More from the “weather is not climate department”. Emphasis below mine. And it is having an effect not only on crops but tourism in the Northeast US. – Anthony
Statement as of 4:00 PM EDT on July 9, 2009
record event report … corrected
National Weather Service Gray ME
400 PM EDT Thursday Jul 09 2009
… More record cold weather for Portland Maine…
The temperature at the Portland jetport only reached 58 degrees
yesterday. This set a record for the coldest high temperature on
July 7th. The old record was 59 degrees set in 1961. To put this in
another perspective… the normal low temperature for July 7th is 58
degrees.
The low temperature on Wednesday was 55 degrees. This produced a
range of only 3 degrees between the high and low temperatures which
is a record for the smallest daily range in temperatures on July
7th. The old record was a 4 degree spread set in 1963 and 1995.
The 3 degree daily temperature range yesterday also tied the record
for the smallest daily temperature range for any day in July. The
record was established on July 16th, 1961 and occurred five more
times before this year.
The average temperature yesterday was 57 degrees… which tied 1961
as the coldest average temperature for July 7th.
The high of 58 yesterday tied July 6th of 1956 as the second coldest
high ever recorded at the Portland jetport in July. The coldest high
ever in July was 57 degrees on the 4th of July in 1992.
On the 1st and 2nd of this month Portland only reached 59 degrees
both days… setting records for the coldest high temperature each
day and also tying several other days for the fourth coldest high
ever recorded in July.
Portland has set a record cold high temperature four out of the
first eight days this month. Here is a list of the record cold high
temperatures so far this month…
Date high temp. 2009 old record high and year
July 1st 59 degrees 62 degrees in 1976
July 2nd 59 degrees 63 degrees in 1986
July 7th 60 degrees 64 degrees in 1956
July 8th 58 degrees 59 degrees in 1961
Here is a list of the coldest high temperatures ever recorded in the
month of July at the Portland jetport. Four of the ten coldest
highs occurred in the first eight days of this month…
Rank temperature date
1 57 degrees July 4, 1992
2 58 degrees July 6, 1956
58 degrees July 8, 2009 <===
4 59 degrees July 8, 1961
59 degrees July 16, 1961
59 degrees July 30, 1976
59 degrees July 3, 1987
59 degrees July 1, 2009 <===
59 degrees July 2, 2009 <===
10 60 degrees July 7, 2009 <===
11 61 degrees several dates
The normal high temperature for the month of July is 78.8 degrees.
Along with the cold weather portlanders have also had to deal with
soaking rain this month. There have been three days so far with
around an inch and a half of rain. Rainfall of 1.41 inches fell on
the 2nd, 1.57 inches fell on the 7th and 1.50 inches fell on the 8th.
The 1.41 inches on the 2nd set a record for daily precipitation for
the date… topping the old record of 1.32 inches set in 1983. The
1.57 inches on the 7th was also a record… breaking the old mark for
the date of 1.34 inches set in 1935. The 1.50 inches on the 8th was
far short of the record 3.66 inches that fell on July 8th, 1915.
Temperature records at the Portland jetport began on November 25,
1940 and precipitation records go back to 1871.
&&
Note… corrected date in second table and added normal high for July.
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I have poked around looking for a way to access temperature data records for my city (which is in the US) for the past 100 years (or however long it has been recorded.) I’m assuming that there’s a place where I can download the data – maybe it’s an excel datasheet. I’m embarassed to say I can’t locate the source. Any ideas on how to go about this?
I’m wanting to know how long it’s been since my location has had to wait for so long to see the first 100 degree day in the summer. Maybe we’ll miss having the tripple digits this year.
Perhaps an explanation of heat transfer is in order for you folks who seem a bit confused.
Zeke,
That map is hilarious. It would have to get down to 40 at 8PM to show any green. Since that didn’t happen in mid July, the map varies from yellow to red to white hot. APparently, 40 is a normal daytime temp in the US in July, otherwise, why would it be green, and global warming has heated the whole country up into unheard of temps like the 60s (Yellow) and 70s(Orange) and 80s (red) and so on.
