Center for Weather Forecasts

As extreme weather forecasts improve, warnings struggle to get through

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Before Hurricane Helene began devastating parts of the southeastern U.S., Amanda Wright had expected some rain and perhaps some flooding in the area around Knoxville, Tennessee, where she lives. It wasn’t until friends more than two hours away in Asheville, North Carolina, started posting warnings on Facebook that Wright realized how dangerous the storm could … Read more

How record heat in February prepares US for crop-destroying ‘whiplash’

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Forget spring: This week, much of the interior U.S. gets a taste of summer. A wave of unusually high temperatures — often 30 to 40 degrees above average — is blasting states from Texas to the Dakotas and east to the shores of the Great Lakes. That heat follows the hottest December on record, and … Read more