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What does the CDC have to do with the National Weather Service?
As the flu season ramps up and brings along with it an increased threat of COVID-19 infections, it has been distressing for many to witness the assault on the leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known as the CDC.
Under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an infamous vaccine skeptic, the leadership of the organization has been decimated and confidence in its ability to meet the challenges we regularly face from infectious disease has dramatically decreased. These troubling developments come just weeks after the Department of Energy released a report on the impact of greenhouse gases on the climate of the United States written by five well-known skeptics of the broad scientific consensus on this urgent issue. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Weather Dangers
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What is a haboob?
A haboob is dust storm that can be several miles long, several thousand feet high, and can travel hundreds of miles. Haboobs are caused when an intense column of sinking air in a thunderstorm hits the ground and lofts soil particles into the air. These downdrafts, referred to as a microburst, can hit the ground at 50-80 mph and then spread in all directions. The resulting winds stir up dust and dirt from large arid areas which then get blown along in front of the approaching thunderstorm. The lofted particles can reach heights of 5000 ft and can extend up to 100 miles wide.
The name “haboob” is derived from the Arabian word ‘hab’, meaning ‘to blow,’ and was originally the name for a dust storm or sandstorm in the northern part of Sudan. Continue reading
What is the longest lightning bolt?
Lightning is a huge electrical discharge, or spark, that results from vigorous motions in thunderstorms.
Storms are composed of ice crystals and liquid water droplets. Winds inside the storm cause particles to rub against one another, causing electrons to be stripped off, making the particles either negatively or positively charged. The charges get grouped in the cloud, often negatively charged near the bottom of the cloud and positively charged up high. This is an electric field, and because air is a good insulator, the electric fields become incredibly strong. Eventually a lightning bolt happens, and the flow of electrons neutralizes the electric field. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Phenomena, Severe Weather
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How does this summer dew point temperature compare with previous years?
The dew point temperature is the temperature to which the air must be cooled, at constant pressure, to get dew to form. As the grass and other objects near the ground cool and reach the dew point temperature, some of the water vapor in the atmosphere will condense into liquid water on the objects. While the dew point temperature is a temperature, it is also a measure of the humidity of the air. The higher the dew point temperature, the greater the amount of water vapor in the air.
To know how close the air is to saturation, we need to know the dew point and the air temperature. The closer the dew point is to the air temperature, the closer the air is to saturation. When the dew point equals the air temperature, the air is saturated, so the dew point temperature cannot be greater than the air temperature. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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How far has summer beaten back the areal extent of cold air?
On more than one occasion in this column we have commented on the areal extent of air colder than 23 degrees Fahrenheit at 850 hPa (about 1 mile above the ground) as a measure of the extremity of winter.
In the middle of January, about 68 million square kilometers of the Northern Hemisphere are covered by air that cold at that level. Between about July 5 and July 20 that area shrinks to zero, and the complete absence of such air lasts only a very few days. At the beginning of August, we are just past the point in this summer that this area is beginning to increase again. Thus, despite the fact that we have been through a couple of really hot (and humid) weeks to end July, the return of winter has already begun in terms of this measure. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Seasons
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