Weather Update
April 29, 2013
Welcome to the spring of 2013! We have something for everyone.
If you want cold, this is the second coldest start to spring since we began keeping national records in the 1890s. Heat? California is sizzling and the high temperatures in the Southwest will be breaking records. If you prefer wet, look to the soggy Midwest. Dry? Officially, 47% of the continental US is in drought conditions and another 13% is dangerously dry. Floods? No one wants floods, but we have record-breaking river levels in... more
April 14, 2013
Who knew that tornadoes could be like Baby Bear. It can’t be too hot. It can’t be too cold. It has to be j-u-u-u-s-s-s-t right!
Spring tornadoes are like car crashes. When hot, moist air and cold air collide, it gets messy.
The greater the contrast between the air mass temperatures, the more energetic the storm.
That’s why most early tornadoes usually start in along the Gulf, where the warm wet air from the Gulf of Mexico hits the cold winter air.
As spring continues and the warm air moves... more
April 7, 2013
It’s time to start dreaming of a garden. You whip out your seed packets and cheerfully gaze at the little map at the back—the plant hardiness zone map.
You just want to know when it’s safe to get the seeds in the ground.
Did you know that colorful little map has been a hotbed of controversy?
It’s a new zone map, produced last year by the US Department of Agriculture.
The map is a geographic guide to plants that are suitable for your local climate based on the average cold temperatures.
USDA... more
April 1, 2013
Spring 2013 came. So did a blizzard. The spring storm rumbled through North America, and left snow in 44 of 50 states and all of Canada.
Then it rolled into the Atlantic Ocean and became a real monster! By the last day of March, the storm stretches across the entire ocean, from Canada to Spain, Greenland to the Caribbean. It became a storm on steroids.
This giant storm now reaches from Greenland to the Caribbean, Canada to Spain. Source: NASA
The storm is much more powerful as well. The... more
March 10, 2013
Brrrrr! It’s not a word you normally hear in sunny Southern California, but last week was not so sunny.
Instead, two storms roared through the Southwest bringing rain, chilly weather and snow in the mountains.
It was wonderful!
Snow in the West – it’s a beautiful thing! Source: Zink Dawg at en.wikipedia
If you live in the Desert Southwest, any rain or snow is welcome. Unfortunately, this winter has been relatively dry. For the millions who depend on the run-off from the mountain snowmelt, this... more
March 3, 2013
It’s been cold in the South. Freezing temperatures, even snow, hit Florida. (Denver and Tampa had the same temperatures!) Another storm is pouring into the Midwest and is expected to hit the Mid-Atlantic States.
Why the storminess? Blame the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the crossing guard of the Atlantic.
The North Atlantic Oscillation determines whether cold fronts cross the Atlantic or linger in the East. SOURCE: Microsoft
The NAO is a weather pattern that lets cold fronts cross the... more
February 17, 2013
Most “space weather” is remote – a solar flare or a geomagnetic storm that causes auroras and radio static. This month, however, space weather got close up and personal.
A meteorite crashed into Russia the day after Valentine’s Day.
A few hours later, the 150-foot-wide (45 meters) asteroid 2012 DA14 zoomed by Earth in an extremely close flyby. (It was actually 17,200 miles away, but that’s getting cozy in space.)
Then another meteor fireball whizzed over the North American West Coast, with a... more
January 22, 2013
Are you cold yet? Frigid Arctic air finally arrived in the Midwest and East Coast.
For those of you who were wishing for a real winter, be careful what you wish for. Temperatures in Minnesota dropped to -29˚ degrees. Other Midwestern temperatures are theoretically warmer but with the wind chill factor, they range from -20˚ to -40˚F (- 29˚ to -40˚C for our Canadian readers).
The Alberta Clipper has arrived with a cargo of cold.
It’s odd to name a miserable weather event in the middle of the... more
January 14, 2013
“Having a blast” isn’t always a good thing. When you are talking about space weather, solar storms and flares, the last thing this Earth needs is a blast.
As this year’s Old Farmer’s Almanac reports, 2013 is the peak of the solar sunspot cycle.
The sun goes through an eleven-year cycle of sunspot activity, going from a still, quiet surface to a period where the sun is ripped by tens, even hundreds of huge storms. These hurricane-like storms are cooler than the rest of the sun, so they look like... more
January 6, 2013
It’s easy to find something good to say about every season – except flu season. When the cold weather comes, so do the sniffles, aches, coughing, fevers and general nasty misery. UGH!
This year is worse than usual and the usual is miserable. It started 5 weeks earlier than normal and is widespread in 42 of the 50 states and 11 of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. Moreover, according to experts, the season hasn’t even peaked. Typically, influenza peaks in January.
Why? Why is the coldest... more
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Mike Steinberg is Senior Vice President for Special Initiatives at AccuWeather Inc in State College, Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the National Weather Association and the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.
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