2001 Weather in the News

April 2001 Weather in the News

It's been a while, but we have cobbled together several interesting and offbeat ways that the weather has been in the news recently.

With winter virtually over in Pennsylvania, some are wondering what next year may bring. It's no surprise that we can't tell, but a recent study by researchers in Massachusetts unearthed a connection between early autumn snows and bitter winters in Siberia. By looking at the past 28 winters, they noted that the amount of snow in October will often signal whether the winter will be harsh or gentle. Early, widespread snows stay around and lead to a stronger than normal Siberian high as was the case this past winter.

Speaking of snow, a different group of New England researchers have unlocked yet another snowy secret. The sound of a gun shot over a snow covered area is muffled more or less depending on how the sound waves are transmitted through the snow. The small air pores in a snowpack will help to muffle the sound more and the amount of air helps determine the permeability of the snow, one of the harder things to measure. This technique surely is more than a shot in the dark when it comes to new snow characteristics.

Here's a strange use of butter. A scientist from Univeristy of Lancaster in England has connected microscopic amounts of PCB's in butter with this airborne pollutant. By measuring concentrations down to a trillionth of a gram, he could trace PCB's that were deposited on the ground through the food chain to a processed item like butter. While the concentrations are well below harming humans, it does provide an accurate tracer.

A new study performed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research sheds light on the hazards of clear air turbulence, those big bumps that rock airplanes without warning. The data shows that sometimes a tornado-like funnel forms in the high altitude clear air, but it is tipped sideways. These violently twisting winds can almost tear a wing off a plane if they are not steered away from. The next step is to try and predict where they may form, but that will take considerably more research.

Back on the ground, a pair of researchers at Penn State have come up with a new method to protect against windstorm damage. The team of architectural engineers have designed two plies of glass that are laminated to a clear plastic sheet to form a glass window unit. They tested it against flying debris, such as steel ball bearings and 2x4 planks of wood. The outside glass shatters while the inside plastic and glass protects the building interior from wind-blown rain, which can cause extraordinary amounts of damage. The team has appropriately termed the window, the sacrificial ply.

On a final wind note, a few seismologists have noted shivers on the surface of the earth when a tornado touches down. Working with a research meteorologist, they have come up with a plan to place an array of simple sensors that will help decrease the false alarm rate of tornado warnings due to Doppler Radar. The radar can detect a possible tornado, but when the earth shakes, then it's a certain touch down.

June 2001 Weather in the News

The beginning of the first summer month was smoky in parts of the Northeast. Distant fires in Alberta caused a milky whiteness to the sky. Most of the action during the first week was in the middle of the nation where powerful thunderstorms dumped more than 5 inches (125mm) on sections of Missouri and Iowa. Before the first week of June was through, the first names storm, Allison, was birthed in the northwest Gulf. The powerful tropical storm barreled inland near Houston with 60 mile an hour winds (25m/s). Allison then spent more than 4 days wandering north and south over eastern Texas dumping between15 and 35 inches (400-900mm) of rain which caused over 4 billion dollars damage in the Houston area alone. It took a week for the storm to meander to the Florida panhandle where it poured out 10 inches (250mm) of rain on the state capital Tallahassee on June 11 setting a new 24-hour rainfall record. The remnants of Allison then turned north along the East Coast. As it swept in tropical air over the chilly waters of the North Atlantic, a pea soup fog enveloped parts of New England curtailing air traffic on June 14-16. The remains of the storm finally burst over New Jersey, where over 3 inches (78 mm) fell in one hour in Morris County on June 17. Philadelphia had severe street flooding and New York and Boston suffered through yet another weekend marking six of the previous eight weekend days with rain since Memorial Day.

Meanwhile, an unusual string of hailstorms pelted the northwest Plains as parts of Wyoming and western Nebraska had several storms with hail over 2 inches (5.2 cm) in diameter on June 8. A potent Pacific storm brought enough chilly air into the northern Rockies to cause snow levels to lower a few thousand feet. Bozeman measured a record low 32F (0C) with 3 inches (7.7cm) of snow on June 13. In nearby Big Sky, more than a foot (32 cm) of snow fell.

A push of cool, moist air from the North Pacific caused the first rain in Sacramento, CA in 66 days when a record .15 inches (3.2 mm) fell on June 26. Even San Francisco had measurable rain. The month ended with a heat spell in the Northeast as most of the final week saw readings above 90F (32C) from June 26-30.

June was exceptionally wet from the Texas Coast to southern New England, mainly due to Allison. It was wet in the mid-Mississippi Valley and over parts of the coastal Northwest. June was quite dry across the West into Texas and in parts of Minnesota. Much of the rest of the nation had near average rainfall. June was hot in the West and seasonable in the East.

August 2001 Weather in the News

It's time once again for those offbeat and sometimes strange stories as the weather has been in the news recently.

Beach bums beware. A recent report from the Hurricane Research Division in Miami indicates that the trend toward more numerous and stronger hurricanes that began in 1995 may continue for several decades. The study focuses on the decadal oscillations in hurricane frequency along with long term changes in sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean, both of which point to more storms lurking off the East Coast in the summer's ahead. So perhaps you will want to wait on purchasing that oceanfront property for awhile.

A place where you may not want to buy waterfront property is Alaska since aerial pictures are showing an increase in coastal erosion at a rate similar to the lower 48 states, except much of it takes place in only 3-4 months of ice-free water action. Along Alaska's north coast, the rate of erosion more than doubled in the past 3 years, raising some concern that it is due to rising sea levels associated with global warming.

You may recall the advice from some years past concerning speaking to plants, well here's a new twist, how about listen to flows predict the weather. Biologists at Wake Forest have noticed that the flowers on the gentian plant close-up before a thunderstorm and open once the storm is passed. It appears to be a case of thermotropism, where the flower buds sense the cold downdraft of a thunderstorm and constrict before the drowning rain arrives. This now complete the proper etiquette toward discussing weather with your plants.

One thing you don't want to speak to your vegetation about is fireworks. An analysis of surface ozone levels during and after fireworks displays indicates an increase in this gas despite lack of sunlight. It appears that ultraviolet radiation emitted by sparklers and other fireworks causes a chemical reaction that raises ozone concentration which could be harmful to nearby plants.

Ultimately, the wind disperses all pollutants and it also can generate a significant amount of power if strategically placed. A new generation of wind turbines has turned the corner on the profitability of wind generation. Farmland, which has struggled against the tide of urbanization is now becoming the envy of some utility operators. A quarter acre of open land in Iowa can yield $2,000 of electric royalties compared with $100 worth of corn in a good year. The wind generation of the 1970's cost about 30 cents per kilowatt hour while coal fired plants cost only 2 cents then; by comparison, today's aggregate wind farms can produce a kilowatt hour for 3 cents, while Californians were recently paying 33 cents per kilowatt hour. But there are obstacles, such as utility regulations and the infrastraucture needed to get the power to grid. However, wind prospectors see positive signs in every direction they look.

Finally, an ancient approach to answering the current debate about global climate change. Study the moon. When the moon is nearly new, the earth's cloud cover reflects enough of the sunlight to make the dark side of the moon faintly visible. This reflected light is a direct measure of amount of energy absorbed by the planet. Small changes in earthshine may indicate shifts in global climate. However as da Vinci speculated long ago, it may also tell us about changes in the solar cycle - perhaps shedding too much light on the subject!