Weather, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2019

Another Tropical Storm Could Hit Parts of Mexico and Texas This Week

A second, smaller tropical storm may make landfall in North America this week, following Hurricane Dorian's devastation of the northwest Bahamas. Tropical Storm Fernand formed in the Gulf of Mexico and has triggered tropical storm warnings across the northeast Mexican coastline, from Barra del Tordo to the mouth of the...

Aug 31, 2019

Texas Is Drowning Under One of the Wettest Storms in US History

Record-breaking rainfall from the tropical storm Imelda is soaking southeastern Texas. Some areas have been swamped with 20 to 42 inches (51 to 107 centimeters) of rain over just three days, causing catastrophic flooding that is among the worst in U.S. history. Imelda, the first named storm to strike this...

Jul 31, 2019

'Extremely Dangerous' Dorian Is Now a Category 3 Storm

Hurricane Dorian has strengthened to a Category 3 storm as of 2 p.m. EST on Friday (Aug. 3). Data from a reconnaissance plane indicate that... maximum sustained winds have increased to near 115 mph (185 km/h) with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an update. Additional strengthening...

Apr 30, 2019

Violent Tornadoes and Flooding Are Expected in Oklahoma and Texas Tonight

A map shows the regions at risk of a tornado outbreak on May 20, 2019. (Image credit: NWS SPC)Oklahoma, northwest Texas and the Texas Panhandle are bracing for a day of extreme weather, including dangerous tornadoes, flooding and thunderstorms. Numerous intense and long-track tornadoes are expected in the region today...

Feb 28, 2019

Ice Samples Reveal a Massive Sun Storm Hit Earth in Ancient Times...And It Could Happen Again

A gigantic solar storm hit Earth about 2,600 years ago, one about 10 times stronger than any solar storm recorded in the modern day, a new study finds. These findings suggest that such explosions recur regularly in Earth's history, and could wreak havoc if they were to hit now, given...

Dec 31, 2018

The Polar Vortex Is Collapsing — Here's What That Means for Your Winter Weather

The blast of Arctic weather headed for the United States this weekend could be a first sign of still worse things to come this winter, with signs that a circular low-pressure system of swirling winds that normally keeps frigid air locked up at the North Pole has been disrupted and...

Dec 31, 2018

North Dakota Will Get Colder Than The North Pole Tonight — Here's Why

The polar vortex has returned to the United States, bringing historic cold and wind chills to a region spanning much of the Upper Midwest and the Dakotas. Temperatures close to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) are possible in the Twin Cities region today (Jan. 29) and tomorrow...

Jul 31, 2020

Texas and Louisiana face a double whammy of tropical cyclones

Tropical storm Marco will hit Louisiana and Texas later today (Aug. 24), and will likely cause significant flooding. Just a day and a half later, another cyclone, Laura, will likely ram itself against the same stretch of coastline — and will pack an even greater punch. Marco never developed into...

May 31, 2020

What's causing a spooky hum to fill parts of San Francisco?

The Golden Gate Bridge hums now. San Francisco residents shared recordings of the sound on social media last week and over the weekend as high winds swept through the Bay Area. One Twitter user described the sound as a three-tone dissonant soundtrack, and others reported hearing it from as far...

May 31, 2020

Dust plume bigger than Texas crashes into the US

A huge plume of Sahara Desert dust that drifted across the Atlantic Ocean has reached the southeastern United States. These events have happened before, according to Marshall Shepherd, director of the University of Georgia's Atmospheric Sciences Program. Hundreds of millions of tons of dust from the giant North African desert...

Feb 29, 2020

How a tornado outbreak left 22 dead across central Tennessee

Twenty-two people died and more went missing after a series of tornadoes hit central Tennessee early Tuesday morning (March 3), including one that ripped through the urban core of Nashville. Many more people were injured, according to the state's governor, Bill Lee. He said a statewide search and rescue effort...

Jun 17, 2021

'Heat dome' scorches western US with record-breaking temps

Temperatures in Death Valley, California, hit a scorching 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) Tuesday (June 15), short of the all-time record for this spot at the lowest elevation in North America but more than 10 degrees hotter than the average high temperature at this time of year. The broiling...

Jun 21, 2021

Why is humidity so uncomfortable?

On hot and humid days, your skin might feel sticky and overheated, and the air can feel so heavy that breathing becomes a chore. But what is it about humidity that can make the outdoors feel so stifling? The answer is that high humidity can make us feel hotter than...

Jul 7, 2021

June 2021 smashed heat records in North America

If the melting power cables in Portland, Oregon, weren't enough of an indication, new satellite data confirms what many sweat-drenched Americans could have guessed: June 2021 was the single hottest June on record in North America. The new data comes courtesy of the European Union's Copernicus program, which produced climate...

Jul 10, 2021

Death Valley hits 130 degrees, nearly breaking heat record

Death Valley is more than earning its morbid name this weekend, as temperatures in the California desert reached a near-record-breaking 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius), according to news reports That makes it a tie for the hottest temperature ever verified on Earth since the mercury hit 131 F (55...