Anatomy Of A Heatwave. I suspect we'll top 90 every
day for the next week to 10 days. At the rate we're going I wouldn't be
surprised to see 30 days above 90 this year (44 back in 1988, to the
best of my recollection). It's too early to panic, but the
ECMWF solution (above) predicts the hottest weather (and the best chance
of random T-storms) the latter half of next week. A few storms for the
4th - are you really surprised?
Weekend Details:
Today: SW 5-10. Dew point: 63
Saturday: Light winds. Dew point: 62
Sunday: S/SE 8-15. Dew point: 68
Mostly-Dry Weekend? The best chance of a few
T-storms will come over far southern Minnesota - the ECMWF keeps the
metro dry; Sunday probably the hotter, breezier, more humid day of the
weekend.
First 100+ F. June day in Chicago in 24 years (since 1988)
Thursday Record Highs:
*St. Louis, MO—108 (Previous record 104 in 1952)
*Indianapolis, IN—104 (101 in 1934) All-time record high for the month of June
*Fort Wayne, IN—106 (102 in 1934) Ties Fort Wayne’s all-time record high set in 1988
*Evansville, IN—106 (102 in 1936) All-time June record
*Russell, KS—110 (108 in 1968)
*Dodge City, KS—108 (Ties record from 1998, 1990, 1930)
*Toledo, OH—103 (101 in 1934)
*Nashville, TN—105 (104 in 1952)
*Louisville, KY—103 (Record high for June)
* thanks to Seth Carrier from Earth Networks for passing these along.
Over 1,000 Record Highs In One Week. The heat wave
is growing more intense, expanding east, and will be a fixture for at
least the next 7-10 days. Map above courtesy of NOAA and
Ham Weather. Details:
| Total Records: |
2653 |
| Rainfall: |
417 |
| Snowfall: |
1 |
| High Temp: |
1142 |
| Low Temp: |
223 |
| Low Max Temp: |
221 |
| High Min Temp: |
649 |
"Sea ice in the Arctic has melted faster this year than ever recorded before, according to the US government's National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC)." - excerpt from a story at The Guardian - details below.
"
Some would say there is a pattern, because we have had several
years with exceptionally large fires over western states, particularly
the Southwestern states, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado in
particular," Doesken said. "Others would say, no, not enough data points
yet to show that." - from an article at Live Science below.
“
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four,”
Winston Smith, the hero of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eight-Four, writes
in his secret journal. “If that is granted, all else follows.” - from a post about climate change and the recent EPA ruling from The American Prospect; details below the 7-Day.
Air Pollution Health Advisory. Another day with high ozone concentrations in the Twin Cities metro and Rochester; more from the MPCA (
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency):
At-risk populations: Ozone is expected to near a
level that is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. Those
sensitive to ozone include people with preexisting respiratory
conditions, the elderly, children, and individuals who participate in
outdoor activities requiring extended or heavy exertion. These
individuals are encouraged to postpone or reduce vigorous outdoor
activity, or schedule outdoor activity in the morning, when ozone
levels are lower. Even persons who are otherwise healthy may experience
health effects when ozone levels increase.
Health impacts: Elevated levels of ozone have been
linked with respiratory health effects. Exposure to high levels of
ozone may exacerbate preexisting health conditions. High ozone levels
may make it more difficult to breathe deeply and vigorously, cause
shortness of breath and breathing discomfort, and result in coughing
and a sore or scratchy throat. If you experience these symptoms,
contact your physician.
* map above from airnow.gov - click on
this link for the latest numbers for the Twin Cities
What Is The UV Index? I know - one more thing to
worry about, but all of us should pay attention to the UV (ultraviolet)
Index, to lower the risk of not only sunburn, but melanoma. More from
NOAA's CPC:
"The UV Index is a next day forecast of the amount of skin damaging UV
radiation expected to reach the earth's surface at the time when the sun
is highest in the sky (solar noon). The amount of UV radiation reaching
the surface is primarily related to the elevation of the sun in the
sky, the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, and the amount of clouds
present. The UV Index can range from 0 (when it is night time) to 15 or
16 (in the tropics at high elevations under clear skies). UV radiation
is greatest when the sun is highest in the sky and rapidly decreases as
the sun approaches the horizon. The higher the UV Index, the greater the
DOSE RATE of skin damaging (and eye damaging) UV radiation.....There
are two prices to pay for overexposure to UV radiation: a severe sun
burn following an intense short term overexposure, and the more serious
skin cancers developing after long term overexposure. MELANOMA, the more
deadly of the two types of skin cancer, occurs when the patient has
been subjected to several intense short term overexposures.
