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Under the Arctic Dome — Brutish High Pressure System is Wrecking the Already Thinned Sea Ice

There’s a real atmospheric brute towering over the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea at this time. A high pressure system that would put shame to most other anti-cyclonic phenomena that bear the name. It is sending out a broad, clockwise pattern of winds. It is pulling up warm air from the Pacific to invade the Bering, Chukchi, East Siberian and Laptev Seas. And its torquing motion is shattering the already considerably thinned ice beneath it.

(A powerful high pressure system over the Beaufort Sea is predicted to further strengthen by late April 15. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

Clocking in at 1046 mb of pressure, it makes typically strong 1030 mb high pressure systems seem weak by comparison. Over the next day it is expected to strengthen still — hitting 1048 mb by late April 15th (coming very close to an extraordinary 1050 mb system).

Shattered Sea Ice

This powerful and strengthening system has already been in place for about two weeks — slowly gaining momentum as its circulation has moved in mirror to the waters of the Beaufort Gyre that swirl beneath it. Masked only by a veil of sea ice considerably thinned by human-forced climate change, the waters of the Beaufort are now breaking through. Streaks of dark blue on white in an early break-up enabled both by a terrible Arctic warming and by this powerful spring weather system.

(Side-by-side images of Beaufort sea ice from April 4 [left frame] to April 13 [right frame]. Note the considerable and rapid advance of fracturing in a relatively short period. For reference, bottom edge of frame in both images is 500 miles. Image source: LANCE MODIS.)

Warm Storms

On the Siberian side of the Arctic, this massive high pressure dome is drawing in warm winds from the Pacific Ocean. Gust by gust and front by front, they come in the form of squalls that deliver above freezing temperatures and rains that blanket this thawing section of the Arctic. On Thursday, April 13, these warm winds had driven northward over 2,500 miles of Pacific waters to be drawn into storms that unleashed their fury — driving rains and gales through the already dispersed ice in the Bering Sea and shattering ice floes through the Chukchi. Today, April 14, these winds and rains drove northward to assault the ice of the East Siberian and Laptev seas.

(On April 13, above freezing temperatures, rains, and gale force winds ripped through the sea ice near Wrangle Island in the Chukchi Sea. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

A Great Atmospheric Stack Drawing Heat into the Arctic

In the past, meteorologists like Stu Ostro envisioned that climate change would tend to produce towering high pressure systems — featuring increasingly strong storms roaring about their fierce outer boundaries. And the massive high lurking over the Arctic at this time is a good example of Ostro’s predictions coming to light in a region that is very sensitive to human-forced warming.

This great atmospheric stack appears to have had a considerable impact on the ice already — helping to push extent measures back into record low ranges by accelerating the melt trend. But these impacts are likely to spike over the coming week as this powerful high expected to remain in place through the next five days — continuing to draw warm air into the region.

(Global Forecast System models predict extreme warming over the Arctic Ocean throughout the next week resulting from the influence of a powerful high pressure system and very strong associated ridge in the Jet Stream. Image source: NCEP Global Forecast System Reanalysis.)

GFS model runs indicate that average temperatures over the Arctic Ocean region will hit a peak as high as 4 degrees Celsius above average by late next week. Meanwhile, the warmest zones are expected to be as much as 18-20 degrees Celsius above average. Such abnormal warmth at this time of year, if it emerges, will put a considerable damper on a freeze that should now be continuing in the High Arctic even as edge melt ramps up with the progression of spring.

This is particularly concerning due to the fact that temperature anomalies in the Arctic tend to fall off during spring and summer. In other words, such a powerful warming trend for the Arctic Ocean would be bad enough during winter — but it is an even more unusual event for spring. An ominous start to a melt season that could produce far-reaching regional and global consequences.

Earth Nullschool

NCEP Global Forecast System Reanalysis

Stu Ostro

Climate Reanalyzer

Hat tip to Colorado Bob

Hat tip to Andy in San Diego

Warm, Southerly Winds Gust to Hurricane Force Over Greenland in Staggering Early Season Heatwave — Temperatures Now Hitting up to 41 Degrees (F) Above Average at Summit

The wavy, crazy Jet Stream.

Over the past few years, it’s become more and more clear that a human-forced heating of the Arctic has basically driven the Jet Stream mad. Big loops, omega blocks, and huge ridges and troughs have all become a feature of the new climate we’re experiencing. Related to these features have been a number of superstorms, severe droughts, ocean hot and cold pools, and extreme rainfall events.

Trough US East Coast Ridge Greenland

(The Jet Stream once again mangled. A strong trough shoved cool air over the US East Coast this weekend as a facing ridge prepared to hurl a bulge of extreme warmth up and over Greenland on Monday. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

As we have  seen with Sandy, the Pacific Hot Blob, the UK floods, The California Drought, the record Alaska and Canadian Wildfire Seasons of 2015, the Russian Heatwave and Fires of 2011, the Pakistan Floods of 2011, and so, so many more extreme weather events, these new climate features present a risk of generating extraordinary or never before seen weather. Intense storms, extreme winds, and extreme cold flashes and heatwaves can all be generated as the result of such mangled weather patterns. And for much of the North Atlantic this past weekend, such abnormal conditions dominated. The US East Coast experienced a freak cold flash, the UK was pummeled by yet one more unseasonable gale, but perhaps worst of all — a head of extraordinarily warm air roared northward, riding upon gale to hurricane force winds, setting sights on Greenland.

Cool Flash for Eastern US, Extreme Heat for Greenland

This past weekend, the US weather news was all awash with comments on Winter-like conditions in April for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US as a deep trough tore down from the Canadian Archipelago and Hudson Bay. The trough brought with it snow flurries, freeze warnings, and rather cold conditions for April to this region of the US. Temperatures ranged from 10-20 degrees (F) below average for this area. But compared to what was setting up to happen in the ridge zone over the Atlantic, the East Coast cool spell was quite mild considering the relative extreme heat readying for a Greenland invasion.

The warm wind pulse began in the North Atlantic in a tropical region near 26 North, 55 West. This warm air flooded in train over thousands of miles of open ocean. Running northward, it roared along the back of a high pressure system centered over the Mid Atlantic Ridge and in front of two strong lows — one centered near Newfoundland and a second over southwestern Baffin Bay.

In places, the pressure gradient between the lows and highs was so tightly packed that the northward flowing airs hit hurricane force. Off the southwest tip of Greenland, winds consistently achieved hurricane force gusts. And these winds flowed on northward, bringing with them a surge of above freezing temperatures to much of Baffin Bay and a large section of Western Greenland.

By 10:00 UTC, Monday, April 11th — Thule, on the Northwest Coast of Greenland near the Nares Strait was experiencing sustained southerly winds along the northern edge of this warm air pulse at 45 mph with gusts hitting a hurricane force 75 mph. Temperatures for Thule by that time had hit 34 degrees (F) or about 32 degrees (F ) above average.

Extreme Greenland Heatwave

(Extreme Arctic heat strikes Greenland on April 11, 2016. There readings for a large area hit a range 36 degrees Fahrenheit or more above average for a large region over Baffin Bay and Greenland. This extreme pulse of unseasonable warm air contributed to overall temperature departures of +4.75 C (8.55 F) above average for the Arctic. A very high departure for this region of the world at this time of year and an extension to a period of record Arctic warmth in 2016. Image source: Climate Reanalyzer.)

Further south, Nuuk was experiencing 45 F readings (or about 20 F above average) coordinate with heavy rain and strong southerly winds. Yet further south, in Kangerlussuaq near the southwest coast of Greenland, temperatures spiked to 61 F — or 36 F above the average April 11 reading of 25 F.

Perhaps more remarkable and disturbing were the predicted extreme readings at Summit Greenland — expected to hit 21 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday or about 41 degrees (F) above a typical daily high of -20 (F) for this time of year. It’s worth noting that in July average high temperatures for Summit Greenland usually range near 12 degrees (F). So current expected highs for April 11, 2016 are nearly 10 degrees warmer than a normal July day. By comparison, if such an extreme high temperature departure were to have occurred in my hometown of Gaithersburg, MD on the same date (April 11th), readings would have exceeded a remarkable 106 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Year of Record Arctic Warmth Continues

The recent warm, wet wind outbreak over Greenland is but one more odd event in a year of extreme warmth for the Arctic. Warm wind invasions over the North Atlantic, Barents, Baffin Bay, Greenland Sea, Western Europe, Alaska, Western Canada, the Barents, and sections of Central Asia have been a persistent feature throughout both Winter and Spring. Meanwhile, consistent temperature spikes to near freezing or above freezing over the Arctic Ocean and related waters have contributed to Arctic sea ice hitting new seasonal lows.

Freezing Degree Days NOAA

(Arctic heat has been literally off-the charts for the region above 80 degrees North during 2016. This area has now experienced nearly 1,000 fewer freezing degree days than during a typical year of the already warmer than normal 1980-2010 period. Extreme Arctic warmth of this kind has negative impacts both to the health of Arctic sea ice and to that of the various glacier systems in Greenland, Svalbard and Northern Canada. Image source: NOAA/CFSv2/CFSR.)

Overall, the Arctic has experienced unprecedented warmth for 2016. In reference to this fact, NOAA measures recording freezing degree days indicate that both the Arctic and the High Arctic above 80 degrees North Latitude are experiencing their warmest year ever recorded. These new extreme high temperatures are achieving an extraordinary departure above previous temperature measures and are a feature of the highest anomalies occurring over any portion of a record warm world. In other words, if you were to look for the region of the world that’s being hit hardest by a human-forced warming spurred on by rampant fossil fuel burning, the Arctic would light up like a fireworks display on the 4th of July.

Tropical heat, in the form of a record El Nino generated warmth, has tended to transfer pole-ward in the Northern Hemisphere during 2016 due to various weaknesses in the Jet Stream. A primary region for this transfer has occurred over the North Atlantic and Europe with secondary transfer zones over the Eastern Pacific, Western North America, and over a shifting zone throughout Northern Asia.

An extraordinary polar amplification of this kind — one that includes Equator-to-Pole heat transfers — risks hitting or increasing the intensity of a number of harmful climate tipping points. These include the amplifying feedbacks of increasing rates of sea ice melt and Arctic carbon store response. In addition, extreme warmth over Greenland risks further glacial destabilization, increasing rates of sea level rise, and increasing weather instability in the North Atlantic.

