Articles

Some Welcoming Remarks
Some Welcoming Remarks

The Weather Band is for all of us who are fascinated with the wide range of phenomena we see in the atmosphere, from the power of hurricanes to the delicacy of a dendritic snowflake.

By Keith Seitter
The Today Show's First Forecast on Television
The Today Show's First Forecast on Television

Watch TODAY anchor Dave Garroway deliver the national weather forecast via telephone and by hand.

By The Today Show
Interview with Jill Pelto
Interview with Jill Pelto

We sat down with artist and science communicator Jill Pelto to learn more about her background and fieldwork, her artistic process, and why she sees art as the key to connecting more audiences to science. 

Shock Troops of Disaster: WPA and the 1938 Hurricane
Shock Troops of Disaster: WPA and the 1938 Hurricane

Watch the original film on relief efforts by the Workers Progress Administration to help communities along the East Coast of the United States recover from the "whirling, shrieking vortex of high wind and heavy rain" caused by the massive hurricane of 1938. 

The Value of Volunteer Observations for Tracking Heavy Rain in Mesoscale Convective Systems
The Value of Volunteer Observations for Tracking Heavy Rain in Mesoscale Convective Systems

In his book, Cloud Dynamics, Robert Houze quotes Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn:

“The fifth night below St. Louis, we had a big storm after midnight, with the power of thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in a solid sheet.”  (Houze, Cloud Dynamics, Academic Press, 1993). The likelihood is that Twain's story was recounting a common occurrence in the Midwest summer: what we know today as the mesoscale convective system or MCS, a conglomeration of thunderstorms that often reach a peak in the middle of the night.

By Ted Best
The Iguanas Are Falling
The Iguanas Are Falling

Well, it’s that time of year again. The National Weather Service in Miami has issued an unofficial warning for falling iguanas the week of Christmas. 

From Fear to Forecasting: How I Learned to Love Tornadoes
From Fear to Forecasting: How I Learned to Love Tornadoes

If you know me, it’s no secret that my love of tornadoes runs deep. Ever since I saw my first funnel cloud at two years old, I’ve wanted to be a meteorologist. I knew I didn’t want to be a broadcaster, I wanted to do “behind-the-scenes” research on tornadoes.

 

What is a secret though is that I’m deathly afraid of tornadoes.

By Alyssa Reynolds
Setting a National Temperature Record at Loma, Montana
Setting a National Temperature Record at Loma, Montana

On January 14th-15th, 1972, a National Weather Service (NWS) cooperative observer (COOP) site located in Loma, Montana recorded a 103F degree temperature change (-54F to 49F) within twenty-four hours, thereby breaking the previous record of 100F recorded on January 23rd-24th, 1916 in Browning, Montana. 

By Andrew Horvitz, Scott Stephens, Michael Helfert, Grant Goodge, Kelly T. Redmond, Ken Pomeroy and Ed Kurdy
"What If?" Or The Importance of Standards
"What If?" Or The Importance of Standards

What if weather observations were made differently in each country, or even by State or region? 

We compare observations to understand weather phenomenon in order to predict future conditions and document historical ones. If each location took their observations differently, we would never be able to understand what we are looking at.

By Paul M. Fransioli, CCM
Weather in a Pen Stroke
Weather in a Pen Stroke

Before today’s technology was available, skilled technicians plotted cloud and atmospheric observa­tions on weather maps by hand. New observations arrived over telegraph or Teletype, and the plotter would create a new map each time. The information arrived in an alphanumeric code, and the plotter would have to decode and record the correct data at the location of each station. The information had to be entered quickly in order for the plotted map to be current. It also had to be entered in a universally accepted format, and it had to be legible so that the analyst could use the plotted map.

By Robert Houze and Rebecca Houze
PERILS OF FREE BALLOONING MAKE GREAT ADVENTURE
Perils of Free Ballooning Make Great Adventure

On May 30, at exactly 5 P. M., Eastern Standard Time, a great throbbing sigh, followed by a ringing cheer, went up from the multitudinous assemblage gathered at Bettis Field, Pa., for it was then that, in the words of the program, the first racing balloon "leaped into space."

By Lieutenant William O. Eareckson
1929 Balloon Race
1929 Balloon Race

Get a view of the balloons and pilots from the six countries competing in the Gordon Bennett International Balloon race in 1929. 

For a first hand account of the race of 1928, read then Lieutenant William Eareckson's story of the winning balloon ride.