Heating Up Again. The American model ensemble
suggests low to mid 90s today, a slight dip in temperature Saturday,
before bouncing back into the mid-90s Sunday.
Best Chance Of Puddles: next Tuesday. The upper
atmosphere will probably be "capped" - too hot/dry aloft for widespread
storms for the next 4 days. The GFS suggests next Tuesday may bring the
best chance of T-storms.
Close Call. The 84 hour NAM precipitation forecast
shows the best chance of some .25 to .5" rains over far southern
Minnesota, near Mankato and Albert Lea.
QPF. The 5-Day rainfall prediction from NOAA shows
heavy rain for south Texas, and a band of potentially moderate showers
and T-storms stretching from Des Moines and Chicago to Washington D.C.
and Philadelphia. The Central Plains and much of the west stay dry, and
stinking hot.
Sizzling Bullseye. NOAA's CPC (Climate Prediction
Center) shows a (very) significant bias toward much warmer than average
weather across the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest through July 8.
Map: NOAA and
Ham Weather.
Troubling Trends. Here is some additional information from the scientists and journalists at
Climate Communication:
"As a heat wave sweeps across much of the country and wildfires rage in
the West, many are wondering about the connection between these types
of extreme weather events and climate change. Climate Communication has
put together "Heat Waves and Climate Change", a summary of the latest
peer-reviewed literature on climate change and the recent increase in
temperatures - a contributing factor to wildfires.
Some facts from "Heat Waves and Climate Change":
- Since 1950 the number of heat waves worldwide has increased, and heat waves have become longer.
- In the past several years, the global area hit by extremely unusual hot temperatures has increased
50-fold.
- In the U.S., new record high temperatures now regularly outnumber
new record lows by a ration of 2:1; in 2012, the ratio for the year
(through June 26) stands at more than
9:1.
- In the U.S., the rise in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere has increased the probability of record-breaking temperatures
15-fold.
- If we continue business as usual, the same summertime temperatures
that ranked among the top 5% in 1950-1979 will occur at least 70% of the
time by 2035-2064 in the U.S.
- By the end of this century, a once-every-20 year heat wave is projected to occur every other year.
Waldo Canyon (Colorado Springs) Blow-Up. Here's a remarkable
YouTube clip, showing the scale of the blaze, courtesy of bburtt1: "
Waldo
Canyon blow up Tuesday 6/26/2012 - Colorado Springs. Video from our
bedroom window 60+ miles to the north of the fire in Lakewood Colorado.
I have been on a few hot fires like this in Calif. and Montana but
this one was really gobbling with 60+ mph winds behind it. Tough year
here in Colorado!!"
Fiery Aftermath. As destructive as an (unimaginable)
10-20 mile wide EF-5 tornado, a wall of flames consumed the Mountain
Shadows neighborhood, just northwest of downtown Colorado Springs -
details and a
YouTube video from AP: "
Firefighters
in Colorado Springs are struggled to gain control after a forest fire
that started west of the city. An AP aerial tour of one neighborhood
showed hundreds of heavily damaged or destroyed homes as well as
charred forests."
Pineridge Fire. Here's a photo and description from the Grand Junction, Colorado office of The National Weather Service, via
Facebook: "
Pineridge Fire, taken just west of the WFO Grand Junction parking lot at 630 pm, 6/28."
Western Wildfire Plumes From Space. Here is a
YouTube video clip captured by astronauts onboard the ISS, the International Space Station: "
A
video camera aboard the International Space Station captured this
footage of the wildfires burning in the Western U.S., including
Colorado."
Another Duststorm Blows Through Phoenix Area.
AZFamily.com has the story, and some amazing video: "
Another
dust storm blew through the Phoenix metropolitan area and parts of
southern Arizona on Wednesday evening. The massive wall of dust was more
than 3,000 feet high and 10 to 15 miles wide. The storm did cause
flight delays of 15 to 30 minutes at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
National Weather Service meteorologists said the latest dust storm
limited visibility on some areas of Interstate 10 to less than 1 mile."
