A few people have been struck by lightning and lived to tell about it. A Park Ranger was struck by lightning eight times! Most times he suffered minor burns, but once he lost his big toe, another time his eyebrows, and twice his hair caught fire.
How much rain water is in a thunderstorm cloud?
There can be as much as 150-thousand tons of water inside a cumulonimbus cloud.
That’s enough to fill a pond a mile long, 300 feet wide and five feet deep.
A daily weather forecast involves the work of thousands of observers and meteorologists all over the world, and the work of thousands of machines. Modern computers make forecasts more accurate than ever, and weather satellites orbiting the earth take photographs of clouds from space. Forecasters use the observations from ground and space, along with formulas and rules based on experience of what has happened in the past, and then make their forecast. Meteorologists actually use a combination of several different methods to come up with their daily weather forecasts. Here are the different types:
1. Persistence Forecasting: This assumes that what the weather is doing now is what it will continue to do. To find out what the weather is doing, meteorologists make weather observations. A thermometer measures temperature. A barometer measures air pressure. A rain gauge measures precipitation. An anemometer measures wind speed. A radiosonde attached to a weather balloon measures weather high in the atmosphere. A satellite orbiting Earth takes pictures of clouds from space to help us see where and how fast clouds are moving. A radar shoots a radio signal into a cloud to shows where precipitation is falling and how much. It can also spot severe storms and how fast they are moving. Eyes and ears are probably the most accurate tools. Meteorologists all over the world observe clouds and precipitation, and relay that information and their measurements to other meteorologists throughout the world so we can know how the weather is changing from place to place. Meteorologists plot their observations on a weather map every hour to see how fast the weather is changing, then forecast where those changes will occur next.
2. Synoptic Forecasting: This method uses basic rules that the atmosphere follows. Meteorologists take their observations, and apply those rules to make a short-term forecast.
3. Statistical Forecasting: Meteorologists ask themselves, what does it usually do this time of year? Records of average temperatures, average rainfall and average snowfall over the years give forecasters an idea of what the weather is "supposed to be like" at a certain time of year.
4. Computer forecasting: Forecasters take their observations and plug the numbers into complicated equations. Several ultra-high-speed computers run these various equations to make computer "models" which give a forecast for the next several days. Often, different equations produce different results, so meteorologists must always use the other forecasting methods along with this one.That’s why when it comes to forecasting, machines can’t do it alone; you always need humans involved.Using all the above methods, forecasters come up with their "best guess" as to what weather conditions will be over the next few days.
You don’t have to look far to see signs of spring. From the budding of the trees and the warming of the temperatures to the animals coming out of their winter hideouts, there seems to be a promise of new birth and color in the springtime air. The first day of spring is around March 20 or 21, depending on what day the vernal equinox occurs. This is when the sun sits directly above the equator on its apparent trip northward. Of course this sun isn’t moving; Earth is. As Earth revolves around the sun, the top half, called the Northern Hemisphere, becomes tilted more toward the sun as winter turns to spring. Meanwhile the bottom half, the Southern Hemisphere, becomes tilted more away from the sun. The beginning of spring for us is the beginning of autumn for people in Australia and the southern parts of Africa and South America.
The word “equinox” comes from Latin and means “equal nights.” Around March 20, sunrise and sunset are about twelve hours apart everywhere on Earth. Because of that, a lot of people think that day and night are of equal length on March 20. But actually the day is a little longer than the night on this date. There are a few reasons for that. Sunrise occurs when the top of the sun (not the center) is on the horizon. But the sun actually appears to be above the horizon when it is in fact still below it. That’s because Earth’s atmosphere refracts or “bends” light coming from the sun, so we see the sun a couple of minutes before it actually rises over the horizon. If you add the daylight that persists after sunset, you’ll find the day on the equinox is several minutes longer than the night.
Today I got these great winter pictures from a visitor from the cold scandinavia
Thanks to dksjro for sharing the pictures, and please send some more…..
Just click the thumbs to Enlarge…
Argentina Servicio Meteorológico Nacional
Australia Bureau of Meteorology
Austria Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics
Belgium The Royal Meteorological Institute
Bulgaria National institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
Brazil Instituto Nacional de Meteolorogia (INMET)
Brunei The Brunei Meteorological Service
Canada Meteorological Office
Chile Direccion Meteorologica
China The China Meteorological Administration
Colombia Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environment Studies
Costa Rica Instituto Meteorolgico Nacional
Czech Republic Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
Denmark The Danish Meteorological Institute
Ecuador Weather Underground
Egypt Weather Underground
Fiji Fiji Meteorological Service
Finland The Finnish Meteorological Institute
France Météo-France, Toulouse
Germany The Deutscher Wetterdienst
Hong Kong, China Hong Kong Observatory
Hungary Hungarian Meteorological Service
Iceland The Icelandic Meteorological Office
Indonesia Sino.net
Italy Weather Underground
Japan Daily Yomiuri Online Weather
Kenya Kenya Meteorological Department
Republic of Korea Korea Meteorological Administration
Latvia Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency
Macau Servicos Meteorologicos
Macedonia Weather Online
Malaysia Malaysian Meteorological Service
Mexico Servicio Meteorologico Nacional
Netherlands Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, DeBilt
Norway Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Oman Weather Underground
Pakistan Weather Underground
Paraguay Weather Underground
Peru Servicio Nacional de Meteorologia e Hidrologia
Philippines The Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Poland IMGW
Portugal Instituto de Meteorologia
Romania National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
Singapore Meteorological Service Singapore
Slovakia Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
South Africa Weather Service
Spain Instituto Nacional De Meteorologia (INM)
Spain Meteosat
Swaziland Weather Underground
Sweden Sweden Meteorology and Hydrology Institute
Switzerland Swiss Meteorological Institute
Thailand Meteorological Department of Thailand
United Kingdom The Meteorological Office
U.S. National Weather Service Silver Spring, Maryland
Uruguay Weather Underground
Venezuela Weather Underground
Serbia and Montenegro Federal Hydrometeorological Institute
Zambia Weather Underground
Zimbabwe Department of Meteorological Services
An early warning system based on climate models, average rainfall and data on seasonal malaria can predict the risk of an epidemic of the killer disease five months in advance, scientists said.
The system has been devised by researchers in the United States, Britain and Botswana. "We can give warnings of high risk of an epidemic to the health agency and officials in the country ahead of the rainy season. This is something they have not had before.
Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, kills more than a million people a year, mostly young children in Africa. Changes in climate and rainfall have an impact on the seriousness of a malaria outbreak. In countries like Botswana, where the system was tested, the risk of an epidemic increases after a season of heavy rain.
The system would enable health officials to take preventative action such as spraying stagnant water or supplying antimalarial drugs earlier.
It’s fairly common for people with arthritis or other joint ailments to predict a change in the weather on the basis of their aches and pains. For instance, migraines can be triggered by the cold, and a shortage of sunlight and the melatonin it produces can cause a person to feel a little blue on dreary days.
Drawing from myriad medical studies, backs up these claims with data indicating, for example, that blood thickens in texture and increases in volume on days with higher solar activity, the consequence being a higher-than-normal incidence of heart problems.
The author suggests that people have become more sensitive to environmental influences as they’ve become more proficient in controlling interior environments with air conditioning, central heating, and humidifiers. Today, one in three people may be "weather sensitive." Most affected are the elderly and anyone with a weakened immune system.
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