Tag Archive
Snowy science lessons
From the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 5 through the afternoon of Tuesday Feb. 9, I spent roughly eight hours shoveling snow, thanks to the record-breaking "Snowmageddon" that brought two to three feet--in some cases even more--of snow to the Washington, D.C. area. Shoveling snow is a good time to think about the science of winter storms, ice, and even some basic... »
Science Lessons from Bitter Cold
The strong winds and bitter cold that the new year 2010 brought to large parts of the United States has put wind chill in the news. This, like any outbreak of cold, windy weather, offers high school physics teachers in places where people are talking about wind chill an opportunity to relate the laws of thermodynamics to everyday life. Elementary and middle... »
Answers: Storm Winds
Q: Why doesn't an extratropical cyclone continue to rotate around a 360-degree axis, like a hurricane? I've always wondered why a cold front begins to the northwest of the low center and then dies out on the northeast side. Why doesn't it continue to just rotate? How does the Coriolis effect play into all of this? Jeff, Pensacola, Florida A: The answer... »
Aviation Contributes to Better Forecasts
This column originally appeared in the June 2005 issue of Flight Training Magazine. ©By Jack Williams and Flight Training Magazine. All Rights Reserved Piecing together weather Aircraft weather data alphabet soup Here are some of the acronyms for aircraft weather data systems. ACARS: Aircraft Communication Ad-dressing and Reporting System, operated for the airlines by Aeronautical Radio Inc. (ARINC) -- the communications link between pilots... »
