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NOAA released their latest global climate summary for June 2016 today. It shows that the earth was record-setting warm again, for the 14th month in a row. The sea surface temperatures were also record warm. The January-June totals also show a new record for 2016, far surpassing last year’s record warmth. This makes it virtually…
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As a follow-up to the last posting on the heat dome in the central US, Bob Henson of Weather Underground posted this lengthy article about how a heat spell like the one that is coming can trigger the development of a “flash drought”, in this case most likely in the Corn Belt region, although it…
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A strong high pressure center is developing across the central US and will bring extreme high temperatures and humidity to many locations under the “dome” of high pressure over the next few days. You can read more about it at Weather Underground at https://www.wunderground.com/news/summer-heat-expanding-widespread-dangerous and at CNN at https://us.cnn.com/2016/07/17/weather/extreme-weather-heat-dome/index.html. The combination of temperatures in the 90s or…
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NOAA’s latest El Niño blog entry came out while I was on vacation. You can read it here. In it they note that we are now in neutral conditions, since El Niño has finally decayed away. But the likelihood is that the ocean will swing to a La Niña pattern in the next few months,…
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If you have kids or work with kids (or know a 4-H leader or teacher who does), you might be interested in this web site from the National Weather Service with some resources on weather science and safety. You can find it at https://www.weather.gov/owlie/, and it features Owlie Skywarn, their weather mascot.
Posted in: Climate science -
The State Climate Office of North Carolina posted a description of the locally heavy rains that occurred in central NC this past Saturday on their blog at https://climate.ncsu.edu/climateblog?id=197&h=5666e5c1. One CoCoRaHS observer in Cary NC reported 7.52 inches for the day. Estimates of the return period are that some areas received a 100-year event or more. If…
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NASA’s Earth Observatory posted a striking pair of pictures recently showing the massive defoliation caused by gypsy moth caterpillars in Rhode Island. It’s amazing to me how much damage the caterpillars were able to do to the tree canopy there in just a month. You can read about it and see the pictures in more…