I don’t know if any of you readers have ever experienced temperatures that are down to -50°F, but it is painful to endure.
From the NWS WFSO in Caribou, Maine, a report of a new statewide low record event. (h/t to Joe Bastardi via Jeff L). Unlike the WSFO in Chicago, which wants to throw out a statewide record low temperature because they don’t seem to trust the quality control on an AWOS station calibrated the day before in Rochelle, the WSFO in Caribou seems ready to consider the temperature recorded by a USGS gage. Ah, consistency.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME
0955 AM EST FRI JAN 16 2009
**********POTENTIAL STATEWIDE RECORD MINIMUM TEMPERATURE*************
AT 0730 AM EST THIS MORNING A USGS GAGE AT BIG BLACK RIVER RECORDED
A LOW TEMPERATURE OF -50F. THIS EXCEEDS THE CURRENT STATEWIDE
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -48F SET ON JANUARY 19TH…1925 AT VAN
BUREN. THIS REPORT IS CONSIDERED UNOFFICIAL UNTIL A REVIEW OF THE
EQUIPMENT AND DATA BY THE STATE CLIMATE EXTREMES COMMITTEE AS TO
THE VALIDITY OF THIS REPORT. IF THE COMMITTEE ASCERTAINS THAT THIS
IS INDEED A VALID REPORT…A SEPARATE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
WILL BE ISSUED AT THAT TIME.
$$
PJR
But wait, there’s more from the Caribou WSFO:
Low Temperatures Recorded 16 January, 2009
Here are the preliminary temperature reports from January 16, 2009.
- First is a map showing temperature reports across northern Maine.
- Second is a listing of temperature reports from locations across northern Maine.
Our appreciation is extended to highway departments, cooperative observers, SKYWARN spotters and the media for these reports.
A special thanks is extended to the general public for phoning in reports via our automated system. Your help is appreciated and aided us greatly in updating our products.
***********************MINIMUM TEMPERATURES***********************
LOCATION MIN TEMPS TIME/DATE COMMENTS
DEGREES OF
(F) MEASUREMENT
MAINE
...AROOSTOOK COUNTY...
BIG BLACK RIVER -50 831 AM 1/16 USGS BBRM1
NINEMILE BRIDGE -48 841 AM 1/16 USGS NINM1
ALLAGASH -47 722 AM 1/16 COOP ALGM1
DICKEY -45 833 AM 1/16 USGS DICM1
LILLE -45 717 AM 1/16 AR034
MASARDIS -45 840 AM 1/16 USGS MASM1
CLAYTON LAKE -44 832 AM 1/16 COOP CLTM1
GRAND ISLE -44 722 AM 1/16 SPOTTER
OXBOW -43 842 AM 1/16 COOP OXBM1
FORT KENT MILLS -41 853 AM 1/16 AR054
STOCKHOLM -41 717 AM 1/16 SPOTTER
VAN BUREN -41 845 AM 1/16 COOP VANM1
EAGLE LAKE -40 902 AM 1/16 COOP EGLM1
FORT KENT -40 851 AM 1/16 COOP FISM1
FOX BROOK -40 835 AM 1/16 COOP FOXM1
PRESQUE ISLE -39 758 AM 1/16 AWOS KPQI
LIMESTONE -38 917 AM 1/16 COOP LIZM1
CARIBOU WFO -37 718 AM 1/16 ASOS KCAR
MADAWASKA -37 832 AM 1/16 AR037
SHERMAN -37 902 AM 1/16 AR072
HOULTON -35 838 AM 1/16 ASOS KHUL
LIMESTONE -35 717 AM 1/16 AR035
FRENCHVILLE -30 835 AM 1/16 ASOS KFVE
ASHLAND -28 716 AM 1/16 SPOTTER
KNOWLES CORNER -18 839 AM 1/16 COOP KNCM1
...HANCOCK COUNTY...
WALTHAM -30 725 AM 1/16 SPOTTER
PENOBSCOT -20 717 AM 1/16 HA037
BAR HARBOR -15 831 AM 1/16 AWOS KBHB
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK -10 830 AM 1/16 COOP ANPM1
PROSPECT HARBOR -10 842 AM 1/16 COOP PPHM1
STONINGTON RAINWISE -5 844 AM 1/16 COOP STOM1
...PENOBSCOT COUNTY...
GRINDSTONE -38 837 AM 1/16 USGS GRNM1
SHIN POND -38 843 AM 1/16 USGS SBSM1
CORINNA -31 852 AM 1/16 COOP CORM1
OLD TOWN -30 841 AM 1/16 COOP OLDM1
MATTAWAMKEAG -29 840 AM 1/16 USGS MATM1
WEST ENFIELD -28 845 AM 1/16 USGS WENM1
BANGOR -24 831 AM 1/16 ASOS KBGR
MILLINOCKET -24 841 AM 1/16 ASOS KMLT
PATTEN -24 842 AM 1/16 COOP PATM1
SUNKHAZE N.W.R. -22 843 AM 1/16 COOP SHZM1
DIXMONT -12 833 AM 1/16 COOP DIXM1
...PISCATAQUIS COUNTY...
