06.22.10
Posted in Non-US Weather, Weather News at 8:18 pm by Rebekah
This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica, during the winter (the Aurora Australis is seen in the sky). Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Located at the geographic South Pole (90 °S, 0 °E), the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a US research station that is home to over 200 people in the summer and several dozen in the winter. The sun only rises once a year, on the September equinox (first day of spring for the southern hemisphere), and only sets once a year, on the March equinox (first day of fall for the southern hemisphere). Antarctica is the coldest, highest, windiest, driest, and iciest continent on earth.
A few more facts about Amundsen-Scott (from Wikipedia):
- Time zone: New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12) or New Zealand Daylight Time (UTC+13)
- Elevation: 9,301 feet above mean sea level
- Climate zone: Polar desert
- Average high temperature: -18 °F (-28 °C)
- Average low temperature: -76 °F (-60 °C)
- Record high temperature: 8 °F (-14 °C)
- Record low temperature: -117 °F (-83 °C)
- Average annual precipitation (liquid water equivalent of the snow): 3 inches (76 mm)
Current and forecast weather: Currently it is winter at the South Pole, and the temperature right now is -97 °F, with snow falling. Keep in the mind the sun has not risen in 3 months and will not do so for another 3 months, so there is no insolation for the research station at present.
You can see the current and forecast weather at the South Pole on the Weather Underground page here.
For more information on Amundsen-Scott, here’s a link to Wikipedia.
Next Tuesday we’ll be back to looking at the weather and climate in another part of the globe. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment on this post!
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06.17.10
Posted in Weather News at 11:39 am by Rebekah
With highs forecast to be in the mid to upper 90s, and dewpoints in the upper 60s to lower 70s, heat index values this week for Oklahoma are going to be between 100 and 110.
Overnight lows are only going to drop to the mid-70s (thanks in large part to the high dewpoints).
As the summer ridge is starting to build, the storm season looks to have finally wound down for the Southern Plains (and at least in some part perhaps for the Central Plains).
Now it’s time to go to the lake, fire up the BBQ, and hope for a good MCS season this summer! 🙂
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06.15.10
Posted in Severe Weather Forecast, Weather News at 1:43 pm by Rebekah
This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Matador, Texas.
I chose this town because I briefly stopped there last night on the way back to Norman from a storm chase, and there could be some storms around Matador this afternoon/evening as well.
Bob’s Oil Well in Matador, Texas.
Located in west north Texas, just south of the panhandle, Matador is home to 740 people (2000 census) and the seat of Motley County, Texas. Bob’s Oil Well, seen in the photo above, was established by a guy called Bob who moved to Matador after he fought in World War I. Up until his death in 1947, Bob kept live rattlesnakes and exotic animals in a small zoo to attract visitors from across the country to come to his adopted hometown.
A few more facts about Matador (weather data from US Climate Data):
- Time zone: Central Standard Time (UTC-6) or Central Daylight Time (UTC-5)
- Elevation: 2382 ft above mean sea level
- Climate zone: Semi-arid (Plains climate)
- Average high temperature: 75 °F (24 °C)
- Average low temperature: 49 °F (9 °C)
- Average annual precipitation: 23 inches (584 mm)
Current and forecast weather: The National Weather Service is calling for mostly sunny skies and highs in the lower 90s this week in Matador, with lows in the upper 60s to lower 70s. Yesterday, some strong thunderstorms passed through Matador, and today there could be some strong to severe thunderstorms that pass through the same area.
With dewpoints in the upper 60s, southerly surface winds veering to westerly winds aloft, moderate instability, and some weak wind shear, it looks like there will be a decent chance for multicells and probably a few supercells to form in the south Texas Panhandle into west central Texas and eastern New Mexico. Severe hail and an isolated tornado or two cannot be ruled out.
For more information on Matador, here’s a link to Wikipedia.
For information on current and forecast Matador weather, see the National Weather Service Lubbock page for Matador.
