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| Cliff Harris |
Today's precise thermometer has been around less than 300 years
Yes, Bill, it's indeed a fact that over the past 6,000 years or so, every continent's weather has varied greatly and the thermometer, of the crudest variety, wasn't even invented until 1593 by Galileo Galilei, the much-honored Italian mathematician and philosopher.
Galileo (he went by his first name) kept a glass bulb filled with a clear liquid that had a thin tube sticking out of the top in his library. The bulb was about the size of a chicken egg.
He and his friends watched the liquid inside the tube rise and fall as the temperature changed. Galileo correctly calculated that the volume of the liquid would expand as it warmed up and shrink in size as conditions cooled. Needless to say, his simple invention wasn't widely used.
However, it was more than 120 years later in 1714 that the first precise thermometer was introduced by German physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit. He developed a scale where water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
A generation later in 1742, Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius devised a new scale of measuring temperatures that is widely used globally today, except in the U.S.
The boiling point of water on the Celsius scale is 100 degrees Celsius and the freezing mark is exactly 0 degrees Celsius. Sometime in the near future, even the U.S. will switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Grandma will have a fit!
Why do Randy Mann and I use rather "simplistic" terms for describing the various ever-changing global climate cycles of the past 6,000 years? Because, that's the way history's amateur weather-watchers described the types of meteorological events they were enduring and the many weather-related hardships they faced daily. Just read your Bible! (Both Testaments).
To determine when and how severe each period of global warming or cooling occurred thousands of years ago, scientists have used lakebed "bathtub ring" readings, tree-ring data (dendrochronology), glacial ice core samples, ancient writings from the Chinese, various Indian tribes and others. No precise measurements can be provided, but we do have a good idea of the intensity of alternating warming and cooling cycles on planet Earth during the past 55 to 60 centuries. Remember, a 1,000 years ago, during an even warmer period than today, the mighty Vikings were farming Greenland and raising livestock.
Exactly 400 years ago, the extremely harsh winter of 1607 killed all but 32 of the original 105 colonists at Jamestown in what is now southeastern Virginia. The local Indian tribes said that it was "the worst winter in at least a thousand moons!"
Thirteen years later, in 1620, another bitter "Little Ice Age" winter killed all but 50 of the original 102 colonists at Plymouth, Mass. These starving pilgrims hadn't counted on a series of powerful hurricanes destroying most of their supply ships earlier that autumn.
90-day North Idaho
weather outlook
Our near-record 10 day heatwave ended literally with a bang on Thursday as local temperatures dipped from the lower 90s on Wednesday into the low to mid 70s.
Many enjoyed the briefly cooler weather, but several "beach bunnies," including our niece, Kennedy -- visiting from Chico, Calif., -- and her friend Caitlynn, lamented that they had to postpone their trip to Boulder Beach at Silverwood until Friday. It was just too chilly for water sports activities.
Thursday's early morning thunderstorm delivered a rather spectacular lightning display along with some pea-size hail and briefly gusty winds, but the puny 0.22 inches of rain which fell in Coeur d'Alene did little to ease the long-term fire threats. It was merely a "spit in the ocean."
Speaking of Idaho's wildfire preparedness, officials in the Gem State and other parts of the already fire-ravaged Far West, have raised the danger levels to the highest probabilities possible after dozens of fires broke out this past week.
By raising these levels of preparedness, fire managers can now request help from additional firefighting crews from as far away as Australia. As of last Thursday, about 15,000 U.S. firefighters were battling nearly 70 fires larger than 100 acres in 12 states. Dry lightning started at least half of these blazes, especially in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Nevada.
As far as the near-term chances of additional much-needed rains that would lower local fire danger levels, I still see only widely scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly over the mountains, developing in the next couple of weeks into early August. We may see afternoon temperatures late in the period approach the sizzling century mark once again. Like last year, we've already seen four days with triple-digit maximum readings this July, including the three afternoons in a row from July 12-14 -- the peak of our 10-day heatwave.
Most of the month of August should be both hotter and drier than normal with just a few showers, again mostly near the mountains. However, we probably will receive considerably more precipitation this August than during the record drought of last summer when only a scant .06 inches fell locally in Coeur d'Alene.
This year's edition of the late August North Idaho Fair and Rodeo should be mostly dry and warm with just the slight threat of a few afternoon and evening widely-scattered thunderstorms.
If the La Nina sea-surface temperature event holds together in the Pacific Ocean for a few more months before falling apart, the fall of 2007 could turn a bit wetter and cooler than usual for the season. Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
