WEEKLY WEATHER AND CLIMATE NEWS

7-11 January 2013

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• check NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index continues to climb -- Scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory recently reported that the NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), based on measurements of the concentrations of various greenhouse gases from the agency's global air sampling network, has increased in 2010. The AGGI determines the direct climate influence of many long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that are added to the atmosphere by human activity, as a percentage of the base or "index" year of 1990. [NOAA News]
  See http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/2012/11/us-national-oceanographic-and.html
  and http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/ghg/GHGbulletin.html
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• update for Nov -- Review of October weather and climate across the US -- Preliminary data for October 2012 from across the nation have led scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center to report that the nationwide average temperature for this past month was approximately 0.3 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) long term average, breaking a 16-month string of above average national temperatures. Most of the states in the Mississippi Valley, including the upper Midwest, the Plains and the northern Rockies had below average temperatures, while southwestern and northeastern sections of the nation had above average temperatures.
  Preliminary precipitation records for October 2012 indicate that the month was slightly wetter than the 20th century average, with the monthly average precipitation for the 48 coterminous states being approximately 0.08 inches above average. Many of the northern tier of states had above to much above average statewide precipitation. On the other hand, states in the southern Rockies and the central to southern Plains had much below average statewide precipitation totals during October 2012. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
• NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center recently released a link to the 4.5-minute GOES-13 satellite video of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season [NASA GSFC]
• Check -- December drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its December 2012 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately ??? percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of December, while ??? percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
  
• Check-- Three-month seasonal weather outlook released -- Late last week, forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released their three month outlook across the nation for January, February and March 2012, which includes the last two months of meteorological winter (the three months of December through February). They feel that the current La Niña conditions (an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that tends to favor lower than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific) should continue to affect the winter weather. In the temperature outlook, the forecasters foresee a better than equal chance for below average winter and early spring temperatures across the West Coast, especially in the Pacific Northwest and in southern California, along with sections of the northern Rockies and northern high Plains. On the other hand, they anticipate a better than even chance of above average winter temperatures across a large section of the nation, primarily in the south central region from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to the central Gulf Coast and the Tennessee Valley. Other areas that could see above average temperatures would be along the Eastern Seaboard north to the Middle Atlantic States and across sections of the Midwest and central Plains. Elsewhere, equal chances of either below or above average temperature were anticipated.
  The CPC three-month precipitation outlook calls for better than even chances that the southern tier of states, especially over Arizona and New Mexico, along with the Florida Peninsula and other sections of the Southeastern States could experience dry conditions during the first three months of 2012. On the other hand, the interior Northwest, the northern Rockies and the adjacent northern Plains, along with sections of the Midwest, extending from the lower Ohio Valley to the eastern Great Lakes, should have better than equal chances of above average January-March precipitation. A summary of the prognostic discussion of the outlook for non-technical users is available from CPC.
  At the same time, CPC also released its US Seasonal Drought Outlook that will run from mid December 2011 through the end of March 2012, covering the rest of meteorological winter and the first month of meteorological spring. These forecasters foresee persistence in the current drought conditions across the southern tier of states, from Arizona eastward to coastal Georgia and South Carolina along with areas of the Upper Midwest from northern Minnesota through the eastern Dakotas into eastern Nebraska. In addition, new drought areas could develop across southern sections of California and across sections of the Southeast, including Florida and North Carolina. However, improvement in the current drought conditions were expected across sections of the southern Plains and the Ozark Plateau along with scattered area of the southern Appalachians. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
• A global review of November 2011 temperatures -- Preliminary analysis of temperature data by scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center indicates that the worldwide combined ocean and land surface temperature for November 2011 ranked as the twelfth highest global November surface temperature since a sufficiently dense and reliable network began in 1880. They also found that the global ocean surface temperature was the twelfth highest for November, while that month's globally averaged land surface temperature for November 2011 was the sixteenth highest on record. The scientists also reported that the combined land and ocean surface temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere autumn (September-November 2011) were the twelfth highest for all boreal autumn seasons going back to 1880. Furthermore, when averaged over the first ten months of 2011, the combined ocean and land surface temperature was the eleventh highest January through October average in 132 years of record. La Niña conditions continued during November and could extend through Northern Hemisphere winter (December 2011-February 2012), which could affect global ocean temperatures in the upcoming months.
  The average Arctic sea ice extent for November 2011 was the third lowest November sea ice extent since satellite surveillance began in 1979. The November sea ice extent around Antarctica was the eleventh smallest on record. [NOAA News] NOTE: The National Climatic Data Center has been using an upgraded data set of monthly mean temperatures in calculating global land surface temperature anomalies and trends for its Global Monthly State of the Climate Report.

