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An outbreak of severe thunderstorms is likely Wednesday across much of the Southeast, continuing northward along and west of the Appalachians into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. This will include supercell development with a risk for tornadoes, some of which will be strong and long-lived, particularly across the Southeast. Large to very large hail and damaging straight-line winds also appear likely.

Imagine a dust storm, driven by monsoon downbursts, building near the Maricopa-Pinal county line. There are thousands of Interstate 10 motorists and hundreds of thousands of Phoenix exurb residents who would probably want to know about such a storm before the stinging, blinding wall of sand arrives. But does all of metro Phoenix need to get the alert? Likely not, but the National Weather Service’s Ken Waters told the dozens of attendees at the annual dust-storm workshop in Coolidge last week that that’s exactly what would happen with the existing cellphone warning system in place for dust events. “If I’m...

From ​the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)Sun’s impact on climate change quantified for first timeA solar flare captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory – click for much larger image For the first time, model calculations show a plausible way that fluctuations in solar activity could have a tangible impact on the climate. Studies funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation expect human-induced global warming to tail off slightly over the next few decades. A weaker sun could reduce temperatures by half a degree. There is human-induced climate change, and there are natural climate fluctuations. One important factor in the unchanging rise...

Three storm chasers were killed in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday afternoon in Dickens County as a line of tornadic thunderstorms moved through the South Plains. News of the crash spread quickly through the weather monitoring community, prompting an outpouring of support for the chasers who were from out of state, including a statement from The Weather Channel. ... Investigators believe a black suburban was traveling northbound on FM 1081 when it disregarded a stop sign and collided with a black Jeep that was traveling west on FM 2794. “There were two drivers and one passenger in the two vehicles,” Gonzalez...

DWR just turned the main spillway off as the Reservoir Elevation reaches 836' (Mean Sea Level), the minimum level of the Main Spillway.

Guest post by David MiddletonSource: U.S. Department of Agriculture Drought Monitor MARCH 22, 2017Record precipitation, snowpack in California expected to increase hydro generation in 2017 For the first time since 2011, California’s drought is significantly weakening—a result of one of the wettest winters on record. California has experienced record levels of precipitation this winter, and unlike last winter, cooler temperatures over the 2016–2017 winter season have enabled the precipitation to build up snowpack (the total accumulated snow and ice on the ground). High precipitation and snowpack levels, both of which supply hydroelectric generators throughout the year, suggest that hydroelectric...

Buzz the bee has disappeared from many cereal boxes across North America. The peppy mascot’s conspicuous absence is part of a campaign to raise awareness about the plight of real honeybees. To further spread the word, General Mills is giving away 100 million wildflower seeds.

This Nor'easter, named Stella, is coming on like a son of a gun! My sidewalks are already indistinguishable in height from the lawn on either side. I spent a lot of Monday preparing to be snowed in: moved up medical appointments to Monday morning, topped up the gas in my car, corrected deficiencies in food staples supplies (shelves were already conspicuously bare in many aisles), laid in a good supply of crickets for my lizards, studied weather reports, and checked on friends. How have you in the Northeast prepared for Stella? If you stay home, how are you going to...

Get out now while you still have the chance! A blizzard warning has been issued for New York City and much of the tri-state area beginning at midnight Tuesday as Winter Storm Stella threatens to dump as much as 18 inches of snow. Whiteout conditions are expected to make travel extremely dangerous and power outages are likely amid crippling wind gusts of 20 to 40 mph, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines. New Yorkers stockpile supplies as massive snowstorm looms. “Travel will be poor at best, if not impossible,” Kines told The Post on Monday. “If you have the...

Both the Euro and GFS are showing stonger storms in closer to the coast, so this could well become reality.

Friday, March 10, 2017, 5:55 - Parts of the Northeast are primed for significant snow threats through midweek next week as Canadian Arctic air spills south. A clipper system is forecast to descend form the Canadian Prairies this weekend bringing light snow to the Upper Midwest. As the low interacts with the sub-tropical moisture in the Southeast, it will begin to significantly intensify Monday and Tuesday. Early models indicate areas north of Virginia could see the highest snowfall accumulations Monday through Wednesday, while areas farther south will see mostly rain. “The threat of heavy snow greatly increases for Pennsylvania, New...

