As Sea Ice Declines, Winter Shifts in Northern Alaska
The consequences of the record loss of Arctic sea ice this past summer are becoming clear to the 4,000 or so residents of Barrow, Alaska, who have seen a much milder and snowier-than-average start to their typically long and bitterly cold winter season. As is typical for this time of year, much of Alaska has already been plunged into winter … Read More
October Ties for 5th Warmest; Winter Forecast Uncertain
As Climate Central reported on Nov. 9, the U.S. is very likely to set a record for the warmest year on record, unless the rest of November and all of December are among the coldest ever seen for such a period, which is unlikely. According to Jake Crouch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., there is a greater than 90 percent c… Read More
Winds Seen As Key Driver Of Antarctica’s Growing Sea Ice
Writing in Nature Geoscience, Paul Holland of the British Antarctic Survey and Ronald Kwok of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found the case’s smoking gun. “Our main conclusion is that the drift of ice has changed over the past two decades, Holland said in an interview. “And we’ve linked these changes to changes in winds over that same perio… Read More
Rare November Snowstorm Strikes In Wake Of Sandy
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The combination of heavy, wet snow and strong winds caused at least 375,000 homes in New York and New Jersey to lose power, and snarled travel by making roads hazardous and shutting down the Long Island Rail Road due to downed trees along the tracks. According to the New York Times, there are about 683,000 homes in the tristate area that remained i… Read More
Hurricane Sandy Walloping East Coast With Surge, Winds
During a media briefing on Monday afternoon, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said the storm is on track to produce a storm tide (includes storm surge and the astronomical tide) of up to 11 feet in New York City. This could be enough to flood the subway tunnels in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, which would severely disrupt tran… Read More
East Coast Facing Major Threat From Hurricane Sandy
While it is not unusual to have a high pressure area near Greenland, its intensity is striking for this time of year. As Jason Samenow of the Capital Weather Gang wrote on Wednesday, the North Atlantic Oscillation, which helps measure this blocking flow, "is forecast to be three standard deviations from the average — meaning this is an exceptional … Read More
Demise of El Niño Throws a Wrench in Winter Outlook
Given that the majority of the Lower 48 states are still mired in severe drought conditions, with the latest drought monitor showing a continuous swath of drought stretching from California to Illinois, the forecast offers little hope for significant relief anytime soon. In fact, Mike Halpert, the deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center… Read More
Ongoing Coverage of Earth’s Polar Regions
Earth’s polar regions — the Arctic and the Antarctic — are far from where most of us live. What’s happening there now as a result of climate change, however, will end up affecting us in very direct ways. Melting glaciers and ice caps are raising sea level worldwide, and new research released in 2012 shows that the melting, especially in Antarctica,… Read More
