While I am a 'global warming' skeptic, that in no way leads me to believe civilization can continue to rely on fossil fuels without running a number of risks. So, this article about new nuclear technology should be something just about everyone can get behind.

Reuters photo of Indonesian eruption When the volcano erupted in Iceland and disrupted European air travel, the threat of volcanic eruptions was briefly in the headlines. I wrote about it several times including this post regarding predictions that world was going to see more volcanic activity than we have been used to the last quarter century. Now, another "unexpected" volcanic eruption as Mt. Sinaburg has begun erupting in the last 48 hours.  The Wall Street Journal says, The vulcanologist said Mount Sinabung last erupted in 1600, so observers don't know its eruption pattern and are monitoring it for more activity.  Evacuations on the volcano's slopes started Friday at the first signs of activity. Many of the people who fled are staying in government buildings, houses of worship and other evacuation centers in two nearby towns. My point is: At this time last week, there was no inkling that this volcano would erupt. We have a number of active volcanos in the we

We continue to be bombarded with scare stories about 'global warming' melting the arctic ice. However, July, 2010, temperatures were among the coldest recorded. As I have pointed out numerous times, the problem in the arctic isn't temperatures. It is soot, largely from China, darkening the ice making it easier to convert sunlight to heat, thus accelerating melting. Here is a very good article on the subject. We can cut all the greenhouse gas we wish but it will have no effect if the problem is soot. It is vital to get cause and effect correct.

That is Danielle southeast of Nova Scotia, Category 4(!) Earl near Puerto Rico, Tropical Storm Fiona east of Earl and a strong wave just west of the African coast. All but Danielle bear watching.

As Meteorological Musings readers know, I am not a fan of the IPCC. It has functioned too much like a high school clique where only scientists with the "right" views (i.e., pro- catastrophic manmade global warming) need apply. The group investigating the IPCC process has released its report and, if this story in The Wall Street Journal  is correct, the next round of the IPCC's work could be considerably more valuable than previous efforts.  Among other things, the story states... The investigation by the InterAcademy Council, a consortium of national academies of science, said the IPCC has been "successful overall" but called for the widely watched organization to enforce its existing procedures more, and to ensure that "genuine controversies" about climate science are reflected in the IPCC reports. The reforms would aid in seeing that "due consideration was given to properly documented alternative views," according to a news release a

UPDATE: Los Angeles Times  has behind-the-scenes details here , including that the spectacular opening number (subject of the post below) wasn't staged until the morning of the show! Also, there are two episodes of "Glee" scheduled to air on Fox after the President's speech tonight. The first, "Home," stars Kristin Chenoweth and is one of my favorite episodes.   We don't write much about television and entertainment because there are so many other sources for that type of information. That said, if you didn't see the live telecast of the 62nd Emmy Awards last night, go here to watch the opening number. It is sheer genius -- perhaps the best opening number ever  for one of the major awards show. Especially if you are a fan of "Glee," take six minutes to watch the number.

Stories like this give meteorologists nightmares... BILOXI, Miss. —Robert Latham spent Aug. 27, 2005, riding along U.S. 90 from Jackson County to Hancock County along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, marveling at the number of people grilling, swimming and playing volleyball on the beach. They seemed oblivious to the monster storm that churned in the Gulf of Mexico, headed their way. By the time Katrina departed, 168 were killed in Hancock Co. and the surrounding area. After what has been a quiet hurricane season for the U.S. in 2010 looks like it is going to turn very active from roughly Thursday of this week through the end of the Labor Day weekend.  At leas two storms could conceivably threaten the U.S. Meteorologists know that people on vacation often problems keeping up with weather information and have problems evaluating it because some are not familiar with the geography, local TV and radio stations, etc.  For this reason, I am urging anyone planning to vacation along the

About the refugee from Cambodia's killing fields (his mother and father were killed by the Khmer Rouge who is now a congressional candidate in Massachusetts: After years in a Thai refugee camp, in 1986 Mr. Meas was brought to the United States by the aid organization Catholic Charities. He spent months watching "General Hospital" and "All My Children" to improve his vocabulary. Twenty-five years later—after stints as a shoe-shine boy, a grocery-bagger, and a financial adviser—Mr. Meas is learning the craft of politics. "Health care should not be in the realm of government," he tells me in carefully accented English at a Cambodian restaurant where he is something of a celebrity... Mr. Meas, who describes this country as "heaven on Earth, ( full story  ) Yes, America is "heaven on earth" when compared to most parts of the world.  I just finished reading the article at Jack Stack Bar-B-Que (gastronomical heaven on earth) in Martin

Winter is coming. Details here .

