Climate summaries
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This time of year we are subjected to all sorts of lists of the best, worst, and most notable of the past year. Summaries of the past year’s events are also posted frequently. Weather and climate are no exception. Here is a collection of “highlights of 2022” focused on US or world weather and climate…
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The short-term outlook for weather conditions is for more rain to move through a lot of the Southeast, although southern Florida will not see much. The rain could come in a couple of waves, with the heaviest rain occurring in mid-week. After that, cooler and drier weather will move into the region as the pattern…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The latest monthly climate summary from NOAA shows that the average temperature for the US was 0.7 F below average and the precipitation was 0.17 inches above average. This puts the country in the middle third of years for both variables. The Southeast was generally warmer and wetter than the rest of the country. Parts…
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Since it is halfway through the month, here is a quick look at the climate so far this month. The temperature departure map shows that everywhere in the Southeast is much warmer than normal after a cold start to winter. The pattern is especially intense in southern GA and AL and into Florida, as we…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
NOAA’s latest global climate report for January 2025 was released today. It shows that for the globe as a whole, this was the warmest January on record for observations going back to 1880. The Southeast US was one of the few areas that was cooler than normal due to the southward protrusion of Arctic air…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
The latest monthly summary for the US is now available from NOAA. In it, they report that the country had its sixth driest January on record for observations dating back to 1895. The month was also in the coldest third of all January values, and this past January was the coldest reported since 1988. You…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
The preliminary climate summary for January 2025 shows that the region was colder than normal, which I am sure is no surprise to most of you, especially if you have recently paid a heating bill. However, since the normals now are quite a bit warmer than in previous decades, almost none of the region set…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
NOAA’s Climate blog has now posted a story describing the recent snowstorm in southern parts of our region that shows some interesting maps about the coldest temperature and where snowfall records were set. It also relates the weather to the polar vortex and discusses how climate change may have affected what occurred. You may also…
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Meteorologists like to describe weather in terms of how hot, dry, wet, or cold things have been. A newer measure of the impacts of winter weather on humans is the Winter Misery Index, known more completely as the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI). It is mapped by the Midwestern Regional Climate Center and posted on their…
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I’ve gotten some questions about how the snowstorm along the Gulf Coast this past week has compared to previous storms, especially the large snow event of 1895. This post in The Eyewall provides some great historical context and visuals from previous snowstorms and compares them to the event that just happened. Some parts of the…