WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

29 June-3 July 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 --

Way out there! The earth will reach aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun Friday evening (officially at 02Z on Saturday, 4 July 2009, which is equivalent to 10 PM EDT or 9 PM CDT on Friday night). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,089,000 km, or 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year during midmorning on 4 January 2009.
The halfway point -- Midpoint of calendar year 2009 occurs at noon local standard time on Thursday, 2 July 2009.
"Dog days" of summer begin -- The "Dog Days" traditionally begin on the third day of July of each year and continue through the eleventh day of August. The hot weather period received its name from Sirius, the brightest visible star in the sky and known as the dog star. Sirius rises in the east at the same time as the sun this time of the year. (The Weather Channel)
US House of Representatives passes important energy-climate bill -- Following hours of negotiation last Friday night, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill (219-212) that would provide major legislation calling for development of cleaner, but more costly, energy and the first nationally imposed limits on pollution linked to increases in global temperature through a "cap and trade" program. While this bill has the support of President Obama, it must pass the US Senate. [CNN]
Noted NOAA scientist receives an environmental prize -- Dr. Susan Solomon, NOAA Senior Scientist at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory recently was named as the recipient of the 2009 Volvo Environmental Prize for her scientific work in the Antarctic and her leadership in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment. [NOAA News]
National Clean Beaches Week -- The Clean Beaches Council has declared the upcoming week of 1-7 July 2009 as National Clean Beaches Week, which is meant to focus public attention on the role of sustainable beaches in American life. Four themes deemed important to people going to the beach will be emphasized for this event identified as "the 'Earth Day' for beaches": food, recreation, travel and the environment. [Clean Beaches Council]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

New geosynchronous environmental satellite reaches orbit -- Last Friday night, NASA and NOAA officials reported that a new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) successfully reached orbit after it was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This new satellite, which will be identified as GOES-14, will become operational following approximately six months of testing and will provide improved surveillance of a variety of environmental conditions, including atmospheric storm systems along with solar activity. [NOAA News] [NASA]
Winds from satellite help revolutionize marine weather forecasts -- A feature article on NASA's QuikSCAT satellite and its SeaWinds scatterometer on the satellite's tenth anniversary highlights the high resolution near-surface wind data used by NOAA's National Hurricane Center and other forecasting agencies to produce improved marine weather forecasts, especially involving tropical and extratropical storms. [NASA JPL]
World's largest aerosol sensing network is highlighted -- A feature article describes the development of a collaborative international sensor network to measure atmospheric aerosols called the Aerosol Robotic Network, or AERONET, by a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. This network of 400 stations on seven continents, which started from a study of vegetation from space, is now attempting to determine the role of aerosols on planetary climate. [NASA Earth Science News Team]
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

Aerosols monitored from space -- Images obtained last week from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows haze and airborne dust at several locations including:
- Haze along and off the coast of China produced by urban and industrial pollution. [NASA Earth Observatory]
- Dust plume being carried across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa's Sahara Desert by winds from the east. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Volcanic eruption seen from space -- A photograph taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station two weeks ago shows the ash and steam plume during an early stage in the explosive eruption of Sarychev Volcano in the Kuril Islands northeast of Japan. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Dry conditions in autumn and winter could lead to fewer spring tornadoes -- Researchers that the University of Georgia and Purdue University report that drought conditions in autumn and winter across the Southeast could suppress the region's tornado activity during the following spring, while wet conditions during the previous fall and winter led to more tornado activity. They also think that this pattern could also be valid across Tornado Alley in the Great Plains. [EurekAlert!]
Siberian explosion appears to have been caused by comet -- Research conducted by scientists at Cornell University on the exhaust plume from a NASA Space Shuttle launch and the historic accounts of noctilucent clouds following the mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion indicates that this explosion, which leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest, was most likely caused by a comet penetrating the Earth's atmosphere. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Western wildfires depend upon regional climate -- A study conducted by the US Forest Service and the University of Washington on nearly 90 years of fire data in eleven western states indicates that a complex relationship between climate and fuels exists among various ecosystems across the West, meaning that increased regional temperatures could help accumulate and dry fuels, leading to increases in acreage burned by wildfire [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Hydrofluorocarbons seen as important to increased global temperatures -- Scientists from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and their colleagues have determined that the increases in the global use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as a means to help avert destruction of the stratospheric ozone shield caused by CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) has contributed to increases in global temperature as these synthetic compounds appear to be greenhouse gases. These scientists are especially concerned about the projected increases in HFCs in developing countries by 2050. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Relationship between past warming and sea-level rise seen -- A team of researchers from the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of Bristol and Germany's University of Tübingen have reconstructed sea level fluctuations over the last 520,000 years and compared this record with data on global climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels obtained from Antarctic ice cores. The record shows a systematic relationship between global temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level changes over the most recent five glacial cycles. [EurekAlert!]
Prehistoric glacier shows rapid ice sheet retreat -- Paleoclimatologists at New York State's University at Buffalo who studied a prehistoric glacier in the Canadian Arctic have discovered that it rapidly retreated in just a few hundred years, which they termed "in a geologic instant." They are concerned that the rapid retreat rate is greater than that observed for modern glaciers, and if equaled could result in a sharp rise in global sea level. [University at Buffalo News]
A region of minimal biological activity found in South Pacific -- An oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island and colleagues on an international oceanographic expedition to the middle of the South Pacific gyre (a large scale circulation regime) have found that collected sediments have few organisms and little biomass, making the region the least inhabited sediment explored. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Index insurance could have potential for managing climate risks and reducing poverty -- A report entitled "Index Insurance and Climate Risk: Prospects for development and disaster management" released at last week's Global Humanitarian Forum workshop indicates that a new type of insurance called index insurance offers significant opportunities as a climate-risk management tool in developing countries. The report was published in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Oxfam America, Swiss Re, the World Food Programme and NOAA. [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:

