Why is it Dry? If you live in the southwest United States, you may be in an area of infrequent precipitation. For example, Phoenix, Arizona gets less than 8 inches of rain per year. Compare that with New York or Chicago, each of which gets over 30 inches. So you may ask yourself “Why...
This article is a special contribution by journalist Kelly Fetty. It’s 10 p.m. on a humid spring night in Texas. To the east of highway 78, flashes of lightning reveal glimpses of a massive thunderhead. A car pulls off the highway. Inside, the...
An Icy Situation By Gregory R.C. Hasman, Wild West Weather Contributor The wind howled. Sweat trickled down my left cheek bone. The vehicle veered softly to the right, but fortunately the hands were able to steer her back on the right path. Minutes later, the pavement grew more slippery, hands turned white, and my...
This was an absolutely perfect example of a Kelvin-Hemholtz Wave Cloud, but by the time I found my camera it was falling apart. You can still see the waves, though. I’ve seen better examples out here in New Mexico so I’m sure I’ll post another soon. This particular cloud formation was named after the German...
The highest clouds in the sky, composed completely of ice crystals, are also the most ethereal-looking, like wisps of hair. In fact, Cirrus clouds look exactly like the Latin root of the word–curl of hair. This picture shows a variety of cirrus, including a few hooked cirrus clouds called uncinus. The weight...
