Weather

So Many Fires Are Burning In Alaska the Midwest Is Covered In Smoke

The drought hitting the West is not just striking the continental US. That same weather pattern that’s sucking the life out of California is also making life hot, dry, and dangerous for the top third of North America: Alaska and Canada have seen little rainfall, soaring spring temperatures, and now, a record-breaking wildfire season. The…

Climate Change Alissa Walker Jul 1

Does the Climate Science in Game of Thrones Make Sense?

The climate has been a persistent theme of Game of Thrones ever since Ned Stark (remember him?) told us “winter is coming” back at the start of season one. The Warden of the North was referring, of course, to the anticipated shift in Westerosi weather from a long summer to a brutal winter that can…

Tech News Alex Farnsworth and Emma Stone Jun 16

India’s Recent Heat Wave Was Absolutely Brutal

India is known for becoming a sweltering furnace in May, but last month was exceptionally brutal, with temperatures hovering 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for nearly two weeks. By June 4th, the heat wave had claimed over 2,500 lives, making it the fifth deadliest in recorded history. Roads melted in New Delhi as temperatures hit…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Jun 6

What’s the Difference Between ‘Party Cloudy’ and ‘Mostly Sunny’?

If you ever thought it was difficult to tell the difference between “partly cloudy” and “mostly sunny,” you’re not alone. Established by the National Weather Service (NWS) according to a loose set of rules, the criteria used to describe different elements of your forecast can be pretty vague. Sky conditions are classified according to how…

Tech News Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com Jun 5

The Way We Categorize Hurricanes Sucks—But Here’s How We Can Fix It

Everybody wants a quick shorthand for a storm’s damage potential. But the index we hear used most often isn’t the best option. When a hurricane is coming in off the Atlantic, about to make landfall, you’re bound to hear talk of what category the storm is. Watch out, it’s a Category 1, or batten down…

Tech News Vasu Misra and Mark Powell Jun 4

Photos of India’s Deadly, Street-Melting Heat Wave

An extreme heat wave with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) has killed at least 1,118 people over the past week in India, where hot air, molten asphalt, dust storms are making life almost unbearable. The homeless, construction workers, newborns, young children and elderly people are most at risk in this weather. In…

Climate Change Attila Nagy May 27

A Rare Glimpse Into the Eye of Typhoon Dolphin

To remote sensing scientists, peering directly into the eye of a tropical storm is like hitting a hole in one. That’s exactly what NASA’s CloudSat satellite did on May 16th, completing a stunning overpass of Typhoon Dolphin as the category 4 storm churned across the west Pacific. Image: NASA Earth Observatory CloudSat, which comprises part…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone May 24

Why Does Weather Cause Air Traffic Delays?

The effect that weather has on air traffic delays is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of aviation. The conditions that typically can cause delays are low cloud ceilings, low visibility, convective activity (thunderstorms), icing conditions, high winds and runway conditions. There are essentially two set of regulations that relate to flying in weather.…

Tech News Andrew Stagg - QUORA May 22

The US Is Testing a Storm Surge Warning System for Hurricanes

The wall of wind-driven ocean that accompanies a hurricane is called a “surge” for a reason: This isn’t a gentle rising of the water level, it’s violent and destructive—sometimes more so than the hurricane’s winds. This hurricane season, for the first time, the National Hurricane Center will be testing a prototype storm surge warning system…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland May 19

How This Artist Uses a Climate-Controlled Room to Make Indoor Clouds

It starts like a fog machine, deploying its vaporous mist into the air—until the cloud it emits holds its exquisite shape and silently hovers mid-room for hours. This is the drama and allure of Nimbus, the physics-defying work of Dutch sculptor Berndnaut Smilde. A video crew from NeueHouse captured the artist in action while preparing…

Tech News Alissa Walker May 15

Planes Get Struck By Lightning Once a Year on Average

There’s a moment in the Truman Show, when Jim Carrey tries to travel to Fiji (and escape his creep-o TV show island) and this poster pops up at a travel agency. It’s funny because lightning strikes are such rare occurrences it couldn’t happen that often. Surely, not often enough to necessitate a poster. Wrong. Lightning…

Tech News Darren Orf May 15

Feast Your Eyes on This Old-School Weather Model

Weather forecasting has come a long way, as the video below of a midcentury climate model illustrates. And if you’re into vintage computer graphics, it provides some pretty nice eye candy too. The footage, recently published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, shows the first global general circulation model constructed by physicist Chuck Leith on…

