Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

Hottest day on record in Texas Panhandle; fire threatens Los Alamos
Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 4:54 PM GMT en Junio 27, 2011 +6
The hottest temperatures in recorded history scorched large portions of the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, and southwestern Kansas on Sunday. Amarillo hit 111°, breaking its hottest day-ever record of 109° (set just two days previously, on June 24). Borger, Texas hit 113°, smashing the previous hottest day-ever record set on June 24, 2011 of 108°. Dalhart, Texas had its hottest day on record, 110°, beating the 108° on June 24, 2011. Dodge City, Kansas tied its all-time record with 110° (last seen on June 29, 1998). Dodge City has temperature records back to 1874. Yesterday saw the hottest temperatures of the month for Texas with 116.2° at Childress, Northfield, and Memphis (all in the panhandle region.) These readings are not far from the state record of 120° set at Monahas on June 28, 1994 and at Seymore on August 12, 1936.

A cold front moved through the region overnight, bringing northerly winds and cooler temperatures to the region. However, a new ridge of high pressure will gradually build in this week and temperatures are expected to reach near-record levels again by Thursday, with 102°F expected in Amarillo, which is their all-time record for the date. The record-breaking temperatures in Texas are being caused, in part, by the record drought. Under normal conditions, the sun's heat expends part of its energy evaporating water from the soil and from vegetation. This energy is stored as "latent heat" in the water evaporated, and is not available to heat the air up. However, when a severe drought dries up the soil and kills the vegetation, there is much more heat available to go directly into heating up the air, since there is little moisture to evaporate. The increased temperatures help to strengthen the high pressure system dominating the drought region, making it even more difficult for rain-bearing low pressure systems to bring drought-busting rains. This positive feedback effect is a key reason why we expect more intense droughts and heat waves in a warmer climate.

Wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt has many more details on the great Texas drought of 2011 in his latest post, updated Sunday night. He reports that Pecos, Texas has had no precipitation since September 23, 2010--one of the longest rain-free periods for a U.S. city in recorded history, outside of the desert regions of Arizona and California.


Figure 1. Latest weekly drought conditions for Texas, as compiled by the U.S. Drought Monitor. West Texas is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history.

Fire threatens Los Alamos, New Mexico
A major wildfire has burned to a spot one mile southwest of Los Alamos, New Mexico today, forcing the nuclear laboratory there to close and send home all 11,000 of its employees. The fire was fanned by winds that reached sustained speeds of 32 mph, gusting to 45 mph, along with temperatures in the upper 80s and humidities as low as 9%. Today, winds will be weaker, 10 - 20 mph, but are expected to to turn to the southwest, which would force the fire towards the laboratory. According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, these will not be critical fire conditions, and critical fire conditions are not expected to return to the area until Thursday.


Figure 2. Noon satellite image of the tropical disturbance crossing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Tropical disturbance approaching the Gulf of Mexico
Heavy thunderstorm activity is increasing over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and adjacent waters due to a tropical wave moving west-northwest towards the Gulf of Mexico. Wind shear is currently 20 - 30 knots, which is too high to permit significant development, but wind shear is forecast to fall to the moderate range, 10 - 20 knots, on Tuesday, as the wave emerges over the Gulf of Mexico. Several of our reliable computer models are predicting that a system that may approach tropical depression strength could form in the southern Gulf of Mexico in the Bay of Campeche Tuesday or Wednesday. NHC is giving the system a 20% chance of developing into a tropical depression by Wednesday. Development will be hindered by a large region of dry air to the west, associated with the great 2011 Texas-Mexico drought. However, the topography surrounding the Bay of Campeche tends to boost counter-clockwise air flow, enabling systems there to spin up faster than any other portion of the Atlantic.

There is a strong ridge of high pressure over the Gulf, which should act to keep any storm that might form far to the south, with impacts limited to Mexico and perhaps extreme South Texas. Mexico could use the rain. A report from The Latin American Herald Tribune states that 40% of the nation is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years. There are portions of the state of Coahulia where no rain has fallen since last September (just like Pecos in Texas). Wild fires have so far burned 500,000 acres in northern regions near the U.S. border.

Jeff Masters
Los Conchas Fire Jun 26 (gilg72)
This fire just started today Jun 26. It is SW of Los Alamos and only a few miles away. I don't know the cause at this time. These photos as viewed from the Espanola NM area. Voluntary evacuations in all of Los Alamos County per last report.
Los Conchas Fire Jun 26
Dust devils the size of tornadoes (darnold)
Dozens of massive tornado-size dust devils pound Slaton, Texas one right after another. The drought stricken west Texas plains seems to have become a dust bowl as sustained high winds wreak havoc on the farms. Slaton is situated just south of Lubbock, Texas.
Dust devils the size of tornadoes
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901. VAbeachhurricanes 3:56 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
It then weakens to only a 1007mb low at 42 hrs. GFS sees nothing more than barely a TD.