Flood's Mud Clouds Lake Superior. I pointed this out
a few days ago - looking at NASA's MODIS high-res imagery it was hard
not to miss the muddy runoff from the recent historic rains in the
Duluth area. Here's an update from
The Star Tribune: "
The
rain that flooded Duluth last week also flushed an unprecedented
quantity of dirt, pollution and bacteria into Lake Superior -- enough to
make experts worry about the long-term environmental consequences on
the largest and clearest of the Great Lakes. One day after the storm,
sediment runoff made the lake opaque for miles along the shore, local
researchers say. Satellite photos show a wide swath of mud streaming
into the lake from the Duluth harbor almost all the way to the Apostle
Islands. "We don't know what's going to happen because we've never seen
this," said Elizabeth Austin-Minor, an associate professor of
chemistry at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Large Lakes
Observatory."
Debby Floods Neighborhoods In Northern Florida. As much as 25-30" of rain fell in the Tallahassee area - here's an excerpt from an
AP summary of Debby's rainy wrath: "
Debby
destroyed homes and businesses, washed away roads and flooded
neighborhoods in Florida before the once-large tropical storm drifted
out to sea Wednesday, leaving behind a sopping mess. At least three
people were killed in the storm. More than 100 homes and businesses
were flooded and officials warned that the waters may not recede until
next week in some places. The storm knocked out power to hundreds of
thousands of customers, though most had electricity restored by the
time Debby left the state. The tropical storm formed in the Gulf of
Mexico on Saturday and gradually made its way across the Florida,
drenching the state for several days before it weakened to a
depression. The windy, rainy weather ruined vacations for some."
Photo credit above: "
A man paddles through flood waters
from Tropical Storm Debby in downtown Live Oak, Fla. on Tuesday, June
26, 2012. The National Hurricane Center says Debby has weakened to a
tropical depression as it continues to move across Florida, bringing
flooding to many areas." (AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey)
Post-Flood Health Risk Warning. Here's more on the aftermath of Debby's drenching rains, and lingering concerns for the Sunshine State, from
winknews.com: "
TALLAHASSEE,
Fla.- The State Emergency Response Team (SERT), with the Florida
Department of Health, encourages Floridians to use caution as flooding
and standing water form as a result of the heavy rains from Tropical
Storm Debby, now a post-tropical cyclone. “We urge residents and
visitors in affected areas to take precautions to conserve water and
protect themselves and their families from potential health risks
presented by storm surge and floodwaters,” said State Coordinating
Officer Bryan W. Koon. “As the SERT continues to respond to the impacts
of Tropical Storm Debby, life safety is our first and foremost concern
and Florida’s residents and visitors should continue to heed
instructions from local officials.”
Weather Alerts Coming Soon To Smartphone Near You. More on free text alerts from NOAA at
philly.com; here's an excerpt: "
MINNEAPOLIS
- Millions of smartphone users will soon begin receiving text messages
about severe weather from a sophisticated government system that can
send a blanket warning to mobile devices in the path of a dangerous
storm.The National Weather Service's new Wireless Emergency Alerts
system offers a new way to warn Americans about menacing weather, even
if they are nowhere near a television, radio or storm sirens. Beginning
Thursday, the system will notify people about approaching tornadoes,
hurricanes, blizzards and other threats. When a warning is issued for a
specific county, a message of no more than 90 characters will cause
late-model smartphones in that area to sound a special tone and vibrate."
Photo credit above: "
Bob Burns holds his smartphone
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 in Minnetonka, Minn. Millions of smartphone
users wiil soon begin receiving text messages about severe weather from
a sophisticated government system that can send a blanket warning to
mobile devices in the path of a dangerous storm." (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
How To Get Rid Of Mosquitoes: Testing 11 Homeade Remedies.
I thought this might be a useful nugget (for everyone). With the recent
monsoon rains the bug situation is pretty bad out there. Here's an
excerpt of a timely slide-show from
stylelist.com: "
Reach
for the calamine lotion, it's mosquito season. Mosquitoes are out in
full force right now because warm weather allows a mosquito egg to
become an adult in less than a week. Mosquitoes can infect millions of people every year and this year may especially be a doozy due to the mild winter we had. And with over 150 species of mosquitoes in North America (over 3,000 in the world),
these pesky critters can really put a damper on summer fun! The thing
is, we're not always huge fans of conventional mosquito repellants on
the market, which often irritate the skin. In the interest of seeing if
there are chemical-free remedies, we've tested the following ways to
get rid of mosquitoes. What worked and what should be left to the
garden? Click through our slideshow to find out."
Google Unveils Nexus 7 Tablet; Available For Immediate Preorder. Here are more details on this potential Kindle-killer from
gizmag.com: "
Google
kicked off its three day I/O event at the Moscone Center today with
several announcements, the most significant of which may well be a
7-inch Android-based tablet named the Nexus 7. Built by Taiwanese
hardware manufacturer Asus and offered at a price of just US$199 for the
8 GB storage model, the Nexus 7 is already available for pre-order for
consumers based in the US, UK, Canada and Australia."
