05/06/2024, 1:55 pm EDT
Note the anomalous warmth in the south and southeast North Atlantic basin. That’s at least twice as warm as the previous record warm signature. A marine heat wave off Northwest Africa is the catalyst for the warming.
News
05/06/2024, 1:52 pm EDT
The Nino34 SSTA cooled to the El Nino threshold (+0.5C) last week while the entire Nino SSTA region averaged +0.5C, which is slightly warmer than much of April. Notably, the Nino12 SSTA off the northwest coast of South America warmed dramatically the past 2 weeks. Meanwhile, in the subsurface, the cooling necessary to cause an ENSO phase change from El Nino to La Nina continued. In April, the subsurface equatorial Pacific was cooler and firmly within the La Nina threshold.
05/05/2024, 12:03 pm EDT
NOAA issued their fire risk outlook last week. In review, the May 2024 risk highlights Southeast Arizona, parts of eastern New Mexico, and north-central Florida as susceptible to fire development and expansion due to dry soils. Note that all the Hawaiian Islands are in a similar risk throughout the next 4 months. Also note the lack of fire risk in California into mid-summer due to plentiful soil moisture largely created by runoff from snowmelt.
05/05/2024, 8:33 am EDT
An excessive rainfall episode reminiscent of “Harvey” in 2017 steadily emerged over east and north Texas, Oklahoma, and into Louisiana and Arkansas throughout the past week. Rainfall amount in the 10-20 in. range is common in-between Houston and south of Dallas with peak amount (as of dawn yesterday) at Groveton, TX where 23.56 in. of rain was observed.