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In order to predict & figure out weather, meteorologists use certain tools. One of the main tools used to determine temperature is a thermometer. Thermometers are measured in celsius and fahrenheit. Another tool is a barometer. Barometers are used to measure air pressure and are measured in inches. When the weather is rainy a rain gauge is used to measure precipitation.

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Fabian Hernandez.          Energy from the Sun doesn't fall equally over the Earth's surface.

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Fabian Hernandez.          Energy from the Sun doesn't fall equally over the Earth's surface.

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All matter in the universe that has a temperature above absolute zero (the temperature at which all atomic or molecular motion stops) radiates energy across a range of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.

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1.The sun is the ultimate source of thermal energy on earth.
2.Energy from the sun doesn't fall equally over the earth's surface.
3.Oceans and atmosphere transfer through the process of convection.
4.I can predict how ocean currents affect coastal climates.

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LT: 6
Hurricanes use warm, moist air as fuel. This is why hurricanes tend to form near the Equator.

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/hurricanes/en/

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Convection is the movement in which hotter and less dense material rises and colder, more dense material sinks. This results in a transfer of energy. Convection can simply be the transfer between internal energy in or out of an object due to the movement of a surrounding fluid
Additionally, when conductivity is high, there is no need for convection.

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Convection is the transfer of internal energy into or out of an object by the physical movement of a surrounding fluid that transfers the internal energy along with its mass. Although the heat is initially transferred between the object and the fluid by conduction, the bulk transfer of energy comes from the motion of the fluid.

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LT 4.
The temperature of the currents will effect the climate of the country/area. For example, all the places with only warm currents are warmer, but the places with both cold and warm currents, have cooler climates.

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El nino and la nina
el nino has warmer winters and la nina has cooler winters

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El Niño is the opposite of El Niña. El Niño is when atmospheric pressure is lower than normal. La Niña is when the atmospheric pressure is higher than normal.

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We know that there are many anthropogenic forcings on the climate, particularly the volume of carbon and greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere as a part of our everyday lives. Yet there are a number of natural processes that affect local weather, regional climate and global conditions. Some effects on our climate are a result of fluctuations and anomalies in the complex water conveyor belts of the ocean currents of the world. These fluctuations are known as "oscillations" and the two best-known oscillations are El Niño and La Niña (1) (2).

The latter is the opposite of the former and make up an oscillation known as ENSO. Understanding them requires knowledge of a broad range of data from multiple disciplines. Typically, researchers who understand the processes and study their causes and effects have post-graduate degrees in such disciplines as oceanography, geography, climatology and meteorology. The phenomena and the data extrapolated from them, have applications for palaeoclimatology (the study of climate in the past), anthropology, palaeobotany and archaeology, particularly in what we can extrapolate from the changes to tree ring data (dendrochronology) (3).

Oscillations occur naturally in oceans all across the world; some have a limited impact on the regional weather and wider climate, and some have a much greater impact (4). El Niño and La Niña are examples of oscillations that have a greater impact on our climate with effects that are perhaps surprisingly felt all over the globe (5). In economies that are dependent on certain weather conditions occurring regularly and on time (annual summer rainfall, spring ice melt etc), erratic oscillations can cause problems in these areas leading to drought. Knock on effects can lead to fish migrations and economic hardship for areas that rely on fish stocks. Marginal areas suffer or thrive depending on the effects of El Niño and La Niña leading to further knock on effects elsewhere (4).

El Niño and La Niña: What Are They?

Both El Niño and La Niña are opposite effects of the same phenomenon: the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation). Both are an oscillation in the temperatures between the atmosphere and the ocean of the eastern equatorial Pacific region, roughly between the International Dateline and 120 degrees west (2). El Niño - the conditions for which build up between June and December (15) - is caused by a change in the wind patterns (5). Here, the Pacific Trade Winds fail to replenish following the summer monsoons of Asia (7). This warmer air leads to an oscillation between the cooler and warmer waters, leading to warmer ocean temperatures than normal.

It was Peruvian fishermen roughly around the start of the 20th century who first noticed the correlation between temperature changes and anchovy stocks that led to the development of study in this area (4), though they had noticed variations in fish stock for centuries. Every three to seven years and between December and January, there is a massive tailing off of stocks of the fish that the local economy relies on (7). Why does this happen? Up-swellings from the sea bed occur in normal years that bring nutrients up to the plankton to feed on and in turn abundance of plankton is beneficial to marine life up the food chain. In an El Niño year, that swelling does not occur so the plankton is reduced and in turn, so are the fish stocks, mostly through failure to reproduce (8).

