-
The latest Drought Monitor was released today. It shows only slight decreases in drought over the last two weeks. Since temperature was so low for a lot of it and some rainfall (and snow flurries!) but not a lot, that is not surprising. Since quite a bit of rain fell since the data cutoff on…
Posted in: Drought -
The latest climate summary for North Carolina was released this morning, including a discussion of the cold weather over Christmas. You can read more at https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2023/01/a-christmas-chill-decked-decembers-halls/.
Posted in: Climate summaries -
If you are interested in learning about where lightning occurs most often, you will enjoy reading Vaisala’s annual report of lightning statistics based on their National Lightning Detection Network. You can access it at https://www.xweather.com/annual-lightning-report. It shows the areas with highest lightning density by state and how it compares to previous years. They also provide…
-
Chill hours are basically accumulations of the time that an area experiences a temperature below 45 degrees F, although there are several variations on this basic idea. Fruit trees need a certain amount of cold weather while they are dormant to set a good crop of fruit for the next growing season. This year, because…
-
While it is pretty warm today, the cold outbreak that brought frigid temperatures to the Southeast around Christmas caused a lot of damage to agriculture around the region, although the cold also improved the accumulation of chill hours. Here are some stories and a video discussing some of those impacts. Specialty Crop Industry: Uncovered Georgia…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The final monthly outlook for temperature and precipitation was released by NOAA on December 31. It shows that temperatures are expected to be warmer than normal for the month across the Southeast. Precipitation does not show a likelihood except for a slight chance of wetter than normal in the mountains and upstate regions. Drought is…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
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…