Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/374755
BySethBorenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON Remember the polar vortex, the huge mass of Arctic air that can plunge much of the U.S. into the deep freeze? You might have to get used to it. A new study says that as the world gets warmer, parts of North America, Europe and Asia could see more frequent and stron- ger visits of that cold air. Researchers say that's be- cause of shrinking ice in the seas off Russia. Normally, the polar vor- tex is penned in the Arc- tic. But at times it escapes and wanders south, bring- ing with it a bit of Arctic su- per chill. That can happen for sev- eral reasons, and the new study suggests that one of them occurs when ice in northern seas shrinks, leav- ing more water uncovered. Normally, sea ice keeps heat energy from escaping the ocean and entering the atmosphere. When there's less ice, more energy gets into the atmosphere and weakens the jet stream, the high-altitude river of air that usually keeps Arctic air from wandering south, said study co-author Jin-Ho Yoon of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. So the cold air escapes instead. That happened rela- tively infrequently in the 1990s, but since 2000 it has happened nearly every year, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communi- cations. A team of scien- tists from South Korea and United States found that many such cold outbreaks happened a few months af- ter unusually low sea ice levels in the Barents and Kara seas, off Russia. The study observed his- torical data and then con- ducted computer simu- lations. Both approaches showed the same strong link between shrinking sea ice and cold outbreaks, according to lead author Baek-Min Kim, a research scientist at the Korea Polar Research Institute. A large portion of sea ice melt- ing is driven by man-made climate change from the burning of fossil fuels, Kim wrote in an email. Sea ice in the Arctic usu- ally hits its low mark in Sep- tember and that's the cru- cial time point in terms of this study, said Mark Serreze, director of the Na- tional Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo- rado. Levels reached a re- cord low in 2012 and are slightly up this year, but only temporarily, with min- imum ice extent still about 40 percent below 1970s lev- els, he said. Yoon said that although his study focused on shrink- ing sea ice, something else was evidently responsible for last year's chilly visit from the polar vortex. In the past several years, many studies have looked at the accelerated warming in the Arctic and whether it is connected to extreme weather farther south, from heatwaves to Superstorm Sandy. This Arctic-extremes connection is "cutting edge" science that is hotly debated by mainstream climate sci- entists, Serreze said. Scien- tists are meeting this week in Seattle to look at the is- sue even more closely. Kevin Trenberth, cli- mate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmo- spheric Research in Boul- der, is skeptical about such connections and said he doesn't agree with Yoon's study. His research points more to the Pacific than the Arctic for changes in the jet stream and polar vortex be- havior, and he said Yoon's study puts too much stock in an unusual 2012. ARCTIC AIR MASS St ud y lin ks p ol ar v or te x ch il ls t o me lt in g se a ic e By Jacques Billeaud The Associated Press PHOENIX A 9-year-old girl who accidentally killed an instructor with an Uzi at an Arizona shooting range said immediately after the shooting that she felt the gun was too much for her and had hurt her shoulder, according to police reports released Tuesday. Her family members were focused on the girl be- cause they thought she was injured by the gun's recoil and didn't immediately re- alize instructor Charles Vacca had been shot until one of his colleagues ran over to him. The family, whose home- town hasn't been revealed by investigators, had taken a shuttle on Aug. 25 from Las Vegas about 60 miles south to the Last Stop range in White Hills, Arizona. The report did not say why the family had gone to the range or why they let the girl handle the Uzi. After arriving, the girl, her parents, sister and brother took a monster truck ride before heading out to the shooting range. The girl's father was the first one in the party to han- dle a weapon. After he fired shots, Vacca instructed the girl on how to shoot the gun, showed her a shoot- ing stance, and helped her fire a few rounds. Then, he stepped back and let her hold the Uzi by herself. She fired the gun, and its recoil wrenched the Uzi upward, killing Vacca with a shot to the head, ac- cording to the report. The