La Niña is effectively the opposite of El Niño, indicated by prolonged periods of sea temperatures in the same region (2), and the effects stated above are generally reversed. During non El Niño years, atmospheric pressure is lower than normal over the western Pacific area and higher over the colder waters of the western Pacific, as already discussed. With La Niña, the Trade Winds are particularly strong in carrying warmer water westwards across the Pacific leading to colder than average temperatures in the east and warmer than average temperatures in the west (9). The result is that plankton increases in the areas where the temperature is cooler, leading to a positive effect on the marine life that depends on plankton or depends on those creatures that depend on plankton (11).

It is commonly expected that La Niña will follow immediately on from an El Niño event, but this is not always the case (14). Typically, both occur every three to five years but they have varied anything between two and seven years. Both phenomena last anything between nine and twelve months.

How Does El Niño Affect Conditions?

Typically, it comes around every five years and what usually happens is that warming in the oceans caused by the winds leads to diffusion of this warming all over the globe. It changes atmospheric pressures with consequences for rainfall, wind patterns, sea surface temperatures and can sometimes have a positive, and sometimes a negative effect on those systems (4). In Europe for example, El Niño reduces the instances of hurricanes in the Atlantic (8). The beginning of the El Niño system will be seen over North America in the preceding winter (2); typically they include:

* Mild winter temperatures over western Canada and north western USA
* Above average precipitation in the Gulf Coast, including Florida
* A drier than average period in Ohio and pacific northwest

The effects of El Niño can sometime be erratic and are not always be predictable. For example, conditions at the start of 2014 were remarkably similar to the 1997/8 ENSO event and so therefore it was expected to be an El Niño year. Yet, as late as August, the initial warning signs were not appearing in the atmosphere to precede warming in the oceans meaning that the likelihood of El Niño occurring was dropping off but not entirely eliminated (5). Whether this is another effect of climate change is yet to be seen. However, some oceanographic institutes still predict that El Niño will take place in the autumn months, pointing to warming throughout August and the sometimes late nature of the development of El Niño (6).

How Does La Niña Affect Conditions?

Like El Niño, it too affects atmospheric pressure and temperature, rainfall and ocean temperature. In Europe, El Niño reduces the number of autumnal hurricanes. La Niña has less of an effect in Europe but it does tend to lead to milder winters in Northern Europe (the United Kingdom especially) and colder winters in southern/western Europe (12) leading to snow in the Mediterranean region. Elsewhere in the world, areas that are affected by La Niña experience the opposite of the effects they experience with El Niño (9). It is continental North America where most of these conditions are felt. The wider effects include (1):

* Stronger winds along the equatorial region, especially in the Pacific
* Decreased convection in the Pacific leading to a weaker jet stream
* temperatures are above average in the southeast and below average in the northwest
* Conditions are more favourable for hurricanes in the Caribbean and central Atlantic area
* Greater instances of tornados in those states of the US already vulnerable to them

In the western Pacific, the formation of cyclones shifts westwards which increases the potential for landfall in those areas most vulnerable to their affects, and especially into continental Asia and China (13). There is greater rainfall in the west too, especially in Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia (10) and further westwards toward the southern countries in the African continent. Consequently, over the US and Canada there will be lower than average precipitation and this pattern follows the coast southwards where the western portion of South America will also experience lower than average rainfall.

Climate Change

How El Niño and La Niña will change or affect climate change in the future is now of tremendous importance thanks to the known effects over the last century or more - and the conditions are still not very well understood, though the phenomenon has been known since the early 1600s (2). For climate scientists, this is a grey area as to whether it will have an impact on the climate, or whether they will be affected by climate change (14). Some recent research has suggested that the effects of the ENSO will worsen as the climate changes (16).

It is important for lives and livelihood, for economies and insurers to understand the potential for damage caused by extreme weather such as El Niño and La Niña so their continued study is of vital importance. Historical records have built up to the point that researchers have a clear idea of what the likely effects of each ENSO is likely to be in any given year. A paper in 2013 compiled the effects from records going back 700 years and how they have impacted global conditions in this time (2). The question is not settled, though many scientific institutes have devoted much time to the study of the ENSO (15) and conflicting data says that ENSO may become the increasing norm.

