30 F. high in the Twin Cities Friday.
26 F. average high on December 19.
28 F. high on December 19, 2013.
December 19, 1989:
Hard pressed to find snow cover in Minnesota. Only good places to cross
country ski are at Grand Marais and along the Gunflint Trail.
Beautifully Boring
I
guess it's human nature to assume the grass is greener elsewhere, to
want what you don't have. My youngest son is a Naval Academy grad. He
flies helicopters for the Navy, training with the 5th Fleet in San
Diego. Yeah, that San Diego, the city with the best climate in the USA.
He's
coming home for Christmas and he can't wait to see snow again. "Dad,
it's boring out here. Every day is the same. I miss the seasons, the
lakes, the people."
Really?
I'd like to be bored for a year or two, just to sample that sensation.
The
approach of colder air will set off a series of storms in the coming
weeks. An inch or two of slush is possible Tuesday; just enough to
(possibly) qualify as a white Christmas. A major Christmas Eve storm out
east dumps out mostly rain, but heavy snow pinwheels into the Great
Lakes and New England Christmas Day. I expect dry weather and 20s here
on December 25, but latest ECMWF guidance spins up a major storm late
next week. I could see a plowable snowfall next Friday into early
Saturday, followed by a few subzero lows as we welcome a numbing New
Year.
All I want for Christmas is El Nino. That, and a 3-day weekend in San Diego might cure what ails me.
Pre-Christmas Thaw. A Real Storm Next Friday?
Temperatures stay at or above 32F from this afternoon into much of
Wednesday before tumbling late next week. European guidance is hinting
at subzero lows by the end of next week, maybe a few days with highs in
single digits by the end of December. Drizzle Sunday gives way to a cold
rain Monday, possibly ending as an inch or two of snow Tuesday. I don't
see any travel problems close to home Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,
but next Friday may be a subtle (yet blunt) reminder that winter is
still very much alive and well. Graph: Weatherspark.
Christmas Eve Coastal Storm.
ECMWF (European) guidance shows an impressive storm wrapping up near
Detroit by midday next Wednesday, Christmas Eve, with a trailing front
pushing impressive volumes of Atlantic moisture into the east coast and
New England. The atmosphere will be warm enough for rain from Boston and
New York southward to Raleigh, but winds will be strong and I could see
delays at many airports out east. Snowy headaches are possible from the
eastern suburbs of Chicago to Detroit, Indianapolis, Columbs and
Louisville on the cold, backside of this powerful storm. Map: WSI
Corporation.
Hold The Presses - A Real Storm Next Friday? It's
too early to get too excited, but the latest run of the ECMWF takes a
storm south of Minnesota, pushing from near Des Moines to the Quad
Cities and Milwaukee, a potential storm track that favors significant
snow for the Twin Cities. What can go wrong between now and then?
Plenty. But make an entry in your diary: it may actually snow enough to
shovel and plow next Friday. Map: WSI.
Roller Coaster Temperatures in December. Here's an excerpt of this week's
WeatherTalk Newsletter with Dr. Mark Seeley: "...
After
starting the month with many sub-zero F temperature readings around the
state during the first week, including a national low of -12 F at
Embarrass on the 6th, many Minnesota observers reported 11-12
consecutive days with above normal temperatures and several new daily
record warm minimum values and record daily warm maximum values were set
over the 13th to the 15th. In addition MSP set a new all-time record
high dewpoint for so late in the month with a reading of 49 F on the
15th, that corresponds to the average dewpoint for early June or
mid-September..."
Nature's Own Tornado Detector Saves Migrating Birds, Study Finds.
Is it possible (some) birds can detect the faint vibrations of a
distant tornado, one that's hundreds of miles away? I wouldn't rule
anything out after reading this story at
tucson.com: "...
The
data showed that five of his recently returned golden-winged warblers
fled their Appalachian Mountain breeding ground and winged back to the
Gulf of Mexico a day or two ahead of a massive thunderstorm cell that
would later spawn 84 tornadoes and kill at least 35 people. Streby, a
National Science Foundation visiting research scholar at the University
of California, Berkeley, thinks the birds may have been reacting to very
low-frequency sound waves produced by the distant, approaching storm,
according to a study published online Thursday in the journal Current
Biology..."
Tipping Point Nears For "Emerging Flooding Crisis".
Sea levels are rising, that's not a computer model, that's reality,
with is increasing the frequency of tide and storm-related coastal
flooding, as reported at
Climate Central - here's an excerpt: "...
Flooding
has already become 10 times more likely in Baltimore and Honolulu and
five times more likely in Philadelphia, Norfolk, Va., and Charleston,
S.C., since 1930. That’s in large part because since the start of the
20th century, sea levels have risen by about 8 inches globally due to
human greenhouse gas emissions that have caused oceans to warm and land
ice to melt, swelling the seas. “It’s an emerging flooding crisis,” William Sweet, an oceanographer with NOAA who led the new report, said..."
Photo credit above: "
Flooding on San Francisco's Embarcadero during the 2012 King Tide." Credit: Sergio Ruiz/Flickr.
From The Extreme To The Mean: Acceleration and Tipping Points of Coastal Inundation from Sea Level Rise. A link to the research referenced above is
here.
Heart-Pounding Video Documents American Airlines Flight Turbulence.
The home video is troubling, a vivid reminder of why you always want to
have your seat belt fastened when you're in a metallic tube traveling
at 500+ mph. Here's a clip from
The Washington Post: "
Video
of the American Airlines flight that was rocked by severe turbulence on
Tuesday will make your heart skip a beat, and might even convince you
to keep your seat belt fastened snug on your next plane trip. American
Airlines flight 280, which was on its way from South Korea to Dallas,
Texas, was diverted to Tokyo on Tuesday after plane-jarring turbulence
injured several people, some of whom were later hospitalized
for injuries that were not life-threatening.."
