The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Third Cold Season “Warm Wave” Kicks Off Across the United States Today
Dear Diary. This month has already been wickedly warm across the eastern 2/3rds of the United States with well over 3,000 reports of daily record warm maximum records being reported as of 12/14/2021compared to a scant 14 reports of daily record low minimums. This warmth led to the horrific quad state tornado outbreak over the weekend. Now after a brief cool down the eastern U.S. is poised to experience, by my count, a third significant and possibly historic, “warm wave” of the cold season:
We should see a few records fall today. Many should topple tomorrow as strong dry southwest winds blow through the Plains. In fact, in some locations the winds could blow from one of the strongest non-severe related events in years:
Here is a case in which climate change related warmth can combine with a synoptic pattern to produce destructive strait line winds around hurricane force. Wednesday in the Plains will be interesting, especially for truckers that must protect their big rigs from damage today. I pray that these high winds won’t turn deadly.
Here is a surface panel depicting both record warmth and tightly packed isobars, representing a pressure gradient that could lead to some destruction:
Note that the springlike 564 decameter line gets as far north as the Minnesota border! I don’t recall seeing such a meteorological signature in December during my near 40-year career.
Here are model temp forecast maxes valid for Wednesday 12/15/2021:
Maxes in the 70s as far north as Iowa should be records.
As usual, I’ll be posting record reports from Twitter if they cross my radar.
Here are some “ET’s” reported from Tuesday:
Here are a few more notes on the awful Quad State tornado outbreak:
Here is some November 2021 climatology:
Here is more climate and weather news from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”