girl dropped the Uzi, and Vacca fell to the ground. The girl ran toward her fam- ily, who huddled around her as she held her shoulder. An- other instructor rushed over to help to Vacca. Prosecutors are not fil- ing charges in the case. Ar- izona's workplace safety agency is investigating the shooting-range death. County prosecutors say the instructor was proba- bly the most negligent per- son involved in the accident for having allowed the child to hold the gun without enough training. They also said the parents and child weren't criminally culpable. The girl's mother had video-recorded the accident on her phone. "All right, go ahead and give me one shot," Vacca tells the girl in the video. He then cheers when she fires one round at the target. "All right full auto," Vacca says. The video, which does not show the actual inci- dent, ends with a series of shots being heard. The shooting set off a powerful debate over youngsters and guns. Sam Scarmardo, the range's operator, has said the parents had signed waivers saying they under- stood the rules and were standing nearby when the accident occurred. He also had said he never had a safety prob- lem before at the range and said his policy of allowing children 8 and older to fire guns under adult supervi- sion and an instructor's watchful eye is standard industry practice, though he noted his policies are under review. POLICE REPORTS Gi rl s ai d Uz i wa s to o mu ch fo r he r Washington 89/72 New York 86/69 Miami 89/77 Atlanta 89/71 Detroit 82/64 Houston 92/76 Chicago 83/70 Minneapolis 83/72 Kansas City 90/75 El Paso 97/73 Denver 92/56 Billings 74/45 Los Angeles 82/65 San Francisco 75/60 Seattle 71/52 AIRQUALITYFORECAST Whatitmeans:0-50:Good; 51-100:Moderate; 101-150:Unhealthyforsensitivepeople; 151+:Unhealthyforall. Source: Airnow.gov City Today'sairquality City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W CALIFORNIA CITIES National and world forecast s-sunny,pc-partly cloudy,c-cloudy,sh-showers,t-thunderstorms,r-rain,sf-snow flurries,sn-snow,i-ice City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Summary North and South America Asia, Australia Africa CarsonCity Hawthorne Reno Herlong Lovelock Sacramento Yuba City Napa Ukiah Chico Corning Lak eview Alturas Susanville Redding Red Bluff Laytonville Fort Bragg Point Arena Eureka Redway Mount Shasta Yreka Crescent City Ashland Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Shown are today's noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. ALMANAC Precipitation Temperatures ALLER GY REPOR T Pollenlevels Source: National Allergy Bureau TODAY'S UV INDEX (The higher the number, the faster skin damage will occur.) Extreme Very high High Moderate Low SUN SETTINGS, MOON PHASES Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Hoursofsunlight River Levels SacramentoRiver Flood 7a.m. 24-hr Stage yest. chg. Lake Levels Elevation Yesterday Storage (acre-feet) Percent Capacity Q: THURSDAY 97° 61° FRIDAY 98° 62° Plenty of sunshine Partly sunny SATURDAY 99° 62° Partly sunny and warm SUNDAY 95° 61° Sunny and warm TODAY 99° 64° Mostly sunny and pleasant. Mainly clear tonight. High ....................................................................... 96° Low ........................................................................ 65° Normal high ......................................................... 93° Normal low ........................................................... 61° Record high ........................................... 112° in 1950 Record low .............................................. 48° in 1946 Humidity noon today ........................................ 23% 24 hours through 2 p.m. yesterday ................. 0.00" Month to date ................................................... 0.00" Normal month to date ..................................... 0.03" Season to date .................................................. 0.11" Normal season to date .................................... 0.27" Red Bluff through 2 p.m. yesterday Chico .......................................................... Moderate Napa ................................................................... Good Red Bluff .............................................. Not available Redding ............................................... Not available Yuba City ................................................... Moderate Allergy, dust and dander today: Beneficial Grass ............. Moderate Mold .........................Low Trees ............. Moderate Weeds ........... Moderate 6 Highest at 12 p.m. Today 6:38 a.m. 7:38 p.m. 3:23 p.m. 12:36 a.m. Thursday 6:39 a.m. 7:36 p.m. 4:16 p.m. 1:34 a.m. 13 hr., 00 min. Sep8 Full Sep15 Last New Sep23 First Oct1 aboveBendBridge......................27 ...........2.40 .......none atHamiltonCity.........................148 ......129.17 ......