Last month was the fourth warmest January on record for the contiguous United States and the 19th warmest January on record globally.

This 19th warmest ranking also means that January was the "coolest" month in the past four years.

The overall cooling tendency of La...

While the United States has had a relatively mild winter to date, the winter has been exceptionally harsh in much of Europe, especially Eastern Europe in recent weeks. What does all of this say about global temperatures?

The answer to that question is never as simple as what the weather...

Initial climate data for the U.S. in January is in, and according to NOAA, January 2012 was the fourth warmest for the contiguous U.S. while parts of Alaska experienced record cold.

The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 36.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 5.5 degrees F higher...

The official climate report has been issued by NOAA, and while 2011 was warmer than average globally, the year was the second coolest year of the relatively young 21st century.

In a separate release, NOAA updated the number of record-breaking billion-dollar-plus weather disasters from...

Climatologists are still collecting and analyzing the cumulative weather data from 2011, with the official Climate Prediction Center's Annual Climate Report scheduled for release on January 19; however, the preliminary report indicates what we already knew: 2011 was a dramatic weather year across the United States.

Nearly...

From a weather perspective, 2011 will be remembered as a year of extremes. This includes a record-breaking 12 billion-dollar-plus weather disasters and quite possibly 14.

Some of the images associated with the intense weather--not just of the billion-dollar disasters--were pulled together in a blog on...

Intense weather was more the norm than the exception in 2011, with 12 official billion-dollar weather disasters, and the number is likely to increase to 14 after all of the damage estimates have been tallied.

The weather disasters ran the gamut, from massive blizzards to major...

Adults, tucked cozily beside a warming fireplace, glowing tree, and freshly unwrapped gifts, interrupt conversations with beloved family members long enough to lift their heads from their eggnog to look out a picture window and see the perfectly behaved children sleigh riding and building snowmen while a gently falling snow...

Taking a look back at an entire hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 through November 30, might seem like a daunting task, but thanks to NOAA's quickly moving and all-encompassing continuous loop of satellite images, you can do it less than 5 minutes!

The Atlantic basin season was very...

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that 2011 to date has been the warmest on record for a year when a La Niña has occurred.

A La Niña is cooling of sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. La Niña is a naturally occurring large-scale weather phenomenon that affects...

The nature of Americans is to have short memories, and that extends to the weather. As a result, an extended period of time without a certain type of dangerous weather event, like a hurricane, often leaves Americans feeling less threatened in the future.

NOAA, in its summary of the

If you love the weather, then you'll love Ken Murphy's video that depicts a year-long (technically, 360 days) time-lapse study of the sky in San Francisco.

The video shows 360 separate time-lapse videos (shots were taken every 10 seconds) on one screen, arranged chronologically and synchronized by time of...

October was the 8th warmest since 1880, according a NOAA press release; however, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) satellite-estimated data for the lower levels of the atmosphere (as talked about in a recent AccuWeather climate blog) indicates that October temperatures were the 15th coolest since 1979.

I'm...

Some initial damage reports of the massive and record-breaking snow storm of last week are in, and damage in Connecticut alone will top $3 billion, according to Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy.

The snow storm was the 14th billion dollar plus weather disaster of the year in the U.S....

A continuation of the intense drought in the southern Plains, wet and cool weather in the Pacific Northwest, and the potential for more temperature extremes were some of the highlights of the just-released official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) winter forecast.

One of the major contributing factors...

In a pop-culture world that can turn anyone from a pawn shop owner to a professional beach vacationer to a rich (and petty) housewife into a television star, it's not surprising that tornado-seeking meteorologists would want to get in on the action.

While the "storm chasers" highlighted in reality television...

Recent stories highlighting the potential length of the ongoing crippling Texas drought had the ring of an auction.

First bid is for a five-year Texas drought. Five years. Going once. Do I hear 10? Yes, 10 years to the climatologist in the corner. Ten-year Texas...

I'm a meteorologist, but I'm no long-range weather forecasting expert, so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the early prognostications for the 2011-2012 winter from sources that specialize in long-range forecasting.

I'll highlight three forecasts today, and I expect that I'll have more...

A multi-billion-dollar weather disaster -- a devastating drought -- raging across Oklahoma and Texas is expected to increase already-high food prices for beef-eating Americans in the coming months.

According to Bloomberg, ground beef prices in August were already the highest since at least 1984, and beef prices...

La Niña is officially back, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and since La Niña contributed to a very wild 2010-2011 winter across the U.S. and Europe, a natural meteorological question is whether the same thing will happen this winter.

The weather, much to a meteorologist's...