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Category Archives: Phenomena
Why have the skies been so hazy?
Summer skies often look hazy because of the high humidity, which condenses in the sky and forms small liquid water particles that scatter light, creating that hazy effect.
But there’s a different reason our skies have not been a nice blue color when they’re cloud-free: smoke.
It’s coming from wildfires in the forests of the Northwest Territories in Canada, which were started naturally by lightning strikes. The winds have moved this smoke our way, defining which areas would be affected by the smoke. Continue reading
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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Comments Off on How do you stay safe from lightning?
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
Ask the Weather Guys: What is brontology?
What is brontology? Brontology is the scientific study of thunder. All thunder results from lightning. A bolt of lightning rapidly heats the air around it, which causes the air to quickly expand and generate a sound wave we call thunder. … Continue reading
How do we acquire knowledge about the atmosphere?
How do we gain knowledge about the atmosphere? It is easy to assume that current, well-accepted scientific knowledge about anything was originally discovered by the grace of inspired geniuses armed with vastly superior intelligence than the average thinking person. In … Continue reading
