We鈥檙e surrounded听by more weather data than we could ever use. Our phones chirp data points at us on command.听Social media is filled with analyses from meteorologists around the world. Even the weather segment on broadcast news turns into a college-level meteorology course when active weather is on the horizon. But听out of all the data we process, an old-fashioned surface map听is still the best way to keep tabs on weather conditions anywhere.

Meteorologists have maps for every occasion, from monitoring a winter storm that鈥檚 dumping fresh powder on the slopes to tracking thunderstorms that can crash a camping trip. Most weather maps are dedicated to showing us only one variable, though, like current temperatures or upper-level winds. But it鈥檚 the basic surface map, with its听station plots and wind barbs, that reveals听the most information in the quickest way before we听head听outside. Still, detailed surface weather maps are听only as useful as your ability to understand what they鈥檙e听telling you. Here鈥檚 how to read them.

Station Plots

Scientists needed a way to convey听as much information as possible without making a听map completely unreadable. Enter听the station plot, an ingenious way to print lots of information in a tiny space. It听takes a bit of deciphering to understand, but once you鈥檝e got the hang of it, you can get the gist of a specific location鈥檚 weather in just a few minutes.听

The basic station plot shows temperature, dew point, wind direction, wind speed, cloud cover, precipitation, and air pressure, which are all measured at weather stations around the globe. That鈥檚 a tremendous amount of useful information packed into one little graphic鈥攁nd some maps contain even more data, such as visibility and cloud heights and types.

A station plot always shows the current temperature on the top left, dew point on the bottom left, and air pressure on the top right. The units for temperature and dew point depend on the source that made the map; most surface maps issued in the United States use Fahrenheit, while organizations in most other countries use Celsius.

How to Read Air Pressure

Air-pressure readings are important because they tell you how the atmosphere is moving around you. High pressure fosters calm skies perfect for hiking, while low pressure signals听unsettled conditions and precipitation. Strong winds result from rapid pressure changes over short distances.

Decoding air pressure on weather maps takes memorization and context clues to translate. Most station plots will depict air pressure as a set of three numbers, such as 994 or 112. This number shows the last three digits of a station鈥檚 air-pressure reading to the nearest tenth of a millibar (mb); the last number actually comes after the decimal point. For example, 994 would indicate a pressure reading of 999.4 millibars, while 112 would convert to 1011.2 millibars.听(Meteorologists put a nine in front of bigger numbers and a ten in front of smaller numbers.) It鈥檚 helpful to keep in mind that it鈥檚 rare to see an air pressure higher than 1,040 millibars outside of a deep cold snap. It鈥檚 just as uncommon to see an air pressure lower than 980 millibars outside the eye of a hurricane or a nor鈥檈aster.

How to Read Wind Barbs: Speed and Direction

Wind barbs are the most visible portion of a station plot. They tell you the speed and direction of winds at the station. The barb always points in the direction from which the wind is blowing: if the barb points toward the southeast, it means the wind is blowing from the southeast.

A wind barb contains half lines, full听lines, and flags to denote wind speeds. Speeds are always displayed in knots (kts), regardless of the units used for temperatures and dew points. (One knot听approximately equals听1.151 miles per hour.)听A half line represents five听knots, a full line denotes ten听knots, and flags are reserved for increments of 50 knots.

The wind barbs above show winds blowing from the northwest at 35 knots听(plot A) and the southeast at 75 knots听(plot B). If the winds are calm, a thin circle will appear around the station plot (plot C).

How to Read Cloud Cover and Precipitation

A station-plot icon conveys cloud cover by the amount of shading inside the plot鈥檚 center dot. A hollow circle indicates clear skies, while a solid circle denotes overcast conditions that could ruin a backpacking trip. Each successive quarter shading of the dot indicates scattered clouds (25 percent filled), partly cloudy (50 percent), and mostly cloudy (75 percent).

Symbols representing precipitation type and intensity will appear directly to the left of a station plot. Solid dots represent rain, while asterisks represent snow, with intensity shown through the use of two symbols (light precipitation), three symbols (moderate precipitation), or four symbols (heavy precipitation). A thunderstorm is denoted by a long arrow in the shape of the letter R.听While these are some of the more common symbols, there are plenty of others for precipitation types, including freezing drizzle and thundersnow.

Pressure Systems and Isobars

Some surface maps are analyzed by computer programs or human forecasters to add extra information that helps you understand current conditions and predict what鈥檚 coming. The most common value-added analyses on surface maps are isobars, pressure systems, and boundaries.

What Isobars Mean

We鈥檙e used to seeing a blue H over a high-pressure center and a red L over a low-pressure system. Wind generally blows from areas of high pressure toward areas of low pressure. But even without those letters听printed on the map, it鈥檚 usually easy to spot these features using isobars鈥攍ines drawn on a map that connect听areas听experiencing听equally high or low air-pressure readings.

These solid concentric听lines听are helpful听for identifying pressure centers and getting a general idea of where it鈥檚 windy, making them especially useful for outdoor enthusiasts about to set out on the听next adventure.听Isobars that are closely packed together show greater pressure changes over short distances, indicating rapidly changing weather conditions and gusty winds.

Fronts, Decoded

A front is the boundary between two different air masses; they are ubiquitous on weather forecasts. The difference between the two regions can be subtle or dramatic鈥攁 strong cold front, for example, can drop temperatures dozens of degrees in a few minutes.

Cold fronts show cooler, drier air pushing into warmer, more humid air, which can produce powder-day snow. They鈥檙e typically shaded blue, with triangular flags pointing in the direction of the front鈥檚 forward movement. Warm fronts听exist along the leading edge of warmer, humid air pushing into cooler, drier air. They can sometimes bring stormy weather听and are听usually marked by a听red line with semicircles pointing in the direction of the front鈥檚 movement.

