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On today’s date 113 years ago, the largest asteroid impact in recorded history struck on a warm summer morning in Siberia, Russia. We observe Asteroid Day each year on June 30, on the anniversary of what’s now known as the Tunguska explosion. This explosion flattened roughly 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles in a remote part…
Posted in: History -
The extremely high temperatures out west in recent days have had a number of consequences. One you might not have thought of is the impact on air travel. Airplanes have trouble taking off if the air is too hot because the density is reduced, affecting the lift. For more about this and other heat-related impacts…
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The extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest is setting all kinds of records for high temperatures, including some all-time highs for individual cities and potentially even for the entire country of Canada. It has also caused huge infrastructure problems with buckling highways and other effects of the high heat. I have heard of at least…
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As predicted, Tropical Storm Danny formed just before making landfall just north of Hilton Head, SC, and is pushing WNW through Georgia overnight, bringing rain and some gusty winds to parts of the region. It is not a strong storm and no major impacts are expected as it moves through Georgia tonight into Tuesday. It…
Posted in: Tropical weather -
Over the last day, an area of disturbed weather has developed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda and is moving westward towards the US East Coast. It is still pretty weak but has a 50 percent chance of developing over the next five days. Realistically, if it is going to develop, it has about one…
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The Great Flood of 2019 wiped out millions of acres of farmland in Iowa and Missouri along the Missouri River, leaving many farmers literally underwater. They hoped for help from FEMA to repair the washed-out levees and clean up their fields. However, relief has been slow to come, and in many cases the farmers had…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The temperature at the Seattle-Tacoma airport hit 100 F today. Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be even hotter. The heat wave out west has the potential to break all-time record high temperatures at many places in the northwestern US. Understandably, farmers are worried about the consequences of the heat on their crops. Cherries in…