has just commenced in California's San Joaquin Valley. Two NASA research planes will fly at altitudes as low as 1000 feet above the ground between Bakersfield and Fresno to measure air pollution with a number of onboard science instruments. The DISCOVER-AQ science team is working to improve the ability of satellites to consistently observe air quality in the lowest part of the atmosphere. [NASA's Langley Research Center]
• New facility to test offshore wind power measurement technologies -- The US Department of Energy is planning to construct "The Reference Facility for Offshore Renewable Energy" approximately 13 miles off the coast of Virginia that would test measurement technologies for offshore wind and wave power generation along the US coasts. Scientists from government, academia and industry will begin conducting research at this facility in 2015. Some of the new technology will include LIDAR (light detection and ranging) devices that will measure wind speeds and directions over offshore waters. [Pacific Northwest National 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]
• 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

• This year's projected peak in solar activity may be relatively quiet -- NASA solar scientists claim that this year's anticipated peak of solar activity may be the quietest in at least 100 years. These scientists have been monitoring the solar activity using data collected at NASA's Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) and they note that the sunspot numbers remain low even as the Sun approaches the peak in its activity cycle that is of approximately 11 years duration. [Yahoo! News]
• Questions raised about link between warming and past droughts -- Researchers at Princeton University and the Australian National University warn that currently held ideas concerning the linkage between increased global temperatures and increased intensity of worldwide drought because of increased evaporation may need to be revised. They claim that drought development is more complex and that reports of increasing drought were the result of weaknesses in the mathematical model used to simulate the drought. [News at Princeton University]
• Mountains appear to be minor contributors to sediment erosion and climate regulation -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences and the University of Wyoming claim results that are contrary to previously held ideas concerning mountains being large contributors to a reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This new research indicates that mountainous regions with their steep slopes and potential high rates of erosion do not necessarily result in sequestering sufficiently large quantities of carbon in ocean sediment to regulate climate as part of the earlier held "carbon draw down" theory. [University of Pennsylvania News]

• Northward shifts in gray snapper population linked to changing climate -- Researchers from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the University of North Florida are projecting that the population of gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus), an important fish species along the Southeast US coast, is beginning to shift northward along the coast in response to warming coastal waters associated with a changing climate. [NOAA Fisheries Service Newsroom]
• Traces of flame retardant pollutants found at remote locations -- Researchers from the Indiana University report their chemical sampling of tree bark from around the world indicates presence of chemicals used as flame retardants due to absorption of these chemicals in both vapor and particle phases by the bark. These chemicals, which are environmental pollutants, were even found at remote sites in Indonesia, Nepal and Tasmania in cooperation with the Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling network, an international monitoring initiative on six continents. [Indiana University News Room]
• Mangrove forests in Bengal disappearing -- Scientists from the Zoological Society of London warn that the mangrove forests in the Sundarbans are disappearing because of increases in human development and global temperature. The Sundarbans represents the world's largest single area of tidal saline mangrove forest and is found in parts of the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh. These mangrove forests provide natural protection from the effects of storm surges from tropical cyclones and from tsunamis. [Zoological Society of London]
• Heat-resistant corals could reveal clues for surviving changing climate -- Researchers at Stanford University have found that some coral species appear to be more resilient to increasing ocean temperatures caused by changing climate. The researchers report finding a genomic basis for this coral resilience, which should help save the toughest breeds of corals as temperatures continue to rise. [Stanford News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

• Similarity found between modern and Jurassic ecosystems -- Paleontologists at Southern Methodist University and the New University of Lisbon, Portugal report that their isotopic analysis of fossil soils from the Late Jurassic (approximately 150 million years ago) indicates that the soils during this ancient time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth contained high levels of carbon dioxide from lush vegetation. Their research confirms that climate and the richness of vegetation and animals varied across the globe and suggests that human-induced changes in climate in the future would impact plant and animal life. [Southern Methodist University Research]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• Recent extreme weather appear more persuasive than scientists on public's climate change perception -- A recent Associated Press-GfK poll indicates that recent extreme weather events such as last October's Hurricane Sandy appear to be succeeding at influencing the public opinion, including some climate skeptics, where statements by scientists have generally failed. The poll indicated that nearly 80 percent of the Americans polled cite climate change as a serious problem for the US, as compared to 73 percent in 2009. [The Guardian]
• Warming seen to be changing US daily life -- At the end of last week, a 1146-page draft report was issued by the "National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee" (NCADAC) that details how widespread warming associated with a changing climate is currently affecting many facets of daily life in the United States, including disrupting human health and negatively impacting homes and infrastructure. This report was written by a team of 240 scientists and is open for public review and comment. Ultimately, the final report will be submitted to the federal government for consideration for the Third National Climate Assessment Report. The NCADAC was established under the Department of Commerce in December 2010 and is supported through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). [AP The Big Story]
• 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.

