Climate vs. Weather

What is the difference between Climate and Weather? Simply put, climate is what you expect while weather is what you get. Although weather can vary quite frequently (and dramatically as we have seen this winter in New England) in the short term, clear long term climate trends can still be identified and investigated.

Check out the video above for an easy to understand explanation.

Hurricane Irene Nearing Southeast US

According to NOAA's projected path (see above), Hurricane Irene may make landfall in the Southeast US later this week. Visit this NOAA website to keep up to date.

July's Extreme Heat

Vegetation anomalies in North America (July 2011)

Throughout July 2011, the United States experienced extraordinarily high temperatures and many states in the Southwest felt the effects of drought conditions. The impact of this drought on vegetation growth can be seen in the photo above. The image, from the NASA Earth Observatory, displays vegetation anomalies across North America in July. To learn about the national weather pattern that caused such extreme conditions, visit this NOAA page. The progression of the heatwave can be seen in these two NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory animations that show how conditions changed throughout the second half of the month:

• High Dew Point Makes Heatwave Miserable
• Heat Wave Sweeps Across The U.S.