Weather Discussion from Pat Prokop - WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather & Sports

Tuesday Late Afternoon, May 7, 2013

Weather Discussion and Forecast from Pat Prokop

Repeat Performace:

Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed over the coastal counties Monday and slowly moved inland.  The heaviest activity was located in western Beaufort and Jasper Counties where about 2 inches of rain fell just east of Ridgeland with some lighter activity in SE Chatham County.  More of the same is expected tomorrow and Wednesday; i.e., Partly cloudy warm and humid with scattered showers and thunderstorms.  This system is totally separate from the destructive storm system in the nation's mid section and that is not expected to affect us.

Memorial Day Weekend ... GREAT!
By the 3 Day Memorial Day weekend, Cool dry air will flow into the region with lows in the lower 60s and highs in the mid 80s with mostly clear conditions.

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Record Rainfall for February:
Total rainfall for Savannah at the Savannah International Airport was 9.75 inches.  This sets the record for the wettest February.  The old record was 9.71 inches set way back in 1874.

Another interesting record was set in Charleston.  They too had their wettest February on Record but this was followed by the driest January on record.  It was dry in Savannah with only 0.57 of an inch but not a record.

Latest Carbon Dioxide Levels:
Through March, 2013 ... Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide levels continues to increase, as expected and as it will. A sustainable atmospheric heat budget would need CO2 levels of 350 parts per million or lower. The current yearly mean value is now 397 ppm and increasing at a rate now of 3.2 ppm per year. What this means is that the earth retains more heat received from the sun due to the increase in CO2 ... in other words, the planet continues to warm.

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Even if we stopped all CO2 emissions, the value will continue to rise due to "positive feedback forcing".  The reason is that most of the atmospheric CO2 will remain in the atmosphere for more than 100 years and as the warming continues, more CO2 that is currently dissolved in the oceans will leach back out into the atmosphere.

Patrick Prokop