2019 Summer Solstice Friday, June 21 at 11:54 am EDT Duration of Summer 2019: 93 days, 15 hours, 56 minutes How many days until summer? Countdown To Summer 2019 Related: Number of days until fall 2019 Number of days until winter
Fall 2019 Begins: Monday, September 23 at 3:50 am EDT Duration of Fall 2019: 89 days, 20 hours, 29 minutes Related: How many days until winter? Number of days until spring 2019?
Daylight saving time (DST) begins: Sunday, March 10th, 2019. ● When will DST end (return to standard time)? ● 2019 Countdown to Spring ● A few interesting DST tidbits ● Brief history of daylight saving time What is the Annual Duration of Daylight Saving Time? Answer: We spend 65% of the year, or 238 days, … Read more
The evolution of broadcast meteorology goes hand in hand with scientific advances and the method that it is communicated to the consumer. Timeline of broadcast meteorology (1915-1982) The evolution of broadcast meteorology has worked hand in hand with advances in technology. This is true both with the scientific advances of meteorology itself, and the way that … Read more
Imagine yourself as a cloud, happily floating over the surface of the Earth without a care in the world. As you drift across the sky, the millions of tiny water droplets and ice crystals that you are composed of brush against each other, causing a buildup of electric charges in your cloud body. The negative … Read more
The town of New Bern, North Carolina, located approximately 40 miles inland from the coastline along the Neuse River, has recorded storm surge greater than 6 feet above ground level for more than 24 hours in a row. The Neuse River is a saltwater river that empties into the Pamlico Sound in coastal North Carolina, … Read more
Rainfall Records for DFW (Since Records Began) [year]: Rainfall so far this year DFW Records Summary: 2015 is the wettest year on record (rainfall in 2015) Wettest November on record The most rain ever recorded on any day in November (11/27/15) The greatest 2-day total ever recorded within the 215 days between September 23 and … Read more
Mesocyclone-Induced Downbursts Associated With The Landfall Of Hurricane Irene (1999) Over S. FL 24th AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology Stacy R. Stewart and Chris C. Robbins Tropical Prediction Center, Miami, Florida 1. Introduction This paper examines the occurrence of multiple damaging downbursts or “miniswirls” with the passage of Hurricane Irene across South … Read more
Whether you are searching for potentially life-saving weather information, a local forecast, or even historical weather data, there are a number of government and private weather sites that you can visit. Since your tax dollars fund government weather organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), I will focus on some of their useful sites. Dedicated meteorologists, using the … Read more
The National Weather Service’s Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network across the United States consists of 155 Doppler radar sites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 2013, the entire WSR-88D network was upgraded to dual-polarization capabilities, meaning that the Doppler radar can emit pulses in both the horizontal and vertical plane. … Read more
Every emergency guide out there suggests you get a backup generator to power your home after the electricity goes out, so learning more about home generators work and what they can do is a must if you want to be prepared. Hurricanes, winter storms and even simple outages can happen at any time; no matter … Read more
A blocking weather pattern has encompassed much of the nation throughout the summer. A persistent area of high pressure and large-scale, high-amplitude ridging over the western half of the country has resulted in hot temperatures and extremely low atmospheric moisture content. These are the conditions necessary for the development of wildfires. Last week, NOAA’s Geostationary … Read more
Important Update #1 [Monday 10/3 at 3 pm EDT] Since this page was created 8 hours ago, new model data have continued to trend the track of Hurricane Matthew westward, closer to the eastern Florida coast, tracking northeast along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. If future data continue to show this … Read more
This is an amazing satellite loop of Super Typhoon Meranti tracking toward southern Taiwan, with the eye passing just south of Taiwan’s southern tip. Meranti is now headed for the northern Philippines & southeast China. As of late Tuesday afternoon (9/13/16), Super Typhoon Meranti had become the strongest storm on Earth so far in 2016, … Read more
A vigorous upper-level disturbance is moving into West Texas this morning. The trough axis (and associated forcing) will not move east of the area until tonight. As the system approaches North Texas, a copious amount of Gulf moisture continues to advect into North Texas. As of 11 am, much of the area has already seen … Read more
