Arctic Sea Ice Melt Continues to Accelerate Decline Now Beyond 2007 Record Pace

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported last week that the Arctic sea ice melt season had gained momentum in May following a slow start. (The rate of decline in April was the third slowest on record.) The latest chart of sea ice extent now shows that the current measurement exceeds even the record-setting pace of 2007.

As Herr Hare points out, however, that hasn't stopped the denialists from declaring the exact opposite.

Image (click to enlarge): Time series of Arctic sea ice extent as of June 9, from NSIDC

Global Warming Doesn't Make Sense? Try Gravity

In an infinite world of Googling Monkeys, all forms of BS (Blog Science) should be equally likely, but anti-gravity blogs are far fewer than anti-global-warming blogs. Why is that the case? New Scientist magazine points out "Seven things that don't make sense about gravity".

Maybe the anti-gravity true believers have all taken a long walk on a short pier.

Tuesday's Twin Thunderstorms: DC's Double Dose of Downpours June Rainfall Ahead of Last Year's Pace

Images (click to enlarge): CapitalClimate chart of 2009 vs. 2008 monthly precipitation from National Weather Service (NWS) data, 24-hour precipitation amounts and 60-day percentage of average precipitation ending at 8 am June 10 from NWS

June 11 Update: Note that the Dulles record for June 10 was particularly vulnerable, since it was one of only a handful of June days with records below 1". The remaining ones are:

June  8 0.96"
June  9 0.66"
June 14 0.91"
June 23 0.48" 

The all-time June daily record is 10.67" on June 21, 1972.

Midnight update: Additional daily amounts for Wednesday, June 10:

Washington National 0.48"
Washington Dulles   1.16" (1.04" in the hour ending 10 pm)
Baltimore (BWI)     0.15"                 

As of Tuesday's total, Washington National was already above the long-term average for the entire month of June. Wednesday's amount at Dulles was a new daily record for June 10, exceeding the 0.83" in 1963, the year the airport first opened. The year-to-date total at Dulles of 25.21" is now ahead of last year's near-record pace and nearly 40% above average.

Original post:
Tuesday's early morning and afternoon rush hour rounds of thunderstorms have added to the growing 2009 precipitation excess in the Washington-Baltimore region. Daily/monthly/year-to-date rainfall totals through June 9 are:

Washington National 0.89"/3.48"/20.75"
Washington Dulles   0.24"/4.27"/24.05"
Baltimore (BWI)     0.37"/2.74"/22.02"                  

Despite a droughty debut, the year is now 3.73" above average at Washington National. For the first month since January, June's total is now running over an inch above 2008's near-record rainfall rate.

North Pole at 85°F Several Heat Records Set in Alaska

The city of North Pole near Fairbanks was one of several locations in Alaska setting record daily high temperatures on Thursday (June 4). The National Climatic Data Center reported the following records in the state:

                PREV
RECORD  PREV    YEAR  LOCATION
85.0    84.0    1993  NORTH POLE
83.0    78.0    1958  ANNETTE WSO AP
82.0    80.0    1980  NORTHWAY AP
71.0    70.0    1997  ELFIN COVE  

The National Weather Service issued the following record report:

..RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE INTERIOR 

FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS CLOSE...85 DEGREES, BUT 
NO RECORD TODAY...ALTHOUGH IT IS THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE SO 
FAR THIS MONTH AND YEAR. 

EAGLE...86 AND NORTHWAY...82 AIRPORTS BOTH BROKE THEIR RECORD  
HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY. 

EAGLE AIRPORTS OLD TEMPERATURE WAS 84 SET IN 2007 AND NORTHWAY 
AIRPORTS 80 WAS SET IN 1980. 

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE TIED THEIR 1997 HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 85 
DEGREES. 

A HANDFUL OF REMOTE LOCATIONS LIKE GOOD PASTURE RIVER HIT 
TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S...THERE IS NO HISTORICAL RECORDS FOR  
THESE LOCATIONS.