CDOT closed Loveland Pass west of Denver for a couple hours to plow.
It seems a bit cool all over the USA for a Sunday afternoon in August.
US HOURLY TEMPERATURES AT 19:39 GMT/UTC Sunday
Click for larger image
In Denver, particularly so. Not one, but two new low maximum temp records have been set in Denver on two consecutive days. See the NWS record reports:
SXUS75 KBOU 170200 RRB
RERBOU
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
800 PM MDT SAT AUG 16 2008
…RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE SET IN DENVER FOR AUGUST 16TH…
THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TODAY WAS 58
DEGREES.
THIS 58 DEGREE READING WILL REPLACE THE PREVIOUS LOW MAXIMUM
TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR AUGUST 16TH WHICH WAS 63 DEGREES SET 118
YEARS AGO IN 1890.
KTF
SXUS75 KBOU 160100 RRB
RERBOU
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
700 PM MDT FRI AUG 15 2008
…RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE SET IN DENVER FOR AUGUST 15TH…
THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TODAY WAS 59
DEGREES.
THIS WILL REPLACE THE OLD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR AUGUST
15TH WHICH WAS 68 DEGREES SET 128 YEARS AGO 1880.
KTF
Of course just a few days ago, they were talking about consecutive 90 degree days, and the possibility of a even longer new record, but it looks like the cold wet snap prevented that from happening:
SXUS75 KBOU 052159
RERBOU
COZ030>051-052300-
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
336 PM MDT TUE AUG 05 2008
AT 243 THIS AFTERNOON THE TEMPERATURE AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT REACHED 91 DEGREES. THIS EXTENDS OUR CONSECUTIVE 90 DEGREE
DAY STREAK TO 24. SO FAR IN 2008 41 NINETY DEGREE DAYS HAVE BEEN
TALLIED. 2008 IS JUST 9 DAYS AWAY FROM THE 10TH TOP SEASONAL TOTAL
OF FIFTY 90 DEGREE DAYS SET IN BOTH 1960 AND 1964.
I guess it’s a case of:
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” – Robert A. Heinlein
Fire uup them barbecues next to the temperature station
There’s a typo in the temperature map. They misspelled ‘cool’, its “c-o-o-l” not “m-i-l-d”. Cold, cool, warm, hot.
Why am I receiving the following pop-up on your RSS feed when I connect to the feed:
The server http://www.drao-ofr.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca at Current Solar Flux requires a username and password.
Warning: This server is requesting that your username and password be sent in an insecure manner (basic authentication without a secure connection).
Any good way to stop it??
REPLY: Hmm must be an embedded link in a story, perhaps they’ve started to password protect the data? I don’t know how to stop it short of finding the story and removing that link.
Al Gore is a coming. As soon as Obama announces him as his VP choice, it will start snowing in Denver.
It would be funny to have the AGW-touting Democratic Party roll into Denver for their convention, only to be greeted by unseasonably COLD temperatures.
For two days running I’ve been directly under the only rain throughout the eight counties of Western NY. Today it’s been sunny all day for a change.
This morning’s weather forecast acknowledged that we’ve had a cool summer so far, with that long lasting upper level low in northeast Canada messing up everyone’s summer for over a month, from the upper midwest and the Great Lakes basin to Canada. The word is, the low’s finally moving out and the forecast is for summer-like temperatures to return by mid-week. Two weeks before labor day and the kids returning to school. Such excellent timing.
So now that Denver’s cooled a bit, maybe some of the heat they’ve lost will find its way east. Finally.
Anthony,
I’m confused by your last statement about the possibility of record warmth at Denver. The 90° streak was not only met, but smashed. (24 days vs the prior record of 18)
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1115 AM MDT MON AUG 04 2008
…DENVER`S CONSECUTIVE 90 DEGREE STREAK IS NOW 23 DAYS…
AT 1049 AM…THE TEMPERATURE AT THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
REACHED 90 DEGREES.
THIS IS THE 23RD CONSECUTIVE DAY THAT THE TEMPERATURE HAS REACHED OR EXCEEDED THE 90 DEGREE MARK. THE PREVIOUS 90 DEGREE RECORD STREAK PRIOR TO THIS YEAR WAS 18 DAYS SET WAY BACK IN 1878 AND IN 1901.
A COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS NORTHEASTERN COLORADO OVERNIGHT WILL BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES ON TUESDAY…THUS BRINGING AN END TO THE 90 DEGREE STREAK.
REPLY: I worded that badly. It is fixed now by adding the verbage that should have been there in the first place. Thanks for pointing it out.
