Weather over the last 12 months....

[PepperFritz]

Thanks for all of your interesting replies.

Does anyone else think it might be a good idea to ask the C's a "weather" question?

What I'd specifically find useful to know is whether this year's weather is just part of a general pattern of weather "unpredictability" leading up to the Wave, or whether we are in fact entering to "cooling off" period, and maybe the beginning of a Glacial Rebound?

 

[Ollie]

Interesting question to ask the C's, I certainly have noticed that over the last year the wind has been much cooler (fresh), almost on a daily basis, even when the sun is shining. Also, when walking in the mountains I notice that I am wearing a layer more clothing than at the similar time last year. And, this year I have had to abandon more mountain ridge walks due to the gale force winds blowing on the tops.

 

[Erna]

[quote author=PepperFritz]
or whether we are in fact entering to "cooling off" period
[/quote]

Well, if we were only experiencing cooler temperatures generally, it might have been a reasonable conclusion, but we're experiencing extreme heat in Summers as well - Aus heat claims homes, lives - posted 31 Jan 2009

Whatever that might mean ... are we actually talking about the weather?!?

 

[kenney]

my daughter found probably a thousand large red carpenter ants moving their way across the yard ( the yard is the woods here) really amazing i had never seen anything like that in person before and never heard if it happening in Michigan. Ants travel like that to collect food before cold hits and there is so much food here they never go out like that in such numbers.

Well today the temp barely made 60 degrees!! that is October weather.

 

[JEEP]

CHRIS RUSSELL | DISPATCH
Brittini Hall bundles up in her lifeguard chair at Devon pool in Upper Arlington. This month's cooler weather has cut down on the number of swimmers frequenting central Ohio's pools

SECOND-COOLEST JULY ON RECORD?
Summer cold
Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:20 AM
By Timothy Magaw
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus is on track to have its second-coolest July on record, according to the National Weather Service.

It's no arctic blast, but lower temperatures are affecting what we do, from turning off the air conditioning to staying away from the neighborhood pool.

This month's average, 70.5 degrees, is more than 4 degrees lower than usual. The last time it was that cool was in 1971.

The city's coldest July on record, in 1891, had an average temperature of 70 degrees.

These lower temperatures could lead to lower energy bills for people who opt to open the windows rather than blast the AC.

American Electric Power compiles the number of "cooling degree days," a measure that forecasts the energy demand for air conditioning each month.

AEP said there has been a 34 percent decrease in cooling degree days this month compared with July last year.

"The weather may be playing an important role in that, and the economy may be, too," said AEP.

The summer chill is also keeping people from dipping their toes in the water.

John Gannon, manager at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's Zoombezi Bay water park, said attendance dropped by about 15 percent from last summer, its first year

The park has held "dive-in movies" at night to draw people into the heated pool.

"We still have some time to make most of that up if we would ever get back to a normal summer," Gannon said.

Amanda Besluiter, a manager at Northwest Swim Club on Bethel Road, said the club's attendance is down by about a third because of the weather.

"We've definitely had fewer people come by," she said.

Why does our late July feel like early June? Weather experts say a long area of low-atmospheric pressure along the East Coast is lowering temperatures.

"As for what's happening right now, it's atypical for this time of year, but it's happened before," said Nick Greenawalt, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Rainfall in central Ohio is more than 4 inches below normal for the year and about 1.5 inches below normal for July, causing some lawns to start to brown.

It did rain yesterday, with the rainfall measuring 0.39 inches as of 9 p.m.

The cooler weather should help the lawns, said David Gardner, an associate professor of horticulture and crop management at Ohio State University.

Gardner said the grass in this part of the country tends to go dormant when temperatures exceed 80 degrees.

People should water their grass with an inch of water each week, Gardner said. The best time to water is early morning, so less moisture is lost to evaporation.

"If people are careful about their irrigation management, they should be able to keep the grass

I better be getting a newer, better insulated parka for the coming winter--that may be starting in October!