Film from the Prelinger Archives in San Francisco

Wilder Weather: Data and Science in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Novel "The Long Winter"
Wilder Weather: Data and Science in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Novel "The Long Winter"

Even tall tales have their facts, but in historical fiction the myriad factual details often far outshine the story itself. In the ever popular books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the telling details turn out to be the truly epic—and real—weather of the past. Recent research led by Barbara Mayes Boustead (University of Nebraska—Lincoln) has begun documenting how Wilder’s book The Long Winter, isn’t just good history wrapped into a great novel. It’s also valuable climate data.

Sun or Shade? How Forecasting Changed Ski Racing at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Sun or Shade? How Forecasting Changed Ski Racing at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Sunlight and shadowing alter the groomed snow surfaces used for ski racing in a variety of ways. The impacts of sun and shade can be seen on everything from the way the course is prepared and how the cameras are positioned for television broadcasting all the way down to the ski chosen for the race and the type of wax placed on that ski. 

By Rosie Howard and Roland Stull
Weather and Death on Mount Everest
Weather and Death on Mount Everest

With a height of 8,848 m, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. For over a century, it has been the subject of exploration for both scientific and recreational purposes. This exploration began in earnest with the British expeditions during the early part of the twentieth century.

By G.W.K. Moore and John L. Semple
Wings Over Everest
Wings Over Everest
What's Your Favorite Weather Myth?
What's Your Favorite Weather Myth?

Meteorologist Janice Huff takes a look at some of the most common weather myths around and shares some great weather knowledge while she's at it.

Do you have a favorite myth or saying that you've debunked? Discuss in the Weather Band community

Explore Gravitational Waves with New Interactive Illustration
Explore Gravitational Waves with New Interactive Illustration

The first gravitational waves ever recorded appeared in 2015. They propagated outward from the merger of two black holes; altering the fabric of space and time around them, and confirming another of Einstein's predictions. 

The Secrets of Thundersnow
The Secrets of Thundersnow

A new tool tracking lightning across the northern hemisphere is helping to change our understanding of the phenomenon called "thundersnow." Technically defined as, "a compound of the words ‘thunder’ and ‘snow’ used informally to describe an observation of snow at the surface that occurs with lightning and thunder" by the AMS Glossary of Meteorology, thundersnow occurs rarely and has been difficult to record. But data from the recently launched Geostationary Lightning Mapper promises to change all that.

Battle of the Ice: Sweden's Meteorological Defeat of Denmark in 1658
Battle of the Ice: Sweden's Meteorological Defeat of Denmark in 1658

Scandinavian history is one rich with battles, raids, and trade; all of which were impacted by weather conditions of the northern latitudes, especially the formation and break up of ice floes throughout the Northern and Baltic seas. This is a closer examination of one weather event that changed the course of Danish and Swedish history. 

By J . Neumann
Take More Sunshine!
Take More Sunshine!

A bit of health advice that was published especially for the weather weenies of 1928: 

"Heliotherapy is much more than a bath in sunlight," says Dr. Clarence L. Hyde. Treatment with artificial lights, while it may reproduce the rays, cannot equal actual sunlight treatment which is accompanied by changing air currents, differences in atmospheric temperatures and humidity, and constant variations in the sunlight itself.

Paleohurricane Records From The Bahamas
Paleohurricane Records From The Bahamas

Can the past reveal the future of hurricanes? The record-breaking hurricane season of 2020 has been only one reminder of the critical role that hurricane modeling plays in saving lives and reducing impacts. Looking backwards in time may provide some new clues for how to move forward with identifying how hurricanes form and propagate within a changing climate.

Atmospheric Studies from a Moving Weather Observatory
Atmospheric Studies from a Moving Weather Observatory

Vincent Schaefer's 1955 study on changes in atmospheric conditions between the base of a mountain and its peak was only one small facet of Project Skyfire. Originally aimed at reducing lightning caused fires in timber forests in the western United States, this project created a number of fascinating projects, including Schaefer's extensive research into cloud seeding. 

By Vincent Schaefer
How to Get Started as an Amateur Weather Observer: Educational Websites
How to Get Started as an Amateur Weather Observer: Educational Websites

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather”

-John Ruskin

Those of us who believe the truth of Ruskin’s words may not see all weather phenomena as good, but we do revel in it all, fascinated by the atmosphere’s daily march wherever we live.

By Ben May, Board Director of the National Weather Association Foundation
How to Produce Supercooled Water Droplets or Ice Crystals in Clouds
How to Produce Ice Crystals in Clouds

This paper from 1948 describes the laboratory experiment that Vincent Schaefer created for seeding a supercooled cloud and converting it to ice crystals. This was part of his work at the GE Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York and provided the foundation for weather modification and cloud seeding experiments.  

By Vincent Schaefer