Climate science

  • Now that we are in meteorological fall, many folks’ thought turn to falling leaves and autumn colors.  When do the peak colors occur in any area?  While the display of colors changes from year to year depending on the weather patterns from the previous summer and the fall weather patterns, here is a neat website…

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  • If you’ve been following the news since Hurricane Harvey hit Texas you likely saw more than one story about how Harvey’s rains were or were not influenced by climate change.  If you are confused, you are not alone.  Here is an article by Jason Samenow of the Capital Weather Gang that provides a no-nonsense look…

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  • Hurricane Harvey dropped tremendous amounts of rain over Texas and parts of Louisiana.  It’s estimated that values exceeded a 500 year storm in many locations.  A 500-year storm is one that has a 1 in 500 chance of occurrence in any given year. The Washington Post  has an interesting graphical story on what a 500-year…

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  • People around the Southeast marked the solar eclipse of August 21 in a number of ways.  In Athens I joined a group of almost 30,000 students, staff, faculty and friends in Sanford Stadium to watch the skies get dark at 99.15% totality.  In North Carolina, the State Climate Office folks watched the skies and took…

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  • Food & Wine magazine put out an article this week about a change in the diet of Alaskan bears due to changes in climate which have affected the production of two of the bears’ favorite foods: salmon and wild berries.  The increased temperatures in recent years have brought an earlier start to the berry ripening…

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  • Here are some climate resources that might be helpful to teachers and 4-H agents from NOAA’s Climate.gov: National Climate Assessment resources at https://www.climate.gov/teaching/national-climate-assessment-resources-educators/2014-national-climate-assessment-resources Literacy on climate and energy at https://www.climate.gov/teaching/essential-principles-climate-literacy/about-clean-climate-literacy-and-energy-awareness

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  • The New York Times has a short and informative video about how hurricanes form.  It talks about how warm water helps the storms to form and how changes in sea surface temperature may be affecting the strength of the storms.  You can watch it at https://www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000002555638/the-future-of-storms.html?smid=fb-share.

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