Just as a frame of reference to what is reported below.
Monday, April 02, 2007
April 2, 2007
12:00 PM
Antarctica
The Peninsula is always hot but the continent is looking far cooler in climate than it has for some time now. 3 PM and 6 PM are missing from the animated satellite, but, those absent there is mostly freezing temperatures. Of course, the speculation still exist with East Antarctica warm in the Enderby Land and American Highlands to the understanding there still might be higher than normal temperatures sustaining there at times visible on the missing images. The average temperatures don't bear that out, however. There are more temperate areas but all are freezing except for two. Those two areas are:
Base Orcadas, Antarctica
Elevation :: 20 ft / 6 m
Temperature :: 39 °F / 4 °C
Conditions :: Partly Cloudy
Humidity :: 70%
Dew Point :: 33 °F / 0 °C
Wind :: Calm
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 29.78 in / 1008 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 6.0 miles / 10.0 kilometers
Clouds :: Scattered Clouds 1476 ft / 450 m
(Above Ground Level)
King Sejong, Antarctica
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Temperature :: 34 °F / 1 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Humidity :: 72%
Dew Point :: 28 °F / -2 °C
Wind :: 65 mph / 104 km/h from the NE
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 29.24 in / 990 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 6.0 miles / 10.0 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
The coldest area was :
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica
Elevation :: 9285 ft / 2830 m
Temperature :: -86 °F / -65 °C
Conditions :: Scattered Clouds
Wind :: 10 mph / 17 km/h / from the East
Wind Gust :: -
Visibility :: 7.0 miles / 11.0 kilometers
Clouds :: Few 6890 ft / 2100 m
(Above Ground Level)
Conditions at Vostok:
Vostok, Antarctica
Elevation :: 11220 ft / 3420 m
Temperature :: -76 °F / -60 °C
Humidity :: 41%
Dew Point :: -82 °F / -64 °C
Wind :: 14 mph / 22 km/h from the SW
A word about "Tornado Season"
This is a represenation by NOAA of an average tornado season in the USA. The height of it occurs in April. What follows after May is Hurricane Season. Fun huh?
The thing is this, March 2007 was a record setting season. There were 197 tornadoes. That should be telling a lot to folks about what is to come in April.
This is an briefing article from The New York Times July 6, 2005
National Briefing Science And Health: A Record For Tornado Season
Published: July 6, 2005
For the first time since government record-keeping started in 1950, no one was killed by a tornado in the United States in April, May or June, the peak season for twisters. Normally there is an average of 52 deaths in those three months. Joe Schaefer, director of the Storm Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the record was the result of a combination of improved storm warnings and no tornadoes striking large cities in Tornado Alley.
Tornado Season doesn't have to be deadly with preparedness and awareness. I found this inquiry to the actual swath that should be considered "Tornado Ally" interesting considering Human Induced Global Warming is causing shifts in climate.
Is it time to widen `Tornado Alley'?
...According to the National Climatic Data Center, Texas averaged 139 tornadoes per year in 1953 through 2004, followed by Oklahoma (57), Kansas and Florida (55), and Nebraska (45).
Looking at strong to violent tornadoes - those that are F2 to F5 on the Fujita scale - Texas averaged 29 per year, followed by Oklahoma (11) and Kansas and Iowa (9).
Such figures support the traditional boundaries of Tornado Alley.
But there have been 13 killer tornadoes in the United States in 2007, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
Ranked in the order of fatalities, the states are Florida (21), Alabama (10), Georgia (9), Louisiana (3), Oklahoma (2), Texas (1), Colorado (1) and Missouri (1).
Going back to 2000, less than 8 percent of the killer tornadoes were in the traditional alley.
The number of deaths outside of the alley could merit the expansion - or elimination - of the name Tornado Alley, said Alan Moller, meteorologist-in-charge with the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth.
There will be a shift in 'weather' over the next week more than likely bringing cooler air south and causing higher possiblity of more tornadoes. Be careful.
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