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Remember when politics and weather were separate topics? Those were the good old days. From my little knoll in the mountains, the weather has been cool and rainy - - no yardwork in these conditions, so I've been playing a couple of little games - - "Find The Sunspots" and "Find The Hurricanes." Oops . . .

DES MOINES, Iowa — This has been an unusually mild year in Tornado Alley, which is good news, of course, for the people who live here, but a little frustrating to scientists who planned to chase twisters as part of a $10 million research project. "You're out there to do the experiment and you're geared up every day and ready. And when there isn't anything happening, that is frustrating," said Don Burgess, a scientist at the University of Oklahoma. Meteorologists are attributing the relative calm not to anything dire, like global warming, but to the shifts in the jet stream...

[SNIP] San Antonio, which relies on the Edwards Aquifer for its water, is enduring its driest 23-month period since weather data was recorded starting in 1885, according to the National Weather Service. The aquifer's been hovering just above 640 feet deep, and if it dips below that the city will issue its harshest watering restrictions yet. The city's not just sitting around, though. A total of 30 off-duty officers and other employees are working overtime to patrol the city looking for people illegally watering. Since April, about 1,500 people have been cited and ordered to pay fines ranging from $50...

How much sweat does it take to set a new heat-wave record? Sticky Seattleites may find out this week. If temperatures stay at 90 degrees or higher through Saturday, that will add up to six sweltering days in a row. And if Seattle's high reaches 100 degrees today, as forecast, it will tie the city's all-time temperature record. The region's previous record hot spells lasted five days, in August 1981 and July 1941. "We're certainly in the running," said Brad Colman, local meteorologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service.

The sugar market is watching the heavens as bad weather in Brazil and India, the world’s two largest producers, threatens crops and pushes prices skyward. Traders and industry executives say, in rare agreement, that prices could hit a 28-year high – above 19.73 cents per pound – this year because of poor weather, steady consumption and low global inventories.

Average Temperature Only 68.9 Degrees! Have you left your air conditioner in the closet this summer, and worn long pants more often than shorts? If so, you may not be surprised to find out that Chicago is seeing its coldest July in more than 65 years. The National Weather Service says 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. The average temperature this month in Chicago has been a mere 68.9 degrees. Even in the years before 1942, when the National Weather Service recorded temperatures at the cooler lakefront,...

Story here

Here are some stats and maps regarding the unusually cold July that is happening over a large portion of the U.S., especially the Northeast quadrant (yes, it's been unusually hot in the SW, see below). Note: Since I am on vacation at the end of the month, I will not be able to update these but AccuWeather.com will be running news articles about how cool July was in these areas, come the first week in August. First, some stats. 1,044 daily record low temperatures have been broken this month nationwide according to NCDC -- count record "low highs" and the...

Another cold front will be sweeping southeastward out of the Upper Midwest on Saturday. It will make it to the Atlantic Coast on Sunday but at the same time it arrives will begin to wash out. As it traverses southeastward it will bring an area of rain and t-storms with it.

A major and historic winter storm is underway at this Wednesday morning in Argentina. Snow is falling in many parts of the country and in many areas not used to winter precipitation. In Bahia Blanca, a coastal city in the Southern part of the Buenos Aires, the snow storm is heavy and local authorities describe it as the worst snow event in 50 years. Roads are already blocked by snow and ice in the regional. TN news channel reports some areas of the Sierra de La Ventana could pick up even 3 feet of snow, unimaginable to the region.

Monitoring a disturbance in the northern Bahamas for possible further development into possible depression.

Though frequently quoted, Mark Twain probably didn’t say the coldest winter he ever spent was July in San Francisco. But someone did. No one would mistake Lincoln for San Francisco. It’s not that foggy. But this July is proving to be one of the coolest on record in both Lincoln and Omaha. On average, the temperature reaches 90 degrees or higher at least 15 days in July in Lincoln. So far this July: once. The best chance for 90 this week is Friday. Monday’s high was only 75. Omaha has yet to reach 90 this month. Lincoln set record lows...

