36 F. high in the Twin Cities Tuesday.
25 F. average high on December 23.
5 F. high on December 23, 2013.
0" snow on the ground at KMSP.
December 23, 1996:
Strong winds of 20 to 30 mph, combined with over a foot of new
snowfall, resulted in restricted visibilities from blowing snow. As a
result, several highways closed, including highway 19 west of Redwood
Falls, highways 7 and 40 at Madison, and highways 67 and 23 out of
Granite Falls.
December 23, 1982:
Heavy rain over the state with slushy snow over southwest Minnesota.
Twin Cities gets 2.61 inches of precipitation through Christmas. Some
lightning and thunder with the heavy rain on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Harmony
Sorry
Elvis, no blue Christmas this year. I’m looking forward to a silent
night in the weather center as we all step into Christmas, celebrating
the most wonderful time of the year, with or without snow. I’ll be home
for Christmas - because where else would I be.
Do you hear what I
hear? That’s Santa baby; he’s on his way - jingle bells reflected by a
crescent moon as Rudolph the red-nose reindeer leads the way south.
Frosty
the snowman has definitely seen better days, but don’t write winter
cold and snow off just yet. Yes, you may freeze your jingle bells on New
Year's Eve as the mercury dips below zero. Cue chestnuts roasting on an
open fire (minus the chestnuts).
A warming trend returns after
the New Year, a reminder that daylight is increasing. So is El Nino. A
Pacific flow keeps us storm-free the next 2 weeks.
In the meantime
come all ye faithful to deck the halls with some badly-needed joy to
the world. And to family and friends: you’re all I want for Christmas
this year. Let it snow (somewhere - please) but here's my hunch: Feliz
Navidad doesn't require a white Christmas. Snow is nice, but optional.
It's bigger than that.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Who Will See A White Christmas This Year?
Wednesday morning's estimated snowfall map from NOAA shows more snow
over southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa; a white Christmas assured
for much of Wisconsin and the Minnesota Arrowhead. But for much of
Minnesota Christmas will be more green/brown than white this year, the
first for the Twin Cities since 2011.
Christmas Weather Facts in the Twin Cities. Media Logic Group meteorologist D.J. Kayser has some great information about Christmas weather on his
informative blog - here's an excerpt: "...
We
have seen at least a trace of snow on Christmas 83 times since 1884,
the most recent being last year when 0.2″ of snow fell. The most snow on
Christmas was back in 1945 when 9.6″ fell. Remember that this only
takes into account snow that fell on Christmas day..."
Christmas Snowfall.
A stripe of heavy snow accumulates over Lower Michigan with significant
snowfall from Boise and Great Falls to Park City and Salt Lake City.
Out east the biggest concern will be heavy rain and high winds. 60-hour
snowfall accumulation: NOAA NAM and HAMweather.
Dreaming of a Soggy Christmas?
You're in luck if you live out east. The same storm that whipped up
tornadoes that left 4 people dead in Mississippi will push a smear of
1-3" rains into the eastern seaboard, capable of urban flooding and
travel slow-downs.
Slow-Motion Temperature Slide.
Highs top freezing today, Thursday and Friday before cooling off into
next week. Right now New Year's Eve appears to be the coldest day with
single-digit highs and lows dipping just below zero. GFS data shows 20s,
even a shot at 30F returning to MSP between January 4-7.
All About The Christmas Bird Count in Minnesota.
The Star Tribune has more details on the CBC, which is quite a holiday tradition in Minnesota and much of North America; here's a clip: "...
Dubbed
the world’s longest-running “citizen science” survey, the 115th annual
CBC will lure more than 70,000 volunteer birders afield in roughly 2,400
locations across the United States, Canada and parts of Latin America.
This year’s CBC runs from Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. “The Christmas Bird
Count has been happening in Minnesota for more than 100 years,” said
Mark Martell, director of bird conservation for Audubon Minnesota in St.
Paul, the state office of the National Audubon Society. “The counts
help accumulate an enormous amount of data about bird populations across
a very wide geographic range. There’s really nothing like it in the
world...” (File photo: Star Tribune).
Hopeful Holiday Skiers Pray For Snow As Alps Resorts Feel The Effects of Warmer Weather. It has been unusually mild, almost springlike, across much of Europe in December and snow is at a premium. Here's a clip from
The Guardian: "...
