Fire & Ice (historic snowfall amounts for May - rising brushfire threat for California)

18" snow at Blooming Prairie, Minnesota yesterday
81 F. high reported in the Twin Cities on May 2, 2012.
Tulsa, Oklahoma saw a trace of snow yesterday - the latest snow on record.

Jaw-dropping Extremes

Just when you thought you'd seen everything, along comes the Backwards Spring of 2013. 18" at Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. On May 2. The Twin Cities dodged a bullet, but this event will probably be the snowiest May snowstorm on record for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Every morning I dial up the latest maps, afraid what I may find next. Parts of California are on fire, while a rare May freeze pushes into Texas; record floods washing out roads in Key West. Many Midwestern counties went from drought to flood in less than 2 weeks. Head-snapping weather.

In spite of La Nina, 2012 was the 9th warmest year, worldwide, on record. Record melting of Arctic ice last year may be impacting the jet stream, the river of high-speed air sweeping the globe - increasing the chance of blocking patterns, which can cause weather to temporarily stall. The result? A high amplitude pattern - more north/south swings in the jet stream capable of creating "cut-off" lows that can stall. Giant atmospheric roadblocks. More extremes.

The "stuck" storm over Missouri responsible for record snows east of MSP will rotate rain into town later today & Saturday. Expect 60F by Sunday; some 70s next week as spring returns. Fishing Opener? A rather mild Saturday gives way to a cooler front by Mother's Day; probably dry for Race For The Cure.

Better days ahead. It can only get better right?

Rochester, Minnesota photo credit upper left: AP Photo/Post-Bulletin, Ken Klotzbach.

Thousand Oaks, California photo credit upper right: AP Photo/Nick Ut.

It Can't Be May. Brenda Lamonica sent in these photos from Rochester, Minnesota. Surreal. Pic courtesy of WeatherNation TV.

Tree-Snapping Snows. HIgh water content (1 to 1.5" liquid) created a very heavy, wet snow just east of the Twin Cities. Heart-attack snow. Tony Barlow captured this photo in Hudson, Wisconsin Thursday. That's how close we came to an almost unimaginable weather-mess yesterday. Courtesy: WeatherNation TV.

A Very Close Call. Waking up to a pale-green lawn Thursday morning was annoying (having predicting a coating to 2" the night before), but I also felt pure relief. Can you imagine what a nightmare 12-18" of snow would have been for the immediate metro area yesterday? It was bad enough from Rochester to Owatonna and Red Wing,with downed trees and powerlines, hundreds of traffic accidents - all the result of concrete-like heavy, wet slush. 8" amounts were reported in Dakota County from Farmington to Cottage Grove, 4" at Lake Elmo. Here's an interactive map from NOAA.

Jaw-Dropping "May"-hem: Fire & Ice, Snow & Flooding. This pattern really is nothing short of remarkable; huge, sweeping north/south sweeps of jet stream energy capable of erasing a drought in a meteorological blink of an eye, or pulling an almost February-like airmass southward, with snowy consequences. Here's today's edition of WeatherNation TV's Climate Matters: "Is it really May 2nd? Some Midwest cities saw more than a foot and a half of snow. To the west super dry windy conditions are fueling wildfires and to the Southeast ongoing rains are leading to flooding. Meteorologist Paul Douglas has more on the May weather mayhem."

Ah, May In Iowa. Thanks to Iowa State for passing this one along, a comparison of May 2, 2012 with May 2, 2013. Go cyclones!

A Reason To Keep On Going. Today will feel like March 3, but by Monday of next week it will look and feel like spring again (and none of us will take warmth for granted ever again). The ECMWF shows a drier day Sunday, with dry weather spilling over into Monday and Tuesday; a few showers and T-storms possible Wednesday as highs top 70. We cool off a little late next week before warming into the 60s again on Saturday, probably the milder day of the Fishing Opener/Mother's Day weekend.