KOKADJO -39 839 AM 1/16 COOP KKJM1
ABBOT VILLAGE -37 811 AM 1/16 USGS ABTM1
BLANCHARD -35 831 AM 1/16 USGS BLAM1
GUILFORD -35 723 AM 1/16 COOP GULM1
RIPOGENUS DAM -35 843 AM 1/16 COOP RIPM1
SEBEC LAKE -32 838 AM 1/16 COOP GREM1
DOVER-FOXCROFT -31 852 AM 1/16 COOP DFXM1
MILO -24 851 AM 1/16 COOP MLDM1
GREENVILLE -21 837 AM 1/16 ASOS KGNR
...SOMERSET COUNTY...
SAINT AURELIE -44 844 AM 1/16 COOP STAM1
TURNER BROOK RAWS -38 845 AM 1/16 COOP TNBM1
...WASHINGTON COUNTY...
DANFORTH -35 833 AM 1/16 COOP DANM1
WESLEY -31 845 AM 1/16 USGS WSLM1
CHERRYFIELD -28 831 AM 1/16 USGS CFDM1
EPPING -26 835 AM 1/16 USGS EPPM1
MOOSEHORN N.W.R. -26 841 AM 1/16 COOP MWRM1
MACHIAS -25 840 AM 1/16 USGS MACM1
DENNYSVILLE -24 834 AM 1/16 USGS DVLM1
PRINCETON -22 842 AM 1/16 COOP PNNM1
WHITING -21 801 AM 1/16 WS038
GRAND LAKE STREAM -20 836 AM 1/16 COOP GLSM1
TOPSFIELD -20 852 AM 1/16 COOP TOPM1
WAITE -20 722 AM 1/16 WS034
EAST MACHIAS -18 852 AM 1/16 COOP ESTM1
JONESBORO -14 838 AM 1/16 COOP JONM1
JONESPORT RAINWISE -13 839 AM 1/16 COOP JPTM1
CUTLER RAINWISE -12 833 AM 1/16 COOP CUTM1
MILBRIDGE -12 723 AM 1/16 WS031
EASTPORT -9 834 AM 1/16 COOP EPOM1
$$
Portland hit -16°F, which is 28°F below normal for January 16th, and came close to the record for the date of -18°F in 1946.
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That last quote was from here: http://hotair.com/headlines/?p=28636
Oh, ok. Thanks Anthony, Robert Austin, and Codetech. that makes alot of sense actually, im new to trying to understand how information is presented and how to keep it unbiased. Im still in high school and got sick of what we were being taught about the climate so went looking for information myself.
Next time someone blaims human beings for Calgary warmth, im going to make sure I know some facts to explain it to them on an un biased basis….
(Like a physics teacher who laughed at me, a student, for sharing my disagreement after being shown “An Inconvenient Truth”… a science teacher!)
Pamela Gray (09:17:21) :
My take? News outlets are now owned and operated by the entertainment industry. We are now fed a steady diet of tabloid news in place of Walter Cronkite and Chet Brinkley.
You are exactly right. In fact, the ‘term of art’ for this change is ‘infotainment’. It is widely admitted and openly planned. News “Shows” without enough entertainment value will get “revamped” in an attempt to boost ratings (and thus profits).
I don’t presently own any media stocks other than DIS Disney, but at one time I owned several. IIRC it was some time during the late ’70s or early ’80s that the shift happened. When the NBC, ABC, CBS networks were absorbed by mixed media companies and all the departments were reviewed to make sure each was contributing enough profit to the merger. That was when the mindshift happened from “Public Duty Loss Leader” to “Infotainment Profit Center”. You can date it from when CBS drastically shrunk their news department.
Fernando (07:04:58) :
Back to the future:
“The temperature of the winter season, in northern latitudes, has suffered a material change, and become warmer in modern, than it was in ancient times. … Indeed I know not whether any person, in this age, has ever questioned the fact.” —Noah Webster, 1843
So it is due to cow gas!
anna v:
“Personally I hope the Thames freezes over”
We may see that yet, especially if that little red line keeps ascending like a rocket, referring to the 2009 sea ice extent displayed on the thumbnail pic at top right of this blog.
Something very cold seems to be going on up there in the Arctic. Maybe there is a CO2 hole above the Arctic? Nothing to trap the heat?
Roger E. Sowell
Benjamin P. (10:27:05) :
one data point (all this cold snap is).
