Severe weather
Category archives for Severe weather
Understanding Storms and Global Warming: A Quaint Parable
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2013 
A quaint New England rocky creek Imagine standing next to Parable Creek, an imaginary rocky brook in New England. The water is rushing past you from left to right, around the rocks that emerge tall above the surface of the stream, mounding over the top of those that are lower down. The deepest parts of…
Are there more tornadoes because of global warming?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2013 
There are good reasons to believe that global warming leads to more storminess, but the exact nature of that transition is unclear and hard to measure. Part of the reason for this difficulty is that a given type of storm may become more likely under certain conditions caused by climate change, while a different kind…
Why is winter not ending?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2013 
Why is it snowing so much in the Northern US States this Spring? Two words: Global Warming. Let me ‘splain. Weather is all about air and moisture. The distribution of air is uneven, with some places having more air in big piles, other places having less air, into which the extra air from the big…
Climate and Weather: Does your TV weather reporter get it?
Posted by Greg Laden on February 20, 2013 
You hear, again again, that climate and weather are not the same thing. This has led to assertions such as “you can’t attribute a single weather event to climate change.” But climate and weather are not distinctly different. Climatologists and meteorologists have made statements like this because people do confuse and conflate current conditions and…
Finding Nemo
Posted by Greg Laden on February 10, 2013 
Climate experts have pointed out that Nemo, the very bad nor’easter that just hit the Northeastern US and Maritimes, is partly an effect of global warming. Some meteorologists have responded with an incorrect response, a recitation of a now tired and useless mumbling retort that I’m afraid may even have it origin among scientists who…
The Power of The Sea
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2012 
On June 6th, 1944, some 160,000 soldiers aboard about 5,000 boats of diverse design crossed the English Channel and carried out the Invasion of Normandy, one of the more important events in recent history. Many of the soldiers were so sick from choppy seas that leaving the boats and walking or running into German gunfire…
Peer Reviewed Research Predicted NYC Subway Flooding by #Sandy
Posted by Greg Laden on October 31, 2012 Earlier this year a paper was published in the journal Nature in which a team of scientists looked at changes in storm surge potential under conditions of global warming, and they used the New York City area in their modeling. Combined with resent research adding to the growing body of data and studies that show…
Linking Elevators, Rebecca Watson, Richard Dawkins and of course, Hitler and the Nazis!!!11!!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 19, 2011 As you know, I’ve shifted some of the topics I have discussed on this blog over to The X Blog. However, some topics can very reasonably go on both. One of these is how we communicate, and argue, and sometimes make progress in this crazy, zany place we call The Blogsophere. Also, as an Anthropologist,…
Are all these tornadoes being caused by global warming?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 25, 2011 People are asking me: Is the recent spate of tornadoes caused by global warming? The usual answer to that question is that you can’t answer the question because a tornado is not caused by climate … it is cause by weather … and global warming (which is real, and which is cause by humans) is…
Best info on the Tornado Swarm
Posted by Greg Laden on April 28, 2011 Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog is a key source of information on any current weather events: A stunning tornado outbreak of incredible violence has left at least 202 dead across the Eastern U.S.; injuries probably number over a thousand, with 600 injured in the town of Tuscaloosa alone. The tornadoes carved huge swaths of damage, completely flattening…
OK. Now, imma just tell you to buy a weather radio
Posted by Greg Laden on April 28, 2011 Are you in Alabama or any of the other areas hit by what may have been the largest recorded tornado event in US history? Let us know how you are. I have calls and emails out to friends in the region or links there and have not heard much back yet. In case you haven’t…
How To Avoid Tornado Deaths
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2011 Dozens of people died in tornadoes in the US over the last couple of days, and most of those deaths were preventable. The truth is, most of those killed died because of a decision they made, so their death is to some extent their fault. But, for good reason, no one wants to blame the…
Some more tornado information
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2011 Two reposts for your edification:
And now we start with the tornadoes. Are you ready?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2011 Huxley and I went to Target to look at weather radios and found out that they don’t carry them. But the three Target employees that were gathered near the cameras and electronics with whom we inquired were interested to know why we were looking for one. “You’re about the tenth person today who has asked…
Tornado Footage from Minnesota
Posted by Greg Laden on June 18, 2010 This is as close as one can get: BTW, I believe it is recommended to NOT hide from a tornado in your car. Here’s some context:
A hail storm of biblical proportions
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2010 When I was first in the Ituri Forest, I Noticed there were many kinds of plantains grown in the gardens there They varied by size and shape. One version seemed to have numerous black spots on the outside. When asking what it was called, I found its name was the same as the variety without…
Welcome Spring Storm Season
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2009 This picture, from a current (as of this writing) accuweather forecast page, is an excellent illustration of what happens here in the upper Midwest the spring. The overall pattern of movement of air masses at the continental scale is west to east, with extra moist and extra warm air secondarily moving north from the Gulf…
, which is now available for the 
