At the end of each year, I enjoy reflecting back on what we've learn, seen, experienced, etc. I thought I'd do that for this blog. This post will be the first in a multi-part series looking at 10 major weather events of the past year that stuck out to me. I will share the events (or collection of events) in no particular order. These will simply be weather or climate related topics that stuck out to me from the past year. Let's dive in, starting with the first 3.
1. The Atlantic Hurricane Season
This year's Atlantic hurricane season was record-breaking and relentless. There were 30 named storms, 13 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes. The 30 total named storms breaks the previous record for the most named storms (28 in 2005). Although the hurricane season officially begins on June 1, tropical storm Arthur became the first named storm on May 16.
I find the above video from NOAA particularly fascinating. It shoes GOES East satellite imagery for all named storms. Storms that particularly stood out to me in the satellite imagery are Cristobal (0:07 in the video), Isaias (0:26), Laura (0:34), Teddy (0:56), Epsilon (1:16), and Iota (1:27).
On September 14th, there were 5 named tropical storms in the Atlantic at the same time, and the NOAA satellite image below shows Sally, Paulette, Rene, Teddy, and Vicky in the ocean simultaneously.
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| (NOAA) |
12 named storms made landfall on the United States, and Louisiana was particularly impacted, with 5 making landfall there, including Laura, which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane and caused 77 fatalities.
Iota, the last named storm, also happened to be the strongest one, with maximum winds of 160 mph and a low pressure of 917 mbar.
The storm of memory for me was Hurricane Isaias, which impacted New England as a tropical storm, causing nearly $5 billion in damage and power outages throughout the Eastern seaboard.
Here is a nice National Weather Service (NWS) infographic summarizing this Atlantic hurricane season.
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| (NOAA/NWS) |
One final thought that I have on the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is the impressive work that forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) did. These meteorologists have an extremely difficult and stressful job, and they really did an exceptional job forecasting this complex and protracted hurricane season.
2. Widespread Drought
It was an extremely dry year for much of the country, as evidenced by the map below, which shows the precipitation departure from normal through Christmas day.
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| (NOAA Regional Climate Centers) |
The Northeast and much of the United States west of the Mississippi River saw below normal precipitation, with parts of Northern California being much below normal.
This year's dearth of rain in much of the country created widespread drought conditions that inflicted many areas in the Southwest and Northeast. The following GIF shows the U.S. Drought Monitor for each week it was produced during the calendar year. If you take the time to watch, you can see how widespread drought conditions became, as well as the exceptional drought conditions that the Southwest continues to experience.
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| GIF of U.S. Drought Monitor for 2020 (National Drought Mitigation Center) |
3. Western Wildfires
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| Scene in Oroville, California on September 9 (CNN/Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images) |
Stemming in part from the aforementioned drought and lack of rain, wildfires ravaged the western United States this year. Nearly 14 million acres burned in the U.S. this year, which is the most burned in the past 30 years at least (there are not reliable records dating past 30 years).
Here is satellite GOES WEST satellite imagery from September 9, showing widespread extend of the wildfires in the west.
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| September 9 GOES WEST (NOAA) |
These fires had various causes, including the lack of precipitation and extreme heat in the west this year, lightning strikes, house fires, and campfires.
I took the following photo on September 16, when smoke associated with the western fires progressed eastward, causing hazy skies and a beautiful sunset at Middlebury College in Vermont.
This does not compare to the scene in the Bay Area in mid-September, when the sky appeared orange.
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| (VOX/AP/Eric Risberg) |
While the wetter period of the year in the west has now arrived an many fires are now contained, there is still some wildfire activity. The Creek Fire in southern California is currently 65% contained. Use this app from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to examine where there are still fires in California now. (You will need to click OK).
That's it for part 1 in this multi-part series of major weather and climate related events of 2020. I'll have part 2 within the next few days.
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