We are observing data points not polluted by Hansen. Collecting several of them together is a nice touch. That this ‘cold snap’ began last year in the southern hemisphere, and continues here slowly expanding over ever larger geographies, with increasing cold strength, is of very great interest…
What am I missing here?
That the cold side (N.) of the jet stream is extraordinarily cold at the same time that there is still residual heat in the oceans on the south side. Depending on which pool of air is on top of you at the moment, you get very warm (from past warming that now fails to progress to the upside) or you get very cold (sometimes record cold) from the new cold trend progressing rapidly to the downside.
It is an inflection point. It will resolve ever more strongly to the downside over the next decade. How far, I would not want to guess. I would guess that as cycle 24 finally starts it will ‘back off’ a little bit until about 2012 to 2014 when we will really fall off a cliff (presuming the sun really is driving it probably via GCR and O3 modulation) or it will just keep getting colder (presuming sun not driving – due to PDO driving it) until about 2038.
There are about 30 years worth of ‘excess’ heat to be extracted from the oceans. We will be in a ‘battleground’ between that warm water driven air and the polar cold air until that heat engine runs down.
I’d even go so far as to assert that Hansen et. al. will use this temperature gradient to claim extreme weather from AGW…
What you are missing is the dynamic of all this. That a single average over space at a point in time hides all of it. That an average over time hides the moment of inflections. That warming halted and colding is happening now.
All this is my personal belief system. I trade stocks and have concentrated for about the last decade on spotting inflections. It is very hard. In trading you must beat the speed of the other guy. Speed is everything. So i fully expect to be ‘ahead of the curve’ on calling a top. I must be to make money. You can catch up in 4 or 5 years when the long term moving average finally indicates what is happening now. It’s also the case that the fastest right guy always has the the bulk of the folks saying “you can’t be right, we all know better” by definition so don’t bother pointing out to me all the other folks saying this isn’t the top of the heat curve. It will only encourage me 😉
@ur momisuglyTom in Texas
You are telling me that the “best science blog” is not the place for real science?
@ur momisuglyAnna V.
Exactly, weather vs. Climate.
@ur momisugly James Hastings-Trew
What is the point? Since you claimed I have missed it.
@ur momisuglyGaracka
The Obama ineligibility thing is utter nonsense. You brought it up on this “science blog” not me. You seem quite convinced though that the conspiracy is happening before our eyes and only a select few “know the truth.” Obama is a US citizen, he was born in Hawaii. This is not a secret plot by the Kenya government to take over our country. Berg and the rest of his buddies have plenty of frivolous law suits that they have brought in the past, and this is just another attempt to try and sit in some spotlight that any rational person can see through. If there was any truth to the claim the right would have been all over it long before now. You are in the same camp that thinks GWBush personally brought down the towers….oh right you are cause that’s what Berg claimed in the past.
@ur momisuglyEveryone Else.
An open mind and a scrutiny of data is what the driving force of science should be. Climate is a complex thing with numerous variables that we only have a partial understanding of. As we progress, gather more data, gain new techniques and tools to refine data and gain new understanding, as long as we stay truthful to the data, the truth will be ours at the end of the day. That goes for both sides of the argument. Whether you believe in CO2, solar variations, or Washington politician hot air as the driver of climate, nobody at this point in climate science can claim with certainty what the next 50 years or even 100 years will bring.
I am all about dialogue because that is what helps advance understanding. I have little time for conspiracy theory and pseudoscience.
REPLY: Ok everybody, lets all take a time out. Benjamin P. doesn’t like the place, we get it, move on and limit comments about Obama to the Inauguration day weather thread. – Anthony
Definitely having issues with italics closure today… paragraph 2 in the above posting is mine…
Some quite exotic manefestations of cold weather for us weather-obsessed British.
Ice Discs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/4273023/A-surprising-flock-of-ice-discs-at-a-waterfall.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/4248666/Rare-sightings-of-mysterious-spinning-ice-discs.html
@Anthony
Fair enough, if you would like me to move on, I shall.
Keep the echos in the echo chamber.
Good luck folks.
REPLY: The “move on” was to everyone, to find a new topic, not to suggest you leave.
Anthony
if this is Global Warming I wonder what Global cooling looks like?
[snip – sorry, no more posts on Obama]
Benjamin P. (14:18:19)
Yeah, don’t just take your ball and go home. Your response to ‘everyone else’ earlier is perfectly cogent. Let’s see where the data takes the debate; all chambers echo, but some have better acoustics than others. So let’s have a listen. OK, you’re on.
==========================
My point to Benjamin was that if HE thinks there is no science here, then he is in the wrong place.
Benjamin P
Warmists are most welcome as far as I’m concerned, they keep us on our toes and perhaps both sides learn something new.
