Some folks hate the sight of big metallic wind turbines plopped on top of the rolling hills.  Others think they look cool.  Others are concerned about harm they cause to birds.  Some people just appreciate the clean and renewable electricity that they produce.   There are certainly many sides of wind farms.  However this blog focuses on one neat side benefit that is a win for all.  Since 2011 Xcel Energy of Minneapolis has been providing weather data gathered from their wind farms to NOAA.  Now several other large power generating companies will do likewise in other parts of the country.  The data provided comes both from instrument towers on the farms and gauges at the top of the wind turbines to measure wind speed.  It will come from altitudes not measured very much by the existing network of airport and NOAA owned equipment.  This additional weather data should aid the accuracy of computer models and weather forecasts.  It is always good to see private-public partnerships like this that benefit society in a number of ways.

You can read much more about this exciting partnership by going to the following link from NOAA.   http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121114_windfarm.html

Posted under Alternative Energy, Technology, Wind

A potent cold front pushed through north and central Wisconsin early Wednesday evening causing a few bands of strong thunderstorms.  The clouds associated with these were quite impressive and ominous.  We received quite a number of stunning photos from them.  The storms contained wind gusts from 4o to 50 mph, pea to marble size hail, and some downpours. 

The public reported funnel clouds in several locations including Stetsonville, Rhinelander, Tomahawk, near Merrill, and near Wausau.  However it is unclear as of this writing (7:30 p.m.) if they were actually funnel clouds because there has been no confirmation by certified storm spotters or law enforcement.   We’ll have to wait and see if some visual “proof” comes in to support the funnel cloud claims or if they were just ragged fragments of dark clouds below the storms that people saw.

In any case some trees were knocked over near Stetsonville, and across southern Price and Lincoln Counties.  A 51 mph gust was measured in Weston.  Hail to .50″ diameter pelted Plover and covered the ground in Wautoma.  Pittsville had .75″ diameter hail.

Mammatus clouds near Minocqua. From Lori Brandt.

Roll cloud on leading edge of the storm near Weston. From Ryan Hurt.

As the storm approached Deerbrook. From Mary Meister.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double rainbow after the storm in Ogema. From Jennifer Potaczek.

Posted under Severe Weather, Storms, Wind

Tornadoes are not unheard of in the northeastern United States, but they are rare. 

And in September, they are extremely rare. 

Nonetheless on Saturday, Sept. 5th a powerful cold front moving from the Great Lakes through New England spawned areas of torrential rain, strong wind, hail and isolated tornadoes in some unlikely places.   

Confirmed so far by the National Weather Service includes an EF1 tornado in Canarsie, New York, and an EF0 in Breezy Point, New York.  Both are inside the Greater New York City metropolitan area, the largest city in our country. 

There have been no reports of any injuries associated with these twisters. 

This photo of radar imagery shows the line of thunderstorms that spawned the tornadoes moving off shore over the Atlantic Ocean. 

The tornadoes this weekend become the latest on a list of notable weather features from 2012.  The year has been interesting in what has been and what has not been occurring. 

Rain has been very limited this year, with much of the country in severe drought.  Wisconsin, that averages around 21 tornadoes a year but has seen only two in 2012.  Ironically the same number seen in the NYC metropolitan area Saturday alone. 

With the unusual weather we’ve seen today, let it serve as a reminder on two fronts.  1) Don’t put down your guard when it comes to severe weather.  It’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when weeks go by without it occurring.  2) Know your surroundings.  People in New York City aren’t accustomed to tornadoes like Wisconsinites are.  Visitors to New York City were probably even more off guard. 

Keep up on the latest when it comes to the weather.  It can (and will always) have some degree of unpredictability.  Don’t let it catch you!

