Pam Knox

  • Watermelon is one of my favorite summer foods (in fact, I love them any time of year!). But they weren’t always the red and sweet fruit we have today. Here is an interesting story from Food and Wine about how watermelons were bred into the delicious fruit that we have today. You can read it…

    Posted in: ,
  • Because of increasing inundation of low-lying areas from rising sea levels, especially during the yearly king tides, mainland Miami is considering abandoning some of the lowest-lying areas and letting them serve as natural barriers to the effects of the rising sea levels.  A variety of options for dealing with rising sea level are being considered,…

    Posted in: ,
  • According to the History Channel, “on this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was…

    Posted in: ,
  • Another wet week

    Another week of good rain is expected across most of the Southeast starting today, with most areas expected to receive well over an inch.  Florida should receive 3 inches in some places, which will put a further dent in the drought there.  The driest area will be eastern North Carolina and South Carolina, where less…

    Posted in:
  • EarthSky: What is virga?

    Sometimes you can see rain falling from the sky and evaporating as it falls through a drier layer of air near the surface.  This can show up on radar too as an echo with nothing hitting the ground, since radar measures rainfall above the surface.  This is called “virga” and it is fairly common, especially…

    Posted in: ,
  • You may have seen my recent post on the uncertain future of the regional climate centers, which are on the chopping block in the budget currently being promoted by President Trump. If you have not already done so, it’s not too late to sign an online petition to support them.  If you are not familiar…

    Posted in: ,
  • Here are some useful infographics from the American Public Health Association which describe the relationships between changes in climate and various aspects of human health, including effects on air quality, rising temperatures, and vector-borne diseases. You can see them all at https://www.apha.org/news-and-media/multimedia/infographics/how-climate-change-affects-your-health.  

    Posted in: