WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

17-21 July 2017

DataStreme Earth Climate System will return for Fall 2017 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 21 August 2017. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2017 Campaign is underway -- The seventh in the series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2017 will continue through Monday, 24 July. 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 (Hercules in the Northern Hemisphere and Scorpius 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 series in the 2017 campaign is scheduled for 14-23 August 2017. [GLOBE at Night]
Zenithal Sun -- Residents of Honolulu will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead during this past weekend and at the start of this week (15-17 July). This occurrence of a zenithal sun is one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The other time when Oahu experienced a zenithal sun was in late May. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]
Commemorating the world's highest recorded temperature -- NOAA's Natoinal Centers for Enviromental Information (NCEI) recently posted a feature in commemoration of the 104th anniversary of the measurement of the world-record high temperature at Greenland Ranch in California's Death Valley. The cooperative observer's thermometer on the afternoon of 10 July 1913 registered 134 degrees F, which has now been deemed the world's record high temperature according to the World Meteorological Organization. A copy of the July 1913 Cooperative Observer Form that shows the 134-degree entry for the data is provided. The reasons why Death Valley experiences exceptionally high temperatures are addressed. [NOAA NCEI News]
Remembering the deadly 1995 Midwestern heat wave -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) posted a feature that describes the intense heat wave that spread across a large section of the Midwest, which resulted in the deaths of 583 people in the Chicago (IL) metropolitan area because of the extended heat. This heat wave began on 12 July 1995 and continued for four days, with daytime temperatures across the region reaching 104 degrees and nighttime temperatures falling only to the upper 70s and low 80s because of high levels of atmospheric humidity. The combination of triple digit air temperatures and dewpoints in the upper 70s and low 80s resulted in heat indices reaching 125 degrees. [NOAA NCEI News]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

National weather and climate reviewed for June 2017 -- Scientists at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) recently reported on their analysis of preliminary weather data collected during the month of June 2017. They found:

The monthly temperature averaged across the coterminous United States for that month was 70.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 1.9 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th-century (1901-2000) June average. Consequently, this past June was the 20th warmest June (tied with June 1977) since 1895 when comprehensive climate records became available nationwide.
With the exception of 21 states across the Southeast and the Midwest, the majority of contiguous states reported above- to much above-average monthly temperatures for June 2017. Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah in the West and Delaware in the Middle Atlantic region of the East had June statewide average temperatures that ranked within the top 10 of their respective 123 years of record, with Arizona reporting a statewide June temperature that was second highest on record. On the other hand, statewide average temperatures for states along the Gulf Coast and the lower Mississippi and Ohio Valleys had below-average temperatures, with temperatures ranking in the 40th lowest.
The maximum (or daytime) temperature for June the 48 contiguous United States was 2.0 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century average, which was the 20th highest in 123 years. The minimum (nighttime) temperature for the "Lower 48" was 1.7 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century average, which was the 14th highest minimum June temperature on record.
The June 2017 statewide temperature average for Alaska was the twelfth highest in the state's period of record that extends back to 1925.
The nationwide average precipitation for June 2017 was 3.01 inches, which was 0.08 inches above the 20th-century average, making that month the 55th wettest (or 68th driest) June in 123 years.
Ten states across the central and western half of the nation had below to much below average June statewide precipitation totals. Nebraska reported its second driest June since 1895, while Colorado had its twelfth driest June. In addition, several Middle Atlantic States had a dry June, with Maryland experiencing its seventh driest and Delaware its 19th driest June on record. Conversely, a dozen states across the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast/Gulf Coast had above average precipitation totals. Florida experienced its second wettest June in 123 years, Alabama its fourth wettest June, while Louisiana and Mississippi had their fifth largest June precipitation totals.

