Our aging satellites may lead to a 'weather gap'
My longtime friend from Wolf Lodge, Bob Hollingsworth, also an 81-year-old student in Randy Mann's physical geography course at North Idaho College, gave me an interesting article last week from the Sept-ember 2014 issue of Popular Mechanics entitled, "The Weather Gap," by Kathryn Miles.
As Ms. Miles stated, when 'Superstorm Sandy' clobbered New Jersey and New York City a couple of years ago, satellite data told us what was going to happen days prior to the actual event. This undoubtedly saved many lives.
It was accurate satellite information that likewise predicted the 'Snowmageddon' blizzard of 2010 in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. We were prepared for the worst, and it happened.
But now, as these superstorms are becoming much more frequent, these vital satellites are gradually "dying of old age," running out of time.
To put together an extended outlook of five to seven days or more, meteorologists rely on two types of satellites. The first one sits some 22,000 miles above us. It captures basic weather data from this fixed location.
The second satellite orbits the poles, about 500 miles up, filling the extremely critical image gaps on cloud formation, surface and temperatures aloft and various other information crucial to letting us know that a big storm is headed our way, when it will arrive and just what kind of damage we may expect.
It's the two polar-orbiting satellites, a primary satellite, which was built to test emerging weather technologies, and was never designed for extended use.
Its backup isn't in much better condition. It's likewise an aging satellite with failing sensors that has actually exceeded its life expectancy. We'd like to send up a replacement satellite, but it's still to be constructed. The bad news is that this satellite probably won't be able to send back reliable weather data until at least 2018, maybe later.
As Ms. Miles later stated, "should the new weather satellite fail to operate or explode on takeoff, we're stuck waiting for the next version scheduled for completion in 2022.
If that disastrous situation does occur, NOAA has proposed a number of possible solutions. These include daily missions of jets to high elevations to private and international satellite outsourcing.
The federal government recently signed agreements with Japan, Canada and several countries in Europe for their support in case of a catastrophic U.S. weather satellite loss. But, there are no guarantees that anyone else will be able to provide the necessary weather data or that we can even afford to buy such information.
It's true that the Chinese currently have two orbiting polar satellites, but, unfortunately, they are directly tied in with the military. The idea of buying weather data from China on a long-term basis has created a 'firestorm' on Capitol Hill. We already owe China "a boatload of money."
NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS
I thoroughly enjoyed talking with approximately 300 people, mostly Press subscribers, at last week's North Idaho Fair and Rodeo. The weather was nice and so were the people. For a change, we got a welcome 'break' in the summer's almost relentless heat, which returned at midweek.
As of this Wednesday's writing, Aug. 27, we were expecting later today to hit 90 degrees, our 29th 'Sholeh Day' of the torrid summer of 2014. But, cooler temperatures were in sight for the Labor Day weekend along with a slight chance of scattered showers or thunderstorms, mainly over the mountains to the east and south.
Longer term, the autumn of 2014 should be both a bit wetter and cooler than usual across the Inland Northwest, including North Idaho, once the pesky high pressure ridge responsible for the July/August heat finally breaks down. However, there will be periods of beautiful fall days with scattered morning frosts and warm, sunny afternoons. It's nice to live in Camelot!
Happy Labor Day.
Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com