Buresh Blog: Jan. temps... local tsunami's - Feb. 7th

Feb. 7, 2018 — The numbers are final & Jan. was indeed colder than avg. - by about 2.6 degrees - & only the 2nd month (June the other one) below avg. since last winter.

The globe, however, continued to have above avg. temps. for the month  In fact, New Zealand had their warmest month on record (compared to avg.)......

As part of an ongoing joint project between UAH, 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.

Global Temperature Report: January 2018

Temperatures fall as La Niña’s effects are felt

Global climate trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.13 C per decade

January temperatures (preliminary)

Global composite temp.: +0.26 C (about 0.47 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for January.

Northern Hemisphere: +0.46 C (about 0.83 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for January.

Southern Hemisphere: +0.06 C (about 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year average for January.

Tropics: - 0.12 C (about 0.22 degrees Fahrenheit) below 30-year average for January.

December temperatures (revised):

Global Composite: +0.41 C above 30-year average

Northern Hemisphere: +0.50 C above 30-year average

Southern Hemisphere: +0.33 C above 30-year average

Tropics: +0.26 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 Feb. 1, 2018:

A La Niña equatorial Pacific Ocean cooling event is making itself felt in the atmosphere, dropping average temperatures in the tropics to their lowest point since June 2012 (-0.15 C), and temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere (+0.06 C) to their coolest since April 2015 (-0.01 C), according to Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

The drop in tropical temperatures (0.38 C) from December to January tied for the third largest one-month drop in the 470 months of satellite temperature data. The largest was 0.51 C from September to October 1991, which followed the eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines. The second largest (0.41 C) was from July to August 2014. 

Compared to seasonal norms, the coldest spot on the globe in January was near the Tsambagarav-Uul National Park, in eastern Mongolia. Temperatures there were 3.22 C (about 5.80 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than seasonal norms.

Compared to seasonal norms, the warmest place on Earth in January was near Wrangel Island, in the East Siberian Sea. Tropospheric temperatures there averaged 4.75 C (about 8.55 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than seasonal norms.

Feb. night skies from "SkyandTelescope":

Feb. 2–16 (evening): The zodiacal light is visible at mid-northern latitudes from dark sites: Look toward the west after sunset for a tall, hazy pyramid of light.

Feb. 8 (dawn): Antares, Mars, the waning crescent Moon, and Jupiter form a celestial arc that straddles Scorpio and Libra.

Feb. 11 (dawn): Low in the southeast, just before sunrise, a sliver of the crescent Moon hangs 2° above Saturn.

Feb. 23 (evening): Look high in the sky to see the first quarter Moon less than 5° left or upper left of Aldebaran.

Feb. 28 (all night): The almost-full Moon leads Regulus across the sky. Watch as the gap decreases, with the Moon eventually occulting (covering) the star for much of northern North America.

Mar. 3 (dusk): Just 1° separates Venus and Mercury as they sink toward the horizon in the west.

Mar. 7 (night): The waning gibbous Moon and Jupiter rise together in the east less than 4° apart shortly before midnight.

Mar. 11 (2 a.m.): Daylight-Saving Time begins for most of the United States and Canada.

Moon Phases

Last Quarter       February 7,         10:54 a.m. EST

New Moon           February 15,       4:05 p.m. EST

First Quarter       February 23,       3:09 a.m. EST

NOTE: Because Full Moons fall on January 31st and March 1st, there is no Full Moon in February. This last occurred in 1999 and will not happen again until 2037

A tsunami "scare / incident" Tue., Feb. 6 - story - here... NOAA's National Weather Service issued their regular test of a tsunami warning.  But one private forecasting company's App - AccuWeather - sent out the alert as the "real deal".  Couple things worth noting:

- the First Alert Weather App did not activate the warning - worked properly in other words

- the President/CEO of AccuWeather - Barry Myers - is up for nomination for head of NOAA - a highly debated appointment by President Trump since Myers is the head of a private company that technically competes against the government's N.W.S.

In reality..... while the tsunami threat for Jacksonville/NE Fl./SE Ga. is smaller than the west coast, a threat does exist.  A local tsunami is known to have occurred in 1886 after a S. Carolina (Charleston) earthquake - story here.  The tsunami hit Mayport first then traveled up the St. Johns River - much less populated in the late 19th Century, of course.  Then in 1992 a "rogue" wave - about 10 feet tall - hit Daytona Beach - thought to be spawned by a squall line of thunderstorms offshore OR an underwater landslide.  You can find an extensive list & description of tsunami & tsunami-like wave incidents - here -.

Cox Media Group