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Category Archives: History
Why should we care about NCAR?
News that the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump White House will close the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, came earlier this month.
NCAR, established in 1960, has provided a unique public/ private partnership in the intervening several decades that has accelerated research and innovation in the weather and climate sciences. It is no exaggeration to say that without NCAR, weather forecasting — where a seven-day forecast made in 2025 is as accurate as a two-day forecast made in 1985 — would not be nearly as advanced as it is today. Continue reading
Category: Climate, History, Meteorology, Weather Dangers
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What is a November gale?
A gale is a sustained wind between 39 mph and 54 mph. Gales are usually caused by large differences in the air pressure between a low pressure system and a strong high pressure system. Gale winds are common in November on the Great Lakes.
This week marks anniversaries of some strong November gales in the Great Lakes region. The most famous of these include the White Hurricane (Nov. 7-10, 1913), the Armistice Day Blizzard (Nov. 11, 1940), the Edmund Fitzgerald Storm (Nov. 9-10, 1975) and the storm Nov. 10-11, 1998. Continue reading
Are the Arctic and Antarctic warming at the same rate?
Global warming is occurring. We know this through scientific observations and our understanding of atmospheric physics and chemistry. We understand that human activities associated with burning fossil fuels is a primary forcing function. While global warming is occurring, observations indicate that rate of warming varies by region.
The Arctic and Antarctic are geographic opposites, and not just because they sit on opposite ends of the globe. The land-sea arrangements are different. Antarctica is a continent surrounded by water; the Arctic is basically a water body surrounded by land. Continue reading
When will we stop seeing 80F this year?
At the time of this writing, Madison is in its 6th straight day of temperatures at or above 80F and it is likely we will have one more to reach seven in a row. As recently as 2022, we have … Continue reading
Has it been unusually rainy so far this summer?
As we head into the last week of August, it is of interest to review aspects of this summer’s precipitation in Madison.
First of all, every one of the three traditional summer months has been wetter than normal with June, July, and August (through Aug 20) coming in at 0.26”, 1.55” and 2.02” above normal for a total surplus of nearly 4”. Continue reading
