Cold Weather + Green Fuel = Yellow Bus Failure

20 01 2009

UPDATE:

Lab tests show the problem was may be caused by paraffin wax – a derivative of Diesel Fuel. See this report:

http://nbb.grassroots.com/resources/BloomingtonBusReport.pdf

This bus design does not allow for heating of the filter by the engine.

h/t to Kum Dullison

UPDATE2: There is new information, from E.M. Smith in comments, citing that possibility of  “methylester that solidifies at >10F vs Paraffin wax” could be a contributor. The lab did not test for that, so the question of fuel quality remains unresolved.

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Excerpts from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 16th 2009

Biodiesel fuel woes close Bloomington schools
eco-schoolbus

“All schools in the Bloomington School District (Minnesota) will be closed  today after state-required biodiesel fuel clogged in school buses Thursday morning and left dozens of students stranded in frigid weather, the district said late Thursday.

Rick Kaufman, the district’s spokesman, said elements in the biodiesel fuel that turn into a gel-like substance at temperatures below 10 degrees  clogged about a dozen district buses Thursday morning. Some buses weren’t able to operate at all and others experienced problems while picking up students, he said.

We had students at bus stops longer than we think is acceptable, and that’s too dangerous in these types of temperatures,” Kaufman said.” Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 130 Comments »

Categories : Technology, ridiculae, weather

It’s official: La Niña is back

20 01 2009

UPDATE: There’s some question about NCEP’s communications intent with this paper. While they cite “La Niña conditions” in the language, and the visual imagery lends itself to that, the numerical threshold of ONI hasn’t been reached, as has been pointed out in comments. Yet NCEP made no mention in the summary that the threshold had not been reached. I’ll see if I can locate the authors and get a clarification. – Anthony

In a document published January 19th, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (NCEP) has officially put the stamp on the cold water conditions we’ve seen growing in the equatorial mid and eastern Pacific. I first reported on this on December 4th, 2008. This does not bode well for California’s drought conditions, which are likely to continue due to this renewed La Niña event.

Sea Surface Temperatures as of January 5th, 2009. Click for a larger image

In the document, which you can see here,  NCEP says:

•Atmospheric and oceanic conditions reflect La Niña.
•Negative equatorial SST anomalies persist across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
•Based on recent trends in the observations and model forecasts,La Niña conditions are likely to continue into Northern Hemisphere Spring 2009.

Here is a map provided that shows the precipitation departure for the last 90 days. Note that while the Pacific northwest (notably Seattle) is taking a bath, California gets nearly nothing. The jet stream pattern has been pushed far north this past year.

conus-ncep-la-nina-pr-percent-precip

I also found this time series graph of equatorial Pacific ocean heat content anomaly for 180 to 100 degrees west of particular interest: Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 149 Comments »

Categories : ENSO