Concept of the Week: Touring the DataStreme Earth's Climate System Website

Welcome to DataStreme Earth's Climate System (ECS)! The Earth's Climate System website is an integral component of the DataStreme ECS (Earth's Climate System) course. The website is intended to deliver a wealth of climate information that is both pertinent to the course as well as being a reference site for you as you study Earth's climate system. The webpage is arranged in several sections. On Monday of each week of the course, we will post the current Weekly Climate News that includes Climate in the News (a summary listing of recent events related to climate), Concept of the Week (an in-depth analysis of some topic related to climate in the Earth system), and Historical Events (a list of past events important in the understanding of climatology). When appropriate, Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth will be provided on some topic related to the principal theme of the week.

You will use the DS Climate Studies website to access and download the "Current Climate Studies" that complement your Climate Studies Investigations Manual. These materials should also be available by noon (Eastern Time) on Monday. Click the appropriate links to download and print these electronic components of the investigations as well as your Chapter, Investigations and Current Climate Studies Response forms.

Beyond these course Learning Files, sections include Climate Information, Climate Variability, Climate Change, Societal Interactions and Climate Policy, and Extras. As the titles suggest, there are multiple uses for climate data and their interpretation. Here we explore some examples of the information provided in the various sections of the webpage.

The Climate Information section includes access to weather data, the raw material of climate synthesis, from the United States and the world under the heading "Observations and Data." Under this heading, click on "U.S. and World Weather Data." This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) page first directs you to "United States Weather" and provides channels to current weather data as well as radar graphics, weather maps, and aviation and marine weather. It then leads you to International Weather Conditions.

The second major subdivision of the course website encompasses Climate Variability. Climatic variability refers to the fluctuations and oscillations that may occur within the climate system at temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events. Select the link, "NOAA El Niño Page". The page that appears provides access to a wealth of background and information on El Niño and La Niña, including the animation showing sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical Pacific during recent months. To the left of the animation, click on "What's happening today?" The page of current tropical Pacific conditions that appears shows a small map to the right. Click on that map and again anywhere on the subsequent set of map panels to get an enlarged view of the latest conditions of SST and anomalies.

The third major section of the course website is termed Climate Change. Here we provide links to information and analyses that primarily focus on anthropogenic (human-made) change processes and results in the climate system. That prominently includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's ("IPCC") latest classic report on atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and their effects. Also linked are modeling results ("Models") based on those studies.

The last major section of the website is titled Societal Interactions and Climate Policy. This block contains information on the impacts of projected change on human societies around the world, beyond that listed in the IPCC report, and the international actions and debates regarding those issues. Select and click on "US Global Change Impacts Report" to the left in this section. This webpage introduces you to the latest comprehensive and authoritative report on climate change and its impacts in the United States, now and in the future. You will be directed to this report several times in this course.

Completing the course website is the Extras section of additional handy information for the course and individual study such as dictionaries of terms, maps and materials. Choose and examine one of the Climate Literacy links, either a PDF or the Word version. This document has recently been developed and released by NOAA to provide an overview of general concepts and information the general public and especially students should be aware of regarding the climate and the climate debate.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The first Climate Information link, "NOAA Climate Services", shows the Global Climate Dashboard where several graphs display Earth's temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide level, spring snow cover, etc. with a time slider than can be set to display from [(1800)(1880)(1940)] to the latest data in 2010.
2. Under the Societal Interactions and Climate Policy section, click the "U.S. Global Change Research Program" link. On their page, click the Home tab of the Menu bar along the top. Midway down the resulting page are two selector bars that show the climate impacts in the report are categorized by [(only regional)(only sectoral)(both regional and sectoral)] climate information.

Historical Events:

