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The latest Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows only slight improvements in the drought this week. Since the cutoff was Tuesday morning and a lot more rain has fallen since then, we can expect to see further improvements in next week’s map. By contrast, Puerto Rico’s moderate drought has expanded and now covers over half…
Posted in: Drought -
UPDATE: Summary now available at https://www.drought.gov/webinars/southeast-climate-monthly-webinar-january-23-2024. Join us for the Southeast Climate Monthly Webinar! This webinar series provides the region with information on current and developing climate conditions such as drought, floods, and tropical storms, as well as climatic events like El Niño and La Niña. Speakers may also discuss the impacts of these conditions…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
As a climatologist, I am frequently told by people skeptical about climate change that “the climate is always changing.” Of course, climatologists know this because we were the ones that discovered those changes in the first place with the collaboration of paleobotanists, chemists, geologists and other scientists. We also know that the climate of the…
Posted in: Climate science -
How do you feel about winter weather? Do you love it or hate it? This thoughtful essay by an emergency room physician discusses how someone’s attitude may be colored by whether they have access to heat and shelter, good health, or other factors. In the essay, the author Edwin Leap says “When I see our…
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In the past week, moderate (D1) drought doubled in coverage in Puerto Rico, which has not seen much rain in the last couple of weeks. In the mainland Southeast, however, there has been widespread improvement in drought conditions, with 1-category changes in more than half of Georgia plus western VA, NC, and SC. In Alabama,…
Posted in: Drought -
The latest seasonal outlook for February through April was released this week by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. It shows that for most of the southern part of the region, wetter than normal conditions and near-normal temperatures are expected for the next three months. Of course, that could mean periods of warmer and colder than normal…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
It’s been another cold morning with one more to come before things start to warm up. But the pattern is changing and we will be much warmer by the end of the week as we draw up warm, moist air from the Gulf ahead of a low pressure center that will approach us later in…
Posted in: Climate outlooks