1. http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/patterns/ENSO.html

2. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

3. http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n9/full/nclimate1936.html

4. http://www.whoi.edu/main/topic/el-nino-other-oscillations

5. http://skepticalscience.com/this-year-el-nino-real-enigma.html

6. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-status-fcsts-web.pdf

7. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ElNino/

8. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ElNino/elnino2.php

9. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LaNina/

10. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LaNina/la_nina_2.php

11. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/plankton_elnino.html

12. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/news/la-nina-2011

13. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/1520-0442%282004%29017%3C1419%3AIOENOE%3E2.0.CO%3B2

14. http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/lanina_new_faq.html

15. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/05/el-nino-global-warming/

16. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/is-texas-toast

Nuclear Energy 101

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Environmental Impact of El Niño and La Niña | EnvironmentalScience.org

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We know that there are many anthropogenic forcings on the climate, particularly the volume of carbon and greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere as a part of our everyday lives. Yet there are a number of natural processes that affect local weather, regional climate and global conditions.

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Lt: 10
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/?page_id=82
Thermometer- Measures air temperature
Barometer- Measures air pressure
Sling Psychrometer- Measures humidity
Rain Gauge- Measures the amount of rain
Wind Vane-  Determines which direction the wind is blowing,
Anemometer-  Measures the wind speeds,
Wind Sock- Indicates the directions and speed of wind,
Weather Maps- Used to forecast the weather,
Hygrometer- Measures the water amount in the air or in humidity
Weather Balloon- Measures the weather conditions high in the atmosphere,
Compass- NESW used for directions,
Weather Satellites- Are used to take photos of large scale air movements.

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http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/climate.html
4th LT
most of the suns radiation is absorbed by the ocean so the ocean stores a good amount of solar radiation. Once radiation is stored the Ocean helps spread it across Earth.

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-When hurricanes develop, they use the warm water as a energy source
-From the violent winds, hurricanes can also form tornadoes, high waves, and coastal flooding.
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/weather/hurricane.html

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Humans have decreased a large number of fish species so much they have dropped 90%. It's believed that these species will either go extinct in a matter of years, or that we will continue to go look for other fish to consume. Humans have polluted the ocean so much there is an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of trash all over the ocean. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon disaster had killed many populations of fish, destroyed ecosystems, and caused damage for the next several decades. The greenhouse emissions had caused high acidity in the ocean; to where this had caused a 30% in pH levels, this will cause a decrease in ocean growth. This had caused many mutations in species of both fauna, and flora. If we humans (not to sure that all of you are..), continue to pollute the ocean our impact will not decrease and will become irreversible.
http://www.protectplanetocean.org/collections/introduction/introbox/humanimpact/introduction-item.html
https://sciencing.com/human-activities-negative-impact-ocean-17206.html

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Water has a higher heat capacity than soil and rock, so the ocean takes much longer to heat and to cool than the land.Coastal areas will generally have more moderate temperatures than inland areas because of the heat capacity of the ocean.
https://www.quora.com/Coastal-regions-have-a-smaller-range-of-temperature-than-continental-interiors-Why

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The sun light convert directly at electricity  powering our cities,homes, and cars.

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The sun light convert directly at electricity  powering our cities,homes, and cars.

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Lt:1 The Sun is the ultimate source of thermal energy on Earth.
https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/intro-solar-energy/

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The warm and moist air over the ocean, rises up to help form the hurricane.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/hurricanes/en/

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Tropical storms are like an engine that use warm air to fuel it that is why they only form over warm water.

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How Do Hurricanes Form? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

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Right now, many human activities use fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
These energy sources are created over long periods of time from animals and plants and the energy in that living matter originally came from the sun through photosynthesis.
https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/intro-solar-energy/

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LT6
Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters because they use the warm moist air.

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How Do Hurricanes Form? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

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We use many different forms of energy here on earth, but here’s the thing: almost all of them originate with the sun, not just light and heat https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/intro-solar-energy/

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I found it interesting that El Nino effects the weather. For example, water temperatures increase abnormally during this weather period.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

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Tabitha Evans - LT #6  (What Separates a Hurricane From a Typhoon?)

