You are browsing the archive for 26 August 2011 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
26 August 2011
Irene’s Core Heads for The Big Apple; Hurricane Warning for New York
Irene is now a cat two storm and the wind shear has weakened it just a bit today. The wind field is very large though and flood models are indicating that it will produce significant flooding, perhaps as high as a category two storm in some places. Winds may gust to hurricane force in NYC, but sustained winds will likely be at tropical storm strength as it passes, and …
Nearby Supernova Rocks Astronomical World
The image above shows a Type Ia Supernova and it is very nearby at only 21 million light years (That’s nearby to astronomers you know ;)). It’s hard to express just how big this news is, because no other supernova has been seen this early after the star exploded, and telescopes around the world are now taking spectra of the light from it. Here’s one example of how big it …
Hurricanes and Quakes are Inspirational Science Moments
Every meteorologist I know can point to a big storm as the inspiration that led them into the field of atmospheric science (A blizzard in 1968 and the tornadoes of June 8,1974 for me), and this is true for other sciences as well. Neil de Grasse Tyson still has his certificate of accomplishment from the Hayden Planetarium that he now directs. The certificates are still given out and he signs …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.