Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?

Permafrost (perennially frozen) soils underlie much of the Arctic. Each summer, the top layers of these soils thaw. The thawed layer varies in depth from about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in the coldest tundra regions to several yards, or meters, in the southern boreal forests. This active soil layer at the surface provides the precarious foothold on which Arctic vegetation survives. The Arctic's extremely cold, wet conditions prevent dead plants and animals from decomposing, so each year another layer gets added to the reservoirs of organic carbon sequestered just beneath the topsoil.

Over hundreds of millennia, Arctic permafrost soils have accumulated vast stores of organic carbon - an estimated 1,400 to 1,850 petagrams of it (a petagram is 2.2 trillion pounds, or 1 billion metric tons). That's about half of all the estimated organic carbon stored in Earth's soils. In comparison, about 350 petagrams of carbon have been emitted from all fossil-fuel combustion and human activities since 1850. Most of this carbon is located in thaw-vulnerable topsoils within 10 feet (3 meters) of the surface.

But, as scientists are learning, permafrost - and its stored carbon - may not be as permanent as its name implies. And that has them concerned.

"Permafrost soils are warming even faster than Arctic air temperatures - as much as 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius) in just the past 30 years," Miller said. "As heat from Earth's surface penetrates into permafrost, it threatens to mobilize these organic carbon reservoirs and release them into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane, upsetting the Arctic's carbon balance and greatly exacerbating global warming."

Current climate models do not adequately account for the impact of climate change on permafrost and how its degradation may affect regional and global climate. Scientists want to know how much permafrost carbon may be vulnerable to release as Earth's climate warms, and how fast it may be released.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20130610.html

Rare Clear View of Alaska

On most days, relentless rivers of clouds wash over Alaska, obscuring most of the state's 6,640 miles (10,690 kilometers) of coastline and 586,000 square miles (1,518,000 square kilometers) of land. The south coast of Alaska even has the dubious distinction of being the cloudiest region of the United States, with some locations averaging more than 340 cloudy days per year.

That was certainly not the case on June 17, 2013, the date that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired this rare, nearly cloud-free view of the state. The absence of clouds exposed a striking tapestry of water, ice, land, forests, and even wildfires.

Snow-covered mountains such as the Alaska Range and Chugach Mountains were visible in southern Alaska, while the arc of mountains that make up the Brooks Range dominated the northern part of the state. The Yukon River -- the longest in Alaska and the third longest in the United States -- wound its way through the green boreal forests that inhabit the interior of the state. Plumes of sediment and glacial dust poured into the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River. And Iliamna Lake, the largest in Alaska, was ice free.

The same ridge of high pressure that cleared Alaska's skies also brought stifling temperatures to many areas accustomed to chilly June days. Talkeetna, a town about 100 miles north of Anchorage, saw temperatures reach 96°F (36°C) on June 17. Other towns in southern Alaska set all-time record highs, including Cordova, Valez, and Seward. The high temperatures also helped fuel wildfires and hastened the breakup of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2534.html

Crews Gain Ground in Colorado Wildfire

Nearly 500 houses have been burned by the 22-square-mile fire, which is 75 percent contained. Crews hope to have it fully under control by Thursday.

People evacuated from outside the fire zone, but authorities warned those who live within the burn area that there was still work to be done before they could return.

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said it wasn't safe for people to return home until roads and downed power lines were repaired.

Additionally, the death of two unidentified people trying to flee the fire was still being investigated. Maketa said he was in no rush to have people return to an area that, at least for now, was still being considered a crime scene.

http://www.weather.com/news/colorado-wildfire-evacuees-see-destruction-firsthand-20130616

Tropical Depression Two Forms in Caribbean

Tropical Depression Two has formed in the Caribbean Sea, just off the coast of northwestern Honduras.

The system is expected to move west into parts of Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula over the next 24 hours, most likely as a tropical depression. Heavy rain will be the greatest threat over these areas along with portions of Guatemala and Honduras.

Eventually the depression could emerge into the Bay of Campeche (southwestern Gulf of Mexico), in which case we will have to monitor for potential strengthening and a second landfall in northeastern Mexico. At this time we cannot rule out some impacts on Deep South Texas as well.

No watches or warnings are in effect at the present time.

