Tens of thousands of acres have already been burnt.

Since we have seen a good deal of clouds, spotty showers and cool temperatures over the past few days thanks to a stubborn upper-level low pressure system, the wildfire in Minnesota has fallen out of the headlines.

But what ever happened to it?

The Pagami Creek Wildfire burning in the arrowhead of Minnesota not far from the Ontario border quickly became the talk of the town a few weeks back.  Many people across Central Wisconsin could smell and see the haze when northwesterly winds pushed the smoke in our direction.

Despite the cool and wet weather that wildfire is still burning, and according to the Superior National Forest website is still only 45% contained.

The wildfire has been burning for well over a month.  Started by a lightning strike on August 18th, the Pagami Creek Fire has torched 93,459 acres so far.

For updated reports on the progress firefighters are making on the blaze, check out the Superior National Forest Incident Information System website for more details.

Posted under Community, Environment, Fire, Nature, Seasonal Items, Uncategorized, Weather NEws

There is a big change in the weather today but the thing everyone is talking about is the smoke from the Minnesota wildfire. Tony mentioned it in a blog post recently and here is a link to an animation showing some of the smoke. Wildfires are quite typical in Canada and the Western U.S. every year and we do observe some of that smoke from time-to-time but most times it is not close enough to smell. The Pagami Creek fire ongoing in Minnesota is close enough that is smells like a campfire is burning right here in the office. It makes me want to take a vacation camping in the woods – just not in a spot with a wildfire. The cold air advection behind the cold front (that moved through last night) is also keeping the smoky air closer to the surface. The wind will turn more westerly this afternoon and early evening so that should take the smell away, but later tonight and tomorrow the wind will be out of the northwest again and might usher the smoke straight through our area.

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Besides wildfires, hurricanes, and blasts of cool air dominating the headlines this time of year, another item that catches attention in September is the amount of arctic sea ice. It has been predicted the arctic sea ice will disappear during the Summer within the next decade or two – due to anthropogenic global warming (AGW), and it will be devastating to the arctic region, and it will eventually mean the end of the biosphere, and many more bad things. Because of the various predictions, people watch the amount of ice quite closely to see if it keeps getting lower. 2007 was the year with the lowest amount of ice measured since 1979, when comprehensive instrumental monitoring began. There is other evidence, human and natural records, indicating that the arctic has been substantially ice free in the recent past (since the last ice age).

According to the NSIDC, this year will probably end up tying the recent record (2007) for the lowest extent of arctic sea ice. Prior to this year, the amount of Summer ice had been staying at or slightly above the 2007 record. If the gradual trend of warmer temps continues (whether by AGW or other natural forces) then I would expect the sea ice extent to get a little lower each year.

In other ice news, at least one ice expert was shocked at how much ice melted from a notable glacier in northwest Greenland. You can see the before and after pictures here. Apparently the area within the picture is quite large and to see it in person would be much more impressive. The pictures probably do not do it justice. Anyway, I wasn’t too shocked by the pictures, although I think it would be cool to see it in person. I have never been to Greenland.

Medvezhiy Glacier in Tajikistan

While many glaciers around the world are in retreat, it does not mean they do not grow or advance from time-to-time. Take a look at how dramatic the movement of the Medvezhiy glacier in Tajikistan has been. It has moved more in the last couple months than in the last 22 years.

Whether more ice is melting or not, the effect are not always what one might assume. As I noted a couple weeks back, the global sea level actually went down by quite a bit last year. It is likely a short term drop, but it reminds us that things do not always proceed in a linear fashion.

In any case, research has shown that sea levels can change quite abruptly while responding to cues from the climate, so the future will likely continue to surprise.

Have a good Tuesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Arctic climate, Climate Change, Environment, Fire

We’ve been hearing about the horrible wildfires in Texas lately.  Well there is severe drought ongoing in northern Minnesota as well.  In fact on August 18th a forest fire began due to lightning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area about 14 miles east of Ely.  Officials have been conducting specialized firefighting operations over the past few weeks to gradually contain in. 

It is really pretty remarkable all the data and technology they employ to fight such fires.  About 1700 acres have been burned so far by the so called Pagami Creek Fire.  You can learn much more about this fire by checking out this website.  http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2534/

If you looked carefully into the sky Friday in parts of the TV-9 viewing area, you may have noticed a thin milky haze or veil way up high.  This was actually smoke suspended many thousand feet above us that originated in northern Minnesota and Canadian fires.  We’ve had a persistent flow of air from the north, northwest in the middle levels of the atmosphere over the past week driving down particles from those areas.  Notice on the satellite image from Friday there are some some ribbons of the smoke showing up, especially in western Wisconsin.  The dark color on the image indicates clear skies, while the smoke areas have a light gray or milky shade.  Heavier clouds from a storm south of Wisconsin show up as a brighter, opaque white.

Other Weather News:  Summer 2011 Very Warm Across the U.S.

According to NOAA and the National Climatic Data Center, meteorological summer 2011 (June – August) was the second warmest in recorded history.  The average temperature across the U.S was 74.5 degrees which is 2.4 degrees above normal.  The hottest summer ever was that of 1936 with an average temperature of 74.6 degrees.  However the state of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana did have their hottest summer on record in 2011.  Of course they also had exceptional drought.  Their number of days with 100 degrees or higher was off the charts. Some areas had over 70 days of such heat.   You can get a better feel which states had the most hot days by viewing the map below from NOAA.

You can also get many more interesting facts about summer 2011 weather including precipitation trends from this link.  http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110908_auguststats.html

Posted under Monthly Recap, Seasonal Items, Summer, Weather NEws