Earth Nullschool

Climate Reanalyzer

Thule Air Base Weather Statistics

Thule Air Base Current Weather Conditions

Nuuk Greenland Weather

Nuuk Climatology

Kangerlussuaq Average Temperatures

Kangerlussuaq Weather

Summit Greenland Weather

Summit Greenland Climatology

Hat Tip to Kevin Jones

Scientific Hat Tip to Dr. James Hansen

Scientific Hat Tip to Dr. Jennifer Francis

Scientific Hat Tip to Dr. Jeff Masters

Warm Arctic Storm To Hurl Hurricane Force Winds at UK and Iceland, Push Temps to 36-72+ Degrees (F) Above Normal at North Pole

We’ve probably never seen weather like what’s being predicted for a vast region stretching from the North Atlantic to the North Pole and on into the broader Arctic this coming week. But it’s all in the forecast — an Icelandic low that’s stronger than most hurricanes featuring a wind field stretching over hundreds and hundreds of miles. One that taps warm tropical air and hurls it all the way to the North Pole and beyond during Winter time. And it all just reeks of a human-forced warming of the Earth’s climate…

Freak North Atlantic Storm Featuring Extremely Low Pressures

Sunday afternoon, a powerful, hurricane force low pressure system was in the process of rounding the southern tip of Greenland. This burly 960 mb beast roared out of an increasingly unstable Baffin Bay on Christmas. As it rounded Greenland and entered the North Atlantic, it pulled behind it a thousand-mile-wide gale force wind field even as it lashed the tip of Greenland with Hurricane force gusts. To its east, the storm now links with three other lows. Lows that are, even now, drawing south-to-north winds up from a region just west of Gibraltar, on past the UK, up beyond Iceland, over Svalbard, and into the Arctic Ocean itself.

(GFS forecasts predict a storm bombing out between 920 and 930 mb over Iceland by Wednesday. It’s a storm that could rival some of the strongest such systems ever recorded for the North Atlantic. But this storm’s influence is unique in its potential to shove an unprecedented amount of warm air into the Arctic. A warm storm for the Arctic Winter time. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

Over the next few days these three lows are predicted to combine into a storm the likes of which the far North Atlantic rarely ever sees. This storm is expected to center over Iceland. But it will have far-reaching impacts ranging from the UK and on north to the pole itself. As the lows combine, GFS predicts them to bomb out into an unprecedentedly deep low featuring 920 to 930 mb (and possibly lower) minimum central pressures by this coming Wednesday. These pressures are comparable to the very extreme storm systems that raged through the North Atlantic during the Winter of 2013. Systems that featured minimum pressures in the range of 928 to 930 mb.

It’s worth noting that the lowest pressure ever recorded for the North Atlantic occurred in the much further southward forming Hurricane Wilma at 882 mb. In the far north, a January 11 1993 storm between Iceland and Scotland featured 913-915 mb pressures. It’s also worth considering that the GFS model currently puts the predicted storm within striking distance of setting a new record for the far north. Meanwhile, ECMWF models predict a somewhat less extreme low in the range of 940 mb (updated: ECMWF now predicts a 920 mb class storm). By comparison, Hurricane Sandy bottomed out at around 940 mb as well.

Regardless of peak strength, the expected storm is predicted to be both very intense and wide-ranging as both model forecasts feature numerous lows linked in chain with a much deeper storm center near Iceland. Among these and further north, two more strong lows in the range of 965 to 975 mb will round out this daisy chain of what is now shaping up to be a truly extreme storm system. The Icelandic coast and near off-shore regions are expected to see heavy precipitation hurled over the island by 90 to 100 mile per hour or stronger winds raging out of 35-40 foot seas. Meanwhile, the UK will find itself in the grips of an extraordinarily strong southerly gale running over the backs of 30 foot swells.

Warm Winds to Force Above Freezing Temperatures For the North Pole

(By early Wednesday, temperatures at the North Pole are expected to exceed 1 degree Celsius readings. Such temperatures are in the range of more than 40 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

All along the eastern side of this storm, powerful warm winds are expected to funnel northward. Originating along the 35 degree North Latitude line west of Spain, these winds will force a train of warm air and moisture pole-ward ahead of our storm. The winds will rush up over a very riled North Sea, they will howl into a far warmer than normal Barents, and they will roar on past Svalbard — finally turning as they pass beyond the North Pole.

These winds will bring with them extraordinarily warm temperatures for the High Arctic region during Winter time. By Wednesday, the North Pole is expected to see temperatures in the range of 1-2 degrees Celsius or 41-42 degrees C above Woods Hole and NASA baseline Winter-time temperatures (73-75 degrees Fahrenheit above the normal daily temperature of -40 F for a typical Winter day). Such an extreme departure would be like seeing a 120 degree (Fahrenheit) December day in my hometown of Gaithersburg, MD.

NCAR and reanalysis data for the North Pole at this time of year put daily averages in the range of -30 C (-22 F) and -20 C (-4 F) respectively. Taking all these measures into account, it appears that we’ll be seeing temperatures in the range of 36-72 degrees above normal North Pole readings for late December, depending on which baseline you use.

By any yardstick, these are extremely warm and likely record readings for the North Pole. Winter Temperatures have only approached the freezing mark on one previous occasion in the NCAR data record. And the predicted temperatures for Wednesday appear set to surpass this odd record. Needless to say, a 1-2 C reading at the North Pole during late December is about as odd as witnessing Hell freezing over. But, in this case, the latest wave of warmth issuing from a human-driven shift toward climatological hell appears to be on schedule to arrive at the North Pole by Wednesday.

From Slate on Tuesday, December 29:

“I contacted a team of climate scientists at the University of Washington who maintain a fleet of weather monitoring equipment near the North Pole. James Morison, the principal investigator of the North Pole Environmental Observatory, said he’s “never heard of” temperatures above freezing in the wintertime there. Looking closer at the weather data, it appears this event is in fact unprecedented during the time period from late December through late April”

Arctic temp anomaly +4 C

(The Arctic region as a whole is expected to experience a [frankly quite insane] temperature anomaly in the range of 4 degrees Celsius above average by January 3rd of 2016. Note the broad regions over Northern Canada, Siberia, and the Arctic Ocean that are predicted to experience temperatures in the range of 20 degrees Celsius above the already hotter than normal 1979 to 2000 baseline readings. For some areas — particularly in Northern Canada — this will mean near or even above freezing temperatures for tundra and permafrost zones in the depths of Winter. A set of conditions that has serious implications for permafrost thaw and related carbon store feedbacks. Image source: Climate Reanalyzer.)

New Freakish Weather Patterns Concordant With Human-Forced Climate Change

The deep, northward-driving synoptic pattern associated with both powerful high Latitude storms and warm winds is only something we’ve begun to see during recent years. The warming polar environment itself generates weaknesses in the Jet Stream which tends to allow these warm air invasions. In addition the warming oceans — which hold heat for longer than land masses — generate pathways for warm air invasions of the Arctic during Winter time. The Barents Sea, for example, has been particularly warm during recent years which has resulted in numerous warm wind invasion events issuing northward over Svalbard and regions eastward during recent years.

A final ingredient to this highly altered weather pattern appears to be a cooling of the sea surface in the North Atlantic just south of Greenland. This cooling has been set off by an increase in fresh water melt outflows from Greenland as glacial melt there has accelerated concordant with human-forced warming. The cool pool of glacial melt water south of Greenland has aided in the generation of a dipole featuring cool air to the west, warm air to the east. This year, warm air has tended to flow northward over Spain, the UK, and along a region between Iceland and Scandinavia. During the Winter of 2015-2016, this warm air slot has also been the breeding ground for very unstable weather and a number of powerful storm systems.

Polar Vortex Ripped in Half Late Dec 2015

(It’s an El Nino year. But despite a climate feature that would typically strengthen the Jet Stream, what we see is another Arctic warm air invasion reminiscent of the recent polar vortex collapse events of Winters 2012 through 2014-2015. Note that the region of coldest air, which would typically tend to center over the North Pole has been driven south toward Greenland and Baffin Bay. A pattern that we’d expect concordant with world ocean warming and Greenland melt as a result of human-forced climate change. Image source: ECMWF.)

Unfortunately, this larger overall pattern marks a progression away from typical North Atlantic weather and toward a much more stormy environment. It’s an environment that is all too likely to be marked by features of warm air invasions moving up through the Barents and into the High Arctic during Winter. Of the Northern Hemisphere storm circulation tending to wrap around Greenland as the center of cold air shifts from the North Pole to the last bastion of dense glacial ice. And of a very unstable storm generating cold water and surface air temperature zone deepening and gaining an ever-stronger hold within the North Atlantic.

These are influences we see now. Ones that are impacting both the current powerful storm over Iceland and the unprecedented surge of warm air that is now preparing to invade the High Arctic. And though El Nino likely also played a part in the shifting of the storm generation zone toward Iceland, the far northward propagation of warm air into the Barents and High Arctic along with the extreme strength of the predicted storm are both likely new features of an overall altered pattern. What we witness here are both climates and weather features changing before our eyes in the form of what to us may seem a freak event — but what is actually part of a dangerous transition period away from the stable climates of the Holocene.

UPDATE: ECMWF model runs now predict an extraordinarily strong 920 mb low striking Iceland by Wednesday. With GFS model runs coming into agreement, the certainty of this extreme forecast intensity increases. NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center now has an updated forecast of 90 knot winds for the region in conjunction with this very impressive storm system.

Finally, as the Washington Post indicates in this excellent article, though some scientists are increasingly concerned that current powerful North Atlantic storms have a climate change influence, others remain unconvinced. For my own part, and based on continued observations of the weather data, model attribution studies, sea surface temperature, and glacial melt indicators, I believe there is a strengthening case for climate change attribution in the instance of more frequent, intense North Atlantic storms and especially in the recent very frequent Arctic warm air invasion events. In addition, it will unfortunately take years-to-decades for the institutions of modern science to come to a consensus on this and other climate change related issues. Given that events are now likely in play that will generate rapid changes to global and, in particular, North Atlantic weather patterns, it is impractical to wait for a scientific consensus to develop before reporting on these emerging issues. Waiting, at this time, would be irresponsible as it would result in a general lack of awareness of the overall threat.

