Tag: lightning
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How do those unusual scud clouds form?
Scud clouds are fascinating and often misunderstood in cloud classification. These low, ragged clouds, technically known as pannus, typically form in association with other larger clouds, such as cumulonimbus. Scud clouds do not form by the rising and cooling of air like primary clouds. Instead, scud clouds are often a byproduct of weather fronts or
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How the 2023 summer heat waves can lead to US wildfires
Swaths of the United States are sweltering under a blistering heat wave, an invisible yet palpable assailant known as a ‘heat dome.’ High pressure in the upper atmosphere of this anticyclone meteorological event forces hot air to remain compressed and stagnant. This trapped hot air causes surface temperatures to spiral upwards, transforming the environment into
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The stealthy ghost crab
The ghost crab is about as big as your hand but as fast as lightning. The eight-legged little creature moves across sandy beaches at 100 body lengths per second, up to 10 miles per hour. That’s blazing-fast compared to the size of a human and a cheetah, who achieve speeds of 11 and 20 body