Weather Tidbits: Bridges Freeze First
We explain why bridges freeze first on this Weather Tidbits. Bridges freeze first over roads because the ground below is able to keep roads warmer longer. Bridges, on the other hand,…
Weather Tidbits
Weather Tidbits: Types of Snowflakes
The various types of snowflakes are explored in this Weather Tidbits. Most snowflakes will consist of hexagonal or 6-sided shaped that will either be plates or consist of branches. However, as…
Weather Tidbits: Snowflake Classification
This Weather Tidbits discusses the classification of snowflakes. The types of snowflakes are defined mostly by temperature but also humidity. Snowflakes will change from one shape to another; by dropping or increasing…
Weather Tidbits: June Bacon-Bercey
This Weather Tidbits honors June Bacon-Bercey, a pioneer for advocating women & people of color in the field of meteorology. Her many accomplishments and firsts starr with her Bachelor's of Science being…
Weather Tidbits: National Weatherperson's Day
Another holiday is discussed on Weather Tidbits, with National Weatherperson's Day. The holiday is celebrated on February 5th; to commemorate John Jeffries's birth in 1744. He is one of America's 1st…
Weather Tidbits: Groundhog Day
It's all about the groundhog on this Weather Tidbits. Groundhog Day takes place on February 2nd to celebrate the midpoint between the winter solstice & spring equinox. According to legend, if Punxsutawney…
Weather Tidbits: Wolf Moon
The January full moon is known as the Wolf Moon. It's called the wolf moon due to the belief that wolves howled more during this time of the year due to hunger;…
Weather Tidbits: Winter Seasonal Lag
This Weather Tidbits discusses seasonal lag during the winter. Seasonal lag is the phenomenon where the maximum (minimum) air temperature is delayed after the date of maximum (minimum) solar radiation. This…
Weather Tidbits: TLE
This Weather Tidbits dives into the topic of TLE. TLE or Transient Luminous Event, that involve upper atmospheric lightning. These are short-lived electrical phenomenon that occur above thunderstorm clouds. TLE's consists of 3…
Weather Tidbits: ENSO Neutral
This Weather Tidbits wraps up our discussion with ENSO, with an ENSO Neutral. An ENSO Neutral happens when the tropical Pacific is neither warmer or cooler than normal. This leads to a…
Weather Tidbits: Perihelion
The 1st astronomical event of 2021 is the main headline of this Weather Tidbits. The perihelion or the Earth's closest point to the sky occurred on January 2nd, 2021. The Earth is 3…
Weather Tidbits: Cold Moon
The last full moon of 2020 is explored in this Weather Tidbits. The December full moon is known as the Cold Moon. It's called the Cold Moon, due to the cold weather…
Weather Tidbits: El Niño
The ENSO talk continues on this Weather Tidbits with El Niño. El Niño happens when the waters of the central & eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean are warmer than normal. The Pacific jet…
Weather Tidbits: La Niña
This Weather Tidbits dives into La Niña. La Niña is when the waters of the eastern & central Tropical Pacific Ocean are cooler than normal. This creates for dry & mild conditions…
Weather Tidbits: Winter Solstice
The winter solstice takes center stage in this Weather Tidbits. The winter solstice happens in the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun reaches the most south over the Tropic of Capricorn. This leads…
Weather Tidbits: METAR
This Weather Tidbits discusses another way to interpret weather through a METAR. A METAR is international standard code format which displays hourly weather observation. The word METAR is an acronym translated from French.…
Weather Tidbits: Geminid Meteor Shower
This Weather Tidbits discusses the main event of the December's sky, known as the Geminids. This meteor shower is unique in that it originates not from a comet but an asteroid,…
Weather Tidbits: Norwegian Cyclone Model
The life cycle of a extratropical cyclone is checked out in this Weather Tidbits. The life cycle of cyclone, is known as the Norwegian Cyclone Model. This was developed in…
Weather Tidbits: Weather Station Plot
The weather station plot is the main focus on this Weather Tidbits. A station plot is an illustration using symbols to show weather information at a station. The station plot allows…
Weather Tidbits: Numerical Weather Prediction
The 5th & last forecast type or numerical weather prediction is checked out in this Weather Tidbits. NWP is forecasting the weather based upon the solutions of mathematical equations by high…
Weather Tidbits: Beaver Moon
The November's full moon is famously nicknamed as the Beaver Moon. Its name is due to beavers taking shelter in their lodges with sufficient food for the winter ahead, but also settlers…
Weather Tidbits: Analog Forecasting
We dive into the 4th type of forecast known as analog in this Weather Tidbits. An analog forecast is made when finding past situations; with conditions similar to current conditions, and…
Weather Tidbits: Trend Forecasting
The topic of trend forecasting is explored on this Weather Tidbits. A trend or steady-state forecast assumes that systems will move in the same direction & approximately same speed, based on past…
Weather Tidbits: Leonid Meteor Shower
The big meteor shower event of November or the Leonids, is the main focus of this Weather Tidbits. The meteor shower is created as the earth crosses the path of the…
Weather Tidbits: Climatology Forecast
The 2nd type of forecasting or climatology is explored in this Weather Tidbits. A climatology forecast involves the average weather to make a forecast. Climatology works well for long-term (seasonal) forecasting but not…
