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Rich moisture feed helped blizzard bury Northeast
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 12th, 2013
Climate Central: The weekend blizzard in the Northeast, dubbed "Nemo" by The Weather Channel, socked the region with stunning snowfall totals of more than 3 feet in some places. A persistent band of extremely heavy snow, with snowfall rates in excess of 4 inches per hour, sat over parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts for several hours during the height of the storm, resulting in the snow jackpot of 40 inches in Hamden, Conn.
The amazing snowfall totals were, in part, the result of the rich tropical moisture...
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What You Need to See to Understand Blizzard ‘Nemo’
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 9th, 2013
Climate Central: The blizzard of 2013, named "Nemo" by weather.com, is unleashing a paralyzing blitz of heavy snow, strong winds, and coastal flooding in the Northeast. These images and videos help explain the dynamics powering the storm, as well as its potential consequences.
This three-day satellite loop from NASA shows how the blizzard grew out of a moisture-charged storm traversing the southern part of the country, and a northern system riding the polar jet stream down from the Midwest. Once those two systems...
Blizzard Buries New England, Breaks Snowfall Records
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 9th, 2013
Climate Central: Millions of New Englanders woke up to a staggering amount of snow as well as coastal flooding problems on Saturday after one of the worst winter storms on record slammed the region with whiteout conditions and hurricane-force winds, dumping more than 3 feet of snow in some places.
The storm shut down travel across the region, knocked out power to nearly 700,000 customers, stranded motorists in their vehicles on Long Island, and exceeded benchmarks set during the infamous Blizzard of 1978, which...
Blizzard of 2013 Brings Another Threat: Coastal Flooding
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 8th, 2013
Climate Central: While the blizzard bearing down on New England has understandbly brought national attention to what could be record snowfall, the storm brings another dangerous threat to the region: coastal flooding.
The blizzard of 2013 may cause major coastal flooding along the Massachusetts coastline from a storm surge as high as 5 feet and waves greater than 30 feet tall. The storm also arrives just days after a report warned of the region's growing vulnerability to such storm-surge events. The report, by...
Threat Of Upcoming Blizzard Seen Through 6 Images
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 7th, 2013
Climate Central: The blockbuster snowstorm headed for southern New England beginning on Friday is expected to unleash a potentially crippling amount of snow in some areas, perhaps more than 2 feet. Due to the combination of high winds and heavy snow, blizzard warnings have been issued from Maine to Long Island, including Boston, Hartford, Providence, and New York City. The worst of the weather is expected to come on Friday night into Saturday, when snow could fall at rates of 2-to-4 inches per hour in some areas,...
Deadly Georgia Tornado First in a Record 220 Days
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 31st, 2013
Climate Central: The longest streak of days on record without a tornado-related fatality in the U.S. came to a violent end on Wednesday morning, when a large and powerful tornado struck Adairsville, Ga., killing at least one person in a mobile home park. That tornado, which may rank as an EF-4 -- the second most powerful on the Enhanced Fujita Scale -- overturned cars on I-75 and damaged numerous buildings in downtown Adairsville, which is about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta. Other twisters touched down in Arkansas,...
Storm Brings Tornado Outbreak and Blizzard Conditions
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 26th, 2012
Climate Central: A far-reaching storm system tore across the South on Tuesday, causing what is likely to go into the record books as the worst Christmas Day tornado outbreak on record. The storm responsible for the severe weather also spread a swath of snow and ice from Texas to Indiana, and the whole mess of extreme weather slid east on Wednesday, with a string of blizzard warnings that stretched at least 700 miles across seven states as of midday Wednesday.
The storm was already wreaking havoc with holiday travel....
A Year After Flooding, Commerce on Mississippi Imperiled
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 18th, 2012
Climate Central: The drought that continues to affect a majority of the lower 48 states is jeopardizing the flow of commerce along parts of the Mississippi River, a vital waterway for transporting $7 billion worth of commodities such as coal, grain, cement, chemicals and other materials.
It was only a year ago that there was record flooding along the Mississippi River and many of its tributaries. Heavy rainfall combined with spring snowmelt to cause the mighty Mississippi to overflow its banks, damaging towns...
Area Burned By U.S. Wildfires Expected To Double by 2050
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 14th, 2012
Climate Central: Warmer and drier conditions in coming decades will likely cause the burned area from wildfires in the U.S. to double in size by 2050, according to new research based on satellite observations and computer modeling experiments. The research, which was first presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco on Dec. 4, provides insight into both recent wildfire trends and the sharp increase in dryness -- and therefore wildfire susceptibility -- in certain regions of...
NOAA Forms Hurricane Sandy Review Team, Again
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 11th, 2012
Climate Central: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the formation of an interagency review team to study the National Weather Service's (NWS) performance leading up to and during Hurricane Sandy. According to a statement from David Titley, the NOAA deputy undersecretary for operations, the team will be led by a scientist with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, and will include two social scientists and 10 experts from NWS, FEMA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...