Could the "Year Without True Summer" Mean the Coldest and Snowiest Winter in Over Five Years from New York City to Washington, D.C.? According to AccuWeather.com's Chief Meteorologist and Expert Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi, cooler-than-normal weather this summer in the Northeast could point to a cold, snowy winter for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. He says the heart of winter will be centered over the area from Boston to Washington, D.C. For people across the Great Lakes and Northeast, this has been the coolest summer in more than a decade. After a period of more classic summer heat in...

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for June, breaking the previous high mark set in 2005, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Additionally, the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was second-warmest on record. The global records began in 1880. Global Climate Statistics * The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2009 was the second warmest on record, behind 2005, 1.12 degrees F (0.62 degree C) above the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees F (15.5 degrees C). * Separately, the...

1816 was the "year without a summer." There were several causes of the abnormally cold weather that year, as this source recounts: The year 1816 is still known to scientists and historians as "eighteen hundred and froze to death" or the "year without a summer." It was the locus of a period of natural ecological destruction not soon to be forgotten. During that year, the Northern Hemisphere was slammed with the effects of at least two abnormal but natural phenomena. These events were mysterious at the time, and even today they are not well understood. First, 1816 marked the midpoint...

A chilly airmass for the month of July is sinking south out of Canada and it will encompass much of the nation along and east of the Mississippi River from the Canadian border to the Deep South through this weekend.

NOAA scientists today announced the arrival of El Niño, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries. El Niño, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months. (snip) Contrary to popular belief, not all effects are negative. On the positive side, El Niño can help to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity. In the United States, it typically brings beneficial winter precipitation to the arid Southwest, less wintry weather across the North, and a reduced risk of Florida wildfires.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday. "Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York..... This year's cool, wet weather created perfect conditions for the disease. "Hopefully, it will turn sunny," McGrath said. "If we get into our real summer hot dry weather, this disease...

El Nino bad news for winter sports outlookStory Published: Jul 9, 2009 at 3:35 PM PDT By Scott Sistek It's official. El Nino is here. Pardon us while we blow our party horn. Toot. It's news snow fans and skiers probably do not want to hear -- climate forecasters say El Nino conditions have developed in the Pacific Ocean. El Nino is a warming of ocean temperatures in the tropical region of the Pacific -- part of a typical 3-5 year cycle where the temperatures drift from warm (El Nino) to normal (neutral) to cold (La Nina) then back again....

Enlarge ImageTrouble brewing. Trouble brewing. Satellite observations show telltale signs of an El Niño returning (red and dark-blue zones).Credit: TOPEX/Poseidon Team/CNES/NASA (APOD) Batten down the hatches! The disruptive weather pattern known as El Niño has developed once again in the central Pacific Ocean, the first time since 2006, scientists announced today. Satellite instruments have recorded a band of telltale warming in surface waters of about 1°C. That could mean damaging storms this winter in California and across the southern half of the United States, as well as heavy rains in Central and South America, drought in Southeast Asia and...

Temperatures dropped to a record low in Prince Edward Island overnight Tuesday, with reports of frost throughout the province.Bob Robichaud, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said that to his knowledge, frost has never been reported before in July in P.E.I. “That 3.8 we got last night kind of sticks out as being lower than some of the other records for anytime in early July,” Robichaud told CBC News on Wednesday. “So we’re looking at a significant event,” he said.

The National Weather Service is reporting that 2009 was one of the coldest and wettest June's on record for New York, with an average temperature of only 67.5 degrees, and an almost record of 10.06 inches of rain. The NWS called the month's weather an, "Unusually wet and cool June for Central Park."

