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Monthly Archives: March 2021
How is tornado intensity determined?
A deadly tornado outbreak took place Wednesday through Friday in the southern United States.
Tornadoes are classified based on the damage the tornado does, which enables us to estimate the wind speed of its rotating winds.
All tornadoes are assigned a single number from the Enhanced Fujita scale, abbreviated EF, according to the most intense damage caused by the storm. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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New book from Jonathan Martin of The Weather Guys delves into the origins of modern meteorology
The technology that allows us to know the temperature, humidity and chance of precipitation on an hourly basis is something on which we’ve come to expect and rely. But ever wonder how the technology of predicting the weather came about?
UW-Madison professor Jonathan Martin, one of the writers of the State Journal’s “Ask the Weather Guys” column, answers that question in his new book “Reginald Sutcliffe and the Invention of Modern Weather Systems Science,” which came out March 15. He’ll be discussing the book during a virtual event through Mystery to Me bookstore later this month. Continue reading
Category: History, Meteorology
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What should I know about the spring equinox?
The spring equinox — also called the vernal equinox — marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere.
This year the equinox arrived at 4:37 a.m. Saturday. 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
What is special about March weather?
March 1 marks the beginning of spring and kicks off an active and variable weather season. Flooding, temperature swings, tornados and snowstorms are all common springtime weather events.
A flood occurs when water flows into a region faster than it can be absorbed into the soil, stored in a lake or reservoir, or removed in runoff or a waterway into a drainage basin. In early spring, the ground can still be frozen and so cannot absorb the precipitation. Rain and melting snow will instead flow into rivers causing springtime flooding. Continue reading
