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Nor'easters slamming New England are growing more powerful

Much like hurricanes further south, the strongest storms to pummel the US north-east are getting even stronger as sea surface temperatures rise

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James Dinneen holds a large hail stone from this year's ICECHIP research

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Storm-chasing scientists hunt for the world’s most extreme hail

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This is a supercell photographed near Arnett, Oklahoma on June 17th. At the moment of the picture, a tornado is ongoing in the center of the image buried in rain, and hail bigger than 55mm (2.17???) is falling and being collected by the hail hunting vehicle. The lightning was prolific because the storm was well over 65,000 feet tall during its peak strength. The lightning was so constant that in 1/8th of a second (the exposure time of this picture), I was able to capture 3 strikes. Most of the lightning was positive, which is stronger than the typical lightning strike which are negative. This can be an indicator of an abundance of hail within the storm, as hail can increase the amount of built up electrical charge within the updraft. Positive strikes typically originate from the top of the storm (anvil) and are characterized by one singular channel without much branching (leftmost strike). Typically striking within the inflow of the storm, they also only strike once instead of strobing with multiple strokes/pulses like negatively charged lightning does. Hope this is enough information about the storm! I can always share more if needed.

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Meet the storm chasers on the hunt for extreme hail

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World's farmers won't be able to keep up with climate change

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UK should expect summers above 40°C in next decade, warns Met Office

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Hurricanes aren't cooling off future storms as much as they once did

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Hurricanes aren't cooling off future storms as much as they once did

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Test of AI weather forecasts shows they miss extreme storms

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Europe increasingly vulnerable to hailstones the size of golfballs

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Record heat in 2023 and 2024 may just have been natural variability

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Trump budget cuts would eliminate much of NOAA’s climate research

Proposed cuts would wipe out NOAA’s Ocean and Atmospheric Research office among a raft of other reductions to one of the main scientific agencies of the US

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Four ways cuts at NOAA will make weather forecasts less reliable

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Health

Extreme heat may speed up biological ageing in older people

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2024 may have been the rainiest – as well as hottest – year on record

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California wildfires fuelled by months of unusual extreme weather

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