A stationary front lies along the edge of cooler and warmer air masses that aren鈥檛 advancing toward one another. These are denoted by alternating flags and semicircles听(alternating in the same colors outlined above), each pointing toward their respective air mass.

Occluded fronts are shown in purple on weather maps. An occlusion occurs when cold air overtakes warm air near the center of a low-pressure system, pinching a region of warm air above the earth鈥檚 surface. A听鈥渢riple point鈥濃€攚here a cold front, warm front, and occluded front meet鈥攃an sometimes serve as the focus for severe thunderstorms, which may ruin an afternoon run.

Dry lines, depicted on surface maps in beige, with hollow semicircles pointing in the direction of movement, are a type of front typically only seen听on the southern plains. They鈥檙e a dividing line between humid air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico and extremely dry air from the desert region out west. A dry line moves eastward in big leaps during the afternoon as a result of daytime heating. These fronts can serve as the catalyst for intense springtime tornado outbreaks in Texas and Oklahoma.

Resources

With these basics in mind, the best place to download reliable, up-to-date weather maps is听the U.S. National Weather Service鈥攋ust make sure you save them to your phone or bookmark the direct link in your phone鈥檚 browser before you head out. The agency鈥檚 products are free for public use, and the entire organization only costs each taxpayer a little more than a dollar a year. Various branches of the NWS issue a multitude of surface maps covering the United States. The 听mostly handles everyday weather, like fronts and temperatures, while the听听handles severe thunderstorms and fire-weather outlooks.听The offers detailed analyses of weather across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.

International weather organizations also provide fantastic services for their coverage areas, including , the UK鈥檚 , and Australia鈥檚 . Private companies and academic institutions also issue weather maps, such as the College of DuPage鈥檚 .

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According to the National Weather Service, a five-day temperature projection in 2018 as a two-day outlook back in 1988. Now听the accuracy and timeliness of weather forecasts are about to get even better, thanks to听the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 (NOAA) to the country鈥檚 flagship weather model, the Global Forecast System (GFS), this month. The improvement听will reportedly grow the range of reliable forecasts to a week or longer.

Here鈥檚 how it works:听When you check the weather to plan for that camping trip next weekend, the information you鈥檙e currently looking at comes from meteorologists using computer-based models to predict conditions. However, they鈥檙e not just copying those predictions听like a student cribbing answers from a textbook. They only use those for guidance. Each representation has different strengths and specialties, and it鈥檚 up to users drawing on听their experience to figure out which ones would help them the most to听create an accurate forecast.

Some models focus on large-scale weather systems around the world, while others zero in听on smaller-scale conditions,听like thunderstorms and sea breezes. The GFS, as its name suggests, operates on a global scale, running four times per day to provide meteorologists around the world with guidance on what鈥檚 coming their way.

These models are powered by a dynamical core鈥攁 collection of mathematical equations that explain atmospheric physics using available data and making听predictions based on that information. That鈥檚 where the GFS is getting a boost.

The GFS鈥檚 new core鈥攃alled (FV3)鈥攊s designed to partially account for a global model鈥檚 general inability to resolve smaller-scale features. The upgraded physical equations in the FV3 give it a more accurate, detailed view of the atmosphere, allowing it to 鈥渟ee鈥� storm systems and different weather features much more clearly than previous iterations.听

There are plenty of perks to building a new foundation for a major weather model. The FV3 core allows it听to run faster and more efficiently on new computers, which is necessary for听meteorologists to keep it fresh and current in the coming years. The upgrade will also remedy some clunkiness of the previous versions听(for example, it will offer smoother, more realistic rainfall maps), giving forecasters a truer sense of what the model thinks will happen in a certain area.

Previous dynamical cores couldn鈥檛 resolve the updrafts that power storm development. The FV3 core gives the GFS听the ability to resolve that issue, a boon to forecasting since thunderstorms have such a large influence over regional weather.

This is not the first time NOAA has upgraded the GFS. range听from minor tinkering to major overhauls. For example, the resolution quadrupled between 2002 and 2015, and that resolution will likely improve in coming years. This is the first time the core has been upgraded in 40 years.听

NOAA originally planned to roll out this upgrade at the end of 2018, but the government shutdown鈥攚hich hit the National Weather Service particularly hard鈥攑ushed听the planned release date back to March 2019. That lengthy delay gave meteorologists a chance to in the model, which meant the model routinely ran too cold and produced too many 鈥減hantom鈥澨齭now and ice storms. Experts kept the model on hold for a couple of months until they were satisfied they鈥檇 resolved the issues.听

The GFS has lagged behind other countries鈥櫶齡lobal-forecacsting models in terms of overall accuracy. This upgrade is part of听the agency鈥檚听Earth Prediction Innovation Center听plan to advance what听听鈥渨ill advance U.S. weather modeling and reclaim international leadership in the area of numerical weather prediction.鈥澨齌he code for the FV3 core will also be available to a wider research community for continuous testing and upgrades for the model.

On a more practical level, having more accurate forecasts a week or more in advance will help听everyone from emergency officials preparing for dangerous conditions to someone planning their next adventure.听听

The GFS and many of its counterparts are from the U.S. government, which means there are a ton of sites out there that offer weather-model output. and are two of the most widely used modeling websites in the field. However, it鈥檚 only a good idea to check the weather models if you know what you鈥檙e looking at. For the average user who just wants to check the weather, there are a handful of trustworthy apps available that use the GFS and other sources to make informed forecasts. And they are about to get a lot more accurate.听

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Spring is here, and that means warmer temperatures. It also means we have to be prepared for the threat of tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, and floods. But bad storms don鈥檛 take us by surprise as much as they once did, thanks to weather radar.