Okay, I know it’s anecdotal and just weather, but that recent Denver record didn’t just set, but blew away the previous record by 9 degrees! Ironically, the previous record was set in the year most of the referenced data sets began for the IPCC and Hansen, et al.
BTW: it’s in the mid 70s here in Albequerque, NM, well below seasonal average. It was upper 80s when I was here last year at this time. Southeast Alaska has been running 3-5 degrees cool all summer.
I live in Colorado Springs. We’ve been enjoying the rain and cold weather. My friend ran the Pikes Peak Ascent, though, yesterday, and those runners had to deal with hail, hypothermia, etc. in August. But that’s what we expect now and then in Colorado. Our Pikes Peak Hill Climb has encountered blizzards on the Fourth of July before.
Denver temperature data is nearly meaningless. It suffers massive UHI and the airport recently moved 20 miles out to DIA. Normal July temperature in Denver is 88 – who even notices if it gets up to 90? Fort Collins and Boulder had no 100 degree temperatures this summer, and the summer was much cooler and shorter than the past two.
Neither Fort Collins nor Boulder had more than four consecutive 90 degree days this summer.
http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~autowx/fclwx_plotsearch_display.php
http://www.eol.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?fields=tdry&fields=rh&fields=cpres0&fields=wspd&fields=wdir&fields=raina&site=fl&units=english&period=monthly
I’ve seen winter mornings when downtown Denver was 20 degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas at the same elevation.
The good news about the cold rain this weekend was that it motivated me to go buy some waterproof shoes for biking to work. Friday, my shoes were saturated the entire day.
Loveland Pass (US-6) is bypassed by the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. It’s the “shortcut” to A-Basin from Denver.
My daughter just returned from San Fran a couple of minutes ago and told me it was 58 degrees when the left a few hours ago. But then again, San Fran can always be cool this time of year.
Jack Koenig
Reply: We are having fog days. They intersperse with non-fog days during the summer. That means when it’s 58 here, it could be 90 degrees just 10 miles away~charles the moderator in sf.
Loveland Pass (US-6) is bypassed by the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. It’s the “shortcut” to A-Basin from Denver.
That’s good to know. I was worried that closing the pass might hurt the lift ticket business out at Arapahoe Basin.
Temperature records out of Denver are unadulterated bulls**t! The new airport has only been in existence since the mid 90’s. Prior to then, the readings were from Stapleton Field and before that downtown Denver. The site has moved nearly 25 miles to the ENE in the past 75 years. In fact , the current location is a mere 10 miles from Bennett which has the distinction of holding the all time Colorado high temp of 118F. A couple of years ago the “scientists” at Boulder were hyping the record summer highs including tying the 120+ year old 105F reading. To read their press releases you would think that tying a record was a personal accomplishment. Consecutive 90F days for DEN is merely a setting a 15 year record, big deal!!!
REPLY: Here is the aerial view of the Denver ASOS station at the new airport:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&q=39.8336%C2%B0+-104.658%C2%B0&ll=39.833774,-104.657602&spn=0.001168,0.002165&t=h&z=19&iwloc=addr
Interestingly, this other aerial view of the same spot does not show it, so it looks as if the station may have been moved in the last couple of years.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=39.833593~-104.657352&style=h&lvl=18&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=8461325&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
Boy do I get bent out of shape when I read about Denver records. Last sentence above should read “merely setting a 15 year record, big deal!!!”
Zoom out on the airport ASOS and you’ll see how close it is to the town of Bennett (Colorado record holder – 118F) versus downtown Denver in the foothills of the Rockies (record high 105F). The new airport will be setting record high temperatures for the foreseeable future (or until the staff at Boulder has collected all their performance bonuses).
“THE PREVIOUS 90 DEGREE RECORD STREAK PRIOR TO THIS YEAR WAS 18 DAYS SET WAY BACK IN 1878”
I know that Hansen claims that he makes an effort to account for UHI, but I have serious doubts about wheter these temp records do so at all. Making that streak back in 1878 very impressive indeed, occuring, as it did before Denver was paved, or much more than a cow town.
I wonder…….. If Hansen were confronted with the record cold temperature recorded in Denver, would he invalidate the observation and blame UHI?
Hmmmmm…………..
Record cold temperatures and snow would be beautiful during their convention.
1) Yes, Denver DIA’s temperature station has been moved at the new location. See the first page, right hand column of this paper for more information (best information I could find): http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/papers/PWBDM2007_NWD.pdf
2) The normal for Denver during the summer is 89 degrees and the mountains throw off clouds / thunderstorms typically in the afternoon. Because the weather usually moves west to east, DIA presumably has an hour or two more direct solar warming in the afternoons before the clouds roll over. Many sites along the Front Range did not log 90 degree days during DIA’s streak. The reference 90 degree records were recorded at Denver / Stapleton, approx. 10 miles to the west of DIA.
