WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

3-7 August 2015

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2015 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 24 August 2015. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2015 Campaign is underway -- The eighth in the series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2015 will begin on Wednesday 5 August and continue as a 10-night campaign that runs through Friday 14 August. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of a constellation (Cygnus in the Northern Hemisphere and Sagittarius in the Southern Hemisphere) with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The next GLOBE at Night campaign will be on 3-12 September. [GLOBE at Night]
High-quality maps of August temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University's website has prepared high-resolution maps depicting the normal maximum, minimum and precipitation totals for August and other months across the 48 coterminous United States for the current 1981-2010 climate normals interval. These maps, with a 800-meter resolution, were produced using the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) climate mapping system.
August weather calendar for a city near you -- The Midwestern Regional Climate Center maintains an interactive website that permits the public to produce a ready to print weather calendar for any given month of the year, such as August, at any of approximately 270 weather stations around the nation. (These stations are NOAA's ThreadEx stations.) The entries for each day of the month includes: Normal maximum temperature, normal minimum temperature, normal daily heating and cooling degree days, normal daily precipitation, record maximum temperature, record minimum temperature, and record daily precipitation; the current normals for 1981-2010.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Heat index reaches stifling levels in Iran -- At the end of last week, the heat index (or 'feel-like' temperature) reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius) in Bandar Mahshahr, a community in southwestern Iran, as the ambient air temperature was 115 degrees F (46 degrees C) and the dewpoint temperature was 90 degrees F (32 degrees C). Note: According to weather historian and author Christopher Burt, the highest known heat index ever recorded was 178 degrees F (81 C) at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on 8 July 2003, when the air temperature reached 108 degrees F (42 degrees C), with a dewpoint of 95 degrees F (35 degrees C), which appears to be the highest dewpoint temperature recorded. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Climatic Data Center) or the World Meteorological Organization do not maintain official records of dewpoint or heat index extremes. [The Washington Post] or [Metro News]
California has a "rain debt" equal to average annual precipitation total -- A scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues report that California has accumulated a deficit or "debt" of approximately 20 inches of liquid-equivalent precipitation between 2012 and 2015, which is roughly equivalent to the average amount of precipitation that would normally fall across the Golden State in a single year. The researchers based their findings upon the examination of 17 years of satellite observations and 36 years of precipitation observations and model output data. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Snow drought in North Cascades apparent from space -- Comparison of natural-color satellite images made by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor on NASA's Landsat 8 satellite in July 2013 and in July 2015 shows this year's lack of a significant snowpack on the higher elevations of Mt. Baker in Washington State's North Cascade Mountains. While this year's "snow drought" across the Pacific Northwest has been a major reason for the a small snow pack, the glaciers have shrinking over the last several decades due to a changing climate. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE FORCING

Earlier snow melting attributed to dark aerosols -- Using NASA's GEOS-5 climate model, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have found that light-absorbing aerosols can darken snow and ice, causing this snow and ice cover to absorb more of the sun's energy and ultimately, resulting an earlier melting of this snow pack across the Northern Hemisphere. Dust, black carbon and organic carbon were those light-absorbing aerosols responsible for the earlier snowmelt. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Active volcanoes seen from space -- A digital photograph taken by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station in May 2015 shows three large volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia, reportedly one of Earth's most active volcanic regions. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Canadian national seasonal outlook issued -- Forecasters with Environment Canada issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across Canada for August, September and October 2015, which represents the last month of meteorological summer and the first two months of autumn. The temperature outlook indicates that the western half of Canada, running from the US-Canadian border to the Arctic archipelago, would experience above normal (1981-2010) summer-early fall temperatures. Sections of the Maritime Provinces were also expected to have above average temperatures for these three months. Only few scattered areas across north central and east central Canada could have below normal summer temperatures.
The Canadian precipitation outlook for late summer and early autumn 2015 indicates that below average precipitation could be expected across scattered sections of the Prairie Provinces and into Ontario and Quebec. On the other hand, scattered sections across the Yukon and Northwest Territories and across Arctic Canada could have above normal precipitation for these three months.
[Note for comparisons and continuity with the three-month seasonal outlooks of temperature and precipitation generated for the continental United States and Alaska by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, one would need to use Environment Canada's probabilistic forecasts for temperature and precipitation.]

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE

Fire seasons around the world appear to be longer and more frequent -- A team of scientists from the US Forest Service, South Dakota State University, the Western Regional Climate Center at the Desert Research Institute and Australia's University of Tasmania have found that fire seasons in most of the Earth's continents have become longer and more frequent, with a nearly 19 percent increase in the global mean fire weather season length. The team based its conclusions on their analysis of 35 years of meteorological data and three fire danger indices to develop a simple annual metric of fire weather season length. Furthermore, the team warned that if these fire weather changes are coupled with ignition sources and available fuel, they could markedly impact global ecosystems, societies, economies and climate. [NASA Global Climate Change News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Today's floods in Charleston could represent future high tides -- A climate case study is presented that uses the area around Charleston, SC as an example of what the impacts of future sea level rise would have upon existing tidal flooding problems. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Four dozen national parks are plagued by significant air pollution impacts -- During the past week the National Parks Conservation Association released a report entitled "Polluted Parks: How dirty air is harming America's National Parks" that shows that every one of the 48 national parks with the greatest Clean Air Act protections are plagued by significant air pollution problems and climate change impacts. Air quality in these parks can be at least as bad as that in some major cities due to emissions from outdated coal plants and other sources of pollution. [National Parks Conservation Association News]
Assessing the value of heat warnings -- A broadcast meteorologist from Birmingham, AL recently posted his opinion on social media that the media are going too far in hyping heat warnings during summer in many areas of the nation. More than 6000 respondents appeared to agree with his comments. [The Washington Post Capital Weather Gang]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

