Deadly Texas Outbreak May Mark End of Tornado Drought
The hardest-hit community on Wednesday evening was Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds told the media that an entire neighborhood, consisting of 100-plus homes, was “heavily damaged to destroyed.”… Read More
Rare May Snowstorm Annihilates Records in Midwest
In Iowa, the 11 inches recorded at the town of Britt, which is in the north central part of the state, is also likely a state record. The 6.7 inches that fell in Des Moines was the biggest May snowstorm on record for that city as well. In Wisconsin, 16.2 inches fell at Ashland, which also set a state record for the heaviest May snowstorm on record.… Read More
Winter Is Finally Releasing Its Chilly Grip on the U.S.
When the AO index is in its “negative” phase, air pressure over the Arctic is higher than average, while pressure over the mid-latitudes is relatively low, and prevailing winds allow extremely cold air to spill out of the Arctic, as if opening the Northern Hemisphere's refrigerator door. … Read More
Monster Storm Lashing Outer Reaches of Alaska
At its most intense point, the storm had an air pressure reading of about 936 mb or slightly lower, roughly equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, and similar to the intensity of Hurricane Sandy as that storm moved toward the New Jersey coastline in October. (In general, the lower the air pressure, the stronger the storm.)… Read More
5 Charts Help Illustrate 2012 As Warmest Year on Record
The 1°F margin between 2012 and 1998 may not seem like much at first, but usually such temperature records are set by just a few fractions of a degree. As seen in this NOAA chart, 2012 towers above the pack of warm years.… Read More
A Record Lack of Rain in Drought-Stricken Nebraska
As the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) stated in its monthly drought report, several states also blew away their previous records. "It should be noted that the dryness this year has been so extreme and persistent that, not only did several states rank driest for several time scales... but their records were by wide margins compared to the prev… Read More
Welcome Rains Are Forecast, But So Are Severe Storms
Although it may spark damaging thunderstorms, drought relief is the bright side to this upcoming storm system. It is expected to provide beneficial rainfall, on the order of one to two inches, in some of the hardest hit states. Computer model projections show the likelihood for particularly heavy rains in parts of Oklahoma.… Read More
Climate Extremes Index on Rise, As Climate Attitudes Shift
According to a report released on Tuesday by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the extremes index was more than twice the average value during the January through September period, marking the CEI value since such records began in 1910. … Read More