A posting on EUReferendum.com notes that both US presidential candidates favor “carbon cap-and-trade” policies and that they both support mainstreaming “renewable” energy sources into the national power grid (i.e., using wind and solar instead of coal and nuclear to generate electricity). If it is going to be a decade or three with below normal temperatures or worse, I am not looking forward to the increase in energy prices for home heating.
They go on to say:
“All the fashionable talk is of how fossil-fuels must be replaced by massively subsidised sources of “renewable” energy, such as vast arrays of solar panels, even though a recent study (which we pointed out in an earlier piece) showed that a kilowatt hour of solar-generated electricity costs between 25 and 30 cents, compared with 6 cents for power generated from coal and 9 cents for that produced by natural gas.
What is terrifying, writes Booker, is the extent to which America’s leading politicians seem oblivious to the economic realities of what they are proposing. The readiness of Messrs McCain and Obama to posture in front of pictures of virtually useless wind turbines symbolises that attitude perfectly.”
I know that Hansen claims that he makes an effort to account for UHI,
You do the man an injustice he very carefully adjusts for urban cooling. He makes a positive adjustment to raw urban temperatures in almost half the cases.
And NOAA certainly adjusts for UHI. In fact they revise their raw temperatures downward a full 0.1°F.
So there!
Record cold temperatures and snow would be beautiful during their convention.
Fear not. It would be wild swings brought on by AGW.
Hmm. You show 72 for Los Angeles. I show a max there of 85 for today. I live
60 mi. east of LA, in Riverside. It hit 94 today, which is about average.
I wonder what combination of weather events is responsible for Denver’s current coolness?
Now this is fun! http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop.html
Nice winter storm headed our way? Woohooo!
I’m living in the hills north of Kyoto Japan, where we tend to get winter temperatures around 0°C and maximum summer temperatures of around 35°C. Anecdotally, the two major climate warming features that have been apparent over the the past 30~40 years have been a marked decrease in winter snowfall (as the boundary between areas of heavy and light winter snow has moved north along the Sea of Japan coast), and an extension as we moved into the nineties of high daytime temperatues through to late September. Previously, people expected things to cool more gradually with fresh breezes and clear blue skies from early September.
This year began with an unusually warm winter, followed by a slightly cooler spring than usual. From February to April, the jet stream brings yellow sand from the Gobi and air pollution from industrialized regions of northern China across our part of the world. Both of these phenonmena have increased significantly in recent years, and my instinct is that they are contributing to a marked atmospheric dimming in springtime in Western Japan.
The summer so far has been about as hot as the average for the past decade. But since August 15, the humidity has dropped and the maximum and minimum temperatures have dropped by about 4 or 5°C to levels we don’t usually see until well into September.
I’m just a weather layman and I don’t keep written records, but I enjoy reading and learning from this site, and since you don’t hear very often from this part of the world I thought I’d drop you a line.
Bitterly cold Eyre sets new WA record
Brett Dutschke, Sunday August 17, 2008 – 20:45 EST
Eyre in the Eucla set a new mark for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Western Australia, minus 7.2 degrees.
weatherzone.com.au
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/bitterly-cold-eyre-sets-new-wa-record/9721
You should know that Eyre in WA, Australia is only about 3 miles from the
sea…Old record was -6.1C Alert Nunavut yesterday Tmin -8.7C …
Now in times of the Olympics, I would say that claimed heat “records” like
these 23 consecutive 90F days at DIA, we don’t need a doping test here,
Temperature doping is what it is PERIOD. Here in Sweden at least SMHI
ADMITS that some sites have strong warm local/microsite biases. For
example Falun-Lugnet, this summer’s Swedish “heat” record holder with
+33.2C…3 meters from a parking-lot, on pavement stone and probably?
less than 30 m from the nearest building. And Anthony, it was placed there
before surface-stations… started!! [Run by the city of Falun] But Mr
S. Hellström[SMHI] “promised” me in an e-mail that it will be moved till…next
summer, we’ll see…
Why is this site so obsessed with short term extrema? All this will do is reinforce crackpot opinions on long term climate change on the basis of irrelevant weather noise.
REPLY: “Beaker”, my business, my life, my job, is weather, weather reporting and weather instrumentation. I find weather events interesting, and if you’ll look back into the archives you’ll see that I’ve reported on interesting weather events long before this site became focused on climate change issues.
I take exception to your “crackpot” name calling. If you wish to hurl insults, have the courage at least to step out from behind the mask of the anonymous coward when doing so.
