Sep 09 2007
Recent Temperature and Rainfall News
There were two news items from NASA’s Earth Observatory this week.
Heatwave in Southern California
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September 5, 2007, marked the end of a week-long heat wave that led to 31 deaths and triggered power outages across southern California, reported the L.A. Times. Temperatures climbed above 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) when a high-pressure system blocked cool air from the Pacific. The effect of the heat wave on different locations in the Southwest is shown in this pair of images, taken on September 5, at 11:25 a.m. local time (18:25 UTC) by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying on NASA’s Terra satellite. The photo-like, natural-color image (top) and corresponding land surface temperature image (bottom) illustrate the relationship between land cover, elevation, and temperature.
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The map above shows patterns of rainfall change between 1979 and 2005. Tropical oceans experienced the greatest increases. In large areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, rainfall increased by more than half a millimeter per day each decade. Northern South America and Southeast Asia also experienced wetter weather. Most land areas, however, experienced decreasing rainfall amounts. This unevenness in rainfall changes is not unexpected. Many models predict that rising temperatures will make wet areas wetter and dry areas drier. Global average rainfall may increase, but the increase may come in fewer, but heavier storms.
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2 Responses to “Recent Temperature and Rainfall News”
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It also looks as if most of the increases are projected to occur over ocean, whilst the losses occur over land. Were this to happen, it would be rather more than a ’cause for concern’.
Regards,
And there were record lows in Sweden.