coldest December for 100 years

From the Mail Online:

• Overnight lows of -15C in Scotland and -13C in England
• Experts say cold snap is 'once in a lifetime'

Slight thaw this weekend but a return to snow predicted for next week

The Army was called in today to help clear away ice and snow as Britain headed towards its coldest December for 100 years.

fuel runs out at petrol stations in Scotland and East Anglia

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336705/UK-big-freeze-Army-standby-coldest-December-100-years.html#ixzz17mCgqlI4

Things might get real cold- Super La Nina

From Pajamas Media:

A super La Nina is developing.

Historically, these strong La Nina events drop the Earth’s average temperature around one degree Fahrenheit, and the drop comes quickly. As a result, some of the same places that had record heat this summer may suffer through record cold this winter.

...

Right now the Pacific Ocean is in the beginning of a thirty year cooler spell called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. There is a strong, potentially super La Nina developing. The sun is still quiet with very few sunspots. When these conditions exist, the first two months of the cold season (December and January) tend to be cold from Montana to Iowa to Florida up to the Great Lakes and most of New England. In addition, temperatures tend to be very cold from central and western Canada to Alaska. China could suffer a bitterly cold December and January if historic temperature patterns are consistent with current conditions. Much of central and western Europe are cold in these situations as well.

The second half of the cold season (February and March) typically experiences some changes in the global temperature patterns in these types of winters. More...

Obama looks at climate engineering

You really can't make this stuff up...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The president's new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth's air.
John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.

"It's got to be looked at," he said. "We don't have the luxury of taking any approach off the table."

Holdren outlined several "tipping points" involving global warming that could be fast approaching. Once such milestones are reached, such as complete loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic, it increases chances of "really intolerable consequences," he said. (more)

Really intolerable consequences- like a junior Senator from Illinois becoming President and spending trillions of dollars of our money and our children's to reflect the sun's rays with pollution particles? You mean it could be worse?

Something to Crow About

As many of you know I am a weather guy. For the last 23 1/2 years I have attempted to "discern the will of God" (that's what the Taliban accused the Afghan meteorologists of doing- calling them wizards and disbanding the met service when they took over. But I digress..) Ihave been part of Air Force Weather since 1985.

My love of weather can be traced to the many stories of thunderstorms that my pilot dad used to share with me at my repeated requests. I think my interest in weather was also encouraged by the fact that I grew up in west Texas in a town called San Angelo. San Angelo was built at the junction of the Concho river and others yet still on the edge of the desert. Though a number of dams create some semblance of lakes they often suffer in the inevitable dry spells and the "river" which I grew up a mere block from, would often be shallow enough you could walk across. Hurricanes for San Angelo were a looked forward to event as it was the only way to fill up the lakes.

Thus, everyone talked about the weather and celebrated the rains when they came, so that the cotton fields would survive. There used to be a tradition that when it rained the local newspaper ("The Standard Times") mascot (a rooster) would be shown in the morning paper as crowing. Rain is a big deal in Texas. Especially in San Angelo.

Well Austin has suffered it's own drought of late. We are about 25 inches shy of where we are normally as far as rainfall goes. So bear with me as I take this moment to "crow" about our rainfall over the lst three days:

Date Precip
03/12/2009 1.61
03/13/2009 0.50
03/14/2009 0.26

Totals : 2.37

As an aside, I am a member of the CoCoRaHS. CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. We currently operate in many states across the country.

Are you a fellow weather geek/fanatic? If you are interested in joining CoCoRaHS you can follow the links for more information.

Rare Snowfall in London Helps Bobbies Track Down Bungling Burglars

That damn (uncooperative) "global warming", oops, I mean "climate change", strikes again.
From Dr Bulldog:

I bet those two young burglars are now wishing that global warming was more than just a myth…

...Rare snowfall in London, as temperatures reached minus 10C, meant the criminals had left a trail of evidence with every step along their escape route.
At around 4.30am, with local residents still in bed, the trail in the fresh snow was unsullied by commuters. Officers, accompanied by sniffer dogs, were able to follow the prints along Glebe Road, across driveways and down alleys....(more)

Better keep all the witches, well-diggers and brass monkeys in

From AcuWeather:
Beyond the weekend, waves of arctic air will plunge over the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Blustery winds will usher the bitterly cold air southward, resulting in even colder and potentially dangerous AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures.
The first wave of cold will grip the Midwest and Northeast Tuesday into Wednesday. The second wave later in the week will not only encompass more places east of the Rockies, but threatens to be harsher than the first.

Weather map crashes on forecaster Francis Wilson during live broadcast

As a weather forecaster and one who lived for two years in East Anglia, I can kind of relate...
No doubt someone will try to blame this on Global Warming...
From the Telegraph:
...Francis Wilson, the head of weather at Sky News, was pointing to a map of Great Britain and Europe when a piece of East Anglia crashed down and landed on top of him.
But Wilson, once described as the "coolest man in the world" by singer Rod Stewart, was unperturbed and continued to present the bulletin on Thursday evening.
His only comment was: "Oh, that was interesting. That was part of East Anglia and the South East."... (More)

Arctic Sea Ice Melt Season Officially Over; Ice Up Over 9% from Last Year

From IceCap:

We have news from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). They say: The melt is over. And we’ve added 9.4% ice coverage from this time last year. Though it appears NSIDC is attempting to downplay this in their web page announcement today, one can safely say that despite irrational predictions seen earlier this year, we didn’t reach an “ice free north pole” nor a new record low for sea ice extent. Here is the current sea ice extent graph from NSIDC as of today, notice the upturn, which has been adding ice now for 5 days:

..(More)

Weather Links

And a nice break from politics..
There seems to be some interest out there in the weather these days and even of some of the links I've posted. So, I decided to post a few of my favorites here. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
My current favorite is StormPulse for a good overall view of the Tropical situation.
Latest IR loop for the Gulf courtesy of the National Weather Service. And you can go here for more satellite views.