How Weather Radar Works

Weather radar works by sending out two perpendicular beams of microwave radiation into the atmosphere. Some of the radiation reflects off听objects in the atmosphere鈥攔ain, hail, snow, you name it鈥攁nd returns to the radar. Software measures the strength of returning radiation and how long it took to bounce back in order to determine the location and intensity of the precipitation. The shape of the beam, which resembles a plus sign if you look at it head-on, also allows the radar to detect the size and shape of the objects it detects, which is useful in spotting hail and tornado debris.

The best way to stay safe from dangerous weather, whether you’re hiking or hanging out at home, is to invest in a good radar app for your phone and learn how to read what it鈥檚 telling you.

How to Read Weather Radar: 4 Useful Tips

1. Look at More Than Just Precipitation

Just about everyone who鈥檚 ever used a weather app or watched a weather forecast on television knows the basics about spotting precipitation on weather-radar imagery. Most color scales are simple rainbows, and听warmer colors indicate heavier precipitation.

However, just looking at the precipitation alone won鈥檛 tell you everything you need to know about a storm. A patch of dark red moving toward your location means there鈥檚 a thunderstorm on the way. A line of heavy precipitation moving in unison is a sign of a squall line that could pack gusty winds.

A storm that looks like a fishhook is particularly concerning. The image above shows a classic supercell鈥攁 thunderstorm with a rotating updraft鈥攊n Alabama on March 3. The rotating updraft allows the storm to produce large听hail, high听wind gusts, and strong听tornadoes. This particular thunderstorm produced an EF-4 tornado with estimated winds of 180 miles per hour. (EF refers to the Enhanced Fujita scale, which rates tornado damage from 0 to 5.)

2. Know What’s Going on Inside a Storm

In the 1990s, weather-radar technology developed enough to let us see the winds within a thunderstorm. By using the Doppler effect to measure how fast and in which听direction rain, hail, and snow are moving, it can accurately tell us the wind speed and direction of听a storm. Velocity imagery is critically important, because it tells you what鈥檚 going on inside of a storm, something you wouldn鈥檛 inherently know just by looking at the precipitation. This technological advance has saved countless lives over the past couple of decades.

The tornado that hit Greensboro, North Carolina, in April 2018 is a great example of why it鈥檚 so important to look at the wind within a storm. The following radar image shows precipitation within the line of thunderstorms while the EF-2 tornado was in progress.

Nothing appears听too suspicious, right? But looking at the rain alone is deceiving. It becomes apparent that there鈥檚 a tornado on the ground once you flip over to velocity imagery and look at the wind swirling within the storm.

Velocity imagery is almost always displayed with red and green colors. Red shows winds blowing away from the radar, and green shows winds blowing toward it. Stronger winds usually equate to brighter colors on the radar imagery. You can spot rotation and a possible tornado in a thunderstorm by looking for strong winds blowing in different directions right next to each other. Bright colors all moving in one direction are a sign of damaging straight-line winds like you鈥檇 see in a squall line.

3. Recognize the Limits of Radar

Like any technology, there are limitations. Mountains are a significant barrier to radar use听in the western United States. Vast swaths of land in Oregon, Nevada, and Utah have little useful radar coverage at the lower levels of the atmosphere due听to the region鈥檚 rough terrain, which can make it more difficult to spot hazards in these areas.

The height of the radar beam itself also presents a challenge. The beam rises higher off the ground with distance as it distances itself听from the radar, because of the curvature of the Earth. This means that the radar beam is above 10,000 feet once it鈥檚 a few dozen miles away from the radar site, making听it difficult to see low-level features in thunderstorms, like damaging winds and tornadoes, especially in parts of the Plains and Midwest where relatively poor radar coverage coincides with frequent thunderstorm activity.

4. Get the Best Radar App

You can see the weather radar on just about any weather app for your phone. Unfortunately, most of those apps are lacking in detailed radar imagery, limited to an oversmooth, nebulous blob of precipitation chugging toward your location. That can help in a pinch, but sometimes it鈥檚 just not enough鈥攅specially if you鈥檙e out hiking.

The best radar app you can put on your phone is . This professional-level app lets you track storms just like the meteorologists鈥攊n fact, most meteorologists use the app on a day-to-day basis. The app isn鈥檛 free鈥攊t costs $10听for both Android and iOS鈥攂ut it鈥檚 worth it, especially if you鈥檙e involved in activities that require close monitoring of rapidly changing weather conditions.

You have more options if you鈥檙e at home or in the office and have access to a computer. The best radar software for your computer is produced by Gibson Ridge. Programs like GR2Analyst, which is the software I used for the radar images in this article, are great for analyzing radar imagery down to the pixel, just like you鈥檇 see on television during severe-weather coverage.

Weather-related injuries and fatalities have steadily dropped over the decades due to better detection, warning, and prevention, but it鈥檚 important to frequently check the weather if you plan to spend any significant time outdoors. Even if you can track the radar like a pro, making sure you have the ability to receive and heed severe-weather warnings should always be a part of your weather-safety plan when you鈥檙e out and about on a bad-weather day.

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This spring saw two historic 鈥渂omb cyclones鈥� sweep across the country. On top of the problems caused by blizzards, high winds, and severe storms, these听weather systems also made for a lot of achy knees as barometric pressure bottomed out. It鈥檚 not a myth: active weather patterns, and low-pressure systems in particular, have a noticeable effect on our bodies, including joint pain, headaches, and even the occasional induced labor.

Joint pain is the most widely known effect weather has on your body. Our joints are full of fluid that allows bones to glide across one another without grinding together. This fluid is susceptible to changes in atmospheric pressure as weather systems come and go. Higher air pressure听. Lower air pressure means that there鈥檚 more pressure inside your joint than outside of it, causing those joint fluids and surrounding tissues to expand, leading to nagging aches and pains.

