Fall’s approaching fast (next Wednesday to be exact) and it’s time to start thinking about our second severe weather season. It’s true that tornadoes are most common during the spring months. However, both the spring and fall experience peaks of severe activity since strong winds, wind shear and atmospheric instability are present. During the fall, [...]
Over Houston early this past Saturday evening, contrails (aka vapor trails) filled the nearly cloudless sky. Peculiar, as the long, white traces were not the usual straight lines from horizon to horizon but were lazy ovals and broad s-curves — back and forth, ’round and ’round. To make matters worse, all this was happening on [...]
Today is the 88th anniversary of what’s considered the hottest naturally occurring ambient air temperature ever recorded on Earth: 136 degrees Fahrenheit (in the shade) at El Azizia, Libya in 1922. El Azizia* is located a couple of hundred miles due south of Sicily across the Mediterranean and about 55 miles SSW of Tripoli, although [...]
It’s the end of a hectic week. The clock says 5 PM and the calendar says the 3-day weekend begins right now. If your 3-day weekends are like mine, you hit the eject button and turn your back on the office while thinking of dirt biking and water skiing. Tuesday is a long way off. [...]
If you think Earth’s weather can be extreme, think again! Check out the other 7 planets in our solar system and you’ll appreciate our weather a lot more. For instance, how would you like to live on a planet where the mean surface temperature is 336.8ºF (but ranges from -279.6ºF to 800ºF)? If you lived [...]
Business continuity expert and ImpactReady Business Continuity Program Manager Ed Schlichtenmyer guest-posts today. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, I was deployed to serve on the damage assessment team for the international energy exploration and production company I worked for at the time. The storm had battered the Houston area for more than 24 hours [...]
The Cape Verde season just won’t quit after starting late in August. As a matter of fact, we’ve seen 6 named storms form since August 21st, two of them major hurricanes (Danielle/Earl), and 5 of them forming in the far eastern Atlantic. Now we have Tropical Storm Igor out there about 2500 miles east of [...]
Mt. Sinabung has had several eruptions since we blogged about the volcano last week. To further emphasize the area’s instability, seismologists in the area recorded 52 earthquakes in a 12-hour period between Friday, 9/03 and Saturday, 9/04. I spoke with Fred Schmude, one of our senior meteorologists and our resident geology expert, a few moments [...]
This headline caught my attention: “Buddy, Can You Spare a Ripe Tomato?” With not enough summer heat, California tomatoes are not ripening quickly enough, causing not only tomatoes but all West Coast summer fruits to be priced at a premium. Fortunately, California doesn’t have a lock on growing tomatoes: backyards, Florida and Long Island are [...]
Here’s our afternoon update video on Hurricane Earl.