Severe Weather. The southwestern monsoon, generating severe weather on the West Coast, has been the root of many deaths and hundreds of millions in damages, particularly from flash flooding and lightning. Those figures manifest before any subsidiary threats that may be caused by the storms, such as wildfires. The North American monsoon – a.k.a
Read MorePlane crash and the ensuing forensic analysis is critical as we look at a recent cargo plane crash. Beyond the tragedies that spawn from victims losing lives, small aviation accidents may lead to insurance claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars, while large accidents can devastate into the billions. In 2015, there were 1,282 civil
Read MoreStorms. Spring 2018’s Severe Storms in the Midwest may be notably destructive. When warm air masses of the southern plains collide with downward-sloping, cool air from Canada, the atmosphere attempts to sort out its differences. The act of moving that air to perform the balancing act, when done rapidly, can evolve into the atmospheric tantrum
Read MoreAirplane Accidents-Crash of Saratov Airlines Flight 703. The afternoon of February 11th, 2018 saw, not far from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, the crash of an AN-148-100B aircraft enroute from Moscow to Orsk, Russia near the Kazakhstan border. The aircraft carried 65 passengers and six crewmembers. There were no survivors. While the investigation is ongoing some facts
Read MoreWeather Consultants use records from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) database – upper-level atmospheric maps, radar, satellite, hourly and other historical data – to recreate historical weather events. Making that possible are resources provided by the National Weather Service, the Air Force, the FAA, the National Doppler Radar Network, etc. Global data from over
Read MoreCyclones-Typhoons-Tornadoes-Fujiwhara Effect. The Fujiwhara effect became of a subject of meteorology in 1921, when Japanese Meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara focused on the movements of whirlpools and other vortices and then researched the physics present when they approach each other. A similar phenomenon is possible when atmospheric vortices merge. Many weather features, including generic Lows and winter weather
Read MoreLa Niña Winter. 2017-18 Northwest Cascade snow outlook. Want snow? It’s shaping up to be a good late autumn and winter for an abundance to cover the slopes of Washington’s Olympics and Cascades. It’s time for ski resorts and skiers alike to get ready. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prediction ensemble members are agreeing on cool
Read MoreAir Quality is impacted from forest fires, and the resultant smoke carbon released. The Pacific Northwest and much of the West Coast of the US continues to go through a very bad fire year with considerable degradation to our atmosphere and air quality over a vast area. It seems appropriate to ask just how much
Read MoreHurricane Harvey was the final ingredient needed to devastate Houston, combining with many including booming population growth, crumbling infrastructure, low elevations and stretching urbanization replacing freshwater wetlands (which once helped with drainage, at least during smaller storms.) It was still debated whether or not Tropical Storm Harvey was going to turn into a hurricane before
Read MoreWeather Insurance. With the surge in near record heat across the West US. It is perhaps timely to review possible heat induced losses for residences and vehicles. Obviously, wildfires carry their own hazards but what about plain old hot weather? How can excessive heat cause damage that may trigger insurance claims? Are there limitations on
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