22 August 2019
This May be the Best Cloud Formation Picture Ever!
Don Burdick took a photo in Rehoboth Beach Tuesday afternoon that just may be the most stunning cloud image I’ve seen. This image makes a meteorologist’s jaw drop but Don’s partner, who works at NOAA in Washington, had to convince him that it really was one of the all-time great images of what is called a shelf cloud! What you are seeing is the shelf cloud from one storm (in …
20 August 2019
Scientists Roast Heartland Twitter Post
“Twitter is the only invention in human history that makes it possible to show the entire world your ignorance in two sentences.”- Me The Heartland Institute got roasted by a lot of scientists on Twitter this past weekend, and it was well deserved. I wish they would do more of these because these tweets show how the denial of climate change has become the province of conspiracy theorists (and perhaps …
1 August 2019
New Research Confirms it: The 7 Day Forecast Will Never Become a 17 Day Forecast
Despite the “horoscope” forecasts on Accuweather, most meteorologists will tell you that 7 days is about the extent of a reliable weather forecast. We can give you (at times, especially in the warm season) an idea of above or below normal out to maybe ten days but that is really pushing it. Beyond that, your best bet is to rely on the climatological averages (or add a degree …
27 July 2019
New Research Confirms It: The Warming is Us
The leading climate myth going around these days (I see it a lot on social media) is that the record global warmth is just part of a natural cycle. It’s been shown in many ways that this is not possible for quite some time, but some people (not the science community) have held onto the “Little Ice Age” as evidence that the warming planet is from only natural oscillations. New …
20 July 2019
50 Years Ago Today
Where was I at 30 seconds past 4:17 PM EDT 50 years ago today? When the Eagle landed on the Moon I was in a car north of Tulsa in Oklahoma with my Great Grandmother. Annie Higgins was an amazing woman who as a girl walked to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) behind a covered wagon. She remembered reading in the paper of the Wright Bros. flight. She watched the news-reels …
16 July 2019
A 1954 Weathercast
Today was our 65th anniversary at WBOC TV here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. During our anniversary special at 7 PM, I did the weather as it would have been done in 1954. No radar, no satellite, and the extended forecast? That was the day after tomorrow. Times have changed! I actually did the weather on a hand-drawn map for a couple of years at the start of my …
6 July 2019
It’s Not Easy Finding The Shadow of the Moon
When the Moon blocks the sun during a solar eclipse, there isn’t a big difference between 70 and 90%, but the difference between 99 and 100% is jaw-dropping! It’s something you remember for the rest of your life. I’ve now seen it twice. My first was two years ago near the Wyoming/Nebraska border, and number two was this past Tuesday near La Serena in Chile. I traveled to Santiago to …
20 June 2019
Climate Stripes on the Solstice
Climate scientist Ed Hawkins at the Uni. of Reading is known for producing some great info-graphics about our warming climate but one of his most popular is now known as the climate stripes. This Friday, on the solstice (1554 GMT) meteorologists around the world are going to display them. They are a powerful visual of how the planet is warming, and this time thanks to the folks at Climate Central …
7 June 2019
The Weather Map on D-Day: 6 June, 1944
The most important weather forecast ever produces was 75 years ago this week on 6 June, 1944. You should check out the story about it on the UK Met Office website. They have videos as well about how difficult that call was and how forecasting has changed since then. You should also check out the story behind that forecast put together a few years ago by me fellow meteorologist and …
Weather Radar Is For The Birds- Really!
It’s true, and in more ways than one! Weather radar often sees birds, bats, and other flying objects, but the NWS in SanDiego has a more unusual find. Last Tuesday a strange echo near Barstow California appeared and forecasters asked some weather observers to check it out. They knew there was no rain or cloud around (See Albert Hammond 1973), so what could it be? Answer? LADYBUGS! Seeing …
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.