Tropical weather
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After a long calm spell, the tropics appear to be waking up, right on time as we approach the main part of the Atlantic hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center posted a 5-day outlook today that shows a wave coming off of Africa in the next day with a 40 percent chance of developing into…
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The North Carolina State Climate Office posted a blog story earlier this week about short-lived TS Colin, which formed near South Carolina and moved along the coast into North Carolina before it dissipated less than 24 hours after it formed. You can read more at The Tropics Come A-Colin – North Carolina State Climate Office…
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We have just finished the first month of the official Atlantic hurricane season. How unusual has it been? One thing is that we have already had three named storms, including Colin this past week (although the last time we had TS Colin in 2016, it occurred on June 6). The average date of the first…
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UPDATE: TS Colin dissipated today over eastern North Carolina, less than 24 hours after it officially formed. Those of you who live along the East Coast will probably not be surprised to hear that TS Colin formed overnight just off the coast of South Carolina. The tropical low that Colin formed from has crept along…
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A recent study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that the annual number of global hurricanes, typhoons and tropical storms — or tropical cyclones, more generally — declined by roughly 13% as the planet warmed during the 20th century. But one ocean basin had an increase in storms–the North Atlantic, which is the source…
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The latest 5-day outlook from the National Hurricane Center shows two areas of interest for the Southeast. The area with the higher probability of becoming a named storm is in the Main Development Area of the Atlantic Ocean, with a 60 percent chance of becoming a named storm. The models today generally showing this will…
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How do you test construction techniques to see if they can stand up to extreme winds? You use something called a wind tunnel that can subject test buildings to winds of 200 mph or more. How do the wind tunnels work? This article from National Geographic describes a new wind tunnel at Florida International called…