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Tabitha Evans - LT #6  (What Separates a Hurricane From a Typhoon?)

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The only difference between Typhoons, Hurricanes, and tropical cyclones is where they appear.  In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and Eastern North Pacific, it's called a 'Hurricane'. The same type of extreme weather in the Northwest Pacific is called a 'Typhoon'. Meanwhile, in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the generic term 'Tropical Cyclone' is used.

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A close-up satellite image of Hurricane Isabel taken on Sept. 15, 2003. The National Ocean Service helps coastal communities prepare for and recover from major coastal storms such as hurricanes.

Hurricanes and typhoons are the same weather phenomenon: tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level circulation.

The weakest tropical cyclones are called tropical depressions. If a depression intensifies such that its maximum sustained winds reach 39 miles per hour, the tropical cyclone becomes a tropical storm. Once a tropical cyclone reaches maximum sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or higher, it is then classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or tropical cyclone, depending upon where the storm originates in the world. In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, the term hurricane is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a typhoon. Meanwhile, in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the generic term tropical cyclone is used, regardless of the strength of the wind associated with the weather system.

The ingredients for tropical cyclones include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, large waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon. At times, when a weather system does not meet all of these conditions, but is forecast to bring tropical storm or hurricane force winds to land in the next day or two, it is called a potential tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin and the central and eastern North Pacific basins.

In the Atlantic, hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30. Ninety-seven percent of tropical cyclone activity occurs during this time period. However, there is nothing magical about these dates. Hurricanes can and do occur outside of this six month period.

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The main parts of a tropical cyclone are the rainbands, the eye, and the eyewall. Air spirals in toward the center in a counter-clockwise pattern in the northern hemisphere (clockwise in the southern hemisphere), and out the top in the opposite direction. In the very center of the storm, air sinks, forming an "eye" that is mostly cloud-free.

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What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon?

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Hurricanes and typhoons are the same weather phenomenon: tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level circulation.

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CO2_pump_hg.png

High pressure to low pressure.

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FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

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Today is the anniversary of the highest atmospheric pressure reading in KC. On this date in 1924 the pressure hit 31.11″ or 1053.5 millibars (mbs). It's a weird record in a sense...and it's a record that will be watched more carefully on Wednesday due to the massive area of high pressure building into the Plains region.

Tonight: Steady temperatures mostly with south winds switching towards the west ahead of a clipper low moving through IA. Eventually in the wee hours of the morning the winds will switched towards the NW allowing another drain of cold weather to move into the region for tomorrow. By daybreak we should be well down into the teens again.

Tomorrow: The cold air dominates again with high temperatures struggling during the day...odds are only in the teens or so. Not a lot of wind.

Wednesday: One of the strongest areas of high pressure that the US has seen will be pushing into the northern Plains. For us in KC, there may be a band of flurries or light snow sliding through in the wee hours of WED AM. Odds favor some sort of 12AM high on WED followed by falling AM temperatures with single digit temperatures likely WED afternoon. North winds of 10-20 MPH will send wind chill factors to 10-20 BELOW zero during the day.

This winter it seems even when the weather is boring from a precipitation standpoint (and it will be that way for awhile) there are other things to talk about...and today we're talking barometric pressure (actually I've been writing about his for several days as you know) and also wind chills.

Let's start with the 1st item. We've seen various large surface highs last winter and this fall/winter move down from Canada. That really isn't unusual for this time of the year. When we're prone to get cold airmasses sliding in they come usually with decent sized high pressure cells building southwards.

Let's step even farther back...what is high pressure? Well it's the opposite of low pressure. OK...let's get even more into it. Air at the surface flows from high pressure into lower pressure.

Here is another viewpoint...

Low pressure is caused by cyclones and high pressure is the opposite...caused by anticyclones. Low pressure areas typically have clouds and precipitation with them (not all the time though) and high pressure areas are typically associated with clearer skies (not all the time though). With high pressure areas in particular, the air converges aloft...then sinks. This sinking action (sort of like us getting on a scale) sends the barometric pressure upwards because of the "force" of the sinking air. When the highs are VERY strong, the "force" is stronger and the pressure goes higher. The opposite holds true for low pressure areas.

