Heat Wave #5!

Ehh, It could be hotter don't you think?

First Tropical Storm in the Atlantic

This is rather exciting eh? Tropical Storm Bret is our first Tropical Storm for the Atlantic so far this hurricane season!

Courtesy of NOAA, NHC, NWS. July 19th, 2011

As of Tuesday, July 19th, the following are the stats. for Bret:
- Max sustained winds @ 50mph
- Moving NE @ 8mph
- Forecasted to be categorized as a Tropical Depression Thursday-Friday when it is at the closest to the NJ shores.
- Expect a rough surf and high rip tides Thursday through the weekend.

The storm is in rather warm waters...warm considering how unusually warm the Atlantic water have been so far this season. Ocean temperatures this time of year typically run in the 60s, but they are have 5-10 plus degrees higher. There is a slight chance this storm could strengthen, but it is doubtful. Bret is forecasted to follow course away from the East Coast through midweek as a strong Mid-Upper Level Ridge sets up shop in the Mid-Atlantic states, pushing Bret away from the coastline.

Ridge Axis showing the 'rising' of air

A ridge is an elongated area of High Pressure, Rising air and the weather at the surface is typically warm (very warm) and dry. This ridge will be over the Mid-Atlantic states towards the end of the week packing the heat the Central Plains have been having, where they have had temperatures in the 80 and 90 with heat indices in the 100s+ in the mornings! Keep in mind for the Central and Northern Plains: yes, they have had tremendous heat, BUT they have also have had A LOT of rain and flooding the past month...where is all that water/moisture going to go? It is all going to be evaporated back into the atmosphere and add that much more humidity back into the air. So, their heat indices are that much more oppressive because of that extra moisture. That's some yucky stuff!

Keep in cool and hydrated and more to come on the heat!

~ V.S.

Rising Temperatures and Energy Bills

As the temperatures are rising, so are your Summer energy bills! Record breaking heat is making you crank the ACs just to try to stay cool!
In the Central Plains, temperatures have been soaring well into the 90s accompanied with dewpoints in the 70s plus = heat indices OVER 100 degreesF. That is some impressive, oppressive heat!
This week it is OUR turn, as a Bermuda High sets up shop cranking the heat pump into full blast!
Temperatures in the New Jersey metro area are expected to reach the 90s in addition to high dewpoints and humidity, it will also feel well into the 100s through the week (at least we have the unsettled possibility of having scattered showers and storms to momentarily cool things down, other have not been so fortunate).

Things to keep in mind:
- Keeping hydrated is paramount! If you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated!
- Try not to workout or even be outside between the hours of 2-4 p.m. as it is the solar noon where the Sun is the strongest and at the highest point of the sky.
- Wear WHITE or LIGHT clothing, as these colors will reflect the sunlight making you feel a lot cooler then you would wearing black or dark colors.
- Do not keep pets outside too long, they suffer in the heat as well.
- Check on elderly and children; they both are highly sensitive to heat exhaustion/stroke.

Just remember to be smart when out in the heat... it's some scary stuff and nothing you want to mess with.

Here are some tips to help you lower your energy costs as "Heat Wave #5" barrels down on the New Jersey metro area:

- If you have your ACs on... set the temperature a little higher (like @ around 72ish degreesF) and at a low speed setting; you will use significantly less energy.
- Make sure ALL windows and doors are closed to prevent the outside heat from leaking in and help your AC from not running so much.
- If the temperature is cooler (and bearable), especially in the evenings, give the AC a break and open the windows.
- During the daytime, draw the blinds/shades to block the sun, do this especially during the hottest part of the day (from noon until sunset).
- Plant trees or vegetation to shade your WEST-FACING windows/doors. The shade will shield your house from the heat and sun rays, and the transpiration (moisture released from the plants) will allow for a bit more cooling, at least outside.
- Cut the time for your HOT showers. How water will use you water heater more and thus using more energy to make the water hot.
- ...This also applies to doing a load of laundry: set the water to warm or cold, it will put less work on your water heater... keep the hot water for heavy duty cleaning only.
- Try not to use the dryer (when doing laundry). The heat outside is a natural air/clothing dryer!
- Check out installing ceiling fans in your house. You can keep the thermostat at a higher temperature, or just turn it off all together if you have the ceiling fans keeping air circulation.
- If you do not have an AC or ceiling fans, just simply placing a fan in your window can cool a room significantly! Oh, how I remember those college dorm days...
- When cooking, try not to cook with the oven during the really hot days. This will just add more heat to the house and make the AC run even more just to try to cool the house down even more! Quick fix: Cook outside on the grill (plus nothing tastes better then a burger on a grill on a hot Summer day!

Keep it cool!

~ V.S.

More on Weather

To all of my blog viewers:

I do need to apologize as I once promised to write and update my blog frequently. However, as we all know, sometimes life can just drain us from our pleasures leaving us too exhausted to take a minute to sit and breath.

I love to write. I love to write about weather and everything environmental and Earth related. Follow me on Twitter, @WeatherWomanNJ,  as I do post there frequently.
I thank you for all of your support and interest and I look forward to having lots of Twitter followers!

Thank you thank youu!

Just remember to keep an eye to the sky and share with me what you see!

~ V.S.

