Arcus Clouds The second full week of June produced some extreme weather across the United States. Yellowstone National Park endured a 200-500 year flooding event that swept away homes in the overfull rivers and might keep the area closed to visitors for months. A heat dome covered much of the country, producing triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures. And that heat …
The Kentucky Meat Shower 3 March 1876. Olympia Springs, Bath County, northeast Kentucky. The farm of Allen Crouch. Just before noon. The farmer’s wife sat on the front porch, making soap. The late-Reconstruction-era day veered from normal into the macabre horror of Edgar Allan Poe as it began to rain. Instead of crop-nourishing water, …
Derechos I think most people are familiar with tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards, all storms associated with ferocious winds. But there is another menacing monster out there in the clouds, beyond these familiar storms, called a derecho. The term comes from the Spanish word for “straight” or “direct.” Unlike the swirling winds of a tornado, a derecho …