Video

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/tropical-depression-storm-two-20130617

How 10 Cities are Adapting to GLobal Warming

BONN, Germany -- From Bangkok to Miami, cities and coastal areas across the globe are already building or planning defenses to protect millions of people and key infrastructure from more powerful storm surges and other effects of global warming.

Some are planning cities that will simply adapt to more water.

But climate-proofing a city or coastline is expensive, as shown by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $20 billion plan to build floodwalls, levees and other defenses against rising seas.

The most vulnerable places are those with the fewest resources to build such defenses, secure their water supplies or move people to higher ground. How to pay for such measures is a burning issue in U.N. climate talks, which just wrapped up a session in the German city of Bonn.

Video

http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/how-10-cities-are-adapting-global-warming-20130617?pageno=1

Severe Weather Threat Focuses on Plains

Scattered thunderstorms will be possible across much of the country over the next couple of days, but the primary severe threat will focus on the Plains.

Monday: Renewed thunderstorm development is expected in the afternoon over parts of the central and southern High Plains. Very large hail will be the biggest threat, along with gusty winds and a small chance of a tornado. This activity will sag south and southeastward during the evening and may again coalesce into one or more squall lines with damaging winds and heavy rain.

Elsewhere, some feisty thunderstorms are firing along a separate frontal boundary over the Great Lakes and Northeast; a few of these, especially in the Northeast, will reach severe criteria (one-inch-diameter hail and/or 58-mph gusts)

Tuesday will bring similar severe potential to mainly the same zone of the Plains and perhaps as far west as the Rockies of southern Colorado and New Mexico. Other strong storms may fire along the southward-sagging cold front from the Ohio Valley into the major cities of the Northeast, with some limited potential for severe weather.

http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/severe-weather-tracker-page

Storm system threatening millions in Midwest could spawn feared derecho

A storm system brewing over the Midwest threatened tens of millions of people Wednesday with heavy rain, hail and perhaps even a derecho — a rare, explosive wind pattern that forecasters compare to the landfall of a hurricane.

Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland were all in the threat zone, with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington at risk of severe storms on Thursday.

The system, the product of hot air streaming up from the south and atmospheric churning over Minnesota, was certain to bring ugly weather. Forecasters said it was trickier to predict whether it would produce the little-known phenomenon of a derecho.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/12/18918028-storm-system-threatening-millions-in-midwest-could-spawn-feared-derecho?lite

Weather Service Confirms 3 Tornadoes in Md.

The National Weather Service says it has confirmed that three tornadoes touched down in Maryland.

In a statement posted on its website Tuesday afternoon, the weather service says the tornadoes touched down Monday in Fork, Baltimore and Coltons Point. All three were rated EF-0.

The tornado in Fork, which is in Baltimore County, touched down about 3:20 p.m. with estimated maximum winds of 80 mph.

In Baltimore, the tornado was reported about 3:44 p.m. at Locust Point. The Weather Service says a waterspout over the Patapsco River came onshore. Wind was estimated at 80 mph.

In Coltons Point in St. Mary's County, a tornado touched down about 9 p.m. with maximum winds of 65 mph.

No injuries were reported in any of the tornadoes.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/weather-service-confirms-tornadoes-md-19378661#.Ubi9Nxb3Du0

Has TV weather coverage become too dangerous?

The newest extreme sport: covering the weather for TV. In an effort to satisfy the public's appetite for footage of blizzards, hurricanes and, most recently, the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma, reporters as well as professional and amateur chasers are heading straight into the eyes of the storms.

After Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young, the stars of Discovery's "Storm Chasers" series, died while filming the El Reno, Oklahoma, tornado on May 31, some in the industry are wondering if the competition to get the scariest shot has gone too far. Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes thinks so. While following the same twister, his car was lifted off the ground and dumped 325 feet away. "This is a wake-up call about the safety of people chasing weather," says Bettes, who suffered cuts from broken glass (his cameraman cracked a vertebrae in his neck).

"The weather community should operate under a standard set of guidelines," he says. "I think the Weather Channel would recommend that we don't chase on those rare days deemed a PDS [particularly dangerous situation]. It's great to get the pictures, but if it's too dangerous, I think our mantra should be, 'Let's call it off.' I would love to see more chasers develop that mentality."

