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Category Archives: Meteorology
What is the largest hailstone on record?
A hailstone was found in Vigo Park, Texas, on June 2 that measured 7¼ inches in diameter.
However, that is not the record size hailstone for the U.S. That prize stone fell on July 23, 2010, near Vivian, South Dakota. It was 8 inches in diameter and weighed just over 1.9 pounds. The official record hailstone for Wisconsin fell in Wausau in 1921 and measured 5.7 inches. The world’s heaviest hailstone weighed 2.25 pounds and fell in Bangladesh in April 1986. Its diameter was not recorded. Continue reading
Why aren’t South America and the west coast of Africa hit by hurricanes?
Tropical storms hitting South America have distinct disadvantages compared with the North American situation. The energy to drive tropical systems is derived from warm ocean waters. For tropical storms to form, the ocean temperature needs to exceed 79.7 Fahrenheit, which … Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Tropical
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Why is Memorial Day weekend weather highly variable?
Memorial Day weekend weather can be absolutely glorious in the state of Wisconsin. But it can be rainy and cold as well. Perhaps no other major holiday suffers such a Jekyll and Hyde split, and there are really good scientific reasons that underlie this duality.
By the end of May, the Northern Hemisphere is just about completely over the prior winter and the cold air that characterized it is almost completely left to very high latitudes, where the longer days act quickly to erode what is left even near the North Pole. The process of “shedding” the cold air from winter sometimes involves the excursion southward of regional cold air vortices in the mid-troposphere, which meteorologists refer to as “cut off” low pressure systems. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Seasons
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Has this year’s tornado activity been abnormal?
Preliminary reports from the Storm Prediction Center tally higher than the historical averages though May 2024. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Severe Weather
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Do tornadoes occur over all parts of Earth?
The only continent that has not recorded a tornado is Antarctica. Otherwise, tornadoes can happen in just about any location.
North America, and specifically the United States, accounts for more than 75% of the world’s reported tornadoes. Other tornado-prone areas around the globe include western Canada, Argentina, the western Mediterranean, Japan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Phenomena, Severe Weather
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