News
04/30/2023, 11:21 am EDT

El Nino, Marine Heat Waves, and July 2023 Northern Hemisphere Climate Risks

Evolving El Nino coupled with marine heat waves suggest the warmest global ocean temperatures on record are ahead for 2023. As of March, global SSTA were the 3rd warmest in 174 years. Certainly, the super warm global SSTA will influence climate patterns. Of leading interest is where drought areas emerge during the northern hemisphere summer. Right now, concern areas are tropical SSTA-driven drought in Western Indonesia and possibly India while MHW-driven drought returns to Europe and the U.S.
04/24/2023, 5:49 am EDT

Projecting May 5-7 Snow Cover Dissipation Dates for Northern Plains/Upper Midwest

The late April 2023 snow cover across the northern Great Plains and Upper Midwest is rare but not unprecedented. Since 1998 (when satellite snow cover is easily attainable) late April significant snow cover across the northern Great Plains and Upper Midwest occurred in 2013, 2017, and 2022.
04/11/2023, 9:10 am EDT

Great Plains Drought Resiliency Redeveloping?

From North Dakota to Kansas, 91% of that stretch was in drought at the beginning of the year. That number lowers to 77% in early April. In the Oklahoma to Texas stretch, 68% of that region was in drought on the 1st of January lowering to 52% in early April. So…aerial coverage of drought has lowered through Q1/2023. However, intense D3/D4 drought remains prominent in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. The precipitation outlooks indicate worsening conditions are possible over the next 6 weeks.
04/07/2023, 9:16 am EDT

Tutorial: Using Mega-cluster Ensemble to Project Great Plains Precipitation

At issue is the Great Plains/Texas drought as mid-meteorological spring approaches. All western and southern Kansas plus the Oklahoma Panhandle are in D4 (“exceptional drought”) classification. To best understand the 15-day outlook, the mega-cluster ensemble is considered to determine rainfall risk in the drought areas.