MetaFilter posts tagged with weather

Who's to blame for the snow in Beijing?

up in the old hotel — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:59:19 -0800

It's snowing in China. Who's responsible? To help end a severe drought in northern China, the Beijing Weather Modification Bureau has been using silver iodide to make it snow. It's debatable whether this even works. Nevertheless, it's snowing heavily and many Chinese are not happy about it.

Incidentally, it was the late Bernard Vonnegut (Kurt's brother) who discovered that silver iodide could be used to seed clouds and produce rain.

Why you should keep your car in a garage

Ruthless Bunny — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:30:01 -0800

Mother Nature vs. Cars A local newspaper's dream come true. Cars in the aftermath of weather events.

North Ustire, South Ustire, Rockall, Malin

itsjustanalias — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:09:41 -0800

Don't want to wait until bedtime (UK bedtime that is) to drift off to Sailing By (one of Jarvis Cocker's Desert Island Discs)? Well thanks to permanent bedtime you can listen to the BBC shipping forecast all day. Oh? What's that? It's no use because it's from months ago? Okay, here's the Met Office current data, and the listen again page on the beeb. Or test yourself: can you name all the weather areas?

Gothiness: 7 Sweatiness: 5

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:26:26 -0800

Goths In Hot Weather

The Fucking Weather.

chunking express — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:03:52 -0800

What's the Fucking Weather?

Storm chase from the comfort of your own home

nitsuj — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:22:03 -0800

On March 7, 2009, TornadoVideos.net (TVN) launched the beta version of their Live Streaming system. It's an interactive map that tracks each member of the TVN team as they criss-cross the country chasing storms, complete with live video. You can sign up (main page, top left: "Chase notifications") to be alerted when a chase is in progress. If you've seen any dangerously close footage of tornadoes ripping through Tornado Alley filmed in the past five years, chances are it came from one of TVN's cameras. You may also recognize the crew -- headed by the insanely tornado-passionate Reed Timmer -- from Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers (watch online).

Happening Right Now

netbros — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:44:37 -0800

LiveNewsCameras.com ― international live streaming television news aggregator.

You Say You Want a Revolution

billysumday — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:35:01 -0800

You Say You Want a Revolution -- "Despite some bravado, I myself was a cautious person looking to break the shackles of bourgeois detachment. I felt real relief in seemingly giving my all. But at the same time, I was terrified. Such existential 'acting out' does not ordinarily lead to political good sense. The importance of demonstrating revolutionary credentials or moral purity gets in the way of clear thinking about how to strengthen the movement or take advantage of political opportunities." Howard Machtinger, a founding member of the Weather Underground, provides a contemporary critique of his group's actions. [via]

Forecast: Raining cats. No dogs in sight.

grapefruitmoon — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:17:27 -0800

Cat wanders on stage during live weather broadcast. Judging from the reaction, this happens all the time in Germany.

snow days

nickyskye — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:13:42 -0800

The Digital Snow Museum has all kinds of photographs and images of snow around the world. With an assortment of forecasting tools, weather maps, travel reports, info for skiers and snowboarders, a library and art gallery. Let It Snow. For those in the northern hemisphere, December 21st is the Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, the darkest day of the year. From this day until that of Midsummer, the days grow longer. Previously. Also frost. The National Snow and Ice Data Center Cool snow shovel, the Wovel [has embedded music]. Another type of snow shovel. Tips to Prevent Snow Shoveling and Snow Blowing Injuries. FretKillr's latest rendition of Jingle Bells. Previously.

Where are the acorns?

afu — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:55:29 -0800

Where did all the acorns go? With reports of acornless oaks coming in from all over the U.S., what is a squirrel to do? Oaks produce acorns according to a mast cycle, which is thought to be related to climate, but the exact connection is far from clear.

Bunk up, it's booming.

gman — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:21:17 -0800

Bunkers have a wide variety of uses in today's world. They're not all used by those fearful of a terrorist attack. They are also used to protect from natural disasters and to hide grow-ops. George's got one. Tom too. You can build you own, or have someone do it for you. The Ark Two Shelter is located just outside of Toronto. Tours of bunkers are also available. Be prepared. Previously.

