27 June -1 July 2011

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2011 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 29 August 2011. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Welcome to the weather, climate and ocean educators attending the 2011 DataStreme LIT Leader Workshop that is being held at Green Bay, WI from 26 to 29 June 2011.
• The halfway point -- Midpoint of calendar year 2011 occurs at noon local standard time on Saturday, 2 July 2011.
• "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)
• Way out there!...The earth reaches aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun on Monday morning (officially at 15Z on 4 July 2011, which is equivalent to 11 AM EDT or 10 AM CDT). 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 on the early evening of 3 January 2011.

• Satellites detect plant health from fluorescence -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have generated global maps of chlorophyll fluorescence from land plants using data collected spectrometer on Japan's Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). These maps display the plant health and are compared with the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) based on data from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Pre-testing satellite air pollution sensors -- NASA scientists and their colleagues in academia have been conducting a month-long field campaign called DISCOVER -- AQ (Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality) designed to improve satellite measurements of air pollution. They have been conducting these tests on instruments that will eventually fly in space on the agency's P-3B turboprop aircraft stationed at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. [NASA's Earth Science News Team]
• Second season of ICESCAPE sets sail -- Over this past weekend, the second year of a NASA-funded field campaign called ICESCAPE mission, ("Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment") began as research teams departed Dutch Harbor in Alaska on board the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy. This five-week field campaign will be deploying instruments and making measurements in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in an effort to see how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean's chemistry and ecosystems. [NASA's Earth Science News Team]
• New instrument designed to provide key space weather data -- The US Air Force Weather Agency is now receiving space weather data products from a new instrument onboard the Defense Department's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite. This new instrument, developed at the Naval Research Laboratory, is called the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI). These data products include vertical profiles of the natural airglow radiation from atomic-sized particles and ions in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. [Naval Research 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]

• Snowpack in northern Eurasia could serve as a predictor of US winter weather -- A climatologist from the University of Georgia and associates claim that the amount of snowpack that is laid down across northern Eurasia in October and November could serve as an important predictor of the severity of the winter weather across the US during the next winter season. [University of Georgia News Service]

• Rise in sea level is fastest in two millennia -- A team of scientists funded by the National Science Foundation reports that their reconstruction of a sea level record since 200 BC from sediment cores in coastal salt marshes of North Carolina indicates the current rise of sea level along the Atlantic Coast of the US is the greatest in the last 2000 years. The results also show a consistent link between global surface temperature and sea level. [NSF]

• Comments on creation of a NOAA Climate Service -- Last week, Jane Lubchenco, PhD, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of NOAA addressed the Committee On Science, Space and Technology of the US House Of Representatives concerning the proposed reorganization designed to create a Climate Service line office in NOAA as presented in President Obama's budget for Fiscal Year 2012. [NOAA News]
• NOAA Administrator addresses the Arctic Symposium -- Early last week, Jane Lubchenco, PhD, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of NOAA addressed the 4th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations in Washington, DC. She identified six guiding principles that she felt useful in framing decisions needed to help achieve success in dealing with growing issues in the Arctic, where ice has been diminishing. [NOAA News]
• Partnership designed to enhance awareness of how changing climate affects landscape -- During the last week, officials from NOAA and the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) announced an innovative pilot project that is intended to link NOAA's climate services expertise with the APGA’s public gardens. This project, which will be conducted at the APGA's Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA, is designed to educate gardeners and garden enthusiasts about the possible effects of climate change on America’s gardens, landscapes and green spaces. [NOAA News]
• Cost of weather to nation's economy is estimated -- A recently-released study conducted by researchers with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the University of Colorado Boulder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Stratus Consulting reveals that routine weather events as well as slight changes in the weather has an annual economic impact on the US economy of approximately $485 billion. They found that the national economy is not "weatherproof" as each of the 50 states and all sectors, such as finance, manufacturing and agriculture are sensitive to weather and its changes. However, data on the effect due to extreme events or changes in climate were not available. [UCAR/NCAR]
• 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]

• Space mission indicates different construction of Sun and inner planets -- Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and UCLA report that their analysis of data returned from NASA's 2004 Genesis mission indicates that differences in oxygen and nitrogen between the Sun and the inner planets may be due to different formation processes for these bodies than previously thought. [NASA]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 27 June 1915...The temperature at Fort Yukon, AK soared to 100 degrees to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 27 June 1988...The afternoon high of 107 degrees at Bismarck, ND was a record for the month of June, and Pensacola, FL equaled their June record with a reading of 101 degrees. Temperatures in the Great Lakes Region and the Ohio Valley dipped into the 40s. (The National Weather Summary)
• 27 June 1994...The temperature reached 122 degrees at the Waste Isolation Treatment Plant east of Carlsbad, NM to set the state high temperature record for New Mexico. In Oklahoma, the temperature at the mesonet station near Tipton reached 120 degrees, setting an all-time record for the Sooner State. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 28 June 1892...The temperature at Orogrande, UT soared to 116 degrees to establish a record for the Beehive State. This record was broken by one degree in July 1985. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
• 28 June 1954...The temperature at Camden, SC reached 111 degrees to establish an all-time high temperature record for the Palmetto State. (NCDC)
• 28 June 1960...The maximum 24-hour precipitation record for the Bluegrass State was established at Dunmor, KY when 10.40 inches fell. (NCDC)
• 28 June 1976...Temperature reached 96 degrees in Southampton, England's Mayflower Park for the highest temperature ever in June in England. (The Weather Doctor)
• 28 June 1980...The temperature at Wichita Falls, TX soared to 117 degrees, their highest reading of record. Daily highs were 110 degrees or above between the 24^th of June and the 3^rd of July. (The Weather Channel)
• 28 June 1994...Laughlin, NV reached 125 degrees, the state's all-time record high temperature. (Intellicast) The temperature at Monahans, TX reached 120 degrees to set a new high temperature record for the Lone Star State. (NCDC)
• 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)

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.