National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Atop A Hawaiian Mountain, A Constant Sniff For Carbon Dioxide

Joe Palca — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:30:00 +0000

Climate scientists have a good reason to want to get away from it all. To get an accurate picture of the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, you have to find places where the numbers won't be distorted by cities or factories or even lots of vegetation that can have a major local impact on CO₂ concentrations.

Starting in 1958, scientists from the Scripps Institution for Oceanography have been using an instrument on the top of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii to measure CO₂ in the atmosphere.

March Was Cool, But Winter Was Warmer Than Average

Mark Memmott — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:50:00 +0000

How wrong was Punxsutawney Phil when the groundhog said on Feb. 2 that we'd have an early spring?

"The March average temperature for the contiguous U.S.

'Sandy' Retired From Storm Names; 'Sara' Takes Its Place

Mark Memmott — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:08:00 +0000

"Sandy has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical cyclone names by the World Meteorological Organization's hurricane committee because of the extreme impacts it caused from Jamaica and Cuba to the Mid-Atlantic United States in October 2012," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration writes.

The storm names are administered by the World Meteorological Organization.

NOAA adds that:

Heavy Snowfall Causes Road Closures

Jackie Fortier — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:42:33 +0000

A late March snowfall has caused multiple road closures across the state.

NOAA Predicts Warmer Than Normal Spring For Most Of U.S.

Eyder Peralta — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:20:00 +0000

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a warmer-than-normal spring for most of the United States.

It reports:

"Above-normal temperatures this spring are most likely across most of the continental U.S. and northern Alaska. Below-normal temperatures are favored for the Pacific Northwest and extreme northern Great Plains. For precipitation, odds favor wetter-than-normal conditions in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions.