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Category Archives: Climate
Are heat waves and droughts related?
The ongoing heat wave in the western states is shattering hundreds of high temperature records.
The extreme heat has now moved into the Pacific Northwest and threatens some all-time records in Seattle and Portland. Seattle has only ever recorded three days over 100 degrees in the last 76 years, but stood a decent chance of seeing three in a row over the weekend. Continue reading
Is hot first part of June a sign of things to come?
A barely colder than normal May has been followed by an extremely warm and dry first two weeks of June.
Through Friday, Madison has had five days with high temperatures above 90 degrees, and the month has thus far averaged more than 11 degrees above normal. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
Comments Off on Is hot first part of June a sign of things to come?
Comments Off on Is hot first part of June a sign of things to come?
Where does water exist?
Evidence of the presence of water in our atmosphere is ubiquitous.
Water occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere in all three of its phases — solid (snow and ice), liquid (rain and dew) and gas (invisible water vapor). As we begin to emerge from the recent cool spell and really enter spring/summer, we may begin to see more dew on the ground and on the windshields of cars in the morning. Continue reading
Why do we have a new normal in weather?
The National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration’s National Climatic Data Center (or NCDC) calculates the average weather conditions over a 30-year period for more than 7,500 locations in the United States.
A reliable estimate of an average requires at least 30 years. These 30-year averages are referred to as the U.S. Climate Normal. They provide a baseline that allows everyone to compare a location’s current weather to the average weather that location would expect to see — whether a particular day’s temperature is cooler or warmer than normal, or if a particular month is wetter than normal. Continue reading
Has March been a bit unusual so far?
It has been a fairly benign first two weeks of March for those of us in southern Wisconsin.
Through the first 11 days of the month, we have averaged 6.2 degrees above normal. In fact, in the nearly three weeks since Feb. 22 — when we had this season’s maximum snow depth of 16 inches in Madison — we have averaged the same 6.2 degrees above normal. Continue reading
