All posts tagged: storms

Amber rush: spring storms bring semiprecious stones to British coast | North Yorkshire

Amber rush: spring storms bring semiprecious stones to British coast | North Yorkshire

Published by Jenni Sidey

Storms can be good news for beachcombers, bringing not just driftwood and weed to shore but, occasionally, semiprecious stones. Amber is fossilised tree sap dating back more than 35m years. It is common in the Baltic and rare in Britain – though sometimes pieces do reach our shores. After being transported by rivers and glaciers, amber lies trapped in boulder clay at the bottom of the North Sea. Bad weather churns up the seabed, erodes the clay and shifts the amber, which eventually washes up in England. The area between Felixstowe and Southwold in Suffolk is known as the amber coast for the number of pieces found there after spring gales. Jet is also a tree remnant, more than 180m years old, formed by the fossilisation of waterlogged wood in sea mud. Again, the wave action from storms uncovers and transports submerged jet to the shoreline. Violent storms and high tides often bring pieces of jet ashore on the North Yorkshire coast near Whitby. In both cases, this movement occurs because, owing to their organic …

Meteorologists predict a fairly chill 2026 Atlantic hurricane season

Meteorologists predict a fairly chill 2026 Atlantic hurricane season

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. More signs indicate the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season could ultimately be a welcome reprieve from more recent devastating storms. As La Niña transitions into a stronger El Niño climate pattern later this summer, the United States may experience a below-average number of hurricanes. In fact, the lull may be so calm that the season could only bring two Category 3 or higher hurricanes. That said, it doesn’t mean anyone living in at-risk areas should skip preparing for more serious circumstances. The latest information comes from Colorado State University’s (CSU) Tropical Meteorology Project’s annual Atlantic hurricane Extended Range Forecast. The 41-page report contains a wealth of information on factors like ocean temperatures, precipitation estimates, and trade winds data that meteorologists use to anticipate upcoming weather conditions. “We anticipate El Niño being the dominant factor for the upcoming hurricane season,” the study’s authors wrote, adding that they currently forecast a “below-average probability for major hurricane landfalls along the continental United States …

‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular storms out of 60 Minutes interview after ‘political’ Andrew Tate question

‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular storms out of 60 Minutes interview after ‘political’ Andrew Tate question

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Controversial influencer Clavicular walked out of a 60 Minutes Australia interview after he was questioned about his connection to manosphere influencer Andrew Tate. The 20-year-old social media star, who maintains an online presence among manosphere circles as a so-called “looksmaxxer,” was filmed earlier this year with far-right commentator Nick Fuentes and Tate, in which the three men chanted along to the Kanye West track “Heil Hitler.” In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia’s Adam Hegarty, Clavicular — born Braden Eric Peters — was questioned about his looksmaxxing theory, self-improvement and his views on women, but Peters grew agitated when he was quizzed on his relationship to Tate. Hegarty asked Peters: “You’ve shared company with Andrew Tate and other controversial figures, why do you spend …

Jupiter’s lightning is 100 times stronger than Earth’s bolts

Jupiter’s lightning is 100 times stronger than Earth’s bolts

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. It only takes one close encounter with a lightning strike to get the full sense of its power. At around 1 gigaJoule of energy, a single electrical discharge during a thunderstorm is more than enough to rip apart a tree, knock out an entire city’s energy grid, or kill an unfortunate bystander. But based on recent observations of the planet Jupiter, our biggest neighbor in the solar system features lightning so intense that it makes Earth’s bolts seem like tiny static shocks. According to a study recently published in the journal AGU Advances, the gas giant regularly sees lightning flashes as much as 100 times more powerful than those seen here on planet Earth. Although Jupiter’s composition and atmosphere share very little in common with our home planet, astronomers say analyzing those distant electrical discharges may help us better understand the lightning experienced on Earth. Hundreds of millions of lightning strikes occur around Earth every year, but apart from …

Gaelic Warrior storms to Gold Cup glory as Mullins makes extraordinary look normal

Gaelic Warrior storms to Gold Cup glory as Mullins makes extraordinary look normal

Published by Sam Flores

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival as we build up to the Gold Cup at 4pm. Overnight rain has made the going good to soft, soft in places, but with a drying breeze and only light showers forecast today there cannot be any excuses. It remains good National Hunt ground. What we could call the King George triumvirate – The Jukebox Man, Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie – are jostling for favouritism at the top of the betting, but the money this morning has come for Jango Baie, 7/2 from 11/2. Last year’s Arkle winner is stepping up in trip, but could be the classiest type in the contest and Nicky Henderson’s horses have generally been running well. Nico De Boinville is on board, and is looking to win his second Gold Cup having won as a conditional jockey on novice Coneygree in 2015. Harry Redknapp’s The Jukebox Man finished in front of Jango Baie and Gaelic Warrior in the King George and is …