 

 

Encouraging Trends. The U.S. models are in fairly tight alignment, showing a warming trend into next week; a good chance of 70-degree highs by midweek.

 

Mother's Day Preview. Here is the 240 ECMWF forecast for next Sunday morning, May 12. It shows a cooler front pushing south; highs in the 50s (north) - maybe low 60s Twin Cities metro. It's early, but if this forecast verifies it would be dry and comfortably cool for Race For The Cure and brunch with your favorite mom. Don't forget about mom.

 

Risk Of A Real Warm Front. I'm not getting too excited just yet (we've been down this road before), but GFS numbers show a chance of 80s by mid-May. One thing is certain: we're going to have a cooler, wetter, stormier summer than last year.

What Is Going On? Bill Holton writes: "Paul, please explain to readers WHY this is happening? Snow of this magnitude has NEVER been seen in this part of the country in May, or anywhere in the U.S. outside of the Rockies." Bill, snow east of the Rockies, outside of higher terrain in New England, is exceedingly rare, yes - but not totally unprecedented. What we're seeing is consistent with what climate scientists have been predicting for 30 years. As northern latitudes warm the north-south temperature contrast weakens, which triggers a drop in jet stream winds - which become more unstable, with greater north/south swings, what meteorologists call a "high amplitude" pattern. When this happens warm, moist air can be transported unusually far north (helping to rapidly ease drought and trigger record flooding), while unusually cold air can sweep much farther south than usual, sometimes "cutting off" from the main belt of westerly steering winds, causing weather patterns to temporarily stall. In short, the weather has a greater potential to become become stuck.

Proving cause and effect is difficult, at times impossible, but talking with climate scientists there seems to be a strong causal connection between more weather extremes and record warming taking place in the Arctic. 90% of warming is going into the oceans, and some of that warmth is showing up in the Arctic, which has lost 70-75% of its ice volume in 50 years, reaching a record low in September, 2012. A warming Arctic can displace the cold air that should be at the top of the world farther south over Canada, Europe and Asia, setting the stage for more extremes, more head-scratching "Black Swan" weather events.

A blocking pattern (with a warm bubble of high pressure over Greenland) steered Superstorm Sandy into coastal New Jersey on October 29, 2012, which is highly unusual for late October. A blocking pattern resulted in blistering, record-setting heat over much of the USA last summer. Droughts and heatwaves can become even more intense, while (stalled) storms can squeeze out more rain, or snow. Keep in mind there's more water vapor in the air (a 4% increase in 40 years), more fuel for storms, summer and winter. Rain is falling harder during the summer months, and when it does snow, it tends to come down harder. There are few things more complicated and interconnected than weather and climate - more research is required, but it's probably safe to say that we'll see more extremes in the years ahead, more examples of weather on steroids.

Changes in the Arctic are happening much faster than predicted. Richard Alley at Penn State believes some of these changes are taking place 100 years ahead of schedule. Climate scientist James Hansen believes warming of the oceans and atmosphere is equivalent to 400,000 Hiroshima bombs going off every day. We may be undergoing a "phase transition" in the climate system, which is non-linear. Nature rarely moves in a straight line. Alarmist hype? I sure hope so. But the reality: we're in uncharted water when it comes to global changes and impact on local weather.

One Way To Break A Drought. The same extreme pattern responsible for the 3rd snowiest April on record is tugging Gulf moisture north. As of April 30 there is no more exceptional drought across the state of Minnesota. moderate drought has dropped from 98% to 15% of the state since April 2, which is amazing. Southwest Minnesota isn't entirely out of the woods, but if this pattern persists (likely) most of Minnesota will be drought-free by the end of May. Thanks to Todd Nelson at WeatherNation and the Minnesota State Climate Office.

