CISA's CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring Newsletter

Check your e-mail because the first edition of the CoCoRaHS Condition Monitoring Newsletter has been released! CISA has launched this newsletter as an additional way to keep in touch with all of the hard-working CoCoRaHS observers in South Carolina who are submitting condition monitoring reports that connect the weather and climate with local environmental conditions.

We hope to use the newsletter to highlight observer efforts by sharing interesting condition monitoring reports or precipitation measurements that are submitted. For example, in the first edition we posted news about the trace amounts of snowfall on November 12th that some of you recorded as well as condition monitoring reports from observers in Jasper, Beaufort, and Richland Counties. So, keep an eye out for the unique things you might see in your area that are influenced by weather and climate. Your post could be the next one we share!

We'll also use the newsletter to provide other interesting facts and information with you such as the article in this month's edition about planting trees in dry conditions. This article was particularly timely given that the first Friday in December is South Carolina's Arbor Day. Tree conditions are another great thing to keep track of when you are considering information to include in your regular condition monitoring reports. 

If you did not receive your copy of the newsletter, leave a comment here and we'll be sure to send it along. 

New Record Low Temperature on Earth Set

Graphic Credit: planetearth.nerc.ac.uk

Despite the cool and wet weather we've been experiencing across the state for the past week, a new record for the coldest ever recorded temperature on Earth was announced yesterday by NASA scientists. And no, it wasn't anywhere near the Carolinas! In our neck of the woods, we scramble for cover when it dips below 30 degrees Fahrenheit and yet, imagine what it would be like if it reached -135.8 F. The record low was measured by satellite in East Antarctica in August of 2010, although it dipped to -135.3 F again in July of this year. That is far from the state record in South Carolina, which is a balmy -19 F recorded in January of 1985 at Caesars Head, although the temperature at nearby Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina reached -34 F in that same month.Very few creatures can survive such harsh temperatures, and humans would last only about three minutes without extreme support in temperatures below -100 F. Researchers who have been to the East Antarctica area before had to use snorkeling gear to breath in heated air from the outside as to not freeze their lungs. For a video about the climatology of the East Antarctic region, visit here. As you venture outside on cold winter mornings in the Carolinas to check your CoCoRaHS rain gauge, keep in mind those chilly temperatures could be a lot worse!