Wunderground launches new Local Climate Change section
In honor of Earth Day on Sunday, wunderground has launched a new Climate Change Center, which gives people resources to understand how the climate is changing both globally and in their local neighborhoods. I am particularly pleased with our Local Climate Change feature, which allows one to see how temperature and precipitation have changed over the past 100+ years at the nearest station with a long period of measurements. Predictions from climate models on what the next 100 years may bring are overlaid for each station. Data for most U.S. stations goes back to 1895; we have data for a few stations in Europe that extend back to the 1700s. Berlin has the longest period of record in this database, with data back to 1702.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the Local Climate Change page for Washington, DC. Measured temperatures since 1820 are shown in grey. By clicking on the "Show post-1900 trend:" box, we see that the trend since 1900 has been for an increase in temperature of 1.5°C (2.7°F) per century. Moving the thin vertical red line over the image using the mouse shows that the warmest year on record in Washington D.C. was 1991. Predictions for a future with low emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide are shown in yellow; the high emissions prediction is shown in red. Separate tabs are available to examine precipitation and snow.
Skeptical?
Also included in the new Climate Change Center is a section addressing the common skeptical arguments made against climate change. We offer three levels of explanation. The "Basic" level is the default, but one can also see more technical in-depth discussions by clicking on the "See All Explanation Levels" link. The material was developed by physicist John Cook for his excellent skepticalscience.com web site, which is widely referenced in the climate science communication community.
Video 1. I'm featured in this video on extreme weather and climate change done by veteran videographer Peter Sinclair for the Yale forum on Climate Change and the Media this month. I'm also featured in Part 1 of this series. Our new Climate Change Center has a section for climate change videos, which includes a twice-monthly feature from GreenTV detailing the world's notable wild weather events of the past two weeks.
Earth: the Operator's Manual airs Sunday night
Penn State climate scientist Dr. Richard Alley hosts parts II and III of Earth: the Operator's Manual on PBS beginning at 7pm Sunday, April 22--Earth Day. Part I of this excellent series aired in April 2011. The series gives an overview of climate change, but primarily focuses on what we can do to help slow down climate change though smart energy choices. Dr. Alley, a registered Republican, geologist, and former oil company employee, is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University, and one of the most respected and widely published world experts on climate change. Dr. Alley has testified before Congress on climate change issues, served as lead author of "Chapter 4: Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground" for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is author of more than 170 peer-reviewed scientific articles on Earth's climate. He is also the author of a book I highly recommend--The Two Mile Time Machine, a superb account of Earth's climate history as deduced from the 2-mile long Greenland ice cores. Dr. Alley is an excellent and engaging speaker, and I highly recommend listening to his 45-minute keynote speech, "The Biggest Control Knob: CO2 in Earth's Climate History", given at the 2010 American Geophysical Union meeting, via this very watchable recording showing his slides as he speaks in one corner of the video. If you want to understand why scientists are so certain of the link between CO2 and Earth's climate, this is a must-see lecture.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and I'll be back Monday with a new post. I'd like to thank Wunderground meteorologist, Angela Fritz for spearheading the creating the new Climate Change Center; it's a product I'll be referring to frequently in the future, and one we'll be updating in the coming months with data on local sea level rise, fire risk, and drought.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Iknow. I just noticed that on two other sites. They are all within the last 10 minutes and show different images.
Don't give up hope yet, Jeds. There looks like there could be a one, two punch later today. We weren't supposed to get much today anyway. I think later tonight will be more active as that ULL begins to do its thing. We are expecting our worst weather late tonight.
One is Composite Reflectivity, the other Base Reflectivity
Looks like a lot of the rain for South Florida is out over the water...We are only getting light rain here in Broward County.
But it looks to me like Tampa and West coast areas north of Tampa are getting some rain..
This rain is going to be GREAT for Florida's Drought
tropical downpour!!!
Grothar, our rain is going out over the water; just like you said.. where it is NOT needed!
NWS Pittsburgh PA
You may well be right. Then again, with a storm like this over the GOM, one never knows for sure. For instance, how with the Loop Current affect it, if at all?
BTW, I have had well over an inch of rain up here in West Pasco County over the past hour. Add that to the .67 we got here last night, and I would say we're doing pretty well.
We just had a small but aggressive cell move through here. A gust of wind over 40 mph. heralded its arrival. Then the rain came down almost sideways for about five minutes and it was torrential. There were at least two nearby C2G strokes and a couple of decent claps of thunder. I thought I might even see some small hail mixed in but so far (it is still raining hard), no such luck.
If you live near KPIE, you might be in one of those dreaded Tampa Bay "rain shadows," where the precipitation seems to avoid small areas near the bay. Tampa International airport is another such area. That might possibly be one reason you have had disappointing rain totals at your location.
