Weather-Related

A thunderstorm to our south lights up in the setting sun in a view off our porch.

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A 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning at 13:13 hours on Friday the 13th. 

The boy was watching an air show in Lowestoft, England, when he was struck by lightning.  An ambulance team treated the boy for minor burns to his shoulder and took him to the hospital as a precaution.  The boy is expected to recover fully.

From this day forward, 13 will be this boy’s lucky number.

Story at MSNBC

A South Dakota ranch hand, Leslie "Les" Scott, found a record-setting hailstone on July 23 nearly as big as a soccer ball.  The NOAA National Climate Extremes Committee has officially declared it to be the largest and heaviest hailstone ever recorded in the United States.  The hailstone measured 8.0 inches in diameter, had a circumference of 18.62 inches, and weighed one pound, 15 ounces.

Scott told CNN that his hailstone was larger when he first found it, and he saw many hailstones that were even larger.  His hailstone was originally covered in “fingers of ice” four to five inches long.  He put the stone in the freezer immediately, but his home lost power for 6 hours because of the storm, so his hailstone shrank before NOAA could inspect it.

The hail damage from the storm was fairly widespread.  Scott said that hail punched through many roofs in town and ended up in attics and even bedrooms.

Read the story at CNN

This is a time-stamped video slowed down 300X showing a massive lightning bolt grow, strike and die.

There is considerable debate about whether it can rain oil.  Some oil industry officials claim it’s impossible because oil cannot bond to water, and therefore oil cannot be carried high up into the atmosphere to eventually fall as rain. 

But a report by the beleaguered and now-renamed MMS says that up to 75% of light crude oil can evaporate.  If oil can evaporate, then perhaps it can be carried up into the cloud as vapor, condense, and fall with water as rain.

It’s also been noted that oil which has been treated with certain chemical dispersants changes properties so that it does bond to water.  In which case, it seems possible that dispersant-treated oil could eventually fall as rain.

Regardless, this video and many others on YouTube claim to show it raining oil.  We may find out for sure with a new tropical storm building in the Gulf of Mexico.

Storm chasers videotape a tornado touching down in Bowdle, South Dakota on May 22, 2010.  Here’s a tip to storm chasers: try to come up with some original dialog, rather than simply repeating “Oh my God” over and over.

Storm chasers follow a series of tornadoes in northern Oklahoma.

110mph Winds On Ski Lift - Watch more Funny Videos

A group of skiers get hit with a 110 mph microburst wind while sitting on a ski lift in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on March 30, 2010.  Warning: some profanity.

To help visitors plan their fall foliage viewing trips to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there are two new websites that provided update leaf reports at Gatlinburg.com and EventsGatlinburg.com. 

These websites chronicle the annual descent of color from the highest elevations of the Smokies in September to the climax of the color in the foothills around Gatlinburg in November.  The websites suggest walks, hikes and drives with the best viewing potential.

Autumn in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a special time when a glorious fall foliage season lasts six to eight weeks.  The autumn colors around Gatlinburg are magnificent and varied due to the amazing diversity of trees and plant life.  Over 100 species of native trees live in the Smokies, the vast majority of which are deciduous.  The timing of fall color depends upon so many variables that the exact dates of “peak” season are impossible to predict in advance.  The key factors are moisture, temperature and wind.

“Over the years, we have not had much success in predicting the quality of the color display months or weeks before it occurs,” said Bob Miller, spokesman for Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  “We have had drought years, like 2008, when we ended up with excellent color, and wet seasons when we had good color, too.  Ultimately what drives the quality of the color is the weather at the time when change is taking place.  The best color comes when we have cool crisp nights, but not hard freezes, combined with bright sunny, warm days.  An early hard freeze can brown-out the leaves and they’ll drop off.  Severe weather like torrential rains and sustained winds can also take a toll on the leaves, tearing them off easily once they have changed.  But we always have good color somewhere it the Smokies.”

Story at Murfreesboro Post
More Autumn Colors

Sydney, the largest city in Australia, was blanketed with red Outback dirt by the most intense dust storm in 70 years.  Flights were diverted and ferries were cancelled due to the storm, which reduced visibility in the city in some cases to less than 10 feet.  People wore masks to protect themselves from the dust, and health officials recommended that people with respiratory problems should stay indoors.  The dust storm was also visible from space, and moved on to New Zealand after sweeping across Australia.

See a slideshow at NowPublic