No April Fools?

[happ]

(BS, Man about Palms @ Apr. 08 2007,12:47)

QUOTE

The same local San Diego  forecaster, John Coleman, that predicted a possibility of no rain for the next six months (a month ago) also said at the same time, it looked like we were going to get a fair amount of "June gloom" fairly early and it might be outta here by June. Somewhat like last year. So far, he's been pretty right on. No more than a "trace" of rain/drizzle if we get any. At least here in coastal Oceanside.

Jack, Happ,

As an aside, where do you all have your temp sensors? In your coldest spot or your warmest spot?   I want to know the coldest, So I post my backyard cold temps. My frontyard is roughly 2F warmer (on the cold nights)

And yes, switching sensors nets the same results.

Thanx-

Bill

And you other folks- hang in there!!!

Bill

Up until a few days ago the marine layer only briefly appeared. Now it is dominate as is typical for May/June. Aside from a miracle, the rain season is over   .

Ocean temps were warmer last spring leading to extraordinarily warm readings by July [80F/26.6c Newport Beach & 83F/28.3 off La Jolla   ].  Current water temps 15c-17c/59F-62 favor coastal clouds. Diurnal spread practically non-existent    ie South Bay/Long Beach 60 - 65F].

But, then I am not too worried about it as I don't think political biased reports made into calamities do much more than generate more grant money for those making them.

Don

Suggest you keep reading, big time. Disappointing ignorance  

[elHoagie]

(BS, Man about Palms @ Apr. 08 2007,09:47)

QUOTE

Jack, Happ,

As an aside, where do you all have your temp sensors? In your coldest spot or your warmest spot?   I want to know the coldest, So I post my backyard cold temps. My frontyard is roughly 2F warmer (on the cold nights)

And yes, switching sensors nets the same results.

Thanx-

Bill

Bill,

I try to locate it in the spot that will be closest to "official" (i.e. open, no overhead canopy, away from buildings, away from concrete/asphalt, good air movement, etc.).  In the long term I have a plan for such a location at the new house, but at the moment my sensor isn't in the best place.  It's located about 4m (12ft) from the front of my house.  

To give you an idea what the location is like:  In front of my house there is about 4-5m (15ft) of front yard, a street, then a vertical face about 4m (12ft) tall on the opposite side of the street.  This vertical face reflects sunlight to the sensor in the morning, and the house and street reflect sunlight to the sensor in the afternoon.  I think this is making my daytime readings higher than they should be.  At night, my house acts like a cold air damn for air coming from the top of the hill, which is at an elevation about 10m (35ft) higher than my house.  So, I think the readings are a little colder than what the should be at night.

To answer your question, my sensor is currently located in what I think is the coldest spot in my yard...

Jack

[BS Man about Palms]

Thanks Jack for the sensor answer.

Happ?  Did you miss my query on that?

Bill

[Exotic Life]

Ok i know it far away but the cards for friday going to look better en better. The part 25C/77F came very close to me already. If you look to the map, what the best place to grow palms    :cool:

Robbin

[happ]

(BS, Man about Palms @ Apr. 08 2007,22:18)

QUOTE

Thanks Jack for the sensor answer.

Happ?  Did you miss my query on that?

Bill

Bill

Jack provided good info, in my opinion.  The placement of sensors and/or thermometers can be anywhere other than in direct sunlight.  Some put a sensor very close to the ground in order to detect lowest level temperatures; this is particularly helpful if you have any "cold spots" in your garden.  Essentially the temperature is the same at ground level or eye level within a degree.

Try to get the thermometer out in the open but protected from direct sun.  I have one sensor on my front porch at eye-level [it is approximately 3 feet below the roof overhang].  Another north-facing sensor hangs down from the roof eves around 9 feet off the ground & a third sensor is 5 feet above the ground on a steep north-facing slope.  The readings are uniformly the same within within a few degrees.  The highest off the ground thermometer tends to be a tad warmer during the day from late spring into early fall but basically identical to the others at night.

