lookingnorth

Regardless of whether or not the sea ice values are normally distributed in a natural climate state (it's not something I've really looked into), this year is still clearly below all the other years in the satellite dataset for this time.

I like the topic idea. I am enrolled in a course on atmospheric radiation currently, and it is interesting learning about how aerosols influence atmospheric conditions. I have heard it claimed that the May 20, 2019 severe weather outbreak was weakened due to dust aerosols from further west. But I'm not a huge expert on the topic. I've also heard it said that switching from coal to natural gas may not be as beneficial in reducing climate change as people had hoped, because the aerosols from coal combustion help cool the climate and counteract some of the CO2 emissions from burning coal. But those aerosols still have negative direct effects on human health, so it is still better to switch.

It looks like Raleigh and Greensboro both wound up with a trace as per the official records.

That thing hit about a mile from my house. I know some people who sustained minor damage from the tornado. Luckily I was okay and avoided any damage and didn't even lose power.

Dewpoints are pushing 60 across most of Oklahoma currently. That's solid moisture for this time of year.

I got a slight glaze but nothing substantial.

It looks like the most recent runs of the NAM and HRRR have cut back somewhat on the precipitation amounts for the OKC area tomorrow night.

For the Monday event, the NAM has been consistent in showing snow over western Oklahoma, with less in the OKC and Tulsa metros. NWS Norman mentioned a lot of uncertainty in their morning forecast discussion.

Some places might be close to record highs tomorrow, for the second time this month.

19 other years

It still hasn't happened in OKC. It would be the first time since 2004 if we make it the whole summer without hitting 100.

I didn't even see that the second half of the list was for places in Washington.

If those 119's are verified, that would be a state record for Idaho, right?

Looks like some places broke their daily records by over 10°C!

It looks like the hot Northwest/cool Southern Plains setup will continue for the next couple weeks.

It looks warmer than average and uneventful for the near future.

What was the CPC showing for February?

It's bizarre seeing it run 15-25 degrees warmer than the GFS from 96-168 hours out. It would be a pretty wimpy cold snap if the Euro verified, not even the coldest we've seen this winter.

I have no idea why the dry adiabatic lapse rate is so great in the chart. I've only ever used Skew-T log-P charts, not emagrams. However, the moist adiabatic lapse rate varies significantly based on temperature, and 5.9K/km is well within the range of possibility. The average environmental lapse rate is not the same as the average moist lapse rate because sometimes the atmosphere will be dry adiabatic, sometimes there will be an inversion, etc. But since the atmosphere is often moist adiabatic, the two happen to be similar.

I'm not an expert either, but I did a class project on it last spring and that's basically what I found. The change in lapse rates thing is new to me, but it makes total sense.

I'd say a rough value would be a few hPa (few hundred Pa) per hour. Here's a good resource to download ASOS data from a variety of sites around the world. https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/request/download.phtml I suppose this might be a little late for your project, but you may find it helpful for future reference.

September 13.

Greensboro just had their latest high in the 50s ever. Raleigh tied their second latest high of 62 or lower.

Here's where you can find the April NC average temperature departure. For some reason the mapping feature isn't working, but the table is still there. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/mapping/110/tavg/202004/1/value

There was some heavy rain and lots of lightning with these storms here in Norman, but the most severe stuff missed us to the south.