Extreme weather news and discussion

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Polar Vortex-tied Arctic Blast Breaks Cold Weather Records
by Andrew Freedman
Updated February 19, 2025

Introduction:

(Axios) An Arctic blast tied in part to the polar vortex is driving record frigid air south from the Northern Plains toward the Gulf Coast Wednesday in a cold snap that will last the entire week.

Threat level: This event is setting daily record cold temperatures and is forecast to bring for the coldest temperatures on record for this late in the season.
• It will bring below-zero Fahrenheit wind chills as far south as Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee.
• As of Wednesday morning, more than 100 million people were under "extreme cold warnings" and advisories, from the Canadian border south to New Orleans.

By the numbers: The National Weather Service (NWS) is forecasting wind chills as cold as minus-35°F to minus-60°F across the northern Plains for multiple days.
• Conditions this cold can cause frostbite to exposed skin in just a few minutes, and hypothermia soon after that.
• The NWS is warning that its forecasters have "High confidence of widespread, record-breaking cold" with the coldest conditions lasting through Friday.
• Temperatures are running at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit below average for this time of year in the Plains and Upper Midwest on Wednesday.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/18/polar ... -weather

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Swollen rivers flood towns in US South after dayslong deluge of rain

Source: AP

By BRUCE SCHREINER and KRISTIN M. HALL
Updated 9:18 AM CDT, April 7, 2025

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated U.S. South and parts of the Midwest.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle, who was watching Monday as murky brown water approached her business in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital along the swollen Kentucky River.

She said that as each new wave of rain arrived over the weekend, anxious residents hoped for a reprieve so they could just figure out how bad things would get and how to prepare. She and friends packed up everything she could haul out of her salon, including styling chairs, hair products and electronics, and they took it all to a nearby tap house up the hill.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/severe-weath ... 56ccc6ef9e

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Stand Up for NOAA Research — the Time to Act is Now
April 2025

Introduction:

(American Meteorological Society) The administration's 2026 budget passback plan, currently under consideration, eliminates NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Office and its 10 research laboratories and 16 affiliated Cooperative Institutes, and moves the few remaining research efforts to different NOAA departments. If enacted, the passback would close all of NOAA’s weather, climate, and ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes.

The speed at which these decisions are being made translates into little to no opportunity for feedback or consideration of long-term impacts. Without NOAA research, National Weather Service (NWS) weather models and products will stagnate, observational data collection will be reduced, public outreach will decrease, undergraduate and graduate student support will drop, and NOAA funding for universities will plummet. In effect, the scientific backbone and workforce needed to keep weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective will be drastically undercut, with unknown — yet almost certainly disastrous — consequences for public safety and economic health. As key stakeholders, AMS and NWA stand ready to provide our expertise so that the U.S. can maintain its competitiveness in the years ahead.

If you believe in the importance of NOAA research for maintaining and improving NWS forecasts and services to the nation then the time to act is now. Reach out to your elected representatives and share your concerns.

Read more here: https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-ams/ ... -is-now/

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Hottest start to May on record as temperature hits 28C in London

• The record has been broken for the UK's warmest start to May, as temperature reaches 28C in London, the Met Office confirms
• Most of England and Wales are sweating it out, while cooler temperatures are expected across Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Elevated UV levels increase your risk of sunburn, so remember to cover up, hit the shade and wear suncream

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy0mwvx04lt

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