Pam Knox

  • The latest monthly climate summary for the United States for October 2024 was released yesterday by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). It shows that October was the second warmest October since records began in 1895. In addition, a record 87% of the contiguous US was in drought or abnormally dry, including most of…

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  • The latest 7-day QPF map shows very little rain for most of the Southeast this week. Most of what does fall will drop this weekend, with lower amounts early in the week and no rain at all expected late in the week. This is likely to cause the Drought Monitor status to get worse again…

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  • Hurricane Rafael has crossed over western Cuba and entered the Gulf of Mexico, but is tracking westward across the Gulf into areas that are less favorable for supporting the storm. Rafael is not expected to affect us in the Southeast other than its push of moisture into the region associated with this week’s heavy rainfall.…

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  • The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that abnormally dry conditions have expanded to cover nearly all of the Southeast except the Florida peninsula this week due to the continued lack of rain through Tuesday, the cutoff period for the latest map. Drought conditions got worse in Alabama as well. Next week we may see…

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  • A heavy rain event may occur in central Georgia on Wednesday and Thursday as moisture flows into the area from the circulation around Tropical Storm (and likely Hurricane) Rafael and interacts with a cold front there. Up to a foot of rain may occur in some isolated locations. While Georgia desperately needs the rain due…

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  • The long-lasting area of interest in the western Caribbean has finally developed into Tropical Storm Rafael. It is expected to continue to develop slowly and may become a hurricane in the next day as it approaches the Cayman Islands and western Cuba. After that, it is expected to move NW into the Gulf of Mexico,…

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  • The latest monthly climate summary for North Carolina is now available from the NC State Climate Office. You can read about how dry it was in October compared to the floods in September at https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2024/11/october-dries-out-in-a-monthly-rainfall-reversal/.

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