January 2010 Archives

We all know there's ice in Lake Michigan in the winter, but an e-mail circulating the Interwebs is claiming that massive icebergs with odd stripe formations are being spotted in the big lake this winter:

"Icebergs in Lake Michigan:

Did someone say something about "Global Warming"?? 

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet
fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the lake, a layer of water can
freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a
green stripe.

Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up
when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the lake.

Link to AP story on how New Hampshire feels about losing the record!

A statement from the World Meteorological Association confirms that a new world record extreme wind gusts was recorded.  To convert, the old record of 372 km/h equals 231 mph ... the new record of 408 km/h is equal to 253.5 mph.  Here's the full text:

Geneva, 22 January 2010 (WMO) - According to a recent review conducted by a panel of experts in charge of global weather and climate extremes within the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl) the record of wind gusts not related to tornados registered to date is 408 km/h during Tropical Cyclone Olivia on 10 April 1996 at Barrow Island, Australia. The previous record was of 372 km/h, registered in April 1934 across the summit of Mount Washington, USA.

The panel came to its conclusion after an extensive review and evaluation of instrumental, phenomenological and statistical data.

The WMO Commission for Climatology provides more information about Global Weather and Climate Extremes at: http://wmo.asu.edu/

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are different terms for the same weather phenomenon which is accompanied by torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 119 kilometers per hour. A hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 249 km/h is referred to as Category 5. More information in WMO fact sheet.

WMO is the United Nations' authoritative voice on weather, climate and water

Monday morning, Emily was live promoting the "Soup's On for All" fundraiser for Catholic Charities of West Michigan.

So, I thought I'd contribute my own soup recipe.  OK, so it's not really mine, my dad created it as a knockoff of a soup served at Big T Restaurant in Lawton.  But it's awesome nonetheless.

Cream of Jalapeno soup

1 - can cream of celery soup
1 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
5-6 jalapeno peppers, extra fine dice (more if you like)
1-2 serrano peppers, extra fine dice (if you want extra heat)
1 - soup can water, milk, or beer

Add water (or milk or beer) to soup concentrate.  Add diced peppers.  Cook until peppers are soft.  Add cream cheese and melt into soup, stirring well until dissolved.  Salt to taste.

I've had good luck using beer and onion & chive-flavored cream cheese.  Enjoy!

Hey 4th and 5th grade students... here is the link for all the information on the Michigan Committee for Severe Weather Awareness 2010 poster contest:

Official Rules (PDF file)

Entries are due on February 1st, so get creative and get moving!

-JS

As an avid beer lover, the following is provided without further comment from the December edition of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:

"...Researchers have found that warmer temperatures are threatening the quality of beer.  A team led by Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute compared data on weather patterns, crop yield, and hop quality in the Czech Republic from 1954 to 2006 to determine the effects of climate on the quality of Saaz hops, which are used to make pilsner lagers.  They found that the concentration of alpha acids in the hops had decreased by 0.06% per year during the studied period.  Alpha acids give the Saaz hops their unique bitter taste, and the scientists attribute their decline to changing growing conditions and other effects they relate to increasing temperatures in the region.  The study was recently published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology."

As of Sunday... Grand Rapids is at six days and counting with no measurable snowfall.  Assuming none on Monday, we'll match January 3-9, 2008 for the last time in January that we had a full week without measurable snow.

To get a longer stretch, you have to go back to 2006, when we started the year on a 12-day streak with no measurable snowfall.

Snow lovers are petitioning us on the FOX 17 Morning News Live Blog to start a "snow dance" with the following lyrics (Courtesy Mitch in Kentwood): "Let it snow,let it snow, let it snow.... boom shaaaaacka laaaaaaka, boom shaaaaaka laaaaaaaka... wooot - woot!"

So, if you miss the fresh powder, join in!

-JS

What are temperature inversions? The air as you leave the surface of the earth is usually cooler aloft. With a temperature inversion, the air temp actually increases somewhere above the surface. When we get a deck of low level grey status clouds across our area in the winter time, it's sometimes is difficult to "mix-out" the clouds since we cannot break the temperture inversion with such a low sun angle. In the month of March or April when the sun angle is much higher and stronger, it becomes a little easier to "mix-out" or break the inversion. The end result is usually sunshine, but we sure couldn't do that this weekend. Below is a graphic explaining this...compliments of the National Weather Service in Chicago. Notice the low level clouds at/near the surface, and this temperature inversion aloft acting as a "lid" and preventing any mixing from occurring. Not only did we not get the sunshine on Saturday, mostly cloudy skies held our temps to only low/mid 30s. Look for a repeat of this on Sunday.

