Tornadoes can wreak havoc on communities in minutes, tearing apart some homes and leaving others untouched. These destructive forces of nature can toss vehicles upside down, throw them onto buildings and cause a board of wood to pierce right through the trunk of a massive tree. But not all tornadoes are created equally, and meteorologists survey the damage they leave behind and rate twisters to put their damage into perspective. The National Weather Service (NWS) conducts storm surveys to provid
Synchronized weather balloon launches have helped meteorologists create forecasts over the past 150 years, and now the old tradition is going high tech. Twice a day - every day of the year - meteorologists around the world launch weather balloons at the same time from roughly 900 locations around the globe. Those balloons often reach heights of 20 miles above Earth or twice as high as planes typically fly. Sensors beam data back down to Earth every few seconds as winds carry the balloons up t
The Northeast is digging out from the biggest snowstorm of the winter after heavy snow buried areas from West Virginia through Massachusetts, prompting school closures and travel chaos Tuesday. On Tuesday, 3.2 inches fell in New York City, the highest single-day snowfall in the city since 7.3 inches accumulated in Central Park on Jan. 29, 2022. The snow was not as heavy in downtown Philadelphia, where around 2 inches was measured, although more than half a foot was reported in suburbs north and
The Northeast is digging out from the biggest snowstorm of the winter after heavy snow buried areas from West Virginia through Massachusetts, prompting school closures and travel chaos Tuesday. On Tuesday, 3.2 inches fell in New York City, the highest single-day snowfall in the city since 7.3 inches accumulated in Central Park on Jan. 29, 2022. The snow was not as heavy in downtown Philadelphia, where around 2 inches was measured, although more than half a foot was reported in suburbs north and
The Northeast is digging out from the biggest snowstorm of the winter after heavy snow buried areas from West Virginia through Massachusetts, prompting school closures and travel chaos Tuesday. On Tuesday, 3.2 inches fell in New York City, the highest single-day snowfall in the city since 7.3 inches accumulated in Central Park on Jan. 29, 2022. The snow was not as heavy in downtown Philadelphia, where around 2 inches was measured, although more than half a foot was reported in suburbs north and