Weather has always been unpredictable, though our modern forecasting systems make it feel manageable most of the time. Yet beneath this veneer of meteorological understanding lies a collection of phenomena that continue to confound even the most brilliant atmospheric scientists. You might think we’ve figured out all the basic mechanics of our skies by now, ...
Nature’s electrical displays have puzzled humanity for millennia, but the strangest lightning phenomena go far beyond the familiar zigzag bolts that split storm clouds. From glowing spheres that float through homes to invisible gamma rays that blind satellites, our planet hosts an electrifying array of mysteries that challenge everything we thought we knew about lightning. ...
You might have noticed the weather feels different lately. The storms are stronger, the temperatures more extreme, and the patterns less predictable than what your grandparents described. What you’re witnessing isn’t just random variation or a particularly bad year. Instead, you’re seeing the early signs of a fundamental shift in Earth’s climate system that scientists ...
Have you ever looked up at the sky before a thunderstorm and noticed something unsettling? The clouds aren’t the usual gray or white, but an eerie shade of green that makes your stomach drop. You might have heard people say this means a tornado is coming, but the science tells a more complex story. While ...
Picture this: you’re scrolling through your social media feed when suddenly you see a video of ghostly apparitions floating above thunderclouds, or photographs of what appear to be burning rainbows hanging in the sky. Your first instinct might be to call it fake news or clever digital manipulation. Yet these phenomena are absolutely real, captured ...
Scientists are tracking dramatic changes beneath the Atlantic Ocean’s surface that could reshape how Americans experience weather for decades to come. A warming climate doesn’t just affect dry land – it affects the ocean, too. For years, Earth’s ocean has acted as a heat sink for climate change: A large part of the heat generated ...
The specter of truly catastrophic flooding has been haunting scientists across North America as our climate continues to shift in unprecedented ways. From California’s Central Valley turning into an inland sea to entire coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest being swallowed by rising waters, the question isn’t if megafloods will return, but when they’ll strike ...
The East Coast of the United States is experiencing a troubling new reality. Storm surges that once struck every few decades are now happening with alarming regularity, pushing deeper inland and causing more devastating floods than ever before. For millions of Americans living along the Atlantic shoreline, the question isn’t whether another surge will come ...
I remember the first time I stood at the edge of a burn scar in the Sierra foothills and felt the ground radiate heat hours after sundown. That visceral heat tells a bigger story: California’s fires aren’t just more frequent; they’re behaving differently, with longer seasons, faster runs, and more stubborn nights. Scientists have pieced ...
Across Oklahoma, tornadoes aren’t just weather – they’re a force that redraws maps and memories. Scientists chase their clues with radars and models, while families measure them by the scars on homes and school calendars. The state’s most notorious twisters – spanning from the late 1990s to the 2010s and beyond – did more than ...
Maria Faith Saligumba
