Latest Bill Patzert Stories
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online California has had its fair share of earthquakes, but could the Golden State ever be hit by a hurricane? One NASA researcher recently looked into the matter. California has felt the effects of a tropical cyclone before, but typically just in the form of rainfall from the remnants of a storm in the eastern Pacific. There has actually never been a documented case of a hurricane making landfall in California, but it has had some...
It's shaping up to be a fiery summer across the United States. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, as of July 3, 45 large active wildfires are currently burning in 15 states. Combined, these fires have scorched nearly three-quarters of a million acres. Since January 1, wildfires have burned nearly 2.2 million acres across the country, including devastating blazes in Colorado and New Mexico. We asked JPL Climatologist Bill Patzert to discuss the recent wildfire outbreak and...
For the first half of this year's winter, the big news was warm temperatures and lack of snow. Ski resorts were covered in bare dirt, while January temperatures in southern California topped July highs. Then, out of the blue, Europe got clobbered: Over the past two weeks, temperatures in Eastern Europe have nose-dived to -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit). Blizzards and the bone-chilling cold have resulted in the deaths of over 550 people so far, with rooftop-high snow drifts...
By Dauna Coulter - Science@NASARecord snowfall, killer tornadoes, devastating floods: There's no doubt about it. Since Dec. 2010, the weather in the USA has been positively wild. But why?Some recent news reports have attributed the phenomenon to an extreme "La Niña," a band of cold water stretching across the Pacific Ocean with global repercussions for climate and weather. But NASA climatologist Bill Patzert names a different suspect: "La Nada.""La Niña was...
Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has been honored by the American Geophysical Union with its 2010 Athelstan Spilhaus Award for his contributions to improving public understanding of Earth science.Patzert is receiving the award at a ceremony today at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The Athelstan Spilhaus Award honors American Geophysical Union members who have devoted parts of their lives to...
Climatologists have long known that human-produced greenhouse gases have been the dominant drivers of Earth's observed warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution. But other factors also affect our planet's temperature. Of these, the ocean plays a dominant role. Its effects helped nudge global temperatures slightly higher in 2009, and, according to NASA scientists, could well contribute to making 2010 the warmest year on record.Covering 71 percent of our planet's surface, the ocean...
Since May 2009, the tropical Pacific Ocean has switched from a cool pattern of ocean circulation known as La Niña to her warmer sibling, El Niño. This cyclical warming of the ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific generally occurs every three to seven years, and is linked with changes in the strength of the trade winds. El Niño can affect weather worldwide, including the Atlantic hurricane season, Asian monsoon season and northern hemisphere winter storm season. But...
The Myanmar cyclone. The earthquake off the coast of Japan. The Chilean volcano. Has Earth gone bonkers? Not at all. This level of natural activity is normal for Earth, scientists say. "Mother Nature is just reminding us that she is in charge," Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told LiveScience. That also means the recent Midwestern quake (centered in Illinois) and temblors near Reno, though unnerving...
Average temperatures in California rose almost one degree Celsius (nearly two degrees Fahrenheit) during the second half of the 20th century, with urban areas blazing the way to warmer conditions, according to a new study by scientists at NASA and California State University, Los Angeles. Bill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., teamed with Steve LaDochy of California State University, Los Angeles, and Richard Medina, now a doctoral candidate at the University of...
In the classic 1859 novel, "A Tale of Two Cities," Charles Dickens spins a moral tale of dramatic contrasts between 18th century London and Paris. To modern-day climatologists, though, the story could serve as a metaphor for weather records in Los Angeles since the National Weather Service relocated the city's official downtown Civic Center weather station to the University of Southern California in July 1999. A new comparative study of daily temperature and rainfall records in Los...
