While existing weather models can forecast flash flooding in advance, even the best models struggle to represent internal storm structure and to predict where, within a few miles, the hardest rainfall will strike. In this case, the off-the-charts colors on Friday morning indicated that the south fork of the Guadalupe River was taking a direct…
Right now, the best tools available can provide ample warning of a general flash flooding threat, but localized flash flooding can only be predicted when real-time radar and sensor tools are able to determine the rainfall rates. “The reality is for flash flooding in flood-prone areas, you should be thinking about it in the same…
Just ahead of the long Independence Day weekend, beaches across the country have closed and issued advisories because of excessive levels of harmful bacteria. The culprit is fecal waste, a common summer problem in both freshwater and oceans that can cause gastrointestinal illness and skin infections. At least six states have issued closures or advisories…
Astronomers are rolling out a welcome mat for a newly identified visitor from beyond our solar system. The object — thought to be a comet — is only the third-ever confirmed interstellar visitor to pass through our cosmic neighborhood. Dubbed 3I/ATLAS, the comet poses no danger to Earth and will remain roughly 150 million miles…
TOPEKA, Kan. — The U.S. government is preparing to breed billions of flies and dump them out of airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to fight a flesh-eating maggot. That sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but it is part of the government’s plans for protecting the U.S. from a bug that could…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — In the time before widespread vaccination, devastating infectious diseases ran rampant in America, killing millions of children and leaving others with lifelong health problems. Over the next century, vaccines virtually wiped out long-feared scourges like polio and measles and drastically reduced the toll of many others. Today, however, some preventable, contagious…
A group of Environmental Protection Agency employees on Monday published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, saying they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.” More than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear…
Forecasters are set to lose some of their sharpest eyes in the sky just a few months before Atlantic hurricane season peaks when the Department of Defense halts a key source of satellite data over cybersecurity concerns. The data comes from microwave sensors attached to three aging polar-orbiting satellites operated for both military and civilian…
A possible meteorite was spotted shooting through the sky in the southeast U.S. on Thursday. The National Weather Service office in Charleston said there were “many reports of a fireball” across the region just before noon. “It is not certain, but the satellite-based lightning detection shows a streak within cloud free sky over the NC/VA…
Dangerously hot and humid conditions are choking nearly the entire eastern half of the United States this week, caused by a “heat dome” that’s parked over parts of the country. Heat alerts were in effect Wednesday for around 150 million people. Temperatures over 95 degrees Fahrenheit were widespread across the Ohio Valley and through the…
