Medicanes The world’s largest storms occur in its two biggest oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic. Tropical cyclones are massive dynamos that produce swirling destruction on unparalleled levels. We call storms that transpire in the Atlantic or Northeastern Pacific hurricanes, while those in the Northwestern Pacific go by typhoons. In the Indian Ocean and the extreme …
Will-o’-the-Wisp SCULLY: The National Weather Service last night reported atmospheric conditions in this area that were possibly conducive to lightning. MULDER: Possibly. SCULLY: It is feasible that the truck was struck by lightning, creating the electrical failure. MULDER: It’s feasible. SCULLY: And you know, there’s a marsh over there. The lights the driver saw …
Ball Lightning The stovepipe sharply rattled. Laura looked up and screamed, “Ma! The house is on fire!” A ball of fire was rolling down the stovepipe. It was bigger than Ma’s big ball of yarn. It rolled across the stove and dropped to the floor as Ma sprang up. She snatched up her skirts …
St. Elmo’s Fire The power of the goddess, having indeed been manifested in previous times, has been abundantly revealed in the present generation. In the midst of the rushing waters it happened that, when there was a hurricane, suddenly a divine lantern was seen shining at the masthead, and as soon as that miraculous light …
The Omega Block Earth produced some unusual weather and atmospheric phenomena for the Midwest and Eastern United States during the middle and late spring of 2023. As the temperatures rose with lengthening daylight, many people near The Mountains Are Calling headquarters in Central Ohio noticed something odd in the air. Though many Ohioans partake in the universal …
Mojave Max Many Americans are familiar with Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticating groundhog of Pennsylvania, and a slew of other weather-predicting rodents, including Buckeye Chuck, Wiarton Willie, Dunkirk Dave, and Staten Island Chuck. We rouse these groundhogs from hibernation on February 2 for the purpose of telling us the future of the struggle between winter and spring. …
The Beaufort Scale The son of a cartographer, Sir Francis Beaufort was born in Ireland, despite the French last name, in 1774. His father instilled attention to the accuracy of charts and information, but his grasp on the value of these accuracies sunk in with literal meaning when he was shipwrecked due to erroneous graphs …
Yosemitebear One of the great phenomena we have the blessing to experience as entities in a physical reality is one we tend to treat with familiarity because it is fairly common. Like the glory of a sunrise or sunset, upon which one could gaze two times every living day, rainbows are a marvel of physics …
Cat-Ice Most topics we explore in this project have a significant background of research. Some subjects have such an extensive knowledge base that distilling them into a readable chunk is a laborious exercise in curation. Periodically, an issue pops up with scant information on the internet. This occurrence is a modern rarity; at this point, …
A Stormcloud of Bees Throw out the word “electricity” today and one clear connotation rules. The juice that runs the world, coming to us through hanging power lines or buried cables. The electricity that runs computers, televisions, appliances, and, increasingly, automobiles. This type of power is current electricity, a stream of charged particles that travels …