Next Tuesday I plan to take a look at the climate and weather in Antarctica. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment on this post!
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06.08.10
Posted in Non-US Weather, Weather News at 3:48 pm by Rebekah
This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Cairo, Egypt.
View of Cairo, Egypt from Cairo Tower. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Click to enlarge.
Centered along the banks of the Nile River, Cairo is located in northeast Egypt, about 100 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea and about 75 miles west of the Suez Canal. Cairo has a long and rich history, probably most often associated with the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza, located near the suburbs of Cairo. The capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa, Cairo is home to 6.8 million people (about 18 million in the metro).
A few more facts about Cairo (from Wikipedia):
- Time zone: Eastern European Time (UTC+2) or Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
- Elevation: about 75 to 250 ft above mean sea level
- Climate zone: Desert
- Average high temperature: 81 °F (27 °C)
- Average low temperature: 59 °F (15 °C)
- Record high temperature: 117 °F (47 °C)
- Record low temperature: 34 °F (1 °C)
- Average annual precipitation: 1 inch (29 mm)
Current weather: I could not dig up much information on recent or current Egyptian weather, partly because the website for Egypt’s national meteorological agency, the Egyptian Meteorological Authority, is down right now (see link, below).
However, Weather Underground is forecasting clear skies this week with high temperatures in the low to mid-90s and lows in the upper 60s to lower 70s, as is typical this time of year.
Here is an infrared satellite image, showing the clear skies over Egypt as of 18Z (9pm Cairo time, 2pm New York time). Note there are clouds over Libya (west of Egypt), as well as clouds over the tropics.
METEOSAT infrared satellite image (from http://www.goes.noaa.gov). Click to enlarge.
For more information on Cairo, here’s a link to Wikipedia.
For weather maps and information on current and forecast Cairo weather, see the Egyptian Meteorological Authority (I have yet to look at this site as it is currently down) or Weather Online UK (great collection of weather maps and models for all over the world).
Next Tuesday I plan to take a look at the climate and weather in another part of the globe. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment on this post!
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05.26.10
Posted in General News, Weather News at 2:45 pm by Rebekah
The Big 12 baseball tournament starts tonight in Oklahoma City.
OU, at second in the Big 12, will be taking on number seven Kansas tonight at 7:30pm. There are two pools in the tournament, each with four teams. After each team plays every team in their pool, the two teams with the best records in their pools will advance to the Big 12 Championship game on Sunday. I have yet to go to a college baseball game, but wish I would have taken the opportunity to go to a few games this spring, especially as three of the students that I taught last fall are on the baseball team (Garrett Buechele, Zach Neal, and Erik Ross).
Third baseman Garrett Buechele is doing very well this year, batting .387. Garrett’s father, Steve Buechele, played major league baseball for the Rangers, Pirates, and Cubs. Right-handed pitcher Zach Neal is also doing very well, with 8 wins and only 2 losses, and an ERA of 4.15. Zach will be starting OU’s second game of the tournament.
Some friends and I plan on going to tonight’s game at Bricktown Ballpark (home of the Oklahoma Redhawks).
BOOMER SOONER!!!!!
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In other news, I finally bought Adobe Dreamweaver (it’s one of the best and least expensive [with a student discount] web design programs out there). I have been using MS Publisher for my website so far, but it certainly was not designed for website development. I am excited to be able to play around with Dreamweaver now, and to make the Green Sky Chaser site both nicer for viewers and easier for me to work on.
It may take me a while to figure out how to use the program, but within the next month I may be giving the site a bit of a facelift (perhaps for the one-year anniversary, coming up in late June?).
As I will be focusing my web development time on this, I may not get around to posting the May 19 chase log and photos as soon as I had hoped. I may, however, try to take some time to get that done by or over the weekend.
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In the meantime, here’s a look at our nice, summer-like Oklahoma weather lately (courtesy of the NWS Norman):
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