WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

29 January- 2 February 2018

ITEMS OF INTEREST

A "super blue blood" moon and a total lunar eclipse --A full moon will occur on this morning, as the moon will reach the full phase, officially at 1327Z on 31 January (8:27 AM EST, 7:27 AM CST, etc.). This moon is called a "super moon" as the moon appears to be larger than usual because the Moon is closer to the Earth, as perigee (the closest Earth-Moon distance) would have been slightly more than one day earlier on Tuesday morning (30 January). Since this full moon is the second one during the same calendar month, it is often called a "blue moon," a term used to indicate its rarity rather than its color. (The first full moon of this month was on the evening of 1 January 2018.) Finally, it is called a "blood moon" when the Moon is in total eclipse and the lunar surface takes on a dark reddish or copper appearance during the eclipse as some light passing around the Earth would reach the Moon. Otherwise, the January full moon is often called the "Old Moon" or "Wolf Moon."
As the Moon reaches full phase, it will pass completely through the Earth's shadow, resulting in a total lunar eclipse. The entire eclipse should be visible across the central and western Pacific Ocean, along with western North America (Alaska and the Canadian Arctic), eastern Asia and most of Australia. Residents of North America should see the beginning of the eclipse before moonset, while those living in central and western Asia, along with eastern sections of Europe and Africa should see the end of the eclipse after local moonrise. The start of the eclipse is at 1051Z (5:51 AM EST), with the main part of the eclipse occurring at 1331Z (8:31 AM EST), and the end of the eclipse at 1608Z (11:08 AM EST) The particulars of this eclipse are provided on the [NASA Eclipse Page].
High-quality maps of February 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 February 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.
February 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 February, 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.
Groundhog Day and climatology -- This Thursday (2 February 2017) is Groundhog Day, celebrated by many communities around the nation with much fanfare. According to legend, if the groundhog emerged from its burrow after hibernation on this day and saw its shadow, it would return to hibernation, thereby indicating six more weeks of wintry weather. Most people assume that a converse holds true - if no shadow were seen, an early spring should be expected. According to a Groundhog Day report prepared by the National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly, the National Climatic Data Center), no convincing statistical evidence appears to support this belief of the prognostic capabilities of the groundhog. The only point that can be considered to have any meteorological significance is that cloud free weather conditions would be responsible for allowing a woodchuck or human to cast a shadow. Such cloud-free weather conditions in early February typically are associated with a cold mass of air that would usually send all but the hardiest resident back into a nice warm shelter. This legend also coincides with an ancient late winter festival, since next Thursday is the customary halfway point of the astronomical winter season (the point is closer to Friday afternoon, 3 February 2017). To the ancients, this date was significant because it was one of the four Cross Quarter Days, marking an important astronomical milestone. The day is located essentially at the point half way between the winter solstice, marking the occurrence of the shortest length of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere (21 December 2016) and the spring equinox (20 March 2017), when equal lengths of daylight and darkness occur once again. So regardless of what your local groundhog "predicts" the beginning of astronomical spring is still six weeks away.
Climatology of Super Bowls updated -- Next Sunday (4 February 2018) is "Super Sunday," when the Philadelphia Eagles (National Football Conference Champions) will play the New England Patriots (American Football Conference Champions) in the National Football League's Super Bowl LII (or 52) at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN, a new indoor stadium. The service climatologist for the Southeast Regional Climate Center has provided an updated listing of the Super Bowl Weather & Climate 1967-2017. This annotated list contains the "climatology" for game day that includes the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, the 24-hour precipitation and the 24-hour snowfall along with comments on the weather observed in the host city on "Super Sunday" for each of the previous 51 Super Bowl games.
During the last 51 years the Super Bowl has been played in at least 16 different major metropolitan areas and in 23 different stadiums. Furthermore, more than one-third (18) of these games have been played indoors. After years of restricting the selected site to relatively warm cities (where temperatures need to be at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit) or at domed stadiums, NFL officials scheduled the 2014 Super Bowl for the outdoor MetLife Stadium at East Rutherford, NJ, the home of the New York Giants and Jets that is a cold weather site. That game was played before wintry weather reached northern New Jersey.
Understanding geodesy, the study of the Earth's shape for navigation -- A 15-minute NOAA Ocean Podcast was recently produced in which Galen Scott of the Geosciences Research Division of NOAA's National Geodetic Survey describes what geodesy is and its importance to navigation on land and sea as well as Earth system science. Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field. [NOAA National Ocean Service]
Ten commonly used phrases have a nautical origin -- NOAA's National Ocean Service recently assembled a list of ten phrases that people often use in modern-day English that have a nautical origin. For each of these phrases, an explanation of their origin in an earlier maritime culture is provided. [NOAA National Ocean Service]
Accessing and interpreting climate data -- If you would like to obtain a variety of climate data for your home town or state that are available from the National Weather Service, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth. This Supplemental not only identifies some of the sites to find the data, but also provides you with a brief explanation of the terminology used to identify the climate data.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Earth experienced 29 weather-related natural disasters that each reached $1 billion in 2017 -- Aon Benfield Analytics, a global reinsurance intermediary and full-service capital advisory firm, recently released its 2017 annual report entitled "Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight" in which it noted that 2017 was the costliest year on record for weather-related disasters around the world, amounting to $344 billion, based upon preliminary insurance reports. A total of 29 weather-related disasters were recorded worldwide in 2017. The year was the second-costliest on record in terms of the all natural disasters, totaling $353 billion, based upon 31 individual billion-dollar disaster events. [Weather Underground] (Editor's note: Recently, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information had issued its Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Overview in which it reported 16 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each occurred across the United States in 2017. EJH)

