The Dust Bowl

Picture by NOAA

I remember times in Arizona when we would have sand storms. Sometimes they would be little ones, but I remember one specifically that was so bad we were stuck in a restaurant for a while till it settled down. Being young, I was scared because the sand just engulfed you.
The Dust Bowl that happened in the 1930s was on a whole different level. As you can see in the pictures, it just covered towns with a mess. It is thought that poor land use, drought, and sea surface temperature created these massive sand storms. The storms then in turn, created a greater drought. The sand cut off the evaporation process, drying out the atmosphere. This drought carried all the way across the great plains of the United States. After this, some new rules were put into play to help with soil erosion and keep this catastrophe from ever happening again. However, other countries are not as fortunate. In fact, China may be seeing this type of weather event soon.

Pumpkin Shortage

We have definitely been hearing numerous stories about atypical weather conditions caused by changing climate; anything from droughts and wildfires to flooding and mudslides. One thing that surprised me recently was a possibility of a pumpkin shortage this year that may even affect supplies of pumpkin pie filling.  The so-called pumpkin capitol of the world, Morton, Illinois received above average rainfall during the peak growing season in June, severely affecting pumpkin yields.  Libby's Pumpkin, who supplies 85% of the world's pumpkin filling is predicting half the supply they have had in past years, so if you have your heart set on pumpkin pie this holiday season, it might be advisable to stock up now.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-pumpkins

Blog Post for Katy Jones

November weather pattern change is bringing warm September-like conditions to the east and snow to the mountains in the west for early ski fever. The midwest, south, and east are experiencing a high pressure system this week to bring in warmer weather while the west is getting a jet stream to deliver cold air. 

http://www.weather.com/forecast/national/news/november-pattern-change-west-snow-east-warm

The Atmosphere on Mars

I plan to discuss the layers of the atmosphere this week with my students, and I was looking on Newsela for articles related to the atmosphere. I found an article that was posted last year about a spacecraft that is orbiting Mars and measuring its atmosphere. The measurements will be used to understand its past atmosphere. Scientists believe that Mars was warm and full of water long ago, and it may have had a thicker atmosphere in the past. The atmosphere of Mars is currently 100 times thinner than Earth's atmosphere. NASA's website has articles and images of the spacecraft Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN). The website mentions that there will be a news briefing this Thursday, November 5th at 2pm to discuss the ongoing exploration of Mars. I may use the Newsela article to allow students to compare and contrast the atmospheres on Earth and Mars. They can then use the NASA website to research current findings.

https://newsela.com/articles/mars-maven/id/5323/

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-announce-new-findings-on-fate-of-mars-atmosphere

Cyclone Chapala

A cyclone is close to hitting the coast Yemen in Arabian Sea. It is rare that a cyclone moves this close to land from sea and it is carrying hurricane strength. Although the wind is a concern, than main concern is the amount of rainfall that is going to take place. Weather centers are calling for life threatening flash floods to occur. The last time a cyclone of this magnitude took place in this area was 1922. Cyclone Chapala was a category 3 cyclone last week and changed to category 4 over the weekend. This is the strongest cyclone in the Arabian Sea to date. The warm, dry desert air of Yemen usually dissipates storms like these. However, these this storm isn't complying. For an area that doesn't get much rainfall, these storms could be detrimental to a desert land.

Cyclone Chapala

Is this November going to be warmer than average?

As November begins, it is looking like this month will be warmer in many areas then is typical.  The following image shows the chances of there being a higher then normal or warmer than normal November this year.























The chances of warmer temperatures in Michigan are extremely high at about 70%. While in are area we only have a chance of warmer weather in the 30% range, at least it is predicting warmer and not colder than normal!


What does this prediction of warmer temperature say about rain and snow chances? It seems likely that the precipitation amounts will be around normal. Snow on the other hand, seems unlikely till late in the month. Even late in the month, it is currently a very slim chance of having a measurable snow.


http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2015/11/michigan_weather_may_make_this.html

Bretagne

Today my students are learning about the Bretagne (Brittany) region of France. See map.



Bretagne is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel. So I thought I would look at their weather for the month of November. Their average daily temperature is 48 Fahrenheit. Today's temperature is 58. They have an average of 17 rainy days in November and the forecast for this week calls for some rain. The temperatures will dip in the last week of November. Overall, its not very interesting. It looks like a typical November that we experience.