Weather!

[Beyond]

New England weather can be quite amazing, at times. Tonight the weather guys are calling for as low as -20 F in the colder spots. I'm in a colder spot. Sunday night is supposed to be about 34 F overnight and rainy.

[geckzilla]

Days like that you just wanna dig a little rut under a bush and cover your forearms in special saliva.

• Not that it would save you.

At some point I decided my species was Naultinus grayii.
So you could have used this story: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/conv ... ggler+gets

In 2001 a German tourist was fined $12,000 for attempting to smuggle Northland green geckos out of the country in his underwear.

Ms Bunkle said that native New Zealand geckos sell for around US$5000 for a breeding pair on the international market. Ms Lee said the geckos found on Kreutz were a male and pregnant female taken from Mautauri Bay in the far North, and the female has subsequently died.

I just saw a kookaburra catch and eat a lizard (either a gecko or a big skink) next to our pool!

Ah well, so goes the food chain. At least it wasn't a cat. Cats just leave them to the ants. I'm sure the ants appreciate it.

[Beyond]

Ahh... New England weather. Only made it down to -17 F last night. 10 degrees below the record for the day. Tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 40 F and rain, with an overnight low of 34 F.

[Nitpicker]

Glad we have no snow to shovel here. Today, we're expecting a rare heatwave of 41°C or 106°F, which is simply too hot to do anything, especially with humidity.

It actually made it to 44°C or 111°F in my part of town. Must have been the perihelion.

[owlice]

I woke up to find I had a frozen pipe; want to trade? Please??

[Nitpicker]

I woke up to find I had a frozen pipe; want to trade? Please??

That's no fun. Sorry, no trade.

[owlice]

Aw, shucks!

[neufer]

---

New Snow for the New Year
January 5, 2014

<<The first winter storm of 2014 swept across the northeastern United States on January 1–3, bringing as much as 24 inches (61 centimeters) of snow to the hardest hit areas. The center of the storm was over the North Atlantic Ocean when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image at 10:55 a.m. Eastern Time on January 3. Lines of clouds over the ocean indicate that strong winds were blowing from the north toward the center of the low-pressure system. The winds pushed the clouds away, leaving a clear view of fresh snow across most of the Northeast.

By the afternoon of January 3, snowfall totals ranged between 0.2 inches along the southern edge of the storm to nearly 24 inches in northern Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service. The storm closed schools, roads, and airports, and more than 2,000 flights were cancelled on both January 2 and 3, according to news reports.

While the clear skies provided a view of the fresh snow from space, they were accompanied by extremely cold temperatures. Clouds radiate heat back to the ground, while clear skies allow heat to escape into space. An Arctic blast is forecast to move across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below normal, warned the National Weather Service.>>

[Beyond]

Ah, finally the 1040 cleared up.
Saturday, when i got up, it was -17 F. Today (Monday) when i got up, it was 50 F. And just to make matters worse... it's supposed to get down to 10 F tonight. SHEEEEEEESH

[geckzilla]

Yeah, roller coaster northeast temperatures lately. The rain washed away all but the tallest of snow piles and now the front will come through and we will plunge into arctic conditions once again.

[orin stepanek]

A couple of days ago was 50F! This morning -9F, and by Saturday is supposed to get to 50F! We got a rollercoaster also! The cold front we have today is supposedly heading Eastward!

[Ann]

You have roller coaster winter weather in the United States, don't you? Of course there must be a few cold spots, but in places like New York surely the cold doesn't last long.

In Sweden you don't know when the winter weather will stop once it has started. It is supposed to start on Saturday over here.

Recently I have found a few flowers here - a few specimens of Helleborus niger in bloom, some fat yellow bulbs of Eranthis hyemalis, some snowdrops, some Bellis perennis, even a lonely forget-me-not. A few roses are in bloom, but look uncomfortable.

Next week it will all be gone.

Ann

[Beyond]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr


I need more--->
IS IT SPRING YET????

[orin stepanek]

30F right now; it's supposed to get up to 40F today, and 50F by Sunday! Maybe I'll go outside this weekend!

[neufer]

Glad we have no snow to shovel here.

Today, we're expecting a rare heatwave of 41&deg;C or 106&deg;F, which is simply too hot to do anything, especially with humidity.

It actually made it to 44&deg;C or 111&deg;F in my part of town. Must have been the perihelion.

[img]http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/82000/82790/australialsta_tmo_2013361_palette.jpg[/img] [b][color=#FF0000]Temperatures that were significantly higher than average between December 27 & January 3, especially in Queensland & New South Wales[/color][/b]

---

Heat Wave Stifles Australia
January 12, 2014

<<2013 turned out to be Australia’s hottest year on record. Fittingly, the calendar year both started and ended with intense heat waves. The most recent heat wave peaked between December 27, 2013, and January 4, 2014. It was much shorter than the one that began 2013, though it was more intense. Nearly 9 percent of Australia’s cities and towns experienced record-breaking temperatures between January 1–4, 2014.

The heat baked the earth, raising land surface temperatures (LSTs) that are monitored by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Dark red dominates this image, indicating temperatures that were significantly higher than average between December 27 and January 3, especially in Queensland and New South Wales. LSTs reflect how warm the ground would be to the touch, a measurement related to but not the same as air temperatures.

