North Carolina Climate July 2011

Transcription

1 North Carolina Climate July 2011 Online: North Carolina Climate, the monthly newsletter of the State Climate Office of NC, covers a monthly climate summary for June with impacts across the state, information on our new Open Water Evaporation Tool, and a brief overview of the SCO s participation in StormFest. Published July 7, 2011 Climate Summary Temperature and Precipitation by Climate Division Departures from Normal for June 2011 Based on Preliminary Data June 2011 was hot and dry in North Carolina. Temperatures were generally more than 3 F above normal for the month, and most of central and eastern NC received less than 75% of normal rainfall. For many locations in North Carolina, June 2011 was one of the warmest and driest on record. While June 2011 ranked as the one of the 10 warmest such months on record for most locations, Asheville, Concord, Lumberton, Wilmington, Raleigh, Greenville, and New Bern all recorded mean temperatures that ranked in the top 4 warmest for June. Cape Hatteras broke a new record for monthly mean temperature the record was previously set in June Moreover, many locations in eastern NC continued to experience very dry conditions. Most of the region east of I95 is ranking as top 5 driest on record for the period April June. Wilmington, New Bern, and Cape Hatteras have experienced the driest such period on record. Despite the drought conditions in central and eastern NC, there were substantial storms that brought heavy rain, damaging winds and hail to North Carolina in June. A series of intense thunderstorms caused localized flooding in the Triad region, and there were numerous reports of quarter-size hail in the Asheville area.

2 Local Storms Reports for June 2011 Preliminary Count of LSRs courtesy National Weather Service Precipitation for June 2011 Based on estimates from NWS Radar Data Courtesy NWS/NCEP Precipitation for June 2011: Percent of Normal Based on estimates from NWS Radar Data Courtesy NWS/NCEP

3 Impacts to Agriculture and Water Resources The lack of timely precipitation in eastern North Carolina has worsened drought conditions and caused substantial damage. Groundwater conditions at several monitoring wells are at new record lows for this time of the year, and some communities have implemented water restrictions in response to the drought. One of the most dominant impacts has been to corn production. For growers that planted early, the drought in eastern counties has ruined much of their corn crop, which needed moisture during the critical silking stage. Without adequate moisture during this period, kernels will not set and develop even if rain falls later. Substantial corn losses are expected in eastern NC counties that have been hardest hit by drought. US Drought Monitor for North Carolina Courtesy NC DENR Division of Water Resources

4 Open Water Evaporation Tool by Heather Dinon The Penman-Monteith combination equation estimates the rate of moisture transport away from a surface (i.e. evaporation rate from soil or water surfaces and transpiration rate from plant surfaces) since this parameter is only observed at a limited number of locations across the southeastern United States. The total moisture flux from the ground to the atmosphere plays an important role in the water and energy balance on earth's surface, and is of particular interest to agricultural and irrigation practices. By modifying the Penman-Monteith combination equation for an open water surface and using the same methodology as in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) paper number 56, an equation to estimate open water evaporation has been derived. Specific characteristics include an albedo of 0.05, height of 2mm, and a canopy surface resistance of zero since the surface is open water. Similar to the FAO56 Penman Monteith method, this technique requires physical atmospheric observations of solar radiation, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. In situations with no measured solar radiation data, the Hargreaves and Samani (1985) solar radiation estimation technique is utilized as an input to the modified Penman-Monteith equation. The open water evaporation estimate is dependent on time of year and location so the equation also requires parameters of day of year, elevation, and latitude. For more detailed information on the FAO56 Penman-Monteith method, please refer to the UN FAO56 Penman-Monteith documentation. Two products display the open water evaporation values across the Southeast US using Google Maps and Charts. One map-based product is a daily open water evaporation estimate, which allows the user to select a date (YYYY-MM-DD) from January 1, 1945 to yesterday. The other map-based product is a historical climate tool, which displays average monthly total and daily average open water evaporation values, both calculated over the eight-year period from From the dynamic or historical map products, users can display an annual time series for a particular station. Historical open water evaporation estimates for July.

5 Average monthly open water evaporation for Raleigh, NC (KRDU). To access the Open Water Evaporation Tool, visit StormFest 2011 by Heather Dinon The 2 nd Annual StormFest event took place on Saturday, June 18th at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Over 4,000 visitors had the opportunity to learn about severe weather from various agencies such as the National Weather Service, Wake County Emergency Management, and WRAL-TV. SCO scientists presented a booth on the history of severe weather in NC. A real-time data feed from a prototype ECONet weather station helped attendees to visualize how certain instruments, such as an anemometer and pyranometer, respond to changes in wind speed and solar radiation, respectively. A tornado machine, which was built by a scientist at the SCO, was also featured to teach visitors about how tornadoes form. SCO products, services, and educational materials were highlighted as well. SCO instrumentation technician Sean Heuser demonstrating a tower of weather sensors with StormFest visitors.

