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Category Archives: Seasons
What happens to the wintertime cold pool in summer?
We have commented a number of times in the past few years about the areal extent of the hemispheric cold pool of air at 850 mb — about 1 mile above the surface — during the winter. As one might expect, that pool expands dramatically from October through February and then begins to contract as we move toward spring and summer.
Our analysis uses the minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) isotherm (line of constant temperature) and has shown that the average winter cold pool area has systematically shrunk in the past 75 years. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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Has this been an unusually hot start to summer?
The recent stretch of warm, humid weather has got some people wondering if we have gotten off to an unusually hot start to summer this year in Madison.
There are a couple of ways one could approach that question. One way is to consider the departure from average for our daily high temperatures since May 1. From that perspective, we have been consistently warmer than normal with May daily highs averaging 3.2 degrees above normal and, June (through Friday) averaging 1.9 degrees above normal. Continue reading
How does the recent humidity stack up against prior Mays?
The dramatic shift in our weather that took place over the last week will likely be memorable for a number of reasons.
First, on Tuesday Madison reached 90 degrees for the first time this year, the fourth earliest first 90-degree day in Madison’s history. Continue reading
Category: History, Meteorology, Seasons
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Was April colder and gloomier than normal this year?
The recent month of April here in Madison was noteworthy on a number of levels.
First of all, we had snow on seven different days during the month, not quite the record of 13 from April 1950, but substantially above the average of about four days over the last 70-plus years. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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More April snow?
The snow showers that visited our area on Thursday afternoon represented the fourth time snow had been in the air in Madison this month of April.
These showers were associated with the development and passage of a strong and sprawling cyclone that brought blizzard conditions to a number of locations in North Dakota and Montana from Tuesday night into Thursday. The town on Glenburn, North Dakota, received 30.5 inches of snow as of Thursday morning, with 30 to 36 inches variously reported around Minot. Continue reading
