Weather Break

From the Creighton University Department of Atmospheric Sciences

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Entries Tagged as 'Severe Weather'

Heat Lightning

August 18th, 2009 · No Comments

Click here to listen to episode 577 of Weather Break.
From time to time in the summer, you might here someone refer to flashes of light seen on the horizon around sunset as “heat lightning”.  As it turns out, heat lightning really isn’t any different from regular lightning–it’s just occurring too far away from you for [...]

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Tags: Severe Weather

Benjamin Franklin and His Kite

June 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Click here to listen to episode 541 of Weather Break.
On this date in 1752, Benjamin Franklin and his son MAY have conducted their famous experiment that involved flying a kite during an electrical storm. We say “may have conducted” because actually it’s not entirely clear whether or not the actual experiment ever really happened–it [...]

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Tags: Severe Weather

A Dog-Gone Windy Day

May 8th, 2009 · No Comments

Click here to listen to episode 520 of Weather Break.
You might have seen this story in the news lately.  A woman named Dorothy Utley was at an outdoor flea market near Detroit a couple of weeks ago when a strong wind came up out ahead of a line of thunderstorms. The storms were in a [...]

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Tags: Basic Meteorology · Severe Weather

The Popov Lightning Detector

May 7th, 2009 · No Comments

Click here to listen to episode 519 of Weather Break.
Last week on Weather Break, we had a couple of episodes of the show about the various Lightning Detection Networks that are set up around the country. These systems monitor severe weather and record when there are cloud-to-ground lightning strikes pretty much anywhere in the continental [...]

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Tags: Severe Weather

Space-Based Lightning Detection

April 28th, 2009 · No Comments

Click here to listen to episode 512 of Weather Break.
Yesterday on Weather Break, Creighton student Anna Weber talked about how lightning happens and how various ground-based lightning detection networks operate, providing both forecasters and the public with important information about lightning during severe weather. But scientists are also interested in more global information about [...]

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Tags: NASA · Severe Weather · Technology and High-Impact Weather