Climate science
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A new study linking extreme winter weather in the U.S. East with a warmer Arctic has drawn fire from some global warming skeptics. Some argue the record is too short to make good conclusions, and others say that correlation is not the same as causation. How do we know if this study is accurate? Are…
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Every month I post maps and links to the latest seasonal forecasts from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Most of you read them, and some of you even believe them. Here in the Southeast we generally have a better chance of skill because our winter climate is tied to the ENSO phase (currently coming out of…
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Weather and climate are frequently in the news. I tend not to talk much about current weather because it changes faster than this blog, although I occasionally mention upcoming frost or tropical storm events. On the longer term, there are some interesting stories around that are informative or entertaining to read. Here are a few…
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Even though spring is already almost three weeks old for climatologists, today is the official start of astronomical spring. EarthSky has a good story about the March equinox (which means “equal night”). You can read it here. They have a second story about whether days and nights are equal at the equinox here. (Spoiler alert–they…
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EarthSky posted a request from NASA to help with a citizen science project to observe clouds across the country. According to the story, “from March 15 through April 15, citizen scientists of all ages can make up to 10 cloud observations per day using the free GLOBE Observer app (get the app here or at your phone’s app store).…
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If you want to understand future climate, it’s important to understand what happened in the past. The Guardian posted an article this week about some new research on the causes of the end of the Permian geologic period 252 million years ago. During this great extinction, 70 percent of land vertibrate species and 90 percent…
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I saw this well-written discussion of the science of cloud seeding this morning and thought you might be interested. Cloud seeding is the injection of specific chemicals into clouds to help them form precipitation. It is often discussed as a way of helping farmers get more rainfall, especially in times of drought. But if you…
Posted in: Climate science