Hoar Frost (Source: National Weather Service)
Autumn has arrived in the United States. As it does so, leaves across the northern two thirds of the country will begin to change color, and temperatures will start their gradual decline from their summertime peaks. And as temperatures start to drop to freezing and below (32°F/0°C), many of us will start waking up to frost on our car windshields, lawns, and gardens.
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On the heels of the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating landfall along the Central Gulf of Mexico, on Monday, August 31st, we recorded a first in the hundred-or-so year history of reliable tropical cyclone tracking: three major hurricanes moving simultaneously across the Pacific. Fortunately this awe-inspiring moment was of mostly academic interest since none of the three storms posed a significant threat to any populated land masses, but it was certainly an intimidating sight on satellite imagery. Couple that with Fred becoming the first hurricane to move through the Cape Verde Islands in the far eastern Atlantic since 1892, and it might be tempting to look for a larger causal force behind a perceived growing tropical cyclone threat, such as everybody’s favorite climatic boogeyman, man-made global warming. However, there’s actually a much more direct correlation between cycles of hurricane frequency, especially in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic tropical basins, and the warm phase of the ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation).
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In the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, at certain latitudes, beautiful auroras are known to light up the sky on clear nights. These phenomena are known as the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). They might be pretty to glance at, but can also be dangerous to the Earth.
The Western United States has been drastically affected with a devastating drought, leaving the area with little water for crops and people, causing fatal wildfires; killing people and cattle. California has been in a severe drought since 2013, with drought status being elevated to exceptional drought in 2014. People on the West Coast are banking on El Nino to help put a dent in this fatal drought, but even a wet winter with higher than average precipitation amounts would still likely leave the region in its drought state. Although any rain will be eagerly welcomed to the region, the dry ground will have a hard time absorbing heavy rain falling at fast rates, perhaps leading to devastating mudslides and landslides.