Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

U.S. has its 23rd coolest April; 16 tornadoes confirmed from Texas outbreak

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:29:00 GMT

It was an unusually cool April over much of the U.S. during April 2013, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in their latest State of the Climate report. It was the coolest April since 1997, and ranked as the 23rd coolest April in the 119-year record for the contiguous U.S., putting the month in the coldest 20% of all Aprils on record. North Dakota had its coldest April on record, and six additional states--South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minne...
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Study: 97% Agreement on Manmade Global Warming

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:36:00 GMT

The scientific agreement that climate change is happening, and that it's caused by human activity, is significant and growing, according to a new study published Thursday. The research, which is the most comprehensive analysis of climate research to date, found that 97.1% of the studies published between 1991 to 2011 that expressed a position on manmade climate change agreed that it was happening, and that it was due to human activity.

The st...
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EF-4 tornado kills 6 in Texas; Mahasen makes landfall in Bangladesh, killing 10

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:34:00 GMT

After going twelve months with a record-low tornado death toll of just seven people, last night we received a jolting reminder that tornadoes typically kill a lot more people than that in the U.S. A deadly tornado swept through Granbury, Texas near 8 pm CDT, killing six and injuring up to 100. The weather system that spawned the Granby tornado also unleashed a mile-wide twister that hit Cleburne, about 25 miles southeast of Granbury. Damage was heavy in Cleburne and...
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Extreme Weather Whiplash: 106° in Iowa on the Heels of Record May Snows

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:48:00 GMT

Does not compute! That must be what residents of Iowa and the Midwest have have been saying to themselves on Tuesday as a ferocious heat wave unprecedented in intensity for so early in the year sent temperatures soaring as high as 108°. Just two weeks ago, the deepest snowfall ever measured during any May of record buried a wide swath from Arkansas to Minnesota, with Iowa breaking its all-time snowfall record for May (13” accumulation at Osage on May 1 - 3.) And ...
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Mahasen not Strengthening; Eastern Pacific's First Tropical Depression Forming

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:34:00 GMT

Tropical Cyclone Mahasen in the Bay of Bengal continues to show little change as it steams north-northeastward at 14 mph towards the Bangladesh coast just north of the border with Myanmar. Though the storm is no longer expected to reach hurricane strength, Mahasen's storm surge and heavy rains represent a significant threat to people living in low-lying areas along the Bangladesh and Myanmar coasts. At least 70,000 people have been asked to evacuate, and a boat carr...
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