Coens' Clean Coal Commercial Get Clean Coal Clean!

"Clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word clean":



Tip of the wind vane to Sustainablog.

Antarctic Ice Melting Faster Than ExpectedArctic Decline Also at Record Levels

A report released today based on International Polar Year research in 2007-8 confirms that ice is declining in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Although it was previously assumed that Antarctic melting was confined to the Antarctic Peninsula, the part that extends northward toward South America, new data indicates that it "also extends all the way down to what is called west Antarctica." Colin Summerhayes, executive director of the Britain-based Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, told the Associated Press, "That's unusual and unexpected." ("Antarctic glaciers melting faster than thought") The Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is moving toward the ocean 40% faster than in the 1970s, and the Smith Glacier is moving 83% faster than in 1992.

Image (click to enlarge): Excess number of melt days in Greenland during 2008 vs. 1979-2007 average. Red areas in the north indicate record-breaking melting in the range of 10-20 excess days. From Tedesco, M., X. Fettweis, M. Van Den Broeke, R. Van De Wal and P. Smeets, 2008: Extreme snowmelt in northern Greenland during summer 2008. Eos, 89(41): 391, 7 October 2008, via International Council for Science/World Meteorological Organization Joint Committee for the International Polar Year 2007–2008.

Cool Spring Forecast for UK, Western EuropeColdest Winter in a Decade

Here's another spring forecast, this one issued today by the Met Office for the UK and western Europe.

Temperature:

For the UK and western Europe spring this year is likely to be cooler than last year, with mean temperatures either near or below average.

In contrast, mean temperatures are likely to be near average or above average over much of eastern Europe.

Precipitation:

For the UK and much of northern Europe precipitation is likely to be average or below average.

In contrast, average or above-average rainfall is likely over southern Europe and the central Mediterranean.

UK average temperature March–May from 1971–2000 is 7.4°C. Average precipitation is 231.7 mm.

The spring forecast will be updated on March 25, and the first summer outlook will be issued on March 31.

The Met Office also announced today that provisional figures show this to be the coldest UK winter since 1995/96.

Drought Watch: DC Deficits Not DeCreasing

The federal budget is not the only thing showing large deficits in the Nation's Capital recently. Although the latest model runs have decreased the chances of breaking the February minimum precipitation record for Washington, the region from central Maryland southward through Virginia is running abnormally dry (D0 on the 5-level drought scale) in the longer term.

Especially compared to 2007, 2008 was quite wet (18% above average overall), but that was almost completely accounted for by a near-record May. Except for September, the entire second half of the year was dry, and last month was also slightly in deficit. Last year also showed wide variation in precipitation amounts; 8 months were at least 50% above or below average, including February, which was nearly the opposite of this month.

Image (click to enlarge): CapitalClimate chart from NWS data

John Coleman: Even the Examiner Says He's Over the Top on Global Warming

John Coleman continues to trade on his role in founding the Weather Channel to bash global warming. Even the heavily listing-to-starboard (that's the right side, for you landlubbers) Examiner thinks he's gone over the top, however. Here's a comment from their Cleveland branch:

Coleman paints such an elaborate, conspiracy-soaked portrait of climate change that it reads like a leftover subplot from The X-Files. He’s becoming less authoritative and more rhetorical. By calling global warming "the greatest scam in history," he opens himself up to criticism that his article offers no defense against. Coleman comes across as a man who’s so desperate to keep his hat in the ring that he’s taken criticism to an almost absurd level.

CapitalClimate's comment over at the Rabett hutch:

Coleman has been an active resident of the deniosphere for quite some time. He's probably still ticked off that he had to slink away with 2 Hamiltons ($20 US for those across the pond) from what turned out to eventually fetch 5 Super-Large.

This seems to be a common affliction of TV weather guys, including his former Weather Channel buddy D'Aleo at the cold weather blog IceCrap, where the forecast is always numb and number.

For another example, see this gibberish at Revkin's place. (WMAR is a TV station in Baltimore.) You should have seen what this clown wrote before he discovered spell check.

When I tried to engage in conversation about global warming with a Rochester, NY, TV guy at a local weather conference a few years ago, he started babbling about George Soros and refused to speak to me for the rest of the day.

There are a few notable exceptions, but scientific competency frequently seems to be inconsistent with the ability to appear pretty on the toob.

Washington, DC Approaches Precipitation Record

With the paltry 0.03" of rain and snow showers which fell at National Airport this morning, February's total to date is a mere 0.26". Since only a 50% chance of showers is forecast on Friday, there's a good shot at breaking the record for driest February since records began in 1871. If no further precipitation falls this month, the new record will also be drier than that of any other calendar month except March, April, September, October, and December. The last time so little precipitation fell in Washington was when a new record of 0.05" was set in March, 2006.

Image (click to enlarge): CapitalClimate chart from NWS data, background photo © Kevin Ambrose

Washington, DC Snow: Statistics of Low-Frequency Events

For related posts, see:

• Record Snow
• Washington DC Weather Records
• Winter Weather

Image (click to enlarge): Frequency of 1" or more of snow in Washington, DC by date in February, 1930-2007, CapitalClimate chart from NWS data

Much attention has been given in the global warming deniosphere to rare events such as the recent UK snows and an all-time record low temperature in Maine. Aside from the facts that

• snow doesn't necessarily correlate with temperature
• climate is a long-term average in which all of the extremes are reduced to a small residual,

the occurrence of rare events is statistically random, within the limits of physical possibility. The general rarity of snow in the Nation's Capital doesn't prevent the snow day fanboy population in and around the Beltway from agonizing over the prospects for the white stuff and speculating over when to finally stick a fork in winter and get a life. Generally, this occurs by early June, at which time discussion turns to the outlook for the following winter.

Clearly, by late February the average temperature trend has begun to turn upward, but what is the effect on snow chances? The chart shows the frequency of 1" or more of snow falling on any given date in February over the last nearly 80 years (1930-2007) in Washington. The peak of 9 occurrences occurs near the middle of the month on the 11th, but the preceding and following days have frequencies of 2 and 3, respectively. On the other hand, by the end of the month, snow has been observed 5 times on the 28th, which is 5 times as often as the mere 1.4" which fell on Feb. 21, 1993.