You are browsing the archive for February 2017 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
28 February 2017
Meteorological Winter Ends With Record Warmth and Storms
It has been an amazing if not astonishing February across the U.S. Very little snow and record highs falling by the thousands! So far in February, we have recorded 5857 record highs and only 97 record lows. There were 408 stations that had the warmest temperature on record for any day in February and only one station saw the coldest temp. on record for February! Look at the monthly temperature …
24 February 2017
Why GOES-16 Is Such A Big Deal
I put this piece together about GOES-16 and it aired today. Hat tip to my excellent editor Kevin Reynolds here at WBOC-TV.
23 February 2017
Rapid Scan Imagery from GOES-16
Here is the first rapid scan imagery from the new GOES-16 satellite. One image every 30 seconds: Here are the Louisiana tornadoes last week in all channels:
21 February 2017
How Do Climate Models Work? Answer Here.
Keith Dixon is one of my go-to people when I have a question about climate modelling, so when Climate Central said they were going to host a webinar with Keith, I begged them to record it. They did! Now, this was done for meteorologists, so a bit of a geek alert here, but I think you will find it fascinating, even if you have no atmospheric science background. So, watch …
20 February 2017
The Fake Science News In Nearly Every Newspaper Today
There’s been a lot of talk about fake news recently, and there are definitely some media outlets that seem to be major purveyors of it. The Daily Mail in London is a good example. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a story about science that they got right. Not one. Now, I love the Washington Post, so don’t get me wrong here, but I found a glaring chunk of outrageously …
18 February 2017
The Real Surprise Behind the 3rd Hottest January on Record
The planet’s temperature oscillates a little, between El Nino events and La Nina events. El Nino’s warm the planet a few tenths of a degree, while La Nina events cool it by about that much. The stronger the event the bigger the effect, so a strong El Nino makes it more likely that we will see a new hottest month on record, while a strong La Nina makes that more unlikely. …
14 February 2017
New GOES-16 Weather Satellite Sees Monday’s Low Pressure Bomb
I wrote yesterday about the storm that exploded off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic on Monday, and now you can see it develop from GOES-16. This animation was released today of the storm exploding as it moved out to sea. This explosive cyclogenesis produced hurricane force winds in the Atlantic, and winds over 50 mph on the coast from Maryland to Boston. This view is one of the three water vapour …
We Call This a Bomb
When a weak low-pressure system suddenly intensifies and becomes an intense storm, we call the low “a bomb”, because the storm suddenly explodes. Meteorologists have actually defined “a bomb” as explosive cyclogenesis with a pressure drop of 24 millibars or more in 24 hours. This storm easily made the cut, and the image above is a classic example of one. This low passed over Maryland Sunday afternoon, and brought sunshine …
12 February 2017
Astonishing February Heat From Colorado to Oklahoma, and Into The High Arctic
Denver reached 80 degrees Friday, smashing their record high for the 10th of February by 9 degrees, but wait, there’s more. They also saw their hottest February temperature on record, and records there go back to 1872! Grant was President of the U.S. when temperature records began in Denver. Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, also saw their hottest February day on record. The heat shifted south into Oklahoma today and Oklahoma City smashed their …
9 February 2017
GOES-R Solar Instruments are Working!
The GOES-R (now GOES-16) instruments continue to be checked out and calibrated. This from, NASA today: On January 21, 2017, the GOES-16 Extreme Ultraviolet and X-Ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) observed solar flares. Credits: NOAA/NASA Solar flares are huge eruptions of energy on the sun and often produce clouds of plasma traveling more than a million miles an hour. When these clouds reach Earth they can cause radio communications blackouts, disruptions …
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.