Drought Continues for Coastal Connecticut

The latest U.S Drought Monitor map came out yesterday and coastal Connecticut is still in a D-1 Moderate Drought. The coastal areas have been in this drought for a couple months now. Even with the occasional rainy day, we have not been able to make up for the rainfall deficit. On top of having a rainfall deficit, this summer has had unusually low dew points. When you have dry heat, it sucks the moisture right out of the ground and plants. I've had to be vigilant when it comes to watering my vegetable garden this year. At least I have had to worry about any molds or mildews on the vegetable plants this year! 

Hopefully as we move into fall, we will move away from a weather pattern of scattered thunderstorms and move into one that favors more substantial all day rains. 

Fire Tornadoes in California! 5/15/2014

It's not every day you see a swirling mass of fire spinning violently up from the ground but today was the day in California! As the unusual wildfire storms just north of San Diego, this spectacular and extremely dangerous situation was caught on tape!  This video was taken in San Marco, CA. Although fire season is usually later in the year, the extensive and extreme drought the state has been suffering though has resulted in an extremely early fire season. As seen below in the US Drought Monitor, the whole state is in extreme to exceptional drought conditions. 

With extreme drought like this, fire season is going to be long and damaging! 

Now what is a fire tornado? Also known as a fire whirl, fire devils and firenadoes. These small vortexes form within wildfires when extreme heat combine with strong winds to produce eddies that carry flames into the air like a small tornado. Most fire tornadoes are one to three feet wide, reaching up to 100 feet tall. However, there have been occurrences when the whirlwinds have gotten up to a 1,000 feet wide! Since the fire whirl is formed from the extreme heat of a small area, temperatures become a factor in these micro storms. Inside the core of the fire tornado, temperatures can reach an incredible 2,000 degrees F! 

Connecticut Flooding! June 2013

I haven't updated this blog in a while (mostly because I was working on my Master's thesis!) and the weather has been pretty quite.  Most of April was extremely dry and below average temperature wise.  In fact Connecticut went into a moderate drought because of the long stretch of dry weather in April.  Now the first week in June and all we've had is rain, rain and more rain!  In fact many areas have already seen 4-6 inches of rain this week and it's not even over yet!  Thursday, June 13 into Friday, June 14th will feature more heavy rain possibly up to 5 more inches of rain!  The NWS (National Weather Service) is predicting 4.25 inches of rain for New Haven, CT.  If this happens many areas in CT will have gotten 10-12 inches of rain in one week!  Thats a foot of rain in one week! Almost unheard of here in CT unless a tropical system goes through, which Tropical Storm Andrea (the remnants) did go through last Friday! Below is the NWS total rainfall prediction for tomorrow and Friday!

My latest WxEdge Article 12/28/12

Finally got around to writing another article on WxEdge.com, a local news affiliate site about the weather, which I have been a contributor to since last February.  This article is about the latest Drought Monitor released on Christmas Day and the large area of the country that is experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions! Check it out here:  2012 Drought Continues...Just Not for CT