Climate science
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Deke Arndt posted an article last week in NOAA’s “Beyond the Data” blog on how to answer questions about extremes in temperature using the NCEI website and database. You can read about it at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/back-basics-temperature-truisms. If you need this information for stations beyond the NCEI list, you can probably get them from your local state climatologist or…
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A post on Facebook this morning reminded me that it is time to start thinking about fall frosts and freezes. Fortunately from a frost perspective, the next few weeks look like they will be above normal in temperature so we are likely to see a later than average date for the first frost, but even…
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Did you know that you can use cricket and katydid chirps to estimate the temperature? Dolbear’s Law is the formula from the late 19th century that can be used to accurately estimate the temperature based on the number of chirps a cricket emits. Basically, crickets chirp faster when it is warm than when it is…
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Becky Griffin from UGA’s Center for Urban Ag has a new publication out on starting a school garden. You can find it at https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=C1101. It has some great ideas for organizing it! I would add that adding a rain gauge or weather instruments to the garden is a great way to teach the kids about…
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Red sprites are a high-altitude extremely rapid lightning discharge that happens over thunderstorms. According to a recent National Geographic post, “sometimes called “upward lightning” and “cloud-to-stratospheric lightning,” sprites are momentary bursts of electricity that can literally reach the edge of space, about 50 miles above the ground. They’re rarely documented because they are so short…
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Last week in this blog I posted a couple of stories about the unusual number of warm nights experienced in New Orleans and then about questions surrounding the accuracy of the record. In response to these questions, the Louisiana State Climatologist has posted this article about what he found out about the station and…
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EarthSky has an interesting story this week on why leaves change color in the fall. Also includes some beautiful pictures of autumn foliage. Check it out at https://earthsky.org/earth/why-do-tree-leaves-turn-red-in-fall.