Latest News
06/02/2023, 8:13 am EDT
A combination of climate factors caused an upper-level high-pressure ridge in Canada to amplify attendant drying character from West Canada to the Great Plains during May.
06/01/2023, 5:30 pm EDT
The Climate Impact Company 2023 North Atlantic basin tropical cyclone season forecast is updated. The outlook maintains 7 hurricanes and 3 intense hurricanes while raising the number of tropical cyclones slightly from 12 to 13. However, a major increase in accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index from 92 to 136 is indicated.
05/30/2023, 8:20 am EDT
During May 2023 U.S. wind power generation was below normal on both zonal and meridional directional scales. Wind power generation areas across the Upper Midwest/Midwest U.S. and southwest Great Plains/Western Texas were each affected by the lighter than normal wind speed regimes. The macro-scale driver of the lighter wind speeds was an El Nino-like climate as defined by a vigorous negative phase of the southern oscillation index.
05/26/2023, 8:44 am EDT
NOAA issued their 2023 seasonal hurricane forecast yesterday (12-17 storms, 5-9 hurricanes, and 1-4 major hurricanes) which was slightly higher than the consensus of seasonal forecasts issued by Colorado State University, Tropical Storm Risk U.K., and Climate Impact Company. Meanwhile an area of possible development has developed off the Southeast Coast for the early weekend.
05/24/2023, 7:58 am EDT
So far, May 2023 has produced below normal zonal and meridional wind speeds across the U.S. particularly across most of the SPP and ERCOT regions of the Central U.S. Causal to the lack of wind is a large area of high pressure over Western Canada extending to the Great Plains and generally weak low pressure in the far southern States to the East Coast.
Climate Impact Company Chart of the Day
North Atlantic Warm Hole Is Catalyst to Midwest Drought Development/East U.S. Cool Bias
The North Atlantic warm hole (NAWH) is the result of stratifying cold water in the Labrador Sea and south of Greenland caused by accelerated snow and ice melt from East Canada and Greenland during the past 10 years. This prominent SSTA feature has shifted westward during the late spring season, the farthest west shift during the 2013-23 active period.
Climate Impact Company Climate Research
Climate/Agriculture Research: Status of Global Marine Heat Waves (and Warm Holes)
Marine heat waves (MHW’s) and oceanic warm holes are not new. However, their presence, intensity, and persistence has intensified during the past 10 years. Currently, Climate Impact Company (and other government/research centers in the U.S. and New Zealand) are monitoring 5 MHWs.