If I had said something totally unfounded like “This cold snap in Denver proves the entire AGW theory wrong.” then perhaps a label like “crackpot” would fit. However, the word “climate” as a focus does not even exist in the post (except for the amusing end quote from Heinlien) and the tags say only “weather”.
Also, why are the Olympics obsessed with short term extrema? It seems that the commentators prattle on and on about one record or another. Surely these games can be played without timers? And why are they even keeping score on those events? I am sure that each athlete would have a much better image if they were all awarded medals. Numbers mean nothing. The government knows what is best for each and every one of us.
Here in Jackson, Michigan, we have only had one day in the 90’s back in early June, which is very unusual. My neighbors have an above ground pool, a couple of years ago they were in it all summer long, this year, it has only gotten warm enough for a couple of days.
My wife doesn’t get too happy though, when I predict our first snow to come sometime in September.
Steve W. (22:44:12) :
Probably the poorly named ‘cool phase’ PDO (looks like a very warm phase in the middle of the Pacific and the Chinese coast! http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/data/anomnight.8.18.2008.gif
This, amongst other factors, including possible GW, shift the predominance’s of the jet stream (result is a rainier and windier Northern Europe this summer and cooler Pacific coast of America). Basically this is normal, and what we all call weather, if we have a decadal trend then people will listen but to base this blog on these short term events is a waste and to be honest Anthony needs to get wise. It’s great fun to share the anecdotes about the weather, it’s part of life, but to start using these short term event as a major argument against AGW is a recipe for humiliation and major embarrassment for Anthony.
To summarise, talk about the weather yes, use it as an argument against AGW, a definite no,no.
Why is this site so obsessed with short term extrema?
Because weather extrema is an equally valid measure of climate direction/trend as the average. Arguably its a better measure because extremes are less prone to systematic error.
The crackpot opinions are coming from those like you, beaker, who don’t understand basic statistics.
/selfsnip a rant on the dismal ignorance of Warming Believers.
Obama is supposed to give his acceptance speech in an open air stadium.
What are the chances of a little snow in Denver in late August?
Especially if Al Gore is in town.
“Why is this site so obsessed with short term extrema? All this will do is reinforce crackpot opinions on long term climate change on the basis of irrelevant weather noise.”
Beaker,
Here are a ew answers to your questions:
1)The AGW Crowd itself uses short term weather events as proof of AGW. If you doubt me, please Google any number of recent weather events (August Heatwaves, floods, droughts, tropical storms, periods of warm winters, etc..) and you will most read a quote from a climatologist, NOAA official, or a local professor saying said event is proof of AGW or Climate Change. Anthony is just doing the same. You cannot have it both ways.
2)Dr Hansen warned that runaway GHG concentrations are so high that the earth will be passing through a “tipping point” within a decade. The last time that I heard him utter this warning was last year (2007). Which means he expects the process of runaway positive feedbacks to begin no later than 2017. As far as I know Hansen hasn’t recanted or at the very least reassesed his prediction. So, 2017 is only 9 years away (short term), and it would be important to investigate short term weather events for signs of runaway positive feedbacks. Currently, everyone is looking at the Artic; I suppose most true-believers are waiting for an ice free artic to begin the process. But there are other things to watch for. I think we should keep a weather eye on the Pacific (after-all, this is the one area that has been proven to affect weather and climate worldwide). Another area to look at is the semi-permanent pressure cells. In a warming world, the northen mid-latitude cold lows will give way to the Hadley Cell, as tropical/subtropical highs would build far poleward. Places like the Rockies in North America, and North Atlantic/North Sea in Europe would see much warmer weather year around. Summers like Europe saw in 2003, or the US saw in 1980, 1988, and 2004 would be normal. For North America, the incidence of severe weather (especially in the Spring) would be way down as the polar front jet would be botteled up in Central Canada.
You should not use Colorado for any weather information. It can change from minute to minute. We have had 70 degree drops (mid 60’s to below 0) in less than 6 hours. When I moved here 20 years ago, we had a foot of hail. In August. The west half of the state is rather bumpy and about a mile higher than the east half which is rather flat. So all kinds of interesting things happen. 100+ MPH winds along the Front Range are common. About the only thing you can count on is it usually won’t do what it did before.
We do have great snow and places to ski. So, come to visit, spend a lot of money, and go home. 🙂
Seriously, the weather around here will do anything it —- well pleases, whenever it wants. A meterorologist friend tells me the Weather Service gets it right about 1/3 of the time. 12 inches of ‘partly cloudy, warmer’.
