Category: Climate

California Climate Drought Nasa Space

Striking aerial photos show severity of California wildfires

sudshr47 December 6, 2017

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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti declared a state of emergency in the city Tuesday as several wildfires continued to rage across the region.

Blazes in Santa Clarita, Santa Ana and Ventura County claimed tens of thousands of acres between them and filled the southern Californian skies with smoke — so much smoke in fact, they left trails visible from space.

NASA’s striking satellite image, above, gives a good feel for the scope of the smoke, as did pictures posted by meteorologists on Twitter Tuesday.

Incredible amount of smoke being picked up on satellite right now from the wildfires in Southern California#ThomasFire #RyeFire #CreekFire pic.twitter.com/vEH3vkm7IJ

— Drew Tuma (@DrewTumaABC7) December 5, 2017 Read more…

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Climate Extreme Weather Science Snow Winter

Powerful cold front to usher in winter across the U.S., but it may not mean heavy snow

sudshr47 December 4, 2017

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For the tens of millions who live in the Midwest, Mississippi River Valley, Ohio Valley, and the East Coast, the first taste of true winter weather is just days away. Ushered in by a powerful cold front, the cold air, with high temperatures running 10 to 15 degrees below average, will come as a shock following one of the warmest fall seasons on record. 

Computer models are in agreement that the weather pattern across the Northern Hemisphere will become extremely amplified, which means that the jet stream — that high altitude superhighway of winds that steers weather systems and forms the boundaries between air masses — will carve out large dips, or troughs, as well as strong, practically immovable “blocking” ridges. Read more…

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View More Powerful cold front to usher in winter across the U.S., but it may not mean heavy snow
Climate Extreme Weather Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Season Science

Disastrous 2017 Atlantic hurricane season ends, with hard-hit areas still reeling

sudshr47 November 30, 2017

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The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends on Thursday, will go down as one of the most expensive in American history. The notorious storms of 2017 — hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria — may have had innocuous names. However, they flooded America’s fourth-largest metropolis, cut a swath of destruction across the Caribbean before hitting Florida, and cut off power to the entire island of Puerto Rico, respectively.

The costs of the storms that hit the U.S. are still being tallied, with some analysts claiming that it was the most expensive hurricane season on record. Steve Bowen, a meteorologist with the insurance company AonBenfield, said that his company’s calculations show that direct damage and business interruption losses from 2017’s many storms will put 2017 in second place, behind 2005, once adjusted for inflation. Read more…

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View More Disastrous 2017 Atlantic hurricane season ends, with hard-hit areas still reeling
Climate Climate Change Extreme Weather Global Warming Science

To obtain funding, scientists may be avoiding use of the term ‘climate change’ in research proposals

sudshr47 November 30, 2017

Climate scientists may be self-censoring in order to get their work funded through government grants.
New data released by NPR this week shows that grants and research proposals from the National Science Foundation (NSF) using the term “climate chang…

View More To obtain funding, scientists may be avoiding use of the term ‘climate change’ in research proposals
Climate Climate Change Extreme Weather Polar Vortex Science

Confidence grows that extreme weather pattern will soon envelop Northern Hemisphere

sudshr47 November 29, 2017

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The stage is set for a dramatic change in the weather pattern across the Northern Hemisphere during the next seven to 10 days. 

That change will likely bring a brutal Arctic blast across the Midwest and eastern U.S., put Western Europe into the deep freeze, and maintain an area of extreme cold in eastern Asia. 

The new weather pattern could give rise to snowstorms along the East Coast of the U.S., though it’s too early to tell whether that will happen, forecasters say. What is clear is that winter is coming — ASAP. 

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View More Confidence grows that extreme weather pattern will soon envelop Northern Hemisphere
Climate Cold Extreme Weather Science Snow

Big weather pattern shift could blast East Coast with frigid air, snow in mid-December

sudshr47 November 27, 2017

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Everyone should be wary when weather geeks start getting excited about an upcoming shift in the jet stream because it usually means inclement weather is ahead. 

After all, weather enthusiasts — whether they be armchair forecasters or professionals — tend to abhor boring stretches of “nice” weather.

Forecasters have reason to be psyched right now, given strong hints for what could be a major weather pattern realignment during the next two weeks. 

Computer models are increasingly showing the potential for a cold and possibly snowy weather pattern to develop along the East Coast of the U.S. during the second week of December. While there are many uncertainties associated with the forecast so far in advance, the general contours of what is likely to happen are becoming clearer. Read more…

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View More Big weather pattern shift could blast East Coast with frigid air, snow in mid-December
Climate Cold Extreme Weather Science Snow

Big weather pattern shift could blast East Coast with frigid air, snow in mid-December

sudshr47 November 27, 2017

TwitterFacebook

Everyone should be wary when weather geeks start getting excited about an upcoming shift in the jet stream because it usually means inclement weather is ahead. 

After all, weather enthusiasts — whether they be armchair forecasters or professionals — tend to abhor boring stretches of “nice” weather.

Forecasters have reason to be psyched right now, given strong hints for what could be a major weather pattern realignment during the next two weeks. 

Computer models are increasingly showing the potential for a cold and possibly snowy weather pattern to develop along the East Coast of the U.S. during the second week of December. While there are many uncertainties associated with the forecast so far in advance, the general contours of what is likely to happen are becoming clearer. Read more…

More about Climate, Science, Snow, Extreme Weather, and Cold

View More Big weather pattern shift could blast East Coast with frigid air, snow in mid-December
Climate Climate Denial Global Warming Science Youth Climate Lawsuit

The feds are afraid of 21 teens suing on climate. An appeals court wants to know why.

sudshr47 November 17, 2017

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The lawsuit is bold, and few legal observers thought it would get this far. But for the 21 young plaintiffs who are suing the federal government for its failure to protect them — and all of us — from global warming-related harm, it’s an open and shut case involving basic constitutional rights. 

The case, known as Juliana v. United States, had been scheduled to go to trial in Oregon beginning on Feb. 5. Among the issues to be determined at trial is whether the government’s actions over the past several decades — the years when scientists began to understand and widely accept that greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming — violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights.  Read more…

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View More The feds are afraid of 21 teens suing on climate. An appeals court wants to know why.
Climate Climate Change Global Warming Nasa Science

Earth just had its 2nd-warmest October, and 2017 could be the 2nd-warmest year on record

sudshr47 November 16, 2017

President Donald Trump may not acknowledge this, but October was the second-warmest such month on record, worldwide, according to new data released by NASA. 
There is now about a 94 percent likelihood that 2017 will rank as the second-warmest ye…

View More Earth just had its 2nd-warmest October, and 2017 could be the 2nd-warmest year on record