Tag Archives: storms

A Wild Week of Wintry Weather

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Coming on the heels of a very snowy January, a series of winter storms slammed the midwest and northeastern U.S. this week.  From snow to sleet to freezing rain, the region saw a bit of everything.

Here in New York City, Monday’s storm dumped 8 inches of heavy, wet snow in Central Park – setting a new daily snowfall record. Only two days later, another weather system brought the Big Apple a wintry mix that included 4 inches of snow topped with about 0.25 inches of ice.

These two storms brought the city’s monthly snowfall total up to 12 inches and it is only the first week of February.  On average, we usually receive 8.8 inches for the entire month. Overall, local snowfall has been running above average this winter season with 40.3 inches of accumulation to date.

While more snow is on deck for the weekend, NYC is not expecting significant accumulation, contrary to earlier reports.

NYC 2013: The Year in Review

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New York City experienced some noteworthy weather in 2013. We bounced between the extremes of our coldest March in seventeen years and a July with extended heat waves.  In fact, we had 17 days this summer with readings at or above 90°F, which is two above normal.  Despite these superlatives, the city’s average temperature for the year was 55.34°F. That is only 0.5°F above our long-term norm.

Precipitation in the Big Apple this year was erratic. We fluctuated between our second wettest June on record and our third driest October. In the end, though, we were mostly dry. The city received a total of 46.32 inches of rain for the entire year.  That is 3.62 inches below normal.  Snowfall, however, was abundant.  February brought the city a blizzard that dumped 11.4 inches of snow in Central Park.  March and December also delivered above average snow totals.  For the year as a whole, the city accumulated 29.6 inches, which is 4.5 inches above average.

On the storm front, the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season left NYC unscathed. This was a welcome relief after being hit by major storms two years in a row – Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012.

Moving into 2014, we are off to an active start. A winter storm warning is currently in effect for the city as a nor’easter makes its way up the coast.

Graph Credit: The Weather Gamut

Graph Credit: The Weather Gamut

End of the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season

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The 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ends today.  Contrary to early predictions, it was relatively quiet.

There were thirteen named storms this season, which is one above average, but only two developed into hurricanes – Humberto and Ingrid.  According to NOAA, that is the least number of hurricanes to form in the Atlantic basin since 1982.  Both storms were also considered very weak. Neither was rated higher than category-1 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.  On average, the Atlantic produces three major hurricanes, category-3 or higher, every year.

Throughout the season, which runs from June 1st to November 30th, only one named storm made landfall in the U.S.  In early June, Tropical Storm Andrea brought flooding rains and tornadoes to parts of the south, causing one death.

While the exact causes behind this very mild season are being researched, experts say broad areas of high pressure, dry air, and stronger than expected wind shear hindered most tropical development.

Source: NOAA

Source: NOAA

A Cyclone and Typhoon Batter India and Japan

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Hurricanes can develop all over the world, but they are referred to by different names – cyclones or typhoons – in different regions. This past week, two separate storms slammed India and Japan.

In India, Cyclone Phailin barreled across the Bay of Bengal and made landfall in the state of Orissa on Saturday.  Packing winds of 131-mph, it was the equivalent of a category-4 hurricane. Local officials say the storm’s flooding rains and strong winds destroyed tens of thousands of homes and claimed the lives of at least twenty-seven people.  The government’s pre-storm evacuation of nearly one million people, however, is credited with keeping the number of fatalities from being much higher. Sadly, a cyclone that hit the same area fourteen years ago left approximately ten thousand people dead.

On Wednesday, Typhoon Wipha rumbled along the coast of Japan near Tokyo. With sustained winds of 78-mph, it was the equivalent of a category-1 hurricane.  This storm’s torrential rain caused rivers to overflow and triggered deadly mudslides. One of the hardest hit areas was Izu Oshima, an island about seventy-five miles south of the capital, where a record 32.44 inches of rain fell in one twenty-four period.  Officials say this powerful storm destroyed more than three hundred homes and caused the deaths of at least seventeen people. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Wipha was the eighth typhoon of 2013.

Back in the United States, the Atlantic hurricane season remains fairly quiet.

Weather History: NYC October Snowfall

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October is not a month known for snow in New York City.  That said, it is not unheard of.

On this date back in 1979, snowflakes filled the air in the Big Apple.  Nothing accumulated, but it marked the earliest trace of snow on record for NYC.  According to the NWS, measurable snow, defined as 0.1 inches or more, has been recorded four times during the month of October.  The earliest occurred on October 15, 1876 when 0.5 inches was noted in Central Park.  The record for accumulation is 2.9 inches, which came down during the snowstorm of October 29, 2011.

While there is no snow currently in the forecast, the first nor’easter of the season is working its way up the coast. It is expected to bring the city rain, wind, and overall grey conditions during the next few days.

A Week of Wild Weather Across the U.S.

