Articles

Explore the meteorology behind the most destructive thunderstorm complex in U.S. history in this exciting webinar with renowned meteorologist and science writer Bob Henson. 

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.

Erik Salna, M.S., Associate Director of Education and Outreach, Extreme Events Institute (EEI) and International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC), Florida International University (FIU), Miami, Florida presents on hurricane safety research and innovation at FIU's Wall of Wind

Join us for a variety of events throughout May. We've got an amazing conversation with Lt. Col. Nicole Mitchell, formerly of the Hurricane Hunters, to celebrate Hurricane Preparedness Week, and the Weather Band will be hosting instrument companies for Q&A sessions beginning May 19th and continuing into June. 

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.

Featuring Jeremy Bower of JRBStorm Photography and Paul Smith of Paul M. Smith Photography, it covers tips and tricks for thunderstorm photography as well as the larger role that photography plays in education and safety messaging. 

This is part of a webinar collaboration with the Blue Hill Observatory!

In this webinar the speakers look back at the impacts and effects of the storms of 1978 in the Ohio Valley, and especially on the east coast of the United States. 

Join Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden as he covers the processes behind lake effect snow, how to forecast lake effect snow, and some historical lake effect storms that have occurred.

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.

Learn more about Davis Instruments and the materials they have for beginning weather observers as well as advanced practitioners. This session covers the Vantage Vue (as an entry level station), Vantage Pro2 (for the more serious), WeatherLink Live (getting your data to the Cloud) and the WeatherLink (app/web for viewing data) and also introduces AirLink (their new air quality sensor).

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.

Take an in depth look at the Tempest system, including its unique weather station hardware design and associated applications for amateur observers, in this presentation from WeatherFlow.

You'll also learn about the wide range of applications for the WeatherFlow systems:  from leveraging data science to inspect, curate, enhance, calibrate and qualify dependable data from the network; assimilating qualified data into hi-res modeling to improve performance with ground truth data; applying machine learning to post process model output and improve accurate for site specific forecasting; to delivery of real-time, historical, and forecasted weather data via API.

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. 

Explore Maximum Weather Instrument’s array of beautiful, handcrafted weather instruments and preconfigured weather stations for your home or business. Learn more about the history of the company, how their instruments work in different packages, and what new products are being released soon. The discussion walks through how the Maximum instruments are used, how to site your instruments, and what observation and data collection partnerships Maximum is prioritizing for reporting and analysis.

Learn more about PASCO's award-winning, hands-on science tools and datalogging solutions in this quick webinar. They connect students directly to science and STEM concepts with classroom technology such as sensors, interfaces, and data collection and analysis software. They also design and manufacture high quality lab equipment for physics and engineering and offer curriculum solutions for physics, chemistry, biology, environmental science, and K-8 Science

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.