Wunderground launches new Local Climate Change section
In honor of Earth Day on Sunday, wunderground has launched a new Climate Change Center, which gives people resources to understand how the climate is changing both globally and in their local neighborhoods. I am particularly pleased with our Local Climate Change feature, which allows one to see how temperature and precipitation have changed over the past 100+ years at the nearest station with a long period of measurements. Predictions from climate models on what the next 100 years may bring are overlaid for each station. Data for most U.S. stations goes back to 1895; we have data for a few stations in Europe that extend back to the 1700s. Berlin has the longest period of record in this database, with data back to 1702.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the Local Climate Change page for Washington, DC. Measured temperatures since 1820 are shown in grey. By clicking on the "Show post-1900 trend:" box, we see that the trend since 1900 has been for an increase in temperature of 1.5°C (2.7°F) per century. Moving the thin vertical red line over the image using the mouse shows that the warmest year on record in Washington D.C. was 1991. Predictions for a future with low emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide are shown in yellow; the high emissions prediction is shown in red. Separate tabs are available to examine precipitation and snow.
Skeptical?
Also included in the new Climate Change Center is a section addressing the common skeptical arguments made against climate change. We offer three levels of explanation. The "Basic" level is the default, but one can also see more technical in-depth discussions by clicking on the "See All Explanation Levels" link. The material was developed by physicist John Cook for his excellent skepticalscience.com web site, which is widely referenced in the climate science communication community.
Video 1. I'm featured in this video on extreme weather and climate change done by veteran videographer Peter Sinclair for the Yale forum on Climate Change and the Media this month. I'm also featured in Part 1 of this series. Our new Climate Change Center has a section for climate change videos, which includes a twice-monthly feature from GreenTV detailing the world's notable wild weather events of the past two weeks.
Earth: the Operator's Manual airs Sunday night
Penn State climate scientist Dr. Richard Alley hosts parts II and III of Earth: the Operator's Manual on PBS beginning at 7pm Sunday, April 22--Earth Day. Part I of this excellent series aired in April 2011. The series gives an overview of climate change, but primarily focuses on what we can do to help slow down climate change though smart energy choices. Dr. Alley, a registered Republican, geologist, and former oil company employee, is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University, and one of the most respected and widely published world experts on climate change. Dr. Alley has testified before Congress on climate change issues, served as lead author of "Chapter 4: Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground" for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is author of more than 170 peer-reviewed scientific articles on Earth's climate. He is also the author of a book I highly recommend--The Two Mile Time Machine, a superb account of Earth's climate history as deduced from the 2-mile long Greenland ice cores. Dr. Alley is an excellent and engaging speaker, and I highly recommend listening to his 45-minute keynote speech, "The Biggest Control Knob: CO2 in Earth's Climate History", given at the 2010 American Geophysical Union meeting, via this very watchable recording showing his slides as he speaks in one corner of the video. If you want to understand why scientists are so certain of the link between CO2 and Earth's climate, this is a must-see lecture.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and I'll be back Monday with a new post. I'd like to thank Wunderground meteorologist, Angela Fritz for spearheading the creating the new Climate Change Center; it's a product I'll be referring to frequently in the future, and one we'll be updating in the coming months with data on local sea level rise, fire risk, and drought.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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This is not much different than any typical day in Florida during the afternoon thunderstorm season. So no big deal. Also, gust and being sustained during a hurricane event is two totally different things. Can't even compare the two in the same sentence.
Something for a wide variety of bloggers
KOG
CONDITIONS WILL BE COLD ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SNOW ALONG THE NORTHERN FRINGE OF THE PRECIPITATION SHIELD...BUT ANY SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD STAY WELL NORTH OF THE CANADIAN BORDER.
Floridians
SOAKING RAINS AND STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE SUNSHINE STATE ON SATURDAY AS THE SURFACE LOW TRACKS EASTWARD ALONG THE GULF COAST.