Trying to Find the Link

Whenever something devastating happens to the weather, people are quick to blame the occurrence to global climate change. I can remember an instance when I was working with the weather desk at WNBC; there was a series of microbursts in northern NJ and outside of Yonkers, NY. We were covering the story and the storm reports for that storm. Producers from the news desk upstairs called us asking for a quote about whether this event was a direct link to global warming...

There will always be the debate on this issues as people try to put a 'reason why' to everything that happens. Reason for a political agenda to scientifically or religions purposes.

Through extensive studying on climate change during my undergrad, I will tell you that I am rather a skeptic tot he climate change idea. Research and data suggest that carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing, mostly to anthropogentic (human) activity and as a a result, with higher amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, the average global temperatures are increasing, ice caps/glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, the climates are changing, animals and other life forms are going extinct.

So we see all these things happening right? How can we directly link these things to us, human beings, and global climate change. We humans and scientists can theorize all we want and try to predict what will happen to our good planet. But I ask you to take this into consideration: the Earth has been going through changes and transitions for the past 4.5 billion years. Humans have been in existence on this planet for ONLY the past 2.5 million years of Earth's life. Prior to our existence as humans on this planet, we have a geological idea of how the planet may have been. And these geological indications prove that the planet and her climates and atmospheres underwent climatic changes and periods of warming and cooling. However, we humans are exacerbating the warming trends of the climate today.

It is for a fact that since the Industrial Revolution, global concentrations of CO2 have significantly increased...a direct link to our human activity on the planet. Since the Industrial Revolution and taking into consideration that the global human population is at an all time high, global temperatures have also been on the rise. In the more recent decades, scientists have been trying to point a link to the heavier precipitation and dangerous weather in the Northern Hemisphere and rising concentrations of CO2 and global warming. And perhaps in the next decade, the Earth will go through a cycle of global cooling..then what will the climate regulate to? Ever heard of the Little Ice Age?
However extreme weather has been occurring for several milleniums and it is nothing new... it is just becoming more sensationalized and more people are becoming aware (which is a good thing!) and more people are being affected, perhaps because of over population?

I was reading on this issue and I came across this blog (Dot Earth written by Environmental Scientist and Journalist A.C. Revkin) that I feel parallels how I feel about this issues and will quote from an article that was written in the NY Times as it pertains to the current discussion: (http://www.conservativeblog.org/amyridenour/2011/3/3/proven-link-between-strange-and-dangerous-weather-and-carbon.html)

"Four times since the last ice age, at intervals roughly 3,000 years apart, the Northeast has been struck by cycles of storms far more powerful than any in recent times, according to a new study. The region appears to have entered a fifth era in which such superstorms are more likely, the researchers say.

And:

 … the work illustrates that natural extremes of weather — what one researcher, Paul R. Bierman, a geologist at the University ofVermont, called a ”drumbeat of storminess” — are many times greater than those experienced in the modern era.

And

The clues from the lakes appear to mesh with evidence of other periods of stormy weather around the North Atlantic, including variations in traces of salt from sea spray locked in layers ofGreenland glaciers, the authors said. They also appear synchronized with the occasional cold snaps in Europe that sent glaciers grinding forward down alpine valleys, the study says.

The similar storm rhythms seen around the North Atlantic may mean that the overall pattern is driven by slow cycles in a pole-girdling wind and pressure pattern called the Arctic oscillation, which in turn could be caused by cycles of solar activity, they said.

The current trend is so prolonged and diffuse that the century-plus history of recorded weather data is not long enough to pick up a pattern. But it is etched quite clearly in the lake beds, said another author, Eric J. Steig, a climatologist at the University ofWashington.

The scientists checked to see whether influences other than big storms might have made the surrounding earth more apt to crumble. They considered forest fires, but found no evidence of raised concentrations of charcoal in the lake bottom.

”This shows that in human experience, at least historical human experience, we don’t know what this climate system is capable of,” Dr. Steig said.

While revealing the rising potential for epic storms, the new findings are likely to confound efforts to discern whether human alterations of the atmosphere, particularly a buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, are increasing the frequency of severe downpours, as many climate experts have predicted.

”If this cycle continues,” Mr. Noren said, ”the frequency and severity of intense rainstorms that can cause massive flooding should continue to increase for the next several hundred years."

~ I could not say any of this any better...

Note: to continue off of what was quoted: the transitions between oscillations (ENSO and La Nina etc.) could become more drastic and severe transitions creating possible harsher weather in certain locations. Hence, the reason for the latest severe weather: floods, forest fires, extreme heat, deadly tornadoes and hurricanes. 

The Earth is a very weathered and established system...The planet will regain control and regulate its system processes again at some point. How and when this will happen, we have no idea or control, but it will happen.  Scientific history has proven. However, right now, we can help the cause, and try to slow down all of these changes that are occurring.

We can become more conscious everyday about the decisions we make and how we go about life. Instead of being just purely 'users' of the given resources, why can't we become recyclers of resources?
I dare you to become more conscious of what you use and how you use for a day... it might make you feel like a horrible person once you realize what use and perhaps you'll become humbled when you figure out the way to live life in a synchronous with the planet and JUST BE! And help to build more sustainable communities and become ECO-SUPPORTERS!

Weigh in and comment on what you believe below in the comment boxes.