Head
high or stay at home and, if you go, definitely wear a helmet. That is
the message for skiers looking to hit the slopes this week after one of
the worst starts to a season in living memory. As many of Europe’s
leading ski resorts scramble to lure in skiers over the all-important
Christmas period, there are fears some operators could be in grave
financial difficulties if, as meteorologists suggest, the current lack
of snow persists..." (Image:
http://earth.nullschool.net).
Polar Stratospheric Clouds. Here's an excerpt about some remarkable clouds showing up high in the skies above Scandinavia, courtesy of
spaceweather.com: "...
A possible outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds
(PMCs) is underway around the Arctic Circle. Unlike normal grey-white
clouds, which hug Earth's surface at altitudes of only 5 to 10 km, PMCs
float through the stratosphere (25 km) and they are fantastically
colorful. Ivar Marthinusen sends this picture of the phenonenon from
Skedsmokorset, Norway..."
The Ominous Lesson From The Sony Pictures Hack.
The Washington Post
reminds us all that, juicy Sony e-mails aside, we're missing the forest
through the trees with the hack, which is a new form of
cyber-terrorism. Here's a clip: "...
The hacking of Sony Pictures
also alerts us to the ultimate cybersecurity horror: the breakdown of
vital electronic systems — power plants, financial networks, water
supplies — that creates anarchy. Imagine a major city without power for
an extended period. We don’t know the odds of this, but they are far
greater than zero because so much of daily life depends on vulnerable
digital networks..."
I Work At Sony Pictures. This Is What It Was Like After We Got Hacked.
Fortune
has the first-person account of what really happened during the worst
case of corporate cyber-hacking on record; here's the intro: "
An employee* in the Los Angeles office of Sony Pictures Entertainment SNE 0.78%
opened up to Fortune about the personal ordeal they went through
following revelations of North Korea’s alleged cyber attack on the
company. What follows is their words, condensed and edited for clarity..."
The World Is Not Falling Apart.
Slate reminds us that, in spite of ominous headlines, things have been (much) worse in the past. Here's an excerpt: "...
As
troubling as the recent headlines have been, these lamentations need a
second look. It’s hard to believe we are in greater danger today than we
were during the two world wars, or during other perils such as the
periodic nuclear confrontations during the Cold War, the numerous
conflicts in Africa and Asia that each claimed millions of lives, or the
eight-year war between Iran and Iraq that threatened to choke the flow
of oil through the Persian Gulf and cripple the world’s economy..."
The Coolest Water Toys of 2014.
Gizmag
has their list, which they've checked twice. Sorry, I enjoy daydreaming
about water toys on the 24th day fo December. One of many character
flaws: "
We looked at 2014's coolest land toys earlier this month; now we leave the shore in our wake and head out to sea. The year in water toys kicked off in a big way at Boot Düsseldorf 2014
in January and it ran strong the year through. In fact, we'd say the
past year saw reveals and market launches of some of the coolest water
toys in recent history ... everything from transforming boats, to
seven-figure personal submarines to underwater jet packs..."
25 Things You Might Not Know About "It's a Wonderful Life".
Mental Floss has a few interesting nuggets; here's an excerpt: "...
Though
Reed sadly passed away in 1986, Owen has stood as one of the film’s
most dedicated historians, regularly introducing screenings of the
ultimate holiday classic, including during its annual run at New York City’s IFC Center
(now in its ninth year). She shared some of her mom’s memories with us
to help reveal 25 things you might not know about It’s a Wonderful
Life..."
CHRISTMAS EVE: Mostly cloudy. Good travel conditions. Winds: NW 10-15. High: 35
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Patchy clouds, Santa sightings. Low: 27
CHRISTMAS DAY: Lingering clouds, above-average temperatures. High: 34
FRIDAY: Coating of light snow? Wake-up: 26. High: 33
SATURDAY: More clouds than sun, chilly. Wake-up: 13. High: 19
SUNDAY: Gray, no big travel headaches. Wake-up: 14. High: 21
MONDAY: Burst of flurries, turning colder. Wake-up: 17. High: 19
TUESDAY: Some sun. Won't help much. Wake-up: 3. High: 11
Climate Stories...
