Portal:Weather
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Weather is an all-encompassing term used to describe all of the many and varied phenomena that can occur in the atmosphere of a planet. The term is normally taken to mean the activity of these phenomena over short periods of time, usually no more than a few days in length. Average atmospheric conditions over significantly longer periods are known as climate. Usage of the two terms often overlaps as the concepts are obviously very closely related.
Snow events are a rarity in the U.S. state of Florida, as freezing temperatures in the state are generally caused by the cold and dry winds of anticyclones. Most of the state is in a rare portion of the continental United States which receives a mean maximum monthly snowfall amount of zero, the only other such areas being southern Texas and California. However, snow does occur, especially in the northern interior sections of the state, sometimes more than once in a season. Areas near Jacksonville have seen several inches of snow on occasion, and snow flurries have been reported as far south as Homestead. Generally, for snow to occur, the polar jet stream must move southward through Texas and into the Gulf of Mexico, with a stalled cold front across the southern portion of the state curving northeastward to combine freezing air into the frontal clouds.
A cumulonimbus cloud near Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia. Cumulonimbus are so named because they combine the characteristics of cumulus clouds (puffy in nature) and nimbus clouds (causing precipitation). They are typically around 30,000-50,000 ft (10,000-15,000 m) in height, and commonly produce precipitation and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds occasionally become severe thunderstorms, and, if rotation is present in the atmosphere, can become supercells, producing high winds, heavy rain, hail, and rarely tornadoes. Fortunately, this only happens in a small fraction of cases; most cumulonimbus produce innocuous showers or thundershowers.
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...that on February 1, the National Weather Service began using the Enhanced Fujita Scale to assess tornado damage, in place of the obselete Fujita scale?
...that some weather records include a 57.8°C (136°F) air temperature in Libya, 3.8 cm (1.5 in) of rain in just one minute in Guadeloupe, and a 47.6 cm (18.75 in) circumference hailstone in Nebraska?
...that cold air damming is responsible for most winter weather in the Eastern United States?
...that a late-season tornado outbreak in October of 1996 set many tornado records in the northern Great Plains?
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atmospheric circulation | Absolute Stable Air | temperature inversion | Dine's compensation | cyclone | anticyclone | sea breeze
April 1
1960: TIROS-1, considered to be the first successful weather satellite, is launched.
April 3
1974: The Super Outbreak, the most severe tornado outbreak in world history, spawned 148 tornadoes, including 30 violent tornadoes, in the east-central United States and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. More than 300 people were killed, and $3.5 billion (2005 USD) in damage was reported.
April 5
1936: A violent tornado struck the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing more than 200 people. Another tornado from the same outbreak killed another 200 people in Gainesville, Georgia the next day.
1972: An unusual tornado tracked from Oregon to Washington, killing 6 people.
April 9
1947: A tornado or series of tornadoes plowed through several towns in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, killing 181 people.
April 10
1991: The Angola Cyclone, the first tropical cyclone ever observed over the southern Atlantic Ocean, formed just off the coast of Angola.
1979: An extensive tornado outbreak devastated the area around Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 56 people.
Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy (July 5, 1805 - April 30, 1865) achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality, also proving an able surveyor and hydrographer as well as Governor of New Zealand.
FitzRoy developed charts to allow predictions to be made using observation stations connected by telegraph to transmit to him daily reports of weather at set times. The first daily weather forecasts were published in The Times in 1860, and in the following year a system was introduced of hoisting storm warning cones at the principal ports when a gale was expected. The Weather Book which he published in 1863 was far in advance of the scientific opinion of the time.
Weather: Meteorology | Atmosphere | Basic meteorological concepts and phenomena | Clouds | Floods | Precipitation| Seasons | Snow | Storms | Tornadoes | Tropical cyclones | Types of cyclone | Weather events | Weather lore | Weather hazards | Weather modification | Weather prediction | Weather warnings and advisories| Winds
- List of cloud types
- List of meteorological phenomena
- List of meteorology institutions
- List of SPC High Risk days
- List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- List of European tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- List of Asian tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- List of Southern Hemisphere tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- List of F5 tornadoes
- List of tornado-related deaths at schools
- List of tornadoes striking downtown areas
- List of tornado records
- List of weather-related fatalities in the United States
- History of tropical cyclone spawned tornadoes
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