Weather Imagery

Hurricanes are the most powerful storms on Earth in terms of size, energy released, and the scale of damage thay can produced. If the winds are troublesome enough, the storm surge can be as high as 25 feet and often times causes more damage than the wind. However, tornadoes sometimes accompany the hurricane which makes some locations sustain far greater damage than the surrounding areas.

The terms typhoon and hurricane mean the same thing, that is, they are both non-frontal synoptic scale low-pressure systems over tropical or sub-tropical waters with organized convection (i.e.; thuderstorm activity). They name corresponds to their geographic location of where they formed. For example, typhoons form in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline. Hurricanes form in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E.

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I always find extreme weather records fascinating because some of them will just blow you away. If you think the weather is miserable or crazy where you live, take a look at some other places around the world. I think you’ll find most of these records absolutely mid boggling.

Temperatures

• Coldest temperature in USA: -80°F at Prospect Creek Camp in the Endicott Mountains of northern Alaska on Jan. 23, 1971
• Hottest temperature in USA: 134°F in Death Valley, CA on July 10, 1913
• Coldest Temperature in the World: -129°F in Vostok, Antarctica on July 21, 1983
• Hottest temperature in the World: 136°F in Al’ Aziziyah, Libya on September 13th, 1922
• The USA hottest average temp: 77.7°F in the Florida Keys, FL.
• World’s hottest average temperature: 94°F in Dakol, Ethiopia
• Worlds highest dew point temperature: 95°F in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8, 2003
• The largest 2-minute temperature change of +49°F occurred in Spearfish, South Dakota on January 22, 1943, at about 7:30am MST where the temperature rose from -4°F to 45°F.
• The largest 24-hour recorded temperature change occurred on January 15, 1972 in Loma, Montana, where the temperature rose from −54°F to 49°F.

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At some point, most of us have heard that water spins down a drain in different directions depending on which hemisphere we happen to be in. The fact is, the Coriolis force (an apparent force as a result of the Earth’s spin) has virtually nothing to do with which direction water spins as it empties down a drain. Although this force is “real” and does have an affect on other large, long-lived systems that travel great distances (such as hurricanes, high and low pressure systems, and long range artillery shells), water draining from toilets, sinks, and bathtubs are rendered virtually immune from its affects. The Coriolis force is much too weak to have any affect on such small, short-lived rotating bodies of water under normal conditions.

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Even though the Earth does pass closer to the sun during part of its orbit, this is not what’s responsible for our hot summers or cold winter months. If this were the case, then the northern and southern hemispheres would both have their summers and winters at the same time. However as you’ll see below, exactly the opposite is true. When it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, it’s winter in the southern.

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Lightning is one of those things that captures everyones attention because there’s just the right mix of fear and curiosity which draws everyone to the show. To go along with lightning’s beauty, there are a lots of interesting facts some people might not have known. So here is a huge list of some interesting facts about lightning:

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The last time a commercial plane crashed in the United States due to a lightning strike was about 40 years ago. On December 8, 1962 lighting hit a Pan American Boeing 707 in a holding pattern over Elkton, Md. The lightning created a spark that ignited jet fuel vapor in a holding tank, triggering an explosion that killed all 81 aboard. Ironically, the FAA estimates that each commercial airliner will be hit by lightning once a year (some will get hit more than once, some won’t get hit at all). And in some cases, the airplane itself actually triggers the lightning. So why doesn’t lightning cause commercial jet liners to crash? There are three main reasons: highly conductive outer shell, surge/shielding/grounding protectors on electronic equipment and jet fuel which produces much less explosive vapor.

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