Names for Tropical Cyclones in the North Atlantic and Caribbean Names for Tropical Cyclones in the East Pacific When Does Hurricane Season Begin? In the North Atlantic and Caribbean, hurricane season basins begins on June 1. In the East Pacific, hurricane season begins on May 15. What is the Difference Between a Hurricane and Typhoon? … Read more
Whether a natural disaster arrives in the form of an earthquake, tsunami, tornado, or hurricane, it is almost guaranteed that the poor will suffer from the aftereffects of the incident much more than wealthier individuals. This is due in part to the fact that individuals living in poverty often lack the resources that would help … Read more
Like humans, our pets can have phobias, such a stress-inducing fear of loud noises, fireworks, and thunderstorms. As a pet-owner, you have an awareness of your dog’s mood and her behavior likely alerts you to an approaching thunderstorm, even before you hear the first clap of thunder. She may cry or whimper, tremble, or scurry … Read more
This was a lot of fun for me. The Weather Channel featured me on their “Weather Geeks” show, which is hosted by my friend and colleague, Dr. Marshall Shepherd. My Favorite Photo I have over 30,000 photos in my library, and the first photo shown in the segment is my favorite. This was a historic … Read more
…Daily rainfall record shattered at DFW on the 28th… …Also the most rainfall ever recorded on ANY day in February… …February 2018 is now the wettest on record for DFW… A heavy rain event on the last day of the month pushed monthly rainfall totals to record levels at DFW Airport in the Dallas/Fort Worth … Read more
Strong vertical wind shear is important for the development of severe convective storms including the type of thunderstorm, its orientation, and its life span. Wind shear can influence storms in several ways, including speed shear and directional shear. Speed shear is a change in the wind speed with respect to height, while directional shear is the … Read more
December 2015 was unseasonably warm for Atlanta, Georgia. The temperature fell below freezing only one time, on December 19th when the low temperature was 29ºF. The day prior, on December 18th, the low was only 32ºF. In 2015, the average temperature (combined high and low) was 57.5ºF, which breaks the record previously set 126 years … Read more
The day after Christmas Day in 2015, an outbreak of tornadoes across the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and northern Texas. There were a total of 12 confirmed tornadoes, including one violent tornado that was rated an EF-4 with estimated winds to 180mph that devastated the communities of Garland and Rowlett as it crossed Interstate 30. Below … Read more
Introduction This informative forecast writing will focus on the weather forecasting tools and concepts that are used to predict winter weather events. There are various types of winter weather events that are analyzed and forecasted including mid-latitude cyclones, ice storms, lake-effect snows and sleet storms. Each of these will be discussed separately. In addition, bust … Read more
Introduction The title is a question that is frequently asked of meteorologists, especially in the wake of an abnormally warm or cool season; it is a topic of interest among atmospheric scientists and the general public alike. In this article, we will attempt to answer this question using climatology, casting aside gut feelings and old … Read more
The atmosphere can display phenomenal optical features through the bending of light. You may have looked up at the sky on a day with high-level clouds, e.g. cirrus clouds, which are composed of ice crystals. These hexagonal ice crystals act as prisms, and when a photon (a particle of light) passes through the ice crystal, … Read more
The City of Rowlett, Texas, continues their efforts to raise money for those affected by the EF-4 tornado that impacted the area on December 26th, 2015. Rowlett Strong, the non-profit organization involved, has earned a Gold Participant status from the GuideStar non-profit organization. GuideStar is one of the world’s largest source of non-profit information. Rowlett … Read more
A new polar orbiting satellite, the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), is scheduled to launch Wednesday, November 15th, at 1:47am PDT from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Update [11/16 at 11:39am CST]: The morning launch was scrubbed due to strong upper level winds. The new launch time is scheduled for Saturday, November 18th, … Read more
Last year on November 19th, 2016, GOES-16 (formerly GOES-R) was launched on the Atlas V541 rocket from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nearly a year after its launch into geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 22,240 miles above the Earth’s surface, the satellite constellation will begin its drift to the GOES-East … Read more
As of 5:00pm AST today, October 11th, Hurricane Ophelia became the 10th consecutive named system in the Atlantic Basin to reach hurricane strength. According to research meteorologists at the Colorado State University, this ties the all-time record previously set in 1995 for the second most on record through October 11th (it also ties records set … Read more