Hurricane season starts, plus daily rain in the plains

Welcome to summer, at least climatologically speaking. It began June 1 and runs through the end of August. With summer comes the start of hurricane season …

Weather Watch

Atlantic hurricane season is here. It runs from June 1 to November 30. Forecasters are expecting another active season in a stretch that began about a decade ago. Interestingly enough, one could argue we’re off to a slow start because many recent years have had formation before the season begins. There are some hints of activity on the horizon.

Rain, day after day. The central U.S. is entering into a stretch of daily rainfall, sometimes heavy. The Weather Prediction Center has Oklahoma under a Level 2 of 4 threat Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Moisture streaming north from remnants of Alvin and an upper-level low currently over the Desert Southwest are the culprits.

Hazy skies. Wildfire smoke invaded a big chunk of the eastern U.S. over the weekend, making it to the Deep South, as plumes from major Canadian fires blew far and wide. It triggered air quality alerts in the international border region. EPA stations recorded code purple “very unhealthy” readings into North Dakota Saturday, and code red to Minnesota Sunday, with similar in much of adjacent Canada.

Lightning links

More than 700 believed dead in devastating Nigeria floods.

Warm end to UK’s sunniest spring, with hot summer expected.

Many monthly heat records set in the western U.S. to end May…

Massive meteor lights up night sky in China.

Updraft sends paraglider to nearly 30,000 feet.

Monday morning weather maps

I’ve been working on a fun project for a number of weeks now — rushed to completion (or, version 1.0) for the start of hurricane season.

As part of a website I began, called 157mph.com in reference to the wind speed of a Category 5, I have unveiled track maps and key data for hurricane seasons going back to the start of modern history in 1851.

The maps are relatively simple but easy to navigate and work very well on mobile devices. You can zoom in, click on the points for info, toggle to focus on storms of interest, plus explore overview data below the maps on the same page.

For seasons since 2000, I have created individual pages. Prior to that, they are organized by decade.

Upon announcing on Bluesky Sunday, hurricane expert and renowned chaser Josh Morgerman pointed out a small issue with extrapolated points in the IBTRaCS data that I’m currently resolving and will finish with today.

“I am excited to use this hawt tool. Congrats on its launch,” he posted.

I’ll continue to develop the pages — and the website — in the future!

About

Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

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