That is what is called a “rhetorical” map.
Anthony: fair enough, though it is pretty darn hot at the moment in the Southwest. Weather and all.
Know of any good resource for a daily anomaly map? It seems like any weather map that keeps the same color scheme year round is going to be rather blue in the winter and rather red in the summer, though as you point out some schemes can show ranges better than others.
One benefit of colder weather: we won’t have tens of thousands of French people dying in heatwaves.
Robin, I have no doubt that some individual farmers could get hurt up there, but there won’t be any “food shortages.”
We have about 78 Billion pounds of corn sitting in elevators with no place to go, and a “bumper crop” in the making.
Does $0.06/lb sound Okay?
Actually, that’s not correct. That was the “Carryover.” I guess we’re down to about 20 Billion Pounds, now. But, that should be enough, eh?
RE: “’m tired of this weather we’ve had in SE Texas. I KNOW the rest of the world is getting a chill, but apparently it’s been at the expense of SE Texas which has been hot and dry and all drought-y.”
Your “monsoon” has failed. As have a number of semi tropical and tropical convective seasonal rain makers. The ITCZ has not moved very far pole ward. This is the double whammy of KILLER GLOBAL COOLING.
There is no more good news. Only approaching darkness.
Climate Audit has a post about flaws in the satallite data.
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=6586
The breakpoint stuff is interesting to start out with, there’s also an article about HADSst.
I’ve seen it mentioned here, but I think it may be worth a blog entry on the AMO going negative and what that means for the eastern US (hint: COLD!!!)
In addition, what is the implication of a negative PDO and AMO at the same time?
Hey “Flanagan”
Down here in El Paso, Texas we have been hitting around 100 and
some days a degree or two warmer. That’s actually not really hot for
El Paso at this time of year. About 14 years ago I was installing my new roof
and we were at about 114 degrees. This time of the year only 100 is kind
of cold! No record highs here, Sorry DUDE!
Why is SOI still rising?
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/
To be getting close to +10 when an El Nino is supposed to arrive doesn’t make any sense, that is if you believe in the predictions made by NOAA and their prediction for it to drop again.
Graeme Rodaughan (16:02:34) “[…] (and if temps keep going down, I expect to start hearing)
[4] Catastrophic Global Cooling.
In all statements, man and his emissions are the driving force behind the “predicted catastrophy”.”
It will be interesting to see what “breakthrough in understanding” might be trotted out to explain such an apparent contradiction, should it arise. The alternative (admitting error) is not likely to be a popular option, so lesser evils will be given serious consideration, should the scenario you describe unfold. Interesting post.
Outside Washington D.C (Annapolis MD) we haven’t run the air conditioning yet this season (which is unheard of for anyone familiar with the hot/sticky/humid DC/Maryland summers).
We use a whole house fan to pull air through the house and only run the A/C on the hottest/stickyest days, haven’t had to yet! Nightime temperatures drop into the mid/low 60’s this year which is quite comfortable sleeping temperatures.
Our electrical consumption is much lower this year (which of course will be offset by the local power company Kwh increases due to Cap and Trade legislation).
MattN wrote: “I’ve seen it mentioned here, but I think it may be worth a blog entry on the AMO going negative and what that means for the eastern US (hint: COLD!!!)In addition, what is the implication of a negative PDO and AMO at the same time?”
Here’s a good link…if you have not already seen. Agreed on your assessment of the implications…
http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com/category/atlantic-multidecadal-oscillation-amo/
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
“where I can download the data”
Check out:
http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ushcn/usa.html
I could well be wrong in this, probably am, but my conjecture is that Flanagan is actually an AI attempting to pass the Turing test [but failing if catch on to it]
If this is so, would my post be called an ad hominem? or something else …like ad nauseum?
Sorry!
Cool weather in New York also :
“… it’s the first time since World War I that the mercury has failed to hit 85.”
Video report from ABC News :
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=14448230&ch=4226722&src=news
Yeah weather is not climate. So from the climate is climate:
Current trend on Wood for Trees index (from 1979 to May 2009): 0.14 degrees a decade or 1.4 deg per century.
