Know the Lingo:

Here are a few summer weather definitions.

Why do leaves change color?

During the spring and summer the leaves have served as factories where most of the food necessary for the tree's growth are manufactured. This food-making process takes place in the leaf in numerous cells containing chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color. Along with the green pigment are yellow to orange to red pigments as well. Most of the year these colors are masked by great amounts of green coloring. But in the fall, because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange to red colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. The best time to enjoy the autumn color would be on a clear, dry, and cool day.

Why do we have more sunlight in the summer than in the winter?

You might not have noticed this, but the Earth tilts over slightly. If you have a globe at home or in school, you can see that the line between north and south poles, that goes through the center of the Earth, isn't vertical. It's actually tilting over by about 23 degrees. In our summer, the north pole is pointing towards the Sun so the Sun rises and sets roughly from due east to due west. In winter, the Earth is on the other side of the Sun so the North Pole is pointing away from the Sun. This means the Sun rises and sets more towards the southeast and southwest. You might notice this as you look out of the window. Think back to how high in the sky the sun was during the summer. Compare this to where the sun is during the winter and you'll see it's much lower down towards the horizon. Because the sun is lower down on the horizon, there's less time for it to travel between horizons. There's less distance for it to travel so the sun rises later and sets earlier meaning there's less daylight.

When does the hurricane season end?

The Atlantic hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season is from May 15 to November 30.

What is frost?

Frost is white ice crystals that form on a surface, like the ground or leaves of a plant. Frost is created when the air temperature drops below freezing and the water vapor in the air freezes into ice crystals.

Why can you see your breath when its cold outside?

Your breath is reasonably warm and humid and it has invisible water vapor as a large component of the gas. Warm moist air meeting the cooler air outside the body causes the invisible water vapor to condense the cooler air outside are visible and form the cloud that you see. The relative humidity which depends upon water content and temperature goes to 100%. As the breath gets further from the person's face the water content dilutes and the relative humidity goes down and the droplets go back into vapor form.

Weather Jokes

What does a cloud wear under his raincoat?

Thunderwear!

What did one lightning bolt say to the other lightning bolt?

You're shocking!

Summer Review

The summer of 2014 was on average below normal temperaturewise. July 2014 went down as the record coolest July in many locations from the Great Lakes to the Deep South. Among the cities setting a new record coolest July were:

- Indianapolis, Indiana

- Urbana, Illinois

- Decatur, Illinois

- Cape Girardeau, Missouri

- Jonesboro, Arkansas

- Pine Bluff, Arkansas

- Tupelo, Mississippi

- Vicksburg, Mississippi

Contributing heavily to the cool month in these areas were a pair of potent plunges in the jet stream driving cold fronts unusually far south for a core summer month.

Hurricane Season Review: From June-August 2014, the Atlantic Hurricane Season was quiet. It was a different story in the Pacific Ocean. The season began with an active start, with three tropical cyclones developing before June 15, including two Category 4 hurricanes, of which one became the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in May, in the East Pacific. After a less active period in late June and early July, activity once again picked up in the second half of the month. Most notably, Hurricane Iselle became the strongest tropical cyclone on record to strike the Big Island of Hawaii, Hurricane Marie became the first Category 5 Pacific hurricane since Hurricane Celia in 2010, Hurricane Genevieve became the first hurricane to exist in all three Pacific basins since 2003's Hurricane Jimena, and Hurricane Odile was the most intense tropical cyclone to make landfall over the Baja California peninsula.

Fall Precip Outlook

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal precipitation across parts of the Southwest and Plains and below normal precipitation across the Pacific Northwest.

Fall Temp Outlook

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal temperatures across most of the United States. You can expect below normal temperatures across the Southwest.

2014-2015 Winter Outlook

NOAA's official Winter Forecast won't come out until October, but here's what The Farmers' Almanac is saying: The winter of 2014–15 will see below-normal temperatures for about three-quarters of the nation. A large zone of very cold temperatures will be found from east of the Continental Divide east to the Appalachians. The most frigid temperatures will be found from the Northern Plains into the Great Lakes.

The coldest outbreak of the season will come during the final week of January into the beginning of February, when frigid arctic air drops temperatures across the Northern Plains to perhaps 40 below zero. As the frigid air blows across the Great Lakes, snow showers and squalls will drop heavy amounts of snow to the leeward side of the Lakes. No region will see prolonged spells of above-normal temperatures; only near the West and East Coasts will temperatures average close to normal.

Over the eastern third of the country, we are expecting an active storm track with a number of storms delivering copious amounts of snow and rain. Near-normal precipitation is expected for the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest States, and Northern Plains, while below-normal precipitation values are forecast for the Southwest States as well as the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes. The Central and Southern Plains are expected to receive above-average precipitation.

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