77 F. high in the Twin Cities Thursday.
68 F. average high on September 25.
74 F. high on September 25, 2013.
September 25, 1980: Cold morning across Minnesota, with a low of 20 degrees at Tower and 16 at Embarrass.
September 25, 1942: 1.8 inches of snow fell in St. Cloud.
Greener Grass
You
always want what you don't have. My youngest son is in the military,
based in San Diego, which arguably has the best climate in America.
You'd think he'd be thrilled. "I feel like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day".
Every day is the same - no variation. It hasn't rained since I got here
in April. I miss the seasons, the changes in weather" he complained.
Really?
If every day was exactly like today, balmy, blue sky and
80 degrees, would you get bored? Would we start to take this stuff for
granted? Let me try it for a few years and get back to you.
Consider
this a cosmic reward for a fickle summer of June monsoons, July cold
fronts and an early frost a couple weeks ago. Like something ordered up
by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, today will (temporarily) restore
your faith in Minnesota's manic meteorology. The next few days will be
more typical of mid-August; temperatures some 15F above average.
Fall
color is peaking along the North Shore. Load up the kids in the station
wagon and escape north/west of MSP for a kaleidoscope of color; a free
show from Mother Nature.
A thundershower is possible Monday; steadier rain next Thursday - followed by a frost risk the first weekend of October.
Get off the couch. This can't last.
Saturday Preview.
The predicted national weather map Saturday morning, courtesy of UCAR
in Boulder, shows an expansive high pressure system centered over the
Great Lakes, southerly winds from the Plains into the Upper Midwest
transporting temperatures to August-like levels. T-storms sprout over
the southeastern USA and the Rockies, with steadier rain overspreading
the Pacific Northwest.
Low to Mid 80s Saturday?
Model guidance suggests Saturday may be the warmest day of this welcome
warm spell, a few simulations showing a high of 83F at MSP Saturday
afternoon. Not too shabby, considering the sun will be as high in the
sky as it was back in mid-March. A cool-down is likely by the end of
next week.
August Relapse.
Shorts and T-shirts get one more workout into the weekend with
temperatures 10-20F warmer than average for the end of September. A weak
cool front arrives Monday with showers and possible thunder;
heavier/steadier rain and storms Thursday herald the arrival of an
October puff capable of sparking frost within 8-9 days. Guidance:
Weatherspark.
Hanging On To Summer.
GFS model guidance (NOAA) shows fine weather lingering from the Upper
Midwest into the Great Lakes and New England; the pattern breaking down
next week as Canada flings a cooler airmass south of the border. The
tropics are still miraculously quiet.
First Metro Frost/Freeze?
GFS guidance shows low temperatures dipping into the mid and upper 20s
the morning of October 6, which seems reasonable (wrong word)
considering the strength of this next cold front. This is pretty close
to average for the first MSP frost, which tends to come during the first
week of October most years.
Nation Fails To Address Coastal and Inland Flood Risks, Civil Engineer Society Says. If we don't learn from history we're doomed to repeat it, right? Here's an excerpt of an eye-opening story at
NOLA.com: "...
If
the devastating impacts of Sandy and the losses sustained in floods and
hurricanes since Katrina were to be used as the measures of progress,
the nation has failed to heed the call," said the report, prepared
by the society's Task Committee on Flood Safety Policies and Practices. "Is anybody listening? That's the question," said Gerald Galloway,
a University of Maryland engineering research professor and one of the
authors of the report. "The question is why aren't more people listening
to what's been said about flood risk in report after report after
report..." (File photo: Reuters).
What Would Happen if "The Big One" Hit New York City Today? It Wouldn't Be Pretty.
Sandy was a mash-up of nor'easter and ex-hurricane; striking as a
(huge) cold-core storm at high tide during a full moon, which amplified
the impact of 80-mile hour winds at landfall. If a true Category 3-4
storm, similar to the Hurricane of 1812, hit the northeastern USA today
the damage would be several orders of magnitude higher, according to an
article at
PropertyCasualty360; here's an excerpt: "...
One
thing that most meteorologists agree on is that Sandy, though a unique
storm in the way it merged with another storm giving it immense girth
that covered nearly the entire Eastern United States, was a relatively
weak storm. When it hit New Jersey, Sandy’s sustained wind speeds topped
out at only 80 mph. Comparatively, the Norfolk-Long Island Hurricane
had hurricane-force winds that extended well into Maine, with speeds
topping 150 mph in some areas, according to the report. The damage from a
Norfolk-Long Island sized hurricane today would decimate most of Long
Island's properties, Swiss Re said..."
Doppler On Your...Watch?
Why not. A previous company, Digital Cyclone, was the first to put
Doppler radar on a cell phone back in 2001. Now HAMweather/Aeris just
launched an app that allows you to display Doppler, satellite imagery,
forecasts and advisories/warnings on your app-enable Android watch. Full
disclosure: the basic version of
Aeris Weather Weather is free to consumers, and was created by developers at Media Logic Group, which I launched back in 2008.
Occupational Hazards of Working on Wall Street. I'm feeling a little better about my profession after reading this article at
Bloomberg View; here's an excerpt: "...
The
occupational hazards of Wall Street are more interesting -- and not
just because half the graduating class of Harvard still wants to work
there. Some are obvious -- for instance, the temptation, when deciding
how to behave, to place too much weight on the very short term and not
enough on the long term. Or the temptation, if you make a lot of money,
to deploy financial success as an excuse for failure in other aspects of
your life. But some of the occupational hazards on Wall Street are less
obvious..."
How To Survive a Plane Crash.
Here's a cheerful thought; odds overwhelming favor you won't have to
put these tips into action, but the Boy Scout "Be Prepared" motto comes
to mind. Here's an excerpt from
Huffington Post: "...
