Low and behold, the Metro area got some T’storms on Monday morning. Looks like the boys at the SPC had it goin’ on afterall. Nothing too tragic. Good thunder following the lightning. Some folks reported some small hail. But the afternoon SPC Severe T’storm Watches definitely fell in the CYA category. They cancelled the first one and put out a new one that had its eastern reaches in the eastern counties of the viewing area pretty much as the boundary was moving through. Chances of anything were slim and none. But, I suppose that is part of the margin for error. Nonetheless, we’re done with that stuff for Tuesday. Looks good. Now, Wednesday, we’re still in the northwesterly flow aloft and there is some indication that a little vortmax(disturbance) will wander down our way. It’s debatable as to whether we will have enough moisture for it to do much but, data suggests a chance for a few t’storms. We’re fine for the rest of the week until Saturday when we start to warm and afternoon storms may show up. We’ve taken the action out for Friday and pushed it back for Sunday night into early Monday.
On This Date In History: American ingenuity knows no bounds…which means sometimes it can go out of bounds. Before we get to this item, let’s remember that in the 19th Century, Americans on the frontier needed protection from Indians who didn’t take too kindly to their settling the land, from bad guys, wild animals and, during the Civil War, perhaps guerrilla warriors on the prowl. With that in mind, C.M. French and W.H. Fancher thought they’d come up with a gold mine of an idea. People on the prairie needed defense and they needed to plow their own field. If you combined the two, then you could do both at once! So, on this date in 1862, the pair submitted their armed plow to the patent office(US Pat. No. 35,600). It was a standard plow with what looks like a cannon mounted on the front. The application included the passage, “This combination enables those in agricultural pursuits to have at hand an efficient weapon of defense.” It said it was good for people on border localities who were subject to “savage feuds and guerrilla warfare.” It touted its unrivaled utility in fighting off surprise attacks on “those engaged in a peaceful avocation..” Needless to say, they didn’t get rich. Had their idea caught on, we might have bicycles today with a forward mounted howitzer.
Link to Part of Invention Summary
Global Warming Update-A few days ago we talked about how it was one of the colder Springs in the US recorded history. Well, this next bit of information just goes to show that the US does not influence the rest of the world all of the time. While we were quite chilly all spring, including May, the rest of the world was heating up. Spring 2008 was the 7th Warmest Spring and May 2008 was the 8th Warmest Spring. So, I think we’re in a wash. It was cold in winter and now we’re warm in spring. That about evens things out. Here are more details via the Louisville NWS:
Globally, 7th Warmest Spring and 8th Warmest May on Record
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for spring (March-May) ranked seventh warmest, while May was the eighth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880 according to an analysis by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
Spring (March-May) Highlights:
• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for spring 2008 was 0.94 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 56.7 degrees F and ranked seventh warmest based on the 1880-2008 record.
• The global land surface temperature for spring was 1.87 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 46.4 degrees F and tied with 2000 as third warmest.
• The global ocean surface temperature for spring was 0.59 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 61.0 degrees F and ranked 10th warmest.
May Highlights:
• For May 2008, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.81 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 58.6 degrees F and ranked eighth warmest.
• The global land surface temperature for May was 1.26 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 52.0 degrees F and ranked seventh warmest.
• The global ocean surface temperature for May was 0.65 degrees F above the 20th Century mean of 61.3 degrees F and ranked 10th warmest.
Snow Cover:
• The extent of spring 2008 snow cover over Eurasia was the lowest on record for any spring in the 42-year historical satellite record. Conversely, North American snow cover extent was slightly above average. For the Northern Hemisphere, spring 2008 was the third least extensive spring snow cover.
Interesting that the lower troposphere is radically cooler, while surface temperatures seem to be increasing, huh? Seems like common sense and the knowledge that hot air rises would dictate that convection would be increased and the lower and mid tropospheres would increase in temperature as well. Got any explaination for that one other than “One data set must be wrong.” Since I am a lay nerd, I do not have the ability to invalidate any source so I must assume that they are both correct, but I do not understand how. Is there anything on Earth that could suppress convection around the entire world?
Johnny, I’ll have some sort of an answer in the June 18 entry. Thanx for writing. Your question requires some thought…perhaps more than my head can handle.