September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
Categories
WeatherGuys Links
Author Archives: WeatherGuys Editor
Two Questions about Clouds
Clouds are composed of tiny liquid water droplets, whose diameters are about the width of a human hair, and tiny shards of ice in a variety of shapes, or habits. Whether a cloud is mostly liquid water droplets or ice particles depends, as you might guess, on the ambient temperature of the air in the cloud.
Tiny cloud liquid water droplets can remain in the liquid state to temperatures as low as about 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and when they do they are known as supercooled liquid water droplets. These droplets feel the downward directed force of gravity just like a baseball or a watermelon would. Because the droplets are so small, and therefore have small masses, the gravitational force can easily be balanced by an upward directed friction force resulting from the interaction of the droplets with the air molecules around them and so the droplets remain suspended. Continue reading
Do all hurricanes have an eye?
Seen from space, a hurricane appears as a vast spiral of clouds stretching across hundreds of miles. Near the center of strong hurricanes is the eye, a roughly circular region of comparatively calm weather, light winds, and low pressure.
The eye is one of the storm’s most recognizable features, but it is not the most dangerous part. That distinction belongs to the eyewall, the ring of towering thunderstorms that surrounds the eye and contains the hurricane’s strongest winds and most intense weather. Continue reading
Is it dangerous to fly through a thunderstorm?
Thunderstorms pose several hazards, whether you are on the ground or in the air, namely lightning, hail, turbulence, icing, downbursts and even tornadoes. Because of these potential hazards, planes don’t fly through thunderstorms. Instead, they fly around them.
Pilots have onboard weather radar and air traffic control support to steer around thunderstorms rather than fly straight through them. In addition to pilots being trained to avoid thunderstorms, modern engineering has led to commercial aircraft designs that can withstand many of these threats. Continue reading
Category: Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
Comments Off on Is it dangerous to fly through a thunderstorm?
Comments Off on Is it dangerous to fly through a thunderstorm?
Why is wildfire smoke unhealthy?
The smoke from wildfires can linger in the air and often travels long distances carrying unhealthy matter.
Depending on how hot the fire is and what’s burning — trees, grasslands, or buildings — wildfire smoke can contain toxic chemical substances, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, benzene and metals. The smoke can also change over time and become more toxic. Continue reading
Has 2026 been an active tornado year?
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of Earth and the storm above. The 30-year normal (1981-2010) for Wisconsin is 23 tornadoes per year.
As of mid-July, the National Weather Service has confirmed that our state has experienced 39 documented tornadoes, which ties it with 2025 for the 6th most tornadoes in an entire year. These tornadoes were distributed over 10 different days. Twenty-seven of those tornadoes were spawned between April 13 and April 17, with 16 on April 17 alone. Continue reading