Severe Storms Whip up Tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana, Leveling Homes

Severe Storms Whip up Tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana, Leveling Homes

Published by Sam Flores

Major storms that whipped up tornadoes in parts of Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday leveled homes, downed trees and power lines, and overwhelmed a 911 center south of Chicago with emergency calls, according to officials. “Please do not come here. Do not try to help right now,” Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a video update in front of what looked to be a destroyed home in the small northwestern Indiana community of Lake Village. Multiple homes in the community were destroyed in an apparent tornado, and Indiana State Police Cpl. Eric Rot said people had been injured. He wasn’t able to provide an exact number or their conditions. Severe storms dumping rain and hail in parts of the Midwest were threatening to bring intense tornadoes, damaging winds and very large hail from the southern Plains to the southern Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. States from Oklahoma to Michigan were under tornado watches. Several tornadoes formed across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana, but the exact number won’t be available until officials …

George Russell storms to Australian GP pole after Max Verstappen crashes

George Russell storms to Australian GP pole after Max Verstappen crashes

Published by Sam Flores

Interestingly, given he defended the new rules at testing in Bahrain last month, Norris now appears to be of the same opinion as Verstappen. That they are awful. “The problem is you have to look at the steering wheel every three seconds to see what’s going to happen, otherwise you’re going to end up off the track,” the world champion said, adding that was the reason he had not seen Antonelli’s cooling fan. “We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks, but you have to live with it and just maximise what you get given.” After Norris came the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who was the last driver to get within a second of Russell. Hamilton was actually quite upbeat afterwards, saying he had felt “solid” all weekend until Q2 when some energy deployment issues threw them. But he admitted Mercedes were in another league, accusing the Brackley team of sandbagging all weekend, and of having “two tenths or more” …

Climate change supercharged Iberian Peninsula’s destructive storms – POLITICO

Climate change supercharged Iberian Peninsula’s destructive storms – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

In the southern region, “the climate models actually don’t show any increasing trend in rainfall on the wettest days.” For that reason, “we can’t quantify the effect of climate change on extreme rainfall in that southern area,” Barnes added, but stressed: “This does not mean that climate change didn’t contribute to the extreme rainfall in the southern region as well, just that it’s difficult to detect overall trends over time.”  Hotter oceans, heavier rain In particular, the researchers also found that the succession of storms was driven in part by a so-called atmospheric river, a long band of wind and water vapor that transports moisture across vast distances.  Nine destructive winter storms hit the Iberian Peninsula with extensive flooding between mid-January and mid-February. | Jorge Guerrerp/AFP via Getty Images The atmospheric river was “intensified by passing over a very strong marine heatwave in the Atlantic on its way up to Spain,” said Barnes. This increase in sea temperatures, she added, was found to have been made 10 times more likely to happen as a result …

Leaf tips glow blue in thunderstorms

Leaf tips glow blue in thunderstorms

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The electrical energy generated by thunderstorms can make our hair stand up, and even create invisible sparkles on trees. Now, we have photographic proof of this long-theorized electrical event for the first time.  The coronae glowing on the sips of spruce needles. Image: William Brune. During a thunderstorm in North Carolina in June 2024, scientists spotted weak electrical discharges called coronae on the tips of leaves. Based on this discovery, it’s possible that thunderstorms may paint entire tree canopies with an ethereal blue glow that is too faint for human eyes to see. The coronae can also burn the very tips of leaves. Given how often the leaf tips may burn, the storms could be harming the tree canopy and may have even shaped tree evolution to limit the damage. The findings are detailed in a study recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.  “These things actually happen; we’ve seen them; we know they exist now,” Patrick McFarland, …

NASA spots Florida’s ocean waters changing color

NASA spots Florida’s ocean waters changing color

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Most people understandably focus on freezing temperatures and the mountains of snow outside their doorsteps when a winter storm hits. But frigid weather can often have dramatic effects offshore—even in typically tropical regions. As NASA highlighted today, a wave of Arctic air recently turned the Gulf of Mexico’s deep azure waters into a shockingly bright blend of blues and greens. The rapid brightening off Florida’s west coast took place across late January and early February amid two massive winter storms named Fern and Gianna. The weather systems were so vast that they even drove temperatures below freezing in parts of the state. Earlier cold snaps had iguanas falling from trees and the ocean also experienced a rarely seen change. On February 3rd from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) tool aboard NASA’s Terra satellite spotted the rare water change orbiting over the West Florida Shelf. The waters were turned pale blue by agitated calcium carbonate mud composed mostly of …