Articles

In the North American West, where mountain snow is essential for water supplies throughout the region, accurately determining the extent of the snowpack is crucial for water resource planning.

2,615 per minute—The peak number of lightning flashes in the volcanic plume during the eruption of the Hunga Volcano in Tonga in January of 2022, which a recent study calls “the most intense lightning rates ever documented in Earth's atmosphere.”

Featured Books:

Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning 
by Ronald L. Holle and Daile Zhang (Springer)
 

Tornado Alert: Saving Lives in the Eye of the Storm:  How Technology Can Help Us Survive Tornadoes in 2023 
by Avery M. Silva (independent publisher)
 

Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy 
by Sara J. Grossman (Duke University Press)
 

Join the conversation on one AMS member’s journey teaching in Thailand and unlearning scientific writing to author a book.

Humans aren’t just altering the climate: our biggest projects can also change the weather.

Get ready for the first El Niño winter since 2018-19. Likely to be the strongest El Niño in more than a decade, this will be one of the main factors affecting global weather patterns this winter. 

In recent years, US weather threats have changed significantly, shifting from more "traditional" weather hazards to new challenges. The adaptive and flexible mindset of gamers might prove to be an important asset to help us address 21st century challenges.  

Adam Sobel, professor of applied physics and applied mathematics and of Earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, sat down with authors Craig Bohren and Bruce Albrecht to talk about the second edition of their book, Atmospheric Thermodynamics.

Have you ever felt this way about the place you live? Does it feel like anytime storms roll through, the worst seems to go around you? Do you feel, deep down, like the place you live just won’t be hit by a tornado? Or if you live along the coast, perhaps, that a hurricane is unlikely to affect you directly?
You might not be alone, and the effect of these beliefs, in some cases, could be consequential.
 

This webinar will look back on a hot, and at times, tragic summer season.

Melissa Burt, associate professor and associate dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Colorado State University, on how an internship led her in the direction of a research career. For more, listen to the Clear Skies Ahead podcast, with new episodes released every month.

Interest in integrating social science into meteorology has grown significantly in recent years, leading to substantial research in the field. However, a major challenge lies in defining and measuring success in communication, particularly regarding weather resilience, raising questions about the criteria for "effective communication" and who determines it.

Climate Change Science in K–12 Education

The sun impacts all of our lives every day, but what about during an eclipse? Join us for a discussion on the annular eclipse that will be happening on Saturday, October 14 and of course we will be talking about the total solar eclipse that will impact millions of people on April 8, 2024.

On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, and became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

In just a few decades’ time, the physical science of meteorology has evolved rapidly, aided in part by increasingly sophisticated field campaigns of many kinds. Spurred by an explosion of scientific development, including improved theoretical and empirical research in recent years, alongside growth in the hiring of social scientists within meteorological organizations, social science fieldwork is now experiencing its own surge of growth. This article will describe a little bit of the NSSL team’s approach, highlighting our study of the December 10, 2021 tornado outbreak as an example of what we hope to do for many key events now and in the future.

Our first AMS Weather Band Trivia Night! It was a thrilling battle of weather knowledge, where enthusiasts competed on various weather topics. Participants aimed to secure a spot on the leaderboard and win AMS prizes.

Maria Molina, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland, on advice for students wishing to pursue research opportunities when they graduate. For more, listen to the Clear Skies Ahead podcast, with new episodes released every month.

9–12 million—The approximate number of people in the United States who could be at risk of isolation because of rising sea levels by the end of the century under a scenario in which global sea levels increase 2 meters.

Researchers looked at reanalysis data and historical climate model simulations, as well as extreme value statistics—which can estimate the return periods of rare events—to determine the regions where record-breaking temperatures are most likely to occur next, or in the near future.

BAMS talked with Thomas Huang about the book Big Data Analytics in Earth, Atmospheric, and Ocean Sciences, of which he is the lead editor. The book explores new tools for the analysis and display of the rapidly increasing volume of data about the Earth and is part of the AGU Special Publications Series.

QUESTION: We know cities can influence air temperatures through the urban heat island effect, but do they impact the atmosphere in other ways?