It always does that. Although we must have gotten some good rain last night, because our pool went up about 5 inches.
Round one should be late this evening and round two should be in the overnight hours.
79.9 degrees
14% relative humidity
Probably one of the last really nice days we'll have
Okay, but why would the composite have the artifacts centered on the local site? I'd think the artifacts are from the local site, but they do not appear on the base.
I can see the composite being potentially misleading because different radars sample different elevations for a given location. So a radar further away could pick up hydrometeors higher up. I've long noticed that a radar return does not equal rain on the ground.
it does that! I guess water attracts water :o)
I am getting close to 2" at my house over past 24 hours which is good.. it was nice and steady rainfall...
Oh.
You must be further inland in E Pasco, I assume? I am in W Pasco, and I received .29 yesterday, and am up to .67 so far since midnight.
Wow...my sister lives in Cannonsburgh.
But the main line already hit us (if that's what you wanna call it) a hit. It was nothing more than a summer shower. lol I think this was over hyped a bit IMO. So round two for me would be the over night one let's see if I can get some better rains out of that one.
"When higher elevation scan information is included in the composite reflectivity, it appears to indicate more widespread rain. However, the base reflectivity images does not show that rain so it is probably not reaching the ground but evaporating as it falls from very high in the atmosphere."
Link
This isn't a soaking rain its light rain and it won't help the drought unless we get it a lot heavier for a lot longer. It's only been raining about 10 min and its almost over.
Yup. That's what could happen or it could be falling someplace else (carried by the wind) or just not be falling (hail for instance). That still leaves the question of why those composite images are so goofy.
Nope. New Port Richey in SW Pasco.
That is really odd...so am I...
I stole all your rain. Sorry 'bout dat.
FLOOD ADVISORY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JUAN PR
343 PM AST SAT APR 21 2012
PRC017-039-047-051-054-091-101-135-137-143-145-21 2130-
/O.NEW.TJSJ.FA.Y.0131.120421T1943Z-120421T2130Z/
/00000.N.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000 Z.OO/
BARCELONETA PR-CIALES PR-COROZAL PR-FLORIDA PR-MANATI PR-MOROVIS PR-
VEGA ALTA PR-VEGA BAJA PR-DORADO PR-TOA ALTA PR-TOA BAJA PR-
343 PM AST SAT APR 21 2012
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN JUAN HAS ISSUED AN
* URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY
FOR THE FOLLOWING MUNICIPALITIES...
IN PUERTO RICO
BARCELONETA...CIALES...COROZAL...FLORIDA...MANATI. ..MOROVIS...
VEGA ALTA...VEGA BAJA...DORADO...TOA ALTA AND TOA BAJA
* UNTIL 530 PM AST
* AT 339 PM AST...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AFFECTING THESE
MUNICIPALITIES. RADAR ESTIMATES AND U.S.G.S. RAIN GAGES INDICATE
THAT 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE ALREADY FALLEN OVER PARTS OF THE
ADVISORY AREA AND IT CONTINUED TO RAIN. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF UP TO
1 INCH IS EXPECTED THROUGH 530 PM AST.
EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE ELEVATED LEVELS...
AND POSSIBLY FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...AND PONDING OF
WATER IN URBAN AREAS...HIGHWAYS...STREETS AND UNDERPASSES AS WELL AS
OTHER POOR DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS. THE HEAVY RAINS COULD
ALSO TRIGGER ROCK AND MUDSLIDES IN STEEP TERRAIN.
MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. FLOOD WATERS ARE USUALLY
DEEPER THAN THEY APPEAR. JUST ONE FOOT OF FLOWING WATER IS POWERFUL
ENOUGH TO SWEEP VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD. WHEN ENCOUNTERING FLOODED
ROADS MAKE THE SMART CHOICE...TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN.
&&
LAT...LON 1850 6637 1849 6636 1848 6629 1849 6628
1847 6621 1837 6624 1834 6641 1838 6658
1843 6657 1849 6655 1848 6646 1850 6643
$$
BCS
THERE WILL BE SOME RISK OF DAMAGING WINDS WITH THE INITIAL STORMS
LATER THIS AFTERNOON...EITHER WITHIN THE PRE-FRONTAL BAND OR MORE
SCATTERED DIURNAL CONVECTION ACROSS N FL...AND THE RISK WILL
CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT WITH A SECOND BOUT OF STORMS POSSIBLE ALONG
THE COLD FRONT /DEPENDING ON THE DEGREE OF STABILIZATION WITH THE
AFTERNOON STORMS/. GIVEN CONCERNS ABOUT PHASING OF INSTABILITY AND
VERTICAL SHEAR...AND THE AFOREMENTIONED MESOSCALE INFLUENCES...WILL
MAINTAIN A LOW-END SLGT RISK.
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