The exact location of a sensor is important but not worth getting neurotic over  :laugh:

For example the official downtown LA weather station is in an open area on the campus of USC.  It was moved there from atop a 10-story office building on the eastern fringe of downtown several years ago.  Immediately the USC readings were a bit cooler compared to the office roof station due to the heat island effect common to large cities.  Most official stations are at airports [like Limbergh Field in San Diego] but some rightly argue that the concrete can inflate temps.  It is nearly impossible to not have some environmental influence since many of us live near or in large cities & nearby streets! I wouldn't loose sleep over a few fractions of fahrenheit/celius.

Keeping the soil temperature warm is probably most important for California gardeners growing tender palms/tropical plants.  Many of my most sensitive plants are growing very close to the road in front of my house & I believe this has a positive benefit.  Rocks also help alot.

Good luck Bill

[spockvr6]

Keeping with the April Fools theme-----

Ma Nature played one on us today.

I believe we shattered the record for lowest maximum temperature for this date. According to the Climate Center, the record lowest maximum temperature for today in Tarpon Springs is 70F (set in 1956).

My station today logged a maximum of 61.3F!

And.....the forecast called for 78F!  They only missed it by 17 degrees

[steve 9atx]

Larry

This is no foolin', especially for Zach: http://charlotte.com/115/story/78479.html

Steve

[ruskinPalms]

My sister lives near Fort Walton Beach in north Florida and she said that she had sleet over this weekend. Pretty nasty stuff for April. I hate to think what a front like this would have done to us in January    But, I am not complaining about the rain. We actually had some decent rains around central Florida yesterday. Larry, I think I managed to register 73F/22.8C around 11:00 AM as a high for 4/9/07. There must have been some sun for awhile in the morning before the rain. Spent most of the day in the 60's. They are calling for 79F/26.1C for a high today with 60% chance of thunderstorms. We shall see.....

[happ]

Don

Suggest you keep reading, big time. Disappointing ignorance  

Ouch   Don't like how that came out. Sorry Don for getting carried away  

happ

[Exotic Life]

Hi,

Hmzzz we have a quite dry period now, a lot of places the ground is the first couple centimeter so dry... that because, a very dry east wind and warm tempeture's and a lot of sun, so drying out going faster then normal. Some places they have give warning yellow and red, and they can't use open fire. Last weekend the first fires broken out, next roads and very dry hills...

The farners are giving water to the crops and if they are on the land, a lot of dust is in the air. This picture here under is not from mine but on a farmersland

Robbin

[amazondk]

(happ @ Apr. 10 2007,00:45)

QUOTE

Don

Suggest you keep reading, big time. Disappointing ignorance  

Ouch   Don't like how that came out. Sorry Don for getting carried away  

happ

Happ,

Don't worry, what I undestood from what you wrote was that much of the climate change alarmists are full of disappointing ignorance.  I actually studied a lot of meterology and climate during college (many years ago) as I majored in Geography.  And, a lot of the latest climate change threories have come out of geographers.  Since the subject interests me I have been searching around a lot for various points of view.  What gets me is how many people, especially the meida, pick things up which are scientific opinions as fact and inevitbable.  Science is based on challanges to threory and what is believe to be true is constantly being challanged and overturned.   Since our only reliable data base in climate only goes back about 100 years there is a lot of speculation about what has historcially happened frequently based on less that complete or reliable models or data.  My gut feeling is that solar activity has a lot more to do with the climate that the past 50 years of greenhouse gases do.  

When we had the big drought here in 2005 it was seen as an event starting a catostraphic change in weather patterns in Amazonia.  In 2006 the river levels and rainfall averages were above average.  And, this year it has been very wet.  There was a major 5 hour downpour in Manaus yesterday that left the city in kind of a mess.  The average median rainfall for April is 300.1 millimeters and in the first ten days of the month there has already been 115 millimeters.  March is trandiontionally the wettest month with an average of 313 millimeters this year it was 336 millimeters.  The low water levels on the rivers in 2005 have historical precedents in the 20th century and are part of a cycle not one time events.  

