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Category Archives: History
Was Hurricane Beryl a special storm?
All hurricanes are special, given the extensive damage they can cause when they make landfall. Beryl was considered extra special because it was a record-breaking storm.
Beryl rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) with wind speeds that increased to 95 mph in less than two days. Category 3 storms have sustained winds between 111 mph and 129 mph. Only six other Atlantic Basin storms have intensified this quickly and those storms all happened after August, the typical time of year with conditions favorable for hurricanes. Continue reading
Why is May 6 such a special day in weather science history?
Immediately after World War II, it became fashionable to imagine technologies that might allow human beings to control the weather. In fact, one goal advanced by influential scientists was actually to explode nuclear bombs in the right locations and in the right quantity so as to alter the weather in favorable ways.
Such an enterprise would require accurate forecasts of the weather thought possible by using the brand new computer technology to make the millions of requisite calculations. Continue reading
Category: History, Meteorology
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What are folklore weather forecasts?
Folklore forecasts, often in the form of short rhymes, help farmers and mariners predict short term weather. Continue reading
Are the Madison lakes ice-covered?
The Wisconsin State Climatology Office, housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, monitors and reports on the ice coverage of Madison lakes.
The office keeps a database of the ice-over and ice-out dates for three Madison-area lakes: Mendota, Monona and Wingra. These records extend back to the winters of 1855-1856 for Mendota and Monona. The record of annual ice cover of Wingra is spotty, but consistent starting in the winter of 1982-83. Due to the long record based on visual observations, it is no surprise that the rules of opening and closing have been handed down by oral tradition. Continue reading
How is this winter stacking up historically?
We are now a couple of days into what is easily the coldest air we have seen this entire winter.
Until a week ago, complaints about the lack of snow were also justified in the southern part of the state. However, two recent snow events have even changed that situation so that, as of Monday, Madison suddenly is 7.3 inches ahead of normal for the snow season, which started July 1. Continue reading
