Wettest year on record in Philadelphia; 2011 sets record for wet/dry extremes in U.S.
This year is now the wettest year in nearly 200 years of record keeping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A large, wet low pressure system soaked the Northeast U.S. on Wednesday and early Thursday, bringing 2.31 inches of rain to the City of Brotherly Love, bringing this year's precipitation total in Philly to 62.26 inches. This breaks the old yearly precipitation record of 61.20 inches, set in 1867. In a normal year, Philadelphia receives about 40 inches. According to wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt, this is one of the most difficult U.S. city records to break, since rainfall records in Philadelphia go back to 1820. The only other sites with a longer continuous precipitation record in the U.S. are Charleston, SC (1738 -) and New Bedford, MA (1816 -).
Figure 1. Departure of precipitation from average for 2011, as of December 6, 2011. Image credit: NOAA/HPC.
20+ inches above average precipitation in Ohio Valley, Northeast
Philadelphia is not alone in setting a wettest year in recorded history mark in 2011. Over a dozen major cities in the Ohio Valley and Northeast have set a new wettest year record, or are close to doing so. Thanks to rains associated with this year's tremendous tornado outbreaks in April in May, plus exceptionally heavy summer thunderstorm rains, combined with rains from Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene, portions of at least twelve states have seen rains more than twenty inches above average during 2011.
The fraction of the country covered by extremely wet conditions (top 10% historically) was 32% during the period January through November, ranking as the 2nd highest such coverage in the past 100 years. And if you weren't washing away in a flood, you were baking in a drought in 2011--portions of sixteen states had precipitation more than twenty inches below average (Figure 1.) The fraction of the country covered by extremely dry conditions (top 10% historically) was 22% during the period January through November, ranking as the 8th highest in the past 100 years. The combined fraction of the country experiencing either severe drought or extremely wet conditions was 56% averaged over the January - November period--the highest in a century of record keeping. Climate change science predicts that if the Earth continues to warm as expected, wet areas will tend to get wetter, and dry areas will tend to get drier--so this year's side-by-side extremes of very wet and very dry conditions should grow increasingly common in the coming decades.
Figure 2. Percentage of the contiguous U.S. either in severe or greater drought (top 10% dryness) or extremely wet (top 10% wetness) during the period January - November, as computed using NOAA's Climate Extremes Index. Remarkably, more than half of the country (56%) experienced either a top-ten driest or top-ten wettest year, a new record. Image credit: NOAA/NCDC.
Unofficial state yearly precipitation record set in Ohio
The Wilmington, Ohio NWS office announced last week that three stations in Southwest Ohio had unofficially broken the 140-year old state yearly precipitation record. Cheviot, Miamitown, and Fernbank have recorded 73.81", 71.89", and 70.85", respectively so far in 2011, beating the old record of 70.82" set at Little Mountain in 1870. According to wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt, the old record should be 72.08” at Mt. Healthy, Ohio in 1880.
Wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt summarizes the global weather extremes in November in his latest post.
Jeff Masters
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Although the conservative government never liked the idea of the Kyoto Protocol much/at all. And they claim that it's for jobs, but ha..I wish. Stupid conservatives.
North America sure looks bad on the map of the Kyoto Protocol now...
hahahahahaha
My brain right now.
Twit!
Link
Thanks for pointing that out VA.
Interesting discussion about the Higgs boson experiment follows the NY Times article.
It all makes sense now. I'll be sure to make sure my children never do homeschooling or skip 6th grade because it is frightening how serious the consequences are.
Happy Birthday, Articuno. Enjoy, your day. But trust me, Birthdays can get annoying after a while.
Interesting article. Looking forward to hear what they find. However, Gerald O'Hare, from Rowan University, misspelled veracity in his comment at the bottom of the article. He is claiming it will be hard to prove. I think it is a exciting experiment. Thanks for posting it.
AMEN!!
Yep, the GFS has it down to 949
BAH !
I hope it does not mess with flights out of Heathrow on Thursday.....
I have not seen my Daughter and Grandsons for too long.
Thanks for pointing that out. The CERN work has been amazing so far!
Posted: 6:44 PM Dec 12, 2011
Reporter: Katie Roach
Email Address: katie.roach@wymtnews.com
There are still no answers as to what caused an apparent explosion in Perry County Sunday night.
Crews spent hours searching Sunday night after initial reports of a possible plane crash, but they gave up the search around 1:00 a.m. and said it was probably an explosion at an abandoned mine.
Now officials with the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands are saying there is no evidence at the mine that would support an explosion.
Some say they felt their homes shaking, others say they saw a fireball, but as of now no one can say for sure what happened in Perry County Sunday night.
Preliminary reports of possible plane crash were ruled out after searching for hours and finding no crash scene, that led officials to this explanation.
"There is a mine break up there. It happens in eastern Kentucky with a lot with old abandoned mines. They catch fire, smoke real bad, and sometimes they flame up. It does kill the trees around and that is possibly what could be seen from the air," said Lotts Creek Fire Chief Chris Engle.
Officials from the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands were called Monday to investigate and found that there is a coal seam fire that is causing the smoke and the burned trees, but that's all they are able to confirm.
"My investigators found no evidence of an explosion or a fire ball. There was no crater no debris that they could ascertain," said the Director of the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands Steve Hohmann.
So until more information can be found, that leaves no explanation for the shaking houses and what appeared to be a fireball in the sky, but some in the area have their own explanation for what happened.
"If there is no plane missing I think it probably could be a U.F.O. If there is no debris, it probably burned before it hit the ground," said Perry County resident Kathy Collins.
For now, it remains a mystery.