The more I have read on the findings of the U.N. IPCC the more I doubt their predictions.  But, who knows maybe they are right.

dk

[steve 9atx]

Don

Here's about the best brief summary I've seen in a while: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/

Steve

[amazondk]

Steve,

That is exactly the conclusion that I have come.  It is nice to see someone say something sensible in the news.  

dk

[Neofolis]

I just got back from Tenerife yesterday and today at home in the UK it is 23°C/73°F and sunny and expected to stay the same for the next few days.  That's 10°C/18°F above the UK average temperature for April and about the same as many of our days in Tenerife.

[happ]

Remarkable warmth over Europe  :cool:

[Exotic Life]

(happ @ Apr. 14 2007,12:08)

QUOTE

Remarkable warmth over Europe  :cool:

Yeah ... Northwest Europe, and the east but the south is very cool ...

Today i have got 27C/80.6F Tomorrow maybe the 28-29C/82.4-84.2F for local places ... Hmzzz  :cool:

Also monday very warm for time for year around the 25C/77F ... after that a cool down... but new high pressure systems are building up. And the dryness still continued, so when the wind is turning to east or south again, then the heat return directly ...

We broken today 3 records!

Robbin

[SubTropicRay]

52F degrees here this morning.  That would be lovely in January but not APRIL !!!!!!  I'm sick of winter.

[ZoneTenNut]

(Ray, Tampa @ Apr. 16 2007,07:06)

QUOTE

52F degrees here this morning.  That would be lovely in January but not APRIL !!!!!!  I'm sick of winter.

Ray,

Count your blessings, it is 50.9F down here. Yesterday morning at this time the low was 76F. What the heck happened here? Gusty winds all night and today looks to be the same and only a high of 75F. We warm up tomorrow again, but brrrrrr is it cold out this morning.

Roger

[gsn]

Ray,

45.4 F over here on the east coast! NWS predicted a low of 52 by the way! Why doesn't that surprise me?

I thought you guys OFFICALLY said winter was over 2 months ago, after 2/16/2007? ::

[ruskinPalms]

53.8F/12.1C at around 4:00 AM. Pretty darn cold for April.

[BobbyinNY]

Oh, well then I don't feel too bad... I'm complaining about a low of 48f here on Long Island... but I've never seen so much rain & wind in my life.. my entire backyard is flooded. Luckily I planted my (2) inground palms on raised beds, so it kinda made it by the skin of it's teeth.

[spockvr6]

54.5F here for the low.  I suppose that the slight NW wind component kept the west coast a little warmer than the east coast.

[spockvr6]

(ZoneTenNut @ Apr. 16 2007,07:44)

QUOTE

Yesterday morning at this time the low was 76F.

Same over here yesterday.  Yesterdays high temp occurred a little after midnight.  Things were flat until about 9AM, then through the day, the dewpoint proceeded to drop from the low 70's to the mid 30's!

We did also manage to get about 0.63" of rain which was welcomed.  The downpour was heavy, but brief.

[SubTropicRay]

Keep the faith.  I predict daily, reliable warmth by sometime in August.

[BS Man about Palms]

(Ray, Tampa @ Apr. 16 2007,04:06)

QUOTE

52F degrees here this morning.  That would be lovely in January but not APRIL !!!!!!  I'm sick of winter.

Whine, whine, whine......I hit 40F again just within the past week.....                     (cold spot again)

[Exotic Life]

Oef what a "cold" out there ...

Here we hit the 25C/77F today, yesterday i hit almost the 30C/86F. Tomorrow we drop a lot ... and we have a little cool down between the 14-18C/57.2-64.4F, but how it looks now from Sunday the tempeture going to rise again 20C/68F and later 25C/77F again

And dryness still contined, because the don't expected rain to next sunday, so it looks like that whole april is gonna be dry... A lot of little fires are broken out at the moment ...

Robbin

[happ]

Yeah listen to the Floridans complain  :laugh:

Those minimums are the norm for April in most of SoCal w/ chilly 40's in some inland valleys.

It actually rained here and there early Saturday morning due to weak thunderstorms.  The pattern continues cooler than normal & cloudy off & on.

BTW, this is exactly what the NWS/Climate Prediction Center forecasted for SoCal in April. They got it right  

[Scott]

Again they had predicted really high winds and cold but so far... knock on wood.... it's been pretty nice Sunday and now on Monday AM. It would be nice to have some rain though.