Posted under Natural Disasters, Nature, Science, Seasonal Items, Severe Weather, Storms, Tornadoes, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Wind

One of the reasons for the recent spike in gas prices across our area is the rise in the price of ethanol (some refinery maintenance and the pipeline spill also contributed). So why would the price of ethanol be rising? It is the drought, of course. The price of corn has risen dramatically in anticipation of a worse than expected crop. There will also likely be a rise in the price of many foods, including meat. For consumers, it could be a double dose of expenses hitting American walllets, and, it doesn’t have to be that way. Grain ethanol (made primarily from corn), is mandated to be mixed with gasoline. The government forces gas distributors/companies to sell fuel with ethanol, and thus food (whether for animals or people) is burned in car engines. This policy kind-of made sense a decade ago, at least to try it out, but times have changed. I wonder how high food (or gas) prices will have to go before people decide to bring and end to “burning food”. If ethanol prices add another 10 cents to the price of gas will people start to get more upset? What about 20 cents? If the price of corn flakes jumps from about $3 per box to $5 per box, will people start writing their government representatives about the ethanol mandate? What do you think?

The problems with (grain) ethanol are many and a few of those problems affect other alternative energies as well. Wind and solar power receive quite a few subsidies from the government (not only in the U.S. but around the world). The putative reason for the generous subsidies is that it will be good for the environment, bring pollution levels down, and help stave off some of the theoretical future AGW. Without government subsidies, the alternative energy industry would be much smaller. I was surprised to find out that even wind power, which has the best EROI out of all the current technologies, receives massive subsidies from the government. There are multiple reasons why wind power is not as good as it is claimed to be, but one of the main reasons for me is that they spoil the natural landscape. I am amazed at how so many rich environmental advocates of wind power are “advocates” for turbines everywhere except in their backyard. When some people in wind turbine areas complain about the noise or the spoiled scenery, the generic reaction is “stop whining, it is good for you”. If you are not on the wind power bandwagon, like me, it is not looking good for the future. Massive wind farms are being fast-tracked for the Great Lakes. Some people are speculating we could get 80% of our power from alternative sources by 2050 if we install 2500 new wind turbines every year.  2500!

Wind Turbines Everywhere

I can’t imagine where all of those turbines would go. If the government is going to spend the money and I can’t stop them, then I would rather see them buy solar panels. If the government was actually installing solar panels, maybe we wouldn’t continue to see bankruptcies like this one: Abound Solar. With solar panels, there is no need to spoil the natural landscape. We already have plenty of space for them – the space is called rooftops. Not only do we have plenty of space, but the power is generated exactly where it is needed, meaning there is not as much need for new transmission lines and all the headaches (environmental or otherwise) that go along with installing them. Don’t forget that solar power still has a good potential for improvement. Wind power is about the same as it was in the past and will not improve much (efficiency-wise) in the future.

Of course, the argument for subsidies is that no one would build alternative energy infrastructure if it wasn’t for government support. To that point, I would alternatively wonder how strong the environmentalist support actually is? There are plenty of very rich outspoken supporters of alternative energy. Maybe they should start making some real financial sacrifices for the future of the planet and put money up for all of the solar and wind power build-out. Billions of dollars of private wealth are certainly available from rich celebrities to obscenely wealthy environmentalist politicians. I would say a person is not much of an environmental activist if they only support new alternative energy infrastructure if it is paid for by someone else (through taxation or money printing).

On a more positive note, there is finally an entire country that is going to attempt going (nearly) fully solar. It is Tokelau. Population: about 1,700. The cost to outfit the island nation with enough solar capacity to meet its needs is about $7 million. Subsidized or not, this will be an important test bed to see how solar holds up through the years.

It seems there are no easy answers for our energy needs, or are there? One neglected energy source is thorium nuclear power. Of course, many people immediately shriek in horror at the mention of anything nuclear, but thorium nuclear power is much different then uranium nuclear power. It is cleaner. It is more efficient. It is cheaper. Is is safer. The waste material degrade much faster. I could go on. An interesting historical note is that thorium nuclear power was preferred by many scientists a few decades ago when nuclear power first got its start, but the likely reason it did not take off is because governments could not make nuclear weapons from the waste material. Thus we are currently stuck with uranium reactors. Here is the website of one of thorium’s chief supporters. I have blogged about it before as well. It would be a shame if this energy source was not exploited or at least tested.