This story is very sad ...and, so unnecessary. STATESVILLE, NC (WBTV) - A man who was with about a dozen people who were looking for a legendary "ghost train" in Iredell County was hit by a locomotive and killed early Friday morning.  The incident happened on a train trestle at 2:45 a.m.  And, speaking of railroads and safety, these guys get my nomination for a Darwin Award . Story here .

Another wonderful review of Warnings: More than 100 years ago, Mark Twain wrote, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Mike Smith is one person who has been doing something about it, for decades now. As he writes in  Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather , from a "beginning involving spare World War II leftovers, we have developed an effective and highly cost-effective system that saves lives and dollars, nearly every week." He is writing about the system of weather tracking radar, weather spotting persons and equipment, and meteorology professionals that work together to forecast and warn of severe weather wherever (in the US) it occurs. ...and, since this is the 5th anniversary weekend of Katrina, This thread is strongest in the chapter about Hurricane Andrew and the three chapters devoted to Hurricane Katrina. Andrew showed us just how damaging a Category 5 hurricane could be. Katrina showed us that the

Tomorrow commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Plainfield, Illinois, tornado. It is the only F-5 intensity tornado ever to occur in the month of August and it struck without warning. Because of the lack of warning, 29 people died and 353 were injured even though it occurred in mid-afternoon. Why was there no warning? There were a number of factors but the most important was the geographic separation between the radar in Marsailles, IL and the warning meteorologists in Rosemont. The image above is from the Marsailles radar while the giant tornado was on the ground. The (likely) hook echo is not seen in this image because it is in the ground clutter (I have outlined the likely shape of the tornadic thunderstorm in pink below). The radar "technician" in Marsailles did not know to tilt the antenna up to a higher angle to eliminate the clutter and make the potential tornado visible. Because the meteorologists in Chicago could not see the hook and because there were no spott

We are coming up on the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which is this Sunday, August 29th.  For those how have not read Warnings, Katrina plays a critical role in the book. In the words of one reviewer : Not surprisingly, the most critical event in the book is Hurricane Katrina. Among other things we learn what could go wrong with the forecasts’ timely releases, what did go wrong and why, and how they tried to get the evacuation process going while there was still time. The survivors were literally 'hung out to dry' as buck-passing and meals in high end restaurants took precedent over people. How many more could have survived if it weren't for the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo and selfishness? The night of August 31, 2005 should be etched in their memories forever as deaths of survivors began to pile up. If bureaucracy hadn't fumbled the ball, the meteorological scientists would have netted it. After thinking it over, I and the team at Mike Smith Enterprises want to

Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show this morning. He again stated that he didn't order a mandatory evacuation because they didn't know Katrina was headed for New Orleans until Max Mayfield called him at home Saturday evening August 27th (Katrina struck on Monday morning). I tell the behind-the-scenes story of what went wrong during and after Katrina in Warnings . Below are the National Hurricane Center's public forecast maps from 4am and 10am Saturday, August 27, 2005. Both show Katrina moving right over New Orleans. Mayfield called Nagin because Mayfield was shocked that Nagin had not ordered a mandatory evacuation. Nagin should have ordered a mandatory evacuation by 11am Saturday -- he waited nearly 24 more hours to do so (10:30am Sunday)! The fact that more did not leave New Orleans is due to Nagin, not to the meteorologists! UPDATE:  The interview can be viewed here . I entirely agree with one po

From the Huffington Post .

From the New York Times' Dot Earth .

Kim Dugger, my colleague, is a very talented actress. If you live in southern Kansas, you can see her in a new show opening tonight .  Opening Friday  evening. I scheduled the post to go up the wrong day. Sorry for any inconvenience.  /s/ Mike

While many are calling this a "fire tornado" it would more accurately be a dust devil made of fire. So, lets call it a "fire devil."

