Latest Storm Stories
Researchers seek to fundamentally transform understanding of spinning giantsBy Ellen Ferrante, National Science Foundation Each year, tornadoes tear across the United States, causing numerous deaths and physical damage to the environment and infrastructure.The National Weather Service estimates there have been about 1,475 this year alone, outpacing the last decade's yearly average of 1,274.Many of these spinning giants strike in the plains states between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains....
By Dauna Coulter - Science@NASARecord snowfall, killer tornadoes, devastating floods: There's no doubt about it. Since Dec. 2010, the weather in the USA has been positively wild. But why?Some recent news reports have attributed the phenomenon to an extreme "La Niña," a band of cold water stretching across the Pacific Ocean with global repercussions for climate and weather. But NASA climatologist Bill Patzert names a different suspect: "La Nada.""La Niña was...
June is Lightning Safety Awareness Month. Lightning is the number two killer of severe weather. Flooding is number one. A lot of people think if it is sunny or maybe just a few clouds around and you hear thunder, it is okay to stay outside until you actually see the lightning. That is not true. If you hear thunder when you are outside, that means that lightning is close enough to strike you!On Thursday, June 23, from 7-8 p.m. EDT, Dr. Richard Blakeslee, atmospheric research scientist at...
Advances in Product Testing Can Save Lives & Reduce Property Damage Riviera Beach, FL (PRWEB) June 20, 2011 In the past month alone, record tornado outbreaks across the US have caused massive loss of life and catastrophic destruction to residential and commercial property and assets. As rebuilding begins, building product manufacturers across the country are working to develop and test products that can provide greater protection against the devastation of tornadoes. HTL, , LLC, an...
* In Support of National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 19-25, 2011 MARYVILLE, Mo., June 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Lightning Protection Institute (LPI) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are joining forces to promote public awareness about lightning safety and lightning protection. The collaboration is part of LPI's educational initiative to remind the public and the fire safety community about the dangers of lightning, an underrated and often...
ASSIST-U.S.®, an aerial surveillance services company, streamed full motion video imagery along the tornado's storm path the morning after it hit the Springfield MA area. Concord, NH (PRWEB) June 17, 2011 On June 1st, 2011, the morning after tornadoes swept a wide, destructive swath through western and southern Massachusetts, ASSIST-U.S.® was streaming full motion video imagery along the storm path to assist with post-storm damage assessment efforts. The company deployed its...
Venice "“ the City of Dreams "“ may have one less nightmare to deal with following a finding that the frequency of extreme storm surge events generated by Adriatic Sea tempests could fall by about 30 percent by 2100.A team of international scientists led by CSIRO's Dr Alberto Troccoli studied atmospheric circulation in the Mediterranean region to assess climate impacts through changes in storm surge frequency in Venice "“ a World Heritage-listed city built on 117 small islands and...
System 98A has been bringing rains, gusty winds and churning up the surf along the Arabian Seacoast of west-central India for days, and NASA satellite imagery confirms that it is getting organized now that it has moved into open waters.NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image on June 8 at 08:47 UTC (4:47 a.m. EDT) of the hundreds of thunderstorms that make up the low pressure area called System 98A. The low pressure area has now...
Steel building engineers design new bulked-up steel framed safe-rooms to shelter tornado and hurricane force winds Delray Beach, FL (PRWEB) June 07, 2011 MBMI Metal Buildings, supplier of pre-engineered metal buildings and accessories, announces the release of a newly designed safety building "“ an above ground tornado safe-rooms. MBMI's safe-rooms are designed by in-house engineers to be resistant to winds up to 200mph. The frame of each safe-room is manufactured in 24-gauge steel and...
Northwestern Georgia felt the effects of severe weather season on May 27 as severe thunderstorms brought heavy rainfall, gusty winds and reports of a tornado. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at that storm system that revealed very strong thunderstorms with icy cold cloud tops.Infrared imagery basically shows temperature signatures. That means that scientists can determine how hot or cold something is by looking at something using infrared light. The Atmospheric Infrared...
Latest Storm Reference Libraries
Air mass thunderstorms are found in marine time tropical air. In short they are also known as MT Thunderstorms. Air mass thunderstorms represent what is known as the common three stage thunderstorm development. This means that an air mass thunderstorm goes through the stages of Cumulus which is represented by the updrafts only being present; secondly it moves into the mature stage where it has both updrafts and downdrafts; finally it goes into the dissipating stage where you see only the...
In this lesson we are going to take a look at super-cell thunderstorms and what they mean and how they impact our daily lives. First, a super-cell thunderstorm is formed from a cumulus-nimbus cloud. Super-cell thunderstorms are the most advanced form of thunderstorms known on earth. This is because these types of thunderstorms need so many things to come together in the atmosphere at the same time. The first thing they need is the warm moist air at or near the surface. Secondly, is...
Orographic thunderstorms are formed when the air is pushed up a mountain side. This type of thunderstorm is found only on the windward side of a mountain range. In the United States we would find these types of thunderstorms on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains and also on the western slopes of the Appalachians. Things that make this thunderstorm important: First of all they only form in certain geographical places on the earth as mentioned above. But they can form anywhere in the...
ENSO has an impact on the severe weather across the United States. As we look at the above graph we see that the area of Baltimore is impacted by ENSO and its tornado count. The stats are for the described years to the left of each bar. During a La-Nina the tornado count picks up for the region; within 50 miles of the city up to 9 tornadoes occurred during the 2000 event. The 2010 EL-Nino set into the region and the tornado count dropped to around 4 tornadoes within 50 miles of the...
Four major events occurred yesterday, the first being the formation of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which is now located just east of the Windward Islands with winds near 45 knots. The second was the heat in the Southern Plains as many places saw temps over 100F with heat index values near 105-110 for the region. High temperatures are again one of the main story makers across the country. 100 degree temperatures continue to plague Texas and Oklahoma. Eleven out of the last 14 days in...