6 SCO environmental meteorologist John McGuire showing off his home-made tornado machine.

7 Statewide Summary for June 2011 As part of the monthly newsletter, the SCO provides a basic summary of monthly conditions for ECONet stations. A daily version of this product for all locations that have an automated reporting station is available online at: Station Aurora, NC (AURO) Boone, NC (BOON) Buckland, NC (BUCK) Castle Hayne, NC (CAST) Clayton, NC (CLAY) Clayton, NC (CLA2) Clinton, NC (CLIN) Durham, NC (DURH) Fletcher, NC (FLET) Greensboro, NC (NCAT) Hendersonville, NC (BEAR) High Point, NC (HIGH) Jackson Springs, NC (JACK) Kinston, NC (KINS) Lewiston, NC (LEWS) Avg Daily Max Temp 89.7 F (+4.2 F) 4 mi 83.5 F (+10.6 F) 1 mi 89.3 F (+4.8 F) 15 mi 90.8 F (+3.9 F) 90 F (+3.3 F) 91.3 F (+4.6 F) 91.1 F (+4.5 F) 91.4 F (+6.4 F) 6 mi 84.8 F (+4.5 F) 88.2 F (+4.4 F) F (-7.5 F) 7 mi 88.8 F (+3.3 F) 90.6 F (+4.7 F) 90.2 F (+1.3 F) 88.8 F (+3.2 F) Avg Daily Min Temp 70.6 F (+5.2 F) 4 mi 60 F (+5.5 F) 1 mi 64.9 F (+3.6 F) 15 mi 69.7 F (+4.1 F) 68.5 F (+4.4 F) 65.2 F (+1.1 F) 68.9 F (+3.5 F) 66.2 F (+0.8 F) 6 mi 59.9 F (+3.9 F) 66 F (+2.5 F) F (+4 F) 7 mi 65.4 F (+2.3 F) 67.8 F (+2.7 F) 68.9 F (+3.9 F) 67.8 F (+5.1 F) Total Rainfall Avg Daily Wind Speed Max Daily Wind Speed 2.6 in 2.8 mph 22.1 mph 5.2 in 3.9 mph 30.8 mph 1.4 in 1.9 mph 16.4 mph 0.7 in 3.5 mph 23.4 mph 1.4 in 3.8 mph 33.8 mph 2.7 in 1.3 mph 15.6 mph 2.9 in 3.8 mph 25.9 mph 1.8 in 2.4 mph 26.6 mph 3.4 in 1.7 mph 24.9 mph 8.8 in 2.7 mph 28.6 mph 4.5 in 8 mph 52.5 mph 4.1 in 1.3 mph 19.3 mph 4 in 3.6 mph 37 mph 2.8 in 4.1 mph 37.2 mph 1.6 in 2.2 mph 26.3 mph Vector Avg Wind 1.9 mph South Southwest (209 ) 2.9 mph West (274 ) 1.1 mph West Southwest (241 ) 2.1 mph Southwest (234 ) 2.1 mph West Southwest (256 ) 0.6 mph West (264 ) 2.6 mph South Southeast (147 ) 1.3 mph West Southwest (252 ) 1.4 mph North (360 ) 2 mph West (269 ) 6.4 mph West Northwest (301 ) 0.8 mph West Northwest (287 ) 1.6 mph West (278 ) 2.6 mph Southwest (223 ) 1.3 mph West Southwest (250 )

8 Lilesville, NC (LILE) Mount Mitchell, NC (MITC) New London, NC (NEWL) Oxford, NC (OXFO) Plymouth, NC (PLYM) Raleigh, NC (REED) Reidsville, NC (REID) Rocky Mount, NC (ROCK) Salisbury, NC (SALI) Siler City, NC (SILR) 91.4 F (+4.7 F) 9 mi 65.9 F (+1 F) 93.1 F (+7.7 F) 88.2 F (+3.7 F) 90.3 F (+3.3 F) 89.4 F (+5 F) 87.2 F (+2.8 F) 89.1 F (+3.1 F) 89.3 F (+5.1 F) 89.8 F (+5.1 F) 5 mi 68.5 F (+2.4 F) 9 mi 53.2 F (+4.2 F) 64.5 F (+1.5 F) 67 F (+5.4 F) 65.5 F (+0.5 F) 68 F (+3 F) 65.9 F (+3.5 F) 67.6 F (+3.7 F) 64.6 F (+2.2 F) 62.9 F (-0.5 F) 5 mi 2.5 in 3.2 mph 24.6 mph 7.1 in 14.2 mph 66 mph 1.4 in 1.5 mph 35.6 mph 2.3 in 1.9 mph 18.8 mph 1.7 in 4.2 mph 32.9 mph 3.5 in 2.3 mph 25.9 mph 5.5 in 2.7 mph 26.9 mph 5.1 in 1.9 mph 25.3 mph 3.5 in 1.6 mph 27.7 mph 1.4 in 2.7 mph 26.2 mph Taylorsville, NC (TAYL) 87 F 62.5 F 2.5 in 1.1 mph 21.7 mph Wallace, NC (WILD) Waynesville, NC (WAYN) Whiteville, NC (WHIT) Williamston, NC (WILL) 92.6 F (+4.5 F) 8 mi 81.4 F (+1.8 F) 91.5 F (+2.2 F) 88.9 F (+4 F) 4 mi Legend: Parameter Parameter's value approximated from hourly data. ( +/- Departure from normal ) Distance to reference station 67.8 F (+2 F) 8 mi 57.8 F (+4.4 F) 68.8 F (+4.2 F) 67.4 F (+3.1 F) 4 mi 2.7 in 4 mph 37.1 mph 5.5 in 1.2 mph 31.1 mph 1.7 in 2.1 mph 23.5 mph 1.9 in 2.6 mph 25.8 mph 0.5 mph Northwest (318 ) 13.9 mph West Northwest (293 ) 0.2 mph North Northeast (30 ) 1 mph West (259 ) 2.3 mph West Southwest (253 ) 1.2 mph West Northwest (296 ) 1.6 mph West Northwest (303 ) 1 mph West Southwest (237 ) 0.8 mph West Northwest (294 ) 1.1 mph West (275 ) 0.7 mph West Northwest (298 ) 2 mph Southwest (228 ) 0.5 mph North Northeast (24 ) 0.9 mph Southwest (221 ) 1.6 mph West Southwest (246 )