Climate Tolerance As the Maryland legislature and other states, cities and towns grapple with reducing CO2 levels I cannot help but feel a bit frustrated. (The State Assembly of Maryland could not agree on a CO2 reduction plan this session.) Let’s for the sake of argument assume that the proposed bill in Annapolis would reduce the global temperature by .5 degrees Fahrenheit in fifty years. (This is a ludicrous assumption since Maryland is just one state and it would have to be a global initiative but let’s go with it for now.) In 2050 when we look back on the amount of money we spent to reduce the temperature a very small amount and in the process put almost impossible demands on our businesses will we be able to defend that decision to our grandchildren? Should we instead put that money into schools, infrastructure and R & D ? I am not trying to diminish global warming but I am, like Bjorn Lomborg, attempting look at it from a different perspective. Some of the affects of global warming have been greatly exaggerated (when the ice cubes in your drink melt does you glass overflow ? )and our money may be better spent exploring other avenues in addition to CO2 reduction. CO2 is just one variable in a most complex global climate. I have stated for years that some of the effects of global warming might even be beneficial. We might see crops grown farther north and in areas of the world that previously could cultivate nothing. Global warming is such a politically charged issue that we are losing our perspective on the issue and more importantly losing an open forum from which to discuss the issue. If we lose the right or comfort level to openly discuss and debate this issue we will not be able to tackle it efficiently and economically.  ¶ 10:17 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Super Outbreak On this date in 1974 (April 3rd – April 4th) a total of 148 tornadoes struck thirteen states killing 315, injuring 5300 and causing 600 million in damage all in a span of just sixteen hours. Cold air from the north was moving south as warm, moist air moved north from the Gulf of Mexico. The jet stream was also playing a role with speeds over 140 mph. The clash of the warm and cold air coupled with the strong jet stream which added the wind shear component created an environment perfect for a massive outbreak. A tornadic thunderstorm developed near Decatur, Illinois beginning the 'super outbreak'. The F5 that hit Xenia, Ohio left 34 dead and half of the town in destruction. The top winds in Xenia were estimated at an incredible 318 mph ! Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia were all the states affected. Six of the tornadoes were F5. Winds were in excess of 261 mph. April tornadoes are the strongest due to the greatest temperature contrast both horizontally and vertically. May is usually the most prolific month with eighteen percent of the annual average. Seventy five percent of all tornadoes occur between March and July. For the Metro Area the months of July through September are our critical months. Virginia averages six tornadoes per year while Maryland averages three. There have been six known tornadoes in the District. The La Plate tornado was an F4 and the second strongest tornado to hit the east coast with winds up to 200 mph.  ¶ 9:58 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Very Sensible I’ll keep it short and sweet tonight. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of ‘Cool It’ by Bjorn Lomborg. I read three books while on vacation but this is the one that made a lasting impression on me.  ¶ 5:40 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Easter Dates How Easter is Determined

Do you ever wonder why Easter can be in March or even late April ? Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. We know that the vernal equinox can vary up to a day or so but when you factor in the moon cycle the date of Easter can really change. For example if the full moon is the day before the vernal equinox then Easter is at least another twenty eight days away, possibly more depending on the day the equinox hit. The latest Easter could fall is April 25th. The earliest Easter could occur is March 22nd, which was the date of Waster in 1818 and will be again in the year 2285. Some governments and churches have tried to suggest a fixed date for the holiday, the second Sunday of April, but that idea hasn’t exactly caught on yet. For all you math majors out there Easter dates repeat exactly every 5,700,000 years. Since the date varies so widely so does the weather. I can remember Easters with highs near 90 degrees and some Easters with a few flakes flying. It looks like a cold, blustery Easter this year. Given our weather this year we wouldn’t picking out our spring clothes just yet but it is Easter after all. You might want to wear a coat over your Easter clothes and you better hang on to your bonnets.  ¶ 1:12 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Vernal Equinox Spring is Here