Tech News Attila Nagy May 15

A Plane Took a Wrong Turn and Ended Up in a Cloud of Antimatter

Where the hell did the antimatter come from? That’s what atmospheric scientist Joseph Dwyer has been trying to figure out for the past six years, after his research plane accidentally flew through a thunderstorm into a cloud of antimatter in 2009. Dwyer’s plane was outfitted to detect atmospheric gamma-rays (or γ-rays), high-energy photons that can…

Physics & Chemistry Sarah Zhang May 12

Australian Meteorologists Are Warning Of A Substantial El Niño Event

Earlier this year, U.S. scientists announced El Niño’s arrival, but described it as “weak.” Now, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has moved its own tracker status from alert to full-on El Niño, warning of widespread drought and warmer temperatures. This article originally appeared at The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.…

io9 Andrew B. Watkins — The Conversation May 12

Bad News: Here’s A Wildfire Prediction Map (There Is No Good News)

After a winter of record-low precipitation and record-high temperatures, I almost can’t bear to look at the wildfire forecast for summer. But here it is. And boy, is it ugly. It’s not much of a surprise, really, with “exceptional drought” conditions already blanketing most places in the West. But this is pretty darn awful. Released…

Tech News Alissa Walker May 2

Texas Storm Spawns Baseball-Sized, Windshield-Smashing Hailstones

A severe storm front in Texas spawned many inches of rain, multiple tornadoes, and hail huge enough to smash windshields last week, according to the National Weather Service. (Thankfully, no injuries were reported.) This baseball-sized hail fell April 26 near Rising Star, 150 miles southwest of Dallas. Photo: Ben McMillan via AP

io9 Cheryl Eddy May 2

How to Use Instagram to Track Climate Change

In Los Angeles, the transition from spring to summer is heralded by the blooming of jacarandas, a photogenic tree that explodes in bright lavender fireworks and sprinkles flowers across the city like purple rain. But as I Instagrammed my sneakers against the rubbery petals the other week, I had a nagging feeling—this was way too…

Climate Change Alissa Walker May 1

I Want To Build This Weather-Predicting Lamp

I’ve always been into multi-functional furniture: like the wave-activated lamp that used to sit on my bedside, lighting the room, and scaring away any potential mates. So I desperately want this LED-powered lamp, which not only looks cool, but tells you in a glance what it’s like outside. Project Aladdin — yup, that’s right —…

Tech News Chris Mills Apr 30

A Dude Will Live In This Giant Ball for One Year to Study Icebergs

It sounds like a great idea: Grab a cleaving iceberg from the Greenland coast and live on it until it melts into the sea, getting a first-hand glimpse at the effects of climate change. But how exactly would one live on an iceberg? Inside this giant ball, of course. Outside has the story of Alex…

Climate Change Alissa Walker Apr 15

This Is What A Super Typhoon Looks Like From Space

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti snapped this image of Typhoon Maysak from the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 31 — the day it was bumped up to “super typhoon” status. The storm has since weakened but thousands have been evacuated ahead of its landfall in the Philippines tomorrow. Credit: AP Photo/NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti

io9 Cheryl Eddy Apr 4

So Many Fires Are Burning In Alaska the Midwest Is Covered In Smoke

Does the Climate Science in Game of Thrones Make Sense?

India’s Recent Heat Wave Was Absolutely Brutal

What’s the Difference Between ‘Party Cloudy’ and ‘Mostly Sunny’?

The Way We Categorize Hurricanes Sucks—But Here’s How We Can Fix It

Photos of India’s Deadly, Street-Melting Heat Wave

A Rare Glimpse Into the Eye of Typhoon Dolphin

Why Does Weather Cause Air Traffic Delays?

The US Is Testing a Storm Surge Warning System for Hurricanes

How This Artist Uses a Climate-Controlled Room to Make Indoor Clouds

Planes Get Struck By Lightning Once a Year on Average

Feast Your Eyes on This Old-School Weather Model

A Plane Took a Wrong Turn and Ended Up in a Cloud of Antimatter

Australian Meteorologists Are Warning Of A Substantial El Niño Event

Bad News: Here’s A Wildfire Prediction Map (There Is No Good News)

Texas Storm Spawns Baseball-Sized, Windshield-Smashing Hailstones

How to Use Instagram to Track Climate Change

I Want To Build This Weather-Predicting Lamp

A Dude Will Live In This Giant Ball for One Year to Study Icebergs

This Is What A Super Typhoon Looks Like From Space

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

Google Displayed Polymarket Bets as News ‘In Error,’ Google Says

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

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See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

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This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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