Huge California Brushfire Spreads Over 6,500 Acres. Here's an excerpt from Business Insider: "Authorities have ordered the evacuation of hundreds of homes due to a brush fire in California, Reuters reports. According to CBS Los Angeles, the brush fire has consumed around 6,500 acres of land along the U.S. 101 freeway near Camarillo and Newbury Park in Ventura County, suburban areas to the northwest of Los Angeles. The flames are being spread by high winds. ABC 10 News reports that more than 200 firefighters are tackling the blaze, with help from aircrafts dropping water and retardant. KTLA reports that the fire is "0% contained". There have been no reports of injuries so far..."

Photo credit above: REUTERS/Gene Blevins. "A fast moving brush fire approaches a home in the Camarillo Springs area of Ventura County, California May 2, 2013. Southern California is under a high fire alert due to high temperatures and high winds."

 

Low Tornado Numbers And Low Tornado Deaths: May 2012 - April 2013. Here's an excerpt from a NOAA blog post that caught my eye: "...The death toll from May 2012-April 2013 was 7. National Weather Service official statistics go back to January 1950, but we can extend that by using the work of Tom Grazulis from the Tornado Project, who has collected tornado fatality information back into the 17th century. The data are reasonably good back to 1875, but it’s still possible that there are some missed fatalities, particularly as we go back farther in time. So, where does 7 fatalities in 12 consecutive calendar months stack up? Again, here are the lowest totals, going back to 1875, for 12 consecutive months, with the starting month."

Allergies On The Rise In U.S. Kids, Government Study Finds. Here's an excerpt from NBC News: "Allergies triggered by food or the environment have risen sharply in U.S. children in recent years, especially among more affluent families, according to a large government study. The "epidemic" rise in allergies, as one expert describes it, is of concern because it increases the risk of potentially fatal respiratory diseases or disfiguring skin conditions that could require long-term care. The latest data, released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control, showed the prevalence of food allergies increased in children under age 18 from 3.4 percent in 1997 to 5.1 percent in 2011. Skin allergies rose from 7.4 percent to 12.5 percent in the same time period..."

Could You Go 1 Year Without The Internet? This Guy Did. Here's a fascinating tale from The Verge. Paul Miller went 365 days without logging onto the Internet. Was he better for it? Here's an excerpt of a very readable story: "I was wrong. One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was "corrupting my soul." It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free. And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more "real," now. More perfect. But instead it's 8PM and I just woke up. I slept all day, woke with eight voicemails on my phone from friends and coworkers. I went to my coffee shop to consume dinner, the Knicks game, my two newspapers, and a copy of The New Yorker. And now I'm watching Toy Story while I glance occasionally at the blinking cursor in this text document, willing it to write itself, willing it to generate the epiphanies my life has failed to produce. I didn't want to meet this Paul at the tail end of my yearlong journey..."

Giant Rubber Duck Sails Into Hong Kong. Here's one headline I never thought I would read in the Wall Street Journal. Photo courtesy of Bobby Yip and Reuters. Wow.

Trying To Keep Our Sense Of Humor. Someone down in Fort Dodge, Iowa has a very good sense of humor, a snowman standing guard over (inviting) waters at the town's swimming pool. Either you laugh...or you weep. Not much in-between.

Climate Stories...

2012 Was The 9th Warmest Year, Worldwide, Since 1850. Here's an excerpt from a story at Huffington Post: "The World Meteorological Organization says last year was the ninth-warmest since record-keeping began in 1850, despite the cooling effect of the weather pattern called La Nina. The U.N.'s weather agency says this marks the 27th year in a row the global average temperature — 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14.45 degrees Celsius) in 2012 — surpassed the 1961-1990 average. WMO said in annual climate report Thursday the years from 2001 to 2012 were all among the top 13 warmest on record."

Most Americans Blame Global Warming For Extreme Weather. Climate change, "global weirding", call it what you want, but it's not your grandfather's weather pattern anymore, as reported in this story at LiveScience: "More than half of Americans think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, according to a new nationally representative survey that measures the pulse of American sentiment on climate change. The newly released study shows that about two out of three Americans say weather in the country has worsened over the past several years, with only one in 10 saying the weather has been improving. Americans also have strong views about the link between global warming and extreme weather..." (Photo: David Fine, FEMA).