The final day included in the image, January 3, was the hottest day of the heatwave for most places, with about 10 percent of Queensland and 15 percent of New South Wales setting new heat records. The highest air temperature during the week was in Moomba, Queensland, which reached 49.3°Celsius (120.7°Fahrenheit) on January 2. Temperatures reached 48°C (118°F) or higher at 12 locations throughout Australia during the heatwave.

Australia was not the only Southern Hemisphere country dealing with unusually intense temperatures. Late December brought a two-week long heatwave to Argentina that led to power outages and water shortages. In the Northern Hemisphere, Europe and Asia enjoyed a stretch of warm winter temperatures, while North America went through a severe cold snap.>>

[Ann]

This post obviously has to do with climate more than weather, but I found it interesting all the same.

A group of Danish meteorologists have carefully measured the color of the Earthshine, the color of the Sun-illuminated Earth whose light is reflected back to us by the dark side of the Moon. This light is bluish, and its color is the same as it was in 1967, the last time it was carefully measured.

The picture shows the color of the Earthshine-illuminated Moon compared with the color of the Moon when it is illuminated by direct sunlight. The color of the Earthshine is correct, but 10,000 times too bright.

Those of you who know Danish can read more here.

Ann

[geckzilla]

Alternatively, there seems to be something about it in English a short search away.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1994

Regarding the color of the graphic:

False colours represent B-V values;

[Nitpicker]

Those of you who know Danish can read more here.

Alternatively, there seems to be something about it in English a short search away.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1994

The article seems to be about an interesting technique to measure the albedo of Earth from Earth. It has drawn no conclusions on Earth's albedo, nor on how it affects the climate. It has drawn conclusions about the viability of the technique. Very astronomical, and ultimately, probably useful to climate scientists, too. It briefly discusses the weather they experienced on the night of observation.

[neufer]

The article seems to be about an interesting technique to measure the albedo of Earth from Earth. It has drawn no conclusions on Earth's albedo, nor on how it affects the climate. It has drawn conclusions about the viability of the technique. Very astronomical, and ultimately, probably useful to climate scientists, too. It briefly discusses the weather they experienced on the night of observation.

Of course the main expected albedo change is localized in the Arctic Ocean
and the moon isn't positioned to have a very good view of that.

[Nitpicker]

Of course the main expected albedo change is localized in the Arctic Ocean
and the moon isn't positioned to have a very good view of that.

Good point. It does sound like a better job for the satellites that are already in place and making these observations.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[geckzilla]

Here's a silly time lapse for this year's snow storm. You can try to spot a cat which appears in only two frames and probably takes a sad little dump in the snow, a few frames with squirrels, and my family eating dinner in a distracting reflection. I need more junk in the backyard to get covered besides the two propane tanks...

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]Giant ozone cold troughs over Northeast Pacific, Eastern Canada & Europe.[/color][/b]

---

'Super swell' triggers massive waves,
dangerous currents in Hawaii
By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

<<Hawaiian authorities closed beaches and crews canvassed the island of Oahu’s famous North Shore as forecasters warned of dangerous surf that could reach 50 feet on Wednesday. The area's big waves — for decades a lure to surfers worldwide — are considered much too hazardous for ocean activities through the end of the week as a storm and cold front moves across the Pacific island chain.

On Tuesday, a Hawaii big wave surfing competition has been called off because of the expected 40 to 50-foot waves. “Nobody has any business in the ocean,” Lt. John Hoogsteden told the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The National Weather Service said an intense storm out of the northwest bringing high winds and relative cold triggered the so-called "super swell," which is also expected to hit parts of other islands though not as intensely.

NBC station KHNL in Honolulu reported it had received photos that showed a local boat harbor under water and another impassible because of breaking waves. The high surf warnings, in effect until Friday, prompted ocean lifeguards to hang yellow hazard tape, and to warn people to stay out of the water. The National Weather Service’s high surf advisory said "giant breaking surf" as well as accompanying dangerous currents make it extremely hazardous to approach the shoreline. "Expect to encounter rip currents in or near any surf zone," the advisory said. The gates to several beach parking lots were closed in anticipation of the rough surf. That didn't stop some residents from stopping to take a look, however. "This is awesome to watch. We haven’t had big surf like this in a long time," resident Dora Doroha, 55, told the paper.>>

[owlice]

Sooooo, we've reached our high for the day (22°F/-6°C). Tonight we'll be a balmy 14°F/-10°C. Not crazy about cold with no snow; seems a waste to me. Sure, we got snow earlier in the week -- about 5" where I live -- but we didn't even I didn't even need to get the kid to shovel the driveway; the sun took care of it. (He did have to clear my car, though.)

Now it's just cold. Cold cold cold. No real snow in the forecast, either... just cold. Pipe-freezing cold. Bah. Humbug.

[Beyond]

Sooooo, we've reached our high for the day (22°F/-6°C). Tonight we'll be a balmy 14°F/-10°C. Not crazy about cold with no snow; seems a waste to me. Sure, we got snow earlier in the week -- about 5" where I live -- but we didn't even I didn't even need to get the kid to shovel the driveway; the sun took care of it. (He did have to clear my car, though.)

Now it's just cold. Cold cold cold. No real snow in the forecast, either... just cold. Pipe-freezing cold. Bah. Humbug.

Tonight you'll be a balmy 14 degrees F That'll be 2 degrees warmer than my high for the day and I'm just up the road from you