Global Extremities of Summer 2010

What a summer it has been! From heat waves to floods and from drought to wildfires and even severe weather outbreaks, extreme weather has been the rule. Just looking back at recent blog posts here on The Northeast Quadrant, it seems that at least once a week a story gets posted about rare and record-breaking weather conditions!

Most recently, monsoon flooding has been wreaking havoc in Pakistan and an extreme heat wave has been fueling wildfires and creating health hazards in Russia, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research agrees that although this time of year always brings treacherous weather to the northern hemisphere, conditions have been quite exceptional – attributing the intense monsoons to La Niña, which typically brings wetter conditions to Asia. Other contributing factors noted are the strong ridge above Pakistan that is blocking the moisture from circulating out of the region as well as the infamous climate change and the long-term warming of the oceans and the atmosphere. In this case, because the Indian Ocean is so warm it's further fueling the heavy rain.

The extreme events seen this summer are likely connected to each other by the currents in the atmosphere. Those currents are responsible for the unusual weather conditions we've been experiencing here in the United States, as well as the extreme heat and drought that has plagued Russia for most of the summer. However, normal seasonal changes should bring some relief to both regions soon.

Some climate-change skeptics (myself included) argue there is not enough information about weather patterns over long periods of history to draw conclusions about extreme weather events and climate change. I personally think it's all natural and cyclical.

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The United States is Snow Packed!

A vigorous snowstorm has been moving across the Gulf States since early Thursday, spreading snow and ice from Texas to North Carolina. In its path -- Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina... and even Florida. That's right, for the second time this winter the Sunshine State is experiencing abnormally cold temperatures and snowfall. But why the big deal? It's not The Northeast Quadrant that's being affected. Well, get this...

The new snow pack in Dixie brings the total states dusted with snow up to 49. I would have had to say 50, and I heard all 50 had snow, but after further investigating, The Washington Post reports that Hawaii does not currently have snow cover. Although snow falls every winter on Hawaii's two tallest volcanoes, the National Weather Service in Honolulu said there was no snow in the state as of today.

At this time nearly 70 percent of the entire nation is absolutely snow packed (see image to the right)! And as the southern storm moves off the coast tomorrow morning it is estimated that over 70 percent of the nation will be snow packed. And get this, there's another storm heading for the mid-Atlantic and northeast on Monday, adding to the record depth of snow in those areas.

Record Low National Drought!

The stormy pattern affecting the nation over the past several months has proved extremely helpful in fighting the national drought, which is at an all-time low!

A drought, which is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply, has in recent years been especially harsh in the desert southwest, including California, Nevada and Arizona; the inter-mountain west states of Utah and New Mexico; and the gulf states from Georgia to South Carolina.

As of January 26, The U.S. Drought Monitor, which measures drought on a scale from D0 (abnormally dry) to D4 (exceptionally dry), indicates that only 9.15% of the country is in moderate to exceptional drought. This is a 10-year record low percentage of drought in the United States since the Drought Monitor report began in 1999.

The Weather Channel says much of this drought alleviation can be attributed to the recent western storminess that provided days of heavy snow and excessive rains across the southwest. Arizona went from 88% of the state in severe or worse drought to just 15.7% in one week, while California plummeted from 63.2% to 19.4%.