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 455 PM EDT WED JUL 1 2009 ...UNUSUALLY WET AND COOL JUNE FOR CENTRAL PARK... ...HERE ARE THE TOP TEN COOLEST AND WETTEST JUNES ON RECORD SINCE 1869 FOR CENTRAL PARK NY: COOLEST WETTEST AVG. TEMP. YEAR INCHES PRECIP. YEAR 64.2 1903 10.27 2003 65.2 1881 10.06 2009 65.7 1916 9.78 1903 66.8 1926/1902 9.30 1972 67.2 1958 8.79 1989 67.3 1927 8.55 2006 67.4 1928 7.76 1887 67.5 2009/1897 7.58 1975 67.7 1878 7.13 1938 67.8 1924 7.05 1871 DUE TO THE UNUSUALLY COOL AND WET CONDITIONS IN JUNE...HERE ARE...

unusually wet and cool june for central park... for some perspective...here are the top ten coolest and wettest junes on record since 1869 for central park ny: coolest wettest avg. temp. year inches precip. year 64.2 1903 10.27 2003 65.2 1881 10.06 2009 65.7 1916 9.78 1903 66.8 1926/1902 9.30 1972 67.2 1958 8.79 1989 67.3 1927 8.55 2006 67.4 1928 7.76 1887 67.5 2009/1897 7.58 1975 67.7 1878 7.13 1938 67.8 1924 7.05 1871 due to the unusually cool and wet conditions in june...here are some interesting facts to note: this june is tied for the 8th coolest on...

(Please blame National Weather Service for the "all caps".) DUE TO THE UNUSUALLY COOL AND WET CONDITIONS IN JUNE...HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTS TO NOTE: THIS JUNE IS TIED FOR THE 8TH COOLEST ON RECORD. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 67.5...3.7 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL...WHICH ALSO OCCURRED IN 1897. THIS WAS THE COOLEST JUNE SINCE 1958...WHEN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 67.2 DEGREES. BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES OCCURRED ON 23 OUT OF 30 DAYS THIS JUNE...OR 75 PERCENT OF THE MONTH. CENTRAL PARK HAS NOT HIT 90 DEGREES IN THE MONTH OF JUNE THIS YEAR. THE LAST TIME THIS OCCURRED WAS BACK IN 1996....

It's not easy living in the DC area. The place is a 60 square mile enclave bordered by reality, where the phrase "I voted for George Bush" gets you looked at like you have two heads, while being a gay vegan is considered perfectly normal. No, really! You can imagine how irritating it gets when out trying to enjoy a beer and one of Al Gore's cult followers begins proselytizing to the cause of Global Warming. But I've discovered that like the followers of any other religion, debating someone's belief system is pointless. Pointing out how Climate Change is based...

A few minutes ago, just after the House narrowly approved a massive new federal energy tax, there was a nasty hail storm over Washington, D.C. Could it be a sign from above that the cap and trade bill that just barely passed the House (219 to 212) is a terrible idea? Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity suggests the fact that the vote was so close is significant given the Democrats' overwhelming majority in the House:

One 12-year-old Virginia boy was playing baseball when it happened. The same week, a 33-year-old man was struck while jogging in Texas, a 70-year-old California woman was hit while doing yard work and a Kentucky man, 44, fell victim while waiting under a tree for a ride. They are among 11 people killed already this month by lightning strikes in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. "Lightning is very random in terms of fatalities," National Weather Service lightning safety expert John Jensensius told CNN. "We normally see a good amount of lightning in June, but this is...

Tropical Storm Andres formed overnight off the southwestern coast of Mexico, becoming the first named storm of the season in the Eastern Pacific and the latest arrival in 40 years, forecasters said Monday.

The Obama administration's long-awaited scientific report on the sweeping and life-altering consequences of a failure to act on global warming – Global climate change impacts in the United States – is released today.It provides the most detailed picture to date of the impacts on the US in the worst case scenarios, when no action is taken to cut emissions. Examples include: floods in lower Manhattan; a quadrupling of heatwave deaths in Chicago; withering on the vineyards of California; the disappearance of wildflowers from the slopes of the Rockies; the extinction of Alaska's wild polar bears in the next 75 years.What...

Starting on Sunday, June 21, 2009, I expect more news coming out of Paris and the le Bureau d’enquêtes et d’analyses (BEA). The “big tent” for the “le cirque” came down on the Paris Air Show Saturday night and the French press/media restrictions on Air France Flight 447 will be most likely be lifted by the Euro/French government. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and Navy have been doing a great recovery operation under difficult sea conditions. I don’t expect the additional recovery of any significant wreckage or remains. Brazilian families of Flight 447 are sequestered in the Guanabara Hotel in...