May temperature is around 0.1 degrees below this trend. Values about 0.1 degrees below trend happen regularly, with most gaps between such occurences less than 2 or 3 years.
Currently we are around 2 years continuous below this trend line. The only rough equivelant to this length of below trend temps is during early 1990s, heavily influenced by a volcano (if memory is serving me right).
Every el nino has pushed the temps above the trend line, so if we get an el nino, and another 12 months of below trend temperatures I would be seriously considering the likelihood that the last 30 year trend of temperatures is no longer an accurate reflection of what is currently happening with climate.
We had a frost cold snap warning here in NH once already in July, the first time since, get this, 1913…..
weather one day in one place is not climate.
I am tired of the weather where I live in Ontario. It has been 5 to 10 degrees C lower than average for the past 2 and a half years. Last year I got the heat off at the end of June, only to turn it on for a few weeks in July and then for a few weeks in August. This year I turned it off for a week in June. That is it. When it is going down to 10 C at night it has to be on in the morning so we can move and shower. Our government is working on their cap and trade plan. When that happens, if not before, I am gone. This country is too cold to be a banana republic.
“UK Sceptic (15:36:37) :
It’s raining cats and dogs here right now. It’s chucked down more than three inches of rain in the last few hours and roads in low lying areas have been turned into fords. This is the same type of weather that the Met Office failed to forecaste for the last few years. But then, if they keep forecasting a “barbecue” summer year on year they’ll get it right sooner or later.
Good news from the UK front. The Daily Express, a mianstream national daily newspaper, has finally cottoned on to the fact that AGW is going to cost us all dear and put it on the front page.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/113555/Energy-bills-to-rise-by-230-
Even Monbiot seems to be attempting a U turn – of sorts. I can’t be sure because I found most of his frothing at the mouth rambling unreadable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/13/climate-change-emissions-uk”
Here in Australia, the Rudd Labor Govn’t (On the back of the last Howard govn’t) just gave us taxpayers a tax break, worth about AU$9 per week to me. Two days later I got a letter from my power utility telling me my power bill was going up by just over AU$6 per week, plus 10% GST. This is on top of higher gas costs, higher health insurance costs and higher food costs. Lovely!
“Flanagan (11:12:12) :
I’m very impressed by your politeness, Anthony. If you don’t like dissenting ideas, state it from the start. Maybe “Wattsup with my own opinions” would be better.
REPLY: “Flanagan” There are plenty of dissenting ideas presented here, including yours, so your critcism as usual is myopic to your own world view.
I grow tired of your constant whining over the reporting of things that I see as relevant and interesting to the readers of this blog. Nearly every time I report on a record low or cold story you start this whining drivel. I’m tired of it.
I’m also not impressed with the need for an academic such as yourself, at a university in Belgium to have to hide behind anonymity. If you ideas and opinions are worth something, put your name to it. Intellectual cowards such as yourself do not impress me at all. – Anthony Watts”
Well there’s his problem. In Belgium, with the “Flemmies” and “Walloons” trying to erase each other’s language, it’s not easy keeping track of reality.
Are these temperatures BH or AH. I’m sure that the After Hansen figures will make everyone realize just how hot it really was. Sheesh, can’t you people wait for the ‘official’ results as determined by the accounting firm of “Dewey, Cheatim and Howe”. I do believe they are about to allow JH to join as a full fledged partner.
George E. Smith (11:52:07) :
The sampling regiman violates the Nyquist sampling theorem
George,
Nyquist is only meaningful if you are trying to reconstruct the original signal. This is not the purpose of the sampling. Also, the sampling of temperature is not periodic since the min/max temperatures occur at different times on different days, so speaking about Nyquist doesn’t even make sense because it requires evenly spaced samples.
Please don’t take this as a defense of the manner in which the sampling is done, I do not intend it as such. Trying to compute the average by averaging the extremes is preposterous.
Lyman Horne
p.s. for those who don’t know what the Nyquist sampling theorem is, here is a fair treament on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem