Envirocast® On-Line Feature of the Week -- January 10, 2007

Mild December in 2006

The images in this Envirocast® Bulletin were from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard NASA's Terra satellite. They show a mild December in most parts of North America.

Mild December in 2006

This image above was from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard NASA's Terra satellite. It shows the December 2006 land surface temperature compared to the average December temperatures from 2000-2005.  (Land surface temperatures are how hot or cool the land surface would feel to the touch.  It is different from the air temperature, which is what weather stations usually measure.)

 

Places where daytime land surface temperatures were above the five-year average in red, places where it was below the average in blue, and places near the average as white.

Environmental Impacts:

  • In parts of Central Canada, the North American Great Lakes region, eastern and northern Europe, and central Siberia, the land surface was up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than in the recent past.

  • The unusually warm weather caused the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC and New York City to bloom in December instead of waiting for spring.

  • Several whopping snow storms laid down a chilly blanket over the land surface in late December, creating a blue ribbon of cooler-than-normal temperatures that stretched northeastward from Colorado to Lake Michigan. (Related Envirocast® Bulletin: Midwest Snow Storm; Snow Cover in Colorado)

  • Since autumn 2006, an El Niño had been brewing in the Pacific Ocean, making ocean surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific warmer than average and those in the Western Pacific cooler than average.  During moderate to strong El Niño events, winters in the United States are often mild, with above-average precipitation in the country’s southwest and southeast.

  • Preliminary data from the National Climatic Data Center listed the average temperature for the 48 contiguous states last year as 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  That's 2.2 degrees warmer than average and 0.07 degree warmer than 1998, the previous warmest year on record.

Supplementary Material:

NASA's TERRA Satellite:

  • The Terra spacecraft (formally known as EOS-AM) was successfully launched on Saturday, December 19, 1999 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California. It is flying at an altitude of 705 km (438 miles) observing the Earth. The life expectancy of the Terra mission is 6 years. It will be followed in later years by other EOS spacecraft that take advantage of new developments in remote sensing technologies. [Terra 3D Animation], [Animation showing Terra Orbit]

  • Terra's orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning, and thus it passes over us at the same local time every day, approximately 10:30-10:45 a.m.

Envirocast® Bulletin is a service of StormCenter Communications, Inc. If you are having trouble downloading an image or if you have any questions, please call StormCenter Communications at 410-203-1316.

Envirocast® is a registered trademark of StormCenter Communications, Inc. Envirocast® content is copyright StormCenter Communications, Inc. and is intended to be used solely for those StormCenter customers using the Envirocast software or receiving Envirocast via e-mail delivery directly from StormCenter Communications, Inc. If you are not the intended addressee/recipient, you are hereby notified that any use of, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on the contents of this E-Mail information is strictly prohibited.