+0.07 atOrdFerry................................114 ........96.79 ....... -0.01 atRedBluffDiversionDam.......253 ......238.60 .......none atTehamaBridge ......................213 ......201.10 .......none atVinaWoodsonBridge............183 ......166.93 ......+0.03 BlackButte ....................445.89..............43,733 .....30.4% LakeOroville..................678.92.........1,100,873 .....29.5% LakeShasta ...................913.32.........1,334,984 .....29.3% LakeTrinity..................2216.48............695,154 .....26.3% Whiskeytown...............1208.72............237,005 .....98.3% Weather Trivia ™ How high was the tidal surge produced by Hurricane Camille? Today Thursday Anaheim 84/64/pc 84/62/pc Bakersfield 97/69/s 97/70/s Chula Vista 79/64/pc 81/63/pc Crescent City 63/47/pc 64/50/s Death Valley 112/77/s 111/76/s Eureka 66/47/pc 66/49/s Fremont 77/59/pc 79/59/pc Fresno 96/67/s 98/69/s Glendale 86/63/pc 85/62/pc Huntington Beach 77/65/pc 77/64/pc Irvine 78/64/pc 77/62/pc Lake Tahoe 78/39/s 76/41/pc Long Beach 80/66/pc 79/64/pc Los Angeles 82/65/pc 82/65/pc Mammoth Mountain 83/44/s 81/42/s Modesto 91/61/s 92/61/pc Monterey 70/57/pc 71/58/pc Moreno Valley 91/58/s 91/59/s Napa 77/53/pc 78/53/pc Needles 110/81/s 108/80/s Oakland 74/60/pc 74/60/pc Oxnard 71/60/pc 70/60/pc Redding 99/62/s 98/61/pc Riverside 91/59/s 91/58/s Sacramento 91/59/s 91/59/pc San Bernardino 91/58/s 91/58/s San Diego 76/68/pc 77/68/pc San Francisco 75/60/pc 75/60/pc San Jose 78/59/pc 80/59/pc San Luis Obispo 74/56/pc 76/54/pc Santa Ana 81/69/pc 80/67/pc Santa Barbara 72/57/pc 71/57/pc Santa Clarita 89/60/s 88/59/s Stockton 91/59/s 92/59/pc Ventura 72/60/pc 71/60/pc Yosemite Valley 89/56/s 89/55/pc Today Thursday Albuquerque 93/65/s 89/63/pc Atlanta 89/71/t 85/70/t Baltimore 87/64/pc 87/67/pc Boston 84/66/pc 83/68/s Buffalo 79/61/s 84/67/s Chicago 83/70/pc 90/71/pc Cincinnati 86/65/s 89/70/t Dallas 96/77/s 96/78/s Denver 92/56/s 73/51/pc Detroit 82/64/s 85/70/pc El Paso 97/73/s 92/70/s Fargo 80/61/t 71/46/t Honolulu 89/76/s 89/76/pc Houston 92/76/t 92/76/pc Indianapolis 84/66/pc 87/71/t Kansas City 90/75/t 91/68/pc Las Vegas 102/75/s 100/75/s Louisville 87/69/s 91/74/t Miami 89/77/t 89/79/t Minneapolis 83/72/t 84/55/pc New Orleans 88/76/t 88/76/t New York City 86/69/s 87/70/s Oklahoma City 96/73/s 96/70/s A pocket of slightly cooler and less humid air will expand from the Great Lakes to the Northeast to- day. Hot and humid air will hold across the South, lower mid-Atlantic, Texas and the southern Plains. Along the boundary of the heat, locally heavy showers and thunderstorms will reach from the Dakotas and Minnesota to Tennessee, southern Virginia and North Carolina. Spotty storms will also affect the Deep South. Locally drenching and gusty thunderstorms will occur in South Texas as Dolly moves inland over Mexico as a tropical rainstorm. Bogota 65/48/t 67/46/c Buenos Aires 70/59/pc 69/60/t Caracas 89/77/t 90/77/t Ensenada 82/61/pc 83/60/pc Mexico City 71/57/t 71/56/t Montreal 78/58/s 80/64/s Rio de Janeiro 81/67/pc 72/64/sh Tijuana 80/63/pc 81/63/pc Toronto 82/59/s 84/69/pc Vancouver 66/50/s 69/53/s Orlando 90/73/t 90/74/t Philadelphia 86/67/s 88/69/pc Phoenix 108/83/s 106/83/pc Pittsburgh 81/60/s 85/64/pc Portland, ME 82/57/pc 81/59/s Portland, OR 75/54/pc 86/57/s St. Louis 89/76/pc 95/77/t Salt Lake City 85/55/s 78/56/pc Seattle 71/52/pc 77/54/s Tucson 102/76/s 101/77/t Washington, DC 89/72/pc 90/74/pc Cairo 94/75/s 99/76/s Casablanca 82/68/pc 83/67/s Johannesburg 69/43/s 71/45/s Kinshasa 88/70/s 88/70/pc Lagos 83/74/c 82/74/t Nairobi 74/60/c 69/59/t Tripoli 91/70/s 95/75/s Baghdad 115/83/s 112/79/s Beijing 85/60/s 90/63/s Hong Kong 93/82/pc 93/81/s Jerusalem 81/63/s 85/65/s Kabul 88/59/s 89/58/s Manila 86/78/t 87/78/t Melbourne 58/40/pc 59/39/c New Delhi 87/77/t 86/77/t Seoul 74/64/r 80/64/pc Singapore 87/76/t 88/76/t Sydney 59/48/pc 62/50/sh Tehran 92/74/s 94/74/s Tokyo 78/69/pc 80/73/pc Amsterdam 69/55/s 72/59/s Athens 85/70/t 86/69/pc Belgrade 73/63/t 76/63/t Berlin 70/55/s 75/58/s Budapest 78/63/pc 79/61/c Dublin 64/51/pc 70/52/sh London 74/54/pc 74/55/pc Madrid 95/63/s 91/62/s Moscow 61/44/c 63/49/pc Paris 75/55/s 75/61/pc Rome 81/63/pc 81/64/c Stockholm 70/53/pc 71/52/s Vienna 72/61/pc 75/62/c Zurich 65/51/pc 71/53/pc 85/47 91/58 88/55 86/47 88/50 91/59 93/57 77/53 95/55 95/63 96 /6 4 75/35 80/35 84/43 99/62 99/64 87/52 66/52 73/54 66/47 87/54 82/42 84/44 63/47 83/46 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2014 | WEATHER | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 8 B