Unburnable Fuel: Either Governments Are Not Serious About Climate Change Or Fossil Fuel Firms Are Overvalued. Here's an excerpt from a story at The Economist: "MARKETS can misprice risk, as investors in subprime mortgages discovered in 2008. Several recent reports suggest that markets are now overlooking the risk of “unburnable carbon”. The share prices of oil, gas and coal companies depend in part on their reserves. The more fossil fuels a firm has underground, the more valuable its shares. But what if some of those reserves can never be dug up and burned?..."

Belief In Biblical End Times Stifling Climate Change Action In The U.S. - Study. Eric Dolan at rawstory.com has the story; here's the intro: "The United States has failed to take action to mitigate climate change thanks in part to the large number of religious Americans who believe the world has a set expiration date. Research by David C. Barker of the University of Pittsburgh and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado uncovered that belief in the biblical end-times was a motivating factor behind resistance to curbing climate change. “[T]he fact that such an overwhelming percentage of Republican citizens profess a belief in the Second Coming (76 percent in 2006, according to our sample) suggests that governmental attempts to curb greenhouse emissions would encounter stiff resistance even if every Democrat in the country wanted to curb them,” Barker and Bearce wrote in their study, which will be published in the June issue of Political Science Quarterly..."

Top Investors Will Feel Heat Of New Epoch. Here's an excerpt of an Eric Roston article at Bloomberg: "...Modeling climate economics is tricky, even more so than climate science is, if that's possible. The former simplifies the latter and then combines it with additional hard-to-know variables, like consumption, population and energy use. All of these estimates end up in what climate wonks call the “social cost of carbon,” or the estimated cost of future damages, in today’s dollars, per ton of carbon dioxide. Policy analysts use this estimate when scoring proposed regulations that affect greenhouse gas emissions one way or another. Not including it would imply that damages from carbon dioxide emissions aren't expected at all; that's desirable, but it isn't true. The climate economics debate, as it occurs in journals, news media and the blogosphere, turns on the assumptions that economists pick when they translate future growth and climate damages into today’s dollars. Often at issue is time discounting. The more activist economists say that a high discount rate carries implicit moral judgments, in that it discriminates against future generations -- which have the same legal and moral value as we do -- by sticking them with the costs of dealing with climate change..."

Plowable Snows In Early May? (will winter ever end from Denver to the Twin Cities?)

July. Only month where snow has never been reported at an official weather station in Minnesota. There's a fun stat.

Brushed By Slush

"May you live in interesting times." Oh yeah. I've moved my Doppler deep underground, into The Weather Bunker. I'm now a reluctant new member of the FBI's Witness Protection Program.

Did I mention I'm just the messenger? But if it makes you feel better go ahead and YELL! Get it all out...

This is the price we're paying for a rapid easing of drought conditions. The same high-amplitude full latitude trough, a vast kink in the jet stream which behaves like a storm incubator, is thriving on these huge north-south temperature contrats, pulling moisture north out of the Gulf of Mexico, turning many Midwest counties from drought to flood in the  meteorological blink of an eye.

Yes, the drought is over for the Twin Cities and quickly easing everywhere else. There will be water in our lakes, rivers and topsoil this summer.

But will there be summer? Yes. Abbreviated compared to last year, coming after 7 months in a row of snow.

The all-time May snow record is 3" set in 1946. If it's going to snow let's set a gasp-worthy record. Concerned loved ones living in warmer climes may place a "are you OK?" call today. Perfect.

A slushy, sloppy AM snow (coating to 2" for much of the metro - considerably more for the southern/eastern suburbs of St. Paul, where 3-7" may fall) quickly melts; the atmosphere warm enough for another inch of rain Friday into Saturday. Skies may brighten Sunday, with highs near 50; better weather for the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. 60s return next week; a cooling trend requiring jackets for the 2013 Fishing Opener.

