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CLIMATE is what you expect WEATHER is what you get,

CLIMATE is what you expect WEATHER is what you get, weather is the exact state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place weather elements : air temperature, air pressure, humidity, clouds, precipitation, visibility, wind. Infrared Satellite Image from 10:30 pm (last night).

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CLIMATE is what you expect WEATHER is what you get,

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  1. CLIMATE is what you expect WEATHER is what you get, weather is the exact state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place weather elements: air temperature, air pressure, humidity, clouds, precipitation, visibility, wind

  2. Infrared Satellite Image from 10:30 pm (last night)

  3. Climate is simply the statistics of weather: at right are 3 ways to view Sea-Tac’s observed daily temperatures from the past year

  4. “Snow Water” as of March 30, 2009 http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/snotelanom/basinswe.html

  5. Climate The statistics of weather at a particular place for a specified window of time • examples: • monthly averaged temperature and precipitation • average number of cloudy days per month • frequency of snow days (number per year)

  6. weather and climate in our lives • Weather dictates our activities, the clothes we wear, etc. • Climate dictates the clothes we buy or what we pack for a vacation, and it dictates the infrastructure we build (hydropower dams, reservoirs for water supplies etc.)

  7. Climate may vary over long time periods Last glacial maximum 18,000 years ago

  8. Climate Variability Climate varies from season-to-season, year-to-year, decade-to-decade … October-March April-September

  9. Climate Variations and this class • This class focuses on the “unexpected” part of climate: climate variations in time • Natural climate variability • Human caused (anthropogenic) climate change

  10. Issues Defining Decision Support Needs in the Pacific Northwest • Water supplies • Heavy reliance on winter snowpack • Limited reservoir storage capacity • Multiple conflicting demands during summer low-flow season • Vulnerability to droughts (region-wide) and winter flooding (west of the Cascades) • Endangered species • Important economically and culturally (tribal rights) • Listed species in coastal, rural, and urban areas • Fish compete with hydropower, irrigation, and M&I water needs • Protection requires reshaping water, land management choices

  11. Issues Defining Decision Support Needs in the PNW (cont’d) • Forests • Important (but declining) part of PNW economy • Interior forests vulnerable to wild fire • High existence and ecosystem service values • Coasts and Estuaries • Development pressures on coastal wetlands and shorelines • Water pollution impacts on local estuaries (impacts on endangered species and shellfish industry) • Population • Rapid population growth (recent and forecasted) in western WA and OR • Development pressures on sensitive areas

  12. El Niño has big impacts!But they are not the same everywhere, or in every El Niño event From the Sacramento Bee August 1997 Sacramento Bee, August 1997

  13. Californian’s were touched by El Niño in 1982-1983

  14. What will climate be like in the future? • What might climate change mean for the Earth and its inhabitants?

  15. What about the future?

  16. Pop-culture perspectives Perhaps this is a good read, but it is not good science Likewise, the Day After Tomorrow scenario might make for a fun movie, but it presents an extremely unlikely impact of global warming at a ridiculous rate of change

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