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Live Science has an interesting story this week about how scientists are using artwork from past years to study the atmospheric content of particles put out by erupting volcanoes. According to the story, by looking at the color of the sky in the paintings, they can determine the scattering properties of the aerosols, such as…
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The next seven days should be fairly dry across most of the Southeast according to the latest 7 day QPF map. After a dry weekend, rain should start to return to areas north of Florida by Tuesday. Florida, however, will receive only light amounts of rain and that could increase drought there and in southeast…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
With just a day or two to go, the statistics for March 2018 show that for most of the region, temperatures will end up well below normal. Only the far western parts were above normal. In fact, a lot of the region was colder in March than it was in February. A good part of…
Posted in: Climate summaries -
The US Forest Service has produced a series of apps and fact sheets relating climate trends to agriculture and forestry in the US. Here is one app which compared drought frequency in the US between two time periods, one from 1960 to 1986 and the other from 1987 to 2013. As you might expect if…
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Most weather forecasts are pretty good at up to a week out, and even general trends to 10 days or more can be helpful for planning purposes. Climate forecasts for general patterns several months out can also be good, especially when there is a strong El Niño or La Niña event occurring. But in the…
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Unlike older physical sciences like physics and chemistry, atmospheric sciences developed most of its theories in the 20th century, especially after the start of the aviation industry, when a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere was needed to navigate safely. One of the puzzles in early weather forecasting was why it took longer to fly from…
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Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Keeling Curve, which showed (and is still showing) the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory. We passed the 400 ppm mark in 2013 and the carbon dioxide levels are continuing to grow at an increasing rate (with the seasonal variation overlaid…