WunderBlog Archive » Weather Extremes

Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.

2012 April

Record Late Season Snowfalls Redux

I posted a blog last year at this time on record late-season snowfalls and thought given the big snowstorm in the higher elevations of Pennsylvania and New York on April 22-24 I would produce an update.

weatherhistorian, • 8:02 PM GMT on April 24, 2012

March 2012 Global Weather Extremes Summary

March was notable weather-wise for the extraordinary early spring heat wave that affected the eastern two thirds of the U.S. and southern and eastern portions of Canada. It was one of the most anomalous temperature events on record for anywhere in the world. March heat records were also set in Scotland, Iceland, Norway, the Summit station on Greenland's ice cap, and Perth, Australia. A massive tornado outbreak in the U.S. killed 39. Cyclone Irina resulted in 72 deaths in Madagascar and severe storms with flooding rains occurred in Hawaii and eastern Australia.Below is a summary some of the month’s highlights.

weatherhistorian, • 11:05 PM GMT on April 13, 2012

State-by-State and Regional Analysis of Temperature and Precipitation Trends

I’ve been pouring over the statistical database that the NCDC maintains on temperature and precipitation trends and looking at the it for a state-by-state analysis. The database begins in 1895 (when the U.S. Weather Bureau began to homogenize its observation techniques) and is current up to February 2012. There are some surprises, but by and large the trend is certainly towards warmer and wetter conditions in most regions of the country.

weatherhistorian, • 7:30 PM GMT on April 07, 2012

March Rains/Snow Make Dent in California’s Dry Winter

As of March 12th California was on track towards one of its driest water seasons on record. San Jose, for instance, had only measured 3.13” since the beginning of the water season on July 1, 2011 (25% of normal to date). Most of the state was averaging 25-50% of normal rainfall and Sierra snow pack levels were also below normal at similar rates. Since March 13th a series of wet storms have saved the state from the prospect of drought and more storms are forecast over the coming week.

weatherhistorian, • 8:10 PM GMT on April 01, 2012