NOAA NCEI State of the Climate

NOAA/NCDC]

June national drought report -- The National Centers for Environmental Information has posted its June 2017 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately one percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of June, while ten percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
Massive iceberg broke off from Antarctic Ice Shelf -- Project MIDAS, an Antarctic research project based at the United Kingdom's Swansea University, reported that early last week an iceberg broke away from the West Antarctica Larson C Ice Shelf and is now floating in the waters of the Wendell Sea. This iceberg is approximately the size of the state of Delaware and is estimated to weigh over a trillion tons. A false-color image made by the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's Aqua satellite and a day-night band image from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite show the new iceberg last Wednesday. The new iceberg is expected to occasional get stuck on the bottom of the Wendell Sea over the next months and years. [NASA Earth Observatory] [BBC News]
Monitoring Europe's early summer heat wave -- A meteorologist for NOAA's Climate Prediction Center wrote an article for ClimateWatch Magazine describing the heat wave that Europeans experienced this past June. With June 2017 average temperatures across Europe ranging from three to seven Fahrenheit degrees above the 1981-2010 normals, this June may likely be second warmest on record for France and Switzerland, while the warmest June on record for the Netherlands. An anomalously large high pressure system that remained centered over Europe is blamed for the relatively high temperatures. Mention was made of efforts made by the international group called World Weather Attribution to find a climate change connection with this recent heat wave. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Warm winter events in Arctic are becoming more frequent and last longer -- An international team of researchers have found that Arctic winter warming events, identified as the winter days with maximum temperatures of at least 10 degrees below zero Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) have become more frequent and are lasting longer than they did in the 1980s. This discovery was made based upon data collected from field campaigns, drifting weather stations and buoys across the Arctic Ocean from 1893 to 2017, along with a global atmospheric reanalysis provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, UK, from 1979 to 2016. The more frequent and longer lasting warm winter events would appear to affect Arctic sea ice growth and thickness. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Feature]

