MikJournal Monday 01/04/16

El Nino and it's effects so far....

Hilo HI warmest year on record
Portland OR warmest year on record, shatters previous record by 1.2 degrees; wettest December on record
Crater Lake OR snowiest December on record at 197"
26 locations across 10 different states set daily snowfall records for the month of December, including Lubbock and Plainview TX and Roswell NM.
4 of those locations set all-time daily snowfall records, including Bemidji MN with 25" and Friona TX with 18".
21 locations set all-time daily precipitation records for any month of the year during December, including 9.75" at Abbott AR and 9.23" at Moulton AL.

You can argue that El Nino did not cause the events to happen. And you would be right, because El Nino does not cause anything. However, it does influence jet streams, a proven driver that does affect temperatures and precipitation.

Much of the information I have just shelled out to you looks like I have spent hours researching every little morsel of weather information to give to you.

Well, thanks for the compliment. But, the information that I am providing, comes from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

During 2015, the NCDC and two other centers, the geophysical data center and the oceanographic data center merged into one large center called the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

The merger took place because demand for environmental information preceding 2015 has been escalating.

Presently, the centers combine for more than 20 PB of digital information. I will confess that I am technologically challenged. However, I am getting used to gigabytes and terabytes. But, the petabyte (PB) I have yet to see until now. So, one petabyte is equal to 1,000 terabytes or 1,000,000 gigabytes. Therefore, over 20,000 terabytes of information are available through the NCEI.

Already, there have been noticeable impacts. For example, a long-standing highest temperature record for Colorado of 118 degrees at Bennett has now been changed. It was determined that a typographical transcription error had occurred because area temperatures were 15-20 degrees cooler on that date of July 11, 1888.

Now, Colorado's highest temperature is 114 degrees, set July 1 1933 at Las Animas and tied on July 11 1954 at Sedgwick.

In addition, a state 24-hour precipitation record of 38.70" at Yankeetown FL, set on September 5 1950 has been changed. Since it was an estimate based on a post-storm survey, some even believe it was an underestimate of the actual rainfall, it cannot be considered an official observation from a reliable precipitation gauge.

The new Florida record is 23.28" at Key West on November 11-12, 1980.

Similarly and one of my favorites, is the U.S. 24-hour precipitation record of 43" at Alvin TX on July 25-26 1979. Yes, it has now been changed as well. Since the 43" appears to be estimated during a post storm report, the estimate cannot be used.

Therefore, the observed 42" about 8.5 miles from Alvin will be used, even though the gauge was overflowing at one time, perhaps up to 3" being underreported. Still, the 42" at Alvin continues as a U.S. record.

As you can see, perhaps other records may fall by the wayside as more data becomes available. Again, this is just one of the things we can expect from the newly formed NCEI.

MS