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Reflecting on state climate extremes records and reports -- Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), has recently written a Beyond the Data blog in which he features a look at climate extremes by state. (The list of extremes in maximum, minimum temperature, 24-hour precipitation, 24-hour snowfall and snow depth for each state officially recognized by NCEI is provided.) He provides some insight into the importance of having volunteer weather observers who are part of the Cooperative Network to not only report measured values from the instruments but also make commentary about unusual weather events in their area. [NOAA News]
A new satellite begins assessing the Earth's energy budget -- Beginning during the first week of January, the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Flight Model 6 (CERES FM6) instrument onboard the new NOAA-20 satellite. has begun taking observations of the short-wave solar radiation that is reflected from the clouds, atmosphere and the surface of planet Earth, along with the long-wave radiation emitted from the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere. These measurements of the reflected solar radiation can be used to calculate the amount of solar energy absorbed by the Earth-atmosphere system, while the emitted long-wave radiation determines the energy lost from the system. From these observations, the total energy budget of Earth can be assessed, continuing the tracking begun more than three decades ago. The NOAA-20 satellite was launched into a polar orbit as the NASA-NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) in November 2017. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Instruments from NASA's fleet of satellites and aircraft monitor wildfires from around the world -- Over the years, instruments onboard NASA's fleet of Earth-orbiting satellites and aircraft have been detecting and monitoring wildfires around the world, including those that form in remote and data-sparse areas. In addition to detecting and providing location information on active wildfires for fire management, these instruments track the transport of smoke from fires and map the extent of changes to ecosystems, based on the extent and severity of burn scars. The data collected from the satellites and aircraft are provided to as part of the NASA Earth Science Disasters Program. Some of the instruments are the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument on the agency's Terra satellite. [NASA Jet Propulsion News]

CLIMATE FORCING

Dust on Western snowpack controls in springtime river rise -- Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Utah report that dust on the snowpack covering the mountains that contain the headwaters of the Colorado River appears to be more important than air temperature and spring warmth in controlling the rate of spring snowmelt. Over winter, a dark layer of windblown dust or soot settling upon the snow surface increases the amount of sunlight the snow absorbs, leading to increased snowmelt. The amount of windblown dust across the Southwest has increased as a result of changing climate conditions and land-use decisions made by humans. Decreased precipitation and more exposed bare soil across the Southwest in recent years has resulted in the increased dust. [NASA Jet Propulsion News]
Satellite observes Saharan dust blanketing the Cape Verde Islands -- Images obtained last week from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite show somewhat turbid conditions over the Cape Verde Islands, the set of islands in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean located approximately 400 miles off the coast of Africa. The turbid conditions were the result of airborne dust and sand from the Sahara Desert being carried westward over the islands by strong harmattan winds from the east and northeast. In addition to serving as a sunscreen to reduce the intensity of the incoming sunlight, the dust fertilizes the ocean with nutrients that can promote plankton growth, as well as carrying fungus and disease-causing microorganisms that damage coral reefs. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Water levels on the Great Lakes expected to keep rising this spring -- The Detroit Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released its extended forecast for the water levels on the North American Great Lakes running through June in which it foresaw the water levels on all five of the lakes to rise again during this spring. This spring would mark the fifth straight year in which increases would occur following the record-low levels in 2013. [Detroit News]
Experimental seasonal forecast models could potentially predict Western seasonal snowpack months in advance -- Researchers at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory have recently shown the ability of numerical forecast models to predict snow levels during the month of March across the mountains of the American West as much as eight months in advance. Their forecasts were accurate for most of the Western mountains, except for the southern Sierras, where precipitation producing storms are infrequent. Seasonal snow forecasts could improve regional water resource forecasts and could be of value to water managers and agricultural interests. [NOAA News]
A “hindcast” experiment was run by the researchers in which the snow water content of the Western snowpack was predicted on the start of July for the average snowpack for the following month of March over four years running between 2012 and 2015. These forecasts were then compared with the observed snowpack for these years. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Approximately half of California's natural vegetation could be at risk from climate stress by end of the century -- Researchers at the University of California Davis, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the U.S. Geological Survey recently warned that current rates of greenhouse gas emissions are putting nearly half of California's natural vegetation at risk from climate stress by 2100, with transformative implications for the state's landscape along with the people and animals depending upon this vegetation. If emissions were cut such that global temperatures increased by no more than 2 Celsius degrees, the impacts could be reduced by half, with approximately one quarter of the state's natural vegetation affected. [University of California Davis News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Official National Hurricane Center report on Hurricane Harvey is issued -- During the past week, NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) released its official 76-page [Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Harvey] describing in detail the atmospheric and oceanic conditions that led to the development, travels and demise of Hurricane Harvey, a major hurricane that made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast, where it caused major flooding, deaths and significant devastation. Harvey, a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, had formed on 17 August 2017 and finally dissipated on 1 September. With more than 60 inches of rain falling over southeastern Texas, Harvey set a continental U.S. record for rainfall from a single storm. The report also describes the causality statistics and economic impact that Hurricane Harvey had upon the states of Texas and Louisiana. At least 68 fatalities in Texas were attributed directly Harvey, the largest number of direct hurricane deaths in the Lone Star State since 1919. Total losses were estimated to be as much as $75 billion, which represents the second-most costly hurricane in U.S. history. A critique was also provided of the forecasting and warning efforts made by NHC and the National Weather Service for Hurricane Harvey. [CNN News]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Concept of the Week: Touring the AMS Climate Studies RealTime Climate Portal Website