CLIMATE FORCING

Annual Greenhouse Gas Index is updated -- Scientists in the Global Monitoring Division of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory recently provided an update of NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) for the calendar year 2016. The AGGI is an index that considers the combined influence that a set of long-lived greenhouse gases have upon the Earth's surface temperature, scaled to the influence these gases would have had in 1990, the year when the UN Kyoto Protocol was signed by nations to reduce emissions of the gases. The main greenhouse gases considered are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and halogenated compounds (such as CFC11 and CFC12). According to this most recent annual update, the AGGI for 2016 was 1.40, which means that at the end of the calendar year 2016, the warming influence of greenhouse gases had risen 40 percent above the 1990 baseline value. The scientists also calculated the total contribution of greenhouse gases would be equivalent to 489 ppmv (parts per million by volume) of CO₂, of which the actual concentration of CO₂ was 404 ppmv. The AGGI is calculated from air samples collected weekly from approximately 100 clean-air stations around the world. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Note: The details of the AGGI and tables of data that include the annual values of AGGI, the global radiative forcing by CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, CFC11 and CFC12 along with 15 minor green house gas constituents are listed from 1979 through 2016. In addition, annual CO₂-equivalent totals are also provided. [Global Monitoring Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory]
Global atmospheric methane levels reaching new highs -- A graph of monthly atmospheric methane concentrations running from 1983 through this year has been created based upon the global measurements of this greenhouse gas collected by the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL). This graph shows that after reaching a plateau where methane gas concentrations remained relatively constant between 1999 and 2006, the methane levels have continued to increase to record highs of nearly 1848 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) as of April 2017. Several reasons for the recent increase in atmospheric methane have been proposed. Radiocarbon testing of air samples by ESRL scientists indicate that agricultural and wetland emissions from the tropics may be a culprit, replacing the thought that methane emitted from fossil fuels, including "fugitive" methane gas escaping during oil and natural gas drilling was responsible. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Rate of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana slows -- Scientists with the US Geological Survey (USGS) have analyzed the reports of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana between 1932 and 2016, finding the long-term rate of coastal wetland loss has continued to slow since peaking in the 1970s. Historical surveys, aerial imagery and satellite data were used to track these changes in the coastal landscape over time. These researchers conclude that the lack of major hurricanes reaching the coast since 2008 may be a likely main reason for this slowing of the rate of land loss. [USGS Newsroom]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Updated El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion is released -- Forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) released their monthly El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion late last week. They reported an ENSO-neutral situation continued through June 2017, with above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) found across the east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean, while slightly below- or near-average SSTs were reported in the eastern Pacific. In addition, the atmospheric system remained close to average, suggestive of the continuation of an ENSO-neutral situation with neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions prevailing. While some of the prediction models used by the forecasters indicate an onset of an El Niño during Northern Hemisphere summer (June, July and August), other models appear to favor continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions into boreal autumn (September through November). Therefore, forecasters give ENSO-neutral conditions a 50 to 55 percent chance of continuing into the Northern Hemisphere's 2017-2018 winter season., while a 35 to 45 percent chance is given for development of El Niño conditions. Therefore, the CPC's ENSO Alert System Status remained non activate. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center] Note: The criteria used for CPC's ENSO Alert System is available.
An ENSO blog was written by a researcher with NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory that explains why CPC and IRI forecasters are claiming that ENSO-neutral conditions are continuing despite above-average temperatures in a region of the central equatorial Pacific (called Niño3.4) used as a standard to determine the occurrence of an El Niño or La Niña. Discussion is alsos made of how the various prediction models used by CPC and IRI indicate a weak El Niño developing before returning to ENSO-neutral conditions. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
An El Niño forecast from Down Under -- Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued an updated ENSO forecast, in which they reported continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions. Since they foresee a continuation of these neutral conditions through the remainder of the calendar year of 2017, the Bureau's ENSO Outlook status remains "Inactive." [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Slightly below average Chesapeake Bay "dead zone" expected for this summer -- Scientists with NOAA Fisheries, the US Geological Survey, the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan recently announced that they are expecting this summer's hypoxic low-oxygen zone, or "dead zone" in Chesapeake Bay to be slightly below the long-term average as measured since 1950. The smaller areal extent may be due to this spring's low river flow and low nutrient loading from the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers. [NOAA News]
Smaller than normal harmful algal bloom predicted this summer for western Lake Erie -- Late last week scientists from NOAA and the partner institutions of Ohio Sea Grant, Ohio State University, Heidelberg University and University of Toledo predict a harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie for summer 2016 that would be smaller than normal, as well as being much smaller than the record 2015 bloom. This 2016 seasonal forecast involves the generation of a severity index based upon numerical models that involve assessing and predicting the nutrient runoff. The anticipated smaller than normal algal bloom is due to less discharge that was projected from the Maumee River. [NOAA News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