All of us, I'm sure, have heroes. People we look up to and hope to emulate. Mine are Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, and Mother Theresa. Today is the 100th anniversary of Mother Theresa's birth. The things I admire about her include not only her selflessness and dedication to the poor but her practical  view of the world. She understood that not everyone was cut out to lead a life like hers and admired and respected those in other fields. All she asked was that those of us who chose to use our talents in the fields of science and business give back some of our earnings so hers and other charities could do their work. Fair enough!

STATE COLLEGE, PA, August 24, 2010—AccuWeather.com announced a new release of the ACCU WEATHER app for iPad, available on the App Store in time for what are typically the busiest months of the U.S. hurricane season. The new release provides a full range of weather information and radar with the valuable addition of the Hurricane Center. "Since we’re in what’s typically the worst part of the hurricane season, we wanted to build on the success of the previous AccuWeather iPad app by adding features that would be most important to users during that time," said Michael Sylvie, director of User Experience, Interactive Media for AccuWeather.com.  The ACCU WEATHER App for iPad is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore/ . An ad-free version of the app is available for 99¢.

Here is another review of Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather .  If you haven't read it yet, be sure and read the review. Then, go to your local bookstore and buy it... or click on the link to Amazon. A few excerpts... " Warnings" is very easy to read for the layman. I was shocked to learn how lacking some of the basic things we now take for granted were, such as no tornado warnings as recently as the 1950s, in some areas of the U.S. even more recently. Not a hint! How many lives must have been lost needlessly in past years?   Mike Smith   has done his research, has lived his research, and knows how to deliver it. The book is historical, accurate, and personal. I was hooked on the Introduction which primes the reader for the main event, or in this case events, to come in this book. Smith gradually builds from its early beginnings the study and workings of tornadoes in terms anyone can understand. The subject is fascinating as he writes it.

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Rotary Club of Salina yesterday and it was covered by the Salina Journal . Check out the cool photo at the link!

WHEN I FIRST STARTED READING YOUR BOOK ...  I WAS MAD AT YOU ....  :)  ....  BECAUSE I WAS STAYING UP TOO LATE AT NIGHT READING WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING !!   LOL KATHY LATHAM

...for the five-star rating for Warnings .

The tree viewed by Anne Frank while hiding from the Nazis was toppled by a storm in Amsterdam.

Playing in dirt is good for you !

This 747-on steriods is the Boeing Dreamlifter. It is flying to Wichita's Spirit Aerosystems to pick up another fuselage that will assembled into a 787 Dreamliner airplane in Seattle. I photographed it this afternoon.

Earth-shaking details here .

Here is a story about the Wichita NWS employees working with Habitat for Humanity.

Mike Smith Enterprises received a letter from a reader last week that I would like to share with you. Dear Mr. Smith, Both my husband and I just finished reading your excellent book. We are recommending it to many folks who we know are interested in weather. My husband is a retired corporate pilot, flight instructor, and FAA Designee Examiner. So knowing about weather probably saved his life on more than one occasion. I am an old farm girl from west central Illinois. Farmers are also very interested in weather. I witnessed beautiful crops being totally shredded and destroyed more than one once by violent thunderstorms containing large hail. Very distressing to watch one's annual income being wrecked, to say the least. But I must send you what I hope will be a constructive criticism. As I am currently a reference librarian at Park Ridge Public Library in Park Ridge, Illinois, I must point out to you the omission of an index in your otherwise very well written and documented b

I used to get compliments regarding my hand-drawn weather maps. People would kid me saying that I should sell them. I never did because I doubted there was a market. Now, thanks to a meteorological entrepreneur, you can get a hand drawn weather map for any day you wish (i.e., your spouse's date of birth, the day your child was born, etc.). Click here for more information.  

On August 10, I posted about the " world's worst boyfriend " -- dodging a foul ball leaving it to strike his surprised girlfriend. Today, I post the video (click here ) of a guy catching a foul ball with his right hand while returning from the concession stand with the other hand full of snacks.

