Saturday, February 7, 2009

Daily Temperature Records Set, Tied in Mid Atlantic Through Carolinas
Washington Dulles Exceeds Old Mark by 6°

Image (click to enlarge): U.S. temperatures at 3 pm EST, from Unisys

Several daily temperature records were tied or broken in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and North Carolina today. Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service:
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 68 DEGREES WAS SET AT CHARLESTON WV TODAY.
THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 68 SET IN 1925.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 65 DEGREES WAS SET AT WASHINGTON DULLES DC TODAY.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 59 SET IN 2005.

THE TEMPERATURE AT ROANOKE WAS 68 DEGREES AT 3 PM...WHICH TIES THE
RECORD HIGH FOR FEBRUARY 7TH SET IN 1927. IF THIS TEMPERATURE RISES
THIS AFTERNOON...ANOTHER RECORD EVENT REPORT WILL BE ISSUED LATER.

THE TEMPERATURE AT LYNCHBURG WAS 68 DEGREES 2 PM...WHICH TIES THE
RECORD HIGH FOR FEBRUARY 7TH SET IN 1925. THE TEMPERATURE IS
EXPECTED TO CLIMB A FEW MORE DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON...SO ANOTHER
RECORD EVENT REPORT WILL BE ISSUED LATER.

THE TEMPERATURE AT DANVILLE WAS 69 DEGREES AT 2 PM...WHICH TIES THE
RECORD HIGH FOR FEBRUARY 7TH SET IN 1950. THE TEMPERATURE IS
EXPECTED TO CLIMB A FEW MORE DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON...SO ANOTHER
RECORD EVENT REPORT WILL BE ISSUED LATER.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 71 DEGREES WAS SET AT THE RALEIGH
DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TODAY. THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 71
SET IN 1999.

THE HIGH TEMPERATURE REACHED 70 DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON AT THE
GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG AIRPORT. THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 70 SET
IN 2007.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 57 DEGREES WAS RECORDED AT THE
HARRISBURG AIRPORT IN MIDDLETOWN TODAY. THIS EXCEEDED THE PREVIOUS
RECORD OF 55 DEGREES SET IN 1990.
A CONTINUOUS WEATHER RECORD HAS BEEN KEPT FOR HARRISBURG SINCE 1888.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 61 DEGREES WAS SET AT GEORGETOWN DE TODAY.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 60 SET IN 1965.
(Note the cherry-picking inherent in the sub-headline: Dulles records go back only 45 years. The old Feb. 7 record was highly vulnerable, since it was the only date in February never to have exceeded 60°.)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Snow Continues Travel Disruption in UK
Deniers Drooling While OJ Takes a Bath


Feb. 6 Update: Number of daily records for Feb. 5:
Highest maximum temperature 11
Lowest minimum temperature 6

Original post:
The UK Guardian reports today that snow is continuing to disrupt travel and schools across England and Wales, with salt supplies running low in some areas:

Forecasters said the worst of the weather was likely to be in the Midlands with as much as 10cm (4in) of snow, however the south and west of England and Wales ground to a halt today after waking up to their heaviest falls of snow this week.
Michael Fish, Britain's longest-running TV weather forecaster, notes that the snowfall is the heaviest since 1991, while Charlie English, author of The Snow Tourist, gives some British snow history, including:
The snowiest British winter of the 20th century was in 1947 (the coldest was 1963), when snow fell somewhere in the UK every day from 22 January to 17 March.
The latest forecast from the UK Met Office:

This Evening and Tonight:
Patches of sleet and snow edging southeastwards across England and Wales, with locally heavy snow developing across parts of southern and eastern England later. Scotland and Northern Ireland will have scattered wintry showers. Widespread ice will form across the UK.

Friday:
Locally heavy snow across southern and eastern England, especially during the morning. Elsewhere, brighter with some sunshine, but cold. Scattered wintry showers will affect northern and western areas.

The cold weather blog is still eating it up, while drooling over the no-skill 252-hour forecast for Feb. 15.