17 July 1934...One of the worst heat waves in the nation's history began. During the last two weeks of July, extreme heat claimed 679 lives in Michigan, with 300 of them in Detroit alone. (National Weather Service files)
17 July 1972...South America's lowest temperature, 38 degrees below zero, was attained at San Juan, Argentina. (National Weather Service files)
17 July 1987...Slow-moving thunderstorms caused flooding on the Guadalupe River in Texas resulting in tragic loss of life. A bus and van leaving a summer youth camp stalled near the rapidly rising river, just west of the town of Comfort, and a powerful surge of water swept away 43 persons, mostly teenagers. Ten drowned in the floodwaters. Most of the others were rescued from treetops by helicopter. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
17-18 July 1996...Heavy rains were responsible for unprecedented flooding across north central and northeast Illinois, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Aurora, IL received 16.91 inches of rain, which established a new 24-hour precipitation record for the Prairie State. Approximately 60 percent of the city's homes were affected by flooding. At Romeoville, 10.36 inches of rain fell. Interstates were closed and some towns were isolated. Rampaging floodwaters scoured out roads near Dayton, leaving gravel and sand deposits to twenty feet high. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18 July 1889...A cloudburst in West Virginia along the small creeks in Wirt County, Jackson County and Wood County claimed twenty lives. Rockport, WV reported 19.00 inches of rain in two hours and ten minutes that Thursday evening, setting a 24-hour precipitation record for the Mountain State. Tygart Creek rose 22 feet in one hour, and villages were swept away on Tygart, Slate, Tucker, and Sandy Creeks. (The Weather Channel) (NCDC)
18 July 1942...A record deluge occurred at Smethport in northern Pennsylvania, with 30.70 inches in just six hours. Several additional national records including 3-hour rainfall (28.50"), 4.5-hour rainfall (30.70"), and 12-hour rainfall (34.30"). The 24-hour rainfall total for the day was 34.50 inches, which set a maximum 24-hour precipitation for the Keystone State. The downpours and resultant flooding in Pennsylvania were devastating. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
18 July 1955...In Martinstown, England, eleven inches of rain fell in a 15-hour period on this day believed to be the 24-hour greatest rainfall for the United Kingdom. (The Weather Doctor)
18-19 July 1979...A 30-foot high tsunami wave leveled four Indonesian villages on the Sunda Islands during the night. The wave swept 1500 feet inland, causing 589 deaths among the sleeping villagers. A landslide from Mount Werung (Lomblen Island) caused the tsunami. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18-21 July 1996...Between six and twelve inches of rain fell on an already saturated Saguenay River Valley of Quebec, producing Canada's first billion-dollar disaster ($1.5 billion). Flooding destroyed or damaged 1718 houses and 900 cottages. Ten people were killed and 16,000 were evacuated. Roads and bridges disappeared. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor) (Wikipedia)
18 July 1996...Aurora, IL received 16.91 inches of rain, which established a new 24-hour precipitation record for the Prairie State. (NCDC)
18-22 July 1997...Hurricane Danny, the only hurricane that made landfall in the continental US in 1997, moved inland into coastal Alabama at a snails pace. Radar storm total estimates of 43 inches over Mobile Bay. A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell on 19-20 July at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
19 July 1955...The Yarkon Water Project was opened to supply water to Negev desert in Israel. The Yarkon "flows" through the most densely populated areas of the country to the Mediterranean. The river has deteriorated rapidly since the 1950's due to excessive draining for irrigation by the National Water Carrier, with marked decline in water quality, animal habitats, flora and fauna. The National Water Carrier (1964), which crosses Israel from north to south, is the 81-mile main artery connecting all regional water projects in the State. (Today in Science History)
19 July 1974...A severe thunderstorm with winds to 80 mph and up to two inches of rain washed out four to five foot deep sections of roadway in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Three persons in a station wagon died as it was carried 3000 feet down a wash by a ten foot wall of water. (The Weather Channel)
19 July 1977...Thunderstorms produced torrential rains over parts of southwestern Pennsylvania. Some places in the Johnstown area received more than twelve inches in a seven-hour period. The heavy rains cause flash flooding along streams resulting in widespread severe damage, representing the "second Johnstown flood", second to the more disastrous flood in May 1889. The cloudburst flooded Johnstown with up to ten feet of water resulting in 76 deaths, countless injuries, and 424 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category-5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)