To paraphrase Dr. Jennifer Francis — at this point it is not practical to wait for us to achieve perfect knowledge. And, in fact, we have more than enough indicators at this time to show that something is quite dreadfully wrong.

As of early Wednesday morning temperatures at the North Pole had risen to 1.1 C or 34 degrees F representing the highest temperatures ever recorded at the North Pole for this time of year and the first time this region of the high Arctic has experienced temperatures substantially above freezing during Winter.

(1.1 C reading at the North Pole by Midnight, EST is a historic high temperature for the, what should be frigid, top of our world. It’s also yet one more bit of evidence showing that global weather is now in the process of going far off-kilter. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

Earth Nullschool

Climate Reanalyzer

Very Low Minima of North Atlantic Cyclones During Winter of 2013

Warning From Scientists Age of Storms, Rapid Sea Level Rise is Coming Soon

Dr Jennifer Francis on Jet Stream Changes and Increasing Instances of Extreme Weather

NOAA Ocean Prediction Center Atlantic Analysis

NCAR North Pole Temperature Graphic

Slate on Extreme Weather (It’s worth noting that the storm causing extreme weather in the Central US is not the same one that’s bombing out over Iceland and driving this severe polar warming event, though these storms are certainly both part of the same odd overall weather pattern.)

Washington Post on Freak North Atlantic Storm

Hat Tip to DT Lange

Hat Tip to Colorado Bob (Remember — “Hot seeks Cold.”)

Hat Tip to TodaysGuestis

Special Mention to JDAllen and the Arctic Sea Ice Blog (I just became aware they began a discussion on the topic of unprecedented Arctic warming on December 26. ASIB deserves mention for their unfailing monitoring of the Northern Hemisphere sea ice and cryosphere as well as for their extraordinarily informative discussions.)

Record Hot Arctic: NOAA’s 2015 Report Card Shows Signs of Failing Climates

In NOAA’s most recent annual Arctic Report Card, the records just keep falling as the litany of global warming related events appearing throughout the far north continued to crop up with ever-more dizzying frequency…

(NOAA’s Arctic report is a stark expose of the state of the Arctic climate. What we view now is a system undergoing a rapid and dynamic transition from its previously stable state to something that is entirely new and alien to human civilization. Video source: NOAA.)

The 12 month period of October 2014 to September 2015 was the hottest one year time-frame since record keeping began for the Arctic back in 1900. As a result of these record warm temperatures, Arctic sea ice during the Winter hit its lowest maximum extent ever seen. Summer sea ice extent was likewise greatly reduced hitting its 4th lowest extent ever recorded. Old, thick sea ice which represented 20 percent of the ice pack in 1985, has precipitously declined to a mere 3 percent of the ice pack today. Snow cover also took a hit, declining to its second lowest extent on record during 2015 and striking a range of 50 percent below the typical average for the month.

Overall warming of the Arctic is at a much more rapid pace than the rest of the world. This accelerated pace of warming is due, in large part, to loss of snow and sea ice reflectivity during the Spring and Summer months. As a result, more heat is absorbed into dark land and ocean surfaces — a heat that is retained throughout the Arctic over longer and longer periods. And, though NOAA doesn’t report it in the above video, overall higher concentrations of greenhouse gasses like methane and CO2 in or near the Arctic region also contribute to a higher rate of warming (see NOAA’s ESRL figures). In a world that is now rapidly proceeding beyond the 400 ppm CO2 and 485 ppm CO2e threshold, this is exactly the kind of Northern Hemisphere polar amplification we would expect to see.

Warm Winds, Greenland Ice Sheet Melt, and Mass Migrations

NOAA notes a marked change in the distribution of life with mass migrations of all life forms well underway in and around the Arctic. Transitions and disruptions are most highly visible among marine mammals like walruses and polar bears — who are increasingly forced to live on land during the summer months. Meanwhile, an ever-broadening number of non-native fish are invading the Arctic from the south.

(South to north weather patterns, like the one featured above, have increasingly drawn warm winds up and over Alaska. An anomalous new weather feature that has merited comment in NOAA’s recent annual Arctic report card. Image from “Arctic Heatwave to Rip Polar Vortex in Half”.)

NOAA also links the warm wind invasion events reported on widely here to the second worst wildfire season ever to strike Alaska in 2015. A dipole feature that displays teleconnections between Arctic snow and ice loss, the hot blob of water in the Northeastern Pacific, and the persistent trough that prevailed over the US East Coast during the Winter of 2014-2015.

Finally, Greenland Ice Sheet surface melt hit a maximum coverage above 50 percent for the first time since the extreme melt that occurred in 2012. NOAA notes that the amount of ice delivered to the ocean by glaciers also increased across Greenland even as recent studies continued to find an increasing prevalence of glacial destabilization and acceleration among Greenland’s ocean-terminating glaciers.

NOAA concludes: “Taken together, 2015 shows a continuing set of major changes in the Arctic.”

NOAA’s Arctic Report Card

Major Arctic Wildfire Outbreak

Arctic Heatwave to Rip Polar Vortex in Half

El Nino, Polar Amplification or Both?

Hat Tip to Alexandr

Warm Arctic Winds Rip Polar Vortex in Half, Blast East Face of Greenland Ice Sheet

Last night, at around 9 PM Eastern Time, a broad region just south of the North Pole was undergoing an extraordinary warm-up. Temperatures along the 37 W Longitude line just 80 miles south of the pole had surged to 33 degrees Fahrenheit. A reading warmer than a region of central Michigan thousands of miles to the south but running over an area of sea ice more accustomed to -5 F or lower temperatures during the great dark of the December night.

(Knife of warm air drives above freezing temperatures to within 80 miles of the North Pole on December 1 of 2014. Image source: Earth Nullschool. Data Source: UCAR, OSCAR, NCEP.)

It was the much warmer than normal core of an intense and anomalous Arctic heat surge. One that blasted up over Svalbard and flooded into the high Arctic. Meeting with a similar but weaker air surge to the south, both surface and upper layers of the Arctic Ocean atmosphere hosted a joining of rivers of warm air.

This warm air double envelopment neatly sliced the polar vortex in twain. The remnant cold air cores at the Jet Stream level slipped down over both the Canadian Archipelago and Central Asia. Leaving open the lane for warm, maritime air to surge over the Arctic Ocean region.

(Jet Stream level atmospheric circulation shows polar vortex cut in two with one circulation over the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the other over Yamal, Siberia — scene to the freakish methane blowholes earlier this year. Image source: Earth Nullschool. Data Source: UCAR, OSCAR, NCEP.)

It is a pattern of negative phase Arctic Oscillation (AO) — featuring a warming in the central Arctic which flushes the cold air out. But this ripping of the polar vortex in half is also related to polar amplification due to the human heat forcing. In which the high Arctic has warmed dramatically in comparison with the rest of the globe. So the heat anomalies we see now are much higher than they would otherwise be, with abnormal warmth remaining even into a positive phase of the AO (which we may see a bit more of, should El Nino finally emerge).

It’s a feature also related to a warming of the upper atmosphere at stratospheric levels. Such Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events can often be associated with the kind of polar vortex split we are seeing now. And, from recent observations, we find temperatures over the Arctic Stratosphere are now in record range.

According to weather blogger, Matthew Holliday:

Even though I wouldn’t categorize this as a *sudden* stratospheric event as of yet, the warming that has already occurred will likely have effects by middle December. In fact, the warming that has occurred is currently at record levels for this time of year.

Recent scientific studies have also indicated an increasing prevalence of SSW events as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise.

Extraordinary Arctic Warming

For much of November, readings in the Arctic as a whole have ranged from +1.5 to +2.5 degrees Celsius above the global average. A region featuring the highest global anomalies in a world that just saw its hottest ten months in the past 136 years, and probably its hottest ten months in many thousands of years. A region well known for its cold — but warming far faster than almost anywhere else.

Global anomaly Dec 1

(The Arctic hits an extraordinary early December +3.16 C positive anomaly on the first day of the month amidst a flood of warm air from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Image source: The University of Maine. Data Source: Global Forecast System Model.)

Today, beset by this abnormal heat, overall Arctic departures hit 3.16 C above the already hotter than normal 1979 to 2000 average. Regions within this warm zone showed readings well above 36 F higher than average. A kind of winter Arctic heatwave. One that will keep worsening as the human heat forcing continues its terrible advance.

Near Freezing Temperatures Over Zachariae Glacier During Meteorological Winter

Much of the added heat expanded through the region between the North Pole and Greenland, wrapping in a surface circulation that has tended more and more to envelop the frozen isle, Baffin Bay and the accompanying Canadian Archipelago.

(Warm front off Atlantic Ocean featuring blow torch like wind flow over the Zahcariae Glacier collides with Greenland, pushes far into Arctic Ocean. Image source: Earth Nullschool. Data source: Data Source: UCAR, OSCAR, NCEP.)

This morning, some of that circulation and its entrapped warm air flow rode up over the East Coast of Greenland, surging over the ocean-facing cliffs of the Zachariae Glacier. Pushing temperatures to almost above freezing in a period where much deeper cold should be firmly established.

A great flood of abnormal winter warmth and moisture. The leading edge of a flow of ocean and atmospheric heat driven all too obviously by human warming.

James Hansen: If It’s Warm, Why is it So Damned Cold?

Earth Nullschool

University of Maine

Global Forecast System Model

National Climate Data Center

Changes in Northern Hemisphere Stratospheric Variability Under Increased CO2 Concentrations

Hat Tip to Wili

2012 Record Challenged as 40% of Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melts on June 17th

Yesterday, 40% of the surface of Greenland melted.

It was still mid-June, yet a month before melt values typically peak. But a persistent high pressure system over Greenland, a rapidly melting Baffin Bay and warm winds riding up the west coast were enough to spur a surface melting event that shoved melt coverage firmly above the two standard deviation threshold and into record range.

(Greenland Melt Extent as of June 17, 2014. Image source: NSIDC.)

