Small-scale collisions between pools of cold air may play an important role in organizing hurricanes and other crucial atmospheric phenomena, according to newly developed conceptual models.
Convective processes
Posted inScience Updates
Lightning: A New Essential Climate Variable
Lightning is a symptom and a cause of climate change. A recently established task team is working to make lightning data available and useful for climate science and service applications.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Continental Convection Reaches New Highs
Ten years of high-resolution gridded NEXRAD radar data provide a new data set to quantify tropopause-overshooting convection over the continental United States.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Modeling Storm Evolution
A “moist shell” makes all the difference in how some storms evolve.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
When Ice and Lightning Align
A new technique can remotely sense strong electrical fields within storm clouds.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Makes the Biggest Cycle in Tropical Weather Tick?
The Madden-Julian Oscillation drives storms across the Indian and Pacific oceans every 30 to 60 days. New research suggests that clouds absorbing and reemitting radiative energy play a key role.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Global Warming's Effect on Clouds May Make It Rain Harder
More clustering of clouds due to higher temperatures increases the likelihood of heavy downpours.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
When Thunderstorms Have Wings
A new study uncovers the origin of a gull wing–shaped cirrus cloud above an Argentinian thunderstorm captured in satellite images.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Radar Study Examines Pulsing Tropical Climate
In the Madden-Julian Oscillation, shear forces caused by air layers slipping and sliding near the equator play a critical role in forming enormous thunderstorms and monsoons.
Posted inScience Updates
The North American Monsoon: Models Versus Observations
Third Annual Regional Climatology and Meteorology Meeting for Northwest Mexico; Mexico City, Mexico, 4–5 June 2015