19 July 2006...Charlwood, England melted under the highest temperature ever recorded in Britain in July at 97.3 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
20 July 1930...The temperature at Washington, DC soared to an all-time record of 106 degrees. The next day Millsboro reached 110 degrees to set a record for the state of Delaware. July 1930 was one of the hottest and driest summers in the U.S., particularly in the Missouri Valley where severe drought conditions developed. Toward the end of the month, state records were set for Kentucky with 114 degrees and Mississippi with 115 degrees. (David Ludlum)
20 July 1934...The temperature at Keokuk, IA soared to 118 degrees to establish an all-time record high temperature for the Hawkeye State. (The Weather Channel)
20 July 1965...The 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Show-Me State was set at Edgarton, MO as 18.18 inches of rain fell. (NCDC)
20 July 1986...The temperature at Charleston, SC hit 104 degrees for the second day in a row to tie their all-time record high. (The Weather Channel)
20 July 1988...The temperature at Redding, CA soared to an all-time record high of 118 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
20 July 1989...Showers and thunderstorms in the Middle Atlantic Coast Region soaked Wilmington, DE with 2.28 inches of rain, pushing their total for the period May through July past the previous record of 22.43 inches. Heavy rain over that three-month period virtually wiped out a 16.82-inch deficit that had been building since drought conditions began in 1985. Thunderstorms in central Indiana deluged Lebanon with 6.50 inches of rain in twelve hours. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
20 July 1994...Seattle-Tacoma, WA sizzled at 100 degrees, the highest ever temperature recorded there. (Intellicast)
20 July 1997...A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC)
21 July 1911...The temperature at Painter, WY dipped to 10 degrees to equal the record low for July for the continental U.S. (The Weather Channel)
21 July 1930...The record high temperature for Delaware was set with 110 degrees at Millsboro. (Intellicast)
21 July 1934...The temperature reached 109 degrees at Cincinnati, OH to cap their hottest summer of record. The state record for Ohio was established that day with a reading of 113 degrees near the town of Gallipolis. (David Ludlum)
21 July 1983...The temperature at Vostok, Antarctic (elevation 11,220 ft) fell to 129 degrees below zero, establishing the all time lowest temperature ever recorded at a surface station on Earth, as well as for the Antarctic continent. (NCDC)
21 July 1991...Windsor Locks, CT hit 101 degrees, the third day in a row with temperatures over 100 degrees. Providence RI reached 102 degrees, their second day of 100-degree readings, very rare for this location. (Intellicast)
22 July 1926...The temperature at Troy, NY reached 108 degrees to set a high temperature record for the Empire State. The record high temperature for Connecticut was set at Waterbury with 105 degrees; this record for the Nutmeg State was broken by one degree in July 1995 at the same city. (Intellicast)
22 July 1972...Fort Ripley, MN received 10.84 inches of rain, to establish a new 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Gopher State. (NCDC)
22 July 1987...Barrow, AK received 1.38 inches in 24 hours on the 21^st and 22^nd, an all-time record for that location. The previous record was the 1.00 inch water equivalent in a 15 inch all-time record snowfall of 26 October 1926. The average annual precipitation for Barrow is just 4.75 inches. (The National Weather Summary) (The Weather Channel) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
23 July 1923...Sheridan, WY was drenched with 4.41 inches of rain, an all-time 24-hour record for that location. (22^nd-23^rd) (The Weather Channel)
23 July 1987...Thunderstorms produced a record ten inches of rain in six and a half-hours at Minneapolis, MN, including 5.26 inches in two hours. Flash flooding claimed two lives and caused 21.3 million dollars damage. Streets in Minneapolis became rushing rivers, parking lots became lakes, and storm sewers spouted like geysers. A tornado hit Maple Grove, MN causing five million dollars damage. Baseball size hail was reported at Olivia, MN. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
23 July 2010...The largest (by diameter) and heaviest hailstone on record in the United States fell on Vivian, SD. The stone was 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.9 pounds. The person who found the stone reported that some melting had occurred before the official measurement was taken. This hailstone broke the previous US record for diameter (7.0 inches - 22 June 2003 in Aurora, NE) and weight (1.67 pounds - 3 September 1970 in Coffeyville, KS). The Aurora, NE hailstone will retain the record for circumference (18.75 inches). Several other stones of 6 inches or more in diameter were measured during the storm survey. (National Weather Service files)
23 July 2011...Chicago, IL set an all-time daily record rainfall when 6.86 inches fell during the early morning hours of Saturday, 23 July 2011, at O'Hare airport. The previous daily record was 6.64 inches set on 13 September 2008. (National Weather Service files)

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