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You are browsing the archive for May 2015 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

31 May 2015

Will El Nino Break the California Drought? The Odds Are Not Good

I‘ve been doing a  little research into the coming El Nino and how it might relieve the epic California drought. The news isn’t very good, but the short of it is this: California needs to beseech Mother Nature for a supersized El Nino, because a regular size will probably not do the job. Look at the image above from a blog post by Tom DiLiberto last fall (on the excellent …

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28 May 2015

Alaska Sees Earliest 90 Degree Temperatures On Record

From climate.NOAA.gov today: This temperature map of Alaska shows the unusual warmth on May 23, 2015, at 2 p.m. local time in Fairbanks.  Based on NOAA’s Real-time Mesoscale Analysis data, it shows air temperatures at 2 meters (6.6 feet) above the ground. Temperatures below 45° are shades of blue, and temperatures above 45° are shades of orange and red. The warmest temperatures are located inland—away from the moderating influence of …

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NASA Earth Observation Satellites See Floods in Oklahoma and Arkansas

These two images from the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites are almost exactly 2 years apart. You can easily see the difference the flooding rains have had in the Arkansas River, especially around Fort Smith. More flooding rains are likely over the next 3-4 days across the Plains of Texas and Oklahoma.    

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27 May 2015

NOAA Issues 2015 Hurricane Season Forecast

You cannot learn to forecast something if you do not try, and testing predictions is what science is all about, so with that in mind, here is the hurricane forecast from NOAA for 2015. There is not a lot of skill in these forecasts, but this year we have some help. A growing El Nino (that looks like it may be a strong one) is the major factor in the …

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26 May 2015

An El Nino connection to the floods in Oklahoma and Texas?

There were more flash floods across the Hill Country of Texas into the eastern part of the state as well on Monday, and a Flash Flood Emergency was declared in the Austin area. Now, look at the sea surface temperature anomalies for the globe right now, with the signs of a developing El Nino (the warm water off south America stretching westward along the Equator), and also note the warm …

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23 May 2015

My Inner Geek

We have a popular local program where I work at (WBOC in Salisbury Maryland) called Delmarva Life and reporter Sean Streicher asked me to sit down and talk about myself. Sean explored my inner geek and I thought I’d share it here.

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22 May 2015

I’m Not A Politician But… I Think The Answer is 1 in 27 Million

The Washington Post (and other news outlets) reported Thursday that Jeb Bush believes it is arrogant to claim that it’s settled science that humans are primarily responsible for the warming of the planet: From the Washington Post: “The climate is changing,” he said, according to The Post’s Ed O’Keefe. “I don’t think the science is clear on what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It’s convoluted. And for people to …

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19 May 2015

NOAA: 2015 So Far is Hottest On Record

NASA released their data last week showing that the year so far is the hottest on record, and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Climate Data Center) came out with their summary today. NASA and NOAA (along with the UK and Japan) use slightly different methods to compile the data, which is a very common method in science. More from NOAA NCEI: Global highlights: April 2015     …

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18 May 2015

Latest Data Says Miami Is Sinking Into The Sea Even Faster Than Thought.

Here is a well written piece full of good factual information on the slow motion disaster underway in South Florida. It’ from Senior Researcher Brian McNoldy at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine Science. I had a chance a few years back to spend an afternoon there, and talk with some of their scientists, and it was an illuminating day. As you read about the latest research, consider the problems …

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15 May 2015

Science Friday on NPR Showcases Brave Teachers In Alabama

Good video here from the folks at NPR’s Science Friday. A steep hill to climb.

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