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Five Years Later, Five Lessons Learned from Matthew

All Climate Blog Posts

A photo of snow on the Appalachian State campus (Jan 2022)

Jan 24, 2022

Three Storms in Three Weeks Jump Start the Winter

Our weather has taken a “new year, new me” approach to 2022, with the warm and dry pattern from late 2021 replaced by a decidedly cooler and wetter one. That has included three impactful winter storms — on January 3, January 16, and January 21 — that affected all corners of the state in one…
A photograph of the Bodie Island lighthouse

Jan 18, 2022

From Deluges to Droughts in 2021: the Weather Year in Review

Whether wet or dry, Mother Nature just couldn’t make up her mind in North Carolina last year. While 2021 was not particularly extreme in the final temperature or precipitation rankings, it was notable for the drastic seasonal swings between wet and dry weather and their impacts, from devastating floods to fire-sparking droughts. The Year By…
The December 2021 temperature summary infographic, highlighting the monthly average temperature, departure from normal, and comparison to historical and recent years

Jan 4, 2022

Unwrapping an Unseasonably Warm December

Holiday heat headlined our historically warm December, and despite late-month rainfall, it was a dry month overall. We also check in on how La Niña has shaped our weather so far this winter. Year-End Temperatures Set Records A winter wonderland, it wasn’t. Cool temperatures were scarce last month, yielding one of our warmest Decembers on…
The November 2021 precipitation summary infographic, highlighting the monthly average temperature, departure from normal, and comparison to historical and recent years

Dec 2, 2021

Drought Degrades in Our Driest November in Decades

It was the driest November in a lifetime, with rainfall in retreat whether we were warm or cool. Drought has expanded and intensified after our warm, dry fall. Dry Weather Dominates Like an overcooked turkey in the oven, November turned out extremely dry across North Carolina. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI),…
A photo of smoke on Sauratown Mountain

Nov 30, 2021

Rapid Reaction: Fire on the Mountains

Amid our worst fall fire season in five years, two wildfires in the past month have stood out from their elevated perches atop the Piedmont’s highest peaks. On November 9-14, a wildfire burned 40 acres on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County, and an even larger blaze started last Saturday on Pilot Mountain in Surry County.…
A map of the most recent snow event bringing at least 6 inches to parts of North Carolina

Nov 19, 2021

Climate Curiosities: Our Last Big Snow Events

After a couple of lackluster winters in a row — and with an outlook that doesn’t exactly scream “snow days on the way!” — the flakes feel fleeting and snow seems scarce across North Carolina. By opening up the historical records, we can see just how long it’s been since significant snow fell in different…
A map of global sea surface temperature anomalies in October 2021

Nov 9, 2021

Winter Outlook 2021-22: La Niña, Take Two?

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but for some meteorologists, it’s feeling a bit like Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, a La Niña event is developing as we head into the winter, leaving us to wonder how — or even if — it will affect our weather. Last year’s event never produced…
The October 2021 temperature summary infographic, highlighting the monthly average temperature, departure from normal, and comparison to historical and recent years

Nov 2, 2021

October Bewitched by Warmth and Bedeviled by Drought Development

A paranormal October saw temperatures levitate above the historical average while precipitation mysteriously vanished, summoning the specter of drought back to North Carolina. Warm Weather Returns A cool end to September proved to be only a brief preview of fall rather than a sign of the changing seasons, as October overwhelmingly featured above-normal temperatures across…

Oct 7, 2021

Five Years Later, Five Lessons Learned from Matthew

It’s a rare storm that now stands out more for its similarities to, rather than its differences from, others in its era. Five years ago today, Hurricane Matthew brushed the North Carolina coastline but still caused incredible inland impacts. It wasn’t our first modern hurricane to produce significant freshwater flooding — Floyd in 1999 held…