The largest commercial IMAX theatre in the world is at the halfway point in its construction in northwest Wichita. It will open in December with the movie "Tron" as its first presentation.

An amusing story about building a "green" home from Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert . (note: subscription may be required)

I have written several times recently about thunderstorm turbulence. I thought it might be useful to take a look at a thunderstorm that was likely causing moderate or severe turbulence when I photographed it earlier this evening. This rapidly intensifying thunderstorm can produce significant turbulence anywhere in its anvil . During the day, the anvil is easily avoided. At night, infrared satellite imagery can be used by flight dispatchers to route planes around the anvils and the updraft. Compare this image (taken this evening) with the image in this posting of the storms that caused a 777 to make an emergency warning. The isolated westernmost cell is the one depicted above. The yellow/orange/red/pink colors represent vigorous thunderstorms and updrafts and potential significant turbulence. If you don't have a dispatcher to assist, you have to rely on your onboard weather radar. The storm's updrafts (reddish colors) are clearly visible. However, the greenish shades dep

Badly needed rain is falling in parts of Kansas at midday.

Some media outlets are getting excited about hurricanes again: Not the 2010 hurricane season but as a result of 'global warming.' Caribbean Storm Damage Costs May Rise 50% With Global Warming Roger Pielke Jr. effectively refutes this contention here . You may remember that, since Katrina, we have been bombarded with predictions of ever-increasing losses from ever-worsening hurricanes .  Courtesy of Florida State University's Dr. Ryan Maue , here is the ACE index which combines both number and intensity of hurricanes (click to enlarge): The upper (green) curve is the worldwide index value. The lower (gray) is North America. The index goes back to 1979 because that is when we first had worldwide surveillance of hurricanes and is up-to-date as of July 31st. The index has steadily declined since Katrina (2005) and is heading into record low territory. This does not say we won't have more hurricanes this year (we almost certainly will) and that they might be stro

I'll be in Salina, Kansas, Monday to present  CSI Meteorology: The Phantom Crashes to the Rotary Club of Salina. The meeting with be at noon at the Bicentennial Center. I'll also be signing and selling copies of Warnings. 

Mike gave his presentation Phantom Crashes to the Orlando Rotary Club in July. He was told after the presentation that he was asked more questions during the Question and Answer segment than anyone they could remember. We received this feedback yesterday. If you or your group are looking for a professional speaker, Mike is a great speaker with dynamic presentations. Contact us at speeches@mac.com

Kim here, and I also attended the Norah Jones concert. While I thought the opening act was "interesting", I agree with Mike about the intermission. It was the longest one that I remember sitting through, and there was nothing being done onstage. The thing that struck me with the concert was that both Norah and the opening act ( I can't remember her name) seemed to not connect with the audience. They seemed to be more into their music being "artistic" and not as "entertaining". To each his own, but , personally, I would have enjoyed it more if they had connected with us and had a little more onstage energy.

I enjoy Norah Jones' music and was pleased when I learned she was coming to Wichita. So, Kathleen and I bought tickets and were looking forward to the evening. Curtain was 8pm yesterday. At 7:55 the house announcer did the usual "turn off your cellphones" announcement and ended with "Norah will be out momentarily." At 8:01, the lights came down and a young woman walked out on stage...but it wasn't Norah. It was (in my world) the dreaded unannounced opening act. She performed for 30 minutes. Then, the roadies came out and reset the stage (after solo vocalist/guitarist) for 30 minutes! Finally, at 9:07, out came Norah. While I didn't care for the opening act, it wouldn't have mattered if it was Eric Clapton. Concert promoters should list the performers and the times. In my opinion, it is rude and disrespectful of the audience's time for the main act to keep everyone waiting for more than an hour. If you want an example of doing it right, go s

The photo of the welts and story of runners caught outside during a hailstorm comes from KCCI.com in Des Moines.

The United States is alleged to have caused the Russian heatwave and drought with a secret weapon ! This is preposterous and here is why: If you go to pages 34 and 35 of Warnings, you learn (in the only "calculation" in the entire book) that a single supercell thunderstorm releases the equivalent energy of a nuclear bomb with several megatons of force every minute.  This is why the damage from an F5 tornado looks like a nuclear bomb -- the amount of destructive energy is about the same. Even if this sort of weapon could be built (and it cannot, we don't know how to move the jet stream), we have no way of harnessing several megatons of energy per minute or more that would be needed to divert the jet steam. The dust bowl of the 1930's in the United States was an unfortunate act of nature as was the recent extreme weather in Russia.

On July 31 I wrote this post commenting on the increasing body of evidence that it is soot that is the primary cause of the arctic ice melt (rather than arctic temperatures). Another paper has been published on this topic. The paper is here . Here is a comment on the content of the paper from the AGU. “Controlling soot may be the only method of significantly slowing Arctic warming within the next two decades,” said Jacobson, director of Stanford’s Atmosphere/Energy Program. “We have to start taking its effects into account in planning our mitigation efforts and the sooner we start making changes, the better.” There is a genuine concern about the arctic ice: Snow white ice reflects incoming sunlight causing cooling. Darkened ice (due to soot) absorbs the sunlight causing the ice to melt which, in turn, opens up more ocean water which absorbs heat more efficiently than the snow. This could contribute to additional warming. Hat tip: Roger Pielke, Sr .

Another satisfied reader of Mike's book, Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather, sent Mike Smith Enterprises an email yesterday. "I read Warnings and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was an interesting and easy read. His love and passion for his work shows!" - A Reader in St. Louis Warnings : The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather is Mike's book about some of the worst storms of the past 50 years, and the lives that were affected by them. If you haven't read it, my guess is that you will also "thoroughly enjoy it!"

Recent tornado in Hungary. As far as we know, tornadoes occur on every continent except Antarctica.

Badly needed rain (look at the lawn!) falling in Wichita this morning. We've had 1.22 inches of the good stuff at the Smith House.

I have received several inquiries with regard to the Columbian plane crash wanting to better understand what might have occurred. At this point, the data to analyze the crash in greater detail is not available. However, there do seem to be some similarities to the 1985 Delta 191 crash in that both planes were landing and that Delta might have slid along the ground like the Aires Airlines plane with relatively few injuries had it not stuck an automobile on Highway 114 and then slid into the water tank. That impact and the resulting fire were the cause of most of the casualties. Most other nations do not have the sophisticated weather warning systems we now employ in the United States. The complete evolution of a downburst-related crash is covered in the Delta 191 sections of Warnings . For those with a copy of the book, you may go to the special web site (warningsbook.com), enter the code (found on the copyright page), and view actual video of microbursts and other pertinent mater

There may have been a microburst airline crash in Columbia. This photo of the wreckage suggests the plane was in a flat attitude when it crashed which is consistent with the microburst theory. One news report says, There also was conflicting information about what caused the crash. The initial report from the national police said a downdraft may have shaken the airplane as it prepared to land. But Pedro Gallardo, governor of San Andres y Providencia state, told CNN en Español that lightning hit the plane. The pilot also reported a lightning strike, El Tiempo newspaper said. Of course, a "downdraft" is indicative of a microburst. In the Delta 191 crash , there were initial reports of lightning causing the crash. Lightning was later ruled out as a cause. The good news is that there were apparently no fatalities and that the injuries were -- for an airline crash -- fairly minor. If you want to learn why downbursts and airplanes don't mix, click here . UPDATE:  

If there is a single icon for 'global warming,' it is the "Hockey Stick" (HS) created by Dr. Michael Mann. The HS was featured on the cover of an IPCC report and was featured in Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Not only did the HS purport to show that recent temperatures are unprecedented but that the well-known Medieval Warm Period (MWP) didn't exist (see graph below) which, until the HS, was accepted by most meteorologists and climatologists. From almost day one, the HS has been controversial. Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick published two peer-reviewed papers calling the HS into question. McKitrick commented, "The Mann multiproxy data, when correctly handled, shows the 20th century climate to be unexceptional compared to earlier centuries." In other words, the temperatures we are experiencing now are not higher than those of 900 years ago!   If today's temperature levels have been previously reached naturally, before humans s

Built with recycled plastic and wood reclaimed from the damage of Hurricane Katrina, Greensburg's "green" high school opens this week. Another step in the town's remarkable recovery. UPDATE:  More from KAKE TV . UPDATE II:  Details here . 