The Vernal Equinox occurs tonight at 1:48 in the morning. This marks the beginning of astronomical spring. The sun is directly over the equator making it equal day and night for each hemisphere. We go into spring while the southern hemisphere heads into fall. You might ask why the sunrise and sunset times are not exactly twelve hours apart on the first day of spring. The earth’s atmosphere bends the light so there is not exactly twelve hours between the sunrise and sunset on Thursday. As we move toward summer the sun’s angle will continue to rise. The angle of the sun is the key to climate. Yes, the days get longer and the jet streams retreat to the north but the angle of the sun is what drives climate. The higher the angle, the more overhead, the stronger the sun’s rays will be. You might also be asking yourself why it’s not the same time and same day every year. Well, the reason goes back to my leap year column. The solar year is about 365 and a quarter days so the time and date of spring and of all of the seasons can vary about a day or so. It still looks like March is going to stay below average in terms of temperatures for the remainder of the month. March came in like a lamb it reserves the right to go out like a lion.  ¶ 5:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Cherry Blossoms We showed some video on our air last Friday of some cherry blossoms in bloom. Yes, this is early but the peak bloom should still arrive late this month according to the National Park Service. They are predicting peak bloom between March 27th and April 3rd. My haunch is this might have to moved up just a bit. Peak bloom has arrived as early March 15th in 1990 and as late as April 18th in 1958. The average peak bloom is April 4.

The 46th annual Cherry Blossom Festival runs from March 29th though April 13th. On March 27th, 1912 with little fan fare First Lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the Japanese ambassador planted the first two cherry trees. That year some 3000 trees of twelve varieties were shipped to Washington. Now some 86 years later the blooming of the trees is how Washingtonian’s mark the arrival of spring. The single white blossoms belong to the Yoshino trees. Akebono have a single pale, pink blossom. The Park Service puts in two months of preparation before the festival and to ensure the health of the trees year round. To allow the trees to breathe two inch holes are drilled into the compacted ground. Crews of four carefully examine the trees looking for pests, mark branches with yellow ribbon to be cut. They trim dead limbs the size of matchsticks.

Once the blossoms are in peak you’ll have another 10 – 12 days to enjoy them. After they bloom wind is their biggest enemy. The 3500 to 3800 trees, depending on whom you talk to, that line the tidal basin will attract more than 650,000 visitors. Metro says they’re ready. Please remember to look and not to touch. You wouldn’t want a ticket.  ¶ 6:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  The Super Storm of '93 On March fifth, 1993 I walked into my boss’s office and told him a week from Saturday would be the end of the world as he knew it. My old boss was a weather geek like me and knew exactly what I meant. On March ninth my second daughter was born and the Blizzard ’93 was another four days away. The Super Storm of ’93 was on the computer models for ten days straight. The position and strength wavered very little in those ten days. Model consistency over a ten day period is rare and we are talking about less refined models fifteen years ago than the ones we have now. In fact the model that tracked the storm with great accuracy does not even exist today. I couldn’t work the days leading up to the storm with the new addition to the family. I was in charge of my oldest daughter who at the time who was not quite two and very sick. I returned to work the Monday after the Blizzard and tried to put things in perspective. The storm did not produce a great deal of snow in the immediate Metro Area mainly due to the mixing of sleet with the snow. I have never seen it sleet that hard before or since. The sound on the roof of my house was unbelievable. National recorded only 6.5” while Dulles measured 11”. More than half the season’s snowfall fell with that one storm. We still ended with below average snowfall for the winter. I tried to explain on the air that in terms of pressure this was the strongest winter storm ever in recorded in the East. National set a new low for pressure at 28.54”. The storm had a lower central pressure than hurricane Hugo ! Our weather watchers to the west that received all snow were buries under 40” ! Snow fell from Alabama to Maine. Birmingham, Alabama had 13” while Chattanooga had a record 22”. Syracuse received 43”. The storm caused six billion in damage. A lot of folks don’t remember the other storm we had just about ten days earlier that produced two to four inches of rain with forty to sixty mile per hour winds. It’s a good thing that wasn’t a snowstorm or we would have been buried most of the first half of March.  ¶ 4:30 PM 1 Comments Links to this post