South Pole’s Very Cold June; Western Cold Breaks More Records; July USA; The Thermometers Changed; + X-Flare, Full-Halo CME
The public is handed a decimal-point global temperature figure and told it represents the planet. But underneath it sits a changing thermometer network increasingly drawn from warmer physical settings.
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At my house in Bend, OR, this morning’s low temperature was 34F.
Here is a little info about actual thermometers. In 1913 about Corning Glass Works built a 187 foot tower to use as a tube draw to make the thermometer tubing. Before this process thermometer tubing was made in hand shops with glass tube formed and then literally stretched across shop floor and then cut to length. So before 1915 thermometers were very inconsistent in diameter. Just think how every thermometer could vary just enough to give different readings from station to station. So how do we compare temperatures from different manufacturing times with modern satellite measurements? Corning Glass Works used tower until 1973
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131 mph Straight Line Winds Knock Down Wind Turbines, Silos, Barns in S. Dakota
Peter Sinclair
https://thinc.blog/2026/06/29/130-mph-straight-line-winds-knock-down-wind-turbines-silos-barns-in-s-dakota/
“130 MPH winds destroyed windmills in South Dakota this morning. This is very rare. We hardly ever see windmills take this much damage from straight-line damaging winds. But when you push over 110 MPH winds, it becomes a lot easier for the windmills to crumble. Photos via Storm Chaser Jakob McMillin
Accuweather describes set up that will make for severe storms all week long More reports of widespread damage from tornado-force straight line winds below.”
“A devastating windstorm ripped through central South Dakota on the morning of June 29.
According to the South Dakota State University Mesonet, at 6:25 a.m. Monday, wind gusts were reported at 131 miles per hour, with the wind speed at 76 miles per hour. Rainfall totaled 1.64 inches.
Videos of the aftermath in Highmore show extensive damage to the community. Destroyed buildings and grain bins and standing water could be seen throughout a large section of the town following the storm.’