Mr beaker, There is enough sillyness on both sides of the climate change issue. You might look instead at the 400k and 600k year temperature graphs. You might consider the narrow appearance of the temperature peaks. Suppose the MWP as actually the peak for this 100k and 1999 was the last gasp for warm temperatures. Finally consider that AGW is the noise.
What is to be said for the billion$ $pent and to be $pent on what may be nothing more than “short term extrema” that might “reinforce crackpot opinions.”
And if the “irrelevant weather noise” affirmed the alarmist warming models instead of casting doubt upon them, we would be enjoying 24/7 “See?! This proves Global Warming!” coverage in all MSM outlets. What in the hell constitutes the raw material of climate studies besides the vast accumulation of “irrelevant weather noise” from multiple sources over time? You know, actual data as opposed to computer models?
I don’t see how one or two threads on local phenomena count as “obsessed”.
And last winter, when all those “local” reports came pouring in, it turned out there was a very significantly cold winter occurring.
@beaker:
From the top of the page: “Commentary on puzzling things in life, nature, science, technology, and recent news by Anthony Watts.”
Unlike a place like RealClimate which is purposed with line “Climate science from climate scientists,” I imagine that this being the blog of a former weatherman you could expect some discussion, perhaps unrelated to long-term trends, of the current weather extrema.
Hey beaker,
I am an unlearned weather junkie but even I know that climate is study of short term weather extrema on a long term basis. I like to study the short term weather and realize that some of the climate scientists only recognize 30 year old data as being worthy of climate study an most anything younger than that is merely weather noise. I disagree in that there are or should be 2 areas of study long term climate and short term climate. Long term consisting of what we have now and short term consisting of a rolling average of the recent past 30 years as compared to the past record.
beaker trends have to start somewhere and we can not discount the recent weather as not counting due to the fact that we have to be prepared for weather. I would hate to eliminate the current energy supply and find my self in a very cold short term (for now) cold era.
I don’t argue with you that maybe we make to much of short term variables but then so do the warmist make to much of short term variables. They count in both directions.
Just my 2 cents.
Bill Derryberry
“Why is this site so obsessed with short term extrema?”
Who’s obsessed? We’re conversing on a common interest.
If it’s not your “cup of tea,” . . . . .
I mean, it’s not like we are misrepresenting pictures of polar bears or other short term common phenomena.
“What are the chances of a little snow in Denver in late August?
Especially if Al Gore is in town.”
If algore shows up, 100% chance of the first snow ever in August in Denver 😉
Don’t forget the Republican convention is in Minnesota. Maybe it will snow on both of their parades!
Climate change is the trend line based on the average of the noise. So we talk about noise. Right now the noise is cooler, so the trend line will likely continue to stall as it has for the last 10 years.
However, if warmers really want to figure a trend line without noise, pick out 1998 and toss it away as an example of extreme noise. Then re-figure the trend line. Hey…it was your suggestion.
Circa 1992 there was an early freeze in Denver, I believe the first week of September. Caught everyone by surprise. Many people had their lawn sprinkler systems freeze and burst. My boss at the time had a side business installing sprinkler lines. Business was hopping the following spring with all the repairs.
As Retired Engineer said above, Colorado weather is pretty volatile. Denver is no exception. It’s hard to read the trend from a couple of data points, but they certainly will influence the longer term average.
OT: We are in the beginning of another round of high speed solar wind (which shoots cosmic rays our way) as the repeating Sun’s coronal hole faces Earth. While the Sun is blank of sunspots, it is still active through its coronal holes. Will probably see Northern Lights with this rotation. Planetary K indices are already up so I will be watching cosmic ray and ozone measures to see what happens. Since the Sun is somewhat dim in the UV light spectrum but cosmic rays are strong, we should see a net ozone loss wherever cosmic rays hit hardest or most steady if the theory is correct.
“Why is this site so obsessed with short term extrema?”
Could it be a balance to the major media focus on every warm spell? Naah! Don’t forget people, and sorry to my hero writer Heinlein but “Warm is climate, cool is ‘short term weather’ and climate is newsworthy, weather is not!”
I was asking seriously, are weather records adjusted for news and weather reports like the report above?
Climatic autumn’s hold in Northern California is unmistakable. Only the most hardy deciduous species are still completely green leafed. Some are now showing early October levels of fall color. This cannot be attributed to drought stress alone. Cold nights, and, of course, the photons which never arrived, due to the smoke, must factor prominently.
It just cleared up enough to see the mountains, and there is a thick blanket of snow covering everything above 11,000 feet. I’ve never seen that in August before.
“US gets ready to blow its economy away”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/17/do1708.xml
Welcome to cloudcuckooland
As someone who grew up in Colorado, I vouch for the volatility of the weather there. We often told our out of stated guests, “Don’t worry about the weather… it’ll change in half an hour.”
