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extreme weather

Earth

Longest lightning ‘mega-flash’ sets a shocking new record

A stroke of lighting that lasted more than 7 seconds and flashed across 829 kilometres is officially the longest ever recorded

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Environment

Nor’easters slamming New England are growing more powerful

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James Dinneen holds a large hail stone from this year's ICECHIP research
Physics

Storm-chasing scientists hunt for the world’s most extreme hail

Video
This is a supercell photographed near Arnett, Oklahoma on June 17th. At the moment of the picture, a tornado is ongoing in the center of the image buried in rain, and hail bigger than 55mm (2.17???) is falling and being collected by the hail hunting vehicle. The lightning was prolific because the storm was well over 65,000 feet tall during its peak strength. The lightning was so constant that in 1/8th of a second (the exposure time of this picture), I was able to capture 3 strikes. Most of the lightning was positive, which is stronger than the typical lightning strike which are negative. This can be an indicator of an abundance of hail within the storm, as hail can increase the amount of built up electrical charge within the updraft. Positive strikes typically originate from the top of the storm (anvil) and are characterized by one singular channel without much branching (leftmost strike). Typically striking within the inflow of the storm, they also only strike once instead of strobing with multiple strokes/pulses like negatively charged lightning does. Hope this is enough information about the storm! I can always share more if needed.

Earth

Meet the storm chasers on the hunt for extreme hail

Regulars

Environment

World’s farmers won’t be able to keep up with climate change

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Environment

UK should expect summers above 40°C in next decade, warns Met Office

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Environment

Hurricanes aren’t cooling off future storms as much as they once did

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Environment

Test of AI weather forecasts shows they miss extreme storms

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Environment

Europe increasingly vulnerable to hailstones the size of golfballs

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Environment

Record heat in 2023 and 2024 may just have been natural variability

Simulations suggest that an extraordinary jump in temperatures seen in 2023 and 2024 could simply be natural variability, rather than a new phase of climate change as some researchers have suggested

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Environment

Trump budget cuts would eliminate much of NOAA’s climate research

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Environment

Four ways cuts at NOAA will make weather forecasts less reliable

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Health

Extreme heat may speed up biological ageing in older people

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Environment

2024 may have been the rainiest – as well as hottest – year on record

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