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Monthly Archives: December 2022
What is a mesonet?
In meteorology and climatology, a mesoscale network, or mesonet, is a network of automated environmental monitoring stations designed to observe meteorological phenomena on the mesoscale. In meteorology, “mesoscale” refers to weather events that range in size from about 1 mile to about 150 miles.
Mesoscale events last from several minutes to several hours. Thunderstorms, snow squalls and wind gusts are examples of mesoscale events. Due to the space and time scales associated with mesoscale phenomena, weather stations comprising a mesonet are spaced closer together and report more frequently than the larger synoptic scale observing networks run by the National Weather Service. Continue reading
Can a snowstorm have lightning?
Yes, and if you were awake late Wednesday night you might have observed lightning and heard thunder with the snowstorm.
It is not a common occurrence, but when lightning and thunder occur during a snowstorm, the event is reported as “thundersnow.” Continue reading
Was our recent snowfall typical for a Madison winter?
Our first substantial snowfall of the season visited Madison on Friday morning as a period of moderate to heavy snow fell from around 7 to 9:45 a.m.
In the end, we accumulated 4.4 inches of heavy wet snow timed perfectly to snarl the morning commute. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
Comments Off on Was our recent snowfall typical for a Madison winter?
Comments Off on Was our recent snowfall typical for a Madison winter?
What does a warm fall portend about winter?
Most of the weather experts we know have rated this fall’s weather as reasonably benign in our region. The past month’s average temperature here in Madison was 1.9 degrees above normal, which rounded out a fall season (September through November) … Continue reading