In Seattle today we will be only in the mid-60s after several days in the 90s. But the bigger news is due Tuesday night when an “unusual for this time of year” cold front blows through bringing snow levels in the Cascade Mountains down to 7000 feet or lower. Usually this would be a mid to late September event….
The cold front may head for Colorado later in the week…so watch out down there.
Oh how I love to see Denver the center of attention on all these fronts.
I think there might be a couple of Denver natives still around; I’m one.
Any and everything can happen with the weather around here. I’ve seen everything happen on a single day. I kid you not.
Denver in a lot of ways is still a big cow town. That means a fascination with the weather. When it gets real cold, the local TV stations will display the temperature in the lower right hand corner of the screen all through the broadcast. My wife and I get a real kick out of that.
Does that happen anywhere else?
We’ve fired at least one mayor for the results of a snowstorm and our current mayor got in some hot (cold?) water because of heavy snowstorms last year.
It is an outrage that UHI effects are not filtered due to the moves of the ‘official’ weather stations. DIA area has always been hotter. Aurora, out east from Denver, has always been hotter. And, for heavens sake, DIA is surrounded by thousands of acres of runways, taxi areas, etc. This doesn’t even include all the heat generated by hundreds of jet engines blazing away.
The plains are always warmer than Denver. Even the short drive out to Cherry Creek Reservoir has always carried memories of heat.
There is a very real possibility the Obama speech could be punctuated with thunderstorms and snow. Most likely, it will be a nice late summer day.
Anthony: I appologise for the tone of my post, which in hindsight was not appropriate. I was not calling anyone a crackpot, least of all you, but it is undeniable that there are crackpots out there on both sides of the debate. The “obsessed” was out of order though.
However, I do frequently see arguments supporting (often unduly confident) climate predictions based on short term often local extrema, and I have a concern that discussing weather extrema and climate on the same site, without clear caveats, is perhaps encouraging this. Of course this shouldn’t be neccessary, but in a debate with a high degree of unfortunate polarisation, perhaps it would be pragmatic.
The fact that this is a problem is illustrated by the article on “Heat Wave in Portland: Watch for “AGW did it” stories”.
REPLY: Thank you.
Another OT: Pamela, will that solar activity still be going on next month? I’ll be in Alaska, and would love the see the borealis.
@ Patrick Henry: Six years ago, I was camping in the high country above Denver, and there was snow down to about 9,500′. Not as much as this recent storm, but it did last til late afternoon. Made the hike interesting, as did a Labor day snowstorm while I was on top of Elbert. 😀
The MRF has things warming up the latter part of August across CONUS and backs off from the Fall signal it has had the last week.
But all this snow in the mountains and then the wet weather in Texas has yet to have its impact on things AND the models get flippy in late August anyway.
my hero writer Heinlein
I am a huge OLD Heinlein fan. (Almost) anything up to and including Stranger.
OT:
Anyone see this article from USA Today?
Disturbing, if you ask me. Sorry if this is a duplicate. I originally found it .
OT:
Anyone see this article from USA Today?
Disturbing, if you ask me. Sorry if this is a duplicate. I originally found it .
OK, I can’t get links to work. Here they are without the linkage:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-08-13-green-psychology_N.htm
Kind of scary to me. Here’s where I got it from:
http://www.climatechangefraud.com/content/view/2008/218/
Just to throw my 2 cent in this summer in Ireland has been extremely wet with August on course to be the wettest in living memory. I never realised it could get so cold in the mid US, I always thought it was hot, hot hot! Learne soimething new everyday!
Your map is wrong. It was over 100 deg in the foothills outside Yosemite yesterday, 8/17.
REPLY: At the time the snapshot was taken, it was accurate, this is not a daily hi/lo map, but an hourly map.
MIke Sander: Not to worry. I have sunblock (SPF 500) and snowblower ready at all times. On a recent trip back east (to Charleston, SC) I noticed a few places that seemed to have some fall color change. Absurd! Can’t happen in August.
I would love to see snow at the conventions. Particularly during al-Gore’s speech. In at least one of the parties, a different kind of ‘snow’ may appear…
(OK, that’s mean. We do seem to get a ‘snow job’ from a lot of candidates.)
According to the weather underground, the earliest snow in Denver occurred on the 27th or 28th of August. So it’s possible, just not likely, even with the Gore affect.
Here in Iowa, the corn harvest is weeks behind schedule. Farmer’s are worried that an early frost could kill the crop.
Your map is not accurate. It was 101 degrees F in Spokane yesterday.
REPLY: At the time the snapshot was taken, it was accurate, this is not a daily hi/lo map, but an hourly map.
