Monthly Archives: July 2022

Looking up the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, the difference between a severe thunderstorm warning vs tornado warning, what a supercell is, or what a storm surge warning or snow squall warning means for your safety? Read More…

Wondering about the difference between a Tornado Watch and Tornado Warning, what a Tornado Emergency means, or how a Tropical Storm becomes a Hurricane? Read More…

Curious about what an updraft is inside a thunderstorm, what the urban heat island effect means for your city’s forecast, what the UV index numbers actually mean, how an upper level trough triggers severe weather, or what causes upslope fog along the Rockies? Read More…

Curious about what virga is and why it creates a hidden aviation hazard, how visibility is measured and what triggers a Dense Fog Advisory, what vorticity means in meteorology, how vertical wind shear drives tornado development, or what causes valley fog? Read More…

Confused about the difference between a Winter Storm Warning, Winter Weather Advisory, and Blizzard Warning? Wondering what a wind chill chart really means for frostbite risk, how a waterspout differs from a tornado, what wind shear does to thunderstorms, or what a whiteout looks like on the highway? Read More…

Wondering what X-band radar is and how it differs from the NEXRAD network, how Doppler weather radar actually works, what weather radar frequency bands mean for storm detection, what METAR abbreviations mean in an aviation weather report, or how solar X-ray flares affect GPS and radio communications? Read More…

Wondering whether yellow dust from Asia actually reaches the United States, when tornado season peaks and why, what beach warning flag colors mean for your safety, what NOAA Climate Normals are and why “warmer than normal” references them, or what a weather anomaly means on a forecast map? Read More…

Wondering what zonal flow means for the week’s weather pattern, what Z-time (Zulu time) is and why all weather forecasts use it, what a Zone Forecast Product is and how it powers every weather app, how solar radiation drives all weather, or what dBZ means on a radar reflectivity display? Read More…