In recent years, Connecticut has experienced extreme weather in the form of 1,000-year-flood events, tropical storms that have knocked out power for days on end, and periods of both intense heat and frigid winter weather.
In order to better document our state’s changing climate — along with the response from public, emergency and utility officials — the Connecticut Mirror collected more than 100 years of weather data documenting everything from rainfall to snowfall, seasonal temperatures and more.
This data will be used to contextualize our reporting on weather-related events and to inform conversations about our changing climate.
Here are a few recent CT Mirror stories that made use of climate data:
Lamont says ‘rain bomb’ overwhelmed parts of Fairfield County
There were no known injuries or deaths from the storm. Officials will tally damages to see whether CT qualifies for federal disaster relief.
Three CT prisons have limited AC as temperatures soar
Temps in CT will reach the mid-to-high 90s this week. More than 2,600 people at 3 state prisons have limited access to air conditioning.
Powerful July 4th storms may have broken CT record for largest hail
Hailstorms in Connecticut have become more frequent and widespread over the past 30 years — as have multi-day strings of hot days.
Wildfires in CT are smaller than in years past, but threats remain
While more regulations and urbanization have brought down the risk of wildfires, increased tree damage and loss in CT compounds the threat.
Special thanks to the University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute, which supported this work through the Climate Ready Newsrooms fellowship.