Climate science
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Even though a lot of the Southeast has not seen any snow this year, northern areas as well as some higher-elevation locations have seen snow. And of course it’s too early to count out more snow this year, since the Southeast can get snowstorms well into March. Here is a recent story from EarthSky that…
Posted in: Climate science -
According to NOAA’s new Polar Vortex blog, after a brief respite, the stratospheric polar vortex is expected to weaken again with potentially another major sudden stratospheric warming forecast to occur in the next week. But didn’t we just have a sudden stratospheric warming event?? Their blog post discusses how this new weakening of the polar vortex…
Posted in: Climate science -
Weather can change rapidly from one set of conditions to another after the passage of a strong front or other event. We can also see relatively rapid changes of weather patterns at times leading to very quick changes in the local temperature, wind, and humidity. On longer time scales, a drought can end quickly if…
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In the Southeast, we know that El Nino and La Nina greatly affect our climate conditions, especially in the winter months when farmers are preparing for the next growing season. One of the important questions about the changing climate is whether or not the frequency and intensity of El Nino and La Nina (collectively called…
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If you have been watching the news lately, you will have heard the term “atmospheric river” describing the heavy storms that are inundating California this week. In spite of what you might think, this term describes an official meteorological phenomenon. They often happen in California because of its position just east of a large, warm…
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As part of our work on the 5th National Climate Assessment, each chapter team hosted a webinar discussing the key messages of the chapter and highlighting some of the graphics from the chapter and how they were developed. You can find the ones for the Southeast (#7) and agriculture (#17) on the website playlist at…
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As a climatologist, I am frequently told by people skeptical about climate change that “the climate is always changing.” Of course, climatologists know this because we were the ones that discovered those changes in the first place with the collaboration of paleobotanists, chemists, geologists and other scientists. We also know that the climate of the…
Posted in: Climate science