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• From last week -- Eye on the tropics -- The only organized tropical cyclone activity during the last week was found in the western North Pacific basin. Tropical Storm Washi weakened to a tropical depression at the start of last week over the waters of the South China Sea off the southern coast of Vietnam. While this system never strengthen to typhoon status (maximum sustained winds exceeding 74 mph), the torrential rains accompanying Washi were responsible for more than 1000 fatalities in the Philippines as it traveled across that nation's southern islands at the end of the previous week. [USA Today] For satellite images, maps of satellite-estimated rainfall and additional information on Tropical Storm Washi, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Extreme Weather 2011 unveiled -- In a kickoff effort leading to a "weather ready nation," NOAA's National Weather Service created a webpage entitled "Extreme Weather 2011" -- contains a variety of animated satellite images of the 12 most destructive weather events across the nation during the current year. [NOAA]
• CHECK Review of NOAA research activities around the globe in 2011 -- During the last week NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) provided a list of highlights of the scientific research the agency has conducted around the global in the calendar year of 2011 in an effort to advance weather forecasting, climate prediction, environmental modeling, and protection against coastal threats such as tsunamis and oil spills. Some of the OAR research activities during 2011 included studying the effects of water loss changes in Great Lakes levels; the causes of hurricane landfall in the North Atlantic basin; the role of aerosols on monsoon rainfall in South Asia; continued environmental studies of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; monitoring rainfall for West African Farmers; studying stratospheric ozone depletion in the Arctic and the accurate prediction of the propagation of the tsunami triggered by the March Japanese earthquake. Furthermore, twelve weather and climate-related disasters occurred across the nation that exceeded $1 billion each in 2011, setting a new record for the most billion dollar weather and climate disasters in a single year. [NOAA Research]
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• Portrait of Earth on the boreal winter solstice -- A high-resolution, full-disk visible satellite image made from data collected from sensors onboard NOAA's GOES-13 satellite shows the planet's Western Hemisphere on 22 December 2011, the date of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
• View of snow and ice over the North Poles -- A composite image made data collected by sensors onboard NOAA and DMSP (Defense Department) satellites not only shows the snow and ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere's polar latitudes, but the locations of the geographic North Pole (determined by the planet's spin axis) and the geomagnetic North Pole (determined by the Earth's magnetic field). [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
• All-time high temperature record reported at the South Pole --Scientists with the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC) recently reported that the temperatures at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station and for two of their nearby automated weather stations (AWS) reached all-time high temperature records on Christmas Day (25 December 2011). On that date, the temperature at the South Pole reached 9.9 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the previous record of 7.5 degrees F set in December 1978. The Nico AWS had a record high of 17.2 degrees and at Henry AWS the temperature was 16 degrees. Weather records have been kept at the South Pole since 1957. [Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison] NOTE: See also the update. EJH
• UPDATED -- A review of Canada's top ten weather stories in 2012 -- During the last week, meteorologists with Environment Canada released a list of what they considered the top ten weather events across Canada during this calendar year of 2012. Some of these stories included the unseasonably warm weather that persisted throughout most of the year, the active Atlantic hurricane season, the major spring flooding in British Columbia and the ice melt in the Arctic sea ice. [Environment Canada]
  http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=0B8D6A90-1
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• Eye on the Tropics -- No organized tropical cyclone activity was found in any of the world's ocean basins during the past week.
• From last week--- Eye on the tropics -- The only organized tropical cyclone activity during the last week was found in the Eastern Hemisphere.
  In the western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Wukong formed from a tropical depression early last week in the Philippine Sea to the east of the Philippines. Moving to the west, this tropical depression intensified to Tropical Storm Wukong as it crossed the central Philippines to the south of Manila and then continued into the South China Sea. Heavy rain and strong winds accompanying Wukong buffeted this island nation. This tropical storm weakened to a tropical depression as it traveled toward the west-southwest, passing to the south of the coast of southern Vietnam. Wukong finally dissipated late in the week. For additional information on Tropical Storm Wukong, together with satellite images, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the western North Indian basin, Tropical Storm Four developed at the start of last week well to the east of the African nation of Somalia. Movement was to the west-southwest. However, this tropical storm was relatively short-lived as it weakened and dissipated before reaching Somalia, having survived for approximately 36 hours.
  In the western South Pacific basin, Cyclone Freda formed at mid week over the waters of the Solmon Sea to the south-southwest of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. These islands experienced heavy rain and strong winds from this developing tropical cyclone. As it traveled generally southward, Freda intensified into a major category 3 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale on Sunday (local time). Cyclone Freda was expected to pass to the west of New Caledonia during this upcoming week.
  In the South Indian basin, Tropical Storm Mitchell formed late last week off the northwestern coast of Western Australia. This system, which was moving southward over this past weekend, remained well off the Australian coast and should weaken to a tropical depression by early this upcoming week.
• High-quality maps of January temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University has prepared high-resolution maps depicting January's normal maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation totals 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.
• CHECK FOR NXT WK -- Free admission into the National Parks -- This coming weekend, Friday, 14 January 2012 through Monday 16 January 2012, has been designated by the National Park Service as fee-free days in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. This fee waiver will cover entrance and commercial tour fees in many of the national parks and monuments administered by the Park Service. [National Park Service Fee Free Days]
• Winter Awareness -- Montana will observe Ice Jam Awareness Day on 12 January 2012.
• Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week, only two organized tropical cyclones were found across the Earth's major ocean basins. These two tropical cyclones were located in the South Indian Ocean basin. Cyclone Benilde, which had formed during the previous week, moved generally westward and intensified to become a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale over the New Year's Day weekend. However, during the first half of the past week, this cyclone weakened to a tropical depression before becoming a remnant low over the waters south of Diego Garcia. The NASA Hurricane Page. has additional information and satellite images on Cyclone Benilde.
  Over this past weekend, Tropical Storm 5 formed over the waters of the Mozambique Channel from a tropical low pressure system that had been designated System 99S. As of Sunday, movement of this minimal tropical storm was traveling to the southeast toward Madagascar. Additional information and satellite images showing System 99S in its early stages can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• 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]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.