We’re all familiar with tornadoes and the damage they cause. But there are some facts that may surprise you. For example, did you know that tornadoes are more common in the United States than any other country? Or that the U.S. gets more than 1,200 tornadoes a year? Or how about the fact that tornadoes can happen […]
We’ve all seen those white streaks trailing behind jets, creating stripes against the blue sky. The lines are called contrails, short for condensation trails, and they appear when water vapor condenses and freezes around the exhaust from an aircraft, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. At least, that’s what science says. As AccuWeather reports, in recent […]
Rising air and ocean temperatures around the world could set the stage for an “explosive hurricane season,” says meteorologist Stephanie Abrams of The Weather Channel. As CBS News reports, in February, the average global sea surface temperature was the highest ever recorded, at 69.9 degrees. It’s a trend that’s picking up steam, especially in the Arctic, where temperatures are […]
While no reports of tornadoes came in the first week of March, there were many landspouts, which are considered cousins to the tornado. As Accuweather reports, landspouts, sometimes called “landspout tornadoes,” are formed differently. Unlike tornadoes spawned by rotating thunderstorms, landspouts start as a column of spinning air near the ground and are not connected to the […]
The utility company that provides power to most of the Texas Panhandle says its facilities appear to have played a role in the start of the state’s largest-ever wildfire, which incinerated over one million acres and left residents sifting through the destruction of their homes. “Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have […]
An astronomical double-header is slated for one of the first nights of spring, including a precursor to April’s highly-anticipated total solar eclipse. From views of Mercury to a Worm Moon, here are AccuWeather’s top astronomy events to mark on your calendar in March. March 10: Spring Forward Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 10, […]
In the wake of a biblical blizzard that unloaded nearly 100 inches of snow on California last week, AccuWeather meteorologists are confident in stating that California will be free of widespread drought through at least 2025. “The combination of the abundance of rain and snow from the winter of 2022-2023, the state of the reservoirs, […]
Firefighters in Texas are still battling the largest wildfire in recorded state history, but they were hopeful on Monday that with cooler weather and less wind forecast for this week that they’d get an important break. As the New York Times reports, the blaze, known as the Smokehouse Creek fire, has already scorched more than […]
A tornado touched down in Kings County on Saturday afternoon — the second tornado in two days to hit Central California. The tornado touched down in the south end of Corcoran around 4:37 p.m., said meteorologist Carlos Molina with the National Weather Service’s Hanford office. The tornado moved eastward and than dissipated by the time […]
The sun has unleashed its most powerful solar flare for around seven years. Last week, in less than 24 hours, the sun fired off three X-class solar flares, the highest magnitude on the scale used to measure the intensity of flares. The third was the strongest of the bunch and was “the most powerful flare […]