Have a nice Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Alternative Energy, Environment, Wind

The National Weather Service has released some incredible photos of the wildfires impacting the western United States. 

In the included photo you can see what six wildfires in Montana and Wyoming look like from space.  The photos are from the MODIS satellite that snaps photos of our planet as it orbits Earth.

Photo from the National Weather Service.

In the photo you can see the distinction between smoke and clouds quite clearly.  In the photo, clouds look like a collection of cotton balls.  They are a more true white color and limited more toward the northern half of the photo.  The smoke can be identified by its grayish color, texture and shape.  The prevailing winds push the smoke to drift eastward over the landscape. 

This has been a very rough wildfire season so far. Colorado is seeing some astonishingly destructive fires that are encroaching on cities like Colorado Springs. 

Weather obviously plays an enormous role in how wildfires act.  Wind can blow embers from one fire and create a new one in an entirely different location.  Low humidity keeps the atmosphere dry and primes the landscape for kindling. 

Even when thunderstorms develop over wildfires it’s often a curse instead of a blessing.  Dry air is able to work into the storms, so essentially all you get is gusty winds, lightning and very little rain.  The wind helps fan the flames and lightning can get more going.

Though the west is known best for wildfires, we can, have and do get wildfires here.  Be sure to take caution, especially with the 4^th of July holiday approaching on open flames and fireworks when outdoors. 

For a color coded map of all ofWisconsin’s counties that details the wildfire risk, follow this link from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestFire/restrictions.asp.

Posted under Clouds, Drought, Environment, Fire, Heat, Natural Disasters, Nature, new media, Science, Space, Summer, Weather History, Weather NEws, Weather Safety, Wind

If you spend any length of time outside in the spring, one of the hardest things to deal with is often the wind.  We do have a rather breezy climate in Wisconsin during the spring.  When temperatures are on the cool side, you notice it right away.  When you try to garden, mow lawn, fish, or take a bike ride it’s the first thing that gets your attention.  Last week the strong wind combined with very dry top soil created brown clouds and dust storms in central Wisconsin.  Many people have commented to me about the wind this spring.  I’m not exactly sure if it’s because it seems worse than usual, or just because people in general spend less time outdoors now than they used to.  Therefore when they do go out for an activity they are very sensitive to it.

I have read some studies that have shown a detectable increase in average winds over Lake Superior in the last 30 years, but I haven’t seen one directly for our part of Wisconsin.   I pulled up wind speed numbers for April and May this year to give you a quantitative idea of where we stand.  In April in the Wausau area we had 26 days with winds reaching at least 10 mph and 14 days with winds topping out at 20 mph or higher.  In May we had 27 days where winds hit the 10 mph threshold and 17 days with winds over 20 mph.  Of course there were a few days mixed in with 30 mph+ gusts.  So at first blush that does seem like quite a few breezy days.

Spring is often windy because the jet stream is active yet, sending fronts and low pressure systems frequently through the northern U.S.  The pressure gradient is often strong and thus the air is getting squeezed in many different directions.  Also the higher sun angle and deeper heating of the boundary layer causes the air to mix to greater height.  This in turn easily transfers momentum from aloft down to the ground enhancing the wind.  If you don’t like all the wind the good news is that it gradually decreases as we head into summer.  The jet stream gets weaker and lifts north of  Wisconsin normally.  Fronts are less common as well.  So there will be more “calm” days mixed in over the next few months.  Of course on the negative side,  those are the days that often feel stifling hot without the refreshing breeze.  I guess you can’t have it all.

Posted under Seasonal Items, Spring, Wind