Temperatures along the west coast of Greenland and on through the southern ice-covered tip ranged between 30 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit, while 30-43 degree readings surrounded much of the periphery. Warm winds and rain to mixed precipitation accompanied a moisture-laden storm emerging from Baffin Bay and passing over the western ice sheet to add further and extreme early season melt pressure.

The warm storm and rains compounded already rapid melt pond formation along Greenland’s southwestern coasts. Large blue ponds varying between .5 to 3 kilometers in width had already formed over southern and western sections of the ice sheet by June 16, before they were covered in clouds and squally wet weather on June 17th. By today, the clouds cleared as the passing storm moved on to reveal melt ponds further swelled by a combination of warmth and wet weather:

West Greenland Melt Ponds June 18

(Large expanse of melt ponds near the outlet to the Jacobshavn Glacier on June 18, 2014. The smallest blue dots represent glacial melt ponds of about 300 meters in width. The largest exceed 3 kilometers at the widest point. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)

Melt ponds add heat amplification to the glacier surface by reducing albedo even as they provide melt drainage to the glacial base. Floods of water from melt ponds add to glacier speed and buoyancy by reducing friction at a moving glacier’s base and by flooding geographic low points beneath the glacier. Melt ponds also reduce overall ice sheet integrity by permeating the ice with holes and fractures.

The Jacobshavn Glacier in the satellite shot above is Greenland’s fastest. It is now involved in a very rapid rush toward the ocean at a rate of 46 meters per day. A rush that has been facilitated in recent years by a major proliferation of melt ponds during summer time.

During extreme events, melt ponds can combine and over-top or break ice dams in dangerous glacial outburst floods. It is worth noting that Greenland melt pond proliferation has not yet reached a threshold for high risk of such events. But the now decade-long proliferation of melt ponds over the ice sheet surface during summer time remains a troubling occurrence.

40% melt coverage in mid June is an extraordinarily high number. Last year, melt coverage peaked at 47% in late July with June values approaching the high 20s in late June. July of 2012 saw a 97% melt coverage — an event last seen about 120 years ago and one that is, unfortunately, likely to be repeated soon under current human heat forcing. It is worth noting, however, that the record year of 2012 saw Greenland melt coverages periodically exceeding 40% from mid-to-late June.

Greenland melt June 17 2014

(Greenland melt coverage on June 17 of 2014. Image source: NSIDC.)

Early melt and proliferation of melt ponds along with persistent high pressure systems over Greenland tend to have a compounding effect that amplifies over-all melt coverage. Low mists and clouds tend to form during such conditions, trapping heat near the ice surface even as albedo over the ice sheet falls due to wide-scale melt pond formation.

Though yesterday’s melt coverage is an early challenge to melt levels seen during 2012, current conditions would have to both persist and intensify for the broad extent of melt seen during late June and through July of 2012 to show a rough repeat. That said, a 40% melt coverage on this date is a record-challenging level that bears watching.

Greenland Undergoing Record 120 Year Melt

The Glacial Megaflood: Growing Glacial Outburst Flood Risk

Hat tip to Andy from San Diego

Warm Winds Gather to Invade the Arctic: Summer Sea Ice Melt and The Storms of 2014

If there’s an aspect of global warming science that remains unsettled, it’s the general state of prediction and analysis over the fate of Northern Hemisphere sea ice. As is well known by now, model predictions greatly underestimated the pace of sea ice loss as a response to human-caused warming. Big melt years like 2007 and 2012 brought sea ice extent and area, by end 2012, to less than 50% of 1979 values. Sea ice volume for the same period was nearly 80% lower than 1979 measures. Such lows were generally not predicted to appear until the 2060s at the earliest.

Ice response to rapid human warming and polar amplification, in these cases, was, for lack of a better description, outrageously stunning. And the weather impacts of such amazing losses were increasingly dangerous and far-reaching. Climate systems inertia, in the case of sea ice, seemed to be no match at all for the strong and likely unprecedented warming forces we’d already unleashed.

Sifting through the sea ice tea leaves

Though much of what happened was and continues to be unexpected, a few overall patterns emerge in the data. Dynamic melt trends for area and extent were composed of massive melt years (2007 and 2012) followed by pseudo recovery years (2008, 2013) where the ice seemed to bounce back a little before inching again toward previous record lows (2009, 2010) or setting minor new melt records (2011 area) before the next big hit.

Sea ice volume measures were somewhat less messy with massive melt years (2007, 2010), more minor melt years (2011, 2012), one minor pseudo-recovery year (2008) and one major pseudo-recovery year (2013). In this set, one year (2009) stands out as neither showing a new record low volume nor showing pseudo-recovery as end season volume fell off slightly from the previous year. The fact that 2009 followed a pseudo-recovery year (2008) may or may not be instructive for the current melt season.

It is worth noting that in the volume progression, four out of seven years during the 2007 to 2013 period all showed new record lows.

Piomas Minimum Arctic Ice Volume

(Graph of minimum Arctic sea ice volume as measured by PIOMAS since 1979 with various trend line projections. Data source: PIOMAS Image source: Wipneus.)

What one can read from these data points is that strong pseudo-recovery years (like 2013 and 2008) have typically been followed in recent years by a return to the decline trend but not to new record lows. So, statistically, this is what we would expect for 2014.

That said, keep in mind that though it remains extraordinarily difficult to predict end sea ice states for any single year, the overall trend of major and unprecedented melt is most likely to continue and the window for a total sea ice loss by end season before 2020 remains wide open. Further, statistical analysis will, in every case, bow to emerging conditions on and beneath the ice.

Evolution of the early 2014 melt season

For the 2014 melt season, the fickle Arctic does not at all disappoint. By late April and early May of 2014, an extraordinarily warm winter period had wiped out most of the 2013 recovery in sea ice volume measures. By mid April, PIOMAS was showing volume in the range of second or third lowest year on record for the date.

By today, May 12, sea ice area and extent measures were in the range of 4th to 5th lowest on record with both measures approximately mirroring 2007 values for the date.

Given the potential for very rapid melt during June and July, as displayed in recent melt years, these values are within striking distance of new record lows should the weather conditions for rapid melt emerge.

Observed conditions for early to mid May 2014

It is worth noting that May does not generally tend to be a predictive month for sea ice loss. In most cases, it is more a bottleneck period where values tend to crunch together as the sea ice softens up but generally shows few breaks toward the more rapid melt trends typically seen in June or toward a slower melt due to weather that is less favorable for ice degradation.

That said, a few currently ongoing conditions may provide some strong indicators for how the 2014 melt season could progress.

High amplitude Jet Stream waves through Eastern Siberia, the Bering Sea and Alaska. A doggedly persistent weakness in the polar Jet Stream along an arc from East Siberia to Western Canada has resulted in much warmer than usual conditions for the Bering Sea, the Chukchi Sea and regions of the Beaufort adjacent to the Alaskan and Canadian coasts. Warm air originating over a pool of much hotter than normal water in the Northern Pacific just south of Alaska has continued to flow up through the Bering Sea, into the Chukchi, and over Alaska and Western Canada and on into the Beaufort.

Tracking this warm air flow resulted in a bit of incredulity as day after day observation showed the air continuing on through the Beaufort, past the North Pole zone, down over Svalbard and the Fram Strait, into the North Atlantic and finally being swept east in the strong cross-ocean wind pattern toward England and Ireland. In this way, air from 40 North Latitude in the Pacific jumped the pole to end up in the Atlantic near England.

A persistence of this weather pattern would have numerous and potential critical impacts for the Arctic during the summer of 2014. First, it would result in a constant pressure of warmer than usual conditions for sea ice along an arc from the Mackenzie Delta and Adjacent Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the East Siberian Sea. Warm winds would assault the ice from launching pads over warmer land masses in this zone, resulting in increased and early ice erosions.

Already, we can see such conditions emerging in the following MODIS satellite shots provided by NASA:

Mackenzie Delta May 11, 2014

(The Mackenzie Delta [upper left] and adjacent Canadian Archipelago waters. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)

The above image shows the Mackenzie Delta and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on May 11 of 2014. In these images, we can seen the result of continued warm winds from the south and near-or-above freezing temperatures. For the Mackenzie Delta, temperatures since early May have ranged between 23 and 42 F, or between 5 and 25 F above average for this time of year. The high temperatures have brought the snow melt line all the way to the coast very early and have resulted in both ice melt and retarded refreeze in the broken ice and large polynyas offshore in the nearby Beaufort. Note that an additional heat influx to these coastal waters will occur once the shallow Mackenzie River fully melts, likely resulting in the early break-up of land-fast ice near the delta.

Chukchi Beaufort Melt May 11, 2014

(The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas on May 11, 2014 from the Bering Strait [upper left] to past Barrow, Alaska [lower center]. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)

Further along the Canadian and Alaskan coasts, we find a continuation of sea ice weakness and break up in the off-shore regions north of Barrow Alaska and on into the Chukchi Sea. Large polynyas remain open throughout the region and exhibit no refreeze in the open water sections. Past the Bering Strait zone, Chukchi melt is very well advanced for early-to-mid May due to a combination of near constant warm southerly wind influx and an advancing warm water wedge through the Bering Strait.

This warm wind pattern through Eastern Siberia, Alaska and Canada and into the Arctic Ocean is reinforced by a combination of ongoing factors including a weakened polar Jet Stream which has tended to generate high amplitude ridges in this zone, a very warm pool of water in the Northern Pacific south of Alaska, and an emerging El Nino which historically has tended to push a high amplitude split in the Jet Stream up toward Alaska. These self-reinforcing factors make it likely that the overall pattern of warm southerly winds over the region will continue to persist and have an impact well into summer.

Finally, it is worth noting that the current and ongoing warm air influx through this region provides a constant source of energy for Arctic storm genesis, a factor that may well become more significant as melt season progresses. Forecasts for the next 24 hours show a storm pulling warm, above-freezing temperatures deep into the Beaufort as it begins a transition toward the northern polar zone. It is the second system to exhibit such anomalous warm air inflow and progression into the Central Arctic during the month of May.

GFS Warm Storm

(GFS model summary showing warm storm with associated above-freezing temperatures invading deep into the Beaufort Sea during late Monday and early Tuesday of this week. Image source: University of Maine.)

