Weather Station History and Introduced Variability in Climate Data
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux · Cary J. Mock Editors Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America 123 Editors Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux Dr.CaryJ.Mock University of Vermont University of South Carolina Department of Geography Department of Geography 94 University Place Columbia SC 29208 Burlington VT 05405-0114 USA USA [email protected] [email protected] ISBN 978-90-481-2827-3 e-ISBN 978-90-481-2828-0 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2828-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009933459 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover illustration: (left) Rooftop Instruments on the Alaska Building, Seattle, Washington, between 1905 and 1911 (courtesy of Pemco Webster & Stevens Collection, Museum of History & Industry); (center) The logbook from the HMS Racoon in 1813, photo from The National Archives, U.K. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface When we decided to create Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America, we had several goals in mind. The first was to address a gap in the literature about the methods for and the value of using documentary data such as diaries and ships’ logs in augmenting and enriching the instrumental record dating back to the 1600s in North America. Another key goal was to bring together communities of scholars working on central problems related to historical climate variability, but spanning the range of modern to paleo perspectives within climatology. As such, this book is unique in its contributions from synoptic, applied, dynamic and historical climatologists, as well as by historians and museum archivists. Finally, we wanted to produce a volume that would be instrumental in the formation of the next generation of historical climatologists. As such, this book is designed to be used in upper-level undergraduate or graduate level courses or by researchers in general. This book complements existing monographs such as Improved Understanding of Past Climatic Variability from Early Daily European Instrumental Sources, edited by Dario Camuffo and Phil Jones and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, which focuses on the use of early temperature records, measurement errors and trends in extreme temperatures. It extends such works by using both the instrumen- tal record and documentary data from the last 200–400 years to paint a portrait of climate variability in North America through a variety of lenses. It differs from similar monographs in that there is less emphasis on individual modes of climate variability or teleconnections, and more on century-scale issues, extreme events, and processes. Its focus on North America, about which much less has been written as compared to Europe or Asia, is also unique. In addition, the qualitative and quan- titative methods for examining climate variability described herein, will inform and enhance our understanding of current climate change science, with less emphasis on climate prediction and policy recommendations. We would like to thank and acknowledge Gert-Jan Geraeds for his fostering of this book idea; all of our collaborators without whom this work would not have cov- ered the four corners of North America; the countless historical societies, libraries, archives and other data repositories whose open doors led to the discoveries that await the reader in the subsequent pages. On some personal notes, Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux would like to thank Steve Doty, Glen Conner and Tom Ross, who sparked her interest in historical records and who continue to augment the rich v vi Preface archives of the Climate Database Modernization Program of the National Climatic Data Center. Cary Mock gratefully thanks Merlin Lawson, Paul and Jeanne Kay, Richard White, and Mike Chenoweth for sparking his historical climate interests. Burlington, VT, USA Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux Columbia, SC, USA Cary J. Mock Contents Part I Regional Case Studies The Great Flood of 1771: An Explanation of Natural Causes and Social Effects .............................. 3 Dennis B. Blanton, Michael Chenoweth, and Cary J. Mock Historical Changes to the Tennessee Precipitation Regime ........ 23 Jan Mojzisek and Cary J. Mock “Don’t Want to See No More...Like That!”: Climate Change As a Factor in the Collapse of Lowcountry Rice Culture, 1893–1920 .. 35 James H. Tuten Climate in the Historical Record of Sixteenth Century Spanish Florida: The Case of Santa Elena Re-examined .............. 47 Karen L. Paar Part II Reconstructing Extreme Events and Parameters Historical Accounts of the Drought and Hurricane Season of 1860 ... 61 Stephanie F. Dodds, Dorian J. Burnette, and Cary J. Mock Reconstructing 19th Century Atlantic Basin Hurricanes at Differing Spatial Scales ........................... 79 David A. Glenn and Douglas O. Mayes The Sitka Hurricane of October 1880 ................... 99 Cary J. Mock and Stephanie F. Dodds Daily Synoptic Weather Map Analysis of the New England Cold Wave and Snowstorms of 5 to 11 June 1816 ................ 107 Michael Chenoweth March 1843: The Most Abnormal Month Ever? ............. 123 John W. Nielsen-Gammon and Brent McRoberts vii viii Contents Part III The Role of Station History in Understanding the Instrumental Record Weather Station History and Introduced Variability in Climate Data . 149 Glen Conner Monitoring the Climate of the Old Northwest: 1820–1895 ........ 171 Edward J. Hopkins and Joseph M. Moran Spatial Metadata for Weather Stations and the Interpretation of Climate Data ................................. 189 Stuart Foster and Rezaul Mahmood Part IV Methodologies and Other Analyses A Seasonal Warm/Cold Index for the Southern Yukon Territory: 1842–1852 .................................. 209 Heather Tompkins Backward Seasons, Droughts and Other Bioclimatic Indicators of Variability ................................. 231 Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux The Challenge of Snow Measurements ................... 251 Nolan J. Doesken and David A. Robinson Index ..................................... 275 Contributors Dennis B. Blanton Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, GA 30307-1221, USA, [email protected] Dorian J. Burnette Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA, [email protected] Michael Chenoweth Unaffiliated Independent Scholar, Elkridge, Maryland, USA, [email protected] Glen Conner Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA, [email protected] Stephanie F. Dodds Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, [email protected] Nolan J. Doesken Colorado Climate Center, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA, [email protected] Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux Department of Geography, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0114, USA, [email protected] Stuart Foster Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA, [email protected] David A. Glenn Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, [email protected] Edward J. Hopkins Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA, [email protected] Rezaul Mahmood Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA, [email protected] Douglas O. Mayes Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, [email protected] ix x Contributors Brent McRoberts Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3150, USA, [email protected] Cary J. Mock Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, [email protected] Jan Mojzisek Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, [email protected] Joseph M. Moran American Meteorological Society, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20005-3826, USA, [email protected] John W. Nielsen-Gammon Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3150, USA, [email protected] Karen L. Paar Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies and Archivist, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC 28754, USA, [email protected] David A. Robinson Global Snow Lab, Department of Geography, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA, [email protected] Heather Tompkins Geomatics Technician, Visual Heritage Division, Cartography, Architecture and Geomatics, Library and Archives Canada, Gatineau, Québec, Canada, [email protected] James H. Tuten History Department, Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA 16652, USA, [email protected] Introduction Climate variability can be analysed via a number of methods including palaeoclimatology, synoptic analyses, statistical deviations, comparison with analogs and identifying the causal dynamics of observed patterns or events (Bradley, 1999). Documentary evidence represents another way of exploring