climate change

Major Western United States Heatwave To Hit End Week into Weekend

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TheWeatherSpace.com- 6/25/13

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A ridge of high pressure will cause elevated temperatures across most of the Western United States, from Arizona and California, northward to the US/Canada border.  This also may bring the first monsoon storms to the region as this abnormally large ridge of high pressure takes hold.

It’s that time of the year again, where a hot desert meets the Summer.  Temperatures in the 100s across Phoenix will turn to 115+, with 120+ along the Colorado River Valley as a ridge of high pressure builds in the area.

This ridge will be very large, bringing temperatures 15-20 degrees higher than normal for Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah.  Other areas like Montana, and Wyoming may also be in the outer fridges of the heatwave ridge.

With that heat will bring monsoonal moisture into play, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah may see the first monsoonal thunderstorms of the season with this event.

Cause of Last Year's Record Surface Melt on Greenland

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Accuweather.com - 6/21/13

Key excerpts from the University of Sheffield report......

"Our research found that a ‘heat dome' of warm southerly winds over the ice sheet led to widespread surface melting. These jet stream changes over Greenland do not seem to be well captured in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) computer model predictions of climate change, and this may indicate a deficiency in these models. According to our current understanding, the unusual atmospheric circulation and consequent warm conditions of summer 2012 do not appear to be climatically representative of future ‘average' summers predicted later this century.

"Taken together, our present results strongly suggest that the main forcing of the extreme GrIS surface melt in July 2012 was atmospheric, linked with changes in the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Greenland Blocking Index (GBI, a high pressure system centred over Greenland) and polar jet stream which favoured southerly warm air advection along the western coast.

Heat Wave Bakes Heart of Europe

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Accuweather.com - 6/19/13, Jim Andrews

 

 

A withering early summer heart wave has sent temperatures soaring throughout central Europe since Monday.

Wednesday, excessive heat spread northward from the Alps to nearly all of Germany, where some hot spots topped 35 degrees C (95 degrees F). For a wide area surrounding the Alps, it was the third straight day of readings hitting 30 to 35 degrees C (86-95 degrees F).

For more on this story please see Accuweather.com

Indian monsoon flooding 'leaves 1000 dead'

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Telegraph.co.uk.com - 6/20/13, Agencies

 

Monsoon flooding that has stranded thousands of people and caused landslides in northern India has killed almost 120 people, with the prime minister stating the toll could rise substantially.

People use a boat and wade through the rising waters of the Yamuna River at the Tibetan market in New Delhi  Photo: PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images

 

Helicopters and close to 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to rescue tourists and pilgrims stranded after floods caused by torrential monsoon rains hit the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand at the weekend.

More than 22,400 people have so far been rescued, as the military takes advantage of clearer weather, but another 62,000 are still stranded, the Home Ministry said in a statement.

For more on this story please see telegraph.co.uk

Largest waterspout ever seen off Louisiana coast and another near Tampa (video)

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Notlinkednewschannel - 6/21/13

Amazing footage of a waterspout. Minor damage reported.

Published on Jun 21, 2013

Grand Isle Residents Say Waterspout The Biggest They've Ever Seen

NEW ORLEANS -- Eyewitness described it as frightening and awe inspiring, and many snapped photos and video.

The funnel cloud caused some minor damage. Part of the roof of a camp has been ripped off after the spout landed near a neighboring camp, while dozens of people marveled at the size and power of the waterspout.

Baked Alaska: Unusual heat wave hits 49th state

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Bigstory.ap.org- 6/19/13, Rachelle D'Oro

 

Summer Heat Wave

Liz Gobeski soaks up the sun on the beach at Point Woronzof as a Polar Air Cargo jet comes in for a landing at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport as the temperature reached into the 80's in Anchorage, AK on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen)

With temperatures topping 80 degrees in Anchorage, and higher in other parts of the state, people have been sweltering in a place where few homes have air conditioning.

The official afternoon high in Anchorage Tuesday was 81 degrees, breaking the city's record of 80 set in 1926 for that date. Mid-June normally brings highs in the 60s.

For more on this story please see Bigstory.org

NOAA, partners predict possible record-setting dead zone for Gulf of Mexico

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Noaanews.noaa.gov - 6/19/13, 6/18/13

 

Dead zone.

Less oxygen dissolved in the water is often referred to as a “dead zone” (in red above) because most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish, leave the area. Habitats that would normally be teeming with life become, essentially, biological deserts.

Scientists are expecting a very large “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico and a smaller than average hypoxic level in the Chesapeake Bay this year, based on several NOAA-supported forecast models.

TD 2 Crossing the Yucatan, Bringing Heavy Rains

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Wunderground.com- 6/18/13, Dr. Jeff Masters

 

Tropical Depression Two is slowly spinning west-northwest across Belize after making landfall late Monday afternoon in southern Belize. The storm is bringing heavy rain to Belize, Northern Guatemala, and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, as seen on Belize radar and satellite loops. The center of TD 2 will remain over land all day Tuesday, but TD 2's west-northwest track may be able to bring the storm over the Gulf of Mexico's southern Bay of Campeche on Wednesday--if the storm hasn't dissipated by then. The Bay of Campeche is a region where the topography aids the spin-up of tropical cyclones, and TD 2 may have barely enough time to become Tropical Storm Barry with 40 mph winds before making landfall on Thursday between Veracruz and Tampico. However, the track of the storm may also keep it just inland during the remainder of the week, keeping it from ever getting to tropical storm strength. Heavy rains are the storm's main threat, but a ridge of high pressure over the Gulf of Mexico should keep any of TD 2's rains from reaching the U.S. Observations from an AMSU instrument on a polar orbiting satellite on Monday afternoon found that TD 2 had developed a modest warm core characteristic of a weak tropical storm, and it is possible that NHC will upgrade TD 2 to a tropical storm in post-analysis after the hurricane season is over. Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic, none of the reliable computer models is showing tropical cyclone development in the next seven days

Tornadoes touch down in Iowa as storms wallop 7 Midwest states

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Global Post.com - 6/12/13

Chicago weather

A violent storm system battered seven states in the Midwest late Wednesday, with two tornadoes touching down in northern Iowa.

In Illinois, emergency officials in Winnebago County reported several small tornadoes touched down briefly amid damaging hail and high winds.

 

For more information on this story please see Globalpost.com

 

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