WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

2-6 July 2018

ITEMS OF INTEREST

High-quality maps of July 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 July 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.
July 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 July, 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.
The half-way point -- Midpoint of calendar year 2018 will occur at noon, local standard time, on Monday, 2 July 2018.
"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)
Celebration of 30th anniversary of IPCC kicks off -- During the past week the Swiss government hosted a ceremony at the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva, Switzerland to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations. As part of the celebration that was held during last week's Seventieth Session of the WMO Executive Council meeting, calls were made to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement and to leverage climate change solutions to address other threats and priorities for the sustainable development goals. [World Meteorological Organization News]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2018 Campaign for July commences -- The seventh in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2018 will commence this Wednesday (4 July) and continue through Friday, 13 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 with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. These constellations are Hercules in the Northern Hemisphere and Scorpius for the Southern Hemisphere. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The eighth series in the 2018 campaign is scheduled for 2-11 August 2018. [GLOBE at Night]
Weather in Philadelphia for the 4th of July 1776--This Wednesday is the 4th of July or Independence Day. Sean Potter, a consulting meteorologist who has an interest in history, wrote an article four years ago that describes the weather observations made during July 1776 in Philadelphia by Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. [Weatherwise Magazine] Have a happy and safe 4th of July! EJH
Using past records to assess chances of rain on the 4th of July -- An interactive map was produced by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). showing the historic probability of 0.10 inches or greater of rain falling on the 4th of July at over one thousand stations across the 48 contiguous United States. This map was produced from the 30 years of observations (1981-2010) at each of these stations. (Zoom in to any place across the nation to access more stations.) Maps of the historical chance of rain at stations in Alaska and Hawaii, along with additional information on the maps are available from the Beyond the Data blog posted by Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at NCEI.
Way out there!...The earth reaches aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun during the midday hours of Friday, 6 July 2018 (officially at 1647Z, which is equivalent to 12:47 PM EDT or 11:47 AM CDT, etc.). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,095,570 km, or 1.02 AU (astronomical units). This distance is 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year during the late-night hours of 2 January 2018.
"Warmest day of the year" approaches -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Climatic Data Center) has created a "Warmest Day of the Year" map for the contiguous United States based upon the highest daily maximum temperatures of the year as calculated from the 1981-2010 climate normals. Additional maps are available for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Many places across the nation will experience their highest daily temperatures within the next two to three weeks. However, some locations in Arizona and New Mexico affected by the Southwest Monsoon reach their maximum temperatures during the last two weeks of June. On the other hand, coastal locations along the Pacific Ocean and in Hawaii would have the highest temperatures in September because of the thermal lag due to proximity of the ocean. [NOAA National Climatic Data Center News] Note: For comparison, a corresponding national map is available that shows the "Coldest Day of the Year" based upon the occurrence of the lowest daily minimum temperatures over the 1981-2010 climatological normals interval. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
An AMS Education app is recognized as part of US Climate Resilience Toolkit -- The AMS Education Program Climate at a Glance Application entitled "Climate Variability or Climate Change?" https://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/ecs/cag/ has been placed in the US Global Research Program's US Climate Resilience Toolkit at https://toolkit.climate.gov/tool/climate-glance-application. (Editor's note Thanks go to Dr. Ira Geer, AMS Education Program Director Emeritus, for providing these links to this app that he helped design. EJH)

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Day Zero shut-off of water in Cape Town has been deferred -- For several months at the start of this year, Cape Town, South Africa's second-largest city, was facing the approach of Day Zero, when the city would be forced to turn off water taps because of a lack of potable water after a multi-year drought. Its residents would have been forced to go to water-collection points where they could get no more than seven gallons of water per day. However, recent rainfall has now permitted Day Zero to be deferred to 2019. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

High resolution images of global vegetation health are available -- The NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) has data and satellite images available online to assess the vegetative health (both crops and native vegetation) for many areas of the world. These data and images with a one-kilometer resolution have been obtained from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument onboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Global surface area of streams and rivers is much larger than previous estimates -- Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Texas A&M University using detailed satellite imagery along with surface measurements and a statistical model discovered that the surface area of rivers and streams across the globe is approximately 45 percent greater than previously estimated. This information is significant in understanding the hydrologic cycle and potential impacts of climate change associated with greenhouse gas movement from water to the atmosphere. [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Research]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

