Climate science
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Now that fall has finally arrived, it’s time to start thinking about when frost will return to the Southeast. Here are a few resources to help you find the average date of first fall frost. I will post an article later this week that describes how to get real-time frost forecasts. Keep in mind that…
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EarthSky posted an interesting story this week about a new study that indicates that the eruption of tropical volcanoes like Mount Pinatubo in 1991 can lead to the development or strengthening of El Niño conditions. While we can’t predict when a large tropical eruption will occur, once it does we can use the results of…
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With a La Niña forecast to occur this winter, you might be wondering where the forecast for warmer and drier than normal conditions comes from. It is based on statistical patterns derived from previous episodes. NOAA’s Climate.gov has provided a nice set of maps which shows how historic La Niña events since 1950 have looked.…
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Today’s football game in Athens is being played in temperatures far above normal, although they are not quite as close to record-setting highs as we experienced earlier this week. In fact, in much of the Southeast temperatures the last two weeks have been more like July or August than mid-October, although that should change tomorrow…
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Are you tired of hot, humid conditions? Ready for some of the cool stuff? I can’t change the weather in the Southeast, but I can give you a preview of when typical winter conditions begin, thanks to Barb Mayes Boustead, Steve Hilberg, and Martha Shulski via Twitter. You can read more about their work at…
Posted in: Climate science -
I am always interested in learning more about how the earth was formed and developed over time, and this new Popular Mechanics story introduces a new chapter in our understanding of the Earth-Moon system. A study recently published by NASA shows that several billion years ago, the moon had a relatively thick atmosphere compared to…
Posted in: Climate science -
One of the things that weather events of the past month have taught us is that our society is not prepared to deal with extreme weather that we already know from experience is happening now. Over 60 inches of rain near Beaumont TX in just a couple of days! Winds of 185 mph in Puerto…