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/06/12/has-tv-weather-coverage-become-too-dangerous/

Cockermouth hopes to avoid repeat of 2009 floods with new flood barriers

The UK's first self-closing flood barriers have been installed to protect aLake District town hit by devastating flooding.

The £4.4m scheme has been put in place in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where the automatic barriers aim to prevent a repeat of the floods in 2009, when a month's rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.

The scheme, which officially opens on Tuesday, has been designed to be unobtrusive so that it protects Cockermouth's Georgian heritage and keeps the town attractive to tourists. The centrepiece is a 120m self-closing barrier that rises only when the river is in flood, preserving views of the river the rest of year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/11/cockermouth-new-flood-barriers

Storms Chasers Among the Dead from Friday's Tornadoes

Storm chasers Tim Samaras, his son, Paul, and Carl Young are among the 14 people who died when tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma late Friday.

"At this time, our office can confirm fourteen (14) fatalities from the May 31, 2013 tornadoes [sic]," Amy Elliott, Chief Administrative Officer for Oklahoma's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said in an email to AccuWeather.com on Monday.

"These victims include two (5) children and eight (9) adults."

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/five-dead-after-fridays-tornad/13717403

Severe Storms Prowl the Plains Again

A new week is underway and another round of severe weather is unfolding, including the risk of tornadoes over the Plains.

The overall storm system projected to bring the violent storms to the Plains is not as intense or as slow-moving as that of last week. However, the system is strong enough to threaten lives and property with severe weather, including some of the same areas hit hard by last week's destructive and deadly storms.

The storms are more likely to hit during or shortly after the evening rush hour each day, rather than first thing in the morning. However, there can be some exceptions.

Spotty severe thunderstorms will fire across the High Plains into Monday evening. Late Monday, severe storms will mostly be found from the northern Texas Panhandle northward into western parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

During Monday evening, cities and towns with the greatest potential for these storms include Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas; Woodward, Okla.; Liberal, Garden City and Goodland, Kan.; and North Platte and Valentine, Neb.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/severe-storms-fire-on-the-high/13834826

Struck Twice: America's F5 Tornado Towns

Tornadoes are rare.

Even though hundreds of tornadoes touch down every year across the country, the odds you'll actually be near one are not very great. And the odds you'll actually be hit by one are even lower.

Even in the most tornado-prone zone of the country, a region covering parts of central and western Oklahoma and southern Kansas, a given point on the Earth can expect just one direct strike from a tornado every 1,585 years, on average, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

While the odds increase when talking about larger zones such as neighborhoods and incorporated cities, it's still not as common to see tornadoes as you might think. Countless small communities in Tornado Alley have gone decades without taking a direct hit.

On the other hand, other towns have been notoriously unlucky. Codell, Kan., was famously hit by tornadoes on May 20 in three consecutive years: 1916, 1917, 1918.

Then there are the truly unlucky towns -- the ones that have been hit by multiple violent tornadoes, ranked 4 or 5 on the Fujita Scale (and since 2007, the Enhanced Fujita Scale).

Murphysboro, Ill., is one of those towns. It was devastated by the nation's worst tornado in history, the F5 Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925. Thirty-two years later it took a direct hit from an F4 on Dec. 18, 1957; both tornadoes also struck the neighboring towns of Gorham and De Soto.

One Kansas town very nearly got hit by two F5 tornadoes: Elmont, just outside Topeka, was devastated by an F5 on June 5, 1917; then, on May 19, 1960, an F5 lifted just west of town before the parent cell put down an F4 twister that grazed the northern edge of Elmont.

http://bcove.me/lmfmqds3 link to video

http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/struck-twice-americas-f5-tornado-towns-20130528

Tornado Outbreak in Progress in Great Plains

Severe weather developed throughout the Great Plains on Wednesday. Tornadoes have been reported from the panhandle of Texas to central Nebraska.

http://bcove.me/6x0c84vk link to video

http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/great-plains-severe-weather-outbreak-20130529

Confused Weather Drops Over 30 Inches Of Snow on Memorial Day Weekend

It's a snowy Memorial Day weekend for parts of the U.S. On the aptly named Whiteface Mountain in upstate New York, there's at least 34 inches of snow on the ground. What's that look like? Glad you asked: 













According to Weather Underground, a couple of other mountain peaks in Vermont reached 18 inches of snow, while some towns with higher elevations clocked in at about 7 inches of snowfall this weekend.

http://news.yahoo.com/confused-weather-drops-over-30-inches-snow-memorial-032633425.html

Plains Severe Storms, Perhaps Tornadoes Wednesday

The next significant round of severe thunderstorms is forecast to erupt over the High Plains Wednesday and will shift eastward over the Central states later in the week. The pattern could bring a number of tornadoes.