Good news: since 1891 MSP hasn't seen snow in June. Ever. Denver's latest snow is June 12.

See, it could be worse.

On Edge. Late night models, including WSI's 12km. RPM show the heaviest snow bands setting up just south/east of the Twin Cities, some 10" amounts from near Rochester to Red Wing and Menomonie. The western suburbs may see a little slush, a better chance of a few sloppy inches southern and eastern suburbs of St. Paul.

A Close Call. There will be a huge variation in weather from east to west across the metro area. Heavy rain, mixed with sleet and some rain east metro, just a coating of slush western suburbs. HRRR model map valid 7 am courtesy of NOAA.

Winter Storm Warning Shifts East. The northern and western suburbs are no longer in a warning (or watch); an eastward jog in the storm track pushing the heaviest band of slush south/east of St. Paul, where plowable amounts of snow are still expected this morning. Map: NOAA.


Top 10 May Snow Event? For parts of the east metro it may be a Top 5 snowfall, but the official readings for the Twin Cities are taken at MSP International Airport. Not sure we'll set an all-time record, but just the fact that I feel compelled to include this graph speaks volumes. Information courtesy of the Twin Cities National Weather Service.

So Lousy - It's Almost Funny. Almost. A few weeks ago I scanned the models with a sense of dread. Now I look at the maps and just laugh. This is beyond ridiculous. A cut-off low over Missouri will rotate another surge of moisture and energy into Minnesota Friday, and the atmosphere may be cold enough for wet snow or even a mix, before changing to rain by afternoon. Rain spills over into Saturday - skies brighten Sunday; spring officially returns next week.

Extrended Outlook: More May-like. GFS data shows highs in the 60s and 70s into mid-May, a chance of showers and T-showers Fishing Opener Weekend. The ECMWF guidance looks cooler and drier for the Opener, so I'm not sure I'm buying this just yet.

Forgotten Spring. The cold, stormy (snowy) pattern gripping the Rockies and Upper Mississippi Valley is impressive; huge north-south sweeps in the jet stream capable of not only pulling Gulf moisture north, easing the drought, but also flinging Marchlike airmasses south of the border, brewing up freakish, late-season snowstorms. In today's edition of Climate Matters I take a look at snowfall records for April and why the weather continues to misbehave: "The calendar may say May 1st, but the weather maps look much more like March 1st for the Central Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley. A freakish snowfall is setting up for portions of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Meteorologist Paul Douglas has more on the May snow as well as the April snow records."

Winter Is Coming. Texas, Midwest Bracing For Cold. It's nice that, once again, Minnesota is the brunt of weather-related jokes and drive-by meteorological gawking. Hey, this IS impressive! Meteorologist Andrew Freedman at Climate Central has more details; here's an excerpt: "...The cold and snow is the result of a persistent dip in the jet stream across the Midwest and parts of the West, which has allowed cold, Canadian air masses to move southward into those regions. The weather pattern has been largely stuck during the past month, courtesy of a "blocking high" over Greenland that is acting like a stoplight, preventing storm systems from progressing from west to east across the country. More than 1,100 snowfall records and 3,400 cold records were set during April, and May is likely to average out to be cooler than average across the South Central states, according to the most recent climate outlooks from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...."

Photo credit above; "The snowy scene in Boulder, Colo. on Wednesday morning." Credit: Claudia Tebaldi, Climate Central.

Drought Outlook. The forecast of an easing drought several months ago is looking pretty good; a series of wet storms taking big chunks out of the drought, from east to west across the country. Even the Great Plains are expecting improving conditions - the worst of the drought shifting into the Intermountain West and Southwest. Map above showing the forecast from mid-April thru late-July courtesy of USDA and NOAA.

