The first two months of hurricane season have been one of the quietest in recent memory. Only three storms have been named so far, and one of them was actually over land. This has come as a bit of a surprise to people both inside outside of the weather community since forecasts for the 2022 season called for above-average activity with up to 20 named storms. However, it is my opinion that the peak of this hurricane season will be very active, so I want to explain why I think so and why some experts are coming to the same conclusion.
To the surprise of many in the last few days, plowable snow is likely to occur Monday morning and afternoon all across South Jersey. This might seem weird considering it’s currently in the 60s and raining, but like a good recipe, the ingredients have been coming together over the last 24 hours to deliver a legit snowstorm for parts of the region. Below I’ll talk about what these factors are and how much snow to expect.
Yet another winter storm looks to impact the Philadelphia region on Thursday, bringing all types of precipitation with it. Location will play a huge role this time – some spots will change to plain rain, others will remain snow the whole time, and places in between may be stuck with several hours of sleet or freezing rain.
A quick-moving storm will move through the area tomorrow, bringing a mix closer to the coast while inland areas will stay snow for the duration. The maximum potential for this storm will be nothing like other snow events that we’ve had so far this season. Instead of 12+”, there could be a few spots that pick up 6″ or more, but most locations will have less snow than that and I explain why below.
For the first time since early 2019, all of New Jersey will see accumulating snow thanks to a storm currently moving across the country. This will be a long-lasting nor’easter – precipitation begins tomorrow night and it won’t move away until sometime on Tuesday. Exact impacts will depend on where you are across the state. The snow should start in about 24 hours, so it’s time to break down this storm and finally bust out the all-important snow map.
This past Tuesday, a press release was published by the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance, an organization whose number one priority is to begin naming and ranking heat waves around the world. The EHRA was formed that same day, so usually I wouldn’t think much of something so new…except the press release has already commanded serious attention in the weather community, and the idea of naming heat waves has headlined several national news stories in the past few days. With an open mind, let me explain why that idea would do more harm than good.
In late Spring and Summer, we’re used to seeing thunderstorms with heavy rain and lightning. Damaging winds and hail are more unusual, but if it does happen, then the weather usually calms down afterwards. Two rounds of high-end weather in the same day? Sounds impossible, but in true 2020 fashion the impossible became reality on June 3rd as the Philadelphia region turned into a Twister movie set thanks to two sets of intense storms. It’s worth asking what exactly happened, why it happened, and if it means anything.
Every year around October and November, people want to know how much snow there’s going to be for the upcoming winter. They may watch the local news stations’ forecasts and hear about things like El Niño / La Niña, the amount of snow cover in Siberia and Northern Canada, and in recent years the Polar Vortex. Even though there are other factors that play into a winter forecast, there is one in particular that can be more important than most of the others, but you almost never hear about it – the Madden-Julian Oscillation (or MJO for short). It’s more difficult to explain than the other patterns listed above, but it’s a big reason why areas from Philadelphia through Boston were sitting near 70 degrees on an early morning in mid-January, so it’s worth talking about what the MJO is and how it will help completely flip our winter pattern over the next few weeks.
Every year around June 1, we’ll hear a few news stories about the start of hurricane season and making sure you’re prepared to deal with a storm if it heads your way. Then we’ll often hear nothing for 2-3 months…until the start of September, when tropical news updates scroll nearly constantly across the bottom of your TV screen and Jim Cantore anchors down for storm coverage, setting everyone nearby into a panic. Why is this the way things run pretty much every year, and how is hurricane season looking this year? Should we expect the tropics to act differently in the future?
It was supposed to be a happy week filled with vacations and celebrations of our country’s birthday. For residents in southern California, that changed quickly Thursday as a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Ridgecrest area. That was already the strongest in the region over the last 20 years, but the next night a 7.1 earthquake hit Ridgecrest again. Was there any way that we could have seen it coming, and does it mean larger earthquakes are about to happen?
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