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Extreme weather battered much of the United States this past week.  From heavy snow and tornadoes in the plains to a tropical storm in the Gulf and blustery Santa Ana winds in California, this country saw it all in just six days.

Starting on Tuesday, a pre-season winter storm dumped massive amounts of snow across Wyoming and South Dakota. Some places, like Deadwood, SD received as much as 48 inches.

On Wednesday, the NWS named Tropical Storm Karen. Moving north across the Gulf of Mexico, it threatened coastal communities from Louisiana to Florida with heavy rain and storm surge flooding.  Luckily, however, the storm was downgraded to a rainstorm by the time it came ashore.

By Friday, the cold air that produced the blizzard in the northern plains collided with warm moist air to the east and unleashed severe thunderstorms across the region.  They, in turn, spawned numerous tornadoes.  One of the hardest hit areas was Wayne, NE where an EF-4 twister with winds measured up to 170-mph tore through the town.  While widespread property damage and numerous injuries were reported, there were no fatalities.

Over the weekend, powerful Santa Ana winds blasted southern California with gusts reaching 90-mph in some areas.  These warm, dry winds helped fuel a large wildfire in San Diego County.

While extreme weather events are not unusual in this country, having such a large number and wide variety happen more-or-less at once is very rare.

Humberto is the First Atlantic Hurricane of 2013

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The first hurricane of the 2013 Atlantic Season has officially arrived. Humberto strengthened from a tropical storm into a category-1 hurricane early this morning off the coast of Africa.

According to the NWS, this year’s first hurricane is unusually late. The Atlantic usually sees a hurricane develop before August 10th.  More than a month behind schedule, Humberto just missed tying the record for the latest first hurricane by only three hours.  That record remains with Hurricane Gustav, which formed a little after 8 A.M. on this date back in 2002.

Forecasters do not expect Humberto to impact the U.S.  However, it is important to remember that the Atlantic Hurricane Season runs through November 30th and the latter part of the season is usually its most active.

Hurricane Humberto forms off the coast of Africa.

Hurricane Humberto forms off the coast of Africa.

Image Credit: Meteosat/EUMETSAT

Extreme Weather Impacts the National Flood Insurance Program

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Hurricanes and floods are nothing new in the United States.  In the last decade, however, this country has seen a significant increase in these types of extreme weather events.  In response to the financial strain they have put on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12).

The NFIP, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), offers insurance for individual businesses and homeowners in flood prone areas. Congress created this program in 1968 in response to the financial chaos caused by Hurricane Betsy in 1965. This storm, which devastated the Gulf Coast, was the first billion-dollar natural disaster in U.S. history.

To calculate flood risk and the corresponding insurance rates for properties, the NFIP uses special maps that indicate flood zones.  Many of these flood insurance rate maps, however, have not been updated in decades and do not reflect the current flood risk associated with our changing environment.  As a result, many policyholders have been paying below market rates.

The Biggert-Waters Insurance Reform Act re-authorizes the NFIP for five years, but requires a number of changes.  These include, the gradual phasing out of subsidized policies and moving the program toward risk-based rates as new flood insurance rate maps become available.  Subsidized policyholders will see a rate increase of 25% per year until their premiums reflect the actual risk of their location. Non-primary residences, non-residential properties, and repetitive loss properties will be among the first to see these changes.

BW-12 was signed into law a few months before Super-storm Sandy devastated coastal communities throughout the northeast.  Many people whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Sandy’s record storm surge are now beginning to feel the effects of this new policy.

NYC Updates Hurricane Evacuation Zones

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Super-storm Sandy devastated New York City last autumn.  In its wake, emergency management officials have re-drawn the city’s hurricane evacuation zones.

The new zones are based on improved data from SLOSH (sea, lake, and overland surges from Hurricanes), a national Weather Service computer model designed to estimate storm surges.  This new system takes the width of a storm and its wind field into account whereas the old zones were primarily based on a hurricane’s Saffir-Simpson category.

NYC’s new zones are labeled 1 through 6, with zone 1 being the first to be evacuated in the event of a storm.  This system is numeric to avoid confusion with FEMA’s flood zone maps used for insurance purposes.

Go to nyc.gov/hurricane to see if you live or work in an evacuation zone.

NYC's new hurricane evacuation zones.

NYC’s new hurricane evacuation zones.

Image Credit: nyc.gov

Andrea Shatters Rainfall Record in NYC

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The remnants of Andrea, the first named storm of this Atlantic hurricane season, drenched most of the northeastern United States on Friday.  In fact, it shattered daily rainfall records in numerous communities along the Eastern Seaboard.

In New York City, the storm dumped 4.16 inches of rain in Central Park.  That is more than double the previous record (1.95 inches) for the date, which was set in 1918.  On average, the city usually receives 4.41 inches of rain for the entire month of June.

This was the second time in less than a month that a daily rainfall record was broken in NYC. More rain and flood watches are in the forecast for this afternoon.