A Long, Tough Fire Season For The West? Major fires are already burning near Palm Springs, a bad omen for early May. It was the 4th driest winter on record for California, another factor to consider. Drought conditions are expanding westward, setting the stage for more frequent and potentially devastating wildfires for much of the southwest, spreading into portions of Oregon, Washington and Idaho by July and August. Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

FAA Plan To Terminate Airport Weather Observers Raises Travel Safety Concerns. More potential fall-out from The Sequester. Here's an excerpt of a Washington Post story from meteorologist Jason Samenow: "The responsibility for monitoring the skies at airports across the country may shift from meteorological professionals to air traffic controllers, with little weather experience, if a proposal from the Federal Aviation Administration moves forward. Both the professionals weather observers, whose jobs are at risk, and aviation groups have expressed concern that air traffic controllers may not be up to the task of keeping pilots apprised of rapidly changing weather conditions...."

Photo credit above: "Heat waves distort a picture of airplanes waiting to take off from National Airport on April 26." (JIM LO SCALZO, EPA)

Hurricane Sandy's Untold Filthy Legacy: Sewage. This takes nasty to a whole new level; some solid reporting from Climate Central; here's an excerpt: "...Six months after Sandy, data from the eight hardest hit states shows that 11 billion gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage flowed into rivers, bays, canals, and in some cases, city streets, largely as a result of record storm-surge flooding that swamped the region’s major sewage treatment facilities. To put that in perspective, 11 billion gallons is equal to New York’s Central Park stacked 41 feet high with sewage, or more than 50 times the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The vast majority of that sewage flowed into the waters of New York City and northern New Jersey in the days and weeks during and after the storm. Our analysis of sewage-spill data provided by state agencies and individual treatment plant operators shows that:
One third of the overflow (3.45 billion gallons) was essentially untreated raw sewage.  The remainder (7.45 billon gallons) was partially treated, meaning that it received at least some level of filtration and, perhaps, chlorination..."

Astronomical Events In May. Check out the University of Minnesota Bell Museum for more specifics about what's visible in the nighttime sky later this month. The only white powder I want to see overhead is the Milky Way.

Google Reader Joins Graveyard Of Dead Google Products. Be sure to leave a flower. Details from Slate: "It’s hard to lose a loved one, especially if that loved one is a Google service. That’s why we’re opening the gates of the Google Graveyard, a virtual space for grieving. Buried in these hallowed grounds are some of Google’s ill-fated services. Some, like Google Reader, lived long, prosperous lives, full of admiration and glory. Most, like Google Wave and Google Buzz, struggled to carve out a place in this harsh, unforgiving world where technologies continuously clash and innovation reigns king. But whether these services transformed our productivity or only polluted our inboxes, they all touched our world in some way. Click on a grave to leave a flower, and let the healing process begin."

Emergencies? There's An App For That. We're all relying less on emergency sirens and more on our smart phones for time-sensitive, GPS-aware alerts that impact our families. Here's an excerpt of an interesting article at Marketplace Tech: "...The Life360 cellphone app, which has 34 million users, lets you see family members’ locations and send text messages and emails to them. The basic app is free, but users can pay for premium service, like 24-hour personal support. Hulls says the emergency app marketplace has gotten crowded, as events like Hurricane Sandy and the Sandy Hook school shooting showed people the need for emergency apps. "It makes so much sense," says Hulls. "The fact that we have an always on, Internet and location enabled device in our pockets, it’s kind of just clicked for everybody." Everybody from USC to The Red Cross is developing emergency apps..."

Economists Nail It: You Can Never Be Too Rich. So this is why we're working so hard. What happened to "the best things in life are free?" Here's an excerpt from a Peter Coy story at Bloomberg Businessweek: "I just spoke with Justin Wolfers, co-author of a short but important new paper that concludes the more money you have, on average, the happier you are. That may seem to deserve a Homer Simpson “Duh!” award for most obvious research finding of the month, but in fact it contradicts an assertion made in 1974 by Richard Easterlin, who said that increasing average income did not increase average well-being. The wife-and-husband economist team of Betsey Stevenson and Wolfers, who teach at the University of Michigan, showed that happiness and life satisfaction are higher in rich countries than in poor countries. And within any given country, rich people are happier than poor people..."