A third warm air invasion, this time from Eastern Siberia, and potential related storm development is also projected for late this week or early next week.

The Arctic dipole: storms over the Arctic Basin, high pressure over Greenland. Today, we track three Arctic low pressure systems — one emerging from the warm air influx over the Beaufort, one over the Laptev and one north and east of Svalbard. Greenland, meanwhile, shows a high pressure system centered almost directly over its large ice sheet. The net effect of these lows and highs is to funnel the warm wind streaming up from the Beaufort over the Northern polar zone near the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and out over the Fram Strait and Svalbard.

It is a dipole of high pressure over Greenland and low pressure over the Arctic Basin on the Central and Eastern Siberian side that has lasted for about two months through Northern Hemisphere Spring. This set-up creates a strong and consistent wind pressure providing transport of sea ice out of the Fram Strait. It is worth noting that Fram Strait export was one of the primary factors involved in the record low sea ice total seen during 2007, so a consistent dipole pattern of storms over the Arctic basin and highs over Greenland promoting ice export could well weigh heavily as melt season progresses.

Warming over Western Russia and Eastern Europe. A second zone showing consistent ridge development, polar Jet Stream weakness and coincident anomalous warming has emerged over western Russia and Eastern Europe. Such warming was seen during the weak El Nino of 2010 and resulted in severe heatwaves and wildfires for the region. A similar pattern has emerged in tandem with the rising and potentially far stronger 2014-2015 El Nino currently developing in the Eastern Pacific. Though it is too early to tell if this emerging hot zone will reach the extremes seen in 2010, this heat pool is likely to contribute warmth to sea ice zones in the Kara and Laptev Sea as the summer melt season progresses.

So far, Kara sea ice retreat has remained within usual boundaries for recent years. However, it is worth considering the potential strength of this developing warm air pool and how it may impact adjacent Arctic zones as May progresses into June. This week’s forecast now shows above-freezing temperatures predicted to progress into the Kara and 50 degree F readings predicted to push into estuaries bordering the Kara over the next few days.

Warm water upwelling, north wind flush, storm suction for Baffin Bay. Finally we come to Baffin Bay, a place many may well consider the Arctic Ocean’s red-headed stepchild. Over recent years, warm water up-welling, possibly driven in part by sea-bed methane release, in Northern Baffin Bay has resulted in an almost constant weakness and erosion of sea ice. This condition creates a bizarre circumstance in which Baffin is often surrounded by warmer waters north and south by late spring. This year is no exception. In addition, a north wind now appears to be flushing Baffin Bay sea ice toward the North Atlantic. The result is an expanding zone of ice-free water along the West Coast of Greenland pushing toward a widening gap in the north of Baffin Bay near the Nares Strait.

To the south, a persistent storm has developed near an anomalous cool zone in the North Atlantic waters off of Newfoundland. This cold pool is likely a residual of the continued dipole, hot-west, cold-east temperature anomaly over North America which has increasingly been squashed toward Newfoundland with the emergence of summer. The cold North Atlantic pool is also likely fed by a rising outflow of fresh, cold water from Greenland glaciers as well as the Baffin Bay ice export already described. A growing Gulf Stream weakening is also well established for the region.

The persistent storm is fed by high temperature differentials in the dipole zone. It is one of the remnant storm systems of this winter’s epic assault on the coasts of Great Britain — a possible precursor to even more vicious storms this coming winter.

But, today, the storm is simply providing added suction to drain ice out of Baffin Bay.

Storm off Greenland and Newfoundland

(Like a drain in a massive bathtub: storm off Greenland and Newfoundland on May 12 reinforces northerly wind flow pulling sea ice out of Baffin Bay. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)

A final word on Storms and Warm Winds

During late April, we talked a bit about the impact of early season melt ponds on end-season sea ice levels. For recent scientific studies have found that early season melt pond formation has a high correlation with new record lows in sea ice area and extent.

But given the current very thin and broken state of sea ice, it’s worth considering whether the rules for sea ice loss aren’t in the process of changing.

Ever since the 2012 melt season’s close, the Arctic Ocean has exhibited a very battered sea ice state. One featuring widely disassociated packs of broken and brittle ice riddled with a long and pervasive spidering of leeds. For large melt pond systems to develop, the ice pack needs to be relatively contiguous. But the recent ice pack shows very little continuity and could, instead, be said to basically lack integrity. Such a state may well prevent a degree of melt pond formation in areas in which the ice is more and more highly disassociated into floes. And it is this disassociated ice state that may be the current and future norm as sea ice continues to thin and weaken.

In addition, rising temperatures in and around the Arctic have resulted in increased atmospheric water vapor content, increased cloud formation, and increased storm presence during summer periods. This progression toward storminess is consistent with paleoclimate studies showing that ice-free or near-ice-free Arctic states were much stormier than the current one. In the event of an expected stormier Arctic, melt pond formation may well result less from direct solar insolation through clear Arctic skies and more from an increasing number of rainfall and warm fog events over sea ice.

Cyclonic pumping of warmer waters from below the ice pack into surface water zones and the mixing of waters by waves generated by storm winds is also likely to have a far greater impact on sea ice melt than seen in recent years. It is likely we saw a prelude to just such an event during the great, late-season Arctic Cyclone of 2012 which sent waves the size of houses roaring across the Beaufort Sea to batter and disassemble the already weakened sea ice.

In this dynamic and changing system, warm winds are also likely to play a much greater role. Jet Stream erosion, in such a case, unleashes warm southerly winds on the sea ice. The winds, being warmer, hold a higher water vapor content than was typical for the Arctic prior to the human warming insult. Encountering ice and cold water, the water vapor in the winds condenses to form fog. The latent heat in the water vapor is thus released to do work melting the sea ice and warming the sea surface. In such cases, a kind of snow and ice eating mist develops from the warm wind — a blow torch for the sea ice.

Dual Ridges Form Sea Ice Achilles Heel for Summer 2014

University of Maine

Cryosphere Today

Arctic Sea Ice Graphs

The Arctic Sea Ice Blog

The Storms of Arctic Warming

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Stuff We Like: Cute Overload

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Looking to get a smile on your grumpy kid's face? Or maybe you're just in cuteness withdrawal? Well don't worry; Cute Overload has you covered. Kids love these insane pictures that the site creators somehow find all over the web each day. I mean, check out this video they found: Seriously adorable. It's insane how popular this site is, but I guess there are a lot of people who need a little boost during the day. Every child loves to laugh, and every parent loves when his or her kid isn't crying. Check out this pig: Or maybe this raccoon stealing a carpet: For more cuteness check out the site:

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Figure Skating

Artistic skating demands a careful balance of strength, precision, and artistry, all wrapped up into a single performance of four (4) minutes or less. Many challenges exist to inspire all ages to reach individual goals, from Beginner Classes to World Championship and Pan American Games levels. Skaters enter artistic events in one or more categories – Figures, Free Skating, Dance, and Pairs.

Figure skating teaches balance and control, and, like scales on the piano, is often considered the basis of all skating. Well-skated figures demand tracing accuracy, body control, and intense concentration. Each skater retraces a series of figure patterns – combining a variety of difficult take offs, edges, turns – on a set of circles painted on the skating surface.

Judges look for exact tracings performed with uniform speed, proper edge control, precise turns, and pleasing body positions. Each figure is scored separately by the judges, and the skater with the highest sum by a particular judge when all the figures in an event have been skated, is ranked first by that judge. [TOP]

Closely resembling it’s winter games counterpart on the ice, the Free Skating Event demands creativity, technical agility and virtuosity. The objective is for skaters to freely integrate the technical components – jumps, spins, and footwork – with music, to create a performance which embraces the realms of both sport and art.

In the early competition levels, there is only one free skating program, ranging from 1½ to 3 minutes. For more advanced competitors, the event is divided into two (2) sections. The Short Program is 2 minutes long, and is worth 25% of the total score. The Long Program is 4 minutes long, and is worth 75% of the total score. Men and Ladies compete in separate events.

The Short Program is skated first, and contains pre-specified elements (jumps, spins, footwork) which must be completed by each skater, in a routine that is choreographed to music of the skater’s choice. The Long Program has no required elements, but must consist of a pleasing balance of jumps, spins, and footwork, congruent with the skating ability of the athlete. It is skated one or two days after the Short Program is skated.

Two marks are awarded for each skating performance. In the first mark for “TECHNICAL MERIT” , judges look for speed, height, and difficulty in jumps; control, velocity, and variety of position in spins; and originality and confidence in the footwork segments used to connect each item in the program. In the second mark for “ARTISTIC IMPRESSION” , judges consider the harmonious composition of the program as a whole, ease of movement in time to the music, and carriage together with originality and expression to the character of the music. [TOP]

Adult dance classes are popular in roller skating rinks across the country. This is where people gather to skate new and old dances, “just for fun and exercise”. And when children progress from the early learn-to-skate programs, they will often first learn some of the beginner dance steps and patterns. We most often think of “Dance”, though, as an elegant and graceful competitive contest. Dance Events can consist of Compulsory Dances only; Compulsory Dances plus a Free Dance; or the World Class standard of Compulsory Dances, Original Set Pattern Dance, and Free Dance.

Compulsory Dances are thought of as the ABC’s of roller dancing. The rhythm, steps, and pattern are prescribed, and in a competition, all teams or solo dancers are evaluated while skating the same dance or dances. The OSP Dance is skated after the Compulsory Dances. The tempo and rhythm are set by the International Artistic Committee, and changes for each skating season. While the dancers must conform to the specified tempo and rhythm, they must also create a pattern of steps that is repeated at least once. What makes each dance “Original” is the specific music that has been chosen, and the combination of steps and moves that should be commensurate with the skill level of the dance team. Two scores are awarded for the OSP, one for Technical Ability and Composition , and the other for Artistic Impression and Style.

The Free Dance is the real crowd pleaser at roller dance competitions. Dance teams each skate a 3-4 minute “free” dance, with original choreography and music of their choice. This dance must be non-repetitive, should display the character of dancing, should include new and known dance movements, should demonstrate originality in concept and pattern, and should provide an interesting interpretation of the music selected. Free Dance moves are similar to ballroom dancing – the couples rarely separate, and there are no jumps, high lifts, or spins.