Apple Releases Podcast IOS App. For those of you living in the Apple IOS universe, this may be of interest. Here's an excerpt from
gizmag.com: "
Apple
has released its all-new standalone Podcasts app for iOS, perhaps
indicating an increased desire on behalf of the Cupertino-based company
to take full advantage of the vast repository of several hundred
thousand free podcasts which it currently hosts on iTunes."
Lets Blow Up The News Story And Build New Forms Of Journalism.
News was once defined as "anything that makes people say gee wiz". Of
course it's a bit more complex than that, but the truth is daunting;
consumers are willing to pay for financial information (that might give
them an edge in the markets), but general-interest news relies on
advertising to keep the lights on, and that only goes so far. How can a
company monetize news and find a viable way forward. Here are a few
ideas from the news pundits down at
Poynter: "
American
journalism is suffering from a lack of imagination. We’re at a
transformational moment in how we publish and broadcast our work — a
time of great promise when we can reinvent how we tell stories. And
yet, we are still doing things the same way we’ve done them for
decades. Take a look at any newspaper’s website and you’ll see the same
old story form — just in pixels. It’s the same for television
stations. Their websites post the same video packages that were on the 6
o’clock news. We are stuck in the ’90s. I remember one of the first
conferences on computer assisted reporting in the mid-’90s when they
showed us this thing called “the Web” and demonstrated a website for
the “Late Show with David Letterman.” It was very cool and very
promising. It showed how the Web gave us a new canvas to create new
forms of journalism."
What's Wrong With Almost Every Old Media-Inspired New Media Start-Up. Technology Review
has an interesting article about legacy media's attempts to "reinvent
the news" online, finding ways to add enough value to launch a
sustainable business model that pays for itself. Easier said than done -
but the real pioneering work (and necessary experimentation) is being
done on mobile devices and tablets. Here's an excerpt: "
In a perfect world, we would take every old media dinosaur turned new media pundit, every director of a center for entrepreneurial journalism who has never launched a successful online news venture, and every column about how we should "blow up the news story and build new forms of journalism"
and toss them into the maw of hell, but not before driving stakes into
their black hearts to make sure they can't come back from the dead.
(Attention conservation notice for incoming comment trolls:
hyperbole.)....Successful new media startups, on the other hand, tend do
do the exact opposite of everything listed above. That is, they accept
that "the story" is a cognitive convention rooted deep within the
human brain, where narrative is, for most of us, the basic unit of both
memory and understanding. Having accepted that, they think about the
medium and the money."
Newser,
News.me and
The Atavist
are three news apps that the author, Christopher Mims, points out are
leading the way in reimagining news for an always-on,
instant-gratification world.
Dog Days of June. This may be my favorite photo (in
months). Yes, pets feel the heat too - keep that in mind in the coming
days. Details and credits: "
Bianca, owned by Victoria and Shawn Joe
of Kansas City, Mo., uses the water in the JC Nichols Memorial Fountain
on the Country Club Plaza to cool down Thursday evening, June 28,
2012, from the scorching summer temperatures." (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, David Eulitt)
"I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." - Bonnie Ware, author of the 2011 book "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying."
1 in 500 Year Flood
According to Mike Eilts, CEO of Weather Decision
Technologies in Norman, Cloquet and Fond Du Lac experienced a 1-in-500
year flood last week.
Wet areas are getting wetter; dry regions in the
west are getting drier (and hotter). More breaking news from Climate
Communications: "In the past several years, the global area hit by
extremely unusual hot temperatures has increased 50-fold." Highlights
from the report include 9 times more record highs than record lows so
far in 2012 - and a rise in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere "has
increased the probability of record-breaking temperatures 15-fold."
Yes, it's getting hotter out there.
The heat is bad enough, but imagine a 100 foot
wall of flames racing toward your home at 40 mph. It puts our tornado
risk into perspective. One of my severe storm alerting customers has
closed offices in Colorado Springs; at least 1 employee has lost his
home to an "unprecedented" 18,000 acre conflagration. Surreal.
T-storms may bubble up Sunday, again Tuesday,
but most of the next week will be dry - and sizzling. I see an 8-day
string of 90s ; 100-degree heat is possible close to home the latter
half of next week.
Looks like a real summer this year!
