GLOBE Surface Temperature Field Campaign Review - Kevin Czajkowski

There have been 28 schools that have entered data associated with the GLOBE Surface Temperature Field Campaign for a total of 782 observations. The number of observations for a school is in parenthesis.

Al-Fath Secondary School at Abha, Saudi Arabia

Brazil High School, Tinidad and Tobago (18) – Thank you Mr. Ali

Camanche Elementary School, Iowa, USA

Chartiers-Housgon Jr./Sr. High School, Pennsylvania, USA (8)– Thanks Gary

Chia-Yi Girls Senior High School, Taiwan (9)

Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, Illinois, USA, 8 different sites (41)

Feng-Shan Senior High School, Taiwan

Huntington High School, Huntington, West Virginia, USA (94) – Thanks Rick

Ida Middle School, Michigan, USA (20) – Thanks Mr. Sinclair

John Marshall High School, West Virginia, USA

Lakewood Catholic Academy, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (54) – Thanks Eilene

Mahopac High School, New York, USA

Main Street Intermediate School, Norwalk, Ohio, USA (76) – Thanks Marcy

Moamar Bin Rashed Intermediate School at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mohican School in the Out-of-doors, Ashland, Ohio, USA (30) – Thanks Susan and Steve

Monroe High School, Monroe, Michigan, USA (97) and (52) at Bowles Harbor (a nearby science center – Thanks Russell

Navarre Elementary School, Toledo, Ohio, USA (43) – 6 different sites observed.

Otsego High School, Ohio, USA (4)

Peyton Elemnetary School, Iowa, USA (3)

Princeton Middle School, West Virginia, USA  

Pleasant Valley Elementary, Iowa, USA (4)

Roswell-Kent Middle School, Akron, Ohio, USA (23) 3 different sites – Thanks Steve

Sekundarschule Uzwil, Switzerland (15) – Thanks Markus

Shazar Intermediate School, Israel (12)

Skola Za Medicinske Sestre Vrapce, Croatia (7)

Al-Fath Secondary School at Abha, Saudi Arabia (2)

University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA (14) – This is me and my students

I know many schools have not yet sent in their observations. If you haven’t yet, please do so soon. This will allow other students at other schools to use your observations in their projects.

The weather during this year’s Surface Temperature Field Campaign was a lot different in the Great Lakes than it was last year. This was typified by my visit to Mr. Sinclair’s 8^th grade class at Ida Middle School. Last year there was about 240mm of snow on the ground. Some kids went out into the snow without boots on and their feet got really cold because the surface temperature was about -10 C. This year, the temperature was below freezing much of the day but there wasn’t any snow on the ground. The surface temperature reflected this and there were many observations above freezing during the day, around 1 and 2 C.

You will notice that the jet stream led to extensive snow cover in North America in November but then the change in jet stream in December led to a lot of melting of that snow.

Why was there such a big difference. I’ll tell you my understanding. Last year, the jet stream was bringing cold weather out of Canada and even from Siberia. This was really cold air and led to our very cold weather. November in the Great Lakes saw the same thing. The jet stream was bringing cold air out of Canada. In both cases, early snow in Siberia led to the opportunity for cold air to form and for temperature to come to the Great Lakes. In addition, there is warm water in the northeastern Pacific Ocean near Alaska. This anchors the jet stream so that it comes down out of Canada into the Great Lakes region. Then, in December, El Nino started to influence the jet stream. During El Nino conditions, the jet stream splits. The southern part of the jet stream brings storms into California and across the southern part of the US. You may have heard that there was flooding in California in December.

Now, at the end of December and going into January, the jet stream will go back to the cold phase and bring cold air out of Canada.
 

I put up my ice rink in the back yard that I do every year. Ice started to form quickly. Since there is no snow on the ground, the ground is starting to freeze. Last winter there was a lot of snow on the ground. The snow insulated the ground so that the ground  only froze to about 10 cm. This winter, if we don’t get any snow, the ground could freeze much deeper.

I don’t know what has been happening in other areas of the world. Leave a comment telling everyone how the weather was in December for your area.