// TRANSMISSION LOG
WEATHER BLOG
Weekly dispatches from 16bitbot. Space weather, severe storms, weather phenomena, and climate records.
SHOWING 10 OF 20 DISPATCHES
Earthquakes: How ShakeMap and PAGER Rate a Rupture
A magnitude 7.2 near Yumare, Venezuela rated Mercalli IX and drew a PAGER red alert. What those two USGS products compute, and how quickly.
Marine Weather: Rogue Waves and the Limits of Models
The Queen Elizabeth 2 met a 29-meter wave in 1995. How wind, fetch and duration drive wave forecasts, and where the models still fall short.
Urban Climate: Chicago's 1995 Heat Wave
On the night of July 21, 1995, Chicago's official low temperature at O'Hare International Airport dropped to 73°F.
Biometeorology: Thunderstorm Asthma and Phenology
Melbourne's 2012 thunderstorm asthma event sent 1,900 people to hospital in one evening. What biometeorology measures, from pollen to phenology.
Atmospheric Structure: Sudden Stratospheric Warming
Troposphere to thermosphere, and how a January 2019 sudden stratospheric warming over the Arctic sent cold outbreaks south six weeks later.
Severe Convective Storms: What Builds a 302 mph Tornado
The Bridge Creek 1999 supercell set the surface wind record at 302 mph. How shear, instability and lift load the atmosphere for days like it.
Space Weather: The G5 Storm That Blacked Out Quebec
On March 13, 1989, six million people in Quebec lost power for nine hours.
Volcanic Sulfur and Climate: The Pinatubo Case
Mount Pinatubo put 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere in 1991 and cooled the planet 0.5°C. Here is the mechanism.
Ocean Heat Transport: Why Bergen Beats Anchorage
Bergen, Norway sits at 60.4° N — roughly the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska.
The Cryosphere: Ice, Permafrost and Arctic Amplification
The 2012 Arctic sea ice minimum of 3.41 million square kilometers as a way into ice-albedo feedback, permafrost carbon and Arctic amplification.