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3 May 2011
Tornado Hits Auckland! Alabama EF 5 Track visible from space!
Tornadoes in the Southern Hemisphere mainly rotate clockwise (about 99%) which is just the opposite of those in the Northern Hemisphere. Two fatalities were reported with this tornado, and yes they are very rare in New Zealand. NASA has released an incredible image from the Aqua satellite showing the path of the EF 5 tornado that was on the ground for 132 miles from near Hackleburg, AL to Franklin County, …
1 May 2011
Hackleburg, AL Tornado Confirmed an EF-5. (Death toll passes super outbreak of 1974)
A viewer sent me this video (click image to see it) of the tornado that hit Arab, Al. on Wednesday. This is the same tornado that hit Cullman, and was rated an EF-4, but the official rating for Arab is not yet complete. The NWS has brought in the best experts available to get accurate ratings on these tornadoes, and the survey is ongoing. An EF 4 has winds of …
29 April 2011
Incredible Video of Tuscaloosa Tornado
This was posted on YouTube today. This is the likely EF-5 tornado that destroyed part of Tuscaloosa, Al. on Wednesday afternoon. This is what the radar looked like at that moment. The blob south of the hook echo is called a debris ball, and you see this only in very large tornadoes. It’s caused by the radar beam reflecting off of debris in the air around a tornado. …
28 March 2011
Need Help with Math-Ask This 12 Year Old
I did a blog post on Khan Academy the other day, and how he is teaching math to thousands of kids, but Jacob Barnett is one kid who does not need to watch any of Sal Khan’s videos. He could actually do a few for him! If you’re a college student in Calculus 2 and are having trouble with integration by parts or trig substitution, then you may want to …
22 March 2011
The Mozart of Physics
Astronomer Brian Cox (whose series Wonders of The Universe is currently airing on BBC Two) has presented a great program on Richard Feynman. It’s available for the next 6 days on BBC Radio 4.
20 March 2011
Could One Person Fix American Students Lousy Math Scores? Meet Sal Khan.
I found Khan Academy by accident. I was reading a paper on climate science and realised that I poorly understood a concept in statistics, so. I googled it and found khanacademy.org. I’ve been hooked ever since ,and if you know a student who is struggling in maths, show them the web site immediately. If you did lousy in high school or college maths, (and want to understand it better) then show yourself Khan …
18 March 2011
Run on Potassium Iodide–Shortages for those who really need it? (Science illiteracy has consequences)
I listened to a great interview on The World as I drove home for dinner tonight. Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, had some choice words for those who have bought out the supply of potassium iodide here in the U.S. She basically called stupid, the Americans who bought and started taking the tablets. If things got much worse in Japan, they may actually …
15 March 2011
Radiation from Coal vs Nuclear Plants
I’ve had several emails about my post last night and specifically about the fact that that coal fired power plants produce more radiation than nuclear power stations. I did some research and found a very good article in Scientific American on just this subject. They actually used Tennessee and Alabama for the examples used in the study. Coal ash has been in the news a lot recently with the huge …
False Radiation Rumors Run Rampant
Whoever put this map out should face criminal charges IMHO There is no doubt that what is happening at the Fukushima Nuclear plant in Japan is alarming. I’ve even seen reliable reports that one of the containment vessels may have been damaged in an explosion early Tuesday, Japan time. Unfortunately, some people are taking advantage of most people’s lack of any rudimentary knowledge about nuclear power to spread fear. There’s …
14 March 2011
Yes, Another Explosion at Fukushima, but read this before you get too concerned.
The below is from Dr. Josef Oehmen of MIT. It was reproduced on Barry Brooks excellent blog Brave New Climate. Brooks is a climate science expert at the Univ. of Adelaide, and I read his posts frequently. Just click the image below to go to Brave New World. It will take you awhile to read, but you will then have a very good understanding of what is happening in Japan. You …
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.