And for general weather for your town you can go here. Just put in your zip or city for weather in your area.

Now, I've been called up for Hurricane duty until further notice.

Tracking Hurricanes

As many of you know I'm a weather forecaster. Combat Weather. Which means I do most of my forecasting for the Army. but because I am also a full time member of the Texas Air National Guard we have to also keep track of the hurricanes which threaten Texas and Louisiana. I know some you visit here also enjoy the weather, so I thought some of you might be interested in this new page I found this week-end.

It's kind of a clearing house for all the hurricane data out there. It's called Mikes Weather Page and it's at spaghettimodels.com

Spaghetti models is the name for the maps like the one above which looks at all the computer models guesses for where the hurricanes will move next. Sometimes they are in agreement and sometimes, especially the further out in time you go (usually 3-5 days) the less they agree which makes a weather forecaster really earn his pay- and sometimes drink to excess or at leat want to.

Latest Satellite Loop From Gustav

What can I say. After more than 25 years as an Air Force weather forecaster, I still love the weather. Growing up in west Texas we looked forward to hurricanes as they were the only way to break a drought. Still, for those on the coast it can be really bad news.

This link will take you to the latest IR (infrared) shot of Gustav. As of Sunday afternoon the eye is not readily seen which is good news. However current discussions indicate that this will change. Bigger questions than just where it comes ashore loom ahead as some models indicate a southwestern turn after 48 hrs and then stalling. Whether a western turn or a southwestern turn a stalling decaying hurricane means potential catastrophic flooding.

Models 'key to climate forecasts'

BBC:
The only way to predict the day-to-day weather and changes to the climate over longer timescales is to use computer models. ...
However, it is not possible to represent all the detail in the real world in a computer model, so approximations have to be made. (full article)

And when the computer models can get next weeks weather right, I'll start worrying about the weather years down the road....maybe.

'No Sun link' to climate change

The BBC reports:
Scientists have produced further compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.
The research contradicts a favoured theory of climate "sceptics", that changes in cosmic rays coming to Earth determine cloudiness and temperature. .... read on

I'd not heard that particular theory, though it does not seem to address solar flare activity which seems to be on the decrease and has been responsible for major cooling in years past. Still, you don't have to go that far. Just read the next days BBC report

Global temperatures 'to decrease'

From the BBC: Global temperatures this year will be lower than in 2007 due to the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said.
The World Meteorological Organisation's secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer.
This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory....full story

British policy advisor says Gore is in 'panic' mode

British environmental analyst Christopher Monckton says Al Gore's latest attack on global warming skeptics shows the former vice president and other climate alarmists are "panicking." ...

...Lord Christopher Monckton, a policy advisor for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s, says the former vice president can enjoy his "flat earth fantasies" for a few months, but in the end, the world will be laughing at him.... (more here)

Weather Porn- Undular Bore Waves

My former commander sent me these NASA links here and here. These are videos of Undular Bore Waves. These "gravity" waves, very similar to the water pushed up ahead of a motor boat crossing a lake, are thought to be very important inthe formation of tornados. In the weather business this is pretty cool stuff. Actually they're pretty cool if you are not in the business too. And if you'd like to GET in the business you get send me an e-mail as we have a few openings in my unit.

American media ignores inconvenient science on global warming

...Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs:
"...actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years.
"The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it."... (full story)

Blowback from global warming fear-mongers

From AT
One of the serious real problems being created out of worries over the phony problem of supposedly man-made global warming is the rush to replace incandescent light bulbs (the kind Thomas Edison invented) with CFL bulbs, which contain mercury. AT has been warning of this since early April last year. But it now appears that even greenies are catching on that they may have unleashed a Frankenstein's monster with the ban on incandescents that will take effect in 2012.


So we'll be cooler but we'll have a mercury problem. Gee, thanks. (full story here)

Greenhouse Affect

It what no doubt will be the fist of many "DOH" moments...
the Wall Street Journal reports:

"...The ink is still moist on Capitol Hill's latest energy bill and, as if on cue, a scientific avalanche is demolishing its assumptions. To wit, trendy climate-change policies like ethanol and other biofuels are actually worse for the environment than fossil fuels. Then again, Washington's energy neuroses are more political than practical, so it's easy for the Solons and greens to ignore what would usually be called evidence...." rest of the artcle here

Polar Bear Lies

The lie is that polar bears will become extinct in fifty years if they are not declared “endangered species” under the utterly useless, stupid legislation that environmentalists pushed through as yet another means to harm the economy. Polar bears are not endangered. Their numbers have risen from 5,000 in the 1950s to an estimated 22,000 today.
Think I am making this up? As the American Land Rights Association recently noted, “Ask timber workers in the West whose industry was all but eliminated by critical habitat designation for the spotted owl—whose numbers were later found to be declining, not because of logging, but due to invasion of its habitat by the more aggressive barred owl.”
full article here