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22 May 2013
GOES East Weather Satellite May Be Dead
GOES 13 is one of two Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites used for forecasting in the Western hemisphere. Late word tonight is that an attempt to revive it has failed and the backup satellite GOES 14 is being activated We should start seeing some images by midnight Eastern USA time. It will take another day to get normal coverage back. The GOES West satellite does give some coverage of the Eastern USA but it is poor at best …
21 May 2013
The Oklahoma Tornado: Some Facts and Pictures
First of all, this tornado was not the biggest and strongest tornado ever recorded on Earth, as one Oklahoma City weather-caster said. We don’t know the wind speeds yet, and until then it cannot be given an EF Scale rating. I’ve seen some things (on the video of the damage) that make it clear that this was very likely an EF 4, and I’ve seen one thing that makes me …
17 May 2013
Thunderstorms and Cities: Is there a connection?
Guest Post from Bob Ryan Meteorologist for WJLA TV in Washington DC (This post appeared on the WJLA Weather Blog) Are cities changing summer thunderstorms? This is a follow-up blog to a story I had on our 11PM news Tuesday May 14. You can see the actual story below but I wanted to expand a few things beyond 1 minute and 30 seconds. Here’s the tease :>). Do you live in …
15 May 2013
Circumscribed Halo over Ocean City In Maryland On Tuesday
Correction: Hat tip to Daniel Linek who spotted my mistake. This is a CIRCUMSCRIBED Halo. Not a Circumzenithal Arc . See here: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circum.htm The title to this post has also been corrected. You can read more about this on the great Atmospheric Optics site: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/cza.htm I saw one in Greenland (and at the South Pole for a few seconds). The bottom band I believe is a circumhorizon arc.
10 May 2013
The Future Of Weather Forecasting Is Under Construction
Every summer, thousands of people drive out to Chincoteague in Virginia to see the beautiful beach, wild ponies, and the stunning National Wildlife Refuge. To get there, they drive around the long NASA runway at the Wallops Island Flight facility, and you can’t help noticing the cluster of big satellite dishes. If you’ve been there, you probably have wondered just what all those dishes are for. Meteorologists already know, and you’re about to find …
27 April 2013
March 2013 is 337th Consecutive Month Above 20th Century Average
From NOAA: While Mother Nature was still giving the United States the cold shoulder during March, many other areas across the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures according to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The average global temperature for March 2013 tied with 2006 as the 10th warmest March since record keeping began in 1880. It also marked the 37th consecutive March and 337th consecutive month with a global …
14 April 2013
I Participated In A Google Hangout As Part of National Environmental Education Week
I work with the folks at the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) in Washington frequently and they do a fantastic job. When they asked me to participate in a Google Hangout as part of National Environmental Education Week, I said sure! A big thanks to NEEF and Google! It was a blast and I have had a lot of nice comments. You can see it here:
10 April 2013
First Radar “Hook Echo” associated with A Tornado Spotted 60 years Ago Today
Click the image to read about it on the COCORAHS blog. Oh, and get a COCRAHS gauge and sign up to help the study.
4 April 2013
NASA Satellite Measures The Effects Of Greenland Block That Stopped Spring
I mentioned the North Atlantic Oscillation in a recent blog post. The Arctic Oscillation is closely related to the NAO and many meteorologists often use the two interchangeably. The AO and NAO have been in a deeply negative phase for several weeks and this has brought unseasonably cold weather to Eastern North America and Western Europe. So cold, that a Ohio prosecutor indicted a Pennsylvania rat (AKA Punxsutawney Phil) for fraud, after a prediction …
24 March 2013
Motion To Dismiss The Indictment of Punxsutawney Phil
Motion for dismissal of Indictment If it please the court, Your Honor, I would like to make a motion to dismiss the indictment for fraud against one Chuck Elles Groundhog (AKA Punxsutawney Phil) of Pennsylvania. I list my reasons below along with evidence that spring might really be just around the corner. Exhibit One: I know this may look like gobbeldy gook Your Honor, but the chart above is crucial to our motion. …
21 March 2013
New Research On The 1925 Tri-State Tornado-Longest Track on Record
Good piece here from KOTV Meteorologist Michael Grogan about the research into the Tri-State tornado of 1925. I grew up in Tulsa, and when I was young there were many people still alive who witnessed this tornado. It holds the record for the longest track of one tornado on record. I’ve always suspected that it was probably actually several tornadoes from one super-cell, but hopefully the research from NOAA Meteorologist …
18 March 2013
NASA’s Science Visualization Wall- Cool Is An Understatement.
