“Killer clouds” are a curious weather-related phenomenon that have been fortunately rare occurrences throughout history. They are caused when atmospheric conditions trap hazardous emissions near the Earth’s surface, and they can indeed kill. The worst recorded occurrence of a “killer…
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The Awesome Power of a Storm I had never heard the term “white plague” as an 11-year old girl, but I would certainly have thought it appropriate to describe what happened to my family on July 3rd, one year. I…
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Have you ever seen tall pillars rising up from the clouds when you look out of the window of an airplane? Those spectacular formations, which can rise 50,000 to 60,000 feet high, are supercells, the most violent of thunderstorms. They…
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Seawalls can be very effective in protecting areas from the effects of damaging storm surges. They are not infallible; any seawall could conceivably be defeated by the forces of nature, and their effectiveness is determined by where and how well…
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Earth’s weather, and in fact the weather of all the studied planets, amounts to a planetary wide thermal exchange. It is this exchange that results in the wind and ocean currents, and to understand the how the spin of the…
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A storm surge also known as a storm tide, and tidal surge. Is a rise in the level of water that is pushed to shore in the form of waves before the storm makes landfall. Depending on the speed of…
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When a catastrophe like a major hurricane catches the collective attention of a nation, it isn’t surprising that citizens pick up part of the vocabulary from the experts and journalists who tell us about it. In 2005, when Katrina boiled…
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1910 Forest Fire – A Glimpse Within The Gates Of Hades The 1910 Fire was the largest forest fire in American history, perhaps in the history of the world. Now, almost one hundred years later, the blackened ghosts of giant…
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The wrath of Mother Nature can be dealt to us in a variety of ways. From floods to earthquakes, volcanoes to blizzards, the experiences we endure are various and in some cases deadly. But the two natural phenomenon that get…
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There are probably a lot of people out there who have had a lot more opportunity to be in the close proximity of a lightening strike than I. But when I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Mississippi, lighting was…
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