Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Even though it was nowhere near as active as forecast, day 6 was by far our most active day yet. We saw it all: a tornado, tons of wall clouds, an amazing shelf cloud, multiple funnel clouds, and we were pummeled by high winds, torrential rain, and hail on two separate occasions. The SPC homepage […]
With tornado activity well to our north yesterday, we decided to take a day off from chasing and explore Oklahoma! After sleeping in past noon, we decided to head east from Clinton, OK towards Oklahoma City and get some good southern barbecue. We stopped at Swadley’s Bar-B-Q on the western outskirts of Oklahoma City and […]
Our second day of storm chasing was definitely a lot more active than our first! We saw flooding rains, strong winds, lots of (presumably wind, possibly tornado) damage, a weak funnel cloud, several weakly rotating wall clouds, lots of “scud,” and even smoke from an oil tank that got struck by lightning. The storms started […]
After much anticipation, Joey and I finally saw some good storms on our third day of our storm chasing vacation! No tornadoes were in the cards for today, but we saw brief bursts of heavy rain, small hail, gusty winds, an impressive flanking line, and above all, very frequent lightning! We started out the day […]
In the wake of the incredible thunderstorms many locations around the area saw Thursday, I thought I’d write a review on the amazing and very uncommon weather we saw last week. In the interest of time, I will spend relatively little time reviewing general thunderstorm knowledge, but if you are interested, you can read a 4-part […]
So many things to blog about… so little time. Today was by FAR the warmest day of the year for the Pacific Northwest. The Portland Airport hit 81 degrees, making this year the first year since records began back in 1940 that we’ve had an 80 degree high before a 70 degree high. Of course, […]
Before I explain Seattle’s crazy weather on Monday, I must apologize for not keeping you updated on the situation throughout the day and night! Since I’ve moved down to Portland, I’ve definitely been more out-of-touch with Seattle weather. Still, that’s no excuse for at least writing a post-storm blog about the insane and unexpected thundersnow […]
As the meteorologists eye the weather models, I think it’s time to get the raincoats ready! Stormy weather is on the horizon and I’m excited! It has been a graceful transition from summer to fall so far. Warm and sunny days were replaced with mild temps and mixed sun, clouds and showers. Not too bad! […]
Yesterday, some pretty strong storms rolled through areas of Western Washington, bringing vivid lightning, torrential downpours, and even funnel clouds to multiple locations throughout the state. With cool air aloft and high sun angles warming the air at the surface, the atmosphere quickly became very unstable, and vigorous thunderstorms quickly developed. In order to show […]
Tuesday, May 6, 2015 4:05 pm I recently posted about several massive tornadoes and hailstorms in Texas. Well, it hasn’t even been two weeks, but it looks like an even bigger tornado is bearing down on Norman,Oklahoma, a suburb 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. Norman is home to NOAA’s NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory), and this […]