Photo credit above: "As a part of a
legislative delegation Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, and
Minority Leader Thomas Bakk survey the flood damage on Vermillion
Street in Thomson, Minn. Wednesday June 27, 2011." (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)
Climate Stories...
Is Global Warming Fueling Colorado Wildfires. Here's an excerpt from a story at
Live Science: "...
Some
studies do suggest that climate change is already affecting western
wildfires. In 2006, researchers at the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography in California analyzed 1,166 fires between 1970 and 2003
and found a dramatic increase in fire potency
in the late 1980s. Though wildfire is a natural part of the western
landscape, the researchers concluded that a warming climate was ramping
up warm winters and springs, exacerbating natural fire cycles. More
recently, an analysis of 1,500 years of fire and tree-ring data
revealed that a combination of climate change and human forest use could
explain modern "megafires," the kind that destroy large swaths of
forest."
Graphic credit above: "
Graph shows the number of acres burned annually in U.S. wildfires." Credit: Karl Tate, LiveScience.com Contributor.
West's Wildfires A Preview Of Changed Climate - Scientists.
Reuters has the story; here's a snippet: "
Scorching
heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic
wildfires in the U.S. West that offer a preview of the kind of disasters
that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said
on Thursday. "What we're seeing is a window
into what global warming really looks like," Princeton University's
Michael Oppenheimer said during a telephone press briefing. "It looks
like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental
disaster ... This provides vivid images of what we can expect to see
more of in the future." In Colorado, wildfires that have raged
for weeks have killed four people, displaced thousands and destroyed
hundreds of homes. Because winter snowpack was lighter than usual and
melted sooner, fire season started earlier in the U.S. West, with
wildfires out of control in Colorado, Montana and Utah."
Photo credit above: "
This aerial photo shows the
destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows
subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012.
Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have
been destroyed by the raging wildfire." (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
Arctic Sea Ice At Record Lows For June. Some troubling news from the top of the world, courtesy of
The Guardian: "
Sea ice in the Arctic has melted faster this year than ever recorded before, according to the US government's National Snow and Ice Data Centre
(NSIDC). Satellite observations show the extent of the floating ice
that melts and refreezes every year was 318,000 square miles less last
week than the same day period in 2007, the year of record low extent,
and the lowest observed at this time of year since records began in
1979. Separate observations by University of Washington researchers
suggest that the volume of Arctic sea ice is also the smallest ever calculated for this time of year."
Photo credit above: "
Scientists say Arctic sea ice has plummeted to its lowest levels ever this year." Photgraph: Steven J Kazlowski/Alamy
A Court Rules For The Planet. Here's an excerpt from an Op-Ed at The
New York Times: "
A federal court decision
on Tuesday upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark
rulings to control greenhouse gases was a decisive victory for the Obama
administration and a devastating blow to polluters. It vindicated the
administration’s strategy of controlling emissions through regulation
and showed good sense at a time when both the agency and the science of
global warming are under relentless Congressional attack. The unanimous decision
by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia covered dozens of suits from industry groups and 14
states challenging four rules that are components of the
administration’s effort to limit greenhouse gases."
Climate Change To Make Los Angeles 4-5 F. Hotter Over The Next 30 Years. Details from
treehugger.com; here's an excerpt: "
Mother Jones points out a new study trying to determine how much the greater Los Angeles area will warm because of climate change.
The results are pretty dramatic. Under business-as-usual climate
scenarios the region warms on average 4.6°F by 2041. There are some
notable differences however, based on geography. Along the ocean
temperatures will increase 3.5-4°F, mountains and deserts warm
4.5-5.5°F, and dense urban areas warm 4-4.5°F. More warming is expected
to occur in summer and fall than in spring and winter. What that means
for days above 95°F also varies by locality."
Photo credit above:
Irene/CC BY-ND 2.0
Rep. Sullivan's Vanquisher: Global Warming Needs "Clearer Evidence". Here's an excerpt from
The Hill: "
Jim
Bridenstine, the Republican who beat sitting GOP Energy and Commerce
Committee member John Sullivan (R-Okla.) in Tuesday’s primary, will
join the ranks of House members who are skeptical of climate change.
The Hill’s Emily Goodin has more on Sullivan’s loss here. Here’s what Bridenstine, a Navy pilot, has to say about climate change on his website:
"While the environment should be
protected and global warming studied, global warming should not drive
national energy policy without clearer evidence."
Bridenstine, who will be heavily favored in the general
election, is poised to win a House seat at a time when Republicans are
seeking to overturn EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases."