Member Since: Septiembre 6, 2007 Posts: 0 Comments: 4803
902. CosmicEvents 3:57 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting TomTaylor:
the cmc, gfs, and ecmwf all forecast a tropical storm to develop. The only model not calling for a tropical storm is the nogaps, but that's arguably the least reliable model. Upper level conditions will improve as shear drops, divergence and ventilation will improve as upper level anticyclone centers itself over 95l, lower pressures have been observed, and finally a broad circulation is evident from surface and buoy observations as well as tpw and satellite imagery
Sounds like I picked a bad day to give up smoking.
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903. beell 4:00 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
.
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906. beell 4:09 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Couple of thoughts for consideration,

The "broad circulation" belongs to the westward drifting monsoon-not a developing tropical system.

In part, the Upper Level Anticyclone is or will be a product of convective exhaust caused by the the monsoon in a low shear environment. Not a just a coincidence of weather. The anticylone seems to stack up very well underneath the monsoon in the models.

Over the past couple years of personal observation, it seems the global models do not handle cyclogenesis under a monsoon very well. Genesis is anything but typical. Always seems to be a waiting game.

Ok, sorry. That was three.

click any graphic to open in a new window

00Z GFS 700mb @24hrs
700mb "monsoon" circulation centered at 20N



00Z GFS 200mb @24hrs
Anticyclone parked overhead

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907. magnitude9 4:44 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
No Global Climate Change happening here folks. Nothing to see here. Walk away from this please.....
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908. j2008 5:07 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Dont know if anybodys posted this but pressure in 95 has dropped to 1006 and winds have stayed at 20 knots.
AL, 95, 2011062800, , BEST, 0, 194N, 916W, 20, 1006,
Member Since: Diciembre 19, 2008 Posts: 1 Comments: 204
909. TomTaylor 5:12 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting VAbeachhurricanes:


Thank you, the weakening of all the convection right now concern you at all?
um not really?

It will either develop or not develop. If it does that'd be nice for the drought, if it doesn't then oh well. I'm not saying its going to develop, but I don't think chances are that bad. The latest GFS has dropped the idea of Arlene forming and convection has dissipated a bit, so personally I'd have to say my chances of development are a little lower than what the NHC is saying. Maybe 30-40%. I'd expect there to be more convection in the morning after dmax, but we shall see

Quoting beell:
Couple of thoughts for consideration,

The "broad circulation" belongs to the westward drifting monsoon-not a developing tropical system.

In part, the Upper Level Anticyclone is or will be a product of convective exhaust caused by the the monsoon in a low shear environment. Not a just a coincidence of weather. The anticylone seems to stack up very well underneath the monsoon in the models.
oh my bad. what should it be called though? Llc? Open circulation? I wasn't entirely sure what to call it because I haven't taken a very good look at it in a while or seen any ascat passes.

about the upper ac, yea I know.
Member Since: Agosto 24, 2010 Posts: 18 Comments: 3914
910. VAbeachhurricanes 5:22 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting TomTaylor:
um not really?

It will either develop or not develop. If t does that'd be nice for the drought, if it doesn't then oh well. I'm not saying its going to develop, but I don't think chances are that bad. The latest GFS has dropped the idea of Arlene forming and convection has dissipated a bit, so personally is have to say my chances of development are a little lower than what the NHC is saying. Maybe 30-40%. I'd expect there to be more convection in the morning after dmax, but we shall see

oh my bad. what should it be called though? Llc? Open circulation? I wasn't entirely sure what to call it because I haven't taken a very good look at it in a while or seen any ascat passes.

about the upper ac, yea I know.


lol, I didn't mean you personally, just in terms of development.
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911. trHUrrIXC5MMX 5:27 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Yep, possibly tropical storm Arlene in the next few days.


Member Since: Abril 23, 2011 Posts: 33 Comments: 7960
913. TomTaylor 5:36 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting VAbeachhurricanes:
It then weakens to only a 1007mb low at 42 hrs. GFS sees nothing more than barely a TD.



Latest GFS (0z) bottoms out the low at 1005mb in 36hrs. Possibly a very weak TS. Not sure if this is a very realistic solution, however, since this is at 36 hrs and I'm not sure this system can get that organized in such a short time as shear will only just be dropping and the upper ac will only just be getting overhead and convection will need to get going

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916. sunlinepr 6:26 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
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918. bigwes6844 7:03 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
do yall see that blob north of puerto rico. interesting
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920. HimacaneBrees 7:22 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting bigwes6844:
do yall see that blob north of puerto rico. interesting


I asked that question earlier and was told that it's a tropical wave interacting with an upper level low. It does look like it's blowing up right now though.
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921. PrivateIdaho 7:26 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting HimacaneBrees:


I asked that question earlier and was told that it's a tropical wave interacting with an upper level low. It does look like it's blowing up right now though.
I read back to some of the posts between you and Pat. I used to fish out of south pass quite a bit back when I was stationed at NAS Belle Chase in the late 80's, early 90's.
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923. PrivateIdaho 7:28 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
You ever get a daytime shot of that big, funky looking buck?
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924. bigwes6844 7:34 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting HimacaneBrees:


I asked that question earlier and was told that it's a tropical wave interacting with an upper level low. It does look like it's blowing up right now though.
Yeaqh i was reading the discussion and it said its supposed to drop south of the D.R.
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925. HimacaneBrees 7:36 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting PrivateIdaho:
You ever get a daytime shot of that big, funky looking buck?


