Climate science
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Do you know why summer is the hottest season? It’s not because the earth is closest to the sun then. In fact, on July 5 the earth reached its farthest distance from the sun, a point that is called “aphelion” (I think of it as “a” for “away”). The Northern Hemisphere is hottest in June…
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The summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere this year occurs on June 20, just a couple of days from now. The summer solstice is the date on which the sun appears to be highest in the sky. This means the longest day of the year and then the slow decrease of day length through the…
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Radar is one of the most-used tools in meteorological analysis of real-time weather events. Radar shows where precipitation is occurring and how it is moving over time. The newer versions of doppler radar also wind speed and direction, which allows operators to identify areas that might contain a tornado or other strong wind event. If…
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You may have heard the recent story about the airplane accident near Singapore this past week and how the injuries and one death were linked to atmospheric turbulence. If you’ve ever flown, you have likely experienced some uncomfortable turbulence yourself. Here is a good video explanation for what turbulence is and how it affects the…
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According to a recent story by Brad Haire in the Southeast Farm Press, compared with 30 years ago, pollen production has extended by about a month, starting about 20 days earlier and ending 10 days later. This makes life miserable for everyone with spring allergies but probably makes owners of car washes happy. The change…
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Did you know that the first people to identify the climate swing we now know of as ENSO or El Nino Southern Oscillation were potato farmers in Peru? They noticed that in some years very wet conditions occurred and caused problems with growing potatoes there due to the wet conditions, and other years were very…
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Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed. Abraham Lincoln The folks at the Yale Program on Climate Connections just released this new tool that you can use to generate climate change fact sheets by state, county, or congressional district showing how attitudes towards climate change vary across your…