Weather Tidbits: Persistence Forecasting
This Weather Tidbits starts a miniseries on types of forecasting, with the 1st being persistence. A persistence forecast is a forecast that the future weather condition will be the same as the…
Weather Tidbits: Contour
Contouring takes center stage in this Weather Tidbits. Contouring is the process of drawing isopleths, which are lines of constant or equal values. Any meteorological value can be contoured. This help meteorologists see…
Weather Tidbits: Blue Moon
It's all about the blue moon in this Weather Tidbits. A blue moon is a phenomenon involving the appearance of an extra full moon within a given period of time. They occur…
Weather Tidbits: Hunter's Moon
This Weather Tidbits discusses the Hunter's moon which took place on Halloween. The hunter's moon is named due to animals being fattened and hunted in preparation for winter, with the added light…
Weather Tidbits: Tropical Cyclone
We finish the talk on cyclones with tropical cyclones on this Weather Tidbits. A tropical cyclone is a warm core low that gets its energy from latent heat. These storms form over…
Weather Tidbits: Subtropical Cyclone
Another type of cyclone is checked out in this Weather Tidbits, the subtropical cyclone. A subtropical cyclone is a low pressure that has characteristics of both tropical and extratropical cyclones. Subtropical storms…
Weather Tidbits: Orionid Meteor Shower
The big meteor shower of October or Orionids are explored in this Weather Tidbits. The Orionids are debris leftover from its parent comet, which is Halley's Comet, and radiate from the…
Weather Tidbits: Extratropical Cyclone
This Weather Tidbits starts our miniseries on cyclones, starting with extratropical cyclones. An extratropical cyclone or mid-latitude has cold air in its core and is associated with fronts. These storms derives its…
Weather Tidbits: Neap Tide
This Weather Tidbits checks out the other type of tide, the neap tide. A neap tide occurs when the sun and moon are at right angles of each other during the quarter…
Weather Tidbits: Spring Tide
We explore some oceanography in this Weather Tidbits, with the tides. A tide is a wave that is exerted by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. A spring tide occurs…
Weather Tidbits: Harvest Moon
This Weather Tidbits checks out the harvest moon. The harvest moon is the closest full moon to the autumn equinox. It's name comes from the extra moonlight received after sunset which aided…
Weather Tidbits: Medicane
A unusual weather event in the Mediterranean is explored in this Weather Tidbits. A medicane or mediterreanean hurricane is a tropical-like cyclone that brings heavy rain and gusty winds. These storms occur in…
Weather Tidbits: Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect is discussed in this Weather Tidbits. The greenhouse effect is the warming of an atmosphere by its absorbing and emitting infrared radiation; while allowing shortwave radiation to pass…
Weather Tidbits: Autumn Equinox
It's all autumn in this Weather Tidbits. The autumn equinox happened on September 22nd at 9:30 AM. This is when the sun is directly over the equator thus providing equal lengths of…
Weather Tidbits: Composition of the Atmosphere Part 2
The variable gases take over the composition of the atmosphere in this Weather Tidbits. 7 variables gases make up the atmosphere, consisting of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone,…
Weather Tidbits: Composition of the Atmosphere Part 1
The composition of the atmosphere, specifically the permanent gases are checked out in this Weather Tidbits. Nitrogen & oxygen make up 99% of the atmosphere, but other important gases…
Weather Tidbits: Earth's Four Spheres
This Weather Tidbits dives into the four spheres that make up the earth. The 4 spheres are the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The lithosphere is the rigid outer layer of…
Weather Tidbits: Wildfires
This Weather Tidbits explores wildfire production and spread. A wildfire is used to describe any uncontrolled fire burning through vegetation. They commonly occur in California, the French Riviera & parts of Australia; where…
Weather Tidbits: Air Quality Index
An issue that affects everyone on a daily basis is discussed in this Weather Tidbits. The air quality index (AQI), is an index of air quality that provides daily air pollution…
Weather Tidbits: Albedo
This Weather Tidbits checks out reflectivity. Albedo is the percent of radiation returning from a surface compared to that which strikes it or the reflectivity of the surface. Dark surfaces are known for…
Weather Tidbits: Urban Heat Island
This Weather Tidbits dives into urban heat island. The urban heat island effect, is increased air temperatures in urban areas contrasted to the cooler surrounding rural areas. The reason for cities…
Weather Tidbits: Acid Rain
Acid rain is the headline for this Weather Tidbits. Acid rain forms from cloud droplets or raindrops that combine with gaseous pollutants, that make falling rain acidic. The pollutants consist of sulfur…
Weather Tidbits: Pyrocumulus
A special cloud is explored in this Weather Tidbits. A pyrocumulus is a cumulus cloud associated with fire. They are commonly seen over wildfires but can occur with volcanic eruptions. The cloud is…
Weather Tidbits: Meteogram
An interesting way to view weather is explored in this Weather Tidbits. A meteogram is a chart that shows how one or more weather variables has changed at a station over a given…
Weather Tidbits: Superior Mirage
This Weather Tidbits checks out the other type of mirage, the superior mirage. A superior mirages is when an object appears higher than it actually is and commonly occurs over cold areas.…
