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19 September 2018
September 2018: It’s Like Walking Around in A Dogs Mouth
I did a little research on just how incredibly uncomfortable the summer of 2018 has been in the Northeastern U.S. and the numbers are astounding. The graphs below show how many hours the dew point was above a certain level in different time periods. All months means total hours since Jan. 1st through Sept. 18th 2018. NOTE For those who are shaky on what the dew point is, let me …
7 August 2018
The Right Answer To The Wrong Question
You’re standing at the South Pole marker at Amundsen-Scott Station, and someone asks “which direction is the South Pole Telescope from here?” “Go north!”, is a correct answer to the wrong question! Here is another wrong question: Did climate change cause the recent Europe-wide heat wave? Did climate change cause Death Valley to have the hottest month ever reliably recorded on Earth? How about the California fires that are still burning (and …
19 June 2017
Fire & Rain, and Heat as Well.
Intense heat, with low humidity has led to a horrible catastrophe in Portugal. The hot and dry weather in Europe led to a firestorm in Portugal that killed at least 60 people. A strong upper level high pressure system will stay over the area tomorrow and little or no rain is in sight. This high pressure is bringing warm weather all the way into the UK with highs tomorrow in …
12 February 2017
Astonishing February Heat From Colorado to Oklahoma, and Into The High Arctic
Denver reached 80 degrees Friday, smashing their record high for the 10th of February by 9 degrees, but wait, there’s more. They also saw their hottest February temperature on record, and records there go back to 1872! Grant was President of the U.S. when temperature records began in Denver. Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, also saw their hottest February day on record. The heat shifted south into Oklahoma today and Oklahoma City smashed their …
12 August 2016
Brutal Heat For the Eastern Seaboard This Weekend.
A weekend of brutal heat is on the way, from here on Delmarva, to DC, and all the way to New York, with heat index values well above 100. Extreme humidity covers much of the Eastern half of the U.S. this Friday evening, and the high moisture content of the air is pushing heat index values into the danger range. The levels of water vapor in the atmosphere are also …
24 July 2016
The Heat, the Floods, and the Danger of Underestimating How to Handle it.
The NASA Terra satellite measurements of ground temps. in the early afternoon clearly show the heat, and the extra heat added by the urban concrete (and road systems) was clearly visible. On a day like today, large cities can be much hotter than the rural areas. Also, notice how the temps near the Delaware coast are hotter than inland in Delaware (and here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland). A …
17 July 2016
What Not To Do During The Heat Wave Next Week!
There is very high agreement in the medium range models this morning that an intense heat wave will build across the Eastern U.S. this coming week. It will begin in the Plains on Tuesday, and get much stronger by Wednesday, spreading highs above 100 into the Dakotas and Minnesota. It will then steadily shift eastward, reaching the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic by Friday, and over the weekend. The oceans globally (and …
12 July 2016
Extreme Heat Coming For Much of North America Next Week
The long range model guidance has been giving strong hints that some real heat is on the way next week, and it will cover a large portion of the U.S. and extend into Canada as well. Long range forecasting is best done by looking at an average of several different models and several different model runs over a few days and there seems to be very good agreement that well …
14 August 2015
The Ugly Side of August Arrives in The Northeast Next Week
Unlike much of the Plains and the Deep South, the summer has not been that hot across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S. but next week is going to bring the ugly side of August to much of the region. The heat will likely make it all the way into Toronto and Montreal and affect millions of people. This same weather pattern a month ago would likely bring highs in the …
25 July 2014
Wildfire Smoke Reaches New York and Ontario
The wildfires from Washington and western/northern Canada continue to send a shroud of dense smoke to areas thousands of miles away. It’s been an almost autumn like afternoon over the Northeast U.S., and here in Maryland we have a deep blue sky with low humidity. No deep blue sky to our north however, where a dense layer of smoke covers southern Canada and New England. Below is the temperature anomalies …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.