Cooler air temperatures can also make your joints feel stiffer听by thickening the fluid in your joints and tightening up the tissues around them. This makes your discomfort even worse when you鈥檙e in the midst of a winter storm with low pressure. Everyone is susceptible to it, but the听effects are more pronounced in people who have arthritis or existing joint injuries. Retirees don鈥檛 just move to the Sun Belt for golf and lower taxes. The warmer, calmer weather helps soothe aches and pains.听

Our sinuses and ears are also sensitive to changing weather conditions. As anyone who鈥檚 ever suffered from a severe cold can attest, these cavities in our head are prone to internal pressure increases that lead to intense听and sometimes even debilitating听pain. Just like our joints, lower air pressure can increase the relative pressure in our head and lead to sinus pain and earaches.

The effect weather can have on headaches is a little muddier, because the stressors and triggers that instigate each episode vary听from person to person. Some people who suffer from headaches are incredibly sensitive to small changes in weather, and an approaching storm system can lay them up听for a day or more. Others can soldier on through even the worst conditions without so much as a dull throb. The American Migraine Foundation says that a correlation between migranes and drops in atmospheric pressure and air temperature, as well as increased humidity, which can trigger pain in people who suffer from this intense form of headaches.

We often hear reports of a 鈥渂aby boom鈥� occurring in communities that have endured a hurricane听听it makes landfall, but a sudden drop in air pressure, like you would see during a hurricane or major winter storm, can induce labor for some pregnant women in the storm鈥檚 path. Several Japanese doctors over a seven-year period and found that there was a significant relationship between a drop in air pressure and patients experiencing their water breaking or a 鈥渟pontaneous delivery.鈥�

Extreme temperatures can also take a hefty toll on our body, especially when combined with aggravating factors such as humidity and wind. Despite the misplaced cynicism of people who think they鈥檙e fake numbers meant to hype people up, the summertime heat index and wintertime wind chill are two important measurements that tell you how safe it is to venture outdoors unprotected.

The heat index tells us how much hotter it feels due to the amount of moisture in the air. Our bodies cool off through the evaporation of sweat. Less sweat evaporates from our skin when the humidity ticks up on a hot day. This process prevents us from cooling off effectively, which can quickly lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. A humid, 90-degree听afternoon can cause problems for you quicker than a 90-degree听day that鈥檚 dry as a bone.

Wind chill, on the other hand, tells us how much colder a winter day feels when you add in the effect of the wind. Human skin cools off much faster on a cold and windy day than it would if the wind wasn鈥檛 blowing. This allows frostbite and hypothermia to set in quicker than you would otherwise expect given the raw air temperature.听

Despite the different ways听weather affects your body, you definitely can鈥檛 catch a cold because of the weather. Both the cold and the flu are caused by viruses contracted from another person. You have a better chance of contracting the cold or flu during the winter months since viruses 鈥攃onditions that also weaken our immune systems and drive us into close proximity indoors. Cold weather can give you a runny nose, chills, and a headache, all of which mimic symptoms of viruses, but the cold itself can鈥檛 give you a cold.

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After a long winter that鈥檚 seen record-setting warmth, a couple of rounds of the polar vortex, and a constant barrage of rain and snow out West, the U.S. could use a break as we head into spring. Unfortunately, it doesn鈥檛 look like we鈥檙e going to catch much of a reprieve from the atmosphere鈥檚 tantrums.

How El Nino's Played Out So Far

The pattern we鈥檝e seen over the last couple of months is typical of a year influenced by a mild El Ni帽o in the Pacific Ocean. An El Ni帽o occurs when the water of the eastern Pacific Ocean is abnormally warm for many months at a time. The warmer-than-normal water in this part of the Pacific can warm听the air over the ocean, altering upper-level jet streams that cross the country.听

Jet streams largely exist because of the temperature gradient between the warm tropics and cooler air at higher latitudes. The northward expansion of warm air during an El Ni帽o strengthens the subtropical jet stream over the southern U.S.听and shoves the polar jet stream farther north toward the Canadian border, changing weather patterns across the country.

El Nino鈥檚 effects on U.S. weather are most pronounced in the winter. The hallmark of an El Ni帽o winter is heavy rain and snow in the western U.S. and warmth in the southeast. We鈥檝e seen that in abundance so far this year. After a slow start to the rainy season, storms started washing over the West Coast with a vengeance last month, bringing almost weekly bouts of flooding rains and torrential mountain snows from Washington to California.

There's plenty of upside to moisture like this, of course.听Increased mountain snow has been a boon to the ski industry. Farmers will benefit from the snowmelt in the warmer months, and the drought situation across the region has improved. California began February with 76 percent of the state experiencing abnormal dryness or full-on drought conditions, then听that number plummeted to just 32 percent after three weeks of steady rainfall. The Four Corners region of the Southwest has also seen relief from its exceptional drought鈥攖he worst category on the 鈥攐ver the last couple of months thanks to wetter weather resulting from the El Ni帽o听pattern.

Here鈥檚 What Kind of Weather Pattern You Can Expect This Spring

Taking a look back at the weather we鈥檝e seen this winter helps put into context the weather coming up this spring. Seasonal precipitation in California comes to a dramatic halt between April and November, while cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix historically see little precipitation between the start of spring and the onset of the summer monsoon season. The seemingly-endless precipitation out West鈥攊ncluding the healthy snowpack in the mountains鈥攚ill serve as a nest egg once the rainy season comes to an end.

It鈥檚 not just the West that鈥檚 seen plentiful precipitation. Many areas east of the Rockies have seen so much rain and snow that their soil is oversaturated for this time of the year. The above map shows for February 18, ranked by percentiles. The darkest green shows soil moisture in the 99th percentile, which tells us that the ground is about as wet as it can get for the middle of February.

