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What is the winter solstice?
The winter solstice (In Latin, sol, “sun,” and stice, “come to a stop”) is the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere.
In 2021, this occurs for the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21 at 9:59 a.m.
As Earth orbits the sun, its axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees from its orbital plane. Because Earth’s axis of spin always points in the same direction — toward the North Star — the orientation of Earth’s axis to the sun is always changing as Earth orbits around the sun. Continue reading
What do we know about the deadly tornado outbreak of last week?
The devastating tornado outbreak that visited Kentucky and Illinois overnight Friday into Saturday morning has left a tragically large death toll in its wake.
Officials estimated Sunday that more than 100 people may have lost their lives to this event, though the recovery of some survivors later in the day gave hope the number might be lower. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Seasons, Severe Weather
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What kind of autumn did we have temperature-wise?
The pre-winter months of September-October-November (SON) have recently come to an end with some points of interest to be made about the average temperature both locally and around the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Here in Madison, these three months have been quite distinct from each other with September’s average temperature rising 1.7 degrees above normal and October’s rising to 5.5 degrees above normal. Continue reading
What are punch holes in clouds?
On Nov. 7, numerous “holes” appeared to be punched out of a cloud deck across the Upper Midwest.
Punch holes can occur after a plane flies through the cloud if the cloud droplets are supercooled, with their temperatures below freezing. Continue reading
What is La Niña and the impact on Wisconsin’s coming winter weather?
La Niña refers to a departure from normal in the sea-surface temperature across much of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
The water temperatures off the west coast of South America are typically 60 to 70 degrees. During a La Niña these waters get as much as 7 degrees colder than normal. La Niña conditions recur every few years and last nine to 12 months, though some events have lingered for as many as two years. This cooling results from a strengthening of the winds over the tropical Pacific and its interaction with the underlying ocean waters. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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