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Summer Recap and Fall Outlook: How Long Will the Warm Weather Last?

Corey Davis

Dec 21, 2016

Record Snow or No? Behind the Scenes of a Record Event Review

Last year on our blog, we covered many of North Carolina’s historical extreme weather events, including the state record snowfall — 36 inches in 24 hours — from Mount Mitchell during the so-called “Storm of the Century” in March of 1993. Given the well-timed convergence of potent ingredients in that event, it’s no surprise that…

Dec 1, 2016

Dry Weather Dominates November Across North Carolina

Much of the state received less than an inch of rain last month, which led to expanding drought and impacts including multiple wildfires. Fall’s First Freeze Ends the 2016 Growing Season Clear skies and sunshine dominated last month, so with few cloudy or rainy days, it’s probably not surprising that our temperatures were above normal.…

Nov 15, 2016

La Niña, Other Atmospheric Patterns Set to Shape Our Winter Weather

This is the second part of our 2016-17 Winter Outlook series. Our office’s winter predictions are available in our Winter Outlook post. While forecasts from folklore can provide an interesting take on our possible winter weather, long-range forecasting is more than just bugs and books. Several large-scale atmospheric patterns including the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Siberian…

Nov 10, 2016

Folklore-Based Forecasts Offer Little Consensus for this Winter

Our 2016-17 Winter Outlook series includes three posts beginning today and concluding on November 17 with our office’s predictions for the winter. The signs of the changing seasons are all around us, from falling leaves to first fall frosts. Before the days of scientific seasonal forecasts, these observations from nature were the main source of…

Nov 1, 2016

After Matthew, Fall-Like Weather Finally Arrives

The weather news in October was headlined by a single event: Hurricane Matthew. However, after the storm, dry weather took hold for the rest of the month. October Temperatures Above Normal But Still Seasonal Last month’s statewide average temperature of 62.45°F ranks as the 13th-warmest October in North Carolina since 1895. Average maximum, minimum, and…

Oct 20, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Drought Intensifies in Western NC

While eastern North Carolina continues to recover from record flooding after Hurricane Matthew, western North Carolina remains in a persistent drought. Extreme Drought (D3), the second-most severe drought category on the US Drought Monitor’s classification scheme, appeared in Cherokee, Clay, and Macon counties this week while Severe Drought (D2) expanded to include 10 counties in…

Oct 10, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Matthew’s Mark on NC Includes Heavy Rain, Flooding

Hurricane Matthew won’t go down in the record books as a landfalling storm in North Carolina. At Category-1 strength as it grazed the coastline, it also won’t rank highly among the strongest storms to affect our state. However, its widespread impacts packed a punch that few other storms in our state’s history can match. North…

Oct 4, 2016

September Rains Soak the Coast While the West Remains Dry

While the entire state of North Carolina continued to see above-normal temperatures last month, there was a big difference in precipitation from east to west. Summer Heat Wanes, But Warm Weather Continues Last month, we transitioned from the summer to the fall, but our temperatures haven’t exactly been in a hurry to respond to the…

Sep 19, 2016

Summer Recap and Fall Outlook: How Long Will the Warm Weather Last?

Shorter days and the emergence of pumpkin spice everything are sure signals that we’re entering the fall. In fact, meteorological fall began on September 1, but you wouldn’t have known it from the thermometer readings alone. Indeed, North Carolina’s summer was perhaps best defined by the persistence of above-normal temperatures that stretched from June through…