Pam Knox

  • Why two degrees of warming is important

    When scientists talk about a climate that is getting warmer, they often talk about 2 degrees of change as being enough to cause irreversible changes in the earth’s climate system.  But what makes “2 degrees” important?  It’s true that a 2 degree change in daily temperature is barely noticeable in the day to day variability…

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  • “The Hundred Names of the Desert Wind”

    The sound of the wind is described by many names around the world.  This essay on the names of the desert wind is a couple of years old but I think a very poetic way to describe the weather that dominates an area with little rain.  You can read it at https://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/inyo/the-hundred-names-of-the-desert-wind.html

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  • The Great Florida Cattle Drive

    I read an interesting article today about the Great Florida Cattle Drive, a celebration of Florida’s statehood.  I did not realize that this great roundup was occurring, but was intrigued at the idea of helping people to relive the live of a southern cattle driver from the 1800’s.  You might enjoy reading this article and…

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  • Monday will be rainiest day next week

    A large area of rain and some frozen precipitation will cross the Southeast beginning Sunday night into Tuesday.  The heaviest rain should fall on Monday as the storm develops.  Predicting the type and timing of winter precipitation is always tricky, but the current predicted path of the storm makes it  likely that most of the…

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  • While for many farmers, drought causes severe economic hardship, a new study of California farmers shows that some of them are doing very well economically in spite of over four years of drought, according to an article in AgWeb yesterday.  Some of the profits come from the surging value of crops like almonds, while others…

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  • Tornadoes of 2015

    Here is an image from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center that shows a US map of the tornadoes that were observed across the United States in 2015.  There are also state-by-state statistics showing which states received more tornadoes than average and which received less.  Note that all of the Southeast experienced below-normal numbers of tornadoes last…

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  • NOAA: El Niño update

    NOAA has published a new update and outlook for the current El Niño and what is likely to happen next summer.  You can view it here.

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