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Is it safe to shower or bathe during a thunderstorm?
Taking a shower or bath during a thunderstorm could put you at risk from a lightning strike. When you are indoors during a thunderstorm, the National Weather Service (NWS) recommends that you seek a safe location, away from electrical systems, electronic equipment, and avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths and faucets. Most indoor lightning casualties are due to conduction via lightning.
The plumbing systems in many households include metal pipes, which can serve as conduits during lightning strikes. Lightning travels long distances in metal including wires and pipes. Metal does not attract lightning, rather it provides a path for the lightning to follow. Water is also excellent conductor of electricity.
The plumbing systems in many households include metal pipes, which can serve as conduits during lightning strikes. Lightning travels long distances in metal including wires and pipes. Metal does not attract lightning, rather it provides a path for the lightning to follow. Water is also excellent conductor of electricity. Continue reading
Category: Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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What is Tornado Alley?
A tornado is a powerful column of winds that rotate around a center of low pressure. The winds inside a tornado spiral inward and upward, often exceeding speeds of 300 mph. Tornadoes form in atmospheres that have extremely unstable moist air, large amounts of vertical wind shear and weather systems, such as fronts or thunderstorms, that force air upward.
The continental United States provides these three ingredients in abundance. Continue reading
Can we measure air pollution from satellites?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates weather satellites with instruments capable of locating fires and determining fire characteristics such as size and intensity. These satellites also are critical to observing and monitoring smoke from those fires.
NASA recently launched a new satellite instrument to monitor air pollution. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, or TEMPO, was launched into geostationary orbit on April 6, 2023. TEMPO measurements join an international satellite constellation of observations that will track pollution around the globe. The instrument measures sunlight reflected off Earth’s surface and solar energy scattered by clouds and the atmosphere. Gases in the atmosphere absorb sunlight at particular wavelengths, and the measured color spectra is used to determine the concentrations of several gases in the air, including nitrogen dioxide. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Weather Dangers
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How is a heat index determined?
The heat index (HI) indicates how hot it feels.
The HI is calculated using an equation that is a function of air temperature and the relative humidity. The HI is sometimes referred to as the “feels-like” temperature. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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Can wildfires generate weather?
Fires require something to burn plus air to supply oxygen and a heat source to get the fuel to its ignition temperature.
Once a fire starts, weather is one factor of how it will spread and if it will grow. The important weather factors are temperature, wind and humidity. Warmer temperatures allow fuels to ignite quickly, and low humidity keeps the fuel dry and easy to burn. Wind brings oxygen to the fire and also can help to spread it. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Phenomena, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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