TonyB
Why does Europe need all this Russian gas? Haven’t the Europeans fluorescent light bulbs; abundant, ever-reliable wind turbines; omnipotent solar panels; and many hamsters running in treadmills?
hullo ! Peter Smith (age 64) in Brisbane where it’s so hot i’m tidying the basement library in my underwear (not a pretty sight)
in reply to G. ALSTON (23:04:44) “But we only have 4 years for Obama to save the world !”
congratulations on being the first canary. Soon the call will go out that George Washington et al were wrong, four years just isn’t enough ! Obama President for 8 years, 12 years, LIFE – welcome to ‘Zimbabwe on the Potomac’
OK, I will only report the “real” science by real scientists in spite of the fact that real politicians are using corrupted science to regulate and tax the “beegeesus” out of me.
Here is some “real” science:
—————————————————————–
Hysterical Hansen Hype: Obama ‘Has Four Years to Save Earth’
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/01/18/hysterical-hansen-hype-obama-has-four-years-save-earth
————————————————————-
How is that for reporting just the real, non-political science?
The closest Canadian station is Edmunston, New Brunswick, which recorded a low of -42C, compared to a normal low of -19C. That’s a bit warmer than Big Black River, but not so as you would notice! Gee, I got back to the topic…
“We may see that [frozen Thames] yet, especially if that little red line keeps ascending like a rocket…”
Nope, not yet at least. Little red line just took a turn to the right. Small turn.
If you want to know where the red line will go, there is a way to predict it. I predicted it would start to freeze up again, about what, 3 weeks ago, and it did. It was not an off the cuff prediction. I looked at predicted weather patterns. I already know the climate is cold enough to freeze a witch’s tit so that part was easy. All I needed to know was where the ocean currents were at and which way the prevailing winds were blowing. All such information is readily available and easily interpreted. Sea ice behavior is not a mysterious CO2 controlled issue.
Same is true for temperature inversions. Which is not a phenomena of cosmic rays and solar wind. I studied inversions in relation to sound propagation back in the 70’s. Again, an easily understood weather phenomena, as is sound propagation in such circumstances.
And me a liberal. You’ld think with that label I should be a nose-ringed drugged up follower of fads.
Thank you for thinking of us here in Canada. To true, when you see temperatures like that in the US on the border it is colder in Canada. We are just finishing off a 5 province wide week long freeze. Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebe and New Brunswick. It was in the minus 30’s in Sask and Manitoba, I think it did get to minus 49 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was only minus 20 were I live. Since the cold wave is going across the continent, we are all out of it now except New Brunswick. It has warmed up to a balmy minus 8 here.
Yes, the cold of eastern North America is more intense than average this year. This is starting to be seen in terms of Great Lakes ice cover:
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1232271110211520.xml&coll=2
Pamela Gray (20:18:02)
a way to predict [arctic ice]
Yes, I remember your earlier post on that; and as a newbie I read it with great interest. Thank you for posting it.
Not knowing much about the entire subject, GW, at least for now I follow a few things so I can see for myself if the GW assertions are valid or not. One of those is, of course, the little red line.
I also am following the heating-degree days data from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, as I have stated on other posts on WUWT. We hear a lot that 2007 was the coldest year world-wide since….well, some say since 2000. By the HDD information, U.S. 2008 was just under 10 percent colder than 2007. Also, the HDD are currently only 1.2 percent less than the 30 year average. But, that is only for the U.S., as I do not know how or where to access more extensive data.
I do not argue the science much yet, although I am trained in chemistry and physics and math to some extent. No PhD here, just a BS engineer. There is something in the supposed ocean acidification that does not quite sit with me, it rings my “how can THAT be?” bell. Perhaps the problem there is in the accepted (or perhaps contextual) use of “equilibrium.” Ah well. More to research!
Another thing I follow is sea level rise, and am still reading on previous posts and following the links provided there. Seems very odd that the MSL data from Boulder shows the Pacific just offshore San Francisco is on a decreasing trend. The HCTB (how can THAT be?) bell is ringing again… This is very important data since California enacted the Climate Warming Initiative (AB 32) to stop sea level rise, among other goals.
I of course follow the extensive discussions on land-temperature measurements, the validity of them, and station modifications.
There are some empirical data available also that can be used to corroborate the climate warming or cooling trends. One that I follow is sales volume of home heating oil in the U.S. — a fairly good indicator of how cold or warm the eastern U.S. is. Not so good for the entire U.S., but still, it is something.
Roger E. Sowell
Marina del Rey, California
When is a mainstream politician going to be brave enough to say that AGW is a nonsense?
http://exp-studies.tor.ec.gc.ca/e/ozone/Curr_allmap_g.htm
As of 18Jan2009 shows a -30% ozone or so ‘blob’ over Canada and the part of the US that is frozen. Accident? I think I need to watch this map more often…