Forces of Nature

There's a tornado coming! What do you do first? Grab your valuables? Seek shelter? Panic? Open the windows? Wait, what? Some say opening the windows in your house makes a tornado cause less damage. Read on to find out the truth.

By Kate Kershner

Can you shower during a thunderstorm? It's long been rumored that taking a nice, warm shower is a dangerous proposition when electricity is coursing through the sky.

By Kate Kershner & Austin Henderson

It sounds simple enough. A wildfire is burning in your immediate area, so you turn from it and run. But getting away from a fire on foot may not be as easy as you think.

By Alison Cooper

In the movies it looks so easy. A team of scientists are working near the crater of a volcano when it suddenly erupts. They jump in their vehicle and outrace the surging lava flow to safety. In reality, it just doesn't happen that way.

By Alison Cooper

They're an odd enough sight in the sky to make you do a double take. Ready for the "super cool" explanation behind hole-punch clouds?

By Allison Troutner

Mammatus clouds, which are made from falling air instead of rising air, are one of the most spectacular cloud formations you'll ever see.

By Jesslyn Shields

Bombogenesis is a phenomenon in which the atmospheric pressure in the middle of a low-pressure system drops rapidly, intensifying a storm and creating a bomb cyclone.

By Jesslyn Shields

Weather forecasters can tell what the weather will be by reading the barometric pressure, but how does it work?

By Dylan Ris

California has experienced unprecedented rain lately, but the state is still in a drought. So why can't the rain falling now be saved for later?

By Andrew Fisher

Bluebirds symbolize optimism, happiness and hope for the future. For skiers, a "bluebird day" bodes well for a great day on the slopes, but hunters and anglers may as well stay home.

By Thomas Harlander

A geomagnetic storm could cause a spectacular aurora borealis Aug. 18 and 19 over parts of the continental United States, as far south as Illinois.

By Sarah Gleim

Haboobs are giant walls of dust that can come seemingly out of nowhere. How are they created and are they different from sandstorms?

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

Earthquakes and their resulting aftershocks can be devastatingly destructive. Earthquakes are caused when a fault in the Earth's crust slips, which releases energy waves in the ground. Find a list of 12 of the most destructive earthquakes in history.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

A tornado can turn a house into toothpicks, but when you think about it, it's really just a funnel of air. What's it like on the inside?

By Charles W. Bryant

Inject heat, ash and fire into a spinning mass of air. Watch as a funnel of flames leaps from the ground, reaches for the heavens and then races forward to consume everything in its path. Is such a phenomenon possible?

By William Harris

The Americas have been hit with some major hurricanes throughout the decades. But which were the worst ones in history?

By Chris Opfer & Sarah Gleim

Frogs! Fish! Birds! A surprising number of things have rained down from the sky besides water. But how?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

How often have you watched a weather forecaster point to a spiral-shaped cloudy mass with a sense of dread and fascination? What fuels these ferocious storms?

By Marshall Brain, Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. & Robert Lamb

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.

By Marshall Brain, Robert Lamb & Yara Simón

There's often a strong, quite pleasant, smell right after a rain shower. What accounts for petrichor, the 'smell of rain'?

By Kathryn Whitbourne & Desiree Bowie

Not to be confused with sleet, graupel is actually an interesting mix of snow and ice. But it's not hail. Graupel, get to know it.

By Laurie L. Dove

Where is tornado alley and why do so many tornadoes form there?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Every night on the news, the weatherperson reports the UV index. What is the UV index and how is it calculated?