This has big implications for the coming spring rains. Showers and thunderstorms can produce more and heavier precipitation because the air can hold more moisture with spring's warmer temperatures. The combination of saturated soil from recent rains and the opportunity for heavier precipitation will dramatically increase the risk of flooding as we head into the warmer months.

The latest long-term forecast from the shows a general ridge-trough-ridge pattern across the U.S. this spring. A setup like this would place ridges of high pressure鈥攆ostering drier, warmer weather鈥攐ver the coasts while the center of the country experiences troughing, leading to an active and stormy pattern. A ridge of dry air parked over the West, could cut the rainy season short,听allowing groundwater to evaporate and snowpack to melt more quickly than under normal conditions. However, the extensive precipitation the region received this winter will help delay the ill-effects of abnormally dry stretches for several months longer than we would have seen otherwise.

Upper-level troughs moving over the center of the country will allow frequent low-pressure systems to develop at the surface, leading to regular bouts of stormy conditions east of the Rocky Mountains. Thunderstorms can develop if the cold and warm fronts extending off of these lows have enough instability to work with. Not only would that heighten the risk for flooding from even modest amounts of heavy rain, but an active pattern would crank up the risk for severe storms as we get into the peak months for dangerous wind, hail, and tornadoes.

We鈥檝e already seen one such storm tear through Alabama this month, killing a reported 23 people. That storm was an EF-4 on the , and the deadliest since 2013. 听

Start Preparing for Spring Weather Now

The dry and warm weather that鈥檚 likely out West isn鈥檛 inherently dangerous鈥攊t鈥檚 a slow-motion pain that鈥檚 easy to ignore until you fall into a water crisis. The best thing folks out West can do is to conserve water as if there was a raging drought. Preemptive water conservation is a surefire way to help a region prepare for extended periods without precipitation.

Folks east of the Rockies can prepare for the potential for severe thunderstorms and flooding by making emergency plans for hazardous weather. Make sure you have plenty of emergency supplies at home and in your vehicle. It鈥檚 important to know in advance where you would take shelter from threats like tornadoes, destructive winds, or large hail if you鈥檙e at home, work, on the road, or caught outdoors. If you have to go out during flooding, it鈥檚 a good idea to plan out multiple routes between home, work, and school so you鈥檙e not caught off-guard by water-covered roadways.

The post This Spring鈥檚 Weather Could Be Just as Wild as Winter鈥檚 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Not only do we have to worry about large-scale weather patterns affecting our daily lives in the winter, but local geography can also dictate the atmospheric flavor of the day, leaving parts of the country racked with gloomy skies and stagnant air.

Inversions make for many a problem in some areas during the colder months, including ice storms, air pollution that results in听health issues, and even enhanced听effects of explosions and other loud noises. A temperature inversion occurs when a layer of warm air develops on top of a layer of cooler air. This warm layer, the inversion, acts like a cap that seals the cooler atmosphere beneath it. We sometimes hear about a 鈥渃ap鈥� in thunderstorm forecasts, since air in an updraft has a hard time rising through the inversion to produce thunderstorms.

If the fast-moving air of an updraft has a hard time breaking through a temperature inversion, imagine how much harder it is for the atmosphere to churn itself up when one of these events occurs during the winter months.

There are several different kinds of inversions you can encounter when it gets chilly. Each type of inversion comes with its own set of inconveniences and hazards.

Here鈥檚 what you need to know about each one.

Valley Inversions

Cold air is dense. It drains from higher elevations to lower elevations and hugs as close to the ground as possible. This makes valleys especially vulnerable to inversions in the winter. And few areas in the United States more susceptible to valley inversions than Utah鈥檚 Salt Lake Valley.

The bowl-shaped topography that surrounds Salt Lake City鈥檚 metro area exposes the region to several hazardous inversion events every winter. These inversions occur when cold air gets trapped in the valley and a layer of warm air seals it from above. The region鈥檚 terrain prevents that听bubble of cold air from draining away, and the mountains stop winds from easily scouring it out and ushering in fresher air.

The end result is a spell of nasty, stagnant air that to the health of anyone in the region. The stale air of an inversion allows for the buildup of pollutants created by vehicles, factories, fireplaces, and wildfires. These pollutants most often affect those with health problems such as asthma, but particularly unhealthy air can lead to respiratory problems even in folks without preexisting conditions.

Salt Lake City has some of the worst air quality in the United States during the winter as a result of these inversions. Officials encourage people to carpool and use public transportation to reduce the amount of pollution when these inversions take place.

Valley inversions can also lead to some unintended consequences. Blasting at quarries and munitions testing at military bases usually come to a halt during inversions due to the risk of causing damage and injuries to people many miles away. The capping effect of an inversion in the atmosphere can reflect the blast wave from an explosion back down toward the surface, spreading the effects of an explosion farther than intended.

A famous instance of this occurred about ten years ago Esparto, California,听during the filming of an episode of Mythbusters that required a huge explosion. The larger-than-expected blast 听from the blast听as a result of an inversion overhead.

Cold-Air Damming

Mountains are a significant source of inversions when it鈥檚 cold outside. Not only can valleys trap cold air and force cities to choke on their own exhaust, but mountains can trap cold air blown by the wind. This can lead to significant cold snaps and even ice storms for folks who live in the foothills of certain mountain ranges.

Cold-air damming occurs when winds blow cold air up against the side of a mountain range. The surge of cold, dense air can鈥檛 ride up and over the ridges of the mountains, forcing it to pool up, instead,听at the base and hang around until the wind changes direction.