29 June 1931...The temperature at Monticello, FL hit 109 degrees to establish an all-time record for the Sunshine State. (The Weather Channel)
29 June 1975...Litchville recorded 8.10 inches of rain for North Dakota's state 24-hour precipitation record. (NCDC)
29 June 1988...Jackson, MS equaled their record for the month of June with an afternoon high of 105 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
29 June 1994...The mercury hit a scorching 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City, AZ to set a new all-time record high temperature for the Grand Canyon State. This reading also tied the one at Death Valley, CA on the same day for the US June record. The previous state record for Arizona was 127 degrees set at Parker on 7 July 1905. The temperature at Laughlin, NV reached 125 degrees, which also set an all-time record high temperature for the Silver State. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Australia: was a 9.4 degree below zero reading at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, Australia. (The Weather Doctor)
30 June 1912…The deadliest tornado in Canadian history struck Regina, Saskatchewan, as 28 people were killed. (The Weather Doctor)
30 June 1983…Tasmania's coldest night on record was observed as the temperature at Shannon dropped to 8.6 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
30 June 1989...The remains of tropical storm Allison dropped copious amounts of rain on Louisiana. Winnfield, LA reported 22.52 inches of rain in three days, and more than thirty inches for the month, a record for June. Shreveport received a record 17.11 inches in June, with a total for the first six months of the year of 45.55 inches. Thunderstorms also helped produce record rainfall totals for the month of June of 13.12 inches at Birmingham, AL, 14.66 inches at Oklahoma City, OK, 17.41 inches at Tallahassee, FL, 9.97 inches at Lynchburg, VA, and more than 10.25 inches at Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh had also experienced a record wet month of May. (The National Weather Summary) (Intellicast)
Month of July 1861...The greatest one-month of precipitation ever measured globally (366 inches) was recorded at Cherrapunji, India. Total rainfall for the period 1 August 1860 to 31 July 1861 was the greatest rainfall in one year ever recorded (1041.78 inches). (The Weather Doctor)
Month of July 1931...The July- August 1931 flood in the Yangtze basin of China affected over 51 million people or one-quarter of China's population. As many as 3.7 million people perished from this great 20^th century disaster due to disease, starvation or drowning. (The Weather Doctor)
1 July 1911...The high temperature of just 79 degrees at Phoenix, AZ was their lowest daily maximum of record for the month of July. The normal daily high for 1 July is 105 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
1 July 1915...Pawtucket, RI received a deluge with 5.1 inches of rain in 24 hours. (Intellicast)
1 July 1979...It snowed almost half a foot (5.8 inches) at Stampede Pass, WA, a July record. (The Weather Channel)
1 July 1988...Twenty-six cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date --an unusual cool spell in what turned out to be one of the hottest summers on record. Lows of 48 degrees at Providence, RI, 48 degrees at Roanoke, VA, 49 degrees at Stratford, CT, and 48 degrees at Wilmington, DE, were records for the month of July. Boston, MA equaled their record for July with a low of 50 degrees. Barre Falls, MA dropped to 34 degrees. Five inches of snow whitened Mount Washington, NH. (The National Weather Summary) (Intellicast)
1 July 1987...Lake Charles, LA was drenched with a month's worth of rain during the early morning. More than five inches of rain soaked the city, including 2.68 inches in one hour. (The National Weather Summary)
2 July 1908…The temperature at Dumfries, Scotland reached 91 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland. (The Weather Doctor)
2 July 1942...The temperature at Portland, OR hit 107 degrees, an all-time record for the city. This record was subsequently reached on three other occasions. (ThreadEx) (Intellicast)
2 July 1989...Midland, TX reported an all-time record high of 112 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
2 July 1998….Italy's highest recorded temperature was 108.5 degrees, set at Catania, Italy: (The Weather Doctor)