Yeah got a few of them.

Member Since: Agosto 23, 2010 Posts: 0 Comments: 708
926. TampaSpin 7:37 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting bigwes6844:
do yall see that blob north of puerto rico. interesting


That blob is just Divergence from an ULL spinning in the area. Nothing to worry about!
Member Since: Septiembre 2, 2007 Posts: 175 Comments: 19747
927. HimacaneBrees 7:38 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting PrivateIdaho:
I read back to some of the posts between you and Pat. I used to fish out of south pass quite a bit back when I was stationed at NAS Belle Chase in the late 80's, early 90's.


Yeah it's nice fishing and duck hunting there. We have a camp at Boothville, it's awesome in that area.
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928. PrivateIdaho 7:40 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting HimacaneBrees:


Yeah got a few of them.

Cool, those big guys can be pretty nocturnal. I have some trail cam pics of big bucks and bears that I never get a pic of (or see from the stand) in the daytime.
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929. PrivateIdaho 7:43 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting HimacaneBrees:


Yeah it's nice fishing and duck hunting there. We have a camp at Boothville, it's awesome in that area.
When we weren't going offshore we fished Hermitage and Port Sulfur quite a bit. I always tell people that the only things I miss about Nawlin's is the food and the fishing.
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930. HimacaneBrees 7:44 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting PrivateIdaho:
Cool, those big guys can be pretty nocturnal. I have some trail cam pics of big bucks and bears that I never get a pic of (or see from the stand) in the daytime.


You are absolutely correct lol. They don't like to come out much in the daytime. The few pics I have of him are just after sunset, just the last minutes of daylight, during the peak of the rut.
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931. PrivateIdaho 7:46 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Stay safe...I'm out.
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933. HimacaneBrees 7:49 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting PrivateIdaho:
When we weren't going offshore we fished Hermitage and Port Sulfur quite a bit. I always tell people that the only things I miss about Nawlin's is the food and the fishing.


Ya can't beat da food down here no.
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935. wunderkidcayman 8:00 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
first yellow for 2011 that I can recall

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937. TomTaylor 8:37 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Full model support now from the later batch of models at 0z. CMC peaks at 999mb, ECMWF at 1001, GFS at 1005, UKMET at 1005, HWRF at 991 and 51knot winds, and GFDL at 1002 and 30 knot winds. The only one not on board is the NOGAPS.

With near unanimous model support in the short term (this is only 24-48 hrs out), I'd say there's a pretty good chance this becomes TD1. Id say Arlene is probably about 50/50 as the NHC said.
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938. Hurricane4Lex 8:47 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Anyone know what happened to StormW? I tried looking for his blog but it says "banned by WunderblogAdmin" Sorry I haven't commented in years.
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942. Hurricane4Lex 9:01 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting TxHurricanedude11:
He left wunderground about an year ago and he has his own weather site now but I don't know what it is.


Ah thanks for the reply.

Btw here's the link I got off of someone else's blog. Not sure if he moved to another link or something.

Link
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944. Vincent4989 9:33 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Blog dead? Lurking.....
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945. HimacaneBrees 9:42 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting Vincent4989:
Blog dead? Lurking.....


yup dead
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946. Hurricane4Lex 9:51 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Once again thx TxHurricanedude11
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947. CybrTeddy 10:21 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
CMC, ECMWF, GFS, NAM, ECMWF ensembles, GFS ensembles, UKMET all develop 95L into a Tropical Storm, only the NOGAPS doesn't develop 95L into Arlene and should be considered the outsider. 95L has also gotten somewhat better organized overnight, with convection developing over the low pressure area.
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949. Hurricanes101 10:26 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Quoting CybrTeddy:
CMC, ECMWF, GFS, NAM, ECMWF ensembles, GFS ensembles, UKMET all develop 95L into a Tropical Storm, only the NOGAPS doesn't develop 95L into Arlene and should be considered the outsider. 95L has also gotten somewhat better organized overnight, with convection developing over the low pressure area.


the low has gotten better defined as well IMO
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950. CybrTeddy 10:30 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Morning 101, Hurrykane.
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951. WarEagle8 10:47 AM GMT en Junio 28, 2011    
Lots of moisture this morning in the GOM:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/gmex/rb-l.jpg
Member Since: Agosto 19, 2008 Posts: 0 Comments: 89

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About JeffMasters
Jeff co-founded the Weather Underground in 1995 while working on his Ph.D. He flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 1986-1990.

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