Severe Weather

To scientists who study them, there are two mysteries surrounding hurricanes that stand above the rest: Why do they exist at all, and why aren’t there many more of them? This may strike you as a paradox, but these are serious questions that arise when burrowing deep into the theory, modeling, and observations of these storms. And they bear on the question posed by the title of this essay.

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 undoubtedly IS the one to which all other New England hurricanes are sooner or later compared. There have only been three others of comparable combined strength and widespread devastation since the colonization of the region.

Tanja Fransen's presentation from the 2022 AMS Community and Citizen Science Symposium covers the increasing issues with wildfire smoke intrusions and public health and how a Weather Ready Nation needs to include partners in the public health arenas.  

Here are a few of the news stories from the weather and atmospheric sciences world that we've been following this week. Do you have a story we missed? Share it in the community!

In this presentation from the 2022 AMS Community and Citizen Science Symposium, Candice Erdmann describes how, during a severe windstorm on Labor Day 2020, several wildfires began to tear through parts of the Oregon Cascades Range. This includes a discussion of the topography, air quality monitors used, and data verification processes.

The lowest wind chill temperature in U.S. history was recorded on February 3, 2023, at the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, reaching an astounding –47°F due to powerful winds and freezing temperatures.

Explore the impact of Superstorm 1950, the greatest simultaneous blizzard, ice storm, windstorm, and cold outbreak of the twentieth century. 
 

Meteorologists Amber Liggett and Dr. Ashton Robinson Cook highlight their experiences and lessons learned in storm chasing, emphasizing the reasons for storm chasing, anecdotes, safety precautions, forecasting techniques, and potential risks involved, with the purpose of informing and guiding those interested in the activity.

Vivian Rennie of Central California’s KSBY TV, discusses the impacts of atmospheric rivers on California's Central Coast this January.

Join meteorologist John Gordon for a webinar on the Quad State Outbreak and gain insights into the assessment of one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in Kentucky history.

The Northeastern Storm Conference is the largest and longest running student led conference in the nation. What once was a small meeting of students on the Lyndon State College campus has grown into a three-day conference with hundreds of attendees from across the country.

Temperature swings can be subtle, stunning, or somewhere in between, depending in large part on what you’re used to. In a moist tropical climate, like the one that prevails over much of Hawai’i, the typical difference between nighttime lows and afternoon highs may be less than 20°F.

Bow echoes indicate the potential for severe weather. Ted Best documents the evolution of a bow echo MCS across southern Minnesota. 

Join Matthew Cappucci of the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang as he describes his path to success, offers advice for building your career your way, and reflects on what the meteorologist of the future will be like. 

Bill Bunting takes Weather Band members along as he describes the day-to-day operations of the Storm Prediction Center as it fulfills its mission of protecting life and property from severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and critical fire weather conditions.

The second annual event of the “Eye Towards the Sky” speaker series covers hurricanes and the effects of a warming atmosphere on their intensity and frequency.

Scientists have encountered difficulty determining long-term hurricane trends “Only hurricanes that affected people’s lives were known and reported,” notes Suzana Camargo of Columbia University. However, Camargo and colleagues created an algorithm that identified tropical cyclones back to 1850 in the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) dataset, which uses historical global climate observations to reconstruct weather patterns.