A massive winter storm covering nearly 1,700 miles has brought Arctic cold, record snowfall and blizzard conditions to a large swatch of the nation. From southwestern Utah, across the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains to northeastern Michigan winter weather warnings have been issued as Old Man Winter arrives two weeks early.
Starting in California, parts of the Sierra Nevada saw up to four feet of snow. In Arizona the storm brought high winds to the Phoenix area which downed power lines leaving 250,000 people without power. Flagstaff, Arizona and Reno, Nevada were covered in blankets of snow.
In Colorado, the entire state was feeling the effects of the storm. The southwestern part of the state was experiencing blizzard conditions while the Denver area, spared significant snowfall, suffered through single digit temperatures and wind chills dipping to 10 degrees below zero.
As if often the case, winter storm can turn deadly and this system has not been an exception. Two people were killed in New Mexico due to traffic accidents on dangerously slick roads and the state’s road crews were struggling to keep up with falling snow.
This image from the Google Earth tour released by California and Google portrays some of the dangers manmade climate change are thought to bring to the state. See below for a link to watch the video. (State of California)
The state of California and Google have been considered at the forefront of the fight against manmade climate change and the two have come together to help the state’s residents visualize the effects of global warming. The new interactive tool, dubbed CalAdapt and part of the Google Earth software, portrays a dismal future for the Sunshine State unless steps are taken to stem man’s effect on the earth.
Narrated by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the tour begins by zooming in and out of the state and highlighting the steps it has taken on its own. Investments in renewable energy, its commitment to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels and the state’s green building program are all featured.
Graphic representation of the effects of manmade climate change are meant to drive home the dangers California faces. From a less reliable water supply to more frequent and more intense wildfires and rising sea levels, the state faces a number of risks according to the video.
The unveiling ceremony was held on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. The significance of the location was not lost on Schwarzenegger who said, “Within a century, Treasure Island, this place where we are right now, could be totally under water.”
The story has all the makings of a big news story and a world class whodunit. An illegal break in leads to charges of a global conspiracy. Some of the world’s leading experts tackling one of the most pressing issues of our day and age are forced to launch a defense of themselves. Two experts fall under the specter of investigations, Congress holds hearings into the affair, the Internet is set afire by one phrase – Climategate.
For two weeks the story rages and grows in intensity and yet somehow, the big three television networks are missing in action. Whether the story is just smoke or if there is fire behind it, the hacking of one of the world’s major climate research centers and the fallout from it is big news. By ignoring the story, ABC, CBS and NBC are highlighting the failures of themselves and much of the mainstream media. Perhaps more importantly they are contributing to their own demise and irrelevance.
Since the Climategate story broke two weeks ago today on November 20th, the story has been covered by all cable news networks including FOX News and CNN. Through it all, the big three are nowhere to be found. Not one mention of the event has been made on the networks’ morning or evening news broadcasts.
The story has all the makings of a big news story and a world class whodunit. An illegal break in leads to charges of a global conspiracy. Some of the world’s leading experts tackling one of the most pressing issues of our day and age are forced to launch a defense of themselves. Two experts fall under the specter of investigations, Congress holds hearings into the affair, the Internet is set afire by one phrase – Climategate.
For two weeks the story rages and grows in intensity and yet somehow, the big three television networks are missing in action. Whether the story is just smoke or if there is fire behind it, the hacking of one of the world’s major climate research centers and the fallout from it is big news. By ignoring the story, ABC, CBS and NBC are highlighting the failures of themselves and much of the mainstream media. Perhaps more importantly they are contributing to their own demise and irrelevance.
Since the Climategate story broke two weeks ago today on November 20th, the story has been covered by all cable news networks including FOX News and CNN. Through it all, the big three are nowhere to be found. Not one mention of the event has been made on the networks’ morning or evening news broadcasts.
Hurricane Bill was the most powerful hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season but it never struck the United States. (NASA)
Yesterday marked the end of the 2009 hurricane season and with it comes to a close one of the quietest seasons in recent history. The season featured nine named storms, the fewest since 1997, and for the first time since 2006 no hurricanes made landfall in the United States.
Only two named the storms – Tropical Storm Claudette and Tropical Storm Ida – made landfall in the nation. Those two storms both struck along the central Gulf Coast and brought heavy rain and some flooding but no widespread destruction.
Of the nine named storms, three became hurricanes. Two of those became major hurricanes of Category 3 strength of higher – Hurricane Bill and Hurricane Fred. Bill flirted with the United States East Coast as its waves claimed two lives but turned to the northeast and made landfall in Newfoundland after having weakened considerably. Hurricane Fred rapidly intensified off the west coast of Africa but quickly fell victim to wind shear.
Of the nine named storms, three became hurricanes. Two of those became major hurricanes of Category 3 strength of higher – Hurricane Bill and Hurricane Fred. Bill flirted with the United States East Coast as its waves claimed two lives but turned to the northeast and made landfall in Newfoundland after having weakened considerably. Hurricane Fred rapidly intensified off the west coast of Africa but quickly fell victim to wind shear.
NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of a smoke plume coming from the Bezymianny volcano on the the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. (NASA)
The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia is a relatively active area for volcanic activity, like much of the rest of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Bezymianny volcano in the east-central part of the peninsula is the smaller of three neighboring volcanoes.
Bezymianny was thought to be extinct until it erupted from 1955 to 1956. Prior to that, it had experienced a period of 1,000 of dormancy. The 1956 eruption was comparable in size to the Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980 and resulted in a horseshoe shaped crater that has since been filled by other, smaller eruptions and pyroclastic flows.
On Wednesday, Novebmer 25, 2009, NASA’s Terrra spacecraft captured an image of a smoke plume emanating from the volcano. Using the craft’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), the plume is clearly seen as is its shadow.