Southern California could be overdue for a major earthquake along the Grapevine north of Los Angeles, according to a sobering new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. The research found earthquakes happen there on average every 100 years. The last major temblor occurred 160 years ago, a catastrophic geological event that ruptured an astonishing 185 miles of the San Andreas fault. The land on either side of the fault has been pushing against the other at a rate of more than 1 inch a year since 1857, the researchers said, accumulating energy that will be suddenly released in a major...

“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt” – Mark Twain “Consider a narrow river valley below a high dam, such that if the dam burst, the resulting flood of water would drown people for a considerable distance downstream. When attitude pollsters ask people downstream of the dam how concerned they are about the dam’s bursting, it’s not surprising that fear of a dam burst is lowest far downstream, and increases among residents increasingly close to the dam. Surprisingly, though … the concern falls off to zero as you approach closer to the dam! That is, the people living immediately under...

The flood relief efforts in San Jose got a massive boost on Wednesday when a billionaire swept into town and made a multimillion-dollar donation. Kieu Hoang, the owner of the eponymous Napa winery, has made it his life’s mission to help people. To that end, he presented on Wednesday a $5 million check to city officials. Born in Vietnam, Hoang has made his wealth selling medical products and is a stakeholder in big pharmaceutical companies such as Shanghai RAAS Blood Products. Hoang moved to California at the end of the Vietnam War, and his net worth is estimated to be...

The Sierra Nevada snowpack is close to setting records notched more than three decades ago — a welcome sight after five years of punishing drought in California, surveyors said Wednesday. A series of storms that doused the state in the first two months of the year brought the water content of the snowpack up to a “pretty phenomenal” 185 percent of normal, well above the 84 percent of normal a year ago, said Frank Gehrke, the state’s chief snow surveyor. Winter snowfall on the 400-mile mountain range provides roughly one-third of the water used in the nation’s most populous state...

Bill Nye said Monday that climate change skeptics suffer from a psychological problem preventing them from understanding how so-called man-made global warming affects their daily lives. Climate change skeptics suffer from cognitive dissonance on global warming, a type of psychological disorder that prevents people from recognizing reality, the comedian and former TV show host told Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during a Facebook Live event. “To the deniers out there. I want you to think about what is called cognitive dissonance,” Nye said, referring to situations wherein people prefer to bury their head in the sand instead of facing reality. It’s...

A North Bay woman and her dog are living to tell another tale after enduring a nightmarish crash over the weekend. Victoria Trautvetter was traveling along the windy two-lane Cazadero Highway in western Sonoma County around 11:45 p.m. on Friday when she rolled her car and plunged into Austin Creek, the Press Democrat reported. The 67-year-old's car crashed down the embankment and rolled roughly 10 feet into the creek, but it somehow managed to land on its wheels. Trautvetter spent the next eight hours or so in the her car with her small dog as rushing water and darkness surrounded...

Since the media is all aflutter over proposed changes to the EPA and various climate-based regulations, we may as well visit (or revisit) the debate on climate change. Is it the result of activities of man or simply the normal patterns of changes in the Earth’s complicated biosphere? Some claim that it’s a combination of the two. But now, a team of astrophysicists has released new data which seems to support a decades-old theory which places the blame, shall we say, a bit further away. Since a picture is worth 1000 words, here’s a hint:That’s right. The actual culprit...

Since the media is all aflutter over proposed changes to the EPA and various climate-based regulations, we may as well visit (or revisit) the debate on climate change. Is it the result of activities of man or simply the normal patterns of changes in the Earth’s complicated biosphere? Some claim that it’s a combination of the two. But now, a team of astrophysicists has released new data which seems to support a decades-old theory which places the blame, shall we say, a bit further away. Since a picture is worth 1000 words, here’s a hint: That’s right. The actual culprit...

A year ago, some Californians never thought this day would come. But after being battered by weeks of record-setting rain, the vast majority of the state is out of drought.