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Monthly Archives: June 2015
How do you stay safe from lightning?
Lightning can be fun to watch but it is also very dangerous.
Approximately 300 people are injured by lightning each year, and about 62 people are killed. On average there is about one death caused by lightning in Wisconsin annually. Continue reading
Category: Phenomena, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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Who was Professor Suomi?
Verner Suomi was a professor at UW-Madison and is known as the “father of satellite meteorology” because of his historic role in defining that field of study. In the late 1950s, he and Robert Parent, a UW professor of electrical … Continue reading
What are straight-line winds?
The term “straight-line winds” describes ground-level winds that come out of a thunderstorm and do not have rotation. If these winds travel at speeds that exceed 57 mph, the storm is classified as a severe thunderstorm. Storms with severe straight-line winds can also have hail and tornadoes.
Straight-line winds can cause considerable damage because these winds often do not let up. Straight-line winds will push objects over, all in the same direction as the wind is blowing. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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Why does it smell good after a rain?
Many times after a rain, there is a distinctive odor in the air — a sort of musky smell. This pleasant fragrance is most common in rains that follow a dry spell.
The phenomenon is referred to as petrichor, from the Greek roots petra (stone) and ichor (the blood of gods in Greek mythology). If you are a gardener, you may find this smell similar to the smell you sense when you turn over your soil. Good organic soils contain bacteria, and a bacterium that is abundant in damp warm soils is actinomycete. Continue reading