During the winter season...cold, dense and "heavy" airmasses are typically born in the Arctic and Canadian regions. This cold air is sometimes pushed southwards into the USA. Cold air is dense and the air molecules don't move as fast...so it's "heavier". The opposite is true for warm air. So this cold, dense air exerts a downward force on all of us. We don't feel it directly, but indirectly some feel it through migraines, various joint pain and sinus pressure. While these effects are anecdotal (no real scientific studies have found definitive connections that I'm aware of) it sure seems many who are prone to these things feel the same effects.

So with all that said...here is a look at what a barometer looks like in case you don't have one at home.

Notice the weather descriptors as well. Remember this past fall when I wrote extensively about the big Bering Sea storm (fueled by energy fro a typhoon)...this would be the opposite of that. Notice the top part of the scale goes to 31″ or 1050 mbs or so. The area of high pressure building southwards on Wednesday may have pressure readings close to 1060 mbs. Here is the NAM map for WED at 6AM...

Records for most of MT are in the 1060+ mb range. The black lines surrounding that big 1059 mb high are called isobars or lines of equal pressure. They go every 4 mbs. So for us the black line coming through the area would represent 1052 mbs (there is a 1056 isobar in there near the center of the high itself)...which would break our highest air pressure in KC weather history. It for sure will break the KCI record going back to the early 70s. IF we're going to nudge that record it will probably be near the NOON hour on WED...as the high builds southwards it will weaken slowly...so that when the center of it reaches KC it's closer to 1050 mbs.

1/2 HIest press. readings 4 @KCIAirport 1. 12/24/1989 - 1049.9 mb 1. 12/23/1989 - 1049.9 3. 12/25/1989 - 1049.7 4. 12/22/1989 - 1049.3

- Fox 4 Weather KC (@fox4wx) January 5, 2015

This is really fascinating (inside baseball) stuff for us weathergeeks who are aware of these things.

What about the rest of the 99.5% of the population though. The net effect of all this is cold air at the surface where we live. Temperatures will be tanking as the day goes along...single digit daytime temperatures without snow on the ground can be tough to achieve here because usually the cold air associated with these big cold airmasses is modifying as it gets to us + you add in sunshine and temperatures manage to get to at least 10° in the daytime hours.

We may be there (or above) near daybreak WED...but indications are this cold dense airmass will send temperatures to around 5° by lunch and then perhaps recover a few degrees in the afternoon.

So with temperatures that cold in the daytime...it won't take much for us to drop to 0° or lower quickly in the evening...BUT what happens later in the evening is that the cold airmass moves away from the area and the backside of the high builds into the region. This means return flow and S/SW winds which will reverse the drop and allow temperatures to recover before daybreak on Thursday.

Here is a nice graphic from USA Today (newspaper) showing the 2 sides of the high we'll be on...the cold air is with the "front" side and the "warmer" air or return flow is on the "back" side.

Another strong (but not as strong) area of high pressure comes in Friday...sending temperatures down into the weekend.

So with all this cold air...where is the snow? Well nowhere really. There could be something very minor early Wednesday with the arctic surge...but it wouldn't amount to much. There really isn't anything to get excited about at this point for snow lovers through mid month...so in essence we're now wasting the cold air for making snow that's in place. The funny thing is that there is a 4-8″ snowstorm sweeping through IA about a 3-5 hours journey to the north of KC...close but not nearly close enough.

That's it for today...stay warm and take your meds if you have pressure related ailments. Our feature photo is from Liz Deveney (@revliz).

Joe

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Joe's Weather Blog: Dangerous Cold On The Move (MON-1/5)

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Today is the anniversary of the highest atmospheric pressure reading in KC. On this date in 1924 the pressure hit 31.11" or 1053.5 millibars (mbs). It's a weird record in a sense...and it's a record that will be watched more carefully on Wednesday due to the massive area of high pressure building into the Plains region.

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https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/hurricanes/en/ Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth. People call these storms by other names, such as typhoons or cyclones, depending on where they occur. The scientific term for all these storms is tropical cyclone.

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Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth. People call these storms by other names, such as typhoons or cyclones, depending on where they occur. The scientific term for all these storms is tropical cyclone. 

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When energy tranphers it actually vibrates the molocules making friction that causes heat.

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Law of Conservation of Energy: Heat Transfer | Texas Gateway

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How Do Hurricanes Form? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids