Author Archives: WeatherGuys Editor

What is permafrost?

Permafrost is ground that is frozen for at least two years. It remains frozen all year and contains plant material that has not yet completely decomposed.

Permafrost is mostly located in polar regions, though it also occurs in some high mountain tops where it is called alpine permafrost. There is no permafrost in Madison, though our ground does freeze in most winters. Continue reading

Category: Climate, Seasons

Comments Off on What is permafrost?

Is water always present in the atmosphere?

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 winter and enter spring, we may begin to see more dew on the ground and on the windshields of cars in the morning. The air nearly always holds some amount of water vapor. Dew is liquid water that condenses overnight onto objects when the air that contains the water vapor cools to a sufficiently low temperature. Continue reading

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

Comments Off on Is water always present in the atmosphere?

Why was part of the sky green on Tuesday night?

Why was part of the sky green on Tuesday night? Continue reading

Category: Meteorology, Phenomena

Comments Off on Why was part of the sky green on Tuesday night?

When does spring begin?

Spring marks the transition from winter to summer. Meteorologists often define the three months of spring as March through May. By that definition, spring would begin on March 1.

We might also define spring as the day on which, if there is precipitation, it is more likely to be in the form of rain than snow. Continue reading

Category: Meteorology, Seasons

Comments Off on When does spring begin?

Do snowballs in Washington, D.C., count as evidence against global warming?

Last week, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the current chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, brought a snowball fashioned from accumulated snow in Washington, D.C., onto the floor of the United States Senate.

Inhofe used the snowball as proxy “evidence” of, in his words, the “hysteria on global warming.” Continue reading

Category: Uncategorized

Comments Off on Do snowballs in Washington, D.C., count as evidence against global warming?