Starship Asterisk*

bystander wrote:
Did someone forget to wake up the Sun? It's almost as dark as night outside. I stepped out with my cup of joe at 8:30 and all the street lights were on. It was cooler outside than in. Last I remember it being this cool, I was in Montana. No rain as yet, but it is clammy. I can feel the moisture in the air. Lightening all around, but only the distant murmur of thunder. It must have rained last night because the grass is wet. As I write this, the rain begins, with a vengeance. Can't see across the street.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=51684 wrote:

[img]http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/51000/51684/namericandvia_avh_201107_palette.png[/img]

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<<More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Louisiana. But 26 percent of the lower 48 states experienced severe to extreme drought in July.

On the other hand, about 33 percent of the contiguous United States experienced exceptionally rainy weather in July. The wet weather occurred largely in the Northern Plains and Western states.

These weather patterns—the mix of unusually dry and unusually wet—are reflected in plant growth throughout the month. The image shows plant growth in July compared to average conditions. Places where plants were growing more than average are green, while unusually poor growth is shown in brown. The image was made with data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on the NOAA-18 POES satellite.

The worst growing conditions are, unsurprisingly, in the Southern Plains. States throughout the region reported poor pasture conditions and struggling crops. Much of the southeast and eastern United States is also mildly dry. These dry conditions weren’t helped by temperatures in July. For most of the United States, July was unusually hot, drying the soil and baking crops.

The Northern Plains and Western States, on the other hand, experienced a cool, rainy July. California had its eighth rainiest July on record, while Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota all received above-average rain. This is reflected in plant growth, particularly in Montana and South Dakota.

The culprit behind these unusual weather patterns is a persistent high pressure system that is steering storms away from the south central United States. Based on current conditions, the Climate Prediction Center expects the drought to last through at least the end of October. In some parts of the South, it would take more than 20 inches of rain to end the drought in a month.>>

extremeinstability wrote:

A bit of up front info on this, this rare catch. The first few images aren't from the encounter on the 4th, but some lead up days. Generally to catch some of these crazy sights, it took some fashion of effort. This all started this year on the way home from a chase in nw MO. I was north of Council Bluffs when I spotted what looked like crazy smoke running down the interstate. This was after sunset into a lot lower lighting. There had been flooding from the 2011 Historic Missouri River Flood. Actually I was to be one of the last cars through I29 north there as cops were setting up to close it. So it was flooded around this area and well bugs like water. I finally see that that smoke looking stuff was bugs, miles of bugs hanging out over I29 in weak tube forms. I only got some crappy driving shots, as I was ready to get home. I was going to go back but saw the cops setting up at the interchange to close it and said screw it, figuring they'll probably keep doing that, nightly bug formations in other areas of standing water.

Highway 30 was starting to flood on either side, mostly south side at first. So I soon found myself over there every few nights trying to see it again and capture it. Problem is, it often doesn't show itself till after sunset and often not in the same spot. The image above is June 27th at Desoto Bend's entrance. There was an amazing number of dragonflies zipping around eating the bugs. After I left there I caught some bugnado action at the bridge, but it was mostly too dark then. So the next night I went over again and only found them at the bridge again.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

geckzilla wrote:
Here's some strange weather for you all.

July 4, 2011 Bugnadoes (gallery of photos)

neufer wrote:Can't you just picture Owlice stealing my pic-a-nic basket
and then riding her bicycle into one of those Bugnadoes

Yogi

http://tinyurl.com/3m9yejp wrote:
July: most extreme and 4th warmest in US;
Oklahoma hottest ever state average temperature
By Jason Samenow

Temperatures compared to average during July 2011 (NOAA)

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<<(NOAA) NOAA released the July “State of the Climate” update for the U.S., and, no surprise, reported blistering heat torched large parts of the country. The average temperature of 77 was the fourth warmest since 1895.

Amazingly, Oklahoma’s average July temperature was 88.9 degrees - the warmest to occur in any state during any month on record.

But July was not only scorching hot. July’s Climate Extremes Index, which examines the percentage of the U.S. impacted by a full range of extreme weather conditions, was the highest on record for the month (since 1910). Thirty seven percent of the country contended with extreme weather. The extreme July - for all extreme weather classifications - follows the most extreme spring for precipitation .

The primary factors which led to such an extreme July were: extreme warm minimum temperatures, extreme wetness in the northern plains and western Great Lakes, extreme warm high temperatures, and extreme drought in the south central U.S. through Gulf Coast.

In Oklahoma, the heat and drought were a punishing double whammy. In a vicious cycle, the dry soil intensified the heat and the heat dried out the soil. The result: heat unprecendented in any state at any time. The Oklahoma Climatological Survey unveiled this news dramatically

Grover Cleveland was serving his second term as President in 1895. Victoria was the Queen of England and Will Rogers was still a teenager. It is also the year that statewide average temperature records begin for the United States. There have been 1399 months pass by since 1895. Multiply that number by 48 and you have 67,152 months of temperature records for the contiguous states. How hot was it in Oklahoma last month? Of those statewide average temperature records for the 48 states, none has been hotter than July 2011 in Oklahoma.>>[/list]

orin stepanek wrote:Here comes Irene!

Ann wrote:I'm reading international newspapers now, and it appears that Irene didn't turn out to be as bad as it was feared it would be.

owlice wrote:
Half of Connecticut lost power.

owlice wrote:I have power, wOOT!

neufer wrote:Half of Connecticut is dis-Connect or cut