After a very quiet couple of months, the Atlantic tropics are beginning to heat up, just as the most active period of hurricane development begins. The sea surface temperatures, which were near record-setting cold earlier in the year, are now close to normal, and the plumes of Saharan dust which…
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As we approach the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, I am seeing many stories in my social media feeds about the anniversaries of past tropical systems that have affected the Southeast. Here is one remembrance of TS Bonnie from the State Climate Office of North Carolina discussing why Bonnie…
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If you have not been following the recent weather news, you may have missed the news that a Category 4 hurricane named Lane is bearing down on the Hawaiian Islands and is expected to cause impacts there even if the center misses the islands, as it is expected to do. …
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As the Arctic warms up and sea ice melts, it is changing the large-scale weather patterns that help move storms around. These steering currents affect the movement of mid-latitude low pressure centers, but also help push around tropical storms and hurricanes. A new study of the impacts of this shift…
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Earlier this week NOAA lowered their seasonal forecast for the Atlantic basin based on the persistence of dust coming off of Africa, which is contributing to lower ocean temperatures in the main development area, and due to the growth of the impending El Niño, which tends to increase the strength…
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Time magazine has a really interesting long-form story this week about a new weather model that is being developed at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton NJ which could significantly improve weather forecasting on the time period of a week or more. Having better long-range predictions could help people…
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Several news outlets this week reported that the USDA is offering relief to agricultural producers impacted by either the 2017 hurricanes or the wildfires out west last year. According to one story in AgWeb, “Producers impacted by wildfires and hurricanes in 2017 are eligible for monetary assistance to rebuild and…
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