You are browsing the archive for February 2012 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
25 February 2012
Extreme weather is normal, but increasing amounts of it is not.
It’s been a very mild winter over most of the U.S. and Canada, and meteorologists are increasingly asked if the extreme weather is due to climate change. I was asked to write something about this for Atmos-News which is produced by NCAR (the National Center for Atmospheric Research). Click on the image below to read it, and I hope you will find it interesting. Also in this edition of AtmosNews …
Look West at Sunset This Weekend. Venus, the Moon and Jupiter are putting on a show.
Thanks to Glen Burns, the Chief Metr. at WSB in Atlanta, for spotting this shot. Taken by Rafael Schmall in Somogy, Hungary. I saw Jupiter, Venus and a beautiful crescent Moopn here in OKC tonight. March will be even better!
24 February 2012
Severe Thunderstorms on The Chesapeake Bay- In February??
I’ve been tracking some very strong storms across the Chesapeake Bay and into the Delmarva Peninsula this afternoon. A rare moderate risk of severe weather was outlooked by the Storm Prediction Center today for the region. What a crazy winter it has been! There is also a tornado watch over much of the region, with the greater threat of tornadoes over North Carolina. The crazy weather is not …
23 February 2012
Ice Loss, Snowfall and Blowing Dust- The view from Space.
From JPL: PASADENA, Calif. – In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular …
20 February 2012
A New Dark Era of Science?
An interesting piece in the Guardian Sunday, that is well worth a read. I know personally of scientists who have received death threats for their work in the field of climate physics, and teachers whose jobs were threatened for teaching basic biology. The National Center for Science Education has recently added defending climate science to its mission because of the many reports from teachers that they are having issues with …
18 February 2012
Significant Snow Event For Mid Atlantic- Delmarva??
Several inches of snow may fall over the next 48 hours in the Mid Atlantic. It looks now as if the heavier snows will be SW of the Washington/Baltimore area but an inch or two is possible even there and out onto the Delmarva. I’m moving to Salisbury on the Eastern Shore in a couple of weeks (will be forecasting WBOC TV). As a snow lover, all I …
17 February 2012
People Who Live in Glass Houses..
I tend to steer away from politics in this space, but this issue goes directly to science education in the classroom, and therefore it’s fair game. Update: Several of the top climate experts (Dr. Ben Santer, Michael Mann and others) who have been the target of Heartland’s smear campaigns have written an open letter in the UK Guardian here. I wrote a blog post about a pamphlet full of pseudo-science sent …
16 February 2012
Snowy Italia
The European Space Agencies Envisat has taken a beautiful picture of a snow covered Italy. The image was taken on 13 Feb. and shows a lot of frost on the Italian boot. If you want a really big full res image to make a poster out of then go here. The image is over 9 megabytes, so be warned!
15 February 2012
The Sagan Series
I just discovered the Sagan Series by Reid Gower. All of them are well worth watching. The first is below. The second is here: The very powerful third is below and you can find the rest. Reid is on twiter here. We Sagan lovers all share a special bond I think.
10 February 2012
Snow Drought A Major Concern – Cross post
My friend Jim Gandy is the Chief Meteorologist for WLTX in Columbia, SC, and the image below links to his most recent post. Compare the maps of snow cover over the last three years. Water problems are very likely by summer in the Western U.S. if the spring is not wet and snowy. Click the image to read his post:
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.