This is a loaded statement coming from a guy who works in television, but here goes: I hate the media sometimes.

And as a meteorologist, another one that doesn't seem logical: I hate talking about climate change.

We've gotten to the point in the social discussion of climate and related policy that it takes more time to wade through the bias and rhetoric just to get down to the pure science.  And any comment I make (or anyone, for that matter) on the subject is immediately dissected for an agenda one way or the other.

A good example is a FOX News piece that we aired on our morning show on Tuesday.  Overall, reporter James Rosen presented some good scientific information in an objective manner.  But, he tried to achieve balance by using a biased source on each side who only contributed the "party line" commentary:
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Tim Phillips/Americans for Prosperity: "Al Gore and his friends -- it's a good thing that they changed the name of their movement from "global warming" to "climate change," because they would look more out of touch than they do today... "

Bob Deans/Natural Resources Defense Council: "There is an enormous body of evidence that says that the climate is warning, that the planet is warming, and that's being caused by the burning of fossil fuels."
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It's no wonder that people get confused about the state of the science.  And that includes the scientists!  Accusations of data manipulation, research funded by special interests, et al. do nothing to advance our understanding of global climate systems.

And that's the fundamental problem: We still need to advance our understanding.  There's always more than meets the eye when it comes to weather and climate.  But for every new study that comes out, the media and pundits are quick to jump to conclusions about whether  it "proves" or "disproves" climate change theory, when in truth no such thing is likely, or perhaps even possible.
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Here's a perfect example that was forwarded to me:

"The Mini Ice Age Starts Here" - Daily Mail (UK)

This article takes a legitimate study by a well-respected voice on the subject and twists it to a completely invalid conclusion.

The study itself is about how weather patterns may be influenced over the course of decades by changes in subsurface ocean temperatures.  The statement from its summary reads, "Our results suggest that global surface temperature may not increase over the next decade, as natural climate variations in the North Atlantic and tropical Pacific temporarily offset the projected anthropogenic warming." 

Where does that call for an ice age?  As this NPR interview with the author describes, he still feels the earth will warm in the long term.  At the same time, research like this shows that climate models (and those who project imminent global catastrophe based on those models) aren't showing us the whole story.

Here's a much more objective article about the same researcher.

As I've discussed before, it's just another example of why you can't believe everything you read.  Unless you're looking at the raw scientific articles (and sometimes even those are lacking), chances are there's someone with an agenda filtering the information.  That goes for any politicized subject, but in my position, I'll stick with the climate discussion for now... :-)

I welcome your thoughts via e-mail.

As we expected the heaviest snowfall totals have occurred along our lakeshore counties from this big lake effect event. The National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids reported only 1.1" of snow at the Gerald Ford airport, while areas along the lakeshore have seen a whopping 15"-18". The graphic below is as of 10:00 PM Saturday evening from all reports thus far. These are the highest totals I can find in and around the area. In addition to the ones below, Hart in Oceana county and Ludington picked up 10.7" and 10.5" respectively. Our weather pattern will generally remain the same the next several days...no big storms, but no warmups either. Grand Rapids is almost halfway to our season total of 74", and we still have January, February, March, and April!

 

After work Friday morning, I drove from Grand Rapids to visit family in western Kalamazoo County.  While there was no snow on US-131 until we got to I-94, once we got off the highway it became obvious that quite a bit of snow fell in a short time this morning.

There was about 5-6" that people were shoveling out of driveways from early morning, but the snow had ended by around noon as the main snow band continues to shift westward. 

Expect very little in the way of additional accumulation today for most of the area, even within a few miles of the lakeshore north of Holland.

For the rest of the forecast, see below.  E-mail your photos and snow reports to weather@fox17online.com.

See you Monday!

-JS

Lake-effect snow will be the focus of the forecast over the next week around West Michigan.

Snow showers will affect areas along US-31 and west of a line from around Muskegon to Kalamazoo during the day Friday.  By this evening, that snow will become heavier and more concentrated right along the lakeshore, west of M-40 and along US-31 in Mason and Oceana counties.

There will probably be a few hours here and there where the main band shifts offshore and miss most of us, so don't be surprised if there are lulls in the heavy snow, even in those really hard-hit areas.

Snow will continue to pile up Saturday and Sunday, although it won't be quite as heavy.

By the time we get to late Saturday, we're looking at some really big numbers for lakeshore areas south of Holland: