NASA: Summer Temperatures Arrive Early A springtime heatwave has made large swaths of western North America feel like the dog days of summer. In mid-May 2023, western Washington and Oregon, along with much of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, were in the throes of a record-breaking streak of hot weather. While the most unseasonably warm weather subsided by May 16, above-average temperatures were projected to […] Weather SnowBrains | May 18, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Smoke Fills North American Skies Raging fires filled the skies of southern Canada and the northern United States with smoke in mid-May 2023. The fires had scorched 478,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan as of May 16, which is ten times the average area burned for this time of year. Related: Over 100 Wildfires Force Tens of Thousands of People […] Fire Firebrains | May 17, 2023 0 Comments
NASA Images: The Canadian Rockies While orbiting western Montana, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photograph of the northern Rocky Mountains, also known as the Canadian Rockies. The Rockies are North America’s largest mountain range, sprawling approximately 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) long and nearly 650 kilometers (400 miles) wide at certain points. The Rocky Mountains extend from British Columbia, Canada, southeast toward […] SnowBrains | April 25, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: California Superbloom – A Parade of Poppies A bright spot has emerged after California’s particularly wet and dreary winter: a sea of wildflowers in Southern California. In the western tip of the Mojave Desert, orange, gold, and yellow flowers have flooded the valleys and hills of Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Related: NASA: Deluge of Snow and Rain Produces California Superblooms On April 7, 2023, the Operational […] SnowBrains | April 19, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Precipitation Piles on in California Two successive atmospheric rivers hit California in March 2023, bearing rain, snow, and strong winds. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power as the storm toppled trees, unleashed mudslides, and flooded streets. Related: Atmospheric Rivers: How They Work, and How El Niño and La Niña Affect Them The clouds parted on March 16, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) […] WeatherBrains | March 20, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Blizzard Warnings and Snow Replace Sunshine and Warmth in Southern California A powerful late-February storm brought blizzard warnings, cold rains, howling winds, and rare low-elevation snow to parts of southern California more accustomed to warmth and sun. The Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9 acquired this image (top) of snow blanketing much of the San Gabriel Mountains in areas north of Los Angeles on February 26, 2023. The other image […] SnowBrains | February 28, 2023 1 Comment
NASA: Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf Finally Breaks In February 2019, a rift spanning most of the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica appeared ready to spawn an iceberg about twice the size of New York City. The question among scientists was not if the growing rift would finish traversing the shelf and break but when? Now, nearly four years later, it has done just that. Related: Colorado Fourth […] SnowBrains | January 25, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Weather Whiplash – What Caused the Recent Flip From Extreme Cold to Unseasonably Warm In late December, many Americans reached for cold-weather gear as a blast of unusually cold Arctic air poured south and fueled a travel nightmare around Christmas. In Michigan and other parts of the Midwest, a “bomb cyclone” formed along the cold front bearing powerful winds and whiteout conditions. In certain parts of upstate New York and Canada, lake effect snow […] Weather WeatherBrains | January 5, 2023 0 Comments