Author Archives: acrawford

About acrawford

Alex Crawford is a climate scientist whose specialties include the development of Arctic storm systems, the seasonality of Arctic sea ice, and the interactions between sea ice, storm systems, and the Arctic Ocean. He primarily works with observational data (e.g., from satellites, weather stations, and compilations like atmospheric reanalyses) but also works with output from climate models.

New Paper on Antarctic Storm Wave Generation

acrawford April 15, 2020 10:29 am

I was part of a team led by Momme Hell at Scripps Institution for Oceanography that recently published an article in the Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans entitled: “Estimating Southern Ocean Storm Positions With Seismic Observations”. Momme is an expert … Continue reading →

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New Paper: Synoptic Climatology of Rain-on-Snow Events in Alaska

acrawford March 5, 2020 10:30 am

Back in 2018, some internal sophomore research funding through the College of Wooster allowed me to hire Anna Cooke (’20) to begin an investigation into rain-on-snow events in Alaska. Rain-on-snow is exactly what it sounds like: rain falling on top of … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a Record High

acrawford January 13, 2020 10:07 pm

Like several towns and cities in the midwest and northeast USA, Wooster, OH broke its daily high temperature record for January 11 last Saturday. Below is a graph of some of the data (made a little prettier in powerpoint) from … Continue reading →

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Wooster Records Wettest Year on Record

acrawford October 13, 2019 8:13 pm

Last year around this time, I reported on this blog that Wooster had just completed its third wettest year on record. A year later, the “wettest year” record has been broken. With continuous record-keeping beginning in 1900 at the OARDC weather … Continue reading →

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Drought in Zimbabwe and Other Climate Woes

acrawford September 15, 2019 9:51 am

One of my colleagues shared this article from Truthout with me because the title was about how Alaska has no sea ice within 150 miles of its coastline for the first time in recorded history of Alaskan sea ice. That’s … Continue reading →

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Two Records in Arctic Melt This Summer

acrawford August 11, 2019 11:08 am

There is perhaps a bit too much media hype about July 2019 being the warmest month on record. If you go to the source — the European Copernicus Climate Service article,  the official statement is that “July 2019 was on a … Continue reading →

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Shamrock Glacier, Neacola Mountains, Alaska

acrawford August 7, 2019 12:55 pm

While in the Neacola Mountains of Alaska last month, we flew over Shamrock Glacier. This first image is from the head of the glacier, where crevasses have been filled in with snow during the accumulation season. Farther down the north-flowing … Continue reading →

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Constructive & Destructive Landforms at Mount Rainier National Park

acrawford May 30, 2019 8:55 pm

One common frame used to introduce landforms in introductory Geology courses is the idea of constructive and destructive forces that create and change them. (See, for example some K-12 resources here and here.) Constructive processes like the the deposition of sediment and … Continue reading →

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Lots of Rain v. Many Rainy Days

acrawford May 16, 2019 12:00 pm

The other day while on the phone with my sister, she complained about how bad the weather was. “It’s rained like every day since April 1st” was the statement. That was an exaggeration, so she then modified that statement to … Continue reading →

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Sometimes a Cold Snap is Just a Cold Snap

acrawford February 7, 2019 8:15 pm

On Wednesday, January 30, 2019, The College Wooster closed due to cold. This cold snap was felt across much of the central and eastern USA. The message Wooster staff and faculty received included this statement: “The National Weather Service is … Continue reading →

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