 

[treesparrow]

Here in he UK we are currently experiencing a damp and frequently rainy summer after a colder than usual winter. Recently the local rivers flooded blocking several roads and also flooded farmland fields washing out many nesting birds associatated with riverways -mainly waders (shorebirds), kingfishers and sand martins. I watched the some of floods from a local bridge and it looked typical of a british mid-winter scene rather than high summer. The british met office had predicted that the last 2 summers and this one would be warmer than usual and the last winter milder than normal. Wrong on all 4 counts - but don't expect them to admit their errors as they're one of the leading promoters of climate change - the warming kind that is. There was also a item on the tv this morning about this years poor showing of butterflies - which would make it the third year in a row a decline has been reported. All of which would seem to indicate global cooling rather than warming. fwiw.

 

[NeonMars]

Here in Arkansas on the 24th day of July we have only had about 3 or 4 days of summer. Normally this time of the year we have 95 to 100 degrees with no breeze. Now if we hit 90 or better we have a nice cool breeze to cool us down. Our lows are in the 60's to low 70's; growing up here I expect the lows this time of the year to be around 80.

Low number of sunspots, low temps. take it to the bank.

 

[pete02]

Here in New York City its pretty much the same. The winter was colder but I don't think we had as much snow as some winters before. Summertime came late also. Much cooler than usual for this time of year, mid 80s at best so far and usually we're in the 90s by now. Humidity has been horrible but that might be just due to the city environment. We've also been seeing a lot of rain but not the normal kind. Heavy downpours that happen quickly and then are over. As I sit here typing, we're having one now! Very strange weather indeed!

 

[Lucius]

In my are ( Poland warminsko Mazurskie ) there is a strange weather.
From night to 10-11 is very HOOT about 35-40 C and after that Temperature drop down to 20 and it start raining. to the 18:00 ..
day by day. In my are there start showing up Tornadoes.. what never be before..

 

[FireShadow]

I have lived in south central Texas for over 20 years, and:

We are having an extreme drought. Another one (we had one a few years ago as well).

As for temps:

May and June had an unusual number days with less than normal temps. The tomatoes in my garden got confused and experienced a lot of "blossom drop" as a result.

July, although, we are have a lot of days with extreme heat (100 degrees plus), our nights are not as hot and humid as usual (probably because of the drought) and are actually quite nice for this time of year.

 

[Johnno]

There haven't been as many frosts as I once remember in our winter. The weather went strange a few years back with some mild summers and warmer winters. Rain was a big issue in Australia, we missed some of the big summer storms.

Around here, I don't have to water my lawn but a couple of years back it died back due to a lack of rain and the water restrictions.

This year its seems back to normal.

Latest update, it's early spring and feeling like summer already, so the "back to normal" seems to have gone to back to abnormal.

Lots of wind and high 30 degrees plus temperatures. I was down on the South coast of New South Wales and the feeling was hot dry and summery.

 

[Third_Density_Resident]

Echoing what Johnno just said, things Down Under are well above normal temperature-wise. In late August (winter), parts of Australia had record-hot temperatures, in many cases hotter than average summer conditions. And things now are getting ridiculously warm again. Although it must be acknowledged that the unseasonal warmth (and dryness) can be explained in part by the recent development of another El Nino phase in the Pacific. And in 1946, a very similar scenario played out in August -- very hot temperatures and very dry conditions. The recent El Nino, however, is most unusual in that the temperature in the Coral Sea (off the east coast of Queensland, Australia) still has a non-El Nino signature (i.e. above-average sea-surface temperatures, instead of the below-average sea-surface temperatures that normally go with El Nino).

 

[truth seeker]

For the last 3 days, we've had rain in Belgium. From what I've heard from others (and seen over the past year) is very unusual. I've also been told that it's warmer than usual (17 degrees Celsius right now).

 

[Erna]

Have you noticed the freak snow storm in New Zealand yesterday? In October...

 

[Regulattor]

September and beginning of October ware much warmer then usual here in Croatia. Today where I live is 25-27C! Just like Summer! Days are shorter and nights and mornings are fresh with 12-16C but for weeks now, daily maximums are between 23-26 some places in country got even around 30 C or more!

It's not that those are record figures, but duration and persistence of stable, dry and warm weather is puzzling!

There is something peculiar with the way the Sun glows, thou. It may be just my subjective observation, but for the past few weeks I'm under impression that Sun light goes thru some kind of filter, result of which is weird yellowish "effect" that I'm noticing.