It is the winter that refuses to go away in northern Manitoba and most of the eastern Arctic. Prolonged cold snowy conditions in the Hudson Bay area are expected to obliterate the breeding season for migratory birds and most other species of wildlife this year. According to Environment Canada, the spring of 2009 is record-late in the eastern Arctic with virtually 100 per cent snow cover from James Bay north as of June 11

Last Thursday we were all frightened out of our wits by a new report from the Met Office about what life in Britain would be like in 2080: scorching African sun, all the crops dying, plagues of locusts and mosquitos. Cows collapsing in the fields because they had not worn enough Factor 30; half of Yorkshire and Norfolk washed away by the sea, middle England flooded by swollen rivers, Essex a lifeless arid desert (no change there, then); impeccably well-mannered middle-class people on their knees sucking the last molecules of moisture from dusty, exhausted standpipes in Notting Hill; famine, pestilence...

Following the EuroCockpit article published June 17, we received letters which shows abundantly [clear] that even if the debate is highly technical, many of our readers are interested in ACARS messages. But as everyone knows, the ACARS messages in question since the day of the accident were never broadcast. Only a [main line code vs sub-code lines] list of these messages (in different versions) has been distributed to the press - France2 in log 20h of June 4. ...We should not rely on the BEA to have full knowledge of the ACARS messages. According to our information, "official version" of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mud season has been extended. From North Dakota to Long Island, rain after rain after rain has dampened spirits and swamped roads. Picnics and kids' baseball games have been washed out, rescheduled and rained out again. Big-time sports, too. —In Farmingdale, N.Y., Tiger Woods' defense of the U.S. Open championship was delayed Thursday as rain pelted an already soaked course and postponed most of the first round until Friday. "Where's my canoe," England's Ian Poulter wrote on his Twitter feed. —In Bismarck, N.D., heavy rain swamped streets, stressed storm sewers and stalled vehicles. Roads were shut down,...

China correspondent Stephen McDonell and ABC cameraman Rob Hill saw day turn into night as a freak storm swept across the capital Beijing today. "It was pitch black outside and you could see people looking out from the office towers across the road from us," McDonell said. "In a couple of the photos you can see a clock in the distance showing it was around 11:30 am local time." The storms were expected to affect western and northern Xinjiang, most part of Inner Mongolia, north-east China and north China. Today's extreme weather follows yesterday's hail storms across eastern China's Anhui...

With a cooler-than-usual winter and a mild temperatures leading up to the beginning of summer, global warming alarmists are finding they are losing steam in the debate. But "NBC Nightly News" won't give up the fight. On the June 16 broadcast, anchor Brian Williams noted the peculiar weather patterns along the East Coast. "The weather along the eastern seaboard has been more like Scotland in October lately," Williams said. "Then came the first of the Internet stories, some of them written by learned people in the weather field, wondering if summer as we know it was just not going to...

China correspondent Stephen McDonell and ABC cameraman Rob Hill saw day turn into night as a freak storm swept across the capital Beijing today."It was pitch black outside and you could see people looking out from the office towers across the road from us," McDonell said."In a couple of the photos you can see a clock in the distance showing it was around 11:30 am local time."The storms were expected to affect western and northern Xinjiang, most part of Inner Mongolia, north-east China and north China.Today's extreme weather follows yesterday's hail storms across eastern China's Anhui province, which killed...

After a June that opened with record chill following a spring characterized by clouds, sub-normal temperatures and deluges of rain, Chicagoans increasingly anxious for summery warmth, sunshine and rain-free days must face another meteorological disappointment. Computer models suggest below-average temperatures are likely to persist here through the week. In addition, persistent east winds blowing off the chilly waters of Lake Michigan will keep lakefront areas especially cool in upcoming days. A good deal of sunshine today and Monday is just a tease. Another storm system is headed toward Chicago and the Midwest.