June 2018 regional climate impacts and outlooks released -- During the last week NOAA scientists and their colleagues in other partner agencies released a set of "Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook" reports for June 2018 in ten regions around the nation (and a section of northwestern Canada). These reports outline historical climate trends and describe major climate events that occurred during the previous three months that constitute meteorological spring (March through May 2017). They also provide future climate outlooks for the next three months (July-September 2018) that spans the remainder of meteorological summer and the first month of autumn for each of the eight regions around the nation. [NOAA NIDIS US Drought Portal]
Southern Plains and Southwest may be in store for dustier summers, while northern Plains may see fewer dust storms -- A staff member at the NOAA Climate Program Office recently posted a feature in the ClimateWatch Magazine describing the efforts by two researchers at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory that involve modeling changes in dust activity across the United States through the second-half of the 21st century due to changing climatic conditions caused by human-caused global warming. They found significant increases in dust storm events across the Southwest and Southern Plains during the warm spring and summer months, associated with decreases in precipitation and increases in surface bareness due to less leafy vegetation. Increases in surface winds, the result of increases in the Great Plains low-level jet could also contribute to the increased dust across the region. Some decreases in dustiness could occur across these regions during the winter months. On the other hand, decreases would occur across the northern Plains through essentially all months of the year. Their projections are based on the assumption that carbon dioxide emissions will continue to increase throughout the remainder of this century. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Canadian national seasonal outlook issued -- Forecasters with Environment Canada issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across Canada for July, August and September 2018, which represents the last two months of meteorological summer and the first month of autumn. The temperature outlook indicates that a large area across southern Canada running from western coast of British Columbia eastward to the Maritime Provinces would experience above normal (1981-2010) summer-early fall temperatures. Above average temperatures were also expected for northern sections of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, including Ellesmere Island. On the other hand, scattered areas across the Northwest and Nunavut Territories, northern Quebec and Labrador were expected to have below normal summer temperatures. Elsewhere, temperatures for the next three months should be close to normal.
The Canadian precipitation outlook for summer and early autumn 2018 indicates that below average precipitation could be expected across southern sections of the Prairie Provinces stretching from Alberta eastward to Manitoba and scattered areas in northern British Columbia and in a few widely scattered sections of eastern Canada. Above average precipitation were anticipated across sections of the Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut Territories, as well as along Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River valley. Elsewhere, close to average precipitation could be expected.
[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 AND SOCIETY

Review of lessons learnt during 2017 Caribbean Hurricane Season released -- An international team of experts recently presented a report entitled "Lessons learnt on Early Warning Systems during the 2017 Caribbean Hurricane Season" during the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas that took place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The review, which was launched last December following one of the most devastating hurricane seasons to hit the Caribbean, found that although forecasts were generally accurate and timely, the rapid change in intensity, especially for Hurricane Maria in Dominica, posed a real challenge. Risk assessments and response plans were not sufficiently connected during the dissemination and communication of warnings. Consideration of gender in early warning systems in the Caribbean, especially where families are headed by women. [World Meteorological Organization News]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

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...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 degrees, set in St. George in 1985. (The Weather Doctor)
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 tie the state record. Glendive, MT reached 117 degrees on 20 July 1893. (National Weather Service files)
Midale and Yellow Grass in Saskatchewan hit 113 degrees to establish all-time record high temperatures 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)
6 July 1928...A hailstorm at Potter, NE produced a stone that was 5.5 inches in diameter, and seventeen inches in circumference, weighing a pound and a half. At the time, it was the world's largest hailstone. (David Ludlum) (Wikipedia)
6 July 1921...The mercury hit 104 degrees at Ville Marie, Quebec, marking Quebec's highest temperature on record. (The Weather Doctor)
6 July 1936...Steele, ND reached 121 degrees, the state record. Moorhead, MN reached 114 degrees to set a record high temperature for the Gopher State. (Intellicast) (NCDC).
6 July 1988...Thirty-six cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 98 degrees at International Falls, MN and 101 degrees at Flint, MI equaled all-time records. Highs of 96 degrees at Muskegon, MI and 97 degrees at Buffalo, NY were records for July. (The National Weather Summary)
6 July 1994...An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. (NCDC)
7 July 1889...The greatest 20-minute rainfall ever recorded on Earth occurred when 8.1 inches of rain fell on Curtea-de-Arges, Romania. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1905...The mercury soared to 127 degrees at Parker, AZ to tie the state record established at Fort Mohave on 15 June 1896. The current record for Arizona is 128 degrees set at Lake Havasu City on 29 June 1994 (National Weather Service files).
7 July 1982...France's hottest day on record occurred at Le Luc near St. Tropez when the high reached 108.9 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1988...Thirty-eight cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Youngstown, OH hit 100 degrees, and for the second day in a row, Flint, MI reached 101 degrees, equaling all-time records for those two cities. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 1936...The temperature hit an all-time record high of 106 degrees at the Central Park Observatory in New York City, a record that lasted until La Guardia Airport hit 107 degrees on 3 July 1966. (The Weather Channel)
8 July 1989...Sixteen cities in the central and western U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The high of 103 degrees at Denver, CO equaled their record for July, and a 110-degree reading at Rapid City, SD equaled their all-time record high. Denver reported a record five straight days of 100-degree heat, and Scottsbluff, NE reported a record eight days in a row of 100 degree weather. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 2003...What may be the world's highest dew point temperature was recorded at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on the Persian Gulf. A dew point of 95 degrees was recorded at 3 PM while the air temperature was 108 degrees. The apparent temperature at that time would have been 172 degrees. (National Weather Service files)
9 July 1914...Finland's hottest day on record occurred when the temperature at Turku, Finland reached 96.6 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
9 July 1950...The town of York, NE was deluged with 13.15 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for the Cornhusker State. (The Weather Channel)
9 July 1968...Columbus, MS received 15.68 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
9 July 1988...The percentage of total area in the country in the grips of severe to extreme drought reached 43 percent, the fourth highest total of record. The record of 61 percent occurred during the summer of 1934. (The National Weather Summary)

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