φαινομαι

KokuRyu — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:29:57 -0800

Weather History Offers Insight Into Global Warming. Weather History Offers Insight Into Global Warming. The problems that often haunt other weather records — the station is moved, buildings are constructed nearby or observers record data inconsistently — have not arisen here because so much of this place has been frozen in time. The weather has been taken (at Mohonk House, [map] ) in exactly the same place, in precisely the same way, by just a handful of the same dedicated people since Grover Cleveland was president... That extremely limited number of observers greatly enhances the reliability, and therefore the value, of the data. The record shows that on this ridge in the Shawangunk Mountains, about 20 miles south of the better-known Catskills, the average annual temperature has risen 2.7 degrees in 112 years. Of the top 10 warmest years in that time, 7 have come since 1990. Both annual precipitation and annual snowfall have increased, and the growing season has lengthened by 10 days.... But what makes the data truly singular is how it parallels a vast collection of phenological observations taken at this same place, and by many of the same observers, since 1925... (In) Project BudBurst.... volunteers record the way 500 native plants are responding to climate change.

The Simplest Weather Report

scottreynen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:04:15 -0800

Umbrella Today? tells you if you'll need an umbrella today. It will also text message your phone in the morning and warn you when you should bring an umbrella. (America only currently.)

An yll wynde that blowth no man to good.

Dave Faris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:52:47 -0800

Hurricane Tracker lets you see where the big Atlantic storms are, where they've been, and where they're projected to be.

Major Hurricane Gustav heads for Louisiana

cashman — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:30:20 -0800

Hurricane Gustav is headed for landfall in Louisiana in the next 48 hours, with currently around an equal chance of being a category 3 storm or a category 4 storm. Gustav has 150 mph winds at the moment as it begins to enter the gulf of Mexico and a million people evacuate. After failing in their response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago, Fema is trying to be more proactive. Of course, some people are staying in harm's way, live blogging, and once again, there's the cry "bring it on".

New Orleans tries to do things differently this time.
The RNC national convention schedule may be adjusted because of Gustav.
Gustav could send gas prices back to more than $4 a gallon.
Neighboring states evacuate as well.

Weather World 2010

Upton O'Good — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:26:36 -0800

The Weather World 2010 project at UIUC began as a comprehensive meteorology tutorial designed for a high school/undergraduate level. It has since expanded to include guides to remote sensing and reading weather maps. (Some highlights include optical effects, severe storms, and the basics of weather forecasting.) For folks in the US, it also has current surface and satellite imagery for a number of different atmospheric properties.

The Long Island Express

hadjiboy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:31:12 -0800

It was called the Great Hurricane of 1938. The tradition of naming Cyclones had yet not begun, and not since 1869 had a storm of such ferocity hit the US mainland. What had made it unusally unique was the speed with which it had hit landfall, and the damage that it caused in its wake. (60 years on, and people can still recall the frightening grip that it had on their lives for those few days.)

Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd

swift — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:46:55 -0800

10 Rare Clouds. 20 Cool Clouds. NASA clouds. List of Cloud Types (wiki). previously

I'm Tom freakin Skilling!

timsteil — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:58:27 -0800

WGN-TV's Tom Skilling is legendary Chicago weatherman with an equally famous brother. While Sam Zell's ownership of Tribune Corporation has ruffled the feathers of many, even a mefite, it's very clear who is running the company.

May 25 tornado, Parkersburg, Iowa

ArgentCorvid — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:03:13 -0800

The (U.S.) National Weather Service has released its report on a strong tornado that occured in Iowa the evening of May 25th. On the evening of May 25th, 2008 a tornado rated at EF5 (estimated wind speed was around 205 MPH!!) obliterated half of the town of Parkersburg, Iowa. Eight people have died, and 70 were injured. Here is a PDF containing incredible pictures of the damage (taken by employees of the NWS during their survey). there are a bunch more pictures on flickr, as well.

Giant Waves Over Iowa

geos — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:15:33 -0800

Undular Bore Waves

Adopt a Vortex!

patricio — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:56:39 -0800

Adopt a Vortex! Because nothing says "I love you" more than naming a European weather system after your special someone. Interestingly, lows are cheaper than highs. [via]

Mysterious Ice Circles

Tube — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:12:52 -0800

Mysterious ice circles are large rotating ice disks on ice covered rivers or other bodies of water. Their origin and nature is controversial. Perhaps they are related to UFO's or something more prosaic, like pancake ice.

Black Sunday: I think my mother thought it was the end of the world, really.

jessamyn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:56:53 -0800

"The storm carried twice as much dirt as was dug out of the earth to create the Panama Canal. The canal took seven years to dig; the storm lasted a single afternoon. More than 300,000 tons of Great Plains topsoil was airborne on that day."
Black Sunday. April 14, 1935. Timeline, Oral Histories (Kansas, Nebraska), Dust Bowl Movie (part I, part II), Black Sunday photos (1, 2, 3, 4). [previous dust on mefi: iraq, texas, africa, china]