3 August 1898...Philadelphia, PA had one of its worst thunderstorms ever when 5.84 inches fell in just 2 hours. The hydraulic pressure in the city sewers due to the force of the accumulated runoff caused overflows in toilets, basins and sinks to rise to second-floor levels in some cases. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
3 August 1914...Temperature reached an all-time August high of 96 degrees for Calgary, Alberta. (The Weather Doctor)
3 August 1970...Hurricane Celia made landfall near Port Aransas on the Texas coast, producing wind gusts to 161 mph at Corpus Christi, and estimated wind gusts of 180 mph at Arkansas Pass. Even at Del Rio, 250 miles inland, Celia produced wind gusts to 89 mph. The hurricane was the most destructive of record along the Texas coast causing 454 million dollars damage as 8950 homes were destroyed on the Coastal Bend. Celia also claimed eleven lives and injured 466 people. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
3 August 1987...Beckley, WV established an all-time record with an afternoon high of 93 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
3 August 1990...Highest temperature recorded in the United Kingdom prior to 2003 heat-wave was 98.8 degrees at Cheltenham, England: (The Weather Doctor)
3 August 1995...South Bend, IN received 4.83 inches of rain in 24 hours to set the city's greatest daily rainfall record. (Intellicast)
4 August 1881...The highest temperature recorded anywhere in Europe was 122 degrees Fahrenheit reported at Seville, Spain. (NCDC)
4 August 1930...The temperature at Moorefield, WV soared to 112 degrees to establish a state record, having reached 110 degrees the previous day. This new record for the Mountain State was subsequently tied in July 1936. (The Weather Channel)
4 August 1960...The Vostok station in Antarctica recorded a record low temperature of 127 degrees below zero on the Fahrenheit scale, which remained the lowest recorded global temperature until 1983. (The Weather Doctor)
4 August 1961...Spokane, WA reached an all-time record high temperature of 108 degrees. Kalispell, MT set an all-time record with a reading of 105 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
5 August 1843...A spectacular cloudburst at Chester Creek, near Philadelphia, PA turned the small creeks and streams entering the Delaware River into raging torrents. As much as sixteen inches of rain fell in just three hours at Concord, which still stands as the greatest amount of precipitation in a three-hour span in the U.S. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
5 August 1961...The temperature at Ice Harbor Dam, WA soared to 118 degrees to equal the state record established at Wahluke on 24 July 1928. The afternoon high of 111 degrees at Havre, MT was an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
5 August 1988...Floods ravaged parts of Sudan during August, the result of 8.27 inches of rain that fell in Khartoum in 13 hours on the 4^th and 5^th. The previous 24-hour record at Khartoum was 3.46 inches. More than one million people were made homeless. At least 96 died in Sudan's worst flooding since 1946. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
5 August 1994...Fairbanks, AK soared to 93 degrees for the highest ever August temperature. (Intellicast)
5-6 August 1959...A bucket survey showed that thunderstorms dropped 16.70 inches of rain on parts of Decatur County, IA. The total was accepted as Iowa's 24-hour rainfall record. (The Weather Channel)
6 August 1905...Princeton, IN received 10.50 inches of rain, which established a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Hoosier State. (NCDC)
6 August 1918...Unusually hot weather began to overspread the Atlantic Coast States, from the Carolinas to southern New England. The temperature soared to an all-time record high of 106 degrees at Washington, DC, and Cumberland and Keedysville hit 109 degrees to establish a state record for Maryland. (David Ludlum)
6 August 1947...Sault Ste. Marie, MI hit 98 degrees, equaling the highest temperature ever recorded at that location. (Intellicast)
6 August 1987...Afternoon thunderstorms deluged Milwaukee, WI, breaking all previous rainfall records for the city. Among the records: 1.10 inches in 5 minutes, 3.06 inches in 1 hour, 5.24 inches in 2 hours, 6.24 in 6 hours and 6.84 inches in 24 hours. Floodwaters were four feet deep at the Milwaukee County Stadium, and floodwaters filled the basement of the main terminal at the airport. Flooding caused 5.9 million dollars damage, and claimed the life of one person. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
7 August 1918...Philadelphia, PA established an all-time record with a high of 106 degrees. New York City experienced its warmest day and night with a low of 82 degrees and a high of 102 degrees. Afternoon highs of 108 degrees at Flemington, NJ and Somerville, NJ established state records for the month of August. (The Weather Channel) (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
7 August 1949...The hottest day on record for Winnipeg, Manitoba occurred when the temperature reached 105 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
7 August 1969...Cuba's hottest day on record when the temperature reached 101.5 degrees at Guantánamo, Cuba. (The Weather Doctor)
7 August 1983...The temperature at Thunder Bay, Ontario reached an all-time record high of 104 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
7-8 August 1995...Lockington Dam, OH recorded 10.75 inches of rain, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Buckeye State. (NCDC)
7 August 2004...Iceland's hottest August day on record as the temperature at Skaftafell, Iceland reached 84.4 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
8 August 1878...The temperature at Denver, CO soars to an all-time record high of 105 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
8 August 1983...The temperature at Big Horn Basin, WY reached 115 degrees to establish a state record for the Cowboy State. (The Weather Channel)
9 August 1930...The temperature reached 113 degrees at Perryville, TN to establish an all-time maximum temperature record for the Volunteer State. (NCDC) (Intellicast)
9 August 1960...Vancouver (British Columbia) International Airport's hottest day on record as the mercury hit 91.4 degrees (The Weather Doctor)
9 August 2003...The Bavarian city of Roth, Germany had a temperature that hit 105 degrees, a new national record. (The Weather Doctor)

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