STEVE'S "WILD" WORLD OF WEATHER...

Climate Change And Weather Records:

Thanks to data I've compiled (or obtained from old journals), I been able to put together some facts, trends, and tidbits regarding our weather I hope you will find interesting. My personal records go back to January 1, 1960.

Since 2000 my weather station has seen a total of 537 temperature records that have been set.

There were 156 new record maximum temperatures set, with 19 in March, 16 in both January and February and 15 in September seeing the greatest numbers.

There were 119 new record minimum temperatures set, with 13 in May, 12 in July and 11 in February, April, June, August, October and November seeing the greatest numbers.

There were a total of 114 new record cold maximum temperatures set, with 15 in October, 14 in May, 12 in February and 11 in July seeing the greatest numbers.

There were a total of 148 new record warm minimum temperatures set, with 20 in May, 16 in December, 15 in March and 14 in January seeing the greatest numbers.

My station has seen a total of 141 daily precipitation records set since 2000. In reality, it was higher as there were multiple times that they were broken during the period. The greatest number of records set was 16 in February followed by 14 in June, 13 in July and December and 12 in May and September.

Cicada's And Winter:

I have 43 years of cicada records going back to the late 1970's. They are 100% complete since 1983, having not missed a year. I was wondering if there were any correlation to the date of their first singing and winter. This year they sang about a week later than usual. My records indicate 9 years when they sang later than usual. Of those 9 years, 7 produced a normal to colder than normal winter. I looked at snowfall too and found that it was normal to above normal, 78% of the time. This is the first time that I have ever used this for predicting the winter so we'll see how this turns out?

La Nina And The Number Of Days With Thunder In July:

Using my data I have found that during a La Nina, July usually has a 57% chance of seeing more days with thunder. We usually see 2 more days with thunder during the month.

La Nina And Days With 90 Degree Temperatures In July:

I was wondering if there was any connection during a La Nina to the number of 90 degree days during the month of July. Using my data I found that there is a 57% chance of having more of these days. There tended to be an extra 2 or 3 days with 90's during a La Nina.

My Old Weather Journal:

My weather journal had this to say about July of 1893. Notice how fast things changed from beginning to end.

3rd - the weather is fine and the crops are doing well.

5th - one farmer reports that his corn has grown 24" in one week.

13th - today's temperature was 97 degrees.

14th - temperatures today in the middle 90's, the heat continues.

18th - the windstorm of the 6th has done much damage to the shade trees in parts of the county.

23rd - plenty of dust now, the farmers fear the potatoes are to small and few in the hills.

24th - temperatures this week hit 100 in the shade, a good rain is much needed now.

26th - temperatures this morning in the low 50's.

29th - cutting and threshing is the order of the day, pastures are short and dry, the milk supply has dropped 1/3rd.

31st - temperatures were well above normal for the month and rainfall was well below normal. There were 22 clear days, 8 partly cloudy days and 1 cloudy day.

Climate Change And Plants:

I have been keeping track of nature since 1983, logging what I've seen in several journals. They are getting more detailed with time. Last Fall I wrote about how flowers are blooming earlier. I have also noted that the trees are leafing out about 5 days earlier than they used to, especially since 2000. Since 2000, the Hackberry trees leaf out then lose quite a few of their leaves after a cooler and windier period only to fully leaf out again. I don't ever recall them doing that before. I will have more on climate change and the insects next time.

That's all for this edition. On the "wild" side of weather I'm Steve Gottschalk.