Judges focus on creativity, skating ability and step execution, and musical interpretation, when determining the best overall Free Dance. Two scores are awarded as in the OSP, and the scores are added to those of the first two elements of the competition for each skater, by each judge. The World Class Dance Event consists of two Compulsory Dances ; an Original Set Pattern (OSP) Dance ; and a Free Dance . Each portion of the event is worth one-third of the total score, and each element is skated on a different day, culminating with the ever-popular Free Dance. [TOP]

Pairs skating includes many of the same elements as Free Skating (sometimes referred to as “Singles” skating). The added bonus for Pairs, though, is the addition of dramatic lifts and spins, unique to the abilities of a man and woman skating as a team. As with Free Skating, the Pairs event has two components – a 2 ½ minute Short Program worth 25% of the total score, and a 4-minute Long Program worth 75% of the total. Both programs are made up of elements similar to Free Skating but skated by two people in unison, and executed simultaneously (shadow skating) or symmetrically (mirror skating). Partners mirror or shadow each other as they move through their program, striving for perfect conversion of music to movement by executing a series of jumps, spins and footwork, and punctuated by exciting overhead lifts and “throw” jumps.

Exact timing is the prime objective in Pairs, along with steady jumps, good rhythm in the spins, and unison of footwork. Judges evaluate the harmonious appearance and style of the team, as well as the program content (TECHNICAL MERIT), and manner of performance (ARTISTIC IMPRESSION). [TOP]

While serious artistic competitors insist on a good smooth floor, recreational skating can be enjoyed wherever there is a safe, smooth surface of ample size. North American Skaters usually practice in indoor Roller Skating Rinks, and in community arenas during the spring and summer months when the ice has been taken out. Europeans though, are most used to skating on outdoor rinks, and must constantly “weather the weather”.

Laid wooden floors , coated with specially designed epoxies, tend to be preferred by many skaters for their “feel”, and the “spring” they offer skaters when performing jumps. However, the most common type of skating surface in Canada is a cement floor , again coated with a specially-designed, often colour coordinated, coating. Other floors such as terrazzo and tile have proven to be popular in some rinks, and the Rostin sport-court type of floor used at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg proved to be very successful. The regulation floor size for Pan American Games competition is 25 X 50 metres, though permission may be granted on request for a slightly smaller surface. Floor sizes in Canada are generally very close to 25 X 50, and sometimes larger. [TOP]

Artistic roller skates come in all forms and types. Beginner and recreational skaters will often opt for a complete set, that is boots, plates, and wheels all purchased as a unit. More advanced and competitive skaters will usually select the various components separately, thereby taking advantage of the specific boots (often custom-made), plates, wheels, bearings, cushions, spacers, etc. that they want. Roller skates can range in price from $50. to $1,500.+, so the choices and options are endless!

Boots are chosen primarily for fit and durability – more support is usually sought for skaters doing rigorous free skating, for example, than for a figures-only skater. Plates are chosen for their strength, weight (the lighter the better), suitability to the skater, and they must be exactly the right size. They are screwed to the sole of the boot, but in precisely the right alignment.

The wheels again are a matter of personal choice, but they must be suited to the type of floor, or skating surface. Harder wheels will be slippery on a floor that is also somewhat slippery. Bearings fit right into the wheels, and are then held onto the axle with lock nuts . Other components to complete the truck mechanism depend on the type and style of plate chosen.

Artistic skates are fitted with a toe stop at the front of each skate. Used in a similar fashion as the pick on ice figure skates (e.g., for the take offs in jumps, etc.), the types and sizes of toe stops vary, depending on the type of skating and on individual preference. For example, compulsory dance skaters wear very tiny ” dance plugs” as they have no need to use the toe stop while they dance – in fact, regular-sized toe stops get in the way of neat, precise footwork while dancing.

Both the traditional roller skates and the inline skates are accepted in all competitions, including the World Championships and the Pan American Games. The same boots can be worn for both types of skates, but the plate/wheel mechanism (called the “frame” ) is completely different for inline skates. Unfortunately, the inline artistic skate technology still has not advanced to the level that is acceptable for most high-level competitive skaters – they still have better maneuverability and technical prowess on the traditional roller skates.

While not really “equipment”, the costumes worn by artistic competitors are worthy of mention. Outfits similar to those seen in ice figure skating and ballroom dancing are worn, and costumes are often very elaborate at the World Class level. Much simpler and more comfortable clothing is worn for practice sessions, and roller skaters don’t need to bundle up or worry about the cold! [TOP]

Three (3) to seven (7) judges are assigned to judge each event in a competition, as well as a referee. Immediately following each skating performance, each judge allocates scores to the skater/team according to the following scale:

Perfect 10.0 Below Average 4.9
Excellent 9.0 Defective 3.0
Very Good 8.0 Poor 2.9
Good 7.0 Very Poor 1.9
Fair 6.0 Extremely Bad 0.9
Average 5.0 Not Skated 0

As in ice figure skating, the mark allotted a skater is of value only in relation to the marks allotted by that judge, to other skaters. It is the ranking that is important, not the mark itself, thus the skater with the highest marks from a judge receives a first place from that judge, regardless of the value of the mark. This “placing” is called the ordinal.

In the International system of scoring (used for World Class events) scores for each section of the event are tabulated according to a specified system of “Wins and Losses” , matching total scores for each skater against those for every other skater, for each of the judges. The winning skater is the one with the most “wins” over the other skaters.

Scoring may be “Open” (the marks are displayed to the audience after each performance), or “Closed” (the marks are recorded by the judges after each performance but are not publicly displayed and are sent for tabulation at the end of each event). Final results are posted, and ribbons, plaques, medals, or trophies are awarded at the completion of each competition. [TOP]


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Browsing All Posts published on »October, 2015«

Trey Gowdy Violated the Golden Rule in the Clinton Benghazi Hearing

October 26, 2015

Watching Rep. Trey Gowdy chair the Hillary Clinton Benghazi hearing left me wondering. What I saw and heard on television during that hearing, and what Mr. Gowdy has said on other occasions just didn’t seem to match up. I’m wondering where the disconnect is. Trey Gowdy is a Christian, a Southern Baptist. In June, speaking […]


text:
An Old Norse Man once said….

swedish-flagI have heard the word ombudsman many times, and enjoy the sound of the word, but never really knew the meaning of the word…until today!  According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary “an ombudsman is a government official (as in Sweden or New Zealand) appointed to receive and investigate complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials. More generally, “one that investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints”.

odin_the_wandererThe etymology is rather interesting… it is “borrowed from Swedish, where it means “representative,” and ultimately derives from the Old Norse words umboth (“commission”) and mathr (“man”). In the early 1800s, Sweden became the first country to appoint an independent official known as an ombudsman to investigate complaints against government officials and agencies.

complaint-resolution-picSince then, other countries (such as Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand), as well as some U.S. states, have appointed similar officials. The word ombudsman was first used in English in the late 1950s; by the 1960s, it was also being used to refer to a person who reviews complaints against an organization (such as a school or hospital) or to someone who enforces standards of journalistic ethics at a newspaper.”

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Let the Great World Spin

This photo came to me through Facebook. It impressed me so much how these men could feel perfectly at ease in such space. I had the immediate thought that perhaps they wouldn’t feel so comfortable at their own homes, so at peace. Sharing with each other what they have to share, only their friendship and fellowship, with some beer and cigarettes and laughter. While they are there upon the city,  city life goes on and nobody pays attention to them apart from the photographer. Then, the moment is registered forever. Their harmony, the feeling of belonging of these men to the city that hosts them, protects them and at the same time explores their workforce as it happens in every place. However, similarly to the movie ‘Dead Poets Society’ these men seem to whisper ‘carpe diem’. A whisper that creeps inside my ears directly to my soul.

By one of these fortunate coincidences of life, when the top picture found me at Facebook  I was reading the fantastic book ‘Let the Great World Spin’, by Column MacCann, which brings  exactly this sensation of life going on in its infinite ways without our noticing, passing by our distracted, indifferent eyes. The book starts in 1974 when the tightrope man defied human laws and the laws of physics and dared the first step. Philippe Petit walked a tightrope wire between the Twin Towers on August 7, 1974. From this point on the story unfolds itself bringing numerous characters of the city with their anonymous dramas that compose the immense mosaic of a world that won’t stop spinning. The sight of Petit’s face in this pic produces the same effect of a piercing question: ‘Can’t you see me? What are you gonna do of your day?

Well, I’ll put one foot in front of the another and keep going.

The first chapter of this book is available on http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Free-Book-Download-Let-the-Great-World-Spin-by-Colum-McCann

You can also find additional information about the documentary Man on Wire on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/ and finally, you can join a very interesting discussion about this book on http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/546-let-the-great-world-spin-mccann?start=3

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One response to “Let the Great World Spin

  1. A gritty and great book… Evocative picture at the top, thanks for posting, I always heard the architects in my family refer to the high rise construction workers as steel walkers, Love the sound of that.

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Would you wear it with a fox?

In deference to the “Kid Art” theme of this summer’s Kid’s Clothes Week, I decided to let Dr. Seuss do the art part here, while I just do the sewing part.

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Lulu has been eyeing her sister’s Cat in the Hat dress for a while now — even wearing it to sleep when Kiki isn’t looking.  So, I decided that it was high time for her to have one of her own.

Instead of a dress this time, I decided to double her fun with a Cat in the Hat top and shorts.  Both are Oliver & S patterns — the Ice Cream Dress (in blouse form) and Puppet Show Shorts.

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When I ordered this Robert Kaufman fabric online, I was pretty jazzed about this pattern combination.  How could I possibly go wrong with cats and crazy dots together?  Well . . . as it turns out, it is possible to go wrong, as unbelievable as that may seem. 🙂

Robert Kaufman calls both of these fabric “turquoise.”  But, as you can see, they are not the same color blue.  Not even a little.  As much as I want this top and shorts to be awesome together, I think that the colors seem to argue more than they get along.  They say clown to me.  Am I wrong here?

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But, all is not lost.  Each piece turned out pretty well separately, and I think they’ll each look sharp with other companions.  The shorts would be kooky and fun with a plain white t-shirt.  And the top could be cute with denim shorts.  We’ll have to try a few things out.