• 14 January 1863...The greatest snowstorm of record for Cincinnati, OH commenced, and a day later twenty inches of snow covered the ground. That total has remained far above the modern day record for Cincinnati of eleven inches of snow in one storm. (David Ludlum)
• 14 January 1972...A 24-hour temperature for the United States occurred at Loma, MT when the temperature rose from 54 degrees below zero at 9 AM on the 14th to 49 degrees on the 15th, which represented a 103-Fahrenheit degree temperature change in 24-hours. This record was not acknowledged until 2002, when it was recognized due to recommendation of the National Climate Extremes Committee. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 January 1979...Chicago, IL was in the midst of their second heaviest snow of record as, in thirty hours, the city was buried under 20.7 inches of snow. The twenty-nine inch snow cover following the storm was an all-time record for Chicago. (David Ludlum)
• 15 January 1952...A six-day snowstorm was in progress in the western U.S. The storm produced 44 inches of snow at Marlette Lake, NV, 52 inches at Sun Valley, ID and 149 inches at Tahoe CA, establishing single storm records for each of those three states. In addition, 24-hour snowfall totals of 22 inches at the University of Nevada and 26 inches at Arco, ID established records for those two states. The streamliner, City of San Francisco was snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Range, near Donner Summit. (David Ludlum)
• 15 January 1988...A small storm over the Atlantic Ocean produced heavy snow along the coast of North Carolina. The five inch total at Wilmington, NC was their third highest for any storm in January in 117 years of records. (National Weather Summary)
• 16 January 1881...The temperature at Markree Castle (County Sligo) fell to 2 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), Ireland's lowest temperature of record. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 January 1889...The temperature at Cloncurry, Queensland reached 128 degrees F, the highest ever reported in Australia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 16 January 1881...The temperature at Markree Castle (County Sligo) fell to 2 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), Ireland's lowest temperature of record. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 January 1889...The temperature at Cloncurry, Queensland reached 128 degrees F, the highest ever reported in Australia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 17 January 1893...The mercury dipped to 17 degrees below zero at Millsboro, DE to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 17 January 1972...A single storm unloaded 77.5 inches of snow at Summit, MT to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 17 January 1988...A Pacific storm battered the southern coast of California. Los Angeles reported an all-time record low barometric pressure reading of 29.25 inches. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 18 January 1930...The record low temperature for the state of Oregon was set at Seneca when the thermometer dipped to 54 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 18 January 1943...The record low temperature for the state of Oklahoma was set at Watts when the mercury dipped to 27 degrees below zero. The record low temperature for the state of Idaho was set at Island Park Dam when the temperature fell to 60 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 18 January 1957...The record low temperature for the state of Massachusetts was set at Birch Hill Dam when the mercury fell to 35 degrees below zero. This record was tied in January 1981. (Intellicast)
• 18 January 1977...The record low temperature for the state of South Carolina was set near Long Creek when the mercury plunged to 20 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 18-22 January 1978...The Atlantic's first-ever January subtropical storm with tropical characteristics since records began in 1871 organized 1500 miles east-northeast of Puerto Rico. The storm finally dissipated on the 22nd approximately 200 miles north of Puerto Rico. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18-27 January 1980...Tropical Cyclone Hyacinthe produced of rainfall over the 10-day period at Commerson, La Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to set the global mark for rainfall from a tropical cyclone during a 10-day period. The same storm dumped 127.6 inches of rain in just 72 hours at Grand-Ilet, La Reunion Island. (The Weather Doctor)
• 19 January 1786...The temperature at Hartford, CT fell to 24 degrees below zero. Up to this time, it was the lowest ever known on a thermometer.
• 19 January 1925...The record low temperature for the state of Maine was set at Van Buren when the temperature fell to 48 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 19 January 1933...Giant Forest, CA received 60 inches of snow in just 24 hours, a state record, and the second highest 24-hour total of record for the U.S. (David Ludlum)
• 19 January 1994...An extremely cold arctic airmass set 67 new record temperature lows from Minnesota to Virginia, including 10 cities that recorded their lowest temperatures ever. The following cities set all-time record lows: Indianapolis, IN (27 degrees below zero), Akron, OH, Clarksburg, WV, and Zanesville, OH (25 below), Pittsburgh, PA, Louisville, KY, Columbus, OH and Youngstown, OH (22 below), Cleveland, OH (20 below), and Erie, PA (18 below). The mercury plunged to 36 below zero at New Whiteland, IN to set a new record low temperature for the Hoosier State. In Kentucky, a statewide record low temperature was set at Shelbyville with a reading of 37 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 19 January 1995...Columbia, MO was buried under 19.7 inches of snow in 24 hours for its greatest 24-hour snowfall and snowstorm ever. Wind gusts up to 45 mph produced blizzard conditions and thunderstorms occurred several times during the heavy snow. Interstates 70, US 63, and US 54 were closed down. The same storm produced 15 inches of snow at Moline, IL and 14 inches at Blue Jacket, OK. (Intellicast)
• 20 January 1937...The record low temperature for the state of California was set at Boca when the thermometer dropped to 45 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
• 20 January 1954...The temperature at Rogers Pass, MT plunged to 69.7 degrees below zero to establish a new low temperature record for the continental U.S. (David Ludlum)
• 20 January 1977...The barometric pressure at St. Anthony, Newfoundland dropped to 940.2 millibars (27.76 inches of mercury), the lowest sea level pressure ever recorded in Canada. (The Weather Doctor)

Return to DataStreme Earth Climate Systems website

Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2013, The American Meteorological Society.