WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

25-29 May 2009

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2009 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 31 August 2009. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

End of a season -- Meteorological spring, the three-month span from March through May, concludes next Sunday (31 May 2009), while meteorological summer (June, July and August) will commence Monday 1 June 2009.
Atlantic Hurricane Season begins -- The official 2009 hurricane season for the North Atlantic Basin will begin on Monday, 1 June. The National Hurricane Center maintains a hurricane preparedness website that provides information and educational material for the various hurricane hazards including storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding. (A Spanish version of this website is also available.) In the Eastern North Pacific basin, the hurricane season began on 15 May. The season will run until 30 November in both basins.
Students selected for Hollings Scholarships -- The Director of NOAA’s Office of Education recently announced the names of the 122 college undergraduates who will receive scholarships as part of the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program. These scholarships, named for former Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina, are provided to encourage undergraduates to pursue studies in those sciences found in NOAA, including the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. [NOAA News]
A cooperative institute receives renewed NOAA affiliation -- NOAA officials recently announced that they have renewed the agency's affiliation with the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, permitting continued investigations that CIRA have been conducting involving the improvement of weather and climate models along with regional and global-scale weather forecasts using satellite data. [NOAA News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Review of April 2009 global temperatures -- After their analysis of preliminary data, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center recently reported that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for April 2009 were the fifth highest since sufficiently dense worldwide records began in 1880. Southern oceans, along with sections of Europe and northern Asia were unseasonably warm.
In addition, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that the extent of the Arctic sea ice was the tenth smallest since satellite surveillance began in 1979, while sea ice cover on the Southern Oceans was approximately 13 percent greater than the 1979-2000 average. [NOAA News]
Monitoring a decade of change -- NASA's Earth Observatory has produced a tenth anniversary feature article with a series of satellite images showing the changes in the various components of the planetary system that have been detected over the last decade. [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

Local cooling in Southeast could be due to haze -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley report that their analysis of aerosol data collected over the Southeastern United States by satellite and ground based sensors indicates that the presence of summer haze has resulted in a temporary cooling of the region. The haze arises from the interactions between anthropogenic pollutants and natural components that can also produce secondary aerosols. [EurekAlert!]
Biological particles found in high-altitude clouds -- A team of atmospheric chemistry researchers from the University of California-San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other research institutions participating in the Ice in Clouds Experiment – Layer Clouds (ICE-L) have detected biological particles in the high-altitude ice clouds using an aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer aboard a specially outfitted aircraft. These researchers consider their findings important to cloud ice processes and climate change science. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Heat-tolerant coral reefs found that may resist warmer ocean waters -- Stanford University scientists have found evidence that some coral reefs are adapting to warmer ocean waters and may survive anticipated global warming. [Stanford University]
Changes in fisheries catches affected by warmer oceans -- NOAA scientists have made key contributions to a new United Nations Environment Programme report entitled "The UNEP Large Marine Ecosystem Report: a Perspective on Changing Conditions in LMEs of the World’s Regional Seas" in which 61 of the world’s 64 large marine ecosystems (LMEs) located in the coastal waters adjacent to continents have experienced a significant increase in sea surface temperatures during the last 25 years, contributing to changes in the fisheries catches. [NOAA News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Hurricane outlooks issued -- Scientists with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center have released their outlooks for the upcoming hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, the eastern Pacific and central Pacific Basins last week:
- For the North Atlantic basin, the outlook indicates equal chances (50 percent) of near normal hurricane activity, while the probabilities of above and below normal seasons were set at 25 percent chance each. Specifically, the outlook calls for a 70 percent chance of nine to 14 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms), including four to seven hurricanes, with one to three major hurricanes (Category 3 hurricanes or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale). The forecasts point to the uncertainty in their hurricane forecasts as being due to uncertainty in the global weather patterns. Competing factors also include a recent trend toward more active Atlantic hurricane seasons during the last decade, enhanced West African rainfall and reduced wind shear warmer Atlantic waters, along with the possibility of the development of an El Niño event. [NOAA News] For comparison, Phil Klotzbach and Bill Gray at Colorado State University released an updated forecast of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season in early April calling for a season with slightly above average activity with 12 named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes), of which six could reach hurricane status.
- For the Eastern North Pacific basin (east of 140 degrees West longitude), the outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center suggests a normal to below-normal hurricane season. This outlook would call for a 70 percent chance of 13 to 18 named tropical cyclones, with six to ten hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes; which compares with the long-term average of 16 named cyclones, nine hurricanes and as many as five major hurricanes. The forecasters indicate that the slightly lower than average season may be influenced by the atmospheric conditions that have decreased hurricane activity over the basin during the last decade and the possible development of an El Niño event. [NOAA News]
- For the Central North Pacific basin (between 180 degrees and 140 degrees West longitude), Forecasters at NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center in collaboration with their colleagues at the Climate Prediction Center expect that the upcoming season has an 80 percent chance of being a near- to below-normal season. On average, four to five tropical cyclones (including tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes) travel across the basin. The lower than average anticipated numbers could be related to the uncertainty in the current predictions of El Niño conditions. [NOAA News]
Climate change odds worse than previously thought -- A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) warn that their simulations run using the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model indicates a highly likely chance that the planet's climate could become much warmer during the 21st century than previously thought, unless rapid and massive action was undertaken to counter the projected temperature increases. The researchers point to the increased temperature projections over previous ones were due to several factors, including improved economical data and modeling techniques that handle emissions estimates. [MIT]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Ancient asteroid attack may have enhanced early life on Earth -- Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder claim that the bombardment of Earth by asteroids the size of Kansas approximately 3.9 billion years ago may have enhanced early life on the planet rather than extinguishing it. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Pre-industrial mercury pollution found in the Andes -- Researchers from the University of Alberta who studied ancient lake sediments collected from the bottoms of high altitude lakes around Huancavelica in the Andes Mountains of South America have found some of the first evidence of mercury pollution that originated before the start of the Industrial Revolution. The Huancavelica region contains one of the largest mercury deposits in the Americas and has been the site for the mining and smelting of mercury ore from as early as 1400 BC. This smelting could have resulted in the possible long-distance transport of the highly toxic methylmercury. [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:

26 May 1967...A slow moving nor'easter battered New England with high winds, heavy rain, and record late season snow on this day and into the 26th. Over 7 inches of rain fell at Nantucket, MA with 6.57 inches falling in 24 hours to set a new 24-hour rainfall record. The 24.9 inches of snow that fell at Mount Washington, NH set a new May snowfall record. Other locations in New Hampshire received 10 inches of snow near Keene and 6 inches at Dublin. (Intellicast)
26 May 2001...The 2000-2001 snowfall season finally ended in St John's, Newfoundland, during which time a grand total of 255.3 inches of snow fell. The total snow, which broke a century-old mark, was estimated to have weighed 500 million tons! (The Weather Doctor)
27 May 1948…The 1.5 inches of rainfall at Victoria, British Columbia set the record for the wettest May day observed in the provincial capital city. (The Weather Doctor)
28 May 1942...The latest snowstorm of record for the state of Iowa left ten inches at LeMars, eight inches at Cherokee, and 7.5 inches at Waukon. Afternoon highs were in the lower 30s in parts of northwestern Iowa. (The Weather Channel)
28 May 1984...Sacramento, CA had its highest temperature ever recorded in the month of May, when the temperature reached 110 degrees, breaking the old record of 100 degrees set in 1932. (Intellicast)
28 May 2003…A new Nevada maximum temperature record for May was set when the high temperature at Battle Mountain, Nevada rose to 102 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
29 May 2000…A new national maximum temperature record for May is set when the high temperature in Death Valley, CA soared to 122 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
30 May 1948...The Columbia River reached its highest stage since 1894. A railroad bed acting as a dam gave way during a flood along the Columbia River destroying the town of Vanport, OR. The nearly 18,700 residents escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs. Damage was estimated at 101 million dollars and 75 lost their lives. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) Twenty carloads of glass were needed in Denver, CO to replace that destroyed by a severe hailstorm. (The Weather Channel)
30 May 1985...The temperature in Oklahoma City, OK reached a sizzling 104 degrees, making it the highest ever for so early in the season. This also marked the very first time the temperature had reached the 100-degree plateau in the month of May at Oklahoma City. (Intellicast)
30 May 1986...Hanford, WA hit a scorching 104 degrees, breaking the all-time record high temperature for May for Eastern Washington. Yakima, WA hit 102 degrees, a record high for the month of May for Yakima. Records also fell at Boise, ID and Reno, NV. (Intellicast)
31 May 1889...The Johnstown, PA disaster occurred, the worst flood tragedy in U.S. history. Heavy rains totaling 4 to 10 inches over the previous 36 hours collapsed the South Fork Dam sending a thirty-foot wall of water rushing down the already flooded Conemaugh Valley. The wall of water, traveling as fast as twenty-two feet per second, swept away all structures, objects, and people, practically wiping out Johnstown. About 2100 persons perished in the flood. (David Ludlum)
31 May-1 June 1941...Thunderstorms deluged Burlington, KS with 12.59 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour rainfall record for the Jayhawk State. (The Weather Channel)
31 May 1973…Canada's sunniest month ends as Eureka, Northwest Territories recorded 621 hours of bright sunshine. (The Weather Doctor)
28 May 1887...The temperature reached 97 degrees at San Francisco, CA, establishing a record high temperature for the month of May for the city. (Intellicast)
31 May 1983...Albany, NY experienced its wettest spring (March-May) in 109 years of records as 19.54 inches of precipitation was recorded. (Intellicast)
31 May 1986...The Weather Service Office in Washington, DC reported its driest spring on record with only 3.47 inches of precipitation from 1 March to 31 May. (Intellicast)
31 May 1988...Hot and humid weather prevailed in the eastern U.S. Thirteen cities reported record high temperatures for the date. Cape Hatteras, NC reported their first ninety-degree day in May in 115 years of records. (The National Weather Summary)
31 May 1991...Norfolk, VA hit 100 degrees, setting a new all-time record high for the month of May. (Intellicast)
31 May 1992...This May was the driest on record for Chicago, IL and Rockford, IL. Only 0.30 inches of rain fell at Chicago and Rockford had a paltry 0.48 inches. The total rainfall at El Paso, TX of this past month was 4.22 inches, making this the wettest May ever for the city. The normal rainfall for May is only 0.24 inches, which means that this month rainfall total was 1758 percent of normal! (Intellicast)

Return to DataStreme ECS website