Weekly Weather Report for West Pasco’s
Urban Agriculture Community
A Service Of
Friendship Farms & Fare
http://www.fffsite.org/
November 23, 2015
What Happened to Fall, Part VI?
More Climate-Change Heat & Record Highs
Brief Cool Spell Coming This Week
73 degrees at 1:30 AM, November 20, 2015
Historic Average (for 11/21) 77 HIGH, 59 Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/
* We call attention to the current temperature (73 degrees), and compare it with the normal low at this time of the year (59 degrees). It wont get much cooler this morning, so we’ll be at least 14 degrees above normal for our low.
Historically, the average high temperature is now 77 degrees (seven degrees higher than the lowest average high of the year [70]), and thirteen degrees lower than our highest average [90]). Our average low is now 59 degrees, seventeen degrees lower than our highest average low of the year (76), and eight degrees higher than lowest average low [51].
Average highs and lows continue their annual decline, which lasts until January, when we reach our lowest average temperatures – 70 and 51. Thus far for the fall, we have been well above normal.
This past summer Hottest Ever Recorded: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) data indicate this past summer (June-August, 2015) was the hottest in recorded history. NOAA also reports that July was the hottest month in recorded history. We at the 3-F Farm Report are not surprised. See this story.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/summer-2015-hottest_55fae2bfe4b0fde8b0cd408e
2014 was the hottest year on record (since records have been kept, 1880). Ocean and land temperatures were at their all time highs. This was also the warmest winter on record in the Arctic, and May 2015 was the hottest May on record.
Looks like November will join this list.
Know the Science:
This is no great surprise to us. Temperatures have been running well above normal most of the year here at the farms; and for the past few years, our highs and lows have typically run a bit higher than historic averages. Last year the trend continued, and so far this year, it is still continuing. Although humans may enjoy unseasonably warm weather, above normal temperatures stress plants and animals.
According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists agree that global warming and resultant climate change is a reality and most likely due to human activity. http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/.
Here is NOAA on the human causes of climate change and global warming. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/pd/climate/factsheets/howhuman.pdf
Last Week (11/13-11/19) : WU’s forecasts called another week of above normal temperatures. WU was on the mark. Everyday last be above normal for highs and lows – up to 11 degrees above normal for highs and 15 (yes, 15!) degrees for lows. By the end of next week every day of the month (19 straight days) has been above normal for highs and lows.
We again broke records for highs and highest lows.
Remember, our normal high should be 76-77 degrees and our low 58-59 – and record highs are in the mid- to upper 80s (i.e., the very highs we are reaching routinely).
This Week (11/20-11/26) WU’s forecasts first significant cool spell of the season. It will be short lived. Looks like we’ll have 3 days of below normal highs and lows. Three days only (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). By Wednesday, we’ll again be above normal and by the end of the week we’ll be back in the 80s.
So, we’ll again be above normal for most of the week.
We do ask our readers to be mindful (and maybe remind others) that TV weather reports are simply not accurate (and maybe not truthful) when they use phrases like “this is normal,” or “this is what you can expect,” or “this is not uncommon,” or “typical for Florida at this time of the year.” It is not clear why they so consistently are minimizing this extreme heat, but it seems fairly common.
What is clear is that not one local weather reporter uses the term “climate change” or “global warming” to explain these extremely high (record-breaking) temperatures.
We’ll use it here and note again: This is exactly what Climate Change looks like. This is how Global Warming works: Twenty straight days of above normal temperatures, five record breaking highs, two all-time highs for the month.
Comment: Climate Amnesia II Most folks do not remark on the long run of days with above normal heat. Then again, most folks do not spend much time outside of climatized indoor spaces or air-conditioned cars.
We are attributing this lack of awareness (or indifference) to climate amnesia, which is akin to landscape amnesia – the process through which individuals become used to something detrimental, dangerous, or destructive because is occurs slowly and they forget what normal is. Climate amnesia may work the same way – so that upper 80s and low 90s in October and November seem normal enough, because we have forgotten that the historical norm is highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. So, when the temperature drops to 84 or so, it does seem cooler, and we remark what a nice day it is – obvious to the fact that the normal high is in the 70s.
Climate Amnesia is also enhanced by the relent rhetoric from local weather reporters asserting that these exceptional weather conditions are normal and this persistent record-breaking heat is “not uncommon.” Well, it is uncommon.
Looking Ahead: Daylight will continue to get shorter, just as it has since the summer solstice — June 21, the day with the longest period of time between sunup and sunset during the year. The equinox (which occurred on October 22) is when the shortening of daylight has brought day and night into balance. The days will continue to get shorter until the winter solstice — “the shortest day of the year,” December 21.
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Friendship Farms & Fare affirms and advances agrarian ideals to reestablish a sustainable culture
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