Weather Update
June 26, 2012
Every hurricane season has its own personality. The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season is already revealing itself to be a weirdo in a hurry.
From two early birds, to a “zombie” to Tropical Storm Debby currently drenching Florida, every storm this season has broken a record!
And that’s only the first month of the season. We have five more months to go!
Dilly-dallying Debby dumping on Florida SOURCE: NOAAClick to expand picture!
Let’s look at the parade:
Tropical storms Alberto and Beryl were early... more
June 15, 2012
This week, the largest wildfire in its history is scorching New Mexico. Nine Western states, suffering from last winter’s drought, are at high risk for fire.
The U.S. Forest Service created Smokey Bear during the last long dry cycle in the West. SOURCE: USDA
Giant forest fires are nothing new to the West. Scientists are learning that these fires come in cycles that are connected to patterns in the Pacific. We are in a cycle that is reducing snowfall in the Western mountains. During the... more
June 4, 2012
When you think of June, you think of summer weather and weddings. The two are definitely related. While most people know that June is a traditional month for weddings, few realize how much these traditions were shaped by weather.
June – the month of summer weather and weddings
When you read the magazines, they state that June has always been the most popular month, named after Juno, Roman goddess of marriage. She would bring prosperity and happiness to all who wed in her month. However, if one... more
May 25, 2012
For the first time on record, both the Atlantic and the East Pacific have had tropical storms form before the opening of hurricane season.
In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Aletta began swirling four hours before the official opening of the East Pacific Hurricane Season on May 15. In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Alberto started the Atlantic Hurricane Season 13 days before the official June 1 beginning.
Does this mean we will have long and active hurricane seasons? It all depends on El Niño. If El... more
May 15, 2012
It’s official – the Atlantic Hurricane Season starts on June 1.So why did a number of weather blogs and services speculate on whether the Atlantic would get its first tropical storm during the second week of May?
Why are other services expecting a possible storm or hurricane during the last two weeks of the month? Why is the hurricane season in such a hurry?
The little storm that threatened to become tropical on May 13! (The Azore Islands are in the top right corner.) SOURCE: NOAA
The answer... more
May 8, 2012
“Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a bear … HUNGRY!”
Look out! That clanking sound you hear may be a ravenous black bear scurrying through your trashcans for dinner. This year, the winter and spring temperatures have been so warm that hibernating black, brown and grizzly bears have awakened early. Their interrupted sleep has left many grumpy and very hungry.
However, the bears are not the only early arrivals. Thanks to the hot flow of this spring’s Gulf Stream, we have seen plants, fish,... more
April 25, 2012
After a warm and relatively dry winter and early spring, April brought snow!
A huge April Nor’easter slammed the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Some areas got over a foot of snow!
More than 75,000 people were left without power.
What in the world is happening? Why did this happen?
Here's some insight …
Happy April! SOURCE: NOAA
Blame it on the NAO, the crossing guard of the Atlantic. The North Atlantic Oscillation is an air pattern that allows cold Arctic air to whiz across the Atlantic.... more
April 9, 2012
Welcome to the extreme tornado season of 2012—a tornado season on steriods.
Have you seen the storm that tossed 18-wheelers around in Dallas? How about the eight (8!) tornadoes that roamed Michigan on March 15? Did you hear about the one that hit Hawaii and dropped a hailstone the size of a grapefruit?
Spring started early this year and so did the tornado season.
The nation’s first cyclone swirled around the Texas Big Bend country on January 9. By March 23, the tornado season was officially the... more
April 2, 2012
Here is the good news. The La Niña is vanishing.
One of the major factors that shaped the autumn and winter of 201½012 was the La Niña in the Pacific. This pattern of wind and water in the Pacific helped to shape weather around the world.
Here in the US, it helped create the drought that eliminated so much of the snow in the Western mountains. It created a two-year drought in Texas and left large stretches of the South high and dry.
By the middle of March, 58% of the contiguous US was dry or in... more
February 27, 2012
First Grímsvötn volcano erupted through a glacier. Then it exploded through the air. Finally, its debris changed the atmosphere so much that it blasted winter away from most of the US.
Most people don’t even know anything about Grímsvötn. It blew up in the middle of Iceland last May. Ash and chemicals roared 12 miles high into the air. Then everyone discovered that its ash was too high to mess with air travel to Europe and forgot about it. Unfortunately, the ash and chemicals are still... 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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