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You are browsing the archive for May 2016 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

27 May 2016

Hurricane Outlook for 2016 and Tropical Storm Warning For South Carolina

The NOAA Hurricane forecast was released today, and it calls for a 70% chance of 10-16 named storms, which is right around the long-term average of 12 each year. The most important thing to remember with these forecasts, is that the number of storms does not matter much of you get hit by just one, and secondly these type of forecasts are still rather low skill. That said, this forecast …

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26 May 2016

Tropical Storm For Memorial Day? Maybe

A tropical storm making landfall on the U.S. coast on Memorial Day weekend is almost unheard of, and I think it may have never happened before. It might this year though, and the record warm oceans are playing a role. An area of disturbed weather persists in the western part of the Caribbean Sea and the usually reliable European Center medium range forecast model, is bringing a tropical storm into …

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24 May 2016

Warm Atlantic May Start Tropical Cyclone Season Early

While there is uncertainty over the effects that climate change will have on the nature of tropical cyclones, there’s one aspect that seems clear. The warmest oceans ever measured may very well start the season earlier than the traditional first day of June. A disturbance in the Caribbean is being watched a bit more closely today, and there is some possibility that it might develop into a tropical cyclone. It …

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Tidal Troubles In The Mid-Atlantic

NOTE: This post is based on some research I did for an on-air story that aired today: Sea level rise is what’s called a slow motion disaster. These kind of events tend to be blamed on the symptoms rather than the cause, and often the preparation/ response to these type of events is inadequate. This is much the case where I live and work here in the Mid-Atlantic, on the …

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22 May 2016

Where The Fault Lies

Rural students in America who want a good education have a steep mountain to climb. Rural areas are generally poor, conservative, and tend toward fundamental religious beliefs, and this is turning out to be a real issue when it comes to teaching science. If you don’t believe me, ask a Biology teacher in rural Alabama, or almost anywhere in Texas. Too often, it’s not just angry parents they have to …

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18 May 2016

NOAA: April Temps Hottest On Record for 12th Straight Month

NOAA has followed NASA with their own analysis of the global temp. in April, and it’s nothing less than stunning. Another NOAA report out shows that Human activity has increased the direct warming effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere by 50 percent above pre-industrial levels during the past 25 years From NOAA: The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for April 2016 was the highest for …

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16 May 2016

How Fast Is New Orleans Sinking? This Fast

  NASA has a press release out about a new study published  in the AGU’s Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. From the press release: New Orleans and surrounding areas continue to sink at highly variable rates due to a combination of natural geologic and human-induced processes, finds a new NASA/university study using NASA airborne radar. The observed rates of sinking, otherwise known as subsidence, were generally consistent with, but …

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Hottest April Ever- 3rd Month in A Row to Break The Record by Record Amount

April 2016 was the hottest April ever measured, and it broke the old record by a record amount. So did March, and so did February. Look at the image below, from the Twitter account of Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf at the Uni. of Chicago. It’s been so incredibly warm so far this year, that there is now a 99% chance that 2016 will become the new hottest year on record. If …

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15 May 2016

Wise Commencement Words: Ignorance is Not A Virtue

Some very wise words at the commencement today at Rutgers University, and while I suspect that a large majority of younger folks understand this, it’s worth sharing. “Facts. Evidence. Reason. Logic. An understanding of science.These are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy. These are qualities you want to continue to cultivate in yourselves as citizens.” “We traditionally have valued those things, but if you were …

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13 May 2016

Earth’s Atmosphere Passes Significant Carbon Milestone

This is from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado: May 12, 2016 | Earth’s atmosphere is crossing a major threshold, as high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2)—the leading driver of recent climate change—are beginning to extend even to the globe’s most remote region. Scientists flying near Antarctica this winter captured the moment with airborne CO2 sensors during a field project to better understand the Southern Ocean’s role …

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