While a zone of drenching downpours and locally severe thunderstorms has affected parts of the Plains, Texas and the Midwest this weekend and will continue into Tuesday, a potent storm is forecast to roll out of the Rockies at midweek.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/plains-severe-storms-perhaps-t/13384567

After the Storm: Deadly Flesh-Eating Infections?

For survivors of Monday’s devastating tornado that killed at least 24 and injured 120 more in suburban Oklahoma, the health threat might not end with the storm.

Survivors may risk contact with Apophysomyces, a swift-moving, devastating fungus that shuts down vital blood flow to tissue, leaving it to rot, as well as other bacterial or viral infections, said David Engelthaler, Director of Programs and Operations at the Translational Genomics Research  Institute’s Pathogen Genomics Division in an interview with Weather.com.

It happened after the May 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo., a storm which took more than 150 lives. After the storm, five people died from Apophysomyces, with eight more contracting the fungus, according to studies by TGen and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were published late last year.

The flesh-eating fungus typically lurks in soil, water and wood and doesn’t affect humans. But the EF-5 twister that hit Joplin launched massive debris through the air. Some people who survived the initial tornado were left with deep wounds, which were infected with the fungus when they came in contact with debris.

It's even possible the tornado carried the contaminated soil or debris for miles along its path, researchers wrote in the journal PLOS One.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/infection-oklahoma-tornado-20130522

NOAA releases final report of Sandy service assessment

After a thoughtful and deliberate review, today NOAA released a report on the National Weather Service’s performance during hurricane/post tropical cyclone Sandy. The report,Hurricane/Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy Service Assessment, reaffirms that the National Weather Service provided accurate forecasts for Sandy, giving people early awareness of the significant storm churning toward the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The report includes recommendations to improve products and services to fully meet customer and partner needs in the future.

“We found that core partners highly value the National Weather Service and thought the forecasts for Sandy were quite good – forecasters performed well predicting the track of this extremely large and complex storm, which undoubtedly saved lives,” said Peyton Robertson, director ofNOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office and team leader for the Sandy Assessment. “But we also found problems with NOAA’s ability to communicate the impacts associated with storm surge, one of the most significant hazards associated with Sandy.”

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130515_sandyassessment.html

NASA Satellite Data Help Pinpoint Glacier's Role in Sea Level Rise

WASHINGTON -- A new study of glaciers worldwide using observations from two NASA satellites has helped resolve differences in estimates of how fast glaciers are disappearing and contributing to sea level rise. 

The new research found glaciers outside of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, repositories of 1 percent of all land ice, lost an average of 571 trillion pounds (259 trillion kilograms) of mass every year during the six-year study period, making the oceans rise 0.03 inches (0.7 mm) per year. This is equal to about 30 percent of the total observed global sea level rise during the same period and matches the combined contribution to sea level from the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets. 
The study compares traditional ground measurements to satellite data from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) missions to estimate ice loss for glaciers in all regions of the planet. The study period spans 2003 to 2009, the years when the two missions overlapped. 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/may/HQ_13-141_Glaciers_Sea_Level.html

Tuesday's Weather Outlook

There is no rest for the storm-weary Mid-South and Mississippi Valley on Tuesday. More dangerous storms capable of tornadoes, large hail and gusty winds are on tap. Additional showers will drench stretches of the East Coast and Northern Tier while a fresh storm brings rain to the Northwest.

The same slow-moving cold front unleashing severe storms on the Plains Monday will not move much on Tuesday. Instead, warm 80s and 90s ahead of the front will collide with cooler 50s and 60s rushing in behind the front in the Northern Plains to generate severe storms from northeastern Texas to the Great Lakes. So, cities like San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis and Detroit will have to keep a watchful eye to the sky.

http://weather.weatherbug.com/weather-news/weather-reports.html?zcode=z6286&story=14889