Now that is heavy metal! The TIV 2 is a machine designed specifically for driving into a tornado. Image courtesy Discovery Channel.
The 2008 tornado season was historical for its ferocity. Record breaking numbers of twisters struck Tornado Alley with a frequency not seen in years. In June, north central and western Kansas were ground zero for tornado outbreaks that went on for days.
ThorntonWeather.com continues to be granted special access to the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers (Sunday’s @ 8:00pm MST) footage. In this coming Sunday’s episode, the crew finds itself right in the thick of things. The episode guide says:
No Place Like Kansas – Nov. 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
With the DOW and all the chase vehicles up and running again, the team finds themselves hunting in the same territory as the rival TVN crew. Tornadoes are forming all over western Kansas on what looks like the biggest day of the season.
This week’s sneak peak – A funnel cloud begins to form in the skies over Quinter, Kansas as the the Storm Chasers scramble to approach it.
Also new is our Wildland Fire Activity page that shows an integrated Google Map of all recent major wildland fires in the continental United States. You can click on any incident to get more details. Below the map is the latest wildland fire news from FireHouse.com. In light of the recent fires in California, this is a timely addition. Special thanks to one of our regular visitors, David Canfield, for this suggestion.
Both items are now available under the Almanac menu item on the left.
Do you have an idea of something you would like to see added or improved on ThorntonWeather.com? Don’t be shy! Let us know! Click here to contact us.
In this GISS image, incorrect data shows much of Russia under a heat wave in October.
Scientists at NOAA and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) announced last week that October global temperatures were the hottest on record. Naturally this caused quite a bit of hubbub and had the global warming alarmists in quite an uproar. As we wrote about previously, the year has been cooler than normal in North America but this new data showed that Asia experienced record high temperatures last month. Word of the “hottest October on record” quickly spread of course.
In a bit of an embarrassment for NOAA and GISS, their claims were short lived when two blogger meteorologists went through the data and found a number of anomalies. They discovered at least 10 Russian stations that oddly enough reported the exact same temperatures as September. Well, since October is almost always cooler than September in the northern hemisphere they did some checking and found that GISS had used the incorrect data and it influenced the calculations significantly.
Al Gore's infamous "hockey stick" graph that was used in An Inconvenient Truth was quickly debunked as were a number of other "facts" used in the movie.
When GISS and NOAA recalculated October’s temperatures it dropped the month to the 2nd warmest on record and that is significant. However, these types of problems serve only to fuel doubt in the minds of climate change skeptics and highlight the need for more careful analysis and a level-headed approach to studying the subject – from both sides of the discussion.
Al Gore advocates 'emergency rescue of human civilization.'
In an editorial in the New York Times last week, Al Gore made his case with a plan to, “begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.”
Framing his argument with today’s economic uncertaintly, he advocates an extensive jobs program centered around environmental related works. According to Gore, his plan would put millions to work while helping to ensure our ‘survival’ against the spectre of manmade climate change.
“Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.”
– Al Gore, November 9, 2008
Mr. Gore advocates a number of solutions and alternative fuel sources. Interestingly enough, nuclear power is not included in his proposals despite the fact that it is one of the most powerful and environmentally sound solutions available.
This week in Denver weather history - November 16th to the 22nd.
Looking back into the Denver weather history books for this week, November 16th to the 22nd, we see a lot of the normal things we would expect to – lots of wind and snow.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
645 PM MST SAT NOV 15 2008
..THIS WEEK IN METRO DENVER WEATHER HISTORY…
14-18 IN 1964…THE FIRST MEASURABLE SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON
TOTALED 6.0 INCHES AT STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
WHERE NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTED TO 32 MPH ON THE 14TH.
MOST OF THE SNOW…4.2 INCHES…FELL ON THE 14TH. THIS
WAS THE ONLY MEASURABLE SNOW OF THE MONTH.
15-16 IN 1894…WINDS BEHIND AN APPARENT STRONG COLD FRONT WERE
SUSTAINED TO 60 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH ON THE 15TH.
SNOWFALL TOTALED 2.6 INCHES IN THE CITY. TEMPERATURES
PLUNGED FROM A HIGH OF 72 DEGREES ON THE 15TH TO A LOW
OF ONLY 5 DEGREES ON THE 16TH. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE
ON THE 16TH WAS 24 DEGREES…WHICH OCCURRED SHORTLY
AFTER MIDNIGHT.
IN 1996…AROUND A FOOT OF NEW SNOW FELL IN THE FOOTHILLS
WEST OF DENVER WITH 3 TO 6 INCHES AT LOWER ELEVATIONS
ACROSS METRO DENVER. SOME OF THE SNOWFALL TOTALS
INCLUDED: 15 INCHES AT GEORGETOWN…12 INCHES AT IDAHO
SPRINGS…10 INCHES AT CHIEF HOSA…AND 9 INCHES IN COAL
CREEK CANYON. SNOWFALL TOTALED 2.9 INCHES AT THE SITE
OF THE FORMER STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. NORTHEAST
WINDS GUSTED TO 23 MPH AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON
THE 16TH. Continue reading November 16th – 22nd – This week in Denver weather history→
Today we’ll take a look at some of the best books out there for the weather enthusiast in your life as well as for kids interested in learning more about the weather.
Weather-related gifts for the “weather geek” in your life abound. From books to increase ones knowledge of weather to personal weather stations and even clothes and novelties all make great gifts this holiday season. Today we’ll take a look at some of the best books out there for the weather enthusiast in your life as well as for kids interested in learning more about the weather.
