Buresh

"Buresh Blog": Dry past year - Aug. 12th

By Michael Buresh
By Michael Buresh

Aug. 12, 2016 — NOAA issued their updated hurricane forecast for the rest of this season.  If it's accurate, the Atlantic Basin will be busy over the next few months.  I update "Talking the Tropics With Mike" every day during the hurricane season.

The St. Johns Water Management District reports that rainfall has been well below normal for much of Florida during the past year (see map below).  Most areas should have had at least 65" of rain for the period from August through July.  Specifically for Jacksonville (JIA), rainfall from Aug., '15 through July, '16 was 10.71" below average.  The second map shows what such dryness has done to the aquifer.  If the last part of the tropical (wet) season does become more active, we should some very beneficial rainfall.

U.S. drought monitor:

July global temps...... As part of an ongoing joint project between UAHuntsville, NOAA and NASA, Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer, an ESSC principal scientist, use data gathered by advanced microwave sounding units on NOAA and NASA satellites to get accurate temperature readings for almost all regions of the Earth. This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas where reliable climate data are not otherwise available.

The satellite-based instruments measure the temperature of the atmosphere from the surface up to an altitude of about eight kilometers above sea level. 

July temperatures (preliminary)

Global composite temp.: +0.39 C (about 0.70 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for July.

Northern Hemisphere: +0.48 C (about 0.86 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for July.

Southern Hemisphere: +0.30 C (about 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for July.

Tropics: +0.48 C (about 0.86 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for July.

June temperatures (revised):

Global Composite: +0.34 C above 30-year average

Northern Hemisphere: +0.51 C above 30-year average

Southern Hemisphere: +0.17 C above 30-year average

Tropics: +0.38 C above 30-year average

(All temperature anomalies are based on a 30-year average (1981-2010) for the month reported.)

Notes on data released August 2, 2016:

The El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event didn’t continue to fade in July, and global average temperatures — as well as averaged temperatures in both hemispheres and the tropics — rebounded slightly during the month, according to Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. “Temperatures tend to bounce around a little from month to month, even during general trends such as what we see as El Niños and La Niñas come and go. July’s warming isn’t unique. These little bumps also were seen in the cooling after other ENSOs.”

NOAA’s El Niño region sea surface temperature measurements indicate a pause in the recent El Niño’s cooling since its peak in February. Sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific are a little cooler than the overall average for this time of year. NOAA forecasters say the likelihood a La Niña Pacific Ocean cooling event will form between August through October has dropped to between 55 and 60 percent.

Temperature shifts in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean tend to lag several months behind shifts in sea surface temperatures.

In the tropics, July 2016 tied July 2015 as the warmest July in the 38-year satellite temperature record. In the tropics the past two Julys were 0.02 C warmer than the July on either side of the 1997-1998 El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event. Globally, July 2016 was the second warmest July in the satellite record, behind July 1998 at 0.51 C warmer than seasonal norms.

Compared to seasonal norms, the warmest average temperature anomaly on Earth in July was near the town of Palana on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. July temperatures there averaged 3.72 C (about 6.70 degrees F) warmer than seasonal norms. Compared to seasonal norms, the coolest average temperature on Earth in July was in the eastern Antarctic, north of Dome F (the kind of name you give a place where there are no places to name). July’s temperatures there averaged 3.39 C (about 6.10 degrees F) cooler than seasonal Antarctic winter norms.

EARTH GAUGE (National Environmental Education Foundation):

SUMMER ENERGY SAVINGS, Sarah Blount

As we enter the last leg of summer, it’s not just the temperatures that are elevated. For the past twelve months for which the US Energy Information Administration has published data, home electricity use has been highest in July and August, and the average monthly cost of that electricity has peaked late summer and early fall.  

That this time of year is one of high electricity use and cost may come as no surprise to anyone who’s been wrestling with trying to cool their home during this summer’s historic extreme heat events, such as June’s “heat dome” in the Southwest or July’s heat wave in the capital region. According to the EIA, space cooling accounts for the largest share of electricity use in American residences (followed closely by lighting), and NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index shows that this June, people living in the lower 48 states were using much more energy to adjust the temperature in their homes than they have historically.

Clearly, late summer can turn up the heat in more ways than one, and if you’re not making savvy choices when it comes to your energy use, you and your wallet could be feeling the burn.

According to EPA’s ENERGY STAR program, one way to keep your energy bills in check is by keeping your HVAC system in good condition—starting with your air filters. During the winter and summer when you’re running your heating and cooling system particularly heavily, you should be changing your air filter every month. As dust and debris accumulated in the filter, this particulate matter impedes the flow of air, and as a result your HVAC system has to work harder to push the air through, wasting energy and setting the stage for costly maintenance down the road.  

For more tips on how to conserve energy while staying cool this summer, check out ENERGY STAR’s list of tips for efficient heating and cooling.

Sources:

Cox Media Group

”Draft Draft Night in Duval: Thursday at 7PM on FOX30

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