Winter Weather Showdown: Farmers’ Almanac vs. Meteorologists

Did you bundle up for a brutal winter like the Farmer’s Almanac predicted for 2023-2024? Their forecast promised bone-chilling temperatures and above-average snowfall across most of the US. But how did it stack up against the predictions from meteorologists who rely on scientific data? The Farmer’s Almanac boasts an 80% accuracy rate for their long-range … Read more

The Dynamics of Frontogenesis

We often see fronts on weather maps on television or the internet. In this blog, we’ll discuss the formation and intensification of fronts, known as frontogenesis. Strictly speaking, frontogenesis is defined as an increase in the magnitude of a horizontal density gradient. To explain the dynamics of frontogenesis, we begin by looking at the frontogenetical … Read more

Does a Warm Winter Mean the Summer Will be Hotter than Normal?

Introduction The title is a question that is frequently asked of meteorologists, especially in the wake of an abnormally warm or cool season; it is a topic of interest among atmospheric scientists and the general public alike.  In this article, we will attempt to answer this question using climatology, casting aside gut feelings and old … Read more

100 years later, daylight saving time (DST) is still a thing

'Daylight Saving' postcard (1918)

Daylight saving time (DST) When will DST end (return to standard time)? Countdown to Spring A Few Interesting Facts and Myths About Daylight Saving Time 1. Terminology: Daylight saving time, not “savings”. 2. Bottling daylight most of the year. In the United States, we spend about 65% of the year (~238 days) in daylight saving … Read more

An Overview of the May 20, 2013 Tornado

The tornado outbreak in Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 occurred on the last day of a series of three consecutive days with significant severe weather. On this day, the most deadly tornado of the year for the United States occurred in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado that tracked through Moore had developed near Chickasha, Oklahoma and … Read more

Smoke from West Coast Wildfires seen by NOAA Satellites

A blocking weather pattern has encompassed much of the nation throughout the summer. A persistent area of high pressure and large-scale, high-amplitude ridging over the western half of the country has resulted in hot temperatures and extremely low atmospheric moisture content. These are the conditions necessary for the development of wildfires. Last week, NOAA’s Geostationary … Read more

Cool things that Doppler weather radar can detect!

The National Weather Service’s Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network across the United States consists of 155 Doppler radar sites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 2013, the entire WSR-88D network was upgraded to dual-polarization capabilities, meaning that the Doppler radar can emit pulses in both the horizontal and vertical plane. … Read more

A look into the brilliant displays of atmospheric optics

The atmosphere can display phenomenal optical features through the bending of light. You may have looked up at the sky on a day with high-level clouds, e.g. cirrus clouds, which are composed of ice crystals. These hexagonal ice crystals act as prisms, and when a photon (a particle of light) passes through the ice crystal, … Read more

U.S. Cities With the Most Extreme Weather Conditions

If you are searching for diverse weather or extreme temperatures and precipitation, the U.S. is certainly one of the places to be. Have you ever wondered what U.S. city is the coldest or the warmest? What city experiences the most rainfall or the most thunderstorms? I thought that it would be interesting to come up with … Read more

The Influence of Wind Shear on Thunderstorms

Strong vertical wind shear is important for the development of severe convective storms including the type of thunderstorm, its orientation, and its life span. Wind shear can influence storms in several ways, including speed shear and directional shear. Speed shear is a change in the wind speed with respect to height, while directional shear is the … Read more

The Tools and Concepts for Forecasting Winter Precipitation

Introduction This informative forecast writing will focus on the weather forecasting tools and concepts that are used to predict winter weather events. There are various types of winter weather events that are analyzed and forecasted including mid-latitude cyclones, ice storms, lake-effect snows and sleet storms. Each of these will be discussed separately. In addition, bust … Read more

Remembering the Greensburg, Kansas, EF-5 Tornado

Ten years ago today on the evening of May 4, 2007, the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, was nearly destroyed by a 1.7 mile wide EF-5 tornado, with a maximum wind speed of 205mph. Damage surveys concluded that about 95% of the city was destroyed, with EF-5 damage observed through the heart of Greensburg. The tornado tracked for … Read more

A Student Perspective of Working in the National Weather Service

During my 2016-17 winter break, I had the opportunity to work at the National Weather Service field office in Wichita, Kansas.  Working with Chris Robbins, M.S. here at iWeatherNet had already shape much of my knowledge of the National Weather Service, since he worked for 15 years within the agency, including NOAA’s National Severe Storms … Read more

General Snow Forecasting

Historic snowstorm in North Texas on 2/12/2010. DFW recorded its greatest 24-hour snowfall of all time (12.5").

