Archive: Science
Free Radicals! (and Lung Cancer)
Wx and the City By Ann Posegate Free radicals! Free radicals! No, I'm not talking about the 100+ protestors who were arrested outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Monday. I'm referring to atoms and molecules that can cause...
By Capital Weather Gang | August 27, 2008; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (11)
Freedman: Arctic Sea Ice Watch 2008 Update
As the Mid-Atlantic basks in characteristically warm mid-July weather, in the Far North, trends are emerging that are anything but normal. With the summer sun high in the Arctic sky, scientists recently reported that the sea ice that helps define...
By Andrew Freedman | July 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bulletin: Major Storm Threatens Planet
A tremendously intense and extraordinarily large storm continues to develop, threatening the planet with winds approaching 400 mph, about 2.5 times the 156 mph threshold that would make it a Category 5 hurricane. The storm's dramatic evolution began with the...
By Steve Tracton | May 29, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
In Defense of Meteorologists: Part 2
By Steve Tracton In my post last week, I commented upon the misleading (and a few flat-out wrong) statements about weather forecasting that appeared in a post on the New York Times Freakonomics blog. These statements were made as part...
By Steve Tracton | May 8, 2008; 11:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bad Forecast? Blame the Butterflies
Farewell to Lorenz, the man behind the "butterfly effect" By Steve Tracton "Don't blame us. Blame the butterflies" -- maybe that's what meteorologists should say when they miss a forecast. One person who most certainly would have appreciated such an...
By Capital Weather Gang | April 23, 2008; 11:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: The Price of Al Gore's Climate Battle
To a climate change contrarian, Al Gore is a one-man axis of evil. By publicizing the dangers of global climate change, and now launching one of the most expensive and far-reaching issue advocacy campaigns of at least the past several...
By Andrew Freedman | April 7, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (246)
If the Missile Misses
A satellite's journey through the atmosphere From the Pacific Ocean, a Navy ship is expected as early as tonight or tomorrow to shoot down, or at least attempt to do so, an out-of-control U.S. spy satellite that is falling toward...
By Dan Stillman | February 20, 2008; 11:30 PM ET | Comments (22)
Bucket O' Bookmarks: BudBurst
Citizen scientists sought Cinquefoil wildflowers in Colorado. (Photo by Carlye Calvin, ©UCAR.) Gardeners, for years you've been relying on data from meteorologists to plan your activities; now you have a chance to repay the favor by helping climate research. The...
By Steve Scolnik | February 15, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Freedman: Ground Truth
"Seeing is believing" is a saying that can mean a great deal in life. It is typically used in conversation to refer to something strange that happened that no one would have believed could happen until it actually happened, like...
By Andrew Freedman | January 20, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
The Cause of Big Flakes
Some pretty big snowflakes were observed in Thursday's snowstorm. Numerous visitors commented on them, and weatherdudeVA asked: What is making these flakes SO BIG? Is it the fact that they have a high water content and they're sticking together, or...
By Jason Samenow | January 18, 2008; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (14)
Sunspot Sparks Space Weather
Bored with the Washington area's warm winter weather? At least things are picking up in space. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that a new sunspot could spell magnetic storms and solar winds capable of disrupting everything from power...
By Dan Stillman | January 8, 2008; 01:45 PM ET | Comments (3)
