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What is the hydrologic cycle?
The hydrologic cycle describes the circulation of water from the ocean and other watery surfaces to the atmosphere and to the land.
A major source of atmospheric water vapor is evaporation from the oceans. Precipitation — rain, snow, sleet or freezing rain — falls from clouds and is a loss of atmospheric water as it removes water from the atmosphere. Continue reading
Is our growing season getting longer?
Yes. There are several studies that demonstrate shifts in the timing and length of the growing season.
One way to measure the length of the growing season is to count the number of days between the last frost in spring and the first frost in fall. By this measure, Wisconsin’s growing season lengthened by about 12 days between 1950 and 2006. Continue reading
When can it get really hot in southern Wisconsin?
Our cold early April seems to have finally given way to a surging spring. Now that we have seemingly emerged from winter, with reasonable confidence that we will not go back, it is interesting to consider when truly summerlike weather might first appear in southern Wisconsin.
One measure of summer here is a daytime high temperature at or above 90 degrees. In Madison, there have been only three April days when the high temperature was that warm. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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What connection does UW-Madison have with the National Weather Service?
Last week, the director of the National Weather Service (NWS), Louis W. Uccellini, visited his alma mater as the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
Uccellini presented the story of the intellectual and professional journey that led him to the leadership of this extraordinarily important government agency. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology
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What is the effect of snow cover on weather and climate?
Even as a few flurries filled the sky on Friday, it is clearly almost the end of the snow season for southern Wisconsin.
While few mourn its passing by this time every year, it is interesting to consider the profound effect that snow cover has on the weather and climate of the middle latitudes. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Seasons
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