Before the Earth can cool off, its got to dump a lot of moisture from the air to force the average temp down – especially the minimums
Most of the energy in the air is water vapor and most of the energy flux from the sun or the oeans goes into water vapor creation.
One would expect to see heavy rains everywhere as the water vapor cycle accelerates due to a greater flux of heat from the Earth.
Large sulfur dioxide cloud from Kasatochi volcano heading toward the Arctic.
http://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/OMI/OMISO2/aleutian.html
More at,
http://eruptions.wordpress.com/
Earliest snow in Denver…9/3/1961
Latest snow in Denver…6/12/1947
Never snowed in Denver in July or August, but that’s an entirely different story as you go up in altitude west of town (master of the obvious). At 9000′ where I live, it snowed Saturday morning.
Where there are record lows, there are record highs.
Today:
Spokane, WA – 103 F
It seems extreme cold and extreme heat don’t contradict each other completely.
Extremes come from anomalies in pressure/temperature.
But what causes extremes in pressure/temperature?
L o t s
of
Things…
None the less, this story is interesting.
Steve,
If I find out that someone is using Psychological “tools” to change my thinking that amounts to mind bending and is akin to denial of freedom of speach in that they try to influence your thought patterns before the facts are presented. That works right along with the debate is over and the consensus is.
I think that there will be great backlash against the Ivy League liberals if that occurs and they get caught at it.
Snip if you want to Anthony or Charles but this type of proposal by the Ivy League elite really steams me.
Bill Derryberry
Reply: You didn’t push any of my buttons, although I disagree with your conclusion about a backlash, since I believe that most of the media reporting or not reporting the story feel the same way and are already guilty of the same tactics.~charles the moderator
No insult intended to those that are making true contributions to the science but to try to mind bend is out of bounds as far as I am concerned.
Bill Derryberry
At the link above, SO2 emissions from Kasatochi estmated at 1.5 teragrams (1.5 million tons).
Which coincidentally is almost the same amount the geo-engineering crowd estimate we need to pump into the atmosphere to counteract AGW.
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-07/ff_geoengineering?currentPage=2
Please forgive me. My blog does not go into the details of Climate Change because there is so much BS out there. Now don’t go getting mad at me, I am not saying your blog is like that.
Straight forward info without too much technical jargon is the way to go. What bothers me is not the Alarmists that argue that it’s happening and it’s all our fault, it’s the Ecofascists that think we should live as they say we should live. This is the silly stuff that I point out at http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
Sure, the earths temp has risen a tiny bit over many years, but I do NOT believe it’s because of humans. Carbon is a tiny fraction of our atmosphere so let’s keep some perspective on the subject.
Thanks for listening.
g: I think that’s most of us around here believe.
I’ll go so far as to say a small bit is probably due to human influence. A tiny forcing from CO2. A shot of dirty snow (probably temporary as the UDCs develop).
But overall, just a small bit.
Sorry for being OT, but I’ve just heard on the radio another breathless report of the on-coming Tropical Storm to possibly hit Florida.
Whhooooo-ooooh. Scaaaary!!! How about all those hurricanes we were told to beware? There’d better be a lot of hurricanes very quick to meet the
href didn;t work. Here’s the link: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/figure1.gif
Evan Jones (12:00:51) :
The book that guided me from Tom Swift to the bigger world of SF was his “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.” “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” remains my favorite SF novel, I read it early in my computer programming career. I’d love to see a _good_ movie version. I used to think it would have to wait for a movie set on the moon but between CG effects and some work on the Vomit Comet ala Apollo 13, I think it could be pulled off now. Judy Collins gets the title song.
OT – On Track: Oh yeah, climate, err, weather. Nothing too exciting going on in New Hampshire at the moment. Nice hail storms over the weekend (missed me).
O2 levels are nominal.
Bill in Vigo…
I found it infuriating as well. So infuriating that I couldn’t figure out how to post to a blog! 🙂
This makes me depressed. It seems as if no one understands that there’s a lot of work remaining in the field of climate change. (Outside of here, of course.) Thank goodness for sites like these. I went to graduate school where pro-AGW theory was heavily pushed (at least three authors on that NOAA climate change report could be linked to this school) and begin to believe it after a while. I think I got out just in time!
beaker (11:32:03)
” . . . and I have a concern that discussing weather extrema and climate on the same site, without clear caveats, is perhaps encouraging this. Of course this shouldn’t be neccessary, but in a debate with a high degree of unfortunate polarisation, perhaps it would be pragmatic. . . . .”
Who are you? You go from inaccurate insults to demands for fuddy-duddy politically correct debate. If you wish to dictate my intercourse, get Anthony to make you moderator.