How To Be Gracious, And Why. In business it's usually the little things, but relationships are critical. Face-to-face interaction, empathizing wih your customer's real needs - remembering they're buying you as much as your product or service. Here's an excerpt of a timely article at Esquire: "...Remember that the only representation of you, no matter what your station, is you — your presentation, your demeanor. You simply must attend. Stand when someone enters the room, especially if you are lowly and he is the boss, and even if the reverse is true. Look them in the eye. Ask yourself: Does anybody need an introduction? If so, before you say one word about business, introduce them to others with pleasure in your voice. If you can't muster enthusiasm for the people you happen upon in life, then you cannot be gracious. Remember, true graciousness demands that you have time for others..."

 

 

Watch: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two Hits Supersonice Speeds During First Rocket-Powered Flight. This may be the most exciting 16 seconds of your Thursday (looking out the window doesn't count). Here's an amazing video and except from The Week: "Commercial spaceflight inched one step closer towards reality this week, as professional billionaire Richard Branson watched his Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo complete its first rocket-powered test flight over California's Mojave Desert. The flight wasn't very long — just 16 seconds total. According to the Wall Street Journal, once SpaceShipTwo was dropped from its carrier vessel, WhiteKnightTwo, the spaceship climbed through the atmosphere to about 56,000 feet, and reached a velocity 1.2 times the speed of sound:

 

If future testing goes well and "if my wife allows," Mr. Branson joked after watching the test flight, he and his two children plan to be among the first six voyagers to ride the maiden flight of SpaceShipTwo to the edge of space. The trip would send passengers about 60 miles above the Earth's surface, at a maximum speed of about 2,500 miles per hour. [Wall Street Journal]..."

Climate Stories...

Climate Change: When Rain, Rain Won't Go Away. Here's an excerpt of a compelling story and video from USA Today with a couple of eye-popping statistics: "...From valleys staggered by Irene, to coasts battered by Superstorm Sandy, the 24-hour outbursts of rain and snow, or "extreme precipitation," has increased by 74% in the past six decades there, according to January's draft of the federal National Climate Assessment report. Such storms have become the signature of climate change across the Northeast, afflicting older cities and towns built at a time of more modest rainfall. This heavy flooding is undermining aging bridges, eroding roads and overwhelming drainage systems..."

Preventing Climate Change Is Good For Business, GM Declares. Here's an excerpt from The Detroit Free Press: "General Motors officially acknowledged today that implementing policies to prevent climate change is “good business.” GM became the first automaker to sign the “Climate Declaration” pledge, which is promoted by nonprofit Ceres’ Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP) coalition. The decision to sign the pledge comes as GM has been pressuring the U.S. government to establish a national energy policy focused on promoting energy security with a diverse range of sources, including natural gas and renewables. The automaker sends no waste to landfills from 105 of plants, and is trying to boost that figure..."

Photo credit above: "The LED lights brightens the GM logo atop the Renaissance Center towers in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, September 21, 2011. GM plans to install more such lighting on the Ren Cen." WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press.

* the average U.S vehicle emits 4.8 metric tons of CO2 every year. Source: EPA.

Climate Change: Where Republicans And Democrats Agree. Here's an excerpt of an Op-Ed at Science 2.0: "...Even on science topics, it isn't always left and right, including on issues we get told are left and right. Sociologists analyzed some Gallup survey results - yes, that is what they call a study, in the social science world - and found common ground among Democrats and Republicans when it comes to taking action on climate science. People in either party who accept the consensus on climate change think CO2 emissions are important enough for the government to curb them, like we have done with lots of other types of pollution. Now, CO2 in America needs curbed by the government less and less each day - we have migrated from coal for energy to natural gas and energy sector CO2 emissions have plummeted, while the government's $72 billion in green energy corporation subsidies helped us very little. But it's still good to know that people will support more government restrictions should they ever be needed...."