Climate & Weather
Atmospheric sciences help us understand and predict the weather. Learn about topics such as the seasons, why it snows, and how rainbows are formed.
Learn More / Page 2
You may have noticed signs on the highway that warn "Bridge Ices Before Road." What causes this to happen?
Snow is nothing more than frozen water, and water is clear, not white. But snow is bright white. How?
What is "wind chill"? Does it have any effect on inanimate objects?
Advertisement
Hygrometers are used by many professionals to monitor levels of humidity in the air. So, do need one in your home?
Auroras are stunning natural light shows that are visible only in certain parts of the world at certain times of the year. Where can you go to see one?
Heavy snowfall is just one mark of a bad snowstorm. But the biggest snowstorms of all time also brought strong winds and in some cases, major power outages.
Barometers are used to predict the weather. What exactly does it mean when the weatherman says the barometer is rising or falling?
Advertisement
Rock salt is the go-to for melting ice on the roadways. But why?
If a tornado was heading your way, you'd probably head for the hills. But for some people, it's just the beginning of a chase.
Did bunnies just attack that sailboat, or was it a narwhal playing with a school of fish? Are you going crazy, or are you just watching the clouds?
Witch homicide aside, Dorothy was lucky that her home safely traveled to Oz after the tornado. Many people who lived through the storms on our list were left with nothing.
Advertisement
The birds stop chirping, and the wind chimes are silent. This eerie calm that's invaded your neighborhood is just a temporary pause before the shrills and shrieks of the incoming storm.
You might think of weather as something that happens around your life. It could prevent you from taking a bike ride or inspire you grab an umbrella on your way out. But there's more to weather than its ability to thwart the best-laid plans.
By Robert Lamb
Have you ever wondered how weather stations gather all of their data? Even though technology for predicting the weather has improved, simple weather balloons do a lot of the hard work every day.
Whether you're planning an outdoor wedding or a Saturday morning tag sale, it's nice to know ahead of time what the sky is going to do. But does checking the 10-day forecast do any more good than praying for sunshine?
By Robert Lamb
Advertisement
Before barometers and thermometers, people looked to the land and local lore to predict rain or shine. Have sophisticated statistical models and measuring tools changed the art of forecasting the weather that much?
By Robert Lamb
We've all probably looked up and wondered why the sky is blue instead of, say, brown. The sky is blue because of the way Earth's atmosphere scatters light from the sun.
Every night on the news, the weatherperson reports the UV index. What is the UV index and how is it calculated?
What causes the seasons? Why are the seasons reversed in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? And if the Earth moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, why don't we have two summers and two winters every year?
By Sascha Bos
Advertisement
You may have heard that you can figure out how far away lightning is by how long it takes for the thunder to arrive after you see the flash. Is this true? How do you calculate it?
Why is it colder at the top of a mountain than it is at sea level? Heat rises, and the top of a mountain is closer to the sun, so shouldn't it be hotter at the top of a mountain?
Precipitation can vary from rain to snow when the temperature is below freezing. Why does precipitation not always fall as snow when it's below freezing?
We can usually see rainbows right after a rainstorm on a warm Spring day. These giant colorful arcs stand out against the dark rain clouds. Have you ever wondered what causes this phenomena? Find out how rainbows are created in this article from HowStuffWorks.
Advertisement
There's often a strong, quite pleasant, smell right after a rain shower. What accounts for petrichor, the 'smell of rain'?
A tornado is one of those amazing, awesome acts of nature that simply leaves you dumbfounded -- a huge, swirling, 200-mph beast of a storm that appears to have a mind of its own.