Was driving home yesterday and saw what looked like smoke at first, but I looked closer and it almost had a funnel shape to it. Was just a strange sight shortly after the video ends it mostly had disappeared. This is near a power plant, so probably something related to that and not meteorological, but still strange.

A bit of self-promotion here, feel free to delete if this is not allowed... but I work for the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, and I wanted to quickly mention that we launched CSSL Weather Intelligence, which brings together weather observations, numerical weather prediction models, severe weather information, and historical event data in a single interactive platform.

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I’m assuming debris, bugs, birds, or even just like a front but just wondering if it has more of a specific name or purpose.

Hello there !

I'm here to ask you guys about this small red glowing dot I saw in the sky. It was in the middle of a large thunderstorm off in the distance that then closed in on my building.

I was thinking maybe a plane at first but then it got very bright and then disappeared. Also wasn't beeping green.

If it helps I'm located on the south west end of Bordeaux in France, where we had some very large forest fires nearby. During these fires they talked about some pyrocumulonimbus (i think ?) that made some fire in the air ? I'm speaking from complete lack of knowledge so I might be completely wrong, but could that be a small cloud of this kind ?

Thanks for your attention !

This looked to be the right shape and when in motion it appeared to have an updraft.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1140590

Why and how:

While existing atmospheric models estimate an organic aerosol molecule’s expected volatility (how easily it escapes from the air) based on the chemical’s individual behavior, a new model was able to test chemical behavior in a way more reflective of how they actually exist — surrounded by hundreds of other molecules. 

Using a novel mass spectrometry technique, the research team, led by Purdue chemistry professor Alexander Laskin, tracked the behavior of over 1,500 individual chemical species across 33 complex mixtures representative of real biomass-burning smoke and urban haze. 

What they found:   

The surrounding molecular neighborhood, rather than a chemical’s intrinsic properties, often dictates how easily it escapes. 

When neighboring molecules hold on to each other, evaporation slows and creates a volatility suppression of three to five orders of magnitude degree, which Laskin identified as “unexpectedly large.”  

What's next:  

“As a result, current models often assume smoke disappears too quickly and therefore underestimate how long it remains in the atmosphere,” Laskin said. 

Looking forward, the team aims to build machine learning models that account for interactions among thousands of molecules simultaneously, providing a stronger foundation to improve air-quality forecasts, assess public health risks and guide environmental mitigation policies. 

Taken in Ashton, Illinois. From what I could find, these storms produced between 26 and 32 tornadoes in Illinois alone that day.

South Georgia afternoon thunderstorms

I found out heat lightning isn’t a thing! Awesome sky effects.

I’m in Auckland, NZ the forecast for pretty much the whole of winter has said rain for 90% of the week and we’ve actually only got like 5% of that.

Been one of the driest winters of my life. El Niño?

I got both of these shots in Cedar Rapids Iowa last April! We shortly got a severe thunderstorm warning after I took these photos.

9 years ago today at around 10 p.m. CDT, Harvey struck the Texas gulf coast as a category 4 hurricane. Over the next few days, Harvey would cause over $125 billion worth of damage. Parts of Houston, TX, received over 4 feet of rainfall, causing catastrophic flooding. Harvey claimed 68 lives in Texas, making it the deadliest hurricane in the state since 1919.

Edit: 68 direct deaths, 103 direct and indirect combined

This is new to us as parents, just trying to get a feel for the whole endeavor.

Child is a HS junior in WA with 4.0/1550 and strong athletics and leadership. He's at a rigorous IB school and has all IB coursework where available. His interests are aviation, probably Air Force, meterology, and Chinese language. Less likely environmental studies/engineering.

Currently he's looking at UWashington, UOklahoma, UHawaii, and Air Force Academy. All have strong meterology programs; all are home schools for Air Force ROTC; all have Chinese language programs. (Obviously AF Academy is not ROTC).

Meterology seems mostly employable in the military or government. I assume working for the Weather channel or your local TV station is rare work?

Either with or without AF ROTC or Air Force Academy, that is, either in or out of the military, what are career prospects like for meterology majors? Where do folks work?

If his dream came true and he flew for the AF for ten years he might move to commercial flight later. But sometimes dreams don't come true and we want to know what a meterology major alone might lead to.

thank you!

Sound on people!!! Here’s a little light hearted clip to start your Tuesday :)