Water Scarcity in the West Coast of the US is a big issue. In the simplest terms, there’s not enough water to meet the demands of the population and economy of the west. The two sources of water, surface and ground, are interconnected in so many ways it takes a hydrologist to understand it and
Read MoreRecord highs fueled west coast wildfires in late August that are still mostly unmanaged. A heat wave at the end of August peaked in the Pacific Northwest on the 19th when it was 109 in Medford, OR and 91 in Seattle, WA but in the 100s east of the Cascades. Over 10,000 firefighters have heard
Read MoreThe Californian Wildfires of 2016 could get huge. California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) calls the disaster that started in Monterey County the Soberanes fire. It’s now known to have started on July 22, 2016 at an estimated 8:48 AM when a campfire near the Soberanes Canyon Trail got out of control. The
Read MoreClimate change and global warming are used as interchange terms but they are not. Global warming is just one type of climate change. Climate and climate change is affected by everything from the amount of sunlight, cloud cover, atmospheric aerosols, volcanic activity and much more. Global Warming is just part of the climate that is
Read MoreIs La Nina coming this winter? The cyclical phenomenon, signified by cooler temperatures in the mid-Pacific Ocean, may be heading toward its next destination in its continual exchange of heat between the poles and the equator. La Nina can usually occur after a strong El Nino which is what we had last winter. Over the
Read MoreAs spring rolls into summer state and federal land managers are bracing for the inevitable wildfires to start. The big question is what type of fire season will the West Coast have in 2016. In Washington State, there have been three so far of note. Two, oddly enough, in Western Washington of unannounced origin and
Read MoreTypical Formation of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning. Lightning manifests due to the breakdown of the insulating property of dry air. When the localized electrical potential gradient exceeds about three million volts within fifty meters, the phenomenon shoots electrons into a cloud and toward the ground as a stepped leader. Composed of discharges spanning about fifty to a
Read MoreTornado warning and understanding global winds patterns enhances tornado forecasting. Over the past month, meteorology professor at the College of DuPage near Chicago, Victor Gensini has been popularized for mixing existing prediction methods with a global circulation index. The Global Wind Oscillation (GWO) describes the addition of tropical moisture and energies through atmospheric channels, which
Read MoreThe March 19th crash of Flydubai Flight FZ 891 of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft resulted in the deaths of the 55 passengers and 7 crew members aboard. This occurred at Don Airport Russia. Early data suggests some wind shear issues. The flight, originating in Dubai, UAE was a regular scheduled trip with an experienced flight
Read MoreSpring 2016’s El Niño Remnants May Affect Tornadoes in the US. Every season and every El Niño are unique but meteorologists are able to make some basic assessments of how such events may affect tornado output based on prior observations. Several factors drive weather, so the higher temperatures in the Pacific related to El Niño
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