Tag Archives: strikes

When the Heat Dome Strikes Texas, Certain Cities Sizzle Hotter Than the Sahara

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Some areas in Texas will experience temperatures hotter than the Sahara desert this Thursday. Intense heat domes are driving temperatures sharply up to triple digits.

In the central and southern regions of Texas, the combined measurement of temperature and humidity is expected to reach “feel-like” temperatures between 105 and 108 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday. These temperatures are hotter than parts of the Sahara Desert, where several cities in Morocco are forecasted to hit the high ’90s F.

Cities like Houston, San Antonio, and Austin in Texas have a chance of breaking daily temperature records on Thursday, with minimal relief anticipated from the Heat Dome in the coming days.

The oppressive heat and humidity are projected to persist through the weekend and into next week, as noted by the National Weather Service.

While Texans are accustomed to high heat and humidity, the current conditions are more typical of summer rather than May.

Heat advisories are in effect for Atascosa, Bexar, Frio, Medina, Uvalde, and Wilson counties until 8 PM local time. The National Weather Service warns that high temperatures combined with humidity “can lead to heat-related illnesses.”

As reported earlier this week on X, the weather authorities stated that people “will not adapt to this level of heat within a year, increasing the risk of heat-related health issues.”

This early heatwave has already set multiple records, with new daily highs reported in Austin and Del Rio, San Antonio, on Wednesday. Austin Bergstrom International Airport hit a record high of 100 F, surpassing the previous May 14 record of 96 F set in 2003. San Antonio recorded 102 F, breaking its previous record of 97 F from 2022.

Although it’s challenging to link specific extreme weather events to climate change, research indicates that global warming is increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves globally. Every decade since 1850 has seen its hottest years within the last ten years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with the last two years setting new global temperature records.

The extreme heat is expected to continue affecting parts of Texas and the southern and central regions through Friday and the weekend. The National Weather Service predicts that heat index values in Texas will range from 100 F to 110 F over Saturday and Sunday.

“Whatever way you look at it, this weekend is set to be extremely hot in southern Texas,” according to the long-term forecast.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Cosmic ray showers are crucial in setting off lightning strikes

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It is not well known how lightning starts in a thunderstorm. With the newly developed 3D mapping and polarization system, physicists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory observed that some lightning not only began with positive high-speed discharges, but also faster and wider negative discharges soon began. Surprisingly, the signal polarization is tilted from the direction of the discharge propagation, and the polarization of the two opposite discharges rotates towards each other, indicating that the initiating high-speed discharge is not driven solely by the storm electric field. The authors analyzed these observations in a cosmic ray shower and found that these seemingly strange features could be consistently explained.

Lightning starts with a positive fast discharge followed by a faster, broader negative discharge observed in 3D. The signal polarization from the direction of discharge propagation tilts and rotates between two opposite high-speed discharges. These functions are through a cosmic ray shower that pretreats the discharge path and directs the direction of the discharge current. Image credit: ELG21.

“Scientists still don’t fully understand how lightning starts in a thunderstorm,” says Dr. Xuan-Min Shao, the lead author of the study.

“We noticed an unusual pattern of how lightning started using 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization techniques. Instead of a speedy electrical discharge, the flash of lightning quickly, faster, and negative emissions followed.”

Generally, after the opposition to electrical charge (positive and negative) is separated by clouds, lightning begins, resulting in the emissions that people consider lightning.

In their study, utilizing an innovative, Los Alamos-developed mapping and polarization system called BIMAP-3D, Dr. Xiao and colleagues observed that signal polarization from these discharges had a diagonal pattern from the direction of propagation.

This indicates that something other than the electric field played a role in the initiation of lightning.

In addition to being oblique, physicists have noticed that the direction of polarization has changed between positive and negative emissions.

They attribute this behavior to cosmic ray showers, high-energy particles from spaces entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

These cosmic rays can generate secondary high-energy electrons and positrons in the atmosphere, further ionizing the air, creating paths into thunder, and travel faster after lightning.

Researchers found that high-energy electrons and positrons are pushed in different directions by the Earth’s magnetic field and the cloud’s electric field, leading to oblique discharge currents, i.e. tilted polarization from the path of the cosmic ray shower.

Positrons and electrons were deflected in different directions of the electromagnetic field, explaining why they behaved differently between fast positive and negative discharges.

“This concept can also explain the common case that involves only high-speed positive discharges, and therefore the onset of most lightning flashes,” the scientist said.

Their result It was released on March 3rd Journal of Go Physical Research: Atmosphere.

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Xuan-Min Shao et al. 2025. 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization observations show that a flash of lightning was ignited by a cosmic ray shower. JGR atmosphere 130 (5): E2024JD042549; doi: 10.1029/2024JD042549

Source: www.sci.news

Possible Unstoppable Landslide Strikes California City

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The city of Rancho Palos Verdes has already faced setbacks in its potential efforts to mitigate land transfers. Last month, the city Deeper landslides discovered. The region is also experiencing active earthquakes, and officials said earthquakes deeper than 300 feet are fast-moving and penetrate too far underground to dig drains or pumps to remove the water.

Now that a state of emergency has been declared, Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruickshank said the allocated funds will go to support city government and landslide prevention efforts, but won’t go to individual homeowners.

Homeowners whose electricity has been cut off will need to come up with tens of thousands of dollars or more to switch to off-grid alternatives like solar or battery technology, Cruickshank said. He told a local CBS affiliate. He expects the state to cover those costs.

Cruickshank added that typical home insurance policies would not cover the hundreds of landslides, so residents are already responsible for damage to their homes. Documented It is held annually in California.

