Data for July 2016 make it clear that this summer is worming its way into the nation’s warmest batch on record, thanks in large part to consistently sultry nights in many areas. Meteorological summer so far--June plus July--has been the fifth warmest for the contiguous U.S. in 122 years of recordkeeping, according to the July climate report released on Thursday by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Ahead of 2016 at this point are the ...

Hurricane Earl, reinvigorated to a strong tropical storm with 60 mph winds as it passed over the southernmost portion of Mexico's Bay of Campeche on Friday, August 5, dropped torrential rains in excess of twelve inches over the coastal mountains of Mexico east of Mexico City over the weekend, unleashing flash floods and mudslides that are being blamed for 45 deaths in Mexico. This is an unusually high death toll for Mexico, which prides itself on its excellent civil...

When a molecule of water vapor heads toward the poles, it may well be hitching a ride on an atmospheric river (AR). A growing amount of research is zeroing in on these narrow but powerful channels of airborne moisture, which are far more widespread and influential than scientists once thought. Garden-variety ARs tend to have a beneficial influence overall, but the biggest and baddest ARs can produce colossal rainfall and snowfall and major destruction. And Godzilla ...

With moist air predominant over much of the United States, several distinct areas of heavy rain will take aim on roadways, drainage systems, and people’s nerves over the coming week. The deluge has already begun across the central Gulf Coast, especially along the Florida coast from Tallahassee to Tampa, where totals of 3-6” were widespread from Sunday into Monday. These showers and thunderstorms are being fed by very high amounts of atmospheric moisture (more th...

There were no major adjustments in the August update to the 2016 CSU Atlantic hurricane outlook, issued on Thursday by Colorado State University. These outlooks are produced by Dr. Phil Klotzbach, who worked closely with CSU’s Dr. William Gray for many years prior to Dr. Gray’s passing in April. In the updated outlook, CSU projects a total of 15 named storms this year, including the four that developed before August 1 (Hurricane Alex and Tropical Storms Bonnie, ...