Officials with the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands say they are planning to go back up to the mine site on Wednesday.
China to set up military base in Indian Ocean
Posted by Kanchana Devi on December 12, 2011 in Exclusive, National, News, Top Headlines 0 Comments
Beijing, Dec 12 (TruthDive): China on Monday announced that it will set up its first military base abroad in the Indian Ocean island of Seychelles to seek supplies and recuperate facilities for its Navy, which may cause unease in India.
The base in Seychelles is regarded significant by analysts as China is about to launch its first aircraft carrier. It is currently undergoing final trials.
The decision to establish its first naval base abroad was taken during Chinese Defence Minister Gen Liang Guanglies goodwill visit to Seychelles earlier this month.
During the visit, Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said his country has invited China to set up a military base on the archipelago to beef up the fight against piracy.
Link
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #14
TROPICAL DEPRESSION 24
12:00 PM JST December 13 2011
===============================
SUBJECT: Tropical Depression In South China Sea
At 3:00 AM UTC, Tropical Depression (1008 hPa) located at 8.7N 111.5E has 10 minute sustained winds of 30 knots with gusts of 45 knots. The depression is reported as moving southwest at 7 knots
Dvorak Intensity: T2.0
Forecast and Intensity
=======================
24 HRS: 7.8N 109.0E - 35 knots (CAT 1/Tropical Storm)
that is a scary superstorm
Patrap, try as I might, I have no idea what that post means.
???
I thought that you only celebrated the centennials now. That would make you, what? 25-26?
Actually, China has denied it wants to set up a permanent base in the Seychelles. It says it wants to pay for facilities for resupply and recuperation of the current Chinese anti-piracy fleet that patrols the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. This would be consistent with Chna's stated position of never setting up a base on foreign soil, although the definition of "base" has been stretched considerably in the past. In an interesting yet little publicized bit of Sino-American military cooperation, the US does have a small base on the Seychelles that operates drones that patrol the same area. The Chinese Navy is fed information from the drones, and has taken out several pirate ships based on information provided by US drones. Apparently, the last thing you want to see if you're a pirate is a Chinese frigate on the horizon, since there has not been a report of a live prisoner taken from any Chinese intervention. :)
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2709 137.ece
It was a mine explosion. I have relatives that live there. That area of Kentucky has thousands of miles of abandoned mine tunnels, some of which have been burning for 50 or 60 years. They just smolder until something causes a portion of the adit to cave in, admitting oxygen. That's when you get the big fireball and loud boom, even when the surface hole is fairly small. I'm sure that's the cause of the burned vegetation they found. At least they were able to interview Kathy Collins, the local eccentric, who explains it was a UFO that burned up before it reached the ground. I've found TV stations and newspapers have local nutcases like this in reserve to add some color to what is otherwise a pretty boring story. :)
But yea, homeschooling is not nearly as bad as I made it sound, I was just trying to lay into SPL because he's so oblivious and ignorant when it comes to well established scientific theories and facts.
I agree, socializing is extremely important, and I admit where to commit one's loyalties (to home or public schooling) is a difficult decision. If I knew for sure my child would have adequate socializing through his life, then I'd happily choose homeschooling, simply because the education is superior.
btw Tom, do you happen to have an archive of vertical shear anomalies? I'm putting the finishing touches on that long anticipated blog and need it. I tried using this one, but it only covers the period from July to present. I want something illustrating the upper wind anomalies throughout the entire season.
And, that's a good question, I'll look through my links and see if I have anything. Are you talking about like average wind shear anomalies through the entire season? Or just upper level wind anomalies throughout the entire season?
Edit: The RAMMB website for the Experimental TC Genesis project has the entire season shown. Link
Also, if you are just looking for upper level wind anomalies, then use the PSD Reanalysis website.
The former.
btw, you ever solve that drama?
Glad to hear that.
And if I can get more hours (only getting 24 the week of Christmas), I'll be happy for now. At least, as happy as I can be working in a ****hole like that.
In the meantime ladies and gentlemen, my long awaited blog summarizing the 2011 Atlantic and East Pacific hurricane seasons is finally complete!
They say several men threw explosives and grenades in a crowd at a bus stop."
Link
For us in the weather, it looks like the storm at the end of the week is not nearly as dangerous as first thought, though it may affect France more. Guess we'll see closer to the time. Good news if it's not so strong.
If it's dense fog how can you see far enogh to know it's a safe distance ?
I've never really seen dense fog in NE FL, though they always describe it as so, you can normaly see at least half a mile.
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #1
TROPICAL DEPRESSION 25
21:00 PM JST December 13 2011
===============================
At 12:00 PM UTC, Tropical Depression (1006 hPa) located at 6.2N 143.1E has 10 minute sustained winds of 30 knots with gusts of 45 knots. The depression is reported as moving west at 18 knots
Dvorak Intensity: T2.0
Forecast and Intensity
======================
24 HRS: 7.8N 135.0E - (CAT 1/Tropical Storm)
I homeschool my six year old son. I can say with absolute certainty that he is receiving a better education at home (he's currently assessed at the 9th grade reading level, for example). We are also completely secular (everyone assumes that homeshooling == religious).
As you pointed out, it's the social aspect that is more challenging with homeschooling. More so if you happen to be secular.
Saw a program on lightning last night. The Catatumbo lightning phenomena in Venezuela to be precise. Locals in the region have said the displays have grown much more intense in recent years. It is already accepted fact that global warming is the culprit.
This year in the United States. Particularly in the middle atlantic and north east regions extreme lightning events were documented.
The evidence continues to mount. Non believers are becoming more and more isolated.
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