I spent the weekend at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University in Fairfax,Va. We started the weekend with a visit to the NASA’s science visualization wall. Scientific centers everywhere are building similar displays to see science data in a whole new way, and it’s without doubt leading to new discoveries about how the planet works. I saw some amazing images on this wall, and thanks to my Canon 5D I grabbed a few …
14 March 2013
AGU Video: Lightning strike jumps the rails
The famous “kite with key” experiment Ben Franklin conducted in 1752 is more than just a legend for lightning researchers around the world—it’s a procedure. Sure, the kite has been replaced by a rocket, and the string-with-key contraption by a spool of wire, but the intent is still the same—to better understand nature’s flashes of electricity. Recently, an unusual rocket-triggered lightning strike was caught on video by lightning researchers in Florida, and its curious course from cloud to ground is described in a new scientific paper.
12 March 2013
When The Waves Turn The Minutes To Hours
Last weeks big Nor’easter dumped very heavy snow in New England and it brought unusually high winds to the East Coast. From Norfolk to Boston. One of the NOAA buoys located 26 miles SE of Cape May New Jersey, or about 20 nautical miles off of Fenwick Island in Delaware, recorded the second highest waves on it’s record. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 510 PM EST SAT MAR 09 2013 …DELAWARE BAY BUOY …
5 March 2013
Why It’s So Difficult To Forecast Snowfall
Big Storm Brewing March looks like it will come in like a lion this week with a major storm likely to cause significant disruptions from Northern Virginia to Maine. The heaviest snow will probably fall just west fo the I-95 corridor but it will be a heavy wet snow, and it may be heavy enough to cause major power outages. Some guidance is indicating over 2 feet of snow and that might even cause structural damage …
1 March 2013
Hottest Summer Ever Down Under
From the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia today: Bureau of Meteorology confirms it’s been the hottest summer on record This summer hasn’t just felt hot. It’s been hot. The numbers are in, and the Bureau has confirmed this summer has been Australia’s hottest on record. The most extreme heat occurred in the first three weeks of January during an exceptionally widespread and prolonged heatwave. The highest temperature recorded during the …
21 February 2013
An Example of Good Science Journalism
This is a repost from the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media- Less Snow but More Blizzards… AP’s Explanatory Journalism Trumps ‘Brazen Contradiction’ AP science reporter Seth Borenstein sets a high bar for explanatory journalism with piece on how declining snowfall and a heavy blizzard can both be linked to a warmer climate. “Scant snowfall and barren ski slopes.” And “a whopper of a blizzard.” It’s what climate skeptics see …
17 February 2013
Seriously Behind; U.S. Near the Bottom In Weather Forecast Computer Power (Guest post by Cliff Mass)
Besides the increasing gap in weather satellite technology, Europe and Japan are also well ahead in computer power available for numerical weather prediction models. Almost every U.S. forecast meteorologist this winter has relied on the global model from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, (based in London) rather than the NOAA Global Forecast system. Short range forecasts are handled well by the NOAA high-resolution models centered over North America, but for forecasts beyond three days a global model is needed. …
15 February 2013
Seeing the hand of climate change in weather extremes
Extreme weather events have been cropping up all around the globe recently, and one place that’s been really hit hard is Texas. The drought that slammed that state in 2011 has already caused $7.6 billion in agricultural losses, sparked the sixth most devastating wildfire in the U.S., and coincided with the windiest spring on record for the state. And, still, the dry weather has not let up.
11 February 2013
Tornado Strikes Hattiesburg MS. Tornadic Storms Rumbling into South Alabama As well.
There is only weak instability but the wind shear is very conducive to tornados ahead of a cold front. Meteorologists look at a particular type of low-level wind shear called the storm relative helicity. Values above 200 are a warning sign and above 300 are a BIG warning to look for tornadoes. I am seeing values over 600 across South AL now so the threat remains.