Anyway, Lulu doesn’t mind.

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Both top and shorts are 2T.  The top is a little blousy for now, but it’ll be perfect by fall — and it should last through next spring.  I’ve made both the dress and top version of this pattern before, and I see more in the future.

This is my first ever attempt at shorts.  When thinking up this project, Gail’s version of these shorts came to mind, and I was eager to try my hand at those mighty cute pockets.

Turns out that these pockets are pretty simple to put together.  And they add so much character, that I think I’ll have to slap babies like these onto all sorts of other things.

There is also a little bit of gathering on the sides right at the bottom leg trim.  So cute!

I do think that these little details would show through a lot more with a tamer fabric.  Next time.

So that’s a wrap for me this Kid’s Clothes Week.  How did it go for you?

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Work/Life Balance – Keeping it all in Check
Thursday, April 14
1:00 – 4:00 am
Four (4) – 20 minute rotating sessions

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Explore ways to identify the focus of the key results and balance they want.

  2. Understand the Five Key Pillars that all need attention to daily balance life.

  3. Review strategies for regaining balance and reducing stress.

Summary of Session:  A key to a balanced life is appropriate attention to the things that most matter to you. This session will cover ways to find that focus, continually evaluate where you are, and successfully move forward. The discussion will include an overview of the Five Key Pillars and strategies for re-balancing.


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Tag Archives: double

RSpec – doubles stub and mock

doubles when we depend on components with nondeterministic characteristics, we may find that files get corrupted, disk fail, networks time out, and servers go down in the middle of running specs. because these are things that we have no control … Continue reading

Posted in rails, ROR, ruby on rails, testing, web development | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment


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New Putin presidential limo made (partially) in America

The car known as ZIL has been the signature car in Russia for decades and the company that makes the high end vehicle hopes that a new limo for President Putin will resurrect the car’s sagging sales for a vehicle seen as important to past generations but lacking the sleekness desired by younger buyers.  The president gets an updated car with loads of new innovations yet one that retains the historic style of a classic ZIL.

The shell of  Mr. Putin’s new limo was manufactured in Russia by AMO ZIL, the same company that has built Russian presidential limos since the rule of Leonid Brezhnev. The engine and transmission were made in America while the car’s design and special modifications for presidential use were designed and built in Russia.

(foto: Екатерина Рзянина;

The limousine is a ZIL-4112P, the P stands for president, a model the company hopes to continue building for security conscious business executives. The new ZIL executive limo line features technological upgrades in ergonomic design, suspension, cooling system and power supply complete with a standby generator if needed. The new engine, built by American manufacturer Allison, has been upgraded to a fuel injection system with improved fuel economy and acceleration to 200 km/h. Improvements to fuel economy are also significant, now at 25 liters per 100 kilometers from a 7.7 liter engine with 400 horse power and a five speed automatic transmission also made in America.

Mr. Putin’s new limousine has six doors and a wealth of safety and anti-terror innovations. Tires for the car’s 16 inch wheels are specially made at a factory near Moscow and with full armour the vehicle weighs over 3.5 tons yet boasting increased acceleration and speed.

Currently President Putin rides in a German made Mercedes-Benz S-Guard Pullman.


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Palm/Pussywillow Sunday in Russia

Wishing all our friends in the West a blessed Easter and celebration of the resurrection. Easter dates are calculated a little differently in the Eastern world and today we celebrate what you would call Palm Sunday, although Christians in the East call it “Pussywillow Sunday” (С Вербным Воскресеньем!) for the Pussywillow branches symbolizing the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.

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In Slavic lands the willows grow,
By streams and bogs and waters low.
The ancient Slavic peoples saw,
That willows bloom before the thaw,
When warm winds end the frigid cold,
And break, at last, the winter’s hold,
To greet the spring and celebrate,
The vernal advent’s advocate,
Of growth, renewal, life and light,
And set the cosmic order right.
The Slavic peoples gathered in,
The flow’ring willow branches in,
Their homes to decorate anew,
To cure their ills, their lives renew.
Then one day there came from far,
A new religion which would bar,
The grasp of ancient evils’ hold,
Upon the Slavic souls as told,
By True Glory’s saving creeds,
To grant men life and serve their needs.
The Word Made Flesh who lived and died,
And rose again as verified,
By Holy Writ and voices old,
Who testified as was foretold.
Christ is risen from the dead,
And by His death as truly said,
He trampled death and life He gave,
To those who lie within the grave.
And thus the lowly willow came,
The Resurrection to proclaim,
Bear witness to the Great Event,
For which the Holy One was sent.
So when the cold of winter ends,
The message that the willow sends,
And that the flow’ry branches say:


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The “White Nights” of Russian summers are returning. Saturday night we went to bed and it was dark. We have blackout curtains but didn’t bother pulling them shut. Well, I woke to very bright sunshine. It was Sunday morning and so I roused the Mrs and told her that likely we would be late for church.

She calmly suggested that I look at a clock because it felt like about 4-5am to her. Okay, but it looked bright and warm enough to be 10am to my eyes. As is most often the case in marriage–the wife was correct. It was only 4:30am upon checking.

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We went back to sleep and woke up later–making it to church in plenty of time.

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Ghetto Wifi 2

Following my post on Ghetto Wifi, I passed a pub yesterday with a sign "Free wifi for customers only".

Thought of another perspective on this problem. How long do you remain a customer after you have bought a drink? One hour? One day? Is there some kind of dwindling right to use the facilities as time passes? If you bought a coffee within the last half hour then you are a full-status customer with full rights; if you haven't bought a coffee in the last two hours, then maybe your customer rights are weaker.

Let's look at some more examples. If you have lunch in a restaurant, and then do some shopping, can you then go back to the restaurant to use the toilet before driving home? (If you left a reasonable tip, then maybe the aura of "customerhood" still lingers.) If you have lunch in a pub, can you leave your car in the "customers only" car park for the rest of the day? Some establishments have strict limits - for example, some supermarkets have free parking for two hours, and then start clamping or ticketing people who stay longer.

Obviously there will always be some people to try to cheat - to use the facilities without buying anything at all. The point here isn't whether this is possible, or the extent to which the establishment tries to make you feel welcome (in order to convert you to future customer) or unwelcome (to reserve its facilities for genuine customers), but what moral rights you have in the first place.

Some people might think that the "customers only" goes without saying - you shouldn't need a notice - but presumably there are some people whose behaviour will be influenced by a reminder that these facilities are intended for genuine customers.

So it comes down to a question of what counts as a genuine customer, and for how long.

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News and Updates

About Ryan O'Connor

Author: The First Green Wave: Pollution Probe and the Origins of Environmental Activism in Ontario (UBC Press, 2015). Currently writing a book about Canadian advertising icon Terry O'Malley.

Academia: PhD in Canadian history, with expertise in history of environmental activism in Canada and the United States, the Sixties, oral history, the history of recycling, and Canadian politics. Peer-reviewed research published in Journal of Policy History, Ontario History, Acadiensis, and the Oral History Forum. Associate Member of the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy at the University of Stirling (Scotland). Previously taught History, Canadian Studies, and Environmental Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island and Trent University.

Historical consultant: Specializing in commissioned research, writing projects (history and biography), documentary consultation, and oral history.

Podcaster: Host and producer of Interesting People with Ryan O'Connor, released monthly ... or thereabouts.

In The First Green Wave, Ryan O’Connor traces the rise of the environmental movement in Toronto, home to one of Canada’s earliest communities of environmental activists. At the heart of the story is Pollution Probe, an organization founded in 1969 by students and faculty at the University of Toronto.

More About the Book

Also by Ryan O'Connor

On September 21, 1999, Ryan O'Connor conducted a wide-ranging interview with folk music icon Pete Seeger. In the course of the interview, Seeger discussed his hopes for humanity, his fears, his music, and his activism. This eBook, which features a complete transcript of the one hour interview, is an insightful look into the life of Pete Seeger, and a must for all true fans.

Available Now as a Kindle Single in Canada and the United States.


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Four Sisters Boutique Online Launch Party!

Photography by The Adventure Culture by Michelle Bazis

  Hola GF’s and happy Sunday!  I know what you’re thinking, Sara, a Sunday blog post?  That is unusual… what is the special occasion???  Well…. I am so excited to announce that my favorite store and the host of our #girlsnightomaha events, Four Sisters Boutique, is launching their online site today!  So many of my most popular Instagram posts and Girls Night Omaha event outfits include at least one piece from FSB and everyone always asks, how do I order this, can I call the store to order, and when can I get this online?!  Well wait no longer because I’m so happy to say that the day is finally here and they are open for business!  Be sure to join in on the fun and help us celebrate by using the code LAUNCHPARTY for today only to take 10% off your online purchase!

Now let’s talk about this mustard yellow dress.  First, if you follow me on Instagram, then you know I am crushing hard on all things yellow, so it was no surprise that this mustard number had to be mine!  Second, it. has. pockets.  Yes, pockets! I’ve never met a dress with pockets that I didn’t like!  Third, I have this dress in black and it is the perfect LBD.  I love the idea of long sleeve dresses because it allows me to show some leg while remaining covered on top!  The length on these dresses are suitable for a variety of occasions.  I wore this yellow dress to work the other day with with black tights, leopard booties, and a black blazer and I wore the black one to a wedding reception with nude strappy sandals and lots of gold accessories and bling!

This yellow, blue, and gray blanket scarf might be one of my very favorite color combos because there’s no hiding my love for yellow hues and shades of gray!  The tights and scarf paired great together and I threw on my denim jacket because it was super chilly yesterday morning!

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Yellow Dress (size Small), Yellow Blanket Scarf, and Gray Tights (available in-store) c/o Four Sisters Boutique // Similar Booties // Similar Gray Satchel // Similar Denim Jacket – $22! // Sunnies  // Kate Spade Watch // Mesh & Crystal Bracelet c/o Michael Kors // Earrings // Lips – Step 1 & Step 2

Thank you to Four Sisters Boutique for sponsoring this post!  All opinions are my own!