2014: An Epic Year For Climate Change and Weather-Related Disasters. Here's an excerpt from The
Atlantic's CityLab: "...
The
thermostat could've seemed low in your neck of the woods—meaning
America's East Coast and Midwest and the Falkland Islands—but
temperatures were sweltering in the rest of the planet. Take a look at
these abnormally high and record-hot readings, which represent a 1.2
degrees Fahrenheit deviation above the historical average. Notes the
National Climatic Data Center: "This was the warmest January-November in
the 1880-2014 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by
0.02°F...." (Graphic: NOAA NCDC).
Climate Change By The Numbers: The Cold Data That Drove a Record-Hot Year.
Salon does a good job breaking out some important numbers; here's an excerpt: "...
What
follows is a by no means comprehensive look back at some of the big
(and small) numbers driving those discussions. As we move forward to an
international climate treaty at the end of 2015 — and onward, from
there, to a world irreversibly transformed by the decisions we make in
the near future — the fact remains that it’s only going to get hotter
from here.
1.22: The deviation, in degrees Fahrenheit, of average global temperatures for the first 11 months of 2014 above the 20th century average, according to the NOAA.
142: Percentage by which atmospheric CO2 levels soared above the pre-Industrial Revolution average in 2013, the WMO announced in September, representing a record rate of growth..."
Climate Change Could Cost U.S. Coasts $1 Trillion by 2100.
The concern: enhanced damage triggered by more frequent storm surges as
tides continue to rise, threatening more coastal property. Here's an
excerpt from
Science Magazine: "
Climate
change will cost U.S. coastal areas twice what analysts had predicted,
according to a new study. Researchers had estimated that preparing
coastal cities, repairing property damages, and relocating inhabitants
for future sea level rise could have a roughly $500 billion price tag by
2100. But storm surge from tropical cyclones can cause additional local
rises in sea level rise; that figure hits about $1 trillion, researchers report this month in Climatic Change..."
"Atmospheric Rivers" To Soak California As Climate Warms. The
jury is still out on what impact a warming atmosphere will have on
California and water supplies in the western USA. Will a perpetual ridge
of hot high pressure spark pervasive drought, interrupted by flooding
sparked by increasingly frequent El Nino episodes? Here's a clip from a
story at
Live Science: "...
Under current climate scenarios, such drought-busting "atmospheric rivers"
will hit Northern California twice as often by 2100 as they do now,
said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Mike Dettinger. "When the
atmosphere is warmer, it holds more water vapor, so there is a huge
increase in the number of these atmospheric rivers," Dettinger said here
Wednesday (Dec. 17) at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting..."
At Hanukkah Israel's Colors Are Blue, White...And Green. Here's a snippet of an interesting article at
jns.org: "...
Hanukkah
is known as the Jewish festival of lights, commemorating the miracle of
a Jewish rebel army’s oil burning for eight days when it should have
only burned for one. Today, the real miracle of lights is that a country
like Israel, which is roughly the size of New Jersey and is constantly
under attack both from its neighbors and from terrorists within its own
borders, has the foresight and initiative to champion the environmental
movement. From Israel’s drip irrigation systems that dramatically
decrease the amount of water needed to grow crops, to its
hydrogen-fueled cars, the country practices what it preaches, showing
the world that economic and environmental prosperity can go hand-in-hand..."
Photo credit above: "
A photovoltaic array at Israel's National Solar Energy Center in the Negev desert." Credit: David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons.
Miami's Climate Catch-22. Building Waterfront Condos To Pay For Protection Against The Rising Seas. Here's an excerpt from an article at
The Washington Post: "...
But
Miami Beach needs this penthouse — and many more like it. The more
developers build here, the more taxes and fees the city collects to fund
a $300-million storm water project to defend the shore against the
rising sea. Approval of these luxury homes on what environmentalists
warn is global warming quicksand amounts to a high-stakes bet that Miami
Beach can, essentially, out-build climate change and protect its $27
billion worth of real estate..."
* With 2014 coming to a close,
weather organizations and
independent researchers have
crunched the numbers and found that 2014 will almost certainly go down
in history as the hottest year on record. Global land and sea surface
temperatures for the year-to-date have already broken records, and
December is seeing above-average temperatures as well.
