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Do you wonder why Hurricane Michael intensified so much just before it made landfall in 2018? A new study by NASA scientists looks at this question. The new study, published in Nature Communications, identifies pre-storm conditions that can contribute to this rapid intensification – an important step in improving the ability to forecast it. The study…
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The latest named storm formed today in the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. It is named Epsilon, only the second time this name has been used. It is about a month earlier than the previous Epsilon formed in 2005. Remember that the Atlantic tropical season officially goes until November 30. Epsilon is predicted to become a hurricane…
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I have gotten a few questions about whether or not any of the smoke from all the wildfires in the West is reaching the Southeast. Here is a useful site that tells you where the smoke is. The site is at https://fire.airnow.gov/. I saw a little smoke on the morning map but there is nothing…
Posted in: Sources of weather and climate data -
The long-range forecasts are beginning to show a strong cold front passing through the Southeast late in October, ushering a period of much colder air which could include frost across northern Alabama and Georgia as well as western parts of the Carolinas and Virginia. Some of the mountainous areas have already seen some frost conditions,…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
Proxy indicators of past climates are usually things like tree rings, ice cores, and lake and ocean sediments. Here’s a new one–piles of bat excrement that show how their eating patterns have changed over time due to changes in climate as well as agricultural practices. These piles are found in a series of caves in…
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The latest 7-day QPF map shows that there will be little rain over the region this week. Florida will see the most, but even they will get a break mid-week. By the end of the week, some rain returns to the region, but mainly in southern AL and southwest GA and in Florida. Rain amounts…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
Do you drink coffee? How would you feel if it went away? I have previously written about the effects of a warming climate on the production of coffee, in particular the arabica beans which are the higher quality coffee bean. Scientists previously felt that the lower-quality robusta beans would grow in a wider variety of…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news