Climate science
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If you know something about hurricane climatology, you probably already know that the peak of hurricane season is in early to mid-September based on the likelihood of a named storm occurring on any particular date. But it turns out that there are different ways to determine it based on counts, tropical storm energy, and other…
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You may see the National Hurricane Center daily maps showing the likely areas of development for tropical storms and wonder how long it takes the storm to get close enough to the Southeast to worry about. This excellent map from Ed Piotrowski shows the average number of days it takes for a storm to get…
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Studies of past weather and climate events can be useful in terms of helping us to figure out current and future climate, because they give us a way to test climate models and assumptions about climate behavior. This story from Yale Climate Connections describes a volcanic eruption that occurred in Alaska in 43 BCE that…
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You might think that summer is warmer than winter because the earth is closer to the sun. But in fact, the earth’s orbit takes us farthest from the sun in summer, on a date called the aphelion. This year’s aphelion is today, July 4. EarthSky posted an interesting story from 2018 with a photo that…
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For those of you who would like more information about what the summer solstice is, EarthSky has a great article with all the details that you can read here.
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Happy solstice and happy summer to those of you who follow the astronomical calendar! EarthSky has a great article describing why sunsets are the longest near the summer solstice. I hope you all get the chance to see some great sunsets and sunrises in the next few weeks. Enjoy every minute!
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Yesterday I got asked about the difference between tropical, subtropical, and extra-tropical storms, so I thought I would share a little bit of information about the difference between them. The biggest difference has to do with the temperature structure of the storms. Tropical storms are warm-core storms, with warm air centered in the middle of…