Florida cold

Don't forget the record cold in Florida; you guys must have made a killing betting on OJ:
"Orange-Juice Futures Slide 8.3% as Florida Crops Skirt Cold Snap".
ACTUAL LOWS/RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 5:
ORIGINAL
THIS RECORD LOWS RECORDS
LOCATION MORNING FOR FEB 5 BEGAN

ARCHBOLD :ACHF1 27 26 IN 1980 1969
ARCADIA :ARCF1 *26 26 IN 1996 1899
AVON PARK 2 W :AVPF1 28 25 IN 1966 1901
BARTOW :BARF1 28 27 IN 1996 1892
BROOKSVILLE CHIN HILL :BROF1 23 21 IN 1996 1892
BUSHNELL 2 E :BSHF1 24 22 IN 1996 1948
CHIEFLAND 5 SE :CHIF1 19 **17 IN 1996 1956
FORT MYERS/PAGE FIELD :FMY 34 29 IN 1996 1902
INVERNESS 3 SE :INVF1 25 23 IN 1996 1948
LAKELAND LINDER FIELD :LLDF1 27 **24 IN 1996 1948
MOUNTAIN LAKE :LWLF1 29 26 IN 1996, 1935
1966 & 1935
MYAKKA RIVER STATE PARK :MKCF1 26 24 IN 1996 1956
PARRISH :PARF1 NA **24 IN 1996 1957
PLANT CITY :PLCF1 29 25 IN 1996 1892
PUNTA GORDA 4 ESE :PNTF1 30 **27 IN 1996 1965
ST LEO :STLF1 27 22 IN 1996 1895
ST PETE/ALBERT WHITTED :SPG 37 **28 IN 1996 1914
SARASOTA-BRADENTON :SRQ 31 **24 IN 1996 1948
TAMPA INTERNATIONAL APT :TPA 32 25 IN 1996 1890
TARPON SPRINGS :TRPF1 NA 23 IN 1996 1892
VENICE :VNCF1 29 **26 IN 1996 1955
WAUCHULA 2 N :WAUF1 NA 27 IN 1996 1933
& 1958
WEEKI WACHEE :WEEF1 NA 22 IN 1996 1969
WINTER HAVEN :WHNF1 29 26 IN 1996 1941

* NEW OR TIED RECORD LOW FOR FEBRUARY 5
** RECORD LOW FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY


Total number of daily maximum temperature records set in the entire U.S., Feb. 1-4: 76
Total number of daily minimum temperature records set in the entire U.S., Feb. 1-4: 9

Git out the mukluks and the mastodon traps, maw, the Ice Age is nigh!

And Al Gore is still fat!

Images: Train arriving at Clapham Junction station, London, from UK Guardian; UK weather forecast for 6 am Friday from Met Office; orange juice futures prices from Wall Street Journal

Weathering Economic and Meteorological Storms

Anne Applebaum's op-ed column in today's WaPo, "Relearning How To Weather a Storm" draws an interesting analogy between the current economic situation and the reaction of certain English-speaking world capitals to snowstorms:
"Trudging around snowy London, it was impossible to escape another thought: Surely what's true of the weather is true of other kinds of unexpected change, too. People who no longer remember slow economic growth, for example, might not be able to cope with negative growth, let alone a severe recession. In London, it hasn't snowed much for 18 years, so no one owns a snow shovel -- and if they do, they don't know how to use it. In the United States, the economy hasn't really collapsed since 1929, so no one knows how to save string and tinfoil -- and if they did, they wouldn't know what to do with them. A whole set of skills, from cooking with leftovers to recycling bottles (not because it's green, but because it's thrifty) has been lost during two generations of prosperity, in much the same way the British have forgotten how to drive their cars through slush."

Monday, February 2, 2009

Heavy Snow Strikes Nation's Capital
Washington Extends Drought With a Trace on Monday



Video from the BBC is here.

