WEEKLY WEATHER & CLIMATE NEWS

WEEKLY WEATHER AND CLIMATE NEWS

11-15 August 2008

July weather extremes -- The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is complying a list of extreme weather events that have produced notable records of temperature and precipitation during the month of July 2008 across the nation in "Selected U.S. City and State Extremes for July 2008". Note that this site may be updated during the following several weeks as more data are received and analyzed.
A review of the weather and climate of July 2008 -- Scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center recently announced that preliminary data would indicate the recently concluded month was warmer than the 20th century average across the coterminous United States and represented the 30th warmest July since the present nationwide climate network was established in 1895. Many of the Western States, along with the Northeastern States, had statewide July temperatures that ranged from above to much above average. However, those Midwestern States along the Ohio and Mid-Mississippi Valleys, along with New Mexico, reported below average statewide temperatures for the month. Precipitation across the "Lower 48" was slightly above the 20th century July average, with the Northeast, Midwest and southern Rockies experiencing above to much above average rainfall. The Gulf Coast States and a large section of the West had below to much be low average monthly precipitation. [NOAA News]
Eye on the tropics ---
- In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall along the upper Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning and dissipated over north Texas on Wednesday. An image made by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite shows the clouds surrounding Edouard the afternoon before landfall. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional information and images for Tropical Storm Edouard are found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
- In the Eastern North Pacific, Hernan, the eighth named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season in that basin, formed at midweek well off the southwest Mexican coast and traveled westward, quickly becoming the season's fifth hurricane. On Saturday, Hurricane Hernan became a major hurricane when it reached Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. An image from NOAA's GOES-11 satellite shows the clouds surrounding Hernan as it was developing late last week. [NOAA OSEI]
- In the Central North Pacific, the first named tropical cyclone of the season formed during the middle of last week southeast of Hawaii's Big Island and was labeled Tropical Storm Kika. By the weekend, this minimal tropical storm had moved westward passing to the south of the Aloha State.
- In the Western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Kammuri developed at the start of last week over the South China Sea northwest of the Philippine Island of Luzon. This system traveled to the west-northwest and made landfall along the southeast coast of China. An image generated by data collected by the scatterometer onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite shows the near-surface winds surrounding Tropical Storm Kammuri over the South China Sea. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional information and images for Tropical Storm Kammuri are found in the NASA Hurricane Page.
Updated hurricane forecasts -- Near the end of last week, forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center recently released an update to their 2008 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, increasing their projected likelihood of a more active hurricane season than normal. They also raising their forecast of named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes) to 18, with seven to ten possibly becoming hurricanes. According to their new projection, between three and six hurricanes could become major, reaching category 3 or higher strength on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. [NOAA News] Earlier last week, hurricane forecasters Philip Klotzbach and William Gray from Colorado State University issued their August update to their forecast for a more active 2008 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Basin. They anticipate 17 named systems, calling for nine of these systems to become hurricanes with five to be considered major, reaching Category 3 or higher status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. [USA Today] [The Tropical Meteorology Project]
African drought may be linked to warmer Indian Ocean -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the US Geological Survey have found from their analysis of data from surface weather stations and satellites along with output statistics from computer models that decreased rainfall across eastern and southern Africa during the last two decades can be linked to a warming of the Indian Ocean. [NASA GSFC]
Polar mesospheric clouds seen from space -- A photograph taken by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station shows polar mesospheric or noctilucent clouds at an altitude of approximately 200 miles over central Asia during late July. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Keeping tabs on Beijing air pollution -- The start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing has meant additional efforts have been enacted to reduce air pollution across eastern China. A recent MODIS image obtained from NASA's Terra satellite showed thick haze over Beijing, while neighboring Bo Hai had relatively clear skies. [NASA Earth Observatory] Scientists with Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be using autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles to measure emissions of soot into the atmosphere surrounding the venues of the Summer Olympics in Beijing as part of the Cheju ABC Plume-Monsoon Experiment. [Scripps News]
Volcanoes seen from space -- Images recently obtained from sensors on various satellites show plumes of volcanic dust and steam being carried from active volcanoes at several locations around the world:
- The Okmok Volcano in Alaska's eastern Aleutian Island chain by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
- Mt. Kasatochi volcanic eruption in the central Aleutians. The plume can be detected being entrained in a storm system after being ejected on an image obtained from NOAA's GOES-11 satellite. [NOAA OSEI]
- Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island volcano as seen from the MODIS image taken by NASA's Terra satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Floods accompany Asian monsoon rains -- An image obtained from the data collected by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite shows the rainfall anomaly (difference between actual and average rainfall totals) for a recent 31-day span across the south-facing slopes of the Himalayan Mountains, where torrential summer monsoon rains caused deadly flooding in Pakistan and neighboring countries of south Asia. [NASA Earth Observatory]
The Northwest Passage opens -- An image obtained from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite during early August shows open water in Canadian Archipelago that would form the southern route through the Northwest Passage. [NASA Earth Observatory]
More extreme rainstorms foreseen -- Researchers at the University of Miami and the United Kingdom's University of Reading have concluded from their studies of satellite observations over the last two decades and climate model output statistics that the projected higher global temperatures could result in more intense precipitation events. [EurekAlert!]
South American glacier helps in study of global climate change -- An international group of scientists have been collecting and analyzing ice cores from glaciers in Patagonia so as to determine the response of these midlatitude South American glaciers to changes in climate. [EurekAlert!]
Response of ecosystems to climate considered -- Scientists attending last week's 93rd annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America described their research into how projected changes in temperature and precipitation could result in loss of habitat for animal and plant species. [EurekAlert!]
Necessary improvements in climate forecasting detailed-- Researchers at Arizona State University announced that they have made a breakthrough in understanding the effect on climate change of carbonaceous aerosols, a key component of urban pollution, which would ultimately lead to more accurate forecasting of possible increases in global temperature. [EurekAlert!]
Atlantic could be invaded by shellfish from Pacific - Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the California Academy of Sciences warn that the current warming of the Arctic Ocean could cause Pacific basin shellfish to invade the waters of the North Atlantic, for the first time in at least 3 million years. [EurekAlert!]
Major marine biodiversity hotspots are studied -- A team of scientists from Australia, Spain, Holland, Malaysia, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States recently published the results of their study of the evolution of marine diversity over the last 50 million years at several hot spots for biodiversity, including the Indo-Australian Archipelago. [EurekAlert!]
An All-Hazards Monitor --This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAAWatch]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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