Buresh Blog: Another 90 degree day then a brief taste of fall.... arctic sea ice way below average

Oct. 23, 2019 — 5 weeks left in the hurricane season - "Talking the Tropics With Mike" updated every day.

Summer is trying to hang on.  Yet another 90-degree day (91) Tue., 10/22 was the 100th 90 degree day of the year.  The avg. for a year is 82 days, & we were just 5 days from the latest 90 degree day ever recorded - Oct. 27th.

The unseasonable heat occurred ahead of a strong cold front that dipped temps. the next (Wed., 10/23) morning to the coolest in nearly 6 months! But the cool air will not be around long & heat & especially humidity return for the weekend into a good part of the following week (I always say you have to wait 'til Halloween - at least - for when cool air will move in & stay).

While we've had some chilly air enter the Northern & NW U.S. this month, arctic ice is well below avg. - some 3 million sq km below the avg. of 8.4 million sq km. - from the National Snow & Ice Data Center.  This despite a very snowy spring & early summer that saw snow on the ground into late July in Greenland.

Interesting read from phys.org - on Florida mangroves - click here.  Mangroves are tropical, salt-tolerant trees that die of during severe freezes.  Florida's last widespread significant freeze was in Jan., 2010 but a long term widespread severe freeze has not occurred since the 1980s.  On average, these harsh freezes occur every 10-30 years, so we're due to say the least.  The article points out that data doesn't necessarily point ot climate change for the latest move north by the mangroves which serve a vital role in our coastal environment: (1) protect against storm surge during hurricanes.... (2) good at removing carbon (greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere.

Photo from NOAA:

Lots of talk & controversy regarding a major EF-3 tornado in Dallas Sunday night (Oct. 20th) & the manner in which tornado warnings were - or were not - communicated via television.   The FCC may very well become involved.  The NBC affliate was showing the Dallas Cowboy game which led the station only occasionally breaking into programming - including weather/storm crawls - despite a large EF-3 damage moving through populated areas of North Dallas.  See an interesting video timeline * here * showing all four local t.v. stations at the same time & their handling of the tornado warning.  Video & pics from "LiveScience" - here.

This protocol is constantly scrutinized by consumers.  Action News Jax policy is to break into regular programming for all tornado warnings.

Interesting air pressure readings:

Jamie Rhome, National Hurricane Center, has been awarded the Service to America medal for his pioneering work on storm inundation & storm surge including public warnings.  I've had a chance to interview Jamie on multiple occasions.... I've followed his work & research... & now I use many of the forecast products he's helped develop to warn & advise you about storm surge & water levels during a tropical storm or hurricane.  Job well done!

Example of a storm inundation map - forecast feet above ground level.  This map has proven to be very helpful - especially along the coast during hurricanes.  These proved quite accurate along our coast during Matthew & Irma.

Cox Media Group