An intense and prolonged heat wave has enveloped northern Argentina for the past two weeks causing serious power outages and social unrest (this December may go down as the hottest month on record in Buenos Aires--since 1856) while heavy rainfall in southeastern Brazil has resulted in floods that have killed at least 44 so far.
weatherhistorian, • 8:32 PM GMT on December 30, 2013
An intense extra-tropical North Atlantic storm passed over northern Scotland on December 24th causing the pressure to fall to 936.8 mb (27.66”) at Stronoway around 1 p.m. local time Christmas Eve Day. This was the 3rd lowest pressure ever observed at a land site in the British Isles (next to a 927 mb/27.37” reading at Belfast, Ireland on December 8, 1886 and 925.6 mb/27.33" at Ochtertyre, near Crieff in central Scotland on 26 January 1884).
weatherhistorian, • 8:58 PM GMT on December 26, 2013
The large and complex winter storm system designated ‘Gemini” by The Weather Channel has loosened its grip over the U.S. following three days of wild weather. Most impressive were the rain totals and warmth that proceeded the storms frontal passage across the central and eastern portions of the country. Here is a brief summary of some of the highlights.
weatherhistorian, • 9:53 PM GMT on December 23, 2013
In mid-October, and again mid-November, I posted blogs concerning how dry the year had been in California, ending each blog with the optimistic caveat that the wet season was just beginning and there was plenty of time to catch up precipitation-wise before the end of the year. Well, it turns out that was nothing more than optimism. With only 10 days left and the latest forecast models indicating a close to zero chance for any further significant precipitation to fall in the state, it now appears virtually certain to become California’s driest calendar year on record. Needless to say, California is one of the most water hungry places on earth.
weatherhistorian, • 8:45 PM GMT on December 20, 2013
Of course, the most significant extreme weather event globally during the month of November was Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines deadliest natural disaster on record and one of the most powerful tropical storms to make landfall in modern history. Other significant events were the tornado outbreak in the U.S. Midwest, exceptional rainfall and flooding in Sardinia, Cuba, and Vietnam, a deadly tropical storm in Somalia, and unusually high temperatures in portions of Alaska, Russia, and Europe. It was earth’s warmest November on record. See Jeff Master’s blog about this.
weatherhistorian, • 7:36 PM GMT on December 17, 2013
UPDATE No snow or sleet fell in the suburbs of Cairo, Egypt, just hail. However, snow did fall in portions of Israel and Jordan while record high temperatures occurred in northern Scandinavia this week. Once again, a convoluted jet stream (as we saw last week between Alaska and the contiguous U.S.) is causing topsy-turvy weather in the northern hemisphere.
weatherhistorian, • 9:17 PM GMT on December 13, 2013
As Jeff Masters blogged on December 10th satellite data indicates that a temperature of -93.2°C (-135.8°F) had been measured at a site near Dome Argus in Antarctica on August 10, 2010, colder than any land-based measurement from the frozen continent (that being Vostok’s -89.2°C/-128.6°F on July 21, 1983). Unfortunately, many media outlets headlined this as a “new coldest temperature recorded on earth”. This is not the case, however, so far as being an ‘official’ earth record.
weatherhistorian, • 8:56 PM GMT on December 11, 2013
While a cold wave has gripped much of the contiguous U.S., including at least one all-time record in Oregon, unusual warmth has affected far northern Alaska. The topsy-turvy temperature regime is the result of a pronounced ridge and trough over western North America. Here is a summary of the temperatures.
weatherhistorian, • 9:05 PM GMT on December 09, 2013
Temperatures updated Dec. 8 A large winter storm, designated as ‘Cleon’ by The Weather Channel, affected most of the U.S. Tuesday through Friday (November 3-6) and was followed by extreme cold in the Rocky Mountain States and Upper Midwest. Record warmth preceded the storm in the Southeast while an unrelated storm brought low-level snow to Oregon and California on Friday. Here is a brief summary of the main events.
weatherhistorian, • 9:41 PM GMT on December 07, 2013
It has been quite awhile (or so it seems) since there was a big arctic outbreak and cold wave in early December in the U.S. In fact this is not unusual and has occurred many times in the past if not in the recent past. Here is an example.
weatherhistorian, • 8:53 PM GMT on December 04, 2013
According to the NWS-Honolulu office the temperature spiked to 94°F (34.4°C) on the morning of November 28th tying Hilo’s all-time maximum temperature for any month. However, it is an anomalous figure and hard to believe (as is the ‘official’ Hawaiian state record high of 100°F (37.8°C) set at Pahala in April 1931. Here are the details.
weatherhistorian, • 8:32 PM GMT on December 02, 2013