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Category Archives: Phenomena
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. 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. One bacterium that is abundant in damp warm soils is actinomycete. Continue reading
Category: Phenomena
Tags Phenomena, precipitation, rain
Comments Off on Why does it smell good after a rain?
Tags Phenomena, precipitation, rain
Comments Off on Why does it smell good after a rain?
How do large snowflakes form?
There are four basic shapes of ice crystals: the hexagonal plate, the needle, the column and the dendrite. The dendrites are hexagonal with elongated branches, or fingers, of ice; they most closely resemble what we think of as snowflakes. The temperature at which the crystal grows determines the particular shape. A snowflake is an individual ice crystal or an aggregate of ice crystals. Large snowflakes are aggregates of ice crystals. Continue reading
What causes wind gusts?
A wind gust is a sudden, brief increase in the speed of the wind followed by a lull. According to National Weather Service observing practice, gusts are reported when the peak wind speed reaches at least 18 mph and the variation in wind speed between the peaks and lulls is at least about 10 mph. The strongest wind gust recorded occurred at Australia’s Barrow Island, with a gust of 253 mph that occurred during tropical cyclone Olivia on April 10, 1996. Continue reading
How do snowflakes grow?
A snowflake can be an individual ice crystal or an aggregate of ice crystals. Ice crystals can grow by water vapor deposition on the crystal or by collisions with other cloud particles.
An ice crystal can grow if the air around it has a relative humidity near 100 percent. The ice particle grows by water vapor deposition. Growth by deposition is generally slow. If you find nicely shaped snowflakes, they likely were produced by vapor deposition. Continue reading
Why does the moon look red during a lunar eclipse?
A total lunar eclipse could be seen in cloud-free regions across most of the United States and Canada on Saturday morning, Dec. 10. In a total lunar eclipse the sun, Earth and moon line up and the Earth casts its shadow on the moon. The moon is always a full moon and it never goes completely dark during a total lunar eclipse. It appears reddish for the same reason that sunsets and sunrises often have a red tint. Continue reading
