Latest Thunderstorm Stories
Tropical Storm Oli is headed between the islands of Bora Bora and Raratonga in the South Pacific, while maintaining its intensity as a tropical storm. Infrared satellite data from NASA's Aqua satellite reveals that Oli is a large storm, so those islands will experience gusty winds, some moderate to heavy rainfall, and heavy swells along their coasts.The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Oli on February 2 at 0041 UTC (Feb. 1 at 7:41 p.m. ET) and...
Wind shear strength determines whether pollution swells or saps stormsNew climate research reveals how wind shear -- the same atmospheric conditions that cause bumpy airplane rides -- affects how pollution contributes to isolated thunderstorm clouds. Under strong wind shear conditions, pollution hampers thunderhead formation. But with weak wind shear, pollution does the opposite and makes storms stronger.The work improves climate scientists' understanding of how aerosols -- tiny unseen...
Scientists say incidents are likely rare and more research is neededNew information about lightning-emitted X-rays, gamma rays and high-energy electrons during thunderstorms is prompting scientists to raise concerns about the potential for airline passengers and crews to be exposed to harmful levels of radiation.Scientists at the Florida Institute of Technology, University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Florida have estimated that airplane passengers could be exposed to a...
NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Cyclone Bongani today and provided some important data that have helped forecasters figure out where the storm is headed, and helped them see that it has changed course.The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared, microwave and visible images of Tropical Cyclone Bongani, and provided data on cloud height and extent, cloud top temperatures, and pressure. The infrared imagery also showed that Bongani has elongated...
Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 captures images of the low's cloud cover several times every hour, and shows its cloud cover stretching from North Carolina up to Maine. Rains are currently confined to the Mid-Atlantic from North Carolina to New Jersey, but will creep north...
Tropical Cyclone 4A formed yesterday, November 10 off the western coast of India in the Arabian Sea, and NASA's infrared imagery captured some high, powerful thunderstorms developing in the storm's center.Tropical Cyclone (TC) 4A formed yesterday around 4 p.m. ET, 380 miles south-southwest of Mumbai, India, with maximum sustained winds near 37 mph. By 10 a.m. ET today, November 10, 4A had moved north about 135 miles. Cyclone 4A was located about 245 miles south-southwest of Mumbai, near 15.2...
Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning.With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 ºF), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen...
Microwave satellite imagery has revealed that Tropical Storm Mirinae is strengthening enough to develop an eye, and that's what it's doing. Mirinae was formerly Tropical Depression 23W, but became a tropical storm and received its name.Tropical Storm Mirinae had maximum sustained winds near 52 mph on Tuesday, October 27 at 1200 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). It was located about 205 nautical miles northwest of Guam, so all of the watches and warnings for Guam have been discontinued. Its center is near...
The Philippines can't seem to get rid of what is now a deadly and annoying Tropical Depression Parma, but forecasters are now providing hope.Parma may have weakened into a tropical depression, but its still causing a lot of trouble for the residents of the Philippines today. Parma is again moving over Luzon and is expected to finally reach the South China Sea on Friday.Warnings are still up for many areas of the Philippines again today. Public storm warning signal One is in force in Batanes...
BETHEL, Conn., Sept. 21, 2009 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by research that shows thunderstorms and tornadoes during fall months pose one of the greatest weather threats to power outages, Duracell picked the first day of autumn to launch its "More Power To Protect" program, pledging more than 10 million hours of battery power to communities most susceptible to these occurrences. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090921/CL78461) To help launch the campaign, Duracell has joined forces...
Latest Thunderstorm Reference Libraries
Surface Dew-points can play a huge role in weather forecasting. The first such role is that it helps determine the amount of moisture in the atmosphere for a given point. If we look at the current dew-point map above from January 28, 2013 we can note several things of interest. First, if we look at where the black circle is around the number 70, we can make note that this air right off the coast of Texas is at a dew point of 70F. The temperature outside must be above 70F, because the...
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...
September 5: The southwest was encompassed in the monsoon rains yesterday bringing areas of flash flooding to portions of Arizona. Another smaller but large flooding event occurred along the Mississippi Gulf Coast where places in Jackson County received 7inches of rainfall in 2 1/2hours which lead to large flooding problems of already saturated grounds from Isaac-1. The heat persisted in Eastern Texas and into Louisiana and northward into Arkansas as some places felt temps hit the100’s with...