Press
BY EARLY SUNDAY...THE LOW WILL TAKE A NORTHWARD TURN TOWARDS THE CAROLINA COAST. HEAVY RAINS...STRONG WINDS...AND LATE SEASON SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL ALL BE POSSIBLE AS THIS SYSTEM STRENGTHENS AND TRACKS NORTHWARD UP THE EASTERN SEABOARD.
04/20/2012 0143 PM
6 miles NE of Zavalla, Angelina County.
Hail e1.00 inch, reported by public.
Boat launch on Lake Sam Rayburn reports quarter-sized
hail.
04/20/2012 1230 PM
Huntington, Angelina County.
Hail e0.88 inch, reported by amateur radio.
Penny to nickel size hail in Huntington.
04/20/2012 1203 PM
Lufkin, Angelina County.
Hail e1.75 inch, reported by trained spotter.
04/20/2012 1201 PM
Lufkin, Angelina County.
Hail e1.25 inch, reported by amateur radio.
04/20/2012 1140 am
Hudson, Angelina County.
Hail e0.88 inch, reported by trained spotter.
Nickel size hail fell in the Hudson community west of
Lufkin.
... Significant weather advisory...
The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a significant
weather advisory... effective until 530 PM CDT... for the following
counties...
In eastern Texas...
Nacogdoches... Sabine... San Augustine and Angelina...
Including the following locations...
Broaddus... Dolan and Zavalla...
At 447 PM CDT... National Weather Service meteorologists were
detecting a strong thunderstorm 7 miles northwest of Rockland...
moving northeast at 30 mph.
Nickel size hail is expected with this storm.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
611 PM EDT FRI APR 20 2012
FLC111-202245-
/O.CON.KMLB.SV.W.0015.000000T0000Z-120420T2245Z/
ST. LUCIE-
611 PM EDT FRI APR 20 2012
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 645 PM EDT
FOR NORTHERN ST. LUCIE COUNTY...
AT 603 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS CONTINUED TO
DETECT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE
HAIL...AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS
LOCATED NEAR PEPPER BEACH PARK...OR NEAR FORT PIERCE INLET...MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO FORT
PIERCE OCEAN PARK...SURFSIDE PARK...COLLINS PARK ESTATES...INDIAN
RIVER ESTATES...FREDERICK DOUGLASS PARK AND SAINT LUCIE NUCLEAR PLANT
OTHER STRONG STORMS WERE ALSO ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL AND WESTERN
OSCEOLA COUNTY. THESE STRENGTHENING CELLS...TOO...CONTAIN TORRENTIAL
RAINFALL...SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND
LIGHTNING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...CONTINUOUS CLOUD TO
GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. MOVE INDOORS
IMMEDIATELY! LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURES NUMBER ONE KILLERS.
REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
&&
LAT...LON 2735 8027 2739 8027 2745 8031 2742 8031
2737 8028 2736 8028 2740 8066 2744 8068
2755 8061 2756 8031 2734 8023
TIME...MOT...LOC 2208Z 293DEG 10KT 2750 8028
$$
SEDLOCK
I've been through sustained tropical storm force winds, and they're not that bad. Some brief power outages are nothing to fret over.
I blame their hurricane drought.
Published: Friday, April 20, 2012, 4:18 PM
Navy Week NOLA's air show will go on Saturday, planners said Friday afternoon. The city's planning committee feared rain forecast for Saturday could cancel the show.
While Sunday's weather is forecast to be clear but gusty, planners say they will determine Saturday whether the second day of air show will happen.
The air show will feature the Navy and Marine Corps' Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron. A spokeswoman for the squadron said the team plans to perform, weather permitting.
wait til tomorrow
Um, what? This is a weather blog. Relevant exchange is encouraged.
Tomorrow should be worst as updrafts should be more sustained on any TSTM that develops.
Hope you like Joe Cocker.
You are correct. There may be winds of 15 mph or some winds of 60 mph as far as we know. Heck, I had 2 severe thunderstorms this afternoon with in 2 miles of my house, one just across the lake from me and my winds were calm the entire time.