The unscrupulous efforts of some of the world’s top climate scientists to silence dissent among skeptics is the latest discovery from the Climategate emails that were leaked last week. Analysis of the messages shows that the scientists colluded together to stifle the opinions of anyone who disagreed with them.
Swimming against the tide is never an easy task. Scientists that disagreed with the manmade climate change theory have learned that if you’re swimming against the ‘consensus’ of global warming, it can not only be hard, it can be a nasty business.
For years those who believe other factors beyond man drive the planet’s climate have said they were blocked from publication and been the target of a concerted effort to silence them. Their complaints were largely ignored but with the release of the Climategate documents and emails, the proof shows their claims were not unfounded.
An analysis of the emails from a veritable who’s who in climate science show that some of the world’s top scientists worked directly against dissenting scientists. The scientists worked to discredit other’s work, oust them from professional organizations, exerted pressure on scientific publications and went so far as to consider pushing an educational institution to review the doctorate of a scientist. The moves appear to go far beyond a scientific debate and read more like a vendetta against dissenting opinions.
The normally picturesque view of England’s Lake District saw itself become the scene of a rescue operation as helicopters and lifeboats plucked hundreds residents and brought them to safety. The area recorded the most rainfall ever recorded in the nation and the weather was responsible for the death of a local constable.
Widespread heavy rain across England and Ireland caused flooding that brought floods as deep as eight feet and engorged rivers that brought down bridges. England set a national rainfall record when 12.3 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours last week at Seathwaite Farm according to Britain’s Met Office.
In the town of Cockermouth, officials estimate 1,000 homes were flooded and more than 200 people were rescued. Local emergency responders and British soldiers conducted house to house searches to extract those struck by the floods. The town, 300 miles northwest of London, is at the confluence of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is the birthplaces of poet William Woodsworth.
October 2009 in Denver was the second coldest and fifth snowiest October on record.
Most of the month of October was cooler than normal in the Mile High City and now that the month is over we see just how cold it was. Denver finished October 2009 with an average temperature more than 8 degrees below normal and had 9 inches more snow than what is normal for the month.
October 2009’s 42.9 degree average makes it the second coldest since record keeping began in 1873 – 136 years ago! re in Thornton we were actually slightly cooler with an average temperature of 42.0 degrees. Only October 1969 was colder as that year Denver had an average temperature of a chilly 39 degrees. He
Across the board temperatures for the month were well below normal. The average daily high temperature of 54.7 degrees was 11.3 degrees below the normal of 66.0 degrees. Low temperatures were similarly well below normal with an average of 31.1 degrees – 4.8 degrees below the normal of 35.9.
Thornton was warmer for daytime highs than the Denver official temperatures as we averaged 55.6 degrees. In terms of low temperatures, we were cooler having averaged 30.7 degrees.
Why does ThorntonWeather.com share stories and links with Examiner.com?
We are oftentimes asked why we have links to Examiner.com on ThorntonWeather.com and why we plug stories from them. The reasons stem from our interest on the topics at hand but also because by your visiting Examiner.com, you support ThorntonWeather.com.
Some background on Examiner.com might be useful. Examiner.com was launched in 2008 by Clarity Media Group, a company owned by Phillip Anschutz. The site is essentially a living example of ‘citizen journalism’ featuring local news stories on hundreds of topics written by people titled ‘Examiners’ who are knowledgeable in their given topic area. There are now hundreds of local editions of Examiner.com including of course Denver.
First and foremost it is because we are passionate about weather and climate and enjoy sharing news stories about those topics. Weather is one of the things that affect the lives of every single person on earth and that is fascinating to us.
By writing for Examiner.com, we have a pretty big stage on which to have our topic features – the site is one of the fastest growing on the Internet and now ranks 82nd in overall traffic on the Internet with more than 12 million people a month visiting it. That ranks higher than popular sites like drudgereport.com, cbs.com and newsweek.com!
Secondly, quite frankly we do get paid for writing for Examiner.com and that money directly supports and helps to pay for ThorntonWeather.com. The weather station hardware, software, lightning detectors, and more that we use here on ThorntonWeather.com is very expensive. Factor in computer costs, website services and more and it isn’t cheap. We don’t charge for ThorntonWeather.com and never will but Examiner.com helps to offset the very real costs we do incur in operating the site.
By reading an Examiner.com story we post in our news section or checking out the links on the left to our Examiner.com topic areas, you are supporting ThorntonWeather.com directly. So, if you like ThorntonWeather.com, we ask you to check out our stories on Examiner.com – not only is Examiner.com a great, local news source, it also is a great way to help us! You can also support us by checking out the few advertisers you see on the site.
If you ever have any questions about our site, Examiner.com or any weather-related topic, please contact us. Thank you as always for supporting ThorntonWeather.com.
The Natural Disasters Examiner provides news, information and education on disasters across the globe.
Following on our announcement of our writing the Climate Change Examiner, we are pleased to announce that we are now also writing the Natural Disasters Examiner. From earthquakes to tsunamis and hurricanes to tornadoes the Natural Disaster Examiner covers natures events that affect all of our lives.
We cover these type of events on a local scale here on ThorntonWeather.com and in our Denver Weather Examiner pages. However, the Natural Disasters Examiner expands that scope to include the globe.
We will examine all natural disaster type events no matter where they occur and we will provide more than just the news. On the Natural Disasters Examiner’s site we will provide education on the science behind these disasters and practical information on how you can protect yourself and your family.
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Secondly, quite frankly we do get paid for writing for Examiner.com and that money directly supports and helps to pay for ThorntonWeather.com. The 