Tag archives for weather
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Spring may be when a young man’s fancy turns to love, but new evidence suggests that it’s winter when his sperm is at its spunkiest.
The Fight Against Climate Change Needs a Retrofit
Posted by Dan Klotz on February 16, 2013 
The New York City apartment building where I grew up was built in the early 1960s. The building’s heating system still has only one thermostat for more than 150 apartments, and that thermostat is usually set in the mid-70s. If it’s too hot, you must manually adjust each radiator in the apartment (and there’s one…
Winter Storm Nemo: Share Your Blizzard Pictures
Posted by Guest Blogger on February 8, 2013 
If you’re braving the blizzard this weekend in New England, send your best photo to National Geographic’s Your Shot.
Urban Weather: How Cities May Be Changing the Climate
Posted by Alyson Foster on January 30, 2013 
Air pollution. Light pollution. Radical changes to local ecosystems. The profound environmental impact of cities is a popular topic among scientists these days. Now it appears that cities may actually be changing the weather — and the effects are being felt not just in urban areas, but in places thousands of miles away from major metropolises.
Setting a Precedent for the Story of the Perfect Storm
Posted by Cathy Hunter on November 16, 2012 
From its earliest days, the National Geographic magazine has covered earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and all manner of violent weather. It was National Geographic founder Edward Everett Hayden who set the tone for these dramatic stories with his riveting account of a storm that sunk 185 vessels on the east coast of the U.S. in 1888.
Posted by El Niño patterns typically bring stormy weather to the southern U.S. and drought to places like Australia. But the National Weather Service has cancelled its El Niño watch. It just fizzled out, says Mark Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. This is unprecedented…
Climate Change Wins Big in 2012 Elections
Posted by Dan Klotz on November 7, 2012 
Clint Eastwood was on the right track when he talked to an empty chair at the end of August. There was an empty seat all through the fall, as the candidates for U.S. president went back and forth on most of the critical issues that Americans face. The one crisis that neither candidate mentioned during…
Old Volcanic Ash Causes New Problems for Alaskans
Posted by Suzan Eaton on November 5, 2012 
Residents on Alaska’s Kodiak Island were haunted last week — not by Halloween ghosts, but by the remnants of a long-ago volcanic eruption. Ash dating back to the 1912 eruption of Novarupta was stirred up by strong winds and dry conditions along the Alaskan coast. The ash rose as high as 4,000 feet and prompted aviation warnings. People said it looked like smog.
Get Prepped: Hurricane Sandy Edition
Posted by Amy Briggs of National Geographic on October 28, 2012 
Hurricane Sandy (aka “Frankenstorm”) an enormous Category One hurricane is on its way to the eastern seaboard with the potential to be one of the most devastating storms on record. (See also: Hurricane Sandy Could Be One of Most Destructive Storms.) Sandy is a huge: As of this writing, the storm’s strongest hurricane-force winds extend…
Cloud Enthusiasts Lobby for Recognition of New Cloud Type
Posted by Suzan Eaton on September 24, 2012 
Oh, to be counted among the nimbus and the stratus! That’s what the fans of the undulatus aspertus want. The undulatus cloud, which resembles agitated waves, was first discovered in 1951, but has not yet been declared an official cloud type. Now members of the Cloud Appreciation Society are developing an app that they hope will help their beloved cloud the earn the recognition it deserves.
Hottest Rain on Record?
Posted by Suzan Eaton on August 21, 2012 
Usually it doesn’t rain when the temperature gets over 100°. But last week in Needles, California a thunderstorm rolled in on a hot afternoon (115°). Most of the rain didn’t get to the ground, but it briefly made the area feel like a sauna.
Hot Enough For You? Here’s Why
Posted by Alyson Foster on July 5, 2012 
For Americans sweating it out around the country, the news won’t come as much of a surprise: the first five months of 2012 have been the hottest on record in the continental United States. This past June 164 all-time heat records were broken or tied, and July is off to a sweltering start. What’s causing the latest heat wave?
This Father’s Day, Turn Your Dad Into a Weather Man
Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on June 11, 2012 
My father used to say that if you want a reliable weather forecast you should step outside and see if you get wet. There’s a lot of wisdom and truth in that advice. For all the amazing technology we’ve developed for detecting and predicting the weather, there is absolutely no substitute for real-world, on-the-ground…
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Many nights on the Pitcairn Islands expedition you’d find the team watching the sunset. Amid the oos and ahhs you’d hear numerous cameras clicking away as various team members tried to capture brief moments in the ever-changing show.
On his first day of research for the year, NG Emerging Explorer Tim Samaras captures footage of a massive tornado cutting across a Kansas highway just in front of the expedition team.
EPA Makes Historic Announcement: First Greenhouse Gas Rule for New Power Plants
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on March 29, 2012 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released long-awaited greenhouse gas rules for new power plants this week. Using the Clean Air Act, the agency standard would set the first national limits on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions new power plants can emit. The EPA proposed the rule after delaying it several times since July 2011. Power plants are the largest…
Help Needed for Survivors of Devastating Floods in Madagascar
Posted by Mireya Mayor, Ph.D. of National Geographic Explorer, Scientist, Correspondent on March 9, 2012 Dozens of people have died and tens of thousand are homeless in the wake of devastating floods that swept through the African island country of Madagascar during a recent cyclone. The disaster was aggravated by ongoing deforestation and environment degradation. Survivors need our help.
Extreme Winter Weather–Groundhog Day Edition
Posted by Dan Klotz on February 2, 2012 
When is partly cloudy and 70 degrees Fahrenheit considered extreme? When it happens in Washington, D.C., on February 1st and the temperature ends up more than 25 degrees above normal. To be fair, no weather records were set yesterday and we average about one 70 degree day every other February here at the nation’s capital.…
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So as the hour grows closer to the live show the challenges continue to mount for the team here in South Africa. It seems that our days have either started well and gone downhill or the opposite, but there have been no completely smooth days from the beginning. Such is the nature of a live…
If you can’t recall the last time such a bizarre snowstorm hit the northeastern U.S. in October, it’s not because your memory’s failing. The nor’easter that dumped snow from Virginia to Maine over the weekend—as much as 30 inches in some places—was something new.
Send Your Extreme Weather Questions & Stories
Posted by John Kondis on October 28, 2011 
“National Geographic” magazine has been gathering data and talking to scientists about extreme and changing weather. We’d like to hear from you as well. What have you experienced where you live? What would you like to ask the experts? Join the conversation and be part of the creation of this upcoming article.
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The National Geographic Channel is looking for footage documenting your Hurricane Irene survival stories. Our television team is working diligently over the next several days to create a documentary covering this historic storm, and we want your experience to be a part of it.
Posted by By Christine Dell’Amore Christine Dell’Amore is participating in a National Science Foundation media trip to report on scientists conducting polar research near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Today truly felt Antarctic. So far the weather’s been no worse than a wintry day in D.C., but a storm barreled in this morning that is like nothing I’ve experienced–winds…
It’s not only North America that is suffering one of the hottest summers on record (National Geographic News: 2010 to Be One of Hottest Years on Record). Russia has been enduring weeks of oppressive heat, now worsened by spontaneous peat and forest fires that are pumping smoke into the air. While millions are gasping, hundreds of people trying…
By Chris Combs, National Geographic News, from the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas Perhaps it’s a bit unusual to think about doing science. Unless you’re a scientist yourself, chances are, “scientific research” doesn’t come up on the to-do list between toothbrushing and twilight… or so it seems to me. But thanks to the Internet,…
