Articles

May 13, 2024
Look, Up in the Sky! It's...Superbolts!
Look, Up in the Sky! It's...Superbolts!

Superbolts are 1,000 times more energetic than the average lightning bolt. Although they comprise less than 1% of all lightning, they can wreak havoc on ships and infrastructure when they do strike.

May 7, 2024
Extreme Heat and Health Impacts and Preparedness for Summer 2024
Extreme Heat and Health Impacts and Preparedness for Summer 2024

It is important to monitor how your body feels in the heat. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), extreme heat caused more emergency department visits associated with heat-related illnesses in May – September 2023 than previous years, especially among males ages 18-64. So, what actions can you take to prepare for extreme heat this summer?

By Amber Liggett
May 6, 2024
Huntersville Supercell
Huntersville Supercell

Green sky supercell in Huntersville. 

By Zoey Uram
May 6, 2024
Readings - Interview: Creating Community at the Ends of the Earth
Readings - Interview: Creating Community at the Ends of the Earth

BAMS spoke with Elizabeth Rush about her new book, The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth. Rush is also the author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and her work has appeared in a wide range of publications from The New York Times to Orion and Guernica

May 6, 2024
2024 Total Solar Eclipse Community Story Map
2024 Total Solar Eclipse Community Story Map

Discover the stories and observations of the AMS Weather Band community during the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.

May 3, 2024
Weather You Know: Severe Weather Trivia Night
Weather You Know: Severe Weather Trivia Night

Weather You Know: Severe Weather Trivia Night (May 2, 2024)

April 30, 2024
Fire Rainbow
Fire Rainbow

What we see represented in this photo is what some would call a rare opportunity to capture. The phenomenon is referred to as "Circumhorizontal arc" or some call it a "fire rainbow" or a "sundog". This occurrence was my first experience seeing one of these in person and it couldn't have been any better! The brightness and clearness of it lasted for about 10 minutes and was seen from people hundreds of miles away so it was definitely enjoyed by a lot of people.

By Tyler Kennedy
April 29, 2024
When a Forecaster Issues a Tornado Emergency: Insights from the Front Lines
When a Forecaster Issues a Tornado Emergency: Insights from the Front Lines

On May 3, 1999, the first-ever tornado to receive the "tornado emergency" distinction tore across central Oklahoma. That tornado was so high-end, and so close to a large metropolitan area, that forecasters decided to invoke "emergency" to convey a sense of the unusually serious peril. 

By Ashton Robinson Cook and Bob Henson
April 26, 2024
In Forty-five Years
In Forty-five Years

I have written, recorded, and donated this song in the hopes that it is heard by many people. It was my intention to portray a positive message that may help to assuage the pervasive gloom & doom surrounding this subject. I invite you to listen, and maybe it will help move the needle. We all need to do our part!

By Timothy Press
April 25, 2024
Heading into the 2024 Hurricane Season: What Everyone Needs to Know
Heading into the 2024 Hurricane Season: What Everyone Needs to Know

NHC Director Dr. Mike Brennan highlights improvements to NWS products and services and discusses recent social media chatter on creating a Category 6.
 

April 19, 2024
Weather Lens: the 2023 Weather Band Photo Contest Winners
Weather Lens: the 2023 Weather Band Photo Contest Winners

The 2023 Weather Band Photo Contest winners, Kristy Sharkey, Elan Azriel, and Michael Seger shared the stories behind their stunning photos. Alan Sealls moderated as they discussed their winning entries and offered insights into great weather photography.

April 15, 2024
Pigeon Point Green Flash
Pigeon Point Green Flash

As a long-time meteorologist, I have known of and have been watching for the Green Flash whenever I ventured to the coast at sunset. Those efforts were unsuccessful until about four years ago when I moved to the central California coast and began photographing sunsets regularly with a telephoto lens.

By Jan Null
April 11, 2024
Rooting into Plant Hardiness Zone Maps for Blooming Good Gardens
Rooting into Plant Hardiness Zone Maps for Blooming Good Gardens

Gardeners are well aware of the effects of weather on their plants. The timing and amount of rain, snow, heat, cold, sun, or clouds can impact the performance of their plantings. Climate plays an important role, as well, with some perennial flowers, trees, and shrubs better able to handle colder winter extremes than others. To help gardeners know what plants should be able to survive the winters in their region, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes maps of Plant Hardiness Zones, and these maps were recently updated for the first time since 2012.

