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
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.…
Weather Tidbits: Inferior Mirages
Mirages are broken down in this Weather Tidbits. A mirage is a refraction phenomenon that makes an object appear to be displaced from its true position. They are created by light passing…
Weather Tidbits: Green Flash
Another optical phenomenon is explained in this Weather Tidbits. A green flash is a small green color that appears on the upper part of the sun as it rises or sets. This…
Weather Tidbits: Corn Moon
All eyes on the September full moon in this Weather Tidbits. The full moon in September is known as the corn moon, which peaked back on the 2nd. This full moon was…
Weather Tidbits: Sun Pillar
This Weather Tidbits explores a neat event in the sky known as a sun pillar. A sun pillar is a vertical streak of light above or below the sun. They are caused…
Weather Tidbits: Iridescence
This Weather Tidbits discusses iridescence. They are brilliant spots or borders of colors that are observed in clouds. It appears adjacent to the sun or moon and are interpreted as an imperfect or…
Weather Tidbits: Sun Dog
The illusion of multiple suns occurs in this Weather Tidbits, with the sun dog. A sun dog is a colored luminous spot by the refraction of light through ice crystals that appear…
Weather Tidbits: Halo
This Weather Tidbits explores the sky phenomenon, known as the halo. A halo is a ring of light encircling and extending outward from the sun or moon. They are produced when the…
Weather Tidbits: Corona
We turn to coronas on this Weather Tidbits. A corona (meaning crown in Spanish) is a series of rings concentrically surrounding the disk of the sun or moon. They are usually caused when…
Weather Tidbits: Distrail
We find out the counterpart to the contrail in this Weather Tidbits, with the distrail. A distrail or dissipation trail is when an aircraft passes through a cloud and disperses the cloud in…
Weather Tidbits: Contrail
This Weather Tidbits dives into the world of contrails. A contrail is a cloud-like streamer frequently seen forming behind an aircraft flying in clear, cold and humid air; which is short for condensation…
Weather Tidbits: Aurora
One of the coolest phenomenons is explained in this Weather Tidbits, which is the aurora. An aurora is a glowing light display in the nighttime sky, caused by excited gases in the upper…
Weather Tidbits: Perseid Meteor Shower
This Weather Tidbits checks out the big meteor shower of August, the Perseids. The meteor shower originates towards the northeast at the Perseus constellation and comes from its parent which is the…
Weather Tidbits: Radiosonde
One of the most important weather instruments is explored in this Weather Tidbits, with the radiosonde. A radiosonde is an instrument that obtains a vertical distribution of temperature, pressure and humidity. It consists…
Weather Tidbits: Tropical Cyclone Naming
How tropical cyclones get their names is answered in this Weather Tidbits. Tropical cyclones are named to avoid confusion with another storm occuring at the same time and to provide…
Weather Tidbits: Wind Instruments
Multiple wind instruments are explored in this Weather Tidbits. The oldest but still reliable instrument is the wind vane; which consists of a long arrow with a tail which moves freely…
Weather Tidbits: Snow Intensity
It's a snowy Weather Tidbits, as we dive into snow intensity. Snowfall intensity is characterized by visibility, just like drizzle. Its intensity is divided into 3 categories, as light, moderate and heavy.…
Weather Tidbits: Rain Intensity
It's gets wet in this Weather Tidbits, as the intensity of rain is checked out. Rainfall intensity is determined by rate of accumulation per hour or a maximum rate in 6 minutes.…
Weather Tidbits: Sturgeon Moon
The sturgeon moon takes center stage in this Weather Tidbits. The sturgeon moon is the nickname for the August full moon. It is called that due to the abundance of sturgeon available…
Weather Tidbits: Fire Weather Alerts
Fire weather alerts take over in this Weather Tidbits. The National Weather Service issues 2 types of fire weather alerts, a fire weather watch and a red flag warning. A fire…
Weather Tidbits: Drizzle
It's just a drizzle for this Weather Tidbits. Drizzle is is liquid precipitation smaller than 0.5 mm (0.02 in) in diameter, anything larger is rain. Drizzle drops are very close together, appear to…