But, the bottom line this is no tropical anything. This is going to be a broad area of low pressure which it's core will be cold.The characteristics are entirely different. Seems at times several people here try to scare the bejesus out of visitors to this site just looking for weather information. I am all for warning people of upcoming potential events which can be done without using keywords to frighten people who don't know any better.
There is a threat with this system and a lot of complicated dynamics that will be coming into play. There will be warnings but all can be passed on to this community without the over hyping by a few bloggers that has gone on here for the past few days regarding this system.
I agree 100%. My point was posts such as 166 which don't seem to add value and create clutter. I have other obligations I need to tend to. Hope everyone has a good evening.
I'm still failing to see how they create "clutter" or are otherwise irrelevant. What's wrong with a graph?
If you want to skip everything else, watch the video between 8:40 to 9:10
not sure how a pic of the weather conditions tonight in the panhandle is anyway creating clutter to the blog.
I reported to MLB NWS Hail in N Orange county as well as other Spotters. At the time they issued the Warning, there were other strong to SVR TSTM developing east of Sanford also moving S to SE. They wanted to cover all possible areas where further SVR WX could be experienced.
Temperature
66 °F
Dew Point
63 °F
Wind
Speed / Dir
9 mph from NW
Wind Gust
Louisiana is next in line.
Nice
Excellent explanation...and sure enough, new cells are popping up throughout the warned area.
Just bear in mind that the super storm of March, 1993 was not tropical either, but the damage caused by it was enormous.
The low pressure center was admittedly much stronger but it was also further away from Central Florida than this one will be, moving inland over the central Panhandle region. And the low levels of the atmosphere were not as warm and humid as will be the case here tomorrow.
This upcoming storm system is nothing to downplay. It will not be a hurricane of course but it has the potential to cause a lot of damage in scattered places over a widespread region. And if strong winds from the west accompany and follow the storm, as likely will happen, then coastal flooding will be an issue as well.
When a developing storm system is just getting cranked up and is producing tornadoes and severe thunderstorms as far south as Brownsville, Texas already, that does not bode well for what may well happen in Florida over the next 36 hours.
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
556 PM CDT FRI APR 20 2012
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
SOUTHERN HIDALGO COUNTY IN DEEP SOUTH TEXAS.
* UNTIL 645 PM CDT
* AT 556 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING BASEBALL SIZE HAIL AND
DESTRUCTIVE 70 MPH WINDS...5 MILES NORTHWEST OF MISSION...MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF DESTRUCTIVE HAIL OF
GOLFBALL TO BASEBALL SIZE HAVE BEEN RECEIVED WITH THESE STORMS. TAKE
COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM!
* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
PALMVIEW.
MISSION.
MCALLEN MILLER AIRPORT.
HIDALGO.
SAN JUAN.
SOUTH ALAMO.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
PLEASE REPORT TORNADOES OR FUNNEL CLOUDS...WINDS OF 58 MPH OR
HIGHER...HAIL THE SIZE OF PENNIES OR LARGER...AND ANY WIND DAMAGE TO
YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE BY CALLING 956-504-1432.
&&
LAT...LON 2606 9808 2605 9816 2607 9825 2612 9829
2610 9830 2615 9835 2615 9838 2619 9844
2621 9845 2620 9849 2636 9837 2616 9789
2605 9797 2606 9800 2604 9804 2603 9808
TIME...MOT...LOC 2256Z 304DEG 33KT 2622 9836
$$
JGG
El Niño is sure playing a big roll on these events.
Not quite as strong either.
Nope. I wonder what the EURO has?
Maybe they'll be a winter after all
Yea that was a monster 960 Mb storm indeed. Once again, apples and oranges. I never said nothing about downplaying. I was referencing to a couple of preople, some with multiple handles of the past, constantly Hype every little cloud or particular model run. If you comprehended what I said, you will know that I said there will be severe weather and warnings, no doubt. Every one stay safe tomorrow and Sunday morning
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