2-6 July 1994...Heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Alberto produced major flooding across northern and central Georgia. Three-day rains exceeded 15 inches at Atlanta. An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA on the 6^th to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. Numerous road closures and bridge washouts. Thirty people were killed and 50,000 were forced from their homes, as 800,000 acres were flooded. Total damage exceeded $750 million... (NCDC) (Intellicast)
3 July 1975…Shangdi, Nei Monggol, China received 401 mm (15.78 inches) of rain, the greatest 1-hour rainfall ever recorded on Earth: (The Weather Doctor)
3 July 1966...The northeastern U.S. was in the midst of a sweltering heat wave. The temperature at Philadelphia reached 104 degrees for a second day. Afternoon highs of 102 degrees at Hartford, CT, 105 degrees at Allentown, PA, and 107 degrees at La Guardia Airport in New York City established all-time records for those two locations. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
3 July 1995…The lowest temperature ever recorded in New Zealand was 6.9 degrees below zero at Ophir, New Zealand. (The Weather Doctor)
4 July 1911...The northeastern U.S. experienced sweltering 100-degree heat. The temperature soared to 105 degrees at Vernon, VT and North Bridgton, ME, and to 106 degrees at Nashua, NH, to establish all-time records for those three states. Afternoon highs of 104 degrees at Boston, MA, 104 at Albany, NY, and 103 at Portland, ME, were all-time records for those three cities. (The Weather Channel)
4 July 1956...A world record for the most rain in one minute was set at Unionville, MD with a downpour of 1.23 inches. (The Weather Channel) (The National Severe Storms Forecast Center)
4 July 1989...Independence Day was "hot as a firecracker" across parts of the country. Nineteen cities, mostly in the north central U.S., reported record high temperatures for the date, including Williston, ND with a reading of 107 degrees. In the southwestern U.S., highs of 93 at Alamosa, CO, 114 at Tucson, AZ, and 118 at Phoenix, AZ, equaled all-time records for those locations. (The National Weather Summary)
4 July 2007, St. George, Utah: The temperature at St. George, UT hit an unofficial temperature reading of 118 degrees, which would have topped the state’s all-time record of 117°F (47.2°C), set in St. George in 1985.
5 July 1925…An immense hailstone weighing 227 grams (0.5 lb) fell at Plumstead in London, England, the heaviest hailstone ever recorded in the United Kingdom. (The Weather Doctor)
5 July 1936...The all-time state record high of 120 degrees was set at Gann Valley, SD. (Intellicast)
5 July 1937...The temperature at Medicine Lake, MT soared to 117 degrees to establish a state record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
Midale and Yellow Grass in Saskatchewan hit 113 degrees to establish an all-time record high for Canada that same day. (The Weather Channel)
5 July 1985...The temperature at St. George, UT reached 117 degrees, setting a record high temperature for the Beehive State. (NCDC)
5 July 1986...The low temperature at Boise, ID dropped to a crisp 35 degrees, the coldest ever for the month. (Intellicast)
5 July 1988...Afternoon and evening thunderstorms spawned eleven tornadoes in Montana and three in North Dakota. Baseball size hail was reported at Shonkin, MT, and wind gusts to 85 mph were reported south of Fordville, ND. Twenty cities in the north central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Fargo, ND with a reading of 106 degrees. Muskegon, MI equaled their July record with a high of 95 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
5 July 1989...Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Middle Atlantic Coast Region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to ten inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in seventy years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain. Alamosa, CO reported an all-time record high of 94 degrees, and Pierre, SD hit 113 degrees. Denver, CO reached 101 degrees, topping 100 for the second straight day, only happened once before in 1972 (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
5 July 1993...Heavy rains deluged the Central Plains as one of the greatest floods in U.S. history began to unfold. Twenty-four hour totals included 5.90 inches at Columbia, IA, 5.15 inches at Centralia, KS and 4.80 inches at Haddam, KS. (Intellicast)

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