Little Pink Dress + Black Moto Jacket

Hi gals! How fun is this painted wall?!? Omaha has some seriously pretty sweet gems like these hidden all around town (well, the closer you get to downtown) and I knew this had to be the background when shooting this oh-so super duper cute pink dress from Chicwish!  You know when you try something on and it feels like it was meant for you? Well that is how I feel in this dress.  I personally prefer a high neckline (I don’t like my chest!) and this dress has just that.  And the length is perfect because it off-sets the high neckline with the ruffle hem keeping it flirty and fun!  It was chilly outside and I jumped on the chance to bust out this black jacket!  I raved about it in this blog post, and I am still swooning.

PS – I just found out that this pink dress is sold out and will not be restocked, so I have linked three other perfectly perfect pink dresses here, here, and here!

Photography by Adventure Culture by Michelle Bazis & Heidi Thorson

Gun Metal Chain Earrings (available online on 10/28) c/o Michael Kors but very similar pairs here, here, and here // Dress c/o Chicwish // Sunnies // Black Faux Leather Jacket – size Small // Similar Black Booties & love this pair under $100 // Similar Clutch and this one under $50 // Lips ( 1 & 2)

Thanks so much to Chicwish for sponsoring this post and to you all for reading! Have an awesome day!

Leopard Dress || Holiday Style!

 Hello friends and happy Sunday to you all!  I am so excited to share this look with you because I think it is absolutely perfect for upcoming holiday parties!  First, the dress.  Let’s see… Leopard? Check.  A tie waist? Check.  Intricate detail on the lapel and a fit that is oh-so flattering? Check, Check!  I love these over-the-knee boots and thought they went great with the style of the dress.

I then opted for some statement earrings that really tied it all together!  These earrings from Accessory Concierge are just beautiful and can be styled and worn with so many different pieces in your wardrobe.  They added the perfect amount of holiday sparkle!

Dress: Liberty Sage ℅ (code SABYSTY3 to take 30% off this dress!) | Earrings: Accessory Concierge ℅ ( Sabby20 to take 20% off and ends 12/15!) | Boots: JustFab (options here and here) | Clutch: Michael Kors (old) but love this and this | Watch: Keep Cool Watches (old) but love this and this… yeah I die!

I would love to know what you will be wearing to your holiday parties and gatherings, so please share any tips and ideas!  Have a great Sunday and thanks so much for reading today!

A Birthday Dress + Meachy Lynn Strikes Again!

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Hi, loves and Happy Monday!  Today is my 29th birthday and I am slowly recovering from a three-day weekend of celebrating with my family and friends!  I was SO excited to receive a goodie bag from Meachy Lynn that was filled with some pretty amazing pieces.  This dress had birthday girl written all over it!  I wore it last night for some dinner and drinks with T-rizz!

Also, I must share with you a major Meachy Lynn sale alert! How about 20% off site wide with the CODE: SARASAB ?! Sounds pretty fantastic to me.  And it includes sale items!  And top it off with FREE SHIPPING on orders of $50.00 or more. AND anyone that follows Meachy Lynn via Instagram, you are entered to win a $25.00 Gift Card!

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|Nude Pumps: Candies (option)| Clutch: Local Boutique (option) (option)| Earrings: N’Side a Diva’s Closet ℅ | Watch: Michael Kors| Bracelets: Antebellum Baubles ℅ |

On Saturday night, I wore this gorgeous white blouse, also from Meachy Lynn, for a celebration with our friends for birthday drinks!  Stay tuned later this week for a full blog post on just how flattering and pretty this top is!

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Meachy Lynn Tank & Dress ℅ |Bracelets: Mindy Mae’s Market ℅, Antebellum Baubles ℅, Style This Life ℅| Gold Fossil Watch| Turquoise Pendant Necklace (option) (option)| AG Jeans| Pastel Yellow Nail Polish|

Thank you to everyone for all of the sweet words and birthday wishes!  And I hope you all love Meachy Lynn and her pieces just as much as I do! Thanks for swinging by Sabby Style, GFs and have a great day!

A Lace Maxi Dress + Friday Frills!

Hello loves and Happy Happy Friday!!! I don’t know about you, but ‘short’ work weeks may be the death of me!  Plus I had a horrible migraine yesterday so that didn’t help the day fly by.  Anyhoots, there is no need to complain because I am always reminding myself to be thankful for my great job, amazing family and friends, and am blessed with many opportunities!

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Lace Maxi Dress: Target (option) | Nude Pumps: Candies (option) | Clutch: Michael Kors (option)(option) | Necklace: Mindy Mae’s Market ℅ | Bracelets: Antebellum Baubles ℅ , Style This Life ℅ | Watch: Fossil

On that note, let’s talk about a little blessing called Target.  This cream lace maxi dress was heaven sent!  I think it is a rare find when I encounter a dress that is figure flattering, a bit curve hugging but not so tight that I am afraid to eat/breath/move… you get the picture!  And not only was the cream maxi dress just right, I found another maxi dress during this Target trip that also fit the bill!  It is gray, black and coral stripe and is oh-so cute!  So the point of the story is to stop by your nearest Targ and take a looksie at their maxi dresses; you will not be disappointed!

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Who’s ready for some Friday Frills Link-Up???? It’s my favorite time of the week!

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This week, our featured blogger is Christina from Posh Pair!  We loved her patriotic ensemble, especially the red pumps! I don’t know about you gals, but I am such a fan of pairing some fab pumps, casual denim and a pop of print (and stripes are THE best!)!

Would you like to be featured ? All you have to do is click the Friday Frills Link-Up link below, grab our button from my side bar, and share it on your blog post!  Each week we choose our favorite look and yours could be next!  And don’t forget to follow myself, Sew Sarah R, and For the Love of Fancy on Bloglovin’!

As always, thank you SO much for stopping by my little space in this big ol blogosphere!  I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Neon, Tie Dye + Friday Frills Link-Up!

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This. Dress.  I’m no tie-dye lovin’ hippy but this dress spoke to me while trying SO hard to avoid the clothing section at Target!

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I wore this look for Natalie’s birthday gathering and it was just the right look for a fun night out with friends; casual, comfy, but still made a statement!  I paired it with a great pair of strappy nude sandals, a classic Sira&Mara necklace, some arm candy, and a a pop-of-neon clutch!

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 Target Dress| Candies for Kohl’s sandals (option)(option)| Sira&Mara turquoise necklace ℅ (option)| Neon and Straw Clutch (option)(option)| Antebellum Baubles Turquoise and Gold Bangle ℅ | Luxe Craving Arctic Freeze ℅ | Sira&Mara silver spike bracelet ℅ | Silver Fossil Watch| White Nails

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And I am so excited to share with you one very fabulous lady who is this week’s guest host, Alia from Little Mrs. Priss!

How amazing does she look in those lavender jeans and structured peplum top? Flawless if you ask me!  In fact, I was so inspired by this look that I busted out my own light purple jeans to wear tonight for a work event! 🙂

Rule Recap:  Follow myself, Sew Sarah R, and For the Love of Fancy on Bloglovin’ , grab our Friday Frills Link-Up button to the right, in the side-bar, and share it on your own blog post!  I can’t wait to see what you ladies have in store for us this week!

Thank you for stopping by and linking-up with us; we appreciate your love, support and friendship!  Have a lovely weekend GFs!

Friday Frills Link-Up: Flirty Floral + Meachy Lynn Sale, Part #2

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HAPPY FRIDAY Galpals!  Today, I am bringing you this fun and flirty, floral dress from Meachy Lynn!  If you didn’t catch yesterday’s post, then I must tell you that if you use the code SABBY, you can score 20% off all items (including sale items) through this Sunday, along with FREE SHIPPING on orders of $75.00 or more!  I don’t know about you all, but I honestly think that this dress has it all!  The perfect cut, hemline, and figure-flattering waistline, plus a floral pattern, to boot!

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Floral Dress from Meachy Lynn ℅ | Candies for Kohl’s Nude Sandals (option)| Neon Clutch from a local Boutique (option)| White BCBG Max Azria Blazer (option)| Aldo Sunglasses (option)| Mindy Mae’s Market Pink & Mint Bracelets ℅ | Antebellum Baubles Turquoise and Gold Bangle ℅ | Luxe Craving Arctic Freeze Bracelet ℅ | Sira&Mara Silver Spike Bracelet ℅ | Jcrew mult-color beaded bracelet (option)| Style This Life Tassel Chain Bracelet ℅ | Gold Fossil Watch ON SALE!!!

Friday Frills Link-Up: WEEK 3!!!  Thank you to all for joining us thus far, we greatly appreciate your support and friendship!  Reminder of the Rules (not really rules, just some guidelines, if you will!)

1. Follow Sabby Style, For the Love of Fancy, and Sew Sarah R on Bloglovin’

2. Grab our button and post to your blog in your own post!

  Our pick from Link-Up: Week 2 is Dressing Dallas!  We loved the way Lauren paired her floral kimono with a bright-green pencil skirt and fabulous tassel necklace!

And don’t forget to grab our button —–>>>> You can snag it from my side bar up above 🙂

As I stated last week, WordPress won’t display the live-image link-up on here (stupid Java Script!), but I assure you that if you just click that little link found below, it will most definitely take you to our Friday Frills Link-Up!!!!

Thank you for stopping by and have yourselves a fabulous weekend, my friends! Don’t forget to use the code SABBY for 20% off your order now, through Sunday when shopping at Meachy Lynn!

Nautically Neat

Hello dolls and Happy Tuesday! I have some fabulous posts lined up for you all this week but for today, I thought I would share with you some adorable nautical pieces that are getting me excited for Memorial Day weekend!  Side note: it’s going to be over 90 degrees here on Wednesday and I don’t know if I’m ready!  Good thing I’ve got a spray tan lined up and have been doing my arm workouts 🙂  I hope everyone is having a great day!

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As always, thank you so much for stopping by and reading this little blog of mine!


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SAFECode Welcomes Autodesk and Codenomicon as its Newest Members

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We are excited to welcome our first two Associate members to SAFECode — Autodesk and Codenomicon.

Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges.

Codenomicon is known for Defensics software for security stress-testing of software, firmware and hardware; and Clarified Situation Awareness solution for Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and Network Operations Centers (NOCs), and Fuzz-o-Matic application testing-as-a-service.

We look forward to working you!

Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode) - All Rights Reserved