It鈥檚 frequently cold, gloomy, and drizzly in states like Virginia and North Carolina during the fall and winter 听blowing听cold air up against the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains. This setup can lead to more than just a raw drizzle. A low-pressure system approaching the mid-Atlantic from the south can force warm air into what would otherwise be a snowstorm, sometimes leading to a surprise ice storm in the region鈥檚 Piedmont.

is also a result of cold-air damming. Beijing, which is home to more than 20 million people, sits at the horseshoe-shaped confluence of two mountain ranges in northeastern China. Prevailing winter winds from the south and east subject the city听to days-long inversions through cold-air damming. The shape of the terrain prevents incoming weather systems from easily scouring out the stagnant air, exacerbating its听already-treacherous pollution problem. The city鈥檚 air can off the charts during the winter, threatening the health of even an otherwise healthy person.

Marine Layer

The famed marine layer that bathes cities like San Francisco is another example of an inversion. The Pacific waters off the coast of San Francisco are quite cold, often significantly colder than the temperature of the air moving over the region. The cold water chills the air immediately above the ocean surface through conduction, leading to an inversion.

Warm air moving over cooler water is a recipe for fog, which is the most notable impact of an inversion caused by the marine layer. San Francisco鈥檚 fog is so famous that it even earned its own name . But fog isn鈥檛 the only impact this inversion can have. Concerts in San Francisco can be notoriously loud due to sound waves bouncing off the cap above the city and reflecting back down toward the surface. This was a particular problem during , which was made so loud by an inversion layer that residents miles away from the stadium where it took place complained about it.

Learning to Adapt to Inversions

Unfortunately, there鈥檚 nothing we can do to prevent inversions from developing during the winter months, so we have to adapt to the challenges they present. Places like Salt Lake City can reduce the air-pollution risk posed by inversions through emissions-reduction efforts like investing in public transit, stricter emissions standards on factories, and an overall shift toward clean energy. People听with respiratory problems should try to avoid going outside on high-pollution days and wear respiratory masks if they can鈥檛 stay inside.

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Folks who live in cold听areas pride themselves on their ability to handle snow better than their southern counterparts. However, whether you live听in Minnesota or North Carolina, a quick glance at the news reveals a string of wrecks and pile-up accidents whenever snow starts.

Learning how to drive in snow is a tough task no matter where you live. The first step to safer driving is knowing what kind of winter weather you’ll encounter. Snow is more manageable than sleet or freezing rain. If it is going to snow, will it be a blizzard or a quick-hitting clipper? You鈥檙e more likely to wreck in a short, fast moving storm or snow squall, and you鈥檙e more likely to get stranded during a blizzard or lake effect snow.

The best thing to do in either case is to be proactive. Here’s how.

How to Drive in Snow: 3 Tips for Noobs

Don’t Underestimate a Light Snow (and Don’t Panic)

Most people worry about getting stranded by a foot of snow, but a foot of snow isn鈥檛 always what you need to worry about. A dusting of snow can be . A thin layer of snow on roads easily melts under the heat from heavy traffic. Subfreezing temperatures can refreeze the snowmelt and turn roads into a sheet of ice. The resulting ice can lead to horrendous traffic disasters, like the ones in听 or .

If you hit an icy patch, the worst thing you can do is panic.听The second worst thing you can do is slam on the brakes. Hitting the brakes when you鈥檙e on ice turns you into a curling stone without anyone there to steer you in the right direction. You can easily lose control.

The simple fact is, you听can鈥檛 do much when you鈥檙e sliding on ice. There鈥檚 no real way to bring your vehicle to a stop without regaining traction or coming to rest against something like the guardrail听or another vehicle. What you can do听is try to keep your vehicle going as straight as possible by turning your wheel into the spin. Keeping the vehicle straight lowers the chances that you鈥檒l regain traction when you鈥檙e sideways, which could subject you to a rollover.

Unfortunately, not everybody is able to keep control of their car when they slide on ice. A wreck is bad enough. A pile-up wreck is many magnitudes worse. Each winter, somewhere in the United States, we inevitably hear about some stretch of highway closed because dozens of vehicles got into a chain-reaction accident.

If you鈥檙e ever caught in a pile-up accident, odds are high that people are going to hit you from behind. That could be exceptionally dangerous if the traffic is moving at high speeds. Sometimes the best option is to get out of the vehicle and get away from the road. However, you only want to get out if you have a clear shot to the side of the road or behind a barrier or wall. The most dangerous place to be in a pile-up wreck is a pedestrian at risk of getting hit by oncoming cars or flying debris.

Don’t Accelerate Your Way Out of a Jam

In deep snow, it鈥檚 common for travelers to get stuck on roadways or even听stranded.

If you鈥檙e ever stuck in the snow or ice while driving, don鈥檛 try to floor your way out of the situation. Attempting to get unstuck through acceleration could suddenly launch you forward or lurch you to the left or right, endangering anyone outside of the car and putting you at risk, too. It鈥檚 also not good for your vehicle. Remember the infamous in Raleigh, North Carolina, a couple of years ago? That car caught fire because the driver revved the engine too hard trying (and failing) to drive up that icy, snow-covered hill.

It鈥檚 helpful to have a couple of simple supplies in your trunk to help you get out of a sticky situation for when you do get stuck. Carry something like kitty litter or a long strip of cardboard to help your tires gain enough traction if they become stuck. Keep a small shovel in your car to clear snow away from your tires.听Don鈥檛 forget to stock some food and water just in case you鈥檙e stranded on the road for the long haul.

Clear Your Car

The most useful听safety advice for winter driving is the one too many people ignore鈥攃lean the snow off the roof of your car. There鈥檚 nothing more infuriating after a snowstorm than to see someone flying down the road with a roof full of snow, locked and loaded like an icy gun, ready to cause an accident. Slabs of snow and ice could fly off the back of your car and hit the vehicles behind you. The snow could also slide forward when you hit the brakes, completely obscuring your view of what鈥檚 ahead. Driving around with snow still covering your roof or windows is illegal in some states and it鈥檚 not safe. Invest in a听snow brush. It takes a little bit of work, but it鈥檚 worth it to avoid an accident or hefty fine.