[gsn]

(happ @ Apr. 16 2007,12:42)

QUOTE

BTW, this is exactly what the NWS/Climate Prediction Center forecasted for SoCal in April. They got it right  

Happ,

Even a BLIND squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while!  :laugh:

[happ]

Very funny, Scott   :laugh:

But are you comparing the NWS to varmints ???

[elHoagie]

(Scott @ Apr. 16 2007,10:00)

QUOTE

Again they had predicted really high winds and cold but so far... knock on wood.... it's been pretty nice Sunday and now on Monday AM. It would be nice to have some rain though.

Hmm, I had a decent amount of rain before sunrise on Sunday, enough to get the soil wet.  I guess you didn't get any over in the valley?

I also got the cold and wind

[BS Man about Palms]

(elHoagie @ Apr. 16 2007,13:37)

QUOTE

(Scott @ Apr. 16 2007,10:00)

QUOTE

Again they had predicted really high winds and cold but so far... knock on wood.... it's been pretty nice Sunday and now on Monday AM. It would be nice to have some rain though.

Hmm, I had a decent amount of rain before sunrise on Sunday, enough to get the soil wet.  I guess you didn't get any over in the valley?

I also got the cold and wind

I got just enough drizzle in Oceanside to smear the dust on my workvans windows............  

[ruskinPalms]

62.2F/16.8C for a low this morning. Not as cold as they had predicted. Let's just hope it gets warmer today than yesterday's high of 67.1F/19.5C....

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Apr. 17 2007,08:29)

QUOTE

62.2F/16.8C for a low this morning. Not as cold as they had predicted. Let's just hope it gets warmer today than yesterday's high of 67.1F/19.5C....

I guess you do live in an ice box Bill.  It was 62.6F here this AM  

There is not much difference on most cold/cool nights it seems between your spot and mine.

[spockvr6]

As an aside, there were lots of 40's in more inland locations this AM.  I wonder if some records might have been set?

[ruskinPalms]

Yeh Larry, my yard does very well - as long as there is some wind. Wind stayed up all night out of the northwest. From what I have observed this winter and this spring, I should be well protected from cold blasts out of the northwest. I know there have been advective freezes that came from the northwest here though but those gulf and bay waters do a good job keeping the temps up.  I'd rather be here with the Bay to my north and northwest than in the central and east parts of the state at my same latitude when those big advective freezes blow through. I noticed too that there were lots of mid 40s to low 50s inland. Surprisingly, many areas in Sarasota and Charlotte counties saw mid 40s last night, especially in North Port and Port Charlotte. I think Sarasota and Charlotte county are only zone 10 up to 3 or 4 miles inland from the coast. Any farther inland than that, it is consistently colder than most of Pinellas county, Tampa proper and usually even colder than where I am here in the 'South shore' area of Hillsborough county.  I think after a few years if I can get some decent canopy, I will have a very nice microclimate here.

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Apr. 17 2007,10:10)

QUOTE

Yeh Larry, my yard does very well - as long as there is some wind. .

Same here.

If there is wind, even from dead north, I fare OK it seems.  

When the wind goes calm, the temps fall fast here as I am too far from the water.

[BobbyinNY]

I can't believe you guys in the Tampa Bay area are still seeing those temps in Mid April - that's just ridiculous...  I wonder what the last Frost date was for that area -  We haven't had a frost in a couple weeks - but it's been teetering on the brink a couple times - just wasn't calm enough, and now I think we're out of the woods with the cold. we're in for a big warm-up now with temps into the 70's/50's respectively... I sure hope this stuff is over.

[spockvr6]

(BobbyinNY @ Apr. 17 2007,11:12)

QUOTE

I wonder what the last Frost date was for that area -

Thankfully....my last frost date was 2/14/2006!

We got just as cold in Feb 2007 as Feb 2006, but the air was far drier in 2007.

[spockvr6]

(BobbyinNY @ Apr. 17 2007,11:12)

QUOTE

I wonder what the last Frost date was for that area -  

Here are the averages for both first and last 32F occurence according to the Climate Center.