Articles

As World War II progressed, a shortage of technical officers left the U.S. increasingly vulnerable. In an effort to shore up defenses, what was then the U.S. Weather Bureau, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy began to recruit women hydrologists, mathematicians, and meteorologists.

11 March 1888: The Great Blizzard of 1888 paralyzes the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, dumping as much as 55 inches of snow with wind-whipped drifts of 30 to 40 feet. 

This chart shows the tracks of areas of low pressure from March 1888. The stipples are fog belts and the hash marks show where icebergs or field ice was observed!

Fern Kirkman, a graduate of Hunter College in New York City, had entered NYU's College of Engineering in 1937. Once the Department of Meteorology was created, she immediately enrolled. She received the master's degree in June 1939 and became the first woman in the United States to earn a degree in meteorology.

How does a rocket get to space? For that, it needs the help of a very special team of weather forecasters. 

The 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron (45 WS) provides comprehensive weather services to America’s space program at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Patrick Air Force Base. These services include weather support for pre-launch, launch, post-launch, routine weather forecast, 24/7 watches/warnings, flight briefings, and special missions. 

If you could help get every American to take one preparedness action to protect themselves from extreme weather, what would it be?

Many weather safety experts would say taking the time to identify your safe place is the most essential preparedness activity. All the warnings and emergency kits and communication plans become less important if you don’t know where to go to stay safe. This is true for tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, lightning, tsunamis, rip currents, and every other natural hazard. 

Perhaps one of the most important yet unappealing cloud types is stratocumulus. Although they create overcast skies that impose a sense of gloom, they also serve an important function in the heat balance of the earth. This cloud type covers more of the earth’s surface than any other at approximately 20% on an average annual basis. Small reductions or increases in its coverage can cause changes on the same order as greenhouse gases

AMS Weather Band Advisory Committee member Coral Arroyo speaks with Chris Vagasky of Vaisala and the National Lightning Safety Council about safety for fans and staff during stormy games, lightning safety planning, and, of course, the Detroit Tigers. 

We are in desperate need of better meteorological data around cities. The lack of sufficient, fine scale observations for the urban boundary layer (UBL) region above and close to building height makes it difficult to improve meteorology and numerical weather prediction models for cities. Better data would have impacts for public health, localized flooding, and urban planning. And though much progress has been made in identifying and solving this problem, a number of challenges remain.

April Fool's jokes have been around since the 16th century, even though the origins of the practice are disputed. Whatever the beginnings might be, various people have created some incredible weather related pranks through the years. Here are just a few Weather Band favorites for your reading pleasure. 

Severe cold waves on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico are infrequent but of great moment. Human habitation and dress are not here adapted to extreme cold; cattle and other livestock are inadequately sheltered from winter extremes, and tropical fruits and winter truck are subject to extensive damage and occasional total destruction from abnormally low temperatures. In economic loss and human suffering, a severe cold wave, reaching our southern and southeastern borders, ranks with the hurricane.

While there are many, many apps, I present here the best ones I’ve been able to find after quite a bit of trial and error. I’m sure there are others I’ve left out, but these work best for me.

A very thrilling, nervous, and euphoric moment occurred back on February 18^th with the touchdown of NASA’s Martian Perseverance Rover. The Perseverance Rover is a component of the larger Mars Exploration Program (MEP) and includes a robotic helicopter named Ingenuity. Perseverance confirmed a successful touchdown within the Jezero crater at 3:55 pm EST, ending a 204-day flight from Earth to its new home, Mars. Meteorological instruments, similar to the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) of the Martian rover, Curiosity, have begun recording surface air and ground temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

A new target date for the James Webb Space Telescope is set for October 31, 2021 from French Guiana. This telescope will be an unparalleled space science observatory when it launches in 2021. This launch is an international effort, led by NASA together with the ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope's launch will allow new insights into the mysteries and origins of our universe and our place in it. 

Dive into the fascinating history of weather maps with Barbara Mayes Boustead. In this presentation she reveals the science and process of hand analysis and discusses its relevance in a world of digital maps. 

I am approaching this particular blog post with a bit of consternation and reservation. Most of us are so enthralled by the progression of daily weather that we become amateur weather observers.

Beginning on March 8, 1993, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models consistently predicted a deep winter storm for the eastern United States on March 13. These NWP models gave excellent advance notice and produced accurate forecasts of the storm track location. However, the model runs of March 13 considerably underforecast the deepening of the storm in the northeast Gulf of Mexico.

I tend to go overboard for books. I value my library card more than my driver’s license. But then, I’m a book addict. 

There are so many books on meteorology that it can stagger the mind. You really don’t need to read a ton of books if you are an amateur, but you should get some orientation and familiarity with terms and processes.

From culture to technology, typhoons changed the course of history in Japan. At the time of Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, the Mongolian Empire stretched east to west from The Pacific to the Caspian Sea and from southern Russia to Tibet. In the next 30 odd years, Mongolian leaders expanded the empire in all directions, with periodic contractions back to the capital of Karakorum in order to decide on succession and crown a new great khan. When Kublai Khan consolidated his power in 1264, Japan was squarely in his sights. The only thing that could stop him? The weather.  

Art has an interesting role to play in weather observing. Paintings, sketches, and other media can provide representation of clouds and other meteorological phenomena from before measurements and data collection instruments were standardized and widespread. William Ascroft’s pastel sketches from 1888 are an example of this. These sketches depict observations from Chelsea, London, on 26 November 1883 and show the effects of the eruption of Krakatau. The images capture the impact that aerosols high in the atmosphere have on the color of the sky. 

What do you see when you look up?

Clues to the state of the atmosphere are all around us if we know how and where to look. The rainbow is probably one of the best known signs as its brilliant colors and dramatic appearance make it hard to miss. But there’s more to rainbows than you might guess. If a halo or rainbow is observed in the sky, it is carrying information about the shapes, sizes, and/or composition of airborne particles. Each rainbow and rainbow-esque phenomenon carries its own specific information about the particles that generate it. This information is sometimes difficult to obtain from other sources. 

The streaks of color may not last long, and they occur at unpredictable times. But in cases where the actual state of the atmosphere at a certain moment is of importance, or when one is interested in knowing the composition of particles floating in the air, their observation may help. So remember that every time you see and photograph a rainbow, you’re making important observations about the world around you. 

Forget the rain delays, temperature “is the most important meteorological variable affecting fly ball distances for MLB as a whole.” So concluded a 1995 study by Kraft and Skeeter that looked at temperature, humidity, and wind impacts on fly balls in Major League Baseball games. That study also found that batted fly balls in cool temperatures (at most 50°F) travel on average 16 ft less compared to warm temperatures (at least 90°F).

It's official! We're inviting you to share your love of weather and photography in our very first AMS Weather Band photo contest!

The contest runs from May 31, 2021 to August 20, 2021. We're seeking photos of weather, water, and climate from the subtle to the extreme; think clouds, waves, storms, and other atmospheric, oceanic, or hydrologic conditions. We can't wait to see the weather moments and stories you've captured.