ThorntonWeather.com’s top four weather books for the weather enthusiast
The Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA’s Weather – By Jack Williams of USA Today, this covers the entire gamut of weather phenomena and conditions all with the beautiful illustrations USA Today’s weather section is famous for. This easy to read book is a great one for those wanting to learn more about the weather but it also has plenty of in depth information for even those already well versed on the basics.
Weather: The Ultimate Book of Meteorological Events – This newly released hardcover book has some of the most beautiful (and scary) photos you will ever see of weather events. Accompanied by essays from meteorology and climate change experts, book has 20 years worth of photos of significant weather events. Also included are U.S. and international monthly climactic data charts, 365 days of weather trivia and significant events in meteorological history.
Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers – Quite simply, wow! The images this book contains will amaze and astound you. Professional storm chasers Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen document some of their most incredible chases across the nation’s midsection in photographs and text. Absolutely stunning imagery.
Three weather books for kids
The Kids’ Book of Weather Forecasting – For your 3rd to 5th grader, this book provides a great primer for kids interested in learning more about the weather. Beautiful illustrations make the topics easy to understand and experiments like making a barometer and rain gauge gives kids a hands-on experience.
Storm Chasers! On the Trail of Twisters – Written for kids 7 – 13 years old by veteran storm chasers, this helps to explain severe weather to youth. Colorful illustrations help kids become familiar with various types of storms, learn how to spot them and teaches them storm chasing safety and responsible storm chasing behavior.
The Weather Detectives – This book chronicles three kids as they investigate weather phenomena like the causes of tornadoes, hurricanes, ice and hail storms, flash floods, the Northern Lights, and more. Written by a professional meteorologist, this book is sure to educate and entertain.
Global warming? Not this year in the U.S. Thus far most of the United States is experiencing cooler temperatures in 2008.
According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), much of the United States is experiencing below normal temperatures thus far in 2008. In all, through the end of October, over 80% of the continental United States is experiencing normal or below normal temperatures.
Certainly we cannot draw any real conclusions about manmade climate change or global warming from these isolated incidents but they do have to make you wonder.
For those that may not have noticed it in the most recent issue of Inside Thornton, the city has launched a new service called Thornton Connected. This new website and system allows area residents access to all sorts of new information from the city. First is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the website that covers the entire breadth of city services. That same information is also available by phone. Second is an email subscription service that allows area residents to receive periodic emails from the city on a range of topics from just about every city department.
We have subscribed to many of the email newsletters and have them to be very informative. The city is also doing a great job of ensuring the number of messages isn’t overwhelming and is only sending out the important stuff. We commend the City of Thornton on this new service for residents!
At the current time the system is only for non-emergency messages. We do wish and hope the city will consider expanding the system to include emergency messages such as tornado warnings, Amber Alerts and other emergency alerts. The city does not have an emergency siren system or any other way to disseminate emergency information to residents and we believe this would be a valuable and potentially life saving service. A number of municipalities across the country and in Colorado have implemented such systems. We are going to talk to the city about this and will update you when we learn more about their plans.
Please view the Winter Weather Preparedness series to ensure you are ready for the winter!
We recently published a series of articles from the National Weather Service as part of Colorado’s Winter Weather Preparedness Week. We have now made those stories easier to find by adding them to the Weather Education menu on the left of every page.
This series of articles is a ‘must read’ for anyone living or traveling in Colorado or any place else that receives severe winter weather. Covering a wide range of related topics, these articles help ensure you are ready for the coming winter. The articles cover the following topics:
November 9th - 15th - This week in Denver weather history.
Plenty of snow and wind dominate a look back at the Denver weather calendar for this week in weather history – November 9th to the 15th.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
645 PM MST SAT NOV 08 2008
…THIS WEEK IN METRO DENVER WEATHER HISTORY…
8-9 IN 1897…WEST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS
AS HIGH AS 50 MPH IN THE CITY.
IN 1919…POST-FRONTAL HEAVY SNOWFALL TOTALED 8.4 INCHES OVER
DOWNTOWN DENVER. MOST OF THE SNOW…6.6 INCHES…FELL ON THE
9TH. NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 26 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
30 MPH ON THE 8TH.
IN 1950…A MAJOR WINTER STORM DUMPED 10.4 INCHES OF SNOW AT
STAPLETON AIRPORT WITH THE MOST SNOW…7.8 INCHES…FALLING
ON THE 8TH. EAST WINDS GUSTED TO 31 MPH AT STAPLETON
AIRPORT ON THE 8TH. SNOWFALL TOTALED 8.2 INCHES IN
DOWNTOWN DENVER.
IN 1958…STRONG WINDS CAUSED SOME DAMAGE IN BOULDER. WEST-
NORTHWEST WINDS GUSTED TO 40 MPH AT STAPLETON AIRPORT ON
THE 8TH.
IN 1975…HEAVY SNOWFALL HIT METRO DENVER. SNOWFALL AT
STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TOTALED 8.0 INCHES AND
EAST WINDS GUSTED TO 21 MPH. POWER OUTAGES CAUSED BY THE
STORM AFFECTED OVER 10 THOUSAND PEOPLE IN METRO DENVER. IN
THE FOOTHILLS WEST OF DENVER…10 TO 15 INCHES OF SNOW FELL.
THE STORM PRODUCED THE GREATEST 24-HOUR PRECIPITATION…1.29
INCHES…EVER RECORDED DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IN THE
CITY. Continue reading November 9th – 15th – This week in Denver weather history→
Weather, natural disasters & climate news and information.
