Weather
It’s Time To Ditch The Concept Of ‘100-Year Floods’
"That’s no surprise to experts, who say the concept of the “100-year flood” is one of the most misunderstood terms in disaster preparedness. In the wake of catastrophic flooding on the Texas coast, the media has been working hard to explain the term, turning out dozens of articles explaining that a “100-year flood” is not a flood that you should expect to happen only once every 100 years. Instead, it refers to a flood that has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. Over the course of a 30-year mortgage, a house in a 100-year floodplain has a 26 percent chance of being inundated at least once."
Warmth to linger in Northeast; Conditions ripe for tornado outbreaks from Texas to Tennessee
Increasing chances for more heavy rain this weekend in Central New York
"Syracuse- A very complex weather pattern is setting up for this weekend. While the details will need to be continually tweaked over the coming days, the general idea is for nice weather Saturday and storms on Sunday."
"A large dome of heat and humidity that has been a semi-permanent feature over the middle of the nation will once again nudge its way towards Central New York."
A slow moving frontal boundary along the leading edge of the tropical air will serve as a focal point for rounds of showers and storms. These storms will be able to tap into both strong winds aloft and the copious amounts of moisture to produce severe weather and heavy rain."
Forecast Terms
Major Dry Spells (PDF)
Meteorologists say that Albany's climate is getting wetter. One effect of the wetter climate in Albany is that major dry spells are becoming less common in the Albany-area. Indeed between 1995 and 2015, there was not a single period of 14 days without some sort of precipitation. That is the longest recorded period without a dry period in Albany. We did have a dry periods during the spring 2015 and the winter of 2016, but both just barely over the definition (14 days and 15 days).