Articles

Marine heat waves caused by El Niño “are the greatest threat to coral reef ecosystems globally,” says Michael Fox of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Keith Seitter spoke with Bob Russell, an experienced meteorologist turned author, about his latest action-packed novel, “Thor’s Apprentice”. The story explores the concept of on demand weather manipulation in our lifetime. While the book is fiction, the idea of controlling weather has captivated minds for centuries, and it may not be as far from reality as you might think.

1876—The year of the first recorded storm on Saturn, which new research published in Science Advances has found still lingers in the planet’s atmosphere almost 150 years later.

For years, I've been keeping a close eye on representations of snowflakes, always thrilled when I spot the scientifically accurate six-sided ones but cringing when I see four- or eight-sided renditions. Although I usually keep this to myself, there was that one memorable craft show encounter where I had to politely decline a beautiful necklace featuring an eight-sided snowflake pendant, standing my ground for scientific accuracy.

Kelly Núñez Ocasio, a postdoctoral fellow at the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Laboratory at NCAR, on what she enjoys most about her job. 

Whether you admire the beauty of snow or find it a winter inconvenience, accurate snow observations are crucial for understanding the hydrological cycle. Join us in discovering CoCoRaHS' techniques to ensure precise measurements of snowfall, snow depth, and snow-water equivalent.

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.”

Three books are presented for your consideration - Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning, Tornado Alert: Saving Lives in the Eye of the Storm:  How Technology Can Help Us Survive Tornadoes in 2023, and Immeasurable Weather: Meteorological Data and Settler Colonialism from 1820 to Hurricane Sandy.

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.