Friday might be coldest August day on record

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | August 6, 2010 | Gary Robbins

[South40]

The National Weather Service says the temperature probably won't rise above 65 degrees today at Lindbergh Field in San Diego . If that turns out to be the case, it'll be the first time since record keeping began in 1875 that downtown San Diego has not risen above 65 on an August day. The existing record for the "low high" is 66, which has been recorded three times in the month of August, the last occurring in 1924. That's back when Buster Keaton was a big star.

Forecasters blame the cool weather on a low pressure system off the Pacific coast, which has been making San Diego's marine layer thicker. San Diego has been cooler, on average, than Portland, Oregon for most of the summer.

9 a.m. temperature snapshot: Lindbergh Field, 63; Sea World, 62; Point Loma, 60; Imperial Beach, 62; Red Beach, Camp Pendleton, 63; Oceanside Harbor, 63; UC San Diego, 63; Valley Center, 57; Fallbrook, 59; Escondido, 66; Ramona, 58; Santee Lakes, 62; La Mesa, 63; Mount Laguna Observatory, 71; Campo, 75; Alpine, 59, Poway, 61.

"A trough of low pressure will bring 500 MB heights 2 to 3 standard deviations below seasonal averages this weekend," the weather service says in an advisory. "High temperatures for the coast and valleys will be 10-15 degrees below seasonal averages, with temperatures for mountains and deserts a few degrees below average.

"This trough of low pressure will bring a deeper marine layer with coastal stratus extending inland into portions of the inland valleys each night and morning, then clearing back to near the coast each afternoon. Clouds may linger near some beaches each afternoon and there may be some patchy late night and morning drizzle from the deeper marine layer."

Inland San Diego County continues to be unseasonably cool. It was 86 Wednesday in Ramona (5 degrees below normal) and 89 in Campo (5 degrees below normal.)

[LibWhacker]

Only 85 degrees out there right now in the Sacramento Valley. Beautiful weather. The forecasted hi-temps for the next four days are 85, 85, 84, 84. Unheard of for mid-August.

[Bryan24]

I’ll bet your humidity wasn’t 50%.....

[justa-hairyape]

And in Brazil, Chile and Argentina they are having the coldest winter in decades along with more snow in a decade.

Let me guess, Climate Change ?

Brazil Hasn't Seen So Much Snow in a Decade

Chilly in Chile: South America Hit by Cold Snap

[zzeeman]

I am looking forward to opening the windows tonight.

I hope that we can do that here as well, at least the humidity has dropped down. I think that we've been able to open the windows to sleep at night maybe 4 or 5 nights only this summer. It has been so hot and humid in NJ that we have to keep the AC running upstairs almost every night since June. I am hoping that this heat is done in a few weeks and we can have a very cold Fall and frigid winter.

[Politicalmom]

We got down into the low 40s in the South Bay last night.

[justa-hairyape]

Roy is talking about shallow water sea temps falling after the El Nino and switch to La Nina conditions. That is the short term trend. The long term trend of deep sea temps is falling due to weak solar activity. Some short term atmosphere temps falling due to the low sea water temps, while some short term atmosphere temps still elevated by the El Nino earlier in the year. Also the oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico contributed to warmer atmosphere temps in the South East US.

[EggsAckley]

We’re going through “a year without a summer” here in Santa Cruz. Icy north wind and lots of cold fog. Sun in late afternoon, if we’re lucky. Never been so cold in my 40 years here.

[mono]

For many years I traveled constantly on business and always loved the mild weather in San Diego. In fact, we call the mild fall and spring nights here in GA San Diego weather. Enjoy!

[Parley Baer]

Has not exactly been a heat wave here in Orange County Ca. The nightly lows are getting into the high 50’s. Pretty low for the middle of August.

[Jack Hydrazine]

The shallow water temps next to the coast are running below normal on the Left coast. You can see it in this pic.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/nesdis_anomsst_072910.gif

NOAA graphs: 62% Of Continental US Below Normal In 2010
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/02/noaa-graphs-62-of-continental-us-below-normal-in-2010/

[Hot Tabasco]

So what does Joe Bastardi have to say???

[al_c]

Not here in TX. Over 100 today. Not a record, but still dang hot.

[Inyo-Mono]

I’ll bet your humidity wasn’t 50%.....

Actually it was, for a number of days during thunderstorms. But you're right, our normal humidity is around 8%, but I have experienced high humidity during heat waves in both east Texas and Louisiana, so I know what you mean.

[steveo]

In my yute I was a SoCal beach rat. There were MANY a day that it was 85-90 inland and travel 5 miles to the beach where it was overcast and nippy cold for the chicks.

[justa-hairyape]

Thanks for the links. Agree with everything you noted. Personally don't trust NOAA at all anymore. Note in your first link they do not use the color green. They do that to make the warmer then normal spots more graphic. It is a cheap visual trick. Here is what it really looks like.

La Nina is very strong and the PDO has been in the cold phase. Basically the entire Eastern Pacific is cold. Just as you noted. There is a warm spot in the northern central Pacific, but I think that is actually caused by the PDO. Last summer the same thing happened in the Southern Pacific winter. Basic physics. Where ever the shallow water current flow is slow and there is no upwelling, the shallow water will warm due to solar energy. Here is what happened last summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

So our winter this year will be like the Southern Hemisphere winter right now. Colder then in decades. Will have a lot of snow, but gonna be hard to have more snow then we had last winter.

[justa-hairyape]

Here is his blog page. Lots of videos. He predicts cold winter and has been predicting active Hurricane season. Think he is right on the winter prediction, but the Hurricane prediction is still a question. Very difficult to predict those beasts.

Joe Bastardi Accuweather Blog

[Coldwater Creek]

OH! HOW DO I MISS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. If it wasn’t for my children and grandchildren, I would be packing up and saying good-bye to Tennessee forever.

[Coldwater Creek]

There has been 13 heat related deaths the last couple of week’s in Memphis alone. But, then OTOH, January will be colder than a well diggers shovel. The climate from Hades!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Great temp maps. I’m expecting an extremely cold winter. I hope the Gore Effect kicks into overdrive whenever the envirowhackjobs decide to have an AGW/Climate Change protest this winter.

With the ocean temperatures plummeting like they did in 2007 I am expecting another Chanukah Eve storm to hit the PacNW. I was without power for 4.5 days and I was only 6 miles from downtown Seattle! Winds on the coast were gusting around 150mph in some places.

[justa-hairyape]

Better get a generator and store some gasoline, but you probably already have all that. We actually have worse storms in Southern California during El Nino. La Nina just means a cold winter for our coastal regions This winter though we have La Nina and Cold PDO. That is why Bastardi things it will be real cold. Thought last winter was going to be colder with less snow myself, but then El Nino popped up and we got some moisture, but that probably prevented the bitter cold.

The sun is having an active day or two right now, but still no net warming. Overall average has been solar cooling for 6 1/2 years now. Our deep oceans are very cold.