NOTE: This Concept for the Week is a repeat of that which appeared in last week's Weekly Climate News.

The RealTime Climate Portal is intended to deliver a wealth of climate information that is both pertinent to the course as well as being a reference site for you as you study Earth's climate system. The webpage is arranged in several sections. On Monday of each week of the course, we will post the current Weekly Climate News that includes Climate in the News (a summary listing of recent events related to climate), Concept of the Week (an in-depth analysis of some topic related to climate in the Earth system), and Historical Events (a list of past events important in the understanding of climatology). When appropriate, Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth will be provided on some topic related to the principal theme of the week.

You will use the RealTime Climate Portal along with the "Current Climate Studies" that complement your Climate Studies Investigations Manual. These materials should also be available Monday morning. Click the appropriate links to download and print these electronic components of the investigations as well as your response forms.

Beyond these course Learning Files, sections include Climate Information, Climate Variability, Climate Change, Societal Interactions and Climate Policy, and Extras. As the titles suggest, there are multiple uses for climate data and their interpretation. Here we explore some examples of the information provided in the various sections of the RealTime Climate Portal.

The Climate Information section includes access to weather data, the raw material of climate synthesis, from the United States and the world under the heading "Observations and Data." Under this heading, click on "NOAA's Climate.gov." This page displays weather and climate stories and the Dashboard shows graphs of climate information back to 1880.

The second major subdivision of the RealTime Climate Portal encompasses Climate Variability. Climatic variability refers to the fluctuations and oscillations that may occur within the climate system at temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events. Select the link, "NOAA El Niño Page". The page that appears provides access to a wealth of background and information on El Niño and La Niña, including the animation showing sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical Pacific during recent months. The page of current tropical Pacific conditions appears on a small map.

The third major section of the RealTime Climate Portal is termed Climate Change. Here we provide links to information and analyses that primarily focus on anthropogenic (human-made) change processes and results in the climate system. That prominently includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's ("IPCC") latest classic report on atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and their effects. Also linked are modeling results ("Models") based on those studies.

The last major section of the RealTime Climate Portal is titled Societal Interactions and Climate Policy. This block contains information on the impacts of projected change on human societies around the world, beyond that listed in the IPCC report, and the international actions and debates regarding those issues. Select and click on "National Climate Assessment (NCA3) Highlights" in this section. This webpage introduces you to the latest comprehensive and authoritative report on climate change and its impacts in the United States, now and in the future. You will be directed to this report several times in this course.

Completing the RealTime Climate Portal is the Extras section of additional handy information for the course and individual study such as dictionaries of terms, maps and materials. Choose and examine one of the Climate Literacy links. This document has recently been developed and released by NOAA to provide an overview of general concepts and information the general public and especially students should be aware of regarding the climate and the climate debate.

