GLOBAL WARMING: THE NEW POPULAR BOOGEYMAN

DID GLOBAL WARMING TRIGGER THE DEADLY NOVEMBER TORNADO OUTBREAK? Certainly the devastating tornado outbreak of Sunday, November 17, will go down as one of the worst November onslaughts on record . . . but not the worst, at least in terms of the number of tornadoes.  (It will be in 4th place.) The image below…

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SO WHAT’S WITH ALL THIS CRAZY WEATHER?

It’s a question I’ve been getting a lot recently, undoubtedly driven by the tornado tragedies in Oklahoma—-“So what’s with all the crazy weather? I don’t remember this kind of stuff happing before.” I suppose people think I should have the answers, being a retired meteorologist and now a novelist who features supercells, tornadoes and hurricanes…

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SUPERCELL, A MORE IN-DEPTH LOOK

Beyond the one-line description of Supercell being “a fast-moving thriller set against tornado chasing on the Great Plains,” what the heck is the novel about? Here’s the “elevator pitch” for it (an “elevator pitch” means the author’s got only the duration of an elevator ride to pitch his/her book to an agent or publisher): Chuck…

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ROLL OUT THE BERYL(S)?

Tropical storms and hurricanes don’t often threaten the Georgia coast. Just recently, however, pre-season Tropical Storm Alberto did some saber rattling along the Georgia and Carolina shores. Admittedly, it was more of a cardboard saber than a real sword, but at least the action lured The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore to Charleston. Now—-and remember, it’s…

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AFTER THE CHASE, INDELIBLE MEMORIES

Was it fun? people ask, knowing I’ve just returned from a tornado chase on the Great Plains. Sure it was fun. If your idea of fun is sitting in a van for 10 hours a day, reeling in the miles (3500 of them in seven days); or waiting and waiting and waiting for something to…

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BIRTH OF A HIGH PLAINS MONSTER

With other members of my chase group, I’m standing on the high plains of the Texas Panhandle, west of Lubbock. A stiff wind, inflow to a supercell aborning, slams into my back as I snap pictures of the strengthening storm. I struggle to stay upright; to hold the camera steady. Daggers of lightning lance into…

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EPIC HEAT WAVE LOOMING?

There isn’t much stirring over the tropical Atlantic Basin yet, that is, there are no storms or hurricanes lurking in the foreseeable future. No Eyewall Janets. But that’s not unexpected in July. Meanwhile, what’s really catching meteorologists’ attention is the steroidal upper-level high pressure area forecast to burgeon over the center of the nation. That…

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THE DOG DAYS OF JUNE COMETH

It’s been a rough spring so far. The Grim Reaper in the guise of EF-4 and EF-5 twisters stalking the southern Plains and Deep South; a flood worthy of Biblical times washing down the Mississippi Valley; and Texans fearing the appearance of Bedouins on camels as the landscape withers under unprecedented drought. But wait, there’s…

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