The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists.
Sony's corporate security was thought to be average, and if it can
happen to them, it can happen to pretty much any company out there
today. Here's an excerpt from a story at
Slate: "...
This
is the real story. Sony Pictures’ systems were not just compromised but
obliterated, with the company now sent back to what’s comparably the
technological Stone Age. Because of the centrality of IT infrastructure
to every aspect of a company’s functions, it’s not even clear whether
Sony has the ability to pay people accurately at the moment, as its
payroll system has been reportedly destroyed..."
Photo credit above: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File.
The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the "Erasable Internet". Are we moving toward the Snapchat Internet? At this point nothing would surprise me; here's an excerpt from
The New York Times: "...
Because
here’s the thing about the digital world that we must remember. Nothing
you say in any form mediated through digital technology — absolutely
nothing at all — is guaranteed to stay private. Before you type
anything, just think: How will this look when it gets out? What will
Angelina Jolie think if she finds out about this? If Angelina won’t like
it, don’t send it. Because Angelina will find out. So will the rest of
the world..."
Deloitte's Amsterdam HQ Becomes World's Most Sustainable Office Building.
Gizmag has the details; here's a clip: "...
The
building's south façade is covered with solar panels on all surfaces
that aren't windows. In order to generate enough electricity to meet its
level of consumption, though, developers OVG partnered with the
University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
to install a further 4,100 sq m (44,100 sq ft) of solar panels on the
rooftops of the schools. The heating and cooling of the building is
catered for in part by orienting it to benefit passively from the path
of the sun and also by using an aquifer thermal energy storage system..."
The 33 Craziest Fast Foods of 2014. As
Buzzfeed rightfully points out, "pray for humanity".
TODAY: Cloudy with patchy fog. Winds: South 5-10. High: 33
SATURDAY NIGHT: Clouds and fog. Low: 30
SUNDAY: Fog and drizzle. Another thaw. High: 37
MONDAY: Mostly rain - wet roads. Light mix by Monday night. Wake-up: 33. High: 38
TUESDAY: Inch or two of snow? Cooling off. Wake-up: 31. High: 33
CHRISTMAS EVE: Cold wind, flurries. Risk of Santa late. Wake-up: 23. High: 29
CHRISTMAS DAY: Dry & quiet. Few peeks of sun. Wake-up: 18. High: 27
FRIDAY: Potentially plowable snow event? Wake-up: 22. High: 23 (falling)
Climate Stories....
NASA Reveals What Carbon Dioxide Looks Like From Space. Meteorologist Andrew Freedman has the article for
Mashable; here's the intro: "
NASA
revealed the first-ever images of the global atmospheric concentration
of carbon dioxide, the key long-lived global warming gas. The imagery,
taken over the course of three months, reveals details about springtime
biomass being burned in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as
photosynthesis from plants worldwide. The data comes from a new NASA
satellite known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) that was
launched on July 2 of this year..."
Image credit above: "
Global
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from Oct. 1 through Nov. 11,
as recorded by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2. Brighter colors
show high CO2 concentrations." Image: NASA JPL.
Op-Ed: Flood, Drought Risks Must Be Managed, With Or Without Climate Change. Here's an excerpt of an Op-Ed at
The Los Angeles Times: "...
Climate
change is increasing the risks of future droughts and floods. The sea
will continue to rise, increasing flood risk along the East Coast,
perhaps made worse by intensifying hurricanes. And the best science
indicates that California's wet season will become shorter and sharper.
Spring drying will be exacerbated as more water is lost to evaporation
into a warmer atmosphere and less is stored as winter snow..."
EPA Chief: Extreme Weather Boosting Climate Change Plan.
Some Americans may still be skeptical of a man-made component to
climate change, but there's little doubt that the frequency and
intensity of the extremes is increasing over time. Here's an excerpt
from
USA TODAY: "
Extreme
weather events from typhoons to heat waves are helping make the case to
Americans on the need to address climate change, the head of the EPA
says, although opposition from congressional Republicans to the Obama
administration's ambitious plan remains unrelenting. "You have fires;
you have droughts," Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina
McCarthy said in an interview with Capital Download. "People may not
call it climate change," but they feel the consequences from changing
weather patterns, including on the economy. "This is about their own
jobs, their own health, their own kids..."
Graphic above: Union of Concerned Scientists.
The People Have Spoken: This Is The Most Brazen Lie of 2014. ThinkProgress has the post; here's the introduction: "
Earlier
this year, readers of the Tampa Bay Times’ fact-checking project
PolitiFact were asked to vote on what they believe was the year’s
biggest lie. And as of Wednesday, the results are in:
“Climate change is a hoax” was the overwhelming choice. Over nine other
options, almost 32 percent of the PolitiFact’s 14,467 poll voters chose
the “hoax” claim, which was the title of a video released this summer by failed congressional candidate Lenar Whitney..."
Photo credit above: "Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), one of Congress’ most outspoken climate deniers, has often claimed that global warming is a hoax." CREDIT: Office of Senator Jim Inhofe.
* The Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact article at Tampa Bay Times is
here.
How Germany Banishes Climate Myths. CNN has the video and story - here's an excerpt that caught my eye: "...
Of
course, doubts remain. Yet 15 years after we launched our
"Energiewende" -- the move away from an energy supply based on fossil
and nuclear fuels -- the economic impact has been broadly extremely
positive: Renewable energy sources now account for nearly 30% of our
electricity demands, and by 2050, our energy supply will be based almost
completely on renewable sources. Indeed, the boom in environmental
technologies is one of the reasons Germany made it through the economic
crisis relatively unscathed..."
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