Europe's Cities Plan To Combat Mounting Climate Risk. Details from
Reuters; here's an excerpt: "
European
cities are planning to adapt to climate change as the risks become
more severe, a report by UK-based emissions measurement organization
the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and consultancy Accenture showed on
Thursday. Cities
increasingly have to plan flood defenses, ways to manage water in times
of drought, ensure new buildings provide natural cooling to occupants
and adapt old buildings and infrastructure to become more energy
efficient. The report surveyed 22
European cities - including Amsterdam, Berlin, Istanbul, London,
Manchester, Moscow, Paris and Rome - about their greenhouse gas
emissions and climate change strategies." (photo: NASA).
8 Solutions To Address Climate Change...In 3-D. Here's an interesting (and highly visual) story excerpt from
National Geographic: "
Whether
it’s using a building rooftop to display solar panels or investing in
cycling programs and infrastructure, cities are replete with smart
solutions to climate change. A new C40 infographic –
featuring cutting edge technology developed with our web partners the
Barbarian group — brings to life a range of opportunities (and existing
solutions) for cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve
the quality of life for local communities. Our goal: to create the
experience of surveying a “fully green” city by bringing together
examples of best practices from global cities into a single city block."
Yes America, Global Warming Does Exist. More on the recent EPA ruling and the double-talk coming from the fossil fuel industry; here's an excerpt from
The American Prospect: "....
In
the past ten years, industry and its shills have conducted a massive
campaign to convince the public that global warming does not exist. The
D.C. Circuit opinion harshly rejects that sort of half-crazy
doublethink. The three-judge panel included Judge David Sentelle, one of
the most conservative judges on the federal bench. But there was no
dissent. That makes en banc review less likely, and the vote lineup on
the Supreme Court looks to be about the same as it was in 2007, when
Massachusetts v. EPA came down. A court ruling that two plus two equals
four is a setback for climate denial. But the battle goes on."
Photo credit: "
Mesospheric Clouds". I've heard of noctilucent clouds, but yesterday I discovered a new category of clouds - mesospheric clouds. Details: "
In
this image provided by NASA polar mesospheric clouds in the Northern
Hemisphere are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 31
crew member on the International Space Station June 13, 2012. In both
the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, during their respective late
spring and early summer seasons, polar mesospheric clouds are at the
peak of their visibility. Visible from the ground during twilight,
aircraft in flight, and the International Space Station, they typically
appear as delicate shining threads against the darkness of space—hence
their other name of noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds. Polar
mesospheric clouds form between 76-85 kilometers above the Earth's
surface, when there is sufficient water vapor at these high altitudes to
freeze into ice crystals. The clouds are illuminated by the setting
sun while the ground surface below is in darkness, lending them their
night-shining properties. In addition to the illuminated tracery of
polar mesospheric clouds trending across the center of the image, lower
layers of the atmosphere are also illuminated; the lowest layer of the
atmosphere, the stratosphere, is indicated by dim orange and red tones.
While the exact cause of formation of polar mesospheric clouds is
still debated—dust from meteors, global warming, and rocket exhaust
have all been suggested as contributing factors—recent research
suggests that changes in atmospheric gas composition or temperature has
caused the clouds to become brighter over time." (AP Photo/NASA)
Study: Kardashians Get 40 Times More News Coverage Than Ocean Acidification. Yes, this sums up the challenge nicely. Here's an excerpt from a story at
Media Matters: "
Carbon
dioxide emissions are not just warming up our atmosphere, they're also
changing the chemistry of our oceans. This phenomenon is known as
ocean acidification, or sometimes as global warming's "evil twin" or the "osteoporosis of the sea." Scientists
have warned that it poses a serious threat to ocean life. Yet major
American news outlets covered the Kardashians over 40 times more often
than ocean acidification over the past year and a half. Rising carbon
dioxide emissions have caused the oceans to become around 30% more
acidic since the Industrial Revolution, and if we do now lower the
amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, the ocean surface could be up to 150
percent more acidic by 2100."
Exxon CEO: Fears About Climate Change, Drilling And Energy Security Are Overblown. Here's an excerpt from AP and
The Washington Post: "
In
a speech Wednesday, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson addressed three major
energy issues: Climate change, oil and gas drilling pollution, and
energy dependence. He said the fears about all three are overblown.
“Clearly there is going to be an impact,” he said, but society will
adapt to changes. “We have spent our entire existence adapting. We’ll
adapt,” he said. “It’s an engineering problem and there will be an
engineering solution.” (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