Snow is a precipitation type that results from the build-up of ice deposition upon condensation nuclei. The snowflake size is amplified as ice crystals join together as the crystals move in the wind. A common theme in ice crystal development is the 6-sized structure of the ice crystals. The chemical bonding of ice molecules produces … Read more

Science Fair Participation Reaps Much More Than Ribbons

From elementary school through high school, I always looked forward to the month of March. But not for reasons that you might think. It was the month that I competed in science fairs. During those years, I had my share of successes and disappointments, but the benefits of my participation continue to this day. My experience with … Read more

A Brief History of Broadcast Meteorology: From the Past to the Future

The evolution of broadcast meteorology goes hand in hand with scientific advances and the method that it is communicated to the consumer. Timeline of broadcast meteorology (1915-1982) The evolution of broadcast meteorology has worked hand in hand with advances in technology. This is true both with the scientific advances of meteorology itself, and the way that … Read more

Snow to Liquid Equivalent and Associated Forecasting Pitfalls

The snow-to-liquid equivalent is the amount of liquid precipitation that is produced after melting snow. The temperature profile of the troposphere and the surface temperature are important factors that determine this value. The “average” snow-to-liquid ratio is 10:1. This is saying that if 10 inches of snow fell and that snow was melted it would … Read more

Television Meteorologists: A Look Behind the Scenes

This past summer of 2016, I took on a meteorology internship position at KWCH Eyewitness News, an affiliate of CBS, in Wichita, Kansas. Throughout my college education career at Penn State University, I have worked hard at rounding my experience throughout the weather enterprise in as many ways as possible. And, while my ultimate goal is … Read more

Undular Bores (Atmospheric Gravity Waves)

Atmospheric gravity waves, known as undular bores, are waves in Earth’s atmosphere that often show up quite well on satellite and radar imagery. They are notorious for creating wave-like clouds, which clearly propagate as waves when viewed in rapid time-lapse photography.  Low-level atmospheric stability is implicated in the formation of undular bores.  Large static stability … Read more

Heat Index Calculator & Charts

Definition of Heat Index: The heat index is an estimate of how hot the air “feels” to the human body and provides a relative indication of potential health risks. Among others, the two primary factors in the heat index equations are temperature and water vapor (i.e., moisture/humidity). Humidity affects the efficacy of perspiration to evaporatively … Read more

Dry line convergence & thunderstorm squall line formation

This phenomenon is NOT unusual, but it doesn’t always happen.  Today, the dry line and the resulting squall-line were perfectly aligned.  The data presented a teaching moment that I couldn’t pass up.  At the end of the animation, I zoom in so you can see the wind barbs pointing toward the dry line. The air … Read more

A few thoughts on forecast techniques & forecast variance

Friday 2/12… For the sake of conversation, I wanted to share some thoughts about forecast variance (i.e., the tendency for forecasts to vary from one meteorologist to another), forecast advancements, and forecast techniques. It goes without saying that atmospheric prediction is *extremely* difficult and time consuming. During an active pattern, a forecast for a 36-hour … Read more

What is virga? There’s rain on radar, but it’s not raining!

The fluid dynamics associated with atmospheric disturbances cause the downstream air (ahead of the disturbance, before it arrives at a location) to rise, and the upstream air (behind the disturbance, i.e., after the disturbance has passed) to sink.  If there is sufficient moisture in the area of rising air, clouds and precipitation may form.  Necessary … Read more

What is thunder? How hot is lightning?

Imagine yourself as a cloud, happily floating over the surface of the Earth without a care in the world. As you drift across the sky, the millions of tiny water droplets and ice crystals that you are composed of brush against each other, causing a buildup of electric charges in your cloud body. The negative … Read more

Atlanta’s Top 20 Snowstorms & Temperature Trends

Atlanta’s biggest snowfall events of all time are listed in the table below. The most snow ever recorded on a single day in Atlanta was on January 23, 1940 when 8.3 inches fell. The top 10 snowstorms in Atlanta have a median accumulation of 4.2 inches. View the full list We often hear the cliche: … Read more

Watch a Full Year of Changing Seasons from Space

I love this animation.  After spending years trying to explain these concepts, along comes high-resolution satellite images sewn together from a Lagrangian perspective to create a fast animation that actually shows the seasons changing as Earth tilts on its axis from equinox to solistice to equinox and so on. Credit: Simon Proud, researcher in the … Read more

Equinox: Why the Length of Day & Night are Not Equal

The autumnal equinox occurs Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 7:43 AM, but the days and nights are not considered equal until Saturday, September 26th. This is because of the atmospheric refraction of sunlight. When a wave encounters a medium whose density differs from that through which the wave has been propagating, conservation of momentum and energy … Read more