Posts

Miguel Pierre

The meteorology, and stats, behind the 2015 Hurricane Season

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Meteorological Winter began today, and the 2015 Hurricane Season officially ended yesterday, marking a transition in seasons — and the attention of meteorologists worldwide. While the season will be remembered for a few more significant storms, the overall season in the Atlantic was quiet. There were 11 named storms and one more tropical depression. Four of those named storms became hurricanes and two of those became major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). The number of named  storms is actually about average for Atlantic hurricane seasons between 1966-2009. But the number of hurricanes is below the average of 6 for the season. Only two storms made landfall in the in the United States: An early season tropical storm named Ana over North Carolina in May, and then Tropical Storm Bill over Texas in June. There hasn’t been a major hurricane landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 — which is now 10 years ago.

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John Homenuk

May 2012 Recap: Wetter, but still above normal

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The streak continues: May 2012 was unable to break the streak of over 13 straight months which have finished above normal in the temperature

Temperature departures from normal in the United States during the month of May 2012 (HPRCC)

department in New York City. Such a streak is not unprecedented, but is becoming very impressive with each month that passes. The last month which registered a below normal departure from average was March of 2011, which seems like a distant memory at this point. The more you analyze the statistics, the more impressive they become. Every single month beginning with April 2011 has been above normal in NYC — including the Summer and Autumn of 2011, and Winter and Spring of 2012. May 2012 featured several rainy days, and several days with bel0w-normal departures, but a late-month surge of heat was enough to keep departures above normal. Still, since May 1st 2012, 24 of 35 days have featured rain (measurable precipitation in New York City). To have such a high amount of days with precipitation, but still average temperatures 2 to 4 degrees above normal is pretty remarkable. That being said, the month finished above normal in the temperature department across much of the Central and Eastern United States, stretching from the Northeast through the Great Lakes and Plains into the Desert Southwest. The above-normal departures certainly were not localized to our area.

The May 2012 Stats for NYC (Central Park)…

Temperature departure from normal: +2.7

Highest observed temperature: 89 (5/28, 5/29)

Lowest observed temperature: 49 (5/11)

Total rainfall: 5.38″ (+1.19″ departure from normal)

Frequently occurring unsettled weather (# of days with occurrence): Fog (20), Light Rain (18), Haze (10), Rain (8), Heavy Rain (6)