Tim Kelly, a mechanical engineer who moved to the Portuguese Bend neighborhood of Rancho Palos Verdes 30 years ago, said he now generates electricity with solar panels and is staying in his home. Kelly attended a rally Tuesday where residents appealed to city officials for a solution.

“We’re resilient,” Kelly said of the community. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Kelly said other homes in the area have shifted foundations and some are cracked and split in parts, but his house is not moving. He added that he and his neighbors have no plans to abandon their homes and are hoping government leaders and scientists can figure out how to best “stop the landslide.”

Kelly said that for decades, local governments have been unable to come up with a long-term solution to stop water from flooding the canyon and flowing into the ocean. Now, the issue has reached a critical point for the city, and time is of the essence.

“Patients are sick,” Kelly said. “You have to do something to bring them back to life.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

2024 RW1: Tiny asteroid strikes Earth and disintegrates above the Philippines

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Predicted trajectory of asteroid CAQTDL2 over the Philippines

Catalina Sky Survey/ESA

The asteroid struck Earth and burned up in the atmosphere east of the Philippines. Astronomers spotted it just hours before it streaked across the sky in a bright fireball, but many on the ground couldn’t see it because of cloudy skies caused by Typhoon Enteng.

The asteroid, estimated to be about one meter in diameter, was a NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. It was originally designated CAQTDL2 and was later renamed 2024 RW1.

As expected, the asteroid struck the east of the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago at around 1645 GMT, 1745 London time, 1245 New York time, or 0045 local time. The impact speed was predicted to be 17.6 kilometers per second, or 63,360 kilometers per hour. Alan Fitzsimmons. That’s average for such an object, says a researcher at Queen’s University in Belfast, UK. “Don’t be fooled by Hollywood movies where you see something screaming into the sky and you have time to run out the house, grab your cat, hop in your car and drive somewhere. You don’t have time for that,” he says.

Asteroid CAQTDL2 can be seen moving across the sky in a purple circle.

Catalina Sky Survey

Luckily, no evacuations were necessary: NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office posted on social media that the asteroid “safely impacted Earth’s atmosphere.”

“Something that small wouldn’t do any damage on the ground because the Earth’s atmosphere blocks that,” Fitzsimmons said. Video shared on social media from Cagayan province in the northern tip of the Philippines shows a flickering green fireball appearing behind a cloud, followed by an orange tail, before disappearing a few seconds later.

Fitzsimmons said two to three objects this size hit Earth every year, and early detection is becoming more common – astronomers detected the first near-Earth asteroid before it fell to Earth in 2008. 2024 RW1 will be the ninth asteroid to be accurately predicted to hit Earth.

“The really good thing about this is that our survey telescopes are now good enough to detect these objects as they approach and to provide a warning,” he says. “In other words, if this object was bigger and potentially threatening to people on the ground, it would have appeared brighter and projected farther. So this is a really cool demonstration that our current survey systems work really well. Right now, we’re probably averaging about one asteroid per year that gets detected before it hits the atmosphere, and survey systems are getting better and better.”

Not only is Earth developing and improving its early warning systems, but in 2022 NASA’s Dual Asteroid Reorientation Test (DART) spacecraft proved it could potentially save Earth from a catastrophic impact with a larger object. DART struck the 160-meter-wide moonlet Dimorphos, slowing it slightly, demonstrating that in theory such a disaster could be averted. Next month, the European Space Agency will launch the Hera mission to study the consequences of the impact in detail and further our understanding of planetary defense.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Heatwave strikes California and other areas along the West Coast

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The West Coast is facing a dangerous heatwave that is expected to peak on Saturday, putting people at risk of health issues long after temperatures reach their highest point. According to a national update on Friday, forecasters anticipate that a wide range of temperature records will be broken or tied, with temperatures in California expected to reach the 110s on Saturday. The hot weather will persist well into the following week, raising concerns about health risks such as heart attacks and heat strokes, especially among older adults and individuals with chronic diseases.

At Sunrise Farm near Coachella, California on July 3rd.Mario Tama/Getty Images

The heatwave is expected to persist for more than a week, prompting warnings from the National Weather Service about record-breaking temperatures in California, Oregon, and Washington. Areas like the Sacramento Valley, at the heart of the heat wave, are under warning until at least next Tuesday. Meteorologists predict some relief early next week, but temperatures are still likely to exceed 100 degrees in certain regions.

Heat-related illnesses, including heat stroke, pose a significant risk during prolonged periods of extreme heat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows a sharp increase in heatstroke-related emergency room visits, with the incidence more than doubling in recent days. In regions like the San Joaquin Valley in California, extreme weather conditions are expected daily next week, impacting medical facilities and infrastructure.

A construction worker in Folsom, California, on July 3.David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In Portland, Oregon, health officials are concerned about residents unaccustomed to hot weather, particularly those attending outdoor events this weekend. Temperatures in Death Valley may reach deadly limits, posing risks even to healthy individuals. Experts emphasize the importance of staying hydrated and cool to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Research on the physiological limits of heat exposure indicates that older adults may succumb to heatstroke within hours when exposed to extreme heat, even indoors or in the shade without air conditioning. As temperatures continue to rise, it’s crucial to take precautions and monitor vulnerable populations to prevent heat-related fatalities.

“Understanding the impact of heatwaves on our health is vital to mitigating the risks and protecting communities,” said Dr. Lisa Patel. Stay aware of local heat advisories and follow safety guidelines to stay safe during the ongoing heatwave.

Source: www.nbcnews.com