Historical Events:

29 January 1934...The temperature at the Observatory on top of Mt. Washington, NH (the highest point in New England) fell to 47 degrees below zero, establishing a new all-time record low temperature for the state. (NCDC)
30 January 1966...Alabama's record low temperature of 27 degrees below zero was set at New Market. Mississippi's record low temperature of 19 degrees below zero was set near Corinth. North Carolina's record low temperature of 29 degrees below zero was set at Mount Mitchell. (Intellicast) The record for the Tarheel State has been broken with a reading of 34 degrees below zero in January 1985. (NCDC)
31 January 1911...Tamarack, CA was without snow the first eight days of the month, but by the end of January they had been buried under 390 inches of snow, a record monthly snowfall total for the U.S. By 11 March 1911, Tamarack had a record snow depth of 451 inches. (National Weather Service files)
31 January 1920...The highest barometric pressure observed in the contiguous forty-eight states was recorded at Northfield, VT with a reading of 31.14 inches of mercury (1054.5 millibars). (The Weather Doctor)
31 January 1963...The Mt. Rose Highway Station near Reno, NV reported 7.13 inches of precipitation, which set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Nevada. (NCDC)
31 January 1989...The barometer rose to 31.85 inches of mercury (1079.7 millibars) at Northway, AK, establishing the all time highest reading for the North American continent. (The Weather Doctor)
31 January 1994...Caribou, ME recorded its coldest month ever. The average temperature for the month was a frigid 0.7 degrees below zero. The old record was 1.3 degrees set in January 1957. (Intellicast)
1 February 1916...Seattle, WA was buried under 21.5 inches of snow, their greatest 24-hour snowfall. A total of 32.5 inches of wet snow accumulated over three days. The Seattle cathedral dome collapsed under the snow's weight. (National Weather Service files)
1 February 1985...The temperature at Gavial, NM dropped to a state record low of 50 degrees below zero. The state record low temperature in Colorado of 60 degrees below zero was tied at Maybell. A station at Peter's Sink, UT reported a temperature of 69 degrees below zero, which set the new all-time state record for Utah. (NCDC)
2 February 1951...The record low temperature for the state of Indiana was set at Greensburg when the mercury fell to 35 degrees below zero; this record was broken in January, 1994. (Intellicast)
2 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and a cross southern Florida. It produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1996...Extremely cold air covered the north-central U.S. Tower, MN dropped to 60 degrees below zero to set a new state low temperature record. International Falls, MN and Glasgow, MT both set records for the month of February with 45 and 38 below zero, respectively. Rochester, MN dipped to 34 below zero for its lowest temperature in 45 years. Green Bay, WI only reached 16 degrees below zero for the high temperature for the day, which is its lowest high temperature on record in February. Meanwhile, farther to the east, heavy snow fell across the mid-Atlantic region. Eighteen inches of snow was recorded at Rehoboth Beach, DE and 17 inches fell at Solomons, MD. Charleston, WV recorded 6.8 inches of snow for the day to bring its seasonal snowfall to 80.7 inches, the city's snowiest winter ever -- and still two months of winter to go! (Intellicast)
3 February 1917...Downtown Miami, FL reported an all-time record low of 27 degrees. Miami weather records date to 1911. (David Ludlum)
3 February 1947...The temperature at Tanacross, AK plunged to a record 75 degrees below zero. (David Ludlum) At Snag, Yukon Territory, the temperature fell to 81.4 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), North America's lowest recorded official temperature. (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1996...Extremely cold weather persisted. Des Moines, IA dipped to 26 degrees below zero to tie its February low and broke its record for most consecutive hours below zero, which ended up being 132 hours. Milwaukee, WI also tied its record for lowest February temperature with 26 degrees below zero. The temperature at Tower, MN fell to 60 degrees below zero to set a new all-time state minimum temperature record for the Gopher State. The state record low was also tied in Iowa with Elkader reporting a frigid 47 below zero. Elizabeth, IL recorded 35 degrees below to tie the state lowest temperature record; this record has since been broken in January 1999. (Intellicast) (NCDC)
3 February 1997...Centralia, WA set the state record for consecutive days of measurable precipitation at 55 between 10 November 1996 and 3 February 1997. (The Weather Doctor)
4 February 1982...Barrow, AK reached 36 degrees on this date, marking their highest temperature ever recorded in February. In fact, this is the second time they climbed above freezing in the month of February, with the only other date was 14 February 2006 when the temperature reached 35 degrees. (National Weather Service files)
4 February 1996...Frigid temperatures continued over the northern US and spread southward to the Gulf Coast. A cooperative observer near Couderay, WI reported a temperature of 55 degrees below zero, which set a new record low for the Badger State. This reading is also the lowest temperature ever recorded east of the Mississippi River. Amasa, MI checked in with 51 degrees below zero, which tied the record low for Michigan. Tulsa, OK had a morning low of 11 degrees below zero for its lowest temperature in 66 years. Muskegon, MI recorded an all-time low of 19 degrees below zero. La Crosse, WI completed it longest stretch of subzero temperatures ever (144 hours). The center of the frigid arctic high-pressure system moved over Louisiana, setting an all-time record high barometric pressure of 30.82 inches (1043.6 millibars) at Baton Rouge. (Intellicast)

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