Washington is not the only world capital which finds it difficult to cope with snow and ice. Heavy snow virtually paralyzed some areas of Britain on Monday, with as much as 8" in parts of London. The UK Guardian reports:
The heaviest snowfall for 18 years paralysed swaths of the country yesterday, bringing chaos to roads, railways and airports, closing thousands of schools and businesses, and costing the economy an estimated £1.2bn in lost working hours.

Although the snow had been forecast since last week, much of Britain was overwhelmed, with conditions forcing one in five workers to stay at home, as many as 3,000 schools closed and many non-urgent hospital operations were postponed.

The south-east bore the brunt of the snow, which settled to a depth of 25cm (10in) in Kent and Surrey, and saw all flights cancelled at Heathrow and London City airports, leaving thousands stranded.

London's public transport system buckled under the stress, with all but a handful of bus routes cancelled yesterday morning and 10 of the 11 underground lines either completely or partly suspended.
The cold weather hype machine is loving it. This just in, however, the seasons haven't been repealed: "Despite global warming, snow still exists".

The UK Met Office's latest forecast calls for the snow to be moving northward on Tuesday.

As of midnight, the National Weather Service reports the following snow totals in the Washington, DC region:

********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************

LOCATION STORM TOTAL TIME/DATE COMMENTS
SNOWFALL OF
(INCHES) MEASUREMENT


MARYLAND

...FREDERICK COUNTY...
SMITHSBURG 2.0 725 PM 2/2
FOXVILLE 1.0 1155 PM 2/2
MYERSVILLE 0.4 805 PM 2/2 1265FT

...MONTGOMERY COUNTY...
DAMASCUS 0.8 955 PM 2/2 COOP OBSERVER

...WASHINGTON COUNTY...
HAGERSTOWN 1.5 848 PM 2/2
HAGERSTOWN 1.0 820 PM 2/2
KNOXVILLE 1.0 755 PM 2/2

VIRGINIA

...AUGUSTA COUNTY...
CHURCHVILLE 2.0 830 PM 2/2 ALL SURFACES
SWOOPE 1.0 825 PM 2/2 GRASSY ONLY

...CITY OF HARRISONBURG...
HARRISONBURG 1.5 725 PM 2/2

...CITY OF STAUNTON...
STAUNTON 1.2 638 PM 2/2

...CITY OF WAYNESBORO...
WAYNESBORO 2.8 1000 PM 2/2 2 WEST

...CITY OF WINCHESTER...
WINCHESTER 1.0 845 PM 2/2
WINCHESTER 0.3 724 PM 2/2

...CLARKE COUNTY...
BOYCE 1.8 835 PM 2/2 ALL SURFACES
BERRYVILLE 1.0 920 PM 2/2

...FAIRFAX COUNTY...
HERNDON 0.1 849 PM 2/2

...FAUQUIER COUNTY...
OPAL 2.0 919 PM 2/2

...FREDERICK COUNTY...
GORE 2.0 848 PM 2/2

...HIGHLAND COUNTY...
MONTEREY 5.5 900 PM 2/2 ALL SURFACES

...LOUDOUN COUNTY...
LEESBURG 0.5 824 PM 2/2

...MADISON COUNTY...
HAYWOOD 0.5 739 PM 2/2

...PAGE COUNTY...
STANLEY 2.5 1028 PM 2/2
LURAY 1.8 1025 PM 2/2
LURAY 1.0 715 PM 2/2 5MI W
LURAY 0.5 849 PM 2/2
SHENANDOAH 0.3 722 PM 2/2

...PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY...
HAYMARKET 1.8 1001 PM 2/2 ELEV. 1200FT

...ROCKINGHAM COUNTY...
MASSANUTTEN RESORT 4.0 1128 PM 2/2

...SHENANDOAH COUNTY...
NEW MARKET 1.5 845 PM 2/2 ALL SURFACES
STRASBURG 0.8 845 PM 2/2 ALL SURFACES

Seasonal Outlook

Latest seasonal forecast: Click here.


Latest 3-month temperature outlook from Climate Prediction Center/NWS/NOAA.