The post How to Drive in Snow: A Useful Beginner’s Guide appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Let鈥檚 get one thing straight: Weather is not climate.

Look, I get it. It鈥檚 easy to conflate the听two. After all, climate is the average of all the weather recorded over a period of time. But it鈥檚听incredibly dangerous when we mix the two听up when it comes to climate change. Intense cold and snow in the winter, like what the Midwest is experiencing right now,听does not disprove the fact that our planet is warming, yet political leaders prey on that fuzzy distinction to lie about the science. Case in point:听

Climate change is real. The vast majority of scientists agree that our planet is warming as carbon dioxide accumulates in our atmosphere . A warmer climate will lead to longer and more intense , devastating , more frequent , rising , and a bevy of other听.听Climate change does not mean that winter weather will cease. The world didn鈥檛 stop warming because it started snowing in Washington, D.C. A week of bone-chilling cold in the Midwest doesn鈥檛 negate the fact that five of the 10 warmest years on record in Minneapolis and four of the 10 warmest years听in Chicago have occurred since the beginning of this decade.

The best analogy scientists use to differentiate weather and climate is to compare weather to your mood and climate to your personality. Your mood can change each day, but how people perceive your personality depends on your mood every day over the course of years. You can have some down days and still be considered an upbeat person. It gets really cold and snows in New Orleans every couple of years, but the city鈥檚 climate is considered subtropical because it鈥檚 usually warm there.

The Upper Midwest and Great Lakes saw some of the coldest air in the entire world this week. However, if you zoom out beyond our backyard, it鈥檚 obvious that this cold spell is a small blip in a global sea of abnormal warmth. The above image shows an analysis of temperature anomalies on Thursday, January 31. The world is glowing with warmth. It鈥檚 been like that for years now. If you were born in 1977 or later, you have never been alive during a year when the world as a whole . This abnormal warmth serves the dual purpose of making cold snaps seem even colder as a warming atmosphere begins to warp our perspective of what constitutes truly cold weather.

Forecasters expect temperatures in the Midwest to undergo a tremendous swing from near-historic lows to dozens of degrees above normal by this weekend. International Falls, Minnesota, will experience a 79-degree-Fahrenheit swing from a minus-49 low on Thursday morning to a 29 high on Sunday afternoon. Over the same period, Chicago will see a temperature swing of almost 70 degrees and Minneapolis will see one of 73 degrees.

We鈥檙e not just talking drastic temperature ranges. Highs in the Midwest will be 15 to 20 degrees warmer than normal on Sunday and Monday. But you won鈥檛 see the President鈥攐r anyone who disputes the science of climate change鈥攖weet out a snarky crack about global warming when the temps rise this weekend, let alone during the summer when the heat index is 100 degrees or hotter for weeks.

When we're comfortable, it听easy to forget how much warmer than normal temperatures are. Most of us only sense that something is wrong during extreme events鈥攁nd, because of how we conflate weather and climate, usually only when those extreme events bring the heat.听

Daily weather is a symptom of a changing climate. A record-setting cold snap in a handful of states won鈥檛 do much to alter the world鈥檚 temperature profile for 2019. In fact, this winter probably would have been colder if the planet wasn鈥檛 warming. Our political leaders can ignore the science on climate change all they want, but lying about it won鈥檛 make it go away. And we might only have .

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Private weather companies like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel听would be lost without the federal government鈥檚 robust network of radars, satellites, sensors, and weather models. The good National Weather Service听meteorologists keeping their eyes on the sky are working through the shutdown without pay鈥攁nd we鈥檙e much safer for their efforts.

These folks are considered 鈥渆xcepted鈥� federal employees, meaning that they鈥檙e forced to work a normal 40-hour-per-week schedule without pay during a partial government shutdown. That鈥檚 in large part because they鈥檙e responsible for a wide array of crucial forecasting tasks, ranging from predicting the path of blizzards to issuing tornado warnings.

The shutdown, which entered its 28th day on Friday, is starting to take a financial toll on these hard-working scientists. 鈥淚'm lucky to have had some savings built up, but the longer this shutdown lasts the more nervous I get about having to rely on credit cards to pay bills,鈥� says one NWS meteorologist who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job. He noted that federal employees who are required to work through the shutdown can鈥檛 benefit from the financial help often offered to those going without a paycheck, such as filing for unemployment听or taking on temporary part-time jobs.

While meteorologists are feeling the personal effects of the shutdown, most news coverage () has focused on how the shutdown is affecting weather models and forecast accuracy. Yet concerns that the shutdown is affecting everyday forecasting may be somewhat overblown, say my sources. 鈥淲e have not seen any measurable issues with our forecasting,鈥� says a senior meteorologist working for another NWS office. 鈥淥ur focus is on good science, good forecasts, but even more so, good communication. The forecast means very little if people don't understand the impact to them.鈥�

The shutdown may not have an effect on day-to-day forecasting, but it is starting to affect efforts like hurricane predictions in ways that aren鈥檛 immediately obvious. The National Hurricane Center鈥檚 union steward Eric Blake posted explaining how the shutdown will have a negative effect on hurricane forecasting this summer by, for example, delaying improvements to hurricane modeling and cancelling important training sessions for local emergency managers.

The government鈥檚 widespread efforts to improve weather information gathering and advance the science of meteorology is one of its greatest success stories. Thousands of scientists and support staff work out of more than 120 individual NWS offices, serving as the backbone of this country鈥檚 weather infrastructure. Every severe weather watch and warning you hear for your location is issued by your local NWS office. The agency also operates , a critical piece of technology that benefits everyone from office workers to campers. It maintains听, which provides detailed local forecasts for every square mile of the U.S. There are plenty of specialized agencies under the NWS that keep us abreast of dangerous weather, too. The issues forecasts ahead of severe thunderstorm outbreaks and dangerous wildfire days. The forecasts the track and strength of hurricanes around North America.