* 2014 marks only the latest in a string of years with record-breaking heat, however. It has been
358 months since we had a cooler-than-average month, and the
fifteen hottest years on record have all come since 1997.
*
Assuming current trends hold throughout the last week of this month,
2014 has set a new global temperature record despite the fact that it is
also an
El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral year.
- bullet points above courtesy of
Climate Nexus.
D.C. Has Passed Sea Level Rise "Tipping Point", More Cities to Follow: Study. Meteorologist Andrew Freedman has the story at
Mashable; here's an excerpt: "...
Sweet
and co-author Joseph Park, also of NOAA, used tide-gauge data and
mainstream sea-level-rise projections, to show that, in many places, the
frequency of coastal flooding events is rising far faster than the mean
sea level is. To date, the mean sea level rise is what has captured the
most attention. “It’s not so much the mean that we are concerned about
than it is the frequency of these lesser extremes,” Sweet said. In some
cases, less than a foot of mean sea level rise may be all that is
required to reach the threshold level of 30 days per year of
nuisance-type flood events, he said. Such floods affect infrastructure
that lies just 1 to 2 feet above sea level, which in many cases,
includes critical shoreline roads, military bases, airports and
water-treatment facilities..."
Photo credit above: "
Sveinn
Storm, owner of Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory, surveys flood water
outside his store in Annapolis, Md., on Oct. 30, 2012, in the aftermath
of Superstorm Sandy." Image: Susan Walsh/Associated Press.
Warming World's Rising Seas Wash Away Some of South Florida's Glitz.
The Sydney Morning Herald takes a look at what rising sea levels are already doing in Miami; here's an excerpt: "...
While
much of the nation argues about whether or not California's
once-in-a-thousand-year drought or the $US71 billion devastation of
Hurricane Sandy might have been caused or exacerbated by climate change –
or indeed whether or not the phenomenon even exists – in Southern
Florida today you wander about in the water and see what it looks like
when rising seas hit a modern western city. As with every other serious
issue facing the United States, the acceptance of climate science has
fallen down along partisan lines..."
Photo credit above: "
Rising concern: Geologist Harold Wanless takes a stroll through flooded Miami streets."
Rapid warming across Finland means that even Santa’s hopes for a white Christmas are shrinking.
The average temperature in the Arctic country has risen by more than 2C since 1847, twice as fast as the global average.
Warming
is most extreme during the festive month, which is now 4.8C hotter than
it was before the industrial era, Finland’s top scientists have found.
“In future, if the temperature rises, we will not have snow cover in December,” researcher Santtu Mikkonen told RTCC.
- See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2014/12/22/fast-finland-warming-means-blue-christmas-for-santa/#sthash.h3Gk1l2O.dpuf
Major Coral Bleaching In Pacific May Become Worst Die-Off in 20 Years, Say Experts. The Guardian has the story; here's the introduction: "
Warm
sea temperatures are causing massive coral reef die-off across the
Northern Pacific in what could be the start of an historic bleaching
event around the world. Scientists warn extreme sea temperatures could
cause a “historic” coral reef die-off around the world over the coming
months, following a massive coral bleaching already underway in the
North Pacific. Experts said the coral die-off could be the worst in
nearly two decades. Reports of severe bleaching have been accumulating
in the inbox of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
(NOAA) Coral Reef Watch programme since July..."
Photo credit above: "
The
destruction of coral reefs will make these vital barriers for the land
less effective against the effects of climate change - such as sea level
rise and storms." Location: Arno atoll, Marshall Island. Photograph: Remi Chauvin.
12 Ways To Deal With A Climate Change Denier At The Holidays. Or any day for that matter. Here's an excerpt from Australia's
The Conversation: "...
While there is likely to be some wiggle room in the exact percentage, it’s fair to say that consensus is very high.
And if 97 (or even nine) doctors told you that you had life-threatening
but treatable cancer, would you act? Or would you keep looking until
you found one doctor who told you not to worry about it, that the cancer
isn’t serious, and that it’s all just a medical conspiracy to sell you
chemotherapy?..." (Illustration: Skeptical Science).
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