Whetheritmatters

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[whetheritmatters]

NASA Global Hawk arrives in Virginia to begin NOAA-led mission to improve hurricane forecasts

With this weekend’s arrival of the NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft on Virginia’s eastern shore, scientists and pilots are now ready to start the NOAA-led mission to improve hurricane forecasts of track and intensity using data collected by the Global Hawk during the season’s hurricanes. [EasyDNNGallery|3094|Width|200|Height|200|position|left|resizecrop|False|lightbox|True|title|True|description|True|redirection|False|LinkText||]The Global Hawk landed Saturday...

"The Global Hawk, managed by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, provides a unique vantage point for weather observations because it flies higher and longer than any manned aircraft. It allows data collection from 60,000 feet, an altitude nearly 20,000 feet higher than manned aircraft, to the ocean surface. It can gather weather data continuously for up to 24 hours." 

Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) is associated with the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, passed by Congress in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Sandy. 

Question:  Are the days of the old fashioned hurricane hunter's numbered?

[whetheritmatters]

Flash flood warnings in southern Cali :) Over 2 inches of rainfall recently fell in the vicinity of LA. They say, don't complain about the rain. I'm not sure who they are in this case, but here are some words of wisdom from the Telegraph in rainy UK. Why I don't complain about the rain - Terry Wogan (linked below) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/terrywogan/9416801/Why-I-dont-complain-about-the-rain.html

[whetheritmatters]

The United States Geological Survey has mapped areas of increased earthquakes, mostly from oil and drilling http://t.co/kM6HF9uWYo

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 23, 2015

[whetheritmatters]

It’s time to rice out your weather forecast in California, but don’t expect to make it rain.

Persistent meteorological drought has resulted in agricultural drought; meanwhile, most people in California are impacted daily by the effects of hydrologic drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor continues to classify most of California under exceptional drought “D4” (the most severe category).  The latest weekly California Crop Weather report (ending 19 Apr) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) displayed temperatures across the state were 4 degrees F above average and precipitation so far during the season (July 1 2014 – current) is 33% below normal…on average that amounts to roughly 5 inches of precipitation shy of what is normal at each reporting station.

Why is it time to rice out your weather forecast (so to speak)?  The Economic Research Service (USDA) published their Rice Outlook on 13 Apr.  California rice planting is expected to have the lowest acreage planted “since 1992/93” amounting to 408,000 acres (6 percent below the previous season).  This decline is a “result of water restrictions and resulting low reservoir levels due to the 4-year drought that caused area to decline more than 23 percent in 2014/15.”

By no means is California the only state producing rice domestically (Louisiana is going to help picking up some of the slack); nevertheless, heavy rains in the Midwest and portions of the south have delayed planting in many areas.  Rough Rice (ZRK15/16) futures are trading at a low not seen since 2010…prices below what it likely costs to produce.  Global market conditions are likely responsible for the very low price; however, if the weather can’t help out soon we might see some increase in demand domestically. Will we observe an increase in contract price?  Meanwhile, we’ll import the second highest amount of rice on record.  Would you guess “Thailand supplies about 60 percent of total U.S. rice imports”?  Not all rice is the same; we export a lot of long grain rice…but California is primarily the only place we produce short-grain (projected to be down by half this season).

Maybe we’ll see a slow climb in contract price here (ZRK15/16): http://www.barchart.com/chart.php?sym=ZRK16&style=technical&template=&p=WN&d=X&sd=&ed=&size=S&log=0&t=CANDLE&v=0&g=1&evnt=1&late=1&o1=&o2=&o3=&sh=100&indicators=&addindicator=&submitted=1&fpage=&txtDate=

Source: [While we watch the paint dry and boil some rice read the full report from the USDA here:] http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1821099/rcs-15d.pdf

[whetheritmatters]

Happy Earth Day!

[whetheritmatters]

Interested in Drought?

News headlines have increased over the past year regarding drought. When looking spatially based on search trends by cities across the globe, California cities show the most interest. This is a good news story and a responsible sign.

[whetheritmatters]

Raining Dirt...The smell of rain that doesn't smell like rain...

An interesting sight to see [x] 'complete'

Father and daughter on a dust-rain-y day #AFPphoto @shahmarai in Kabul http://t.co/yDew9EpmF2 pic.twitter.com/DALXdcnYkS

— Anna Zieminski (@AnnaZieminski) April 21, 2015

[whetheritmatters]

Who’s ready for baseball season and 70 degree weather!

[whetheritmatters]

Thunderstorms within organized storms over the tropics show an increase in rainfall, due to an increase in organized storms - (NASA)

The headline on the NASA Earth Observatory website referencing a recent article published in Nature reads “Bigger Thunderstorms are Bringing More Rain to the Tropics.” Should it be a surprise if there are more organized storms, or cyclones, there would be an increase in thunderstorms that are relatively bigger, thus dropping more rain?

It could be said the main story is closer to, not as much rainfall is occurring outside these organized storm areas as previously thought. The NASA article refers to this as a “rich-get-richer” scenario. This would suggest a decent amount of research saying warming means more rainfall and/or higher rain-rates over large and often more populous areas, thus more flooding, could be incorrect.

[whetheritmatters]

Significant weather events from around the U.S. winter and February 2015 from the NCDC

[whetheritmatters]

[whetheritmatters]

Your tumblr name says wheather it matters,it really dont.

:)

[whetheritmatters]

Setting the [media] record straight on the use of the term polar vortex.

[whetheritmatters]

Winter in south Texas is a formality, and I think I like it? Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas [eve] :)

[whetheritmatters]

"You may not know the world’s distinctive breezes by their names, like the Oe or the Witch of November, but chances are, if they blew your way, you’d remember them." By MARK VANHOENACKER

[bobbycaputo]

Rare Temperature Inversion Creates River of Clouds Inside the Grand Canyon

[whetheritmatters]

Fall 2013: The warm kind of chillin'