You might not know any of this because most people don鈥檛 get their weather forecasts directly from the NWS, which has no app. Private companies鈥� apps are the biggest source of weather information yet they鈥檙e basically parasiting onto the federal government's resources.听The ubiquitous weather radar imagery you see on every weather app, website, and television channel? It all comes from a network of more than 100 radar dishes maintained by the federal government. NOAA operates the vast majority of these, with the remaining ones operated by the or the military. Some local television stations have their own low-power dishes, but they鈥檙e vulnerable to obstructions and power outages, and have limited range.

Now, private weather companies do develop and use their own weather models. Take AccuWeather, which issued a marketing statement ragging on the NWS鈥檚 forecasting abilities on Thursday. The press release, which the company and , bragged about AccuWeather鈥檚 in-house weather model, which the company said would sustain them through the shutdown, no matter how lengthy. The Weather Channel has access to its own models as well, as do plenty of other weather forecasting companies.

The thing is, those private weather models don鈥檛 operate in a vacuum. Models are made using weather data collected throughout the atmosphere by weather balloons paid for and released by鈥攜ou guessed it!鈥攖he federal government. These models also rely on government satellite data and a vast network of ground-based weather observing stations, many of which are also funded and operated by the government. If a company like AccuWeather or The Weather Channel wanted to match the level of service that we pay for with our tax dollars, they would have to charge way more than they already do for their forecasts. Even the sturdiest company would likely go bankrupt trying to build and maintain an analog to the vast network of satellites, radars, observation stations, and modelling provided by the feds.

Private weather companies and advocates of privatization are fully aware of the value of the federal government鈥檚 meteorological services. The only in recent history was a failed undertaking by former Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, back in 2005. The senator introduced a bill that would have prohibited the NWS from releasing any products or forecasts to the public, forcing them to route all of their services鈥攔adar, satellite, weather models, everything鈥攖hrough private companies to be sold back to the American people. The bill was soundly defeated.听

So as the federal government shutdown enters its second month鈥攁nd employees prepare to miss yet another paycheck鈥攕pare a kind thought for the thousands of dedicated scientists silently working to keep us safe from dangerous weather all across the country. And it doesn鈥檛 hurt to to demand that they reopen the government.

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听and听听and听, oh my. No matter the flavor of the winter weather, you can bet someone鈥檚 designed an app to predict a听storm鈥檚 size, distance, and intensity. But how do you know which apps to trust? There are too many out there for me to unilaterally say which ones are good and which ones are bad鈥攜ou have to do that legwork on your own, downloading and then vetting the software that best syncs up with your lifestyle. Thankfully, that鈥檚 easy enough听so long as you know what to look for. 听听

Make Sure the App Cites Its Sources

Very few apps actually create their own weather forecasts. They all get their information from somewhere else, and that somewhere else is important when you鈥檙e making potentially life-or-death decisions based on the forecast.

I rely on the National Weather Service (NWS)鈥攖he official weather-forecasting branch of the U.S. government鈥攁s well as private organizations like the Weather Company (the force behind the Weather Channel and Weather Underground)听and the smart meteorologists at my local television news stations. These are all听known entities, so look for apps powered by their data.

Don鈥檛 overlook the听apps published by your local television news stations. The folks you see on the local news aren鈥檛 just weather presenters; these days, most of them are degreed meteorologists. They鈥檙e fairly accurate, and they often know local climate quirks better than the big听companies.

Finally, it鈥檚 a good rule of thumb to avoid the unknown. If you鈥檝e never heard of an app鈥攁nd it听doesn鈥檛 explicitly tell you where it听gets its听information鈥攊t鈥檚 best to avoid it altogether. If you still want to use a certain app but are听unsure about it, ask a meteorologist or a weather buff.

Remember: The National Weather Service Doesn鈥檛 Have Its Own App

This is an important thing听to remember when you鈥檙e looking for a good app. Any that uses NWS听or NOAA听in its name should be ignored. The National Weather Service doesn鈥檛 have an app, just the domain and听links to听the sites of associated agencies like the and the .

You can easily on your smartphone鈥檚 home screen, giving any web page the same ease-of-access as an听app. Not only does that give you quick access to sites like the Storm Prediction Center, but it also allows you to add the NWS鈥檚 forecast for your town right to your home screen.听

Avoid Apps with Too Much (or Too Little)听Information

There is such a thing as information overload when it comes to weather forecasts. You have to find a source that strikes the right balance between providing enough information and enough good information.

A great example of too much information in a weather forecast is precise snowfall totals before a snowstorm. Some weather apps will provide you snowfall totals right down to the tenth of an inch. It鈥檚 scientifically unjustifiable to make such a precise forecast, even as the snow is falling. They鈥檙e usually just regurgitating what weather models are saying, but not only is that not a forecast, it鈥檚 also straight-up misinformation.

It鈥檚 also unsafe to rely on too little information. Some apps will only tell you that there鈥檚 a chance of isolated thunderstorms tomorrow. They strip away the important context, such as the chance that those thunderstorms could produce baseball-size hail or destructive tornadoes. You鈥檇 never know that little tidbit if you relied solely on an icon and a couple of numbers.

Pay Attention to Emergency Alerts

All modern smartphones are equipped with the capability to receive , a program rolled out this decade by the federal government in order to quickly alert people in the United States to dangerous weather in their area.

The National Weather Service has reported听multiple instances of thanks to the arrival of one of these push notifications. Even though many apps have the ability to alert you when a watch or warning is in effect for your location, the default emergency alerts on your phone are a simple feature that could save your life one day.

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