The weather has been really kicking up quite a bit of whacky weather in November. On November 2, 2021, the town of Kikonai in northern Japan’s Kokkaido prefecture set a record amount of rainfall of 2.2 inches (5.5 centimeters) in 10 minutes. Wow!! That’s a lot of rain in a short amount of time! You can see where the rainfall fell on the image below!
(credit: Extreme weather around the world amid COP26 - The Washington Post)
Meanwhile in Uzbekistan, it saw the worst dust storm in about 50 years! The dust finally settled on November 4, 2021 but still lingered for days afterwards. Dust particles are harmful to human health and this dust storm was 30 times higher than what is considered acceptable for that area. This dust storm was triggered after months of the area not receiving enough rain. That’s what I call a dust event!!
In addition, eastern Asia experienced record temperatures. Shenyang in northeast China tied it’s monthly record at 67.6 F and North Korea had temperatures in the 68 F range.
On November 7, 2021, the southeast US experienced high levels of coastal flooding from an off shore storm. Water levels reached highs that are not typically seen out of hurricanes but with global sea level rising, water levels reaching this high might become more common in the future. Fort Pulaski, GA saw it’s fourth highest water level on the same day and Charleston Harbor, SC reached it’s 10th highest level in 100 years. The conditions where high water was present caused several roads to close, breached homes and businesses and cancelled Veteran’s Day parade that should have happened in the area.
Additionally, in our crazy weather month, a California heat wave sent temperatures over 90 degrees in November. San Bernardino, Chino and Camarillo were at 93 F. In addition, high temperatures baked southern California and the Pacific Northwest was drenched by heavy rain from an atmospheric river. With these atmospheric rivers though, there was an increase in flooding, debris flows and mudslides.
Lastly, we as a team on the NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE Team want to extend our thoughts and prayers to those effected by the Kentucky Tornadoes that hit Kentucky on December 10, 2021. This is the deadliest tornado system to ever run through Kentucky.
Coming Up:
We are having a NASA GLOBE Cloud Challenge 2022: Clouds in a Changing Climate from January 15 – February 15, 2022. You can do two things to participate. One you can submit your own cloud observations using The GLOBE Program’s GLOBE Observer app (remember to always be safe and follow local guidelines while observing). Second you can participate from the comfort of your home through NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE on Zooniverse. Using this online project, you can help us identify cloud types and other phenomena in photos taken by GLOBE participants.
Well, I want to wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year 2022!! May the crazy weather take us into a new and exciting year full of crazy weather events!
About the author:
Dr. Jason (“Jay”) Welsh (NASA Langley, SSAI) is a research scientist for NASA GLOBE Clouds and specifically works on NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE which is based out of the Science Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center with Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Jason works with these teams to insure that we are implementing science into our research projects. In addition, Jason works with students and other learners to help them learn and become more educated on scientific concepts. Lastly, he works on the Zooniverse platform to help develop meaningful connections with the scientific research community by enabling analysis of resultant datasets and providing results that are tailored to scientific research community needs.
