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A Warm, Wet November Concludes NC’s Wettest Fall

Climate Blog

Jan 28, 2016

SCO in the Big Easy: American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting Review

Early this month, the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) 96th annual meeting was held in New Orleans, LA. SCO staff and students presented on research conducted at our office to scientists from across the nation. Raleigh Weather Redux Folks at our office arrived in New Orleans to familiar weather. While our colleagues in Raleigh dealt with…

Jan 26, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Winter’s First Major Storm Brings Snow, Sleet, Ice, and Rain

A two-day wintry event last Friday and Saturday was a classic Carolina storm, with a mixed bag of precipitation across the state ranging from heavy snow in the Mountains to sleet and freezing rain in the Piedmont to rain along the coast. The Storm’s Setup The event took shape earlier in the week as a…

Jan 20, 2016

January Cold Fronts Can Deliver a Rapid Chill

Wintertime cold frontal passages can usher in frigid Arctic air, and when warm air is in place ahead of the fronts, they can set the stage for other extremes: rapid temperature drops and large statewide differences. Greatest 24-Hour Temperature Change Temperature decreases of 30 degrees or more during these frontal passages are not uncommon. In…

Jan 18, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Quick-Hitting System Brings Light Snow to NC

What a wild weather weekend it was in North Carolina! After reaching highs near 60°F on Saturday, parts of the state woke up Sunday morning to light snow falling and the first flakes of the season in many areas. Across most of the Piedmont, accumulations were light and generally limited to a dusting on grassy…

Jan 6, 2016

2015 Climate Review: A Dry Summer But a Warm, Wet Year

Another year is in the books, and 2015 will go down as a warm and wet one for North Carolina, although we had some stretches of cool and dry conditions, too. Here’s our review of the weather and climate over the past year, including some notable numbers from across the state. Annual Stats The statewide…

Jan 4, 2016

December Sees Record-Setting Warmth, Wet Weather

Unseasonably warm conditions and more rain were our weather storylines in December. A Month of Un-Winterlike Warmth By all measures — average high, average low, and average mean temperatures — this December was the warmest on record since 1895 across North Carolina. The average statewide temperature of 53.64°F was a full 3 degrees warmer than…

Dec 17, 2015

NC Extremes: The Stories Behind Our Extremes

This is the final post of 2015 in our year-long series about North Carolina’s weather extremes. Every month this year, we have covered some of North Carolina’s weather records from hot to cold, wet to dry, and fire to ice. These records describe a state with a wide variety of weather conditions and plenty of…

Dec 4, 2015

NC Extremes: An Ice Storm for the Ages

This post is part of our year-long series about North Carolina’s weather extremes. Winter weather in North Carolina can be a fickle thing. When cold air and moisture come together at the right time, the outcome can be an impressive snowstorm. However, even small temperature differences throughout the atmosphere can turn a potentially scenic, snowy…

Dec 1, 2015

A Warm, Wet November Concludes NC’s Wettest Fall

More rain in November continued this fall’s wet pattern. Mild Days, Warm Nights Elevate Temperatures While the waning daylight hours and fallen leaves made it look like the end of fall or beginning of winter, it certainly didn’t feel that way for most of the month. The statewide average temperature of 53.89°F ranks as the…