The cloudy, chilly and rainy open to June here has been the talk of the town. So far this June is running more than 12 degrees cooler than last year, and the clouds, rain and chilly lake winds have been persistent. The average temperature at O'Hare International Airport through Friday has been only 59.5 degrees: nearly 7 degrees below normal and the coldest since records there began 50 years ago. More bad weather is on the way Saturday with a cold rain expected to linger through the bulk of the morning. Rainfall could be heavy -- especially north of the...

A crew from the Weather Channel, as part of the VORTEX2 tornado study, caught the full life cycle of a tornado in Wyoming the other day -- including an incredible look inside tornado as its top leaned down toward the camera. Can anyone get a screencap of the tornado about 1:45 in? Amazing stuff.

http://www.iceagenow.com/ Headed for a “year without a summer?” 10 Jun 09 – AccuWeather's Joe Bastardi expects areas from the northern Plains into the Northeast to have a "year without a summer." “The last time this happened was the Tamboro eruption in 1815 followed by a year without a summer in 1816,” says reader Charles Patrick. See Headed for a “year without a summer?”

Statement as of 6:04 PM CDT on June 10, 2009 The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a * Tornado Warning for... southwestern Denton County in north central Texas... northeastern Parker County in north central Texas... northern Tarrant County in north central Texas... southeastern Wise County in north central Texas... * until 645 PM CDT * at 604 PM CDT... storm spotters and Doppler radar observed a developing tornado near Springtown... moving east at 45 mph. This updates and replaces the previous Tornado Warning. * The tornado will be near... Reno and Sanctuary by 610 PM CDT... Briar......

Fast moving tornado on the ground in Flowermound.

New information: An image captured by the Meteosat-9 satellite (Eumetsat) 14 minutes before AF 447 sent the last message, showed that the plane crossed an “agglomeration of clouds” with temperatures as low as -83° C (-117° F)... Based on data collected at the time the flight AF 447 crossed the region of the ocean (about 565 km from Natal-RN), the coordinator of the Ph.D. in remote sensing and the University of Arizona (USA), Humberto Alves Barbosa , meteorologist, suggests a new theory for the accident. He believes that the aircraft may have faced unprecedented conditions in air routes.

Strong winds have knocked down a tree on the White House's North Lawn. The tree appeared to have been snapped off near its base during a storm Tuesday afternoon. The large tree had stood between Pennsylvania Avenue and the West Wing. White House spokesman Bill Burton says it was a European linden. Grounds crews on Wednesday will grind up the tree to use it for mulch. Burton says the tree was planted in 1940 but not by a president to mark a special occasion. President George W. Bush and Laura Bush planted a tree on the North Lawn to replace...

It was a raw, even wintry, weekend for residents and travelers in the northern Rockies. The cold air streaming southward from Canada will get cut off this week, and temperatures will begin to rebound over the next few days. Several inches of snow fell in the higher elevations of Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota this past weekend. Snow totals neared a foot near Meeteetse, Wyo. Chilly rain fell elsewhere in the northern Rockies and northern Plains, while violent thunderstorms rocked the central and southern Plains. The recent cold weather has slowed the progress of crops in Montana in comparison to...

new analysis of the weather in the vicinity at the time of the crash appears to cast doubt on earlier reports that the plane encountered severe thunderstorms, lightning and wind gusts. Though there were storms, they were almost certainly less intense than those sometimes encountered above the United States, and lightning was at least 150 miles away, said Greg Forbes, severe-weather expert for the Weather Channel. Forbes said an examination of weather data for Sunday, including satellite images, indicated updrafts of perhaps 20 mph, far from the initial reports of 100 mph. "I wouldn't expect it to be enough to...

The federal government yesterday moved forward with a controversial proposal that would close weather offices at 20 regional air traffic control centers around the country and instead provide controllers with forecasts from two central units in Maryland and Missouri.

Loss of forests in India, China during the 1700s led to a decline in monsoon precipitation The dramatic expansion of agriculture in India and southeastern China during the 18th century — a sprawl that took place at the expense of forests — triggered a substantial drop in precipitation in those regions, a new study suggests. Winds that blow northeast from the Indian Ocean into southern Asia each summer bring abundant rain to an area that’s home to more than half the world’s population. But those seasonal winds, known as monsoons, brought about 20 percent less rainfall each year to India...