By Chris Vagasky
April 10, 2024
Mountain wave over Lake Ontario
Mountain wave over Lake Ontario

A Pilot Report over Lake Ontario near Rochester (ROC), New York showing high wind from the east which caused a mountain wave near Rochester west of the mountains.

By Alan Baughman
April 8, 2024
Raining Away
Raining Away

Do you ever stop to smell flowers? Sit back and watch the clouds? I’m a huge proponent of purposefully immersing oneself in nature (or lazily basking in the sunshine). Mindfulness lets me find those little moments in nature most people miss and lets the weather come to me instead of me deliberating chasing it. Those moments are the best for any weather photography.

By Ashley Orehek Rossi
April 7, 2024
Clear Skies Ahead: Mathew Brown
Clear Skies Ahead: Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown of the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma, on a typical day on the job as a postdoctoral fellow.

April 5, 2024
A Day That Changed Tornado Research - A Look Back at the 1974 Super Outbreak
A Day That Changed Tornado Research - A Look Back at the 1974 Super Outbreak
April 3, 2024
A Day That Changed Tornado Research - A Look Back at the 1974 Super Outbreak
A Day That Changed Tornado Research - A Look Back at the 1974 Super Outbreak

Join our special 90-minute webinar discussing the historic April 3-4, 1974 tornado outbreak, which devastated 13 states and Ontario with at least 148 tornadoes, including the most F5 tornadoes from a single event.

April 3, 2024
Weather Band Maestros: Preparing for the Eclipse
Weather Band Maestros: Preparing for the Eclipse

Some of AMS Maestros are getting ready to experience the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. Check out what they are doing to get ready, and join AMS Weather Band before and after the eclipse for webinars and ways you can get involved!

April 2, 2024
Eclipse 2024! Sunblock, Scorpions and Double Diamond Rings
Eclipse 2024! Sunblock, Scorpions and Double Diamond Rings

NASA Heliophysist Dr. Lika Guhathakurta and Dave Jones of StormCenter Communications discuss all you need to know about the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse and more!

April 2, 2024
The Weather is Tamed: On-Demand Weather Modification, Fact or Fiction?
The Weather is Tamed: On-Demand Weather Modification, Fact or Fiction?

Robert L. “Bob” Russell spoke with AMS Executive Director Emeritus Keith Seitter about Russell’s book, Thor’s Apprentice, on the new AMS Author Webinar Series. Thor’s Apprentice is his thought-provoking fictional story of the potential good and evil of on-demand weather modification.

March 28, 2024
Iridescent Contrail
Iridescent Contrail

Back in 2020, when I started taking interest and practicing astrophotography, images of different optical phenomenon caught my attention. The beauty and colours of halos, rainbows, and iridescence was something that I fell for and started imaging those, whenever I had a chance.

By Soumyadeep Mukherjee
March 26, 2024
Electrical Storm Over the Strait of Malacca
Electrical Storm Over the Strait of Malacca

Graeme Guy was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He had appointments as a biochemistry researcher in Australia, England and Singapore. A major interest for most of his life has been nature photography with all the natural world being potential targets. While living in Singapore Graeme founded the Nature Photographic Society of Singapore. In his scientific career, he has published over 100 scientific papers and retired in 2011.

By Graeme Guy
March 25, 2024
Triumph from Tragedy: How a Discovery from the 1974 Super Outbreak Saved Countless Lives
Triumph from Tragedy: How a Discovery from the 1974 Super Outbreak Saved Countless Lives

It took quite a while for scientists to gauge the full scope of the damage produced by the 1974 Super Outbreak. One fateful step in this process was when the eminent tornado researcher Tetsuya Theodore “Ted” Fujita flew over and photographed damage tracks. What Fujita discovered in those survey flights a half-century ago ended up transforming aviation safety, and likely saving many thousands of lives.

By Bob Henson
March 21, 2024
Clouds Devouring the Sunset
Clouds Devouring the Sunset

I looked out the window and saw the clouds, illuminated by that orange color of the sun at sunset, majestic, losing all dimension and proportion, and when I made several clicks I noticed the figure that was formed in the clouds, those of an immense shark , about to devour everything in its path, the clouds, the afternoon and the unwary, like me, crouched on a plane, flying straight into its jaws

By Carlos Gustavo Blanco Matus