Clubb
explains that the key to survival is getting into the proper brace
position: Bend forward as far as possible, keep your head down. Place
your feet flat on the floor and slide them back. Your dominant hand goes
on the back of your head. Protect that hand by placing the other hand
over it. Do not interlock fingers. The goal is to ensure that the bones
in the stronger hand aren't broken so you can eventually unbuckle the
seatbelt. Will members of the class ever use the training? Each day, 8.3
million people around the globe step aboard some 93,500 flights. They
almost always land safely..."
ZEB Pilot House Generates Nearly 3 Times More Electricity Than It Requires. I still like the idea of selling (free) renewable energy back to my local utilility.
Gizmag has the story - here's a clip: "
International
architecture firm Snøhetta has partnered with Norway's Research Center
on Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) and to design and build a remarkable
experimental house that helps move the development of very efficient
buildings forward. The ZEB Pilot House is claimed to generate almost
three times the amount of electricity it requires, with the significant
surplus available to help run an electric car, for example..."
TODAY: Warm sun. Stunningly nice. Winds: SE 10-15. High: near 80'
FRIDAY NIGHT: Clear and mild. Low: 60
SATURDAY: Plenty of sun, warm breeze. Dew point: 54. High: 80
SUNDAY: Blue sky, typical for mid-August. Wake-up: 61. High: 81
MONDAY: Clouds increase, T-shower risk. Wake-up: 60. High: 73
TUESDAY: Some sun, still warmer than average. Wake-up: 57. High: 76
WEDNESDAY: Unsettled, risk of thunder. Wake-up: 58. High: 75
THURSDAY: More numerous showers, T-storms, some heavy rain possible. Wake-up: 57. High: 73
Climate Stories...
Study Finds Global Sea Levels Rose Up To Five Meters Per Century At The End of The Last Five Ice Age Cycle. Yes, the climate has changed before, but never at the rate we're now witnessing. Here's an excerpt of a story at
phys.org: "
Land-ice
decay at the end of the last five ice ages caused global sea-levels to
rise at rates of up to 5.5 meters per century, according to a new study.
An international team of researchers developed a 500,000-year record of
sea-level variability, to provide the first account of how quickly
sea-level changed during the last five ice age cycles...."
Photo credit above: Tiago Fioreze/Wikipedia.
Capitalism Is Saving The Climate, You Hippies.
My favorite headline of the week. Protesting in front of Wall Street
may be missing the point to some degree. Wall Street follows the money,
and it turns out investors (institutional and private) are still pouring
a lot of money into firms that promise a lower-carbon future, like
Tesla and Solar City. Altruism? Maybe, but they're just trying to make a
buck. Keeping the profit motive alive and well will accelerate the
green, sustainable solutions we're going to need. As I keep saying, the
best way to get someone to go green is to put more green back in their
wallet. Here's an excerpt from
The Daily Beast: "...
Of
course, Wall Street firms aren’t doing this out of the goodness of
their own hearts, although they do like the positive buzz such deals can
generate. They’re doing is because they can make money doing so. And
this is the real transformation we’ve seen in the last several years.
The Occupy-like protesters might not like it, but renewable energy,
efficiency, and sustainability have become big businesses, with huge
needs for capital. You can’t crowdfund your way to stopping climate
change."
Sandia
Labs Study: "It Is The Uncertainty Associated With Climate Change that
Validates The Need To Act Protectively and Proactively." Here's
an excerpt of a new Sandia Labs study focused on a state-wide breakdown
of how climate volatility and greater extremes may impact GDP;
Think Progress has the story "...
The
study finds that contrary to popular rhetoric, greater uncertainty
about the impacts of climate change means greater economic risk, not
less. Specifically, within an envelope covering 98% of the climate
uncertainty as it pertains to rainfall alone, the U.S.
economy is at risk of losing between $600 billion and $2.0 trillion and
between 4 million and 13 million U.S. jobs over the next 40 years. Let’s
examine how the study arrives at these estimates..."
Climate Action - Who Is Stopping Us?
With all the other threats and risks lurking out there climate
volatility just isn't top of mind for many people. Odds are that will
change in the very near future. Here's a clip from a
Huffington Post story: "...
If
rationality and economics were humanity's guide to living on this
planet, climate action would no longer need summits. The more successful
clean energy solutions get, the more they are cutting into the profit
margins of those few powerful companies whose business models depends on
continued fossil fuel dependency. That´s why we agree with UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon when he says "instead of asking if we can afford to act, we should be asking what is stopping us, who is stopping us, and why?"
We would add to this another question: for how long? Today, it is
interests of the fossil fuel industries -- not technology nor economics
-- which are the only obstacle to securing a safe future for us and our
children on this planet. And they know it, too..."
Jon Steward Nails The Insane Reason We Need To Keep Talking About Climate Change. Yes, let's deny basic science as long as possible. Here's a video clip and story excerpt from
Business Insider: "
If 99.9% of
the scientific literature shows that climate change is real and
worsened by human action, why do we still need marches like the one that
recently flooded the streets of New York City? It's an appropriate
question, and one that comedian Jon Stewart answers eloquently in a
recent Daily Show episode. As he notes on the show, some members of the
White House Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology
hold some very strange and unscientific views on the matter..."
Why The Rockefellers Rejected Big Oil. Here's a clip from
The Daily Beast: "...
The
Rockefellers aren’t divesting merely out of altruism. They believe that
companies trafficking in fossil fuels will eventually face financial
problems. But for Reynolds and Robbins, obeying their consciences came
with a price tag..."
Image credit: Elena Scotti/The Daily Beast.
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