El Nino: What does it mean for Utah?

You may have heard that this year is an El Nino year. What does that mean? El Nino referrers to warmer than normal ocean temperatures near the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The anomalous ocean temperatures influences the global weather is some very profound ways. In fact, I've heard from a climate professor that the impacts of El Nino on global climate are only trumped by the annual seasonality caused by earth's tilt rotation around the sun. More info here.

So, what how will weather be different this winter? That is hard to say. On average, the northwest United States tends to have dry and warm conditions during El Nino years and the Southwest tends to be me wet. Utah is stuck in the middle of these two trends. It we could have an average year. We could have a more wet year. Or, we could have a more dry year. But whatever crazy happens this winter I'm sure everyone will make sure to put the blame on El Nino.

Deer Creek Fire: Smoke and Ozone

A fire up Provo Canyon near Deer Creek Reservoir has burned over 600 acres and, as of this morning, is only 5% contained. Fires up canyons are dangerous to firefighters because canyon winds can change direction and spread the fire rapidly. Read the KSL story here.

Yesterday I drove up the canyon to measure ozone concentrations. Ozone at the bottom of the canyon was low, in the 40s ppb. Near the fire the ozone concentration was elevated with a max concentration of 64 ppb. Wildfires is one source of ground level ozone (review article here).

Smoke plume seen from MODIS Terra satellite

Smoke plume seen from MODIS Aqua satellite later that day.

Anemometers measure wind

Yesterday I walked past the large fountain at Temple Square yesterday and saw an anemometer spinning on a post. "That's funny," I thought. "Why is the church interested in winds?" I sat on a bench and worked on some homework for an hour. Then the reason for the anemometer dawned on me! The fountain hadn't turned on because it was windy. When the wind is high they keep the fountain off so the water doesn't blow on people.

On a day that isn't windy the fountain looks like this...

This isn't the first one I've seen an anemometer on the church's property. I've seen anemometers at several temples, including the Provo temple. My brother confirmed my theory. He had read an article earlier about the new anemometer installed at the new Provo City Center temple for the new fountain.

Anemometer at the Provo Utah temple

Anemometer at the Provo City Center Temple

Here's the new fountain being installed...

Kelvin Hemholtz Wave

Last year one of the scouts in my weather merit badge class sent me this picture of a Kelvin-Helmholtz wave cloud. The photo was taken in Springville, Utah.

Blowing Dust seen from Farnsworth Peak

This morning I went up to Farnsworth peak to retrieve an ozone monitor that has taken measurements all summer. Strong southerly winds kicked up dust from the dry lake bed of the Great Salt Lake.

Since the view was so nice, here are a bunch more pictures...