Author: Travis Swaim

ESSIC / AOSC Professor, Raghu Murtugudde, was a featured guest on FOX 5 Morning News today, in the aftermath of President Obama’s much anticipated address on climate change. The President unveiled his plan in a speech delivered from the campus of the Georgetown University, on June 25, 2013. Murtugudde, an expert in earth system science, was asked to provide analysis and commentary on the president’s proposed climate action. “I think this is an excellent first step,” Murtugudde said, regarding …

President Obama wants to address climate change, and he has a plan of how to do it. At Georgetown University on Tuesday, he outlined his intentions to work to cut carbon pollution, prepare the U.S. for impacts of climate change and lead efforts to combat climate change on a global scale. “It was important for me to speak directly to your generation. Because the decisions that we make now and in the years ahead will have a profound impact on the world that all of you inherit,” he said to …

A rare and powerful heat burst hit the south central part of Nebraska in early June, causing temperatures to rise from 73°F degrees to boiling 99°F degrees in just two hours.

The event followed dissipating thunderstorms that created conditions conducive to the formation of heat bursts.

These unusual phenomena are associated with the decline of thunderstorms, as rain evaporates and creates a dry dense air. As the last of the precipitation from the storm passes through that layer of dry air,

In a recent broadcast email from Dr. Jayanth Banavar, Dean of the University of Maryland, College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (CMNS), it was announced that Professor Antonio Busalacchi will continue in his current leadership capacity, as Director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). This continuation marks Busalacchi’s fourth successive term as Director of the Center, since joining the University of Maryland in September of 2000. “I always thought I …

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded researchers at University of Michigan, Louisiana State University, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium predict this season’s Gulf “dead zone” could be one of the largest ever experienced. Interestingly, another NOAA-funded prediction by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (MCES) and the University of Michigan, estimates the “dead zone” in the Chesapeake Bay region will be smaller as compared to …

The second installment of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season made its entrance in the form of tropical storm Barry, which touched down on Mexico’s Gulf Coast today, with winds averaging 40 mph. Forecasters reduced Barry to a depression after it made landfall in Mexico. The depression is expected to dissolve by the end of the day Friday. According to Weather Underground,  from 1870 to 2012 the average hurricane season has only seen one named storm every two years in June.  This June …

Tropical Storm Andrea came to an end as the first named storm of the 2013 hurricane season, but without having reached category hurricane status. The effects of the storm were felt throughout the U.S. eastern Gulf and East Coasts however, with driving rains, heavy winds, and flood watches issued from Georgia to Maine. Andrea’s formation was considered early in terms of historical records, as the first storms of a typical hurricane season are generally expected to begin in mid-July or…

In June 2012, one of the most destructive thunderstorm complexes in North American history swept through the D.C area. For many, the previously unknown word “derecho” – a term used to describe a powerful, tornado-like storm – became an immediate and distinct addition to local vocabularies. “It’s interesting when a word like that catches so many people’s attention”, said NOAA’s Dr. Scott Rudlosky, an ESSIC/CICS Visiting Assistant Research Scientist and host of ESSIC extreme weather blog, “It’s …