At the time of this writing, I am enjoying a beautiful train ride along the Hudson River between New York City and Albany. Although the sun is shining and temperatures are in the 70s, some early hints of fall color are showing up on the Catskills to the west. Fall typically is not a time when most of us have ‘hazardous weather’ on our minds, especially here in the northeast U.S. where fall can be one of the most idyllic times of year. However, weather hazards can present themselves in any season, and fall is no exception.
Many of us turn to the National Weather Service for weather warnings and forecasts, but did you know that the National Weather Service is only one part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA? Our tax dollars help to fund this agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, so let’s look deeper at the mission of this very important organization and its offices.
At the time of this writing on Tuesday, September 2, Hurricane Dorian is currently bringing heavy rain, winds and storm surge to the Bahamas as it makes its slow trek towards the eastern U.S. coastline. This storm has proven to be very difficult to forecast, in part because of its rapid intensification and slow speed. Let’s look back and see how this dangerous situation evolved and where the forecast impacts are expected in the next 3-5 days.
Across the country, students, teachers, and parents alike have been getting back into the groove of a new school year. I don’t know about y’all, but I always LOVED the start of a new school year (and to be honest, I still love this time of year!) Settling into a comfortable new routine, setting new goals…..it’s almost like a second New Year. There is one group of people that we all would be lost without, and those are our hard-working teachers! Teachers have a huge influence on a student’s ability to learn and get excited about a subject. I am still forever grateful to each of my teachers, from my kindergarten teacher to my high school math and science teachers to my meteorology professors in college. They each instilled in me a desire to continually learn more, and I believe that is likely the goal of every teacher. This post is dedicated to the hard-working teachers across the world, and we want to share with you all some great ways to bring NOAA science and data into your classroom.
For those of us who live in upstate New York, it may seem like the weather has been exceptionally active during the last two weeks. You are not imagining things; August 2019 has brought numerous rounds of severe weather and damaging winds to the region. Let’s look look back at the last two or three weeks to see what happened:
Just three days ago, on August 12, 2019, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) released the newest State of the Climate providing a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected. The State of the Climate in 2018 is the 29th issuance of this international, peer-reviewed publication that is released each summer. The report is based on contributions from scientists around the world andis compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Although we can’t possibly cover all the topics in one blog post, we wanted to share some highlights with you, and we invite you to take a look at the report as well! It is full of valuable information, and we believe that an informed community is a resilient community.
As we change the calendar to a new month, it seems like a good time to review how meteorology has made news headlines this summer. While the weather often makes the news as a front-page headline when there is a high-impact event, the work that meteorologists and other scientists do on a day-to-day basis can help to keep the public safe, project changes in climate that can lead to positive changes in public policy, and engage with schoolchildren and teachers to encourage learning in the field of meteorology. This week, we highlight just a sampling of the many ways that weather, climate, and meteorology has made news headlines recently:
Did you know that there are millions of everyday citizens across the world that are helping advance science in a wide variety of disciplines? These citizen scientists (a term that refers to everyday citizens who are intrigued by and passionate about science, but don’t necessarily have a formal scientific background) collaborate with scientists to expand opportunities for scientific data collection and to advance research in nearly every field! Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, notes that “By encouraging everyday Americans to engage in scientific research, our citizen science authorities benefit communities and the country as a whole, as well as advance our science and technology enterprise.” Whether you are interested in public health, astronomy, biology, ornithology (the study of birds!), meteorology, or pretty much anything you can think of…there is likely a project for you!
Three citizen scientists strolling along a sidewalk in Boulder, Colorado to gather data on Earth’s magnetic field using the CrowdMag cellphone app. Photo courtesy: Jennifer Taylor, CIRES Continue reading “Collaborative Citizen Science”
At this point in midsummer, it is hard NOT to have the outdoor bug, and many of us in the U.S. will head to our National Parks to enjoy the outdoors in a variety of ways. Did you know that Yellowstone was the first National Park, established in 1872? President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) is possibly the most well-known supporter of the development of the National Park System; during his terms in office, the number of National Parks doubled. The legislation known as the Antiquities Act, which he signed into law, gave him and future presidents the ability to declare historic landmarks and national monuments, many of which are part of the National Park System today. At our wide array of National Parks, Seashores, Reserves, Battlefields, Monuments, and Historic Sites, visitors can learn about the history and culture of our country, as well as enjoy and appreciate the huge variety of climates and beautiful scenery that exist in the United States.
A strengthening upper level ridge across the Central and Eastern United States is resulting in sweltering heat and dangerous conditions across the eastern two thirds of the country. Widespread excessive heat warnings, watches, and heat advisories are in effect, with daytime highs in the 90s to above 100 are expected. These high temperatures, combined with dewpoints soaring into the mid to upper 70s will result in over 70 million people experiencing heat indices over 100 degrees! The heat index is a measure of how hot it feels when relative humidity is factored into the actual air temperature.
