Tropical weather
-

The tropics are starting to become more active, which means that those of us in the Southeast need to start watching more carefully. Today the National Hurricane Center’s 5-day forecast shows an area of 50 percent chance of development in the next five days along the east coast of Florida extending up to the Outer…
-

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Camille, which came ashore in Mississippi in August 1969 with wind speeds of as much as 185 mph and a storm surge that rivaled Hurricane Katrina in 2005, causing a lot of damage along the coast. Fewer people remember that Camille caused a second…
-

The State Climate Office of North Carolina is starting a series of blog articles about historic hurricanes which have affected their coast in the past. Many of these also affected the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. While there have not been too many hurricanes which have affected this region in recent years compared to…
-

NOAA released its revised hurricane forecast for the Atlantic Basin this week. It shows an increased chance of tropical storms and hurricanes over the 2019 season, in spite of the fact that the early part of the season has started quite slowly. So far there have been just two named storms, including Hurricane Barry which…
-

Georgia Trends has a good story and recap of Hurricane Michael’s impact on Georgia agriculture from July 1. It tallies the losses to forestry and pecans as well as some other crops. Devastating! Most of the recovery is being done by loans since the recovery money from the federal government has yet to appear. You…
-

A recent study by scientists at the University of Illinois shows that forested areas affected by tornadoes or other wind storms not only knock down many trees but also provide an opening for the spread of invasive weeds and pests by disrupting the forest canopy. In some cases the infestation of exotic pests is so…
-

In a sharp change from last month’s El Niño outlook, the latest forecast from IRI now shows that they expect the current weak El Niño to end within the next couple of months. Last month’s forecast predicted it would last through most of the summer and perhaps into next fall. If this holds true, it…