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Clouds are one of the main unknowns in understanding how climate might change in the future. Low clouds reflect sunlight back to space, cooling the planet, while high clouds trap heat near the surface, warming things up. Because of their temporary nature, they are hard to model adequately in global climate models, leading to uncertainty…
Posted in: Uncategorized -
The wind map tonight shows several features that will likely affect our weather in the next few days. The remnants of Typhoon Nuri are still spinning in the Bering Sea and are contributing to the strong wave pattern in the atmosphere. The strong flow of Arctic air into the central Plains can also be seen.…
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In the next week you will hear a lot about the terms “jet stream” and “polar vortex” if you have not already. What are these phenomena? A couple of easy to understand references you can use: AthensGAWeather has a link to a website at the bottom of the page with a simple 2-minute explanation of…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
EarthSky has an interesting article posted about changes in Bhutan’s agriculture, particularly in their yak herding, due to the retreat of glaciers in the region. Glaciers retreat from a combination of warming temperatures and decreases in snowfall over time. The loss of glacier ice has made it more difficult for herders to move around the…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
There has been a tremendous amount of hype the last few days about the coming cold outbreak that will be affecting most of the eastern 2/3 of the United States. Some bloggers and pundits have talked about “bombogenesis” and the return of the “polar vortex” and unprecedented cold temperatures. Dr. Michio Kaku, the so-called “science…
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The 7-day QPF map shows another dry week in store for most of the Southeast. The only exception will be the peninsula of Florida, which will see a lot of rain along the boundary of the unusually cold air that is expected to move into the area during the week. I’ve discussed this outbreak of…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
Since cold weather is on the way this coming week, it seems appropriate that NOAA published a map showing the average coldest day of the year. For most of the coastal plains area of the Southeast, the coldest air comes around the first week of January. Areas in the northern part of Georgia and Alabama…