100° Colder!

Perhaps one of the coldest mornings I have ever experienced, especially in the city, the temperature this morning in New York was 100° colder than it was just six months ago during that oppressive heat wave on July 6, 2010.



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Research, Trends Indicate Warming Atmosphere

According to a new study recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, 'global warming' associated with 'climate change' could cool down northern temperatures during the winter months.

The cooling would be the result of shrinking sea-ice in the eastern Arctic which could cause regional heating of the lower levels of the atmosphere, therefore triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents. Most affected would be Europe and northern Asia in the form of cold winter extremes. You can learn more about the study here.

Meanwhile, scientists at NOAA and several other global climate organizations recently contributed to the paper, "Tropospheric Temperature Trends: History of an Ongoing Controversy," also indicating Earth's lower atmosphere is warming.

Displaying trends using 195 cited papers, model results and atmospheric data sets, the paper documents how, since the development of the very first climate models in the early 1960s, the troposphere has been projected to warm along with the Earth's surface because of the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. You can learn more about the paper here.

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Coral Succumbs to Deep Florida Freeze

Remember that unusual and unseasonable harsh winter freeze that made its way down to the Florida Keys earlier this winter? The same one that offered up some snow around Disney and even a flurry or two in Miami? The same one that caused lizards to fall from trees, and forced the citrus crop into anger-management? We blogged about it then and here we are again – this time to talk about the recent devastating assessment of coral reef in the Keys region.

Scientists are saying the cold weather completely killed much of the coral extending from Key Largo through the Dry Tortugas islands west of Key West. Divers assessing the coral last week were looking for bleaching – a tell-tale sign that the ocean life has been damaged, but what they found was even more devastating. The corals didn't even have a chance to bleach. They just went straight to dead. Divers from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are calling the situation an “ecosystem-wide mortality."

Florida: Fail!

UPDATE January 9, 2010: Snow was indeed reported overnight across central Florida. Check out the story here. And below you will see the current (9:45 a.m. EST, Saturday, January 9, 2010) radar image showing continued snowfall across the central Florida peninsula.

Original Post: A number of things go wrong when it gets really cold in Florida. Mickey goes in hibernation. Tourists abandon their beach blankets. Citrus crops get damaged. Hurricanes don't form in the beautiful gulf waters. Spaceships explode. And sadly enough, sea turtles wash ashore and iguanas fall out of trees, simply because they lose their grip in the arctic chill.

This past week has been the coldest it has been in Florida since the mid 1980's. But wait, it gets better (or worse)... snow is expected this weekend in the north-central Florida peninsula! This is after snow already made an appearance this morning in the Florida panhandle. What is going on here!?!?!

Meteorologists say popular cities like Orlando, Tampa, Melbourne, Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral are most likely to be offered the best chance of snow in years, if not decades. Timing of this winter weather event would be Friday night into Saturday.

Are you kidding me!? This totally gets a 5 on the notional weather excitement index! In conclusion, Florida: Fail!

Seriously People it's too Cold for Naked Jogging...

Wednesday night the Secret Service apprehended a naked jogger near the Ellipse in Washington, DC. Jogging naked near the White House is never a good idea, particularly when temperatures are hovering around the freezing point.

The Northeast Quadrant reminds its fans to wear appropriate clothing during these Hoth-like temperatures we are currently experiencing.

Brrr! It's Cold Out There!

Freezing Temperatures...
If any of you have been outside the past several days, you surely noticed it's a bit cold out. The good news is the zephyr like wind over the past weekend should be dying down, so congrats on surviving the Great Winter Wind Weekend of '10.

Down here in DC, the Potomac is starting to freeze. Chunks of ice are flowing. Unfortunately, for those of you adverse to the cold you'd better hunker down and bundle up - it looks like the frigid temperatures are going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

The potential for more cold even triggered an automatic halt on Monday to trading on New York’s ICE Futures US exchange (think damaged orange crops in Florida).

Around the World...
China's national meteorological office warned that temperatures in the nation's far north could fall to around minus 32 degrees Celsius. The image on the right acquired from NASA's Terra satellite on January 4, shows the record snowfall that covered Beijing and much of China after the new year.

Our friends across the pond in the UK are experiencing lows from -2 to -8C. Even in Russia where they are used to the cold, lows tonight in Moscow are expected to hover around zero Fahrenheit.

More Snow???
The upshot here (for the cold averse) looks to be the potential for more snow across the Northeast toward the end of the week. I firmly believe that as long as its going to be cold it may as well snow.