Off topic. I just came from Climate science blog by Roger Pielke. He presented comments by Professor Ben Herman on the CCSP Draft Report. They were quite critical. It is well worth the read.
http://climatesci.org/
Bill Derryberry
REPLY: Bill we had that here days ago. perhpas you missed it?
Ric Werme (17:42:06) :
Hollywood has made a hash of every Heinlein story they’ve tried to do, with the exception of “Destination Moon”.
Starship Troopers was always my favorite Heinlein book and when they made the movie they didn’t even have powered armor! Not to mention what they did to the story.
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
What a wonderful tale! I still remember the “education” section with great fondness.
Even more OT.
Not to mention what they did to the story.
Didn’t you hear? The director Paul Vanderhoeven hated and despised Heinlein and made public statements to the effect that he would completely pervert the story.
I’ll say this for him: he is a man of his word.
A good contender for the trifecta:
Worst Movie of the Year.
Worst Adaptation of a book.
Worst Movie of All Time.
(But then there’s Dune and I have to think again. )
My favorite Heinlein: A Citizen of the Galaxy. I consider that among the great works of the English language. (And yes, I am a fan of Shakespeare, Melville, Twain, etc., etc.)
Moon is good but I love Stranger, Troopers, and Starman Jones. Puppet Masters (unabridged) is probably the single best invasion of earth book I have ever read. Doorway Into Summer and Double Star are just wonderful.
Steve (19:00:00) :
This makes me depressed. It seems as if no one understands that there’s a lot of work remaining in the field of climate change. (Outside of here, of course.) Thank goodness for sites like these. I went to graduate school where pro-AGW theory was heavily pushed (at least three authors on that NOAA climate change report could be linked to this school) and begin to believe it after a while. I think I got out just in time!
Steve,
That’s a big problem! I graduated from college before the AGW crowd was big so it wasn’t an issue of any sort for me. But I happened to meet Dr. Bryson (late – UW Madison) and he told me that the research dollars in Atmospheric Science were going to the AGW professors, so more professors did AGW research, and taught that line of thinking to their grad students. Now those grad students are teaching. So there is an entire generation of Atmospheric Scientists that are sold, because it was taught as fact. Many off them are not asking the questions they should….. mainly because the AGW research is still being funded.
It all seems dangerous to me, and heavily political. I interviewed (debated) a grad student over a year ago and he was dead set that ISR only fluctuates about 1W/m2 per solar cycle and that signal is very minor and not important to the temperature record…. so solar impacts are negligible. I asked him about longer cycles, magnetic effects, coronal holes… and got a repeat of “the solar impacts are negligible”. He was dodging and had NO idea what I was referring to.
It is not unusual to have some isolated snow in the high country in August. What is unusual is the heavy, winter like coat which covered the northern end of the Front Range yesterday. I took some panoramic pictures from near Ft. Collins yesterday, and they looked more like March than August. .
RE: “Never snowed in Denver in July or August”
What about August ’74? Didn’t the snow level make it down onto the high plains?
If they do make a movie of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistriss”, are they going to keep the scene where he is walking outside on the Moon by the tunnel and has to stop because he runs out of phone cord?
I made this plot of monthly and annual temperatures for Denver from the observed 0600 and 1800 LST temperatures. I also added GISTEMP annual for Denver. The plot is not what I expected. The 2005 temperature is actually slightly below the 1893 temperature, even with the warming effect of the move to DIA. I used 0600 and 1800 temperatures because those were constant back through time, except for the hole in the 1970s, which I’m trying to fill.
In the splice from 93002 (city) to 23062 (Stapleton airport), there is a 14-month overlap. Stapleton was cooler than the city, so you can see the UHI effect. Temperature trended down though at Stapleton from 1932 to 1994.
One of my favorite book quotes came from “Farmer in the Sky”.
Old codger explaining life to the young hero.
The purpose of government is to protect men from each other.
When your government decides that it wants to protect you from yourself, then it’s time to get a new government.
[…] For example one commenter, “beaker” recently wrote this criticism to my story about Denver setting two new record low maximum temperatures on consecutive days, breaking one record that stood for 118 years: “Why is this site so obsessed with short term […]
Can someone answer this NWS question about average temperature?
This is for Denver…
For today, 8/19/08, today’s high 82, low 57, avg is 70 which means 69.5 degrees is rounded UP to 70.
For today’s normal value, high 86, low 57, avg is 71 which means 71.5 is rounded DOWN to 71.
Huh?
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bou/include/showProduct.php?product=clitoday.txt
Mike Bryant (04:45:37) :
I am from the Government and I am here to help you!
The twelve most frightening words you can hear.