A heavy rain-producing storm is hugging the Gulf coast. This storm is starting to move southwest over the hot water of the Gulf. There are indications that this system may turn into a tropical storm.

From the Financial Times  of London: Towards a solution? A fuselage section for a Boeing 787 being built at Spirt AeroSystems, whose operations form part of an aviation cluster in Wichita, Kansas. Washington wants the US to double its total exports in five years When Vicki Gerbino, a native of upstate New York, was deciding two years ago whether to move to Wichita, Kansas, the Midwestern city did not seem like a model for the future of the US economy. “My image was Wyatt Earp and the Chisholm Trail,” she says, referring to the unruly frontier town of the late 19th century that served as the final destination for cattle being driven north from Texas to meet rail lines crossing the American plain. But the head of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition says she found a place filled with art, theatre and “smart people” – many linked to the aviation industry. “Everybody and their brother flies or knows someone who flies,” Ms Gerbino says. Thanks to a cluster of aircraft

First, I want to give full credit to Roger Pielke, Jr . for inspiring this posting. A few posts below, I talk about Climate Nonsense and the current round of blaming unusual weather conditions on global warming. Because weather and climate science can be so technical and the latter so confusing, it helps to use analogies outside of atmospheric science. Suppose you were predicting that oil (which is currently trading at $75.28 per barrel) will reach $2,000 per barrel in 2050. You would probably agree that if oil traded up Monday to $75.35 it would be "consistent" with your forecast and if it traded down to $75.25 it would be "not inconsistent" with your forecast (because there are still 40 years to go until we see whether your forecast is correct and that small tick downward can be made up many times over). It is the same thing with saying the heat in the U.S. or Russia is "consistent" with global warming and the cold currently in South America or t

UPDATE:  11:30am Monday.  Thank you American Meteorological Society for linking to this series of postings on our blog. For the record, the seat belt signs were never  turned off on yesterday's flights from Nashville to Houston and from Houston to Wichita. The former flight was smooth the entire time except on takeoff and landing. While I documented with photos, I decided not to take up more blog space with this topic. Increasingly, as the AMS blog states, the seatbelt sign is viewed by pilots as the "anti-litigation switch." Prediction: That is going to backfire, big time, some day. You heard it here, first. --- Original Posting --- Flew from Washington, D.C. to Nashville yesterday and it happened again. The seat belt sign was on the first 3/4th of the flight even thought it was smooth and we were in clear air: Photo taken one hour into the flight. While there are clouds below us we were flying in completely clear air. Yet, the seatbelt sign is on even though

Mike will be busy giving presentations next week. He will speak at the Optimist Club meeting at noon on Tuesday, August 17. They meet at the Hometown Buffet in Wichita. The next day, Wednesday, August 18, Mike will be in El Dorado for their Rotary meeting. They meet at noon at the Prairie Hills Country Club. If you would like to catch his presentation "Miracle at Greensburg" , and you are in the area, stop in.

Not only do we have thousands of new readers in the United States, we have nearly a thousand additional readers from around the world. Here are the rankings from the past month... On behalf of Kim and myself, thank you for reading our blog! While you are here, please click on the ad for Warnings  and check it out. If you like weather or just like reading a book that has received excellent reviews, you'll likely enjoy reading it.

UPDATE 3:  7:40am Saturday. It appears the radar is functioning normally. Radars are cantankerous machines with a number of moving parts along with transmitters and receivers that must be precisely matched in frequency. In my more twenty years of operating a radar we, more than once, took the a properly functioning radar down for routine maintenance and couldn't bring it back up again. That is why routine maintenance should never be done when storms are imminent. UPDATE 2:  Radar still down at 2:48pm. UPDATE: 1pm Central.  Radar is still down. Note: Thunderstorms in Wisconsin are headed for Kohler, the site of the PGA Tournament. --- Original Post --- What is it with the aviation community these days? Kathleen is flying to Chicago O'Hare and back out this afternoon and I have been monitoring the weather. I went to the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar for O'Hare and found... Why is the FAA taking the radar designed to detect microbursts out of service at the heigh